[jaysmokesleaves]

From Koteshwar we headed for BHUJ, where we stopped for the night. The next day, as it would turn out would be the longest and most exciting day of the entire trip.

Some views enroute to Bhuj.

[sudev]

Again and again - Simply amazing pictures and narration.

[harjeev]

wonderful pictures Jay and the narration is simply amazing! it almost feels that we are there with you on your trip!
when I looked at the map of the Bhuj area it brought back memories of a trip that we did in Feb,10 as a part of the Northern Motorsports Desert Storm event. It actually was one of the best trip that Ive ever done till date. Still I am so lazy that I have not even managed to post a small travelogue or the pictures

BTW What camera are you using?
Also the panorama of the safari on the road (the last picture in post # 88) is great!!!

Eagerly waiting for the update on the longest and the most exciting day of your trip
Cheers

Can you please share your inputs on the following
Thanks

Originally Posted by harjeev

MODS sorry for OT
But I've always wondered how does one type narrations when we've uploaded pictures onto the servers. Now this I know that we can insert specific pictures with the CLIP icon (the 3rd icon from the left of top row in the Reply to Thread Page), but as all the pictures are in serial like img10001, img10002, img10003 and so on how do we remember which picture is which so that the narration/ description does not get messed up. Further when a specific picture is upload on the servers the original file name is replaced with a number {attach} 123456789{/attach}

So if i am inserting 20-30 pictures how do I remember or acertian which picture is which one

This is one of the issue that I am not able to address!!
MODS if OT please point me to the right thread

[keyurshah]

Awesome stuff sir... Simply fantastic.
Sorry for being such a pest and nagging you continously for the next post. I hope you do not mind

Btw, still waiting for the "Rann" and the longest most exciting day

[sen2009]

^ +1 to that.
Dear Jay Sir,
Please give up the lethargy and post the Rann part.
And, while we're at that, phot number 3,4 and 5 from the Koteshar set (your latest post) is simply awesome. The people totally merge into the landscape. Too Good...

PS - Has you photography skills really improved so much, or are these works of the "Jatin" dude?!

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by harjeev

wonderful pictures Jay and the narration is simply amazing! it almost feels that we are there with you on your trip!
when I looked at the map of the Bhuj area it brought back memories of a trip that we did in Feb,10 as a part of the Northern Motorsports Desert Storm event. It actually was one of the best trip that Ive ever done till date. Still I am so lazy that I have not even managed to post a small travelogue or the pictures

BTW What camera are you using?
Also the panorama of the safari on the road (the last picture in post # 88) is great!!!

Eagerly waiting for the update on the longest and the most exciting day of your trip
Cheers

Can you please share your inputs on the following
Thanks

This is one of the issue that I am not able to address!!
MODS if OT please point me to the right thread

Harjeev, do try and find time to post a travelogue. Its good to share a wonderful experience and motivate everyone.
We used 2 cameras. EOS 500D & NikonD60 i think. Glad everyones apperciated the pics. All panoramas were shot without a tripod, which we forgot to carry.

This is how I go about posting pics and the writeup. I type the body of the text on a word page. I upload all the pics, 10 at a time only, and insert all of them in the post. Then I copy paste the text in between the pics. Yes the file names change as you mentioned, thats why i post 10 at a time so its easy to just count the number of pics inbetween which you want the text, regardless of remembering their filenames.
Ive experienced this often, that when i upload more than 10 pics in the same post, after the first 10 upload and im onto the 2nd set of 10, i get a network error/server busy, due to which i have to reload the whole bunch again. I use a fast net conn so its not got to do with my conn nor with google chrome, my browser.
Hope this info helps.

Originally Posted by kavesh55

Dear Jaysmokeleaves- Please accept my congratulations for the awesome pictures. Very well shot. You seriously could take for professional photography. I would certainly rate this thread 5 star for detailing and quality of photos.
Infact the snap on Pg 1 showing the traffic jam reminded me of last month when i had visited Poush Dhabha ahead of Dahisar. Got stuck in the jam and they car simply begged to run. She was an Ikon 1.6.

Thanks for the appreciation Kavesh. Still a very long way to go before I can even exploit the potential of my camera and ive just started learning photography.
The traffic jam seems to be routine now. Its not the first time ive got stuck on a jam on that stretch. On the A'bad-Bbay side too, just before the Charoti toll, its a complete mess.

Originally Posted by sudev

Again and again - Simply amazing pictures and narration.

Thanks Sudev.

Originally Posted by keyurshah

Awesome stuff sir... Simply fantastic.
Sorry for being such a pest and nagging you continously for the next post. I hope you do not mind

Btw, still waiting for the "Rann" and the longest most exciting day

No Keyurshah, I dont mind. In fact you compell me to take time out for good.
Thanks for the appreciation.


ET AL>> I see five stars to the thread and feel quite happy. Thanks to everyone who appreciated it and all you invisible readers.

Regards,

J

[BusyBoyKK]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Lunch stop before Gir.

A fine monday, at office, wondering what would fuel me to work for the day. Then came across this thread. Now, wondering how come I missed it for 10 days. Instantly glued. Arrived at the lunch spot and then I came back to my senses, badly need a pit stop, err.., lunch.
Thanks for the amazing photos, definitely a treat for a person like me who hasn't visited GJ and appreciate your patience in compiling the travelogue inspite of some hiccups.

BBKK

[smsrini]

Grew up in Gandhidham, so this thread brought back lots of memories of Bhuj, Mandvi, NArayansarovar and the surroundings...

Good to see the roads interior in kachchh ( official spelling :-) ) are so well laid..

thanks for sharing...

cheers!
Srini

[smsrini]

For those interested..

::.DRoyal.::

cheers!
Srini

[dkcrpl]

And behold, the beach, blue!!! As blue as blue can get!!


Hope u didn't go into these waters.they are very tempting and at the same time quite dangerous . The land contour is in steps and you may be walking in the water and suddenly you go down by 2-3 feet. i was at jamnagar for 9 yrs. we had a few casualities in this stretch.
after that our company issued a warning note.

[ambivalent_98]

Nice photos Jay. Its completely an unseen part of India and that too in such detail. Just heard about the Rann and Kathiawad but your pictures have me stunned. I would love to visit this part of India sometime. Kudos to you.

[pravdr]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Veraval is a ship building and fishing town. Huge dhows being built all along the roadside and huge logs of timber scattered everywhere. The water has turned reddish purple probably due to all the chemicals used in the ship building process.

Dus baat ki ek baat, here is a panoramic view of the place.
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And a couple of more pics
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From Veraval , our next destination was Junagadh. And we decided it would be fun to drive via the Sasan Gir road that runs along the Gir Sanctuary.
The road was good. We were just a few kms from Gir when we decided to stop for lunch since there weren’t any dhabas around not expected until Junagadh. We found a wonderful spot between the shade of 2 banyan trees overlooking a mango orchard and called a pitstop. Had carried the prepacked MTR variety of food and noodles. So the next hour was spent enjoying the picnic and the lovely breeze under the shade of the trees.

Lunch stop before Gir.
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Soon after we passed through Gir, but decided to proceed further, since Gir is a full 2 day project for the future and it would be worthless to squeeze the trip in one evening.
The drive through Gir though was simply wonderful. Its a single lane road full of twists and turns and speedbreakers that runs alongside the forest. We even had 2 deer sightings. Both were a different kind of deer that crossed the road, paused for a while and disappeared into the thicket. We weren’t ready with the camera so we missed the shots. Along the route however, we spotted a huge lake and decided it was time to get off the road and straight to the lakeside. The lake was calm and serene and the waters receding due to the summer.

The lake view.
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We spotted some birds and vice versa.
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The Gir lion, not in a mood for a drink.
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Following that we headed straight for Junagadh... the fort, also known as UPARKOT.

looks like you spotted a pair of brahmini ducks(golden colored)

youve caught them in flight too.

wonderful travelogue

regards

pg

[pravdr]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Along the way, lots of birds, windmills. GJ has lot of wind power generation. There are wind farms all along the coast spinning endlessly.
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we smell beach. So we get off the road and up a small sand dune. 4H did the trick with my almost treadless tires.

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And behold, the beach, blue!!! As blue as blue can get!!

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those are damoiselle cranes.

well it would be worthwhile to carry a book on birds before embarking on coastal gujarat.

wonderful shots of birds

pg

[keyurshah]

Sir, eagerly waiting for the next post. Please try and upload some stuff at the earliest.

[mayurpalav]

MP. Jatin only cooks maggi if you can take him on a 3k+kms drive in a Safari. Until that time you would be better off buying him a McD burger yourself. - Jaysmokesleaves

Heard about the ZMA delivery , I got my P220 and then you have the P180, Let's hit the road when Jatin is down again. The burgers are on me (if we can find them) , however you will need to run in the ZMA before that.

Cheers
MP