Grand Tour 2009, Stage three - Gokarna to Goa

I spent a leisurely and relaxed ten days in Gokarna. Took a morning yoga class the last week of my stay. Spent a few afternoons at the beach, and drove to Om Beach one day.


There was quite a bit of rain in the middle of my stay, thanks to the cyclone in the Arabian Sea; it was nicer to be hunkered down watching it from my balcony than to be driving in it. I tried out several restaurants, and found that my favourite was Prema, right on the beach at the end of the road, opposite the Zero Kilometer marker.


The weather had mostly cleared by the time I was ready to move on, and I left early on Sunday afternoon. My intention was to cross into Goa and then find a place to stay, which I did at Palolem Beach. Although it's early in the season, Palolem was humming and busy. Many shops and restaurants, and lots of tourists without it feeling too overcrowded. If the global economic downturn is affecting tourism adversely, you wouldn't know it from the amount of activity here. Very heavy downpour in the evening, lasting nearly an hour.


Early start next morning, and took back roads via Agonda, Cabo de Rama, and Belim to Margao. It's a real pleasure to drive in Goa; the roads are generally very good, even the back roads. Stopped for lunch in Old Goa, and looked through the Cathedral, then headed for Vagator Beach, my next staging stop, where I'll spend the next four days at Royal Enfield's Rider Mania. Took a nice room in a guest house about a kilometer from the event venue, and spent the afternoon at Little Vagator Beach.

The Great Circular Indian Rail Challenge

Two weeks on Indian trains, virtually non-stop, nearly 12000 km, literally all around the country, visiting the westernmost, northernmost, easternmost, and southernmost stations, and all four of the major metros. Is anyone crazy enough to do such a trip?

Apparently so, and I'll probably be one of them. The GCIRC is the brainchild of Mark Lester, who posted an invitation and a challenge on IndiaMike a couple of months ago, and already has more than a dozen Indianrailaphiles marking their calendars (February 2011) and arranging to join him.


The web page is here 


You can follow the discussion on IndiaMike here 

Grand Tour 2009, Stage two - SACM to Gokarna

I left Sri Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt early Tuesday morning, heading north-west via Turuvekere, joining NH 206 at Tiptur. Stopped in Arsikere to fuel up and have breakfast, and continued via Kadur, Tarikere, and Bhadravati bypass to Shimoga.

There's a confusing intersection at the outskirts of Shimoga, one sign saying turn left for Jog Falls (the Agumbe road), and a few meters later another sign saying straight ahead. I asked two people; one said turn left, the other said straight ahead, into the city. Maybe there's a bypass if you take the turn to the left, but I went into the city, which is one enormous road construction zone. What a mess. 


Finally got through town and en route to Jog Falls, my planned overnight stop. Took a basic room at the Tunga Guest House right near the entrance, and strolled around the grounds. They are doing a lot of renovations at the moment. 300 km today.


In case you are carrying a clock (or anything else) that you don't want to lug around with you while visiting the falls, there is a "Clock Room" available, with a notice "Keep Your Matrials Authorise Clock Room".  :-)


Last year a fellow biker had suggested the road between Jog Falls and Bhatkal, rather than NH 206 via Gersoppa to Honavar, so I took that route next morning. Although paved, the road surface is not very good for a lot of the way, and I did most of it in 2nd and 3rd gear. Three hours for 80 km. Ok for one time, but I wouldn't want to drive it again. Had lunch in Bhatkal, and on to Murudeshwar to take a room at the RNS Guest House with an ocean view. 100 km today, 1000 for the trip so far.


RedWing is running like a charm. A sheer delight to drive. I've done over 2000 km total so the running-in is officially complete. Still haven't gone above 80 klicks. Petrol economy is a satisfactory 50 kpl.


("Klicks" is Canadian slang for kilometers - either speed or distance.)


Thursday morning I lollygagged around, had breakfast, and strolled along the beach, then into the town to look around. Checked out at 14:30, had some lunch, and drove to Gokarna. NH 17 is a bit dodgy, especially around Murudeshwar -- you can barely drive a kilometer without having to slow down for broken pavement and potholes. It really needs to be resurfaced. North of Kumta it gets noticeably better. The road from the highway into Gokarna is also in pretty bad shape. Took a room at Vaibhav Nivas where I had stayed last year. I plan to spend at least a week in Gokarna before heading north to Goa. 80 km today.

Grand Tour 2009, Stage one - Days 1, 2, 3

Well, I didn't quite manage to avoid the opening salvo of the north-east monsoon. My last night at home, I awoke at 3am to thunder and rain. We had a good downpour, which started clearing up about 9am. I finished my packing, and left home at 9:30, not quite the early start I had intended, but I didn't want to start out by driving in the rain.


Made a stop at the Royal Enfield service shop in Adyar to get a couple of things adjusted and checked before hitting the highway, and was driving west on NH 4 by noon. Stopped for a stretch break at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur, and walked around the grounds. A light rain started, so I put on my new set of raingear for the first time. Turned off the highway at Vellore, and drove to the Golden Temple at Sri Puram. Couldn't find a suitable place to stay near the temple, so drove 6 km back to Vellore to take a room for the night. About 200 km today.


Wednesday morning I drove back to the Golden Temple, and joined the queue. They are certainly set up to handle crowds there, with grilled-in walkways and holding pens.  You can bypass those by buying one of the special darshan tickets. The grounds and gardens are remarkable, and the temple itself is magnificent. Left there about 10:30, and took the older road, SH 122, instead of returning to NH 46. 


A pleasant drive, road in pretty good shape, but I had to stop to kit up with my rain gear.  It was raining when I passed the turnoff for Yelagiri Hills, so I'll save that for a drier time. 


On to Tiruppattur, then Krishnagiri where I stopped for lunch. It was raining lightly as I left, and got onto NH 7, but half an hour later it really started to pour. Got to Hosur about 16:00, and took a room for the night. I had to unpack completely and put my stuff and bags out to dry. 200 km today.


Lazy start next morning since I wanted to get to the outskirts of Bengaluru after the worst of the morning rush. Not a very warm welcome in terms of road conditions when you cross into Karnataka -- NH 7 turns into a construction zone most of the way to B'luru, down to a single unpaved lane in a few places. It'll be great when it's finished, but now it's a pain. Lots of slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic.


After passing Electronics City, a huge new overpass is being constructed, and a couple of kilometers later is the bypass highway turnoff to the west. It's a great road -- for a few kilometers. Then there's a poorly marked diversion through a semi-urban area, until you can finally rejoin the expressway. From there it's clear sailing, right around to the NH 4 to Tumkur -- which is also a construction zone. Toll is Rs 30 for a bike.


Missed my turnoff on NH 48 and had to backtrack a few km (no signage for the turn is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it). NH 48 is being four-laned too. Reached Sri Adichunchanagiri Mutt mid-afternoon, my first staging stop (Vellore and Hosur were "technical stops"), and took a spacious and spartan room at the guest house, with a great view to the west. I was here a year ago on my last Karnataka tour, and really liked it, so I'll stay here a few days before heading to the coast.


This was another 200 km day. If I came direct from Chennai without the little side trips, it would be about 500 km, so I could easily do it in a day -- once all the highway construction is complete.

Grand Tour 2009, Stage one - getting ready for departure

Ever since my one-month motorcycle tour of Karnataka last year, I've been thinking about my next bike tour. I've even bought a new motorcycle in preparation.


Initially I had planned to head north from Chennai into Andhra Pradesh, then work my way west through Karnataka to the coast. 


But the storms and floods in Andhra and Karnataka in early October did a lot of damage to the roads, and I was advised to avoid that area. So instead I'll head west from Chennai, stopping at Vellore to visit the Golden Temple, then on to Yelagiri Hills for my first night stop. Next day, via Krishnagiri, into Karnataka, bypassing Bengaluru to the south-west using the Nice ring road, then heading north-west on NH 4, via Shimoga and Jog Falls to Gokarna.


Further plans are to attend Royal Enfield's Rider Mania in Goa in November, then head down the coast, inland to Kodagu, down to Kerala in December, and back to Tamil Nadu in January, arriving home after Pongal.


I've been postponing my departure, originally intended for mid-October, to finish my house renovations and move into my new digs on the top floor of our house. My "small son" Sathish is an apprentice pujari at our local temple, and he determined that an auspicious day for the opening puja was Friday 16 October, the day before Diwali. He made all the preparations, including hiring a senior pujari to officiate, and we had a wonderful ceremony. I slept in my new suite of rooms for the first time that night.


Part of the reason for the timing of my tour is to avoid the monsoon season in Tamil Nadu, which is usually from mid-October into December. I've been watching the weather forecast carefully, and the time to make a move is now. So I've been packing today, and I'll head out on Tuesday morning (27th).

RedWing and me

Shopping for a new bike

I've been very satisfied with the performance, economy and reliability of Black Beauty, my Bajaj Discover 135 DB ES (disc brake, electric start).  Since purchasing in December 2007, I've done 25,000 km in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

But for the amount of touring I like to do, I decided to upgrade to a bigger bike.

Since I've been pleased with Bajaj, my first test ride was on a Pulsar 150. Nice to drive, but it didn't seem worth the expense and hassle for an extra 15cc. In retrospect, I should have bought Pulsar in the first place, instead of Discover.

Next ride was on a Honda Unicorn. Very nice handling, comfortable in city traffic, but again only 150cc, so disqualified.

Next to try was the Pulsar 180. Aha, a potential winner. Enough extra performance, good petrol economy, good trade-in offer for my Discover. There were a couple of changes in the new model (UG4) which I didn't like -- toe-only shifter, and no kick-start.  To my mind these changes were drawbacks, not improvements. But I found a UG3, which had the configuration I wanted. I was close to closing a deal.

Then the new Bajaj Pulsar 220 was released, so I had a look and test-drove it, but, like the P180-UG4, it has toe-only shift, and no kick-start. Disqualified.

I also looked at the Apache, but the thing that turned me off was the external linkage of the gearshift. It looked to me as though the designer had forgotten about it and had to cludge something together later. And again a toe-only shift, which I don't like.

But I kept getting hints from the universe, "Check out Royal Enfield." I hadn't considered the Bullet before; I'm not a hefty guy and I didn't want a bike that felt bigger than I am. But I went to the showrooms a couple of times, first the one on Anna Salai near Thousand Lights, and then the Adyar factory outlet.

I looked at the different models, and felt that the ThunderBird TwinSpark sang to me.  So I took it for a test drive in Besant Nagar, and it felt just fine, although a bit noisy.

I mulled it over for a couple of weeks, reading comments from several sources, considering the finances, and made my decision. In August I placed my order with a Rs 10,000 deposit. And on 09-09-09, an auspicious date, I took delivery of "RedWing", my beautiful new red ThunderBird TwinSpark.

P.S. Yes, I know that the Detroit hockey team is the Redwings, but that wasn't the reason for my choice of the name.

Firstly, my bike is red, and "ThunderBird" associates with "wing"; secondly, after the redwing blackbird, which as a family joke was referred to as "Mommy's bird", because the fieldguide says "its identification is unmistakeable."

Chinglish as she is writed

I recently bought a novelty item that's very popular here in south India, a pen with a built-in flashlight, for about USD 0.25. Made in China of course.

The instructions say: "Usage the thumb be then light to press button can illuminate."

Very, er, illuminating.

Also, "Function characteristics: The electric power is ample, give out light to hold out for long time. Write flowing freely, a thing two use."

And, "Assemble high can the battery electric power hold out for long time and can continue to give out light 2880 minutes."

It's made by Ningbo Xinboshi Culture Thing Factory Manufacturing.