[fine69]

Dates - 21-24 Aug'10
Route - Delhi-Jaipur-Kishangarh-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Chittorgarh-Kishangarh-Jaipur-Delhi
Car - Swift LDi
Total Run - 1712kms
Top Speed - 165 kmph
Places Visited - Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh, Ranakpur

Udaipur was narrowed down after HP & Uttrakhand were out of the list with the landslides happening all over. Though I still wanted to go to a cooler place my wife insisted that we go to Rajasthan, for two reasons actually-
1. She thought Udaipur was all sand dunes and camels and fairs
2. She can live in 45 degrees environment without the need of even a fan so hot climate is never a problem for her.

The sunday before we were planning to go, my father-in-law gave us a visit and the talks of me planning to drive down to Udaipur came up. He was against it and so was my father. My father even went up to the extent of saying that if I plan to take my own car there then he'd not allow Jyoti (my wife) back in the house. Well the reason he didn't say anything straight to me was because he knew how stubborn I was and I'd have gone anyways. My mom was wise enough to change the topic. I did not bring this up the following week until the day before and asked my mom to handle it.

So we were all set for the trip, had packed our clothes on the 19th only because last minute packing leaves me tired for driving the next day (have learned this out of my last 2 road trips). Now came the evening of 20th and I was told by my team at the office that they were planning for a party the same day. I was strictly against it but when the Boss insisted I couldn't say much, after all he was the who approved my leave in the first place. So, with no choice left, I told my wife that I'd be late and all the last minute packing she should do and match every item with the checklist that I'd mailed her. I reached home at around 11:30 PM, took a shower and went straight to bed.

Day 1 - 20th Aug'10
Against the initial plan of starting at 4 we started at around 5:15 AM. There were light showers and with a wave of goodbye to my mother we both started. It soon started raining heavily and I had to put the wipers on their maximum speed. After about half an hour the rain went mild and I pushed the accelerator further. Now I was doing 100-110 kmph though the road was full of potholes but since I could see them from a distance and they were mainly in the middle of the road I was able to avoid them.

We neared Jaipur at around 8:30 AM and I entered the city missing the new by-pass which is around 30-35 kms before the city, thanks to no signboards. Now this transport nagar by-pass used to be the old by-pass and whenever I'd ask anybody if it was THE by-pass they would nod in yes and point me that I should continue going straight. Finally after 30 minutes I realized that I was lost, asked around, took another 30 minutes to get to NH-8 back again. It was just after missing the by-pass that I raced a white Verna CRDi. I know that if it was a straight road I had no chance but since it wasn't I gave it a shot. We overtook each other around 20 times (almost everytime at 150-160 kmph) and as the city neared the other guy just slowed down. I did too, allowed him to overtake with a thumbs up.

Now from Jaipur to Kishangarh is the road where one can easily average 110-120 kmph, I was pushing the car not more than 130 kmph here. We started looking for a dhaba but not a single decent one where we could stop. Finally after about half an hour my wife spotted a Cafe Coffee Day hoarding which said that CCD was about 5 kms away. Stopped at CCD, had some amazing chicken burger and pizza along with a Mocha.

The next stop was Chittorgarh Fort and we reached there at around 4 PM. It was still raining cats & dogs but the rain could not deter me from seeing the fort. We took the car inside the fort and boy was it huge! One could actually spend an entire day (or two) here as there were various spots for stopping, clicking pics, checking the scenery around or whatever one wants to do to relax and enjoy the scenic beauty . We drove around for about an hour and then left for Udaipur.

Reached Udaipur at around 6:30 PM and then the hunt for the Lal Ghat area started. Lal Ghat has some really cool hotels with great view of the lake and some exceptionally good food joints. Lal Ghat is near Jagdish Chowk (Jagdish temple) and whenever I'd stop to ask for Jagdish chowk I was told that I should continue going straight. The problem with going straight in Udaipur is that there are more than 100 intersections where there is a V shaped cut and not a proper perpendicular turn. Moreover, people don't tell you to take a right or left, just point and say, "Go straight!" So after about another 20-30 mins I managed to find and park my car outside Poonam Haveli, Lal Ghat. This hotel didn't have much to offer and the rooms were just ok. Then I took off on foot and after about an hour of hotel hunting finalized on Aashiya Haveli for 3 nights (1300/- per night for a room that was originally 1600/-).

This room had an amazing view of the Pichola Lake and at the terrace of the hotel you could see both Lake Palace as well the Jagmandir island.

Then we put our luggage in the room and headed out towards the city market for dinner. Had really delicious rajasthani thali at Natraj (dinner is must here) and the guys serving the tables could easily win a guiness trophy for fastest serving with no spills. We headed back to our hotel but had to park the car at Jagdish chowk as parking was not allowed inside the Lal Ghat area. Back at the hotel we opened the room windows, watched some TV, had a few drinks and then went to sleep.

[fine69]

Day 2 - 21st Aug'10
Though it wasn't a very elaborate vacation I still did not have any plans of getting up early just to cover as many places as I could.


We woke up around 8, lazied around in the room for about an hour, opened the room windows again and the cool breeze in the morning was more than refreshing. After getting ready we decided to go out for breakfast and started looking for Cafe Edelweiss. Cafe Edelweiss makes one of the best breakfasts in the area and I had to try it out. But to my amazement almost nobody knew where it was, I guess the name was a little difficult for the people to recall it by. After spending about 15 minutes trying to locate it I looked at other options in my knowledgebase and there it was, no not Cafe Edelweiss but Sunrise, another breakfast joint rated ok.

Now what had spoiled my wife was some delicious breakfast that we had on our last few trips to Mcleodganj, Rishikesh and even Agra (Johnny's Place). So the expectation was similar, either an american breakfast or heavy cheese/tomato sandwiches. I ordered a cheese-tomoato sandwich and club sandwich with shake and lemon soda but it wasn't at par. After my wife had enough of giving me those "where did you bring me?!" & "this doesn't taste like its supposed to be" looks I went to the manager there, no not to give him a feedback on the food but to map a route so that I can cover the listed places in single direction instead of going back and forth. By the way I think the breakfast was not that bad.

So now we were headed to Sajjangarh Palace (Monsoon Palace).

There's a gate about 2-3 kms before the palace and if one wishes to take their vehicle inside they charge 100 bucks more. After getting my entry ticket when I sat inside the car I saw two foreigner guys negotiating with the auto-waalas but the tariff being quoted was more than they would've thought and they were looking around for some kind of help.

So after getting a nod from my wife I asked them to hop in, surprised is what they were when I offered them a lift and that too for free. One of the guys confirmed twice before getting in that I really did not want any money for giving them a lift.





The Palace




Views from around the Palace







One of the locals there said, "Woh saamne jo jagah hai wahan nautanki hui thi!". I asked, "Nautanki?" to which he replied, "Arre Rakhi ka swayamwar!"


My favourite


Random (Sajjangarh Palace)



Reached Tiger Lake


Wanted to go where this Laura was parked....


....got there!


Random (Tiger Lake)




Then we were off to Nehru Garden but it was closed as a boat had sunk 2-3 days ago and boating was closed. Went to Maharana Pratap Park instead





Also went to Saheliyon ki Bari but it did not interest us much so took off to Gulab Bagh instead. Roamed around in the garden (there's a zoo in here too) and then back to the hotel.

Though there was a list of places I missed in the city (knowingly) but this vacation was never planned exhaustively in the first place. My primary purpose was driving and boy I did, lots of it! And by the end of 2nd day I decided that I had to come back to exploring the city again in winters.

[harjeev]

@fine69: Nice start to a travelogue. Infact I too am planning a trip to Rajasthan in the 1st or 2nd week of October for 5-7 days and same as you my objective would be driving and sightseeing but keeping a balance of both, as I would be traveling with my wife and 2 kids 1st 4 years old and the younger one would be 5 months in the 1st week of October.
So i would closely be following your travelogue. Keep it coming...

[lsp]

fine69
Lovely pics. Esp the ones of the highway with the overcast sky. I bet you rolled down the windows and did not feel the need to run the Ac in your car. I like to do that in this kind of weather. Which hotel were u staying in. Please also share the tariff and a small review of the hotel.

Looking forward to the rest of the story.


Lol. How apt!!

Originally Posted by fine69

One of the locals there said, "Woh saamne jo jagah hai wahan nautanki hui thi!". I asked, "Nautanki?" to which he replied, "Arre Rakhi ka swayamwar!"

[vkochar]

Brought back memories of my trip to Udaipur 2.5 yrs back.

The monsoon palce now looks so much better as it was being renovated at that time. Great Views though.

Good to see Lake Pichola full !

[fine69]

Originally Posted by harjeev

@fine69: Nice start to a travelogue. Infact I too am planning a trip to Rajasthan in the 1st or 2nd week of October for 5-7 days and same as you my objective would be driving and sightseeing but keeping a balance of both, as I would be traveling with my wife and 2 kids 1st 4 years old and the younger one would be 5 months in the 1st week of October.
So i would closely be following your travelogue. Keep it coming...

One of my colleagues at office came back from Udaipur last week and the weather there is getting pleasant day by day. I'm sure by Oct it would be great.

Originally Posted by lsp

fine69
Lovely pics. Esp the ones of the highway with the overcast sky. I bet you rolled down the windows and did not feel the need to run the Ac in your car. I like to do that in this kind of weather. Which hotel were u staying in. Please also share the tariff and a small review of the hotel.

I'm one of those who never drive on highways with the windows rolled down, little finicky about keeping the insides totally dust free, though the weather was more than pleasant throughout.
I stayed at Aashiya Haveli. It was one of the neatest looking hotels in Lal Ghat area with a great view of the lake (though I personally feel that Jaiwana's (another hotel) corner room on the 2nd floor is the best - tariff 1800/-). I actually went there with a planned budget of no more than 600-800 per night but just because a lake view room was must (Udaipur, duh!) and this hotel had some immaculately clean & large rooms I ended up paying 1300/- a night. And 1300 in a hotel where there was no roof-top restaurant (almost every other hotel had one) so you can well imagine how big a fan I must be of neatness
Most of the hotels in the Lal Ghat area had no culture of morning breakfast or tea but if you still want some then just give the order (even up to a day before) to the nearest restaurant (there are many) and breakfast/lunch/dinner would be served hot in your room.
My whole travel budget planning actually went for a toss but the smile on my wife's face sitting besides one of the room windows, watching over the lake, made it all worth.

Originally Posted by vkochar

The monsoon palce now looks so much better as it was being renovated at that time. Great Views though.

Good to see Lake Pichola full !

Sajjangarh Palace was still under renovation but its the view that takes all the points (I didn't even enter the palace), I'm sure you'd agree.
Lake Pichola being full made every night so much more romantic.

[fine69]

Just in case anyone was following this thread here's Day 3 (more so because I didn't want to leave my first travelogue on t-bhp halfway)

Day 3 - 22nd Aug'10
What dawned upon us was a beautiful morning and as we were going out for breakfast the hotel owner (did I mention he was a very sweet gentleman in his 60s) asked what was our plan for the day. "Kumbhalgarh & Ranakpur it is!" to which he said, "Better make haste if you plan on covering both and return by 7PM for the Bagore ki Haveli show."

Bagore ki Haveli has this amazing evening show daily at 7 PM and its a must watch!

So we tried to hurry with the breakfast but the weather was so pleasant that instead we decided on cherishing it for a while before taking off, and of course, take a couple of pics.







Hotel we stayed at


The road leading us out of the city and towards Kumbhalgarh wasn't the best, small potholes here and there. It was the regular one and a half lane highway, you know the one where in one has to partially get off the road in case of oncoming traffic, and my excitement soon died down.

I now knew that I'd have to drive my swift on this bad road for about 100 kms. But what followed after about half an hour was....



....sheer pleasure of driving on the best roads I'd ever been on. I kept asking my wife to take a pic after every 5 seconds, no wonder my family thinks I'm crazy to have 700+ photos of just the road.



But a national highway without any surprises, naah!
Notice anything on the road?


Up, close and personal.


More of the roads



As you can make out, my avatar is from this one.


Couldn't get enough of the roads








Off the highway and to Kumbhalgarh, these roads were also fun to drive on - zig-zag, up-down!!



Finally we see what the fuss was all about, the Kumbhalgarh Fort!





Shall we go in....


....to be continued

[ampere]

Having lived quite a part of early years in Rajasthan, I can tell you, there is nothing like Udaipur and Chittorgarh!

Its quite nice to re-live. Esp Udaipur!

[MohsinRoadster]

Some very nice pics there.. landacpes are simply superbs. Its indeed the Venice.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by MohsinRoadster

Some very nice pics there.. landacpes are simply superbs.

Thanks. Honestly I had no idea that there'd be so much of greenery around but it was a pleasant surprise.

Originally Posted by ampere

there is nothing like Udaipur and Chittorgarh!

One thing that I hadn't seen anywhere else was that the locals at the Fateh Sagar lake were enjoying more than the tourists. They were just sitting/standing by the lake, looking at it and enjoying the cool breeze.

By the way I missed the light & sound show at the Chittorgarh fort, one of my colleagues at work told me that its one of a kind.

[harjeev]

Great pics buddy and nice travelogue. You travelogue would definitely come in handy when I start planning my trip to Rajasthan, late this December, maybe for the new year.
Cheers and like you asked in the 7th post on this page

Just in case anyone was following this thread here's Day 3 (more so because I didn't want to leave my first travelogue on t-bhp halfway)

I am definitely following your thread, infact I was about to send you a Pm in a couple of days to complete the thread
hehehe

Also if possible, please share the prices paid at the various hotels. It would really come in handy for people like me who will be planning their trips in future

[danish_c]

Hi guys,

Anyone driven to Kumbhalgarh recently from delhi?

Is it better to go via Nathdwara or can one go via Gomti ka chauraha?
i.e Delhi-Kishangarh-Beawar-Nathdwara-Kumbhalgarh
OR
Delhi-Kishangarh-Beawar - Gomti ka Chauraha - Kumbhalgarh?

I also plan to visit Chittorgarh afterwards - then again Whats the best route to head to Chittorgarh from Kumbhalgarh?

Finally I plan to head to Delhi from chittorgarh via NH79 till NH8 - Road conditions okay?

Here's the plan
27th : Gurgaon - Kumbhalgarh
28th : Stay at Kumbhalgarh
29th : Drive to Chittorgarh and see the place. Stay at Chittorgarh
30th : Head back to Delhi

Thanks!