Trip to Chunchi Falls

Recently, have been for a one-day trip to Chunchi Falls near Bangalore.

Location
Chunchi falls are best by your own vehicle. The total drive is close to 95 KM from Bangalore. 'Chunchi Falls' are located in Kanakapura Taluk on banks of river Arkavati.

How to get there?
Drive out of Bangalore on Kanakapura Road. After Kanakapura, you can proceed for another 10 KM and then you can just ask anyone on the road for Chunchi Falls. I am suggesting that you ask because there is no board which can catch your attention :)

You will need to take a deviation from the main road towards Mekedatu and Sangama. This Sangama is place where three rivers join. You will need to take a left deviation 16 KM BEFORE this Sangama which will take you to Chunchi Falls. Please keep asking people on the way, as there are many chances that you miss the small deviations.

We left Bangalore at 9 AM and after loosing out on few turns, reached the falls at around 11:45 AM. It was deserted and no one around as it was a working day. You will find local oldies sitting under the trees where you park your vehicle and they will come forward to take you down to the falls. Even though initally we didn't want to, we had to as the way is through the rocks and trees and we might miss these pathways.

As monsoon's are still setting in, there was not much water in the falls. There were small streams of falls. We spent around an hour there and returned back. The weather was too good (cloudy and cool wind blowing) and this was the best thing which happened. I would not call it a disastrous visit, but it would have been worth it if there was water (out timing was not good).

This is a cool drive and roads are not bad either.

Trip to Vizag

I am born and brought up in The City of Destiny - Visakhapatnam. I come home once a year and I try to make it during Pongal. This time I decided to go home by drive along with my Parents. Here are my trip details...

Total Distance : 1,102
Total Drive Time: 16 Hrs 12 Minutes

We started in Bangalore at 6 AM in the morning and by 8 PM, we covered a distance of ~850 KM to reach Rajahmundry, a place 220 KM from Vizag.

From Bangalore, we need to take Old Madras Road to reach Chittore. From Chittore you need to deviate towards Tirupati and hit Gudur to touch the Golden Quadrilateral NH 5. I need to admit that this is one of the best things which can happen to India - The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Project. The road is amazing and fantastic. However, watch out for loads of Toll Gates on the GQ.

Trip Log

Place	Distance	Distance from Bangalore
Bangalore	0.00
A1, Chittor	167.00	167.00
Kalahasti	133.00	300.00
Naidupeta	32.00	332.00
NH 5	9.00	341.00
A1, Gudur	40.00	381.00
A1	140.00	521.00
Vijayawada	173.00	694.00
Rajahmundry	185.00	879.00
Vizag	223.00	1102.00

Where to take Breaks?
The best places to take breaks are A1 Plaza operated by Reliance. ThisPlaza is behind a Reliance Petrol Bunk on the highways. In the above trip log, I mentioned where you can find a A1 Plaza.
Note: If you are driving from Niadupeta to Gudur you will be on the left and A1 is on your right. When you see the board for A1, slowdown and there is a break in the median for A1 just 20 Mtrs before. You take your right and drive in the opposite direction.

Toll Gates
The following are the toll gates and the price you need to pay.

Chittore Bye-Pass to Tirupati	Rs. 10
Budhanam Toll Plaza, Nellore Dist.	Rs. 20
Nellore Toll Plaza, Nellore Dist.	Rs. 15
NHAI Toll Plaza, Sunnambatti, Nellore Dist	Rs. 35
Paleru Toll Gate	Rs. 10
Kaza Toll Plaza	Rs. 40
Potipadu Toll Gate	Rs. 15
Kalaparu Toll Gate	Rs. 15
NAHI Tanuku Toll Plaza	Rs. 55
NHAI K Varam Toll Plaza	Rs. 45
NHAI Vempadu Toll Plaza	Rs. 45
Aganampudi Toll Gate	Rs. 15
Total	Rs. 320

Diesel
I spent Rs.3344.00 for Diesel which amounts to 98.35 Lts of Diesel. Average milage is 11.5 KM.

Total Drive Cost
To summarize, I spent approximately Rs 3.32 per KM.

Experience
This is one of my best drives till date. If you planning for a drive to this side of the country, dont think twice, you will really enjoy it.

A Pilgrimage...

Places - Udupi, Dharmastala, Kolluru
Total Run - 1,381.7 KM.

Oct 20-24, 2006 being holidays, we have decided to go on a small pilgrimage to Udupi, Dharmastala and Kolluru. This is my second long drive in my Scorpio. The first was to Ooty and it was very good.

We left on 21st morning and took the Bangalore - Mangalore road via Hassan to Udupi. The drive was fantastic till Hassan and after that we had trouble. The road was absolutely bad. I think 'bad' is a very small term I could use. It was pathetic. Took about 3 Hrs to cover a stretch of about 30 KM and you could imagive our fate.

We reached Udupi at around 6:30 PM. We lost a lot of time covering the bad stretches of roads and took about 4 breaks in the total journey.

On 22nd, we drove to Dharmastala from Udupi. It was about 110 KM and the road was really good. Had darshan and came back to Udupi by around 4 PM. In the evening we had darshan of Udupi Krishna and it was really good.
On 23rd, we drove to Kolluru which is 77 KM from Udupi. Kolluru is famous for Mookambika Temple. The road from Udupi - Kundapura is not good. You need to keep your leg on the clutch. From Kundapura - Kolluru is a very good drive. Kolluru is on the footsteps of Western ghats and you will go through thick forests and zig-zag roads. Its a decent drive.

We had darshan at the temple and started back to Bangalore. This time, we decided to come via Shimoga instead of the Mangalore road. We continued on the ghats and after 110 KM drive, reached Shimoga. The route is lonely, but the roads are pretty good.

From Shimoga it was another 298 KM to Bangalore. Initially the road was not that good, but after about 30 KM, the road was really smooth.

Reached home around 8 PM after a 500 KM drive. This is the first time I did such a long distance in my car, and none of us were tired. My Scorpio never let me down and gave a very good quality drive.

I have to mention that with A/C, the average milage I got was around 13.5, which is very good for a SUV with 2.6 Ltr CRDe Engine :)

All New Scorpio 2006

I decided to buy a Scorpio long ago. But, was unable to buy due to the huge investment. Finally, the day has come when I could afford it. I was trading in my 3 Year old Santro in which I did about 55,000 KM to buy my dream car.
I went for a test drive when the new version of Scorpio was launched. I was quite impressed. Thanked my stars that I could buy the new version and not the old one. On May 10,2006 I went ahead and booked the car. Got the vehicle delivered on the 10, June 2006. WOW!
This is a fambulous car made by India, for the Indian who cannot buy imported SUV's. People told be that Scorpio is not at all advisable for Bangalore (this is where i live) roads. But, I still went ahead. After driving for around 4 Months, I can definitely say that this is a Santro in its segment in terms of Manuvarability. Believe me! I am not writing this on behalf of Mahindra nor any magazine. This comes from my heart. You should know how to handle a car and you will definitely enjoy driving this machine.
If at all I need to suggest one this for improvement, I would only say "Breaking". It takes around 3-4 Sec to get the car to a standstill when you are driving at 100 KMPH. This is a bit huge time when you are talking about Indian roads. If this beast had ABS, nothing like it. I think I read it in one of the car magazines that ABS would be included by the year end, and i am sure that the price would be at least 1.5 Lacs more (which would definitely be beyond my budget). Even this version is amazing...