nice ride there guys

hilarious pic..

sachin 650 chod ye hi utha le..
petrol ka kharcha nahi and low on maintenance

Shit cant believe missed this thread, love the pics man, esp your and viraj's 'drag pose' pic...

@Sachin
Awesome write-up bro...and the pics r driving me crazy...u all had a blast ryt?waiting for your further experience..

Thanks romeomike...
Halt

Will be updated by tomorrow I think. Lets see.
Meanwhile when are you & viraj going to share some of your experience so far
Ha ha Yeah.... It was fun sitting on the horse. Carrying helmet while sitting on the horse was not easy so decided to wear it

which drag pic did you like the one on bikes or on horse

Thanks vishal. Day 3 & Day 4 will be updated soon hopefully...

Now this is not fair I was expecting little more explanation on how cold was the water that Mr. Nair spent 30 odd mins. in Bathroom blaberring every Hindi and English bad word he could come up with... and add to the fun by the time I went to take a shower Hot Water was available

One more thing Sachin missed out in log was the following scene,

After doing all sort of TP at Sunset point everyone started coming down with rest of the crowd as the Sun had set, I was clueless as to what people are talking (Don't understand Gujurati or Rajasthani AT ALL) and mist of all the chaos I hear a funny English Accent with Gujurati Tadka

"What do you think of me as?? am I not important to you" and we turn around to see a couple sitting and as usual the lady shouting at her man
she used few more English words before switching to Gujurati which was quite funny for me and the poor fellow I guess was trying to tell her that "Please keep it low people are looking at us"

Then Mr. Nair started his analysis of the situation which went like this, they look like newly married in Mt. Abu speaking Gujurati then must have come for honeymoon... what happens to girls after marriage?? why they behave like this?? Viraj beware this will happen to you also post marriage and then it went on for few time

Mr. Nair Mt Abu is a stone throw away from Gujarat
People generally speak both the languages...

And BTW, what happened to your gyaan about why GPS in India is useless Now do you see a point?

The water was definitely freezing cold. No one can imagine how I had bath that day

Viraj - I hope you do not face the brunt of all these nakhras when you get married
Ya sir GPS would be helpful if there is no one around to help you with the right direction if you are stuck. But if you have local people around who can guide you its better to ask them than checking in GPS. At least on this trip

When we went to South Goa I agree GPS was very helpful. I still remember you checking in GPS when we were confused for the right direction.

The 2nd pic on the first page of this log...

Bring on the 3rd day log man the most exciting and eventful day on the trip...

Sorry dude. I was really busy this week with my work and yet to start writing on Day 3 & Day 4. However will try and complete it by this week.

Day 3: Exploring Mount Abu

Day 3 - Exploring Mount Abu
12 Feb'11

After 2 days of riding and a few spots checked out at Mount Abu Day 3 was all about exploring the beautiful places in Mount Abu.

08:00AM - Viraj first woke up and got freshned up followed by Puneet & me who are one of those people who love their sleep more than anything else.
By 8:30AM all 3 of us where ready to leave our place and begin our ride. We got ready and it was time to rock n roll in Mount Abu.
The weather was nice and we could feel the chill in the air. It was perfect conditions to start the ride. We fired up our bikes and decided to head towards GuruShikhar.
As soon as the ride began we were riding slow to check as many sight seeing points as possible. After few kms passed by first place that we saw was Trevor's Tank on the way.
We clicked some pics here however did not enter Trevor' Park as the park was supposed to start at 9 am so we moved on.

Offroading tale
We kept riding on a single lane road towards Guru Shikhar when suddenly all 3 of us stopped at one point looking at a beautiful point. It was miles and miles of open land where nobody was visible and Puneet asked us Can we do some Offroading???
Viraj & I looked at each other and said Yes sure why not !!! Both of us were using our stock MRF Zapper tyres whereas Puneet was comfortably off roading on his Michelin M45 Off roading tyres.
It was fun riding ZMR in conditions which did not suit it; this place was more like where I would have preferred riding Hypermotard or any MX bike
We very carefully took the bike downhill where this open barren land was there and kept riding. Puneet happily enjoying Michelin's M45 superlative grip & we stopped briefly for few seconds and we moved on again .. how much more .. we kept doing offroading for a good 5-10 mins when we finally reached a place where there is a dead end
This place was the highlight of my trip and personal favourite spot as I did not expect to see this kind of place. It is not mentioned anywhere in Mt.Abu's list of places to be visited. It was worth watching this place; open land and cold breeze blowing in your ears you cannot hear anything else.
We stopped here for our first break well not exactly break but we clicked a lot of pics here and spend quality time. While Puneet enjoyed clickng pics from his SLR, Viraj rode ZMR here and enjoyed it ofcourse.
In between all this here comes a man jumping over the wall of stones to check out what we were upto. The man had an Axe in his hand and came towards us. No he did not come to tell us that we were trepassers in fact he invited us to visit his farm which was on the other side.
We refused to go with him and told the guy to click a few pics of all 3 of us. We rarely have pics which show all 3 of us together. So we decided to move ahead after a brief stop here. It was a perfect start for us for today. Puneet mate thanks a lot for suggesting to ride here. It was fun !!! Everything was going right.

















Achalgarh fort - The medieval fort of Mt.Abu
We continued our ride and reached a booth where we had to pay Rs.3/- per person as 'Passenger Tax' to pass by. Here we found 2 routes one which can lead us to Gurushikhar and second one which will lead us to Achalgarh. After a brief discussion we decided to go to Achalgarh first and then go to Gurushikhar.
On the way to Achalgarh Fort the roads were not in good condition however we did manage to reach there in no time as the place was very close by. The place was crowded with tourist buses and tourist vehicles. As usual we were looking like aliens on our alien bikes to the people.
Here we met a boy named 'Rakesh'; He walked upto Viraj and asked him "Saab 20 rupaiya main aapko poora achalgarh dikhaunga aur Gopichand Raja ka goofaa bhi dikhaunga" He somehow manage to win our hearts with his confidence & with his innocence.
So sat behind Viraj R15 for the ride of his life. He waived Bye bye to his friends and took us all the way upto Achalgarh fort. The road here was upwards and was looking very steep indeed for the climb but was fun to ride.
When we finally reached at the top we saw beautiful views and it was simply majestic. There was a small lake which we can see down which huge coconut trees in the background it was very pleasant.
Here Rakesh said "chalo saab achalgarh ka jain mandir dikhata hoon" and Puneet lazily asked Rakesh "jyada seediyan toh nahi hai na" lol. Nahi Nahi said Rakesh and we started climbing the steps and after a point it was feeling like oh man I wont be able to reach the top of the temple.
But we are bikers who came here to tour and feeling of not missing out anything kept us going and we finally reached the Achalgarh temple. It was nice small temple with very few people.
Here I & Viraj spotted a Peacock far away from us. We did try to capture the beautiful bird however did not manage to click it completely as we thought due to the lack of zoom in our cams. It was sitting far away at some good distance from us and was looking beautiful.
This was the first time I saw a Peacock in its natural habitat. Man it was an awesome scene. We are all but ecstatic looking at our national bird. We decided to move on ahead of the temple slowly to try and see how much close we can get to this peacock.
We did manage to cover lot of distance to have a glimpse of Peacock however before we could click it the Peacock flew away. OMG what a sight it was ... Can't explain in words. That why we call it our national bird may be. It looked so beautiful while flying a beautiful treat for our eyes.
We were speechless. I & Viraj decided that lets try one more time may be it is some where just ahead where we can view it again. We kept climbing and only I managed to see the bird fly again as I was climbing in front of Viraj.
Rakesh, Viraj & I did a lot of treking here to explore and found very nice deep valley where wind was blowing enormously and clicked a few pics here too.
Once all set and done here it was enough of having sun bath and we moved ahead. Rakesh now was ready to show us Gopichand Raja's cave. It had a idol of Durgadevi and here we stopped and said a brief prayer.
It was fun trekking here and little boy Rakesh was very helpful indeed. He took us back down from where we began and here we took a small break for refreshment. All 3 of us were so happy meeting Rakesh that Viraj paid him Rs.50/- for his time to us. It was good to see him actually spend the money in eating breakfast for him & his brother. While we were inside Viraj's Autocop installed in his R15 was helping him keep his bike away from others. People were surprised and astonised to hear the alarm in his bike which prevented them from touching it.



































Gurushikhar - Magnificient Panoramic view of Mt.Abu
After Achalgarh we made a move towards our much awaited place to see which was GuruShikhar. The road to gurushikhar was full of corners and bends it was very nice riding here. We stopped at one more spot before finally reaching Gurushikhar. The point was called Jawai Point. Took a brief 5 mins stop here clicked few pics. Well as you can expect in India someone changed the name on the board to JAWANI point. lol
So finally we made it to Gurushikhar which is highest point in Rajasthan at an altitude of 5,676 feet (1722 metres) in the Aravalli range. Here we again had to climb steps after steps to reach the top of Gurushikhar. It seems today we were on a mission and nothing could stop us. We finally reached the peak of Gurushikar.
Here the first thing I saw was a huge brass bell outside the shrine, which overlooks the lush greenery of Mount Abu. There were many tourists here and this place was very crowded as we expected.
Many people visit here to devote their prayers to Lord Vishnu. There are quite a few temples that you can find in Gurushikhar. While Viraj & Puneet were relaxing in shade I was busy roaming around. There were people every where enjoying and here I also saw group of men wearing Idea T-Shirts and they were more on a business holiday. Yeah they were talking about having signal & coverage of Idea here.
Thats why Abhishek Bachchan says, "Get an Idea"
Adjacent to the temple you'll find a huge centre which is "Mt.Abu observatory"which was desgined for ground based infrared observations of celestial objects. This place was highly restricted and no one is allowed to go here.
Finally we had couple of glasses of Chaas. The Chaas tasted awesome and we enjoyed the cold breeze at the top. It was kind of weird it was hot and sunny but breeze was cold. Anyways I enjoyed it as it was something different to our climate back in Mumbai.
We took our steps back to our bikes and here I met a guy who asked me where did we all come from and what did we see so far I told him few places that we visited and it was nice to see people interacting with us.



















Trevor's Tank - Crocodiles & wild life sanctuary
Down the hill again we went all the way back to Trevor's Tank for an inevitable experience awaiting us.
Trevor's Tank - At the gate Viraj gave our Famous Xbhp pose while Puneet was busy paying the gateman money to pass. It was total Rs.40/person [Rs.6 for Entry; Rs.14 for Development Charge ; Rs.20 per person] and we were about to enter the gate of the famous Trevor Tank.
If you are a person that loves natural beauty then Trevor's tank is the perfect place for you to visit.
We started our ride and roads were in very bad condition inside the gate but that was alright for the place we were visiting as it was like riding in a forest. Both sides of the road was covered with dense jungle and long trees and I was loving every bit of this Offroading experience. Wow!!! finally I rode bike in a jungle.
We halted our bikes at the enterance of the Trevor's tank. This is a perfect place to spend time with your friends family or anyone else. So quiet so peaceful and so exciting.
I seriously wish If I could have thanked Trevor, The british engineer who build this place. It's said that Trevor dedicated this place to people to enjoy and watch nature. The place is called Tank as you'll find man made tank that is used to breed Crocodiles.
We were loving every bit if time spend here.

As soon as we reached the first station out of the many that was build by Trevor for watching the plentful wildlife in their Natural habitat we had our first glimpse at a CROCODILE. Man it was looking out of this world to watch a crocodile in front of you in its natural habitat in an experience. I was loving each and every moment of watching this beautiful reptile.
We clicked many pics of Crocodile here and just kept clicking. It was really amazing. I love wild life and after such a long wait I finally saw something in front of my eyes.
Here we met a guide with a very long stick in his hand who was ready to show us the some key points in the jungle but was asking too much money. He asked us Rs.300/person which we refused to pay.
We decided to explore the place on our own and within 5-10 mins of walk in the jungle it looked really risky going deep in the jungle as this was home to many wild black bears. The jungle was very quiet where all we could hear the gush of wind and noises made by birds. We quickly had a chat and decided to turn around and go back.
We reached where we started and spoke with the guide for sometime. I asked him how many crocodiles are currently present here. He said 4 crocodiles. Wow!!!
We decided to go to the other end of the dense forest which had few points to view like Crocodile point , Ancient oudi,etc clicked a few pics here.

Firstly we went to Crocodile point. It was a magnificient view from top where we could view the entire lake. Here I spotted another crocodile. OMG it was really huge and relaxing quitely unmoved on a rock very close to the water with somepart of the tail in water and rest of the body outside.
Here while I was viewing this huge Croc Viraj spotted the 3rd baby crocodile at the end of the lake. Was very small but visible. Man all this while I was looking and wondering where is the 4th one hiding.
While I was thinking there was something else going on Viraj's mind. He said to both of us that "If we manage to go till the rock which is around 15-20 feet away from the Crocodile at a height of around 10 feet we can get a closer look at this beauty.
I was all against it no way I was going so close to the Crocodile risking my life and others as well. It will be disasterous if we slip and went down right into the lake where it is cake walk for the Croc to eat us.
But Viraj did not give up and was still determined to see the Croc from close guess what he says to convince me "Dude you would have ran and gone if would have been a beautiful girl standing there but you can't come with me to watch a beautiful animal in its natural habitat. Come on!!!"
After a some debate Viraj finally convinced us and we made a safe plan to reach at a place pretty close to the rock making sure none of us would be in danger.
Before going there Viraj & I went to the periphery of the lake which was not entriely safe especially since we did not know where the F*** was the 4th Croc. Since they camouflage so easily with the rocks it is very difficult locating them. However there was no Crocodile anywhere in sight after lots of check up.
If I had ever done something adventurous in my life then this was it. We went into the dense jungle with complete silence & kept walking carefully pretty close to each other. In middle we saw a cage which was maintained long timeback it seems as it was full ff rust and might have been used in emergency purpose I believe. Kept moving ahead we saw an Ancient oudi which was looking beautiful but scary.
We moved ahead and finally reached pretty close to the place where the Crocodile was present. Firstly we kept our bags down followed by our helmets. Now slowly without making any noise we went so close to the Crocodile as if he could have smelled us coming towards him. Still unmoved we could actually see pointed scales all over his body we could see his sharp teeth it was a breath taking view around 15-20 feet away from the crocodile.
One slip from here and you'll become lunch of a hungry crocodile. We clicked pics of course and while clicking pics all 3 of us were completely focussed on where we placed our foot and safety was top priority. By this time there were other people who were watching us all this while and were shouting on top of their voice to stay away and not go to close to the crocodile. We gave them hand signals from this side to keep quiet as we knew exactly what we were doing.
This was one of my most memorable experience. After a bone chilling encounter with the crocodile we were on the way back.
Here again we passed by the ancient Oudi which was at a rock situated above us and we stopped here for a brief moment and thought should we go up there. Viraj & Puneet decided to stay down while I told them I'll quickly check this out and come back. Going on top all alone was the wise thing to do but the feeling of not missing out anything kept me going. I saw this Oudi it was beautiful and also had a staircase to go till the top but I preferred to stay outside clicked some pics and went back.
Here while we almost reached back to the start point of Trevor's tank we met guide and told him that we would love to tenting and spend a night in forest however we somehow missed doing this part. We wanted to spot one of the wild black bears that inhabit the region unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see bears.







































So with almost half day complete we were happy that we had seen a lot of places which were worth watching. It's rightfully said that Mount Abu region in Rajasthan offers a lot to see and do.
Right from lot of man-made beauties like temples and other tourist spots to the beautiful scenic views Mt.Abu has it all.

Stay tuned for remaining action from Day 3 & Day 4 coming up.......

Superb write up sachin and awesome pictures.

Day 3 was just awesome,everything mount abu has to offer,we saw almost everything.,.....

The Best part was when the Guide(Little boy) told us that at night tigers come here to drink water and relax and i am like wtf ? and also the baba who was giving me weird looks because i clicked his photo.


And also the Crocodile scene...Seeing a croc 10ft away is just bloddy awesome,one wrong move and your gone :P

Very well put together travelogue.Fantastic photos too.

Thanks mandar. Wish I get more time to complete the log
yeah lol.. hard to believe that tiger comes at night to drink water.
The baba's look were not weird it was natural.
Watching Crocodile was quite an experience. Wish we could see black bear too
Thanks melroyal. There's more coming up....