Day 4. Wednesday. 21st Jan. Udaipur
The fort entrance is lined with lots of shops selling local art and touristy stuff. We found handmade books wrapped in leather, which made the perfect gift for the wives, given that both liked to sketch and paint. A silver shop en-route to the guesthouse meant another stop to buy more stuff for them. A lot of poring over the stuff on display, and a bit of haggling later we had what we wanted and were now ready to start. Breakfast had been acquired and done away with a little earlier. Aloo Paratha yet again. We were soon to realise that breakfast in North India was pretty one dimensional, or we just did not look hard enough. I think it is a little like our photography skills. I am sure a pattern is emerging somewhere here.
Next stop on the agenda was the Jain temple at Rankapur. This was a good 90km away. Getting out of Udaipur meant negotiating some narrow traffic filled roads. On the way to the highway we got to see a house, rather a mansion, with the garage being the highlight. The garage most definitely was a horse stable in another era and now housed wonderful desirable machines mostly of German breed. Sometimes things just surprise you in the middle of nowhere. Both of us ended up doing double takes as we passed the house/mansion/palace.
A quick stint on the highway and we came to a fork, which now meant village roads to the temple. Apart from the experience of the ruts in the road, Rajasthan has us oohing and aahing at the roads. I think we have the right machines to do justice to it as well.
The roads kept narrowing down and soon was a single lane track and through some mountains. Sharp twisties meant my pace on the bigger bike was cut by a big margin, but the 390 motored on relentlessly.
The road passes through a jungle which must have been quite something in the days when transportation like now did not exist. I can hardly imagine the perils of such pilgrimages which we now take for granted. Not that we were on a pilgrimage, but you get the idea.
The Jain temple is a wonderful example of architecture and was our second history lesson of the day. The whole structure was originally in Marble and had wonderful sculptures and carvings wherever one looked. The audio tour is a must, and I am glad we opted to take this. Time just flew by and it was close to 4 by the time we were done, and we now had to think of how far we could make it by tonight. The original intention was Jaipur, but that was definitely off the table now, given that it looked like rain was in store for us.
So the plan instead was to get to Ajmer(270km) or as close to it as possible. A bit of asking around and we found that we could get to highway 14 with about 50km of village road ahead of us. Once we got to the highway we would be able to pick the pace and see how far we got by dusk. We got to the highway in under an hour and made a quick fuel stop. Another stop was called for pretty soon thanks to the rains, to pull on our rain gear. While we were at it a couple of locals in a Swift pulled up next to us and rained a few curiosity questions. When we told them we were headed to Chandigarh they gave us a strange look and asked if we knew that there was a cold wave and it was much warmer if we stayed in Rajasthan. We said we knew but still wanted to go, which got them off our case but they wet away shaking their hands seemingly saying "crazy buggers".
Back on the road, predictably the pace came down and given our day of walking around the fort and temple. hunger also hit us pretty soon. We pulled into one of the many many truck stops that line the highways in Rajasthan. They all tend to have large parking spaces out front that can accommodate 20 trucks easily.
No prizes for guessing what our dinner was. Aaloo paratha yet again! The bikes attract a lot of attention and we keep it in our sights all the time. Our body language also ensures a don’t mess with us attitude. However, along comes a jeep full of cops and one of them swings his leg over the Ninja. We are initially quite taken aback by what this guy is trying. He could have been in for a nasty surprise if the bike tipped over. Sam leapt out of his seat and asked the cop to get off the bike. I think the guy was too taken aback to come back with a good enough reply and got off the bike. I was a little amazed at Sam’s aggression, and a tad worried given our morning history lesson on the inclination towards honour in these parts. Aggression worked though and no one went near the bikes again.In a few minutes we were on the bikes, deliberately taking our time with the gear, so I could at least see and gauge their reaction. Thankfully that was the end of it and we were off.
The rain has let up for a bit, but the temperature has definitely headed south. Not uncomfortable cold, but cold enough to need the rain gear to be on. The roads ahead though are not in great state and we need to take detours which compounded with the fact that it is now already dark, slows us down a lot. We decide to find a place to stay in the next big town. No point pushing ourselves n the dark, when we can make a fresh start tomorrow morning. We get to Beawar and find a place to stay, and it thankfully has secure parking in a closed garage. Quick negotiations with the manager and we are settled in for the night.
Today has been slow and we have covered just about 300km. Chandigarh is still 700 km away and we want to eat our next Aloo Paratha dinner in Punjab. and oh not to forget Butter Chicken! I have been salivating at the thought of eating butter chicken in Punjab, and while I am at it I mean to check out the back of restaurants to see if they really do make lassi in washing machines!
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