Jhumka Girl goes to Jimmiki Kammal State
Even before V got this Thunderbird (TB) and even before Accham Enbadhu Madamaiyada hit the screens, we used to discuss a lot about bike tripping across the country. And when he finally got the TB this June, we sure wanted to put all our discussions to action, i.e., go on a bike trip. We did go on a 2-day trip to Jawadhu Hills, which was about 200 km off Chennai, but we wanted to do a 10-day proper trip in bike. After a lot of deliberation and contemplation, we finally decided to do a road trip across the South West Coast starting from Mangalore and finishing it off at Rameshwaram during the year end Christmas - New Year Holidays.
Leaves booked and granted... Itinerary jotted down.. Bike ready, we were eagerly anticipating the day of the journey. But of course, when everything is so perfect, things have to get jinxed right? And that's exactly what happened. V fractured a bone in his left ring finger while playing Cricket. Now since I didn't know how to ride TB and because V can't ride with his fractured finger, we had to ditch our bike plan.
Since, leaves were already booked, we didn't want to drop off the vacation entirely and hence decided to cover the itinerary as much as possible by public transport. Went ahead and booked the bus tickets from Chennai to Kannur.
We started off from Chennai last night at 8.30 P.M. Chennai to Kannur is around 650 km which took around 14 hours in Bus. So we expected to reach Kannur at 10.30 A.M. But wait wait, its the Christmas weekend boss, and the traffic in Chennai during long weekends is so unpredictable and unbearable. And yesterday was no exception. By the time we reached the outskirts of the city it was 12.30 A.M. Close to 4 hours to cover a distance of hardly 30 km. Koduma pa! Thank God, it was an A/C Volvo, else would have been drenched with sweat within 15 minutes into the journey.
And so, the drive kept continuing. I woke up at 7 in the morning only to realise that we had just reached Coimbatore. We were another 250 km away from Kannur and I was told that since the roads in Kerala are quite narrow, it would take us another 7 hours to reach our destination. As I was bracing myself for another 7 hours journey, I was hoping they would stop somewhere for a Tea / Breakfast. I was already starting to feel the hunger pangs. When the bus didn’t seem to be stopping anywhere, and since it was already around 9 45 A.M, I went ahead to enquire the driver when would he stop for breakfast. Alas, he said they wouldn’t be stopping anywhere and that they would reach Kozhikode in a little more than an hour’s time. I was aghast. Kannur was another 80 km off Kozhikode, and took another 3 hours. Dejected, I came back to my seat and tried to doze off. But the lurch in my stomach wouldn’t let me sleep. Finally when I started to doze off, we had reached Kozhikode and they shook me awake.
For those wondering why would I been woken up at Kozhikode, here is the answer. Kallada Travels has this amazing concept where they let you book a ticket from Chennai to Kannur, take you in that amazing Multi Axle A/C bus till Kozhikode. They de-board you from the bus there and board you into another Tempo Traveller which takes you to Kannur. And since it was time for us to get on to the Tempo, I was woken up. My hunger was at its peaks. I hated myself for not carrying even a single packet of biscuit while boarding the bus. Owed to myself that I would never again board a bus without something to eat. So, back to the story, the Tempo glides through the winding roads slowing down occasionally at the busy town junctions. It was sunny afternoon and the not-so-effective A/C of the Tempo was adding fuel to my hunger woes. For the first time ever, I wished we had opted to take a train instead of bus. Finally, we reached Kannur at 2 30 P.M.
We had not booked any rooms earlier and decided we would crash by any place that was available and affordable. We get off the bus, and as yours truly keep staring at the road and the buildings around, V calls up a Hotel and checks for room availability. It was a hotel nearby and they had just one room available at the moment and yay, we got it. We take an auto to the place which was about 1.5 km from where we were and the Auto guy didn’t charge a penny more than what the meter showed. That was quite surprising becuase we were used to people charging exhorbitantly or asking more than what the meter showed at Chennai.
We check in to the hotel and rush away to grab food at the nearest Hotel as it was quite late for lunch already. We go into Hotel “Hotel”. Luckily they still had something for us to eat. I hog off like I have never seen food before and finish off super quick. From there we decide to go to St. Angelo Fort. An auto again. This Fort was apparently one of the first forts in Kerala and had been built by the Portguese. Nothing fancy here, just a partially ruined Fort along the coast of the Sea.
From the Fort was visible the Aayikkara Sea View point. It reminded me off the long row of rocks in the Sea in Royapuram. We walked off to that place and spent quite sometime there.
As the sunset wouldn’t be quite visible from either the Fort or the Aayikkara Sea View Point, we decided to go to the nearby Payyabalam Beach. The beach was quite crowded with lot of people waiting to witness the sunset. It could have easily been one of the best sunsets that I have ever seen in the West Coast had the Sun not gone inside the cloud at the last minute. My search to witness the best sunset still continues. Nevertheless, the hues of the sky post the sunset were beautiful.
A quick dinner and back to the room !
End of Day 1.. ! Tiring but ended with a very good Malabar Parotta and Kerala special Lemon Tea ;-)
J
Leaves booked and granted... Itinerary jotted down.. Bike ready, we were eagerly anticipating the day of the journey. But of course, when everything is so perfect, things have to get jinxed right? And that's exactly what happened. V fractured a bone in his left ring finger while playing Cricket. Now since I didn't know how to ride TB and because V can't ride with his fractured finger, we had to ditch our bike plan.
Since, leaves were already booked, we didn't want to drop off the vacation entirely and hence decided to cover the itinerary as much as possible by public transport. Went ahead and booked the bus tickets from Chennai to Kannur.
We started off from Chennai last night at 8.30 P.M. Chennai to Kannur is around 650 km which took around 14 hours in Bus. So we expected to reach Kannur at 10.30 A.M. But wait wait, its the Christmas weekend boss, and the traffic in Chennai during long weekends is so unpredictable and unbearable. And yesterday was no exception. By the time we reached the outskirts of the city it was 12.30 A.M. Close to 4 hours to cover a distance of hardly 30 km. Koduma pa! Thank God, it was an A/C Volvo, else would have been drenched with sweat within 15 minutes into the journey.
And so, the drive kept continuing. I woke up at 7 in the morning only to realise that we had just reached Coimbatore. We were another 250 km away from Kannur and I was told that since the roads in Kerala are quite narrow, it would take us another 7 hours to reach our destination. As I was bracing myself for another 7 hours journey, I was hoping they would stop somewhere for a Tea / Breakfast. I was already starting to feel the hunger pangs. When the bus didn’t seem to be stopping anywhere, and since it was already around 9 45 A.M, I went ahead to enquire the driver when would he stop for breakfast. Alas, he said they wouldn’t be stopping anywhere and that they would reach Kozhikode in a little more than an hour’s time. I was aghast. Kannur was another 80 km off Kozhikode, and took another 3 hours. Dejected, I came back to my seat and tried to doze off. But the lurch in my stomach wouldn’t let me sleep. Finally when I started to doze off, we had reached Kozhikode and they shook me awake.
For those wondering why would I been woken up at Kozhikode, here is the answer. Kallada Travels has this amazing concept where they let you book a ticket from Chennai to Kannur, take you in that amazing Multi Axle A/C bus till Kozhikode. They de-board you from the bus there and board you into another Tempo Traveller which takes you to Kannur. And since it was time for us to get on to the Tempo, I was woken up. My hunger was at its peaks. I hated myself for not carrying even a single packet of biscuit while boarding the bus. Owed to myself that I would never again board a bus without something to eat. So, back to the story, the Tempo glides through the winding roads slowing down occasionally at the busy town junctions. It was sunny afternoon and the not-so-effective A/C of the Tempo was adding fuel to my hunger woes. For the first time ever, I wished we had opted to take a train instead of bus. Finally, we reached Kannur at 2 30 P.M.
We had not booked any rooms earlier and decided we would crash by any place that was available and affordable. We get off the bus, and as yours truly keep staring at the road and the buildings around, V calls up a Hotel and checks for room availability. It was a hotel nearby and they had just one room available at the moment and yay, we got it. We take an auto to the place which was about 1.5 km from where we were and the Auto guy didn’t charge a penny more than what the meter showed. That was quite surprising becuase we were used to people charging exhorbitantly or asking more than what the meter showed at Chennai.
We check in to the hotel and rush away to grab food at the nearest Hotel as it was quite late for lunch already. We go into Hotel “Hotel”. Luckily they still had something for us to eat. I hog off like I have never seen food before and finish off super quick. From there we decide to go to St. Angelo Fort. An auto again. This Fort was apparently one of the first forts in Kerala and had been built by the Portguese. Nothing fancy here, just a partially ruined Fort along the coast of the Sea.
 |
| View from St. Angelo Fort |
From the Fort was visible the Aayikkara Sea View point. It reminded me off the long row of rocks in the Sea in Royapuram. We walked off to that place and spent quite sometime there.
 |
| Aayikkara view point. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel |
As the sunset wouldn’t be quite visible from either the Fort or the Aayikkara Sea View Point, we decided to go to the nearby Payyabalam Beach. The beach was quite crowded with lot of people waiting to witness the sunset. It could have easily been one of the best sunsets that I have ever seen in the West Coast had the Sun not gone inside the cloud at the last minute. My search to witness the best sunset still continues. Nevertheless, the hues of the sky post the sunset were beautiful.
 |
| Sunset at Payyambalam Beach! |
A quick dinner and back to the room !
End of Day 1.. ! Tiring but ended with a very good Malabar Parotta and Kerala special Lemon Tea ;-)
J
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