Thirunelli Pilgrimage

One of the quick-planned trips.
A visit to the Thirunelli temple, Wayanad.
320km from Bangalore.

Flag off from KK's house on Aug19, 2006 at 8.15AM
Travellers - Rat, Bin and KK.
(guest appearance - Sashi)
Machine - WagonR
Gadgets - 1 CanonA95 digicam, 1 Nikon SLR, 1 Sony ericsson 2MP mobile cam
In stock - 2 bottle health drink, 1 bottle plain water
(item 2 was returned home in as-is condition)
:D
Sound System - Sony Xplod (secondary source), KK (primary source)
Dress - Optional. But we preferred to put on casual wear. Bin in formal

(Click to view full-size image. Applies to all pics..)

9AM : Breakfast at Outer Ring Road. Some *** Sagar hotel.
HIghlights - stupid vada, 3 birds :D

9.30AM : Wonderla (Bidadi)

10.40AM : Mandya

11.05AM : Sriranga patna
Had a tea break here at Hotel Sachin. Started at 11.30


11.35AM : Diversion to Calicut/Ooty road (205km to Calicut)

12.00PM : Nanjangud
Scenic Halt here. PHotos, mauj masti.. Started at 12.30PM



1.10PM : Gundalpet
Lunch Halt

2.05PM : Tusker !!!
A lonely one ! A big mammoth thing !
We were in car. The tusker to the right of us..
We got a hint of this from an on-coming truck, and Bin had
joked - " Why is he flyin like that? Any elephants around? "
Joke turned serious when the tusker came rushing towards us.
We retired the hands and cam into the car and FLED !



2.15PM to 2.35PM : Shootout
Right in the middle of the road..
The road was nicely shaded by the leaning bamboo sticks.
The photo objects were Rat, KK, Bin and a dog :-S
(Dog's pic is with Bin)



2.50PM : Narrow escape !
A bike carrying 2 idiots. They abruptly attempted a U-turn
right in front of us. We had to sway to the wrong side of the road,
full brakes, and back on track and stopped some 20m ahead..
Bin said something. KK screamed something. At them, of course.
I asked "What is your problem".
Decided not to get out and kick them (and in turn get beaten up :-S )
KK was very much disturbed, and he needed a break from long drive..

2.55PM : Petrol break
Petrol is cheaper in Kerala by 5 rupees !
Filled full tank.
Discussed the bike incident with the pump-waalas..
The 'funny' description made them giggle too :D

3PM to 3.20PM: Tea Break @ Sultan Bathery
Tea + banana fry :-)

3.25PM : Beenachi - thats the name of a place.
Next up is Panamaram, then mananthavadi..

5PM to 5.40PM : Kaattikulam.
Halted for yet another photo shootout..
Did a mini trek to reach a flowing water body.
Did all sorts of monkey tricks over there..


5.50PM to 6.15PM : Kaaleeshwari Temple
Yet another mini upwards trek.
A peaceful serene divine atmosphere..
But this temple has a story to tell..
Had we known that we wouldnt have dared go in !
A local shikaari had been attacked by a tiger to
bits and pieces at this place, while he was offering his
prayers. The tiger pounced at him from inside the kovil!
Anyways, we had a photo shoot here..
Kaattikulam Sashi took a group photo of ours :)


6.20PM : Home.
Bin's relatives stayed here.
We were apprehensive, and thot will stay in a lodge.
But they had already made up their mind, and had
even started preparing snacks for us :-)
Nice food and nice stay are always welcome :D
A big bungalow, in the middle of the jungle!


7PM : To temple.
Its just 15mins drive from the house.

7.20PM to 7.45PM : In temple.
Dint step into the temple.
Hung around in the temple premises.
Into the temple, planned for next day, after bath.

8.15PM : Back home.
Bath..
Yummy dinner
Sleep...
________________________________________________

Sunday Aug20, 2006
Got up at 6.30
The foggy scenery was awesome!


Went to temple, had a dip in the paapa naashini.
A dip in paapa naashini is believed to get rid of all your sins!
The traditional attire of ours added to the serenity.


Spent some quality time in the temple..
Bin's Uncle is one of the big guns behind the temple.
So we had VIP treatment there !

10PM : Back home.
Breakfast - puttu + kadala . Full house !

10.45PM : Bid adieu to Uncle and Aunt
WagonR said we hav already run 348km from ground zero

Took an alternate route for the return.
Again, thru the jungle - a different jungle.
The Nagarhole wild life sanctuary.
Tons of deers.. some pigs (not the ones inside the car)
After a turn, when we saw a tusker, we almost turned
around to run.. But then, it was a trained elephant.. and
the mahots were with him :)
So we dared go out and touch the fellow.


Also had a chance to take this once-in-a-lifetime pic..
A running deer, in front of a moving car !


2.45PM : Lunch time
Hotel Heritage Shelters
Big Advertisement boards..
Big Display boards..
Big hotel..
Big interior..
But food was very much ordinary.
Bin got a chance to tune some signals here :-)
And he was reluctant to leave from this place.


3.35PM : Sriranga patna
At this point we entered the Blr-Mysore road.
Its 127 more km from here to Blr.

4.10PM : Mandya
The road is a lil bit bad for some 2-3 km.

5.06PM : Wonderla

6.15PM : Back home !

Quickly copied the photos to KK's PC.

The full set of Photos Here
Dont miss out the captions ;-)
Warning : There are 240 images! View @ur leisure time..

Tail:
1. Kaattikulam Sashi is the name of an elephant :-)
2. The full stretch was driven by KK alone. I dd not want to make it wagonR.zip :D So stayed away from the wheel.
3. Post the trip (or post the dip?) I got a cold :(
Still have it !
4. Plans for this weekend are already in the blue-print. A trip to 'some-place' 100km from here. On bike.