On the way to Jodhpur - Moments to remember
26th Dec'12
Route: Jaisalmer - Pokhran - Jodhpur
Distance Covered - 290 kms

If Jaisalmer was all about fascinating desert safari, beautiful sand dunes, incredible architecture & atmosphere then Jodhpur in contrast offers breathtaking panoramic views of the city, home to forts, palaces and temples. Our journey started from Jaisalmer and was fast paced because of a beautifully laid tarmac, a 2-lane road with limited vehicles early morning. The road was good all the way till Baleshwar however after Baleshwar the road becomes worse and remains bad all the way till Jodhpur (last 60 kms)

Heart in Mouth Situation - Because the roads are well laid we were cruising at around 100 kmph and here came a speed defying situation or should I say here came a Baby Goat (Kid)
I could see this goat crossing the road from the other side and because the goat was walking very slowly with no intention of stopping as per my judgement even if I would have braked hard I would have collided with the goat. I decided to increase the speed so that before the goat can even cross half way I ll go through safely. Well! It did n't quite go as per plan & as soon as increased speed to move quickly the baby goat had its own plan. It suddenly started running and I went to as much left as possible to avoid collision but it was too late and I was going to collide if the baby goat would not stop on its own. With almost cms away from the goat in front of me the baby goat suddenly stopped right beside the bike and if I have to put in words then it was like he/she applied brakes using her front legs dragging the front 2 knee's on the ground stopping him/herself from hitting my bike. Phew! All's Well that end Well's

Luckily I did not hit and survived. Trust me, It's absolutely crazy riding in open Rajasthan roads with all these cattle crossing. I can only wish if something can be done to avoid these situations the ride would have been much more pleasurable





Meet Kim Sinclair -
As we continued our journey after the goat fiasco, I saw a guy geared from Head to Toe and was riding solo with luggage. As we rode for some distance and then because I put the parking lights on and moved on the side of the road, Kim stopped as well to say Hi to a fellow biker. As soon as Kim removed his helmet I was surprised as I did not expect a foreign tourist riding solo in RJ.
Kim explained that he is from Australia, 60 years old and works in Dubai. Kim works in Emirates as a Training Captain Examiner & owns a BMW R1200. He was riding solo exploring Rajasthan. It was a pleasure riding with Kim for the next 100 kms and since Kim did not know exactly where his hotel was in the crowded city of Jodhpur we guided him all the way to his hotel before we moved on. Let me tell you it was like searching a Tiny Diamond in a coal mine. Jodhpur city is so crowded that finding a home-stay was like Mission Impossible. It took us close to 90 minutes to find the home-stay where Kim had booked his stay in Jodhpur. Nevertheless, We thought it would be easier for us to communicate and find the place rather than Kim as we are in our own country.

As we bid Good Bye to Kim we moved on and we struggled to find hotel for the next 30 mins and Jodhpur city was giving us a tuff time with all the traffic around us. Finally we asked one Auto Rickshaw about hotel and we guided us to a hotel where we finally halted. Since it was already 4:30, we could n't see the fort or palaces intended to be seen today as a result we called it a day and started walking in Jodhpur city.









As we walked we reached the center of city where we tasted Special Lassi from Famous Janta Sweets which is opposite to Priya Hotel. Priya Hotel is recommended for Delicious Rajasthani Thali and we were not disappointed. It was very tasty to our delight. We also went to Mehrangarh Fort at night to enjoy the beautiful Panoramic view of the Jodhpur City before we ended the day.

























Our Hotel Owner told us to park the bikes inside the hotel so that theft can be avoided. We parked the bikes inside the hotel as suggested to avoid any sorry situation.

Thanks Nagesh!

Sachin and Deepan - Thats a really nice RR there guys and awesome pics as well !
It has always been a pleasure reading your logs Sachin! Somehow can instantly connect to your writings.
Loved ur last log as well - starring N650 . Keep it up. All the best and keep riding mate!

A Visit to Longewala & Tanot
25th Dec'12

Distance Covered - 350 kms

Longewala, The first thing that strikes my mind when I think of this place is 120 soldiers defending the post when Pakistan army attacked us during the 1971 war. Despite all the odds the post was not abandoned and we held 2000-3000 strong Pakistani Army at bay for the full night until Indian Air Force arrived in morning.

I woke up and started the day with a big fat lie. I told Deepan to wake up it's 9:30am and we need to go asap. That was the only way he could have jumped off the bed. Actual time was 7:30am
Made an early morning call to HV Kumar and confirmed on how to reach Longewala and any watch-outs. Well, there were many watch-outs we had to take care off. So let's start with the watch-outs first.

Watch-outs -
1) No Fuel Station - From Jaisalmer to Longewala - Tanot and back to Jaisalmer is 320 kms. There is no petrol pump present anywhere between Jaisalmer & Longewala. So who ever is planning to go to Longewala please ensure you fill your tank completely at Jaisalmer before you start your journey. We carried 3 litres extra fuel in plastic bottle extra just in case if it was required. There is petrol supplied in Bottles in Ramgarh at higher rate and highly doubt the quality of fuel. This can be an option in case of emergency.

2) Private Vehicle only - There is no means of transport, carry eatables and enough water since there is nothing available on the way.

3) Longewala Route - There is a left turn board from Ramgarh to go to Longewala however we took the left and were lost in a very remote place without any boards or people. Please inquire at Ramgarh which is the correct left turn as it might be a little ahead.

We rode from Sam sand dunes back to our hotel to collect our luggage and to fill petrol. Priyank had left us a note last night that he has left Jaisalmer and was returning home as her mother was still in hospital. We filled one full tank of petrol and with that Ninja 650 can do at least 280-300 kms and total travel distance without fuel was 320 kms hence, I carried 3 litres of extra fuel to be on the safer side.



























One of the finest roads in the country - What can I say about the roads. I am speechless when I try to recollect the fun we had riding big bikes here. From Jaisalmer to Ramgarh was a blast. One particular strecth I was riding behind a Ritz (car) at around 100 kmph and overtook him at around 120 kms as I looked ahead I saw a super tempting open strecth and decided to tuck in and twist the throttle. I ended up doing 198, 199, 200, 202 and back to normal speed. Phew what a rush! The 650cc Ninja proved its worth and was stable even doing those speeds. I loved it!















We reached Ramgarh within no time and from here one has to take a left turn to go to Longewala border which happens to be around 43 kms. The roads are exceptionally maintained by BRO (Border Roads Organization) and this is definitely one place I would recommend everyone to ride on. Open roads which are stretching as far as your eyes can see with desert on both sides. Roads sometimes are arrow straight sometimes they incline upwards and sometimes decline downwards, it is nothing short of a brilliant experience riding here. We reached Longewala by around 1pm and spend a lot of time chatting with BSF guards who were friendly and gave us all the information about the place. I felt completely different being there, lost in the various chapters from the history of Indo-Pak war which happened here. Here we saw a Pakistani tank & a truck which were destroyed by us in 1971 Indo-pak war. The journey is quite panoramic, a road within huge sand dunes present in actual Thar desert.

















































































Tanot -
We moved on to reach Tanot in no time. Another wonderful strecth of road as good as what we experienced so far but the sand dunes we saw while riding to Tanot were the real thing, these dunes were huge. After seeing the dunes in Tanot, suddenly Sam sand dunes felt very small and like tiny mounds. Tanot is another special place which is a must watch when you are in Rajasthan. It is said that during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistani Army dropped several bombs targeting the temple but none of the bombs could fall on the temple and large number of the bombs in the vicinity of the temple did not explode. After the war the temple management was handed over to Border Security Force of India. On date Border Security Force Jawans man the temple. The temple has a museum which has collections of the unexploded bombs dropped by Pakistan. The place is close to the Pakistan border, an unfertile land, and is prone to enemy attacks. The governments of both countries have planted land mines in the area. Animals like camel or cattle are the worst sufferer of these devices.
After taking darshan of Tanot Mata we moved on and did some nice photo session in the dunes. Final leg of return journey started!





















































When I hit a dog
It was around 5pm and we were doing good speeds of around 100 kmph when suddenly in front of my bike looking at the opposite side a dog crossed the road. It happened so quickly that there was no time for me to react or brake or even slow the speed. As the dog crossed the road my bike hit his back leg and he was pushed on the right side of the road. My bike wobbled but due to the strong chassis I was able to sustain the bike and it stabilized. I narrowly escaped from having a fall. We stopped the bike but the dog was dead and nothing could have been done. We moved on and reached Jaisalmer to halt for the night.

















This was personally my most memorable day of the trip as the whole point of going to Rajasthan was seeing the Thar desert. And we saw many different vistas of Thar desert and it was worth the time spent. I would recommend this place to all who are going to Rajasthan.

Thanks Prasad. More pics will come up by tomorrow I guess. Sorted out close to 100 pics from the next leg to be added. Hope a century of pics would be enough for a day

Thanks Shardul. All the best for your ride, Have a safe one!

Ha ha. If I would have said to you that it's 7:30 you would have slept for another 2 hours at least. For Next day you have clicked almost 200 photos dude and I have managed to sort out and bring the number to half. So I cannot add it today, hopefully by tomorrow.

P.S. All the above night shots of tent are non - edited pics so well done! It has come out well

I would never forget, in that cold morning u woe me up saying its 09:30. I got up and saw the time it was just 07:30 and i was lie Faaaaaacccckkkkk . But all was for a better future. because of that we could accomplish the next task on time.

Regards,
Deepan

Entertainment guaranteed! - Folk Dance & Music of Rajasthan
24th Dec'12

What day we had so far, if I look back we saw Jaisalmer fort, Gadisar Lake, Patwon ki Haveli & Sam Sand Dunes. As beautiful was the day time experience, the night experience was something I was looking forward to simply because we were spending the night in tent at Sam.

As we came back from the camel safari, we were welcomed by a girl applying Tilak on our forehead. Girl named Rekha completely dressed in traditional Rajasthani avatar. Nice touch I say to receive a welcome like that. It's been rightfully said that the vibrancy of Rajasthan is never completely discovered until you engulf yourself in the music and dance of it. As we sat on the ground right in front of the musicians, Deepan was ready to click all the best pictures he could possible click. Wish he had a tripod for night shots.

We were given a welcome drink and welcome snacks as we returned and the performance started. Group of 4 musicians and 1 dancer who were our entertainers for tonight - One of them was the lead singer and also played harmonium while other person was playing foot tapping beats from Tabla. Heard many known songs like Khwaja ji, Padharo maro desh, Jhule lal, etc. Saw & heard a Jungalbandi too where using 2 different music instruments exactly same music is heard. Though the boy sitting next to me did not find it amusing as he did not understand what they were upto
































Dance with the beat - After a few songs, In came Rekha the girl who welcomes everyone! She was the lead dancer & I must say she did manage to catch everyone's attention by her moves and kept the show alive. We were taken aback by her extraordinary skills with her sheer perfection and excellence. Saw her perform 'Bhawai' which is one of the traditional folk dances of Rajasthan which is performed by dancing & spinning even though maintaining a fine balancing act and poising seven to nine brass pitchers over her head & standing gracefully on the edge of glass.

By the end of the show, she brings on the floor all the ladies who are willing to dance and soon you'll find the tourists also engulfed in the music & dance. As we enjoyed the dance performance, I can say for sure that ladies could n't help themselves from shaking their body to the beat & hypnotizing melody




































After watching the glorious Rajasthani dance & music, dinner was open for everyone. It was a buffet and typical Rajasthani plate. Ate all I could and though it is completely different to what we are used to eating in our daily routine, it was delicious in it's own way. Post dinner, spent time with many tourists near bonfire and lot of good discussion happened as we met a Punjabi group who also travel a lot and have seen many different places in India and their diversity. We went in our tents soon after and a nice sound sleep followed thereafter.

More to follow as we woke up with sun rise the next day!

Thanks Ashwin.
No there is no restriction. You can take any transport upto the dunes where there are less of public. But the dunes are pretty high and the sands are too loose. Its pretty difficult to walk upon, so imagine how tuff it would be on an automobile. We met some guyz who tried to take their Ford Endeavour (2x2) and got stuck in the sands. They had to finally deflate the tire and a lot of pushing and wriggling to help get out of the sands.
Moral for fun you can try taking ur bikes into the sands, but dont go deeper.
Not heard of Quads there but yeah jeep safaris of the sands are available.

Regards,
Deepan

nice going sachin and deepan
you people rode 4 km on camel ? riding on animals is tough with all the movement going on.
Are bikes allowed till the sand dunes ?
No adventure rides there like quad bikes etc ?

Nice log sachin.

Wooow Hats off Boss... Good log really intresting...
Waiting for more pics..

Sunset at Sam Sand Dunes, Jaisalmer
24th Dec'12


We left Jaisalmer by 3 pm and Sam is around 40 kms from Jaisalmer. The ride was again on butter smooth roads and we parked our bikes next to the tent where we would be spending the night. Since the entire Jaisalmer city is built within the Thar desert, even Sam is not a separate desert but it is also a part of Thar desert. It's a must visit sight seeing point from Jaisalmer and I was not surprised by the huge turn out of tourists to watch the sunset.

The Camel was ready to take us to Sam which was around 4 kms away. As our camel ride started as long as the Camel just walks its fine but as the Camel starts running it becomes difficult to hold on to your seat especially if you have one hand holding camera for clicking photos and videos :P With one hand holding the saddle and other hand clicking photos and videos as I was jumping in my seat watching other camels pass by where girls are shouting and laughing, it was quite a sight. Somehow some way we managed and the camel ride got over in some 30 minutes however we paid the guy 300 bucks more to take us to a more peaceful sand dunes with less crowd where Deepan could click some nice photos. Since it was my first time in Sand Dunes, I loved every bit of it and so did Deepan. Stand on the dunes and you would notice dunes after dunes all around you and it is a magnificent sight. With Sun almost melting in far sight it makes a perfect setting for a beautiful evening.































The vast setting of beautiful golden shifting sand dunes, sprawling all across is a photographer's delight. Please be ready to watch a lot of poser pics as the place is worth it. Deepan was kept busy all the time trying different manual settings in his Canon 550D to click the best pictures possible.
Desert Safari is a must if you happen to visit Jaisalmer as this is one place where you can completely forget the outside world and see a completely different world where there are stretches of sweeping dunes along the breathtaking crests and troughs. As we rode on the camel-back we could see varieties of ways people were trying to enjoy sand dunes, some were rolling, some were sliding, some were busy running, while some trying to climb a mountain of sands.
We loved it and I am sure you would love it too!!

























































After wonderful time spend at Sam Sand Dunes we were back on Camel Back to take us back to the tent where we were in for an entertaining night in Rajasthani style to say the least

From 3 down to 2 > Priyank decided to go back home
24th Dec'12

Priyank was not feeling well and he had gone back to room from Patwon ki Haveli as we (Deepan & I) continue to sight see Jaisalmer. Once we returned back in room, Priyank said he has fever & cold because of which he decided not to come to Sam with us and spend night in tent as that might worsen his condition. He said he could not ride today and wished to go back home as his mother is still in hospital due to Kidney stone problem. From the time he heard the news from his family members on 1st day of the trip he was tension and was confused whether he should ride or go back home. There was no point being on a ride when you are not able to enjoy it so Priyank was confirmed to leave for return journey back to Mumbai solo.

It was almost time to leave for Sam Sand dune and after a heated discussion with the hotel owner that one of our friends would be still in the room for today as well and not coming with us to the tent and desert, we (Deepan & I) were all set to leave for Sam. No, we were not given refund of 2,500 as Priyank was not coming us but the hotel room was given free of cost again. It was sad for us too as we were down to only 2 of us now from 3.

Priyank took rest the entire day, recovered and started his return journey back home the next day. As of today, his mother is out of hospital and recovering so all is well.



Our Hotel stay in Jaisalmer, Marina Mahal

Midori Fan! Thanks!!

Big Relief if everything is fine now

Yes, They are beautiful & scattered all over Rajasthan. It's a nice ride also. With CBR it will be double fun I am sure.

Thanks buddy. I was suppose to do this trip in Feb'12 but because unfortunately at last minute due to work I had to cancel this plan. Time changed and gave an opportunity & I finally managed to explore it inside out.

Hey, Yes we stayed at Marina Resort at Sam & 1st day in Jaisalmer. Hope you had a good trip too.

Nice pics..

you guys stayed in Marina Resort at Sam Looks like I was a week behind you guys on this ride..