[sami316]

Hi,

All the best to you for this journey of yours. Awaiting great pictures and a great travelogue from both you and HVK. Have a safe journey.

[sanjoy50]

eagerly following your trip as another Dezire VDI owner. You must be tasting the TURBO quite often with so much open highway.

[WanderNomad]

Good luck for your journey. Hope its a Journey of the lifetime.

[f1fan]

Have a safe trip Dushmish.
I would be closely following your trip as I am planning the same with my Dzire VDI mid next year.

HVK, you too have a safe trip. Looking forward to your logs. They are awesome.

[sudev]

Solo posts stopped ..... no progress report!

[dushmish]

Hello People!

Apologies for keeping tis thread dormant for such a long time. It was for various reasons. Foremost being the fact that I was having the time of my life in the Himalayas away from any kind of connectivity.

We started early from Jaipur (4:30 am) and were crossing Delhi by 8:15 am. Managed to beat the morning chaos at Azadpur as we hit the highway by 9:00 am. Cruised on Grand Trunk Road. A friend recommended Sukhdev for tandoori paranthas. It is in Murthal, on the left hand side nd so big that you cannot miss it. Enjoyed some delicious paranthas with Curds and white butter. Right there we decided, on our way back we are stopping at Sukhdev for paranthas.

The weather was cool with light rains. The journey up to Jammu (9:00 pm ) was smooth. Enroute crossed Karnal, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Pathankot.

We stopped at Zimidara Dhaba on the outskirts on Ludhiana. Good food and lots of lassi. At Jammu we checked in the JKTDC guest house. Rs 800 for a double room. For dinner had Paneer Chaman cooked Wazwan style. Aromatic style of cooking. Awesome is a the word.

I had done 2000 km of being in car in two days. 1200 km on day one (Mumbai - Jaipur) and 800 km on day two (Jaipur - Jammu). Mama drove up Jalandhar and I took to the wheel there onwards up to Jammu.

The signage is poor between Pathankot and Jammu. It was difficult to find the way to Jammu in the last 50 km. With lots of diversions and small towns around, and no signage we were not sure if we had missed a turn. Had to ask a few places.

Slept by 11. The next day was going to be exciting.

Pic 1 - Phone numbers of RTDC Tourist Hotels.
Pic 2 - Map of RTDC Tourist network
Pic 3 - Yours turly at Gavri RTDC Tourist Hotel, Rishabdev (50 km before Udaipur)
Pic 4 - Hotel Gavri. Rcommended for a halt to freshen up on this route.
Pic 5 - Jaipur Delhi NH8
Pic 6 - Holding for its life.
Pic 7 - Only Rajesh Khanna gets a Sharmila Tagore watching him from a train, and he sings "mere sapanon ki rani...". What we got was this goods train for company.
Pic 8 - Grand Trunk Road. It feels good to know you are diving on a road that was built more than 400 yrs ago.

HELP - How do I write between the pics?

[jaysmokesleaves]

Wow, passenger monkey with its more evolved cousins. Nice pic.

[Fordy]

Nice Dushmush. It is a good travelogue and loved the pictures. But do post more of them. Thanks

Venk

[hellstar]

the monkey pillion picture is too cool ! lovely !

[sijil.karim]

Hi Boss,

great to see you on team-bhp,
plan your next trip down south, awaiting rest of your leh pictures and travelogue.

Sijil

[dushmish]

Thanks Fordy and Jaysmokesleeves.

We got up early and were on the road by 4:15 am. Finding our way to Shrinagar. There are no signages in Jammu to help people get out on the highway. People were friendly though. It took us 15 minutes to hit the highway. The ascend begins right outside the town of Jammu. It was foggy. No traffic. A little scary as we were not sure if we are going the right way. None of the milestones for good 15 km read Shrinagar. They were Yellow at the top though with NH 1A written. So I knew we are on correct road. For people who do not know that, it is not a good feeling to have.

As the dawn broke, we saw the mighty Chenab flowing by the road in a gorge. What a sight it was. Ever 500 meters, a 5 people team of armymen was patrolling the highway. Equipped with wireless, guns, mine detectors, sniffer dogs, bullet proof jackets (and caps). Very vigilant. Did not give us a comfortable feeling. To be driving in one’s own country with such patrolling.

We stopped on way to Shrinagar for breakfast. This was a little before Banihal. Had yummy aaloo paranthas. Soon we were at the beginning of the much heard of Jawahar Tunnel. Its 3.2 km long. As we came out of the other side and our eyes adjusted to the bright day light, we saw a BRO sign reading – The first view of Kashmir Valley. Oh! The excitement was uncontrollable. We pulled our car aside and just could not believe that we were seeing the Valley. More than the sight, it was the feeling. Clicked some pictures. Drove onwards down to the valley. I always thought it to be a small valley as we would like to believe it. To our surprise, this valley has the districts of Doda, Kupwada, Anantnag and Shrinagar in it. It is close to 100 km long and a good 30 to 40 km wide at least.

Shall post about the Shrinagar experience later.

Still do not know how to get TBHP watermark on pics. And how to post comments between pics. So posting separately.

1 - Chenab
2 - Amrymen with sniffer dog
3 - Mine Detector. That is the closest I have gotten to a mine detector.
4 - Look at the cap, bullet proof. It is called a patta.
5 - Wire less set as back pack.
6 - A via duct protected by chains aginst land slides
7 - A deep gorge.
8 - A dedication to some brave soldier.
9 - The first view of the valley.
10 - The Valley

[hvkumar]

We were on our own Ladakh trip 2 days behind Dushmish and we got excellent feedback on the road conditions from him by phone/SMS. Thanks, Dushmish, we found the info very useful!

There are no signages in Jammu to help people get out on the highway. People were friendly though. It took us 15 minutes to hit the highway. The ascend begins right outside the town of Jammu.

Alternatives are to take the Jmamu bypass immediately after crossing Jammu Contonment, which rejoins NH1A at Nagrota Cantonment, helps you bypass the madness of Jammu city.

We ourselves took the short cut from Dayala Chowk (before Samba) and reached Udhampur without ouching Jammu - saves quite a lot of distance.

[dushmish]

You are welcome Kumar, that was the least we could have done. We wanted to meet you at Leh but the schedules were not allowing. Your plan is what we stuck to and it made the trip so easy. I am beginning to enjoy the early morning (3:30) starts and seemingly difficult but acheivable planning you do.

[cpyder]

Nice travelogue and pics. @dushmish and hvkumar, could you give some feedback on road conditions between Mumbai and Jaipur. Any suggested routes, places to stay etc? My trip is planned in last week of October (Full itinerary). I could use your feedback. Thanks.

[hvkumar]

Road conditions between Mumbai and Jaipur:

- The first 50 kms after Ghodbunder (on leaving Bombay) are bad, since the roads have been damaged by the monsoons, especially towards Bombay
- Almost all the toll gates are badly managed, and if you are unlucky, you could get delayed for 5 minutes + upwards, till you cross Baroda
- The Surat bypass flyovers are complete, no traffic jams anymore
- The River Tapi bridge is still small and can have traffic jams at times
- Surat to Ankleshwar 6-laning is over
- Ankleshwar town flyovers are complete, no more traffic jams in town
- Ankleshwar-Baroda is a wonderful 6-lane road, although trucks weave all over the place, regardless of lane discipline
- Baroda bypass is another fantastic run
- All the way to Udaipur, via A'Bad Sardar Patel Ring Road, you can have a great ride
- Udaipur bypass is still 2 lane road, when is it going to be widened?
- Chittorgarh bypass is fantastic

Overall, Bombay-Jaipur is a great drive, and the 1200 kms can be driven in 14-16 hours.