Day 2 - Was a complete rest & I'd been taken around Pune by good friends & the next day I was supposed to leave towards Mt Abu, which is the only hill station in Rajasthan (RJ). I'd been warned several times to start early from Pune because I need to cross one of the biggest cities in the world - Mumbai & anytime after 7:30 AM means, calling for traffic & more traffic on unknown roads.
Fourteen Days In hands for a Solo Ride to North India
There's nothing great about the ride or anything to brag about & I believe this can be done by anyone. So it all started about 4th week of August - an itch to ride somewhere, somewhere long, very long.
And the reason for the itch - looking into a little background sometimes during 3rd week June when I got hold of my C250R & having completed the K figure in 2 days, I'd to leave the bike at ASC for a week; reason - engine seizure (http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-...0r-strands-middle-nowhere-did-happen-you.html); Anyway Honda replaced the entire engine under warranty & a week later after that, I'd to be away from the country on job assignment without an access to any automobile. So naturally when I came back, I wanted to ride very badly.
Had about a week +2 comp off & applied leave for 3 days totally making solid 14 days; I could do the routine South of India or Kerala, but, since I haven't explored much of North, I thought this would serve a good opportunity. Since I'd good friends at Pune (North of India), I thought, I could meet them & then take it from there.
Thanking my work schedule, it took another week of postponement & I started my journey precise on Sep 3rd;
Day 1 - Ride from Chennai to Pune, covered about 1172 Kms in 15 odd hours; Started at 2:09 AM & reached Pune (Tunnel two after getting lost ) was around 17:00; included only about 5-6 fuel breaks + 45 min BFast break at Tumkur.
Immensefully I need to Thank my friends from my bottom of my heart to Mr Vishwas ji; without him, Pune trip would've been absolutely useless. Its only because of him, another friend Satyen & the entire gang of friends in Pune that we met at Motocafe (India's first Motorcycle themed cafe), today, is an evergreen memorable day in my life.
Some pics enroute...
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Had BFast here...
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Here's the route taken on day 1...distance approx 1172 Kms
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And the reason for the itch - looking into a little background sometimes during 3rd week June when I got hold of my C250R & having completed the K figure in 2 days, I'd to leave the bike at ASC for a week; reason - engine seizure (http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-...0r-strands-middle-nowhere-did-happen-you.html); Anyway Honda replaced the entire engine under warranty & a week later after that, I'd to be away from the country on job assignment without an access to any automobile. So naturally when I came back, I wanted to ride very badly.
Had about a week +2 comp off & applied leave for 3 days totally making solid 14 days; I could do the routine South of India or Kerala, but, since I haven't explored much of North, I thought this would serve a good opportunity. Since I'd good friends at Pune (North of India), I thought, I could meet them & then take it from there.
Thanking my work schedule, it took another week of postponement & I started my journey precise on Sep 3rd;
Day 1 - Ride from Chennai to Pune, covered about 1172 Kms in 15 odd hours; Started at 2:09 AM & reached Pune (Tunnel two after getting lost ) was around 17:00; included only about 5-6 fuel breaks + 45 min BFast break at Tumkur.
Immensefully I need to Thank my friends from my bottom of my heart to Mr Vishwas ji; without him, Pune trip would've been absolutely useless. Its only because of him, another friend Satyen & the entire gang of friends in Pune that we met at Motocafe (India's first Motorcycle themed cafe), today, is an evergreen memorable day in my life.
Some pics enroute...
Had BFast here...
Here's the route taken on day 1...distance approx 1172 Kms
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Day 3 - So that adventure of crossing Mumbai was over smoothly. It wasn't that bad as I didn't get caught up anywhere. Tks to my friend Mr. MS. But the journey was little scary though; too much of sign board to confuse with none of them clear. May be I need to get used to it. I somehow got into JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) & went allway up to harbour. First time I witnessed roads & bridge constructed with Eurocon tiles!!! Anyway, after all the hide & seek, finally got into & out of Mumbai city; took road to Vashi-Airoli bridge-Mulund & then finally proceeded towards Valsad;
On the way, had BFast at CCD (Cafe Coffee Day), a chain of good, clean (and expensive) break outs; There's a CCD at Manor about 50-60 Kms away from Mumbai city. City ride was quite good. The roads I passed through were huge, not much of traffic as I was passing around 7ish. But still comparing to Chennai's standard, it was indeed crowded.
I refuelled at Valsad at about 11:25 AM & reached the Ahmedabad-Surat express highway at about 2:30 PM, which is about 250 odd Kms. But the last 100 Kms were totally devastating towards Ahmedabad. Then I remembered about Mr. Kumar sir's comment saying "Mumbai-Udaipur is tough", not sure if he meant due to this. I guess I covered a little less y'day, somewhere around 900 odd Kms. I couldn't reach Mt Abu & had to stay at a small place Palanpur & that was mainly because like Pune-Mumbai express highway that doesn't allow motorcycles, Vadodara-Ahmedabad also doesn't allow motorcycles; sigh!!! how I wish they allowed & I could've stayed at Mt Abu.
To celebrate crossing Mumbai, I'd some BFast & here're some pics...
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End of 3rd day, here's what I did...distance approx 820 Kms
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On the way, had BFast at CCD (Cafe Coffee Day), a chain of good, clean (and expensive) break outs; There's a CCD at Manor about 50-60 Kms away from Mumbai city. City ride was quite good. The roads I passed through were huge, not much of traffic as I was passing around 7ish. But still comparing to Chennai's standard, it was indeed crowded.
I refuelled at Valsad at about 11:25 AM & reached the Ahmedabad-Surat express highway at about 2:30 PM, which is about 250 odd Kms. But the last 100 Kms were totally devastating towards Ahmedabad. Then I remembered about Mr. Kumar sir's comment saying "Mumbai-Udaipur is tough", not sure if he meant due to this. I guess I covered a little less y'day, somewhere around 900 odd Kms. I couldn't reach Mt Abu & had to stay at a small place Palanpur & that was mainly because like Pune-Mumbai express highway that doesn't allow motorcycles, Vadodara-Ahmedabad also doesn't allow motorcycles; sigh!!! how I wish they allowed & I could've stayed at Mt Abu.
To celebrate crossing Mumbai, I'd some BFast & here're some pics...
End of 3rd day, here's what I did...distance approx 820 Kms
4
Day 4 - Morning rode from Palanpur-Mt Abu-Udaipur. One of the beautiful NH I've ever seen & I regret to have a little pic. I couldn't click pics on the mountain twisties at Mt Abu as it was raining. Here're some pics enroute to Udaipur...
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Here's the route taken on Day 4...distance approx 250 Kms
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Here's the route taken on Day 4...distance approx 250 Kms
Day 5 - Was dedicated for Udaipur site seeing; believe me, absolutely beautiful, wonderful, marvellous, exotic, fantabolous day!!! Some pics in no specific order...
King's memorial
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Fateh Sagar Lake
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King's faithful ride - Chetak
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Bird eye view from the palace; shows the old city followed by the city's expansion
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Courtyard
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King's Palace of Udaipur, now restored & opened for public visit for encouraging tourism
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Persian garden, built in the 90s
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Palace entrance
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Hotel Taj; view from the palace
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Entrance to queen's playground
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Coming up next...puppet show...
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King's memorial
Fateh Sagar Lake
King's faithful ride - Chetak
Bird eye view from the palace; shows the old city followed by the city's expansion
Courtyard
King's Palace of Udaipur, now restored & opened for public visit for encouraging tourism
Persian garden, built in the 90s
Palace entrance
Hotel Taj; view from the palace
Entrance to queen's playground
Coming up next...puppet show...
Before jumping to puppet show...here's the Govt Museum on ancient Rajasthan's puppets
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From the memorial once again...
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One of the king who was invincible & had lost left eyes, hand & leg.
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Let me know if anyone wants to know the history behind these 2 pic below...
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Model of the Chittorgarh fort
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Model of Haldi Ghati battle field
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From the memorial once again...
One of the king who was invincible & had lost left eyes, hand & leg.
Let me know if anyone wants to know the history behind these 2 pic below...
Model of the Chittorgarh fort
Model of Haldi Ghati battle field
Next 3 pics are King's generation for over 600 years from the Memorial...
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Other random pics from Udaipur Palace...
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Concluding part from Udaipur Palace...
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Courtyard to perform dance & entertainment
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Persian Garden top view
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Sri Jagdish Temple...
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Coming up - A ride to remember for a lifetime
Other random pics from Udaipur Palace...
Concluding part from Udaipur Palace...
Courtyard to perform dance & entertainment
Persian Garden top view
Sri Jagdish Temple...
Coming up - A ride to remember for a lifetime
Thanks Top, Michael, stumps, Ibex250R, Pete 
A Ride to Remember
Day 6 - A Ride to Remember that's what I can say; Let the pics speak the roads I took; one of the brilliant, enjoyable, lovely, fantastic day where I experienced riding through State Highway, National Highway, Forest, Villages & Desert; Thanks to my friend Mr. Kumar sir who suggested me taking this route.
Some pics enroute...
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Here's the route map...distance 550 Kms approx
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Day 6 - A Ride to Remember that's what I can say; Let the pics speak the roads I took; one of the brilliant, enjoyable, lovely, fantastic day where I experienced riding through State Highway, National Highway, Forest, Villages & Desert; Thanks to my friend Mr. Kumar sir who suggested me taking this route.
Some pics enroute...
Here's the route map...distance 550 Kms approx
Pokhran to Jaisalmer
Same day 6 journey from Pokhran to Jaisalmer; for the unknown, Pokhran is a desert where India tested its own home made nuclear war head successfully.
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Same day 6 journey from Pokhran to Jaisalmer; for the unknown, Pokhran is a desert where India tested its own home made nuclear war head successfully.
Day 7 - This is the hotel I stayed; Hotel Moomal; its got a romantic story of prince Mahendra and princess Moomal. The love tale of Moomal-Mahendra is deeply rooted in folklore and oral traditions; its also the first hotel built at Jaisalmer & naturally it has the heritage of 4 presidents, 3-4 prime ministers accomodation taken care. But pls do not expect a 5* (or even a single *) service, but certainly one can expect a good service especially when its managed by Govt (Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation)
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The next day I was given several options; go to Sand dunes (40 Kms), Khuldara deserted village (18 Kms), Tanot Devi temple (120 Kms) or do local site seeing. But I also wanted to change the engine oil on C250R, just to be sure there's nothing going wrong, so I'd to complete that at priority; though the engine oil color was still RED (changed at Chennai), I still went ahead & changed for peace of mind by then the time was 11:00 AM. This is one thing that rocks with Honda; you go anywhere, you can find one HMSI workshop within a reach.Finally by 11:45, I made up my mind & went to Khuldhara deserted village; legend says that for some unknown reason the entire people in the village who were living with prosperity was forced to leave everything right behind & when they left, they left with a curse that no one could survive in that place. Some people tried living there, but couldn't succeed. Also the stones from these places are beautiful to look, but, will get the same curse if used for constructing houses. Today, the Govt preserves it as a historical monument & they've built a model house & a Krishna temple amidst of the ruins. Here's the way to Kuldhara Village followed by the ruins...
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The next day I was given several options; go to Sand dunes (40 Kms), Khuldara deserted village (18 Kms), Tanot Devi temple (120 Kms) or do local site seeing. But I also wanted to change the engine oil on C250R, just to be sure there's nothing going wrong, so I'd to complete that at priority; though the engine oil color was still RED (changed at Chennai), I still went ahead & changed for peace of mind by then the time was 11:00 AM. This is one thing that rocks with Honda; you go anywhere, you can find one HMSI workshop within a reach.Finally by 11:45, I made up my mind & went to Khuldhara deserted village; legend says that for some unknown reason the entire people in the village who were living with prosperity was forced to leave everything right behind & when they left, they left with a curse that no one could survive in that place. Some people tried living there, but couldn't succeed. Also the stones from these places are beautiful to look, but, will get the same curse if used for constructing houses. Today, the Govt preserves it as a historical monument & they've built a model house & a Krishna temple amidst of the ruins. Here's the way to Kuldhara Village followed by the ruins...
Kuldhara - A lost village than a deserted village
Somehow looking at the ruins, I was reminded of several thoughts from the movie Apocalypto leading to the ancient meso American civilizations. Its like once a culture flourished & then finally it was abandoned & then the remaining are only the ruins!!!
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Somehow looking at the ruins, I was reminded of several thoughts from the movie Apocalypto leading to the ancient meso American civilizations. Its like once a culture flourished & then finally it was abandoned & then the remaining are only the ruins!!!
Aargee - great photos! A nice mix of city and countryside. What a great way to satisfy your curiousity - tour and site see on the CBR250R. Day 6 & 7 really capture it for me though - open spaces - picturesque scenery - twisty roads - and more importantly, none of the hustle and bustle of a crowded city! That is more my pace.
Take care,
Mike
Take care,
Mike
Infact the place I drove is desert like Colorado.
Wait until you read the end
Thanks to both of you for your kind words
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