Bekal to Alappuzha
We woke up early as planned and we hit the road by 5:30. The roads were very enjoyable at this hour and we were having fun riding in the cool early hours. We stopped for the ritual of morning tea which is a must have for me. A cup of tea is like my elixir of life that awakens all the senses and gives that strength to carry on. Lohith had come to terms of my craving for tea and did not create fuss when I stopped. We met thousands of pilgrims headed to Shabarimala on their divine journey and that too by foot! We had quite a chat on how they manage to walk all the way to Shabarimala on bare foot when we are not able to take the burning sun in a motorcycle. Quite an insight into will power and what it can do to a human we got at 5:30AM at a desolated dark tea shop far away from where we belong!
We reached Thalasseri by 8 and we had plans of going to the drive in beach. We had overshot the diversion by a good 5Kms when we stopped to enquire for directions. We rode back and boy, the narrow winding road that takes you to the beach through coconut plantations was waiting to welcome us. It was a bliss to tide towards the beach and finally when we reached there, the beauty of the beach was so overwhelming, that we had to be stopped and called back by the toll collector! We were rushing towards the back and he had to literally drag us back to his office or shack or what ever it was.
Beautiful white sand and amazingly clean blue sparkling water was a feast to the eyes. This is the largest drive in beach in Asia and true to its name, the ride in the waves was an experience which I will never forget.
Fishermen at work.
A video of ride in the beach. I was scared initially, but later on I ventured deeper into the water.
After having fun in the beach, we headed on and stopped for breakfast at Thalasseri, and continued on our journey. The temperature was rising and the traffic was increasing too. As per Google maps, the road we were riding on was a NH, but to our surprise or due to lack of riding knowledge, the roads were too narrow for even a State highway. There were cities strewn all across and there were no bypass roads to avoid the cities or major junctions. This coupled with all the holiday goers, the traffic was maddening and we were wondering if Bangalore traffic was lower compared to this.
The menacing and reckless nature of Kerala drivers is well known. Bus drivers who dare to overtake while going head on onto the oncoming traffic, car goers who own the roads and act as if giving way to a bike is an insult to their priceless ride, autowalas who have no interest in driving on the side and the motorcyclists who try to sneak through, infinite number of signals that show up, mentally abnormal pedestrians who give a damn about looking sideways before crossing. This was driving us crazy, and the insane heat was the final nail in the coffin. We did not want to ride in this and the breaks were getting frequent. Gods own country has the worst roads and the road sense in these parts as per me is zero. Slowly we were making progress and we were not sure at this pace we were going to reach Alappuzha. Lohith wanted a break in the noon. Stopped by shade and this is how I was.
Exhausted from all the chaos, I took shelter on a compound and the 15 min power nap got some energy back in me. We decided to take it slow and stop at Kochi if the progress was this slow and carried on. I don’t want to crib on how the ride was, you need to experience it to know the pain and somehow we reached Kochi by 6:30PM. We stopped for tea and a quick discussion on what next. We decided to continue as Alappuzha was 60kms from here and worst case we could make it by 8PM. Little did we know on what we had in store for us, roads started filling up and we had to stop at 100s of signals in Kochi. The metro construction work was in full swing and this was causing traffic pile up. Another huge pileup before Alappuzha made sure that we reached only by 9PM and we had to find shelter good 7Kms out side the city.
There was a procession from the local temple festival and the ladies clad in classic Kerala attire with all the lamps completed with the drum beats was a feast to the eye. Even when we were exhausted and desperately looking for a place to crash, we stopped for a couple of clicks.
Lohith decided that we cant carry on till Alappuzha with the blocked traffic. We went straight into the first lodge we saw, and luckily we got a very comfortable room for 1000Rs. Right next to it was a 3* restaurant which was the need of the hour. Freshened up and headed to fill up our hungry tummies. No idea on what time I slept as the last thing I remember is opening the room door and crashing on the bed.
It was a tiring day and we covered 440 kms after riding for full 10 hours, all thanks to the traffic. Next day we had to reach Kanyakumari and I was comforting Lohith that the TN roads will be great and hoping for Kerala to end soon.
Day 4 log is here
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