[vivek_vt]

Hello guys. Had morning breakfast 40 kms short of jaipur. While the surds had aloo de paranthe, me and mr H had good old karachi bakery biscuits with tea
Left there around 8am, and i took the control of the steering, and oh what a road. Jaipur ajmer ecpressway is a bliss, six lanes! All you need to is play that facebook driving game, where you just press left/right key to overcome obstacles. Manage to cover 320 kms in 3.5 hours and then another half an hour to reach chittorgarh. Amazing fort, you can just gaze at the view in front of eyes for some time. Clicked some nice pics from dslr which i might post from udaipur. Now leaving from chittorgarh with mr kukki on the wheel who is an equally enthusiastic driver. We two once did a gokarna trip from hyd in a rented innova.

And Santro is not our choice, its our only option. I think I havent told the premise for the trip. Need to bring kukkis santro from delhi to hyd permanently

And do not underestimate the santro. Its a peppy car (not as peppy as zen) and is quick off its feet. Was neck and neck with a RJ skoda fabia. (in safe limits) And there was also an AP number silver swift dzire going slowly. Hope to catch it somewhere later.

[vsi]

Note from the Team-BHP Support : Please avoid typing with excessive dots.........like................this. Thanks.

Hey, i simply love those kaju cookies and my 3 year daughter, she is so very fond of them.

Just happened bychance that i went for a officila visit to hyderabad and while returning, i bought a pack of these cookies from the shamshabad airport.

nive, very nice.

[BulZire]

Nice report Vivek, All the best to complete the ride without any hassle.

And a request,

Why don't you translate the conversations here after in English as well.
People like me will not understand our national language . But we understand the universal language very well ..

For all the last few conversations you posted, i was disturbing my colleague from Mumbai to read and translate me. he was wondering what on earth i am reading during the office hours.

[contactme27]

Nice TV. I am sticking to know status of the road condition. What are your route options ?

[traveloholic]

Oye Vivek, amazing travelouge. Loving everybit of it. Wanted to jot down something yesterday but could not do it. Am totally glued to your trip. I so envy you buddy, for doing such a wonderful trip.

[vivek_vt]

Originally Posted by contactme27

Nice TV. I am sticking to know status of the road condition. What are your route options ?

The route we have followed till now is delhi-jaipur bypass-kishangarh bypass-bhilwara-chittorgarh-udaipur

Odometer reading from saket to delhi till now is 710km. The road from delhi-jaipur bypass is being widened till 40 kms before jaipur. Wont be able to travel fast as a lot of truck traffic as well. Took us almost 4 hrs. From there till jaipur-ajmer expressway is six laned but a little uneven surface, not smooth. Jaipur-kishangarh bypass is awesome six lane. From there on till bhilwara is good surface 4 lane. Then till udaipur it is a bit uneven 4 lane. Cannot go above 120, as some small portions suddenly go up or down disturbing everyone in the car. Total time taken till udaipur from delhi is 12 hours (includes 45 mins breakfast and 2.15 hours spent in chittorgarh fort)

Plan is to start for mumbai/pune/satara tomorow early morning via ahmedabad, baroda, surat. Hope its the best and shorter route.

@others: thanks for the appreciation. Checked in to saheli hotel an hour back and had a sumptous meal. Plus got great deal. 2 bedroom huge room + 2 extra beds ac room for 1.8k Thanks to the bhpian who recomended. Cant quote him from mobile app. Will post pics of the trip till now, in the night.

[vivek_vt]

Originally Posted by BulZire

Nice report Vivek, All the best to complete the ride without any hassle.

And a request,

Why don't you translate the conversations here after in English as well.
People like me will not understand our national language . But we understand the universal language very well ..

For all the last few conversations you posted, i was disturbing my colleague from Mumbai to read and translate me. he was wondering what on earth i am reading during the office hours.

Sure I will do that once I return to hyderabad. Was very less on time so posted as they happened.

Originally Posted by traveloholic

Oye Vivek, amazing travelouge. Loving everybit of it. Wanted to jot down something yesterday but could not do it. Am totally glued to your trip. I so envy you buddy, for doing such a wonderful trip.

Thanks. We will have discussion on the next tbhp hyd meet

Now for the update part.

Left Udaipur some time back and now on the way to Ahmedabad.
After the meal at the hotel yesterday, everybody rested a bit in the ac. Then decided to leave for the lakes. Also we wanted to go to the lake palace hotel. Knew how costly it was, we thought ki chai tou pi hi sakte hain By the time we left it was already dark. Came to know that fateh sagar lake is closed from evening, for traffic so left for lake palace hotel.

And Mr. Ranjot Singh opened up his iphone to guide us with the way to the hotel. Next 20 minutes were spent with kukki cutting through tight ‘galiyan’ (tighter than tightiest that can be found in Punjab towns or even in Hyderabad) and Ranjot singh telling how the lake is just about the next corner in the right side.

“Bas right mein hai. Keep going. Bas aa gayi, abhi right mein lake saath saath chal rahi hai”

We all look to our right, finding only tiny old market shops.

“Bas hai tou right mein hi hai. Abhi nazar aayegi”

Finally asked people and they guided us the same way making Ranjot Singh smile.

“Abey yahan se nahin lata tou how would you have seen Udaipur’s famous market”

As soon as we reached lake palace and entered the royal gate, we were stopped by guards asking us if we had a booking. Booking? Where do we get it from? And the answer came Bombay ya Delhi! No going to the hotel without room booking. Puzzled and dejected we asked if we could have dinner there? And he said that we could go to some other restaurant which is also on an island, and we need to get tickets for it. There was a small team discussion after we came to know 5400 Rs cover charges for four people. Okay so we have saved enough on the hotel and yahan aakar nahin gaye tou kya matlab.

Guard telling us to park right in front of the royal looking haveli and not to blow horn at all, and while locking doors ended up activating the auto cop siren :O And in the confusion couldn’t even stop it quickly.
A nice big boat waiting for us at the docks and he ferries us to the island. Looking at all these palaces on hills, their reflection in the lakes and the beautifully lit palace hotel, my paisa was vasool’ed then and there.

Reached another awesome looking palace inside the lake and entered the restaurant. Oh what a feeling it was. Completely quite, and serene. Mesmerising view to the eyes. The waiter asked us if he could bring mineral water. And one of us gave an instantaneous reply ki nahin regular water (as always) Hearing this the waiter gave a wierd look puzzling us ki aisa kya bol diya humne. Then he said “I will bring RO purified water”. OK! And as soon as we opened the menu, mineral water right up there at 85Rs.

After ordering we go around roaming the palace, and then sat right besides the lake. Clicked some amazing pictures which are attached below (assuming 3g works, was getting airtel 3g signal in Chittorgarh and Udaipur)
The dinner was amazing. (Chicken tikka and filled simla mirch with tender sweet paneer something something) though the nice ambience is to be blamed here. After a nice little dessert and a walk around the place, we took the boat back home. Quitely sitting in the boat, we were so amazed at what we were seeing that nobody even talked to each other. Headed backed to the hotel and after checking the score (nice show india) crashed directly. Plan was to wake up at 4AM leave by 5AM. Ranjot singh woke us all up today at 5AM We left finally at 6:45AM. Right now have covered around 90 till now. Ahmedabad 160 kms away.

[Fordmanchau]

Nice!! Very very nice!!
Amazing how a bunch of friends can have fun!! Fantastic to read the conversations between your friends and your experience at the restaurant.
It's the company that matters. Reminds me of my BIL who has a close knit friends group from IIT-M, one weekend they will be at Blr , another weekend in Shimla, and yet another in Mumbai for road tripping and then join office on Mondays!!

Looking forward for more vivek!!

[GTO]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing your travelogue with the community. However, we need substantial content in the opening post to warrant a new thread. Else, this live travelogue will only lead to spammy, non-informative posts.

I've temporarily moved your thread to the Assembly Line Section (More Information about this sub-forum), where can EDIT your posts over an indefinite period of time. Add text, pictures, edits and more at your own convenience.

Please edit the opening post, complete your travelogue, and then report the post so that we can move your thread back to the public forum section.

NOTE : After your thread has been taken public, you are permitted to bump it up once to bring it amongst the new post listings.

[vivek_vt]

Originally Posted by vsi

Hey, i simply love those kaju cookies and my 3 year daughter, she is so very fond of them.

Just happened by chance that i went for a official visit to hyderabad and while returning, i bought a pack of these cookies from the shamshabad airport.

nice, very nice.

You should have bought the fruit cookies. They are even better.

Originally Posted by BulZire

And a request,

Why don't you translate the conversations here after in English as well.
People like me will not understand our national language . But we understand the universal language very well ..

For all the last few conversations you posted, i was disturbing my colleague from Mumbai to read and translate me. he was wondering what on earth i am reading during the office hours.

Have edited my posts and added translations.

Adding Udaipur jagmandir palace photos.

[vivek_vt]

We are back in Hyderabad. Reached late night on sunday. I will continue from where I left. also I have edited the earlier posts, adding translations and more pictures of udaipur, chittorgarh.

So we reached Ahmedabad around 10-11AM, the two lane road till expressway being a sorepoint. As soon as we entered outskirts, the search for breakfast places started. Saw a restaurant, and went up there only to know that they will serve lunch after 12:30. Asked him if any place would serve lunch to which he refused. Asked some passing by people and they pointed us to the opposite side of the road. There were small dhaba kind breakfast places. So we sat down and asked him what he had. Not knowing what gujarati people ate for breakfast, he recommended we try dal tadka with plain paranthas and he will get some pickles and chutneys. First he came with hot fresh papads for us. And I can assure you those were the best papads I ever had.





Seeing the chutney and pickle box, we still hadn't realized its potential. We were eating the paronthas with dal and not having any of the pickles, on which the guy came and told us to try out the mango chutney. It was so delicious that we immediately forgot the dal and started eating paranthas directly with it. Also tried out other pickles. A litle bit of spice, a little bit of sweetness, and a little sour as well. we were in love with that chutney/pickle box by now. The guy came to us and told us how he is very fond of serving great food. He even brought a bowl of Gujarati khichdi, and explained us the saurashtra cuisine. We had to convince ourselves to stop eating

[GTO]

Vivek, thanks for adding content enough to warrant a new thread. Moved back to the Travelogues forum!

[vivek_vt]

Note from Mod : Any posts on alcohol are STRICTLY prohibited on this forum. Please read our rules before proceeding any further.

Eyeing Mumbai before night, we quickly wrapped our breakfast, and asked the guy to pack up 500gms of the four best pickles and chutneys, which he happily did, and got packed the pakoras, a roadside person was frying for lunch and set foot on the road again. Mr. H took control of the steering now and it was decided that he will drive on the Baroda Expressway, after which RanZot Singh takes it up till Surat/Daman and I will take the last leg till Lonavala. We gave Mr.H the car thinking all four of us should drive on this trip, and Mr.H wasn't much confident on the other roads.

We entered the expressway around 12 noon and proceeded towards Baroda. the expressway was full of boards like:



Also "National Expressway 1: Where your dreams come true"

It seemed NHAI went overboard with the hoardings and to be realistic some of NH's can beat NE1 in terms of quality of surface and the smoothness of road.

Then after so many such boards, we came across the board "YOU ARE ON NATIONAL EXPRESSWAY 1" to which kukki said.

Yeh tou vahi baat ho gayi ti tv dekhte hue aaye.. You are watching Star Plus! And fir banda bole hain? inko kaise pata? camera kahan laga hai

(Thats like while watching TV they say "You are watching star plus!" and then the person watching gets astonished on how do they know? Where's the camera!!)

After a laugh we kept on proceeding, and Mr.H shocked us all by reaching baroda and later completing the Baroda bypass till NH8 as well in just over an hour.



After the expressway we stopped for this:



The journey till Surat was also a breeze



After Surat, the jouney started becoming boring and also a lot of places on the Surat-Mumbai road, flyover construction taking place resulting in diversions. While crossing the narmada bridge we also saw an almost 7-8km long jam of trucks and tiny vehicles stuck between them. But the road southbound was all clear.


Now it was almost 5:30pm by the time we reached the diversion for daman, and we calculated how much time do we afford to spend there. Okay so we didnt afford to lose any time but then we thought, we wont touch a beach at any point during our trip so lets go! Also the thought of driving Udaipur to a beach in a single day was exciting. And And! Cheap petrol! So we headed towards the small UT. The 10km road was full of traffic and potholes, making us feel it was a bad idea to head here. but crossing the following in itself was a nice experience:



We then reached the beach, but I must tell you I have always been excited on seeing the coast whenever seeing it for the first time on a trip , but this was the least exciting one! The fluttering Indian National Flag does look very nice though.



The beach was full of crap! Not clean at all. Infact it looked like a dumping ground. We were looking for a beach side shack or restaurant.

After a few snacks, we realized it was already 6:30! No problem! Lets enjoy Aaram se said one of us. Now when we came back to the same place to start off, the beach looked better.

After a few snaps we were back to the track!


From left to right: Mr. H, RanZot Singh, Kukki

Thats me on the left now

All four together!

[vivek_vt]

Originally Posted by nomadabhi

Ask me, when its me and my Nomad, I keep hearing new proverbs and puns from my Mom. Following your thread with a Macro eye

My sis told me about her conversation with mom while I was on the trip. "He is even talking about a Ladakh bike trip! Should get him married! Then these two will themselves think and decide and do whatever they want to!"
for all the punjabis:
"viah kara dena hai ehda. Aap hi dekhde rahuge dono'n. Siro'n tension lathugi!"

Originally Posted by contactme27

Nice TV. I am sticking to know status of the road condition. What are your route options ?

The road condition was overall good. Few things:

• Delhi-Jaipur section is not good because of the work being done there.
• Take the Kishangarh-Chittorgarh-Udaipur route.
• Roads on Gujarat-Rajasthan border a little bad, But after himmatnagar all is well
• HVK pointed out somewhere that you can directly hop on to Ahmedabad-Baroda expressway without entering Ahmedabad. Have no idea how.
• 100km before mumbai, lots of flyover construction going on and loads of diversions.
• Mumbai-Pune expressway had a lot of truck traffic in the night. All three lanes occupied.

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Nice!! Very very nice!!
Amazing how a bunch of friends can have fun!! Fantastic to read the conversations between your friends and your experience at the restaurant.
It's the company that matters. Reminds me of my BIL who has a close knit friends group from IIT-M, one weekend they will be at Blr , another weekend in Shimla, and yet another in Mumbai for road tripping and then join office on Mondays!!

Looking forward for more vivek!!

A Mysore dussehra trip in planning stage. Lets see how things go. Also a Kerela/Rameshwaram/Kanyakumari trip in discussion stage (the stage before planning)