Home - Road trip logs - Rajasthan yet again
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Rajasthan Yet Again
More to explore in Rajasthan
Tour Route - Delhi - Sambhar lake, Ajmer, Pushkar, Osian (Jodhpur), Jaisalmer - Delhi
Total No of days - 6 days
Dated - January 2011
Highlights of the trip
Location - Rajasthan in India
Ideal time to Visit - October to March (Winters)
No of Days Reqd for the trip - 7 days (a week)
Places to See Around - click here
Road Travel Information of our trip
Behind the wheel & Contributor
Vinod Kumar
New Delhi
As an annual affair we started planning a week long vacation during the kids winter vacation, and unanimously decided to visit Rajasthan again to the places not visited and also meet my old buddies one at Pokhran and Bikaner. As my kids vacation will start only from 31st, we planned to start our journey from 3rd Jan and be back by 8 or 9th Jan.
Planning
Called up Club Mahindra to enquire details of any new tieups in Rajasthan as I had news they are in process of a tie-up for Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Sariska. Jaisalmer and Sariska was not yet finalised but of course Jodhpur they had tied up with Camp Thar, Osian. Booked 2 nights for 5 & 6th. We were lucky enough to get bookings.
Now the plan took shape - 3 & 4 - Sambhar lake and Ajmer/Pushkar, 5 and 6 see Jodhpur - 7th for Jaisalmer and stay with my friend at Pokhran, 8th at Bikaner again with my 2nd buddy at Airforce station Nal and back by 8th evening.
We started on road trip on Morning by 6 am.
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The lake bed was firm. We drove around 12 to 15 kms into the lake. it was a fantastic ride and view. Drove inside the lake for an hour and then return back via State highway 2 to DUDU via Narena. The road condition is bad in patches and last 3 km before Dudu is really bad.
Reached Dudu by 1 pm. Next target was Ajmer, RTDC Hotel Khadim. Reached by 2.15 pm. Plan was to visit Dargah in the evening and next day to visit Pushkar. Visited to Dargah around 5.30 pm. When we reached, came to know that Dr Abdul Kalam too visited the Dargah an hour before. We were lucky not to visit early as the dargah was closed for general public at that time due to security reasons.
About Dargah - It is advisable not to take your own vehicle near Dargah, Parking is an issue. Park at Hotel and take auto to dargah. Camera are not allowed, if you have camera phone , you can take pics with camera phones. I took some shots. Visiting in the evening is better as the area lits up and is very beautiful. There is qawwali also. Spent aound 2 hours there. And were back to hotel by 8.30 pm.
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Day - 1
Started 6 am. Clear sky and no fog. Was able to mantain good speed. Stopped at Highway King around 8.15 am for breakfast.
Took a 45 min break. Headed to Sambhar lake, took the Jaipur bypass.
Route taken - After the GVK toll , turn right to PHULERA which is around 20 km before DUDU. Sambhar is 25 kms from NH8. Roads are ok and traffic is Nil.
In case of doubt ask for Sambar town, or ask for Jheel. Once you reach Sambhar town , ask for DADWANA GALI. From here you can directly reach the lake bed.
Day -2
In the morning we came to know about solar eclipse. Temples were closed till 4 pm. We thought of exploring Ajmer.
Visited Anna Sagar Lake. Nice location and garden with parking facility and en-route to Pushkar.
Started by 11 am. Enjoyed boating and photography.
We left Anna Sagar by 3 pm to Pushkar. it around 12 kms and one has to cross a small ghat. Roads ok and little traffic. For parking you can drive all the to the Brahma temple has sufficient parking options. Since the temple was closed, it was crowded and temple opened by 4.30 pm. We waited for around 30 to 45 minutes for crowd to subside.
Staying option in Pushkar are many but i think Hotel Navratan Palace is just in front of the temple with ample parking facility and decent restaurant.
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Day - 3
Checked out from Hotel Khadim Ajmer by 10 am and next target destination was Osian near Jodhpur which is about 65 kms away.
Route planned - Ajmer - Beawar - (NH14) - Barr - NH-112 - Jodhpur - Mandor Road (NH65) - Umednagar - Osian - Thar Camp
Exit from Ajmer city has a major diversion as the flyover is closed.
Ajmer - Beawar - Road widening is in progress, Road condition is bad.
Beawar - Bypass to is in bad condition.
Went through Beawar city and taken NH14 till barr. NH14 is in good condition. Reached Jodhpur by 2 pm and Osian by 3.15 pm.
Ajmer to NH8 - Diversion - have a look at the pic.......
About Osian - is small town, near Jodhpur popular for Osian Mata mandir/Sanchi Mata mandir and Sand dunes. There 4 to 5 camps around Osian, primarily visited by foreigners. I got booking through Club Mahnidra. Standard tariff is Rs 7500/- per couple per night inclusive of all meals. Camel and Jeep safari charges are extra. Accommodation is Excellent but services and food quality is average and limited availability.
We planned to rest and stroll around for the day.
More about Osian. Day was pretty warm. May be 18 - 22 degrees. 11am to 4.30 pm one doesn't need heavy woolens. As night falls, it becomes windy and very cold. By 6 pm we all were confined with in the tent. By 7pm traditional rajasthani folk songs and dance started.
Bone-fire was virtually ineffective. We went to the program but came back due to the chilly weather. Dinner was served by 8.30 pm. It was very difficult with kids at the open restaurant. We 4 were freezed and some how finished the dinner and all hopped back to the tent.
Day - 4
Got up late so missed the sun rise view. Planned to vist sand dues, which is around 6 kms from our camp. Visit Wind mill turbines on route to Osian-Nagaur road. Noon Visit Osian mata mandir and finally sun set view.
Sand Dunes
In order to find proper sand dunes , one has to travel though kacha roads, SUV / JEEP required, 4 X 4 preferable, a little error you are stuck. (We got royally stuck in the evening when visited for sun set view).
Hotel guys were insisting to take there Jeep as they were advising against taking safari. We all decided against it and took our beast to the dunes. We travelled through sandy tracks maintaining a constant momentum. The tracks were barely drivable, after enquiring with villagers, they guided the way to dunes. Villagers were helpful, but little difficult to understand their accent. Finally after 40 minutes drive we reached the destination.
Parked the safari before dunes and we walked to it. Spend around 2 hours. Kids enjoyed most.
Visit Wind Mill near Osian
There are 170 ft tall mills around 12 kms from the camp. Kids were very interested to see.
These were really very huge. I had an interaction with the engineer. The Osian town is being lighted by these mills.
Sachayee Mata Mandir - Osian
This temple is worshipped by both Jains and Hindus was constructed in 12 century. Sacheyee is an incarnation of Goddess Durga. Also knows as Osyan mata mandir.
There is also Jain temple at the western outskirts of Osian village. We did not get time to vist the jain temple.
Sun Set View at Osian
By 4.30 pm we were back to our camp from mata temple. Rested for an hour. Sun set view was near around 3 kms. if setoff by 5.30 am. Parked below the dune, was a mistake as there was no scope for reversing and ahead was more muddy. While return on reversing got stuck. My safari would not move ahead or reverse. Just spinning.
Got down an evaluated the situation, There were enough advisor around, Tourist , locals ect. I could see that i was not the first to stuck here, there were many such tire marks around i could see. We leveled the surface as much a possible, then slowly moved a little forward then again little backward, did this for at-least 15 - 20 times. By doing this i was able to tighten the sand below and was getting more grip on tyres and finally was able to achieve enough momentum to pull out the beast of mess and took a risk of turning to plowed land, since i had gained enough momentum and managed to pull out from there. It was a real learning experience.
The summary is , in dunes/slippery condition while parking or stopping make sure you have enough room to move forward , otherwise while reversing there is a strong chance of getting stuck. it is not the power , gain momentum to pull out from such situation. Never over accelerate.
Day 5
Check out from Camp Thar Osian. Our next destination was Jaisalmer. It was around 250 kms.
Route Taken - State highway 61 - Osian - Lohawat - Lordian - Phalodi - (NH-15) Pokhran - Jaisalmer.
Started by 10 am. State high way 61 is ok. Near Lohawat a stretch of 10 km is very narrow. Occational bad patch. Traffic is thin. NH-15 is a treat to drive. We were at Jaisalmer by 12.50pm.
First to visit was Gadi Sagar Lake, which is just at the entrance of Jaisalmer. There is also a Tourist info center too.
Gadi sagar lake is a rain water lake and is one of the primary source for water supply for the city. Boating was there by we just strolled around. Kids wanted to have a shahi ride. Spent around 40 minutes.
Jaisalmer Fort
The fort is just 2 kms from Gadi Sagar lake. Limited parking is available. There wasnt much of crowd , got parking easily.
Few fact about the fort
Also know as Sonar Quila. it is one of the largest forts in the world and is a living fort with over 25% of population living within the fort itself. There are as many as 25 hotels with in the fort. Jaisalmer is also know as Golden city. Was built in 1156.
Jaisalmer Fort has four gates Akhai Pol, Ganesh Pol, Suraj Pol and Hawa Pol. Hawa pol leads to Dussehra Chowk. Spent around 1.5 hrs strolling around.
After crossing Hawa pol we reached Dussehra chowk. This is were the king used to address the praja during festival time.From there we went to see the Jain temple. After that we went to the city view point. The fort offers a fantastic view of the the golden city. After that strolled around different galies.
While strolling we found an interesting small shop called Light of East who as some exotic collection of crystals, stones and mineral called zeolite. He also showed a fossil shell (Shunk), An amber piece which had a mosquito inside just like in picture Jurassic park. Many other type of stones don't remember names.
Post lunch we went to our last destination in city - The Havelis.
I had heard about Patwon haveli. There are many havalies but prominent are Nathmalji's, Salim Singh and Patwon ki havalies. Hired an auto from dussera chowk to visit Patwon haveli. It was built by Guman Chand Patwa, one of the richest merchants in Jaisalmer. It has five adjoining mansions too and there are 66 balconies. Saw it from outside.
After the Havelis, we headed to Sam. It is around 45kms from the city.
We started off by 3.30 pm. It took around 1 hr to reach Sam. We had to pay an entry tax of Rs 30/-. Jaisalmer - Sam can be easily done in 30 - 40 minutes. There is a good traffic movement to Sam post noon.
Midway to Sam we saw some tourist enjoying jeep towed parasailing. Stopped around 10 minutes to see the activity.
Reached Sam by 4.30 pm. Was already crowded. Lots of tourist were already travelling on camels to dune tops. Sam is now fully commercialised. hotels, tents, camps, restaurants, camel carts, dancers, musicians and what not. The place is dirty.
We too did the same. Seeing the crowd we drive 3-4kms ahead of Sam. Kids wanted to have camel drive, so we came back and negotiated a camel cart. it started with Rs 300 to drop to nearby dues and for full engagement till sunset with extended drive around wanted Rs 2500.
Negotiated hard and finally closed the deal for Rs 900/-. I was nice to be away from the crowded dues. Kids enjoyed thoroughly. Some more shots from dunes.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Sam and the cart ride plus the sun set for 2.5 hrs. Buy 6.30 pm we are back.
Summary of Sam - is do not take a deal at Jaisalmer. it will be very expensive instead come little early say 4 pm and stuck a deal here. Even if you wanna stay at sam, there are plenty of options. One more observation we saw lot of Jeeps bringing Foreign tourist and others too. Coming in day is OK but going back on an open jeep will be chilly at nights especially at with kids.
In the mean time we had new development as we were planning to stay at Sam for the night and planned to visit my classmate at Pokhran on 8th morning and by evening drive to Binkaner and stay with my another classmate at AF Station Nal. Now the plan changed to drive from Sam to Pokhran and attend a party and night stay with him. So we started from Sam by 6.50 and were are Pokhran by 8.10 pm. it was chilly there. But throughly enjoyed the party.
Next day morning we left by 11.30 am from pokhran. Since the fog condition was bad in delhi we decided to drive as much as possible instead of halting at bikaner. Called my buddy and informed him about change of plan.
NH15 is bliss to drive. We hit bikaner by 2 pm and spent around half any with my friend and continued our journey back to Delhi.
Route planned a shorter one -
POKHRAN - BIKANER - FATEHPUR - MANDAWA - JHUNJHUNU - CHIDAWA - LOHRU - DADRI - JHAJJAR - BAHADURGARH - PERAGRAHI - VASANT KUNJ.
Road upto FATHEPUR is good. After fathepur we took internal road via Mandawa to Jhunjhunu. Roads at times were bad and narrow. Reached Jhunjhunu by 6.30 pm. Lohru by 8pm and Dadri by 9.30 pm. After dadri fog came to play were progress was slow. Reached delhi by 11.30 pm.
The only advantage of this route is shot by 110 kms. Roads is average with occasional bad patch.
This bring the to an end of log.
Total distance traveled - 1910 kms.