Friday, 17 January 2014

Rajasthan v 2.0


Preamble: Back in December 2009, I had completed a biking trip in Rajasthan, covering more than 2800 km with five like minded bikers. The event was a spiriting rising experience (though I broke my wrist in an accident). Biking and travel are (my) two ways to connect with mother nature. Its sheer bliss.

During November 2013, Padma (my wife) and I started to think about our December vacation. This is the time when most people like to spend some quality time away from corporate life. We were too late to start a big plan. We did basic search for travel in and outside India. The result was almost consistent, we realized most places would be both crowded and more expensive during December. While searching for 'Domestic Holidays' on Makemytrip, we saw an exorbitant amount of 80,000 INR per person for 10 day trip in Rajasthan. Phew ! Padma and I are travelers and not tourists. When we step out to explore new place, the real reason is to explore, not to stay in a 5 star hotel or a villa with a private swimming pool !

I love driving. I can drive for over 1,000 km continuously. I had done a road trip around RJ and I knew the place fairly well. That's it. We nailed a plan to drive to RJ, from Bangalore, for 2 weeks. We completed the whole trip, leisurely at our pace for 14 days for less than 52,000 INR for both of us, all charges inclusive :)

The circuit map: 















Itinerary:
Log and Expense:




RJ is (also) a beautiful state. I would be wrong if I say I have traveled across RJ. Its a very big state and immensely diverse. There are many well known, unknown and little known places in RJ that makes you intrigues. Palaces, Hawelis, Forts, Wild Life Sanctuaries, a temple for rats, Thar desert, an open jail, a haunted fort, migratory birds, camels, food... the list goes on and on. If you need any information, please contact me. I will be happy to share my knowledge and suggestions, at free of cost. I plan to upload about 50 pictures from this trip on my Facebook page soon. (https://www.facebook.com/raosudheer )