Our Travelogue

Which of our experiences that we list here? The nostalgia of the many trips are too many... The last trip was a whirlwind tour to our hometown ( read village -Mallapur) 750 Kms away from Mumbai, on the coastal Karnataka belt. The drive on the Innova took just 10 hours, including the mandatory 3 comfort stops and filling of fuel. The roads are just excellent ( I just can't imagine the state of the roads after the heavy monsoons) as this part of Karnataka receives heavy rainfall and the soil strata is loose...remember the difficulties that Konkan railways had, while constructing all those tunnels and track in this area? The "shortcut" route from Munnar to Kodai which is just 96 kms took all of 10 hours on the motorbike.....the entire journey was done in heavy rainfall. But the scenic beauty was just out of the world! En-route we passed Berijam, had hot Malpua and tea in a small, roadside stall. I am told that now, Berijam is out of bounds for tourists, having been declared eco-reserve to conserve the delicate fauna. One long trip was the drive from Delhi - Shimla/ Manali/ Palampur/ Dharamsala/ Dalhousie/ Katra in peak winter. The highlight of this was a overnight stay at the log huts at Raison, between Kullu and Manali. The gurgling waters of river Beas at night, was sheer bliss and calming. This reminded me of my stay at these same huts way back in 1989, while on my way to Leh on a Yamaha RX 100. I had traveled all alone, from Bangalore on that occasion.