Day 2:
Plan: Bharuch to Udaipur
Actual: Vadodara to Udaipur
From here on it became a ritual for us to wake up at 6:00am and start getting ready to hit the road before 7:30am to avoid the heat and cover maximum distance before noon, when Sun gets to it’s peak.
Today also we all got ready by 7am and had our breakfast in the food court next to our hotel (Gujerathi style poha, khaman and tea) with tummy full started our journey towards Udaipur via Ahmedabad.
Shridhar had a suggestion to visit few key attractions on the way since we had little less distance to cover than planned as we were ahead by 60+ kms.
At the first break where I wanted to get tank full for my TB, few local people gathered around us asking – where we are coming from and where we are heading and as expected they were awestruck after our answers. Also everyone started suggesting 100places to visit on the way as Shridhar gave them option by asking any good things on the way.
Finally it was decided to take detour in Ahmedabad and visit Kankaria Lake and Step well, which in the end proved to be a wise decision as both the places deserved a visit as we were passing from the same city.
In no time we reached
Kankaria lake, did some photography spent around 45mins relaxing and roaming around and left for the next stop at Step well. Best part about this lake was it was well maintained and they have got so many things at one place for kids and family picnic one can easily spend a day here. Toy train which takes you around the lake in circle, butterfly park and joy rides. [Definitely there was nothing much for us to do but nice place]
Lake and Surrounding:
Deepesh with Board -
It was very hot and humid and we were sipping water at every possible opportunity to keep us hydrated, around lunch time we reached our next stop Step Well (Vav is what they call it in local language) we spent lot of time asking for the right way through city.
One observation and no offence please, but Gujrat government has provided really up class infrastructure in the cities but people are not taking good care of it. Also we felt like RED signal means GO as no one wanted to stop at the RED signal. Whenever we stopped someone to ask about the road, first they have to spit the pan which they are chewing and then help us with the directions. Must agree that they were very helpful in guiding us to the right address.
After asking so many time we realized that we can use GMaps for directions as Deepesh was pillion he could guide us using GMaps, which was not very helpful as he was using the navigation for the first time and there was a situation where multiple left turns were there and we missed the turn, which means Gmaps will re calculate the route till then we have already crossed the junction. Finally we gave up the idea and asked traffic police for the route and he guided us exactly.
Step Well :
Stone Carvings :
After visiting the very old structure of Step Well we were feeling hungry and wanted to try the local cuisine so it was decided to stop at first decent dhaba for lunch, which was mistake as all the dhabas on highway serve only Panjabi food and not local (Gujrathi) food which we wanted to try.
On the way.
We stopped for lunch at this place, had decent food relax for 30mins and then start the final leg of the journey to Udaipur.
When we were approaching our destination we stopped for a short cold drink break at the road side dhaba and started searching for hotel in Udaipur to avoid the hassle of searching through city once we reach there in dark. Called multiple hotels some were over budget some were not having good reviews. Finally booked Heritage Hisbiscus which was like a royal house converted to a hotel, rates decided & the person we spoke to also confirmed that they have restaurant and we will get breakfast in the morning (Joke) reality came later when we reached the hotel the care taker said the number you spoke on is the old one and that person no more works here. Fortunately he agreed to provide the room at the same rate as we agreed on phone with other person. There was no restaurant and only one staff member and no other guests it was like we rented full palace of 8 bedrooms.
Crossed 1000km mark on Day 2 -
Entering Rajasthan :
Deepesh and Shridhar went to order some food from the nearby restaurant which took 2 hours to deliver at our place and we ate at around 11pm, were watching IPL final which Deepesh had keen interest and was supporting RCB.
Royal Suite :
That’s how day ended, talking about plans for next day.
Forgot to mention here they had motion sensor for lights and the delay between ON and OFF was so short that as soon as you walk couple of steps lights used to shut off, which was scary and Deepesh was getting scared