DRS Travelogue approved.

Thanks a lot SunilG.

Flashback & Preparation for the ride.
A trip to Auli was being planned with my close buddy who recently purchased Classic 500. I was highly excited since I longed to go on a trip with my close buddy. And when he proposed that the ride should be a “Bachelor Ride” my happiness had no address!! (Khushi ka koi thikana na raha) :D :P. But as one Mr. Murphy said, “If things are suppose to go wrong, it WILL go wrong”. And it did! My close buddy didn’t get leaves from office (And we all know from whom he couldn’t get permission, what a wuss :P )
But the seeds of long tour on bikes and that too with bachelor- feeling- ride started growing into a sapling. So, I had to prepare something else. Called up few biker friends asking them about their Christmas Holiday plans. Meanwhile, Rahul, who recently purchased CBR250 was roaring to go on a trip. He agreed to become by wing-man. Call to Sandeep finally yielded his agreement too. Great!! Got my bike serviced & got leg guard fitted which was done for a specific reason. Stay tuned.
22^nd Dec morning was fixed for our departure. Rahul purchased Cramster Colt too for the ride. Initially I had planned for Dirt Sack saddle bags but they were just too small. So small that it could only fit in some innerwears!! 21^st Night we all had a small discussion & went off to sleep agreeing to meet at the designated point at 5:30AM.



The ride starts
Woke up sharp at 4:45 AM. Gave call to both the riders & they were awake too. Got ready & with heavy heart said bye-bye to family (Was happy too for the bachelor-feel-ride :P) . Me and Rahul met on time. Sandeep was 10 minutes late. Got our tanks & my backup cans, each of 5 ltr capacity, filled at Soami Nagar petrol pump on the Outer Ring Road and set our trip meter to ZERO.


My Pulsar all ready to munch on miles.


At Soami Nagar Petrol Bunk. From Extreme Right Sandeep with his CBR 250 ABS. Myself with Pulsar 220 DTSFi. Rahul with CBR 250 STD.




We took our first pee break after crossing Manesar. There was definite chill in the air. Our hands were frozen & fingers just went numb. Since There wasn’t much traffic, we were able to do decent speeds & cover quite a lot in one go. The morning Sun had just started to show it’s face..








As you can see, I had tied up both the cans with my leg guards & filled petrol. 50% success rate as while taking a corner on a lean, one of the cans got scrapped & started leaking petrol. Still was able to fill around 3 ltrs from it.

Nice write up & pics Dada, hehe and new name DRS,
Awesomemosomes trip ever,

We took our brunch break at Kotputli, Rajasthan. We stopped at Rajdhani Restaurant and had good breakfast consisting of Paranthas, Egg bhurji & Tea. Since we hadn't had anything in that morning, we just gorged up 2 Paranthas each (Those were quite large!! ). With our empty stomach calls being put to rest for the time being, we resumed our journey....





ROUTE TAKEN WHILE GOING TO BIKANER
Now here is the interesting part comes. Those who wants to visit Bikaner should pay attention. If you check the Google Map, there are 3 suggested routes. The route I chose is as follows:

Delhi - Gurgaon - Bhiwadi - Behror - Narnaul - Chirawa - Jhunjhunu - Fatehpur - Bikaner

We took the right turn under Behror Flyover & stopped to ask for direction to Narnaul. There were couple of gentlemen who suggested that, though route from Narnaul is shorter for way to Bkaner, it's very bad in shape. Instead, he suggested that we take the Jaipur Highway & there would be a major diversion which will show up. The straight one takes you to Jaipur. We were suggested to take the left cut which passes over the straight road to Jaipur & continue till Chomu from where we had to take a right turn. This route consisted of major highways only. Though it's a longer route but consisted of much better roads.

As suggested, we took the route and we were glad that we did. On our return journey, we found out what the other route was!!

The fork type road, on of which goes straight to Jaipur & the other takes a right above the Jaipur, is one beautiful road to be in. You can see the Aravalli range within your range, large open spaces. Few farmland giving the hue of green & yellow colour and the winter sun above you keeping you warm enough. It's a picturesque stretch. The highway is is damn good condition & we easily touched speeds of 110 KPH. We took a photo break on that.
Sandeep looking really funny here. Note the Lens



Our horses
The New rider

The road from Chomu to Bikaner via Ringas, Sikar road, fatehpur is good. I can say almost 80% of the route is very good. It's just when it passes through few towns, you get bad traffic & bad roads. I's majorly 2 lane undivided highway but the traffic dies down after Laxmangarh. Our aim was to be close to Bikaner before 6 PM as Rahul was wearing tinted visor helmet. We stopped near after crossing Laxmangarh for some tea as I required it a lot. We were surrounded by few local people who started questioning us. Let me tell you, in this entire trip to Bikaner, I found locals to be very co-operative & nice. We had 10 minutes break over there discussing about roads ahead, nearby schools & hospital. We were told that road ahead was in good shape & there won't be any problem riding on it. It was a much needed break as sun was setting down & there was cold in the air. The hot tea really energized us up. Strangely, Rahul doesn't drink tea much (he rather prefers Bournvita Milk :P). We thanked the locals & the tea stall owner & continued our journey. Notice in GMap that there is a place called Fatehpur ka Bihad (the name is enough to send a chill down your spine at 5:30 PM, winter) :P

Good stuff so far bro!

Carrying fuel like that, isn't it risky ? Its like riding with a molotov cocktail strapped to your legs IMO! Be careful!

@ rx Nice pics.

Same thing went through my mind when I saw that petrol 'tank'. A small stone can break the plastic and spray petrol all over a hot engine.

Thanks a ton Monk & Praful.
Actually while riding, the left can got punctured as it got scrapped while I was taking a turn in lean but the right one held on pretty good!! May be you are right! But I have a doubt? Is petrol so volatile to catch fire with engine heat???

You sure, you want to take that risk? Petrol might not catch fire with just engine heat but incase of a fall the sparks from metal scraping on the road are enough to explode!

That was a good trip...why did you intend to carry fuel in cans....there are enough petrol pumps enroute and fuel is dangerous to carry in these cans on 2wheelers

Am sure a small puncture and spray of petrol would have been a grave mistake...wind and heat with a spark is more than sufficient to engulf you

Fuel / Water is no more a item to carry anywhere in India except for LeH / Ladakh

Thanks Ramesh. You see, am bit Paranoid of good fuel quality outside Delhi :P

Maybe you are right. May be I will search for a better quality can. One thing fore sure. In emergencies, it helps a lot. Rahul almost ran out of petrol as he didn't check the fuel indicator while riding (He was quite excited, you see ) & that extra petrol came to rescue.

A sincere request. No matter how paranoid you are on the fuel quality, please never ever carry petrol in the manner you did. Quality of fuel can not justfy the risk of getting burnt and fried with 'good quality' petrol. If you fill up from petrol bunks at major towns I do not think there will be much issue with the fuel quality.


Very good triplog.. Cheers..

HOTEL JASWANT BHAVAN STAY


The entire route was nothing short of adventure since it consisted of very deserted stretches. The sky was suprisingly very clear. Rahul had some diffculty in riding. I was leading the way & was helping Rahul & Sandeep (Who was the tail) in whatever way I could in terms of any caution to be taken or while overtaking vehicles.

In one of the stretch I filled up some petrol. The petrol attended after seeing my "unusual attire" asked "Kaun se Jiley se ho?" (Coming from which District) I was like, "Jiley??" I finally understood what he meant, Zila. I replied, "Koi Jila na. Dilli se aar raha hun, sid-dha." (No Distric, from Delhi, direct). He was like, WTF!! " Bike pe??!!". I replied affirmitively. "Milit-rri mein ho??" (Are you inthe military?). I had to save my pride & said, "Hanji. Rashtriya Rifles". "Dekh ke hi lagey hain", he said (It seems too). I was having a good lauch under the layer of Balacalava & Helmet though.

We managed to reach Bikaner only at 8:00 PM in the evening. Called up the Hotel & they promptly send a person to guide us through the city to thier hotel.

Now, let me write a brief about Hotel Jaswant Bhavan.
I was searching the net for a decent place to stay without burning a massive hole in our pocket. Came across 2 websites (Forgot the name) which had good reviews. Actually, in one of them, there were quite a few which actiually made me bit suspicious!! Nevertheless, I called up at the hotel & booked 1 standard room with one extra bed for 3 Nights. From outside, it just looks like a normal Haveli but once you get inside through the gates, you are greeted with spacious courtyard & garden. We parked our bikes inside the compund. I had been given assurance that there was good enough parking space available & inside the hotel premise & it was very true. It's quite a large compund having a main building & few annextures. Jaswant SinghPrime MinisterBikaner under the rule of Maharaj Ganga Singh ji. Shri Ganga Singh was educated in London and was fairly responsible for bringing socio-economic change in Bikaner. He also the king to bring rail network to Bikaner. I was highly surpised with the premise and the rooms which we were offered as Rs 1400 per night is not considered expensive. Let me tell you at the beginning that if someone plans to visit Bikaner, then Hotel Jaswant Bhavan is THE placde to stay. You get 4 room options. Family suite, consisting of one large double bed & another bed for a grouwn up kid. A Deluxe Room, also quite large. Standard Room, in which we stayed & then there is back packers room which is cheap but absolutely not cramped. It's fairly large. All the rooms had neat bed sheets & towels. All rooms had very nice washrooms. Mr Hanuwant Singh, is the son of Shri Jaswant Singh ji & his grandson, Mr Pradyuman Singh takes care of the property alongwith few staffs. All the staffs were highly courteous. They do get quite a lot of Foreign Travellers since the rent is not so high considering the fact that the property & hospitality is fantastic. We had a wonderful stay there.

Let me walk you through the property through pictures...



We freshened up & went to the dining hall to have dinner. It was warm & cozy & had that Royal feel...




Next morning's pics... The Hotel has many old photos on it's wall which reminds of the glorious past of the Bikaner state.



Check out the door

The front coutyard
Deluxe Room
Family Room

Garden

Back-packers room