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AVENGER DIARIES #01 BOHEMIAN TAG EIN

                                                                                   PREFACE

Myself Anoop M S, an engineering college lecturer by profession and an automobile enthusiast, who hails from Kottayam, Kerala. This is a travelogue about my first solo road trip in brand new Bajaj Avenger 220 Cruise bike through the northern Kerala till the boarder and its extension up to Mangaluru (Mangalore) covered around a total of 1100 Km. As I am new born baby in the field of writing travelogues, please bear and forgive me for any mistakes while writing this piece of art. I am expecting the constant support fromthe readers for my future endeavors. This road trip planned for three days of journey in 28, 29 and 30th of December 2016. Trip started on 28th early morning from my home in Kottayam and returned on 30th evening to the same place where I startedmy journey. The important destinations covered during this trip were Thrissur, Calicut, Thalassery,Muzhuppilangad Drive-In-Beach, Kannur, Bekal fort, Kasargod, North Kerala boarder (Thalappady) and Mangaluru (formerly known as Mangalore) in Karnataka. I chose Bajaj Avenger 220 Cruise to fulfill my travelling desires with an affordable budget. As you all know it’s an entry level cruiser bike made for Indians by an Indian company. One of the intentions behind my trip was to explore the cruise character of my bike. From my whole trip experience, frankly I could say it’s a perfect cruiser bike in the entry level cruiser segment. My rating for this bike is (10/10), even though in the absence of rear disc brakes.Throughout my trip I had local foods from streets and heritage hotels, and also I didn’t even book any hotel rooms for stay. I preferred to stop where I wanted to and stayed there. The overall trip expense was around three thousand rupees only. Trip photos were taken by Lenovo K3 note mobile camera (13 Megapixel). I am very much thankful to almighty, my parents and friends for successful completion of this maiden bike trip.

Kottayam                                                                                           Anoop M S February 2017

                                                         `                                             Get Set Go…. The journey commenced on 28/12/2016, 6.30 am from my home in Kottayam. My plan was to cover north Malabar and northern boarder of gods own country during the trip. The breakfast was arranged by my friend Felix in his home near Chalakkudy (Thrissur District). I reached there at 9.30 am and had breakfast with Thrissur dishes, and spent time with him and his parents there. Then resumed my journey from there to Calicut, with the eagerness to taste the traditional “Kozhikkodan Biriyani”. I cruised my bike past Thrissur, Kunnamkulam, Edappal, Kuttipuram and Kottakkal etc. Around 3 pm I reached

Calicut city, and headed to the famous “Rahmath Hotel” near to railway station for traditional Kozhikkodan Biriyani. After having tasty stomach full biriyani, I moved to Mananchira square (public park in the heart of Calicut city) for relaxing from long bike ride in a sunny day. I planned my first day stay in another friend’s home in Thalassery, whose name is Sourav alias Katt. But changed abide to Kannur, in order to reach the northern Kerala boarder in early morning of second day. I didn’t prefer night drive throughout the journey because of the heavy truck traffic in National Highway 66 (formerly National Highway 17). 

From Mananchira square I continued my journey to Kannur; it was around 94 Km from Calicut. On the way to Kannur I crossed famous north Kerala towns like Koyilandy, Vadakara, Mahe and Thalassery. At around 7.30 pm I arrived at Kannur town and searched for my stay there. I chose a hotel in KK Bus terminal complex, hotel was in the 5th floor of the bus terminal complex, so I got a nice night view of Kannur town and its suburbs. After refreshing I went for dinner at the nearby restaurant. I came back to room after dinner and my body was ready for a long nap to get rid of tiredness from the long journey. I set the alarm for 5.30am and drenched in to a deep sleep. I woke up for the alarm tune and got ready for the second day expedition. The second day plan was to reach north Kerala boarder and return back to Bekal fort, Muzhuppilangad drive-in beach etc. From Kannur at around 6 am, I left for north Kerala boarder without having the morning tea which is very much needed as far as I concerned. But after starting the early morning ride, I got a thrill and which lead me to a non - stop ride to Kasargod through NH 66.The highway sign boards passed through me like Kasargode 98Km, 68Km, 38Km and 18Km etc.

I stopped at a place known as Poinachi on the highway for a moment due to nature call. I suddenly resumed the trip but the thrill of early morning bike ride through the new places was still in my mind. Reached Kasargode around morning 8.30, but I couldn’t stop there because of strong desire to reach northern boarder of Kerala, a place known as Thalappady. I transit through Kasargode town, Manjeswaram and Uppala etc. Before reaching Thalappady, I halted in front of a tea shop, which offering north Indian type tea. The people sitting there were using half Malayalam and half Kannada for their communication. They enquired about my bike trip, native place etc. One thing I can surely say about my bike is, wherever I passed through, people kept on looking at my bike with some strange (Ohhh…look at that!!) expressions. I think the color and cruiser look is the most prominent things behind this attraction. Hats off Bajaj and its team behind Avenger family (F.L.G).

I enjoyed the tea by zipping it very slowly and asked about Mangalore to the vendor. He told me that Mangalore is just 25 Km from the boarder. After hearing this, my inner thoughts woke up and telling me to why shouldn’t you go to Mangalore?, Which is very near to boarder. I did cruise bike to Thalappady after having tea. There was nothing much special to see except Kerala and Karnataka check post and long queue of heavy trucks. After a kilometer from Karnataka check post, there was a big toll plaza and a well maintained four lane road leading to Mangalore, seeing that I decided to go further and raced towards Mangalore. This ride was one of the most enjoyed sessions during the trip; the less traffic four lane road gave an immense pleasure of bike riding. On the way I crossed a lengthy bridge, which constructed across the river “Netravathi”, which was flowing with abundant water source to fulfill the daily needs of Mangaloreans. After a half an hour drive I reached Mangalore city and planned to have breakfast from there. I found a traditional Mangalore restaurant, “Sree Ratna”, which was on the banks of the highway. I ordered a masala dosa and fruit juice, and the hospitality was good at there. From hotel I moved further inside to the city and roamed around there. I returned from city after sometime to my first destination Bekal fort, which is around 67 Km from Mangalore and 18 km south of Kasargode. Bekal fort is the largest fort in Kerala, spreading over 40 acres and situated at Bekal village in Kasargod district.

I arrived at Bekal fort around 12.30 pm, due to sunny day I couldn’t roam much around the fort. Bekal fort was a new experience to me and astonished with the view of the Bekal beach from the fort. In spite of heat from sun, I captured most of the beautiful sceneries around there. Visiting Bekal fort was one of my childhood dreams, which i inspired from the song “Uyire Uyire”, of Maniratnam movie Bombay. The entire song scenes were shot at Bekal fort and its premises, and it’s a nice song too. I had my lunch, which was an Egg biriyani from a local restaurant in Bekal. After accomplishing one of my missions, I left Bekal fort and moved to another destination, which is the Muzhuppilangad drive-in beach, 12 km south of Kannur town.

From Bekal fort I avoided the NH66 till Kanhangad, and opted for the coastal road which gave the sea view while riding. From Kanhangad I entered in to NH66 and rushed towards Kannur. I hurried to reach at Muzhuppilangad Beach before sunset, it’s the best time for explore it as a drive in beach with the background of sunset. On that day evening Left Democratic Front, who rules the state organized a protest “Manushya Changala” (Human Chain) against central government along the sides of NH66 from south end to north end of Kerala at 4.30 pm. On the way to Kannur, I saw people hold their hands together and lined along the right side of National Highway 66 and reciting the pledge of their volunteers. It was a nice view along the NH 66 till reaching the Kannur town and also people were looking at my bike with a strange look. There was traffic block in Kannur town after the protest, but with bike I could cross the traffic very easily and reach Muzhuppilangad drive-in beach around 5.30 pm.

Another one of my travelling dream was riding bike through Muzhuppilangad drive in beach (5.5 Km length), which is the famous and longest drive-in beach in India. In 2010, I came to Kannur with my friends for a marriage but I couldn’t come here. So I was eagerly waiting for this chance. There is an entry fee for vehicles, I paid that and entered in to the beach. The specialty of this beach is that the sand bed is strong enough to ride vehicles. First I headed to north side of beach and took many photos with my mobile camera.Beach was crowded with vehicles; people were taking photos and videos of their ride and also practice driving there. I rode the bike about one kilometer through the beach and that was another mind blowing experience during the trip. I requested a fellowman to take some pictures of me sitting on bike. He did that well and asked about my trip, and congratulated me for my passion. I spent almost one hour with the scenic beauty of sunset in Muzhuppilangad drive in beach.

Next big thing was to meet my friend Saurav in Dharmadom, which is 5 Km from the beach. I came out of beach and stopped at an evening snack shop. I had a tea and local snack “Kallummekkaya” fry. Then I went for meeting Sourav, his home is near to Dharmadom Bridge and off to boat jetty road. I arrived there soon and met him, after six years, i.e. after college we never met. We were batch mates in TKM College of Engineering, Kollam. When I met him, he was sitting with his friends in Dharmadom beach. I spent a little moment with them and he introduced me to his friends. Saurav insisted me to reside there at night and continue journey on next day. I couldn’t accept that because I have to reach my home as soon as possible due to “home calling”. I planned to stay at Calicut on that night and resume journey on next day. So I said good bye to Saurav and his friends and headed to Calicut. During my trip I fuelled my bike in petrol pumps in Mahe (Union Territory). Petrol price was Rs.10 lesser than other places in Kerala. On the way back to Calicut I filled petrol in to my bike just below the tank cap. And I hastened to Calicut through the busy traffic in Mahe due to congested roads. I ate dinner from a thattukada near Vadakara. At around 11 pm, I reached Calicut and took a room in lodge near Pantheeramkavu bypass road. This was the same lodge and same room, where I stayed, while came to Calicut three months before. Due to the tiredness of bike ride, I slept as soon as I lay on the bed. That was all about my second day of the trip.

Early morning I woke up and got ready for the return journey. As I was staying in Calicut bypass, I didn’t face any problem with city traffic. Had a tea from highway teashop, I resumed the trip and said bye – bye to Calicut city. I crossed the Feroke Bridge over Kallayi River, also passed through Calicut University, Kottakkal, Edappal, Kunnamkulam and Thrissur. I came to four lanes National Highway from Thrissur, the time was morning 9.30 and I was searching for vegetarian restaurants for breakfast while riding. On highway near to Angamaly, I found a hotel and had breakfast from there. I kept on the journey after breakfast and accelerated towards my home. But later I felt sleepy while riding, when Aluva reached, I halted the bike and washed my face with cold water and did warm up. After sometime I felt energized and again proceeded my journey. On the way to home I stopped the bike two three times to have juice and to get rid of dehydration from hot day. Third day ride was the most difficult leap of my trip. From Aluva, I passed through Kalamassery, Kakkanad, Chottanikara and Kanjiranmattom etc. This stretch was very hard due to heavy traffic, and hotness from the sun. Ataround 2.30 pm I reached the place, from where I began my expedition two days before. Finally the “Home sweet Home” and that was the end of Bohemian Tag Ein.

                                                    THE END