Day 6, 30th Dec. 2016 - From Tamil Nadu to Kerala

Just before the Sunrise

Kanyakumari is a place in India from where you can see the sunset as well as the sunrise. We wanted to see the sunrise from the Vivekanand Rock Memorial. But as the ferry was cancelled on the earlier day, there was a huge crowd already lined up to get the tickets. We finally decided to stick to our hotel terrace to see the Sunrise. Ours Hotel was the tallest building in that area and so we had the advantage too. The weather was cloudy, but we managed to get a glimpse of the rising Sun.

Sunrise riddled with clouds!

Immediately after the sunrise, we saddled up and headed back to the road. Today was one more long stretch. We were going to ride along the western coast in Kerala now.

We left Kanyakumari and halted for breakfast after an hour and a half. We had our usual share of dosa’s, uttappa’s , idli’s and some coffee. Some of us even had a nice stomach filling milkshake.

The terrain now was quite different from the flat lands of the eastern coast. There were huge granite mountains on one side and nice green fields and water bodies on the other. The roads started becoming comparatively smaller. We were bidding adieu to Tamil Nadu. From here on it was another terrain… another culture.

The state of Kerala, Gods own country, greeted us with a lush green groves of betel nut and coconut. Small curvy roads and the hot climate were making the ride slow. To add up to this, there was a lot of road repair work going on.

Today even google maps had decided to play games on us. We had a desire to follow the coastline and be as close to the sea as possible. Google took it a bit too seriously and guided us to supposedly coastal road. The already small highway started becoming smaller and smaller and the tarmac started vanishing. We could now see the clean green blue waters of the Arabian sea flanked with with white sands..actually we could also feel the same sand below our feet and tyres…The road which was present in google maps had vanished somewhere and we were stuck in the dry sand! We checked the map again and yes...we were bang on the road…the only difference was it was not a road at all…just lots of sand. Anyways, after a tiresome exersize of maneouvering our bikes carefully through the sand we entered a small gully. Now this gully was actually so small that only one of us could pass at a time. It had sharp 90 deg turns. It was a test of our skills and I am happy to announce here that all of us passed with flying colours (and lots of sand in our bikes, eyes, mouth, nose, clothes).

Riding in the heat was a difficult task, especially with all the safety equipment. Our first destination today was Kovalam beach. Taking a small detour from our main route, we reached the beach. It was an awesome sight. A small beach, with a few boats anchored on the sand. The main beach is flanked by hills on both the sides. The beaches in the entire southern region of India are clean. There were nice big waves…ideal for surfing. This was a much needed break from the tiring ride and all the episodes that had happened since morning. We hydrated ourselves with some refreshing coconut water and started to move ahead.

Kovalam Beach

It was hot and sweaty and the breakfast we had been consumed in the sand activity..hunger thirst and heat were driving us now. In kerala you are continuously passing through small villages, back to back. Picking up speed is impossible. Being afternoon time, most hotels and eateries were closed. Finally we found a small place which was serving limited menu. Chicken curry, Veg curry, egg curry, omlette and Parota. We had no choice but to eat here. Though the place was small, the food here was very tasty. To quench our hunger we slurped on a few bottles of Pepsi. We were finally done. We got our bill and were awestruck. The rates were simple. Rs. 10 for one portion of anything you take. After eating sumptuous amounts of food our bill was just around 200 bucks. By far this was the cheapest meal we had.

Now the roads were getting a bit better than the entry to Kerala. After the experiences we had since morning, we decided to stick to the main highway instead of following the coastal highway. We passed many beautiful rivers and backwaters.

Backwaters in Kerala

By late afternoon we had passed Trivandrum and then Kollam and were enroute Allapuzha.

The setting Sun brought a new freshness as the heat reduced. The road was also much better now. We were back on track with our speed and were eager to coverup the distance. But, again, the punctured bike started showing resistance. Just after crossing Allapuzha, I observed that the tyre was going flat. I informed Ganesh to slow down and went ahead in search of a Mechanic. Found one. But he did not have the equipment to repair the tyre. We filed in some air and started our journey. We decided to slow down a bit. The group was split. Few of us went ahead as we had to find the hotel and check in and me and Ganesh stayed back.

Then..after a few kilometer we found our guardian angel..A tyre shop with a smart mechanic!! This was exactly what we were looking for. And he was smart and had al the necessary equipment including a hot patch. In a few minutes, the tyre was fixed and we were ready to go. At this point my bike decided to give up. I started it, switched on my extra set of Halogens and spatttt..off went the electricals. Luckily for me I had faced this earlier and knew the root cause of the problem. The switch for my extra set of lamps was broken and the wire came in contact with the bike body thus blowing off the fuse. I changed the fuse and did some Jugaad with the switch. We were back on the road and rolling again.

Finally we reached our resort in Kochi. Tired and worn out we were…and a chilled beer was exactly what was needed. Devesh, Amol and Tejas had checked in earlier and already taken care of that. After a few quick swigs and a small shower, we headed out for dinner. None of us was in a mood to eat south indian meals. We wanted a change..and Dominos came to our rescue. This was the first time after Pondy that we had a nice dinner with some choice of Menu.