[hvkumar]

Set my destination as Udaipur in my GPS and it made me take the NH8 while skipping the expressway. I drove for around 25 kms before realizing the folly. I entered one toll way called Chayyapuri, with a toll of Rs.13 to be followed by another tollway called Vasad with toll of Rs.25

Sorry to say this, but why rely on GPS - many of them are wrong when it comes to plotting routes.

And I noticed a funny board in NH8. Could not take a picture, but it said "Amdavad" and a straight arrow. Is Ahmedabad called Amdavad in Gujarati?

Yes

I entered Ramol Toll plaza to bypass Ahmedabad 11:22 AM, with a toll of Rs.18 to cover the next Ranasan toll plaza also. I am still confused whether I took the Sardar Patel Ring road that HVK mentioned.

Yes, when you take the penultimate exit in the expressway, you turn into S P Ring Road for either Rajkot/Gandhinagar/Palanpur or Himmatnagar/Udaipur/Ambaji.

From then on it was again in GQ and usual tolls kept coming time and again. Stopped for lunch at a place called Asapov Palace by 1:15 for an hour. My son found a toy shop to buy a toy. Finally reached Udaipur at 3:15 PM.

I had made bookings at a place called Mountain Ridge ( MOUNTAIN RIDGE ) which is supposed to be in the outskirts of Udaipur on top of a hillock for three days. Misfortune stuck first. I tried calling their place and the phones were coming not available. Went to Sisarma and looked for boards and nothing. Asked locals and no one had any clue about that place. Above all the road to Sisarma is undergoing repair and there was a deep gorge that scraped my rear bumper when I went over it. And we were desperately looking for a place to jump and refresh ourselves.

I think someone else has had problems with this place.

[rkbharat]

beautiful pics, I was about to ask about your ride, now I know

[anainar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Sorry to say this, but why rely on GPS - many of them are wrong when it comes to plotting routes.

Yes, it was partly my fault as well. I scrutinized the route but I believed that NH8 is actually the expressway. Only after some time I realized my mistake. When I said avoid NH8, it pointed me to the Expressway. The tools are not intelligent for sure, but they serve the purpose when given the right inputs. This I knew before but did not know NH8 is not the expressway. I got wiser and when returning fro Jaipur to Chittorgar, I made it to switch from NH8 to NH76 to stay in GQ.

Nainar

[vijaythacker]

anainar, wow Rajasthan.Beautiful place to visit with history,palaces and tribes.Awaiting to go through the travelogue.

[anainar]

Another funny thing I noticed!! I noticed a Hotel Decent in the Highway to Surat from Mumbai. Was yapping to my wife gallantly that this the place where they shot Jab We Met scene. She believed me, till she saw another Hotel Decent! Then another! And then another!! Almost all the hotels in the stretch seemed to have been named Hotel Decent! Dont know why, any localites know the reason?

Nainar

[Ramsagar]

Whattt? 5800km?
wow man keep them coming lovely travel.Should be more comfortable in corolla.

[anainar]

Day 5:

Day 5 was set aside Udaipur sight seeing. As usual got up at 7:30, got ready by 9:00. The breakfast spread at RTDC sucked big time again with cold toasts and oily aloo paranthas. Still gobbled up something to keep us going.

We met a guide outside in the parking lot who asked for Rs.150 and will show us around. Decided to use him instead of relying on our own. It turned out that it was not required as these guys are not allowed inside the Palace as it has its own guides. But this guy took us first to Sajjangarh fort. It is at an altitude of 3100 feet above sea level. The road is pretty steep and single laned. The pictures you saw in the previous page are essentially of that palace. Apparently they serve tea/coffee in the evenings and people congregate there for sun set.

We went around the place, took some pictures, which is in the previous page.

Our next stop was Udaipur City Palace inside the old city. The old city is quiet congested and I had a tough time navigating myself, trying to avoid bullocks, carts, cycles and men. The palace has its own parking and that was a relief.

I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Saw the infamous toilet used by one of the Mewar kings who is handicapped, some interesting wall paintings, durbar halls and opulence every where.

I asked the guide if they have restaurants inside the palace and he said yes. So, thought I will have my lunch there. Big mistake!! There is a restaurant, but a meal costs Rs.550. A bottle of water costs Rs.90. Cant help it and had our meal.

We also spend some time at the Rajasthan museum doing shopping. Bought the usual 100gm rasoi and quilts, some typical rajasthani handicrafts etc.

In the afternoon we went to Jag Mandir. The name is quiet misleading. We boarded the boat, costing us around Rs.850 for three of us, thinking there is a mandir. On landing inquired about the mandir and the guy said with a cheeky smile, no mandir, there is a garden, a spa and restaurant. And the restaurant is super expensive. A Coffee, a tea and one french fries costed Rs. 600+. Nothing there except the garden and the fleecing in the name of restaurant/food. Apparently the place is flocked by foreigners and not many indians to be seen there.

In the evening, we did not do much, took a walk around Lake Pichola,ate some chatphata snacks at nearby shantis. For dinner went to Berry's and figured out that they dont serve alcohol, but the food was nice. So, had to stay sober though wanted to a couple of drinks.

Came back to Kajri by 10:30, and hit the sack. Day 5 ended with just Udaipur. Day 6 has been ear marked for Ranakpur/Kumbhalkar and then to Jodhpur. It turned out to be a misadventure of all sorts.

[anainar]

Day 6:

Day 6 has been planned for visiting Ranakpur,Kumbhalkar and then head to jodhpur. We started out at 10:00 AM, checked out of RTDC Kajri by 10:15 after breakfast. The GPS did not have Ranakpur in the list and had to rely on maps and local directions. Apparently there are two routes to Ranakpur ( one via Eklingji,Kumbalkar and another one Gogunda ) and since we asked for Ranakpur, people gave us shortest route to Ranakpur which is through Gogunda. This was a mistake as I thought they are nearby looking at the map and should be possible do either way. It turned out it is not.

Drive to Ranakpur was quiet uneventful. The road was two laned initially but became four laned after a while. We had to share the road with some serious camel groups though. Fantstic road till we took a deviation for Ranakpur. Some heavy construction was going and saw some 30-40 deep excavations happening. Then we entered Ranakpur wild life sanctuary and ghats started. The road is 1 1/2 laned road which is infested with monkeys all around. I stopped for a few seconds and one monkey jumped on the roof of my car. We reached Ranakpur by around 1:00 PM. I did not note down the ODO reading and hence dont know how much distance between Udaipur and Ranakpur. The marble work at Ranakpur was excellent, kept on clicking photographs till I was notified by a security guard that I cannot photograph the idols.

Some pictures of Ranakpur and the road in here...

We enquired around for going to kumbalgarh from there and we were in for a shock. We were advised to go back around 35 kms towards Udaipur and take a turn near a place called Saira( or something like that ). My wife has an aversion for ghat section and she immediately said no. But I inquired at another place and told them that I have to head to Jodhpur from there and the guy asked me to go to Sadri - Desuri - Charbuja - Khumbalkar.

Sounded ok and hence we drove off towards Sadri. Enroute stopped at a place called King's Adobe for lunch in Ranakpur-Sadri road. The food was ok, but at Rs.450 per head, not really worth. We finished an hour long lunch and headed to Desuri. Desuri came and so did Charbuja after 45-50 mintues by 3:45. But we were in for another shock when we figured the Kumbalgarh fort is another 36 kilometers in ghat section. At that point it became pointless to visit Kumbalgarh. So, we traced our way back to Sadri - Bali - Faina to hit NH towards Jodhpur. The road was single laned and had many patches. Some how managed to maintain speeds and hit the highway to Jodhpur by 6:15 before darkness. There was heavy truck traffic in NH14 till Pali. Once we crossed Pali the road was deserted and we arrived at Indrashaan Guest house, High Court Colony, Jodhpur by 8:15 PM.

Total Distance travelled on Day 6 - 300
Toll Paid - Nil
Time taken - 7 hours.

[canonguy]

Lovely picutres and narration! Wish you had covered Kumbhalgarh as well. It's a massive fort with parapet walls running 20-30' wide at places.

[jaysmokesleaves]

How is the weather there at this time Anainar..?

[anainar]

Weather was quiet nice actually. The evenings were pleasant. Noon temperatures touched 32-33 but nothing unbearable. In fact this is the season time in Rajasthan and hotel rates are different from Oct 1st onwards.

I have to find time to write the rest of the travelogue. Hope I will get to do that tomorrow or day after.

Nainar

[akroy]

Anainar, Nice to see you go further than the usual Blr - Pune - Blr drives. nice travelogue and pics BTW but why are the pics within the travelogue?

It would have provided a nice reading.

As guruji said, Dil Maange More, so do I..
Abhi

[sami316]

Hi Anainar,

Awesome travelogue. I have spent one of the best part of my Childhood in this beatiful state as my dad was posted there when he was in Army. Looking for some more pics.

[Indizen08]

Interesting travel blog.
Reminds me of our trip to Udaipur last year.
Wonderful memories!

[anainar]

Sorry guys, had to find time to write the rest of the journey. Finally found some. Here are the updates... I still have to cover Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur and Chittourgarh..

Day 7; Jodhpur:

Day 7 is primarily Jodhpur sight seeing.

The place Indrashan Guest house is pretty good. Very clean and spacious. The bathroom was sparkling clean and smelled very good. The duo Ms.Bhavana Singh and her husband were wonderful hosts. I shared a shot if whiskey with her husband in the evening along with his other guests. It was wonderful. Any day I would recommend that place if you are visiting Jodhpur. A quick photograph of the interior with my son loitering around and me and him having our morning tea..

Our first stop for the morning is Umaid Bhavan palace. It is nothing great as it was made to be, except opulence and not much of history. The palace guides were all palace employees. He was explaining with great glee about one of their kings having fought with the British in second world war and obtained a medal of honor. Having seen Mewar history and its fierce desire for autonomy, I was flummoxed by this vassalism and asked him, what did his king do for our independence. "Azadi ke liye aapka king kya kiya, that he fought with the very British who we wanted to oust and our own SC Bose not a noble/royalty was fighting British in his own capacity".. The guide got offended and told me this and that. But I have no respect for Umaid Bhavan palace or its current king.

Our second stop was Mehrangarh fort. I relied on the GPS and to my horror it asked me to enter the old city area and gullies that are barely enough for my car to enter. But at the entry the roads were wide and I thought it will be so till the end, only to know that the GPS is messing with me. I managed to get out from that gully after being held up by a bridegroom procession for 15 minutes and people giving me choicest of their explitives..And then asked a localite and he directed me to a nice road connecting to the fort.

The fort is in a hillock and requires a bit of climbing. Nothing stressful or steep though, but some winding roads. This again is a tourist hotspot and many many cars/tempos parked there.

What greeted us was the Marwar kingdom's emblem. There is an entry fee and funnily a fee for using the Elevator. We hired a guide as usual and the guide did a good job giving the history behind the fort and all. I found it all less inspiring than Mewar history to which I was glued in awe,

This fort also has the history of being besieged over women. One queen who was supposed to be beautiful caused such fight between Jaipur kingdom and Rathores. There were human sacrifices done as well for the success of the fort it seems. I could see the canon ball marks in the wall outside. The steep gradient for entering the fort was also done well.

And what captured my imagination was the hookah!! What a life these guys, women( as many as they want ), wine, hookah( one of them died because of high does and fell from the top ), palaces and then the usual things men want, "Violence".. Would have loved to be born at that time..

A few pictures of the fort.

We finished the fort by noon and were hungry. The place suggested was On the Rocks. Man! The food was awesome, ambiance even better and the cocktails they made it great!! A little expensive but any one who loves non vegetarian food and a drink or two should visit this place. We went back to take rest in the afternoon as we were quiet tired and wanted to take rest. Took a nap, in the evening went for some shopping at local handicrafts, went back to On the Rocks for dinner. This time they had fantastic lighting, below the table which was transparent. And the inside is a dance floor. As we had our six year old, did not venture in, but you can shake a leg or two in the evenings there.

Next day is our journey to Jaisalmer. Did the usual groundwork of route updates and went to bed at 10:30 PM.