19th February 2010, 22:21
| #211 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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20th February 2010, 02:35
| #212 |
| Senior - BHPian | Sahelion Ki Bari We exited Bagore Ki Haveli at 5pm and rushed to our next destination, "Sahelion Ki Bari" or "Garden of maids". This garden is said to have been made for the 48 girls, Maharana Sangram Singh II received, as part of his dowry. What a lucky man!!!  We hailed an auto rickshaw by 5.15 from the Jagdish Temple circle and negotiated a rate of Rs. 40 for the trip.   We reached the garden after a short ride, bought tickets and entered the premises by 5.45 pm. It was already a bit dark when we entered. So we quickly captured some snaps of the fountains, statue and the pond. We did not like the place much and in my opinion, it is totally avoidable, if a visitor is hard-pressed for time!                  We came out of the garden and went to a shop near the entrance and bought some curios. We were also happy to witness some visitors adorning the traditional dresses and getting the photographed!      Suddenly we hear loud clapping sound and saw a bus load of tourists coming inside with a guide. We burst out laughing when we saw everyone clapping like mad!! We were totally shocked seeing this strange behaviour. Then we noticed that the fountains on the pathway, suddenly sprung to life! We wondered whether it was really the clapping that set off the fountain! Imagine our shock, when the shop keeper asked us to look to our right! We saw the gardener switching on and controlling the fountain’s motor!!! The harder the tourists clapped, the higher the water spurted out from the ground!!! We had a hard time keeping a straight face when the tourists walked past us!  The guide had made them believe that sound controls the fountain!!! We wanted to capture a snap of those geniuses, but they went inside quickly! After all the excitement, we got out of the garden by 7.30 pm and had tea and samosas from a restaurant nearby. The temperature dropped quickly and we were forced to cover ourselves up! We decided to walk for sometime, before hailing an auto to go back to our hotel. We visited a small shopping complex nearby and soon came across an exhibition conducted by the Govt. of India. The artisans were from New Delhi. There was a huge collection of ornaments in metal and precious stones, marble statues and leather items. We got a great deal for most of the stuff and left the hall by 9 pm, with a heavier bag and a much lighter wallet!!!     |
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20th February 2010, 11:53
| #213 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 1,045
Thanked: 458 Times
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20th February 2010, 12:01
| #214 | |
| BHPian  | Quote:
 I couldnt help laughing when I imagine that scene. A snap of these geniuses would have been real great ;-) | |
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20th February 2010, 17:14
| #215 |
| Senior - BHPian | Some night shots of the Garden Hotel.... After visiting the exhibition, we hailed an auto rickshaw and reached our hotel after a fifteen minute ride, by 9.30 pm. We paid the driver Rs. 40 and straightaway went to have dinner from Surajpole junction. We had tasty momos, which we tried after a long time! We ordered Roomali Roti and Tandoori Chicken as parcel and returned back to our room. We had our dinner in our room as the restaurant was really small! The food was really good. After our dinner, we got out of the hotel as I wanted to take some night shots of the Garden Hotel and the Vintage Car Museum. We had been seeing the beauty of the illuminated Garden hotel, right from the day we reached Udaipur and I was always procrastinating, the night photo shoot. Finally we got some time to capture the beauty of the palace at leisure!  We were surprised to see completely empty roads. I did not want to use my tripod and all these shots are handheld.            Please excuse me if the pic quality is not up to the mark! |
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20th February 2010, 21:05
| #216 |
| Senior - BHPian | @ Gajadonga, I am happy that you are enjoying my pics. There are lots more coming up. I had a terrible time with connectivity yesterday and the uploading got over only after 2 am. Well, I have to complete this travelogue, right? @ Raj, I just couldn't get my hands free quick enough, to click a snap of those geniuses. My belly was aching after laughing so hard and I was holding it tight!!! |
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20th February 2010, 21:35
| #217 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,891
Thanked: 42 Times
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21st February 2010, 00:48
| #218 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
Posts: 2,877
Thanked: 231 Times
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21st February 2010, 01:05
| #219 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
May I ask why you don't use a tripod? | |
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22nd February 2010, 17:16
| #220 |
| Senior - BHPian | Day 7 – Journey to our next destination in Rajasthan…. After capturing some wonderful pics of the Garden Hotel and Vintage Car Museum, we returned back to our hotel at 11.30 pm and retired for the night. That was our last night in Udaipur. We were so happy that we could spend some quality time in such a beautiful city. We always wanted to spend more time in Rajasthan and planned to leave for our next destination, the next day. Day 7 – Journey to our next destination in Rajasthan…. We woke up on Day 7 of our journey by 9.30 am and freshened up. We checked out of our hotel by 11.20 am. We loaded our heavy luggage in Chevy and finally were ready for the drive by 11.35 am. My Chevy’s odometer read 82,795 km. We had a huge stock of water, juices and chocolates in our cool box. We started our journey after a short prayer to the Almighty. We got directions from an auto driver and took the road towards Sukhadia circle. We saw Lok Kala Mandal en-route and took some pics. But we did not bother going inside as we were hard-pressed for time and we wanted to reach our next destination before evening! We soon passed the Chetak Circle and continued our drive on the butter-smooth roads of Udaipur city.            We were cruising along the streets, when suddenly an Alto car came parallel to my Chevy from the left side and tried to take a right turn, after overtaking me from the left side. I had barely two seconds to react and before we understood what was happening, we heard a loud WHAM sound!!!  I pulled my steering completely to the right and somehow braked to a stop in the middle of the road. I was shocked at the sudden turn of events!! The Alto had also stopped in front of my car. My wifey quickly rolled down her window glass and shouted at the guy in the Alto. She was sitting in the passenger seat and had witnessed the stupidity of the Alto’s driver firsthand! She was literally fuming at the driver! My wifey is extremely possessive about Chevy Baby and she WILL take on anyone who messes with our Chevy, in her presence!!! I quickly got out of our car and went outside to inspect the damage. The Alto had a HUGE dent and a very deep scratch on the right side back door. The paint from the door was scraped off! Fearing the worst, I went near my Chevy to see what had happened to my headlights. Surprisingly, there was not even a single scratch on my Chevy’s body, as my crash guard had completely absorbed the impact and protected the headlight. There was a deep scratch on my crash guard, but it was nothing serious. I thanked God and was completely relieved! The driver of the Alto had also got out of the car by then and I was shocked to see him still speaking on his Bluetooth earpiece. He was a well-dressed guy in his 40s and appeared educated! I lost my cool seeing his careless attitude! I blasted him and asked him what his intention was, when he took a right turn after trying to cut me off! I also asked him whether he did not want to reach home in one piece! He got an earful from my wifey too and was at a loss for words. His explanation was that he had put the indicator before turning right! I told him that he must be the biggest fool in Udaipur to overtake a big vehicle from the left side and suddenly turn right! He did not have anything else to say. I went back to my car and reached for my phone to call the Police. When I turned back, the Alto was nowhere to be seen! He had quickly left the scene as he must have realized that he did not stand a chance, if the police came! We pulled over to the side of the road and calmed our nerves. We had a drink, relaxed for a minute and re-started our drive and soon reached Sukhadia Circle.       Sukhadia Circle commemorates the memory of Udaipur's Mohan Lal Sukhadia, one-time Chief Minister of Rajasthan and was built in 1970. There is huge fountain and a park inside the circle and a circular pond surrounds the fountain! |
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22nd February 2010, 17:27
| #221 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
Posts: 2,877
Thanked: 231 Times
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So I don't even carry my DSLR most of the times. It's mostly a point and shoot camera that my wife carries. Sorry about the  | |
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23rd February 2010, 01:02
| #222 |
| Senior - BHPian | Drive to Mount Abu.... We reached the highway towards our next destination, Mount Abu, after another 45 minutes of drive through city roads and state highways. The highway was fantastic as always. The road was deserted and I increased my cruising speed to 110 - 120 kmph.  We reached the first toll plaza at 1.05 pm after covering 40 kilometres from Udaipur and paid Rs. 45. The road condition was simply awesome and we reached the second toll plaza in 50 minutes, covering 55 more kilometres. This time the toll was Rs. 40. The highway was well maintained throughout and we enjoyed our drive greatly.             The scenery was breathtaking and we stopped for a short photo shoot of the fields. We loved the wonderful landscape!        |
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23rd February 2010, 09:24
| #223 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 239
Thanked: 48 Times
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23rd February 2010, 10:22
| #224 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Pune, Vadodara
Posts: 528
Thanked: 463 Times
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23rd February 2010, 13:00
| #225 |
| Senior - BHPian | |
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