The route taken: Gurgaon - Daruhera - Tijara - Alwar - Silliserh.
The planning to go for the official work had to be done in such a manner that I get atleast some time for the city tour. I started at around 10:30 am from Gurgaon, I drove at leisurely pace about 80-90km per hour. The road till Daruhera is OK type (owing to the construction of so called Expressway to Jaipur), but once to take left from Daruhera, road is really smooth. There are total 3 toll booth enroute Daruhera – Alwar. Best thing, you can take a single ticket and that will be honoured by other 2. Total toll tax for one day is 82 INR and for a single journey its 55.
The route we followed:
Gurgaon – Dharuhera: NH8 ( one toll plaza of Rs. 27)
Dharuhera – Tijara – Alwar: One toll Plaza costing Rs. 82 for the round trip.
There are Dhaba’s and shops throughout the stretch, try buying something from them and they will quote you the rates as per their mood. A bottle of Coke 500ml MRP 30 will cost you somewhere between 35-45. I bought it for 35.
Just as we reached Alwar, the city was literally flooded. It had rained there in the morning and I got stuck in the traffic, so had to drive in the flood (which I seriously avoid and prefer waiting for the water to get clear). My heart was beating like anything, but I kept revving the engine… and then what happened, a maruti swift drives past me at high speed and within few seconds, it gets stuck.
Oh!! Fish….. Now what to do (heart beating like anything)…
I drove slowly while revving the engine and with the grace of God, just crossed it….
The moment I crossed that chaos…. I took a deep breath and said “Thank God”…
We reached this Cross Road Mall, Jail Circle Road at about 1 PM, went straight to the shop to get the work done, clicked few photographs. Took approximately 1 hour.
There is this food court in the Mall, since it was Lunch time; we went to have lunch there. We ordered an onion masala dosa and veg spring rolls. The fantastic thing with the Masala Dosa was that it didn’t have any Masala, only few rings of Onion and for Sambar, it was Aloo ke sabzi. The spring rolls were really good.
After Lunch, we headed straight to Sillised Lake, the road to the lake is narrow, but the condition is good apart from few potholes here and there.
It took approximately 25-30 minutes to reach there, I was using Navigation on my Micromax canvas 2.
Attachment 417929
Siliserh Lake is a beautiful lake , Spread in 7 sq Kms area, It is situated in north eastern part of Rajasthan, Lake was built by maharaja Vinay Singh in year 1845 ,The Lake and reservoir of Siliserh was created by Maharaja for people of Alwar, Because water can be channeled to Alwar city, A beautiful Lake palace was also built by Maharaja for his beloved wife Shila, It was used as Lake palace and hunting lodge.
Now this palace is the property of RTDC. Although the location is simply superb, the property is not maintained at all. But on the other hand, the rate list of activities is very very economical and the staff is very friendly.
Following is the list of water activities that can be done at the Lake:
1. Paddle Boat.
2. Motor Boat.
3. Speed Boat.
4. Banana Ride.
5. Zorb Ball.
6. Jet Ski
7. Scuda Diving.
The weather was overcast and we reached there late at about 4.30, the place was flocked with tourists. When you go to this lake, just before the property there are these flood gates located. You will see many people there. We thought that this is the main place, so we parked the car and were strolling. There were various vendors selling ice cream, corn (makki/ Bhutta), tea etc. I was kind of disappointed here; I was thinking is it all?
But then only, I saw few cars coming from the road ahead, I thought atleast lets check out whats ahead, as GPS was showing Dead end few KMS ahead. Clicked few pics and went ahead towards dead end.
Just after few minutes, I See this fabulous property partially visible.
We parked the car in the parking. Just as you enter, there is this booth for the ticket, which on enquiring we came to know is not the entry ticket, but the cover charges.
Cover up Charges: Rs 50 per person.
There were people repairing the paddle boat and that too with the cycle tyres, nut bolts and what not, in short they were doing Jugad. Immediately Paddle boat was out of the to- do list.
Then we thought that we will have fun with the zorb ball, but just was we were about to ask them to arrange this activity, I read this sign board saying “presence of crocodiles”
Oh!! Crud, another option gone…poof!! Although the staff said, that this side is safe, but i thought why take chances??
We were not interested for the motorboat and lastly we thought of Jet skii.
I asked them the charges, they say 500.
I say Ok lets do it…
Here are few pics of jet ski while it was being launched into the water:
Jet skii being launched into the water and few other clicks:
The experience was amazing, I asked him can I drive it, to which he politely declined, but I really think if I would have pushed him a little bit, he would have agreed for that. The total ride time was approximately 5-7 minutes. The person who was driving the jet skii, really gives you the bang for your buck. He took the jet skii straight ahead to the flood gates and in my mind i was like....
Turn
Turn now
Turn now ..... now?
Turn turn turn turn........
Turn turn turn turn turn.......
and when i was about to shout he turned......
My wife was shouting like anything... she was really enjoying.....
Later he took us to that area where we could see a crocodile ( from some distance) but we saw none.
When we got off the ride, I handed him 1000 rs ( thinking 500 rs per head), but that honest man gave back 500 rs. And I was like ….WTF?....
Looking at my strange behavior, he explained 500 Rs is for a single ride – 2 people.
Wow!! I said to myself…..
There was this boat unsafe to use, while I was reading whats written on it, here comes a guy with the bucket. Pours some water out of the boat, take the rudder in hand and goes for a stroll.
Pic 1: unsafe boat.
After that we went to consume the cover up charges we paid. We ordered tea and pakora’s. The tea was really good and pakoras were average.
Later we went to see the property, most of it was locked. The place is really not maintained at all. The toilets are really bad and dirty. Going in there is a challenge.
Here are few pics of the property:
We didn’t have time as it was already getting dark, so we decided to head back to Gurgaon, but for those who have time, they can go to these two places which the local staff says is really worth going to:
1. Crocodiles Area: You can go and see lots and lots of crocodiles in this area. The approach is on road and safe.
2. Waterfall: there is this waterfall at some distance from the lake. The local says the view is magnificent. This waterfall is not on road, you will to walk for some distance.
While driving back, it started raining like cats n dogs, so couldnt click more pics.
P.S.: Apologies for bad photograph quality. The pics were taken by a Blackberry.
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