A Short Tour of Rajasthan-I

Long weekend? Yes I’m riding. The plan got changed from Kasauli because of heavy rains to somewhere it was not raining as much. Rajasthan was the first option which came to my mind. Since I had 3 days, I could plan to explore a little more. Ended up finalizing Jaipur and Kota for two main places to see which I had in my list. Read on.

Day 1: Jaipur

But not via the usual highway. This is because the place I wanted to see, Chand Baori falls on a different route towards Jaipur. It’s about 203km from Gurgaon and Jaipur is another 90km or so from there. This is what the route looked like.

For those who are wondering where to turn left for Alwar:

One thing which I feel good about myself is that I am able to stick to the schedule which is very important. Hence as planned I was on road by 7:15am. And I knew there will be people on road heading to their holiday destination, but I did not expect a traffic jam near Manesar, every fucking time man! I could cover only 60km in two hours because of this. Moving on, be careful about the left which you have to take towards Kapdiwas. Since there are no signboards for these places, you have to heavily rely on Google Maps navigation and in doing so, the Bluetooth intercom cam very handy to guide me through the voice navigation without me having to stop and take my phone out every single time. Read the review here. Once you take this left after Country Inn towards Alwar, I saw a Mcdonalds. The guy sitting there saw me park the bike, take out my gloves, helmet, walk up to him and only to reply to me that ’10 baje khulega’. Dude you couldn’t say this earlier? I got back on the road and only after this you will get somewhat less traffic to actually enjoy the ride.

Since last few days before the ride, I used to look outside at the beautiful weather and think about how it’s a perfect weather to ride. On this day while riding to Jaipur, it was another such day which made the experience even more enjoyable. It was lush green all over because of monsoon and pleasant breeze and it had been a long time since I rode in such perfect weather.

About the breakfast, there are no food chain joints as such on this highway and you have to depend on ‘pavitra bhojanalays’ which will serve only paratha and extremely sweet tea. Now I always make it a point to tell them put less sugar in tea which makes it bearable to drink. After Alwar you start seeing the Rajasthani flavor on road with women wearing colorful clothes and the saffron turban on men. Some pics on the way:

So reached Abhaneri at about 11:40am from where you have to take left and ride for about 3.5km to reach Chand Baori. Its about 210km from Gurgaon from where I started the ride. Now you must have heard or read about this step well, made famous by Christopher Nolan for shooting one of the prison scenes in The Dark Knight Rises. This was built during 8th-9th century!

The beauty of this place just leaves you amazed. As soon as you enter you see a platform hosting the evening snacks of some pigeons which is coupled by the sound of some peacocks singing in the background. Take a walk towards the left and start walking around the well which is guarded by the railing on the top. You can’t help but to stare at this beautifully built stepwell with perfect symmetrically constructed stairs. Even in 13^th century they were able to build this masterpiece with such precision and accurate geometry. Can you imagine they built this without the help of designing the layout on any software on the computer?

They used to allow the tourists to walk up to the stairs but I guess because of some incidents earlier its not allowed now, unless you are Nolan hahah. 

There are also couple of sculptures lying there from same era and probably from the same kingdom of King Chandra which you can see as you walk around.

Even if you pay good attention to the details of this place, this visit can be closed in 30-40 mins max. Also on a sunny day the shadow game will be strong and will ensure you some photographs with contrast. After about half an hour I started my ride back and for that I came back to the main road and continued towards Jaipur which was about 90-95km from Abhaneri. Mind you there is another temple kind of place just next to the baori which I noticed as I was riding back but I didn’t bother to stop for it.

Now as soon as I entered Jaipur city, I stopped at a traffic signal for checking google maps to navigate to the hotel. This short duration was enough for the traffic police cop to ask me about my front number plate which is not there. I have fixed the sticker on the front mudguard. Losing the argument easily because I was at fault I had to pay some fine here and continue towards the hotel which I reached at about 2pm- Hotel Silver Palace in Shastri Nagar. Here the hotel guy also told me that the traffic police here is very strict and can even penalize the car drivers for driving in high beam. That’s new for Indians am I right?!! About the hotel, the room is fairly decent for budget travelers and considering the fact it was a holiday time I was lucky to get this room. Here I would like to mention that I booked it on Goibibo app and I was able to utilize my gocash for booking this hotel so had to pay Rs. 250 instead of Rs. 980 something. Also I got complete amount of Rs. 980 as gocash back in my account. Great deal! Sorry I forgot to click the pictures of this hotel.

The hotel guy Mr. Ayush was Lucknow and its alright I’m also from UP but I don’t want that UP bonding bro. After checking the maps for sometime and talking to Ayush about the city, I thought its better to use local transportation while I’m in the city to avoid getting caught again for no number plate. I booked a cab and headed to Sindhi camp which is where you should go if you want to taste some local snacks at this place called Rawat.

The pyaz kachori here is to die for and its difficult to control yourself with just one.

After that I had some dal bati choorma at one of the restaurants nearby.

I came back to Rawat to try the makhan lassi.

This was about 3:30pm and I had to visit the Jaipur City Palace which was recommended by Mr. Hotel Ayush. Booked a cab again and the driver was very kind and kept talking about his rich customers throughout the journey which was mostly traffucked. Jaipur city traffic is mostly fucked because of the numerous one way diversions and construction going on for Metro rail, on top of that people have no chill and can’t keep calm and they honk more than Gurgaon folks. It was so bad that it almost reminded me of Kanpur traffic. Somehow I reached close to the city palace battling the traffic and got stuck again and after that I decided to walk because that was quicker. Entry ticket is Rs. 100 which I purchased at 4:30pm and was allowed to stay till 5:45pm inside the premises. The ticket sale is stopped at 5pm.

Inside the premises there are beautiful palace buildings and different sections like textile gallery, weapon gallery etc giving you an outlook of the lifestyles of the kings of Rajasthan and their hobbies etc. Photography is not allowed inside these places so unfortunately the pics are not available. If you think you can manage to avoid them and click a pic or two then don’t even try, there are spies floating. Inside the weapon gallery I was awestruck by the beauty of some of the swords and tried to post it on snapchat but was caught by one of the spies who warned me. Sorry Shaktimaan. Respect the rules.

I saw a couple probably in their 50s noticing me (solo) and the uncle approached me. He had this old flip type Samsung phone with VGA camera which he was unable to figure out how to open. He asked for help if I can click their pic. I readily agreed and told them how the camera works. What’s sweet here was that as if the aunty was trying to cover up by explaining how she forgot the digital camera at home. I told them its alright and guided them how to click more pics on their phone. Such moments just make you smile.

After that I took an Auto and came back to the hotel to get some rest before heading out for dinner later in evening. For dinner, it was time to hog on some non veg food and you have to head to the area near Chandpole. I was suggested to try the food at Muhammadi Palace but when I reached here I spotted at least 3 Muhammadi Palaces. I went inside the one looking most decent and neat. 

Having read the reviews of this place on Zomato before coming here, I ordered Mutton Nahari with Ghee tadka which is served with a thick bread/roti. This is the gateway to heaven. It just is and the food is really tasty. Although if you will think twice before coming here if the amount of oil/ghee bothers you which was really a lot. But if you do, come here on your cheat day because its best the way they serve it.

This was the end of Day 1 ride which apart from the exit traffic jam at Gurgaon, was fantastic and the weather made it even more enjoyable.

Expenses:

Stay: Rs. 250

Food: Rs. 400

City palace ticket: Rs. 100

Petrol: Rs. 1060

Cab (local): Rs. 350 you can definitely avoid this local cab/auto expenses)

Total: Rs. 2160

Distance covered: 310km

Part-II: Click here to read.

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