After returning from the EPIC 10,000 Km Ladakh road trip (Read about it Here), I had sworn I was not going to sit in the Tiago ever. But exactly 1 week after returning, the Travel Itch started again. The catalyst to the plan was my Company Forcing me to take a week off in the last week of December. So it was the stars, moon and whole of Universe telling me to make the next plan.
I wanted to cover Jaisalmer and Kutch section in my previous trip but couldn't. Since we were travelling with Pets, we wanted to visit a place with Natural beauty rather than palaces, architecture etc. Initially I made an ambitious plan of covering Kutch, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur in One week but later realized it’s not going to happen. So, this was the Plan-
Dates
Duration
25th Dec 2020 to 3rd Jan 2021 - With Christmas and New Year long weekends we had a good 10 Days and 11 Nights for the trip
Participants
Our Dogs, Cat, my wife, me and the Tiago. I also invited over a College friend from Bharuch to join with his Wife and Son on his XUV500
Route
Onwards - Bangalore - Pune - Gandhinagar - Jaisalmer - 2,000 Kms - 3 days
Return - Jaisalmer - Anand - Pune - Bangalore - 2,000 Kms - 3 days
Stay
This is the HIGHLIGHT of the trip. We wanted to experience the true Thar Desert Lifestyle. So, we chose a place called GreenArts Farm and Cottage in Jaisalmer which had 5 Earth houses (Mud Huts). This was run by Hanif Khan who is a farmer by profession but started Airbnb with 5 mud huts since 2014. The HIGHLIGHT of this place was that it had no Electricity, mud huts, open air Restrooms and vast sand dunes and farms around.
Expenses
Fuel - 24K
Stay and Food - 12K
Total - 36K for 10 days and 11 Nights for 2 people
Since we would be travelling for 3 days to get to Jaisalmer, we didn’t keep our itinerary busy and wanted to just stay in the Earth House for 5 days.
The Onward Journey
Day 1 - Bangalore to Pune - 800 Kms - 1 day
The journey from Bangalore to Pune was straightforward. However, as soon as we started, we saw that ENTIRE Bangalore was going out of town for Christmas with the COVID Night curfew being announced. What should've been an hour’s drive tops to Tumkur, took us close to 3.5 hours!
Post Tumkur it was more or less familiar territory for us because of multiple drives to Goa, Gokarna, Hampi through this route.
Once we crossed border at Nipani, we saw the usual flurry of Motorcycles and traffic that the Kohlapur-Karad stretch is famous for. Our speed had dropped to 60-80 and the timer was running as we had planned to stay at our cousin’s place in Pune and had to take the Keys from their neighbor before 10pm
Finally, we managed to reach Pune by 10pm, got the keys, immediately crashed for the night.
Day 1 - Pune to Gandhinagar - 600 Kms - 1 day
From my earlier experiences with Gujarat roads, I knew 2nd day was going to be tough. That made us get up early, pack and ready to go by 7.30am. After loading the car, I quickly entered the car and
BOOM!
Car was suddenly full of foul smell. It was so strong that we were almost going to vomit. Upon investigation and moving around I realized, The Cat chose exactly the Driver seat to Poop and without looking at it, I sat on it making it nicely spread on the seat!
All our ambitions of starting early was spent washing the seat. The cat does not work with Human priorities. Note to self - Wait for the Cat to poop.
After a late start, we passed through Mumbai and Entered Gujarat. IN GJ, it was almost impossible for us to go over 60kmph because of the Dense fleet of Trucks. It was getting dark and both of us were getting really tired with the journey. We really wanted to make it to Gandhinagar as it would help us avoid the Ahmedabad traffic next day.
When we entered Gandhinagar, it was almost 9pm. What astonished us was the amazing butter smooth roads in Gandhinagar. We finally reached the Hotel by 10pm and quickly finished dinner to catch some sleep for the next day.
Day 3 - Gandinagar to Jaisalmer - 600 Kms - 1 day
Till Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the NH 48 was graceful on us with good roads. Post Gandhinagar, we took an incorrect route which took us close to Ambaji instead of Palanpur. We lost couple of hours because of this route detour. Once we were back in Palanpur route we started to zip through the routes with better roads.
Once we entered Rajasthan through Sanchore, the roads were heavily pothole ridden for exactly 30 Kms. After exactly 30 Kms, the roads were BUTTER smooth with sparse Traffic. Driving here was absolutely BLISS. However, it was soon Dusk and our speeds reduced due to the pitch darkness.
As the sun set, we realized how important a road with median is. In darkness, there was very less visibility in this roads added by vehicles, animals, humans appearing out of nowhere. While crossing Barmer, we had our first glitch when a Mahindra Thar scratched and pulled our rear bumper and cracked it a bit. Further up ahead, while Rimjhim switched from Low to High beam, A cow appeared out of nowhere on the road and Rimjhim managed to steer the car quickly in a Snake turn to avoid it. The cow missed us by inches and we had to stop and take a break for 5 minutes to recover from the shock. With so many incidents, we stuck to 60 for the rest of our route.
Finally, when we neared our destination, we realized it’s a complete off-road route through the Sand for around 5 Kms. The owner Hanif Khan did send out a person to guide us so it was reassuring. We finally reached the Village and our huts by 8.30pm.
It was almost a full moon and the view of the place was Spectacular! Surrounded by vastness and Windmills it gives you a sense of Infinity
We quickly settled ourselves in a hut called "Chewy Camel" and went over to the Kitchen to have yummy Bajra Roti and Sabzi. Best part was, for the next 5 days, Voxy, Pixy and Puchki were free to roam without any Leash wherever they want!
Staying in Earthen Huts with no Electricity for 5 Days
Staying with bare minimum facilities teaches you many things. One of the main things it makes you realize is how less are the number of things you actually need:
A Basic Shelter to sleep
A covered restroom (Or maybe not, ours was covered only from the sides and open from top)
Bed and Blankets to sleep
Food
I loved the days, mornings when I could go for walks, play with my kids, talk and have real conversation with other travelers, sit and think and when the sun sets, just sit and watch her sink in the Horizon.
We also heard interesting stories from the other Travelers, a Yoga couple travelling from Himachal on their Bullet (Guy from Japan and Girl from Italy) who were on their way to Goa; Photographer couple from Chennai who had never been to North India before, couple of Solo travelers from Delhi making use of their Holidays, A Bollywood filmmaker who traveled with his Dog all the way from Mumbai and Dhaval and his Wife and Son.
It was the end of the year and holiday for me. Rimjhim had to work but working with a view always beats a cubicle.
Evenings in City
We visited the Jaisalmer fort few of the evenings, and unlucky for us, the day we entered Jaisalmer the the King died. Hence the Palace was mostly closed marked with the flag hoisted down. Our spot for sunset was Kuku’s café which had different and whacky coffee with splendid views of the City. Another day, we visited the city again for sunset at MalkaPol which had views of the City and Fort along with the Sunset.
Pro Tip #1 – Always shop inside the Fort. The souvenirs are cheaper
Pro Tip #2 – Don’t miss out on the Dal ka halwa at any of the sweet shops
The Desert Safari Experience
There are quite a few players who organize Safari in the Sand dunes of Sam and Khuri but all those are very crowded, commercial with culture dance etc. We were not interested in any of the culture bits but just wanted to go have fun in the Dunes. Hanif Bhai had the perfect tailor-made itinerary for 1 day for us where we could even take the pets.
On 30th was Full moon and we decided we would go on that day. We traveled close to 40Kms on a Jeep to the deep interiors of Thar to reach a place where 6-7 Camels were waiting for us. We left the dogs on the Jeep and rode the camels for almost 2 hours to reach the Dunes
The best part about these Dunes was, we had the entire area to ourselves. Not even a single other tourist. We went up and happily saw the mesmerizing Sun set, clicked some of the finest family photos and played in the sand.
At night we had a Camp fire and some hefty discussions before we slept outdoors in a tent when the temperature was near 0 Degrees Celcius!
Next Morning Views -
The Haunted Village of Kuldhara
The Next day, we visited the Haunted village of Kuldhara, where the legend has it that people from 85 Villages abandoned their homes overnight.
There are many stories around this. Some say that the King of Jaisalmer Salim Singh had a thing for the daughter of Chief of Paliwal Brahmins who resided at Kuldhara village. He wanted to marry Chief's daughter else he would increase the Taxes in Kuldhara. The Paliwal Brahmins from 85 villages in and around Kuldhara called for a meeting overnight and decided to evacuate their homes overnight without even taking their stuff. Further it is said that they left a Spell behind that whomever will try to steal their stuff will be cursed for life.
Another story is that Paliwal Brahmins of Kuldhara were really under lot of taxation and their village was hit by an earthquake. Looking at all this distress, they evacuated the whole village.
Ever since then there have been many stories of Ghost spotting in and around the village. However, there are people who have been stealing from the leftovers. Recently in 2018, one of the gangs were caught stealing 1Kg of Silver and 250 gm Gold which they had found hidden in one of the houses of Kuldhara. The locals say that they have been stealing for long and there are lots more in the walls. Due to the curse, they are scared to look for it.
The New Year’s Eve
With so many stories and legends, we came back to our GreenArts Village where we prepared to celebrate the oncoming of 2021. With a Campfire, Hanif bhai arranged for his friends who were masters at the art of Double flute! Swinging in the melodies of the night, we bid goodbye to 2020.
Return Journey
Day 1 - Jaisalmer to Anand ~ 650 Kms - 1 Day
Day 2 - Anand to Pune ~ 550 Kms - 1 Day
Day 3 - Pune to Bangalore - 800 Kms - 1 Day
On our return journey, we realized that these trips were really taking a toll on us. As long as the trip is for a day and we stay at the destination for a week, the continuous driving for 600+ kms every day for 3 days was too much for us.
However, this trip, especially in the Desert village lifestyle Restarted our Digital and Tech Dependent systems. It gave us a sense of meaning that what is important and what isn't. It taught us what it really means to "Travel" and not "Tour". This is how we experience the destination and not in any resorts or hotels with a Tour package. More than us, our kids will miss the early morning loooong walks, the sunrise, playing and chilling in sand all day, climbing up a dune to see the Sun set into the horizon and have basic yummy food based on what's available locally. How's that for a 9 to 5 routine?
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