Day 149 - Aug 4 - One more day at Delhi


Thought if no front tire today would ride out and try else where. Was kinda getting afraid of Delhi heat Spent the first half of the trying to catch up with the logs. As the last few days either i was lazy or the day was tiring. Since i was planing to leave the next day it was to be easy to get out of Delhi from Gudgoan side and would save me couple of hours of traffic. Thus Hitanshu invited me to stay over for the night before heading south. Yogesh had put some effort and made sure that i would not leave Delhi without getting the bike fully done, that is he had sourced out even the front tire i wanted.

I move out of Prem's house. It was a great stay at his place and got spoilt with the great home cooked food. Thanks prem for the affectionate hosting. Ride out to Salil's place to see a few photographs while we wait for confirmation of the tire. Manik joined us and looked like its going to be another meet today evening. Again Prem and Hitanshu had to bare uncertainty till we rode to the Lajpat nagar and got the front tire changed. Then a meet was decided and We were at Subway for the wait. I particularly fancied the blower at the entrance of the Subway shop Prem joined us with his family and then by Sunil. Last but not the least Hitanshu made it to the party as well. Great food, fun and chat. It was time for farewell again and this time followed Hitanshu to his place. The new tires chicken strips giving me trouble and chasing spirited Hitanshu's driving was a challenge. Rode it out as i was wondering whats wrong with the handling. Any way the chicken strips had to be dealt with hardly.

Was pretty late at his home and still managed to host me with dinner and crashed for the day. Not only i need to be getting to Ajmer of some place tomm, i had to even visit India Gate in the morning. Its a must u see. Prem would join me for that the next day.

Its me near Prem's office, cam flash works no more


Salil, Manik and me diving into the Salad at Subway's


Hitanshu, Salil, Prem and his family, Sunil at the dinner for the evening...

helmets off siiiir

thanks dextr

Day 150 - Aug 5 - Delhi to Ajmer

Aug05 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community

463 KMs Trip meter 20114 KMs

Supposed to me on the move by 5 am to avoid the days raising heat. But as usual things get late. Its a mini ride from Hitanshu's place to India gate. Got a nice ride on the NH to the heart of Delhi. Early morning free roads make you appreciate the infrastructure. The high way had entry and exits numbered!! Din know this things were there in India! Even in this age of Internet, many things one would come to know only by getting to the place. With simple instructions to find my way make it to the Dandi march statues i guess. Get a call from Prem as he is already reached. Find my way to the awesome structure India gate to meet Prem. Then it was like a photo session managed to pose in front of India gate. Also rode to Presidents house and near Parliament house. The imposing structures were mind blowing. Is this was the first time i visited them. Bid farewell to Prem and started towards Hitanshu's house. Now it was like 9 am and the roads are getting to their full capacity. Still the traffic keeps moving and i get back. Well what do you know Hitanshu even cooked me almost round parathas!

Freshened up and some chit chat and the laziness to stay away from heat and i started by 11.30 am. Not sure of the place i would stay for the day as Jodhpur would not be possible starting so late. So prolly Jaipur or Ajmer. An hour into the ride i start feeling sleepy. Real sleepy. Looks like the last few days of disturbed sleep due to the heat gets to me. I was feeling so sleepy that i was afraid i would fall down! cant really stop in the middle of highway too. Just on the look out for a comfy restaurant to catch some power nap. Saw board of some restaurant some 40 kms ahead and thought would settle in there for some time. Struggle quite a bit to keep myself awake and finally counting kms, shouting and trying to sings something to keep my eyes open make it to the AC restaurant. Some fluids and and power nap did really help and spent like an hour there.

Got back on to the road feeling refreshed and pretty uneventful ride till Jaipur by 4pm. Ajmer still more than a 100 kms away. Just wanted to a quick spin into the city. Took off the highway and rode into the town. The jaipur fort was first up. Getting in would take couple of hours i guess. SO just rode out till i could get a few good pix from outside. Rode further till the jaipur Gate and see that the real city is few more kms aways. Since i am not stopping at jaipur thought i bettor get back to the highway. Well every city in rajasthan has rich heritage and lot of places to see but i had thought of exploring only Jodhpur. Get back to what i thought was the highway, seems like i have missed the by pass. Get into the city and traffic and takes like 45 mins to get back to the highway. Any way i caught lil glimpse of the Jaipur city. Some full throttle ride and thought would make it to Ajmer in good time. Even stopped at CCD. Kinda felt at home as CCD outside the town is my favorite coffee spot on weekends. But soon the road to Ajmer branches off before krishna nagar and its two laned road filled with truck traffic. Things get slow and roll into the town only by like 8 pm. Hitanshu had mailed me couple of hotel names. One of me the Heritage hotel had parking. Kinda expensive for the small room. It was a pleasant stay there in a old haveli converted to hotel now managed by the residents themselves. The weather got pleasant in the evening with cool breeze. Kinda worried of rajasthan thinking of Delhi heat. But here the peak summer is gone and with few rains here and there it nice. Even had dinner in open air. Tried some net update and crashed for the day. Plan was to get up early and make it to Jodhpur soon.


Today completed 150 days and 20000 kms into the trip.

Highways around Delhi has Entry and Exits!!


Awesome roads....


Toll Plaza to enter Delhi...


Way to India gate...


Beautiful in morning low traffic...


Near the march statues...


Me and the bike there...


Finally bike at the India gate...


The majestic India gate...





The flags of the three branches of Indian Military...


Road to the President's house...


India gate from the other side...


Prem working on taking my poser pix...


Fantastic view from up here...


Prem and his ford there...


Never been here before...


Raising the flag...


Pigeons near the Parliament house...


The Parliament house...


My bike there...


One last look at the imposing gate before i ride out of there...


The fast paced roads towards Gudgaon...


Huge buildings...


Just before leaving Hitanshu's place...


The four laned roads not enough for this traffic...


Heading that way...


Staring at a closed hotel wishing it were open with cool comforts...


Full throttle is not enough...


You find camel on expressways in Rajasthan..


Pretty restaurants and shopping centers on the highway...


Getting there...


There were one of these every two kms!!


Beautiful roads approaching Jaipur...


The Jaipur fort...


Strange cow...


Life around the fort...


The Jaipur fort palace i guess...





The Jaipur gate..


City far ahead...





Bike from kinda inside the fort...


Fort walls on the nearby mountains...








Fantastic monument...


Pretty garden inside... Very well maintained...





Elephant spotted...


He is instructing the ele to lift its trunk..


Was late by 2 kms to notice that the bike has done 30k KMs...


Now this is exactly 20k KMs into this trip...


Road towars Ajmer...


One huge lizard!!


Kannada channel on TV!!


Guess this place...


Feel at home with these


Where else but CCD. The CCD chain expanding into neighboring states from Karnataka...


Sanjay from Mangalore, who is quite happy to be posted and living on the Jaipur Ajmer highway since an year! He says its free of pollution so he's happy...


Ride towards Ajmer...


Looks like city of marbles, lot marble depos entering Ajmer..

Day 151 - Aug 6 - Ajmer to Jodhpur

Aug06 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community

214 Kms Trip Meter 20327 KMs

The lack of sleep got to me and took my time to wake up. Kinda deciced to keep Jodhpur sigh seeing for next day's morning session and today's target was just get to Jodhpur. Started by 9.30 and thought of taking a small detour Pushkar coming so far. Thought would be nice to get to photograph a few camels. Crossed the Ajmer's lake and small hills range and into the crowded pushkar. Thought of getting a glimpse of the Bhrama's only temple in the world, but riding into the town, things got only narrow and crowded and getting in with a loaded bike was quite out of my comfort zone. After venturing quite some distance inside, gave up and turned back and scuttled out. Guess pushkar itself will take a day to explore a bit and cant be seen on the run. On my way back talked to a camel safari guy enquiring about spotting some camels. He was more intersted in selling me a camel safari or atleast get a puja done through his pandit friend.

Since i had to ride to jodhpur he suggested me to ride through Mertha city so that the roads goes through kinda jungles and villages and chances of spotting more camels. Sounded interesting compared to boring highways infested with trucks. Took the road to Mertha city. It was a beautiful two laned roads. But not empty as there were literally hundreds of walking piligrims with colorful flags scattered in small groups along the road. Reached Mertha city in couple of hours and it was lil tough find the road to Pipar city. Seems there is road under construction and had to do some offroading and was riding through small towns with narrow roads till i reached the Birla White Cement factory town ship. Which led to a two laned highway. If not the promised forests and villages, atleast the road had very less traffic. The only trucks plying was of Birla white. This was like 2 pm and hardly any place to eat around. The dry heat and again i start falling asleep. Against the same struggle to keep myself awake.

Make it to Jodhpur like 3.15 pm and though hot it was still manageable. Prem's brother Subodh came to pick me up and i was glad to get into comforts of a home. Had no energy go any where and so after lunch spent the entire evening dozing infront of a cooler. Mount Abu is the target for tomm...


The room at the Heritage Inn...


Nice classic place to stay...bike is parked in too...


The Haveli Heritage Inn..


Ajmer streets up and running...


The lake at Ajmer..





Heading towards Pushkar..





The gate to Pushkar...


Strange Hanuman temple...


The narrow streets of Pushkar...


Color handicrafts...


Way to one of the ghats...


I am out of Pushkar towards Mertha City...


Freesome twolaned road...


Guess this is Thavala village...





Plenty of pilgrims walking towards Jodhpur carrying these colorful flags...


Empty smooth roads..


A Goatherd women...


A proud buffalo soldier...


A camel not a wild one i guess...


Entering Mertha City the birth place of Meera bai...


Preparations are on way for upcoming Ganesha festival...


Double laned road built around single laned one!


A villager with colorful pagadi...


Some offroading to get to the Jodhpur highway.. i was clueless as to where i was...





Ride into small towns with many road blocks..


The Birla White cement factory township...


Back to rip roads again... Have to park the bike on the opposite side due to the inclination of the road on either edges else bike would tip over!


Trying to farm in sand!


Looks like i am on the right direction... Barmer Jaisalmer brings back fantastic memories...


Road gets bettor...


More foot pilgrims... Boy do they have some faith to brave the heat!!

ur r so thin dude... where do u get such a stamina from???

over anything else, you need great gutts to do all this... and yeah, an iron butt too

I have used every other great word to praise you earlier. To speak anything else now, I would need to reinvent the language. Go on... our wishes are always with you

HydBiker: That just tells that if i can do it, any one can Thanks for the wishes


Day 152 - Aug 7 - Jodhpur to Mount Abu

Aug07 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trail Maps

315 KMs Trip meter 20643 KMs

Had decided to stay at cool Mt Abu for a day and thus wanted to explore Jodhpur a bit and get myself to Mt Abu by the end of the day. Subodh suggested me the Umaid palace, Mehranghar fort, Jaswanth Thada and Kaylana lake to get the gist of the city. The day was cloudy in the morning and giving out a plesant day. After breakfast went to check out the Umaid palace first. Was really surprised to see how developed Jodhpur city is. Looked very very modern with wide roads an all. Reached the palace entrance and was frisked at the gate and also once more at the palace entrance! Things are very well managed. The pretty palace is just like 60 years old inaugurated in 1942. Visitors could only see a limited part of the palace as the rest is a five start hotel and the current king's residence. There were images of places of palace where visitors could not go. Of course lot of info regarding the history. By now the clouds cleared and things got hot.

Could see the imposing Mehrangad fort far above a hill top. Make my way through the city and ascend to The fort. Its quite huge and lot of tourists there. The fort is very well managed and nicely marketed. Tourists could even rent out small audio devises which would explain about different points in the fort in their chosen language! There were small boards with earfone symbol and a number which could be pressed to know about the point of interest. Boy are things run modernly here. One thing i noticed here was that even guards recognized that i am not from around and just looking at the helmet in the hand asked if i rode all the way, and when i said yes, asked if i am doing all india tour!! Smart ppl around here i guess. The fort even had an elevator ofcourse at a charge. Went gazing and clicking around the imposing fort. Spent like couple of hours on it. Time to move on. Visited Jaswant Thada on the way back. Kinda a memorial for the kings who ruled Jodhpur. It was kinda late to visit Kaylana lake as its liek 16 kms.

So make my way back to the towards Subodh's home. Bid farewell with thanks and start by 2.30 pm. Its a bit late and its almost 3.15 by the time i get on to the right highway towards Pali which is enroute Sirohi. The roads are pretty nice but the way is not straight today and have to keep alert for turns. I see a lot more piligrims walking with colorful flags, some were cycling and some were on motorcycles. Only this time they were approaching from opposite direction so i guess ppl are converging at Jodhpur for some festival. I was too naive not to enquire about it.

Reach Sirohi by 6 pm. Though it getting late, i was tired to carry on and took a break for some time. I am lead to Ahmadabad highway saying i would have to take right near Abu road town to get to Mt Abu. The Four laned highway was a treat of a ride, with greenery on either side and KMs getting gulped fast. Its almost dark now. Reach near Abu road and i seem to a flown past the town. I am given confusing directions to get towards Mt Abu even have to take a dirt road for some distance. Guess i must have missed a bettor road. Things are cool now and looks like it could rain as well. Its 7.15 by the time i am out of Abu road and hardly 25 kms to Mt Abu which i have to cover in darkness. 16 kms to Mt Abu its a twisties ascent and boy was it fun. It had been quite some time since i rode twisties in dark. With the Hid illuminating the road pretty well it was a gala time till the top with temperatures getting ever more comfortable. Get there by 8.15 pm and there are plenty of hotels and its again a problem of choice. Just did what i do, like riding to the lenght of town once. Some how settled in a very hold hotel started in 1977. The room and ameneties seemed pretty old but neatly maintained. Had the cybercafe and parking for the bike as well. Thus settled to bit on the higher side. Not working today so went to the near by Jaipur Heritage hotel which had restaurant with you know It was very pleasant up there overlooking the Nakki lake. Went a bit high and relaxed in the cool atmosphere.


Modern streets of Jodhpur...





Rajasthani art even on Rickshaws design i guess...


The Umaid palace..


Approach road to the palace...


Bike in front of the palace hotel...


In the campus...


Marvelous structure...


Me there...


Scale model inside the palace...


Pix of the restricted areas of the palace...


Some Gyan of the place...


Few more restricted places...


More gyan of the palace


A view into royal life...





A court yard inside...


Collection of clocks...


Collection of watches...





Out side...


The imposing dome...


Nice place to chill out...


The building around the palace still being built with the same red stone...





The imposing Mehrangad fort quite a way into the city jutting out from a hill top...


Handicrafts shops in plenty...


Fort with day today life around...





Bike getting near the fort...


Its like 12 stories high!





Has an elevator!


The resting cannons...





Life around the fort...


Looking from above...


No flash in the cam


Checking out the palace inside the fort...


Daggers....


Rifles of all sizes...


A short fat cannon!


Royal room...


Looking out through window...


Some old hisaab kitaab...


Palakkis i guess...


Decorated roof...


Some business inside the fort...


A guard practicing his skills...


Colorful foot ware..





Making bangles the traditional way...


Another cannon area...








More folk art...


Houses below the fort...


Me and my cannon...


A lake in the city...


Clock tower spotted...


Peering into the households from above...


Just hanging in there...


Colorful villagers...


The magnificent structure...


Walking down to the ground zero...


More folk art...


Cannon ball marks from a historic war when Jaipur attacked Jodhpur...


The Gyaan...


Then i visit Jaswant Thada








A peaceful place to leisure...


The Memorial...





Inside...





Paintings of all the kings who ruled Jodhpur...





Quite a sculpture...


Me there...


The guard posing for the cam...


A small fort like structure in the middle of the city on a stone outcrop...


Busy roads of Jodhpur..


The Royal polo ground now is a cricket ground!


Searching my way out of Jodhpur...


Atleast i spot a few camels...


And a lot more...


Now pilgrims walking towards Jodhpur, some riding motorcycles...


Shopping center for pilgrims...


More some them and some on cycles...


Looks pretty...


Modern temple...


Approaching hills of Rajashtan..

Rest of the images for the day...


Take a break before the final run to Mt Abu...


Roads smooth...


Great infrastructure...


I see a train after a long time!


Great roads again...


With the sun going down and clouds threatening, hope i dont have to ride in dark with rain...


A huge camel stock..


Riding twisties by night, so much fun...


Overlooking Nakki lake from the Jaipur Heritage hotel.. pic a bit shaky as i was a bit high


The climb to Mt Abu in the end explains the coolness here...

hi Praveen !!! gr8 going man!!! I have been to mt. abu once, try to visit gurushikar once.... its the highest point of mt. abu. And again helmets off to you dude... you are the "ONE"

Helmets off to you bro
U simply rock

150+ days and still going on
A big hand to you bro..I still can't even dream about such a mammoth trip

Awesome pics there bro! I can see the beauty of India through your pics.

150+ days and still going on !u simply ROCK .....

No updates from our man in the past 4 days!!! Where ru now Praveen? No updates after Mt. Abu..

He is in Pune. Met him 30 mins back. The ZMA still feels butter smooth even at 32k!

Thanks Devilish. Did ride up till there but it was so crowded that i turned back.

Thanks Ketan

Even me never dreamed of it. just happened

Glad you are liking the pix moeed

Thanks Akshay

Sorry about that. Hardly got on to net. Came to pune day before yesterday and it was party in the evening and was a ride till late yesterday night so yet to work o the logs

It was great catching up with you Bunny

Thanks Bankim. Me to hope so but cant be six months for sure

Made it to Pune day before yesterday late evening. Had been to mansoon ride yesterday with PraveenS and Ashwin. Was a typical J ride starting late seeing quite a few places and start back at dinner time and make it to home past midnight. Its amazingly green here and its the best time for monsoon rides in western ghats. Even went to a beach before heading back. Was nice ride kinda in home teritory

Well heading towards Mahabaleshwar tomm. Have been quite lazy and the logs have been piling up. Hope to work on some today