[v&v]

Prologue

As an annual affair we started planning a week long vacation during the kids winter vacation, Me and my friend had a quick meeting to plan the location and zerod to visit Puri, Kolkata and Sundarbans and we planned to fly to save time instead of driving. Tickets were booked, hotel booking were done at puri for new year and were hunting details of Kolkata,Sundarbans when my friend's brother was diagnosed with some serious medical problem and had to call off the whole trip and on 27 Dec we were back to square one. Did all cancellations of flight tickets, hotels reservations - lost a good amount.

Since my friend will not be joining , we did some brain storming and unanimously decided to vist Rajasthan again to the places not visited and also meet my old buddies one at Pokhran and Bikaner. As my kids vacation will start only from 31st, we planned to start our journey from monday 3rd Jan and back by 8 or 9th Jan.

Planning

Called up Club Mahindra to enquire details of any new tieups in rajasthan as i had news they are in process of tie-up for Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Sariska. Jaisalmer and Sariska was not yet finalised but of course Jodhpur they had tied up with Camp Thar, Osian. Booked 2 nights for 5 & 6th. We were lucky enough to get bookings.

Now the plan took shape - 3 & 4 - Sambhar lake,Ajmer/Pushkar, 5,6 - Jodhpur - 7th Jaisalmer and stay with my friend at Pokhran, 8th at Bikaner again with my 2nd buddy at Airforce station Nal and back by 8th evening.

We started on road trip on monday morning by 6 Am.

to continue....

[akp]

Nice pictures.

Last winter, we had a great time in some of the places you visited. Looking forward to reliving those moments through your log.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by akp

Nice pictures.

Last winter, we had a great time in some of the places you visited. Looking forward to reliving those moments through your log.

Thanks , Saw your Tlog. It was nice.

[SS-Traveller]

Great pics, v&v. Keep it coming.

[sudev]

Hey need narration on those pictures. Glued to this travelogue.

[phamilyman]

really nice stuff. so sambhar is full of water, eh? quite a bummer, no?

bring on the pics!

[v&v]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Great pics, v&v. Keep it coming.

Thanks Doc.

Originally Posted by sudev

Hey need narration on those pictures. Glued to this travelogue.

Will do that. The above were random photos at Sambhar, Oasis, Ajmer & Jaisalmer.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

really nice stuff. so sambhar is full of water, eh? quite a bummer, no?

bring on the pics!

Thanks phamilyman. Yap, not much water. Random spots but the whole bed was wet.

[v&v]

Day - 1 - 3rd Jan

Started 6 am. Cleary sky and no fog. Was able to mantain good speed. Stoped at Highway king around 8.15 am for breakfast.
Took a 45 min break. Headed to Sambhar lake, took the jaipur by pass.

Route taken - After the GVK toll , turn right to PHULERA which is around 20 km before DUDU. Sambhar is 25 kms from NH8. Roads are ok and traffic is Nil.
In case of doubt ask for Sambar town, or ask for Jheel. Once you reach Sambhar town , ask for DADWANA GALI. From here you can directly reach the lake bed. The lake bed was firm. We drove around 12 to 15 kms into the lake. it was a fantastic ride and view. Drove inside the lake for an hour and then return back via State highway 2 to DUDU via narena. The road condition
is bad in patches and last 3 km before dudu is bad.





















Reached dudu by 1 pm. Next target was Ajmer, RTDC Hotel Khadim. Reached by 2.15 pm. Plan was to visit Dargah in the evening and next day to visit Pushkar. Visited to Dargah around 5.30 Pm. When we reached, came to
know that Dr Abdul Kalam too visited the Dargah an hour before. We were luck not to visit early as the dargah was closed for general public at that time due to security reasons.

About Dargah - It is advisable not to take own vehicle near Dargah, Parking is an issue. Park at Hotel and take auto to dargah. Camera are not allowed. if you have camera phone , you can take pics with camera phones. I took some shots. Visiting in the evening better as the area lits up and is very beautiful. There is qawwali also. Spent aound 2 hours there. And were back to hotel by 8.30 pm.

Dargah inside Map


Street





Main Dargah

[fazalaliadil]

V&V,
The near monotones along the drive are well composed shots. Nice log, keep it coming.
Regards,

[v&v]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

V&V,
The near monotones along the drive are well composed shots. Nice log, keep it coming.
Regards,

Thanks fazalaliadil. Yep the foggy climate made it nearly monotone.

[v&v]

Day -2 - 4th Jan

In the morning we came to know about solar eclipse. Temples were closed till 4 pm. We thought of exploring Ajmer. Visited Anna Sagar Lake. Nice location and garden with parking facility and en-route to Pushkar. Stated by 11 am. Enjoyed boating and photography.

[v&v]

We left Anna sagar by 3 pm to pushkar. it around 12 kms and one has to cross a small ghat. Roads ok and little traffic. For parking you can drive all the to the Brahma temple has sufficient parking options. Since the temple was closed, it was crowded and temple opened by 4.30 pm. We waited for around 30 to 45 minutes for crowd to subside.

Staying option in pushkar are many but i think Hotel Navratan palace is just in front of the temple with ample parking facility and decent restaurant.












Pushkar Lake

[MohsinRoadster]

Your car in the 2nd pic looks beautiful on the white sand ..

[sudev]

Although at Pushkar they say that this is the only Bramha temple on earth - and they tell you a lovely story on why - I recently was viewing some documentary on Discovery and came to know that there is another Bramha temple in South east Asia - Indonesia(?). Also near Ajeetgarh (Sikar Dist) there is a Triveni Dham where there is a Bramha temple. Any one who can confirm this last?

[mjothi]

Seems you had a blast.

The panorama is wonderful. Somehow, my plans of visiting Rajasthan never materializes. Hope it does in 2011

Will it be possible for you to name the pictures in-line about the location?