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How to Read this Trip Log: Okay funny right!!!! Anyway its a Narration of Two Guys that is posted in one. So you would find
Day1: And Anup Says So
Day1: So Satyen Says So
and so on....Dont worry and Dont get confused you may actually understand what both of us were thinking while we rode
Padharo Mhaaro Desh!!! - "Welcome to My Land" is something that a local said when we told them that we are from Mumbai
A Ride that was not well planned but well executed, with a lot of twists and turns the ride came to an end, i mean quite literally.
Rajasthan: They all say its a beautiful state with a vibrant culture, colour, tradition. Those who say it are 100% correct.
Well we will try and pass information on Rajasthan with Route maps/Hotel Info/Road conditions/Places to visit etc.
Riders:
Satyen Poojari - RTR 160 (Some Limited Edition)....Or was it an RTR????
Anup Abraham - Karizma
Tour Dates:
27th December 2009 - 2nd January 2010
Places:
Jaisalmer
Pokhran
Jodhpur
Udaipur
23rd December24th-26th December27th December
Ripped open to see whats the problem.....
Finally the Limited Edition to the rescue
(lol add that to your twist counter if you are counting them)
So finally at around 6, I saddle the RTR, gear up, and all ready to roll, and
.... to be continued
anyway coming back to the forum...
"Ya the ride did start pretty late and i was almost half asleep by the time the YAM Mechanics tried to start the R15 in vain...Satyen had 2 choice either cancel the ride or ride...he choose the later and he was adamant in reaching Jaisalmer by morning...it sounded too ambitious and good to be true, our road was good and Ahmedabad (Ahd) was the target
Manor - Surat we faced no trouble and we were able to complete this stretch in 2.5 hrs flat out riding at speeds over 90 kmph. As the sun bid goodbye we dropped our speeds to a 80kmph trying to meet the timelines we were manics behind the wheels, the frustration of the entire day** was being let out on the road, so much so that there was a truck on the highway not letting me pass him even after repleted blinkers....he was enjoying his truck at 40kmph; a bit of opening and i came next to this truck and gave a punch on the door...yes DSG Gloves are good he got a wake up call and chose to ride on the slower second lane..
The traffic at Manor wasn't good enough that God had something else planned for us...
Manor - Surat almost a nonstop run, we stopped at Surat for a tea break and had a bit of chips for the now growling stomach...spend about 10-15 minutes and decided that we need to cover additional 250 kms to reach Ahmadabad (Ahd) we were pretty certain that at the speed that we were riding we would reach Ahd by midnight, rest and the next morning we ride to Jaisalmer....
So we were back on the roads again..riding on the beautifully done highway and in another 15 minutes (15-18kms) we got another jolt...damn the traffic was even worse this time around..apparently we managed to get into the traffic and negotiate few trucks and jeeps but once we reached the midway we were so badly stuck that we gave up on our Ahd reaching dreams....we reach Vadodara at 11:30 pm
So it was Manor - Surat - 150 kms in 2.5 hrs
and Surat - Vadodara - 142 kms in 3hrs
I was really tired and it had been a while since i was in the cold winds of the night, we went way inside Vadodara city in search of food, asked a couple of cops who were themselves with the bonfire trying to battle the cold, who suggested that we go closer to the railway station where we might find some stalls on the road, I didn't care one bit and rode to the closest place that we could find food...and we were on the road that lead to the station itself..we managed to find the road side stalls who were planning to shut shop....looking at us, they left the Chinese stall open for us...
1Veg Hakka Noodles
1Egg Hakka Noodles
1Veg Manchuria
4 Goldflake Lights
2 Ltr of Mineral Water
burppppppp
I guess now i was in no condition to ride....and choose sleep over anything, and we reached a place known as Hotel Swagat we didn't hesitate to get invited and the room charges he said Rs. 800/- for a night and we said "Boss we are really tired and in no mood to bargain and i remember you charged me Rs. 500 the last time i came here" for some reason he believed and we were lucky to get a decent room with good bath facilities at Rs. 500/-
One problem..we had some company too....nothing to get excited "Mosquito" millions of them....
anyway who cared as i guess we were tired of the entire day and looking forward for a better tomorrow.
End of Day 1 - 27th December 2009
All in all the day was good/bad and ugly
**frustration of the entire day**
24-Pune to Mumbai
25-Mumbai, spend Christmas with my girl!
26-Mumbai to Mount Abu
27- Mt. Abu to Jaisalmer +1 day at each place if its worth it
28/29/30- Jaisalmer to Mt. Abu
29/30/31- Mt. Abu to home!(and the other two polite words in my head)(and I can assure continue to have) zillions of Mosquitoes. No wonder the hotel guy was amused thinking someone actually came back!
We had a good night sleep... (at least Anup did, while I was busy killing some bugs, he was happily scaring them away with dolby pro surround sound snoring )
End of day 1... What an eventful day....at least we were out of Maharashtra
Day 2 will continue shortly
Day 2: 28th December 2009:
It was morning already and i felt that i had just shut my eyes, thats what is known as a sound sleep and i guess Satyen will vouch for the sound that i make...i got up by 6:30 am with the sound of my cell phone ringing ans Shruti on the other side trying to wake me up...(i think i might have told her to wake me at 5:00 am, doesnt matter)
Vadodara - Ahd - 100kms
Ahd - Jaisalmer - 595 kms (Approx)
All in all i was aware that i need to ride for atleast 750kms and i was up for it, by the time i woke Mr. Sleepy Satyen the clock said 7:00am and i was in no mood to ride fast as it was darn chilly outside and my meager mesh Jacket would help me....so after getting all fresh we left by 7:30 am from the hotel. (by the way Satyen taught the hotel manager how to use the credit card machine)
Well after the Gyaan session we loaded the bikes with our stuff and started riding in the chilly climate of the dawn.
As you are aware bikes are not allowed on the Expressway so we had to keep our bikes on NH-8 and keep our speeds limit to a 75 - 80kms. Its a open 2 lane highway without a divider in between.
Moreover you would find some truckers with a hangover trying to do their own stunts, Men and Women trying to reach their office on time and we didnt want to get in the way of their daily routine so we rode swiftly without causing any trouble it was only after about 30 kms we took our first break (Pee Break) so we clicked some photographs there here are some..(dont worry the photos will get better)
Eagerness to see Desert my first click was probably Sand/Field, my mind was seeing only Desert
So Far Away from you - Dire Straits
Satyen trying his hand at Photography
Finally the bikes
The Karizma
Comeon Satyen we are getting late, stop clicking photos....and get over your bike dude...
and so we started riding and we reached Sardar Patel Ring Road, we took the road which would take us to Mehsana, we reached Mehsana by noon and we were on time as planned. Happy with the performance of the bike we decided to keep her running till we reach Palanpur...
Strech between Mehsana - Palanpur are pure bliss you could just keep your trottle on and let your bikes go mad, i could only do a max of 120kmph while Satyen was doing 130+ on his bike, couple of blinks and we reach Palanpur
Next stop was Disa and as we were going to near Rajasthan we thought we shouldnt take any chances with the petrol pumps and we were noticing that the frequency of the pumps were also reducing hence without taking any risk we chose to tank up, also got us our mineral water this time 4 bottles.
once we were done with it we rode and nearing Disa we took a halt at a Dhaba to have some Lunch, we needed it as it was almost 3 pm and our breakfast was only 2 pkts of BALAJI WAFFERS and 2 TEA CUPS
Lunch was
Rotis - Dal - Chole - AluMutter - Buttermilk - 2 Four Square - Water... was enough energy to last till Jaisalmer.
Road Side Dhabas are generally low cost and the bill had not exceeded Rs.150/-
From Disa the highway routemap said Tharad but the locals suggested to take the road to Dhanera to reach Sanchor
So instead of doing - Disa - Tarad - Sanchor we decided to do Disa - Dhanera - Sanchor which was approx 40-50kms less we rode and entered the village road that lead to Dhanera, we regret taking that road as it was a narrow road with lot of Potholes/badroads my back was giving up and i knew that i had 250kms more to go to reach Jaisalmer and at 5 pm on these roads was not a good sign for us. We road till we reached Sanchor.
the narrow road on Disa - Dhanera route
Satyen on his Limited Edition RTR
From Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer
Will Continue.....
Day1: And Anup Says So
Day1: So Satyen Says So
and so on....Dont worry and Dont get confused you may actually understand what both of us were thinking while we rode
Padharo Mhaaro Desh!!! - "Welcome to My Land" is something that a local said when we told them that we are from Mumbai
A Ride that was not well planned but well executed, with a lot of twists and turns the ride came to an end, i mean quite literally.
Rajasthan: They all say its a beautiful state with a vibrant culture, colour, tradition. Those who say it are 100% correct.
Well we will try and pass information on Rajasthan with Route maps/Hotel Info/Road conditions/Places to visit etc.
Riders:
Satyen Poojari - RTR 160 (Some Limited Edition)....Or was it an RTR????
Anup Abraham - Karizma
Tour Dates:
27th December 2009 - 2nd January 2010
Places:
Jaisalmer
Pokhran
Jodhpur
Udaipur
So Satyen Says So:
23rd December24th-26th December27th December
Ripped open to see whats the problem.....
Finally the Limited Edition to the rescue
(lol add that to your twist counter if you are counting them)
So finally at around 6, I saddle the RTR, gear up, and all ready to roll, and
.... to be continued
And Anup Says So:
And blame me for the slow riding Satyen....Damn don't forget i was leading the race there.... anyway coming back to the forum..."Ya the ride did start pretty late and i was almost half asleep by the time the YAM Mechanics tried to start the R15 in vain...Satyen had 2 choice either cancel the ride or ride...he choose the later and he was adamant in reaching Jaisalmer by morning...it sounded too ambitious and good to be true, our road was good and Ahmedabad (Ahd) was the target
Manor - Surat we faced no trouble and we were able to complete this stretch in 2.5 hrs flat out riding at speeds over 90 kmph. As the sun bid goodbye we dropped our speeds to a 80kmph trying to meet the timelines we were manics behind the wheels, the frustration of the entire day** was being let out on the road, so much so that there was a truck on the highway not letting me pass him even after repleted blinkers....he was enjoying his truck at 40kmph; a bit of opening and i came next to this truck and gave a punch on the door...yes DSG Gloves are good
he got a wake up call and chose to ride on the slower second lane..The traffic at Manor wasn't good enough that God had something else planned for us...
Manor - Surat almost a nonstop run, we stopped at Surat for a tea break and had a bit of chips for the now growling stomach...spend about 10-15 minutes and decided that we need to cover additional 250 kms to reach Ahmadabad (Ahd) we were pretty certain that at the speed that we were riding we would reach Ahd by midnight, rest and the next morning we ride to Jaisalmer....
So we were back on the roads again..riding on the beautifully done highway and in another 15 minutes (15-18kms) we got another jolt...damn the traffic was even worse this time around..apparently we managed to get into the traffic and negotiate few trucks and jeeps but once we reached the midway we were so badly stuck that we gave up on our Ahd reaching dreams....we reach Vadodara at 11:30 pm
So it was Manor - Surat - 150 kms in 2.5 hrs
and Surat - Vadodara - 142 kms in 3hrs
I was really tired and it had been a while since i was in the cold winds of the night, we went way inside Vadodara city in search of food, asked a couple of cops who were themselves with the bonfire trying to battle the cold, who suggested that we go closer to the railway station where we might find some stalls on the road, I didn't care one bit and rode to the closest place that we could find food...and we were on the road that lead to the station itself..we managed to find the road side stalls who were planning to shut shop....looking at us, they left the Chinese stall open for us...
1Veg Hakka Noodles
1Egg Hakka Noodles
1Veg Manchuria
4 Goldflake Lights
2 Ltr of Mineral Water
burppppppp
I guess now i was in no condition to ride....and choose sleep over anything, and we reached a place known as Hotel Swagat we didn't hesitate to get invited and the room charges he said Rs. 800/- for a night and we said "Boss we are really tired and in no mood to bargain and i remember you charged me Rs. 500 the last time i came here" for some reason he believed and we were lucky to get a decent room with good bath facilities at Rs. 500/-
One problem..we had some company too....nothing to get excited "Mosquito" millions of them....
anyway who cared as i guess we were tired of the entire day and looking forward for a better tomorrow.
End of Day 1 - 27th December 2009
All in all the day was good/bad and ugly
**frustration of the entire day**
- Satyen 10 am is not 12:30 pm
- Manor Traffic...we need to find an alternate parallel Village road
- Wait at that Dhaba from 2:00pm to 5:00pm for the Mechanics
- YAM Mech: Did i/Satyen push you too far that you forgot basics..Dude Engine Oil is needed for the bike to be up and Running
- Finally CM Gujarat (Narendra Modi)...good work on the roads in Gujrat, but still there was a traffic jam between Surat - Vadodara, please look into this
So Satyen Says So:
Chapter: The slow riding .... PS: The original plan was24-Pune to Mumbai
25-Mumbai, spend Christmas with my girl!
26-Mumbai to Mount Abu
27- Mt. Abu to Jaisalmer +1 day at each place if its worth it
28/29/30- Jaisalmer to Mt. Abu
29/30/31- Mt. Abu to home!(and the other two polite words in my head)(and I can assure continue to have) zillions of Mosquitoes. No wonder the hotel guy was amused thinking someone actually came back!
We had a good night sleep... (at least Anup did, while I was busy killing some bugs, he was happily scaring them away with dolby pro surround sound snoring
)End of day 1... What an eventful day....at least we were out of Maharashtra
Day 2 will continue shortly
And Anup Says...Continues:
Day 2: 28th December 2009:
It was morning already and i felt that i had just shut my eyes, thats what is known as a sound sleep and i guess Satyen will vouch for the sound that i make...i got up by 6:30 am with the sound of my cell phone ringing ans Shruti on the other side trying to wake me up...(i think i might have told her to wake me at 5:00 am, doesnt matter)
Vadodara - Ahd - 100kms
Ahd - Jaisalmer - 595 kms (Approx)
All in all i was aware that i need to ride for atleast 750kms and i was up for it, by the time i woke Mr. Sleepy Satyen the clock said 7:00am and i was in no mood to ride fast as it was darn chilly outside and my meager mesh Jacket would help me....so after getting all fresh we left by 7:30 am from the hotel. (by the way Satyen taught the hotel manager how to use the credit card machine)
Well after the Gyaan session we loaded the bikes with our stuff and started riding in the chilly climate of the dawn.
As you are aware bikes are not allowed on the Expressway so we had to keep our bikes on NH-8 and keep our speeds limit to a 75 - 80kms. Its a open 2 lane highway without a divider in between.
Moreover you would find some truckers with a hangover trying to do their own stunts, Men and Women trying to reach their office on time and we didnt want to get in the way of their daily routine so we rode swiftly without causing any trouble it was only after about 30 kms we took our first break (Pee Break) so we clicked some photographs there here are some..(dont worry the photos will get better)
Eagerness to see Desert my first click was probably Sand/Field, my mind was seeing only Desert
So Far Away from you - Dire Straits
Satyen trying his hand at Photography
Finally the bikes
The Karizma
Comeon Satyen we are getting late, stop clicking photos....and get over your bike dude...
and so we started riding and we reached Sardar Patel Ring Road, we took the road which would take us to Mehsana, we reached Mehsana by noon and we were on time as planned. Happy with the performance of the bike we decided to keep her running till we reach Palanpur...
Strech between Mehsana - Palanpur are pure bliss you could just keep your trottle on and let your bikes go mad, i could only do a max of 120kmph while Satyen was doing 130+ on his bike, couple of blinks and we reach Palanpur
Next stop was Disa and as we were going to near Rajasthan we thought we shouldnt take any chances with the petrol pumps and we were noticing that the frequency of the pumps were also reducing hence without taking any risk we chose to tank up, also got us our mineral water this time 4 bottles.
once we were done with it we rode and nearing Disa we took a halt at a Dhaba to have some Lunch, we needed it as it was almost 3 pm and our breakfast was only 2 pkts of BALAJI WAFFERS and 2 TEA CUPS
Lunch was
Rotis - Dal - Chole - AluMutter - Buttermilk - 2 Four Square - Water... was enough energy to last till Jaisalmer.
Road Side Dhabas are generally low cost and the bill had not exceeded Rs.150/-
From Disa the highway routemap said Tharad but the locals suggested to take the road to Dhanera to reach Sanchor
So instead of doing - Disa - Tarad - Sanchor we decided to do Disa - Dhanera - Sanchor which was approx 40-50kms less we rode and entered the village road that lead to Dhanera, we regret taking that road as it was a narrow road with lot of Potholes/badroads my back was giving up and i knew that i had 250kms more to go to reach Jaisalmer and at 5 pm on these roads was not a good sign for us. We road till we reached Sanchor.
the narrow road on Disa - Dhanera route
Satyen on his Limited Edition RTR
From Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer
Will Continue.....
So Satyen Says So:
Round and Round
So finally Anup woke up at 6:30 and I was half asleep and half awake for the entire night (for you know why) (hey thats a song!) ( I guess we should stop calling it the original plan, cause nothing happened like we planned) First Pic:
Anup trying to click a pic:
Some wannabe wide angle shots
.
Anup trying to understand what the lines in the map mean
Flora and Fauna:
.
.
Birds!
.
Sandy Farm:
Some wannabe macro+fish eye stuff
.
.
Anup still checking the Map
.
Some radiation
Some way to beat radiation:
The HOT not really 160CC bike
Where the water finally 'begins to end'
.
Finally after a good quick pic session, time to roll again.... The place around is so serene that you end up forgetting that you have to cover about 700KMs!!
Chapter: Fota Fortcut:Disha... we stopped at a dhaaba at Deesa... super awesome food for 125 Rupees only! - About 7-8 rotis, One Dal fry, One Alu Mutter, 4 glasses of butter milk (3 devoured by yours truly) and some cigarettes
As usual, we were gathering a lot of attention, and people where asking if we were sane or otherwise and our destination and all... and we tried to be polite to all!
This is where some local truckers and the dhaabawaalahs suggested a shortcut... Instead of Deesa-Tharad-Sanchor... they suggested Deesa-Dhanera-Sanchor-Barmer.... the entire road would have saved is 60 odd KMs.... since we were a decent time behind our schedule and this was just what we needed, we went ahead!
Well... Not really a good idea.... bad roads, plagued with occasional camels (yes! at last!) and locals...although the roads were bad, the scenery around was brilliant... I might be biased in saying that, but the sheer sight of sand as far as you can see comes as a HUGE difference to someone who has been born and brought up around the sea!
Some pics on how the roads change:
This is Deesa:
And this is obviously not...
.
.
Wanna try this?
Err, the parched block of wood
Tip: Never keep your camera out when you go to pee
Topography changing!
And so slowly and steadily, we went on and on, to reach Sanchor.... with ofcourse some pictures here and there!
a LOT more to be continued... (caught up with Anup)
Ya right Satyen .....i was not around had been for a short trip....and great to know that we are in this Contest....i need some riding gear man..
Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer:
We finally managed to finish the bad stretch that we had taken from Disa to reach Sanchor and we were expecting the same highways as we got in Gujrat less did we realize that we had entered Rajasthan. We fueled up at the first petrol pump that we got and we rode fast. Time was short and distance was long, from Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer the distance was approximatly 200 kms and the clock said 6:00 pm. I was in no mood to be real late as the cold winds creep in the evenings/night.
Sanchor to Barmer in those roads you will not find many places that you could have your tea/coffee/water, hence as a precaution ensure that you are loaded with everything (We were)
We reached Barmer pretty comfortably by 7:00 pm and we knew that the last 150 kms from Barmer to Jaisalmer had to be done in the dark, with the headlights and the visor not upto the mark i had my doubts of being able to ride ahead, so we came out with a nice ride plan.
We both ride next to each other so that we get brilliant light cover. I was to keep on the right and Satyen to my left, hence whenever we had any vehicle coming from ahead, i would break and ride behind Satyen for a while and then come back next to him again.
The Vehicular traffic was very minimal and it was a calm and pleasent ride to Jaisalmer.
We had just 2 breaks in that 150 kms stretch, both the break was for releasing and intake of water.
The 2nd break that we took at clost to 8:30 pm we were in some village which was almost desserted but as we could see some huts we just stopped on the main road to have water, i think that was after a really long time that i saw so many stars clearly in the sky, the silence was actually what we pharse as "Pin Drop Silence".
The ride from Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer was a brilliant ride and it was so damn cold in Jaisalmer that once we entered Jaisalmer city, we stopped for a cup of tea and i removed my jacket and my Knee guards and i was just shivering with cold, the hot tea fell on my hand and i still couldnt feel the heat for a while; it definitly must have been somewhere close to 10 - 12 C
for a guy from the humid Mumbai city this was cold and really cold...
We checked with the locals there and most of them were quoting prices upward of 1000Rs/- (most definitly) it was season time (December end) and we had reached Jaisalmer at 10:00 pm (we were in need), anyway we decided to find some low cost accomodation for us and it was after some hunt for 15 minutes that we barged into an autorickshaw driver who took us to Hotel Genwa - pronounciation (Gen - va) i thought it was Geneva as in the city was a bit hillarious though. We cracked a deal for checkout at 3:00 pm next day (29th December 2009) at 1000Rs.
Details of the hotel
Hotel Genwa
Behind Shiv Temple, Nr. Fort Talaria Para, Jaisalmer
Ph: 09460007892/09928854733/09660882347 - Mr. Neema Ram
Photographs of the Rooms ( We made the room Shabby but it was Decent enough with Hot Water available and Western Toilets) the size of the washroom was frantically small but the size of the bed was big enough for 5 people to sleep in.
Next Morning photo - Gateway to the room
Next morning photo - The Room/Bed
Next morning photo - Parking space within the compound
So once we got settled in the Room part, we decided to go for a small spin in search of good Non - Vegetarian food as both of us were craving for Chicken, got ourselves some Wiskey (setting with locals) and had a good meal and went of to a glorious sleep.
Things to Note: In Jaisalmer
The hotel Check -in and Check-out times are 10:00 am.
Never to trust the locals there in for any hotel bookings/reservations (they get their own cut)
Plan your travel wisely and always carry (Lonely Planet -India)
Wine Shops close at 8:00pm in Rajasthan hence either carry your own booze or reach your destination before 8 pm (so you think we had a dry night!!!)
Our first Desert-Sunset(what he continued to do throughout the trip)(purely in terms of riding on the road)
Round and Round
So finally Anup woke up at 6:30 and I was half asleep and half awake for the entire night (for you know why) (hey thats a song!) ( I guess we should stop calling it the original plan, cause nothing happened like we planned) First Pic:
Anup trying to click a pic:
Some wannabe wide angle shots
.
Anup trying to understand what the lines in the map mean
Flora and Fauna:
.
.
Birds!
.
Sandy Farm:
Some wannabe macro+fish eye stuff
.
.
Anup still checking the Map
.
Some radiation
Some way to beat radiation:
The HOT not really 160CC bike
Where the water finally 'begins to end'
.
Finally after a good quick pic session, time to roll again.... The place around is so serene that you end up forgetting that you have to cover about 700KMs!!
Chapter: Fota Fortcut:Disha... we stopped at a dhaaba at Deesa... super awesome food for 125 Rupees only! - About 7-8 rotis, One Dal fry, One Alu Mutter, 4 glasses of butter milk (3 devoured by yours truly) and some cigarettes
As usual, we were gathering a lot of attention, and people where asking if we were sane or otherwise and our destination and all... and we tried to be polite to all!
This is where some local truckers and the dhaabawaalahs suggested a shortcut... Instead of Deesa-Tharad-Sanchor... they suggested Deesa-Dhanera-Sanchor-Barmer.... the entire road would have saved is 60 odd KMs.... since we were a decent time behind our schedule and this was just what we needed, we went ahead!
Well... Not really a good idea.... bad roads, plagued with occasional camels (yes! at last!) and locals...although the roads were bad, the scenery around was brilliant... I might be biased in saying that, but the sheer sight of sand as far as you can see comes as a HUGE difference to someone who has been born and brought up around the sea!
Some pics on how the roads change:
This is Deesa:
And this is obviously not...
.
.
Wanna try this?
Err, the parched block of wood
Tip: Never keep your camera out when you go to peeTopography changing!
And so slowly and steadily, we went on and on, to reach Sanchor.... with ofcourse some pictures here and there!
a LOT more to be continued... (caught up with Anup)
And Anup Says So:
Ya right Satyen .....i was not around had been for a short trip....and great to know that we are in this Contest....i need some riding gear man..
Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer:
We finally managed to finish the bad stretch that we had taken from Disa to reach Sanchor and we were expecting the same highways as we got in Gujrat less did we realize that we had entered Rajasthan. We fueled up at the first petrol pump that we got and we rode fast. Time was short and distance was long, from Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer the distance was approximatly 200 kms and the clock said 6:00 pm. I was in no mood to be real late as the cold winds creep in the evenings/night.
Sanchor to Barmer in those roads you will not find many places that you could have your tea/coffee/water, hence as a precaution ensure that you are loaded with everything (We were)
We reached Barmer pretty comfortably by 7:00 pm and we knew that the last 150 kms from Barmer to Jaisalmer had to be done in the dark, with the headlights and the visor not upto the mark i had my doubts of being able to ride ahead, so we came out with a nice ride plan.
We both ride next to each other so that we get brilliant light cover. I was to keep on the right and Satyen to my left, hence whenever we had any vehicle coming from ahead, i would break and ride behind Satyen for a while and then come back next to him again.
The Vehicular traffic was very minimal and it was a calm and pleasent ride to Jaisalmer.
We had just 2 breaks in that 150 kms stretch, both the break was for releasing and intake of water.
The 2nd break that we took at clost to 8:30 pm we were in some village which was almost desserted but as we could see some huts we just stopped on the main road to have water, i think that was after a really long time that i saw so many stars clearly in the sky, the silence was actually what we pharse as "Pin Drop Silence".
The ride from Sanchor - Barmer - Jaisalmer was a brilliant ride and it was so damn cold in Jaisalmer that once we entered Jaisalmer city, we stopped for a cup of tea and i removed my jacket and my Knee guards and i was just shivering with cold, the hot tea fell on my hand and i still couldnt feel the heat for a while; it definitly must have been somewhere close to 10 - 12 C
for a guy from the humid Mumbai city this was cold and really cold...
We checked with the locals there and most of them were quoting prices upward of 1000Rs/- (most definitly) it was season time (December end) and we had reached Jaisalmer at 10:00 pm (we were in need), anyway we decided to find some low cost accomodation for us and it was after some hunt for 15 minutes that we barged into an autorickshaw driver who took us to Hotel Genwa - pronounciation (Gen - va) i thought it was Geneva as in the city was a bit hillarious though. We cracked a deal for checkout at 3:00 pm next day (29th December 2009) at 1000Rs.
Details of the hotel
Hotel Genwa
Behind Shiv Temple, Nr. Fort Talaria Para, Jaisalmer
Ph: 09460007892/09928854733/09660882347 - Mr. Neema Ram
Photographs of the Rooms ( We made the room Shabby but it was Decent enough with Hot Water available and Western Toilets) the size of the washroom was frantically small but the size of the bed was big enough for 5 people to sleep in.
Next Morning photo - Gateway to the room
Next morning photo - The Room/Bed
Next morning photo - Parking space within the compound
So once we got settled in the Room part, we decided to go for a small spin in search of good Non - Vegetarian food as both of us were craving for Chicken, got ourselves some Wiskey (setting with locals) and had a good meal and went of to a glorious sleep.
Things to Note: In Jaisalmer
The hotel Check -in and Check-out times are 10:00 am.
Never to trust the locals there in for any hotel bookings/reservations (they get their own cut)
Plan your travel wisely and always carry (Lonely Planet -India)
Wine Shops close at 8:00pm in Rajasthan hence either carry your own booze or reach your destination before 8 pm
(so you think we had a dry night!!!)So Satyen Says So:
Our first Desert-Sunset(what he continued to do throughout the trip)(purely in terms of riding on the road)
And Anup Says So:
JAISALMER
And so you are letting out a lot of secrets man!!!! but true i wish if someone can help me in sorting this problem out, but dusk i am almost blind, is it just me or does everyone
So Jaisalmer finally, i was very happy and exhausted ..eeer i mean exited!!!!
Last night Satyen and i spoke a lot and we slept a bit late i guess by 1am...result we got up late.
9:00 am: Anup:"Oye Satyen!! get up its 9:00 and we need to see Jaisalmer and we got just one day lets rush...there are so many things charted out
Sonar Killa first"
Satyen: Ya i am trying to get up.
9:30: I try to arrange for a soap for a good shower and hair oil. Got it and i am ready by 10 am.
3 cups of hot tea and i am all set, where is Satyen??? Still taking his own time to get ready..so finally we decided that we breakfast and then Sonar Killa (Jaisalmer Fort)
Breakfast had to be filling as not only it is the most important meal of the day probably it might be the only during the day
We went to a good joint just behind the fort named German Bakery and Coffee Shop and had some really good Sandwich and Bread Omelet enough to last the entire day.
11:00 am: Finally about time to enter the fort and see what its all about.
Let the pics do the talking here
We have seen scale models of bikes and cars right..check the scale model of a fort
One Side of the fort and the entrance of the fort
Such beautiful and detailed carving and architecture in those times, its simply breathtaking and marvelous. The photos don't even do 1% justice
Some Sculptures
View of the city from the fort
Satyen has better captures and i am sure you"ll will enjoy the photos that he would post
Will be continued (Still at office and its 9:21pm)
Edit: Didnt find a cafe, went to the Pune G2G instead... paradise! I mean seriously the structure, in that bright golden sandstone is super fabulous! Calling it anything other than magnificent (or its superlative versions) would be an understatement!
(what he continued to do throughout the trip)
And so you are letting out a lot of secrets man!!!! but true i wish if someone can help me in sorting this problem out, but dusk i am almost blind, is it just me or does everyone
So Jaisalmer finally, i was very happy and exhausted ..eeer i mean exited!!!!
Last night Satyen and i spoke a lot and we slept a bit late i guess by 1am...result we got up late.
9:00 am: Anup:"Oye Satyen!! get up its 9:00 and we need to see Jaisalmer and we got just one day lets rush...there are so many things charted out
Sonar Killa first"
Satyen: Ya i am trying to get up.
9:30: I try to arrange for a soap for a good shower and hair oil. Got it and i am ready by 10 am.
3 cups of hot tea and i am all set, where is Satyen??? Still taking his own time to get ready..so finally we decided that we breakfast and then Sonar Killa (Jaisalmer Fort)
Breakfast had to be filling as not only it is the most important meal of the day probably it might be the only during the day
We went to a good joint just behind the fort named German Bakery and Coffee Shop and had some really good Sandwich and Bread Omelet enough to last the entire day.
11:00 am: Finally about time to enter the fort and see what its all about.
Let the pics do the talking here
We have seen scale models of bikes and cars right..check the scale model of a fort
One Side of the fort and the entrance of the fort
Such beautiful and detailed carving and architecture in those times, its simply breathtaking and marvelous. The photos don't even do 1% justice
Some Sculptures
View of the city from the fort
Satyen has better captures and i am sure you"ll will enjoy the photos that he would post
Will be continued (Still at office and its 9:21pm)
So Satyen Says So:
(or rather motographers)moving to a better cyber cafe where the keyboard and the monitor is a bit more pleasing to use!Edit: Didnt find a cafe, went to the Pune G2G instead... paradise! I mean seriously the structure, in that bright golden sandstone is super fabulous! Calling it anything other than magnificent (or its superlative versions) would be an understatement!
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