28th August 2023, 11:50
| #301 |
| Team-BHP Support   | Ride to Enchanting Chettinad, Tamilnadu (August 2023) In continuing with our travels on the Ninja, the next place we had shortlisted for the month of August as per our plan, was Chettinad, a region in South interior Tamilnadu famous for its spicy cuisine. Of course, food was not the only reason for visiting the place. We thought August would be a nice off-season time to visit here with pleasant weather, but this year the southwest monsoons have almost completely failed in Karnataka and TN, so this eventually became another extreme-heat summer ride instead of a monsoon ride  .Some casual trivia on this region - Chettinad was historically native to a community of rich financiers / bankers called Chettiars (which is what gives it that name). Upto and even after the independence era, most of these Chettiars used to own palatial mansions in various towns and villages of the Chettinad region and lived lavish and rich lives. Now with all the industrialization and modernization, most of these Chettiar natives have intermingled with other populations, moved on to metro cities and spread out across the globe, leaving most of these ancestral palatial mansions to ruin. Perhaps a fraction of these have been restored and are being run as heritage hotels or properties for guests to visit and experience a slice of the royal Chettiar lifestyle during their travels. This time, our choice of place was Chidambara Vilas, a Chettiar palace and heritage mansion now converted into a heritage luxury hotel. This property was a fantastic experience in every aspect. Over to the main travelogue now. A last minute debacle This trip was originally planned to be a Ninja ride, to the heart of the famous Chettinad region - Karaikudi and Puthukottai areas. Generally for a trip beginning on a Friday or Saturday, I do all the refueling + tyre pressure + chain maintenance checks on the preceding Tuesday or Wednesday to avoid any last minute surprises. For this particular trip, a classic case of Murphy's laws decided to strike me where it hurt the most. A busy work week ensured I couldn't complete the pre-trip preparations early enough, I was also overconfident till the last minute since it was just a trivial set of check-up tasks. We packed the luggage into the Ninja's panniers as usual. At around 8PM on the eve of the departure, I did a tyre pressure check on the Ninja and discovered to my fury, that there were 2 tiny nails which had penetrated the rear tyre and although the tyre hadn't gone flat, the gauge was showing 25psi instead of the usual 42psi - clearly the puncture wasn't something to risk starting a trip on. Since it was already 8PM, I made a few calls to all the known tyre shops in the vicinity but most were shutting down at that time and asked me to go the next morning to fix the puncture  .The two stupid tiny nails which ensured a last minute shock for me on the eve of the trip  Closeup of the puncture - it is funny how both these nails penetrated the tyre together, adjacent to each other with a tiny gap between them.  Date realignment wasn't an option so late. At that point, I had only two options: 1 - Still use the Ninja for the trip - but delay the trip departure to maybe something like 9AM or 10AM, fix the puncture and/or replace the tyres to the Michelin Road 6 tyres that were stashed away at home since this current set was anyway almost at end of life. This would mean the entire trip departure would get delayed. Also our destination was almost 500 km away, so we would end up spending the entire day on the road and losing our itinerary plan of the first day. OR 2 - Swap the bike and take the trusted tourer mule in the garage - the Honda CB500X, which was already resting and ready after the previous trip, and just needed refueling and tyre pressure top-up. The only hassle was that we needed to swap all our luggage from the Ninja's panniers to the CB500X's panniers and top box. This meant we could still leave early as planned and do the original trip itinerary without any delays. So, as much as I would have liked this trip to have been done with the Ninja due to the silky smooth, fast-flowing roads in south interior TN, the Ninja eventually had to be substituted by the touring workhorse CB500X due to this last minute shocker / disappointment. Nonetheless, the CB500X being the capable mile-muncher that it is, ably stepped into the shoes of the Ninja for this ride and helped to enjoy the trip thoroughly. I still want to go ahead and add this CB500X travelogue into the Ninja's ownership thread since this trip was originally meant for the Ninja itself, so please excuse the anomaly, lol! Lesson to self for the future - NEVER do these checks on the previous night of any trip ever again, there is zero buffer to get anything fixed at the proverbial last minute! Back to the travelogue after the short digression We had almost 500 km to cover on Day 1, so we started early from home by around 5 AM. Stopping for a break at Krishnagiri toll plaza after an hour of riding  Rider's view of the Honda CB500X  We reached our usual breakfast stop in this route - Radisson Salem by around 6.30AM.  One of the USPs of this place (apart from the safe parking they have for premium bikes in their basement) is how early they start the breakfast counter here - they start at 6.30 AM, perfect for early bird travellers like us to stop early and continue the journey  Post breakfast, we had to take the Salem - Namakkal - Karur route towards Trichy. I hate the default google-maps-suggested route via Musiri which is fully ridden with village intersections and speedbreakers. I always override that suggestion and take the +40km detour via the NH route of Salem - Namakkal - Karur - Trichy. Although it was August, the temperatures started to soar into the mid 30s even as the early morning sun picked up, we stopped for a short rehydration break around Karur bypass region at this highway eatery.  Stopping for shelter from the sweltering second-summer heat near Trichy   We crossed Trichy city around 10.30 AM and proceeded along the Trichy - Karaikudi highway. The roads were simply brilliant (as is always the case inside TN) and I can't deny that the Ninja would have been ridden a bit more spiritedly with those extra horses here, lol!  The CB500X enjoying some silky smooth runway type roads as we scurried for cover from the 40+ degrees celsius temperatures burning us even when breaking for short 2-minute stops  The 500X posing with the backdrop of Thirumayam fort which was visible from the highway.  Post noon, we reached our hotel, which was inside a tiny town called Kadiapatti after Pudukottai. They had a nice and secure parking yard for the guests. The heritage feel of the property was visible right from the entrance of the hotel.  The check-in desk was kept here as part of the heritage ambience, which apparently used to be a part of the house where the erstwhile owners (financiers) used to carry out transactions with the customers of yonder   Some nice welcome drinks were served to us during the check-in formalities by the hospitable staff.  Entrance door into the mansion  Our room had a fantastic ambience with a unique blend of modern amenities and heritage elements from the Chettiar era of this region   Antique wood and furniture from a bygone era, restored and blends in with the rest of the room ambience    Some local savoury snacks in lieu of branded snacks for a nice change  There was a huge fan cloth above the bed, which could be swayed from side to side using 2 ropes to blow air on the people sleeping on the bed. Of course, in today's world this is just to add novelty, but it was a nice historical touch to remind us about how people probably used to cope with the high heat in this region before the era of electricity  Antique-styled electrical switches and sockets   There was a small sit-out outside the room to sip and enjoy a cup of coffee  Rooms were situated along a corridor running across the perimeter of the first floor of the mansion  This corridor outside the room overlooked a lovely swimming pool and courtyard below   Last edited by graaja : 28th August 2023 at 18:20. Reason: Minor typo |
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28th August 2023, 11:51
| #302 |
| Team-BHP Support | Ride to Enchanting Chettinad, Tamilnadu (August 2023) continued ... Soon it was time for lunch. The hotel was offering a traditional Chettinad cuisine lunch in an auxiliary restaurant, served on a banana (plantain) leaf the authentic way. Entrance of the restaurant  The lunch menu for the day for the traditional banana leaf Chettinad lunch, put up in front of the restaurant entrance  This auxiliary restaurant served just this traditional lunch and nothing else, while any other meals were served in their main restaurant (regular Ala Carte menu) located in another part of the hotel. The seating was hence in this type of rows for ease of serving multiple items.  Lunch was a nice experience, there were many more items than shown in this picture. All the dishes served were delicious, the staff took time out to explain about the Chettinad cuisine and the formulations of all the served dishes  Post-lunch, we explored the massive palace property randomly clicking snaps of the wonderful antique touches present throughout the tastefully done mansion The open-air courtyard  All the rooms had heavy rose-wood doors such as these  Intricate wood carvings above arches and doors  The courtyard corridors    The 'reception desk' area for the financiers of yonder   This was apparently a place where the Chettiar financiers would do their daily accounts after the working day ended  The grand old entrance door to the mansion - we were told it weighed over a 100 kg and was extremely robust  Intricate carvings even on the door hinges - these owners were obsessed about art and it showed in so many parts of the house  It had a completely working (even today) lock and key mechanism and had 16 different locking combinations even back in the day to secure the family's financial interests. A staff member was kind enough to demonstrate the locking mechanism to us for our curiosity  The insides of the corridors of the mansion had many windows with stained glass, apparently imported from Europe back in the day  Antique windows with blinds  A well-preserved telephone apparently from the 1940s  View of the mansion from the adjacent building  The ceiling was also intricately crafted. The staff proceeded to show us halls meant for celebrations of weddings, display areas for festive ceremony articles, halls meant for specific festival celebrations, etc in the bygone era.  The restaurant was equally beautiful to look at, done with fantastic Athangudi tiles and tastefully chosen wooden furniture to complete the retro theme   This was a spiral staircase to climb to the Turrets on the terrace of the property (we did this the following morning)  The backyard of the property housed this smaller (than the earlier one) open-air courtyard and the main kitchen  An old traditional well in the backyard, preserved properly  Some old stone utensils used to grind spices and dishes, still preserved to this day and apparently used occasionally too.   There was a cooking class by one of the chefs, who was kind enough to walk us through the finer nuances of Chettinad cuisine and the spices constitution for most of their popular dishes.  A culinary class in Chettinad cuisine!  Most of Chettinad cuisine comprises non-vegetarian dishes, so we settled for Paneer Sukka (in lieu of the popular Chettinad Chicken Sukka), which they made us cook and taste after making (talk about having a taste of our own medicine)  Last edited by CrAzY dRiVeR : 28th August 2023 at 11:53. |
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28th August 2023, 11:53
| #303 |
| Team-BHP Support | Ride to Enchanting Chettinad, Tamilnadu (August 2023) continued ... A nice antique wooden chess board table   Lounge area, with antique furniture  Pakoras are always enjoyable in the evenings during trips, regardless of location and weather  After a simple dinner, we retired to bed early that night since the next day was a whole day of sightseeing and exploration in various parts of Chettinad. We woke up early the next morning and were strolling inside the property, exploring some parts of the rooftop and terrace and the view around from the top   Strolling along the terrace walls  View of the twin Turret towers on the top of the property  View from the Turrets  Soon it was time for breakfast. There was a nice buffet spread; The dishes were mostly all traditional items native to this region and was a nice experience savouring this newfound variety of tastes.  Filter coffee in many places in south interior TN is traditionally served with jaggery and in brass tumblers+cups such as these. It is also called Kumbakonam style coffee  Since riding the bike with riding gear, parking in random public places, etc. pose challenges when sightseeing, we hired the services of the hotel's in-house cab to take us around multiple places of interest in Karaikudi region over the course of the entire day after breakfast. It was another 40+ degree C day here, but the heat did not deter us from completing our visits to the planned places in any way, lol! We stopped first at Thirumayam Fort which was very close to our hotel. This was the same fort which I had shot a picture of, with the bike in the foreground on the previous day of our journey here. Scaling the hillock of Thirumayam fort  View from the top of Thirumayam fort  After this, we visited a town called Athangudi where another similar Chettiar mansion (to the one we were staying at) was open for visitors to admire the architecture and history. This mansion was called Athangudi Palace. We didn't find it radically different from the mansion we were staying at (Chidambara Vilas), so we took a few snaps and left after glancing here and there for a few minutes. Architecture of Athangudi Palace    Intricate art work on the inside of the roof, again similar to the property we were staying at  The Athangudi region is famous for another interesting thing - Handmade tiles which are purchased by people who want artistic tiles in their homes or properties. These are all handcrafted on demand by the artisans in this region and manufactured at scale for the real estate industry across the country, and I was told - a lot of their tiles even get exported for customers in other parts of the world. There is a whole industry ecosystem here for manufacturing these tiles and plenty of small factories thrive and work together. We were fortunate to be able to stop at one such Athangudi tile factory and get a closer look at the life of these artisans and the way they make these tiles. Here is a group of artisans inside an Athangudi tile factory  There is a complex process of hand painting or moulding to produce an artistic pattern on a glass slab, sealing the tile with concrete, then sending it through various stages of treatment to produce the final finished tile as per the specifications. Some finished tiles which were shown to us  An artisan working on an Athangudi Tile  The better half was keen to try her hand at producing a pattern and doing the sealing work for a sample tile, and the staff were happy to teach her how to produce one sample tile pattern herself . Other tiles at the factory yard undergoing treatment stages during production   Post this, we visited a famous Vinayak temple near Karaikudi as recommended by our friendly cab driver, and post that we visited this Vintage car and camera museum nearby.  There were a few well maintained vintage and classic era cars on display     There were also tons of interesting old cameras, radios, telephones, music players (long play discs, gramophones, relic movie players, etc) collected over decades of evolution in technology. There was a massive amount of trivia also scattered in various parts of this vintage museum   |
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28th August 2023, 11:54
| #304 |
| Team-BHP Support | Ride to Enchanting Chettinad, Tamilnadu (August 2023) continued ... A relic Gramophone still in perfect working condition  A vintage era petrol pump dispenser  Some old scooters. Along with those are a few toy cars for the kids of yesteryear car owners. Apparently these replica toy cars were gifted to the children of buyers' families of the original car models in the olden days  Some more camera collections from over the decades  Meanwhile as we stepped out, the heat was making the day quite tiring. We stopped at a small village stall selling this local and traditional Millet Koozh (pronounced like 'Cool' with a tongue roll) which is like a hot and sour Porridge of millets, crushed onions, etc served with sundried chillies and pickle. It was a nice experience trying this out in an interior village food stall and enjoying their hospitality.  After this stop at the vintage museum, we visited Karaikudi's Antique Market, which was a bylane in the town's central area filled with shops mostly selling antiques at low prices for those who collect antique articles of interest. We are not antique aficionados and didn't find anything particularly interesting to carry back, so we just ended that visit after looking around in a few antique shops. Strolling around Karaikudi's Antique market   Post this, it was almost lunch time, so we decided to drop in for lunch at a famous hotel in Karaikudi, called The Bangala. Interiors of the Bangala  Lawn area outside the restaurant  They had only Chettinad cuisine food (again served Banana leaf style) on their lunch menu, so we had to go for that again. All the food was good here too, this picture doesn't show another 10-12 more items which kept rolling in from the kitchen and stuffed us up completely!  Post lunch we hung around a bit just to feel a bit light again. This place was also a full fledged hotel in this region, and they had nice looking cottages for guests who wanted to stay here. Probably we'll try it during some future visit to this region  The large swimming pool and courtyard adjoining the cottages for in-house guests  After this lunch stop, we started our journey homewards, passing through another Chettinad town called Kanadukathan. CGH Earth group has a famous hotel called Visalam, and there are a few more famous Chettinad-themed properties in this town too. We just passed through and glanced at many of these and did not stop at any more heritage places per se. Chettinad is famous for Cotton weaving and Cotton sarees which have a particular design style native to this region. We were fortunate to be able to visit a Chettinad handloom weaving centre near Kanadukathan, and observe the artisan weavers behind the scenes of a Chettinad cotton saree handloom outlet  While the better half was browsing through some collections at the handloom outlet, I was casually strolling around and adjoining this property I came across a tiny farm breeding and selling these pet pigeons and doves, some of them were apparently some imported breeds too (I am completely agnostic to this topic). Being an animal lover, I just admired and played with the friendly and docile trained pigeons for a few minutes (under staff supervision of course) before heading back to the handloom store  Post the visit to the handloom factory, we made our way back to our hotel around sunset time. On the way back, we stopped at this historic school whose existence dates back to the pre-independence era, apparently even visited by Mahatma Gandhi and encouraged by him as a Khadi-weaving centre (think Charkha era) to boost employment among the local youth here in the 1940s.  We reached the hotel around sunset time to catch this view from the terrace  The following morning we woke up early and stepped out to explore around the town, but before that we went up to the terrace again  The mansion from the road  The CB500X in front of Chidambara Vilas  Exploring some random lake bed nearby with the 'adventure' bike, lol!    After the tiny outing and exploring the town, it was time for breakfast back at the hotel. We relaxed for a while and checked out. As usual this is a picture in front of the property before departing.  When the fuel gauge had started blinking at the final (1 out of 6) bars, I stopped to refuel the bike on the return journey. Here is one really fantastic strength of the CB500X - despite being fun to ride and peppy with nice torquey power delivery through the rev range, this bike just sips petrol very frugally. The bike had covered ~515 km on a single tank of petrol and when the fuel bar was blinking, it would have probably gone another 50 km if I had run it till the end (not that I would have). 500+ km is astounding fuel tank range for a tourer and is very handy when touring long routes in remote areas. Here is a picture of when the fuel gauge was blinking and the tripmeter distance read 515km! The 500X needed just 1 fuel stop for a round trip distance of ~920km! With the Ninja I might have had to stop for fuel thrice for the same distance.  We had decided to break the return journey from Chettinad to Bangalore, and stopped at Radisson Salem for that night to avoid the long weekend rush on a Sunday evening. It would have been frustrating trying to re-enter Bangalore in Sunday peak return traffic. Our plan was to leave early the next morning and make it to Bangalore before our office hours began, so that we would be in time for work and yet still avoid the long weekend return rush. Radisson Salem offers simple yet nice rooms for a very modest tariff on weekends and the location is strategically placed for us whenever we do this route - both as a breakfast stop en route from Bangalore, and as an overnight stop for breaking return journeys on this side. While it doesn't make sense to break the return journey every time in Salem, it particularly helps on long weekends to avoid maniacs on the highway who drive/ride like video game heroes in peak holiday-return-traffic hours.  Enjoying the view of the lovely Yercaud mountains from our room in Salem, while relaxing for the rest of the evening.  Awesome view in the sunrise, during the time when we were preparing to check out and start the Salem-Bangalore stretch of the journey  We left Salem by 6 AM, the red machine made it home in a couple of hours as planned, so we were back to office work in time for a usual Monday schedule  The trip statistics showed ~920 km clocked for this trip, but sadly this number won't add to the Ninja's odometer figures .  Back to the Ninja - in other news I have swapped the old Metzeler M9RR tyres for the Michelin Road 6 rubber and the bike is all set for a nice variety of trips spread over the next few months. Last edited by libranof1987 : 28th August 2023 at 13:03. Reason: As requested |
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28th August 2023, 15:19
| #305 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2023 Location: CBE
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| re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! Another wonderful travelogue and Happy to read. I’m surprised to see the photos from your travelogues without or minimum human hindrance. Either you would be at right time at right spot or Appreciate your patience to get a clear view of the object.  |
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29th August 2023, 00:53
| #306 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bombay
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| re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! Oh Karthik man, what a fabulous gateway  Absolutely insane bookkeeping every time! Your patience and hard work to share your experiences is very appreciated. What a property, so majestic, serene and frozen in time  Keep travelling, enjoying and sharing. Thank you. Last edited by Cyborg : 29th August 2023 at 00:55. |
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29th August 2023, 13:33
| #307 |
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29th August 2023, 13:34
| #308 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Chennai
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29th August 2023, 14:39
| #309 | |||||
| Team-BHP Support | re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! Quote:
Its usually a case of luck and some part of the latter, if someone/something is photobombing I wait for them to pass Quote:
Glad to know you enjoyed reading this one as well! You're right, that entire place and the region looks like it has been frozen in time. Quote:
Thanks a lot, hope to keep sharing travelogues as usual for every significant trip. Quote:
We saw a few families in that property and in general when roaming around in that region (other travellers like us). Many kids were having fun in their own ways, plus the property also had many indoor/outdoor games and a swimming pool to keep the juniors occupied, so definitely a kid-friendly place and family-friendly destination (Chettinad in general). Quote:
! The better half and I had no trouble whatsoever and there was a wide array of options in every meal even for us vegetarians.Although this Chettinad cuisine is actually famous for non-vegetarian dishes, tons of vegetarian options are available all over Chettinad region no matter where you stay or dine at. That aspect shouldn't bother you at all. | |||||
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29th August 2023, 15:29
| #310 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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29th August 2023, 16:05
| #311 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: DPM and CHN
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| re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! Quote:
Last edited by Aditya : 31st August 2023 at 15:59. Reason: As requested | |
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30th August 2023, 07:18
| #312 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: KL/KA
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| re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! The CB500X in front of Chidambara Vilas Attachment 2496197 Dear Karthikk, Your travelogues are awesome and as usual read in one go despite the morning chores. Stunning photos make the reader get the total vibe. Being a 500X fan, it was extra special for me to read this one  Thanks to you, we will also be visiting Chettinad soon! Looking forward to more travelogue feast from you, Ram |
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30th August 2023, 19:19
| #313 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2023 Location: Pune
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31st August 2023, 14:47
| #314 | |||
| Team-BHP Support | re: Living an evolved dream: My 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 ownership review. Edit: 5 years up! Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Puncture sealant liquid I am somehow not very keen to be honest - it comes with its own set of issues - can corrode the alloy rim, cause balancing / vibration issues if not spread evenly inside, may be ineffective for anything other than tiny punctures, superbike tyres being almost rounded in shape mean the protected part might be only the central region, etc. For small punctures, maybe a conventional tubeless puncture repair patch + portable inflator will do the job even on the move. Larger punctures anyway one will need to go to a proper tyre shop for mushroom patch, replacement of tyre, etc.Last edited by Aditya : 31st August 2023 at 15:59. Reason: Quoted post edited | |||
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31st August 2023, 22:13
| #315 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2022 Location: Bengaluru
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