Let me write few words on how it all flashed in my mind. The other day, Mridul my X-Colleague & riding buddy called me to ask about weekend plans. After few chit chats, I asked “How is Kiran doing? (I, Mridul & Kiran had been to Madikeri once)”. Answer came from Mridul was bombarding. “Kiran is on leave for 2 months & gone for shilling in bike. He rode from Bangalore to Lucknow in 6 days in his RE Lightening”. Whatttt??????...... Now this is wheremy mind got triggered. What the hell am I doing with my RE Thunderbird??? I had enough leaves to plan for the trip and first thing which flashed to my mind was North India after my North Karnataka Trip. Yeah! This time something huge one. Started creating initial draft plans in Office & Home. First invitee for the trip was Ravi (200cc Ravi). But he was in lack of leaves to accompany me. That’s when I decided for a solo trip.
The complete trip route is as follows:
Day-3: September 20th Sunday, Delhi – Jaipur, Trip Meter: 418 Kms
I remember few months back my buddy Prasad said “I want to visit Jaipur once dude!” So again my mind flashed with Question of “Why can’t I invite him for this trip?” That’s when the invitation goes to Prasad sometime in April or May. As soon as I told him, he gave a green signal :). Well that’s cool for me now. Side by side, was working on my draft plan of the trip. I also informed my childhood & riding buddy KP about the trip but he was not so impressive coz of his busy schedule at work. Thought it will be only I & Prasad for the entire trip. Had almost created a final plan by then. At last, KP informs me that he would also be joining us along with his colleagues (my buddies too) Nitesh & Amol. Wow! That’s quite cool now :). We can enjoy as a group. But KP wanted to postpone the trip plan for a week coz of his project deadlines. I really hate these postponing of the plans :(. I could not postpone too coz Prasad had already got approved with his leaves & he could not take any leave in October. So I altered the plans a bit to get the best solution. But one sad issue for me was, I can’t ride back to Bangalore from Delhi as I had planned initially :(. But that’s ok. I would try for it next time. Once again on Nth moment Nitesh calls me saying “Guru got his leaves approved & he would like to join us.” I told “By all means :)”. Now the team looks full with 6 bikers & 3 bikes (My RE Thunderbird, KP’s Bajaj Avenger 180cc & Amol’s Bajaj Avenger 200cc). So finalized on Day-To-Day plan, got the lodges booked through my uncle who owns a tourist agency, list of visiting places, budget & so on. Finally as per the plan, I & Prasad would depart to Delhi on September 18th. KP, Amol, Guru & Nitesh would join us on 26th September. Prasad would end his journey on 1st October & we all will be back to Bangalore on 10th October. As the days were nearing, my eagerness to hit the road on my RE was uncontrollable. My colleagues were happy that they are free from me for next 23 days. They had gone through enough irritation from my trip plans & stuff. They were fed up of seeing my screen full of Trip plans, some travelling & map sites.
On 11th September, shipped my bike to Nizamuddin Station in Delhi. Now the journey begins. The trip was for 23 days & covered 4047 Kms. In the entire trip, I rode my RE all alone :). I have shared the day to day experience below. Quite lengthy but good one to read & enjoy!!!
The complete trip route is as follows:
Day-1: September 18th Friday, Bangalore – Delhi, Trip Meter: 26 Kms
It was a sleepless night previous day due to the excitement filled in both of us. I stayed in Prasad’s home so that it would be easy for us to catch cab to BIA (Bangalore International Airport) from a single point. Flight was at 6 AM & we decided to vacate his home by 3 AM. Yeah I know 3 AM is pretty early for 6 AM flight. But what to do in home? We were sleepless. After few chit chat about our college days, we got fresh in no time & cross checked the packing done for the journey ahead. Made sure things are in place & vanished to BIA by 3 AM. On the way, we were hoping that entire trip goes fine & I was specifically hoping I get my bike without any hurdle from Nizamuddin station & get the panniers fixed for it.
Got the baggage’s checked in, got the boarding pass & once we sat on the flight, Prasad was quite excited as it was his first flight journey by air. Once am done with Airhostess’s instruction on seat belt, blab bla bla.... & flight took off; I got into deep sleep due to 0% sleep of previous night. I could open my eyes only at 8:10 AM when airhostess announced that flight would be landing in Indira Gandhi International Airport in 15 Min time. I saw Prasad not happy over me since I dint allow him to get into window seat :). Once flight landed, we got our baggages out & booked prepaid taxi to our lodge in Karol Bhag. Now I should thank my Uncle who took care of booking lodges in most of the places I mentioned to him.
On the way to lodge, I was doing self praising of myself for being here & getting into such a big trip. Oh!!! Let me tell you one more thing. When I switched on my mobile in Delhi Airport, I got “All the best” message from Sathish – my childhood buddy.
We reached lodge by 10 AM & were very much frustrated with humid weather. Now what can we do for that??? Suddenly remembered none other than my native Udupi. Even there we get to face same weather. Having said that, we got fresh & decided to get the bike from Nizamuddin Station.
But in Delhi, even pillion rider needs to wear helmet strictly. For that, we decided to take helmet for Prasad first as my helmet was parcelled from Bangalore along with bike itself :). We got into Jhande Walan metro station in a cycle rickshaw (felt pity on his effort to lead his life by peddling bicycle.) Prasad bought a new helmet in a nearby shop & we got into metro train till Yamuna Bank stop (last stop). Thanks again to my uncle for getting us lodge in Karol Bhag which will help us in getting helmet, bike spares if any & get panniers fixed. All bike related stuff’s are easily available in Karol Bhag. It’s a big place for biker’s I guess :). Metro was truly new experience for both of us & we were very much excited. Prasad was uttering “both my dreams came true today (Air journey & Metro experience)” After seeing the metro, I admired Srinivasan whole heartedly who was the mastermind behind Delhi Metro. There electric trains are very cleanly maintained. I could not resist taking few snaps inside metro. Mean while also called up parents to inform about me reaching Delhi. Finally with a joy, we reached Yamuna Bank station & hired an auto to Nizamuddin Station. On the way, I could see huge structure of Humayun’s Tomb & thought will be visiting it in some time. Heat & Humid was killing our joy & patience constantly.
In Nizamuddin, we got direction to Platform No 8 & reaching there, I was very happy to see my dearest buddy Thunderbird. After formalities (now this includes bribe to police) I got my bike out, filled its empty stomach & set the trip meter to ZERO coz our journey begins here. We decided to head to lodge first, have bath & food. Decided not to visit Akshardham temple coz of suffocation in dust, uncomfy & lack of sleep. I tell you, wearing helmet in this weather is a real pain. Finally with lot of R&D on roads, we reached our lodge, had bath & food. Now what’s next for a tired body? Sssllleeeepp!!!!!.... Decided not to hurry things for the day & take good amount of rest.
Opened my eyes when the time machine showed time as 5:20 PM & told Prasad “let’s get the panniers fixed!” It is not painful task too since our lodge is in Karol Bhag itself. I got my bike panniers fixed for 950 INR (in Bangalore it’s around 2.5K) & while panniers were getting fixed, I observed the mind blowing work of Indian Railways on my bike. Yes! A big dent & scratch on my bike left side box :( :( :(. But I was not shocked on it since I knew for sure that nothing is proper in Indian Railways. I Hope KP’s & Amol’s bikes are fine when they take it here in Nizamuddin station.
Came back to lodge & went out for a walk to get First Aid Kit & other minor stuffs. Once back to lodge, ordered food (Rice, Dal & Curds), wrote blog & crashed in no time.
Day-2: September 19th Saturday, Delhi Sightseeing, Trip Meter: 145 Kms
Got pleasant sleep at night in spite of disturbing calls from KP. Opened my eyes at 6 when my mobile started singing its alarm tone. I dint want to get out of bed so soon but no other go coz today we have to get done with entire Delhi sightseeing by EOD. So got fresh in no time & soon after mine, Prasad got his work done & we are ready to start our Delhi sightseeing.
First thing in list was India Gate, Rashtrapathi Bhavan & Parliment. We knew the route from previous days RnD & got to India Gate via Asoka Road. India Gate was very patriotic & peaceful place. Got excited thinking of we both (myself & my bike) are standing in front of nation’s pride. With a couple of clicks and posing, rode in Raj Path: the road in which republic day parade takes place towards Rashtrapathi Bhavan & Parliment. The security was very tight in all these places as these are in hit list of terrorists. Hence we were bit scared to do lot of photography :(. But you know what??? Felt very proud riding in Raj Path. Till date, had only seen in TV but today I made it with my bike :).
The next destination in the list was Red Fort. Through some localities guidance about the route, we reached Red Fort & same here: Photography. It was very eye catching from out & when we went in, we found it ok type. Yeah! Bit disappointed but explored a lot there & had morning tea. Once out of fort, had lemon juice coz we could not control our thrust. We then took a ring road behind Red Fort. Delhi map print out which I had taken from the internet helped me to the core in finding the places.
The next destination in the list was Red Fort. Through some localities guidance about the route, we reached Red Fort & same here: Photography. It was very eye catching from out & when we went in, we found it ok type. Yeah! Bit disappointed but explored a lot there & had morning tea. Once out of fort, had lemon juice coz we could not control our thrust. We then took a ring road behind Red Fort. Delhi map print out which I had taken from the internet helped me to the core in finding the places.
In ring road, we found a deviation saying “Raj Ghat” & we took our bike to side just to confirm with the police about the entrance. The police men was from Kerala & he told Bangalore is very good place to be in after a few chit chat. Then we looked out for parking the bike but security said no parking till NOON. What the heck??? How can parking be non-existing till NOON??? Anyways dint want to think behind his logic & park my bike in some unknown place. So quite the place & next is what??? Akshardham Temple. But got confused with the route & couple of round trips follows :(. Finally saw a big architecture beside Noida road. As we got into the entrance, we realised how huge it is. With a great enthu, we got in with the hopes of loads of snaps but bad luck followed us here too. Camera not allowed (not even mobile) & main temple is closed due to maintenance :(. Yeah! Disappointed but can’t help it. Made up our mind to explore till when it’s possible & got in. It’s very calm & cool inside. After a round, now its breakfast time & we got into the restaurant inside temple premises. Saw idli, dosa in the menu & ordered without giving it a thought. But what we got was hilarious. South Indians would never ever call it as idli you know! But we had to grab it since north food doesn’t work on us :(. After grabbing a bite, next in the list was Humayun’s Tomb.
Got into the same ring road again & got tired finding the route to Humayun’s Tomb. We are able to see it from ring road fly over but not able to get close to it :(. Yeah! This is what happened & we got tired finding the route to it. Fed up & again skipped it :(. Next was Lotus Temple. With a little difficulty, we hit the entrance but once again bad luck. Juice shop guy near to the gate informed us that temple will be open by 4:30 PM. Whatttt????? Baring such a pain & under hot sun we came here & it’s closed!!! Man this is not happening :(. But now no other way. What do we do for next 4 hours? Qutub Minar??? Yeah! Headed towards it. Hope no more surprises over there.
Reached Qutub Minar by 2 PM & grabbed a lime juice again. This humidity & heat is making us feel dehydrated & lot of water intake was must. Prasad was hungry too. But dint find any good hotels nearby & got in. Now to say about Qutub Minar in simple words, it’s just mind blowing. Really enjoyed the place with loads of clicks & took some rest too. It was crowded with tourists. We got out by 3:15 PM & decided to fill our tummy ASAP. I applied brake to my bike when a saw “Govardan Veg” to my left beside the road & guess what it had south Indian meals :). It was nice A/C restaurant & bomb of 110 bux per head. But we said never mind for south food & A/C :). Post lunch back to Lotus Temple again. Got into the temple & what else than clicks? Temple premises was neatly maintained with vast area around full of greens. Inside the temple, it was something like what we find inside churches. Lot of benches to sit & enjoy silence :). Now this completes our sightseeing & Prasad wanted to buy leather jacket for tomorrow’s long ride.
As suggested by lodge manager, we hit Connaught place & found Palika Bazaar was best place to get anything at cheap rates. I would suggest this place to anyone who loves shopping. You get all branded & local stuffs here. I got a multipurpose knife for 300/- which shopkeeper quoted as 650/-:).
As suggested by lodge manager, we hit Connaught place & found Palika Bazaar was best place to get anything at cheap rates. I would suggest this place to anyone who loves shopping. You get all branded & local stuffs here. I got a multipurpose knife for 300/- which shopkeeper quoted as 650/-:).
Here comes the day end & we came back to lodge & got fresh at first place. Also met some Kannada family in the lobby. I could feel that my face has gone bit dark by roaming Delhi under hot sun. But this is just the beginning :). Tomorrow its pink city: Jaipur in the list. Packed my stuffs, had dinner (same rice, dal & curds), wrote quick blogs & it was 11:15 PM by then. Oh shit! It’s late & Damaar!!!
My bike after Panniers are into it!
Posing in front of India Gate!!!
Me, My bike, Raj Path & India Gate at distance... Felt proud riding in Raj Path :)
Delhi Red Fort & Me!
Akshardham Temple from outside...
Posing in Qutub Minar....
Flight was not planning to crash though... But i missed the timing :(
Lotus Temple & Me...
Day-3: September 20th Sunday, Delhi – Jaipur, Trip Meter: 418 Kms
It was a day with predefined mind set of long ride. And that too where?? None other than pink city: Jaipur :). Had a dream of visiting Jaipur ever since I saw Rang De Basanti. So got up by 5:45 AM. Yeah pretty early :) & checked out from Hotel Sunshine by 6:40 AM but we were on our bike only by 7:10 AM. Now 30 Mins we spent in tying out baggages to bike. After baggages are into the bike, it was looking like a true bike. And on top that, we both wearing leather jacket & sitting in bike gives a tough look to it.
Getting out of Delhi was not tough since it was Gurgaon route we had to take & was pretty straight from Karol Bhag. Once we left Delhi, we got Delhi – Gurgaon express way which was simply amazing. Even saw a board saying “2 wheelers not allowed in express way” but could not control riding in some stretches. At the same time, I had to fill my bike too. Hence took service road at times in search of petrol. Finally bikes breakfast is done & now its stomach is full. It’s our turn now & the hunt begins in high way. After few Kms got Airport Motel & found it would be very much above our budget. So continued ahead & saw McDonald board sign. Now where else can we stop once we have seen McD board???..... Even Prasad was damn hungry & had out bite in McD. In the parking lot, got to see all the world top cruise & race bikes(Hardley, Ninja, Hayabusa & many more) & all of them had number plate of Pune (MH-12). Now I don’t want to comment on their bikes coz it would never end :).
Post breakfast, got head in NH-8 & after riding few Kms, Prasad told we need water bottles. Again a hunt for water this time. Got some small town where we picked up 2 litres & continued. The traffic was just disgusting in the entire journey coz of trucks & couple of toll booths too. Also found Elephant & Camel on NH-8. What??? Animals on Highway??? Yeah! Now who let these ones in here??? I don’t know. Anyways I realised we have stepped into Rajasthan when I saw some ladies in Lambani outfits, camels & trucks with full of decorations. The journey continued further. I was maintaining speed between 70 – 90 Kms/Hr coz roads was smooth enough to rip the bike at this speed. Could have ripped at 100’s too but had to take care of Pillion too. So found maintaining constant speed would be much better & secure. On our way, lot of 4*4’s overtook us with foreigners inside. I think Jaipur has very good name abroad :).
Now it’s tea time. Stopped in some road side dhaba & had our part. Met a truck driver who was going to Bangalore & was telling he will reach Bangalore 4 days. Yeah! Pretty fast these trucks are. He was saying bike ride is pretty risky & all. But how does he know the thrill in biking :)??? So just uttered “hhhhmmmmm.....” to his words & vacated the place. Again 70 – 90 Kms/Hr speed. After some time, Prasad wants to stop again. Now this is getting real irritating. For just 250 Kms ride, we are taking quite a lot of breaks. This time he had small bleeding in his hand. Put a band aid & carried on. Again when it was around 20 Kms to Jaipur, stop. What nonsense is this :( ??? I was really frustrated but could not express my irritation coz he would feel bad.
Finally after riding between the breaks reached Jaipur & were welcomed in a unique style. Yup! Was welcomed by a huge fort on top of hills on either side of the road. For a moment, it just looked like China Gate. May be I can call it Jaipur Gate :). It was bit pinkish in colour too. Now I can see some resemblance in calling Jaipur as pink city. Crossed this huge fort, found a huge lake & a palace in between the lake. It’s called Jal Mahal (Lake Palace) & guess what, our lodge was booked right opposite to it & hotel name was Hotel Lake Palace. It was 1:45 PM when we checked in.
Got fresh, had lunch & decided to explore the fort which welcomed us first. It’s called Amber Fort. One of the visiting spot in our list too. Parked the bike in parking lot & started climbing steps of the fort. Now what else can I do except clicks??? Took loads of snaps on the way in :). Spent around an hour exploring the fort to the core. One quick info: visitors can as well climb the fort up the hill through vehicles. Shit! We dint know this & spent our energy climbing steps!!! :(.... The fort is a real beauty with full of scenic views outside. On our way back down, I just reviewed my camera snaps & it shows just 8 snaps! What the hell is this???? Switched off & on but the result is same: only 8 snaps :(. Absolute crap it is. Now it’s a shock for life time. After clicking so much snaps of Delhi & Amber fort, everything got vanished??? How can this happen??? Told Prasad about this & it was like a bomb on him. We both were totally broken down :(. Now what do we do? My mind is running blank & can’t see Prasad upset coz of me. Sat under a shade for some time thinking what went wrong with my cam all of a sudden. Altered whole week’s trip plan so that we get time to visit Delhi once again. We will lose lot of time on revisiting Delhi but no other go. We just can’t end up without any snaps of any places in the trip :(.
He was very much upset that he missed Qutub Minar & other places snaps. We even lost Amber Fort snaps. Prasad had few clicks taken from his cam but snaps in which he posed were in my cam. What a bad luck we are facing in this trip :( :( :(. We quickly decided to revisit Amber Fort for the sake of clicks. But this time, we took our bike up the hill till the fort entrance. Got in & lot of quick clicks. Once again reviewed my snaps & from nowhere it shows 266 snaps this time. It has all Delhi snaps too. I could not figure out what’s exactly wrong with my cam. I put my cam memory card to Prasad’s cam & even there it shows same 266 snaps. Oh man! What a relieffffff :) :) :)..... Took a deep breath & decided directly to hit lodge & take back up of all snaps taken so far. I have lost trust on my memory card. It’s behaving abruptly. Got back to lodge & requested manager to let us use the system for some time so that we can copy the snaps from memory card to iPod. Now who knew his system was full of deadly virus!!! The virus is directly affecting graphics card of the system. Thought not to use this system but photos were of utmost priority for us. So took the entire backup.
It was around 7:30 PM by then & went out for a walk beside the lake. On our way, we were caught by beauty of Jal Mahal with lights & its reflection in the lake. Wow man! So nice it is... clicked few snaps & opposite to that, we found our hot spot CCD (Cafe Coffee Day). What else can be best for the moment??? Dint think much & directly got in & ordered our usual cool blue drink. Also met Chikkamagalur servant who spoke in Kannada. Felt nice speaking in Kannada outside the state. Spent some time over there with the calls & got back to lodge. Quickly made plans for tomorrow & had dinner. Post dinner, its same routine. Blog write up, some more time in iPod & eye shutter closes.
Fully loaded bike looking hard :)
Delhi - Gurgaon express way!!!
How much toll fee will these animals pay to be on Highway???
It's all about patience & timing when it comes to animals & birds photography!!!
Me, My bike & Amber Fort....
Amber Fort from outside...
A Mahal inside Amber Fort!!!
Guess what is this now???
Isn't Jal Mahal stunning at night???
Day-4: September 21st Monday, Jaipur sightseeing, Trip Meter: 470 Kms
As enquired previous day about timings on the listed places in Jaipur, everything here opens by 9 AM. This made us stick to our bed for some more time & finally came out by 7 AM. Got fresh & went for a small walk beside the lake & came back with few clicks of Jal Mahal under sun light. Had Gobi Paratha for BF & all set for sightseeing by 8:45 AM.
As enquired previous day about timings on the listed places in Jaipur, everything here opens by 9 AM. This made us stick to our bed for some more time & finally came out by 7 AM. Got fresh & went for a small walk beside the lake & came back with few clicks of Jal Mahal under sun light. Had Gobi Paratha for BF & all set for sightseeing by 8:45 AM.
Very first place to cover was Nahagarh Fort. Yeah!!! It’s the same fort where Kalbali song from Rang De Basanti (RDB) was shot. It was a small ride in ghats as the fort was built on hill top. Enjoyed riding in twisties even though it was for very small duration. Entered the fort with hope of visiting RDB spot first. Parked my bike & exploration begins with snaps. Got into one edge of the fort & the view we got from there was of entire Jaipur city. Oh man!!! Jaipur is huge. The city was spread along wide area. My imagination about density of Jaipur fully went wrong. Got snaps of arial view of the city & exploration continue. There was a small restaurant inside the fort & we found it would be better to have some liquid after morning’s dry paratha. Got in & had Lemon Juice & restaurant guy gave us the direction for RBD spot. He told during RDB shooting, Aamir Khan stayed at this hotel though others stayed at 5* hotels in cities. Itseem’s he stayed here for 15 odd days. He told “Aamirji bahut badiya aadmi hain....” Might be true. Anyways we came out & took a route mentioned by restaurant guy & found the same place where RDB Kalbali song was shot. Was totally excited. I had seen the pictures of this place in mails but today am in front of it :). The feeling of appreciation was running inside me for making up till here in bike. Met an old couple who was very enthu about our journey. Their son works in some IT company in Bangalore itseem’s. We went down to the bottom & clicked loads of snaps. But the green colour pond was very dirty. It was full of plastic bottles & other garbage’s. Felt bad at its situation :(.
After lots of clicks, we came out of Nahagarh & next in the list was Jaigarh Fort. Took entry tickets & separate ticket for camera. Near to the ticket counter, it was written bike entry fee is 50/-. Meaning we can take the bike inside. Felt relaxing since we had walked enough in Nahagarh. But security told only 4 wheelers allowed inside & no bikes :(. Felt disappointed & walked inside the fort.
On entering, we found the fort is pretty confusing & it would be better to have a guide. So hired one for 50 INR. He assured he will show entire fort in 1 Hr time & continued giving us history of Jaigarh. This fort contains very huge water tank (the door to tank was closed) & biggest cannon in the world. Clicked couple of shots posing in front of them. Then he took us to some Rajasthani Handloom shop run by the fort trust. Now we are trapped. Do you think these shop keepers will allow tourists to move out without buying anything? No way. The same old dialogue – “Don’t take anything but have a look... bla bla bla...” Finally decided to look at his stuffs & felt pretty good. Took one thick woollen blanket for Bro & sis-in-law, saree for mom & one jewellery to second sis-in-law. Even Prasad got some stuff for his family. Now the next thing was how shall we carry all these??? It’s pretty huge. The handloom shop owner told we can send everything by post directly to our home. He assured us parcel would reach & gave his number etc. We gave our respective address & hope it reaches home now. Now I saw towards my watch & guess what??? We have spent 1 Hr time in this shop itself. We quickly came out & continued with rest of the places in fort. Once everything was done, we are back in lodge. It was 1:15 PM by then. Yeah! Spent pretty good time in both the forts. Had food in the lodge & next what??? Hawa Mahal???
To visit this place, we have to enter crowded city :(. It was around 3-4 Kms from lodge. But dint want to skip after coming so long. Who knows when I will visit Jaipur next time!!!... So decided to visit all these places. Finding Hawa Mahal was pretty easy since it is very adjacent to the main road. Explored the place with lot of clicks & dint find Hawa Mahal so interesting. Next was City Palace which is very next to Hawa Mahal. It was walkable from Hawa Mahal & gave some exercise to our legs walking till City Palace. It’s the same here too. Nothing eye catching :(. But no stop to clicks. We entered a huge hall where Kings used to conduct meetings. It was something like Durbar. It was really worth visiting. Very beautiful it was. But clicks not allowed here :(. Very bad!!! In spite of giving camera fee at the counter, photography prohibited in Durbar??? This is not done. But no other go. Saw a board mentioning 500 INR fine for taking photos. So dint want to take risk of 500 INR & came out & checked out few monuments. We also found lot of foreign groups along with guides. I dint understand why are they here leaving those beautiful forts. Anyways it’s their choice.
By the time we came out of City Palace, we both were totally exhausted & no energy inside us. Me feeling body pain too :(. How can this happen all of a sudden??? What about tomorrow then??? How will I continue rest of the trip??? Full of questions flowing in my mind. But what could be done now is what I thought. Decided to take rest in room but one more place in the list was pending. Jantar Mantar! Prasad was not willing to give it a visit but I dint want to miss it. So gave a visit against Prasad’s wish & it was over crowded with tourists. Now we got our part of the clicks in no time & also came to know that Jantar Mantar is all about finding the time. Once we came out, while taking our bike from parking lot, a small boy requested me that he would sit on my bike & take a snap. But we both were fully out of our interest. So I politely rejected & escaped from the place saying Prasad is not keeping well & I need to take him to hospital :). Bought Apple, Banana & Glucose & straight to room. Had glucose water & am in bed now. Took 2 Hrs rest & then packed my stuffs. Now I am feeling somewhat better. Thought a visit to night view of Jaipur city would be good.
We both took same fort route & same twisties for some Kms. Prasad rode for few Kms as he wanted to ride desperately :). Spent some time viewing at City & decided to go for jolly ride around Amber Fort. Went to lodge, picked up ATM cards, Camera & directly headed to Amber Fort. It was very beautifully decorated with lights. Clicked few snaps & when we were about to vacate the place, heard a crushing sound on the road & saw one guy was trying best to manage his scooter & had almost fallen down. Also saw a small kid standing in front side of his scooter. Damn!!! Quickly jumped from the compound beside the road & helped them to pick his scooter. He had fallen down by the time a reached for his help. I think his lady got hurt nicely on back side of her head. Also saw kid crying coz of pain. It was around of 5 Yrs age &very very very cute :). Thought better to stay at distance from the incident since we are outsiders. Got back to lodge picking cash, had curd rice, lassi & fruits. Then blog update & damaar with a pain killer!
Morning view of Jal Mahal!!!
It got impressed from my bike i guess :)
I was lucky it dint fly away till i clicked!!!
Similar to RDB spot in Nahagarh Fort...
This is the hotel where Aamir Khan stayed for 15 days during RDB shooting...
View of Jaipur City from Nahagarh Fort!!!
Nahagarh Fort Palace...
The same RDB spot :) Finally after a long dream, we are here... Its me posing on top of it!!!
Worlds biggest canon at Jaigarh Fort!!!
Hawa Mahal as seen from the street beside it!
Rajastan Dolls at rode side shops!!!
Me at an window of Hawa Mahal...
Jaipur street viewed from Hawa Mahal
He was angry on some customer & not on photographer :)
I wish i had one of these...
Rajput flag at City Palace!!!
It was taller than me :)
What a design made out of armories....
City Palace now turned into * hotel
Jantar Mantar in Jaipur
Posing in Jantar Mantar at Jaipur
Day-5: September 22nd Tuesday, Jaipur – Agra, Trip Meter: 736 Kms
Yesterday’s body pain made me get up only by 6:15 AM. Yeah! Actually it’s pretty early itself but for me, it’s pretty late coz by riding pretty early, we can eliminate hot sun as much as we can. As usual, got fresh, packed the baggage, tied it to bike, & day’s journey began at 7:30 AM. Lodge manager had told route to Agra previous day & hence dint find any difficulty in getting into right track. While getting out of Jaipur, every localite was staring at us as if we have come from another planet :). Probably they don’t get to see bikers frequently.
Yesterday’s body pain made me get up only by 6:15 AM. Yeah! Actually it’s pretty early itself but for me, it’s pretty late coz by riding pretty early, we can eliminate hot sun as much as we can. As usual, got fresh, packed the baggage, tied it to bike, & day’s journey began at 7:30 AM. Lodge manager had told route to Agra previous day & hence dint find any difficulty in getting into right track. While getting out of Jaipur, every localite was staring at us as if we have come from another planet :). Probably they don’t get to see bikers frequently.
Got out of Jaipur in no time & hit Jaipur – Agra NH-11. At 8 AM stopped in a high way hotel Varun for breakfast. It was 8:45 AM by the time we hit NH–11 again :(. Yeah! It’s pretty late & we still have got to cover a lot. More than 200+ Kms :(. It was not an easy ride initially since sun light was directly hitting my eyes as we were riding facing sun. After few Kms, got used to it & rode at 80 – 100 Kms/Hr range. At some point, even touched 105 :). Dint want to stop for quite some time coz I wanted to hit Agra ASAP & get out of this burning sun light. Prasad told as usual to stop when Agra is 150 Kms. But I politely told him will stop around 10 AM coz if we stop like this, we will surely miss the time line & get burnt :(. Took a break at 10 AM covering 93 Kms in 75 min. Good enough right??? Yeah! I enjoyed non-stop ride but surely Prasad would have cursed me to the core :). But I don’t mind as far it’s biking :).
After having tea & spending some 25 min, we are on road again. Once again non-stop ride except for fuel. Stopped at 12 NOON covering 100 Kms. True! Bit lower speed this time coz of more villages to pass through & vehicles in opposite direction even though it’s a 4 lane road with divider in between. I don’t know what fun localities get riding this way. Reached Agra by 1:15 PM & city was quite dirty & congested. Struggled a bit to find the route to lodge. Nearing to lodge also found Udupi Restaurant & made my mind to get the lunch done from there :). This northy food really hitting my health now :(. Got fresh, took small break, & got in Udupi Hotel for lunch. Had south Indian thali & headed to Agra Fort which is at 2 Kms from lodge. Even the wonder Taj as walkable from lodge itseem’s. Thanks to my uncle again for understanding our needs in unknown city.
Took entry tickets to Agra Fort & we are in. Fort is a marvellous one & huge too. I loved it more than Red Fort in Delhi. Again the load of clicks flows. At one side of the fort, we can see lover’s paradise Taj Mahal standing beside Yamuna River. It was a great view from fort. Couples were taking snaps with different poses with background being Taj. But I am single & don’t want to mingle. So took solo snaps & continued our RnD on the fort. After spending couple of quality time, we came out by 5 PM. Next wanted to check out Jama-Masjid. The street to Masjid was truly market area & fully crowded. Got into Masjid & it was disappointment :(. Nothing special here. Clicked few snaps for memory & back to net.
Few calls to buddies, rest, south Indian thali, blog write up & eye shutter closes. Tomorrow we have to be in front of The Great Taj Mahal by 6 AM & get early morning view :).
NH-11 between Jaipur & Agra
South Indian Thali found at North India :)
Agra Fort entrance...
Click from Prasad!!!
Me posing background being Taj!
Taj Mahal & Yamuna River visible from an window of Agra Fort!!!
Amazing sculpture at Agra Fort...
Beautiful symmetry in Agra Fort!!!
This should be given in practicals to electrical students to explain this complication :)
Can you understand anything in this???
Jama-Masjid in Agra...
Day-6: September 23rd Wednesday, Agra – Jhansi (things dint work our way!), Trip Meter: 886 Kms
Had sound sleep at night in a comfy room :). As decided got up by 5 AM to see how Taj Mahal would look in the early morning. Got ready & went to Taj Mahal. Parked the bike & again a walk for around 500 metres. When we went to the entry with the ticket from ticket counter, it was quite a huge queue there. Saw lot of similar minds like us :).
Had sound sleep at night in a comfy room :). As decided got up by 5 AM to see how Taj Mahal would look in the early morning. Got ready & went to Taj Mahal. Parked the bike & again a walk for around 500 metres. When we went to the entry with the ticket from ticket counter, it was quite a huge queue there. Saw lot of similar minds like us :).
Got inside the gate post security check & guess what??? The great wonder Taj Mahal is right in front of my eyes. It’s just mind blowing, marvellous, amazing....... Oohhh! Am done with words. Very first things I realised & felt was the Taj still symbolises love. It’s not just the monument. There are lot of feelings hidden in it. Captured loads in my cam with me in some clicks. Enjoyed everything at that moment :).
Walked ahead & got in with sandals in shoe rack. Oh man!!! How shall I explain its wonderful sculptures made on marbles? It’s just too good. I could not take out my eyes from those sculptures. One more thing! Before getting in, took a round trip of Taj from outside. Could see Yamuna River & Red Fort from behind. Also saw a foreign couple lip lock in front of Taj. I guess now this should tell how romantic the place is :). I guess couples were doing right thing at right time in right place :). Got inside Taj & could see Tomb of Shah Jahan & Mumtaz. Came out with couple of captures & it was 7:45 AM by then. Oh man! It’s getting late now. On our way to gate, saw a huge bulky monkey suddenly catching a small girls skirt & leg. Probably she is of around 10 Yr old. Now how will she react to the monkey attack?? She screamed out of shock. As we were walking right behind her, thought to scare the monkey & said Hhhuuusshhhhh!!!!.... Oooppsss!!! Now my bad luck. Against my guess, it started running towards me. I am in trouble now :(. To tell you frankly, at that moment, 2 legs were not enough for me to run. Just ran behind blindly. Prasad ran towards left like bullet fired from a gun. It followed me for few steps & then walked towards Prasad with a Ggguuurrrrr!!!! at me. Big relief & thanked self for saving kid & me. Prasad had to take long route since it walked towards him. Monkey was in angry on humans I guess :).
Got back to lodge by 8:45 AM & checked out with 2 big baggage’s on luggage room since we would be coming back to Agra tomorrow. It was 9:20 AM when we were on road towards Jhansi. Filled petrol at out skirts & not yet filled our part :(. Rode for around 15 Kms in a dusty road & finally we are on toll road now. It was just horrible till then. Found a dhaba to have our bite & continued on NH-3. Road is not fully 4 laned & at villages, construction is still going on. So had to take couple of deviations & continuous break on our speed. It was around 54 Kms more to Gwalior & suddenly wobbling. Oh shit! Back tyre is puncture. The area was so dry that not even a single person was seen around. It was very quiet place too. And guess what!!! We are in border of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh. We are in absolute soup :(. Asked a localite on bike about puncture shop & he tells 2 Kms ahead. I had extra tube but where to fill the air??? So tube is of no use at the moment. Had to look out for puncture shop at any cost. Imagine our situation: Under hot burning sun, NH-3 which contains nothing but direct sun rays, thick leather jacket on me, no water bottles for our dry mouth & weight of the bull (TB). It’s just too horrible :(..... Decided to start my bike in first gear & move it in walking speed so that at least we don’t have to struggle pushing bike. After around half a Km, saw some small shops & they tell again 2 Kms. Now how many 2 Kms we need to cross to get the puncture done??? Real irritating it was. But where is the fun in biking without such things :)??? It was almost getting 12 NOON & sun is sitting right on top of us. Prasad bought a bottle of water from those shops & it’s empty in no time.
Finally reached puncture shop after around 4 Kms of walking. Realised I got quite good stamina :). Puncture shop guy told “Chinta na kariyo! Kaam hojayega”. Oh! What a relief :). He was very nice chap & made us sit in a shadow. A nail had gone inside the tyre & tube :(. While fixing puncture, couple of localities gathered around us. Few were telling “Gaadi bahut vajan hai bhai!!!” & in the process of getting my bike till puncture shop, my track got torn off getting in stuck with foot rest :(. All good lucks at same time. Among the crowd gathered, an old person came ahead in a typical village dress (dothi & paijama) & told he is a Sarpanch of the village meaning some big shot of that village. He assured us nothing to worry on the issue & things will be fine. He told the puncture guy “Bhayya zara teek se dekiyo! Inko aage koi pareshani na ho!!!” & told us not to worry at all. Even puncture guy told not to worry. I could not stop asking for a glass of water & what a hospitality we got!!! Fresh water from the well :). It was very sweet. Probably it had their innocence & respect for outsiders :). Sarpanch was very keen on our journey & asked few questions sitting next to me. Over a few chit chat, he told Gwalior & Jhansi does not contain anything special if we have already seen Agra. Another relative of Sarpanch told its good but not that worthy. This kick-started my mind to skip those places & get back to Agra. Even my stomach is behaving unusual now. Probably morning breakfast in dhaba showed its power. As I told, all good lucks at same time.
Finally puncture is fixed & we are on the road by 2:30 PM. Took a U-turn & getting back to Agra now. It’s around 65 Kms to Agra. Now one more surprise this time. My bikes horn does not work :(. What a luck I should say! Only thing I could do is laugh at my own face. Continued riding carefully & stopped at Dholpur highway plaza to have our food. We reached Agra taking our own sweet time by 4:45 PM & directly to bed.
After relaxing, washed couple of clothes & rest again. Felt bad that I could not make to one spot in the list but that’s ok I felt. Even Prasad’s manager told over the phone that Gwalior & Jhansi are not worth watching. Now I had to convince myself with this. But Prasad was very happy that he got rest & ride cancelled. Got angry on him too for being happy that ride got cancelled in front of a biker. But nothing more to think & do. Noodles for night, blog & finish. Tomorrow have to visit Fathepur Sikri & Mathura. Let’s see how it goes :).
Yeah!!! I need not say what it is :)
This is standing beside Taj Mahal on either side...
This design is in single marble... awesome it is :)
The puncture fix is being heated up...
My tyre puncture getting fixed! Oldie sitting next to me is Sarpanch of the village... He owns 10 trucks itseem's... He was very simple & innocent person too :)
Reason behind my back tire puncture :(
Day-7: September 24th Thursday, Agra – Mathura – Fathepur Sikri – Agra, Trip Meter: 1105 Kms
For the first time in the trip, slept for 15 min more after alarm rang at 6. It was hard to get out of bed :(. Plan for the day was to visit Fathepur Sikri & Mathura. Got on our bike by 7:30 AM. Yeah! Pretty early for local sightseeing. But thought it’s better to skip city traffic. Now the hunt began to hit same Agra – Jaipur NH-11 which contains Fathepur Sikri at 45 Kms from Agra. But ended up in NH-2 Delhi – Agra highway. Now what to do???... Decided to visit Mathura first & then to Fathepur Sikri. Found McD on the way & grabbed our breakfast there. Continued further & took a right deviation to Mathura.
For the first time in the trip, slept for 15 min more after alarm rang at 6. It was hard to get out of bed :(. Plan for the day was to visit Fathepur Sikri & Mathura. Got on our bike by 7:30 AM. Yeah! Pretty early for local sightseeing. But thought it’s better to skip city traffic. Now the hunt began to hit same Agra – Jaipur NH-11 which contains Fathepur Sikri at 45 Kms from Agra. But ended up in NH-2 Delhi – Agra highway. Now what to do???... Decided to visit Mathura first & then to Fathepur Sikri. Found McD on the way & grabbed our breakfast there. Continued further & took a right deviation to Mathura.
As we entered the town, could see lots of defence bases. Huge army campus was there on either side of the road. But once again had to face same dusty & congested town of Mathura. Thought of visiting Janma Bhoomi (birth place of Lord Krishna) first & while we were in search of the route, a localite comes by & tells he will show Janma Bhoomi, Gokul, Govardhan & Vrindavan for just 50 Rs. He told everything would take around 2-3 Hrs. Oops! We don’t have so much time to spend here. It was already 10:15 AM. So we rejected the offer. But he is keen on getting the deal done. So he convinces he will show only Janma Bhoomi & Gokul in an hour time. Since the fee was reasonable, we too gave a green signal. We went to Janma Bhoomi first & he started the history behind this place. Well! A Quick info to you all: Aurangazeb built mosque right on top of lord Krishna’s birth place in Mathura. Later on, Krishna Temple beside the mosque was built with more height than that of mosque. Here both mosque & temple could be seen very next to each other.
He showed us all the places along with its history & next was Gokul where lord Krishna was bought up. He (Arun Pandit was guide’s name) told in Gokul originality of those days still exists. Now this got us interest to see hut’s & so on. Gokul is around 6-7 Kms from Mathura & this time I rode in trips! Myself, Prasad & Guide. Pretty much load on my bike :(. As we neared Gokul, we saw the same scene as we had seen in TV about olden days of Gokul. Huts, typical village culture, deer’s & so on. It was an eye catching scene all around. Had lassi in a shop nearby & arun tells his brother will continue from now on as he has some work.
So continued with his brother & he showed us old Goshala’s (cow houses), temples & huts of priests from all over the country. Then he took us to main temple Nanda Gokul & some prayer stuff. He told we need to give some dakshina (charity) to temple & about which poojari will tell us.
When poojari told to raise hands who want to give charity, I too raised my hands thinking it would be some small amount. Next question has asked was “Do Ki (of 2)” or “Paanch Ki (of 5)”. I felt quite disgusted thinking he is asking about 200/- or 500/- as fee. Since I had already raised my hands, I told “Do Ki kaafi hain!” when I went to bill counter to pay the amount, the actual bomb blasts. It was 2801 INR. What?????.... I never thought they will play such a trick in this holy place & the worst part was guide dint tell us about the amount :(. On top of that, the same devotional tricks. Cashier told this amount would go to Goshala, Priests food bla bla bla. I am sure he missed out main part included in the amount I paid. That’s the commission to Guide. Big cheaters & we were right bakra’s for them. Even Prasad ended up paying 1K+. We convinced ourselves saying if they cheat, they will surely pay for it & I believe in it. Thought we have given with good intension & nothing more to think on that now. But somehow I was not able to digest the bomb still. Got really pizzed off & left the place in no time. Now what else could be done :(?? It was already 1:30 PM by then & had lost lot of time in this gambling. Came back to Agra – Delhi NH-2, & enquired the route to Fathepur Sikri. Came to know we need to cross over Bharathpur for that. Half the way, route was good & rest were just horrible till we reached Jaipur-Agra NH-11. Finally reached Fathepur Sikri by 3:45 PM & now before half a Km to the Fort entry, a guy stops saying bikers not allowed. Bikes will be allowed only if we go with guide itseem’s. Since we had lot from morning session, rejected his offer. He started decreasing his price & I kept rejecting. Finally I took my bike in without his company & again some security guy’s irritation. Here these localities harass a lot :(. Thanks to Bipin who had told me about this in advance. I rejected again & parked my bike at the bottom of Fort. Once again Guide’s get behind us & as we enter the Fort it’s just horrible coz of some Mela. It had become very dirty. Dint feel stepping ahead & on top of that suffocation, one small guy’s irritation saying guide. Got fed up & blasted him. So irritating they are. I really pity on foreigners who don’t even know Hindi. God knows how they will escape from these people. Got back to bike straight away & we are out of this irritating place. Even today things dint go well :(.
Came back to lodge asked lodge guy about bike repairs to fix my bike horn. He suggested to visit Baluganj at 3-4 Kms from lodge & got it fixed. I thought battery had gone & it would be a new bomb for my pocket. But only battery fuse was damaar! Also fixed broken horn. Everything got over just for 25 bux. Quite reasonable. Got back to lodge, packed our stuffs, and cleaned my bike, Udupi Hotel thali & flat. Also settled lodge bills since we would be vacating lodge pretty early by 7 AM tomorrow. When I glanced my bike, I could see black colour on my engine. Now what new thing is this?? Engine Oil leak???? :(
This is how tea is served in Gokul :)
Priests & their huts in Gokul...
Deers coming front to grab their part in Gokul!!!
Day-8: September 25th Friday, Agra – Delhi, Trip Meter: 1355 Kms
I hate alarm ring when I am in deep sleep. Yup! Had sound sleep previous night. Got up at 6 AM & got fresh. It was 7:15 AM when we checked out. I was pretty scared of engine oil leak issue :(. Rode out of city filling fuel & we hit NH-2 Delhi-Agra highway. Dint speed up initially coz of food hunt for us. Prasad dint want to have McD today so ended up in some dhaba. Same Aloo paratha & lassi.
I hate alarm ring when I am in deep sleep. Yup! Had sound sleep previous night. Got up at 6 AM & got fresh. It was 7:15 AM when we checked out. I was pretty scared of engine oil leak issue :(. Rode out of city filling fuel & we hit NH-2 Delhi-Agra highway. Dint speed up initially coz of food hunt for us. Prasad dint want to have McD today so ended up in some dhaba. Same Aloo paratha & lassi.
Had our part & rode ahead. Wanted to rip but could not coz of small pot holes, plenty of villages & towns & lot of truck lay byes beside the road. This continued throughout the journey :(. Also had tea in between on the way. From the early morning am observing a slight wobbling but no puncture. On top of that, Prasad is not at all stable & keeps moving. So found it tough to manage both. When we entered Delhi, realised wobbling sort of feeling was coz of weight imbalance between side luggages. My bag was more weight than Prasad’s.
Entry to Delhi was as expected. Burning heat, dust & traffic jams. Finally with great patience, reached Karol Bhag & we are in the lodge by 2:15 PM. Yeah! Took pretty long time to cover 220 Kms coz of the reasons told earlier. Got fresh & ordered food. The room was very dirty. I think they haven’t cleaned it at all. No battery to TV remote & many more issues. Getting things in place killed my patience. Had ordered food by 2:30 PM & got it by 3:30 PM. Oh man! He takes 1 Hr to prepare rice, dal & curds. It’s disgusting!!! Plan of taking rest post lunch went for a toss.
Post lunch went to check out Raj Ghat. It’s a cool place with full of greens. Loved it! Wanted to spend some time there but stomach started aching to the core. Can’t resist the pain at all. Guess noon’s dal showed its power. Straight away back to net & you got it right. Oh man! Great relief... Heaven it is :). After getting fresh, it’s time to have journey in Metro. Went to Jhande Walan station in a cycle rick & took tickets for the last stop Dwaraka Sec-19. It was nice for some time & later got boring. Now it’s the return journey time. On the way back, few calls to buddies flow. Called up KP & he is all set to reach Delhi tomorrow. Came back to lodge with fruits, bread jam for tomorrow’s breakfast, blog update & crash. KP, Amol, Nitesh & Guru will be joining us tomorrow :).
The way in to Raj Ghat...
Raj Ghat...
Greens in Raj Ghat!!!
Day-9: September 26th Saturday, In Delhi, Trip Meter: 1387 Kms
This alarm is a real irritation these days. It sings when I am in deep sleep :(. Got up at 6:30 AM & went out to get few clicks of India Gate. Just felt like riding in same Raj Path. Enjoyed my ride in that road. Went near to Rashtrapathi Bhavan & asked police if I can take few clicks of Rashtrapathi Bhavan & Parliment. They politely gave green signal. Had my shots & am back in lodge now. Prasad is still enjoying his sleep. Got fresh & had breakfast (apple, banana & bread jam). Mean while Prasad is out of bed. Called up KP to enquire on his status. He told they are out of flight & would call me once they reach Karol Bhag. Now nothing doing except relax till I get call from KP. After some time KP called & went to receive them all. Now the team is complete: Amol, Nitesh, Guru, KP, Prasad & myself.
This alarm is a real irritation these days. It sings when I am in deep sleep :(. Got up at 6:30 AM & went out to get few clicks of India Gate. Just felt like riding in same Raj Path. Enjoyed my ride in that road. Went near to Rashtrapathi Bhavan & asked police if I can take few clicks of Rashtrapathi Bhavan & Parliment. They politely gave green signal. Had my shots & am back in lodge now. Prasad is still enjoying his sleep. Got fresh & had breakfast (apple, banana & bread jam). Mean while Prasad is out of bed. Called up KP to enquire on his status. He told they are out of flight & would call me once they reach Karol Bhag. Now nothing doing except relax till I get call from KP. After some time KP called & went to receive them all. Now the team is complete: Amol, Nitesh, Guru, KP, Prasad & myself.
They were all tired with Delhi weather & previous days late night sleep. I think they were in same position as we were last week :). Guru has slight body pain & fever too. But you know what?? All 6 people are in one double bed room. Lodge manager told he will arrange another room by 12 NOON. They all got fresh & all 6 went to get KP’s & Amol’s bike from same Nizamuddin station.
Got into same metro, reached Nizamuddin station & they found their bikes in gowdown. Now KP has only Xerox copy of his bikes receipt & not original. It is not at all accepted at the counter & it’s not legal to accept too. Tell me how one can accept Xerox copy of something when original is required. I wonder which great mind had told KP that Xerox would work out. We are in a big mess now. Alternate process to get the things done was very lengthy :(. Stamp paper & all stuffs. But we too dint find any other alternative. Requested to station master on our matter but he says the same thing, stamp paper & all. What else to do now? We need the bike out at any cost today. Or else entire plan would go for a toss :(. Tension is what all 6 were presenting on their face. Finally I, KP & Amol got into a rick to get the stamp papers done from a place suggested by station master. On the way KP just opens his documents cover & from nowhere he took the original receipt out. What should one say to his stupidity??? Just a disgusting idiot he is......
Came back to station, had lunch & got our bikes out with few bribes. Unpacked the bike & what the heck??? KP’s bikes front mud guard is broken. Amol’s bikes tank has got dent in it. As usual, gift from Indian Railways I should say. They were very much disappointed but could not help what has happened. Got our bikes out, filled fuel to it & rode to Karol Bhag. I & KP went to get the panniers fixed for his bike. After couple of reference, we finally got to the right person who fixes panniers to Avenger. Its Sanjeev Kajharia’s shop in Karol Bhag who does these stuffs. Even I got my bikes wheel alignment done.
Got back to lodge & was frustrated coz even now second room is still not arranged for us. Went to previous lodge owner & told him my issues as he had arranged our stay here. He understood our concerns & blasted current lodge manager. Now as soon as I went to current lodge, from nowhere another room is ready in a nearby lodge. I dint think much on how that’s possible. Was feeling sad that I made others uncomfy with only one room. Finally Amol, Nitesh & Guru shifted to new one. Then as usual: food, blog & finish.
It was early morning & not evening...
Amar Jawan inside India Gate!!!
Sun behind gave it a total different look...
Great combination. You can as well see dent & scratch done by Indian railways near to the engine where Thunderbird is written...
Raj path...
Parliment captured early morning :)
Day-10: September 27th Sunday, Delhi – Chandigarh, Trip Meter: 1688 Kms
Nithesh called me at 5:30 AM. Even otherwise I would have got up by 5:45 AM coz today we have to ride long distance. 3 guys getting fresh in single room eats up time & it happened to be 7:30 AM when 3 bikes were on road. It took sweet 1 Hr 15 Min to get out of Delhi & hit NH-1: The Grand Trunk Road. This is very famous route since it connects Delhi to Lahore.
Nithesh called me at 5:30 AM. Even otherwise I would have got up by 5:45 AM coz today we have to ride long distance. 3 guys getting fresh in single room eats up time & it happened to be 7:30 AM when 3 bikes were on road. It took sweet 1 Hr 15 Min to get out of Delhi & hit NH-1: The Grand Trunk Road. This is very famous route since it connects Delhi to Lahore.
With couple of pot holes & speeding cars in zig-zag direction, we reached Panipat pretty late by 9:45 AM. Wanted to visit some place (darga) & went for it. But the gully we had to cross was very scary. As soon as we parked our bikes in front of some darga, crowd gathered like anything. This made us very much uncomfy & got out of Panipat soon. Next stop was for breakfast. Stopped in some dhaba & had a tasty Roti, Chole & so on. We took sweet time to get out from there & in few Kms, police stopped KP’s & Amol’s bike. Documents check up you see! I was following a tempo & could escape from police :). After some time again stop for pix session. We stopped at a place where it was full green fields for miles beside NH-1. Took few clicks in Nitesh’s brand new SLR & went ahead.
Reached Kurukshethra & gave a visit to Bhramha Sarovar. It’s huge & somewhat interesting. Itseem’s all the surrounding place is where Mahabharath battle was fought between Pandava’s & Kaurava’s. It was a mixture of plain land & township. Went ahead to check out Jyotisar – place where Krishna thought Bhagavatgeeta to Arjun before Mahabharath battle. Few clicks again. It was around 2:30 PM when we came out from the place. There was a local college group of students who got interest in our trip & few QA session flows. One guy had very interesting Q for us. He asked where we all are from for which the answer was “Bangalore”. The next question from him was mind blowing. “Is Bangalore a village or town????.....” now what to answer!!! :) :) :).... Came out of the place & was pretty frustrated by the way time is getting killed. 7 Hrs of ride since morning includes just 180 Kms. Still 100 odd to cover for the day :(. We are out of Kurukshethra & ripped my bike & they too. Crossed Ambala & stopped for lunch by 3:45 PM. Enjoyed riding at 90’s. But lot of pot holes to disturb :(. Had Roti, Curd rice at dhaba & took our own time since Chandigarh was just 30 Kms.
Got back on roads again speeding till we reach Chandigarh city & we are in lodge by 6 PM. Got settled in lodge, relax, dinner, blog & crash :).
Poser KP & his bike en route Chandigarh!!!
Me & Bhramha Sarovar...
3 loaded bulls :)
Jyotisar-Place where Bhagavatgeeta was thought to Arjun from Krishna
Nithesh doing social service...
Day-11: September 28th Monday, Chandigarh Sightseeing, Trip Meter: 1733 Kms
Since the lodge manager informed everything in Chandigarh opens by 9 AM, got up lazily at 6:30 AM (I know it’s pretty early for others :)). Washed few clothes, shave & got ready by 8:30 AM. Even others got ready by then. First thing in the list was Sukna Lake. Finding the route to lake was not a hard task since everything in Chandigarh is divided into sectors & anyone can easily find any place :). Fell in love with city :). So got to the lake without much of a difficulty & found its pretty lazy one with boating facility. Might be in evening time, it would be good place to spend time. Spent some time walking around & filled petrol to our bikes since my bike had run few Kms in reserve. Now where do we fill our stomach??? Nitesh got despo for breakfast & hunt started at full fledge. Finally found a place in some shopping complex & had breakfast. Got the bill & it was a bomb of 1.5K for 6 of us. Too much!!! :(
Next straight to Rock Garden. Got the entry tickets & entered the Park. It’s very beautiful & huge too. I would say visiting Chandigarh would be waste if you miss out Rock Garden. Spent around 2 Hrs in the Garden clicking loads of snaps & exploring. They have made very good use of waste materials. For ex: lot of peacock, human models decorated by broken bangles. It was very innovative :). Amol got engaged in some lengthy call & we all had to wait in parking lot for him. Mean while had tea & met some Sardar police oldie who started asking Q’s about computer stuff. Later took a snap with him & ho told since we are computer engineers, not to go abroad, India needs lot of computer engineers & all. Itseem’s his son is in Australia & he has been there. He dint find the place interesting & so some gyan session from him :).
Finally Amol is done with his call & we hit Rose Garden with lot of expectation of clicking beautiful roses. But all our expectation was broken. Yeah! Rose Garden is without Roses :(. All plants were cut for fresh leaves. Got lazy out there & spent some time chit chatting. Came out & checked out Leisure Vally. Found nothing but a couple busy in their business. Came out & wanted to visit museum. But it’s closed on Mondays :(. Shit man! Except Rock Garden, nothing worked out. Now what to do? Thought Chandigarh is done & hit back to lodge. It was 2:45 PM by then. Took good amount of rest having food & watching movie in my iPod.
Our lodge had very good view in front of it with big ground where dussera function was being held. Localities burnt huge statue of Ravan with crackers. Its first time I am watching it live & found it good :). Then we all went to check out some shopping centre & gave a visit to Sector-17 shopping centre. It’s a huge one & was beautiful with respect to crowd & girls :). Got one leather gloves (I had lost one gloves while coming to Chandigarh yesterday) & Nitesh got one sun glass. Amol too bought a cargo for him. Spent some quality time roaming & had dinner. It all ate good amount of time. Came back to lodge by 10:30 PM, packed my stuff, blog & slept. Tomorrow will depart to Amritsar pretty early :).
Since the lodge manager informed everything in Chandigarh opens by 9 AM, got up lazily at 6:30 AM (I know it’s pretty early for others :)). Washed few clothes, shave & got ready by 8:30 AM. Even others got ready by then. First thing in the list was Sukna Lake. Finding the route to lake was not a hard task since everything in Chandigarh is divided into sectors & anyone can easily find any place :). Fell in love with city :). So got to the lake without much of a difficulty & found its pretty lazy one with boating facility. Might be in evening time, it would be good place to spend time. Spent some time walking around & filled petrol to our bikes since my bike had run few Kms in reserve. Now where do we fill our stomach??? Nitesh got despo for breakfast & hunt started at full fledge. Finally found a place in some shopping complex & had breakfast. Got the bill & it was a bomb of 1.5K for 6 of us. Too much!!! :(
Next straight to Rock Garden. Got the entry tickets & entered the Park. It’s very beautiful & huge too. I would say visiting Chandigarh would be waste if you miss out Rock Garden. Spent around 2 Hrs in the Garden clicking loads of snaps & exploring. They have made very good use of waste materials. For ex: lot of peacock, human models decorated by broken bangles. It was very innovative :). Amol got engaged in some lengthy call & we all had to wait in parking lot for him. Mean while had tea & met some Sardar police oldie who started asking Q’s about computer stuff. Later took a snap with him & ho told since we are computer engineers, not to go abroad, India needs lot of computer engineers & all. Itseem’s his son is in Australia & he has been there. He dint find the place interesting & so some gyan session from him :).
Finally Amol is done with his call & we hit Rose Garden with lot of expectation of clicking beautiful roses. But all our expectation was broken. Yeah! Rose Garden is without Roses :(. All plants were cut for fresh leaves. Got lazy out there & spent some time chit chatting. Came out & checked out Leisure Vally. Found nothing but a couple busy in their business. Came out & wanted to visit museum. But it’s closed on Mondays :(. Shit man! Except Rock Garden, nothing worked out. Now what to do? Thought Chandigarh is done & hit back to lodge. It was 2:45 PM by then. Took good amount of rest having food & watching movie in my iPod.
Our lodge had very good view in front of it with big ground where dussera function was being held. Localities burnt huge statue of Ravan with crackers. Its first time I am watching it live & found it good :). Then we all went to check out some shopping centre & gave a visit to Sector-17 shopping centre. It’s a huge one & was beautiful with respect to crowd & girls :). Got one leather gloves (I had lost one gloves while coming to Chandigarh yesterday) & Nitesh got one sun glass. Amol too bought a cargo for him. Spent some quality time roaming & had dinner. It all ate good amount of time. Came back to lodge by 10:30 PM, packed my stuff, blog & slept. Tomorrow will depart to Amritsar pretty early :).
Wide & beautiful traffic less streets of Chandigarh!!!
I wish i had a real one like this :)
Posing outside Rock Garden...
Rock in Rock Garden with a design....
Some water stream flowing at Rock Garden!!!
I love clicking these with sky as background...
Childhood buddies in front of funny mirrors...
Guess what? These were made out of broken Bangles....
These were innovative stuffs found at Rock Garden...
Guru is fit for any profession i guess :)
One among the hardly found roses in Rose Garden...
Prasad trying for suitable profession!!!
Sardar police whom we met outside Rock Garden...
It was my shot from Prasad's cam :)
Day-12: September 29th Tuesday, Chandigarh – Amritsar, Trip Meter: 2044 Kms
As per the plan, set alarm at 4 AM but woke up in advance at 3:45 AM. True! It’s too much now. But we wanted to eliminate riding in hot sun as much as we can. Guru is still not out of his illness :(. I was very eager to enter Punjab. Checked out from Chandigarh lodge by 5:15 AM & we are back in road: 3 KA registration bulls.
Since it was dark, could not speed up to 80’s but maintained steady rate between 50-60’s. As brightness catches up, wow! What a beauty on either side of the road :). Too good & attracting it was. Mist on top of the fields had added to the beauty a lot. Stopped for pix session at 6:30 AM. With couple of clicks, the group continues ahead. Reached Ludhiana riding in NH-95 & now it’s time for stomach. NH-95 was not a 4 lane toll road but was good one to ride :). Now what else can we find other than dhaba’s in Punjab highway???.... Had our part & enquired about Fort Sahnewal. But got a response saying it would open only by 10 AM itseem’s. Chucked out the plan to visit Sahnewal & made up our mind to reach Amritsar ASAP.
From Ludhiana, till Amritsar it’s the same GT road (NH-1) we need to ride on. Meaning the same pot holes, heavy traffic & lot of villages/towns to pass through. But the greens beside the roads made my ride enjoying with music in ears :). As I was riding, was feeling proud that I would be reaching world famous Wagah Border in some time. Finally with a break, reached Amritsar by 12 NOON & this time we got very comfy room in Hotel Kishore Castle in Queens Road. Thanks to my uncle again :).
Yup! We have made it to Amritsar pretty early but where is the rest now??? Have to visit Jallianwala Bhag, watch Wagah Border parade & visit Golden Temple in the same day. Oh man! Busy schedule to go with now. So got fresh, had lunch in a jiffy. After couple of days I had a good food. Post lunch, directly to Jallianwala Bhag. Amritsar city is very much congested & crowded. On top of that, it’s full of dust :(. Parked our vehicles, got inside Jallianwala Bhag & was it bit of history& clicks session. They have still maintained the bullet marks on walls during firing had taken place. Worth watching it was. Next was the prime destination of our trip. Retreat ceremony of Wagah Border :).
Rode 30 Kms to reach Wagah Border. Road to Wagah was under construction with some greens & dust. But the feel of being proud was running inside me for myself & my bike that we on the road which is the bridge between two most happening nations of the world. One should actually ride his bike in this road to understand what I actually felt :). Reached border by 3 PM but visitor’s gate opens at 4:30 PM :). Killed time in restaurant nearby & waiting outside the gate. You know what!!! I also saw some Pakistani traders crossing the border & landing in India. They have to pass through all the security checks along with valid Indian visa & other stuffs. Post checking, they & their luggages are let in for trade purpose. I even saw Pakistani trader standing very near to me with his daughter in their religious dress. Quite interesting that this still happens :). Localities told they come here to trade their goods. I feel they are all village people who spend their daily life through these trading businesses. Anyways, as the gate opened, ran to the next security check post. We came first in the queue through running & got top seating in the amphitheatre. Now we can get clear picture of both Indian & Pakistan side since we are in top seats :). It was around 4:45 PM by the time we settled in our seats but where is the relief??? It was burning hot their directly under sun & we all are sweating like anything. But this is once in a life time opportunity! So can’t run away from it at any cost. Felt very patriotic seeing the borders & situation there. Finally retreat ceremony started after lot of patriotic songs & lot of “Hindustan Jindabad, Wande Mataram & Bholo Bhrath Mata Ki Jai”. Even heard crowd shouting on their side “Pakistan Jindabad, Jai Jai Jai Pakistan” & all.... I captured the entire video of Retreat ceremony while Guru & Prasad clicked lot of shots in their cam. It was over crowded from our side. Felt very proud seeing world famous Parade happening right in front of my eyes. Post ceremony, clicked few snaps with BSF guards & standing in front of Wagah Border gate. One of the guard got impressed by Guru’s long hair :).
It was already dark by then & came back to lodge directly with a fuel & puncture kit coz somebody suggested there that from Chandigarh to Shimla we don’t find even a single puncture shop & we need to carry one with ourselves :(. Got fresh in a jiffy again & another main spot of my trip! Golden Temple. I really can’t explain its beauty in words now. One needs a visit to feel it. Guru really missed the golden chance. He dint come with us coz of this high fever :(. It was very calm from inside & loads of clicks flows in night mode. Went inside the main temple & it was very religious. Came out & sat beside the pond for some time with our head bands (every one need to wear head band or Pagadi & even ladies needs to put on their shawls or something on their head). Then Amol told let’s try Langar (kind of dinner served in Gurudwars). They served us Roti’s & some sweet in plates. Got our tummy filled there itself & since we had ordered food in lodge, again had that too :(. Oops!!! Too much for my stomach... it was already 11:45 PM then the normal routine.
As per the plan, set alarm at 4 AM but woke up in advance at 3:45 AM. True! It’s too much now. But we wanted to eliminate riding in hot sun as much as we can. Guru is still not out of his illness :(. I was very eager to enter Punjab. Checked out from Chandigarh lodge by 5:15 AM & we are back in road: 3 KA registration bulls.
Since it was dark, could not speed up to 80’s but maintained steady rate between 50-60’s. As brightness catches up, wow! What a beauty on either side of the road :). Too good & attracting it was. Mist on top of the fields had added to the beauty a lot. Stopped for pix session at 6:30 AM. With couple of clicks, the group continues ahead. Reached Ludhiana riding in NH-95 & now it’s time for stomach. NH-95 was not a 4 lane toll road but was good one to ride :). Now what else can we find other than dhaba’s in Punjab highway???.... Had our part & enquired about Fort Sahnewal. But got a response saying it would open only by 10 AM itseem’s. Chucked out the plan to visit Sahnewal & made up our mind to reach Amritsar ASAP.
From Ludhiana, till Amritsar it’s the same GT road (NH-1) we need to ride on. Meaning the same pot holes, heavy traffic & lot of villages/towns to pass through. But the greens beside the roads made my ride enjoying with music in ears :). As I was riding, was feeling proud that I would be reaching world famous Wagah Border in some time. Finally with a break, reached Amritsar by 12 NOON & this time we got very comfy room in Hotel Kishore Castle in Queens Road. Thanks to my uncle again :).
Yup! We have made it to Amritsar pretty early but where is the rest now??? Have to visit Jallianwala Bhag, watch Wagah Border parade & visit Golden Temple in the same day. Oh man! Busy schedule to go with now. So got fresh, had lunch in a jiffy. After couple of days I had a good food. Post lunch, directly to Jallianwala Bhag. Amritsar city is very much congested & crowded. On top of that, it’s full of dust :(. Parked our vehicles, got inside Jallianwala Bhag & was it bit of history& clicks session. They have still maintained the bullet marks on walls during firing had taken place. Worth watching it was. Next was the prime destination of our trip. Retreat ceremony of Wagah Border :).
Rode 30 Kms to reach Wagah Border. Road to Wagah was under construction with some greens & dust. But the feel of being proud was running inside me for myself & my bike that we on the road which is the bridge between two most happening nations of the world. One should actually ride his bike in this road to understand what I actually felt :). Reached border by 3 PM but visitor’s gate opens at 4:30 PM :). Killed time in restaurant nearby & waiting outside the gate. You know what!!! I also saw some Pakistani traders crossing the border & landing in India. They have to pass through all the security checks along with valid Indian visa & other stuffs. Post checking, they & their luggages are let in for trade purpose. I even saw Pakistani trader standing very near to me with his daughter in their religious dress. Quite interesting that this still happens :). Localities told they come here to trade their goods. I feel they are all village people who spend their daily life through these trading businesses. Anyways, as the gate opened, ran to the next security check post. We came first in the queue through running & got top seating in the amphitheatre. Now we can get clear picture of both Indian & Pakistan side since we are in top seats :). It was around 4:45 PM by the time we settled in our seats but where is the relief??? It was burning hot their directly under sun & we all are sweating like anything. But this is once in a life time opportunity! So can’t run away from it at any cost. Felt very patriotic seeing the borders & situation there. Finally retreat ceremony started after lot of patriotic songs & lot of “Hindustan Jindabad, Wande Mataram & Bholo Bhrath Mata Ki Jai”. Even heard crowd shouting on their side “Pakistan Jindabad, Jai Jai Jai Pakistan” & all.... I captured the entire video of Retreat ceremony while Guru & Prasad clicked lot of shots in their cam. It was over crowded from our side. Felt very proud seeing world famous Parade happening right in front of my eyes. Post ceremony, clicked few snaps with BSF guards & standing in front of Wagah Border gate. One of the guard got impressed by Guru’s long hair :).
It was already dark by then & came back to lodge directly with a fuel & puncture kit coz somebody suggested there that from Chandigarh to Shimla we don’t find even a single puncture shop & we need to carry one with ourselves :(. Got fresh in a jiffy again & another main spot of my trip! Golden Temple. I really can’t explain its beauty in words now. One needs a visit to feel it. Guru really missed the golden chance. He dint come with us coz of this high fever :(. It was very calm from inside & loads of clicks flows in night mode. Went inside the main temple & it was very religious. Came out & sat beside the pond for some time with our head bands (every one need to wear head band or Pagadi & even ladies needs to put on their shawls or something on their head). Then Amol told let’s try Langar (kind of dinner served in Gurudwars). They served us Roti’s & some sweet in plates. Got our tummy filled there itself & since we had ordered food in lodge, again had that too :(. Oops!!! Too much for my stomach... it was already 11:45 PM then the normal routine.
Wow!!! I am in Punjab now.....
Painting of Jallianwala Bhag incident present in museum....
The well into which lot of innocent people had jumped during Jallianwala Bhag incident....
Bullet marks available on walls of Jallianwala Bhag
Me in front of Monument in memory of all those who lost their lives in Jallianwala Bhag shooting...
BSF Guard at Wagah Border
Thats the border gate & Pakistan Amphitheater behind it...
Me in front of world famous Wagah Border :)
Indian flag flying high in Wagah Border....
The gate is being opened during retreat ceremony....
Yes! Night view of Golden Temple :) loved it's reflection in water...
KP, Amol, Me & Prasad in front of it now...
Day-13: September 30th Wednesday, Amritsar – Shimla, Trip Meter: 2427 Kms
Opened my eyes at 6:10 AM in spite of alarm kept at 5 AM. Dint even know when & how I switched the alarm off :(. Oh shit! Now it’s very late for us. Got fresh in a jiffy & went to check out how Golden Temple would look at day light. It was heavily crowded even though it’s pretty early. God my part of clicks & directly back to lodge. Mean while guys are ready & packed our stuffs to bikes. Mean while few questions flows from room boys & reception people about out iternary. Finally bikers are road by 8:15 AM. I hate riding under hot sun with full of dust around. But can’t escape from the trap :(.
Got into GT road (NH-1) & after few Kms, stopped for breakfast in road side dhaba. What else than Aloo Paratha :(. Back on road by 9:10 AM & now nonstop ride for 100 Kms in 105 mins. Yeah! Very slow coz of dusty towns in between, road construction work in progress & villages. With a break reached Doraha by 12:30 PM & got into a Fort thinking its Fort Sahnewal which we had missed yesterday. But localite told it’s not the one where RDB was shot. I don’t trust him completely now coz the place was exactly similar to the one in movie :). Anyways it was worth a visit & relaxed there for some time. Cool breeze from the fields made us kill more time there :). After few clicks (in spite of security saying no photography inside), took a short cut which connected us to Ludhiana – Chandigarh NH-21. It was really fun riding in NH-21 under the shades & dust free road. Though it was 2 lane, loved riding there. Had lunch on the way & reached Chandigarh by 4 PM. Now my bike makes full disturbing sound on high excelator. What the hell is this now??? Oh man!!! :( Got it checked with a local mechanic & found it’s a simple problem. Bike tank screw got loosecoz of which full vibration sound :).
Took Shimla route & hit NH-22 soon. As soon as we left Chandigarh, landscape changes in no time. Could see mountains at far distance. Rode ahead & crossed Kalka in those narrow paths. Stopped for tea in some hotel & got views of hills quite nearby. Oh! Finally after a long wait, we are getting towards hills now :). Continued again & it’s getting dark + full of ghats for 75 more Kms. Wow! Riding in twisties would be a real fun. Enjoyed riding but cant speed at all. Traffic with loads of cars & trucks + narrow roads. But still had fun riding in ghats :). Stopped again for a cup of tea & omlet but the bill we got was 180 bux. Yeah too much for just a tea & omlet. As soon as I paid bill, some Sardar came to us & told the people in Himachal Pradesh (HP) fool outsiders a lot. He told shopkeeper charged 5 INR for tea to him but for us he took 10 INR :(. Sardar told us to be very careful going ahead. Thanks to his advice. Also enquired about Rohtang Pass & got positive results :). Continued further & I could not control the fun of riding in ghats. Started ripping at 60’s taking deep cuts & all.... am sure Prasad would have got scared. But I wanted to enjoy to the core. Was in a competition with Indica cab & at last over took him :). It was really fun to ride at high speeds in ghats. I know very much risky too. But till when my Gods are with me, I don’t mind :).
Finally with a break, reached Shimla by 9:30 PM but no room. Room suggested by uncle does not have any booking in our name. So thought we will look ourselves & suddenly lot of mediators came into picture. After a quite long search, got into a lodge. Had dinner, blog updates & the day ends.
Opened my eyes at 6:10 AM in spite of alarm kept at 5 AM. Dint even know when & how I switched the alarm off :(. Oh shit! Now it’s very late for us. Got fresh in a jiffy & went to check out how Golden Temple would look at day light. It was heavily crowded even though it’s pretty early. God my part of clicks & directly back to lodge. Mean while guys are ready & packed our stuffs to bikes. Mean while few questions flows from room boys & reception people about out iternary. Finally bikers are road by 8:15 AM. I hate riding under hot sun with full of dust around. But can’t escape from the trap :(.
Got into GT road (NH-1) & after few Kms, stopped for breakfast in road side dhaba. What else than Aloo Paratha :(. Back on road by 9:10 AM & now nonstop ride for 100 Kms in 105 mins. Yeah! Very slow coz of dusty towns in between, road construction work in progress & villages. With a break reached Doraha by 12:30 PM & got into a Fort thinking its Fort Sahnewal which we had missed yesterday. But localite told it’s not the one where RDB was shot. I don’t trust him completely now coz the place was exactly similar to the one in movie :). Anyways it was worth a visit & relaxed there for some time. Cool breeze from the fields made us kill more time there :). After few clicks (in spite of security saying no photography inside), took a short cut which connected us to Ludhiana – Chandigarh NH-21. It was really fun riding in NH-21 under the shades & dust free road. Though it was 2 lane, loved riding there. Had lunch on the way & reached Chandigarh by 4 PM. Now my bike makes full disturbing sound on high excelator. What the hell is this now??? Oh man!!! :( Got it checked with a local mechanic & found it’s a simple problem. Bike tank screw got loosecoz of which full vibration sound :).
Took Shimla route & hit NH-22 soon. As soon as we left Chandigarh, landscape changes in no time. Could see mountains at far distance. Rode ahead & crossed Kalka in those narrow paths. Stopped for tea in some hotel & got views of hills quite nearby. Oh! Finally after a long wait, we are getting towards hills now :). Continued again & it’s getting dark + full of ghats for 75 more Kms. Wow! Riding in twisties would be a real fun. Enjoyed riding but cant speed at all. Traffic with loads of cars & trucks + narrow roads. But still had fun riding in ghats :). Stopped again for a cup of tea & omlet but the bill we got was 180 bux. Yeah too much for just a tea & omlet. As soon as I paid bill, some Sardar came to us & told the people in Himachal Pradesh (HP) fool outsiders a lot. He told shopkeeper charged 5 INR for tea to him but for us he took 10 INR :(. Sardar told us to be very careful going ahead. Thanks to his advice. Also enquired about Rohtang Pass & got positive results :). Continued further & I could not control the fun of riding in ghats. Started ripping at 60’s taking deep cuts & all.... am sure Prasad would have got scared. But I wanted to enjoy to the core. Was in a competition with Indica cab & at last over took him :). It was really fun to ride at high speeds in ghats. I know very much risky too. But till when my Gods are with me, I don’t mind :).
Finally with a break, reached Shimla by 9:30 PM but no room. Room suggested by uncle does not have any booking in our name. So thought we will look ourselves & suddenly lot of mediators came into picture. After a quite long search, got into a lodge. Had dinner, blog updates & the day ends.
Myself & Golden Temple in morning time...
Thats a good pose in a fort near Doraha!!!
Poser KP this time trying for it...
Panoramic view of hills en route Shimla!
It was my shot again during a break to Shimla...
Me & my heavy loaded bike. Only pillion is missing...
Day-14: October 1st Thursday, Shimla Sightseeing, Trip Meter: 2488 Kms
All were tired with previous day’s lengthy journey & felt drowsy to get out from their blanket :). But got out by 7:00 AM & went out for a city ride to get few early morning clicks. It was bit misty which is what I wanted & got my share of clicks. Now I have got running nose :(. Oh man! It’s so irritating.... came back to lodge & all were out of bed. Prasad was silent might be coz it’s his last day of the trip. Everyone got ready & plan was to visit Kufri first.
Had bath & ordered French Toast. Oh god!!! Repented a lot for ordering this. Just horrible it was. Cook dint toast the bread but instead he boiled it in oil like a Puri :(. Had to use 3-4 tissues to remove the oil from one bread piece but still lots of oil in it :(. The cooks here are so disgusting. Yesterday night even Amol ordered some Chicken item dry but instead he got it fully gravy one :(. Anyways, we were all out of lodge by 10:30 AM & headed to Kufri. I & Prasad went ahead to get cash from ATM mean while others came bit late to Kufri bypass since KP had to tighten his break. With few stops for clicks, reached Kufri riding 15 Kms.
Hired horse for all at 150/head & went to Kufri top. It’s difficult to walk since it’s very steep to climb. Reached Kufri top & clicked few shots of views, flowers & Yak's. Itseem’s here one can see China border which is at 335 Kms from Kufri through Telescope. I don’t know how to trust these people now. Also the climate was kind of misty so we dint try the telescope. Horse owner told he would be coming back by 2 PM & till then what??? Kufri is not happening :(. Killed our time sitting & finally we are on horses by 2:15 PM & came down. Now what’s next?Shimla is not at all interesting. I am fully into cold now. Came back & on the way back to Shimla, gave a quick visit to Kaveri Helipad. Again it’s a view point & nothing else. Left the place & on the way back, in twisties, KP’s bike suddenly got slipped but he dint fall coz of panniers preventing bike from falling. I was riding right behind him & found it happened without any reason. Lucky! Nothing serious at all :). This incident made us concentrate on our bikes & in few mins time, all 3 bikes were reached garage to have the check up done for our bikes since tomorrows ride completely will be in twisties :). They went to normal garage where bullet can’t be repaired. So came to lodge & near to lodge found a mechanic who does work on bullets. Got my wheel alignment done for front wheel, added engine oil & back to lodge. Mean while Prasad had booked his tickets to Delhi.
Was drinking tea in Amol’s room & Prasad comes & tells my helmet shield got broken. Itseem’s he went to take his bag & my helmet fell down :(. It made me very irritating. Tomorrow I would be on a real twisties & helmet shield is broken. What to say for this? Can’t even take out my frustration on Prasad as he would be leaving tonight. I don’t want to bid him byes with a blasting session. Took my helmet out & enquired with bike mechanic about the shield replacement. But he told in entire Shimla, no one does it. Now this made me real upset with Prasad. But kept myself silent in front of him.
Everyone got ready & wanted to visit Mall road. I dint go coz was pizzed with my helmet issue u see. Prasad told to use his helmet but I rejected it coz it was of a white shield. Slept for some time just to get my mind under control. Got up & cleaned my jacket & shoes. I did pack my things too. Called up KP to get quick fix so that I can join broken shield.
Prasad packed his stuffs & ordered veg Pulav. He got a tasty one with 0% salt. On questioning, room service guy tells cook forgot to put salt without any hesitation. All thanks to hotel Kapical’s cook. I would suggest no one to visit this hotel. Now my condition is getting worst. Feeling feverish! Shit man... What’s happening with me?? Tomorrow have to ride till Manali & am down :(. Was shivering & told KP to drop Prasad to bus stand. Had food, took tabs & slept. Could not even write daily blog. Hope I am fit tomorrow to ride Manali.
All were tired with previous day’s lengthy journey & felt drowsy to get out from their blanket :). But got out by 7:00 AM & went out for a city ride to get few early morning clicks. It was bit misty which is what I wanted & got my share of clicks. Now I have got running nose :(. Oh man! It’s so irritating.... came back to lodge & all were out of bed. Prasad was silent might be coz it’s his last day of the trip. Everyone got ready & plan was to visit Kufri first.
Had bath & ordered French Toast. Oh god!!! Repented a lot for ordering this. Just horrible it was. Cook dint toast the bread but instead he boiled it in oil like a Puri :(. Had to use 3-4 tissues to remove the oil from one bread piece but still lots of oil in it :(. The cooks here are so disgusting. Yesterday night even Amol ordered some Chicken item dry but instead he got it fully gravy one :(. Anyways, we were all out of lodge by 10:30 AM & headed to Kufri. I & Prasad went ahead to get cash from ATM mean while others came bit late to Kufri bypass since KP had to tighten his break. With few stops for clicks, reached Kufri riding 15 Kms.
Hired horse for all at 150/head & went to Kufri top. It’s difficult to walk since it’s very steep to climb. Reached Kufri top & clicked few shots of views, flowers & Yak's. Itseem’s here one can see China border which is at 335 Kms from Kufri through Telescope. I don’t know how to trust these people now. Also the climate was kind of misty so we dint try the telescope. Horse owner told he would be coming back by 2 PM & till then what??? Kufri is not happening :(. Killed our time sitting & finally we are on horses by 2:15 PM & came down. Now what’s next?Shimla is not at all interesting. I am fully into cold now. Came back & on the way back to Shimla, gave a quick visit to Kaveri Helipad. Again it’s a view point & nothing else. Left the place & on the way back, in twisties, KP’s bike suddenly got slipped but he dint fall coz of panniers preventing bike from falling. I was riding right behind him & found it happened without any reason. Lucky! Nothing serious at all :). This incident made us concentrate on our bikes & in few mins time, all 3 bikes were reached garage to have the check up done for our bikes since tomorrows ride completely will be in twisties :). They went to normal garage where bullet can’t be repaired. So came to lodge & near to lodge found a mechanic who does work on bullets. Got my wheel alignment done for front wheel, added engine oil & back to lodge. Mean while Prasad had booked his tickets to Delhi.
Was drinking tea in Amol’s room & Prasad comes & tells my helmet shield got broken. Itseem’s he went to take his bag & my helmet fell down :(. It made me very irritating. Tomorrow I would be on a real twisties & helmet shield is broken. What to say for this? Can’t even take out my frustration on Prasad as he would be leaving tonight. I don’t want to bid him byes with a blasting session. Took my helmet out & enquired with bike mechanic about the shield replacement. But he told in entire Shimla, no one does it. Now this made me real upset with Prasad. But kept myself silent in front of him.
Everyone got ready & wanted to visit Mall road. I dint go coz was pizzed with my helmet issue u see. Prasad told to use his helmet but I rejected it coz it was of a white shield. Slept for some time just to get my mind under control. Got up & cleaned my jacket & shoes. I did pack my things too. Called up KP to get quick fix so that I can join broken shield.
Prasad packed his stuffs & ordered veg Pulav. He got a tasty one with 0% salt. On questioning, room service guy tells cook forgot to put salt without any hesitation. All thanks to hotel Kapical’s cook. I would suggest no one to visit this hotel. Now my condition is getting worst. Feeling feverish! Shit man... What’s happening with me?? Tomorrow have to ride till Manali & am down :(. Was shivering & told KP to drop Prasad to bus stand. Had food, took tabs & slept. Could not even write daily blog. Hope I am fit tomorrow to ride Manali.
Biker in his bike!!!
On our way to Kufri top... Only horse ride is what we enjoyed there...
Flowers at Kufri top....
Flowers at Kufri top....
Flowers at Kufri top....
This was not angry though...
Me at Kufri top...
Posing in Kaveri Helipad!!!
Day-15: October 2nd Friday, Shimla – Manali, Trip Meter: 2756 Kms
Opened my eyes when Amol came to room & asked how I am feeling now! Was feeling far better & was in a condition to ride too :). It was around 7:10 AM when I was out of bed & got ready. Had apple & tea as my morning food. Also took cold & fever tabs just to be on the safer side. Tied 3 bags to my bike (KP’s Guru’s & mine) since no pillion for me from now on :). Filled fuel & it was 9:10 AM by then. Since KP’s bike was inside the parking lot & somebody had parked their car behind his bike, it took sweet 30 mins to get his bike out. Finally we are ready to hit Manali by 9:45 AM. But none of us were sure of reaching Manali coz of road conditions & weather. We decided to hit as much as we can. Was feeling happy internally that I would be riding all alone from now on.
We took deviation to Bilaspur & rode in NH-88. Disgusting route it is. Man! Where is the road??? It is full of muds & very few tarmacs in between :(. With this road condition, I don’t think we can even reach half of Manali. We knew well in advance that today’s ride would be fully on twisties + this muddy road would end us nowhere. But can’t escape. If everything is fine, then what’s the fun??? Being a biker, I need to face all these & enjoy them. Yeah! That’s what I did. Enjoyed the muddy road with music from iPod :). It was very steep twisties to ride on. After around 25 Kms, there was deviation & main road was closed due to land slide itseem’s. Stopped at the deviation for breakfast & had bread jam. Dint want to try anything oily coz of my health. Again on road & rode casually at 50’s in twisties enjoying myself by singing songs & reached deviation to Manali 15 Kms before Bilaspur by 1:15 PM. In 3 Hr 30 min, we just covered 80 Kms. Still 180 Kms to go :(. Hope of reaching Manali by EOD was washing out in everyone’s mind. Continued ahead with a small break. It was NH-21 to ride from now on till Manali. After very few Kms, the road turns out be awesome. Started ripping at 60-70’s again in ghats & amazing views too. It was very complicated to ride along with sightseeing. Wanted to stop at lot of places for pix but time constraint :(. On top of that dust thrown from vehicles in opposite direction is making me real slow coz I can’t cover my helmet shield since it’s broken. All thanks to Prasad. Even though time was a constraint, couldn’t resist myself stopping at few places for quick clicks. As we continued, views are just getting better.
Stopped for lunch in some hotel near to Sundarnagar at 2:15 PM. Felt good & confident for covering quite good distance. Now Manali is 110 odd to go. Had our lunch & rode ahead. Got some dam on the way & clicked a snap of it. Since music was running inside helmet, was totally unaware of sounds outside. The security guard of dam comes nearby & asked “Did you take snaps of the dam???” on my reply being “Yes”, he directly took my cam & told me to come to check post. Itseem’s he was shouting at me not to click the snap but I dint hear at all :). Even Amol stopped his bike thinking I am in trouble but I knew he would return my cam without any problem :) & so was kind of cool. At the check post, officer asks our name, bikes document & so on. Mean while another officer calls me & asks me to show the snap I took of the dam. He told to delete them right in front of him & I did so. Now we are out of the mess.
Opened my eyes when Amol came to room & asked how I am feeling now! Was feeling far better & was in a condition to ride too :). It was around 7:10 AM when I was out of bed & got ready. Had apple & tea as my morning food. Also took cold & fever tabs just to be on the safer side. Tied 3 bags to my bike (KP’s Guru’s & mine) since no pillion for me from now on :). Filled fuel & it was 9:10 AM by then. Since KP’s bike was inside the parking lot & somebody had parked their car behind his bike, it took sweet 30 mins to get his bike out. Finally we are ready to hit Manali by 9:45 AM. But none of us were sure of reaching Manali coz of road conditions & weather. We decided to hit as much as we can. Was feeling happy internally that I would be riding all alone from now on.
We took deviation to Bilaspur & rode in NH-88. Disgusting route it is. Man! Where is the road??? It is full of muds & very few tarmacs in between :(. With this road condition, I don’t think we can even reach half of Manali. We knew well in advance that today’s ride would be fully on twisties + this muddy road would end us nowhere. But can’t escape. If everything is fine, then what’s the fun??? Being a biker, I need to face all these & enjoy them. Yeah! That’s what I did. Enjoyed the muddy road with music from iPod :). It was very steep twisties to ride on. After around 25 Kms, there was deviation & main road was closed due to land slide itseem’s. Stopped at the deviation for breakfast & had bread jam. Dint want to try anything oily coz of my health. Again on road & rode casually at 50’s in twisties enjoying myself by singing songs & reached deviation to Manali 15 Kms before Bilaspur by 1:15 PM. In 3 Hr 30 min, we just covered 80 Kms. Still 180 Kms to go :(. Hope of reaching Manali by EOD was washing out in everyone’s mind. Continued ahead with a small break. It was NH-21 to ride from now on till Manali. After very few Kms, the road turns out be awesome. Started ripping at 60-70’s again in ghats & amazing views too. It was very complicated to ride along with sightseeing. Wanted to stop at lot of places for pix but time constraint :(. On top of that dust thrown from vehicles in opposite direction is making me real slow coz I can’t cover my helmet shield since it’s broken. All thanks to Prasad. Even though time was a constraint, couldn’t resist myself stopping at few places for quick clicks. As we continued, views are just getting better.
Stopped for lunch in some hotel near to Sundarnagar at 2:15 PM. Felt good & confident for covering quite good distance. Now Manali is 110 odd to go. Had our lunch & rode ahead. Got some dam on the way & clicked a snap of it. Since music was running inside helmet, was totally unaware of sounds outside. The security guard of dam comes nearby & asked “Did you take snaps of the dam???” on my reply being “Yes”, he directly took my cam & told me to come to check post. Itseem’s he was shouting at me not to click the snap but I dint hear at all :). Even Amol stopped his bike thinking I am in trouble but I knew he would return my cam without any problem :) & so was kind of cool. At the check post, officer asks our name, bikes document & so on. Mean while another officer calls me & asks me to show the snap I took of the dam. He told to delete them right in front of him & I did so. Now we are out of the mess.
Continued further with few breaks for pix & paths are getting more twisty & beautiful :). Oh man! It’s really hard to see nature while riding in twisties. What to do?? Can’t stop at all the places for snaps. So started clicking snaps with my eye as camera lens & mind as memory card :). This helmet is really getting me in trouble. When Manali was around 70-80 Kms, stopped for a pix session at a place where a huge stream of water was flowing beside the road & other side of the stream had huge hill + small water fall in between :). Oh man! What a view it is. Mind blowing it was. We saw the route down to stream & got down there without second thought. Bike was waiting for us on NH-21 itself. Spent some quality time clicking snaps & throwing stones at water. Now it’s time to get back on road again. Had banana & continued further. I stopped again for pix & others went ahead. In few mins, entered a tunnel & so huge it was. Nearly 4 Kms I guess. It was different experience all together to ride in tunnels. Now banana started showing its effect. Feeling pretty chilled & kind of feverish. My nose got completely blocked :(. Oh man! Trouble is not letting me free... But I can’t end up here & have to ride ahead. After ripping for few Kms, stopped for a break. Am feeling damn weak coz of fever. Guru is almost back on track with his fever now :). It was already dark & still 50 odd Kms to go. Had tea & rode ahead. Finally reached Manali crossing Kullu. Kullu is fully commercialized town & was full of traffic jams. Took our bike in right side & rode ahead since we were not in a position to patiently wait for the traffic to clear.
After few mins, we are out of Kullu & back on ripping again. I can’t bear this irritation of fever & cold. Finally reached Manali by 8:30 PM & now entry fee for our bikes. Yup! Pretty strange but true. Paid 300 INR for 3 bikes. Mean while some guy came & told us he would arrange very good Hotel for us at very cheap rates. Followed him to check the rooms & got family suite containing 4 beds for just 450/- per day. Quite good deal we got in hotel Link Vally :). Was fully shivering by the time I reached lodge. Unpacked the luggage’s wore full length pant & 2 shirts & slept covering my ears. Nitesh woke me up for dinner & had dal & rice. It was tasty one here. Took 3 tabs this time one each for fever, cold & cough & slept without blog updates.
Traffic jam on the way to Manali!
The poser...
Road & hills of Sundarnagar
Nearing to Manali... Had good time here :)
First view of snow covered mountains... caught it on the way to Manali...
Day-16: October 3rd Saturday, In Manali, Trip Meter: 2860 Kms
Had relaxing sleep & opened my eyes when Amol said we can see snow covered mountains from the street down. Wow! Am out of bed in no time & after getting fresh, directly went down with camera. Mean while also realised that I am out of fever & cold :). Off! A relief that I can enjoy the day. Clicked few shots & had tea. I am seeing these clear mountains with snows on top it for the first time in life. Really beautiful they are. It was a great combination to have tea eyeing at snow covered mountains. Came back & got ready.Weather was so chilled that I used hot water to even brush my teeth :). Plan for the day was visiting Vashista Temple & hit Rohtang road as much as we can.
On the way to city, found Andra restaurant & what else we south Indians need?? Had idli & masala dosa. It was a cool comfy garden restaurant & few clicks flows there too. Post breakfast, Amol wanted to check his mails & even KP & Nitesh. They went to cyber cafe. I thought I would get enough cash from ATM by then. But to my bad luck, Manali has only 4 ATM’s. Both SBI ATM’s says unable to dispense cash, UCO Bank ATM displays the same message & PNB ATM is closed. What the heck??? What do we do for money now??? Big trouble :(. Spent around 45 mins roaming between ATM’s & finally one guy told PNB ATM is working fine. Oops! Ran to get the cash & got it :). Else the entire plan would have gone for a toss. We dint even had petrol in our bikes. Went to Mall road where KP & Nitesh bought a leather jacket, poured petrol & we are off to Vashista Temple now. It’s just 4-5 Kms from city. Speciality of this temple is hot water spring from earth. Went in & touched the water & Yes! It is hot. How amazing it is. Dint think too much on that & we left directly to Rohtang :).
I had read about this pass in biking & Leh trip blogs but first time we both (I & my bike) would be stepping on it provided everything goes fine :(. As soon as we entered Rohtang road, it gets very steeper & hard core twisties. But good quality roads & amazing view of brownish & reddish mountains..... Couldn’t resist applying break lot of times for pix :). Reached Gulaba riding 15-20 Kms uphill & break for tea now. It was already 1 PM by then. Rode ahead & now the real fun begins. Road full of potholes, dust & huge stones. To add to this, couple of water crossings to pass through :). This road could be used to adventure biking. It’s very steep cuts to take with hard core stones at one side & hell on other. Road carefully with stop for pix at few places. Now I can get better views of snow covered mountains :). Just amazing views it was. Had 2 layers of shirt + leather jacket but still feeing cold inside. It was our luck that sun was shining bright giving his rays on us.
It was around 5 more Kms to Rohtang, the road is blocked due to land slide :(. Had read avalanche point in yellow boards on twisties but now realised what it actually is. Itseem’s land slide will be cleared in 10 min but time was around 3 PM by then. Had a casual conversation with army chap & some guys from HH Splender, TVS Victor going down towards Manali from Rohtang side. Was shocked to see city bikes in these horrible roads. How this can be possible???
Anyways dint bother about it a lot & land slide was getting cleared. But due to time constraint, we took U turn to Manali after clicks of surroundings. Started descending to Manali & on the way, saw 2 Pulsar guys stopped & one pulsar had its wheel jammed. On asking for help, they told nothing to worry & told us to carry on as their group is from Army & their boss coming behind. Itseem’s they are coming from Leh. Great guys I should say!!! Rode ahead & stopped for lunch at 3:30 PM & saw all those Splender, Victor guys in that place & guess what!!!They all are from Army & coming from Leh. They gave us quick updates on their journey & were very proud of their bikes. Really kudos to their adventure. They told Rohtang is the worst route & post Rohtang it’s quite better. They also told Sarchu Pass was horrible due to cold & lack of oxygen. Now they are on the way to Bikaner itseem’s. All the best guys & you just rock!!! :)
Had our lunch & suddenly fog started covering up mountains. Now it’s risky to stay here for more time & quite the place immediately. Amol & Nitesh (on KP’s bike) ripped their bikes. KP was my pillion & we took our sweet time to reach Manali with lot of chit chats about our old days :). Really cherishing u see. Reaching Manali, we all went for shopping. They got sweater & more. I took woollen shawl to my sis-in-law & back to lodge now after food in Andra restaurant. That’s the day end & tomorrow it’s Rohtang again in search of Snows :) :) :).
Early morning view outside Lodge...
Flowers in Andra Restaurant!
Flowers in Andra Restaurant!
Can you find some priest sleeping there???
Hot water springs in Vasishta Temple!!!
Enroute Rohtang...
Land slide near Rohtang...
Great combination :)
Land slide getting cleared!
Nithesh, Army guard, Me & the mountains...
None other than our Guru! Trying his best to get rid of cold climate :)
Day-17: October 4th Sunday, Manali – Rohtang Pass – Manali (In search of Snows), Trip Meter: 2974 Kms
The day was entirely dedicated to Snows. Searching it, playing in it & lot more on this day for us. Few enquiries with localities revealed that we need to cross Rohtang to catch snows. So it’s a tough day for us today but thrilling one :).
Got up at 5 AM & freshened up in no time. We are on road by 7:30 AM after having tea opposite to lodge. I had even bread jam. Hungry you see :). Got into Rohtang road & rode till Gulaba since the road was good one. Had breakfast (5 plates of maggie) & tea. Finally the bill was 240 bux :(. Now the real pain starts again as I had told yesterday, road is full of pot holes, water crossing, slush’s & huge stones. The challenge is right in front of us. Yesterday the place where land slide had taken place is full of slush today coz of rain fall at night. It’s around 100 metres to cross in slush :(. It was so slushy that, my bike tyre would easily get inside it. Oh man! I have to ride very carefully here. Taking pillion was not at all possible & told Nitesh to walk till the slush gets over. Continued between 4*4’s. KP & Amol are facing the same problem. Was struggling hard to move ahead. At the right time, bike’s pick up is gone for a soup & bike is getting off frequently :(. What the hell is this at this time???? But really no time at all to think on my bike. Start again & go ahead coz crossing this devil slush was more important than anything else. In one 4*4, there were Karnataka group. They got curious on my KA number plate & asked “Tumba sustu agtidiya??? (Are you feeling tired???)” I told “No” & carried on. How do they know the thrill in this? Raising excelator in first gear & after moving ahead for few meters, bike gets off. I don’t have self start in my bike to start it quickly :(. It’s just worst at that situation. At one point raised excelator to full throttle & got slipped in slush. What else now! Fell down. But not completely since my pannier stopped bike from falling fully :). I had to keep my knee on slush & since I was wearing rain pant, it got easy to remove slush from it. Got my bike up & crossed slush with a great struggle. Stopped my bike & saw my left side foot rest is bent :(. Even my excelator & mirror connecting screw got broke while falling :(. Mirror has become very loose now. Nitesh told there is no mechanic & all here & we need to move ahead. He told my bike was getting off frequently coz of oxygen deficiency. Well I don’t know but hope that’s the issue! Rode ahead & reached Rohtang Pass.
As the localities had told, there are no snows here. Only snow covered mountains are visible at distances & climbing those huge mountains was out of our reach. There is a facility of hiring a horse to reach snows uphill. But we decided to ride ahead for few more Kms in search of snow. After riding for 2 Kms from Rohtang Pass, guess what??? Snow was there on one mountain & tourists are walking towards it :). Wow! Finally we got it. Parked our bikes beside the road & clicks flows of surroundings. After couple of clicks with poses, we started our trek to catch the snow. In no time we all are getting tired like never before.Lack of oxygen is hitting us very badly :(. We are at around 13500 odd ft above the sea level. With trek between breaks, finally kept my feet on snow :) :) :). Oooohhhhh!!! Appreciated myself a lot for achieving this. Temperature was around 1-2⁰ C but not effecting us so much coz no breeze at all. I should say it was a perfect climate for us.
We all got very busy playing in snow & clicking snaps with all possible poses. While we were having our time, some localite came & started scolding us in all bad words. Itseem’s if we play in snow, his art made of snow below our play area will get spoilt. He was telling “Yeh pahad tumara baap ka nahi hain!!! (This mountain doesn’t belong to your dad!!!)” As if it belongs to his dad :). Anyways we dint want to spoil our mood by answering him & hence kept ourselves cool. We went bit up the hill & continued our fun. Had very good time & very special feeling of touching snow for me as it was very first time in my life :).
Started getting down by 12:30 PM & by the time we are down, it started snowing lightly. Thought its risky now & got back on our bikes in no time. Once again the same slush to cross :(. In addition to that, this time fog started its play. Climate was very scary with heavy breeze & fog covering mountains quickly. With not much struggle, crossed slush & rode ahead. Stopped at a place for lunch & here comes the real kick for us. It started raining heavily & full of fog. Even things at 10 ft distance are hardly visible to our eyes. 4 layers of clothing are not at all working on me :(. It was almost 3-4⁰ C but heavy breeze & fog are having bad effect on us :(. We were on the verge of getting frozen now. Hotel servant got a candle for our help but it’s of no use on us. Kept my hand on flame & I dint feel any effect of heat :(. Oh man! Nothing is working on us. Mind is running absolutely blank & climate is getting worst. Others took few sips of Rum to feel the heat inside them but I dint want to accept it. Since rain was not at all stopping, we decided to get a room beside but not at all happy to end ourselves here. Came out with great difficulty & had view of nearby mountains & you know what!!! All these mountains are partially covered with snows. Oops! We are in a real trap. Also thought of getting to Manali in bus but Hotel guy told anything can happen without bikes if we leave it here.
Finally rain slowed down at 5 PM & we made strong decision of riding down. With few walks for warm up purpose, we got on our bikes. Rode nonstop till Manali in the medium rain itself. So irritating it was. Rain ok, cold ok but big no no for both together :(. It was just extreme experience I can say. Finally reached Manali at 7 PM & directly to room. Got out of my wet clothes & kept my feet in a bucket of warm water for some time. Now feeling better! Mean time, few calls to buddies flows. Had dinner & slept pretty early by 9:30 PM.
I had to cross this hell! Fell down once in the effort of crossing it :(
Me with snow :)
Status of our shoes after crossing slushes!!!
This is the one which we climbed...
Nearby mountains with snows on it!!!
Panoramic view of surrounding mountains :)
Awesome it is!!!
Poser & the mountains...
This happened after i kept my leg in the snow...
Mountains again!
Me preparing snow ball. Amol too preparing the same!
These mountains dint had any snows on it before rain fall & fog.
Day-18: October 5th Monday, Paragliding in Manali, Trip Meter: 2978 Kms
Day-19: October 6th Tuesday, Manali – Chandigarh, Trip Meter: 3304 Kms
As nothing specifically had planned for the day, got up lazily at 8 AM taking my sweet time. Got fresh & came out to have look of the mountains with hope of more snows due to yesterday’s snow fall. Yes! My hope was right. Mountains were covered with more whites today. Had tea & took bath. We all planned to do paragliding if climate goes fine :).
We were out of lodge by 10 AM & had breakfast in same Andra Restaurant. Amol went to internet & mean time we enquired about Paragliding with couple of dealers. Finally got a deal for 1400 Rs/Person after little negotiation. Paragliding would start from Gulaba in Rohtang Road & end in Kothi. It would be for approx 25 min time. All were very much excited except me as I am feeling bit uncomfy due to morning’s breakfast. Also feeling bit weakness :(. I dint want to tell this to others & spoil their day too. Hence joined my hands with the group for gliding. We all got into the cab & headed to Gulaba. On the way our pilots too joined us in their jeep & we are at Gulaba now. Walked for few steps up the hill & started tying belts etc. All were very much enthu except me. Vomiting sensation I have at heights & illness made me dull.
First KP took off, and then Guru, Nithesh & I captured all their videos. Now it’s my turn. My pilot tied the belts & told me to run so that we get the start. After few steps, guess what??? We are flying. It was just amazing. Simply superb experience it was. Entire parachute is controlled by pilot with 2 ropes in his hands. He tells he is in this profession since 1997 & he also told KP & Nithesh landed in Kothi & Guru went to Solang valley. He told even he is trying to take me into Solang Valley. I was viewing earth from top & all the plants, cattle’s look so small to my eyes. Felt paragliding is just a feeling of flying like free bird.
Now the height is affecting me badly. Yeah! Vomiting sensation. Closed my eyes & tried all tricks to avoid it. But failed in my effort :(. Had vomit while flying itself. Told pilot to get me down in Kothi itself as I was gone. But instead he asked me how I am feeling after vomit. I told feeling somewhat better & he took me to Solang Valley with informing me. Clicked few shots of valley’s + snow covered mountains but I dint had josh due to vomit :(. Finally we landed after 20-25 min in Solang Valley & felt bad on vomiting. I pity on pilot for sustaining it. While landing, couple of people were capturing my snaps & videos in their handy cam so that they could sell it off to me at prices. I took them for my memory :). Even Amol had landed in Solang Valley & after few time, KP & Nithesh came in cab to Solang. They all had snacks in nearby hotel. Now we got back in our cab & I just slept after few mins as my condition went pathetic. Everyone was busy explaining their experience. Itseem’s KP had a close call with Indica cab while landing. Was not energetic to share my experience & closed my eyes. Woke up only at Manali & went to same Andra Restaurant. Though I dint feel like eating anything, had my part ofsoup & Lemon rice. It was around 3:15 PM by then. Felt better after food entered my stomach.
Others dint want to waste time & wanted to check out something else. But coz of my condition, they too dropped out their plans & we are back to lodge. I just laid on the bed while others spent time watching TV etc. Woke up only at 7:30 PM & was feeling drowsy to get out of bed.Spent time calling family & friends. Slept at 9:30 PM without dinner. Donno how will I manage to reach Chandigarh tomorrow. Yup! We are going back tomorrow :(.
All set to fly free! Its my pilot near by...
Rohtang road seen while Paragliding!!!
Mountains captured while Paragliding...
Getting down in zig-zag manner...
Almost near to ground!!!
Yesterday everyone had planned to get up early & ride soon as we had to cover 300+ Kms to reach Chandigarh. But weather was so much chilled that I could open my eyes only at 7:10 AM & even others :). Finally packed our stuffs in jiffy & got cash from PNB as others dint work as usual. We were all out by 8:30 AM & had breakfast (bread toast in a tea stall outside lodge). Tied baggage’s to bike & we are road by 9 AM. In a while, I realised that weight on either side of my bike is totally out of synch. Instead of tying Guru’s bag on side, I should have tied mine there. Shit man! I can’t take deep cuts on ghats now. And to my luck, today we have to ride majority of distance in ghats itself. I have no idea how to manage things now. But still I dint feel like removing luggage & getting it balanced. So decided to ride very carefully even though it is late. Even KP & Amol were cruising at my speed. Passed through the same tunnel but with clicks this time :).
Said good bye to Kullu/Manali & reached Mandi. Road was 2 lane twisties but of good quality. Continued with a break & rode till Bilaspur crossing Sundarnagar. Gave a break forlunch in hotel lake view bilaspur which had very beautiful view of huge lakebehind the hotel. By this time, sun had started its effect on us spent some time quality time in hotel itself. Still 130 Kms odd to cover & it’s already 3 PM. Back on our wheels again but this time road turns out be horrible with full of patches, pot holes & worst of all slow moving fully loaded trucks in twisties. Overtaking them all was a pain :(. Stopped for tea & still 90 odd Kms to cover today & it’s already 5:15 PM. On enquiry in tea stall, he told road is very good after around 8-9 Kms from here. This was a good piece of info for us. Had tea & continued again. After around 10 Kms, twisties came to an end but it happened opposite to what tea stall person had told us. Road is straight but full of dust & deviations due to road work. NHAI is constructing 4 lane roads here. It was very painful & tiring task to ride on NH-21. Again took a break to 7:30 PM when Chandigarh was about 35 Kms far. Had our evening snacks.KP ordered Veg Cutlet & got one plate which had 2 pieces each of the size of set dosa :(. Oh my god! So huge it was. We all were very much shocked to see it. With a great effort, he could finish one & we had our part of Pakoda’s & lassi, juice etc. Finally reached Chandigarh at 9:00 PM. It was a lengthy painful ride for 325 Kms, checked in & was not in a situation to do anything except sleep. Tomorrow its Delhi calling.
Click inside the tunnel!!!
Day-20: October 7th Wednesday, Chandigarh – Agra, Trip Meter: 3787 Kms
Once again the plan of riding as early as possible to avoid hot sun. But yesterday’s long ride made me wake up only at 6:15 AM & by 7:15 AM; we all are road to Delhi. We had to take same NH-22 till Ambala & from then its GT Road again. Constantly cruised at 80-90’s with minimum breaks so that I can cover good amount of distance. Even KP & Amol maintained the same. But traffic in NH-1 was constantly making us apply breaks. Even then, we were on schedule & gave a break when it was around 70 Kms to Delhi. It was 11:30 AM by then & yes! We are well ahead of our schedule :). Suddenly thought comes to someone’s mind thatwhy can’t we make it till Agra today & take off from biking tomorrow??? Good thought & decided to reach Agra by EOD.
Once again the plan of riding as early as possible to avoid hot sun. But yesterday’s long ride made me wake up only at 6:15 AM & by 7:15 AM; we all are road to Delhi. We had to take same NH-22 till Ambala & from then its GT Road again. Constantly cruised at 80-90’s with minimum breaks so that I can cover good amount of distance. Even KP & Amol maintained the same. But traffic in NH-1 was constantly making us apply breaks. Even then, we were on schedule & gave a break when it was around 70 Kms to Delhi. It was 11:30 AM by then & yes! We are well ahead of our schedule :). Suddenly thought comes to someone’s mind thatwhy can’t we make it till Agra today & take off from biking tomorrow??? Good thought & decided to reach Agra by EOD.
Now crossing Delhi through Ring Road took an Hr time. Mean while we also filled petrol. Once we hit Delhi-Agra NH-2, again started cruising at 80’s. But NH-2 is very irritating :(. Even though road is of good quality & 4 laned, lot of auto ricks, tractors, huge trailers & towns pass by :(. Under hot burning sun, going through all these were just a pain. But no escape from it. We took couple of breaks for lunch, tea & few more. At one point, I had a very close call with dog :(. Was overtaking a rick at 70’s & suddenly dog comes into picture. I had only fraction of sec to react & applied break as much as I can. Got my bike speed to 30’s & luckily, after few confusion seeing my bike, the intelligent dog crossed & am through of it :). The scary issue was that a Tavera was ripping right behind me :). Oops! Am saved.... I hate these dogs, cats & kids on road. They will come in front of you any time. At 7 PM, we entered dusty Agra & by 7:20 PM we are at lodge.
Had booked the same Maya Hotel in the morning. Got into room, freshened up & spent time till 10:45 PM in garden restaurant. Tomorrow again have to get up early & visit the same wonder Taj. Donno if I can get up early :).
Day-21: October 8th Thursday, Taj Mahal once again, Trip Meter: 3800 Kms
The story repeats again. Planned to get up by 5 AM but ended up opening my eyes only by 6:15 AM. Got freshened up & directly to Taj Mahal. I was not much curious this time but wanted to join others & hence went along. I could see KP, Amol, Nithesh & Guru quite excited from their faces & loads of clicks flows through as soon as we enter. Now one more irritation! KP needs his snap in all the poses available. Disgusting he is!!! Finally after clicks & getting inside, we are out by 9 AM & went to Taj Restaurant just outside Taj Mahal coz of hunger running in our stomach. I am feeling drowsy & uneasiness might be coz of lack of sleep :(. Had Puri Bhaji & came back to lodge directly & then to bed. Slept nicely till 1:30 PM & saw KP sleeping too. Woke up & ordered lunch in lodge itself. Post lunch, carried out my blog updates which is pending from couple of days now & washed clothes. Also made few calls to buddies. Mean while others had their visit to Agra Fort. Called up KP at 6 PM & even they were out of Fort by then. Everyone wanted to buy small Taj monuments & visited UP cottage industries near Agra Fort.
The story repeats again. Planned to get up by 5 AM but ended up opening my eyes only by 6:15 AM. Got freshened up & directly to Taj Mahal. I was not much curious this time but wanted to join others & hence went along. I could see KP, Amol, Nithesh & Guru quite excited from their faces & loads of clicks flows through as soon as we enter. Now one more irritation! KP needs his snap in all the poses available. Disgusting he is!!! Finally after clicks & getting inside, we are out by 9 AM & went to Taj Restaurant just outside Taj Mahal coz of hunger running in our stomach. I am feeling drowsy & uneasiness might be coz of lack of sleep :(. Had Puri Bhaji & came back to lodge directly & then to bed. Slept nicely till 1:30 PM & saw KP sleeping too. Woke up & ordered lunch in lodge itself. Post lunch, carried out my blog updates which is pending from couple of days now & washed clothes. Also made few calls to buddies. Mean while others had their visit to Agra Fort. Called up KP at 6 PM & even they were out of Fort by then. Everyone wanted to buy small Taj monuments & visited UP cottage industries near Agra Fort.
Over there, the concerned person quickly showed us how Taj Mahal would look in moon light with a model of Taj he had. Itseem’s Taj is open on full moon day but special entry fee of 510 INR for Indians & advance booking is required. Post gyan session from him, its shopping time & bought couple of monuments to family & friends. Also got 3 saree’s one each to mom & 2 sis-in-laws. Came back to lodge, had dinner discussing on History of Mughals & so on. Got little info from others in the group & back to bed. Tomorrow back to Delhi & its lastlong ride of this trip :(.
In front of Taj Again...
Cannon shot on the wall of Agra Fort during british attack on Mughals....
This is how Taj would look on full moon light...
I wouldn't have been here if it was real lion!!!
Day-22: October 9th Friday, Agra – Delhi, Trip Meter: 4040 Kms
Once again failed to get up early & woke up by 7 AM. Getting fresh, packing things & tying our baggage’s kills our time & we are road by 8:30 AM. Lodge manager got interest on our journey fired & few Q’s like “Do you organise trips????” & all :). Now am not so proactive u see. Had breakfast in outskirts. Yes! The same roti, dal etc. Got back on bikes & rode ahead. But where is the relief from this traffic, tractors, ricks & towns???? Bearing all these, I could not speed up more than 75 Kms/Hr. It was horrible to ride like this. In addition to that, heavy wind is making me slow down still coz I am losing control at some places :(. But rode nonstop for 140 mins covering 160 odd Kms. Yup! Good enough for me :). KP & Amol had ripped their bikes with couple of breaks in between. Finally reached dusty Faridabad by 12 NOON & guess what!!! Its huge traffic jam here just before 40 Kms to Delhi. I had become cartoon for other commuters with my leather jacket & hand gloves under burning heat. Could cover only 5 Kms in 45 min time :(. Pathetic situation it was :(. After patiently waiting, got my turn to run away from this jam & rode directly to Karol Bhag. Met others in Karol Bhag & went to Hotel Pal Residency. Front end officer was very much keen on our rides & fired few Q’s. Politely answered his queries & went to room. Got fresh, had food & just relaxed in bed with few calls to family & friends. Killed time till 5 PM relaxing :).
Evening went to Connaught place just to have a look of night life & then went to India Gate by 9:15 PM. It was looking stunning with focusing lights on it :). Photo session again & sat there for good amount of time. While coming back, I asked a commando about the 3 flags in India Gate. He answered my queries & asked about our trip. He was a Sardar & got shocked when I told we travelled all the places in bike. He also felt very happy that we gave a visit to Amritsar :). Came back to lodge, had food & took back up of snaps. Next what??? None other than lying in my cosy bed :).
Nithesh, Me, KP & Amol in front of India Gate!
India Gate with lights at night!!! Isn't it eye catching? :)
Day-23: October 10th Saturday, Delhi – Bangalore, Trip Meter: 4047 Kms
Opened my eyes when Nithesh said bye as he had cancelled flight to Bangalore & will begoing to Mangalore via Mumbai. Even Amol cancelled his direct flight to Bangalore as he decided to go Chennai. Got fresh, had breakfast in lodge & got out to parcel our bikes. We decided to try VRL Logistics this time as we had enough from Indian Railways while getting our bikes to Delhi. Went to Rana Pratap Bhag & it took some time to find out VRL Logistics there. Once reaching VRL, the same irritation begins: get Xerox of documents, bike packing charge extra, helmet can’t be sent along with bike & so on. Typical money making tricks :(. Finally over few discussion & negotiation, we fixed the deal for 3200 Rs odd per bike. And more over, the person over there does not know the procedure to get the things done :(. Disgusting it is. On top of that, they don’t accept cards. So went to get cash from ATM.
Opened my eyes when Nithesh said bye as he had cancelled flight to Bangalore & will begoing to Mangalore via Mumbai. Even Amol cancelled his direct flight to Bangalore as he decided to go Chennai. Got fresh, had breakfast in lodge & got out to parcel our bikes. We decided to try VRL Logistics this time as we had enough from Indian Railways while getting our bikes to Delhi. Went to Rana Pratap Bhag & it took some time to find out VRL Logistics there. Once reaching VRL, the same irritation begins: get Xerox of documents, bike packing charge extra, helmet can’t be sent along with bike & so on. Typical money making tricks :(. Finally over few discussion & negotiation, we fixed the deal for 3200 Rs odd per bike. And more over, the person over there does not know the procedure to get the things done :(. Disgusting it is. On top of that, they don’t accept cards. So went to get cash from ATM.
When everything was on the verge of getting done, their boss comes & blasted the bomb. He said these are huge bikes & nothing less than 4K per bike would work itseem’s. What nonsense is this??? We can’t change decision now due to lack of time :(. I should say, the Sardar was typical business minded. He was saying our bikes consume lot of place & there are panniers too. They do business by selling space & it won’t work out for him itseem’s. Bluddy who wants his lecture at this time. Finally got the deal done for 3800 Rs per bike. Now again to get the bike in required place in Bangalore, extra charge. It’s all money pulling business they do. Ended up paying 12500 INR for 3 bikes :(. Too costly it is. It was already 1:15 PM by then. We got back to main road & some street fight of road side people. One guy was hitting in iron rod to another. I am sure they don’t have any brains. Caught an auto & back to lodge. Amol & Guru went to get a bag since Nithesh had taken Guru’s bag to Mangalore. Mean time myself & KP got fresh & packed our stuffs. Finally we are on cab by around 3:30 PM & reached Indira Gandhi International Airport. Checked in our baggages, got boarding pass & spent some time over there in restaurant. It was a good view of runways from restaurant. Now our Jet Lite flight is delayed by 30 min & we had to wait in the queue. Amol left to Chennai in Spice Jet. Finally we are inside flight & it took off at 7:20 PM. After few chit chats with KP & Guru, slept nicely & woke up only at Bangalore. Flight landed by 10:10 PM. Got our stuffs out & Ravi, Madhav & Shilpa had come to receive me. Then directly back to my net in Bangalore, & had very good dinner at Madhav’s house. Oh man! What a dinner after nearly a month. Yummy it was :). Came back home & slept. Before my eye shutter closed, the entire journey flashed in my mind. It was a mixed feeling for me. At one side, feeling bad that my trip came to an end & at other side happy that I can soon plan for my next trip :).
So the journey continues again!!!!!!!!!!.........
Awesome buddy! You truely have lived your dreams! I too hope to do the same someday. Saving for it now ;-)
ReplyDeletehey samaga . ishtu ninu examge bardidre innu olle marks barthittha antha...hi hi hi . (just kidding) any way all places are too good and u must be lucky to vist all place that too in ur bike??? hmmm great yar..
ReplyDeleteenappa guru...this is fuckin awesome man....even ur blog is too good...
ReplyDeletedude anyplans for Rider mania, goa?
let me know
Hey krishna,roaming whole north in bike is indeed a tough task.awesome ...simply cool :)
ReplyDeletenicely written blog..keep going all the best!!
Mridul: Thanks mate! Yeah made it at last. But i believe this is just the begining :). Sure mate! Your turn will come soon!
ReplyDeleteRush: Thanks Chotu! Yeah istu exam nalli bardidre sure shot rank :). But thats ok. Yeah! Felt lucky to make it to all places in my RedBull.
Keeroos: Tanks buddy! After all it all started after i heard about your iternary. No plans of Rider mania. But might hit Goa some time.
Vinesh: Thanks dude! I am glad you liked it :)
Ashwini: Yeah! Roaming the whole north was quite exciting & challenging too. Thanks for your comments. Yeah! Will post new one soon. :)
Hi krishna,ur blog is too gud,very neatly written n nice snaps.It refreshd my memories.I wish all ur dremz cum true n ur journey never ends....Keep rocking:)
ReplyDelete