Polo Road Trip (Jan 2013): Delhi - Bikaner - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Delhi


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Polo road trip (Jan’2013): Delhi-Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Delhi

I was planning for this Rajasthan road trip for quite a long time, finally I made it. My earlier plan was to undertake this road trip in mid Feb’2013 but due to some leave issues I had to pre-poned this trip by a month.

Initial planned itinerary:

Day 1: New Delhi - Bikaner (543KM)
Route: Delhi - Sahapura - Manoharpur - Chandwaji flyover - Jatawali - Chomu (SH8B) - Sikar (via Sikar road) - Fatehpur - Bikaner

Day 2: Spend the day at Bikaner, local site seeing

Day 3: Bikaner - Jaisalmer (331KM)
Route: Bikaner - Udat - Kanji ki sird - Phalodi - Pokaran - Khavolai - Chandan - Jaisalmer

Early morning start from Bikaner to reach Jaisalmer by late morning to spend rest of the day for local site seeing

Day 4: Visit to Sam and Khuri Sand dunes

Day 5: Visit to Tanot, BP 609 and Longewalla

Day 6: Jaisalmer - Jodhpur (285KM)
Route: Jaisalmer - Pokaran - Jodhpur

Day 7: Spend the day at Jodhpur, local site seeing

Day-8: Jodhpur - New Delhi (589KM)
Route: Jodhpur - Bewar - Ajmer - Kishangarh - Jaipur - Jodhpur

Actual itinerary:

Day 1: New Delhi - Bikaner (543KM)
Route: Delhi- Sahapura - Manoharpur - Chandwaji flyover- Jatawali-Chomu (SH8B) - Sikar (via Sikar road) - Fatehpur - Bikaner

Local market and temple visit in old Bikaner

Day 2: Bikaner-Sam sand dunes (372KM)
Route: Bikaner - Udat - Kanji ki sird - Phalodi - Pokaran - Khavolai - Chandan - Jaisalmer - Sam sand dunes

Spend the time till afternoon to visit the Karni mata temple, Bikaner fort and museum reached Sam sand dunes by evening.

Day 3: Sam sand dunes –Tanot-Jaisalmer (246KM)
Route: Sam sand dunes - Damodra - Ramgarh - Tanot - Ramgarh - Jaisalmer
Morning start from Sam sand dunes, visited Tanot and then reached Jaisalmer by late afternoon

Day 4: Jaisalmer-Jodhpur (287 KM)
Route: Jaisalmer - Pokaran - Balesar - Jodhpur

Spend the time till afternoon in Jaisalmer to visit Gadisar lake, Salam singh ki haveli, Jaisalmer fort and Patwon ki Haveli reached Jodhpur by evening.

Day 5: Local site seeing in Jodhpur, visited Umaid bhawan palace, Jaswant Thada, Jodhpur fort

Day 6: Jodhpur-New Delhi (589KM)
Route: Jodhpur - Bewar - Ajmer - Kishangarh - Jaipur - Jodhpur

Late morning start from Jodhpur and reached home in Dwarka by 9:00PM which includes 3-4 Hrs time from Dharuhera to Dwarka due to heavy traffic jam

Vehicle: Polo TDI completed 25000KM in 11months

Travelers: Me, my wife, my mother and my younger brother

Total fuel cost: INR6500 (Approx)

Total Kms: 2300KM (Approx)

Emergency kit: Tow rope, puncture repair kit, foot pump and first aid kit.

GPS Navigation: Note-II inbuilt Google navigation

Camera: Note-II (80% shots), Sony point and shoot 12.1MP

To start with please find below few random shots:


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Utilized the every inch of the boot space filled it with three large bags, two laptop bags, one small bag, handbags and some small loose polythene and packets

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Place near Jaisalmer

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Morning view of Sam sand dunes

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On our way to Tanot

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Jaisalmer fort view from Salam singh ki Haveli

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Explorer-1 looking at Khuri sand dunes

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Umaid bhawan palace, Jodhpur

For more details of my planning check this thread: http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...elhi-bikaner-jaisalmer-jodhpur-road-trip.html
 
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A typical Tlog from you buddy[:)]. Always love to read your tlog's.

NIce pictures waiting for more.

Umaid Bhawan is beautiful and Jaisalmer Fort is one of my fav. forts.
 
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A typical Tlog from you buddy[:)]. Always love to read your tlog's.

NIce pictures waiting for more.

Umaid Bhawan is beautiful and Jaisalmer Fort is one of my fav. forts.
Thanks toughguy for sharing your experiences. I was waiting for long to read this.
 
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Eh..one more toughguy type travelogue..fantastic buddy.
It looks like the traffic jams which used to be limited upto Gurgaon slowly shifted to Manesar and now to Dharuhera, eh..one night I covered Bawal to Delhi in 7 hours..thanks to traffic jams.

Loved each and every pic, kindly bring some more...
BTW..now you are soon gonna turn into my GPS because I drive but don't visit places like you..eh, you can be helpful when planning trips. Can you provide me the list of places you haven't visited in north India??(list of places visited can be long hence asked for this one):stupid:
 
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Thread Starter #5
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A typical Tlog from you buddy[:)]. Always love to read your tlog's.

NIce pictures waiting for more.

Umaid Bhawan is beautiful and Jaisalmer Fort is one of my fav. forts.
Thanks Singh890, Indeed Umaid Bhawan and Jaisalmer Fort are fantastic place to visit.

Thanks toughguy for sharing your experiences. I was waiting for long to read this.
Thanks Pka11

Eh..one more toughguy type travelogue..fantastic buddy.
It looks like the traffic jams which used to be limited upto Gurgaon slowly shifted to Manesar and now to Dharuhera, eh..one night I covered Bawal to Delhi in 7 hours..thanks to traffic jams.

Loved each and every pic, kindly bring some more...
BTW..now you are soon gonna turn into my GPS because I drive but don't visit places like you..eh, you can be helpful when planning trips. Can you provide me the list of places you haven't visited in north India??(list of places visited can be long hence asked for this one):stupid:
Thanks TSIVipul, Bawal to New Delhi stretch was quite pathetic due to ongoing road widening work, in my case situation worsened due to rain in past few days.

Regarding list, i have yet to cover lots of places in north. Already planned my this year holiday calender, coming next is HP trip will drive upto Chitkul village in April.
 
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Day-1: Sunday, 13-01-2013

Source: Dwarka New Delhi
Destination: Bikaner
Start time: 6:30AM
End time: 3:45PM
Approx distance: 543KM
Route: Delhi- Sahapura - Manoharpur - Chandwaji flyover- Jatawali-Chomu (SH8B) - Sikar (via Sikar road) - Fatehpur - Bikaner
Breaks: Two which consumed 1hrs 30minutes in total

Managed to start from my home by 6:30AM, being Sunday roads were mostly empty. Lots of construction work was going on NH8 specifically till Bawal but luckily we didn't faced much of traffic and soon cruised pass this bottleneck.

Our first stop was at Hotel Highway King near Jaipur, I think we reached here between 10-10:30AM and started our journey towards Bikaner after half and hour of tea and snack break.

Stopped for lunch before Fatehpur between 1-2PM, roads were fantastic till here except near Chomu. We landed in Bikaner by 3:45PM without any prior booking but luckily found Chander Niwas guest house within no time and guess what got a room for us in 700 bucks only (Room only basis).

Utilized rest of the time in exploring old Bikaner market, temples and havelis.


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Our master route for this trip, Google baba at it's best

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Can you beat that, spotted this white Polo TDI heading towards Jaipur and this is just one digit elder than my Explorer-1 what a coincident i again spotted this vehicle yesterday afternoon in Kirti Nagar

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Explorer-1 resting in Hotel Highway king parking, had cheese vegetable grilled sandwich with tea here

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Took this photo break after Chandwaji flyover, there is only couple of Jugaad exit for Sikar road on this highway you have to be very careful

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After crossing Chomu we are welcomed by this fantastic road, since road widening work is in progress it also has numerous diversions but managed a decent speed on this

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This fellow in orange bus was driving like a maniac, i tried hard to stay away from him

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Another photo break after lunch, Explorer-1 posing for pics

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Road till Bikaner was fantastic with some rough patches in between which are manageable
 
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Great travelogue ToughGuy.[clap] And those are some amazing pics to start with. Your pics are already tempting me to plan a trip to Rajasthan. But i don't see it coming for me anytime soon as i am very occupied at present with work and studies.

Anyways, eagerly waiting to hear more of your Rajasthan experience. Keep it coming.[:)]
 
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Nice pictures buddy and nice write up. And your polo is looking great buddy.

BTW: Have you been to Udaipur and Mt. Abu?
 
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Great travelogue ToughGuy. And those are some amazing pics to start with. Your pics are already tempting me to plan a trip to Rajasthan. But i don't see it coming for me anytime soon as i am very occupied at present with work and studies.

Anyways, eagerly waiting to hear more of your Rajasthan experience. Keep it coming.[:)]
Thanks GM88, please do undertake this road trip once in your lifetime though this will be hard on your body but will give you immense pleasure as a driver.

Nice pictures buddy and nice write up. And your polo is looking great buddy.

BTW: Have you been to Udaipur and Mt. Abu?
Thanks singh890, passed Udaipur couple of times while on my Pune road trip but never venture inside. I already planned Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Udaipur and Mount Abu road trip for next year, this was in pipeline for so many years this will complete my Rajasthan circuit.

Another great Travelogue with Excellent Pics from you Buddy[clap]

Jodhpur fort looks majestic.

waiting for the remaining pics[:)]
Thanks AppU for your appreciation.

Friends thanks a lot for your appreciation and kind words which always keeps me going.
 
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Day-1 continue


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Soon spotted this board while moving towards Bikaner fort and stopped to inquire about the room availability

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Rooms were basic but quite large, only one room was available which can easily accommodate four persons with extra bed, room service was available

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Nice small lawn near entrance, this was basically a Guest house with owner residing on ground floor and i was surprise to see lots of foreigners residing here for weeks

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Guest house owner arranged us an auto for 200bucks which took us inside the narrow lanes of old Bikaner which are similar to old Delhi lanes, this deal includes Bhandsar Jaina temple, Lakshminath Ji Temple and Rampuria Havelis visits with auto driver in dual role acting as a guide too. We started at 5:30PM, this chap first bring us to this old Rampuria Havelis of rich Bikaneri Baniya who used to help King financially

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This guy also help the king during marriage functions and lend his precious metal utensils, very nice stone carving work outside

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This Haveli was closed and a protected monument now, we found a board on walls with Bhanwar Mansion mentioned over it

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Now next in line was Bhandsar Jaina temple which also is a nationally protected monument

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Current state of this temple was not very good but still the stories associated with it was quite interesting
 
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Day-1 continue


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Inside the Bhandsar Jaina temple

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This is a very old temple with nice stone art work all round, look at the ceiling details

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Flooring details, nice stone work here too

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Next we visited Lakshminath Ji Temple which was adjacent to Bhandsar Jaina temple, photography is strictly prohibited here

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After this we visited Heeralal's Opp. Railway Station, we had samosas, kachoris and mirchi wadas they are so tasty and cheap. A must visit place if you are in Bikaner they got large and clean space

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We were back to our hotel by 8:00PM, before our old Bikaner visit we placed our order for dinner. They charged 80bucks per person for thali, food was ok type

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After dinner we had some fun, outside temperature was moderate. They have small sitting arrangement in front and back courtyard and on roof top, space is small but beautifully done

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We spend some time here with the owner's wife, she manages kitchen and help her husband in this venture. My mom had a nice and long chat with her.
 
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Day-2: Monday, 14-01-2013

Source: Bikaner
Destination: Karni mata temple (Deshnoke) - Junagarh fort (Bikaner) - Sam sand dunes (Jaisalmer)
Start time: 8:45AM
End time: 6:45PM
Approx distance: 443KM
Route: Chander Niwas Bikaner - Bhinasar (SH39) - Karni mata temple visit (Deshnoke) - Junagarh fort (Bikaner) - Phalodi - Pokaran - Jaisalmer - Sam sand dunes

Breaks: Only one break for lunch which consumed 45minutes to 1 hrs

After our breakfast we managed to check out from Chander niwas early morning and started our 30kms journey towards Karni mata temple visit (Deshnoke) which is famous for it's approx 20,000 black and handful of white rats that live, and are revered in, the temple. This temple was completed in the early 20th century in the late Mughal style by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner.

After this we came back to Bikaner and paid a visit to Junagarh fort and adjacent museum and started our journey towards Jaisalmer by 12:30PM, it was a cannon ball run from Bikaner to Jaisalmer, you just need to keep driving straight which at times become quite boring for hill road lovers like me.

Some 30-40KM prior to Jaisalmer maniac bikers started chasing us for hotel rooms, i politely declined all the offers but kept all the pamphlets and visiting cards collected while driving.

I went to Hotel Payal Palace directly which was recommended by owner of Chander Niwas Bikaner, which turned out to be my biggest mistake later on. Family room was not available they offered me two double bed room for 500 bucks each which i bargained till 400 bucks each room later.

Something strikes my head while having tea which resulted my drive to Sam sand dunes for night stay. I inquired at reception for Sam sand dunes night stay they quoted 6000 bucks for 4 person which i bargained for 3300bucks (Narender Ji's help comes handy over here). Deal was dinner & breakfast for four of us, two double bedded tent/hut accommodation, cultural event and morning camel ride, soon i was heading towards Sam sand dunes reached there by 06:45PM.

We enjoyed our stay here, 4 families were staying in adjoining tents. Found lots of drinkers in group having all the fun on earth here but they are under control of the tent owners but one can surely feel insecure, so my advice to all future travelers is to travel in group for night stay here. Locals told me that Jaisalmer is quite a safe city with zero crime :o due to small population.


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Parked my explorer-1 inside the guest house last night, they got ample parking space

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Had a quick and fast breakfast early morning

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Got tankful of diesel on outskirt of Bikaner city on our way to Karni Mata temple

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First glimpse of Karni mata temple

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There are numerous shops outside selling prasads

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You will find thousands of rats inside the premises

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Rats are roaming freely inside, though didn't spotted any white rat

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We were lucky to witnessed the Aarti
 
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Day-2 continue


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Road from Bikaner to Karni mata and vice versa was in very good shape due to this we managed to complete this visit in 1:30hrs

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Brief history of Junagarh fort on display

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Junagarh fort view, they got ample parking space near ticket counter

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We got tickets for both Fort and museum i.e 50 bucks per person

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One has to wait here for free guide, charges were included in the ticket

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The fort was originally called Chintamani and was renamed Junagarh or "Old Fort" in the early 20th century when the ruling family moved to Lalgarh Palace outside the fort limits. It is one of the few major forts in Rajasthan which is not built on a hilltop. The modern city of Bikaner has developed around the fort

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I must say that this is a very well maintained fort compared to others, historical records reveal that despite the repeated attacks by enemies to capture the fort, it was not taken, except for a lone one-day occupation by Kamran Mirza.

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Finally we found our guide, very humble man with a kadak voice
 
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Day-2 continue


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View of second courtyard inside Junagarh fort, first one is adjacent to the ticket counter

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Royal family used to play Holi festival here

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Have a closer look of the same, colorful water were stored all around this chair

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Some fine and heavy stone carving work

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King's sitting and meeting area

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Hard to believe this is a water cooler with temperature control knob

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View of fort garden, wish they maintained it more beautifully

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Saw numerous weapons of that era
 

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