Team-BHP - Hawk-On-Fours® (H-4®) Roadtrip: Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur
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Hawk-On-Fours® (H-4®) roadtrips to new places have not been happening for a while. This was a short trip to get away from the daily routine, and have a relaxing time with family and friends. Both the places we visited have been described before on Team-BHP, and this travelogue will be more of a photologue.

Where
Kumbhalgarh...

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...the birth place of Rana Pratap...
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...and the Ranakpur Jain Temples

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When
22-25 December, 2012, with beautiful weather, no fog, wonderful roads, and fantastic company.

Who

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BHPian akp and his family joined us; in all, there were 4 cars (including H-4®'s twin), 4 families & 12 members
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What we did
Drove slowly, and stopped at beautiful locations...
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Watched the sun set...
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...and the moon rise...
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...stayed in a great hotel without TV or internet, with erratic mobile connectivity...
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...went on walks...

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...enjoyed the scenery of the Aravallis...
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...watched the flowers and the bees...
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...went boating...
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...ate, gorged...
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...even visited the queens' toilet (no, we didn't use it :D ), which is otherwise strictly off-limits for tourists...

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...and took loads of pics.
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I am planning to do this trip in Jan, would be driving down from Ahmedabad. Pls provide details on the road to take from Udaipur onwards to Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur.

Awesome teaser. i have been there twice, but have no pictures like these. The fort looks amazing. By the way, Did u stay at Aodhi?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADI_77 (Post 3001693)
I am planning to do this trip in Jan, would be driving down from Ahmedabad. Pls provide details on the road to take from Udaipur onwards to Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur.

@ADI_77: i've done this trip from Ahmedabad to Kumbhalgarh. You wont find the shortest route in google. When you reach udaipur from Ahmedabad, take the bypass towards Jaipur/Delhi. Then take NH27 towards Chittorgarh. After a while You have to take a left turn, also a bypass but 4 laned, for Jodhpur. Reach Gogunda and you will find a signboard for Kumbhalgarh, right turn below the flyover. From there onwards, its a single village road but light traffic. If you can contact me, i can help.

The journey
Convoy of 4 cars
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NH8 breakfast stop
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Truck art
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6-laner till Beawar, 75% complete, toll road but no toll being collected yet
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Undivided NH8, wider than before
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Traffic jam at Bhim
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Nostalgia - a hotel I stayed 1 night in, back in November 1994, when riding my scooter from Delhi to Ahmedabad
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More smooth roads
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Fuelling up
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Lovely lake to stop by
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Pointing to the moon
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Turn off NH8 towards Kumbhalgarh, at Gomti (we overshot the turn and came back)
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Narrow & bumpy, the rest of the way - hardly any traffic though
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Where we stayed

An 8-room hotel which was highly rated on TripAdvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Revi...Rajasthan.html), located about 12 km from the Kumbhalgarh Fort on the other side of the main town (Kelwara).

Coordinates 25.114889N, 73.534919E (http://goo.gl/maps/42wH3).

No internet, extremely erratic cellphone connectivity (Airtel works sometimes, MTNL does not!), their TV dish had been put out of action by monkeys, and the silence all around was remarkable.

Unlimited basic breakfast included in the tariff (toast with butter and jam, omelettes/boiled eggs, poha/upma, stuffed parathas, masala tea and coffee).

Absolutely loved it.

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Hated the spiral staircase to go up to the first floor, though
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Plenty of space for parking
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Dining room - the only place where one can catch the Airtel signal feebly
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Stairs going up
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There were plenty of custard apple (Hindi: sitaphal, Bengali: ata) trees in that region. Not a surprise to notice the fruits she is selling
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The room
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Balcony
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West facing balcony - relax and watch the sun go down
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At the breakfast table
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Blackie the pet dog - 9 years old
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With the hotel staff, on Christmas Day morning
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Quote:

Originally Posted by ADI_77 (Post 3001693)
Pls provide details on the road to take from Udaipur onwards to Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kopakabana (Post 3001784)
Reach Gogunda and you will find a signboard for Kumbhalgarh, right turn below the flyover. From there onwards, its a single village road but light traffic.

Approaching via Gogunda is best, as kopakabana says. http://goo.gl/maps/F1WYg

If you plan to go to Ranakpur first, then carry on towards the left at Sayra on this road - else, for going to Kumbhalgarh first, turn right at Sayra.

On the way back from Ranakpur to Kumbhalgarh, there is a shortcut (but somewhat steep and rough for a few km) road that gets you to Kumbhalgarh in 30 km or so. Look at this link (http://goo.gl/maps/zMg1H) where Google Maps shows the road as incomplete - it is now operational, and we have taken this route. Will post up the GPS track later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kopakabana (Post 3001697)
Awesome teaser. i have been there twice, but have no pictures like these. The fort looks amazing.

Thank you. More pics coming up.
Quote:

Originally Posted by kopakabana (Post 3001697)
By the way, Did u stay at Aodhi?

Aodhi is the closest to the fort, but it sure is expensive. Silent Valley costs 25% of that. One family in our group didn't get accommodation at SV, and put up at the Royal Kumbhalgarh Villas, which is almost twice as expensive as SV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller (Post 3001935)
Turn off NH8 towards Kumbhalgarh, at Gomti (we overshot the turn and came back)

The reason we overshot - while this signboard is perfectly placed, whoever was in charge of putting up the road signs decided to save some money and put signs for traffic coming from the other direction (i.e. from Beawar) on the backside of this same board!
Naturally when we did see the signboard, the turn off to Kumbhalgarh was already behind us; so we were thoroughly confused and marched on!!

Few more pictures during our onward drive:

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A beautiful lake by the side - even the electric wires and poles could not do much to spoil its beauty.
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SS-T in action:
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The next one is after we get off NH8 at Gomti.
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Boat ride on the Lakhela Talab (http://goo.gl/maps/02wlh) late in the morning
Which boat?
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All aboard, wear your supremely dirty life jackets please
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Fish below
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Engine room
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Captain
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Scenery floating past
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Watching us
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Honeymooners' Special
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Beggar attack
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Really nice photo presentation sirjee. 5*

How baby-safe is it? I didnt see much green area around the hotel-with Daksh we look for ample open area for him to run around, unimpeded by cars etc. Here it seems like we will need to be watching over him.

What an experience you all must have had !! Tem-BHPians with families in m-Hawks ..woh Beautiful pictures are those. I am yet to discover some North Indian states including Rajasthan. I wish to cover some of them in near future in my m-Hawk too.

Our Hotel building in the morning:

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A bit of empty space between the parking area and the lawn:
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From the parking towards the hotel gate:
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We went out for a walk. There is hardly anyone on the road, no vehicles, nice place to take a lazy stroll.
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At one point, we leave the road and climb a little..
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to get a better view of the surroundings. That's our hotel far on the right side; and the rest of our group waiting down there on the road.
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The hotel, slightly closer view.
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Back to the road again.
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Lot of these to be found in the area:
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During our boat ride:
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We missed the lake when we went to Kumbhalgarh! :mad:

Otherwise, great pics, triggers memories.

I presume you climbed those stairs to go to the room where Rana Pratap was born.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phamilyman (Post 3002238)
Really nice photo presentation sirjee. 5*

Thank you.
Quote:

Originally Posted by phamilyman (Post 3002238)
How baby-safe is it? I didnt see much green area around the hotel-with Daksh we look for ample open area for him to run around, unimpeded by cars etc. Here it seems like we will need to be watching over him.

Not perfectly baby-safe as in you don't need to keep an eye on him. There is a fair amount of open play area as you can see from the pics, but this is bordered by hedges and a sharp drop - after all, it is hilly terrain all right
Quote:

Originally Posted by akp (Post 3002301)
We went out for a walk. There is hardly anyone on the road, no vehicles, nice place to take a lazy stroll.

I missed out on posting photos of the walk, so here they come...

Somebody took a TD car on a holiday without registration plates
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The track from the hotel to the road
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Stretching legs, stretched pic
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Climbing up for the view
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Posing for pics
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CFL - Chatter, fun and laughter
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Another family out on another walk without choices or pleasure
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Overweight and looks yummy! Out for a walk too
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Quote:

Originally Posted by chinkara (Post 3002340)
...great pics, triggers memories.
I presume you climbed those stairs to go to the room where Rana Pratap was born.

Thank you. No, the access door to that room on top of the tower was locked.


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