We have been fortunate to visit so many interesting places in our beautiful country. Our travel experiences have led us to some wonderful people who have helped us and guided us throughout our journey. We pay our tribute to these people who make our travel a fulfilling and an enjoyable one. It has expanded our hearts, minds and souls to embrace the diversity in the world and connect with people. Before I met Prachi, one of the very interesting 'bike ride' was from Bangalore to Ooty. I and two of my friends (Mangesh and Sohail) in Bangalore on the spur of the moment decided to go to Ooty on an extended weekend. On Friday morning (Dasara holiday) I took RX from my brother in law and my friends managed another bike after a lot of search for the whole day. We left Bangalore at 7 p.m. This was one of the most unplanned trips we have made. We reached Mysore by 11 p.m. How would we get any accommodation during Dasara? So we decided to carry on further. We had dinner at a Dhaba on the way. When we reached Gundulpet it was 3 a.m. The road to Gundulpet was very bad, it was totally dark and we saw no other vehicles at all. We checked for accommodation at Gundulpet but we didn’t get there either. And we couldn’t proceed further since there is no entry into Bandipur forest (which starts immediately after Gundulpet) before 6.00 am. So we decided to hang on there. By this time, sleep had started to take toll on my friend Mangesh. And we knew that once he crashes, nothing can wake him up. He suggested we go back to Mysore and drop plans of Ooty. We had to do something to beat his sleep. So me and Sohail took him to a nearby tea shop and asked him to have tea. After a dose of tea, we thought it’s better to go for a walk so that he can come out of his sleep. So we went for a walk. When we are returning from our half a Km walk, we saw something very interesting. We saw a bunch of guys on a tree. There was a lot of noise. I happened to see a guy and thought I have met him earlier. When I had a close look at him I was sure that he was one of our college mates in Satara (Maharashtra). I told this to Mangesh but he was not ready to agree. He was like 'what the hell he would be doing here?' I thought of an idea. I knew his name, so I shouted his name 'Mandar' loudly and to our utter surprise there was an immediate response from him. He was the same chap. We were astonished. Mangesh could not believe. What a coincidence travel can throw on you. Who would imagine seeing a college mate on a tree at 4 a.m. in some unrelated area? He climbed down, we had some good chat. These chaps had come to Gundulpet from Bangalore and were on their way to Mudumalai forests. Their bus was at 6 a.m. and they didn’t have anything else to pass their time and they came up with this 'Monkey ' idea. By this time Mangesh had lost his sleep. So there was no looking back. We drove through the dense Bandipur forest clicking the elephants. At Gudulur, we took left and the drive was excellent to Ooty through the beautiful terrain. We reached at 11 a.m. After staying there for a night, we started back for Bangalore at 10 a.m. When we were about to exit the Bandipur forest on our return, we saw a black cheetah 50 meters ahead of us jump across the road. It took us few secs to realize that it was a Cheetah. Probably the roar of our RX helped us:). We reached Bangalore at 9 p.m. It was a fun filled and adventurous trip we had. Other memorable bike rides have been: Chennai-Pondicherry Satara-Mahad-Kolad-Murud Janjeera-Harihareshwar-Kashid-Shivtharghal-Satara Hyderabad-Srisailam Pune-Mumbai Satara-Koyna-Poladpur-Mahableshwar-Satara After we got married, me and Prachi have stayed at various places as part of my job. Whichever places we have stayed (for work or otherwise), we have visited places around that and pounced on the opportunity to travel. When we were in Hyderabad, we have traveled on my Yamaha bike from Hyderabad to Srisailam through the beautiful forests. When we were in Chennai, we have traveled to Chidambaram/Mayavaram/Karaikal to see the beautiful temples and the mangroove forests. When we were in Pune, we have traveled to beautiful forts in Mahableshwar, Raigad, Satara and breathtaking waterfalls at Thoseghar. Now that we are in Bangalore, we have traveled to see the beautiful palace in Mysore, to experience the serene beauty in Coorg, to trek in the gods own country in Wayanad, to walk on the beautiful beaches in Goa, to explore the engrossing Western Karnataka (Varadahalli, Jog Falls, Gokarna, Murudeshwar, Kollur, Udipi, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Edugunji), experience the beautiful temples at Belur Halebeedu, witness the architectural wonder at Hampi, to turn with the western ghats in Chikmangalur, to feel the peace at Mantralaya, to walk in the clouds at Skandagiri and many other places. Outside India, we have traveled to Langkawi in Malaysia. We roamed the entire length and breadth of the beautiful Langkawi Island. This island has the best of beaches and best of hills. You can see some of the photographs of these visits on our profile.