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**rachitkohli** · 02-10-2010, 07:09 PM

superb stuff man..!! must say, the pix are really beautiful..
magnificent palaces there..

**animeher** · 02-11-2010, 03:30 PM

Day 6 posted.

**animeher** · 02-12-2010, 05:13 PM

Part II!

Dried romance - Day 4

Udaipur’s morning started late, with the hotel’s late breakfast service not helping to speed the matters up. The roof top hotel is setup good, with tasty food. But the service time needs to be bit fast.

We had a lake view room, which we got in normal room’s price. I was surprised at previous night to get such lake view room, but realized the reason in morning. The lake in front of our window had dried up, and young kids were playing cricket in that place! So much for the most romantic city of lakes!

View from room

The area under the bridge is supposed to be lake!

We were out on the streets by 11.00 a.m. A foreigner lady spotted me wearing a long kurta – Nandinee’s choice of course, based on the matching color of here dress. She spoke with Nandinee:

“Very Nice dress! This is a proper Indian dress. Now a days no one wears such clothes, all wear Jeans and T-shirts only!”

Seeing the proud reaction on Nandinee’s face, I realized my dress code for the rest of the trip.

We headed to Shilpigram, a village by Rajasthan Govt. to display and sell local handicrafts. Nandinee was all excited for shopping, and I was counting the balance in my wallet. But incidentally, India chose to start democracy on this very day some 59 years ago, so Shilpigram was closed! Successfully displaying my inner happiness as external sadness, I suggested ‘Badi Ka Talab’, a lake situated around 5-6kms from there.

Badi Ka Talab turned out to be a wonderful place to sit back and enjoy. Not commercialized like other spots, we saw many local families having their tiffin lunch here and enjoying on the grass. We had a very nice time here.

Later we visited Saheliyon Ki Bari, a place built for the women and their maid servants to chill back. It’s maintained well and is continuously being upgraded or expanded.

Got into a shop which sells mattresses made out of some wolf wool, with 10 years warranty. Also silverware with 15% zinc with 3 years warranty. After lightening my pocket considerably, we finally returned to city. The lunch at 4 was at Savage Garden Hotel. Bit costly, with an arrabiata pasta costing 250 bucks, but was good in taste and ambiance.

We had to repair the saddle bag, because somehow it touched the silencer and burnt a nice hole in the bottom. Luckily the clothes were intact.

By the time we finished repairing the bag and shopping, it was already 7.00 p.m., so the city palace was closed. Some light and music show was going on, but didn’t go there.

We visited the Jagdish temple, very near to City Palace. It’s very old and beautifully carved.

Called it a night early, because tomorrow we would ride to Jodhpur, and later on to Jaisalmer. So two days of continuous ride were upon us. However, we were bit sad that we couldn't come back in time to see the City palace and now we would never be able to see it anytime soon in life.

But Upparwala had something different in his mind.

Marching in darkness - Day 5

When I started reviewing the day’s plan in the morning, I noticed that reaching Jodhpur earlier didn’t have too much value for us. There were only 4-5 places to see, and it was possible to leave in the afternoon and still make it to Jodhpur in respectable time.

Once we had the morning free, plans to visit the City palace were once again back on the charts. The rooftop hotel was slow in food delivery, but we made the mistake of giving it one more chance to improve the serving time, and the hotel didn't fail to bring the breakfast late by whooping 25 minutes, the highest we ever waited for food!

The check out time was 10.00a.m., so had to keep our luggage in the luggage room of the hotel.

We reached at City palace gates at about 10.15a.m. It is so commercial that it’s hard to believe. 50 bucks for entry, 200 bucks for camera! Even the people flaunting SLRs were arguing with the ticket counter. So again back into the bag went the camera, and into the palace went us.

After roaming the palace for about 2 hours, I can say that one can easily skip the palace. Very few places in the palace are great, and that too not so much as to skip other places. The Rajasthani palaces are continuously operated upon for expansion or maintenance, so it’s hard to tell what’s really authentic heritage thing and what’s made 2 years ago. Overall the time spent in the palace can hardly be termed as ‘satisfactory’. I know Udaipur is called the most romantic place and what not, but somehow, the romanticism skipped us, and what we saw was just a money earning machine churning to make as much as possible. This is strictly personal feeling though, and there are people who swear by the city.

We hit the road at around 12p.m.

Leaving from Dream Heaven Guest house

The highway again, is beautiful. But as the time was noon, I wasn’t going above 80kmph, because didn’t want the tires and engine to get too hot. We took regular hourly stops while on the journey.

While one such stop, I realized something doesn’t seem right about the saddle bag. Upon close inspection, we saw that it wasn’t in too good a condition. It had started coming off the stiches, and even tearing at some places.

We already had planned to keep the saddle bag in Jodhpur hotel and take the tankbag only to Jaisalmer, but for that, the bag had to make it to Jodhpur. I didn’t want Nandinee to carry the saddlebags on her laps. Here, the bungee cords and cloth hanging rope we were carrying came in very handy. Tied the bag nicely as tight as possible, prayed that may she hold till Jodhpur, and went on.

En route, we came across Ranakpur, a village famous for its Jain temples carved in marble sometimes in 15th century. The carvings are said to be very unique, and even the 1444 pillars in the temple are supposed to be carved in individual ways!

There are some small temples built around recently as well.

We kept the luggage in the office of the temple, kept the saddlebag on the bike only, as it was securely tied down. The temple is magnificent. There is one old temple, and new temples are built around it. The beauty of the carvings is one to witness. We spent almost half or one hour in main temple alone.

The temple has quite a large number of monkeys at the entrance. We had tied our mojaris on top of one of the saddle bag, for easy access. When we came back, we saw that the plastic bag carrying the mojaris (which was tied on the saddle bag) was tore apart. Later the security guys informed, that monkeys in their infinite curiosity took the blame for this.

Vesta waiting in the parking lot of the temple

We asked our way ahead to a temple staff. Here I had my first brush with caste question. “Which religion? Which Jaati?” After this only I got the answer, and I am still thinking what was the relation of my question with these ones!

We had our lunch at this roadside dhaba, who was selling Punjabi disease! But the food was descent.

There is a shortcut from just a few kms here, from Rani. The road in that shortcut is straight as an arrow, and in good conditions 90% of the times. Only when some villages came did the road go in bad conditions. Maybe the ruling party in those villages was opposition one!

Luggage carrier!

When we joined the main road, the highway was noticeably crowded with huge vehicles. This was the only path that I got bored while riding, because there were too many huge vehicles to overtake. After negotiating the traffic for about an hour, we came across Pali bypass. We mistakenly entered Pali city and went in 1 km ahead, because there was no one on road standing or no vehicle going in same way that we were! Finally a biker told us we should’ve taken that bypass. Took a U turn, and joined that bypass at about 7.00p.m.

After the bypass, we joined the main highway to Jodhpur. There was no milestone for a long time, so no way to confirm whether we were going in the correct direction. We took a halt for coffee at a dhaba, where the owner confirmed the way.

While riding to Jodhpur, I noticed that this seemed a neglected town in Rajasthan, as the approach road is all dark with hardly any markings.

While riding, we were passing through some busy spot having many shops, when Nandinee shouted “Wait, Aniruddha, Bullet baba!”

This is a holy sight for locals, where the story goes like this: This person Om Banna T. Chotila was going on his bullet, drunk. He hit a tree here and died on spot. When police shifted the motorcycle to police station, in the morning it was back at the accident scene! Then police thought someone was playing prank, so they removed all petrol, locked it in a garage, but same thing happened. This much adventure was enough for the police to wash their hands clean out of this, and the motorcycle was given to the next of kin. The family sold it to someone in Gujarat, about 400kms away. But still the bike returned to its place here! The purchaser got scared and left his claim on it.

Since then, this place is worshipped. Slowly it gained its fame. Previously prasaad of alcohol was norm here, but now drinking is prohibited in this area. Local people have accepted Om Banna (Banna is actually a name for a Young Rajput) as their god, and worship the place faithfully. And Bullet Baba is NOT the name of the place, no matter what some sites say.

At Om Banna Temple

After praying and offering garland to the photo frame of Baba and the bullet, we started rolling. Finally we arrived in Jodhpur at around 9.00 p.m.

When we were on the outskirt of the city, we stopped near a police and asked his the directions to our hotel. He started asking questions why have you come, where are you going to stay etc. After satisfying his curiosity, he started telling the ‘saga’ of reaching the place.

Like a military or police order, he started telling us the directions in singsong tone.

“Pehleeeee aaaap seedha jao! Baadmeeeee daayneeee mudo! Phirrrrr……”

Slowly one by one I turned off the turn indicator, switched off engine, removed gloves, about to remove helmet while he was narrating the whole path. Finally he finished, and we rolled on barely able to contain our laughter.

We finally reached the hotel ‘Heaven Guest House’ located near clock tower, more famous locally as Ghanta Ghar. We passed through various crowded bazaar and knocked around many cows before reaching here.

The guest house is located in the heart of the city. While for a traveler this is the best news, for a bike it is not, simply because of lack of parking space. I finally pulled Vesta in the narrow street to the entrance to the guest house, and called it a day. Luckily unlike the surrounding, the guest house was very clean, with good hosts. The owner was shocked to see a married Indian couple touring! Said we were the first Indian couple, and he thought I would be traveling with some firang babe, because desi women are reluctant to ride cross state!

These two days were of continuous riding, as tomorrow we would ride around 300kms more for Jaisalmer. Jodhpur sightseeing would remain an unfinished business that would have to wait for three more days.

Inviting roads - Day 6

We had planned to start as early as possible, to reach Jaisalmer. However, yesterday's ride was tiring, and it was around 11 that we finally stepped outside the guest house. However, the bike was marked with droppings from my most beloved birds, pigeons. Wished I had a gun! I am generally not violent, but those huge droppings really pissed me off!

Took considerable time for first dragging the bike from the narrow street to main road, and then cleaning the beauty spots. Finally we started riding at around 11.30 a.m. It was noon till we finally hit the highway.

The highways around Jodhpur are in good condition, but somehow not as posh as the main highways. We started with routine stops and at good speeds. We kept the saddle bag in Jodhpur only, keeping only the necessary clothes with us. That reduced the load considerably, both on the bike as well as on my mind.

The roads are in good condition, so per hour I was able to churn 60-65 and even sometimes 70kms! We spotted some deers, peacocks and owls, along with the camels and cattle. Again had a lunch at some unnamed dhaba. Eating at such dhabas really has a charm of its own!

Spotted the train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. Felt good in heart that it takes even more time to reach to reach Jaisalmer than road!

We finally reached Jaisalmer at around 4.30p.m. Here I saw the example on online advertisement. When we were riding, some other bikers would join us to ride at same speed, and his pillion would start advertising about some hotel! And this was not just once, but had repeated experience. Seems recession brought out the best of advertising ideas!

Checked into our hotel, Hotel Payal, booked under Youth Hostel. The hotel had a swimming pool, but sadly in our 3 days stay, we never got time to dip even a finger in that pool!

In the evening, we went to the Desert festival cultural program, which was held on Shahid Poonam Singh stadium. The security arrangements and setup were good, but somehow, the programs seemed as if they were not that polished and rehearsed. Some dances were even unsynchronized. Still, had a good time that evening.

A poor attempt to click Jaisalmer fort. The ground was full of dust, so please excuse!

When we came out, we asked a policeman about fort’s timings. He broke into a chat, which lasted for 15-20 mins, but not before the wonderful question about religion and jaati again! He told us not to take guide in the fort, also not to stay in Sam, but return to Jaisalmer in night. Don’t know what his reasons were for this! Also, he told that the camels had not returned from 26 Jan parade at Delhi, so this year the camel show was not going to be held, or not at least on the usual grand scale.

Hunted a while for a famed hotel Desert boy Dhani, which was supposed to be good. But after a cold soup and a horribly chilly noodles, we didn’t have too much of a good opinion about it.

Night was inviting, and tomorrow was a sightseeing day in Jaisalmer. Though it does get cold in the night, the thermalwears kept the cold away.

The golden city - Day 7

The day's plans were simple. First, roam around the city in the morning, and later, attend the desert festival. After a hearty breakfast at hotel, we arrived in the Jaisalmer fort at around 10.00 a.m.

The Jaisalmer fort is a wonder in itself. One third population of the town still lives in the fort. There are even hotels in the fort, if someone wants to experience the living in a fort. It is not recommended though, as it is hurting the old infrastructure.

Roaming around the for on bike was a new experience. You can take the bike all the way till the major spots. The fort is a wonder to experience. There are two cannons on the fort, each facing different sides. One is city view, and other is lake view. None of the views are too great!

I was not expecting that I will have to share a 1-2 feet road not just with pedestrians and other vehicles, but also cows!

There are countless small shops selling this article or that. Most geared for the foreigners though, so you may as well ask the price in dollars!

We first saw the palace. In all the palaces that we saw, this was worst in condition. Not that it was falling off or anything, but it is certainly not as well kept as others. Smell is terrific, and though my hygine acceptance level is quite low as compared with Nandinee’s, it was uncomfortable even for me.

After seeing the palace, we initially planned to see the Jain temples. But surprisingly, they were closed at 12.00 noon! So we decided to click them from outside, and move on.

We had our lunch nearby, and headed for Salim Singh ki Haweli. These three havelis are now tourist spots in Jaisalmer, Salim Singh’s, Nathmal’s and Patwa’s.

Out of these three, Salim Singh’s was worst in condition, and it looked like it was actually falling apart at places. Felt a bit sad that the once prime minister’s grand mansion is now a tourist spot, and that too is getting hard to maintain for the present generations. It tells that real estate investment may not always be the best!

Then came the Patwa’s haveli. This is the grandest of all three, and is really well kept, and neatly presented. Some rooms have gold carving on the roof as well! Before any quick minded thief can think to scrap some and sell it outside, he should know that the particular roof and wall is under cover of a thick glass!

Last we visited Nathmal Ki Haveli, and had our brush with bit slave mentality. We were refused entry to the first floor, whereas foreigners were welcomed. It is a private mansion, so the owners can allow or refuse entry. We were told that they had some forex exchange bank on the first floor, which was as true a fact as was the smile on their faces. We had read in Lonely planet that first floor had some gold carved rooms, but this much affectionate welcome was enough for us to turn our back.

Roaming around in the old city is an experience to behold. Forget the three havelis, all the houses are carved! As if you are sent to 18th century Jaisalmer, where cows roam around freely, and narrow streets allow 2 camels to pass at a time! We roamed around aimlessly, just to take in this good feeling.

We had our snacks in Hotel Kalpana, where we spotted some bulleteers. I guess they were planning to ride all the way to Mumbai. But overall, didn’t feel like to go at the table and introduce myself as a biker. So I let them be, and we enjoyed our snacks. While paying the bill, I noticed some ground with carved gates behind. When I asked the manager what it was, he said:

“It’s the king’s palace.”
“How to go there? Where is the entry gate?”
“What will you do there?”
“...”

I wasn’t prepared for such sharp tongue and that too after paying the damn bill! But later noticed that almost every shop keeper has this bit of rudeness, and only when answered back in the same manner do they get normal!

Anyways we found the entry to the King's palace. Staying true to the great tradition of kings, the next of the kin has given the palace as hotel, and had a small part converted into museum open for public.

Nothing much to see here, so if you are rushing on time, give this place a pass. Not much crowd here either.

View of the fort from PalaceGadisar lake, which was very close to our hotel. It was dark already, with almost a full moon night. The lake was partly lit, mostly in dark. Still some people were boating in it. And not just couples hiding from prying eyes, elder (and HUGE) uncles and aunties too! We weren’t feeling too brave to enter the water even on boats, so clicked the lake from surrounding.

Vesta in the Lake Parking

Gadisar circle

Slept early today, because we were facing two continuous days of riding.

Please continue to Part III

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**animeher** · 02-15-2010, 05:01 PM

Added day 8, hope readers are silently enjoying!

**animeher** · 02-16-2010, 03:20 PM

Added day 9 - Attending unfinished business.

**v_310** · 02-16-2010, 04:21 PM

saw the thread today only! fantastic ride, well narrated.

**animeher** · 02-17-2010, 04:51 PM

So close, yet so far - Day 8

We started towards Tanot at 9 a.m. The path is straightforward, with no probability of getting lost unless one is drunk or stupid – or both.

While going, we saw a windmill farm. A large amount of huge windmills are continuously spinning, to power up Jaislamer.

About 12 k.m.s from Jaisalmer, we reached Bada Bagh. At Bada bagh, there are cenotaphs (aka Chhatris) of Jaisalmer rulers, dating from 15th century till 1950s. A cenotaph is built in memorial of the dead. This tradition was ongoing till recent, but due to death of a prince by a mysterious disease, it was stopped in 1947.

A large number of cenotaphs are situated here, and seeing the dates on each, one really goes back in time. A very serene, serious place.

Later, we joined the main road to head to Tanot. Riding on this road was the most fun I had in entire Rajasthan ride. Initially we encountered a few trucks going on opposite way, and as the wind was blowing towards us, the air blast when the trucks passed would hit us like a brick. I started leaning whenever a truck came in opposite direction to avoid this hit, and after 2-3 such slaps, even Nandinee started to lean!

Later, the number of trucks went down, and empty roads stretched their hands to welcome us. At one such stretch, I leaned and started giving throttle. The speedometer 90 KMPH.-94-98-100-102 KMPH. The fastest I ever rode with a pillion. But it was not enough. Again on a second stretch, I leaned with the hand twisted, and Vesta touched 107 KMPH. After bringing her to normal speed (around 85 KMPH on that road), I sat straight, when I heard Nandinee’s voice: “Hit it again!”

On next stretch, same exercise. We reached 107 KMPH, but then the roads started to get a little bumpy. We got back to normal speed, and then a goat decided to jump in the path and dance its way to the opposite side! Then it struck me this is not the right place to see the top speed, and we rode sedately from then on.

Racing with a camel cart!

Some on road scenes

There is one Ghantyali Mata Mandir, with ‘First Darshan’ board. So parked Vesta there, and took Darshan. The story mentions that Pakistani soldiers tried to destroy that temple. It was shocking to imagine that where we were testing top speed were there Pakistani soldiers trying to capture the same land!

We reached Tanot Mata Mandir at around 1.30 p.m. This temple is depicted in the movie ‘Border’ too. In 1965 war, Pakistan had attacked with some 3000 bombs. 450 bombs fell around the temple, but the temple was not damaged even one bit. Similarly in 1971, hundreds of enemy tanks and vehicles were destroyed by Indian Army and were forced to retreat.

Some calves in temple campus, trying to eat my jeans away!

The main point of today’s trip was to see Bordar Pillar no. 609, the last accessible point to civilians. After some 100 meters from this pillar, Pakistan border starts. The norm for this trip was to ask permission at Tanot Mandir checkpost, which was supposedly easily given, and head further 15 kms for the pillar. But this was not to be so.

The army post had new set of rules now, stopping everyone at the Tanot Mandir only. It was shocking to know that after traveling 150kms, we would be stopped for last 15 kms. Even Longewala was out of reach for civilians. Some Jaisalmer taxiwallahs had blamed the Army about taking bribe for letting people to the border pillar, so Army had decided to stop the whole affair fully. We were told we needed permission from Jaisalmer office or Ramgarh office, which was situated about 60 kms behind!

We argued, hassled and nagged the sentry, the officers and whoever we could find in army uniform for about an hour. Even caught hold of a medical officer who had come for a visit, but the answer didn’t change. Some soldiers even explained to us:

“What’s there to see? Nothing! Same as here. See, it’s like this. You see that gate? There is a similar gate there, only big in size. In this place, there is a floodlight there, and there, there is a bunker!”

One even shared his experience:

“When I joined the army, I was all excited to see the border. ‘Oh I want to see the border!’ But when I reached there, I thought, ‘enough of the border, I want to return!’”

It was hard to swallow that we were stopped just 15 kms from the point we came to see, and that too just because of some stupid taxi walla’s fault. That day, we realized that interacting with army people is vastly different than interacting with traffic police or even usual police. Army personnel are not reasonable or negotiable, they only follow orders. So unless you have a permit from the upper authority, you can be sure their first answer to be their final one.

With heavy heart, we headed back to Jaisalmer. The roads brushed away our sadness again. Riding the same roads on the way back was still enjoyable and not boring as I had thought.

Lunch at Tanot is a serious problem, with no hotels around. One has to go back to Ramgarh for having anything to eat. So we suggest you carry your food all the way from Jaisalmer, if you want to avoid the hunt for hotels. We had our lunch at Ramgarh, that too we selected dhaba which was least dirty of all! So beware and bring your food with you.

It was a fast blazing ride back to Jaisalmer, because we remembered there was some puppet show at about 6.30p.m. near Gadisar lake. So we hoped to reach in time for that show. It was already 6.40p.m. till we finally found the place where the shows were conducted, but the ticket counter people let us in. We sat with full motorcycling gear, and stole the show for a few moments where everyone thought we too would be playing some part in the show!

The show lasted for about 40 minutes, had 4-5 puppet performance and commentary by founder Mr. Sharma. This 83 year old man still has the passion for true Jaisalmer tradition. It was touching to hear from him how Jaisalmer was 50 years ago, how the immigrants would pass the city in 1947 divide, how the town lost its place in business due to sea ports, and how the tradition was now getting sidestepped for money.

The day was spent well, and even though we couldn't see the border, the roads made up for it.

Attending unfinished business - Day 9

We were supposed to be in Jodhpur by day end today. In Maharashtra, I would have planned this 300km ride over the day, but Rajasthan roads have given me enough confidence to first see the rest of Jaisalmer and then after lunch start for Jodhpur.

The bike had gone to reserve, which showed the mileage figure was around 40-43 KMPL, and not 50 as I had expected. While this was the result of high speed riding, the reason I was concerned about the mileage was, I wanted as least petrol in the bike as possible before giving it to Jodhpur railway station a day later. That’s why, I was keeping an eye on the odometer to keep the perfect balance between having least amount of petrol balance verses getting stranded on roads with no petrol!

We decided to visit Sam desert. Sam is almost as famous as Jaisalmer, and is a major tourist spot nowadays. Simply the prospectus of getting to ride 100 kms more (to and fro Sam) made me say yes to this plan.

The path is same as yesterday’s one, but we take a right for Lodhruva some 12 kms further. There is some place named Amarsagar on way, which houses a lake. But seeing the dried lake from the road, we decided to skip it and head straight to Lodhruva. It was as if a style to name dried lakes as ‘Sagar’!.

Lodhruva has Jain temples dating from 1500s, with detailed carvings. There is said to be a cobra living in the campus!

Outside the temple, we found a seller selling stones. Upon close inspection, we found these stones were famous for forming curd out of milk, without any addition. You just need to stir the stone in milk and wait for the curd to form. We bought a few such stones, and nicked a few as part of the bargain! I was bit skeptical and was planning to mount these stones to some small trophy as a memorial of how even educated people get fooled, but the stone actually formed curd at home!

After Lodhruva, we rode further, and took a left for Sam. These inner roads are in fair condition, but not as good as the butter smooth main roads. While riding, we noticed a board ‘parasailing’, and saw a parachute and a jeep in middle of a plain land. A car was just turning towards it, so we followed suit.

The parasailing here was actually motorsailing, where you are tied with the blown up parachute at the back of the jeep, and as the jeep gathers speed, you get airborne. The cost of 5 minutes of such flying was 500 bucks, and when we saw the other people doing this, it was actually lasting for only a minute or so. 500 bucks for staying in air for a minute didn’t seem much value for money for both of us, so just clicked a few snaps of Vesta resting in the field, and moved on.

We reached Sam at around 11.00 a.m. The moment we entered the border of Sam Dunes (which is actually 4kms before Sam village), two people started running with the bike, holding my hand! Damn! I had to stop the bike for the fear of falling with those two!

Turned out they were some camel riders trying to lure us to get on the camels for ride. The sand was too hot to get in, and we both are not that crazy about camel ride, so bid goodbye to the two, and rode further. The Sam Dunes last for about half or so kms touching road, and are spread inwards. We couldn’t get any better photos, firstly because of scorching heat, and secondly because of camel owners trying to get in each and every frame!

We came back to Jaisalmer at 12.00, and were ready to depart at about 1.30 p.m. from Hotel Payal. The hotel’s checkout time was 10.00 a.m., so here too we had kept the luggage in reception room. We geared up in front of the hotel, gathering quite a number of spectators in the process, and rolled on for a fast ride towards Jodhpur.

At Pokhran

Vesta munched up kilometer after kilometer, soon each stop fell behind. At a village, I thought I was seeing things, when I saw some peacocks on the roadside. Turned out there were actually many peacocks there, which were quite used to humans. Some even were spotted crossing the road slowly!

It turned dark soon, and Vesta started to go in reserve. I filled small quantities of petrol, while calculating the remaining distance by the milestones in way. In second such stop, when I filled only 30 rupees of petrol, the petrol disbursing person was surprised:

“Sir! Jodhpur is still far away, how come you are taking only 30 rupees of petrol?!”
“Don’t worry brother, this bike gives good mileage! Even 30 rupees petrol is too much!”

His mouth turned a round O, and had Nandinee not laughed at that particular moment giving out my lie, I am sure he would have a great story to tell his buddies for a long time!

We reached our hotel in Jodhpur at about 8.30 p.m. One incidence with the pigeons was enough for me to decide to find another parking. As it was late, I parked just in front of the hotel’s street, in the center of a three road junction! Prayed that may she be safe from any curious hand, we moved inside.

The hotel is very welcoming, and we were comfortable in no time. Had a dinner and crashed on bed. Nandinee was lost in sleep fast, I was caught up by some movie, when at 1’o clock I remembered I forgot the throttle lock on the bike! I ran outside to fetch it, when I heard someone approaching. I waited with held breath to let him pass, then saw a cow sleepwalking! Fetched the throttle lock, and decided that the movie can wait, let's sleep now!

Lotus fort - Day 10

We were up and running by 10.00 a.m. Just last night, we spotted ‘Omlette Shop’ which was very near to our hotel. This shop is mentioned in almost every guide book, and says the person sells 100s of omlettes, and been doing this daily for over 30 years! Man, that is a huge opportunity loss for chicken populace! After having omlette here, we didn’t feel it is too extraordinary or anything. Just good breakfast at normal price!

The first stop of the day was Umaid Bhavan Palace. Head for museum entry, not palace entry, because the palace is now – you guessed it correct, a hotel! So only a portion of the palace is now open for public.

The palace is very huge and beautifully maintained. But we noticed they are constructing a large number of classic looking buildings around the palace. Guess for Taj the palace is not enough, and maybe we’ll soon have a ‘Umaid Bhavan Annexe’!

After the museum, we went to Jodhpur railway station for knowing the timing at which Vesta was to be handed over for journey to Pune tomorrow. The parcel office informed us to submit the bike in late evening. This was actually relieving that we would be accompanied by Vesta for full day, otherwise we would be at mercy of public transport and rickshawallas.

After lunch, we rushed to Mehrangarh fort, which was supposed to be very near to our guest house. But after going through a strangling maze of dirtiest roads we have seen and filthiest conditions people operate in, we were more than eager to finally reach someplace clean.

The road connecting Mehrangarh to the city was having some work, so people had to take long cut to reach there. In order to save our kilometers, the people themselves decided let them go through the narrowest and steepest ways possible to save petrol! After crossing that maze, we finally found ourselves on the Mehrangarh base.

We opted for audio tour for this fort, as Lonely planet said it was worth it. The person giving us the audio tour equipment was so fully charged, and the way he told us all the directions and instructions was really interesting!

The audio tour IS worth it. And importantly, the equipment has two audio slots (3.5mm jacks), though they give only one earset. If you have a spare one of your mp3 player, you can put it in the second one and two can listen. We had one with us, so both of us could enjoy the tour together.

The blue houses of Brahmins

Mehrangarh fort inside

View of Jaswant Thada from fort

View of Umaid Bhavan palace from fort

The fort is very beautiful, but at the same time, the approach roads go through the worst paths I have seen. It is as if a lotus has bloomed in a mud pond! Don’t mind the mud if you value the lotus!

Jaswant Thada, a monument constructed in carved sheets of marble ,is a traditional cremation ground of Jodhpur rulers located very near to the fort. But it gets closed at 5 p.m., so couldn’t see it. Maybe next time!

We went to the railway station for giving the bike. After getting the bike packed for 110 bucks (which I feel is perfect price, anything above Rs. 150 is not worth the service), we started to remove the petrol. Vesta’s huge belly has many spots for petrol to hide. After a tiring session of rolling and twisting the bike, we finally managed to dry up the petrol tank.

But soon the parcel office informed us, that for booking as luggage, we had to give the bike tomorrow only, and we couldn’t keep it in the premises for the night! We had to keep it in the nearby parking and come back early tomorrow morning. But after the removal of all petrol, Vesta had to be pushed to the parking lot, which was at quite some distance. So I put back around 1 liter of petrol back into her. Later I realized that I didn’t connect the petrol pipe below the tank back to the carburrator, meaning all the petrol had easy exit to the ground! But to my great surprise, not a single drop was dropped! Seemed Vesta gulped that 1 liter of petrol and not a drop fell out of the open fuel knob! Damn! So now I was looking forward for a morning exercise to pull out that 1 liter again!

We put the bike into the parking, and chose to walk back to hotel. Had ice creams in some shop, there was one named ‘Banaras Paan’, and it actually tasted like I was eating the Paan. In fact, it was so realistic, I got bored half way and switched the ice creams with Nandinee. Heym I am not Paan addict!

Further, we saw a Paanipuri shop, and went in with great expectations. That was, undisputedly, THE worst paanipuri in my living memory. Everything had come together in its worst form to create such a wonderful taste. Nandinee as usual backed off after tasting one, and I had to endure the rest of the plate.

We returned to the guest house for packing and dinner. We had planned to sleep early, as tomorrow we would have to wake up as early as possible, for Vesta’s check in. But packing stuff took a good deal of time, and finally we put our backs on the bed at 12.00 midnight.

Return to base – Day 11

The train’s time from Jodhpur was 5.50 a.m. But we had to take the bike from the parking, submit it to luggage office and make sure it boards the train with us. So we left the hotel at 3.45 a.m. only. Paid the highest amount for least distance in my life! The rickshaw charge for around 1.5kms distance was 100 Rs! Guess we paid the rikshawala for his getting up early, and got the ride for free.

I woke up the fast asleep guard at the parking, and got hold of Vesta. I was bit worried how she would start; now that the kick was tied. Luckily, in 3-4 cranks of the starter, she roared to life and got on road. Me and Nandinee stationed ourselves in front of the luggage office, and started the tedious ritual of removing petrol from Vesta’s belly. This way turn, that way bend, this way tilt, that way push, after 20 agonizing minutes of heavy exercise that we finally stopped hearing the sound of petrol after the bike was shaken.

It was 4.30 a.m., and the luggage office which was supposed to open at 4.00 a.m. was still closed. The train was already warming itself up on the platform in front. Helped Nandinee board the train, and again got back to the office waiting for the staff. Finally found him sitting in the parcel office. Got the bike booked in real quick, and boarded on the train. The coolies on the station were haggling for some chai pani, so after a quick bargaining session at 5.15 a.m., paid them 60 bucks and finally settled in the train. Sleep had already taken control of me, and I don’t even remember when I climbed up the top rack and fell asleep!

I woke up to some pushing and prodding, to see Nandinee waking me up out of hunger.

“Aniruddha, there is no pantry car!”
“What?!”
“No pantry car!”

But this wasn’t a Garib Rath train not to have a pantry car! But the railway staff confirmed this, so we had to collect and accumulate food whenever opportunity arose. But later we realized that wasn’t actually necessary. The regulars on this train were used to this, and they had cards of hotels on the next stations. So they would just call the hotel and say “deliver 3 plates of lunch to coach B3 – seat 32-33 & 34 in Jodhur Pune express, which will arrive after 1.5 hours”, and the hotel would actually send the delivery boy with the packets!

The train waited a whooping 1 hour on Ahmedabad station. Had it been previously announced, we would see some spot or atleast go in some restaurant! When the train finally moved from Ahmadabad, we were convinced that we would reach Pune late, and not possible on scheduled time.

This was our last night outside home. Tomorrow we would finally sleep in our usual comfortable bed. The thought kept us warm and happy through the night.

No place like home – Day 12

The train reached Pune unexpectedly at dot time, 5.00 a.m. Guess the 1 hour wait at Ahmadabad was planned after all!

I was prepared for some cheating and bribing at Pune, because of previous experiences of friends. The bike luckily was in good shape, without any visible damage or anything. I pushed the 150kg horse all the way on the platform to go to the parcel office. The person at the office released the bike really quick, surprising even himself I think!

When I started getting the bike outside, a watchman stopped me. As expected, he started to check the bike for petrol. When I showed the petrol pipe from below pulled out for removing petrol, poor fellow’s face was sunk. He started telling stories, sitting here from 7 p.m. yesterday, this and that, now pls give some money! Gave 20 bucks to him, and got out. Again poured the petrol I was carrying back into Vesta, and brought herself to life.

Nandinee was waiting outside station with the luggage. When I reached there, some rickshawalas started asking us to take the ride.

“How will you take this entire luggage on motorcycle? You will need a rickshaw!”

But after seeing each and everything getting nicely put back and tied on the bike, the awe on their faces was very much visible.

We reached home at 6.15 a.m., which was quite early than what I had anticipated. When I pulled the bike into the parking, our landlord woke up; completely surprised to see us after 15 days all geared up this early hour.

“Had a good trip?”
“Well, yes, you can say that again!”

Epilogue

Got the luggage back into home, opened all the windows to let fresh air in, and quickly checked Vesta for any possible damage. I smelled a strong burning smell, which I feared was due to lack of oil. But it turned out the plastic thread used for tying the gunny bags was sticking with the engine, so when the engine turned hot, it burned.

With all things now back in place, and life all set to roll back on routine, we finally sat together in silence, having hot smoking cups of tea between us. Nobody felt the need to say any words, or start any conversation. In the 1851 kms of riding, the conversations no longer needed to be only verbal.

Finally Nandinee broke the silence.

“It was fun, isn’t it?
“Yeah.”
“We should do this again sometime.”
“Yep.”
“So where should we head the next time?”
“Hmm. How about Leh?”

————————————————————-The End————————————————————-

Don't forget to vote!

1. See the upper right hand of the starting post. There is a "Rate this Thread" option. Click on a star rating it and vote.

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**Bhogvan** · 02-18-2010, 01:44 PM

I am impressed ...

The owner was shocked to see a married Indian couple touring! Said we were the first Indian couple, and he thought I would be traveling with some firang babe, because desi women are reluctant to ride cross state!

He was true. Congrats for getting a partner like that. Not many are lucky like you.

**animeher** · 02-18-2010, 05:25 PM

Thanks Bhogvan!

Posted the last writeup of the series. Hope the readers enjoyed the log!

**v_310** · 02-18-2010, 07:06 PM

Originally posted by animeher View Post

The end? c'mon... pictures of Leh do not do any justice to the real thing! I god married in Jun '08 and did a solo Leh trip two months later - my wife couldn't come along do to an intensified job search.

I'm hoping to do the ride again this year with you guys - provided leaves in August work out well for me and my wife!

Fingers crossed, lets see!

**animeher** · 02-22-2010, 12:04 PM

@v_310: I am planning Leh ride in August 10, maybe first and second week. Will keep that thread updated.

**v_310** · 02-22-2010, 12:33 PM

^^ yup. am following that thread closely.

**animeher** · 02-26-2010, 04:11 PM

I noticed the first two pages were too heavy, so moved the posts around to make reading and loading the pages easier.

**HydroXidE** · 02-26-2010, 05:18 PM

Hey Ani... awesome thread ..
I'm happy you went ahead with this trip after planning it for a long time..

Stunning pictures mate !!!! .. really nice trip log ..

You've got my vote ..

..

**himanshumm** · 02-26-2010, 06:11 PM

@animeher

Brilliant stuff brother!!! Must Congrats you on completing this trip sucessfully & hope peacefully too (Hope ur wife didnt shout at you he he

well deserving log for BTBC .. count +1 vote from my side..
Best Wishes..

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