[KarthikK]

The Prelude

December end is usually the time of the year that we do some long trips, targeting to explore a new state in India thoroughly over two weeks or so, and this year was no exception. Since we have covered most of South and West India and some scattered pieces of North and East, we decided to shortlist something among Rajasthan, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. Anyway most of the coastal and southern parts of the country are completely overwhelmed with tourism during December. While we would have loved to explore something in the Himalayas, most of that region would have been out of bounds during December, owing to heavy snowfall and possibly route closures and such surprises.

Rajasthan in December would have been expensive and overcrowded again, plus our previous year's state exploration trip was to Gujarat which was similar in route and topography. Orissa we moved to another future date since a few friends were keen to join for that one, and eventually we decided to do Madhya Pradesh this time. It ticked all the boxes in terms of meeting our requirements of a long trip (MP is quite a large state) and it offered quite a variety of things to do for the discerning travellers in us. MP is famous not only for wildlife and tiger reserves, it also has a plethora of other locations which revel in natural beauty and picturesque landscapes. Of course, last but not least MP is also famous for historical and heritage sites with plenty of forts, shrines, Havelis and the likes to keep our exploration crosshairs occupied too.


Putting the idea into a concrete plan

For our trips, the better half is usually the one who takes care of trip planning and itinerary composing from start to end. She is a prolific planner, does her own research, leaves nothing to chance and usually plans out itineraries to the minutest details in advance - places to visit, appropriate time to visit, best places to stay at, etc. Over the course of several days she put together an anti-clockwise (on the map) circuit covering most of our shortlisted places in the state.

The plan was to enter MP from the south via Nagpur, cover the wildlife (Tiger) reserves of Kanha and Bandhavgarh and explore the canyons and waterfalls of Dhuandhar and Raneh falls all on the Eastern front, using Jabalpur as the base. We would then cover the historical shrines of Khajuraho and proceed towards Gwalior's Fort city in the north of MP, then gradually moving southwards to the offbeat forts and handicraft village of Chanderi. Following that would be the two major cities of MP on the west - Bhopal and Indore with a nice cultural extravaganza visit to Ujjain. After that we would be heading south east to MP's famed hill station Pachmarhi, situated inside Satpura tiger reserve, thereby winding up the circuit and exiting along Nagpur and making our way home along the highway which cuts through Maharashtra, Telangana and AP before hitting Bangalore.

All the bookings for the places of stay were diligently done almost two months prior to the trip, leaving nothing to the proverbial last minute. All we needed to do was to go out and execute the plan! There were a few more noteworthy places in MP that we would have loved to include in this plan but couldn't, owing to lack of time - Pench and Panna tiger reserves, Orccha, Mandu, Maheshwari (Ahilya fort), and a few other spots. Alas, perhaps next time!

This was a brief of the route itinerary:

Day 01 - Bangalore - Hyderabad (580 km)
Day 02 - Hyderabad - Nagpur (498 km)
Day 03 - Nagpur - Kanha (253 km)
Day 04 - Kanha - Dhuandhar (153 km)
Day 05 - Dhuandhar - Bandhavgarh (212 km)
Day 06 - Bandhavgarh - Satna (154 km)
Day 07 - Satna - Khajuraho (135 km)
Day 08 - Khajuraho - Gwalior (273 km)
Day 09 - Gwalior (0 km)
Day 10 - Gwalior - Chanderi (216 km)
Day 11 - Chanderi - Bhopal (222 km)
Day 12 - Bhopal - Ujjain (187 km)
Day 13 - Ujjain - Indore (57 km)
Day 14 - Indore - Pachmarhi (347 km)
Day 15 - Pachmarhi (0 km)
Day 16 - Pachmarhi - Nizamabad (596 km)
Day 17 - Nizamabad - Bangalore (770 km)


Anti-clockwise MP circuit starting from the southern tip and exiting out at the same place



We knew that we had around 18 days with us towards the year end, so we decided to cover most of the things possible and space out the plan so that we would not be driving for more than say 5 to 6 hours on most days. Another factor was that in winter, MP experiences sunset as early as 5 PM, which meant fewer daylight hours available after reaching! With this in mind, the better half planned out the day-wise stops and the locations to visit en route, etc. The idea was to limit inter-place travel to between breakfast and lunch, thus allowing for ample time to explore the destination after reaching. Of course the exceptions to this rule were the first and last couple of days when we decided to stretch more to reach MP and make our way homewards when there was nothing noteworthy to see anyway - just expressway cruising!

On an unrelated note, the entire route had little to no decent highway eateries / restaurants once we crossed into Telangana, MH and into MP. The entire itinerary was planned keeping in mind that we would either reach our destination for the day by lunch time (even if meant a late lunch) or on other longer driving days we would skip lunch altogether. This also helped balance out all the (over)eating that we would do at the destination places, lol! Once we reached a destination and parked the car, we seldom took it out again. We walked around in most of the towns and cities, or used local transport such as rickshaws rather than bother about navigating the chaotic traffic or worry about parking.


The Perpetual Dilemma - Bike or Car?

We had initially thought we would take our Honda CB 500X and make it a bike trip covering all of these places, and on the other side there was the option of taking the Honda Brio. At 7 years and 65,000km on the clock, the Brio AT is ageing quite gracefully I must say, and while we do use it for occasional trips with our dog or running errands closer to Bangalore and within south India, we have never really done a long trip with it of this scale. It is an easy car with toy-like agility, I enjoy the carefree style of usage with it - it is a well rounded tiny hatch which does its work diligently without any fuss - is reasonably peppy, has sufficient ground clearance and is very reliable.

Another plus point for taking a car instead of a bike this time was - there were so many places to visit in MP en route even between our overnight stay places that we didn't want to miss out on. These did not really warrant an overnight stay as such, they were just nice to visit on the way, and having a car made it somewhat convenient for us because we could just throw all our belongings inside, lock the car, get out and go visit the place, come back and continue our journey. Doing this with a big bike with limited luggage space, having heavy riding gear not having a place to stow them away, attracting a lot of attention from passersby, etc. would have been pretty difficult to manage from a practicality point of view. Yet another advantage of taking the car was that my better half also drives, so we could easily take turns at the wheel and increase the driving range if needed.

Still unable to decide, we let a coin toss decide the outcome, two out of three throws resulted in the car winning so the Brio it was this time, and the bike plans had to take a back seat until the next state exploration trip in 2025 .


The Preparations

Since we initially had no plans of taking the ageing Brio on such a long 5000+ km trip whatsoever, I got a comprehensive service at Whitefield Honda under my trusted service rep's watchful eyes, taking care to flush and replace the coolant and the transmission oil, apart from replacing the brake pads and checking all the belt conditions inside the bonnet. The rest was easy, packing luggage in a car trip is a piece of cake compared to packing for long trips on a bike with limited luggage space, lol! Since we were just the two of us, the back seat was also used to keep luggage which didn't fit in the already swelling minuscule boot of the Brio.

With service out of the way, we were all set for the trip. The first two days were easy targets - Bangalore to Hyderabad and Hyderabad to Nagpur respectively. While it would have been possible to do Nagpur in one stretch, what was the hurry? We had fun breaking the journey to MP with these two cities and exploring the unique things we could do there, just for some timepass variety. With that my actual travelogue begins.


Miscellaneous Nitty-Gritties

The driving duty was split almost 50-50 across the entire trip. The better half has an almost robotic style of driving with good average pace on boring stretches, while I tend to take liberties driving spiritedly most of the times. She took on expressways and some of the inter-city and intra-city portions which needed more patience, while I took on more of the single lane highways and interior roads in our itinerary.

The Brio is an old car now, there is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to mirror any displays inside, I still use a humble relic dashboard suction mount phone holder for navigation assistance, lol! For my trips I sometimes also use this (paid) app called Speedometer which (apart from showing a large speedometer) also allows the user to set start and end points for custom points on the map, set speed limit alerts, ETA targets, average speed targets, shows time elapsed, etc. The display is real time and also has TSD-Rally style tracking of whether we are ahead or behind of intended average speeds or time targets, allowing us to adapt the pace by driving a bit more spiritedly or relax a bit if we were lagging behind or ahead of intended pace.

Along with the GPS navigation phone, we used another old spare iPhone for this along with a second mobile phone mount, thus not disturbing either of our personal phones.

Speedometer app display on a secondary phone mount



Together with the navigation phone, this helps in recording trip data along with some real time information with pace tracking.



As a bonus, the app tracks the entire journey from start to end and allows to export the entire trip summary with GPS trail and recorded speed, time and distance data for statistics later. I created entire point-to-point trip trails for each day of the 17-day trip, setting appropriate average speed and time targets for every single day by looking at Google maps. This allowed me to just hit start everyday and the app would do its job quietly in the background until I hit the end button at the end of our day's driving.

This is a sample of the output of one of the days of the route maps.



With all of this out of the way, now the actual travelogue begins

Day 1: Bangalore to Hyderabad (Charminar, Pearls, Bun Maska Chai and Biriyani)

We had no specific agenda for the day apart from reaching Hyderabad and trying to visit Charminar and stroll around the chaotic yet vibrant streets around that central area of this historical city. Like I mentioned earlier, we might just as well have done Bangalore to Nagpur on day 1, but hey, what's the hurry when we can savour some Irani Chai, Osmania biscuits, Bun Maska and Biriyani on the way?

With all the bags loaded into the car on the previous night, we woke up early and left from Bangalore by roughly around 4.30AM, heading northwards via the standard NH44 leading to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Setting the ball rolling



GoPro shot from NH44. Still dark in winter as we crossed over from Karnataka towards AP around 6AM



Catching some camouflaged Syros test vehicles around the zone of Kia's manufacturing plant near Anantpur outskirts



We stopped for breakfast at Paakashala, Anantpur (AP) by around 7AM



Enjoying south Indian style breakfast for the last time for the next 17 days, lol! After crossing over into TS, this kind of menu would become a rarity



Post breakfast the better half took over the wheel to complete the journey from Anantpur to Food Pyramid complex beyond Kurnool. It was just a short coffee stop



Kurnool to Hyderabad was another boring stretch of highway with nothing eventful or noteworthy en route. We reached Hyderabad and made our way through the city traffic to reach our destination by around 2PM. Our place of stay was Radisson Blu Plaza, Banjara hills. The room was large and airy and had large french windows looking into a pretty swimming pool and garden in the property's backside.







After quickly freshening up, we headed to a nearby famous restaurant called Subbayya Gari, known for their Andhra style banana leaf meals. Needless to say, it was delicious



After relaxing for some time post lunch at the hotel, roughly around 7PM we headed out by cab to the Charminar area in central Hyderabad. The Radisson staff were meanwhile making some decorations for Christmas week in the ground floor lobby, which we spent a few minutes admiring while waiting for our taxi to arrive.



Charminar being the old part of the city, the traffic was quite crazy and the streets and alleys got narrower as we got closer to the monument area. The energy in the place was crazy, with cries filling up the air by hawkers vending their wares, at every few metres there was someone new hounding us to buy pearls, trinkets and other stuff.

We spent some time walking around the historical monument, admiring the structure and trying to gather trivia from the boards erected around it.



Not to be missed while at Char minar is the famous Irani Tea, Bun Maska and Osmania biscuits at Nimrah Cafe.



A vendor selling bangles of various colors and designs in the makeshift alleys erected around Charminar



Another famous eatery here was Milan Juice center, which sells a simple dessert made of Mulberries and cream, called Shahdood ke Malai. We sampled a plate of this dish and another one called Matka special





After some more strolling around, we decided to end the night with a dinner at Hyderabad's famous Paradise Biriyani, that we spotted near the entrance of Char Minar. We are vegetarians, so this probably is a wrong place for us I know, lol!



We settled to share a simple veg Biriyani and a Qubani ka Meetha at Paradise, amidst surprised stares from neighboring table guests for us asking for veg stuff there. Post this we called it a day and retired to the hotel for a good night's sleep.



View of Charminar from our table at Paradise Biriyani, overlooking the chaos of the surrounding commercial area



Day 1's trip logs summarized here: Roughly ~600km at a relaxed average speed of ~70 kmph

[KarthikK]

Day 2: Hyderabad to Nagpur (Heading closer to MP - Orange city, zero point, Misal Pav and Vada Pav)

We woke up leisurely and had a nice sumptuous breakfast at Radisson's in-house restaurant before proceeding to check-out of the hotel and continue our journey towards Nagpur.





Making our way out of Hyderabad on a lazy Sunday, a lot of construction work was happening on the Hyderabad - Indore part of NH44.



Although it was winter, the scorching sun's heat was making its presence evident. Taking a break somewhere near Nizamabad



Fantastic road quality between Hyderabad and Maharashtra border





Taking a quick 'stretch-your-legs and swap the driver' break in some petrol pump after crossing into MH, with some distance to go for Nagpur.



As we entered the Orange city of Nagpur, it must have been around early evening. We stopped at this 'Zero Mile point', which was the geographical centre point of India in the British India days. Unfortunately it was undergoing some kind of renovation work and we could not spend much time there.



Post this we reached our stay for the night - Hotel Dwarkamai. The rooms were decent for a short stop such as ours.



After a short rest, we hailed one of these electric rickshaws to drop us off at one of our chosen eateries - Ghugare Nashta Point, located in Sitabuldi area, famous for their Maharashtrian fare. We opted to share a plate each of Sabudana Vada, Misal Pav and Vada Pav here.





Having fun rides on these electric rickshaws (not this particular one, just shown for illustration, lol!)



Strolling around Sitabuldi market area, we came across this nice looking structure.



Post this, we walked another couple of kilometres in the chilling winter cold to another famous shack called Zilla Patodi, famous for a dish called Kadhi Patodi, something like a Kachori eaten with a Kadhi and a traditional filling made of greens.



We then took another rickshaw back to our hotel and that ended Day 2.

Trip logs for the second day: 500+ km at an average pace of ~70 kmph again.

[KarthikK]

Day 3: Nagpur to Kanha Tiger Reserve (Entering Mowgli's lair in the Jungle book)

We had quite a bit of distance to go to reach our destination of the day - Kanha national reserve, so we decided to pack up and leave early. The in-house restaurant was serving breakfast (buffet) but we decided to skip it and go local instead of the cliched buffet fare. Around 7AM we headed to a famous albeit small eatery in Nagpur called Ramji Shyamji Pohawale, supposedly started by twin brothers. They were famous for Tarri Poha, a Nagpur style Poha which was served (a bit soggy) with a spicy gravy made of Black Channa. The eatery was already quite crowded, with most customers being college students and working class employees grabbing a bite on the way to college/office.





While waiting for our Poha to be served, we observed a staff person frying these Samosas and Jalebis fresh, so we decided to give that a try too, and washed it all down with some Lassi and masala Chai.





Post breakfast we made our way through Nagpur's working day traffic, carefully navigating our route after a quick refuel stop



The roads opened up soon to a four lane expressway as we rejoined the national highway and continued northwards to MP. Clear, blue skies characteristic of winter season made their presence felt in all these sights.



But for one bumpy concrete section leading to Pench, the highway surface quality was quite decent



Stopping somewhere near Pench for a driver swap.





Soon the route had us breaking off from the main NH into a single lane, narrow state highway at Seoni.



Taking a break somewhere off Seoni to look at the barren and parched lands in southern MP.









The route further broke away from the wide single lane state highway to head towards Kanha. The roads became narrow but the surface quality was still decent.







The tractor guy says "please get off the road and give me way"!



Sights of Kanha river showed up every now and then





The Brio and some mustard fields





The tree-cover-sheltered roads leading to our resort in the middle of Kanha Tiger reserve.



Our place of stay for the night was Soulacia Tiger Resort, we reached around 2.45PM and were served lunch while the staff checked in our luggage into our cottage.

Delicious lunch at Soulacia, one of the tastiest meals in all of the trip so far.



The lobby of Soulacia resort



Map of Kanha tiger reserve hung in one of the corridors



Our cottage located at the fringe boundary of Kanha's buffer zone







The resort had a nice restaurant overlooking the forest, and a large swimming pool too. The weather was much too cold for a swim though, so we passed this.





We had opted for a safari for the next morning with Soulacia's private safari Gypsy, so the evening was free; We just passed time strolling around the property and chit-chatting with the staff at Soulacia, trying to understand their lives and we had a lovely time listening to stories that they had to offer (on encounters with wild animals in this area, etc). For high tea they served some incredibly delicious Onion Pakoras with piping hot tea, apt for the single digit temperature outside.



After the high tea, we played some rounds of nine-ball in their indoor games room.



Since we had an early morning Safari the next day, by around 7.30PM we headed to their restaurant and opted for a quick and light dinner consisting of some delicious soup and vegetables with a simple dessert of Moong Dal Halwa.





We retired early for the night after this dinner, our minds full of hopes that the next day's Safari would be a memorable one with tons of sightings of wild animals.


Day 3's driving logs looked like this:

[KarthikK]

Day 4: Kanha Tiger Reserve to Dhuandhar falls (Jungle book life to Niagara falls of India?)

It was finally time for our much awaited safari into Kanha forest. We were woken up early by the resort staff, and by the time we freshened up and reached the lobby where our Gypsy was waiting for us, the staff were also loading the Gypsy with some snacks for breakfast since this Safari would be lasting a good 5.5 hours from 6-11.30AM. Our naturalist and assigned driver joined us and we soon departed.

There was an ongoing cold wave on those days, so the weather was terribly cold and almost 0 degrees in the early mornings, causing us to load up on the warm clothing layers. The resort staff provided additional blankets in the Gypsy but even that seemed insufficient once we got moving towards the forest gate checkpost by roughly 5.45AM, and the piercing cold winds still found a way to freeze our hands through all the warm layers.

At the checkpost, there was already an array of Safari Gypsies loaded and ready. Some drivers and guides were squabbling for space and it brought a smile on my amused face to see that a rat race is never too far from us no matter where we go. We leave the corporate rat race world behind on a vacation break away from the urban jungle, but another rat race was building up here in this real forest - in this case the race to be the first Jeep to enter the forest to get the first sightings of undisturbed (through the night) animals, and to be the first Jeep to catch a tiger sighting for the guests. Oh well, some things just can't be changed, can they?



The safari started on time, and all the Jeeps eventually scattered into different trails, all with guests hopeful of landing some lucky sightings of the coveted Bengal Tiger.



We are not too much into wildlife safaris, but we are nature lovers in general, so I failed to understand why was there this mad race to just spot tigers when there are so many other beautiful and interesting animals and birds in the forest, each with its own charisma and characteristics. Somehow most of the wildlife safaris in India today are all about bagging a sighting of a tiger and then coming back with trophy photographs of a Tiger sighting, while grossly neglecting a lot of other species. This attitude is somewhat off-putting for genuine nature lovers who want to witness everything with a keen eye with no intent on getting the best shot possible, but alas, that is a larger problem out of our control. While the entire batch of our set of Safari vehicles was unlucky in spotting the elusive big cat that morning, we took solace in the fact that we were able to spot many interesting creatures and savour some rustic moments experiencing a morning in the deep jungles of Kanha's Sal forests and its diverse flora and fauna. To say that it was an amazing experience is an understatement, and the five magical hours that we spent in the forest were totally worth it. It is no wonder then, that Rudyard Kipling apparently based his famous Jungle book novel and its diverse set of characters on the wildlife he witnessed in this forest.

Early morning sights inside Kanha forest







While neither my wife nor I are into wildlife photography, we did shoot some pictures with whatever we had in hand - I just have a basic 55-250 telephoto lens on my Fuji XT-5 (I am more into landscapes), while my better half uses a Nikon P950 83X superzoom P&S camera which turned out to be quite capable in terms of reach of distant animals and birds. In no particular order, I will dump some assorted photos that we clicked in the morning safari at Kanha. Experienced wildlife photographers please excuse the quality of these shots .

Jackal





Crested Serpent Eagle



Indian Roller bird



The Sal grasslands of Kanha



A parched river flowing through the forest



Jungle fowl



Sambar deer







Spotted deer looks at us disturbing its morning peace, lol!



A pair of stags showing off their antlers





Wild boar



Owls sleeping in the tree



Common Hoopoe



Parakeet



Some more unidentified birds (I forgot their names)





Last but not the least, we were happy to spot a herd of the state animal of Madhya Pradesh - the Barasingha, which are Swamp deer native to Kanha. Barasinghas are famous for their unique horns which sometimes cross 12-14+ lines (and hence the name - Bara-Singha translates to 12-horns)!







We did stop for breakfast at a designated cafeteria where we had our packed picnic stash that the resort had stowed away under our Gypsy seats. After this we didn't really spot any other noteworthy species, the sun was also fully up in the sky by then, and our driver and naturalist also seemed to have given up hope of spotting anything else, so we grudgingly made our way back out of the forest gate and to our resort, with a short stop at Kanha's souvenir shop to pick up some wildlife memorabilia to take back home.

A shot of our safari Gypsy basking in the winter sun



At the resort, it was time to pack up and depart towards Jabalpur, our next stop on this road trip. Since it was well past noon, the staff at Soulacia insisted that we have lunch at their restaurant before departing on the ~4 hour journey towards Dhuandhar falls (Jabalpur), and we gladly obliged. The lunch was delicious, as were the preceding three meals at Soulacia tiger resort.



After thanking the staff for their wonderful hospitality and promising to return again for another visit to Kanha, we set out to our next destination - Dhuandhar falls. Winter in MP sees a significantly early sunset, almost as early as 4.30-5PM in some places. We wanted to reach our destination before the darkness kicked in, since most of these interior roads were single lane highways with persistent truck traffic, and that meant having to deal with glaring headlights from unruly drivers in the opposite side.

The better half took on the driving on this nice single-lane highway between Kanha and Mandla, where we stopped for a short refuel break



Approaching an early dusk, stopping for a driver swap break between Mandla and Dhuandhar falls



It was almost dusk by the time we reached the outskirts of Jabalpur and took our diversion to reach our next destination - Vrindavan resort, located right beside the famous Dhuandhar waterfalls, also referred to as the Niagra falls of India.

Sunset on the outskirts of Jabalpur





We could almost drive the car till our cottage at this resort



The cottage was clean and no-nonsense, albeit a bit basic but since our stay was very short, it didn't matter all that much.



The resort had a flock of adorable pet geese which were incredibly friendly with guests, and a stray mistake by the better half feeding them some titbits resulted in them becoming our permanent 'friends' there, they were lurking around our room and waiting for some petting everytime we wanted to step out! They were almost as friendly as puppies!



Owing to the early sunset time, it was just around 5.30PM but felt like 7PM. We stepped out to the boundary walking path of this resort, and there was the spell-binding Dhuandhar watefalls in all its glory! It was lit up partially in the night, thanks to some floodlights set up around the place by authorities. The main viewing area of the falls was on the other side of the Narmada river, while this resort was on the non-touristy side of the falls, allowing us to have some quiet and peaceful moments of admiring the falls all by ourselves for a while. It was getting incredibly cold, and the rising mist of the waterfall spray added to the chill in the air even more, so we soon made our way back to the cottage.



There wasn't much to do at the falls place after nightfall. We had planned to visit the famous Marble rocks viewpoint and hitch a boat ride, but that was the next morning. We had the evening free, so we got the resort to hail us a rickshaw and rode around Jabalpur town, located a stone's throw away from the resort.

Trying a Thali dinner in Jabalpur's Panchvati Gaurav restaurant on a localite's recommendation



Paneer Jalebi at some famous sweet shop in Jabalpur. I didn't like it all that much though



Post dinner and some strolling around in Jabalpur, the rickshaw driver dropped us back at the resort and we called it a day.

Day 4 driving logs: a little over 150km and ~4 hours driving through interior MP

[KarthikK]

Day 5: Dhuandhar falls to Bandhavgarh (Another Tiger reserve in pursuit of Sher Khan, but with some marble rocks and centre point of India on the way)

We woke up to a very cold and misty morning, with a faint roaring sound of the mighty Dhuandhar falls trickling through the thin walls of our cottage, located right next to the falls. We wanted to take a stroll around the boundary of the waterfall and surrounding marble rocks, but it wasn't until the sun came out by around 7.30AM that some of the heavy mist and fog started to dissipate and allow us some visibility.

I took out the drone and we headed out to the falls to try and capture the falls from a few more angles than the regular viewpoint shots.


Some assorted drone shots of Dhuandhar falls from different angles. Also seen is a cable car ropeway (wasn't open so early in the morning)

















After enjoying some more vistas of the beautiful waterfall, it was time to return to the cottage, pack up and leave for the next destination of our trip - Bandhavgarh tiger reserve (another of the famous tiger reserves of MP). But before going there, we had planned to make a stop at Marble rocks viewpoint, upstream from Dhuandhar falls along the same river. We decided to skip breakfast at the resort, and instead headed to MP Tourism's MPT Marble Cafe, where we had a quick breakfast.

At a yard outside our resort, spotted this rental agency renting out these cute little Nano convertibles for roaming around Dhuandhar. Nano convertible anyone?





MPT Marble Cafe had a safe parking space for us to park the car for a couple of hours while we headed to the boating point at Marble rocks



Breakfast at MPT Marble Cafe - clean place with clean washrooms and delicious food!





For 50 rupees per head, they had a nice elevator going down to the base of the river where the boating counter was. This was a good time-saver instead of taking long flights of stairs to reach.



After purchasing the ticket at the boating counter, our assigned boatmen arrived and we were soon on-boarded (for lack of better word)





The boatmen turned out to be a friendly pair of local boys who were keen to show a lot of marble rock formations and explained some trivia behind them. They also had a comical style of Hindi poetry and rhymes, cheesily equating random rock formations to some funny analogies and shapes, with this humour probably best enjoyed by kids than adults. Nonetheless we played on for the duration of the boat ride, appreciating the unique rock formations as our boat made its way through the canyon gorge of Narmada river's calm winter waters.

Leaving a few random shots of the rock formations from Bheda ghat's Marble rocks viewpoint









After this boating excursion, we made our way back up the elevator to our parked car and proceeded on our journey to the destination of the day - Bandhavgarh.

Jabalpur to Katni had an excellent four-lane highway stretch



A short deviation from the Jabalpur - Katni road at Sihora led us to a nice point of interest - the Geographical Centre point of India at a village called Karaundi. It wasn't a very famous place as such, there were hardly a few visitors around the time that we visited, roughly around noon. It was a small monument surrounded by dried up fields and few curious villagers strolling around.





This pillar marks the centre point of India



There wasn't much to do at Karaundi, so after hardly 15-20 minutes there we departed and rejoined our original route to Bandhavgarh via Katni, instead of trying some interior shortcuts which were not in good shape.

From Katni to Umeria was this lovely single lane highway with flowing curves





The last patch of road from Umeria to Bandhavgarh while we encountered this board, letting us know we were close to our resort. We skipped lunch, like on many other days of this trip, and chose to save time on the journey instead.



There was a short mud pathway leading to our place of stay for the night - Syna Tiger resort, Bandhavgarh. It must have been around 4PM by the time we reached Syna resort.



Entrance area and porch



Our car was the lone one in the parking lot that day. The staff were curious to see a Karnataka registered car all the way in Bandhavgarh , and a lot of questions were around our journey all the way from Bangalore, while they helped us check-in to our cottage in parallel.



They had several cottages, tastefully themed after different states of India, with the interiors and exteriors showcasing that particular state. Our cottage was themed after Assam, with several of the furniture and interior elements made of cane



Outdoor area of the cottage



Side door had these Assamese mannequins



The interiors were tastefully done up with Assamese cane elements everywhere





A rhinoceros in stone in the garden area outside the cottage completed the 'Assam look', lol!



After quickly freshening up, we headed over to their open-air restaurant for high tea. On the way was this inviting swimming pool, but the weather was way too cold to attempt a swim in single digit temperature numbers!



High tea at their open air restaurant, with a background of Bandhavgarh forest buffer zone right next door





Some random shots strolling around the property before dusk set in





We played some 9-ball games among ourselves to kill time till dinner, at their indoor games area



We opted for an early dinner at their restaurant since we had opted for an early morning Safari the following day. The dinner (and the next day's lunch) was probably hands down one of the best tasting meals of this entire trip.





Post dinner we spent some time outside our cottage, warming our hands at this bonfire, apt for the cold winter night, before hitting the sack for some shut-eye.



Day 5's driving logs: Just 200km and 4 hours of relaxed pace driving

[KarthikK]

Day 6: Bandhavgarh to Satna (Jungle Safari to a heritage Haveli)

We had opted for a private safari through our resort. The safari timings were very similar to the ones at Kanha, with the journey starting at 6AM and ending at 11.30AM, so we roughly had 5.5 hours, with a short picnic breakfast at a designated spot inside the buffer zone. Similar to the safari at Kanha a couple of days earlier, we were woken up by the staff by around 5AM. At roughly 5.45AM our designated driver and forest department guide were ready to pick us up at the lobby area and head to the forest to begin the morning excursion.

The crowd of safari jeeps was not as bad as the one at Kanha tiger reserve. We were assigned the Magadhi gate of Bandhavgarh, another of MP's famous tiger spotting zones. Here is a picture of us lined up with a few other Gypsies, waiting for the checkpost to open up. It was very cold as usual, so we had plenty of warm layers on.



As luck would have it, despite having a fantastic guide and naturalist this time (even better than the ones in Kanha) we were unable to spot the big cat. In fact this Safari was even drier than the one in Kanha, since there weren't many other wildlife species spotted on this safari.

Leaving some pictures here of the early morning sunrise sights and scenes from inside Bandhavgarh forest.









A few pictures of some deer, peacocks and a jackal is all we could get











A forest watch tower



Our safari Gypsy striking a pose in its home turf



The canyons of Bandhavgarh seen in the horizon



It must have been around noon when we reached back our resort. After packing up, it was time to say goodbye and move on to the next destination - a heritage Haveli beyond Satna, a few kilometres short of Uttar Pradesh. We had a quick lunch at Syna resort's superb restaurant before checking out and departing Bandhavgarh.



Drone shot from above Syna resort, of the surrounding Bandhavgarh forest zone



After a quick refuel and souvenir purchase stop in Bandhavgarh town, we were on our way to Satna roughly by 2PM.
Thanks for the memories, we will be back again soon, hopefully with better luck for wildlife spottings, lol!



The single lane roads between Bandhvgarh and Maihar were patchy and under repair in many places, so it was a rather annoying drive with tons of diversions and bad patches.





Passing by a lake around sunset time



Driver swap for the final hour or so of the journey, with darkness setting in



Sunset along the outskirts of Satna



The final 20 km involved some treacherous off-road patches full of mud and rocks which we carefully navigated on the southern part of Satna's approach bypass, and crossed over to the north of Satna, specifically to a town called Kothi. We had opted to stay in a heritage Haveli called Kila The Heritage Palace, located roughly 25km north of Satna, almost at the UP border leading to Prayagraj.

This was a lovely property, possibly some old palace of a small ruler with a long history dating back to 200 years or more. We were the only guests on that day, and we could choose the room we wanted. Here is a picture of the living area (which apparently used to be the Durbar hall in the olden days)



Our simple and decent room, part of the old Haveli building, with thick walls and good insulation from the biting cold outside.



It was well past dusk when we reached the place, so we spent some time chatting with the current generation 'king' who runs this place and lives in another part of the Haveli with his family. It was interesting to learn a lot about the history of the place and the evolution of this region over the years.

They served us a lovely homely dinner by around 8PM, which we gladly relished and polished off, before calling it a day.



Day 6 driving logs: ~160km and almost 5 hours to cover it shows how bad the roads were.

[KarthikK]

Day 7: Satna to Khajuraho (Entering the realm of divine architecture)

We woke up to a leisurely morning and a foggy and late sunrise as usual. We didn't have too much of driving on the 7th day, hardly a couple of hours journey to be precise.

There wasn't too much to be seen around the Haveli we were staying, so we were just glancing around inside for a while, until we were served a homely breakfast by the gracious hosts.





We left quite early after breakfast, probably as early as 9AM, since we had plans to reach Khajuraho before lunch, and then explore the famous temple complexes and architectural marvels there.

A departing picture in front of Kila Heritage palace



Exiting the deserted single lane stretch of highway between Kothi and Satna. Life begins quite late in these regions, especially in the winter



Cows have the right of way in MP, any time, anywhere and the cow herd size can vary from 20 to 2000, lol!



After reaching Satna we took the NH39 highway from Satna to Khajuraho, which was in decent shape thankfully. Completing Satna ended the Eastern leg of MP in our trip plan



NH39 passes through Panna tiger reserve, which is one of the places that we could not accommodate in our itinerary this time unfortunately. It is supposed to be composed of breathtaking canyon gorges and marble rocks escorting river Narmada winding her way through the jungles of Eastern MP.



Post this we made a quick detour to visit a famous waterfall called Raneh falls, located a short detour off NH39. The topography of the waterfall was very similar to Bhedaghat, with marble rocks and canyons. Unfortunately there was no water in the falls by the time we visited in December, so there are no noteworthy pictures worth sharing here. I presume that post-monsoon would be a good time to catch some breathtaking sights of this magnificent waterfall.

Despite the detour we still made it to the entrance of Khajuraho region by noon. The road to Khajuraho breaks off from the east-west NH39 at a town called Bamitha, at this arch, from where it is 11km to the town of Khajuraho



Khajuraho’s famous temples and monuments are broadly categorized into two groups: the western group of temples and the eastern group of temples. The western group of temples are located relatively close to each other in the same complex, and the western group is very close to the main town. It has well sorted infrastructure and facilities, good connectivity, and proximity to the main commercial areas with tons of hotels, restaurants, shops and guides serving tourists and visitors. As a result of all these factors it enjoys way more footfall (than the eastern group).

The eastern group of temples, while being equally significant historically, are located relatively farther apart and somewhat scattered on the east of the main town. They are all in their own silos, standing as individual monuments almost 1-2km apart (making it cumbersome to cover them on foot), with sub-par connectivity and neglected infrastructure (bad and unmaintained roads) compared to the western group, and hence the eastern group of temples hardly see 5% of the footfall that the western complex enjoys.

Our plan was to reach Khajuraho, dump our luggage, grab a quick bite for lunch and then head out to explore the western group of temples and the town itself, all the way up to night. The Eastern group had a few major temples which we thought we could quickly drop by and explore by car on the way out of Khajuraho the following day. This way we could cover both fronts without rushing.

On the way to Khajuraho town, around 5 km before the town we encountered one isolated temple belonging to the Eastern group - called Chaturbhuj temple, which we explored for a short while before continuing on to the hotel







It was around 1PM when we checked into our hotel. The place of stay at Khajuraho was Syna Heritage resort, belonging to the same group of resorts as the Bandhavgarh stay in this trip. This one had a nice palace vibe to it, with nice retro elements thrown in here and there.









A nice swimming pool in the courtyard



The room was nice and airy, with a nice Jacuzzi to enjoy in the cold winter night after all the walking around that we would be doing, lol!





Intricate art work even on the ceiling of our room



After a quick lunch at the hotel, we set out to explore the western group of temples on foot. What was this Rann of Kutch Camel doing in the heart of MP?!


Strolling around Shiv sagar lake



Posing for a picture with this 6 seater electric rickshaw that we found in abundance all over MP, particularly in tourist sites such as these. Would make a nice addition to the bike garage at home, no?



Tickets were all digitized now, and one could just use the phone to quickly scan their QR code and complete a quick registration process at the gate to pay by UPI and enter, no hassles at all. After entering the western group of temples, we spent at least 2-2.5 hours exploring all the temples inside the complex, some of whose stories were understood with the help of a government authorized Guide’s help, without whom everything would just be a string of sculptures to us.

I won’t get into the detailed specifics and trivia about every monument here, tons of information is already available on the web anyway. I’ll just proceed to leave a few snaps of some of the main temples in the western group.















After the sun went down, we strolled around the main town area, warding off tons of locals trying to sell us wares, guide services and souvenirs of some kind or the other. There are hawkers waiting to hound tourists literally every 20 metres, making it very difficult to enjoy a relaxed walk around the temples or commercial areas of Khajuraho in peace.

The better half wanted to do a bit of souvenir shopping (Khajuraho is apparently popular for Bamboo silk handicrafts), so she was busy haggling with some shops while I browsed around outside.



Post this we walked over to a famous eatery in Khajuraho serving an authentic thali for dinner - the restaurant’s name was Badri Seth Marwari Bhoj. We enjoyed this dinner and the amazing Rabri they served as dessert with the Thali. That ended the day for us, and we walked over to our hotel and retired for the night



Day 7 driving logs: Just ~134km and under 3 hours on the road

[KarthikK]

Day 8: Khajuraho to Gwalior (From Temples to Fortresses and Palaces)

We had decided to leave quite early from the hotel to be able to cover a few major shrines in the Eastern group of temples on the way out of Khajuraho, so we had a quick breakfast at the in-house restaurant in Syna heritage, then checked out and left the place.





Some departing pictures in front of the property





We didn't spend too much time on the Eastern group of temples, probably just 15-20 minutes each at the significant (in the Eastern group) Vamana and Javari temples, before we continued on our journey.









One picture of the car with a Khajuraho 'theme' background for the memory books



Cliched touristy photo-op board on the exit route, lol! Do people really pose with these?



Retracing our route back to Bamitha, where we had broken off from NH39 the previous day to enter Khajuraho. We had to take a right at the T-junction to continue on the same NH northwards to Gwalior. The milkman in the opposite direction seemed pretty confident that he was on the correct side of the road, I had to concede that I was the one who was wrong and moved on quickly .



The road from Khajuraho to Gwalior was in excellent shape, and it did make sense why - most tourists to Khajuraho fly in and take a cab from Gwalior and thereabouts.





The MP-UP state borders are such that the NH39 cuts through the two states multiples times during one particular sector around Jhansi. Taking a short driver swap break somewhere near the UP border.



We saw the deviation to Orccha but unfortunately we couldn't include this place in this trip in the interest of time



We did do a short stop at Datia palace en route Gwalior though. It was hardly a 5km deviation from the highway. It was way too hot in the day though, so I didn't take any noteworthy pictures inside. This is the only one I got from the road winding up the hillock to reach Datia palace.



It must have been around 2PM that we hit the 'Tansen Gate' entrance arch of Gwalior city.



We carefully made our way through the chaotic traffic in Gwalior's cramped lanes, to our place of stay for the next couple of days - Neemrana Deobagh, a heritage property set amidst greenery with a couple of hundred years of history behind its existence.



Cottages were set along the perimeter of a large garden lawn



The stone walls gave it a very nice antique look all around the property





Open air seating area in the lawn, which also served as the space for high-tea in the evenings and for open-air dining in fair weather



We were soon checked in to our cottage, located very close to the restaurant. The heritage suite room had a lovely retro vibe to it, with large and airy space, high ceiling, many windows, antique furniture and bits of the old run-down property still left behind to give it that old world feel. There were tons of peacocks and peahens that we observed roaming around in the property.





We had anyway skipped lunch during the journey. After checking-in, as per our plan we set out to visit a famous street food eatery and later explore a portion of Gwalior's famous fort, located on a hilltop. Our first stop was Hemuji Chilla Chaat Bhandar, famous for their Karela chaat, and Besan Chilla varieties. Turns out, by Karela they didn't really mean bittergourd but rather the Papdi which was shaped like a bittergourd! The stuff here was quite delicious all in all.





Post this, it was almost 4.30PM so we decided to visit Gwalior fort and spend time there until sunset. Gwalior fort is situated on top of a hill. There are cabs which ferry visitors from a particular point on the hill till the entrance on the top, so we took one.

Some random pictures of Gwalior fort from the top of the hill













After the sunset completed and darkness started enveloping the place, it was time to leave. We hired another rickshaw chap to take us around Gwalior town and complete our to-do list of places on a mini street food trail. What better way to explore the street food scene of a city.

Our next stop was this famous and old shop in the heart of the city, called S S Kachoriwala, famous for his Kachoris and Samosas, served with his signature chutneys. The locals swear by this shop and their authentic fare.



After this we proceeded to a famous sweet shop who still uses coal to cook, and they are famous for some of the best Boondi Laddus. The sweet shop name was Bahadura Sweets. These were easily some of the best Laddus we have ever eaten!



Based on our rickshaw driver's insistence, our final stop of the day on this mini street food trail was Bhairant Kesariya Doodh centre, a milk parlour famous for the owner's unique way of frothing the milk with some stunts. Apparently a Guinness world record holder (not sure for what), the shop walls were adorned with different pictures of him accepting awards and featuring in television shows, etc. There was a crowd which had already gathered to watch him perform and savour his famous Kesar milk, served in Kulhads (earthen tumblers) in batches after every sequence of his frothing and mixing 'stunts'. The hot Kesar milk was delicious nonetheless, apt for the cold winter night before we ended the day and retired to our hotel for a good night's sleep.



Day 8 driving logs: around 300km and 5 hours of driving

[KarthikK]

Day 9: Exploring more of Gwalior

Day 9 was a break day, we weren't shuttling anywhere on this day, and it was just a time-off day to explore Gwalior and relax in the property too for most part of the day. Neemrana DeoBagh turned out to better than expected, and all that greenery around the property was great to stroll around in the early morning. I certainly didn't miss my morning walks back home in this place.

Strolling through the garden area on a foggy winter morning



Deobagh had one section of the land where there were some 300 year old structures left behind from the Mughal era still intact. This was adjoining the garden area and a short stroll from where our cottage was located.





The cottages and open garden area





A panoramic view



An old shrine in the property basking in the morning sunshine, centuries old as per the hotel authorities





Feathered friends of the peacock family who seemed to be quite comfortable with humans in close proximity. These didn't seem very shy or timid, probably must have got used to so many guests arriving every other day. They were minding their own business while we were exploring the sights around the garden





A rusted old and abandoned tractor, which has seen better times in the past



After a relaxing a morning stroll, we headed to the restaurant where breakfast was served. The restaurant had a simple and elegant ambience



The place served some lovely continental breakfast items with a cheese platter, in addition to some local MP style delicacies. Fantastic breakfast all-in-all, at Deobagh!



We didn't have any major agenda for the day besides a short outing inside Gwalior city to visit the famous Jai Vilas Palace, belonging to the Scindia dynasty who ruled this region for centuries. The palace is now converted to a museum of sorts, displaying and preserving a lot of the old royal family's memorabilia, tradition and culture passed down through the generations to the current owner.

After loitering around for some time in Deobagh, we took the same rickshaw chap who helped us the previous day and headed to the palace sometime around 11.30AM or so. Cameras weren't allowed inside the palace, only phones were allowed, so the pictures are a bit basic.

Jai Vilas palace, Gwalior







The large lawn in front of the palace courtyard had these geese and a large fountain





Some random pictures of the royal family artifacts maintained inside the palace, with the royal carriage and the royal dining table with a miniature railway system to deliver dishes along the length of the entire table.



The massive ballroom



Durbar hall



After covering the palace, we headed for lunch - a Gwalior styled Thali at a restaurant called Raj Bhoj.



Post lunch we returned to our hotel to chill there. The better half decided to finish reading some book that she had started, and I took out the drone to get some timepass shots of the property and the location it was in, after which we decided to rest a bit.









Top view of the property and surrounding area, they seem to have a nice expansive area full of greenery in the middle of all that concrete jungle!



Top view of that Mughal-era monument inside the garden, with surrounding moat.



Evening high-tea at the lawn area



The staff had decorated the entire place with lights, so I ended up taking some timepass shots of the place at night with my cam and a mini-tripod.









Soon it was time for dinner. We had got bored of all the desi food in the last few days, so we decided to go Italian for dinner and enjoyed some Spaghetti Aglio Olio, Penne Arrabiata and Basil Pomodoro soup. That brought an end to day 9 of the roadtrip.

[KarthikK]

Day 10: Gwalior to Chanderi (Artisans, Walls and Fortresses that have seen it all)

Our stay in Gwalior had come to an end, and we had to proceed further to our next destination in this trip. The next place was a rather off-beat, sleepy town with a rich history and full of hillocks and forts, with the town consisting of tiny winding lanes carved through the rocks and fort walls. Chanderi was made famous by the recent Bollywood films Stree and Stree 2 being shot here. It is also famous for handicrafts and handloom silk sarees, commonly known as Chanderi Silk, with an entire settlement of artisans dedicating their livelihoods to this art.

The distance from Gwalior to Chanderi was roughly ~220km, so we didn't need to rush the morning start anyway. We had a leisurely breakfast at Deobagh, which was once again delicious and this time in addition to our preferred continental fare they also had a different combination in the local cuisine - Kachori with Kadhi.



We checked out by roughly 10AM, and proceeded towards Chanderi. Some part of the route upto Jhansi actually retraced the onward route that we took to Gwalior. After that was a diversion southwards into the NH44 four lane highway to that led to Sagar



At a place called Talbehat we broke off from NH44 and entered a single lane deserted stretch of state highway leading to Chanderi. The highway criss-crossed between MP and UP in several areas, passing by many state RTO checkposts.





The MP-UP border funnily lands in the middle of this Betwa river, splitting it along the length. We stopped for a quick picture in the border split point on this bridge just for fun.



The road to Chanderi got narrower and finally started ascending a hill, in order to reach our stay destination for the day - MPT Kila Kothi Chanderi (MP Tourism's resort), which was situated right next to Chanderi's fort.



We reached the resort by roughly 3PM, and were checked in promptly by the attentive staff at MPT KKC.



The room was very comfortable and nice, far better than we expected from MPT (going by how government tourism department hotels usually run in other states). MPT properties seem to be really well managed and well maintained, with them retaining monopoly over the cream of strategic locations such as these (eg. right next to a famous fort).



The main restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating areas, with the central corridor running along the circumference of the cliff and fort walls.



The view from the outdoor restaurant was superb, showing a bird's eye sight of entire Chanderi town.



It was well past lunch time, and as the sun started to retreat into the confines of the evening lowering the temperature in the process, we opted for some light masala tea and some piping hot Pakoras instead, choosing to savour these simple pleasures with the freezing cold winds showing up every few minutes at that altitude.



Our agenda for the evening was to spend some time at the fort, then visit a handicraft village close by and then return in time for a sound and light show at the fort. Since Chanderi fort was right next door, we decided to visit the fort first, admiring some views around it and pass some time there, reading the trivia mentioned on the inscription stones and learning more about the history of the place.

Some views from Chanderi fort and climbing atop the walls, through the maze-like passages and stairways inside the fort













After around an hour in the fort area, we took the car out and proceeded to a place 5km away, which my better half wanted to visit - Pranpur Craft & Handloom village. This was a village of artisans engaged in weaving Chanderi silk sarees, a native handicraft of this region. There wasn't anything here for gentlemen, so I was mostly visiting from an art and culture trivia perspective, while the better half did some shopping of Chanderi style handicrafts, sarees and apparel.

En route Pranpur village, we had a 'traffic jam' as usual on the interior roads, with cattle returning from their day's quota of grazing. When in interior MP, a traffic jam is usually from Auto-Bovines rather than Auto-Mobiles! Auto-Bovines can magically appear by 8AM but go back home by 5.30-6PM, so if you're out on the roads at these times, remember - bovines always have right of passage, no matter how big the convoy!



The craft village had a neat area to park cars and walk through the narrow concrete village lanes.



Every house here belonged to some artisan or other, involved in the Chanderi silk saree (also apparel) making handloom art. Every house had its own pattern of exterior paint designs too, making the entire village look very colorful as we walked through the lanes of houses.



Visiting some handlooms and interacting with the local weavers, learning about their lives and the art that they had been carrying on since many generations, even through the modern era where machines with increased throughput are taking over such industries.





Visiting a 'home-shop' of one of the weavers, where the better half wanted to do some shopping straight from the birthplace of Chanderi silks. There were 2-3 shops such as these that we visited to help her browse through multiple collections and choose. I was mostly a mute spectator here, lol!



It was almost 7PM by the time we left from that place and returned to the fort hotel. The MPT staff at the Kila Kothi fort organize a sound and light show every evening at roughly 7.30PM, using the fort walls as props for the light show to showcase a short documentary about the history of Chanderi and its significance in this region.

Seated for the sound and light show documentary





It lasted for around 30 minutes, and there were a few other guests apart from us in the audience, mostly other guests staying at the same hotel. After this we proceeded to enjoy a dinner in the open-air restaurant, with a magnificent hill-top view of Chanderi town on a winter night. We returned to our room and had a good night's sleep. That brought an end to day 10.





Day 10 driving logs: ~220km and 4.5 hours through some offbeat roads of interior MP

[KarthikK]

Day 11: Chanderi to Bhopal (City of Forts and silks to the City of Lakes)

On day 11, we had to leave a bit earlier than usual since the route from Chanderi to Bhopal passed through one of India's famous Buddhist monuments - the Sanchi Stupa which we wanted to stop and explore. We had mostly covered the main part of Chanderi, barring two places of interest which we decided to do on the way out of Chanderi since they were anyway somewhat on our exit route.

A simple but tasty breakfast at MPT hotel's restaurant, after which we decided to pack up and check-out, after thanking the staff for their hospitality.



We stopped at an abandoned Helipad in a barren meadow on the way out of MPT Kila Kothi, to take some timepass shots of the Brio.





As we made our way out of Chanderi town, the first of our two points of interest came up on the maps and we stopped for a brief while - this place was called Badal Mahal, another of Chanderi's old forts, albeit a bit small.







The second and final point of interest was Kati Ghati, a kind of entrance arch carved out of a single piece of rock and signified the entrance approach road to the town even during the Medieval era of central India. There is a lot of trivia about the historical significance of this monument on the web for those interested to learn more.

The second (and funnier) aspect about this place is that it was the filming location of some famous bus stop scene in two recent Bollywood horror movies called Stree and Stree 2 (the sequel) which were filmed largely in Chanderi. Now both the better half and myself are not big movie buffs, so after hearing so much from the staff of the MPT hotel in Chanderi to go to this must-visit 'shooting spot', we actually watched the movies that evening to check out what the fuss was all about .

Anyway here are some pictures of Kati Ghati, with the humble Brio striking a few poses in the early morning.











After exiting Kati Ghati, the state highway to Bhopal took over and it was a scenic single lane road in decent condition, with paddy fields and occasional mustard (yellow flower) fields showing up in cameos every now and then. It was still a foggy early morning though, and the sun was taking its own sweet time to come up and clear the visibility levels.





Passing a railway crossing, with a cliched perspective view of the tracks



Stopping by some mustard flower fields for timepass pictures





Continuing on the road between Chanderi and Bhopal



We made our way to Sanchi Stupa by roughly 2PM. There were well designated parking areas for cars, and the monument complex itself was another 200 metres of walk to the top of a small hillock on top of where the main Stupa structure is situated. Around it are also some other structures, which we spent some time strolling around and exploring for a while.

















Finally found the monument depicted on 200-Rupee currency notes



After this visit at Sanchi Stupa, we proceeded along our route to reach Bhopal city just before 4PM. En route was this place where the Tropic of Cancer latitude line passes through, so we stopped for a quick picture.





Our place of stay for the day was the historic Noor-Us-Sabah palace hotel, which was located along the circumference of Bhopal's Upper lake.



The ambience was nice and the property had a rich history behind it.



Our room was nice and compact, with a small balcony from where we could enjoy views of the upper lake. In winter season this view was mostly hazy through the day though. Sunset with a cup of chai was enjoyed in this balcony while we relaxed after the journey of the day.





After a couple of hours of break, we set out to explore the central area of Bhopal city, specifically Sarafa Bazaar. This place was apparently popular here for local wares of handbags and stuff like that - National Zari house.



Stopping at a famous chaat eatery called Sharma Chaat Bhandaar, which was famous for Chole Tikki and Dahi Pulki



Post this we proceeded to another famous eatery called Manohar dairy, to have their signature Chole Bhature and Gajar ka Halwa for dinner, after which we retired to our hotel.



That brought an end to Day 11 of the trip. Here are the logs for day 11: 230 km and ~6 hours on the road, due to three stops at Badal Mahal, Kati Ghati and Sanchi Stupa.

[KarthikK]

Day 12: Bhopal to Ujjain (An extravaganza of history and culture)

On this day, we were leaving Bhopal city and heading to our next destination - this time a transition from an urban city to a historical city filled with religious and cultural heritage over centuries. Ujjain is famous for its famous Shiva (Mahakaleshwar) temple and attracts pilgrims from all over the country, but is also in general a picturesque complex of shrines adjoining a river Shipra, making it somewhat a mini Varanasi of sorts. While neither of us is religious, we wanted to visit Ujjain to savour the cultural aspects of the entire region and appreciate the myriad of cultural flavours in their many forms here - art, history, culture, architecture and food.

We had a hearty breakfast at Noor-Us-Sabah palace's in-house restaurant. Needless to say, there was a large spread at the buffet breakfast, and we tried some familiar continental dishes in addition to some local fare.



Post breakfast, we checked out and departed from Noor-Us-Sabah palace, not without a departing picture as usual



Exiting Bhopal city, promising to return again for another trip, some other time



It was a typical winter morning as usual, with a lot of dense fog in places. The road from Bhopal to Ujjain was in very good condition and left nothing to fault though. The only hindrance was perhaps the presence of village traffic and frequent village crossing intersections where one had to be watchful of overconfident criss-crossing two-wheeler folks.



The ~200km journey took roughly 3 hours to cover, fuss-free. We left Bhopal by around 11AM and reached Ujjain just before 2PM, with this entrance arch telling us we had arrived at the temple town



We had opted to stay at MPT's Shipra Residency in Ujjain, which was a decent hotel in this town. The room was sufficient albeit a bit basic.



After quickly freshening up, we decided to skip lunch as usual, and headed to the famous temple complex where we decided to do a Darshan of the deity, and then stroll around the temple complex doing anything else which interested us. Food wasn't an issue there, as there were tons of street food vendors dotting the entire bylanes of Ujjain's temple complex area, selling all kinds of food.



After finishing the main temple visit, exploring some of the street food vendors selling chaat, sweets and some other delicious local delicacies







Between the two of us we shared some of these snacks for a makeshift late lunch to keep hunger at bay. Pictured here was Sabudana Khichdi, Dahi Bhalla, Kesar Rabri and Gulab Jamuns

Shipra river flows through this temple complex. At around sunset time every day, there is an evening Arati which takes place at Ram ghat, a few hundred metres upstream from the main temple area. This was a fascinating sight to watch

There was another shrine in the same complex called Harsiddhi Matha temple, where they were lighting these oil lamps every night at dusk.

I spotted this deceptive fake version of Bisleri mineral water, so easy to mistake it for the original unless one pays close attention to the spelling



We loitered around the temple complex from afternoon till around 8PM, shopping for some trinkets, memorabilia, etc, until we decided to call it a day and end the visit there.

A departing picture of Ujjain, with the main Mahakaleshwar temple decked up in lighting

A dinner Thali which we shared at the exit lane out of the temple complex, at a restaurant called Apna Sweets.



Driving logs for Day 12: ~200km and ~3 hours on the road, with a relaxed driving pace





Day 13: Ujjain to Indore (Redlining the stomach engines in the capital of street food)

On day 13, we were supposed to switch to the next part of this trip - from cultural heritage of Ujjain to an urban jungle street food trail in the city of Indore.

Indore is famous for being probably the undisputed street food capital of the country, with a dedicated night food street dishing out a myriad of authentic as well as unique street food dishes and concoctions. As a disclaimer I have to add though, that this kind of food trail is not for the faint hearted (weak or sensitive stomachs), lol! While I do not follow or endorse junk food eating or late night bingeing in any way, it would be a crime to visit a place like Indore and not try the famous night food street which was the highlight of the city.

Back to the plan - we wanted to leave Ujjain after a quick and short breakfast at the hotel, check out and leave to reach Indore which was just an hour's drive away.

Short and quick breakfast at MPT Shipra residency, Ujjain. Funnily I tried Idli and Vada 2000km from their home and it wasn't too bad.



Reaching Indore city before noon



Our place of stay at Indore was Playotel Premier, a business hotel in Vijay Nagar.



The room was comfortable and cozy as usual



Now Indore's street food scene is such that most of the famous stuff to try is part of the night food market at Sarafa Bazaar, close to the city centre. Sarafa Bazaar actually functions as a jewellery market in the daytime. After these daytime shops put down the shutters in the evening, post 9PM the entire place transforms into a food street, with food vendors setting up all their stalls by 9PM, running their business all the way till 4AM everyday.

We had planned our street food trail to be split into two portions, because there were so many things to try in Indore! Part one was to try famous eateries which are open through the day (they are permanent shops/restaurants) by noon or so, then give a gap of 8-9 hours or more for the second part, which was the main Sarafa Bazaar night food street itself, which we decided to visit after 9PM.

Usually on any such food trails, the trick that we follow to get through it without problems is that we share portions of everything that we try, rather than order individual portions of every dish and get bogged down quickly. Even if something is very good, resist the temptation to repeat order, this will otherwise kill appetite meant to try something else later. This allows us to try more dishes and move on to the next one in the must-do list that we shortlist for trying on that particular trail.

Another trick which helps with food trails is to skip a meal before doing a food trail. In this case it was skipping lunch which helped to have enough appetite to be able to do a proper trial of various dishes in the late night food market. This was the case with most of the days in this MP trip - when we wanted to do some experiments with different eateries in a particular city, we would skip lunch on those days.

We took a rickshaw to the central area near Rajwada, and decided to explore our shortlisted part-1 eateries on foot.

Rajwada Palace in all its glory



Starting part-1 of our street food trail with Vijay Chaat House, they cook a variety of interesting chaat items, but what stood out was this Khopra Pattice and Sabudana Vada, these are must-try items in this place. They do make good Sabudana Khichdi too. Rating 10/10 for the Khopra Pattice! It is a coconut based cutlet which tastes really good with the chutneys, and is really not found anywhere else.



A short walk from here into the gullies of Sarafa bazaar led us to the next famous eatery - Guru Sweets Sagar. They are almost 50 years old, famous for authentic Indori style Poha and Alu Bada (Vada or Bonda) as well as Samosas. Sadly Samosas were out of stock by the time we landed up there. 9/10 for the Poha and 8/10 for the Alu Bada, still a very memorable eatery to have visited.



A 400 metre walk from Guru Sweets Sagar led us to the bylanes of the other side of Sarafa Bazaar, where the locals swear by a beverage called the Nagori Shikhanji. It was a small shop, and the Shikhanji word is a misnomer here - it has nothing to do with the Shikhanji found in north India which is a spiced lemonade. The Shikhanji found in Indore is instead a thick and dense, calorie-rich drink made of thick milk and hung curd, with tons of saffron and dry fruits. Think of it as a Kesar and dry fruit milk shake with condensed milk. It tasted heavenly, but it was very rich. We shared a small glass among the two of us. My rating for this dish would be 9/10, worth a try but be wary of how filling it can get.



Our next stop after this was the famous Joshi Dahi Bada (Vada is called Bada here sometimes). Also called the flying Vada place because of the way the owner of this shop flings the Vada plates in the air before he catches it, adds his unique mix of spices and serves it to customers, this place has captured the hearts of the localites and visitors alike. This place is open in the evenings too, but gets terribly crowded once the night food street opens up, so we decided to try it in the first part of our food trail itself (in the day). The Dahi Bada here is one of the best I have had. 10/10 for the right consistency and sweetness of the curd, and the unique concoction of five spices he adds to give that zing to every plate of Bada going out of his hands.



The next place on our list was Agarwal Kachoriwale, which was famous for their unique varieties of Kachori (fillings). Located a short walk from Sarafa Bazaar, this place was already thronging with people even in the off-peak hours of afternoon. We tried their three famous offerings - the regular dal-based Kachori, the Lasoon Kachori (garlic infused filling) and Bhutte ki Kachori (corn filling). All three were unique and delicious, getting a 9/10 rating from my perspective. Seen in the picture are the three varieties, with the yellow filling being the corn variant, the red one is the garlic variant and the one in the middle is the regular Kachori.



We did carry some Namkeen to take back home for friends and family, so a stop at the famous Ratan Sev Bhandar outlet was next up, where we purchased some unique flavours of Sev and Namkeen that are not available in the south.



Our final stop for the first part of the food trail - a newly opened modern style food street called Chappan Dukaan, an array of 56 (hence the name Chappan) different shops in a neatly planned and well organized open air food court. A short rickshaw ride from Sarafa Bazaar area took us here. While our stomach was already full, we just did a trial of this Jamun shot (basically sweetened Jamun fruit pulp), and shared a famous dessert called the Shahi Rasmalai, in a popular sweets shop here called Madhuram sweets. An interesting Paan shop nearby had this flavour called Gundi Paan. It turned out to be a punchy Paan infused with Menthol, giving a minty end to the whole food trail of the day.



We returned to the hotel to relax for the rest of the afternoon and evening, choosing to watch a movie in the room to pass time. It was around 9PM that we set out for part-2 of the Indore food trail - the Sarafa Night food street. Hailing rickshaws is easy in Indore, most have adapted to Rapido and Uber type aggregator apps nowadays.

En route Sarafa Bazaar, we made a stop at this famous shop called G3 Royal Omelette, selling unique egg dishes served with Pav bread. We tried their Boiled Egg Burji, which was really delicious. It wasn't really a Burji as such, the cook had almost made it a rich gravy with cashews, cheese, butter and the likes in addition to pieces of boiled egg. Heartfully rated a 10/10 and must-try dish while in Indore. The friendly folks here almost convinced us to try another of their signature dishes called Egg Ghotala, but we politely refused considering the food street visit ahead of us, lol!



Passing by Rajwada palace again after reaching Sarafa, this time decked up in colors for the night. This was right outside the Sarafa Bazaar area.



The food street area was bustling with visitors, many shops were still being set up, but the crowd was already building up. One commendable thing we noticed was how clean the whole street was maintained, it is not a surprise that Indore was awarded the cleanest city tag multiple times in the recent past. The food street had sufficient amount of dustbins conveniently located, and there were many volunteers even picking up stray trash and putting it into the bins after the guests left.

Sarafa food street in full flow after 9PM!



We did have a list of must-visit places to cover, but on the stretch of the street if something was interesting we thought we would simply give it a try. First up was this Pani puri / Golgappe stall selling 12 different flavours of Pani Puri, we shared a plate here and obviously still couldn't cover all 12, but whatever had was lovely! Rating 9/10 for the burst of unique flavours such as Mango and Tomato!



Further down the street, a stall selling Kulhad Pizza caught our attention. It was ingredients of a pizza baked in an earthen tumbler instead of on sourdough base, I tried it and this one was a disappointment, rating of 5/10 at max, but kudos to the creativity attempt. After this we realized that it is futile to try these cheesy and faux Chinese dishes at Sarafa which were largely all hype and no-go.



Our next stop was at this 85-year old gentleman's stall, and this man was apparently selling fried Garadu (Yam) and Bhutte ka Kees (corn kernels crushed and spiced) for the past 50 years. We were rather surprised when he spoke to us in fluent English and told a bit of a story about his past and how he has been selling these two dishes at Sarafa since the 1970s.



Further down the street we made our way amidst the cries of several food stalls and crowd to see one man tossing coconuts and singing a self-composed 'song' about his dish called 'Coconut Crush'. The shop name was Navin Coconut Crush, I am presuming the chap's name was Navin. The formula was basically tender coconut water and the tender coconut pieces run in a mixer with ice cubes, forming a very unique and nice tasting beverage. The whole process of extracting the water involved him violently bashing the coconut open while singing his songs, attracting a crowd in the process. Cheesy stuff for sure, lol! The coconut crush was fantastic though, and is not something you would find in other Indian cities. Strangely even in the south where we are blessed with an abundance of coconuts, we don't see the tender coconut and the water being mixed together this way to make this refreshing beverage.



Further down the street we came across this shop called Jai Bhole Jalebi wala, selling massive, plate-sized Jalebis. In fact these were so huge that the shop guy proudly remarked that these are not Jalebis but Jalebas (to signify a more powerful, masculine version of the Jalebi)! Piece size varied between 300 grams and 1kg for each Jaleba! Between the two of us we couldn't even finish the smallest piece of this they had, but this mega-Jalebi-Jaleba dish was a smile-inducing discovery nonetheless. Mammoth sized Jalebas anyone?



On the same row there was this interesting gentleman adorned in gold ornaments, running a Kulfi stall. He was a famous local personality here, known as the 'Gold Kulfi man' running Prakash Kulfi centre. He lives, eats and breathes gold and on a lighter note, now he has started feeding his customers too with gold! He had these unique 24-carat gold Kulfis on offer for 350 bucks each. Simple Kulfis, but wrapped with an edible 24-carat gold foil. Now anyone familiar with desi sweets usually will have eaten these gold and silver foils indirectly anyway on top of Burfis and the likes of those. What was different here is the ad-hoc gold wrapping the entire sheet on a Kulfi. The better half opted for Gulkand-Dry fruit flavour while I went for Kesar flavour, two 24-carat gold Kulfis done! Why miss out on the fun, lol!



By this time we were quite filled up and strolled around the place, making our way out of the food-stall-laden maze of alleys to come back to the entrance of Sarafa and find a cab to return to the hotel. A picture of assorted street food at Sarafa (no we didn't eat all this, just took pictures while passing by, lol!)



The entire food-trail was a not just a tummy-filling experience but also a heart-warming experience. It was interesting to see how every vendor or shop has built a distinct identity around himself/themselves, garnering their own fan following for their food, their antics and their personas themselves. Some have been around for decades, some have mushroomed more recently, but they all captivate the attention of visitors alike. Some of the antics were a bit cringey and cheesy, but I guess that is what has worked for their identities to stand-out in a large array of food stalls, competing with hundreds of other stalls for customers' attention and sales.

While I am not a fan of dealing with mad and noisy crowds in a food street to grab a few bites of yummy dishes, a night food-street experience done well is something that will last long in our memory books. Indore's Sarafa Bazaar night market is a memorable one that scores a tick for us for the entirety of the experience. Should you visit this place when you visit Indore? I would say a resounding Yes!

Ending this post with the day's driving logs: Probably the least amount of driving among all the days of this trip - just around an hour and 54km!

[KarthikK]

Day 14: Indore to Pachmarhi (Over to the crown jewel of MP's landscapes)

We were approaching the final destination of this MP trip - MP's famed hill station amidst the Satpura forest reserve - Pachmarhi. This was a befitting end to the entire roadtrip, with an emphasis on enjoying nature and scenery with some hikes and sightseeing, thus adding this facet too to the overall itinerary's variety of places. Pachmarhi is MP's crown jewel in terms of unparalleled scenic beauty, with mountains and dense jungles, breathtaking waterfalls and streams flowing through them and adding to the rustic experience.

Indore to Pachmarhi was a good ~400km distance away, so we decided to leave from Indore pretty early to get a head-start on the journey. While the previous day's food trails had almost covered everything we wanted to in Indore, there was one famous breakfast eatery which we had missed, and decided to cover on this morning while on the way out of Indore.

Driving through Indore's empty streets in the early morning



Stopping by for a few quick pictures of the car in front of Indore's heritage monument - the Krishna Pura Chetri temple at sunrise









Our breakfast stop was at this famous tiny restaurant called Prashant Poha Centre. As the name suggests, this place is famous for Poha in its various forms. We were fortunate enough to meet the owner of the place, a man well into his 60s, who told his story of how his father migrated from Maharashtra long ago to Indore and set up this place, gradually evolving the Poha dish here into MP's and Indore's own variations. It was a very simple and tiny place with hardly space for 6-7 small tables. We were told this place is always crowded during the rush hour. Fortunately it was very early when we visited, so there weren't many other guests around and we were able to interact freely with the owner.



They served some amazing Indori Poha, Usal Poha and Sabudana Khichdi (MP style) along with a piping hot cup of Chai. Rated a well deserved 9/10 for the taste



After this breakfast stop, we made our way out of Indore and onto the Indore - Bhopal highway via Dewas. This stretch between Dewas and Bhopal was an overlap/repeat because we had to use the same stretch in the opposite direction two days ago when we went from Bhopal to Ujjain via Dewas. The traffic on this day was sparse though, so it was a peaceful drive until we reached Bhopal's city traffic



Routine driver swap stop somewhere after Bhopal, after getting onto the four lane NH46



Around 50-60km after crossing Bhopal, we stopped for an early lunch at a lovely, rustic highway Dhaba for some authentic north Indian food, finished with some lovely Kheer served with love by the friendly Dhaba staff who were thrilled to hear our experiences/intentions as a Bangalore car driving by in this region.







After this lunch stop we continued on our journey towards Pachmarhi. En route we saw the deviation to Bhimbetka rock shelters, another of MP's famous tourism zones containing ancient artifacts dating back to thousands of years ago. Unfortunately we did not have the time to visit here and cover it properly, so we decided to push it to another future trip.



We had to break off from the four lane NH46 at Narmadapuram, heading towards Pachmarhi via Babai and Pipariya. Upto Babai the roads were a bit broken and needed some slow and careful driving. After Babai, the stretch to Pipariya was beautiful and we encountered bridges over Narmada river at a few places





The single lane road from Pipariya to the start of Satpura tiger reserve



Starting the hillclimb towards Pachmarhi. The road was very narrow but in great shape. It was steep in many places, and we could observe most of the local cabbies had very little mountain driving etiquette or experience, overconfidently doing blind overtakes in turning, speeding up downhill, etc., prompting us to drive a bit carefully



The twisties begin!





Catching some views of the mountains of Pachmarhi as we gained altitude



Surprisingly for December, the place suddenly got engulfed in clouds and it actually started raining by the time we could park the car and go check-in at the reception of our resort. The rain and clouds cleared up in a few minutes though, ending almost as soon as it began.

It must have been around 4PM when we reached our place of stay for the next two days - Moustache Panarpani Retreat. It was a rustic, outdoor themed camp-style resort, with cottages and a restaurant set in an open meadow.



They had these nice looking triangular shaped cottages on one side. These looked good but they were too cramped, we had seen complaints about this on Google reviews.



We had instead opted for the more airy cottages on the other side. There were 10-12 of the triangular ones and 3 of the larger cottages, of which one was ours.



The cottage was nice on the inside with a high roof and nice seating and storage areas.



They had a nice large indoor plunge pool inside the cottage, but the water here was cold and there was no temperature setting option either, so it was pretty much useless in the single digit temperatures of winters here.



They served some nice hot Pakoras with tea, which was refreshing after the long journey on the road.



The next day was a no-driving day and was meant to explore Pachmarhi and its amazing jungles, this was another place on the itinerary where we spent two nights. We wanted to explore some nice hiking trails here and enjoy some breathtaking scenic sights, so we approached the resort staff on guiding us with some nice choices on things to do. They had this readymade template of sightseeing routes to choose from.



Some places had Gypsy access while some others needed hiking to reach. Regardless, because this entire zone falls under the Satpura forest reserve area, it was mandatory to be accompanied by a guide, and the tickets for any of these activities were supposed to be purchased from the Bison Interpretation Centre, the reporting area for guests as well as the pick up point from where guides would be assigned and the tours could start. We opted for Route no.5 which involved a fair bit of hiking and led to a superb jungle watering hole (pond) and another nice waterfall area. Not many guests here prefer to hike, so even our resort staff informed us this would be least crowded route and perhaps the most beautiful. After all, like the popular saying goes, the locations which need the most effort to reach see the least crowds.

With that out of the way, we had a simple dinner and went to bed early, excited to experience what the next day's hikes had in store for us.



Driving logs for Day 14: the time and average speed numbers got a bit messed up because I forgot to hit the stop button after reaching the resort, lol! The distance was around 385km and the time taken was roughly around 8 hours in reality.

[KarthikK]

Day 15: Exploring Pachmarhi (Discovering more of MP's best kept treasure)

We woke up to the pitter patter of raindrops on the wooden ceiling above us, telling us that the place was in the grip of clouds and rain. The fact that this was the final day in this roadtrip (excluding the return journey) evoked mixed feelings in us. We were thrilled on one side to be exploring a new place (Pachmarhi), especially with both of us being nature lovers and hiking enthusiasts. On the other side, we knew the trip was coming to an end and this would be the final day of fun and exploration in MP. And here on the third aspect was rain threatening to pour water on our hiking plans (quite literally). Nonetheless we thought of still going ahead with trying to make the most of this day and get to see some interesting vistas in Pachmarhi.

Waking up to washed out scenes, the entire place was covered with mist and there was heavy rain in the early morning itself, much to our chagrin.



We had to report at the forest department centre 10km away from the resort from where we had to book our Gypsy vehicle to take us on our intended route, so we had a quick breakfast in the resort, decided to use our winter jackets as makeshift raincoats and set out in the Brio to the start point of the excursion.

Simple and light breakfast, one can never be too far from Idlis in India, eh?



Making our way through the rain-drenched roads leading to Bison lodge (start point)





Stopping by this British-era church to admire the structure from the outside



Looks like the rain made an unwanted cameo right when we were visiting Pachmarhi, because the color of the grass in the meadows told a different story of the last few days



Soon we reached Bison lodge and interpretation center, parked our car there for the day, purchased tickets for the day excursion for Route number 5 of the hiking attractions here. We opted for a non-sharing private Gypsy for ourselves. Soon a driver-cum-guide was assigned to us as per protocol, and we started in our Gypsy, slowly chit-chatting and establishing a rapport with our guide as he drove on into the jungle's assigned trails, in a bid to get him to suggest us the best attractions among the ones that we had chosen, and which among those could be covered in rainy weather.



The plan then materialized into two parts - during the first part of the day we would be covering a hike down a mountain into a natural pond / watering hole in a valley. This would take roughly a couple of hours to cover and come back to the vehicle. Then would be a lunch break, followed by the second part of the day where he suggested a picturesque waterfall. We avoided most of the easily accessible touristy spots which would be crowded with visiting tourists, because, in case I didn't mention before, Pachmarhi is almost like the Ooty of MP, with lots of visitors. Choosing some of these offbeat hiking trails would mean the least crowd, while the attractions easily accessible by vehicle would be the most crowded ones. What also helped was the extreme cold weather in winter, which acted as a deterrent to most tourists for some of the hiking trails.

Our Gypsy making its way through some trails leading to our first attraction of the day - a small natural pond in a valley, called Ramya Kund.



Fork for trail number 5 to break off into its own path



The Gypsy stopped here at this checkpost, and the guide told us the route and did not accompany us beyond this point, from where our hike began, first on a mud pathway



There was a constant drizzle coming down on us, so the terrain was quite slippery and wet. Around a kilometre and a half of the mud road leading down the hill ended in this concrete and stone combination of steep steps going further downhill



Another 500 metres of steps and we were on natural terrain, but we could hear the gurgling sound of a freshwater stream growing louder as we descended further through the trail, carefully avoiding obstacles left behind by the force of nature. The environment almost reminded us of monsoon-season hikes down south in the jungles of the western ghats, but at least here in Pachmarhi there were no leeches, lol!



Soon we followed the trickling stream, through the meandering trail it took between rocks and pebbles



And finally reached the pond itself - Ramya Kund, also known as Irene Pool (named after some British person who discovered this place during the pre-independence era)



A small waterfall from a stream formed by mountain spring water was accumulating downstream and emptying out into this natural pool. That was the source of this pond water, and it is this beautiful throughout the year. During monsoons apparently it gives rise to a series of cascaded pools such as these as the water flows further downstream to the next pool, and so on.



We stood on the periphery of the pond for a while, just admiring the sounds of the forest and the stream and nothing else around



The depth of the pool was probably 4 feet at the deepest point. The water was as clear as glass, and the view of the simple aquatic life there was no less than a well-maintained aquarium. We obviously didn't want to swim there or anything, but waded over to the other side just to get a better look. Tiny fish nibbled on our feet while we crossed over to the other side, in the ice cold water. The sky was slowly clearing up in the meanwhile, showing signs of the rainy weather finally departing.







After spending almost an hour at this serene and peaceful spot, we decided to return, admiring sights of the surrounding mountains such as these, as we climbed our way back to where our guide and Gypsy were waiting.







It was almost 1PM by the time we got back to our vehicle, and our guide suggested that we finish lunch at one of the many restaurants in Pachmarhi town, before we went on the second hike of the day to Bee falls.

He suggested a lunch stop at this restaurant called Beta Bawarchi. The restaurant was quite packed with other tourists who also had similar plans as us. Not wanting to waste time, we asked the waiter what would be quickly available, and had this simple Chinese fare of soup, fried rice and Manchurian gravy to wind up a short lunch break.



By lunch time, the rain gods had taken a break too! It had stopped raining but was still quite overcast and threatening to return. Unlike the first hike of the day which was a relatively offbeat and uncrowded trail, our second place of visit for the day was a popular attraction here called Bee falls. There were multiple streams leading to cascaded waterfalls here. All the guide vehicles were parked at a point, and hardly 100 metres away was the first series of waterfalls from a stream.

We took some timepass pictures of the beautiful tiny waterfall here









A tiny bridge led to a pathway of steps carved out along the hill, climbing up to the top of the hill from where the main Bee falls was visible.

A picturesque viewpoint en route



We climbed to the top, it wasn't too far up but there were a lot of other visitors there, plus the cloudy weather had caused a lot of mist accumulation, which meant almost no pictures of the main falls itself. Nonetheless we admired the falls from a distance for a while, before making our way back to the parking lot, vowing to come back again perhaps in some post-monsoon time of the year.



We headed back to the start point of the excursion, where we thanked the guide and bid goodbye to him. Meanwhile it started raining heavily again. After a quick shopping session at the Satpura forest department souvenir shop for some memorabilia to take back home, we got into our car and drove back through heavy rain to our resort a short distance away from the main town.



Stopping at the British era church again, to check out the other side of that old campus and surrounding meadows.





Pachmarhi in heavy rains was a lovely experience



By the time we reached the resort, the rain subsided and the skies started clearing up again. In Pachmarhi, the weather can change akin to the colors on a chameleon!



Timepass shots while strolling in the meadows around Moustache Panarpani resort after the rain stopped







It was a tiring but enjoyable and memorable day, we couldn't cover another trail that we had in mind in the morning, thanks to delays with the intermittent rains which were quite surprising for us considering it is dry season of the year, but all in all, we found Pachmarhi to be one of the most beautiful (scenery-wise) locations in all of MP, and if there was one place where we felt we could come back a few more times and explore a lot more, it would be this place. The experience of hiking in the rustic, unspoilt Satpura forests and mountains was simply fantastic!

The resort had organized a Karaoke session for all the guests that evening, so we joined in the audience, crooning to popular numbers for an hour or so. After this we retired to our cottage and had a delicious and simple dinner of Rotis with Egg Masala and Gajar Halwa to end the 15th and final day of our roadtrip in MP. There were two more days left, but that was mostly the return journey back home.

[KarthikK]

Day 16: Pachmarhi to Nizamabad (Driving back home, but not without some Biriyani)

The MP roadtrip was slowly coming to an end, but we still had ~1300km to head back home. Unlike the onward journey where we broke the distance into 2 nights of stay to reach MP, we decided to do the return leg over a one night break and two full days instead of three. The penultimate day we wanted to cross over into Telangana and cover around ~600km to reach Nizamabad to stop for the night. This way, Nizamabad being a short distance before hitting Hyderabad, we wouldn't encounter Hyderabad's weekday traffic too.

We decided to skip the breakfast at the resort and instead eat ad hoc in some town en route Nagpur, so we left the resort early by around 6.30AM. Pachmarhi and most of the villages en route were asleep that early, so the roads were empty and peaceful to drive on, albeit for the dense fog cover in places.

Making our way downhill from Pachmarhi towards Chhindwara town, in the wee hours of the morning







The single lane state highway from Pachmarhi to Chhindwara had some beautiful twisties to drive spiritedly on, as it wound its way through Satpura tiger reserve before it joined up with NH547 which continued the journey towards Nagpur.

I stopped to click some random pictures of the Brio on the way to Chhindwara with foggy winter morning scenes for background





A section with very low visibility forced us to drop speeds until the sun came out and melted some of the fog away





One part of the road leading to Chhindwara passed through some rolling hills of dried up meadows. I can only imagine how beautiful this place would look after the monsoon rains every year. We stopped for some pictures of the Brio here, for the memory books. An ugly duckling hatchback can pose too, eh?









After a short refuel break in Chhindwara town, we stopped for breakfast at this simple tea stall. They were having Samosa chaat for breakfast, good heavens! Anyway, we tried that along with some Jalebi and Alu Bada. Anyway it would be the final MP breakfast of this trip, before we exited the state into Maharashtra.



Between Chhindwara and Nagpur there were some intermittent bursts of heavy rain, but it subsided after 15-20 minutes of pouring.



It must have been around 11AM or so that we crossed over the MP border into Maharashtra and joined the NH44 four lane highway towards Nagpur.



We didn't stop anywhere barring one quick lunch stop at the Haldiram's outet on the outskirts of Nagpur, where we had some light chaat-based snacks and proceeded on our journey towards Nizamabad.



The road condition in the Maharashtra part of NH44 was pathetic and patchy, but it improved drastically when we crossed over from Maharashtra to Telangana. In my experience of the entire route on NH44 from Bangalore to Nagpur, Telangana state had the best maintained road condition among all the four states of KA, AP, Telangana and MH.

The silky smooth condition of NH44 in Telangana leading to Adilabad and Nizamabad





It was around 5.30PM when we finally reached Nizamabad and made our way to the place of stay for the night - Hotel Krishna. It was a newly constructed hotel, with decent parking space and located just off NH44, so it was easy to rejoin the next morning and continue the homeward journey.

The room was comfortable but the bed shape was weirdly designed with an awkward slope, causing an aching neck the next morning, lol!



We just ordered in an shared some delectable veg Biriyani and Kheer and watched a movie to kill time until we finally grabbed some shut-eye.



Messed up the driving logs for the second last day of the roadtrip: ~600km and approximately 9 hours of driving time should have been the correct reading. Instead I forgot to shut off the timer and it counted till the next morning, lol!




Day 17: Nizamabad to Bangalore (Home sweet home!)

The final day of the roadtrip was just a boring expressway drive from Nizamabad to Bangalore, covering the last ~800 km of distance to reach home.

The hotel we were staying at turned out to be quite decent. We didn't spend too much time anyway, but it did have good views such as these from the room balcony - of the vast expanse of paddy fields



They had a good restaurant overlooking the same view and their simple breakfast buffet spread was nice and sufficient to start the day.





It was a boring journey for the ~160km between Nizamabad and Hyderabad, with the dry heat making it feel almost like it was summer



Hyderabad's Ring road was superb to drive on and bypass the city traffic to continue the journey towards Bangalore on NH44



We stopped at Food Pyramid food court a short distance before Kurnool town, for lunch. I tried their Andhra style Thali meal and it was a welcome change after two weeks of MP-style food.



This paan shop in the Food pyramid complex had funny justifications about Paan being good for health, lol!



The rest of the journey from Kurnool to Bangalore was uneventful and rather boring, with some occasional views of mountains cropping up as we approached Bangalore, showing that we were gaining elevation again as we hit home.



We reached Bangalore outskirts by roughly 6PM, but before we took on the city's traffic we made a stop at Big Bay food court near Chikkaballapur, for a quick cup of coffee and a sandwich at Starbucks, marking the final stop and the final meal of the entire roadtrip.



It must have been around 8PM when we finally reached home, drawing the curtains on this fantastic and memorable roadtrip to the central part of India.

Day 17 driving logs: ~772 km and 12 hours on the road



The total distance of the roadtrip including the inter-place travel and intra-place travel came up to almost 5300km.



The Brio returned a frugal fuel efficiency of ~15 kmpl for the entire journey, bad roads, good roads, mountain roads, single lane roads, forest roads, expressways and everything else in between.



That brings an end to this long (and boring) travelogue. Until the next trip, thanks for reading!