Pune to Jaipur Trip

[rnbohra]

As promised upon completion here goes my travelogue but will not be as exhaustive as Mr. Kumar or others haven’t got the gear such as GPS etc…

As I was going to be doing the driving all alone had to face a lot of flak from my near and dear ones as to why I was not taking the driver with me.. Had to convince them that the only best seats in my Pajero are the front two and it would be difficult for me to forgo that comfort.

Starting Point: Andheri(W) Chandan Cinema
Starting Time: 0330 hrs
Travelling Buddy: My teenage daughter Richa

Overnight had driven over from Pune reaching Andheri 1900 hrs with the view of having and nice nap of 5-6 hrs for an early start. Reaching at my uncle’s place which I was visiting after a long time ended up chit chatting till 2300 hrs, finally had to settle down and managed 3 hrs of sleep. After a quick shower and cup of tea set off exactly at 0330 hrs with the daunting task of having to travel 970 kms up to Bhilwara before sundown...

Took 15 mins to reach Ghodbunder Naka going on the Western Exp Hwy hitting NH-8. Going through Manor upto Pardi which was @ 146 kms required a bit of extra cautious driving due to the fact it was still dark and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Still made good time and reached Pardi by 0530 hrs. Pardi to Ankleshwar @ 143 kms was done in another 2 hrs. On the way saw a dead body on the right hand side of the road.. maybe a hit and run case during the night and the police having not yet responded as usual to the situation.

0730 hrs having decided not to let the tank go below the last quarter had a quick bite and loo break just outside Ankleshwar @ 15 mins.

Now the trouble started with all the work that is going on on this stretch i.e. 6 lanning and the overhead bridges… It was difficult to get any speed with all the changing of route from left to right and vice versa. So frustrating… Can’t believe that we intend to become a super power and developed country and we are unable to improve things without disturbing the existing infrastructure. Took almost 3 hrs to do the 100 odd kms before I could hit the Baroda – Ahm E-eway. I thank my stars for having listened to Mr. Kumar and others who adviced me to complete this stretch before morning rush started.

1015 hrs hit the e-way and then it was smooth sailing up to the exit at Naroda Link road. Did the 96 kms in just 45 mins. Very impressed with the quality of the surface and the various exit’s that have been constructed. Pity though that it is not six lane e-way. Though still better than the e-way between Pune- Mumbai.

Passing thru Naroda Link road made it via Prantij to Himmatnagar @ 72 kms in 1 hr. This road is also very impressive and hardly any traffic. 1145 hrs stopped outside Himmatnagar for lunch and a much needed break.

Restarted at 1230 hrs towards Udaipur, the route really has a lot of character with all the mountains and the slow curvy road a pleasure to drive even though the sun was beating down very hard. Shamlaji was a bit crowded with lots of buses and jeeps parked on the roadside.

Was bypassing Udaipur @ 175 kms by 1430 hrs on route to Chittorgarh on NH-76. Very nice road with minimum traffic. On route hit by high winds and slight drizzle which was quite welcome.

Hit Chittorgarh at 1530 hrs fortunately the railway crossing was open so could pass through with no problems. Changed over from NH-76 to NH-79 but for about 25kms outside Chittorgarh road works were on reducing speeds drastically. Managed to reach Bhilwara 1645 hrs. This was going to be my overnight halt.

Had covered @970 kms in about 14 hrs with one refueling stop and cumulative break of around 1 hr included. I was very satisfied as my previous best being 600 kms in one go. I did not feel very tired except a bit queasy in the head probably due to being standstill after such a long drive.

Date: 10-5-08
Starting Point: Bhilwara
Starting Time: 1530 hrs
Travelling Buddy: Wifey, my two daughters and my MIL.

The night went on till 0130 hrs visiting the umpteen relatives that I had in Bhilwara. Had planned to make an early start towards Jaipur but that went out of the window due to the late night. Further there were still some relatives who I had to visit which was differed to the morning.

Left Bhilwara 1500 hrs with my additional passengers and off course all the new luggage that wifey had managed to gather in Bhilwara. Joining NH-79 just outside of Bhilwara headed towards Bijainagar, Nassirabad and Kishangarh. The route is 4 lane highway but lot of trucks carrying fodder which somehow are so loaded that they end up taking 1.5 lanes. At Kishangarh joined the 6 lane highway towards Jaipur. This is also a fantastic road but unfortunately the truck drivers are such a pain… Truck in the middle lane being overtaken by another in the right most lane. Finally figured out that the best way for me to proceed will be in the left most lane and believe me I was doing 140 kmph for miles in this lane with nobody to bother.

Hit Gandhi circle in Jaipur at 1830 hrs @ 270 km with one fuel stop. Jaipur was going to be my halt for the next 7 days.

Big video made of the route.. and some stills which i shall share.

Some photos attached

Jal Mahal from Nahargarh Fort… soon to be converted into 7 star Hotel



World largest Cannon.. Unfortunately never fired


Nahargarh fort.. Location of Jodha Akbar shooting… some dance scene tells my wife


Amber fort from Nahargarh


View of Vidhan Sabha from Jaigarh Fort RTDC restaurant


View of Amber fort from the road leading to it


Imposing gate inside Amber Fort


Birla Mandir


Date: 11-5-08
Evening: RR v/s DD …. IPL T20

RR star captain.. Warney


Graeme Smithyyyyyyyyy


RR star all rounder.. Watson


RR star bowler… Tanveer


RR paid supporter… Swehta Salve


RR loudest supporter… Ila Arun.. Haala Bol


Madam in trouble..


Rahul Bose with Richa


So much for today... shall continue

[jaysmokesleaves]

Nice report sir.. and very entertaining & humorous pics.
Look forward to the rest of the triplog.

[gd1418]

A nice and detailed travelogue with some very good pics. Especially that of the Biggest canon brought back memories of my visit to Nahargarh many many years ago.

The portions in bold given below are the speeds or the distance covered? If it is speed, then did you touch 270 kmph between Chittorgarh & Jaipur?

Originally Posted by rnbohra

Took 15 mins to reach Ghodbunder Naka going on the Western Exp Hwy hitting NH-8. Going through Manor upto Pardi which was @ 146 kms required a bit of extra cautious driving due to the fact it was still dark and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Still made good time and reached Pardi by 0530 hrs. Pardi to Ankleshwar @ 143 kms was done in another 2 hrs.

Passing thru Naroda Link road made it via Prantij to Himmatnagar @ 72 kms in 1 hr.

Was bypassing Udaipur @ 175 kms by 1430 hrs on route to Chittorgarh on NH-76.

Hit Gandhi circle in Jaipur at 1830 hrs @ 270 km with one fuel stop.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by gd1418

A nice and detailed travelogue with some very good pics. Especially that of the Biggest canon brought back memories of my visit to Nahargarh many many years ago.

The portions in bold given below are the speeds or the distance covered? If it is speed, then did you touch 270 kmph between Chittorgarh & Jaipur?

He clearly is to be reffering to the kilometers covered.

[rnbohra]

Date: 13-5-08
Starting Point: Jaipur
Starting Time: 0730 hrs

Overnight Jaipur received heavy sandstorm accompanied by rains resulting in the lights going out. The heat hit us and we all were awake 0430 hrs watching the sandstorm. My daughters who had never seen one were both thrilled and frightened. I was more worried about the situation on the road since early morning we had to leave for Ranthambore

We hit the road around 0730 hrs with route planned as JPR-Chaksu-Niwai-Tonk on NH-12 and then hitting state highway from Tonk towards Uniara and Sawai Mahdopur. The weather with overnight rain was pretty nice and the road up to Tonk was excellent except for the ever present truck drivers.

Once we were off the road at Tonk the going was ok up to Uniara but beyond this it was nothing but a stone and mud setup all the way up to outskirts of Sawai Madhopur. The Pajero was handling this all well but the passengers at the rear.. kids were not so pleased, had to promise them a treat for giving them such a bumpy ride. This route we had selected because somebody had informed us that he had seen the road under repair 6 months back and we presumed that six months on things would be ship shape… how wrong we were.

Reached Ranthambore which is 10 kms from Sawai Mahdopur at 1230 hrs @ 200 kms in 5 hrs. Checked in at Ranthambore Forest Resort hotel .. 3 star property booked online @ 3000 rs. Per room all meals etc included. Booking done using ICICI platinum card so hope to get 50% of the bill as cash back which should work out to @1500 rs only per room.

This being off season we were the only guests in this big property and were considered royalty, each and every person was more than eager to please us, including the chef who was keen to prepare what ever we wanted.

Even though we had lined up the district ADM and the Deputy Forest officer (DFO) thru our contacts in Jaipur we thought of trying our luck and booked the 1500 hrs gypsy safari.

Salim our safari guide turned up at 1515 hrs and we headed towards the forest entrance.

Rest through pictures

Lobby of the Hotel


Entrance to the National Park


Park rules and rates... maybe useful for somebody


The gang..


Original Entrance gate towards Ranthambore fort


Imposing fort view


Safari route.. This probably was the better patch


Veggies..








Sunbathing...


Reached the hotel dead tired and were greeted with the unfortunate news of bomb blasts in Jaipur.. will not discuss further on this though.

Having researched that May is the best month for a sure shot sighting of Tigers we managed to only see the side actors on our first safari.. BTW it is 4 hrs of real bone breaking ride we were ready for a few beers and some ZZZ’s. Over drinks my BIL mentioned that this was his 5th visit and had not seen the big prize – TIGER as yet. This was followed by his wife who was on her 8th visit. Now this was a real moral deflator and need some drastic measures. We hit the phones and it was agreed that the next day afternoon would be our VIP safari accompanied by the park ranger, courtesy ADM Sawai Madhopur and the DFO. Mr Santosh, the lobby manager at the hotel was very clear that VIP visit or not unless we paid a homage to the Tri Netra Ganapati temple in Ranthambore fort we stood no chance of sighting the tiger. So it was decided we would do the darshan next day early morning prior to going on the safari.

Shall continue...

[akroy]

Nice Travelogue and beautiful pics.

Abhi

[mobike008]

Some of the pictures are just breathtaking. Looks like you had a great time clubbed with the IPL match.

[rnbohra]

Date: 15-5-08
Starting Point: Ranthambore

Due to the early start 0700 hrs kids decided to skip the trip to the fort, it was left to us to pray hard for a tiger sighting

Pics doing the talking again

Pajero from the top of the fort
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View of the water bodies from the fort
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King Hamid's palace... closed for visitors
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Tree Netra Ganapati temple in the fort
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Something I had to put here
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1330 hrs back from the fort for a quick lunch and get ready for our 2nd and last safari. Having dragged my family to Ranthambore that too in summer heat was weighing too heavy on me and had all my fingers crossed

Going thru the formalities at the gate the park ranger arranged for us to visit Zone-3 (BTW 5 zones in the park and lottery system at the gate to decide). I was thrilled as I knew that of the 3 large bodies of water in the park during summer, 2 were in Zone 3. Things were surely looking up

Zone 3 starts bang opposite the point where you enter the fort. 100 mtrs after entering the zone… lo and behold

Tiger-1 10-15 ft from the gypsy… pics will blow you away.


Tiger-2 In there somewhere, 5 stars to the person identifying on the picture… will reveal later for those who do not want to try


Tiger Claw bird something… don’t know correct name eating biscuits of wifey’s hand


Tiger-2 for those who did not find it. Spent atleast an hr. for it to wake up and give us some good photo op


Grand Finale.. Tiger-3 just as we were ready to leave the park




3 Tigers in 4 hrs... beat this guys

Having seen the majestic animal at such close quarters we all were very upbeat and vowed never to come back to ranthambore… (avoid overwriting these memories with any failure in the future

more to come...

[jaysmokesleaves]

@rnbohra >>

NIce pics & writeup sir. Any pics of the PRIZE- the real non veggie ???

One question >> Instead of going in the gypsy, IS it allowed to use your own personal 4x4 for the safari after paying the gypsy fees( 1500rs) ???

[snaronikar]

Nice write up and pics. Waitng to see part-3 soon.

[rnbohra]

Jaysokesleaves... Hi private vehicles not allowed as you are escorted all the time. Further I personally prefer that they keep it that way bcos I am sure u must have come across people who can be very misbehaved and be a nuisance in such a pristine place. Also guess could be very dangerous too...

[mayurpalav]

RN Bohra Sir - Really nice pictures, complete justice done to the beauty of nature.
You and Deepak are really lucky to have seen Tigers in their natural habitat.
Congratulations and keep up the good work.

[jaysmokesleaves]

true royalty!
wonderful pics!
and a bunch of lucky humans!
Thanks!

[rnbohra]

Date: 15-5-08
Starting Point: Ranthambore
Destination: Jaipur

With curfew in Jaipur to start at 9 am we planned to leave early. Some discussions with the locals on the route to take back.. we were asked to go via Dausa to avoid the bad roads between Sawai Madhopur and Uniara. Departed at 0600 hrs heading Dausa. @ 40 kms out of Sawai Madhopur at Jastana saw a board pointing towards Niwai, enquired with the locals and they said the road conditions were very good and no need to go up to Dausa. Believing the guys was a big mistake.. he was right the roads are ok but his reference about road quality was not the same as ours, the roads were very narrow and potholed. Anyways having taken the plunge we continued. Winding road thru lot of villages.. fortunately being early morning not many cattle on the road. Reached Niwai 0730 hrs. Beyond Niwai to Jaipur was plain sailing. Further with curfew soon to come in force there was hardly any traffic in the city and we made it home by 0845 hrs

Date: 17-5-08
Starting Point: Jaipur
Destination: Jodhpur
Travelling Partners: Wife and kids with ++++ luggage

Started 0700 hrs from Jaipur traversing the Kishangarh-Ajmer-Beawar-Jodhpur sector. The roads being excellent driving was a breeze though Kishangarh can be a problem due to multitude of trucks carrying marble zipping around. Reached Jodhpur 1830 hrs having covered the distance of 350 kms with multitude of stops to meet up with relatives along the way.

Overnight at Hotel Park Plaza.. very nice place but slightly on the higher side

Date: 18-5-08
Starting Point: Jodhpur
Destination: Jalore

Had some business to be taken care of which I attended while wife and kids went for some more shopping.

Plan was to move on to Jalore by 1530 hrs via Pali and Sanderao on NH-65 but had to be changed as wife insisted on visiting Nakodaji. The new route was Jodhpur-Balotra-Nakoda-Jalore. For a state highway Jodhpur to Balotra was nice as the road conditions are excellent and this is the same route which goes to Barmer which is a military area. Reached Nakodaji @20 kms outside of Balotra at 1730 hrs having done 130 kms. Visited the temple and spent 30 mins there.

1800 hrs started for Jalore via Mokalsar this route though very scenic is so narrow. Trucks and Private vehicles were courteous enough to slow down and we could manage to pass each other but Jeeps ferrying passengers were a big problem they would not budge or slow down. Reached Jalore @90 kms in 2 hrs. Overnight was Jalore

Date: 19-5-08
Starting Point: Jalore
Destination Ahmedabad

I had planned to take the Jalore-Sanderao-Sirohi @140 kms and the onto Udaipur-Ahmedabad @378 kms. At least the Udaipur Ahmedabad sector was a know devil. My uncle insisted that I was mad to take such a route and convinced me to do Jalore-Bagra-Mandoli-Sirohi @ 80 kms then Sirohi-Abu Road-Palanpur @ 125 kms on NH-14 and finally Palanpur- Mehsana - Ahmedabad @170 kms on NH-8C. This new route would save me 141 kms.

Left Jalore at 0700 hrs with plan to reach Ahmedabad 1330 hrs. The Jalore-Sirohi route was again single lane going was good and covered the 80 kms in 1.5 hrs. Beyond Sirohi to Mehsana the same problem of 6 lane work came up and found this very hard going with all the diversions etc.. Also felt that route was very boring with no scenery. Even though the distance thru Udaipur was longer would have still preferred it due to the pleasure of driving thru beautiful countryside

Reached Ahmedabad- Naroda patiya at 1400 hrs and was immediately held up by a traffic cop for lack of that yellow strip on my headlights. Already I was at the end of my nerves with all the driving thru the construction works and there was this cop holding me up for a silly rule which only Gujarat has. After the formalities of checking my PUC, drivers book etc.. I rode on him the whole nine yards giving him the lesson that he was unnecessarily harassing me due to the fact the my vehicle had MH plates. Poor thing got so confused that he was like boss please it was a mistake stopping you and please you can proceed. Good and Fast talking saved me 100 bucks. Ahmedabad traffic was bad.. but will not de-ride it much as it is the same for any major city in India. What say u guys?

Overnight at Ahmedabad with a quick visit to Gandhidham to see Akshardham temple(that rhymed)

Date: 20-5-08
Starting Point-Ahmedabad
Destination: Pune

Early start for the day, quick shower cup of tea and we hit the road at 0430 hrs. Baroda 0515 hrs.. fortunately did not encounter much traffic in Surat- Bharuch section and were at Godhbandar Naka by 1130 hrs. Took the Thane route lot of city traffic managed to reach Panvel McDonalds at 1230 for Lunch. One hour break and then onto Pune which we reached at 1430 hrs

Statistics

Distance covered: 3570 kms

Days on Road: 12 days

Route: Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Himatnagar-Udaipur-Bhilwara-Jaipur-Ranthambore-Jaipur-Beawar-Jodhpur-Nakoda-Jalor-Sirohi-Abu Road-Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune.

Fuel consumed: 401 lts average cost Rs 35.50 total Rs 14500

Fuel Stops: 7
Pajero Avg: 9 kms with 100% Dual AC
Tyres: Michelin L/T ATX, no puncture
Tolls Paid: Rs 1300
Vehicle Damage: Blown Horn – replaced on the road for Rs 140.

Hope this long travelogue must have not bored you guys? Back to work now or rather planning a 4-7 days road trip during the rains.. say 3rd week july along the west coast. Would be very intersted in getting some exciting ideas so please throw in your options and assist in making my mind up.