Riding with Watchout Wearables's Founder to Pune | OYO Hotel Check-in Denied and whatnot..

Pune - पुणे, many call it Poona, the oldest but youth city of Maharashtra. It is a hub of Industries and Education Institutes. From past decades it has been an important Information Technology hub not only for Maharashtra State but for the whole country and the world.

People of Pune take their afternoon sleeping breaks very seriously. Most shops are still found closed between 1 - 4 pm. So let's start with the ride experience.

We started early morning at 7:00 am from Mumbai on my motorbike Bajaj Avenger Cruise 220. By 8:30 am we were in Lonavala having breakfast at my favourite mandatory halt - Annapurna Restaurant. We had Upma, Poha, Idli, Masala Dosa and Tea.

While in the parking of the restaurant, I saw that there was no engine oil in my bike so thought of topping up. Just next to the restaurant there are auto parts shops, bought 1 ltr and took the bike to the mechanic for topping it up. Due to some issue, my bike always drinks up engine oil and I have to keep a check on it. The issue is also unsolvable as most mechanics couldn't find the solution to it. So after the oil top-up, we left towards Pune, after crossing the Varsoli Toll Naka, the road is so smooth that you won't find any speed breakers on Mumbai - Pune Highway NH48 till Talegaon.

I must say that in recent years, Pune has also become a Food Hub for youths. You will find various tasty dishes, a variety of cuisines, and delicacies. There are certain locations, and corners in Pune that you must visit for trying out your tastebuds.

Our hotel was located in Hinjewadi just 10 minutes from the highway on the right. The hotel was Flagship Aditya Executive booked from the Goibibo App but it was OYO Flagship. As we parked our bike and went to reception for Check-in and showed our booking details, he quickly said "Your booking is not accepted get a refund if paid Online and pay us Rs. 3000" I denied this as we had booked at a good price and he is demanding 3 times of it. His hotel rooms were not even worth Rs.1000.

I immediately called Goibibo customer care and they took some time to see if they could book another hotel, but they couldn't and refunded me the amount I had paid Online and told me to book another hotel where they would give a certain percentage of the difference amount.

I quickly booked another hotel which was near to our location where we had to go. This hotel was Kapil Residency in Pune City not far from the station. I called the hotel to confirm the booking as I didn't want the same issue to happen here. This hotel when reached was good enough than the previous one. We were told to wait for some time and Check-in was given. Their rooms were good but after some time I could see some insects crawling around in the bathroom and in the room as well.

But I had to adjust as we didn't have enough time and we were here in Pune for just 2 days and 1 night. We left for our official work for what we were there for. We were near Ruby clinic where we found a Khau Gully. For a quick bite, we ordered a Pulav and Paratha, followed by a sugarcane juice. The food was very tasty and yummy, it actually made our day.

Just after work, it was evening and we reached our hotel. This hotel had a good kitchen and cook as I talked to them personally. They seemed very experienced in cooking so I thought to Order dinner from the hotel kitchen itself.

So we ordered Butter Roti, Paneer Kolhapuri, Dal Khichdi and Curd. You can check the picture below.

By just seeing it, it felt like the food would be tasty. And yes the food was yummy. Not so heavy oil or spicy and it was cooked very well. And my favourite dal khichdi was mouth-watering.

The next day was a big day for us in Pune. As we had a meeting with foreign delegates and we had to also prepare a good presentation with a live demo of our products. Our plan was to go back to Mumbai after the meeting was done. So we checked out of the hotel as we had to go to Baner, we didn't want to come back this side unnecessarily and go back to Mumbai as it was the same route. We had small bags for clothes which were stored in my bike's Top box so we were there in the meeting with just our required stuff.

We finished quickly, had lunch as well and left towards Mumbai. On the way we had to attend an important Online Meeting so we took a halt at Mapro Garden at Lonavala, a good place with some silence and less crowded. While attending the Online meeting, we also tried Mapro's Speciality - Fresh Strawberry Cream with Icecream and Chocolate Cream with Icecream.

Strawberry cream had some real strawberries inside. And the chocolate had some chocolate chips. Both the flavours tasted okay. Were priced at Rs.297 each.