4th March 2010, 17:21
| #16 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Hyderabad
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| Oh boy! Doesn't this thread bring back some good memories. Hey, I sat on a Michael Jackson in Sam too (many named that) and I recall one named as Sean Connery (!!!). These names are given so as to make foreigners relate to the camels. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Did you see a traditional dhani? A dust storm from inside a four wheeler is a lifetime experience indeed with sand flowing like water on the road. At Trio's, I remember how we guys all turned to look at a just arrived very pretty European girl in sleeveless along with two others and as they walked past us from 2 feet, boy did they stink of sweat. Haha. Bring it on nix!  Last edited by Delta Wing : 4th March 2010 at 17:25. |
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4th March 2010, 17:49
| #17 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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4th March 2010, 19:25
| #18 |
| BHPian | Desert Sunrise, Tanot and Longwala - 12 kms from the border Day 4 In the morning, we woke early and realised that it was a while before sunrise..so we called for camels (actually my wife did and I had no choice but to tag along) and went out to the dunes... This time if was separate camels, Hrithik for my wife and John for me  It was beautiful...calm and cool...total contrast from the day before. An amazing sunrise awaited us...the sun, a faint shade of yellow rising over the dunes. It was amazing but again no camera!! We went out further along the desert national park border to even bigger dunes and even saw some wild deer grazing around and an endless shimmering sea of sand. Coming back to the tent we had breakfast and went back to Jaisalmer. Checked back into Nachana and took a long long bath to clean up all the sand and grime and then decided to drive to Tanot to visit the Tanot Ray mata temple (this temple is very famous since during the 65 and 71 war, more than 250 shells were fired by the pakistanis right over this place but the temple survived without a scratch). Queens bed at Ranjit Vilas Suite  The drive is amazing, desolate countryside, grey dried out tumbleweed and huge dunes with not a single vehice along the way. Clicked pics with my wifey's Nokia 5800 which did a pretty decent job.   Tanot is around 120 kms from Jaisalmer...the route is jaisalmer- Ramgarh - Tanot and border is around 12 kms from this place but no permission to visit it!!. The original temple is a small shrine but the BSF that maintain the place have built a bigger temple next to it.  The road leads to pakistan...12 kms to the LOC  Had some snacks at the army canteen there. Moving out we realised that Longewala (the battle field for the 71 war) is just 38 kms away and so we decided to visit it too. The landscape could pass off for the moon, absolutely no traffic except for a solitary military truck and huge sand dunes and greyed out vegetation   We reached Longewala in quick time. Its essentially a military outpost, there is a single pakistani tank and a recovery vehicle still preserved exactly at the spot where they were shot down.    Tank engine  India's old border pillar (BP638) too is decorated along with names of the 1971 martyrs (The military guys posted there told us that India's border was here before 1971 but then India pushed it back into pak territory by 12-15 kms after our victory).  There is a well supposedly poisoned by pakistanis to pollute the water table there called Zaheerla Kua. All very poignant and one feels quite patriotic, here too the border is very close but the military guys told me that my Xylo wont make it through the slush and soft sand and they couldnt permit me to take a chance, bad luck!!   Well..we drove back to jailsamer and visted Bada bagh (royal cenotaphs. Essentially the royal cemetry dating back to the 15th century) on the way back. The guide was very interesting and told us a lot of tidbits about the kings and their whims.    After watching the sunset, we came back to the hotel, freshened up and went back to Trio for the last meal in jaisalmer. desiced to have a vegigie meal for a change...had besan ke gatte and rotis, very tangy and filling...washed it down with a couple of beers and crashed out for the night!! |
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5th March 2010, 11:42
| #19 |
| Team-BHP Support   | |
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5th March 2010, 13:07
| #20 |
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8th March 2010, 22:51
| #21 |
| BHPian | Day 5 : Jodhpur.... Woke up around 6ish and moved out for Jodhpur at around 6.45am. It is an amazing drive, no traffic, straight roads and real high speeds. We covered the 285 kms in just over 3hrs and reached Jodhpur by 10 am. we went to the camera repairman directly and agreed to whatever he quoted and asked him to just get at least one camera in order. He decided to go for the Sony. So with some hope, we checked into Ratan Vilas (its a heritage haveli of a prime minister of the maharana). After a quick shower and dumping our bags in the room, we moved to Mehrangarh, the direct road is shut for quite a few days since repair work is on near some bridge, so we had to travel quite some distance to get to the fort through the mandore area. ***All pics taken with a Nokia 5800 cell phone...aplogies for the quality. Suite at the Ratan Vilas  It is an imposing fort with a huge facade annd high walls. The 'must see' are the city views and the armoury, it has some unbelieavbly huge swords and guns. Bazooka's, elephant mounted portable canons and like...pretty amazing. View from Mehrangarh  Mehrangarh Palace Facade        Part of the exhibit...now this has to be the best job ib the world!!  Then we went to Jaswant Thada...its similar to Bada bagh in Jaisalmer in the sense that its the royal cemetry dating back to the 12th century. Has some real nice marble cenotaphs.   We also wanted to check out the Umaid Bhawan palace but the guides at the fort told us that it closes by 5 and since the roads were closed it wouldnt be possible to make it by that time. So we abandoned those plans and went to check on the camera guy, he said he would get it done by 8...so in high spirits I decided to take wifey shopping for some antiques along the circuit house road...came back with a lighter wallet. Met up with a realtive and she took us to have a makhiniya lassi at a sardar's shop near the station road (said it was better than mishrilal), also had mirchi vada, Pyaz pakoda, mawa kachor iat Janta sweets. It is unique stuff, picked up the cam on the way back. It was as good as new and I as thankful that the misadventure cost us just a couple of K's. Came back to ratan vilas, had a nice long bath, we were still stuffed from the lassi and the pakoras, so had a soup each and decided to call it a day!! Looking forward to click much better pics in Bikaner tomorrow!! |
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9th March 2010, 06:10
| #22 |
| Team-BHP Support  | |
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9th March 2010, 12:05
| #23 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gurgaon
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10th March 2010, 21:45
| #24 |
| BHPian | Day 6 : Rats and Palaces! Left from Jodhpur at around 6:45, got on to the highway for Nagaur and it was a smooth drive till I bumped into a closed level crossing. The bikaner-bandra express seemed to be late and we were stuck for over 45 mins, vehicles of all sizes piled up on both sides and I was apprehensive of a huge traffic jam there but amazingly as soon as the crossing opened, we moved out smoothly and there was no delay.  After nagaur its a complete desert landscape and we sighted quite a few deer and peacocks near the edges of the highway.    Reached Deshnokhe, site of the famous Karni Mata mandir, also known as the rat temple. Was quite nervous since I had seen it before on tv..but once you get over the initial fear of seeing a hundred rats crawling all over its quite a unique experience to see rats being revered...the rats are all over, in the milk, in the prasad, in the main temple area, outside near the periphery....everywhere...and the priests tell you to be very careful...if you step on one and kill or miam it...a golden rat has to be donated to the temple to atone the sin!!...      From Deshnokhe, its a quick 30 kms to Bikaner. We checked into Bhairon Vilas, which is just next to Junagarh fort. This too is 150 year old haveli with amazing antiques lyting around...even some regal dresses hun out in the rooms! we had lunch at Gallops opposite the fort, a nice chilled beer and spicy Bikaneri Murgh, a local speciality. Then we walked to the fort which provides a free guide every half hour and we were just in time to join a group. The fort is humoungous, has an amazing collection of antique stuff, a real WW2 biplane and well preserved royal rooms.            We came back to the hotel, fresehened up and the took a rickshaw to the old city, went to Bhikaram Chandmal, bought a lot of sweetmeats like ghewar, imarti, bhujiya, dalmoth, petha and had some rasmalai and other bengali sweets there. Also tasted their kachoris and samosas, nothing unique. Went to moolsa foolsa for a sweet pan, which we got packed and decided to have after dinner. There is a shop called Golcha Stores just in front of the pan shop, we purchased a lot of suparis and mukhwas from that place, very good service and friendly people. We took a rick back to the hotel to find a group of foreign tourists, there was a special program organised for them and we too were asked to be a part of it, there was some good folk music with traditional rajasthani dancers and lots and dancing...it was quite a lot of fun...though I cant dance even to save my life...wifey did some late night shopping at the inhouse antique shop...wallet's now featherlight!!  Retired for the night with some tired and aching legs...tomorrow we are off to Roopangarh near Ajmer... Bonus Pic!! Ratan Vilas at Jodhpur  Last edited by aah78 : 10th March 2010 at 22:04. Reason: Title edited on request. |
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10th March 2010, 22:35
| #25 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,891
Thanked: 42 Times
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11th March 2010, 10:45
| #26 |
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12th March 2010, 14:09
| #27 |
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12th March 2010, 14:33
| #28 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Very nice travelogue. Rajasthan is wonderful in these pics. Especially those palaces. Hope make it one day soon  |
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13th March 2010, 07:18
| #29 |
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13th March 2010, 09:37
| #30 |
| Team-BHP Support | Karni mata mandir snaps are very nice. I remember getting a thrill when all kinds of rats ran over my foot in my childhood! Did you try it? |
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