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Jumpy & Overjoyed to the Core, on a Hampi Encore! Mar'13

 
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 1:20 am    Post subject: Jumpy & Overjoyed to the Core, on a Hampi Encore! Mar'13 Reply with quote

Jumpy & Overjoyed to the Core, on a Hampi Encore! Mar'13


http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13499.html

55.1 Explanations galore for a title a'gore

The pathetic title come from a series of weak and terrible puns.
When a senior colleague asked me if could accompany him for a
meeting at a rather exotic location, would I say No?
More so, if it was Hampi?
The regular reader may recount our family trip to Hampi,
ostensibly for a conference, in Dec'11, which was associated with
an artificial excitement due to the Kingfisher Airlines crisis
precipitating at around that time. I wrote about that visit in a
two-part trip report:
26. Hampi Hamper, Part I: Banashankari, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12623.html
27. Hampi Hamper, Part 2: Hampi!
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12661.html
The routing that time had been via Mumbai, and on Kingfisher
Airlines, to and from Hubli/Dharwad.
At the time of my visit, SpiceJet was perhaps about to start a
thrice-weekly service to Hubli/Dharwad, which would get increased
to a daily service, if I remember correctly. I had noted these
things down that time, but they went out, thanks to the disk crash.
The meeting would be held at a place very close to the World
Heritage Site of Hampi, at the Kannada University, with our
accommodation being arranged at the exotic Government Jungle Lodges and
Resort, close to the Daroji Bear Sanctuary.

Would this mean a Q400 trip for me on SpiceJet?
The senior colleague always tries to minimise the overall travel
time, while I usually look for exotic routing, and the comfort
of train and air travel, rather than road travel. He had arranged
for vehicles to take us from the BIAL, the Devanahalli airport at
Bengaluru, in Toyota Innovas, to the place of our accommodation.
We would make the reverse journey, on the way back, to take the
late afternoon flight back to Delhi. We would be joined at the
BIAL by people from other parts of the country, headed for the
same exotic location, and we would bunch up in three vehicles,
and head towards Hampi. There was very little choice for me, as
far as the trip from the BIAL to Hampi, and vice versa. However,
there was an interesting choice for me, as far as getting a ride
on an exotic plane type, went. Does this sound interesting to the reader?

The senior colleague, and some others from Delhi were supposed to
take the 09:30 am flight in Bengaluru, to reach the airport at 12 noon.
I had one look at the Air India schedules, and there was no way I
would take a ride in an A321, if I had the choice of an exotic
plane type to ride on. Air India's A332!
In my opinion, this is the plane that perhaps looks the best in
Air India's new Flying Swan livery. Air India had only two of
there elderly leased birds in their fleet, VT-IWA and VT-IWB.
Both had been taken in from NovAir in a dense charter
configuration, and had been re-configured into a standard 2-4-2
seating in Economy, and 2-4-2, in the Business Class. The planes
had drop-down screens, on which Air India showed movies on longer
flights. The usual Thales i3000 audio content was available on the
audio channels however, which was of interest to me. Also of
interest to me was the unique under-floor lavatory complex!
I never seem to have enough of this plane type.
I have had two other trips on this type, both of which I have
documented in trip reports on this forum.
16. To Chennai, Mar'12 with a Celebrity Captain!
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12196.html
52. Duronto Debut,Dreamliner Despair,Double-Decker Desire:Jan13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13354.html
The first was on the same sector, with Captain Devi Sharan in
command. Yes, it was the same national hero Captain Sharan, the
central figure of the IC 814 Kandahar hijacking in 1999.
The second trip was a family return trip from Calcutta, hoping
for a Dream)liner trip for the family, that has remained elusive,
at least till the day of this journey.

Both were on VT-IWB, WB: the `wide body' plane.
This time, I would manage a ride on VT-IWA, the `wide aircraft'!
The first flight of the day to Chennai and Bengaluru had been
combined into one, AI 439. So, I would take a longer and
circuitous routing to get to Bengaluru, through Chennai, to reach
my destination only half-an-hour before the rest of the Delhi team.
All for the sake of catching a ride on this exotic plane!
The itinerary for the onward journey was as follows:

Set out 28 Mar (Wed) for Bengaluru from New Delhi
AI 439: Air India (A332) [Seat: 11K; PNR: ZDJPS]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - Kamraj (Domestic) Terminal, Chennai - BIAL, Bengaluru
New Delhi (DEL) - Chennai (MAA) - Bengaluru (BLR)
[06:55 am - 09:45 am; 10:40 am - 11:30 am]

55.2 An appalling apology: a detailed, picturesque, food for thought.
Or rather, the complete lack of all these


As I wrote in my last two trip reports (and briefly breached the
topic at the beginning of this trip report too), this report will
also not have the food descriptions, the plane registrations,
names of some people in the plane's front office, and my cell
phone pictures (which will be replaced with those from the prints
from developed pictures taken on my Analog SLR camera). If you
see any descriptions here, all of this is thanks to prominent
Delhi spotter friend Mr. All-Stare MacLean, who relayed back all
the SMSes I had bombarded his phone with, over the past three trips.

55.3 The trip begins...

I woke up well in time, and set out for the airport.
I was to take this flight a day after Holi, the festival of
colours in large parts of India, especially the north.
IGIA T3 was bedecked for Holi, with this nice display being put up
between the check-in area, and the security check.



Captain Adil Mistry was in command, with Captain Behram N. Kolah
as the first officer. It was quite interesting that Captain Kolah
was the commander of the plane on my last A332 trip!
The Economy class looked quite full: nearly 255 Economy class
passengers is a fantastic load on a plane with 255 Economy class
seats! The Business class loads were a bit sparse, with only 5
out of the 24 being occupied. The plane was relatively clean, it
could have been much better, however.
It was a slightly misty morning to start off, and the scratched
windows of this old bird did not help my cause much.



I remember absolutely nothing about the food on board, but
it must have been nice, since I arrived at Bengaluru feeling
quite full and contented. Had the IFE worked?
Yes, a movie was playing on the drop-down video screens.
It must have been a drop-dead brain-dead sort of movie, since I
do not remember anything about the movie, anything at all.

As Meenambakkam approached, we were
treated to some lovely sights out of the window. Here, we are
going all along the coast.



Now, we approach Chennai harbour.



A bit closer, now:



And here are two views of the lovely Marina beach at Chennai,
along with views of the MGR memorial at the extreme end of the
beach, and the Chepauk cricket stadium, somewhat behind.





55.4 Atheists, you got it wrong. GOD does exist!

Captain Mistry executed a feather touch landing on Chennai's main
runway, coming in from the sea side, on runway 25! The halt at
Chennai had nothing worth noting, except for Captain Mistry and
Captain Kolah coming to talk to two other four-stripers in the
last row of the Business class cabin, who seemed to be
dead-heading to Delhi from Chennai, on this particular flight.
There was another four striper, who came on board, in Economy. He
was of Caucasian origin, and seemed to he heading to Delhi.

An Emirates B777-300 parked right in front of the new terminal,
then still not open to the public. The reader may note the
reflection on the glass facade - was this a reflection of the
times to come? After all, Emirates had become India's de facto
international carrier.



An Il-18 cargo aircraft with a Sri Lankan registration, was on the
cargo ramp - what a beautiful plane this is!



...and yes, to all atheists - God does exist. The Madras Flying
Club has this small aircraft, VT-GOD. GOD often observes us from the heights.



The sad state of three NEPC Fokker F-27s parked near the
intersection of the main runway and the cross runway can be seen
in the following picture:



There was another sight which evoked similar emotions in the mind
of an aviation enthusiast: the sad slight of ex-Kingfisher
aircraft parked all around the Kingfisher hangar, and the parking
area beside the cross runway. As we took off land-side (from
runway 25), two interesting sights confronted me - first, a very
large reservoir of water, the Chembarambakkan lake, and some
stone quarries. Captain Mistry executed his second stupendous
landing of the day, in Bengaluru. No, the screens had not been
lowered on this leg, and the IFE had not been switched on. The
Delhi-Chennai leg had a movie, and some audio channels.
This leg was bereft of any food, as well.

55.5 From Bengaluru, to Hampi. A 6 hour trip takes 8 hours

I waited in the small waiting area beside the luggage claim. The
second flight from Delhi came in well on time, and I was on my
toes again, and met up with some other people who had come from
other parts of the country. We set out in one Innova, for the
Jungle Lodges and Resort, close to Hampi.
This was one hell of a ride, when we got delayed because two
members of the team (one of whom was Yours Truly) decided that we
would need a bio-break, which made the second vehicle miss ours.
It had actually started with our driver taking a wrong turn, and
taking us along a dusty path which led...nowhere.
I took some time off to catch up with some sleep, before we
finally landed up at the very impressive Jungle Lodges and Resort,
way after dark. We had not had much to eat, since we took a
collective decision to only have some `mosaranna' (the Kannada
name for curd rice, which the Tamilians call `thayir sAdam')
alone, lest the rugged roads cause food to splosh all over our
insides, and lead to some fundamental distress.
We met at dinner at the dining hall, where people from other
parts of the country who had reached before us, were already
assembled. Some senior people got `into the mood'.
Was there any booze around?
One particular Bacchus-worshipper pulled out some good Whisky,
and worked up an interesting conversation.
Unfortunately, I was too tired, and had a splitting headache
to join both the discussion, as well as the drink.
But it was not before I pointed out that
Whisky was quite inappropriate for the occassion.
Why was this so?
Warning...an extreme PJ is approaching the reader.
We were close to the Daroji Bear Sanctuary, so what would have
been apt would have been Beer: dAru-ji.
dAru is the colloquial term of alcohol in North India
(typically hooch, or arrack: country liquor).

55.6 The first day's excursion

The first day's excursion, after the completion of the meeting,
was to The Jindal Hampi Museum, which was located inside the
Jindal township. We had heard a lot about this museum which
supposedly used some impressive technology to exhibit some wonders
of Hampi. Unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing more than a
damp squib. The 3-D shuttered glasses did not work, for the image
projected in a cylindrical room. This had a nice scale model of
the entire Hampi area, along with some historical photographs of
the region. Of some interest to me was when some one pointed to
the Jindal airport on the way, which fell to our right.
The Jindal Vidyanagar airport used to be the gateway to
Hampi in the Deccan/Kingfisher days, and after it was closed to
general aviation, the Chu Ladni airport at Hubli-Dharwad took its
place as the closest airport to Hampi.

55.7 Hampi, the next day!

We would all wake up early the next day, and start with a tour of
two of Hampi's most beautiful monuments relevant to the topic of
discussion at the meeting. We viewed the beautiful sunrise from
the dining hall.



Our first stop was the extremely impressive Virupaksha temple.
The interior of the main hall in the Virupaksha temple, which had
not yet opened for devotees yet. However as one sees in the
picture, one cannot really prevent the pious from coming in.



The ceiling of the main hall has a depiction of the Girijia
Kalyanam - the marriage of Lord Shiva, to the River Goddess Pampa
- the Tungabhadra, at Hampi.



Here is a picture of a staff at the Virupaksha temple.
The devoted often reach great heights of devotion.



The Tungabhadra behind the Virupaksha temple has a very low flow,
thanks to the dam on the river. We would visit it in the evening.



Once again, perhaps the most lasting image of Hampi in everyone's
minds...is the stone chariot at the Vijaya Vitthala temple!



A while before sunset, we went to the Tungabhadra dam as well.
The Tungabhadra Dam museum, with its gilt-tinted windows in the
setting sun, lent the entire building, a golden hue.
It was closed at that time.



A small garden had been laid out below, inspired by the vast
Vrindavan Gardens at Mysore, albeit at a much smaller scale, here.



Two channels of the Tungabhadra, after the dam:



Sunset from behind a tree, looking in towards the dam reservoir on the left:



55.8 Time to get back to Delhi...

We woke up in the morning, and set out for a hearty breakfast,
and then, the journey back to Bengaluru. Of all people,
I decided to give lunch a miss, as we decided to have something
at the airport itself, in case we got there in time.
We did.
Yes, both. Get there in time, and have something there, as well.
I had a passable vegetable biriyAnI at the joint to the left,
when one looks air-side from the security check point.
The itinerary for the return trip was as follows:

Set out 31 Mar (Sun) for Bengaluru from New Delhi
AI 503: Air India (A320) [Seat: 13A; PNR: HWGTG]
Bengaluru (BLR) - New Delhi (DEL)
[04:30 pm - 07:10 pm]

Which plane would be get?
We got DD, the `National Channel' plane: VT-EDD. We had a nearly
full plane, and a very senior captain on board. The business
class loads were 8 out of 20 to begin with.
SI, the `units' plane, was parked beside us. VT-JGG came between
us soon. Among interesting sights, an Air Asia A320 was parked at
the international gates, and a FedEx MD-11 was parked at a remote
stand in the cargo area. It had rained a bit, this made
photography from behind the plane window, difficult.

We waited for Captain S. K. Verma to start.
We waited. And waited.
The cabin crew had no explanations for the delay at all.
``crew dA jawAb nahin,'' I texted my friends, literally, `the crew
does not have a reply'/`the crew is without a clue', but a
statement like this figuratively means, `the crew are beyond compare'.
I wondered what could be the reason. Other flights were departing
and arriving, whereas ours was simply stationary.
Some stationery...er, paper-work remaining?
Or was it some technical problem with the aircraft?
No, that could not be the reason, since we did not see any
vehicle, or people close to our plane.
Finally, a few passengers came in, and took some of the remaining seats.
The Business class loads were now 10 out of 20.
Economy was now completely full. 100%. All seats were taken.
Mr. All-Stare MacLean had a plausible answer: were we waiting for
the Air India flight from Male to come in, so that the passengers
could connect to the Delhi flight at Bengaluru?
Everything seemed to match, including the timing, and of course,
Mr. MacLean's immaculate knowledge of almost every scheduled flight
in India. Captain Verma made a slightly heavy landing on the new runway 29.

I will conclude this trip report with the welcome we got after we
had de-planed. IGIA T3 welcomes the weary traveller (in the
dark?) with flowers, and nice floral arrangements!


---
Links to my 55 trip reports:
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/
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ameya
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Location: Pune,Maharashtra

PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the TR Sir

Yes you remember correctly about the SG service

SG launched Qs into BOM with DEL JLR BOM JLR DEL which gave a mid day return on lucrative JLR sector ex-DEL

They then extended the BOM service to HBX and NDC, around the time when G8 pulled out of NDC

And later, shut down NDC again for the second time with HBX being daily, same flight no. all the way from/to Delhi

Enjoyed reading this .. thanks again !
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himmat01
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As usual it was a pleasure to go through this wonderful TR.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Ameya and Himmat for the kind words! It makes it all worth it Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.
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shivendrashukla
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting TR there Sir. Quite rare to see your TR without any food reports Smile. But nice description about the flight and Hampi city.

Cheers
Shivendra
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

shivendrashukla wrote:
Quite rare to see your TR without any food reports Smile
Thanks a lot, Shukla Sir - in fact, it was quite odd to type it in, interspersed with the overfeeding of Gourmet food aboard AI 127 DEL-ORD (05 Nov'13) and AI 126 ORD-DEL (10-11 Nov'13).
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice TR, too bad you couldn't fly into Hubli.
Does SG still fly BLR (anywhere) -HBX?

AI combined DEL-MAA and DEL-BLR into one flight, how much in advance did they tell you? Not much of a detour but still a pain, o well these things happen.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
Does SG still fly BLR (anywhere) -HBX?
Yes Sir, it does.
stealthpilot wrote:
AI combined DEL-MAA and DEL-BLR into one flight, how much in advance did they tell you?
Sir, I took the flight because of the detour: I wanted the routing, when I looked for it abotu 1 fortnight in advance. Aren't I nuts? Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.
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Theairplaneguy4ever
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a spectacular little read this has been!

A nice travel TR as well! Now I can't die without going to Hampi! I'm surprised you weren't bored visiting a historic sight, which remains the same on countless visits, unlike say, the street markets of HK, where there's always something new to see!

Quote:
I had one look at the Air India schedules, and there was no way I
would take a ride in an A321, if I had the choice of an exotic
plane type to ride on. Air India's A332!


Haha! But wouldn't personal IFE and a less congested cabin on the A321 be more of a preference than the A332. Of course, the howl of the PW4Ks is always a pleasure to hear to though.

Quote:
The first flight of the day to Chennai and Bengaluru had been
combined into one, AI 439.


A once in a lifetime experience. I assume the MAA-BLR sector wasn't available for booking?

Quote:
As Meenambakkam approached, we were
treated to some lovely sights out of the window.


The seaward ILS is always a treat coming into Chennai!

Quote:
An Emirates B777-300 parked right in front of the new terminal,
then still not open to the public.


I cannot tell, but looking at the engines was this a 77W?

Quote:
Captain Mistry executed his second stupendous
landing of the day, in Bengaluru.


Forgive me for asking this as you might not remember, but was anything served on the MAA-BLR sector? I remember getting two cheap butter cookies and a carton of mango juice from some little known company.

Quote:
Once again, perhaps the most lasting image of Hampi in everyone's
minds...is the stone chariot at the Vijaya Vitthala temple!


Indeed, the iconic sight of Hampi. You have nicely documented the sights and experience through your pictures and descriptions.

Quote:
We got DD, the `National Channel' plane: VT-EDD. We had a nearly
full plane, and a very senior captain on board.


Was there IFE on board? Looking at the timings, you must have been entertained by the spectacular evening sun.

Nice job on this neat little TR again sir! Was a pleasure to read.

Adi,

Theairplaneguy4ever
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 6:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Theairplaneguy4ever wrote:
...
Thanks a lot, Sir for all the detailed comments, and appreciation! Some points here:
- Why I prefer the AI 332s over the A321/320/319s when I have a choice: same audio as the Thales i3000-equipped A319/320/321s, good leg-room, wide-body experience with a smooth ride, and the unique under-floor lavatory complex, in addition to the fact that the A332 looks wonderful in the AI Flying Swan livery. Plus...when based at DEL, I have seen an uncanny sense of care for the older birds, as opposed to the newer A321/319/319s: the interiors are usually spotlessly clean. Which is something I cannot say of the newer narrow-bodies, for instance - unfortunately. One can see grime marks even on the first flight of the day, after the plane has slept well at night.
- The MAA-BLR sector: I think it was available for booking, since I saw pax on this leg get up at MAA and get down at BLR. There was not a morsel of food or any drink on this short sector, though - though I expected that it would be so. Sad
- I am bad at ID'ing B772-ERs from B772s and B77Ls, more so from a distance, and this extends to the confusion between B777-300ER and the B777-300. Hence, I write B777-200 and B777-300 just to make sure I do not make an ass of myself on this forum, at least!
- The return trip on EDD: yes, there was IFE on board, and the food would have been good, else I would have remembered being dissatisfied!
Thanks once again, Sir.
-Sumantra.
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You got some excellent close-ups of MAA approach!

Thanks for sharing as always. Smile
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spiderguy252 wrote:
You got some excellent close-ups of MAA approach
Thanks a lot, Varun: yes, Chennai has one of the most beautiful approaches among all airports in Inda, and Delhi possibly, one of the most nondescript!
Cheers, Sumantra.


Last edited by sumantra on Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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avbuff
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lovely pictures of hampi!! thanks for sharing!
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

avbuff wrote:
lovely pictures of hampi!! thanks for sharing!
Thanks a lot, Ojas!
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello Sumantra sir!
First of all, I do apologize for such a lengthy delay in reading your reports, or rather reading them, this is the third time I'm going through this (same goes to your other TR, and the HKG TR posted by TAG4E, and of course, the two new North American TRs posted recently!)

This is another stunning outcome of your amazing skills, despite the fact that you had a hard disk crash (always a hearty crash Sad )
As always, all of us surely do admire you for your persuasion to your hosts to let you fly on exotic routes and/or planes! It is always a joy to read!

The Airbus A330. Especially the -200. It has to be one of the most most beautiful aircraft out there, I must say. It looks good in any livery you mention (except the bland Iberia and Finnair liveries).

I wonder why Sumantra wasn't upgraded up front, as there were only 5 of 24 seats taken! Surprised

Chennai sure does have one of the best approaches, with the beaches, city and the ports, alongside Mumbai of course. Kolkata and Delhi do seem a bit bland in that way..

That is indeed a Boeing 777-300ER no doubt. And a reflection of times to come? Maybe. I think it is surely heading that way but its not known for certain. And yes, that Expo Air bird surely knows how to scare. Those 4 propellers let out a lot of smoke!

GOD observes us from slightly low heights Wink

Fantastic descriptions and pictures from Hampi, sir! I could have gone there when I used to stay in BLR, but nothing ever happened, sadly. A beautiful place which I must visit really soon!

Thank you for sharing another TR, I look forward to reading your Coimbatore TR once more, and for more!

Regards
Jish
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:
Thank you for sharing another TR, I look forward to reading your Coimbatore TR once more, and for more!
Thank you, Sir: for the detailed comments, as well as the quite undeserved appreciation! By the way, there is another Coimbatore trip report coming up, soon Smile
Cheers, Sumantra.
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lovely TR Sumantra - thanks for posting. I'm finally heading to Hampi this Xmas season - should be fun. But we are taking the overnight train as the road after Chitradurga is supposed to be a pain to drive on...
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nimish wrote:
I'm finally heading to Hampi this Xmas season - should be fun. But we are taking the overnight train as the road after Chitradurga is supposed to be a pain to drive on...
Thank you, Nimish! I do not like road journeys, and prefer the trains, much like you. However, I have been on long road journeys coupled with flights, to Nanded, Sangli and Gulbarga for instance: all three this year, in fact. Have a nice trip! Hampi is well worth it. If you can also make it to places nearby, please also try Pattadakal, Vatapi/Badami, Banashankari and Aihole.
26. Hampi Hamper, Part I: Banashankari, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12623.html
27. Hampi Hamper, Part 2: Hampi!
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12661.html
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sri_bom
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for posting the report. A joy to read.

Not just Emirates but in days to come both Ethiad and Qatar will become India's national carrier once the revised bilaterals are signed.

I completely agree that Chennai has one of the most beautiful approach in India.

Sri_Bom
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks a lot Srinivas, for the kind words!
sri_bom wrote:
Not just Emirates but in days to come both Ethiad and Qatar will become India's national carrier once the revised bilaterals are signed.
Sadly yes - just like the cartoon urging the Indian Government to nationalise all Swiss banks Razz
Cheers, Sumantra.
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