Ernakulam-Kannur
Friday, November 18
No rush to wake up this morning. We were up and ready by 7 am and decided to go upstairs for a quick breakfast. The place was empty but a simple order for 4 people took over an hour. Went down after that to warm up the bikes. I was having a problem with the idle on the bike, as it would keep stalling. Joe took a look at it and figured some curious on lookers had been fidgeting with it the night before.
Today’s ride was further up the Kerala coast to a place called Kannur or Kannanore, about 300 kms away. We had decided to stop in Calicut for lunch which was about 200 kms away. The roads were alright and the traffic slightly crazy and aggressive. No more than the way we were riding and driving, i guess. But it did mean that we had to be very attentive as a lot of vehicles would drive helter skelter.
The weather was warm and a little sultery. The backwaters were gorgeous with coconut trees abundant as far as the eye can see. Coconut products are used widely here for everything particularly as cooking oil, which takes a little getting used to.
A friend of ours from Rishi Valley school, Vasant Pai lives in Kannur and he was taking care of the arrangements for us there. He along with another alumni, L.R.Rajesh met us in Calicut for lunch. It was quite strange geting in to Calicut. Dinesh had already gone ahead and met up with them and had gone to the restaurant. Navroze was a few kms behind me when i reached the town. I didn’t know this town and I wasn’t aware of the location for lunch. As i pulled over to make a call, a local chap came by on his bike and said that my friends went that way. I wasn’t sure who he was talking about and he clarified that he saw similar bikes going in that particular direction. That led me to the beach road where we met for lunch at hotel Sea Queen.
After a long lunch break, Vasant who rides a Yamaha TDM 950 bike led the way to Kannur. Getting out of Calicut, the stench of the fish was quite nasty and soon we passed through a small town called Mahe, which is part of Pondicherry. By 6:30 pm we reached Kannur where we had a refreshing black tea with lemon and followed Vasant to Kairali resort which was on the banks of the backwaters. It was a very spacious resort and the rooms were very clean and comfortable. soon, we were joined by another classmate of mine from Rishi Valley, Cariappa. I hadn’t seen him for over 20 years and it was absolutely delightful catching up with him.
This was something very special about this ride for me. Besides experiencing the diverse states for their rich splendor, the opportunity to see old friends in different parts of the country was something very dear.
After a relaxing round of drinks and a traditional kerala buffet meal by the pool, we got to our rooms around midnight or a little after.
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