Me and Road to Freedom!!

If someone had told me two years back that i ll transform into an adventure loving chic who takes off and hits the road every weekend, i would have probably given them my worst stare and called up a psychiatrist to fix an appointment for them... Now, my friend's complain "Be in the city for atleast one weekend" :-D

My trekking interest started in the year 2007 when my class guys bet about reaching the top of a random hillock at Yelagiri.. yours truly happily reached there first even before any of the guys could make it...i still trek, atleast once a month...  but the interest in road trips was sparked by a impromptu trip with friends in December 2009...

One fine evening M just called and said "You are joining us on the road trip to Pondicherry, this Thursday".. was cut off before i could argue about office schedule... the trip was fun.. it was just us friends, the car and the road... and yeah pit stops, loads of pit stops... right from finishing of all Parotas of a local road side eatery that the cook had prepared for the whole day to getting lost along the lanes of Pondicherry, the trip was total fun... had the most beautiful experience of watching the rain approach and cross us, as we were seated in a boat floating on the Pitchavaram Lake... its another story that i started shivering and P had to hold me for a long time to keep me warm... i had my first treatise with cigarette and alcohol, and mind you no regrets... that bridge is crossed now :)

2010 had a great start with me starting off with a single backpack to Bangalore, Karnataka and to Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh from there.. Re and me were the partners in companion...  Re knew a bit of the local language compared to me who acted dumb all through the weekend... the Lepakshi temple and the nearby rock hillock which we scaled bare foot were all fun.. but the real fun part was our return trip... we got lost.. yup, you read it rite :) we got into the wrong bus and realized it a good half an hour after the bus was on its way to some other place.. the conductor let us down in the middle of nowhere... did we panic??

 The Naga-devis at Lepakshi temple, found at the base of Nagalingam

Well as Re said, Lets have some tender coconut from that street vendor before we figure out something... so Tender coconut it was... a local came to help and put us on a "van" towards a major bus junction... middle of nowhere, around midnight, two females, dark roads, beaten down vehicle, and i expected him to demand skyrocketing fare from us, if not do something else... we didn't believe our ears when he quoted the fare... "3rs. each madam" bless his soul.. we gave him a ten rupee note and walked away... Reached back Bangalore around 2 in the morning and rest of the weekend was uneventful..

February sent me on a trip to Anaikatti for a Photography + Trek trip (bus trip) and March saw me marching away to Nagercoil (train trip)...

April saw me on the road again... Me and the kiddo S planned a one day bicycling trip from Tambaram to Chengalpet.. a total of 120 kms.. the ride towards Chengalpet was total fun.. first pitstop was at Thailavaram.. we had to click a Hanuman Mandir there... it turned out to be a hole in the wall temple and took us atleast three to and fros on the same road to figure out the temple... but the Curd rice they gave us as Prasadham was total yumm... with breakfast done, we moved on till SRM Lake... took out the camera for the first time...we took several pit stops for water, sugar cane juice, mosambi, tender coconut etc, thanks to the scorching Chennai sun... the next stop was at Singaperumal Temple.. fun again... had a great time by discussing Hindu Mythology (my favourite topic: Captain Obvious) with the kiddo... took a detour through Mahindra City and had the most fun lunch at Wangs, The Cake shop of Taj...

 Our Bicycles at one of the pit stops

After two hours we reached the final destination, The Chengalpet  Lake.. we managed to cross through and get into the lake.. i seriously didn't know that the lake was off limits till we reached back to the city... though i dint have much to click, kiddo had great fun clicking me as a machi-waali and what not :-P

the trip back was okayish, till i got the sun stroke and we took the train back to the City... it was total riot, right from the Tea uncle near Tambaram, giving us a boisterous smile when he heard us taking a bicycle trip early in the morning... on the return journey, when i couldnt take it anymore and went off to sleep it was heartening to see a guy saying his kid "come this side and sleep , don't disturb akka, she is tired"... and it was total awesome to have S kiddo as your partner in crime... psst: he is gonna call me aunty for ages for calling him kiddo in this post :P

May was the icing of all the trips i took... Yuppo, a bike trip... if you are a regular reader and following me for a long time, you might know about my bike accident 8 years back and my fear of bikes... i just took the risk as i was not the one who is going to ride it, i was just a pillion passenger or luggage.. :P i was still wary of the long ride and the speed... i reached Bangalore at around 5 in the morn and we geared up at the railway station itself.. i was really a sight, jacket, yellow helmet, wrist band and all... :D

First stop was at Chennapatna for breakfast.. i lost count of the pit stops after that as we took way too many... not that we were tired but both of us were shutterbugs and we were like "hey that looks nice..stop stop stop we will click" :P our first proper destination was Somnathpura... a temple for Vishnu, with him in three various forms... Several clicks and "Eshtu" later we were off to Mysore... reached pretty late.. i saw the lighted up Mysore Palace.. man wat a sight!!

 The Nagamandala at Somnatpura Temple

Next day we took a tour of Mysore Palace, roamed around the old Mysore part of the city and did things that a regular tourist won't do.. :-D the ride back was awesome and in break neck speed given i had to take an early bus and we were pretty late while starting from Mysore... i wouldn't forget this ride for various reasons...

and my fear of bikes, errmm gone.. or atleast hiding for the time sake...lets hope i just don't get too brave and take on to ride a bike myself...

What next: More of these trips and something new... that parasailing at Pune which Satti suggested sometime back is really tempting me now!!