[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

school test:

Ashish,
Thats some good enlightenment reg. R forts and M forts.
Regards,

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Beautiful photographs. Which camera do u use? As the travelogues moves forward the quality of the snaps is getting multiplied. Definitely your return journey should have been far far shorter taking into the fact that the family was not in the CRUZE

Thanks. My camera gear is a humble :-

Nikon D40x
Tamaron 70mm-300mm lens which is useless at nights

Actually, i am not much of a photographer and there has been dust in my camera's sensor for a pretty long time and just couldnt get the time nor inclination to get it cleaned

Return trip was only myself and my cousin but, we made a great mistake of travelling back through the north-south corridor ( AP Express train route) and we went through some hellish roads that i ever encountered. Keep tuned for those details as this story progresses

Originally Posted by sami316

Amazing Travelogue Sir,

We did the same mistake of not taking the right turn at Sirohi and drew more than 100 kms as well. This caused us a delay of almost 3-4 hours. The pics are really amazing. Really enjoyed this TL and reliving our last years Road trip.

I am glad your enjoying the pictures. There are many many more to come before this travelogue ends. So keep tuned!

That right turn at Sirohi is really a great mix-up considering lot of people miss that turn as signboards are not really clear.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Avinash,
The three faces are good captures of character, we normally miss through the naked eye. So are the well documented photographs of your journey. Enjoying it all.
The first photograph of the palace with water in the foreground is a good composed shot.
BTW, the spots in your photographs are due to the dust particles on your sensor and not your lens, get it cleaned.
Regards,

Thank you Fazal bhai for your compliments. My camera is not well taken care and is used very rarely with me still in that amateur category from last 2-3 years

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

school test:

Question: What are the differences between forts of Rajasthan and forts of Maharashtra?

That's a wonderful school test. You should have let me answer the questions. I would have failed for sure...LOL

Great input Ashish. No wonder RJ gets so many tourists and MH does not

[mobike008]

We stayed in a hotel that was overlooking the famous Sonar Killa of Jaisalmer. This fort is unique and not like regular forts that you find across India.

There are people actually staying inside this fort and there are 5000 people supposedly staying inside this fort where they have their home and also run stores inside this fort.

A few pictures taken from outside our hotel at night......

[mobike008]

We freshened up at the hotel and had our lunch at the rooftop restuarant and decided to walk down to Sonar Killa which was just a stone's throw away from the hotel.

When we entered the fort, it was teeming with people as there are so many shops and people residing within the fort. Infact, autorickshaws also go inside the fort as it was not like an actual fort though.

We paid for the services of a guide who took us around and gave us a lot of dope on its history and background. We went till the top and there were some fantastic views of the Golden City of Rajasthan to be enjoyed from the top of the Killa. Nice opp for some solo picture opportunities.

A few pictures from the Sonar Killa, Jaisalmer

[Rajesh Rawal]

Love the cruze shot with the soneri killa backdrop.

Jaisalmer is my fav place when in rajas than.Also you get a lot of bhaw if your last name is rawal

No pics of camel ride et all in khuri?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Love the cruze shot with the soneri killa backdrop.

Jaisalmer is my fav place when in rajas than.Also you get a lot of bhaw if your last name is rawal

No pics of camel ride et all in khuri?

Thanks RR. It was a chance shot that we had a hotel right with Killa as the backdrop. The Khuri pictures follow :-

Next day, we hired a jeep that charged us Rs.750/head to take us to Khuri which is 50kms away into the sand dunes and it included camel rides, sunset views and buffet dinner with traditional song and dance.

It was a lot of fun with weather being totally chilly. During our entire Rajasthan trip, this place was the coldest as it was out in the open and in desert and weather was really cold.

However, it was great fun being in the desert. This was our first stint in the sand. Loved it completely !!!

[vnabhi]

Fantabulous narration with splendid pics! Keep them coming!

[Rajesh Rawal]

Jaisalmer mein kahani mein twist

Your cousin's moustache gayaab

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Jaisalmer mein kahani mein twist

Your cousin's moustache gayaab

@RR,

what an observation?:

I think tourist start to grow the mustache after getting inspiration for famous Rajasthani mustache but ......


@avi,

some of the pics posted here are out of focus, any problem with camera or effect of shaky hand in this chilling winter?

Looking forward for sunset and sand dune pic.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks for the offer to clean my camera's sensors but in return for doing such a good deed, i cannot offer that ride on ORR as i am strictly against making people feel jealous

Oh don't worry about that at all. The only jealousy I harbour towards WA and similar cars (and their owners) is that diesel is still locked at INR 41.33 a litre whereas petrol has now risen to INR 65.15 a litre .

By the way, home-made Rajasthani is better than most "outside" Rajasthani food I've had. Perhaps you should try that.

Good account of the journey so far. Like everyone else here I'm looking forward to the rest. Some day I'll let BQ taste Gujarati and Rajasthani roads. Hopefully I'll still be able to afford the petrol .

Regards,
spadix

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Your cousin's moustache gayaab

Good observation. He shaved off his mush for first time in his life. I just causally told him and he got brave like the rajputs of JSL and got it done...LOL

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@avi,

some of the pics posted here are out of focus, any problem with camera or effect of shaky hand in this chilling winter?

Looking forward for sunset and sand dune pic.

If your referring to sand pictures, they have been deliberately focused out and some of them is taken by others with shaky hands. Do keep in mind that amateurs at work then all pictures should look good

Here are some more pictures at Khuri in Jaisalmer with us enjoying the sunset and some dance and song routine until late in the evening followed by a nice veg rajasthani buffet dinner.

Yahan bhi office ka kaam? Main tho pareshaan hogayee







































Your's truly jiggling away with the folklore group

[mobike008]

Our original plan was to leave Jaisalmer early morning of Dec 31st drive to Jaipur and spend a night there before heading out to Delhi.

However, due to the ongoing Gujjar andolan issue we had to change our plans and drive directly from Jaisalmer to Delhi via. Jodhpur and Jaipur which was roughly about 945kms in a single day

As requested by Spadix, putting down a short log of rough times and kms covered until now from the time we started from Hyderabad.

Dec 24th, 2010
Hyderabad-Ghodbandar : 745kms in 14.50 hours ( 5:40am- 8:00pm)

Dec 25th, 2010
Ghodbhandar-Udaipur: 755kms in 13.5 hours ( 6:00am-7:30pm) including 1 hour in traffic jam

Dec 27th, 2010
Udaipur-Jodhpur: 255kms+ 200kms in 8 hours ( 9:00am-5:00pm)

Dec 29th, 2010
Jodhpur-Jaisalmer: 296kms in 3.5 hours ( 10:00am-1:15pm)

Dec 31st, 2010
Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Jaipur-Delhi : 955kms in 14.5 hours ( 5:30am-8:00pm)

Here is the white annihilator on the by-pass of Jaipur where we stopped for lunch around 2:00pm. We reached Jaipur in 8.5 hours which is not bad coverage at all.

After a leisurely lunch, we headed out at 3:30pm and reached Karol Bagh just before 8pm. Jaipur-Delhi route is in shambles

Lot of 4-laning work going on and there are just too many diversions and unprecendented truck traffic. This stretch is not great for driving until that work is completed.

We spent the new year's eve at my in-laws house in Rajinder Nagar and this was also the place where wifey got dropped off before we embarked on our 2nd leg of our journey from Delhi to Meerut and beyond.

[spadix]

DSC_6044 - Amazing way to spend an evening, I say!

DSC_6094 - Amazement this time at the dancer's capabilities. Very nicely captured.

AVi, the latest couple of installments of your travelogue have been the most exciting - even more so than reports of the superb roads and silly speeds WA experienced! There's something about deserts, mountains and oceans that just captivates the onlooker. Having experienced sunset over desert sands myself a couple of years ago I find your account bringing back those moments once again .

This will continue to remain an epic travelogue, as after the deserts there are going to be mountains .

Seems like Jaipur - Delhi stretch is just like the VJA - Hyd one! Thanks for that summary table. By the way, is that brake dust on the left rear rim (your picture of WA on the Jaipur bypass)?

So per this route, Hyd - Del is around 3000 kms as opposed to the 1400-1500 (?) via the N-S corridor. Lovely detour, man! Absolutely worth it, and absolutely inexplicable to the world outside TBHP (and equivalent).

Regards,
spadix

[gajadonga]

Nice pictures mobike008 good narration.I was away in Manali and on the way back into Rajasthan.
Will start a travelogue in a couple of days.
Am enjoying the travelogue

[SDP]

Nice travelogue there. Crisp description and decent snaps.
I was aware of pink city and blue city. Golden city was a surprise.
Any other 'color' cities in Rajasthan?