An Incredible Road Trip of a Lifetime to Udaipur, The Most Romantic City in the World

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by laluks

CL- pictures are getting better and better. Please tell us the best is still to come. Waiting yaar.

Thank you Laluks. In my opinion, the copter pics were among the best. I leave the judgment to the readers! But I do have some more great snaps coming up!

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi C_L,

Your claimer "My best pictures are coming in the next post" seems to be well placed. I find that your successive posts have better and better pictures.

the swan in the middle of the water waves is simply amaxing.
the sunset pictures are great too.

Thank you Star. That pic of the Swan was a result of waiting for the right shot, for over an hour and a half!

Originally Posted by advaitlele

CL - that swan photo with wavy circles around in Nakki lake is one of the best have ever seen.

Geting back to CL's fantastic thread. CL - keep it coming.

Thanks, Advait. It was indeed great, seeing that beautiful swan fishing in Nakki Taal!

[sriswe]

Hi CL.... the swan photo with wavy circles around is superb..Also, the sunset pics ....enjoying the pics...

[ElantraGT]

CL, the sunset pictures are amazing. I am sure that you are not running out of pictures to post . Keep them coming.

[dreamdiesel]

Originally Posted by MX6

I've told people in junagarh zoo not to scream and pelt stones thru the stone at the lion. A group of 30 villagers made lewd remarks at me.
The lion got peeved at their noises finally and walked along the fence and sprayed these morons with it's pee.
I had to tell them, that's the way a lion marks. When the fence disappears, they'd better grow wings to fly.

That was very Funny MX6. I fell off my chair laughing this evening reading this line.

CL, nice snaps as always. Please keep them coming.

[Chevy_lover]

Day 9 – Trevor’s Tank….

We woke up by 9 am on Day 9 (January 15th) of our vacation. Mount Abu was arguably one of the coldest places we had even been to! It was so difficult to wake up in the morning!

We got ready and got out of the hotel by 11 am and went to a restaurant and had a great breakfast of parathas. We had a leisurely meal and returned back to our hotel by 1 pm and thought of visiting the Dilwara Temple. We reached the temple after a short drive of ten minutes. But we were disappointed to find out that the temple was closed due to ‘Surya Grahan’ or solar eclipse! On enquiry, we were told that the temple would re-open by 4 pm.

So we thought of going to our next point, the Trevor’s Tank, a wildlife sanctuary and a crocodile breeding park. It is a nature lover’s paradise and is named after the British engineer who built it. The main attraction of the point was the man made tank (referred to as Trevor’s Tank) that is used to breed crocodiles. We were told that we might even come across black bears, which inhabits the region, if we were (un)lucky!!!

We reached Trevor’s Tank after a driving close to 5 kilometres from the city. We paid the entry charge of Rs. 10 each for us and Rs. 65 for our car and was about to drive inside, when the security guard asked us for a favour. He wanted us to drop a new guard at the Trevor’s Tank. We agreed and took the boy, barely 20 years old, to the tank, in our car. The drive through the single lane forest trail was nerve-wracking. There were some very sharp curves too!!!









We finally reached the Tank after a five minute drive and parked our car. Having a guard with us helped a great deal in getting the best spot. Deciding to take the boy with us turned out to be a masterstroke! More on that as the story progresses!

The lake at Trevor’s Tank was breathtakingly beautiful! Here are some photos of the lake!

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Although the place looks like a warehouse, the fish photos have come out quite well.

By the way, chevy_lover, the incessant photo taking (by you & your wife) along with your writing style (with all the minor & major details) makes it the next best thing to actually being there. Reading the blog - it almost feels like we are travelling with you in the backseat, and then walking next to you when you go visiting places.

But why did you buy a Tavera? Do you carry lots of luggage? What other vehicles did you test drive before buying the Tavera?

Thanks Smartcat. There were only some tube lights in the so-called 'biggest' aquarium in India. The tanks were so badly lit, the glass was dirty and the water was filthy, that I couldn't even focus properly most of the time! I had to take all these snaps without a flash with the highest ISO. That's why the photos are grainy! I was also happy that the photos were at least recognizable!

Well, the idea is the same. I want my readers to be with me wherever we go! We have lots of space in the back seats of our car!

Jokes apart, I pay very special attention to my narration. I still spend close to 5-7 hours per day with the photos and narrations! Some photos are very heavy (7 - 10 Mb) editing them eats up a lot of time!

I loved the Tavera after I travelled in it from Gangtok to Siliguri, after our 'Incredible trip to Bhutan, Darjeeling and Gangtok'! To tell you the fact, I booked the vehicle as soon as I reached Pune!

Tavera is one of the most sturdiest and most comfortable vehicle I have ever driven! One of my friends, who owns a travel agency, has two Taveras, which have crossed the 2 Lakh kilometre mark and are still going strong! What else do I need to think about?

We were saved by the strength of our vehicle, from a very gruesome accident, when our tyre burst near Kankavli, Goa. So I trust my Chevy Baby with our lives! I have written a travelogue about that trip and incident too!

I have driven Scorpios, Qualises and the Innovas extensively. In fact I have driven close to 80K kilometres in other vehicles. But I chose the Tavera. I do not want to start a debate here. Let me just say that I loved the Chevy! My Chevy's braking is one of the best I have experienced! My brake pads lasted 45K kilometres and my original tyres lasted 72K kms. The cost of ownership is negligible! My Chevy's mileage is also superb. I reached Ahmedabad with a tankful from Pune!!!

We do carry lots of luggage. We carry three big suitcases for each and every trip of ours! I hope this answers your query!

[smartcat]

My Chevy has been good too - but for the first 4.5 years, I've had bad to terrible experience with the dealers. So you can call me Chevy_Lover_Dealer_Hater.

However, in the last one year, GM has pulled up its socks.

[Majic]

I missed this thread and i come back and see ..WOW, wonderful, spirited narration and the photos are really amazing, i just cant believe that this is a short trip

[Chevy_lover]

I have heard so many stories about bad experiences with GM dealers. For me, the experience was always superb. First of all, my dealer gave me a very hefty discount. Their service is very good. I always got VIP treatment. So I have nothing to complain about so far.

I once complained about some noise coming from my seat. A mechanic was at my door step in half an hour. I was amazed to see that kind of speed in dealing with customer complaints. Needless to say, the problem was rectified in 5 minutes flat, free of charge!!!

The second instance was when my clutch master malfunctioned. I made a call to my service centre at 8pm that day. The GM mechanic arrived at 8 am the next day, repaired my vehicle in one hour flat and I reached my office on time!!!

I have had absolutely nothing to complain about!

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by dreamdiesel

That was very Funny MX6. I fell off my chair laughing this evening reading this line.

CL, nice snaps as always. Please keep them coming.

Thanks Dreamdiesel. There are lots more in store!

Originally Posted by ElantraGT

CL, the sunset pictures are amazing. I am sure that you are not running out of pictures to post . Keep them coming.

Thanks ElantraGT. Are you kidding? I have another 3000 pics in my kitty. So there is no question of running out of pics! Finding the best from the lot is going to be a headache!

Originally Posted by sriswe

Hi CL.... the swan photo with wavy circles around is superb..Also, the sunset pics ....enjoying the pics...

Thanks Sri. That was a spontaneous photo pportunity!

Originally Posted by Majic

I missed this thread and i come back and see ..WOW, wonderful, spirited narration and the photos are really amazing, i just cant believe that this is a short trip

Well, this is not a short trip, Majic! More pics coming up!

[Chevy_lover]

After exploring the Trevor’s Tank lake, we walked towards the next point in our agenda, which was the Rock Watch Tower situated overlooking the lake, giving a panoramic view of the whole plateau of Mount Abu. The approach trail was through thick jungle and we soon reached the tower.











































The view from the tower was superb . We soaked in the beauty of the landscape for a long time.

We returned back to the tank after a while. Little did we know what was in store for us!!!

[KSM-Vtec]

Nice pics!!!! the blue in the sky is krazzy!!!

[KRRaj]

Nice Pictures as usual.

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

Little did we know what was in store for us!!!

There we go again. Have to wait now to see what did you guys experience.

[Chevy_lover]

We met the guard, to whom we had offered a lift till the Trevor’s Tank. He thanked us again and offered to take us to a special viewing spot. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we agreed. There was another couple near us and they also decided to accompany us. We trekked through a scary rocky trail for about five minutes. I was very scared that my wifey might slip. But she did exceedingly well and we climbed the rocks without any issues! We soon reached the viewing spot.





We were fortunate to see two huge crocodiles basking in the afternoon sun. The water in the tank must have been freezing cold and those reptiles were enjoying the little heat they got from the sun! They were absolutely still and we enjoyed seeing them lying there without a care in the world!








We returned back to the parking lot after soaking in that amazing sight of the crocs in their natural habitat. We were happy that our time was well spent. The time was close to 2.30 pm and we decided to move on towards our next point, the Guru Shikhar!

We started our Chevy only to find that 5 to 6 cars had arrived that minute and everyone was jostling for a parking spot! I somehow got out of the mess after ten minutes of maneuvering! All this time, two guys from Mumbai were waiting by their car to see whether I would scrape it, at the same time, offering no help at all! My poor wifey was running around helping me!

We drove back through the jungle trail. I rolled down my windows as my Chevy was burning hot, after being in the sun for such a long time. The jungle was scary to the core and we did not see any living thing, till the time we exited the main gate after a five minute drive. We also had to be extremely careful to avoid the rocks protruding out from the ground!

[rameshnanda]

Hi Chevy_lover, you are a great writer of travelogues. I enjoyed reading travelogue of your Velankanni, Kodai and Ooty trip. And now this one. Great going.