Hi Guys, If u ve liked my other review about innova and scorpio u will like this too.
.DAY 1
it was a lovly warm morning ..the driver comes with the QUALIS and I politely tell him to take the last seat and he promptly obeys ... I give him a few magz ... he takes it but looks a bit nervous but still obliges by taking the last seat.
Loading of luggages and then... me , my wife, sis, bro in law, my mom , my friend and the driver ...
7 of them in a qualis .u can imagine how could the jouney be. we manage to sqeeze ourselves and 7 am sharp we leave mumbai , and aftr driving for a hour I ask the driver who was with the luggage ..."am I going ok?" There was no reply and when I glance the rear view mirror n I see him snoring with his mouth open. he got too comfy with my driving I guess . after about 2 hours of going slow on the WE highway towards ahmedabad we reach PARSI DAIRY FARM at about 9. ( Stop here for some lovly break fast , palak pakodas lassi etc.
we leave at 10 am with our stomachs full towards ahmedabad. driving not more than 70 kph as the roads were bad due to ongoing road work .By the time we reach baruch there were tempers flying due discomfort and we change places to make others comfy ...but I was on the wheel and the driver snoring.
A brief halt at Anand for milk and suddenly I decide that I will not go to ahmedabad ..Instead took a diversion and entered a by pass at Nadiad which according to the map straight connects to himmat nagar. It was a beautiful road and the qualis roaring at 100kph plus thru out .
I have aproblem when on the wheel.... I dont like to stop ...and that becomes others problem too.
we had 7 days in hand and we had to be back on the 7nite. SO EVERY ONE BETTER FOLLOW MY INSTUCTIONS.
We crossed Himmat nagar at about 7.30 odd and had tea and then at about 9.30 we touched udaipur bypassing ahmedabad.( u dont need to take this route now as the baroda-ahmedabad expressway is better than mumbai pune and faster too..)
At udaipur we stopped at a good hotel for dinner and had rajasthani thali and checkd the rooms as we felt it would not wise with women to travel the nite. But the women whose tempers were flying were all charged up. so we ate our heart out and cleared bowels in the hotel and left udaipur towards delhi and it was 11 pm.( did I tell u that I ama agreat night driver??)
The road from Udaipur to Delhi was a treat. I had kept right locked to the floor and I suggested that every one sleep sound. with direstraits humming away I lapped up kms in the brand new qualis and we touched jaipur t 8 am.
DAY 2
A great breakfast at a road side dhaba and off to delhi the roads were one way from jaipur and we crossed delhi at 11am and finally we got out of delhi at about 1pm due to heavy traffic and at 1.30 we had lunch at a dhaba on the haryana border. Post dinner we were zipping at 130kph throuh out punjab.Punjab does not look like india , u can feel the prosperity there . wide roads , greenery mercs , prados etc and roads ...top class and I wish I had a faster car. During that time the one way began from jaipur to jallandhar but now its one way frm mumbai to jammu.
At about 8 pm we reached jallandhar and from there we turned to patankot that whre the roads are single and looked eerie but no worry . I was on the wheel all the while nonstop from mumbai paying no heed to my friend and driver who wanted to change places with me.
security was tight aftr patankot and cellphones were not working. At last at 11pm we reached jammu my cousins place, had drinks , dinner and slept like a log.
DAY 3
A late breakfast and off to katra and we started our climb to vaishno devi , had a great darshan and immediatley returned back. vaishno devi is a well paved walk of about 13 kms thru the hills and a great place to visit.
DAY 4
Returned home to Jammu to my cousins place had breakfast and slept till late evening with our achingbodies. A lazy dinner and sleep again
DAY 5
We decide that we change our route this time while comming back.
we leave at 10 am and for amritsar at about 1 we reach the wagah border but we were told to wait till 4 to see the proccedings .. waiting was not possible as we had only 2 days to reach mumbai..there were spraks flying again. finally after visiting the golden temple , which is a lovly property and we also saw the bullet marks on the walls (operation blue star) Then we visited jallianwala bagh after having lunch at the temple .After jallianwala bagh which is less than a1km from G.temple , we left Amritsar at 3 and drove all through punjab crossing small towns like mukhtsar, malaut, bhatinda etc . we thought we would reach Bikaner by night but we got lost mid way and had to halt at Ganganagar, aplace from where rajasthan begins and Indo pak border isnot very far and driving in night is not very safe. This route does not have any trafficeitherl. Dinner and sleep at ganganagar’s best hotel . per room cost us Rs 300 and dinner @Rs 600 for 6 ppl.with various dishes ...
DAY 6
After break fast we strted moving towards Bikaner , Good roads but single lane, no traffic speed in excess of 100kph and saw bikaner at 12. saw a couple of palaces in this sleepy lil town and then off t o Jaisalmer.Once again , grrrrreat roads, u can see 5 kms ahead, no life , no traffic , desert allover and there we were at 5 pm in jailsalmer.
Checked int o a palace like hotel whre were the only guests . went site seeing, visited the famous fort and my folks wanted to leave for mumbai but I put my foot down and I wanted to stay back, becoz on my way I observed that the roads do not have a tyre shop nor a tea stall and I could see no life for miles and driving thru roads touching the border is risky at night . so we got two rooms for 1500 and it was a plush hotel. aftr dinner there was a dscussion that we would not make it to mumbai on time as jaisalmer mumbai is 1100kms.
DAY 7
All through the route the driver only parked and cleaned the car.....6.30 am was the time I pushed them to leave , so that we reach mumbai on time. again I was on the wheel . But this time I stopped only for fuel. It was a race against time . we reached barmer & then took a diversion towards gandhinagar and then to Ahmedabad at 3 we left ahmedabad aftr a guj Thali thinkin that we would be in mumbai by 12 but then the moment we hit Surat bad traffic and bad roads again troubled us and thts whn I gave the wheel to the driver and by the time we reached home it was 2.30 am. "Guys ..u are back on time. ..1100 kms in 20 hrs...
DAY 8
To and fro 4000kms. 7 days.so many places.Cost, just 4500 per person including food, stay and a tip of Rs1500/- to the driver for not sitting behind the wheel.. WONDERING