[the.dogfather]

Contents:
Day 0-1 : Trivandrum-Bangalore-Hyderabad
Day 2-3: Vishakapatnam
Day 3-5: Vishakapatnam-Puri ( INR 10 Note )
Day 6-9: Kolkota-Siliguri-Kalimpong
Day 10-11: Darjeeling
Day 12-13: Siliguri - Varanasi
Day 14-15: Lucknow
Day 16-17: Delhi - Jaisalmer ( INR 500 Note)
Day 18: Jaiselmer-Longewala-Tanot
Day 19: Udaipur
Day 20: Rani Ki Vav-Vadodara ( INR 100 Note )
Day 21: Statue of Unity
Day 22-23: Sanchi ( INR 200 Note )
Day 24: Ellora ( INR 20 Note )
Day 25-26: Hampi ( INR 50 Note )

Prologue:
Feb -April 2021:

Ever since the lockdown started, I had not taken many leaves, and had been working day in and day out from my home.
It had been quite sometime since I had taken a vacation. I had been going through a burn out at work, and repeated leave requests would be cancelled due to some important release or deadlines.

Finally, I decided that I had enough and requested a mandatory leave for the month of April, to finally get a vacation. As I had a lot of leaves carried forward from the last year, the whole month of April was approved as a vacation for me.
After I got the approval, I had to plan what to do with the time. Had I been younger, this had never been a problem, as I would just pickup my bike and leave, without thinking about a destination, but this time, I had to do some planning to convince my wife to join me for a trip.

Unlike me, for whom a trip is only for the drive, my wife prefers the destinations. So, I had to bring up a plan which was interesting for her too. We had covered most places in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala during our long weekends in Bangalore, so this time it had to be something different.
My sister had done a road trip to Spiti valley and a lot of friends had driven to Leh, however, neither of these destinations felt special to me.
I was thinking of ideas, when I noticed a 10 rupee note on my table, which had the picture labelled Konark Sun Temple. That got me curious, and I started searching for the other notes. In my wallet I found a 500 note with Red Fort, a 50 rupee note with Hampi and a 100 rupee note with Rani Ki Vav. On searching further, I found that the 20 rupee note had Ellora and the 200 rupee note had Sanchi Stupa on it.

First time collected all the notes:


Just randomly placed these locations on the map and I found our trip. Other than Hampi, I had not visited any of the locations. We both got excited about the idea and thought of a trip in the month of April 2021. Idea was to start from Bangalore- Hampi – Ellora - Rani Ki Vav - Delhi– Agra - Sanchi -Puri and Bangalore.

Initially I planned it with the shortest possible route and came with this.
First basic draft of the places we needed to cover:


A total of around 6000 kms.

We had yet to plan the stopovers and places enroute, when we started getting the news of high number of Covid cases in Maharashtra. We though of skipping Ellora for the time being and continue with the trip, but news kept on getting worse, and we started getting bad news from our friend’s circles of friends who had lost close family. We decided to cancel the vacation plan for the time being. While my wife cancelled her leaves, I decided to just sit at home and relax, rather than going back to work.

Post the second wave, when things cooled down, I realized that I was not in a good state of mind to work. Even though I had taken leave from work, the overall situation outside did not help me in anyway to de-stress or unwind. I rejoined work in the first week of May, and but had no motivation to work at all. I tried my best to get work done, but I was failing miserably to concentrate. I struggled for sometime, and by the end of June, decided that I cannot do it any more.
I informed my manager and a few others in senior management spoke to me and they were very supportive of my decision. Having been through a similar situation, it was not very difficult for them to understand the reasoning. It was a very tough decision to leave the job, especially after working at the firm for more than 5 years, but I needed the time.

I was relieved from work in the month of August, and I started to relax. Things improved a lot for me in terms of my mental health, and I could think clear after a long time. In the month of September, I decided to go for the road trip again. However, this time my wife backed out due to work commitments, and I decided to do the road trip alone. Wife and Mom were not very happy with me going for a long trip alone, especially as I was still not in a very good state mentally.

Trip Planning
I contacted my friend, Joy, who I met in an automotive forum with the plan and he said he is interested to join. With that, we decided to go for a road trip. I had no strong plans yet, but all I knew was I need to get driving. However, as this time we were doing a very long trip, I decided to do some in depth planning.

The idea was to cover the places in the notes, but to be frank, none of them were very interesting for me. I decided that while we would cover the destinations on the note we would cover many more places and terrains en-route.
The following are the destinations on the note.
INR 10 - Konark Sun temple , Odisha
INR 20 - Ellora Caves, Maharashtra
INR 50 - Hampi , Karnataka
INR 100 - Rani Ki Vav - Gujarat
INR 200 - Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh
INR 500 - Red Ford, Delhi

One may be curious why we skipped the 2000 note. Well, the INR 2000 note has the picture of Mangal Yaan, and unfortunately, I only own a Toyota Corolla Altis and not SpaceX to do that yet.

While 4 of the destinations (Ellora, Hampi, Rani Ki Vav and Sanchi Stupa) are not too far away from each other, Konark Sun Temple, Puri and Red Fort in Delhi are little far away. As this trip had a North, East West and South element to it, I also decided to kind of do a Bharatmaala trip (Garland trip) and include the note destinations in it.

I have done a lot of long drives from Bangalore, like Trivandrum-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai/Pune, Bangalore-Hyderabad, so I knew that a 10-12 hour drive a day is doable for us. I usually start very early in the morning, so that I can finish the drive before sunset.

We had an option to either start with Hampi and go towards the north to east or start with Puri and return via west. We decided to go via East first as I was familiar with Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, so I felt that familiar places towards the end of the journey would be less stressful.

While covering the places on the notes was the agenda, I wanted the places to be more of a watermark giving a direction to our trip, rather than the primary motive. While I have visited a lot of places in India, in this trip, I wanted to cover many small cities and towns I had missed earlier. Considering we were going to the East and West part of the country, this gave the chance to cover all kinds of terrains too. Also, Joy suggested adding two car museums (Sudha Car Museum Hyderabad, and Vintage Car Museum Udaipur).

Based on that I drafted this plan:

23rd October, Saturday Day1- Blore - Hyd (577kms, 9.5 hours) Route (Start around 4 am - reach by afternoon and see Sudha car museum and char minar)
24th October, Sunday Day 2- Hyd - Vishakapatnam (621kms,11.5 hours) Route, reach and rest
25th October, Monday Day 3 Vishakapatnam
26th October, Tuesday Day 4 Vishakapatam-Puri (457kms,10 hours) - reach and rest
27th October, Wednesday Day 5 Puri
28th October, Thursday Day 6 Puri-Calcutta(497 kms,10.5 hours) (reach early to explore the city)
29th October, Friday Day 7 Calcutta
30th October, Saturday Day 8 Calcutta- Darjeeling(Route)(613kms, 15 hours)
31st October, Sunday Day 9 Darjeeling
1st November, Monday Day 10 Darjeeling-Peeling(Route)(71kms, 2 hours)
2nd November, Tuesday Day 11 Peeling-Siliguri(Route),(130kms, 4 hours)
3rd November, Wednesday, Day 12 Siliguri-Varanasi (Route),(696kms, 16 hours)
4th November, Thursday, Day 13 Varanasi
5th November, Friday Day 14 Varanasi- Lucknow (320kms, 6 hours) Reach by afternoon and explore the city
6th November, Saturday Day 15 Lucknow - Delhi (Agra- Taj enroute)(Route)(535kms,7.5 hours) Visit taj enroute, reach delhi by night
7th November, Sunday Day 16 Delhi
8th November, Monday Day 17 Delhi - Jodhpur (617Kms, 10.25 hours)(Route)
9th November, Tuesday Day 18 Jodhpur
10th November, Wednesday Day 19 Jodhpur-Mount abu ( 4 hours, 261 kms) (Route) Can reach early, before noon and see the town
11th November, Thursday Day 20 Mount Abu- Rani ki vav-Ahmedabad (6 hours, 273 kms) (Route)
12th November, Friday Day 21 Ahmedabad
13th November, Saturday Day 22 Ahmedabad- Bhopal (10.5 hours,587kms)(Route)
14th November, Sunday Day 23 Bhopal-Ellora (572kms, 11 hours) (Route)
15th November, Monday Day 24 Ellora
16th November, Tuesday Day 25 Ellora- Hampi (649kms, 12 hours)(Route)
17th November, Wednesday Day 26 Hampi
18th November Thursday Day 27 Hampi - Goa (362kms, 8.5 hours) (Route)
19th November, Friday Day 28 Goa
20th November, Saturday Day 29- Goa- Bangalore (628 kms, 12 hours) (Route)

As Google maps did not allow so many stops in one plan, I decided to draw the route on a physical map on my diary I was planning to maintain the trip details on.

Route Map:


With this in mind, we decided to pack for the trip As it was a trip through beaches, mountains, and deserts, we had to pack all kinds of clothes. In addition, got my car serviced, and got some extra tools like spanner sets, screw driver sets, jumper cable, puncture repair kit, extra wiper blades and 15 liter water keg and a whole lot of snacks.
In addition to this, a vacuum cleaner, tyre inflator, first aid kit, sun glasses, drive safe glasses are always kept in my car for journeys.

[the.dogfather]

Day 0:
Trivandrum - Bangalore
Joy lives in Trivandrum, and I live in Bangalore.
Our plan was that Joy would drive down to Bangalore a day before the trip, and park his car in my basement and we would leave from Bangalore in my car. However, the day before starting, I reminded him to recharge his fastag and we got the first speed breaker. As Joy lives in Trivandrum, and his car mostly runs inside Kerala, the fastag had not been used in a while. The airtel bank account linked with the fastag had become dormant due to non usage and on checking with airtel, they said it would take at least 48 hours to reactivate the account .
We have a lot of tolls between Trivandrum and Bangalore and paying double the toll everywhere was not a good idea. We decided to get the fastag issue sorted before coming. Instead of getting the airtel fastag fixed, Joy purchased to get a new fastag from a newly opened toll booth in Kovalam Trivandrum.
An IDFC fastag was immediately issued, and we tested it in the Kovalam toll. While there was an initial hiccup with the new tag, the operators managed to get the new tag active soon. For all this we had postponed the trip by a day. Joy started from Trivandrum on 22nd of October and reached Bangalore by evening.

Day 1:
Bangalore - Hyderabad
Joy reached my place by 6 am, and parked his Rio in my basement. We moved all his bags into my car, did a final check, reset the trip meter, set the map and started for Hyderabad by 6:30 AM.

Joy's Rio with 1.3 Multijet parked in my basement


We got some early morning traffic in Bangalore, however, once we reached the airport flyover , things were getting better. Being a Friday, the traffic density in the highway was better. The Bangalore-Hyderabad highway is a wonderful road to drive in. We stopped for breakfast near Chikballapur and then continued our drive. As the road was smooth and empty, we could use cruise control most of the time and we got excellent fuel efficiency of 15kmpl.
After having lunch at Pyramid Food court, we reached Sudha Car Museum by 4:30 PM. As the museum was on the way to our hotel, we decided to go to the museum first.

Sudha Car Museum:
Sudha Car Museum is a handmade wacky car museum made by Mr K. Sudhakar. Mr K Sudhakar holds a Guinness world record for making the largest tricycle and the museum has also featured in Ripley's believe it or not.

Mr Sudharkar has made cars modeled on every day objects like cricket bats, basketball, toilet, helmet, brinjal, lipstick, cake, camera and one recently based on the Corona virus too.
In addition to the wacky cars, there are also a few vintage cars which are kept in the vintage section, but the attention to detail given to them during restoration could have been better.

The Wacky cars

Maruti Omni converted as a camper

Wacky cars shaped like different sport balls

Camera Car :

Joy standing next to a huge model T:

The Coronavirus car:

Yours truly with one of the restored Wolseley, and the Sudha Car Museum brochure

Some Rajdoot Bobby bikes and WW2 bikes kept on display


All the wacky cars in the museum can be driven and there was a video shown of these cars been driven for a car show. Along with these, he has also made a few cars for Ramoji film city Hyderabad.

After spending around 2 hours at the museum, we went to our hotel. We had booked our stay at Taj Mahal Hotel, Abids , Hyderabad. While the route to the hotel was very crowded, the location being in Abids, helped us to find good eating places nearby. My friend who lives in Hyderabad also joined us for dinner and we had Biriyani at The Grand Hotel, Abids.

For a change, a poster promoting chicken instead of going vegan or vegetarian.

Who can miss a Hyderabadi biriyani when in Hyderabad? Well, my friend who recently turned vegetarian chose to have noodles instead

Post dinner and some irani chai, we decided to call it a day as we had to go to Vishakapatnam the next day.
We booked our hotel for the next two days in Vishakapatnam before sleeping, so that we have a destination to reach in Vishakapatnam.

[the.dogfather]

Day 2:
Hyderabad - Vishakhapatnam
We had planned for an early start, but the heavy dinner the day before and the second day of long drives for Joy, meant that we didn't start as early as planned. We started from Hyderabad at 8 am and stopped for fueling once we got outside the city.

Google map estimated a 12 hour drive for us to reach our hotel in Vizag.


We stopped at a Hotel Vivera ( Location ) on the way to Vijaywada for breakfast. While the food was average, the parking and washrooms were quite good. The breakfast and break took longer than expected and we continued our drive

Enjoying the south indian breakfast which we knew we would miss later.


Hotel Vivera has decent space outside for walks and kids to run around. The washrooms were clean too.


Post breakfast we headed towards Andhra Pradesh from Telangana.
All the roads in Telangana were quite good


With the great roads in Telengana, we felt less regretful about our long breakfast break and though that we will manage to reach Vizag in decent time.
However, we did not know what awaited us once we crossed to Andhra Pradesh. In AP, there was checking at the border, where they were stopping only AP registered cars. Our car being a KA vehicle was let through without checking.

There was a lot of road construction going on in AP, which slowed us down. However, while we were complaining about the road construction, the size of the newly constructed road was amazing. All roads were being made to 6 lanes. Once its complete, it would be quite fun to drive through. Google maps acted a little funny, and instead of taking us through a bypass decided to give us a Vijaywada darshan. We realized our mistake too late, but the traffic inside was not too bad. We crossed the city and reached the Vijayawada- Vizag highway. While driving through, I noticed a plane parked next to the road. This was in a service road, so I had to take a long U turn after a kms and a 3km detour later we reached the place.
The place was a decommissioned plane converted into a hotel.

Hotel Vimaan ( Location )




There was a 20 minute wait for having food at the restaurant and we were not very keen of having food inside a plane during covid times. We took a walk around, clicked a few pics and continued with our drive.

It was around 3p.m and we started to look out for a place for late lunch. We stopped at Hotel Crossroads (Locationhttps://goo.gl/maps/PTZZ7YjvnWabgiPp7) for a late lunch. The restaurant was quite clean, but service was slow.

Comic strip on table mat:


Food was tasty, but service could have been quicker


One thing we noticed about this hotel, was that there was close to a 50-50 percentage of male and female staff for the hotel. All roles like waiters, managers, cooks and cleaning were done by both male and female staff.
The service though slow, was quite good and they ensured that they would be at our table to serve whenever we needed a second helping.

Post lunch we were quite late for our schedule. The estimated ETA shown by maps was now 10:30 P.M.
We called up our hotel and informed them of our late arrival and continued our drive. We managed to reach our hotel by 9:30 P.M quite tired, and immediately checked in and ordered dinner.
The hotel ( Location )was right next to the RK beach and we got a sea facing room.
The beach road in front of the hotel was quite empty and beautiful at night, however we later came to know that there was a night curfew in place, which lead to that.


The service at the restaurant in the hotel was very bad, and options were quite limited. We had whatever was available and retired for the day. The room, was sea facing and had a good view, but that's where the good things about the room end. The fan was noisy, washroom's shower partition was broken, towels were not provided and we had to call up thrice for the same. As we were tired, we just decided to rest for the day.

Day 3:
Vishakapatnam aka Vizag:
While we both did not like the hotel much, we woke up to this view.


Due to the bad experience with dinner the previous day, we decided to head out for food. However, before we fed ourselves, we first needed to feed the car. To make it to the hotel on time, we had been doing a race with the distance to empty meter and the DTE was at 20kms when we reached the hotel. We fueled up the car with the most expensive fuel up in the trip. We fueled up 46.44l of petrol at 112.65 INR/l to a total expense of INR 5231.
Post fuel up we headed to the Submarine museum which was on the beach road not very far. However, we came to know that the museums are closed from 11:30pm to 2pm for lunch.
Took a few pictures near the I love Vizag sign outside the TU142 museum and started looking for places for lunch.

TU 142 Aircraft Museum:


Joy Loves Vizag:


We searched for places for lunch nearby. Joy had already started missing Kerala food, so we decided to look for a place which has good fish fry. We found a Hotel Godavari( Location ), close to the beach road and headed out there. The hotel was in a residential area and looked like a home converted into a restaurant. The food was great. We tried mutton biriyani, chicken pepper fry and prawns fry and all dishes were quite good. The biriyani was different from Hyderabadi biriyani and more similar to the Dindigul biriyani.


Post lunch, we still had some time, so went around driving to the port and around the city for sometime before getting back to the TU142 aircraft museum. We were the first few to reach the museum after the lunch break, and being a very sunny day, the place was not very crowded.

The TU142 Aircraft Museum
First view of the plane


The TU142 aircraft museum is a decommissioned Indian Navy aircraft IN312 which is a Tupolev 142 aircraft. The first part of the museum is indoor with the Flight data recorders, cockpit models, sono bouys, and different engine and flight components kept on display.
The massive engine:


FDR aka Blackbox :


Pilot Station:


Sonobuoy:


IN606 Mig Fighter plane at the Museum. Access to this was restricted though we could take pics from a distance.


Closer view of the TU142:


We were allowed to go inside the plane and walk through the fuselage, however photography was not allowed inside.

Joy posing with the TU142:


The massive tyres:


The landing gear:


The gunner's cabin , the one with the best view:


After the TU142 Aircraft museum, we went to the INS Kursura Submarine Museum ( Location )

INS Kursura Submarine Museum:
The submarine museum is right opposite to the TU142 aircraft museum. It is a decommissioned submarine which has been converted into a museum to give people an idea of life inside a submarine.


Inside the pathways are very narrow and you need to be careful not to hit your head anywhere.


Radio Operators room:


Sleeping arrangements:


Wash space:


Me posing with the submarine:


There is a souvenir shop along with the submarine museum and after shopping from there we left for Kailasagiri.

[the.dogfather]

Day 3 Contd.
Vishakapatnam

Kailasagiri

Kailasagiri is a hilltop park destination developed by VMRDA. There is a Shiva Parvathi statue on the hill top which is the primary attraction, along with a wax museum, amusement park, rope way, toy train, few view points, garden and food courts.
We can travel by car till the hill top or can park at the base and take a ropeway from there. We decided to try the ropeway/Cable car.

First view of Kailasagiri soon after beach road:


Cable car boarding point:


Beautiful view from the cable car boarding point:


View from Kailasagiri:


The toy train:

The toy train has AC and non AC coaches and takes you around the different attractions in Kailasagiri.

The Shiva Parvathi statue:


Almost real looking wax statue:


Art and amusement park:


We decided to head back to the hotel before sunset, and decided not to make the mistake of starting late again. We had dinner at a hotel nearby and prepared for a early start next morning. We booked our hotel in Puri via Oyo at Hotel Gangotri.

Day 4:
Vizag-Puri
We got up early and started from our hotel at 6:30 AM. The roads from Vishakapatnam to Puri were great. We stopped at a very small tiffin center for breakfast which saved us a lot of time and managed to reach our hotel in Puri by 2:15 PM.
Once we entered Orissa, there were some narrow roads, which were quite scenic. We could see ponds and fields on both sides of the roads, and overall the place was very beautiful. We also saw a lot of centers made for flood relocation.

Entering Puri- Truly an Iconic place


We had lunch and decided to head to the first "Noteworthy" destination - Konark Sun Temple.
Our hotel was close to Puri Jagannath temple and we could see the temple from the window. However, the Konark Sun Temple was 28kms away. We drove down to the temple and reached there around 4:30P.M.

First view of the majestic temple:


Statues at the entrance:



We hired a guide who told us the history of the place, and the relevance of the chakras.

One of the first chakras:


The chakra on the 10 rupee note:


In Puri we realized that we have reached the East when sun started setting soon after 5 P.M. By the time we saw the temple it had got quite dark.

Sun temple at night:



We headed back to the hotel by 6 PM but it had become quite dark. We had to drive through a few kms of forest reserve, and it was quite scary as it was pitch dark. We reached the main road and started looking for a petrol bunk to fuel up. Here in one of the bigger bunks the fuel attendant tried to cheat us with one of the oldest tricks in the books, by fueling for a small amount and then offering to fill up the full tank. Another guy was busy distracting me. He stopped at 200INR and I remembered the old scam from a decade back and thanked him and asked him not to fuel further. Paid him the amount in cash and left for another petrol bunk a few hunderd meters away. Here the attendant honestly filled up the full tank. We went back to the hotel and had dinner. The hotel being close to the temple and specifically for pilgrims was pure veg and did not use onion/garlic for cooking.

Thali at the Hotel Gangotri:

I had not searched a lot about things to do at Puri, but I had been posting my trip updates in my Whatsapp status. My friends saw the status and suggested me to check out Chilika lake and Jagannath Puri temple the next day.

Day 5
Puri
As we did not have a lot of things to do for the day, and having accomplished the first destination the day earlier, we had a slow start the next day. We got up, and left for the Puri Jagannath Temple. The temple was a few hundred meters away from our hotel and the road did not allow vehicular traffic, so we left the car at the hotel and went to see the temple. The temple was very crowded and we felt a little scared to get in during Covid times. My friends had recommended having the prasad (Dal) in the temple, but as we had a long journey to complete we decided to skip going inside and took a few pictures from outside the temple.

Puri Jagannath Temple


After the temple we headed for Chilika lake.

Chilika Lake
Chilika lake is the largest brackish water lagoon in the world. When we searched for the lake location on the map it was showing the middle of the lake. We found one shore, Satpada, which offered boating. While going to the lake we started seeing boards for dolphin tours en route. Being a fresh water body I did not expect it to have any dolphins and asked Joy to search what it is about. We were surprised to know that the lake is a habitat for Irradwaddy dolphins.

Irrawaddy Dolphin


We reached Satpada boat jetty and saw a Hotel Yatrinivas by Odisha tourism department near the jetty. We decided to have lunch there, and it was a great decision. The prices were quite low and the food was very tasty. The rohu fish fry was quite good and we went for two plates of the dish.

Food that bought back joy on Joy's face


Yatrinivas also had boating provided by them, and we went for that post lunch. However, we came to know that the only 8 seater boat (Smallest capacity) had just got booked.

Map of Chilika lake and the boat in charge of Yatrinivas explaining the tour options.


We were informed that there are two options, a hour long boat ride, or two hour long boat ride covering one islands , or a 5 hour long boat rides which covered multiple island and stopped at one of the islands for food.

As the boat at Yatrinivas was not available we went to the jetty were there was a counter for boat rides. The same plans were offered here too, but the prices were a little lesser. It was something similar to a prepaid taxi setup where you get a token and go to the boat jetty and one of the boatmen would take you for the ride.

Boat Jetty and a marine police boat:


The lake is almost endless like a sea:


We did manage to see a few dolphins but they were quite camera shy and too quick for us to take pics. Our boatman was not very happy as only 4 dolphins were sighted and said that usually there are far more sightings.
The dolphin watching went on for much longer than expected and it was 4:30 PM when we got back. By the time we reached back to our hotel it was dark again.
On the way back from Chilika lake we were stopped by the police. Later we read the board that they were tourist police. They stopped us and asked us if we took a boat ride. When we confirmed, they asked us which package we took, and how much we were charged for it. They were only checking if anyone is being overcharged for the boat rides. This was a great initiative by Odisha tourism.

Just before we entered the city, google maps suggest us a route that involved crossing a railway crossing. We took that route and the roads kept on getting narrower. For sometime there was only space for one two wheeler and our car. We kept on going as it showed the route was only 600mts long. However, in between a policeman stopped us and informed us that the road gets narrow going ahead and a car cannot pass. He asked us to take a U turn, which was quite a challenge to do in the narrow lane. We managed to take a U turn near a shop, after taking some 6-7 T turns. I was expecting a shouting or fine by the policeman but he informed me that he was notified about this from a police control room van which saw us turning into the road and sent to show us the right way. We headed back and noticed a few other cars trying to take the turn following maps, but by that time they had deployed a policeman at the turning to inform them that cars cant go in the street. We were quite pleasantly surprised with the gentle behavior and patience shown by Odisha police.

After dinner, I decided to take a walk around the hotel. The roads were quite nice and there was a lot of art work one on the walls by the Govt Arts college students. The buildings nearby were Sanskrit college and houses of senior govt officials. All the walls were beautifully painted with murals or 3D art work.

3D Street Art



Art work on the street walls:


Mural Art on the walls:


Some mythology:



After this we cleared our food bills at the hotel to avoid any delays in the morning and made plans to start for Kolkota the next day. We made our bookings via Oyo and called and confirmed with the hotel regarding parking availability.

Me writing down all the events of the day in my diary so that I can recollect them for this travelogue:

[the.dogfather]

Day 6
Puri-Kolkota
We made an early start from Puri at 6:30AM. We crossed Pipli and Cuttack and proceeded towards Kolkota. Once we crossed Cuttack, we noticed that there are a lot of puncture shops every hundred meters away. Something looked fishy and as expected , sometime later we had a flat tire. I heard a noise coming from the back tire while we were on a bridge, slowed down, got down the bridge and pulled over at the side of the road right in front of a puncture repair shop.

Went out and checked to find the rear right side (driver side) tire had a puncture and the tire was totally flat. We could see a big hole, which looked from a large sharp object, so it was clear that an inflator would not help much. It looked like it was a trap put by the puncture repair guys as we could see quite a few cars with punctures there. I decided not to encourage this kind of business, and decided to fit the spare myself. Thanks to Toyota to give a full size alloy wheel as a spare.

The big tear in the tire:


Fitting the spare wheel:


As I had enough experience changing tires, the tire change took hardly 10 minutes. The main task was to unload the bags into the backseat and putting them back, other than it, things went like clockwork.
As we also had a puncture repair kit in case of emergency and a tire inflator, I did not want to stop and get it repaired on the highway. I usually get a mushroom type patch done for punctures, but even after checking at many bigger shops, we found that the bigger shops only sell tires and do not do puncture repair. I decided to get it done in Kolkota as I was not very confident of the regular tubeless tire repair. We stopped at Hotel Orion, Bhadrak ( Location ) for brunch, however, the service was very slow. It took them almost 40 minutes for scrambled eggs and toast, in which they somehow managed to burn the scrambled eggs , and made us wait for another 20 minutes to replace it with omelette. That took away quite some time.

Once we entered West Bengal, the roads improved a bit and we saw quite a few industrial belts. All the fields in Orissa were replaced by big industrial belts. We managed to reach howrah bridge by 3:30pm and got the first rain shower in our trip. There was decent rain while we crossed howrah bridge and proceeded to Kolkota. We had put the hotel location in maps and kept following it. The last few hundred meters to the hotel was a very narrow road with cattle, cycle rickshaws, autos , all coming from both sides, almost scraping each other. I somehow managed to reach the hotel without any damage and Joy went in to ask for the parking spot. They informed us that they do not have parking and we would have to park on the already narrow street. While I was waiting there, I had to move the car twice so that cars could pass.
We argued that they had confirmed about the parking, after which the manager came with us and told that he will arrange something. He spoke to an apartment watchman next to the hotel and told him that he had an agreement with the apartment to use 2 parking spaces there. The apartment entrance and parking also were quite tight for the Altis but I somehow managed to squeeze in the car without hitting anything. As soon as I was done parking, Joy calls me asking me to take the car and come back. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and I flipped off asking what the heck is happening. It seems we had fed the wrong Oyo in our map and reached a different hotel . We had been deciding between two hotels till the last minute one as it had a better location, closer to park street and other had parking. We had fed the hotel with the better location, but our booking was in the other hotel. Again I struggled to get the Altis out of the tight spot and back the road, where there was another traffic jam to get out. From there we proceeded to the correct hotel some 20 mins away at Ballygunj ,Hotel 1 Lovelock (Location).

Here again, when we reached the hotel, we noticed that there is no parking inside. We were informed that the hotel has two reserved street parking spots and we can use those spots. The hotel had put their boards on the spots, and it was a much bigger road, so we agreed to park and continue with that. This was just the start of our bad experiences in the hotel. We checked in and went to our room and found the room no where close to the pics in Oyo. The paint was wearing off, commode was broken, almirah racks were dislodged, wooden floor had got dislodged and had gaps, draws won't close, central AC vent was hanging down on two screws. We contacted Oyo regarding this, and the customer care was quite helpful. They connected us back to the hotel management who claimed that we had come late (we had called and informed about our late check-in), so they gave the room to someone else and the room given to us was different. They assured to give us a better room the next day morning.
We went for dinner and looked around for bigger puncture repair shops, but every shop I called up said that they do not do mushroom type puncture repair. Finally I got the puncture fixed at a decent looking repair shop at a petrol bunk who did a normal puncture fix.

We had to walk a lot to find eating places and the restaurants near Punjab club seemed quite expensive.
Day 7
Kolkota
The next day, we decided to first visit Topsel Toyota in Kolkota, as our bumper had got slightly dislodged during the travel. I had got the foglamp replaced before the trip, which might have been the reason, but the left side of the bumper was coming loose. Topsel Toyota was a huge 7 storey building with lifts for cars to be taken to higher floors. The body shop service advisor was very helpful and managed to fix the bumper and return it in 2 hours time. He told us that the whole bumper actually needs replacement but his fix will be fine as long as the bumper does not get hit anywhere.
We came back, to park the car at the hotel and go for sigh seeing. Seeing the traffic in Kolkota I was in no mood to drive there and had decided to use Uber instead. When we came back to our hotel, we were informed that the two reserved parking spaces had been taken, but the watchman asked us to park at the next spot and said that he would take care of it. I repeatedly asked him if its okay and he assured me that it is fine. We parked the car and headed for park street, and had lunch at Hotel Mezban. We tried mutton chaap, naan and a few other chicken dishes. Though the quantity was not great, food was good.

Mutton chaap and stuffed kheema naan:


After lunch we headed to the Victoria Memorial hall.
We did not know what to expect at the Victoria memorial hall, but getting transported to London was no where near our expectations. The Victoria memorial is a beautiful compound reminding me of St Pauls Cathedral London. The architecture and the garden around it was surreal.

The Victoria Memorial:


The garden and pond by the memorial:


Side view:



We had taken the ticket for the garden and museum, but as we had limited time and we wanted to see Marble palace and take boating at Howrah bridge, we decided to skip going inside the memorial and headed towards Marble Palace.

Marble palace was one of the oldest standing buildings in Kolkota. It had a private zoo inside and a big garden. This was the reason it was recommended to us by a friend, however when we went there after a lot of searching , we found that the place has been shut down since two years. We saw it from outside but the security guard did not allow us to even take any pictures from outside. Dejected, we decided to go towards Howrah bridge and took a taxi.

We got into a Kolkota taxi (the yellow Ambassador) and it was a nerve-wracking experience. Even the earlier cabs that we had taken were quite rash drivers, driving very fast, not slowing down for anything till they are a few inches away from hitting and constantly honking but this guy was the next level. The horn never stopped, and he would either floor the accelerator or the brake. We travelled around half a kilometer when we got a call from our hotel, saying that we need to move the car, as someone from the neighbourhood is complaining. We asked the cab driver if he would change the destination to which he refused. We paid him INR 50 and got down and called an Uber to get back to the hotel. The Uber driver we finally got was the most decent cab driver we found in Kolkota, who drove calmly and got us to the hotel in a piece. It was already getting dark by now, and first thing I did was to move the car back to the hotel's parking spaces. It was too late to go to Howrah now, and we were quite overwhelmed by the taxis in Kolkota, so we decided to call it a day.
We had to fill up our water keg which was about to get over, so searched and found a store which had the 20l water cans. Got one, refilled 15 lts in our keg and rest in our water bottles.
We went for dinner and saw a few pandals from durga puja which had not been dismantled yet.

Durga Puja Pandals:




We had dinner at Cloud Tavern restaurant in Hotel Samilton (Location). The food was good but tad expensive. The waiter was disappointed to know that we had come only for food and not drinks. We were happy to come to a restaurant with outdoor seating and no other customers.

Fish and chips and Kheema pav at Cloud Taven:


Day 8
Kolkota-Siliguri
We had earlier planned to drive from Kolkota to Darjeeling, however, after reading about the route I came to know that Kolkota to Darjeeling would be quite a hectic drive. Instead we decided to drive from Kolkota to Siliguri. The rotue seemed to be quite complicated, with a lot of road construction going on. I found a youtube video by bhpian gmhossain in which he gave route updates and best route to take from Kolkota to Siliguri to avoid the road work. We followed his route to the T and reached Siliguri in 13 hours including food and fuel breaks.

One rare opportunity for me to enjoy the rear seat comfort of the Corolla. Unfortunately it did not last long , and I was back on the front passenger seat.


Raiganj Highway



We had a simple lunch at dhaba , Rupali Hotel ( Location )



The drive was good for most of the part other than a short 30km stretch of narrow roads where we were stopped by villagers for donation for temples and mosques. This was happening at a high frequency and we were giving 10 or 20 rupees everywhere, but after 5-6 times I politely told them that I have already paid a few times earlier and would like to move ahead now. After that most agreed and let me go without any "Vasooli". We entered Siliguri in peak traffic hours and it took us sometime to find the right places for U turns and get to our hotel.

Narrow but scenic roads towards Siliguri:



In Siliguri we had booked Hotel Tourist Inn (Location), which is quite close to Cosmos mall. This was one of the biggest rooms we had stayed till now, and the place was quite good. Other than the issue that they did not have a lift, the hotel was great. It was a sad that we were staying there only for a day.
Hotel Tourist Inn:



We parked the car and took a walk around Cosmos mall. There were a lot of street food places, and pubs in planet mall, but Joy wanted to try something familiar and we went to KFC at Cosmos mall. I got cursed by a lot of friends for having food at KFC instead of the local food.

KFC at Cosmos Mall, Siliguri. I couldn't hide my disappointment


We walked around a bit and had tea at Bong Barista, a small cute cafe near Planet Mall.

Bong Barista: Black coffee and Darjeeling tea:


As we could not make it to Darjeeling, we had decided to go to Pelling directly and from the come to Darjeeling on the way back. I got a contact for a hotel in Pelling , and called and made a booking. As there had been heavy rains and landslides a week back, I called to check the road conditions, to which he informed me that the roads have been opened up and a lot of customers have been coming.

We decided to leave for Pelling next morning. As Pelling was not too far, we decided to start by 8am.

Day 9
Siliguri -Pelling- Kalimpong

We started from Siliguri at 8am and fueled up. We went towards Sikkim and were driving parallel to Teesta River.

Teesta river:


We crossed Sikkim border at Melli:


At the border we were only asked if we were Indian citizen and let through.

As we went further, the road conditions started getting bad. It was not that the whole road was broken, but there were patches that were affected by landslides, which even though had been cleared, were still quite rough. We had managed some distance without getting any underbody hit, but we had to do some smart maneuvering to avoid the hits. As we went further roads got little worse, and all other cars in the route were SUVs or MUVs.
Worried that any damage at this part of the country would be quite a difficult thing to fix, as we did not see a single Toyota Corolla Altis after leaving Kolkota, we decided to head back only 30kms before Pelling.

Initially we made a plan to head to Darjeeling, however, we had seen a welcome to Kalimpong board just a little before the Sikkim border.

The sign that called us to Kalimpong:


On the go, we decided to head to Kalimpong, without having any idea about the place. I checked for a hotel online, but decided to go there and book directly in case we get offered better prices. The route to Kalimpong was great, with nice tarred roads, and hairpin bends.

View point on the way to Kalimpong:


We reached our hotel in Kalimpong at 1pm.
Hotel Summit Lillium, Kalimpong:


View from the restaurant at Summi Lillium:


On checking about the room, we found that online prices were better. We booked the room and headed to a nearby garden while the room was being cleaned and sanitized.

Pine view garden, Kalimpong:
Pineview garden is a big garden specializing on various cactus varieties.

Watermelon sized cactii.



Statue of the founder:


There was a small canteen in the garden where we tried Wai Wai noodles for the first time:


Joy was quite tired by now and it was getting cold in Kalimpong, so I decided to go out for a walk myself to explore the town. While I love driving on highways, to see a destination, I prefer walking to see and get the vibe of the place. You see a lot more when you aren't looking for a parking spot or worrying about traffic.

Some pics clicked during the walk:
Kids playing WB's fav game:


Street food:


Funny sign at the petrol bunk:


It got dark quite early, and the lights started turning on:


We had dinner at the restaurant and decided to explore the town and head for Darjeeling the next day.

[the.dogfather]

Day 10
Kalimpong - Darjeeling
We decided to leave from Kalimpong and head to Darjeeling to continue with the rest of our plan.

One of the main challenges we faced in Darjeeling was to find a budget hotel with parking. Most hotels in Darjeeling do not have parking and the ones that do have are either too expensive or are far from the town. As the taxi charges inside Darjeeling are quite high, staying far from the town and commuting did not sound like a great idea.
We finally found an Oyo room, which claimed to have a parking too. Verified the same with reviews and by calling the hotel and then we left from Kalimpong.
We had not done much sightseeing in Kalimpong yet, so we decided to have a short drive around the town before we leave.

Google maps had been acting strange and showed us roads that did not exist at all, and after searching a lot we gave up on Tinchuley Monastery and decided to head towards Durpin Monastery. The receptionist at our hotel had informed us that all the Moneasterys are closed since lockdown and we would only be able to see them from outside.

Durpin Monastery is adjoining the army cantonment in Kalimpong. We had got confused about the route once we entered the camp, but one of the soldiers stopped us and asked us where we are going. He was from Karnataka and quite amused to see a KA registered car in Kalimpong. He asked us about our trip and then guided us towards the route to Durpin Monastery.

The monastery was closed as expected, but was quite beautiful and had a nice view.

Durpin Monastery, Kalimpong:



Beautifully maintained army cantonment:


Wise decision not getting my car washed here:


From Kalimpong, we headed towards Darjeeling. Darjeeling was quite a short distance but took around 2 hours due to the twisty and turning roads. As we climbed up we could see the outside temperature fall by a degree at every other kilometer. The roads were narrow but in excelled condition.

Roads to Darjeeling:


Afternoon temperature at 12 degrees, fuel efficiency came down as we went up the hills:


Interesting use of the now defunct toy train track from Darjeeling to Siliguri:


We had booked our stay at Hotel Kerria Retreat (Location), at Nimki Dara, mainly for the parking. When we reached there, we realized that while they had a parking, it was quite a steep slope to get inside the parking. The shutter was initially closed, and while Joy went inside and asked them to open the parking for us, I came back to find the slope to high for us. The Corolla tried its best by informing us that its too high, by wheel spinning a lot, but as we were causing a traffic block at the NH, I tried my best and got the car in. The bumper hit the floor and so did the underbody. The only thing the SA at Kolkota had asked us not to do had happened, and the bumper got slightly dislodged again.

As soon as I parked the car, the hotel owner came out and told us that there had been a misunderstanding. The parking where I had parked was for two wheelers and not for cars, and asked me to move to another lot nearby, which was also a car wash center, and had a better entrance .

I was already irritated about the damage to the car and there were no guests with two wheelers anyway, so instead of causing any more traffic jams, and causing further damage to my car, I requested him to let me park the car at the same spot. They also charged 300 extra for parking which was not mentioned in Oyo's policy.

We checked in, changed and started to leave for the town, when we noticed that there is no key in the room. When we checked at the reception, he told me that previous customer went away with the key, which they are trying to replace, but I can leave my luggage as there was a CCTV. I insisted on locking my luggage, and asked him to move us to another room if he can not provide the keys. Temporarily our luggage was moved to another room, and he assured us that our room key will be collected when we come back in the evening. We had a room with a valley view, as compared to the inside room where the luggage was kept, so we were keen to go to the original room.

Hotel Kerria Retreat (Parking was the only good thing, which we unfortunately messed up due to the misunderstanding):


View from the room:


There were Tata Sumos taking people to the Mall market, so we got in one of those. We were charged INR 15 per person in the shared Sumo.
There was a major traffic jam just before the Mall, so the last kilometer was similar to Bangalore traffic where we were mostly stationary, and moving a few hindered meters every few minutes. After some time, most people started getting out saying it wont go further, and as I saw that the mall was only 600 mts away, we decided to get down too.

The mall market is a big flea market near Darjeeling mall, selling warm cloths, souvenirs, jewelry, and kid's toys. We found that while its a flea market, the prices were all fixed and decided by the shops and there was no change for any bargaining. We got a few souvenirs and proceeded to the Mall Square.
The mall square was quite beautiful.

The I love Darjeeling sign at the mall:


The mall square was quite clean and had a big screen playing music by local bands. There were many tea sellers on the side and the place had a nice vibe.

The mall square:


We spent some time at the square, and went for some tea shopping. While the prices were no where low, there was a huge variety of tea on offer. There was also a lot of street food on offer like friend chicken, noodles, and Momos.
We had been told to try Keventer's and their chicken platter, however they had just closed for the day by the time we got there.

We found a small Nepali hotel, Mohan's Eateries ( Location ) just outside the mall, and just went in to try it. It is a small restaurant with one table and bench like setup inside. It can seat only 8-10 people and would require people to get up and make way for others to get out and in as the bench was a continuous long one, all around the shop.
The owner was a rock music fan, and there was awesome music being played. Despite its size , it was quite a hep place. There were lot of old audio cassettes, LP records and blue lights, and the music gave quite a nice feel. We tried a few nepali (Sukuti and Pork fry) dishes and loved the food.

The menu and the TV playing rock music:


Audio Cassettes and Records at the restaurant:


After food we came to know that the shared taxi service that we had used earlier is not available anymore. We tried to find another taxi to go home, and all taxi drivers were quoting INR 300 for a distance of 2.4kms. We tried going to a few different stands and they were all giving the same quotation. It looks like all prices are fixed in Darjeeling, be it taxi fares or flea markets.
We took a taxi to go back, and I asked him about the other things to see. He offered to take us to Tiger hills to see sunrise if we are ready to wake up early for it. We did not have much planned for the next day, so decided to go for it. Before sleeping, Joy checked the weather at Tiger hills and saw a prediction of 4-6 degrees in the morning. He backed out and asked me to go ahead.

Day 11
Darjeeling-Siliguri
I woke up by 4:15 am to get ready for Tiger hills. The taxi driver called me by 4:25 to confirm if I am awake. I quickly got ready only to see that the hotel gate is locked. I tried to find the hotel staff, but I could not find anyone at reception or at the kitchen area. We tried calling the numbers for 5-10 minutes but the calls were not answered. I was determined to see the sunrise at Tiger hills, so decided to jump the gate. The incident reminded me of my college days. The driver was quite surprised to see a fat guy like me jumping a gate. We started from the hotel at around 4:40 am and left for Tiger hill. Joy called me 10 minutes later saying that the caretaker had called him and was surprised that I managed to jump the gate.

The sunrise at Tiger hill is a must see thing if you are visiting Darjeeling. It has a beautiful view of Kanchanjunga peaks and we can see the snow covered peak change colours as sun rays fall on it. There is a viewing gallery made to view the sunrise, and there are also many guys with telescopes for rent so that you can get a better view of the Kanchanjunga range.
From the viewing gallery we can see Kanchanjunga to our left and sun rising to the right. As time passes , we can see the range clearer and its a mesmerizing view. I did not have any high zoom cameras but still managed to get a few pics with my simple phone.

Kanchanjunga from Tiger hills:


Sunrise on the other side:


Panorama shot:


Post sunrise I noticed the other side of the hill, and how beautiful it looked :


Parting shot of the hills:


Time flew at the hill, and I didn't realize that it was almost 6:15am. I got back to the taxi. One of the coffee sellers requested us to drop her in the town. We had a good conversation on the way back about the effect of covid on tourism and also had some nice sweet coffee while we were stuck in traffic to get out.
It was a good decision not to use my car inside Darjeeling. There are always traffic jams and finding parking is a major pain. One would spend more time in traffic and finding parking than actually seeing the place.
Got back to the hotel and had a short nap, before getting ready to leave. We initially had plan to see the Peace Pagoda, which was a functional monastery, but Joy was not very comfortable with the cold temperature, so we decided to head to Siliguri. While taking the car out we did place a block under the front wheel but before the wheel could climb on the block, the mid underbody hit the floor. However, the block helped further damage to the front bumper. The taxi driver had suggested me to take a route via Kurseong and Rohini, which turned out to be a great road. The paddle shifters in the Corolla were quite useful while going downhill, as I rarely needed to use the brakes.

Sumos and Vans form most of the traffic in Darjeeling. I do not remember seeing any sedan during my stay.




Our initial plan was to stay in Siliguri for the night and start for Varanasi the next day so that we would be in Varanasi for Diwali. However, when I called up from friend who is from Varanasi, he informed me that the Diwali celebrations I had seen in Kashi were not during the Diwali day, but on Dev Dipawali which falls on 18th November. This was a big shocker for us, as the only date we had made not flexible for our trip was for Diwali in Varanasi. There was another option to go to Ayodhya where there was a big celebration planned, but we did not want to go to a crowded place and decided to stick with our plan of going to Varanasi, but instead of travelling on the day before diwali, we decided to travel on Diwali day, expecting lesser traffic in the route. Siliguri-Varanasi was one of the longer drives that we had planned, and doing that on Diwali day made mode sense for us.
So we decided to stay in Siliguri for one more day and booked a hotel close to Cosmos mall.

We reached Siliguri by lunch time, and checked in to Mount Amara Hotel and Spa ( Link ). The hotel is behind Planet mall, but there is a 400mts walk, which I think might be the reason for its low popularity. For an extra 200mts distance from the malls, the rates in this hotel was half of that of Tourist Inn we stayed in our earlier visit. There is ample parking and rooms are good, but the common area was not quite clean. The food in the hotel's restaurant was very expensive, so we decided to head out for lunch.

Planet Mall, has quite a few restaurants and pubs.
There was decoration for diwali too.

We had lunch at Munchn Crunch restaurant in Planet mall.
The food was quite good and not too expensive for mall standards.


As we did not have much planned in Siliguri, and we had been driving for around 12 days now, we decided to check for options for laundry. We searched for a few options, from google maps, but most of the locations pointed were incorrect. We did find a few laundry shops, but they all were asking a minimum of 3 days turn around time. As we had clothes for a few more days, we decided to do it later in the trip.

[the.dogfather]

Day 12
Siliguri
We had not planned to stay for a day in Siliguri, and being a big city, we did not have an ideal what to look for. We started the day by going to Salugara Monastery. As we were planning to explore the city, I had decided to give the car some rest and use Uber instead. We had breakfast at a small tea house on the roadside. Post breakfast, I requested an Uber. Being opposite to Cosmos mall, we were assigned one quickly but the driver called us and demanded for INR 50 extra as fuel prices had gone up. I requested him to cancel it, which he refused. I cancelled the ride and informed the issue , and requested for a cab again. However, on repeated attempts I was getting connected to the same driver. So I gave up, and took an autorickshaw instead. The auto also did not come by meter, but I agreed for the same cost as the one mentioned on Uber for the cab.

As expected, The Tashi Gomang Stupa was closed, but we did see it from outside.
We took a few pictures from outside and headed to Hongkong Market.

The great international Tashi Gomang Stupa



In Siliguri we had started noticing a lot of e-Rickshaws. As we had never been in one yet, we decided to take an e-Rickshaw to Hongkong market.
The e-Rickshaw was quite new (less than 1k on odo), but still not quite comfortable. The seats were quite small and the suspension was stiff. It may have been as we were only two passengers.

E-rickshaw:


The e-rickshaw had to take a longer route, as they are not allowed to ply on the highways. The e-rickshaw was a little cheaper than the petrol ones we had hired earlier. Usually e-rickshaws operate as share autos but you can also hire them individually.

Hongkong market ( Location ) is a popular flea market in Siliguri. I would say that they sell anything and everything in this market. You can find souvenirs, winter clothes, trendy clothes, electronics, toys, even vegetables, and fruits in different parts of the markets. We did some shopping at the market, but it was more amusing to see the variety of items available.

We came back to Planet mall for lunch. As we had tried and loved Nepali food in Darjeeling, we decided to have lunch at a Nepali restaurant in the mall. Hotel Khatmandu Anubhuti in Planet mall lived up and above your expectations.

Khatmandu Anubhuti:
Smoking booth:


Message inside the booth:


Most restaurants in Siliguri had their own unique themes. This one had a British/European theme.


The food was great, after lunch we drove to go to Banglabandha Zero Point.

Banglabandha Zero Point(Location).

Banglabandha Zero Point is a border point of the West bengal-Bangladesh border. It has a lot of significance for trade, as this enables transit for trade between India, Bangladesh and Nepal. We had seen a lot of vehicles with red coloured BP number plates, which were from Bangadesh. A border gate opening ceremony similar to the ones at Attari/Wagah border is done at Banglabandha border too.


We decided to come to the border to see the ceremony.
The roads were nice, and while coming closer to the border, we saw a huge lineup of trucks on the road. The car going ahead of me, took the wrong side and started driving from the right side of the divider, but I followed google maps and continued to go between the line of trucks. There was a truck ahead of me and it was slowing down. After a few hundred meters the truck stopped. We got out and checked to find that there were two trucks who had stopped in the middle of the road. Expecting things to clear soon, and to make sure the ceremony is not missed, I asked Joy to go to the border, while I waited for the trucks to move.
Joy went ahead, while I sat in the car watching some travel videos by a popular Malayali auto journalist who had been vlogging his trip to Gangtok and Darjeeling. Joy came back in 30 minutes to break the bad news.

The BSF commander in charge, was held up in a high level meeting. Due to this the gate opening ceremony was cancelled. Also, most of the pictures we had seen were from the other side of the border. From India, it was a simple gate which was opened during the ceremony.



Asian Highway 2 to Bangladesh:


As the BSF commander was not available, the trucks will be stuck till he signs the permits. That meant that we could not move either as we were stuck between lines of trucks.
I walked ahead to speak with the soldiers to understand if we have an estimated time, while Joy discussed things with the truck drivers.

We came to know that the meeting is still on, and the wait might go on for another couple of hours. It was already close to 5.P.M and it starts getting dark by 5:30.P.M in Siliguri. Joy had spoken with the truck drivers, and convinced a few to help us get out of the jam. There were three trucks ahead of me in my lane before the gap in divider, and there were trucks lined up on the left and right lane. Unfortunately the truck driver whose truck was on the front was not available. The other two truck drivers moved their trucks quite close and the one on my left side reversed a little.

Stuck between trucks:


This gave just enough gap for me to get the Altis out of the road onto the left side. The left side was a little rough and I did hit the underbody while trying to move ahead to cross the three trucks and reach the gap in the divider. We thanked the truck drivers and drove back. We got back to our hotel at 6:30PM and freshened up and went for an early dinner. We dined again at MunchNCrunch once again, as most shops had started shutting down for Diwali. I confirmed the route for the next day in the HVK Bangalore Whatsapp group, and we decided to start early to avoid driving at night.

Day 13
Siliguri-Varanasi
Till now Siliguri-Varanasi was one of the longest drives we had planned. The distance was 705kms and estimated for around 15 hours. The route was mostly via Bihar (Siliguri-Islampur-Araria-Forbesganj-Darbhanga-Chapra-Chandrauli-Varanasi). Google maps also showed some flood warnings, but I called up my friend who lives near Patna and he confirmed that there was no flooding at the moment. In the group, and also my friends in Bihar had told me to cover the Dharbhanga-Chandrauli stretch before dark.

We started from Siliguri at around 5am and it was quite dark.


Post sunrise, at around 5:30AM, we had entered Bihar and though it was a 2 lane road, it was very well laid. There was quite a lot of fog in the morning.


It was Diwali day, and we did not find much truck or car traffic in the morning.

We stopped at BP Petrol bunk (Location ) for fuel at around 8:30 and had breakfast at an adjoining Dhabha. The prices for fuel had just been reduced after the central government tax reduction, so it was nice to see a little lower fuel prices for a change. The petrol pumpand the dhabha were quite good. Washrooms in the petrol pump were clean too. We continued towards Forbesganj from there and the roads were quite empty due to Diwali. Most of the cars on the roads other than ours were new cars with ribbon tied, guessing purchased for Diwali. We found a lot of white Scorpios, with a speaker fitted on them, which we guessed mostly belong to politicians.
Around 11:00AM we started seeing some traffic and people crowding in market areas, however, they were very few situations where there was a blockage. We managed to enter Varanasi district around 3.PM and stopped for fuel at another BP fuel station. It also had a dhabha advertised but we found that the Dhabha had shut down. We decided to instead proceed to our hotel, and have a late lunch there. Fuel prices in UP were still lower, and we managed to fuel for less than INR 100 for the first time in the trip.
We reached Hotel Varanasi Inn ( Location ) at 3:30.P.M. The staff was very helpful, who came to the basement to help us with parking the car, and move our luggage to the room. At the reception, we spoke at the travel desk, who told us that we can see the Ganga arti in the evening near Kashi. We went to the room and ordered lunch. The service at Hotel Varanasi inn was exceptionally good. The staff was very helpful, and our washroom door which had an issue with the door getting locked from outside, was fixed in less then 5 minutes of calling the reception.
As it was diwali day, the usual e-rickshaw person who the hotel calls was not available, but one of the hotel staff came outside with us and negotiated and told another e-rickshaw driver where to take us.

As the main diwali celebration was happening in Ayodhya, Varanasi was less crowded in comparison.We reached Dashashwamedh ghat ( Gadowlia) by 5:30P.M. The road to the ghat was quite clean and there were a lot of eateries en-route.

Streets near the ghats:


I love Banaras logo at one of the hotels:


For watching Ganga arti, there are multiple options.

1. Alaknanda Cruise (Booking link) AC Cruise with commentary and all ghats tour
2. Boat Cruise - Hire a boat from the ghats which will take you around to different ghats after showing the arti
3. Watching from the shore - The Arti happens at the shore so it can be seen from the shore if you come early and get a good place to see.
4. Watching from bigger boats docked on the shore - The bigger boats give tickets so that you can get on the deck and watch the arti. From the deck you get a clear view of the arti.

We were recommended by our friend to take the Alaknanda cruise, but the cruise was fully booked a few days in advance. We were not planning to take the boat ride to the ghats, so we decided to watch it from one of the stationary boats parked. There were chairs placed on the deck for this and we got a good view of the Arti though we were not very close.

The arti began at 6:30PM.


The arti is well synchronized and the commentator explains each step of the arti


Diyas been floated into the river:


The Ganga arti is around 25 minutes long.

Art on the tanks on the ghat:


After the Ganga arti, we felt that might be missing out if we don't take a boat tour at Banaras. We spoke with a boatman and negotiated a bit as the arti was over and he agreed to take us for a tour around the ghats for 1200, as compared to 1800 usual cost.

Boat tour:


Passing Brijrama palace hotel:


Ganga Mahal ghat:


Lalita ghat:


Diwali Celebration looked beautiful from the boat:


Each of the ghats were made by different kings/rules in India or neighboring countries.

It was surreal to see diwali celebrations happening on one ghat and funeral pyres burning in the next ghats.

We tried the street food on the way back:


Diyas on the street towards Dashashwamedh ghats:


Kashi temple was quite crowded for Darsan, so we skipped it and headed back to the hotel.

[the.dogfather]

Day 14
Varanasi-Lucknow
The day after diwali is taken as a day for resting. Most shops and offices stay closed on this day. We also decided to take it little slow, and had a relatively late start. We had breakfast from the restaurant in our hotel at around 10am and then headed for Lucknow.

Breakfast at Hotel Varanasi Inn:


The expected drive time was shown as 6 hours, and being a holiday, we were not in much of a hurry.


The roads were wide from Varanasi to Lucknow, but due to ongoing road works, there were some diversion. The highway was more or less empty after diwali, and the drive reminded me of the empty roads during lockdown days.

Almost empty city roads in Varanasi,the day after diwali:


Deserted Varanasi-Lucknow highway


We stopped at a railway crossing en-route and it was amusing to see the circus to cross the closed railway crossing. This guy did not even stop his important phone conversation while doing this stunt.


We reached Lucknow at around 3:30 PM. We had not made a hotel booking, so first started to finalize which area to search for. We decided to stay near Hazratganj and looked for nearby hotels.

We saw a few hotels online, which advertised parking, but when we went to the hotel, we saw that they did not have parking in the premises but rather cars were parked on the road. We drove around and found one hotel Gomti very close to where we were parked. The hotel looked nice from the outside and had a good parking space.

It was a UP tourism department hotel, Hotel Gomti ( Location) and we went there without a booking, to see if we can get better prices than online ones. Being a day after diwali, we did not expect the hotel to have guests, but here we reached the reception to find no staff. We looked around and found one person who went to fetch the receptionist. The receptionist was no where to be found, so another person came to attend us. We asked for room rates, and the rate quoted was much higher than online price. I told him the online price we are getting, and asked if he could match it. He told me he does not have much idea about the check in procedure, but we can book the room online if we are finding better prices. After the booking, and filling our details to their register, the receptionist came. He took a copy of our ID cards and then showed us our room.

The room was huge, but looked very old. The wiring was old casing caping type wiring and we could see an old Usha fan from the 1950s. Some of the switches were also from the olden times, though many others had been changed over time.
The key had a heavy brass keychain, which had survived through decades.
We asked for tea, and while serving tea, the staff requested us not to order dinner from the hotel as they were understaffed, but rather go out and have as there are quite a few options outside. We went out to Hazratganj and loved the place. The market is beautiful and reminds me of many old markets like Pune's MG Road. Many of the shops were yet to open, but life had started to resume in the evening.

Hazrat Ganj market area:


St Joseph's Cathedral, Hazrat Ganj:


Diwali decoration around Hazrat ganj metro station:


We found a lot of nice eateries, but as we had limited time to spend in Lucknow, we wanted to try something which would not be available elsewhere. Most places in Hazrat ganj were pizza / pasta places or ice cream joints or the regular chains like Subway/McDonald's etc.
We looked for the nearest Tunday Kababi, but found that its around 3kms away, and not close to the metro route. We walked back to the hotel, got the car and headed for Tunday Kababi.

Tunday Kababi


We tried the tunday kababs available with different meat options. The kababs were super soft, almost like a paste, but tasted good. I would not call it exceptionally good, but still worth a try. The other dishes in the restaurant were better in my opinion.

Tunday Kababs:


We reached the hotel back at around 7:30 PM and went for a short walk towards Sardar Patel park. We could see the clock tower for a distance and wanted to have a better view of it.

Clock tower:


Gandhi statue at the park:


Sardar Patel Statue:


Suzuki Gixxer SF250 used by UP Police:


There were a few more places to see in Lucknow, but as we did not have much time there, we decided to call it a day.

Day 15
Lucknow-Delhi

We had planned to stop at Agra while driving from Lucknow to Delhi under the assumption that one of us has not been to Agra. Upon discussing the schedule for the day, we realized that we both had been to Agra and were not very keen on visiting again. We decided to cancel the Agra plan and drive directly from Lucknow to Delhi.
As the whole stretch is an expressway, we decided to have a good night's sleep, as driving in the expressway is usually quite boring for me.
We got ready and started to leave from the hotel around 9. AM. While checking out the receptionist asked us about our plans ahead. When we informed that we would be going to Delhi, they insisted that we have breakfast and leave as we have a long drive ahead.
We were little surprised by the change in attitude, by the staff who was not available or wanted to operate the kitchen the previous day, insisting on serving breakfast.
We though its a good idea, as it would save us some time while the food gets ready, I can clean up my car and load the luggage.
The breakfast was served in Mehrab Restaurant, which was a beautiful place to dine in. The walls had a lot of wooden design work and it had a nice royal feel to it.

Mehrab Restaurant:


The waiter informed us that we were the only guests in the hotel for the day. We also had some discussions about Covid times, and how the hotel had been converted into a facility for doctors and later a Covid facility during the second wave.
The food was great and the staff was very caring. They ensured that we are well fed before we leave for Delhi.

Tasty food and great service:


Once we were done, the surprise came that the food is complimentary. I informed them that we had not opted for a complimentary breakfast, but they were insistent on the complimentary meal. Thanked the staff and the service really did change our not so great experience we had earlier.

Exiting Hotel Gomti, Ab Dilli duur nahi


We reached the Agra Lucknow expressway in around 30 minutes after leaving the hotel, and were welcomed by the beautiful tarmac. I usually am not fond of expressways as they are concrete, but this smooth tarmac was a welcome change.

Lucknow-Agra Expressway:


We stopped at a rest stop on the expressway to fuel up and a cup of coffee.
The fuel prices were 95.74 for petrol, which would be the lowest we would see for a while.
Food King plaza (Location):


From there Joy took over the wheel to drive on an expressway for the first time.

Say cheese you are on camera:


We did not take the Agra exit and decided to continue on Yamuna expressway to Delhi. What surprised us in the expressway was the shoddy fastag implementation. As compared to all the other tolls where we had driven, there were only a few fastag lanes in the expressway, leading to long queues.

Long queue at the toll:


For lunch we stopped at The Food Street Food court ( Location )


The food court had good variety of north indian, south indian and junk fast food. Joy got his meal from KFC and I had a Pav bhaji and we could both have our choice of food for a change.

Post lunch we continued on the expressway, and had planned to fuel up before entering Delhi as fuel prices are much cheaper in UP. However, most of the fuel pumps were quite crowded and we could not find any petrol pumps en-route once we entered Noida. We reached Noida round 4:30PM and it was scary to see the smog.

Noida 4:30PM in the evening, 2 days after Diwali:



We were both taken aback by the smoky look of the city and decided to stay in the N95 masks even when we are indoors in the apartment.

We had booked an apartment near Saket via AirBnb in Delhi, with the primary goal of getting our clothes washed. It was a 2BHK apartment hosted by Raveesh (Location) and the whole building was run as serviced apartments.
Unlike the Airbnbs I have usually stayed in, this was closer to a hotel like setup and everything was well organized. The host had left a well though essentials kit in the apartment which had water, maggi, shampoo, toothpaste, brushes, soaps, and anything we might need during the stay. The location is also quite close to a few shops and restaurants, so getting things was not a problem at all. There were a few washing machines in the common areas.
Soon after checking in, we went and loaded our clothes in the washing machine. There is a canteen which caters to the serviced apartments but they had not resumed service after diwali. We ordered some food from Swiggy and stayed indoors as we were still scared of the pollution outside.

[the.dogfather]

Day 16
Delhi

Both Joy and I had been to Delhi previously, and the only reason we had added Delhi the trip was for Red Fort being pictured in the 500 Rupee note. But as we had a day with us, we decided to see India Gate, which for some reason we both had not gone earlier.
We started a little late and went for breakfast near the apartment. We called an Uber after that for India Gate. We had planned to go to Red Fort in the evening , before sunset, so that we can see the light and sound show.

The Uber driver was quite an entertaining guy, who had a loud ICE. To be fair, he asked us what kind of music we would like, and blasted it so that we don't miss a beat.

Uber with loud punjabi music from youtube:


We were dropped at India gate, but the entrance was closed due to the Central Vista project work. The guards came as soon as we got off the cab, and insisted that we move from there immediately to the other side which was around 1.5kms away. We tried getting another uber but we were asked to move away immediately. We walked towards the other side when an Auto rickshaw approached us and offered to take us around all the places in the Secretariat. Having no other option, we agreed. The driver first took us near the north and south block at Rajpath. We realized that he often ferries the policemen on duty there, so they were letting him in some areas where they were not letting other public in. He dropped us at the road towards Rashtrapati bhavan while he went ahead to run some errands for the policemen. This gave us time to click pictures near the north and south block.
The buildings are majestic and beautifully maintained.

Rashtrapati bhavan:


North Block:


South Block:


Raj Path:


We were dropped near the Parliament building and we realized that it was the same location for the previous INR 50 note. We both searched but we did not have the old note.

Parliament building:


There was central vista working going on to the right side of the parliament building.

Fountain near Parliament building, central vista work going on to the left:


We next went to Ugrasen ki Baoli ( featured in the move PK ):

Ugrasen ki Baoli is a underground water storage facility or a stepwell built by Raja Ugrasen.

India Gate had been closed for visitors due to the central vista project work, and while we can take pictures from a distance, due to the smog, the pictures were coming quite blurred.

We next went to Akshardham temple. This was another place in Delhi, I had not been to. Most of my visits to Delhi had been to meet friends or attend weddings, so most of the places visited were markets, or pubs. This was the first time I went to Delhi as a tourist.

Akshardham is a temple a relatively recent addition to the attractions in Delhi as it was made in 2005. It is a beautiful structure, and has exhibitions about the life of Swaminarayan.
We reached Akshardham at around 1. PM and had expected to see and leave in an hour.
There was a huge crowd in the temple and strict security check (almost similar to the security checks in airports). Mobile phones, cameras and electronics are not allowed inside the complex. We lost some time as there was a confusion when Joy went to deposit the phones in the locker, and I was told to go for security check and wait after that. Joy , unaware that I have proceeded to security check, came back and searched for me, and after searching a lot moved to security check. Not having phones, its recommended to discuss where you would be meeting, when the person goes to deposit items into the locker.

The locker and security check itself took close to an hour. Inside it was quite beautiful and well kept. The washrooms were quite clean. We spent sometime going around the temple and it was close to 3PM when we had done seeing the temple. There are photographers inside the temple who take pictures and give prints or frames of photos at the location. Digital copies however are not available.
We decided to have lunch at the temple before going to Red fort. There is a big food court in the premises, where they serve a large variety of vegetarian food. Everything from dosa, ice creams, patties, baturas, pizzas are available and the prices are reasonable too. We came out from Akshardham and booked an Uber for Red Fort.

As we reached Red Fort around 4.PM, we decided to take a walk around Chandni Chowk before going to the fort.

We took the picture from the note near Chandni Chowk:
Red Fort with INR 500 note:


Around 5PM we headed to red fort, to be told that the gate near Chandni Chowk is closed and we need to go to the other gate near Sunehri Masjid which was around a kilometer away.

Red Fort:


Inside the fort , there was a flea market selling shawls, souvenirs, decorative bass items and jewelry.
Market Inside Red fort:


It was getting dark, and the lights were turned on.


We were informed that the light and sound show has been stopped since the pandemic.

Red fort at night:


Canon outside the fort:


We decided to head back to the apartment and sleep early, as we had planned a long drive the next day. The Uber was coming out to be quite expensive from Red fort to Saket, so we decided to take the metro.

Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk:


We had dinner at a restaurant near the apartment. Found an interesting set of dishes at a nearby restaurant.


We changed our plan to go to Jodhpur and instead extended it to Jaisalmer, as we understood that even though the distance is around 800kms, the roads are good and we can do it in decent time.

I checked the routes mentioned in tbhp, and decided to follow one suggested by Turbanator in the Delhi-Jaisalmer route queries.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Best and fastest route will be

Delhi- Rohtak (bypass) - Hissar (bypass)- Sadulpur ( don’t miss the right turn under a flyover- straight goes to churu) - Taranagar- Sardarshahr- shri Dungargarh- Bikaner ( can continue within city, bypass is longer and can be confusing)- Phalodi- Pokhran- Jaislmer.

You can easily do in 11-13 hours depending on the time you start from home.

We booked a place inside Jaisalmer fort via AirBnB and decided to leave early next morning.

Day 17
Delhi-Jaisalmer

We were up early and planned to leave at 5:30 AM. However, we found that there was a car parked behind my car, blocking the way. The keys were given at the reception, so we fetched the car keys from the reception and moved it, then took my car out. All this confusion in the keys and moving the cars took some more time and we finally started from the apartment at around 5:45AM. We had a little confusion following maps, in the wide roads in Delhi with flyovers, side roads and service roads, so we made a few mistakes but finally got on the highway and crossed to Haryana. We fueled up in Haryana as the fuel prices were significantly lesser here as compared to Delhi and they would again go up once we crossed Rajasthan.

At around 8:15 we stopped at Sanjha Chulha Family dhabha (Location) for breakfast. They had only parathas and bread toast for breakfast. I went for simple aloo parathas and Joy opted for simpler bread and butter. The restaurant had a dhabha like ambiance outside and a modern cafe look inside.

Outside seating:


Indoor ambiance:


The washrooms were clean, and the service was quick. From there we continued on the route suggested. The road conditions improved once we reached Rajasthan. Though the roads were only two lanes, they were straight and we could see ahead for almost a kilometer. The traffic was quite low, though there were cattle or camels coming on the road which you should look out for.

Straight roads in Rajasthan:


We could see the terrain change soon after entering RJ:


From e-Rickshaws in Delhi, the ones in Rajasthan were quite a contrast. These look straight from the 80s.


The toll booths in RJ state highways were ornate, but there was no option for payments via fastag.


The outside temperature was at the range of 32-33 Celsius.

We had lunch at Karan Restaurant (Location ), going by the pictures shown in google, and google maps showing it a restaurant with Chinese and Indian options with non-veg food. When we reached there, we were quite disappointed to know that they also had only Parathas to offer for lunch. We had another set of parathas and continued to Jaisalmer. We made another fuel stop, though we had planned to fuel up before entering RJ, the tank was almost full when we were entering the state, so we fueled up close to Bikaner. The fuel price in RJ was INR114 per liter as compared to 95.92 in Haryana.

We reached Jaisalmer at around 5:00PM, around 11 hours after starting from Delhi. The route suggested was great all through and we did not get a single route patch on the way.

Board welcoming us to Swarnanagri - Jaisalmer


The last 100kms from Pokhran to Jaisalmer had a lot of army presence, with army camps on the sides, and trucks and jeeps movement on the road.

We called up the host, and he came to meet us at the parking. As we were staying inside the fort, where the lanes are narrow, we had to park outside in the fort parking. From there the host took us and our luggage on his Activa. If there are more people, he arranges an autorickshaw to drop you inside the fort. The AirBnb place is run by Vimal who is a warm host. He was very good with communication all through, and was punctual too. He took us to the room, and had to make 2 trips to pick and drop each of us. His hotel is named Hotel Shahi Garh and its located inside Jaisalmer Fort.

Jaisalmer Fort is a living fort, where there are a lot of residences, shops, temples and hotels. Around the fort again there are hotels and restaurants. It was the first time I was visiting a living fort, and the stay was interesting. Hotel Shahi Garh has 3 floors with 2 rooms in each floor. The terrace is also the cafe, where they serve complimentary breakfast.

Vimal was kind to have asked his staff to start preparing tea before he started to pick us up. By the time we reached the room, garam chai was read and waiting for us.

View From the room(Even the water tanks were painted brown to match with the theme):


Room in the fort:


The room was a simple room, clean and well kept. However there was a missing thing which we realized only the next day.

As it was already late evening, we walked around the fort and went towards Gadisar lake, as that would be one of the few places open at night.

Jaisalmer fort market:


Gadisar lake is an artificially built lake with the purpose of serving the water needs for Jaisalmer town. It is named after King Gadsi Singh who had rebuilt the lake in 14th century after it was initially built by King Rawal Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer in 12th century.

The chattiris in the lake looked nice, so we decided to go boating to get a better view.


Gadisar lake:


View from the boat:


On the way back we stopped at one of the hotels for dinner. Our host had informed us that non-veg food would not be available inside the fort, so we had dinner outside the fort. We tried Laal Maas and shikari chicken on the waiter's recommendation at Kabab corner restaurant (Location), and both dishes were great.

Laal Maas at Kabab corner:


I wanted to visit Longewaala and Tanot temple, and do the desert safari if possible. The host informed us that the Longewala is quite far , and would open at 8.AM. With plans to see Longewala and Tanot in the morning and go for Desert safari in the evening if time permits we retired for the day.

[the.dogfather]

Day 18
Jaisalmer-Longewala

In the earlier day, I had mentioned that the room looked like any other regular room, but it had one thing missing. We had planned to wake up by 7AM and try to reach Tanot by 9AM-10AM so that we can be back for lunch and plan for desert safari in the evening. As we had been waking up early without alarms everyday, we assumed we would wake up by 6:30 or 7 AM.

However, what we did not realize was that the room had no windows, or ventilators to let any light come in. We were both waking up to see that its too dark and would go back to sleep again. It was only around 9:15AM that I finally decided to check the time and I was up for a shock.
I hurriedly called up Vimal, our host and requested for the complimentary breakfast. While Vimal got the breakfast ready, Joy and I got ready.

Vimal had arranged a nice wholesome breakfast quickly with Aloo parathas, hing kachori and poha along with tea.


After breakfast, we left for Longewala at around 10:30AM. I wanted to visit the India-Pakistan border check post near Tanot, and as per few online posts we were told that we need to take permission from Ramgarh BSF camp.

Ramgarh was on the way to Longewala, so we first went to the BSF camp at Ramgarh. I was told by Vimal, that we would need a recommendation from an Army officer, so I had called up my cousin brother, and had asked him to be available in case any permissions are needed. The Ramgarh camp guards told us that the border near Tanot temple comes under Tanot BSF, so we need to approach them for permissions. They were amused that we had driven all the way from Bangalore and asked us about the journey.

From there we headed towards Longewala war memorial.

We reached Longewala around 1.PM.


There was some road work going on near Ramgarh, but most of the road was smooth and clear of traffic.


Being it a few days after diwali, the war memorial was a little crowded for a weekday. We were told that Gujarat has a 10 day holiday for diwali, so there is a lot of tourism during the period.

Longewala war memorial is the site where the battle of Longewala took place. In the memorial they have an enclosure where they have given the details of the war, and the captured tanks and weapons are kept for exhibition.

Longwala War Memorial:


There is a walking path where you can stroll and see all the bunkers and vehicles which were a part of the war.


There is an indoor exhibition, where there are pictures of soldiers, description of the war and weapons kept on display. The anti tank mines and shells used are also shown.

Trophies room:


Anti tank mines:


A model showing the war:


Artillery shells:


A captured tank:


A captured truck:


A sign board reminding us how close to the border we are:


A new set of exhibits were being prepared. The statue of Brig Kuldeep Singh, which was inaugurated on 4th December 2021, after our trip was is located in the new display along with the Hunter jets used by the IAF.


There was also an Audio Visual room where a short documentary is played about the war, but being quite crowded, we skipped it. From Longewala, we went towards Tanot.

Tanot mata temple is run and maintained by the Border security force. The temple had come under attack in the 1965 war, however, either the bombs missed the temple or did not explode. It is said that it had come under attack during the 1971 war, but this time the tanks got bogged down in the sand.

Tanot Mata Temple:


We found a lot of big stray goats in the temple:


Hinglaj mata:


Tanot Victory Pillar, was built to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Longewala:


There is a BSF office at the temple who are responsible to grant permission to visit the border. Earlier the permission was given only if there is recommendation by a senior central government official or an officer in the defense forces, however recently they had started giving the passes to tourists too. There was a long queue for the pass.

Queue for getting permission to visit the border:


The queue was little unruly and the BSF soldiers were trying their best to maintain order. We were asked to submit one person's driving license, vehicle number details and number of male and female passengers. The license can be collected on the way back when we return the pass. The passes are issued from 8 AM to 4 PM.

The pass is later checked and vehicle and passenger details are written down in two check points further on the road.

Check post to check pass and vehicle details:


The border had a BSF check post and a gate on the barbed wire fence. There are two sets of barbed wire fences on both sides of the actual border in the middle.

The border gate:


Border fencing:


BSF Watch post:


Actual line drawn between the barbed wires:


We came back to Tanot temple to return the pass and collect the driving license. It was around 5:30 PM, so we drove towards Kishangrah, where no tourists were going, to get some empty roads to take some pictures of the car.

Sunset near Tanot:



Empty roads towards Kishangarh:


Altis getting a taste of the desert:


A village in the desert , cattle farming seems to be the main source if income:


It had started getting dark by the time we headed back, and soon we were dependent purely on our car's headlamps. As the road was empty, and hardly any traffic from the opposite side, it was quite easy to drive even at night.

We reached Jaisalmer around 8:00 PM and went for dinner to Marwad Junction restaurant (Location).
We went to the restaurant and ordered Tandoori chicken as starter and the waiter said 'Tandoori chicken to aapko har jagah mil jayega, yahan aaye ho toh Shikari chiken try keejiye' (Translation: you would get tandoori chicken anywhere in india, if you have come here, try the shikari chicken).

This was a deja vu movement for us, as we heard exactly the same dialogue the day before in the Kabab corner restaurant. I looked up and the face looked familiar. The waiter then asked me if we were in Kabab corner restaurant the day before. We had a good laugh, as he was the same guy who had served us in Kabab Corner the previous day, and was in Marwad Junction today. The other restaurant was his friend's and as he noticed that their waiter is busy, he had just come over to take our order at Kabab Corner. This time he offered Chicken angaara and a tangdi kababs. We again went by his recommendation and food turned up quite good. We had missed lunch, so were quite hungry, so did not wait much to take food pics, when chicken angara was served.

Joy looking lustfully towards Chicken Tangdi kababs:


Jaisalmer fort at night:


On the way back we did some clothes and souvenir shopping in the fort and remembered to keep an alarm this time. Next day, we were planning to go to Udaipur after breakfast.

[the.dogfather]

Day 19
Jaisalmer - Udaipur

Udaipur had been added to the trip route, mainly for the Vintage car museum in Udaipur. We had primarily planned to visit the museum, and all other things in Udaipur were secondary. We had requested Vimal for an early breakfast, and by 7:30AM breakfast was ready.
We had a nice chat with Vimal while having breakfast, and he told us how he used to ride a lot previously in his RE Lightening 535, which he later replaced with a Thunderbird 500x. He had ridden multiple times to Himachal and Leh, but in 2019 he had met with an accident after which he was bedridden for a while. By the time he got his health back, Covid had struck the country and his business was slow for another year. He was glad that things had finally started catching up. We had parathas and poha for breakfast and by 8:30AM we started towards Udaipur.



The route shown was from Jaisalmer to Barmer via NH and then state highway towards Jalore. While the road till Barmer was great, google maps did take us into some small village roads and even dead ends near Jalore.

Google maps wanted us to take this road for around 8kms:


We took a U turn got back on the village roads and finally managed to get back on the highway.

The roads got bad after Jalore, but after Sirohi we got onto the NH62 and roads got better.

NH62- Pindwara, Rajasthan:


From NH62, we went to NH27 , which was towards Udaipur and Mount-abu.
The NH27 was quite nice to drive with hills and tunnels.

Tunnels in NH27 towards Udaipur:


We crossed Udaipur border at 4:15PM:


We had not booked a hotel in Udaipur in advance. We reached the city and started looking for hotels on the way towards the vintage car museum. We were surprised to see that even average looking hotels were listed for around 9-10k per day on online websites. We later found some cheaper places as we went closer to the city.

Here again, we found the same issues that many hotels did not have parking inside he premises. There were some hotels near Lake Palace, but they were either too expensive or did not have parking. We finally found Hotel Dream Palace (Location) which was not too far from the Vintage car museum and had ample parking too. We went to the hotel instead of booking online, and while their initial quote was above the online prices, we negotiated and got it a little cheaper than the online price shown.
The hotel was an old palace converted into a hotel and was quite good. Rooms were huge and there were a lot of old swords, shields and armour on display. There was a nice modified RE Bullet Chopper at the entrance.

The Bullet at the hotel entrance:


Hotel Lobby:


It was around 5:30PM, and we had missed lunch already. We went to the restaurant in the hotel but they had closed after lunch. So we walked across to a cafe named Chaifeteria (Location) , just opposite to the hotel. They had a good variety of tea and coffee, pasta, pizzas, and a few continental food option. The restaurant is pet friendly and I saw a few guests coming in with their dogs, and missed my pets badly.

Chai, Pasta and fries at Chaifeteria:


We came back to the hotel to get the car and headed to the Vintage and Classic car Collection at the Garden Hotel.
Garden hotel also has rooms and guests staying in the hotel can see the car collection free of cost, but the room was going over our budget, so we decided not to go for it.

The ticket charges for the car collection is 400 per head. In hindsight, considering the total ticket charges, we could have stayed in Garden hotel at a marginally higher cost as compared to buying tickets and staying further away.

Ticket for the Vintage and Classic car collection:


Old Shell pump near the parking area at Garden Hotel:


We were greeted by a Chevy Bus and Truck(RJY 31 and RJY 39), which had a similar facia and toothy grin which were parked outside the main exhibition area.


Chevtolet Bus:


1950 Morris Tiger(Convertible) and 1959 Morris 1000 Traveler



Towards the main exhibition, there were two horse buggies parked at the entrance.



Even the buggies oozed of luxury, with leaf spring suspension and cushion seats.

Udaipur 2/ RJY 2: 1924 Rolls Royce Tourer. This car was the Winner of The Lucius Beebe Trophy at 62 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, California in 2012. The car was shipped to USA for the competition.


RJY 3 : 1931 Rolls Royce Tourer
This had an open truck like design


Udaipur 5/RJY 5: Rolls Royce Limousine


RJY 14 and RJY 15: 1938 Cadillac 39. RJY 14 is a 5 seater convertible sedan and RJY 15 is a 7 seater formal sedan.


RJY 19: 1946 Buick Super 8:


RJY 68 - 1930 Ford Model A


RJY 26: 1966 Mercedes Benz 200


RJ27 5001 : 1989 124 Mercedes Benz (This looked totally out of place here)


The star of the show was RSY 1, 1934 RR Phantom II.
This car was featured in 1984 James Bond movie Octopussy, where it was used by the villain Kamal Khan played by Louis Jordan.



Some photos from the office inside:


Seeing our interest in cars, the keeper invited us to the garage, where more cars were kept.

RJY 18: 1946 Ford Jeep with Trolley, these were used for hunting and Polo:



L-R
1946 Vauxhall 12 , 1961Austin Mark Cambridge , 1961 Standard Herald, 1946 MG TC Convertible ,1937 Opel Kadett


One of the buggies :


Solar bikes:


The place is open till 8PM and well lit.


As we had a really late lunch, we had some desserts from an ice cream parlor near the Garden hotel and headed back to the Hotel for the day.

[the.dogfather]

Day 20
Udaipur-Rani Ki Vav-Vadodara:

As we had already been to quite a few hill stations in the trip, and considering it was diwali holiday season in Gujarat, we decided to skip going to Mount-Abu, and instead head to Vadodara. Our initial plan was to go to Mount-Abu and then to Ahmedabad, but as we had cancelled Mount-Abu, and we were going to Gujarat for Rani Ki Vav, we tried to add the Statue of Unity in our trip.
The hotels in Kevadia were quite expensive, and being quite close to Vadodara, we decided to stay at Vadodara, go to Statue of Unity and continue our journey from Vadodara.
Also, I have a few friends in Vadodara, so meeting them would have been an added bonus.

The distance from Udaipur to Vadodara is a little more than 300kms taking around 6 hours, however, as we were planning to cover Rani Ki Vav en-route, it was quite a diversion, making the journey a total of 500kms and 9.5 hours.

We started from Udaipur at around 9AM. Our aim was to fuel up after entering Gujarat, as the fuel is much cheaper there, however, due to an accident on the road involving two trucks, there was a traffic jam up on NH27 which delayed us a bit and we had to take a few diversions too and got back on the highway.

Near Mount Abu:


Due to the diversions, we were going low on fuel, so just 15-20kms before the border, I decided to not risk it and do a fill up for INR 1000. We then crossed over to Gujarat and fueled up for 95.36 per liter as compared to 113.5 per liter just some 10kms earlier.

Finally cheaper fuel after a few days:


As soon as we entered Gujarat, we noticed that there are far more restaurants en-route. There was a hotel named Hotel Corona (Location ), where I wanted to take a break, for the humor, but we didn't notice fast enough to stop there. We proceeded and took a break for lunch at Swadisht Restro ( Location ). The main attraction towards this restaurant was it was the only non vegetarian restaurant we saw after entering Gujarat.

Tandgi kabab at Swadish Restro:


The food was okay, and the service was fast. The washrooms are clean and there is a good parking space too.

We then continued towards the third location from the note, Rani ki Vav.

We reached near Rani ki Vav around 1:30 PM.


There was some crazy traffic a kilometer before Rani ki Vav at a market area. Scooters and autos were coming from all direction, and there was the usual chaos.


Rani Ki Vav was built in the last quarter of 11th Century by Udaymati, the Queen of Bhimdeva. It is one of the best built stepwells in India and has a lot of sculptures on the walls. It is featured in the INR 100 note of the new series.

Rani Ki Vav:


Rani ki Vav with the INR 100 note:



Sculptures on the walls:



While it does not look very ornate from a distance, as you go closer, you cant stop admiring the beautiful sculptures.





There is a huge lawn around Rani Ki Vav, where a lot of families were having a picnic under the trees.


We started from Rani Ki Vav around 3.PM and headed towards Vadodara. The route was via Ahmedabad, and we were expecting to bypass the city, however, due to some block on the bypass Google maps took us inside Ahmedabad city.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial, Ahmedabad


After Ahmedabad, we were surprised when we entered National Expressway 1. We just entered the expressway, and were flagged down by cops. The policemen asked me to come out first and show all the vehicle documents. I got my file with all the car's documents and presented them one by one, but he hardly looked interested in it. I then presented my driving license which he immediately took and kept in his pocket. I asked him if there was a problem, when he started questioning me about where we were coming from. I explained that we had come from Udaipur and were going to Vadodara, when he asked if we were carrying any alcohol.
When I answered that we are not carrying any, his tone changed, and he warned us to be honest with them if we are carrying any illegal items like guns or alcohol. I was not sure why he would change his tone, in-spite of me being co-operative but I again clarified that we both are teetotalers and we are not carrying any illegal substances. He then asked Joy to come out and asked him if he drinks. When Joy again reassured him that he is also a teetotaler, he asked us to take out our bags one by one. Instead of checking the bags on top, we were asked to unload all our bags on the road and the bag on the bottom were checked first. Each of the 6 bags were opened, and checked and nothing was found.
They then proceeded and checked in the rear seat, and went through the snacks bags that we had kept in the back seat and the laptop bag which was belted down.
After a thorough search and quite some time, he again warned me, to be honest and tell them if we are hiding anything. I reassured them, trying my best not to show my frustration and requested them to let me proceed as it was getting dark.
His tone changed again, and in a friendly tone , he returned my driving license and asked me to proceed. He told me his name and told us that if we are stopped again in the city, we can tell that we have been checked by him. I am not sure if he was trying to play good cop-bad cop all by himself, but I was little irritated, thanked him and we proceeded further. It was quite a task to repack the things, he had thrown into the boot from the bags and load it back in the car, and we lost more than 30 minutes in this process.

The funny part is during all this thorough checking, he did not bother to open the driver and passenger doors or the glove box. If anyone had hidden any beer can in the glove box or just kept it in the bottle holder, it might have gone unnoticed. This was our first bad encounter with police which still was not too bad other than the waste of time and effort for repacking and reloading the car on the road.

I am guessing the policeman would be equally frustrated, and would be sure that two young malayali guys mandatorily have to be carrying some alcohol at least.

We got on the expressway by 6:45 and it had got dark, and I was glad that it is only the expressway and not some small 2 lane road which I need to cover in the night.

National Expressway 1, while the road was good, the traffic was little unruly, with drivers driving on the fast lane in slow speeds, and also many driving quite rash with lane changes without indicators.


We reached Vadodara at around 8.PM and we did not have a hotel booked. We planned to first stay in a hotel on the highway to avoid traffic, but as we came towards the city, we noticed that there was not much traffic in Vadodara, so decided to stay in the city center. We found Hotel Midtown, Fatehgunj(Location) which my friend had suggested as its close to quite a few eateries. The hotel offered us a very good price, much lower than the online prices and with complimentary breakfast. The service was great and the staff was very helpful.

We had booked online tickets for the Statue of Unity for the next day. Unfortunately, as we were little late to book, the morning 10-12 lot and the evening 4-6 slot were over. We took the 2-4PM slot.
My friend came to visit us for dinner and we had dinner at Rangoli Restaurant (Location)at Fatehgunj.

The food was awesome, but unfortunately my friend was fasting, so while he did not join us for the meal, we had a good time catching up. The staff was very friendly and made us feel at home.

Starters at Rangoli Restaurant:


Aquarium in the restaurant:


We were told by the hotel receptionist and my friend that it is a 2 hour drive to Statue of Unity and its a nice highway, the only issue being some railway crossings on the way. We planned to have breakfast at the restaurant and start from there around 11.AM next morning.

[the.dogfather]

Day 21
Statue of Unity

The only agenda we had for the day was to visit the Statue of Unity. We had booked the 2:00PM to 4:00PM slot for the viewing gallery and we had assumed that we can only be in SoU around that time.
We had a late breakfast at 10 and lazed around but as we did not have much to do in Vadodara, we started for Statue of Unity at around 10:45AM.

If you are planning to visit SoU, I would recommend getting the tickets online (Link) at least 4 days in advance, and try to take the evening 4-6pm slot so that you can also see the laser show after the visit. We had assumed that we can only spend the mentioned two hours in SoU, but the time slot is only to get the elevators for the viewing gallery. Other than the viewing gallery, there is no fixed time for any of the other activities. You can spend a full day in the Statue of Unity park, and visit the viewing gallery in the evening and enjoy the laser show after that.

The drive was smooth, with quite a few sign boards, however we found it amusing that while there were sign boards saying that we are on the route to statue of unity in straight roads, when there was a turn, we would not find any signs telling us which road to take. We were following maps, so it was not a big issue for us, so would suggest people to keep maps running in the background although its mostly a straight roads with only one or two turns.

While it was mentioned that there are two or three different parking lots and the closer parking lots have extra charges, we were told to get inside the first parking lot, and only a few cars were allowed to go ahead to the further lots.
The parking charges were INR 50 in the first parking lot and I read in reviews that they are 80-100 as you go further.

From the parking lot, we took a shuttle bus which takes us to the SoU bus depot. The bus ticket charges are included in the online ticket charges, and the bus tickets were not checked anywhere.

Statue of Unity shuttle bus:


The bus ride is 15-20 minutes long and takes you from the side of narmada river. We got the first glimpses of the statue from the bus.

First view of SoU from the bus depot:


As our time slot was from 2-4PM and it was still 1PM we went for the Jungle Safari. For jungle safari we need to take another bus from the bus depot. The inquiry counter at the bus depot gives correct stand number to get busses to different destinations.

Jungle Safari entrance:


Jungle Safari is essentially a Zoo next to the park. There are separate sections for Asian Herbivores and carnivores and then sections for different continents.

Toucan:


Lemur:


Lion and Lioness:


There was a safari on the golf cart for which there was a long queue. We waited for around 20 minutes in the queue. The queue was quite unruly with many people trying to get in between and then inviting their family to join them. After getting into the golf cart we realized that it was only a short walk and we could have also walked instead and covered the distance in 10 minutes.

The golf cart dropped us in an enclosure where there were quite a few birds.


White peacock:


We came out of the enclosure and walked towards the deer enclosures.

Samba deer:


White Black buck (loved the ironic name):


There was not much rush to get back on the golf carts, so we managed to get one easily.
Golf carts in flamingo bus stop:


We came back to the main area, and went towards the Africa section:
Giraffe:


It was already 3:30PM and we were now worried that we would miss the slot in the viewing gallery. We had a quick lunch at wild feast cafe, at the park entrance, and then headed back to the SoU bus depot. There were not many food options at the wild feast cafe, in fact we did not find a proper restaurant near SoU. There was a food court near the parking lot which we did not visit, but everywhere else, there were only small food stalls, selling snacks like Vada pav, or pav bhaji.

We reached SoU entrance just before 4.PM. However, when we got there, we were informed that men were not allowed to carry bags. We were asked to go back to the bus depot, and keep our bags in the lockers. The locker facility is free of cost. We kept our bags, and carried the water bottles with us. There are refilling counters with RO purified water, where you can refill the bottles.

Fountain at the entrance:


Picture at the base of the statue to give an idea of the size:


View from the base of the statue:


It was already 4:45PM and we had assumed that the gallery at the foot of the statue is the viewing gallery. However, we noticed a few people going into the building under the statue. We checked with the staff and they told us that the elevator for the viewing gallery is from the base of the statue.

We hurried down and got to the museum on the base of the statue. We had assumed that we would not be allowed to go to the viewing gallery as we had missed our time slot.
However, we noticed that the elevator did not have a long queue and tried our luck. The staff noticed that we had missed our time slot, but as the queues were less and we were only 2 people, we were allowed to take the elevator.

Queue for the elevator:


As there was no queue for the express entry passes on the right side, we were soon asked to use the express entry lifts. We waited for less than 2 minutes for the lifts. I have waited for longer in my office building for a lift.

The elevator took us up to the chest level of the statue from where there is a viewing gallery to view the dam and the surroundings. The lift was very fast and reminded me of the lift at Burj Khalifa which takes you to the top. In the viewing gallery, one of the staff gave us a brief about the statue and what height we were standing at and the details of the statue. After the 3-5 minutes talk, we proceeded to explore the viewing gallery.

The view of Sardar Sarovar dam from the viewing gallery:


The bus route towards SoU:


Frame of the statue over which the copper alloy plates are fitted:


The scale model at museum at the base of the statue:


Picture gallery of nature photography at the museum:


Audio video shows and articles about the freedom struggle and the role played by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel:


The river and statue of unity board from the viewing area for Light and sound show:


At 6 PM, the lights at the road were turned on:


As we had nothing to do for the rest of the day, we decided to stay back and watch the light and sound show from the bus depot. We were not the only ones with this plan and people had started sitting at the direction of the statue from 6:00PM onwards. We found some place to stand and waited patiently for the show to start at 7:00PM.

The lights around statue of unity and the sign board were turned on at 6:30PM.


The Sardar Sarovar dam also was lit up and laser lights were being projected:


The laser show started at exactly 7 PM. As we were in the bus depot we could not hear the commentary, but we had a clear view of the show.

Laser show:



The show looks much better directly than on the camera. The camera has increased the background brightness which makes the nearby things visible. During the show we could only see the projection on the statue.


Showing the stages of construction of the statue:


We did not wait for the end of the show as it might get crowded to get the bus to the car parking. We got on the bus a few minutes before the show ended and continued to watch from the bus. The bus started soon after the show ended. We reached back to our hotel around 8:30PM and headed for dinner. Statue of Unity deserves a whole day to be spent. We reached in the afternoon, and hence missed out on the Petting zoo, the valley of flowers and the butterfly park. The tickets we had taken to the viewing gallery and the jungle safari did cover these places too, but we did not have the time to cover them.

We had some dosas at New Alka Restaurant (Location), which was decent, but nothing memorable. We had been recommended to try Santushti shakes (Location) where we tried a few milkshakes, which were awesome. I would recommend to try these if you visit Vadodara.

[the.dogfather]

Day 22
Vadodara-Sanchi
We started from Vadodara at 8:15 AM after a heavy breakfast. We drove though Gujarat state highways, which are toll free for cars, through Halol and Godhra bypass to enter Madhya Pradesh by afternoon.
Initially the roads were good in MP, but we reached a major traffic jam soon after entering the highway.
We realized the reason was some narrow ghat sections at the NH47, where heavy vehicles were getting stuck. Apart from this , there was a section where there was a landslide ,which had blocked a lane of traffic, so only one side of traffic was moving at a time. We spent around 40 mins in the jam at the stretch, but once we cleared that and neared Indore, road conditions got better.

The stretch after Indore had good roads and less traffic, which help us gain some time.
Excellent roads near Indore


The roads after Indore were quite good too.


We checked the timings for Sanchi Stupa, and in Google maps, it was mentioned as the closing time to be 5:30P.M. Our ETA as per google maps at that point was 5:45PM. If we could go to Sanchi Stupa in the evening, we could later watch the light and sound show, and could make an early start for Maharastra the next day.


The DTE on the car was showing just a 10kms more than the distance to Sanchi Stupa. A stop for fueling might mean we might miss the Stupa's closing time, so we decided to continue to Sanchi and fuel up after going to the Stupa. With the low fuel, I could not drive faster, else we would need to stop for fuel, and could not drive too slow, to miss the closing time. So we maintained a constant speed, where the tacho stayed at less than 2000rpm.
We finally managed to reach Sanchi Stupa at 5:15P.M with the DTE at 3kms. We had seen quite a few petrol pumps en-route, so we were not worried about finding fuel.
However, when we went to the ticket counter, we were told that they have closed for the day. The timings for the Stupa are from Sunrise to sunset, and even though it was quite bright, they had decided that it is time to close. He told us that the light and sound show will start at 7:30P.M.
Dejected, we looked for a nearest fuel pump and found one 2.5kms away.

Final reading in DTE after we reached the fuel pump:


We fueled up and headed for our hotel, which was 6kms away from Stupa.
We had booked our stay at Hotel Sanghamitra (Location). We had tried to book at MPT Gateway Retreat, which is run by MP Tourism and is just walking distance from Sanchi Stupa, but the hotel had got booked by the time we had started looking. Hotel Sanghamitra was relatively new and did not have many reviews online. However, the location looked okay, and we had booked it. The hotel was with a popular highway restaurant and the hotel and lawn were recently added to it. The restaurant was big, and was a regular stop for luxury busses. However, there was separate parking for the hotel residents, which was good, as we did not want to park at a crowded rest stop. The restaurant service was quite fast and food was good too.

We had a very late lunch at 6 PM, and then headed towards Sanchi Stupa to see the light and sound show. As we were told the timing is 7:30PM, we tried reaching there a little early around 7:10PM. We went to the ticket counter, but it was empty. The guard at the parking area told us to go inside directly and that the show had been stopped for us. We were confused and went inside.
We were greeted by some angry looking people, who assumed we were VIPs for whom the running show was stopped and restarted. While no one talked to us directly, there were taunting comments, asking if they were not important enough, as compared to us.
We meekly went and took the chairs at the back and the show started.

The light and sound show was quite elaborate. It was more of a full blown movie made on Gautam Buddha's life and the significance of the stupa. The whole movie was projected onto the stupa.

Sanchi Stupa at night:


Light and sound show:


The main stupa during the light and sound show:


Some more projections from the light and sound show:




Once the show was over, we came to know that there are shows from 7 PM onwards, and the 7:30PM show would be starting at 7:45PM, due to the delay in the earlier show. After getting a few more taunts by other viewers, which we accepted with a meek smile, even though we were not aware that we caused a delay, we went back to our hotel, to rest and have dinner later. Bodhi tree at Sanchi was a few hundred meters away from our hotel, so we planned to go there too the next day. It was quite cold in Sanchi and the restaurant was having temperatures of some 11-12 degrees at night.

Day 23
Sanchi-Aurangabad
As the timing for the Stupa was according to sunrise and sunset, we were getting up since 5:30AM to see if the sun had risen. Even at 6:15 the sun rise had not happened, but we got up and got ready anyway. We were out of our room by 6:45AM when we could see the sun rising. We reached Sanchi Stupa at 7AM, to see the ticket counter empty. However, the ticket seller came soon, from another building and gave us tickets. We were the only visitors in the Stupa at that time. It was nice to see one of the monuments so empty and being the only visitors there. There were quite a few birds and peacocks roaming around near the stupas. We went to take the customary picture with the note.

Stupa early in the morning without any visitors:


The Sanchi Stupa:


A picture with the INR 200 Note:


This part of the site is cordoned off for visitors:


We were allowed to climb the stairs to the side of the stupa, view from the stupa:


Ruins of the temple and monastery nearby:



Buddha Image:


Peacocks in the garden:


Buddha Image donated from Srilanka in 1967:



On the way back to the hotel, we went to see the Bodhi tree at Sanchi.
Bodhi Tree, Sanchi:


We had breakfast and left for Aurangabad at 9:30AM. The ETA for arrival at Aurangabad was given as 9:30PM.
The roads were all good, till Dhule. After Dhule, it was a two lane road towards Aurangabad. Soon after we enter the two lane road, we encountered our first traffic jam. We were stuck there for some 30 minutes after which the traffic started moving, but due to heavy trucks going at slow speeds, and two lane roads, the speeds were quite low. We reached Chalisgaon where the traffic cleared, and we headed to the ghats towards Aurangabad. When we reached the ghats, we found a big traffic jam, where vehicles were not moving at all. Most people had parked and come out of their cars. We got out and spoke to a few. We noticed a few people coming from the opposite site to check the situation, only to be informed that the road is blocked badly due to some heavy vehicle breakdown, and those coming from the opposite site were the ones stuck in this jam for more than an hour returning back to use alternate routes. We spoke to the people around and they suggested to use Nandgaon route. We headed back towards Chalisgaon, and spoke to a few traffic policemen on duty about the traffic situation at the ghats. The also confirmed that the traffic may not clear for a few hours due to the multiple truck breakdown and suggested us to take the Nandgaon route.
As we had been suggested this route by multiple people we went ahead. The roads were good till Nandgaon, but after that the bad stretch started. It was already dark and we encountered the worst roads we had seen in the trip till now. These roads were even worse than the ones we had seen in Sikkim where we turned back. We checked the ghat route, and it was still showing as red with a 1 hour delay. We decided to continue on the Nandgaon route. Most vehicles were having auxiliary light and high beams which made the situation worse. We managed to crawl through the non existent road covering 70kms in 3 hours. The car did take quite a few underbody hits, but still kept going. We finally reached back at NH52 at around 11 PM and breathed a sigh of relief. We had dinner, as we were not sure if we could find anything once we reach Aurangabad. Post dinner we headed to the hotel, where the next disappointment awaited us.
We had put the location for the hotel we had booked in google maps, but when we reached there, the hotel did not exist.
We called up the hotel, who informed us that they have moved to a new location, which is another 40kms away. It was 12:30 AM now and we were both quite tired. We did not have the energy to drive 40kms again, so we found a hotel near by inside Aurangabad and managed to negotiate a good price.
We also needed to do an RT-PCR test to go to Karnataka after Aurangabad, so I checked with the receptionist if anything is available nearby. The receptionist got scared with my question, and moreover with my bloodshot eyes, after the hours of driving with high beams. Its only after I got to my room, that I noticed how tired I looked and how the receptionist might have assumed that I am not well. Hoping this was the last of it, we decided to look for covid testing center the next day and went to sleep. This had been the worst day for us during the whole trip.

[the.dogfather]

Day 24
Ellora Caves / Aurangabad
We had a slow start as we slept quite late the previous day and this was one of the drives that got me exhausted for one of the first times in the trip. However, we could not delay much as getting the RT PCR done and the results ready by the time we reach Karnataka was important. Karnataka had mandatory RT-PCR test results needed from the last 72 hours for people coming from Kerala and Maharashtra, irrespective of the vaccination status.
Google search results did not help much in Aurangabad, as all results were for home collection and had long wait time for results. We looked for Apollo diagnostics near by and found a place a few kms away from our hotel. We were informed that the results will be available only by 2:30PM the next day, which was a little tight, but approximately the same time that we would be reaching Karnataka border the next day. The RT-PCR testing in Aurangabad was quite casual as compared to the earlier tests I had taken in Karnataka and Kerala, where the sample collection was done by a staff wearing the whole PPE kit or it was done in a booth from where only the gloved hands would be used to take the sample. Here the staff was wearing only a mask, and quite casual about the whole thing.

Joy going through his first ever RT-PCR test:


We went back to the restaurant, took a bath and then headed for Ellora at around 11AM. We had a light breakfast of Misal Pav and Bhurji pav at a small joint on the way.
Simple Pav breakfast:

We reached Ellora at around 12:30PM. Finding the entrance and parking was a little confusing but after asking directions, and closing google maps, we found it quickly. As soon as we parked our car and got out, from the parking lot itself, we were bombarded by sellers trying to sell jewelry, stones, guide books, water bottles and what not. We went for the tickets, and also asked for a ticket for the video camera. The tickets for the video cameras are not commonly purchased, and it had a some amount if paper work along with it. I had to sign a few declaration forms , receipt forms though the charges were only INR 25.

The camera formalities took a little time, and I noticed the last time the form was filled was around 3 days back.

View from the entrance:


We took the customary pic with the INR 20 note.


Shiv ling inside the caves:


Cave No 1 is one of the best ones:


The caves and the carvings are quite beautiful. While it was great to see the caves, the salesmen were quite a problem in this site. The salesmen would be waiting outside each cave and would keep on pestering us to buy things and would say that we missed this or that, which was quite distracting and irritating.

We visited a few more caves, but after each cave, a few salesmen would start pestering us. Guides on the other hand had been very decent and approached us only once while entering and then did not bother us.

We met Abhijith, another traveller from Kanhagad, Kerala, who had been doing an all India trip. Abhijith and his friend had flew to Leh, and then took train to Srinagar, Ayodhya and then come to Ellora and were planning to go to Tirupati next.


Other than the first cave, the rest of the caves have buddhist images:
Cave no 10:



Cave no 12:


A view point near the caves:


We did not cover all the caves as it is very extensive. We finally gave in to the salesmen and bought a few things from one of the salesmen who gave us a few suggestions about the caves. This was a mistake. After we got the stone souvenirs from one salesman, all hell broke lose, and all the other guys started targeting us to buy more things. We had to rush to our cars and get out of the place to avoid them.
This had been our worst experience amongst all the monuments we visited. I was so irritated by this, that I just skipped the rest of the nice monuments in Aurangabad and headed back to the hotel.

We planned to have some juice on the way back from Ellora, however, on the drive back, we did not see any juice shop. We asked our hotel receptionist and he suggested to try Lucky Juice center,(LocationLocation) as it is the best in town.

The juice center was a km away, and they had a big variety of juices. We tried a falooda and a apple milk shake which was their specialty. Both were quite good.

Lucky Juice center:


My friends had suggested me to try Naan qalia when I go to Aurangabad. We tried at the Great Sagar Restaurant first, but were told that they do not serve Naan qailia anymore. We then found Hotel Moonlight(Location), which looked shady but did have Naan qalia.

We tried two portions of Naan qalia, mutton dry and a chicken dish at Hotel Moonlight. The hotel does look quite run down, but the food and service were great.
Naan Qalia at Hotel Moonlight:


The experience at the lucky juice center and the Naan qalia at Hotel Moonlight did help remove the bad taste from the previous day's experience and the bad experience with salesmen at Ellora. I went for a walk at night and called up my cousin brother who had driven from Bangalore to Aurangabad a few days back to check the route conditions to Hampi. I was told that the roads are not great, so we decided to make a change in plans and take the route via Kolhapur-Belgaum. This route would be longer, but would be short if we are going to Goa. We changed our plan such that we go to Goa first and then to Hampi.