Another Awesome Monsoon Drive with the HVK family !
If you've heard that some people can be 2nd time lucky then you must congratulate us for one of them as we got lucky second time as well to be a part of the HVK monsoon drive !! Yippeeeeee
So after an awesome Monsoon Drive event at the God's own country - Kerala, we decided to be a part of the Karnataka expedition as well and since it was just a long day drive, we thought it would be a good fun event and we weren't wrong. The registrations as usual got sold out immediately after they were opened but somehow this time we got the confirmation that we are a part of it.
This year everything was communicated to all the participants and aspirants on WhatsApp and we got our confirmation just 1 day prior to the event. It was suspense as usual for all HVK drives that we kept guessing where will this be, how far will it be, how much time will it take, when do we need to start and when will we come back.. all these queries are very usual for anyone who participates in HVK drives. Its a part of the fun, suspense and the overall gameplay not to disclose the destination and yes as Chief (HVK) says, don't worry about the destination, just drive ! Its the journey thats important and to the destination and that was true for this awesome drive-in-meet as well with all the fellow HVK'ians.
For those who missed the event, the event was a day drive somewhere near Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore at a distance of about 200 +/- kms. We were told to come to a base camp and from there the plan was to form convoys, have breakfast and then head for the main drive circuit. So we started around 4:30am from our place in South Bangalore towards the base camp that was around 120kms away. The drive was awesome as the roads here in south are really good now a days - and I'm only talking about expressways and not the Bangalore City roads :(
It took us around 1.5hrs to reach the base camp - Hotel Mayura. When we reached there, we were almost 8th or 9th car who had arrived there around 6:05am.
Coffee / Tea being served.
We parked our car and waited for the instructions.
Our beast parked in the queue
Yes you can rest on rent :) the Rest-o-rent :))
HVK'ians waiting for other cars. We were about 45 cars in total ..
Stikering in progrèss for some of the cars
From our organising team - Madhu and Shahbaz
Jyothivel - the producer !
Poorna and Mrs. Poorna - incharge of the breakfast distribution - thanks guys for the hot 'n yummy breakfast and all your arrangements
We getting stickered
and numbered with a smile :)
Breakfast distribution. Thanks Poorna !
Yummy Upma and Kesaribath ...
After the stickering and breakfast we moved towards the next stop with our convoy. Seriously had no clue on where we are going but one thing we knew that it will be fun for SURE
towards Mangalore
Excellent roads
Lovely weather, excellent roads and SUV ki savaari - what a combination :)
Chief's express passing by our our convoy
Lovely greenery all around the drive circuit
Our Convoy
Lovely views all the way
Passing through the villages
Serenity ...
Convoy towards ... hmmm... don't know
Lovely lake on the way to ..
Chod aaye hum wo galiyaan...
following the convoy leader...
The first site was of this lake - wow what an amazing place it was ..
our convoy queuing up ..
Photo opps for the convoy
Earlier convoy # 2leaving the place for the further journey
We halted here for about 20 mins before moving on further. We were served badam milk and a snack as refreshments here. We spent some time here taking pictures and then moved further..
Lake and the lovely views
Bird of prey .. looking for a hunt :)
Lake views..
Lake Views ..
This lake was nothing less than a mini Pingong Tso !
Lake Views ..
Lake Views ..
Lake Views ..
Our cars and the Lake Views ..
Me and my better half !!
Our convoy ready to rock and roll !!
Good bye lake
Chief's express posing for me .. :)
Zo - the Biker !
Shettihalli Church !!
Back to the village roads
Lovely views all the way
Paddy fields
Beautiful - isn't it ?
Driving down the memory lanes ...
Convoy drive
Convoy drive
We stopped at couple of places to take some pictures and this is one of them
Paddy fields and the lovely views of the river
Paddy fields
Our convoy parked for a short break
Farmers @ work !
The convoy !
Paddy fields
Fresh paddy !
The paddy fields were full of these ants - in fact some of them ran over my legs and bit me - oooh it was so itchy for atleast few days ..
Surprised and curious Farmers wondering what the heck is happening - why so many cars ?
Kids were curious to see the convoy and so many cars .. we clicked few pictures of them .. distributed some sweets and moved further
Some temple on the way
Lovely views
Lovely views
Amazingly beautiful views ...
See the convoy coming down the bridge road
Beautiful place and beautiful roads
Passing through the villages
Some trees being cut by the authorities I guess
Smile please :)
Lovely views of the farm land
Colorful Lovely countryside
Jumping jacksons !!
Passing through another convoy parked on the way
Some chitchat with Chief
Shooting in progress
Drive SAFE - wear a Helmet always !!
Beauty .. Isn't it ?
Beautiful Paddy fields both the sides ..
River stream
Smooth and calm backwaters of Karnataka !
While we were driving, I spotted a snake and immediately stopped for letting it cross the road as it was moving. The biker didn't spot it at first but when I stopped he came back asking what happened ? and then realized that theres a snake on the road. We let the snake cross the road and then proceeded further ..
Villagers wondering whats happening?
Sakleshpur on the right ->
At around late noon we stopped at the resort where the lunch was arranged. it was a good opportunity to network with other fellow HVK'ians and a welcome break. it was raining profusely here making it an awesome weather.... We had lunch here and proceeded further to the next stop.
Lunch hall
HVK'ians making about their experiences
HVK'ians making about their experiences
That smile of Chief
HVK Sir !!
HVK'ians making about their experiences
Organising team
The team that made this possible
After finishing the lunch we proceeded towards this plateau. Seriously this was a great Place for some serious photography but there were so many people and so less time to produce anything great. So we captures some shots and returned back to our cars to move further.
Group photo of our convoy members - we got left out :((
Beautiful - Isn't it ?
Grasslands and our Gaay mata !!
Crossing some good slushy roads
Farmers
That is the SWISS cottage
Farmers at work !
Kids busy with their mobile phones - must be playing games I guess. This was surprising as we thought only our urban kids are addicted to these time wasting machines but I guess this has infected our whole of India and with the new Digital wave ..soon it will be more spread. I guess technology has done good to India but has taken away few of the cherishing moments from our lives like playing for real.. that Gilli Dandaa, Kabbaddi, Pushing Tyre with a stick, Playing Kho Kho or just climbing up the tree and relaxing there :)
Beautiful place
Some serious driving
Gaay Mata posing for us
Driving in the narrow lanes ..
Driving in the narrow lanes ..
Driving in the narrow lanes ..
Lovely views and weather
Fogg - No no not the Deo but the real FOG enroute !
Misty mountains ..
Curvy roads
The visibility here got poorer and poorer
Misty roads
Visibility got so low here ..
Amazing driving experience .. load every minute of it
Me with my sweetheart !
Ye hasin waadiyaan ye cloudy aasmaan :)
See the convoy !
At the top of the mountains !
The convoy !
The Maharashtran Scorpion Express !
Passing through the misty cloudy roads
some old temple on the way
Off-roading was fun too !
Lovely track for some good off-roading
I encourage you to see the video I've shot of the entire drive to get the real feel of the drive.
live the moment !
Coffee plantation
Beautiful lovely views
it was already around 6pm when we stopped for a sip of real filter coffee... to end the beautiful day and bid goodbye to all the dear friends ..
The coffee was real good and served hot. My recommendation to all is that try the coffee without sugar or with less sugar to enjoy the real taste here.
So we quickly finished our cup of coffee and moved towards Bangalore. It took us almost 5+ hrs to drive back home 'coz of good traffic and long queues on the toll booths.
On the way back to Namma Banguluru..
It was a great day spent on the south Indian countryside with fellow HVK'ians.
So to summarize the monsoon drive - an awesome experience, lovely weather, beautiful views and some real good drive.
