1st February 2011, 00:06
| #61 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Raiders of the Rann: A Kachchhi Kaleidoscope (Gujarat) Quote:
It's actually quite a simple procedure to get the permits from BSF HQ for Vigakot. I do not have any army connections and one does not require it for the permits anyways. One has to file an application for the same, alongwith IDs proofs of all passengers (and driver too if applicable) and RC for the vehicle. It just takes time and is not as convenient as in Ladakh. One does not need a permit for Kanthwadh, one can drive up till the village, but to off-track till the Rann, one needs to ask for permission from the BSF post at the village first. However, if one is doing Khavda - Dholavira during the summers through the Rann i believe a permit from the HQ will be required. Will be waiting for your log of your trip. | |
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9th February 2011, 20:49
| #62 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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17th March 2011, 12:36
| #63 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 297
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| Day 6: Bhuj - Ajrakhpur - Rapar - Dholavira - Rapar - Bhuj (460km) Sorry for the extreme delay guys in completing the story. there are no excuses, but I'm back to complete all activities that have been left unfinished by me. So without any further delay, here goes: Day 6: Bhuj - Ajrakhpur - Rapar - Dholavira - Rapar - Bhuj (460km) ------------------------- Having had a rather tiring day 5, we were not too keen to start early the next day, and hence only left the hotel around 9. The plan for the day was to visit Dholavira and come back, which itself would take the whole day since Dholavira is a good 250 kms from Bhuj. However, Aarti had been dying to see some artisans at work and also get some shopping done, so we decided to halt first at a village called ‘Ajrakhpur’. ‘Ajrakh’ or hand-block printing is a native craft of Kachchh, and artisans practicing this craft were mostly found in village Dhamadka, some 50 kms from Bhuj. However, after the devastating earthquake in 2001, the village was almost entirely destroyed, and the government rehabilitated the Ajrakh artisans to a new village, named ‘Ajrakhpur’ after their craft. This is about 10 kms outside Bhuj on the Bhuj - Bhachau highway. As we entered the village, we stopped to ask someone about where to go to buy stuff, and he immediately pointed us to the house of Mohd. Musa. Once we reached his house, Aarti’s eyes widened to unimaginable proportions, and stayed that way for the next 1.5 hours till we left the village. He had one room full of dress material, suit pieces, sarees, and what not! Everything was pretty and colourful, and Aarti had a hard time deciding what to NOT buy! Once she did decide, Musa offered to show us his workstation, and we gladly accepted. It was indeed interesting to see the accuracy and speed with which Ajrakh artisans print material with hand blocks, and also all the different ‘natural dyes’ used, which Musa explained were made from all kinds of natural things like plants, spices, oils, etc.  Musa’s humble abode  That’s the natural Indigo colour  Indecision at its peak! After a good look at the printing process and a nice photography session with the artisans, we decided that it was about time we left, or we’d have to chuck our plan of going to Dholavira. Aarti of course could have settled there, and pulling her away was indeed equivalent to torture for her. Thankfully, once we left the village, her eyes returned to normal size and her excitement on crossing the Greater Rann while going to Dholavira returned in full force!  Amazing accuracy and hand stability… and awesome patience!  Musa showing off a newly printed saree  Only natural colors used for printing, this is made from turmeric  A stack of printing blocks  Another artisan at work  A set of block prints  Printed sarees left out for drying The left cut for Dholavira comes right after the Euro Multivision factory on the Bhuj - Bhachau highway, and one then comes on to a narrow but smooth single-laned road. From here, we started following the route outlined in Outlook Traveller’s Driving Holidays, and ended up taking a rather long route to R which went through several villages. We couldn’t find a place to stop for lunch, so settled instead for chips and namkeen bought from a roadside shop.  Some birds at a lake enroute Dholavira  Their numbers were huge  Pretty yellow fields were a welcome change at places  Too bad, the flamingos were so far away to shoot. This was at 300mm!  A very strange bird Finally, around 2:30 pm, we hit the stretch of road right before Dholavira that crosses the Greater Rann. Needless to say, it was breathtaking, and the urge to drive on the vast white Rann was almost overpowering. Aarti had decided already that she wanted to explore the Rann on foot, and as soon as I parked on the side, she jumped off the car, and headed straight for the Rann. She’d hardly gone 20 feet when she realized that the Rann was indeed very, very marshy, and came dancing back, as is evident from the photograph below.  The soil was too marshy even to support a human being, imagine a car!  The "bridge" to Dholavira over the Rann  The great vast white Rann  White Rann Since we could not explore the Rann on foot, we decided to move on, and take some shots on our way back. We reached Dholavira around 3:30 pm after spending several minutes searching for the Harappan excavation site, which we thought was quite strange, given that it is the largest excavation of the Harappan valley civilization in India. We eventually came to the conclusion that the distance from Bhuj probably discourages people from visiting the place, and that when the road from Khavda to Dholavira is finally constructed, the place should be much better maintained. After looking at the museum where artifacts found from the excavation as well as the history was explained, the caretaker took us out to the excavation site. The elaborate water management system, and the pots, seals and jewellery of the Harappans left us amazed at the level of advancement of humans 5000 years ago!  A water harvesting mechanism at the site  The entrance wall was 20 feet thick!  A 5000 old house, the lease probably expired. We left Dholavira around 4:30 pm, and then stopped for some shots on the Greater Rann stretch. Carefully navigating the marshy land, we set up our tripod, and took some couple shots. I also ventured out a bit to take some shots of the electricity poles which seemed curiously majestic in the otherwise barren terrain. After spending a good half an hour enjoying the beauty of the Rann and taking photographs, we set off for Bhuj.  A pipeline runs parallel to the "bridge" probably providing fresh water to the "island"  Parched land and Kiyang on the "bridge"  The design of the base of these poles is amazing, it's made to withstand the marsh during monsoon.  Footsteps in parched land  A panorama of the Rann and the "bridge"  Another set of footsteps in the Great White Rann. The return journey was tiring, but we were hell bent on having a non-veg meal on our last evening in Bhuj, and so went to Hotel Prince, right opposite our hotel, for dinner. Our Gujarat guide book had mentioned that it served non-veg fare as well. After an okay meal of fish and chicken, we literally dropped dead in our hotel. |
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17th March 2011, 15:39
| #64 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 297
Thanked: 844 Times
| Day 7: Bhuj - Bhujodi - Palanpur - Abu road - Udaipur (650km) Our first experimental trip outside the Himalayas had been lovely, and we were more than sad now that the time to leave had come. The simplicity, beauty and colours of Kachchh had left us longing for more, but that only meant that there would have to be a next time. For now, it was time to head back to Delhi, and so we packed and left the hotel around 10 am. The first stop for the day was the Khavda Mesuk Bhandaar near the bus stand in Bhuj. Aarti wanted to buy some sweets for friends and family, and our guide book recommended this particular shop. It was rather difficult to locate it in the back lanes of Bhuj’s main market, but we eventually did find it, and shopped for some traditional Kachchhi sweets like Gulab Pak. Our next stop was Bhujodi, a village 8 kms from Bhuj, known for craft artisans. We stopped here in the shop of a National Award winning artisan, and Aarti shopped to her heart’s content for some beautiful (and remarkably cheap) stoles. Here too we were fortunate enough to catch an old lady weaving shawls, and she posed with a beautiful smile for Aarti (not for me though!). We then went to an NGO called Srujan’s store which too stores all of Kachchh’s different crafts, where I bought a very interesting book on Kachchh’s history, people and culture. Another addition to our coffee table books!  The lovely old lady had a unbeatable smile  The bus at Srunjan had some great prints outside  A camel figurine outside Srunjan's retail store We then pushed off around noon for our destination for the day – Udaipur. It was the 31st of December, and we’d planned to ring in the New Year in this romantic city. The expressway to Udaipur starts at Bhachau, and is excellent throughout, and the average speed never drops below 80 kmph.  Amazing highway after Bhachau  We had to request him a lot to let us take a shot for Aarti's office. At Sankalpur, we crossed the Great Rann again, and it was wonderful to see it for the last time! There was a flock of flamingos bathing in a pool of water in the Rann just off the expressway, and although I tried my best to capture them on camera, they were just too far away to be captured even by the zoom lens.  It was great to see the Rann for one last time for the trip  Flamingos in the lake  They were too far away, even at 300mm lens it was not clear.  A rabari family moving into the Rann The expressway turns extremely beautiful as one enters Rajasthan specially between Jhadoli till Udaipur. We reached Udaipur around 8:30 pm, found our hotel with some difficulty, and then collapsed! We were booked in a hotel in the older part of the city since no other hotels were available due to the peak season and that day being New Year ’s Eve. The hotel was situated on the banks of Lake Pichola, but on the back side of the Lake Palace. Anyway, the room was very pretty with a typical Rajasthani painted ceiling and a beautiful jharokha.  The stretch near Abu road is absolutely fantastic  The railroad going next to the highway just added to the charm  Dusk meant end of photography for the day We freshened up a bit, relaxed some, and then went to the rooftop restaurant of the hotel for a late dinner. The view from the rooftop was excellent, with Lake Pichola visible in all its glory, and the Lake Palace and the Udai Vilas all lit up right in front of us. It was bitterly cold though, and the angeethis weren’t working one bit. Also, the food was atrocious, but the atmosphere was quite romantic, and we didn’t let the cold and the bad food spoil our mood. By the time we finished setting up the tripod and taking a few panoramic shots of the Lake Palace and around after dinner, it was nearly 12. We had expected to see fireworks, but the ones we saw were totally awesome and completely unexpected! The most beautiful fireworks were set off by the Lake Palace, the Udai Vilas, and a dozen other hotels around the lake. We happily ‘free rode’, and got some excellent views! Having welcomed 2011 with great enthusiasm, we realized how tired we really were, and were out in a jiffy as soon as we hit the sack.  Fireworks at the beautiful Lake palace  Udai vilas, Oberoi  Another palace hotel from the rooftop  The dining area had an awesome view!  The fireworks were great to watch from the rooftop |
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17th March 2011, 18:10
| #65 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New Delhi
Posts: 297
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| Day 8: Udaipur - Chittaurgarh - New Delhi (750km) We got up lazily the next morning on the first day of year 2011. A lousy breakfast and a lazy morning saw us leave the hotel by 11:00. Before leaving for Delhi, we decided to make a quick trip to the much heard of Sajjangarh fort (Aarti had been there earlier and remembered it to be beautiful) and spend an hour or so there. A sneak preview of the town aroused our curiosity enough to ensure that we'd definitely go back sometime.  A morning view of Udai Vilas across the lake from our hotel  The Lake Palace  The room had a great chabutra to sit and enjoy the view outside  This guy charged us 20 bucks to pose for the camera. Smart eh?  A close look  Sajjangarh fort  The main building at the fort  A panoramic view of the plains below from the fort  A plastic vulture on a lone branch We decided to push off from there by 12:00 and after a harrowing time in Udaipur traffic reached the highway heading towards Chittaurgarh and eventually towards Delhi. A decision was made to make a quick stop at Chittaurgarh as well and see if it would be worth to visit the town again sometime. Thankfully, it too did not disappoint. I had been there before to attend a friend's wedding sometime back but it was a first visit for Aarti. A quick dash around the table-top fort in the town and a leisurely lunch later, we finally were able to leave for Delhi by 4:00pm.  Enroute to Chittaurgarh, fantastic highway  Climbing Chittaurgarh Durg  A ruin at the end of the hill-top, the place where some friends and I spent a lovely afternoon playing cards a couple of years back  A panoramic view of the lush green valley  A minaret at the Durg  Another ruin at the Durg  Lunch at some nice garden restaurant at Chittaurgarh The drive back to Delhi was long and I do not remember exactly but I guess that we made it back by 2:00 am or so. It is worth mentioning that we had the best meal of our trip at a non-descript Dhaba somewhere between Jaipur and Delhi. It comprised of the very famous but sparsely available Daal Baati Churma.  The last shot of the trip. Kachchh had definitely left its mark on us. We had gone there expecting very little, and had come back with so much more. The region is definitely one of the most interesting in the country. It is at places as barren as Ladakh, as colorful as Rajasthan and as contrasting as Kachchh where the true essence of India can be felt. Someday, we shall return there again, this time with a better mindset and a little more knowledge of the region to experience more of Kachcch. |
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23rd August 2016, 02:01
| #66 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kolkata
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22nd November 2016, 14:33
| #67 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Pune
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| Re: Help! Planning A Roadtrip in North-West India Quote:
 Last edited by ampere : 12th December 2017 at 21:05. Reason: Trimmed quoted post | |
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13th December 2016, 04:21
| #68 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kolkata
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| Re: Help! Planning A Roadtrip in North-West India Quote:
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27th January 2017, 18:15
| #69 | |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: New Delhi
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| Re: Day 8: Udaipur - Chittaurgarh - New Delhi (750km) Quote:
 All the information on routes, travel times, locations and the pictures definitely take this travelogue to a whole new level altogether. Planning my trip from Delhi basis your guide and taking suggestions from fellow TBHPians basis recent updates & developments along this route. Last edited by ampere : 12th December 2017 at 21:05. Reason: Trimmed quoted post | |
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7th February 2017, 12:46
| #70 |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: New Delhi
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25th October 2017, 22:49
| #71 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Mumbai
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27th October 2017, 12:20
| #72 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: Ahmedabad-Rann Utsav Route Queries Quote:
Roads are good, but more than that there was very less traffic outside towns. Getting out of Ahmedabad suburb area was bit tough due to traffic, but once that was done it was smooth sailing. You can find the co-ordinates of hotels and fuel stations in my thread . Link | |
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12th December 2017, 20:27
| #73 |
| Newbie Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: New Delhi
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