The car has been a wonderful partner for me in so many drives and has created so many memories!
BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Drive to Kadamane Tea Estate, and 100,000km done:
Just came back from a 3 day trip to Sinnadorai Bungalow at Kadamane Tea Estate. This is one of our favorite places, and we have been there a few times already. This trip was with my work friends and ex-colleagues, and it was a fun group of friends and families.
One of my previous drives there is covered in this travelogue
This time, we were four people in my BMW (I, my wife, and another couple) and their luggage. One of the very rare occasions when the rear seat of my car was used, and also the trunk was full to the brim with our luggage.
It was a great fun trip. The place and the weather was just fantastic! Our last trip to this bungalow was in April when the area was hot and dry. Now in October, with the rains still continuing, it was lush green everywhere, and it was lovely to see the hills with lush green carpet on them!
Parked at Sinnadorai Bungalow, with rain, clouds and fog for company:
Fantastic weather and misty hills:
One more photo of the rain-drenched car at the picturesque parking spot:
Could not stop staring at the clicking the car even while sitting in the bungalow:
On one of the evenings we went to the famous 5 Acres View point. This is a nice hilltop location that requires some off-roading. In my previous trip I had driven my Thar there. This time, the bungalow arranged Jeep rides for our group to reach the location. And nice of them that they even sent hot snacks and tea/coffee along with their Jeep.
It was a fantastic evening there. It was cool, cloudy, and windy, and lush green everywhere. Eating hot pakodas and sipping hot tea while enjoying that view was a magical experience!
The lovely green hills all around:
Rolling hills:
Sunset colors:
Another unique and equally magical experience was a river picnic organized by the bungalow the next day. They drove us on a long off-road track through the tea estate, and took us to a river. That river had about knee deep water flowing over rocks, and it was a beautiful spot where the river was flowing under thick trees, and on the rocks, and a lovely natural pool was formed in the flowing water. The water was very clean, fresh and cold. Just being there and enjoying that location was great, but to make it even better, the staff put chairs right in the middle of the knee deep water, and we all sat there on the chairs in the middle of the river. They even served hot tea and coffee right there while sitting in the middle of the river. It was indeed an amazing experience!
River picnic, with chairs placed in the flowing water inside tea estate:
Hot coffee and tea served while sitting in the fresh cold water:
Some photographs as we spent time relaxing in the bungalow and walking in the gardens around the bungalow:
Water drops on the flowers:
While returning to Bangalore, we stopped at another lovely location, the hill temple called “Mavanuru Shri Bettada Malleshwara Gudi”.
Parked under a tree in the parking lot:
The beautiful temple on the hill:
Views of the windmills all around the temple:
100,000km reached!
While returning from this drive, I reached the milestone of 100,000km on the odometer of the BMW.
100,000km and counting:
A close up of the odometer:
It has been an amazing journey with this car so far. It has been absolutely trouble free and totally reliable all this time, even when driven hard and driven to remote locations and far away places! The car has been a wonderful partner for me in so many drives and has created so many memories!
On reaching this 100,000 km milestone, at first I thought I should create a collage or something similar to relive the beautiful moments I had with this car. But then I realized it is not even needed. All those memorable trips and those lovely moments are logged in this thread, and every trip report in this thread is a tribute to this amazing journey. Many time I open a random page from this thread and read my own posts to relive those moments. Every single page here is full of those memories and those memorable journeys I had with this car.
The car is still running fine and I plan to do many more drives with this car, and continue to drive her beyond 100,000km mark on the odo now. I hope to be able to share more trip reports in this thread in the coming months. And talking about this thread, I really appreciate all the comments, interactions and the encouragement from the readers of my thread and the fellow members here. Thank you very much to all of you for staying with me in this journey which has reached this milestone now, and I hope you will stay with me as I continue driving this sweet car to many more places!
On a philosophical note, I know that some day I will have to part ways with this car, but till then, I am determined to drive her to more places and she seems equally determined to continue giving me company without a hint of a complain or a whine! Please allow me to summarize my feelings at this point through a sher of the legendary poet Ahmed Faraz:
Separations are destined, yet life is a journey.
Let’s go a little further and see.
Rough Translation:
Separation is certain in the end, but oh my beloved co-traveler,
Let us continue together for some more distance, let us see how far we can go!
Once again, my sincere thanks to all of you for staying with me in this thread, reading my longish posts, and for all your comments, interactions and encouragements!
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