My ride from bangalore to chennai and pondicherry.

I was getting pretty bored with my life in Bangalore. There are no activities except boozing and partying. My mind was prompting to have a biking trip and to get rejuvenated. Then, one fine morning me and my friend Kiran (soopy) decided to set on a biking trip. We packed our back pack and started from Bangalore to Chennai on our Royal Enfield Thunderbird. The Bangalore Chennai 350 km highway is a four lane highway and there is nothing much to talk about that ride. We just rode in excess of 100 km/hr till chennai as the traffic was very low in the highway and also the roads were so good. I think most of the bikers will like to ride in fast curvy roads than a straight four lane highway. It is the same with me.

We reached Chennai within five hours. We stayed with our friend Rajesh who had already booked a hotel room there, as he was on an official tour there. In Chennai we stayed for two days and simply roamed all over the city. Then we decided to ride to Pondicherry from Chennai. The Chennai - Pondicherry East Coast road (ECR) is a scenic road and is very good for biking trips. After getting out of Chennai city we reached Kovalam beach. It is a fishing beach and there were no visitors there except ourselves. But I liked the beach very much as we can be so close to the sea there with no tourists or hawkers. After visiting Kovalam beach we continued our ride on the ECR. After some distance we reached the crocodile bank and we stopped there for a visit. After visiting our croc friends we continued our ride.

After riding some twenty kilometers we reached Mahabalipuram. Mahabalipuram is a wonderful place and we can wonder at the ancient marvels there. The stone sculptures there are amazing. At that point of time I blamed myself for not repairing my Nikon. After visiting all the places in Mahabalipuram we settled for a beer and lunch in a beach side restaurant. We had prawns and grilled fish and believe me, the food was wonderful. It was very good, fresh and cheap. After some rest we continued our ride to Pondy. The road was so good with good curves, so the ride was interesting. On the way we took a diversion to visit the Alambarai fort. It is located in a sedate fishing village. The place was devastated in the 2004 tsunami and all the houses are reconstructed. After visiting the places we joined back to the ECR and continued our trip to Pondicherry. We reached Pondicherry and we did not had any specific plans. So we explored the whole city and rode through all the nooks and corners of the city. Pondicherry is a well planned town and they still maintain the colonial look of the town.

Many of the streets in Pondicherry still have French names. Liquor is so cheap and it is in abundance. After exploring the town we settled for a drink. The next morning we started to Bangalore. We came via Dindigul - Thiruvannamali - Krishnagiri. The ride during early morning was very difficult as it is still dark and the oncoming traffic won't dim their lights. But we continued our ride by taking small stops for having some road side cup of tea. When day light came things brightened up and ride became very interesting as the road included lot of curves and had lot of greenery on both sides. After reaching Krishnagiri we joined back to the Bangalore - Chennai highway. We stopped for a light refreshment in one of the Reliance petrol pump. After that we continued to Bangalore. When we reached Bangalore our trip meter told us that we covered more than 1000 km. During this trip the main thing to say is that our steed was faithful to us. We did not had any single problem with our Royal Enfield Thunderbird, not even a puncture. For me the trip was wonderful and gave lots of moments to cherish.

Now I am looking forward to do my next biking trip.