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 ..

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

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 ?

Sheru - couldn't understand what the heck is going on

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

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

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 ..

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.