10-Jan-2004 -- Our Expedition to the Discovery of 18N 81E

Date: Saturday, Jan 10, 2004 (Incomplete)
Visit by: Praveen Goggi and Chandra Dasaka
Place: 20 km Bhadrāchalam town (Andhra Pradesh), Chhattīsgarh (Old MP), India
Distance: 40 km from Bhadrāchalam (AP).
Earlier Visits: Click on the visitor names to see details.
Expedition dedicated to: Guenter Walser, Austria

After the adventurous hunting of 18N 80E, we (Chandra and myself) were now speeding towards Bhadrāchalam town, which was near the Chhattīsgarh border (formerly a part of Madhya Pradesh). Study of the state maps had shown us way till this border (20 km from Bhadrāchalam), but we had no idea of any directions or roads inside the new state!

It took us couple of hours to reach Bhadrāchalam, where we stopped to consult locals to get correct directions. We were advised of a shorter route to reach the state border, which we took. In fact, a local guy accompanied us till a small village near the border.

By the time we reached the border it was 17:30 hours and GPS still showed 23 km towards East. Chandra and me did not lose hope and tried to hire a motorcycle (bike) from the locals. Locals were very helpful and agreed to let us a bike, but they cautioned us about very bad roads (dusty and risky) and most importantly, they mentioned the presence of several anti-social elements (extremists) in the area, which scared us and we refrained from traveling any further. We took some snaps of the border, GPS and locals.

With a heavy heart, we drove back to Bhadrāchalam, where we visited a famous temple of God Rama. We spend about 30 minutes at the temple and drove back peacefully to Hyderābād. We had done 750 km in the last 20 hours and were extremely exhausted when we reached our home sweet home at 01:30 am!

Contact Info:
Praveen Goggi, +91-98851-98951 or +91-20-295-3090
Chandra Dasaka, +91-40-3090-2105