[akashitaliya]

Rajasthan – a place, full of colour and excitement. Battle scarred forts, turreted marble palaces of breath-taking grandeur and whimsical charm, delightful folk art and culture, riotous colours and a romantic sense of pride and honour. Endowed with natural beauty and a great history, Rajasthan has a flourishing tourism industry. It is the most popular travel destinations among domestic and foreign tourists. Every third foreign tourist travelling to India visits Rajasthan.
For anyone, the colours of Rajasthan are impossible to ignore and the effect of emerald green, canary yellow and fire-engine red turbans and sarees is simply dazzling.

Prologue:

We made numerous plans for road-trips during college days, and like most plans none were executed.
A few years after college such a plan is brought to life again and this time we actually went for it.
We are a group of 3 friend; 2 from Surat, Gujarat and 1 from Calicut, Kerala.


P.S: This was all planned 2 days before the travel date.

Plan:

Duration: 6-days and 5-Nights
Total Distance: 2000kms
Noble Steed: 2016 VW VENTO TDi DSG

We made a quick data sheet with journey duration, distance and stay.

[akashitaliya]

DAY-1: Surat-Udaipur

We had planned to leave as early as 4:00AM but somehow managed to start around 7:00AM.

With the sun shining bright, we started our journey.



Bharuch around 9:15AM. Surprisingly no traffic over the Golden Bridge.

The Golden Bridge over Narmada river was built in 1881 by the British. After over 130 years, still standing strong.



Quick Stop for refreshments and a selfie.


Enter Rajasthan:



With almost great roads throughout, we reached Udaipur around 4:30PM. It was a little cold, almost time for sunset. Without wasting more time we visited both Lake Pichola and Fateh Sagar Lake.

It was mesmerizing- the sunset.


Lake Fateh Sagar-


There was this restaurant right besides our hotel, recommended by a friend. Great ambience and food. It was very cold by the time we went for dinner, we asked the manager at Cafe Nirvana to deliver the food at our rooms and he was happily said yes.


The Beatles-one of my favourite.



Deciding on the menu-

[akashitaliya]

DAY-2: City Palace and Car Museum, Udaipur - Jodhpur

Be ready to spend an entire day to savour this great monument which speaks quietly of the glorious past of the Mewar kingdom and its rulers.
I suggest on your trip to any of the forts in Rajasthan; AVOID THE TOUR GUIDES. My experience was that while the guides were all well trained and knowledgeable, they obviously worked on a timetable and as a consequence I felt rushed.
Some clicks at the palace-

The view of the Lake Pichola from the City Palace. A Lake Palace is built in the middle of Lake Pichola.


The sweet detailing within the City Palace. Centuries old and still describing the rich Mewar culture.


The entrance of City Palace. Cars were allowed inside sometime back, we unfortunately had to park 2kms away from the palace.


This garden on the first floor of the palace, is just beautiful. The amount of detailing done is impeccable.


This where the Maharajas rested, admired art and had a quick puff-puff on the Hookah.


You can see whole of Udaipur through the balcony of the palace.


This picture doesn't do justice to the beauty of this particular hallway. Almost all tourists admired its detailed carving engraved on ivory with colourful glass panes.


A weighing scale for the Maharajas.


Sideview of the palace.


Right after entering the main gate, they used to fight Elephants here. The last elephant fight took place in 1951.


Another view of the city from the balcony. Tried to get a nice frame in this picture.



Next, we headed for the Vintage Car Museum
Took a few snaps-


1956 Mercedes Benz 180b (W120) 1.8L



1930 Ford- Model A Standard Phaeton


1946 Buick Super


1946 Chevrolet Truck


1946 Chevrolet Bus


1946 MG-TC: My favourite.


Also, there were some horse drawn carriages on display. Couldn't find any details on them.



Some post-cards from the museum.

1924 Rolls Royce 20-H.P


1946 MG-TC


After a quick bite at the restaurant within the museum we started for Jodhpur.
Reached Jodhpur around 8:30PM and visited the Shastri Circle Park near our hotel.

[akashitaliya]

DAY-3: Mehrangarh Fort and The Umaid Bhavan Palace - Jaisalmar

Mehrangarh Fort is one of the oldest forts in India built by Rao Jodha around 1460.

I’m not sure if this is known to everyone but the Mehrangarh Fort was featured in The Dark Knight Rises starring Christian Bail.
Pic for reference-



The fort has less artifacts and rooms allowed for tourists than the one in Udaipur. The detailing and artifacts are amazing nonetheless.
Pics:


View of Mehrangargh Fort.


The fort is situated 410-feet above the city. The first main entrance after a winding steep way up that leads to and from the city below. The doors were massive and studded with spikes.

Spiked Doors.


Right after the entrance. Side profile.


There were about 10-15 canons positioned over the boundaries of the fort, all facing different directions towards the city.



Takhat Nivas, the chambers of Maharaja Takhat Singh. Felt a little Christmasy looking at the balls on ceiling.


The different spears on display at the armoury.


Battle Helmet. The carved detailing on the helmet is very precise.


Battle Shield. This was made from a combination metal, fabric and precious stones.


Vintage Hookah on display.


A cast iron external spiral staircase. Very minor signs of rust.


A view from one of the open areas. Minor exterior and interior renovations were going on.


Phool Mehal. This is the said to be the pleasure dome(diwan khana) for the Maharajas. The gold you see on the ceiling and pillars is not paint but actual gold bought from Ahmedabad, Gujarat.



Hall way.



Later, we visited the The Umaid Bhavan Palace. This palace is relatively new and is divided into three parts-
1. A small museum for the tourists.
2. Major central portion has been converted to a hotel and managed by TAJ Group.
3. A residence for the Royal family.

The Umaid Bhavan Palace was built by Maharaja Umaid Singh the grandfather of the current Maharaja Gaj Singh. The foundation was laid on 18th November 1929 and the palace was completed in 1943.
Some pictures of the palace for reference-



A tank presented by the Officers of Jodhpur Lancers Training Centre on the occasion of the marriage of Shree Bada Maharaja Kunwar Saheb Shre Shree Hanwant Singhji Saheb of Jodhpur in 1943.


A quick selfie before we left for Jaisalmer.


There were 7-8 vintage cars on display there. Couldn’t take pictures as the sunlight was reflecting upon the glass windows of the garages.

Soon after, we started travelling for Jaisalmer around 4:00PM.
It was a scary drive to be honest. We followed Google Maps and ended upon a very narrow, deserted and pothole ridden road. We had to cruise at 50 Km/h as it was getting dark. We saw just one vehicle throughout that 70 Km stretch (Phalsund - Jaisalmar Road), that too a tractor. I suggest anyone travelling for Jaisalmer to take the longer route, god forbid but in case of any emergency one cannot find a single person for help on that route.
Being our first road-trip, this was a very frightening experience.

Jaisalmer

A friend had recommended Zostel in Jaisalmar. It was a nice experience staying there meeting new people from across India. We met this guy from Nepal who is travelling solo since a very young age of 17 and has explored almost all of India.

View from our balcony-

Great ambience and view from the hotel.
Day time..

& during night.


You can see the Jaisalmer fort from the balcony.


Sunrise the next day.

[akashitaliya]

DAY-4: Jaisalmer – Sam Sand Dunes

Jaisalmer Fort is one of the oldest fort, its over 800-years old. The fort itself was the town of Jaisalmer with a small portion of it being the king’s residence. As the population grew, people started settling outside the fort boundaries and that’s the Jaisalmer we know today.
We took breakfast at one of the restaurants within the fort which was earlier a watch tower. Back in the day, canons were positioned at the place where we sat for breakfast.
Pics-




The view of the fort from the restaurant.




The walls are made out of yellow sandstones. The fort walls are tawny lion coloured during the day, fading to honey-gold as the sun sets, thereby camouflaging the fort in the yellow desert. Sweet !


The map of Jaisalmer Fort is carved upon a yellow sandstone and a small stool for viewing it is positioned.


Close up of the 3D map.



Marketing skills


MODS, please delete this picture if found inappropriate.


A little shopping for the siblings
The market is full of colourful bedsheets, comforters, sweater and kurtis.


We all bought these leather bags. The seller was a tough one to bargain with, but got a fairly decent deal in the end.



The fort didn’t consume much of our time and we decided to reach Sam Sand Dunes before the sunset where we had planned our desert safari. Its a 50Km drive from the city through small dunes and lots of windmills. It was 2:00PM the temperature gauge showed the weather at 24 degree but the moment you roll down your car windows a fresh cold breeze greets you.


Desert safari and sunset point-

We rode on camel-back into the desert for about 7-8km an stayed there till sunset. Felt so calm, away from the city's hush-hush traffic and noises.


My friend here, was admiring the majestic beast.


The camel ride was fun.


The camel buggy was a popular thing amongst the kids.




This was the most beautiful picture throughout our trip.



We had booked a desert resort in Sam Sand Dunes. Somehow, they upgraded us to their Luxury tents from the initially booked cottages as the cottages were under maintenance.
It was an amazing experience. The temperature dropped to 4 degrees after midnight. Super-chilled.

There are over 30 tents and cottages within the resort. My Vento parked right in front of the tent.


View from my tent's porch. We sat there almost all through the night admiring the clear star spangled sky.


Revive your light !

[akashitaliya]

DAY-5: Jaisalmer – Ahmedabad.

During our return trip the tensions over the Padmavaat movie were high. Mobs had already set ablaze 50 motorcycles and damaged over 150 cars the previous night in Ahmedabad and it's nearby areas.
Reference Pic:


(Source:indianxpress.com)


We reached Ahmedabad around 8:00PM and thought it’d be best not to enter the city. We even asked the patrolling police cars whether to enter or not, they opted against it as there was a Bandh declared the next day. We quietly stayed at a hotel near Gandhinagar.
Ahmedabad was just a rest stop for us as night driving had to be avoided.

Also,We saw a IAF fighter plane being transported in parts.










DAY-6: Ahmedabad - Surat.

We all just wanted to reach home safely and not come under any attention from any kind of protest groups on the way.
Luckily right after crossing Bharuch, a cop asked us for a lift till Surat and we happily obliged.

Back in town.



Thank you for reading !

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[blackwasp]

Great trip there. Good idea to stay outside the city at times of unrest and bandh.

Originally Posted by akashitaliya

Next, we headed for the Vintage Car Museum

Thats the best part of the city! One of the best places to ogle at the beauties parked there. I had visited there back in Dec 2016 and had a lot of fun. We too had our lunch at the hotel inside the museum. Delicious food and good cars for company.

Here is pic beside the old fuel pump in the museum.

[akashitaliya]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Great trip there. Good idea to stay outside the city at times of unrest and bandh.



Thats the best part of the city! One of the best places to ogle at the beauties parked there. I had visited there back in Dec 2016 and had a lot of fun. We too had our lunch at the hotel inside the museum. Delicious food and good cars for company.

Thanks blackwasp.
The museum is a beauty. I have heard that they changed few cars on display. There used to be Rambler Classic 500 on display too. Did you came across it during your visit ?

Here is pic beside the old fuel pump in the museum.
Attachment 1722066

And your Punto looks stunning.

[akashitaliya]

Almost forgot, we saw this massive rig on a trailer while entering Jaisalmer. Seemed like a oil-rig. Some Arabic initials were written on the door.
Sorry for the bad pictures, it was dark and we couldn't stop for long.