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Old 21st September 2012, 17:06   #526
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

JAMMU TO DELHI



The 17th Mile Hotel – looks good, would you recommend it?


At Bari Brahma on the NH1A itself. Most convenient hotel on NH1/NH1A, the only good one on the highway itself between Jalandhar & Patnitop. For someone coming from Delhi or Srinagar, looking for an overnight stay, this could be the best option – Jammu has lots of hotels like JKTDC inside the city, and Pathankot also. The hotel looks good, one of our friends has had food there and used its wash rooms & my friend Ajay in Jammu says it is a decent business hotel which they all patronise.


Isn't it scary driving on the chicken neck at Samba & Kathua?

Not as scary as it looks on the map.
The NH1A runs along the border to the west (and the lofty Dhauladhars to the east) – you cannot see it – and you can see all the rivers flowing towards Pakistan completely emptied of water as per the Indus Water sharing treaty.
This is a well-populated region, the road is a superb stretch of 4-laned superfast highway and similar to our onwards journey, we managed to touch the PB border & Pathankot very quickly.

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-chicken-neck.jpg


How do you decide on your refuelling halts?

In the hills, I seldom let my tank come down below half, bearing in mind the limited number of petrol pumps, and also the fact that some run out of fuel often.

However, once I get into the highways, I start counting my paisas, I plan refuelling so that I take it in the cheaper States during a multi-State drive. JK being more expensive, and PB being super-cheap for diesel, I pushed the Scorpio bone-dry to Madhopur, the first town after crossing into PB & refuelled there.


Why this sudden fetish for cleaning the car?

As you may have noted already, my car would be disqualified from even participating in any Clean Car contests, it looks the least attractive cosmetically & the dents, hits & breaks don’t inspire any confidence, but the clean engine bay definitely will!

The underbody of the car takes considerable hits & damage during any drive in the Himalayas, especially Kashmir. Hence, I always suggest to anyone returning from such a hard drive to do a thorough underbody wash on returning to the plains. Reasons are simple – get the muck cleaned up. Then check the underbody for any damages – to suspension, exhaust piping, brake systems, fuel tanks, wiring, and any oil leaks. Will also highlight if any nuts/bolts are loose or gone. So obviously, as cleaning progresses, I get under the body of the car & personally inspect each component to assure myself that Allz Well.

The other reason for this clean-up is cops. Your car gets noticed when it is dirty, and cops waiting to pounce on out-of-State registered cars at slightest pretext, your car ends up being the most prominent vehicle on the road heightening the risk of a cop thumbing you down.

It cost just Rs 150 to wash the car thoroughly on the Pathankot bypass.

One other reason I stopped there for the wash is to delay my drive on the Pathankot-Amritsar road away from evening peak hour. The time spent in the water service workshop helped us beat the worst traffic.


Amritsar? But the road from Jammu to Delhi goes direct from Pathankot to Jalandhar?

We wanted to visit the Golden Temple. Last year’s IPHE Expedition we had to give it a miss due to paucity of time, but this year we had decided that we will do it somehow & happily, our journey had go well so far, well within the stipulated timelines, so I had no hesitation in taking this detour to Amritsar.

As you said, the direct road to Delhi goes as follows:
Pathankot-Mukerian-Dasuya-Jalandhar

The route I took was as follows:
Patankot-Gurdaspur-Amritsar-Jalandhar


I heard that Pathankot-Amritsar NH15 is a total mess?

Well, it runs through very thickly-populated areas, with a town or village every 5 kms or so. No bypasses. Even the Gurdaspur bypass is incomplete. You can put your hand out & grab an apple or onion as you wade through vegetable markets in towns like Dinanagar. Buses are driven here – with all headlights on & horns blaring – like Beemers on expressways. I was almost swiped by one when I cheekily overtook one who was overtaking another on what is a narrow 2-laned road, and we brushed against trees & fields of the Punjabi country side. Later on, the bus driver strode across to us – when both of us were stopped at a level crossing – and we both glowered at each other at first, “had you....”, and we-could-have-avoided-this conversation, and then shrugged and walked away

Road widening is on, but road condition is good barring a few rough sections here and there. Sees heavy traffic all day, but very peaceful at night,. I always tell everyone to take this road before 8 am and after 10 pm. Hardly 100 kms or so, but took us almost 3 hours (I have done this late night in under 1.5 hours too)


So it was Butter Chicken at Crystal or Khulchas at Kesar ka Dhaba in Amritsar?

As we drove towards Amritsar, we polled our friends on phone & SMS on the best places to eat in Amritsar, and we got quick responses from many, including SS-Traveller & BolBolero. Alas, that was out to be, but we were quite happy to have the langar food at the Golden Temple, primarily because the darshan itself took time – and hotels would have been closed. It is always an uplifting experience to partake of the food at the Temple langar.


One has heard of congested roads in Amritsar? Should one park the car somewhere & take a rick to the Temple?

The Golden Temple in Amritsar is located in a very congested part of town, and access roads are narrow, crowded and congested. But all roads lead to the Temple. Follow the sign boards and you will be taken to a fantastic multi-storied car parking building. Park your car here and then walk to the Temple is hardly 10 minutes away. I guess old people will be exempted & allowed to drive closer to the Temple.


How did the spoilt dal makhani spoil the evening?

You may recall that the dal makhani or whatever we had at the otherwise-fabulous Kashmiri lunch in Jammu was spoilt and that hit Romin badly. He could not come to the temple, he was in acute suffering.


What was the hurry, I say? Why not stay over at Amritsar, what is this kolaveri to get to Delhi the same night?

The Golden Temple was very crowded. It took us almost 1 hour to enter the sanctum sanctorum & once inside, we also got a chance to see the religious ceremony of unveiling the Granth, spying down from the first storey!

The decision to leave Amristar a little after midnight on an all-night drive was a deliberate one, because I had to be back in Delhi the next evening for Lalu to catch his flight back to Bangalore & driving the NH1 by day – because of the road widening mess – was an impossible task. I also had a personal meeting in Sonipat and a meeting with friends scheduled later that evening in Noida, so the night drive to Deli was the best thing to do.


How bad was NH1?

Very bad. Boy, were we relieved that we were driving Jalandhar-Ludhiana-Ambala-Panipat-Sonipat-Delhi by night and not by day when all those narrow roads – thanks to innumerable flyovers under construction in towns and at busy crossings – and many rough sections. Thanks to the night drive, we reached Rai, short of Delhi is a little over 6 hours, what would have been an all-day ordeal had we taken a night break.


Why halt at Sonipat when Delhi was so near? And what is this visit to McD all about? And I never thought Sonipat is a sight-seeing place to go around in after such a wonderful drive to Kashmir & HP?

I had a personal meeting near Sonipat & the HR Tourism Ethnic India resort at Rai a little after Sonipat was a perfect fit for me. On the highway, a decent place, not cheap but quite reasonable considering that Delhi hotels would have been a rip-off. So Lalu & I hired a hotel room there, so that I could take a couple of hours nap before going ahead with the rest of the agenda for the day, while Romin & his wife decided to hitch hike their way to Delhi to stay with a cousin in South Delhi.


So how did the team disburse once it reached the NCR?

As originally planned, Lalu was to fly back to Bangalore from Delhi.
Romin had no concrete plans, but when he got tatkal train tickets back to South India, he decided to take a long-distance train journey back.
I was to return back to Bombay in my Scorpio alone.


What is the significance of this Mukkarba Chowk?


Very important intersection for those coming to Delhi north. This intersection is where you turn left towards the Ring Road to take you to Mathura Road (Nh2), with connections to NH24 (Moradabad-Nainital) and Nh58 (Hardwar). The road straight leads into Delhi and at Azadpur some 3 kms ahead, you can take the direct road to Dhaula Kuan/Airport and NH8 (Jaipur). Simple route to escape inner Delhi.


Looks like you did not have any problem navigating Delhi?

Delhi is an easy city to drive through thanks to the Ring Roads and the superb signages. I have full knowledge of these arterial Ring Roads, but nothing else inside the city itself. As long as you know where you have to go, you can navigate with the help of the large overhead sign boards. Those going to Jaipur side (NH8) have to simply follow the signboards for Dhaula Kuan/ Airport/ Gurgaon.


Meet in Delhi?

Yes, we members of the Face Book Group HV Kumar - Fan, Forum & Message Board decided to have an evening get-together at Noida, so that was my only business in Delhi before moving on..


After Delhi, what happened?

The entire North India grid collapsed, and they started pointing fingers at me.........
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Old 21st September 2012, 17:53   #527
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

JAMMU TO DELHI


Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-sonipat.jpg



The fine Kashmiri Wazhwan lunch sat lightly in our stomachs as we left Jammu, bidding goodbye to our friend Ajay who had helped us so much with the trip planning, logistics, car repair & to top it all hosting us this wonderful afternoon.
The sun was high in the sky, but it was pleasant weather nonetheless as we sped along the splendid Jammu-Pathankot NH1A which has been double-laned in the last 1-2 years.
Bridges after bridges of rivers flowing down from the Dhauladhars to the left, but empty since all their waters had been dammed & tapped before they left Indian soil.
Light traffic, a few stray cars returning to different places across India after the Amarnath yatra.
As usual, the Lakhanpur toll gate is messy, wit trucks teeming all over the place.
Refuelling in cheap Punjab.
Car water wash in Pathankot bypass, just to make sure the underbody is fine, no damages, etc, and also to evade the cops who would have noticed a dirty car immediately.
The traffic on NH15 from Pathankot to Amritsar is terrible – road widening, no bypasses, horrible traffic, chaotic road manners, level crossings......
...and a road journey of some 100-odd kms that should not take over 1.5 hours in any good highway takes over 2 hours, that too with some madcap driving style.
As I keep saying, avoid NH15 to Amritsar by day.
The team was in jovial spirits, as we sense a successful drive is coming to an end, with almost all mission objectives fulfilled.
Car parking problems around Golden Temple are a thing of the past, and we had no problems getting a slot nearby thanks to the fantastic multi-storied car parking built some 10 minute walk away from the Temple.
We could not visit Jallianwala Bagh which was already closed.
The Temple was unsuually crowded today – maybe because it was the weekend – and by the time we came out, but not before savouring the dinner at the langar, it was past midnight, and we immediately set off for Delhi.
Fantastic road to Jalandhar, the NH1, absolutely no traffic.
But the NH1 widening mess in both Jalandhar & Ludhiana meant that the entry/exit points to the bypass roads were also messed up and I had difficulty locating them, all signages have also been pulled out.
Lots of diversions, many flyovers under construction all the way to Panipat via Ambala.
The rest of the team was sleeping peacefully and i was influenced by that to take a short nap pulling over to the side of the highway after Ambala. It had indeed been a long day since we left Srinagar at 450 am the previous morning, and although we had not covered much distance – some 1000 odd kms – it had been through lots of exciting places like the Mughal Road.
I finally reached the HR Tourism Ethnic India Resort in Rai just after Sonipat, which is conveniently located on the highway itself (north direction though) and checked in for a couple of hours sleep (I did not succeed!).
After my personal meeting, which involved searching around Sonipat area for a good dhaba (and not finding one), we settled down for a modest meal at McDonald’s on NH1 itself.
We left Rai at 12 noon, I dropped off Lalu at Kalkaji & was at Noida by 330 pm.
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Old 21st September 2012, 18:07   #528
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

When driving through Ludhiana, it makes sense to go through the town as there is an excellent elevated road.
Its a straight road, just keep going, and you end up at NH1 without pain.
I would advise everyone to take the road through the city as opposed to the bypass, which is horrendous, esp Samrala chowk
https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...ra=ls&t=m&z=12
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Old 23rd September 2012, 08:52   #529
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

DELHI TO BOMBAY

July 30, 2012


Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-theasianage.jpg


COME BACK, COME BACK, the strains of the Titanic dialogue of Kate Winslett as Jack drowns in mid-sea....

That was my friend calling me at 715 am, as I had crossed Daruhera, 80 kms south west of Delhi, to tell me that the entire North India had suffered a grid collapse, Delhi was in chaos with traffic jams, Metro closure, houses without power.......and asking me why I had snatched away all the High Volt!!!

He said come back, you have taken the power away from us. Are you upset with us because the TN Express train caught fire?????

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-tr_train_updt_pritiphnr.jpg

So it was in this backdrop - after a late evening party at Noida that lasted till past mid night - that I left Delhi driving in my Scorpio alone back to Bombay...
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Old 23rd September 2012, 09:32   #530
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

DELHI TO BOMBAY: Getting out of Delhi

July 30, 2012


This was to be an unusual Delhi-Bombay drive.

I have always driven this sector in one sitting non-stop, but this time I had an extra day at my disposal and wanted to try a different route altogether. I am always game for new routes, and trying out different permutations & combinations, looking at ways to make the drive more interesting & also improve on optimising journey time & costs.

Starting off early from Delhi was the most important pre-requisite, and I was off from South Delhi at 610 am heading down NH8 towards Jaipur. At that time, there were no fights at the toll gates in the Gurgaon expressway, no jams in Manesar, the rough road sections were clear & I could keep a steady pace to reach Daruhera just before RJ border at 715 am, covering the first 80 kms.

Ever since the mess of widening of the Delhi-Jaipur highway began a couple of years ago, in the manner that water always finds the path of least resistance, intrepid folks have been working on re-routing out of the mess that is NH8 and what used to be a 2 hr 35 mts journey for my Matiz from Chandwaji (outskirts of Jaipur) in the good ol’ days, is now a journey too far – can be anywhere from 5 – 8 hours! People find it difficult now to believe that NH8 between Jaipur & Delhi was that good, they are numbed by the constant blocks in check posts & RJ/HR towns that do not have any bypasses.

Our friends had been working on this problem for some time & after lots of research & scientific reasoning, they had found that the Daruhera-Jaipur sector could be avoided by taking a detour through Alwar & Dausa. Longer of course, but better roads & stress-free driving thanks to low-density traffic. And that is what any long-distance motorist desires, a hassle-free drive which avoids high traffic corridors, bypasses small towns & villages & has decent facilities, even though distance is longer.

Delhi-Gurgaon-Manesar-Daruhera


At Daruhera, I turned off from NH8 into Bhiwadi, luckily there was no traffic pile-up at that junction......but things did not work out as smoothly as I thought it would, it was all about how I missed a turn..


P.S. Now that the ace lensman was getting up to another work-day at his home back in Bangalore, there will be no more photos, and those expecting a continuation of the Photologue will be disappointed, you will have to read drab text only!

Last edited by hvkumar : 23rd September 2012 at 09:36.
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Old 23rd September 2012, 09:47   #531
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hvkumar
I finally reached the HR Tourism Ethnic India Resort in Rai just after Sonipat, which is conveniently located on the highway itself (north direction though) and checked in for a couple of hours sleep (I did not succeed!).
After my personal meeting, which involved searching around Sonipat area for a good dhaba (and not finding one), we settled down for a modest meal at McDonald’s on NH1 itself.
There's a "rasoi dhaba" another 200 mts from the McD towards Delhi on the opposite side. They serve clean good and typical murthal style food. The food at Ethnic India is mediocre (service is bad) but the lemon chicken use to be good. (It's the only place on NH1 in sonipat that serve non_veg, other than McD)
Next time you visit sonipat please pm me and all will be arranged even at short notice.
I am at sonipat.
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Old 30th September 2012, 23:16   #532
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Fantastic travelogue.

Reading & watching patiently since the start, didn't comment just not to clutter the already acclaimed thread.

@HVK: just want to hear a final anecdotes about this driving holiday.
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Old 1st October 2012, 15:19   #533
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

HVK Sir, Dont leave us hanging by Delhi,

What next.. and ofcourse your closing remarks of this wonderful expedition.
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Old 1st October 2012, 22:54   #534
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

@OP: do you think is it possible to travel the same route you took in Chevrolet Cruze ? (GC=165MM)
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Old 1st October 2012, 23:14   #535
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Quote:
Originally Posted by MaverikMahesh View Post
Ok.

BTW, i did go in for Yoko C Drive 225/60/R15 for my Innova. Yet to go on a long drive to test them. Planning on a weekend trip to Ooty to try them out.
hi maverik

my innova has run 26000kms on stock tyres. which are the best tyres for innova from yoko stable. do you get geolanders for innova size.
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Old 4th October 2012, 12:02   #536
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Quote:
Originally Posted by asw View Post
@OP: do you think is it possible to travel the same route you took in Chevrolet Cruze ? (GC=165MM)
Very difficult. It is not the GC issue alone, it is the long wheelbase of the CRuze that will make it impossible for it to do some of the steeper sections and water crossings. IN some of the slopes, you have sharp rocks jutting out which you have to either climb over or deviate from in the limited space available. Assume an oncoming vehicle wants the right of way, you could be pushed to one corner of the bad road, he is not going to appreciate you saying your car cannot move further to the side or onto some muck to give him way - he will ask you, then why did you bring this kind of car here? In the water crossings, not only are there unseen boulders under the water surface but also the descent into & ascent from the water crossing itself can be very steep where you can hit your underbody & tyres struggle for traction in the loose soil.
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Old 5th October 2012, 11:52   #537
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

DELHI-DARUHERA-ALWAR-KOTA



610 am: Left Delhi Alaknanda

717 am: Turned off NH8 at Daruhera

720 am: Poor signages, cluttered road on turn off from NH8. Drove into Bhiwani town instead of taking a sharp left onto the bypass. Road was messy, lots of children going to school, unhelpful passerby. The road was totally broken till Khushkuhera and Tapukara. Must have lost at least 30 minutes till I rejoined the main Daruhera-Alwar road at 745 am after struggling for 18 kms on these narrow village roads.

745 am: The road to Alwar is a superb toll road. No traffic. Excellent tarmac. Combined toll ticket.

834 am: Alwar bypass. No clutter. 73 kms in 49 minutes, I guess that describes how good the road was

855 am: Burja Haveli hotel looks good for a stopover, the route otherwise has no decent facilities.

949 am: Sikandra. NH10 coming from Agra/Bharatpur going to Jaipur. What a superb road, 4 laned and super fast. Somewhere before Sikandra I have crossed the vicinity where the ghost city Bangarh is situated. 256 kms from Delhi in 219 minutes, not bad considering that I lost time at Bhiwani. I am debating whether the toll road S continues through Sikandra town and goes direct to Lalsot, but sign boards are of no help and I am unsure is the road is good or not. So I decided to try out NH10 till Dausa and then connect with Lalsot. Was I wrong here?

1008 am: Dausa. By this time, I had decided that I will not go onto Jaipur (just 45 kms away)& resume on NH8 – the conventional route – but decided to freak out by taking a different route back to Bombay. I was in my old mood to experiment with routes & discover new linkages, so I decided to go via Sawai Madhopur & Kota to Chittorgarh (which means no Jaipur). I SMSed deky whom I had promised to look up while crossing Jaipur!

1036 am: 13 kms in 28 minutes! What happened? The so-called Dausa bypass (starts after Dausa town on NH10) has prominent signages announcing Sawai & Kota, but once in, I find that there is a bridge under construction and all traffic is diverted through Dausa town. A few wrong turns here and there and I plunge into the very very messy 1-lane road Dausa town through bullocks, phut-phuts, lots of gentlemen in bright turbans, market places and so on, looking for the road to Lalsot. I am finally out of the town.

1117 am: Lalsot. Road was bad after leaving Dausa. I was sure now that I had missed the tolled Sikandra-Lalsot road by coming through Dausa. Lots of pot holes. Slow moving. But some 10 kms after town, roads improved and the rest of the journey to Lalsot was good. Nothing by way of facilities except the random petrol pump refuelling tractors. Lalsot town itself is non-decrepit. All roads through teh small towns are in miserable condition. After crossing town, proper signages started reappearing, indicating Kota. This is the Alwar-Lalsot-Sawai Madhopur-Kota-Shivpuri highway, a connect between NH8 and NH3. A great SH built and run by RJ Govt, probably as one of the major corridors between north & south RJ, similar to the Bhatinda Super highway between Hanumangarh & Kishnagarh.

1135 am: Tiger Treats Resort looks good. Did I stop over? No sir, I don’t stop over to eat when I am driving alone...

1222 pm: Sawai Madhopur, the land of Ranthambhore. Miserable roads through town, no signages, I overshot and found myself on the road to Ranthambhor (also the road to Gwalior), the low-lying hills looked very inviting. U-turned, found out that the Tonk Road also doubles up as the Kota road for a few kms. But why don’t they put up signboards. I hope a bypass is on the cards, although I saw no signs of any.

130 pm: Lakheri. Heard of this place on the ACC Balance Sheet over 2 decades ago, here is a big ACC cement plant, this is a factory township town.

237 pm: Kota. Join the Jaipur-Tonk-Kota highway, generally follow the trucks and you will get to the Chittorgarh highway. Absolutely no sign boards, can confuse anyone. Hotel Meenal looks good at the point where you turn left at the Tonk highway. Some nice-looking petrol pumps here too. I have driven 545 kms in 8 hrs 27 minutes, of which the last 200 kms was in just 3 hours, tells you how good this toll road was despite all the skirmishes I had inside Sawai Madhopur town. You can be easily misled to thinking that the Kota-Jhalawar route is best to Indore, but I knew how bad the condition of this highway was, so I steered away towards Chittorgarh even though I also had to go via the Indore region.

Long way to go.....
Had I come via Jaipur - assume 5 hours in today's driving conditions - maybe I would have crossed Kishangarh, so I don't think I saved any time taking this route, but it was a pleasure driving on 2-laned highways again, the superfast 4-laners have become to boring & monotonous.
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Old 5th October 2012, 16:28   #538
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

KOTA-SENDHWA



237 pm: Kota. Connecting with the East West Corridor (Silchar-Porbandar), the superfast 4-laned highway. You have no clear signages, you have to navigate through part of the city, shabby roads

442 pm: Outskirts of Chittorgarh. It drizzled some way out of Kota, but that did not slow down the Scorpio. The roads are terrific & empty, I covered the 160 kms from the Kota suburbs in just 1 hr 40 mts. The NH79 goes on to Udaipur, but I am bored of going on this route, so I have already decided to try the new route, the new 4-laner on the map, so I turn off at Chittorgarh towards Neemuch.

523 pm: Nimbahera. The first 20 kms out of Chittorgarh is hell. This being the trunk North-South traffic corridor, the roads are choked up with cross-country trucks on what is a 2-laned road till you reach the MP border. Lots of pot holes, it also started raining heavily for a few minutes. But from Nimbahera, the beautiful roads begin, so the first few kms of bad roads is bearable.

755 pm: Ratlam. Nimbahera, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Ratlam. Most haven’t heard of these towns before. Even if you travel on this SH, you may not hear of them – so good are the bypasses. The road itself is fast, smooth & a drivers’ dream. Do not look for any great facilities – this is a truckers’ highway, so you will find only petrol pumps and dhaabas. I did not see a single restaurant. Hardly any private cars. I am uneasy about driving through this night, since I have hardly slept the last two, am searching for something decent to stay on the highway itself, don’t find any.

908 pm: Lebad. This is where you intersect NH59 coming from Baroda to Indore. Also the place where you turn off to Indore, although the road ahead is terrible in some parts. But for me, I am not interested in Indore. The Lebad-Manpur expressway is inviting me to continue to Dhamnod south of Indore, bypassing the entire Indore region (including Mhow). I have by now done 1046 kms in 15 hours, not too bad for such varying road conditions & switches of highways.

1130 pm: Sendhwa. I reach here via Manpur (where you join NH3 coming from Agra/Indore) t continue on the 4-laned experience. This highway is now great to drive on south of Indore, but facilities continue to remain poor since it is patronised only by truckers. I go into Sendhwa town, search around for hotels, knock a few doors, before finding a seedy little hotel where I get a awful room for Rs 550-odd. And with the kitchen also closed, I went to bed immediately – that was one more day of fasting, I have not had anything all day except from the pantry on board – the usual biscuits, apples, chocolates & dry fruits.

Tomorrow is another day. This is the first time I am ever making a overnight halt in a Bombay-Delhi-Bombay drive. Sobered down, old age catching up????
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Old 5th October 2012, 17:24   #539
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

It is a pity that, HVKji, you haven't learned a trade or trick from laluks, yes Click, click it is. We are missing pics here.
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Old 5th October 2012, 17:54   #540
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Quote:
Originally Posted by hvkumar View Post
Tomorrow is another day. This is the first time I am ever making a overnight halt in a Bombay-Delhi-Bombay drive. Sobered down, old age catching up????
No Sir, its just that you got bored driving alone. I was not there with my arguments and silly fights over trivial photographic objects which you never allow me to click to charge you for a fight.

Let us plan our next stealth drive soon



Quote:
Originally Posted by rajeev k View Post
It is a pity that, HVKji, you haven't learned a trade or trick from laluks, yes Click, click it is. We are missing pics here.
Sirji, HVK can do that too. He has some amazing videos of all his drives with him, which he had taken with a handycam, before that conked off.
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