Kumbalgarh Fort, Rajasthan

It has been nearly three months since my last post. I think its high time I updated my travelogue before my memory starts failing me. What I'll do with the format is, instead of mentioning days, i'll stick to the places alone. There are quite a few pics which will describe the journey more colourfully.

Vikram and Eva had planned to return to Ahmedabad by Sunday night, but decided to halt since it didnt make sense to miss the Sound and Light show at the fort, which was at 7 pm.

Vikram at his posing best! (couldnt resist posting it.:)

Outside our tents

 We therefore checked out by noon and found another guest house which cost us less than 500 bucks. A group of 26 bikers from Udaipur invited us for lunch after learning that we rode all the way from Ahmedabad.

After a decent lunch, we had a good afternoon siesta and then rode to the fort.

Kids playing along the roadside pool

An intimidating entrance gateway led to steep range of steps. Before Vikram and I could plot our strategy to start our climb, Eva was well over the top, posing for pictures with the locals, who thought she was from the Oriental East.

The best thing about the locals was that whenever they saw some outsider with a camera, immediately they start posing for pictures. At first I didnt understand, but then was more than happy to click away pictures capturing wonderful smiles and colourful clothing.

Once you reach the top, you realise that the fort actually runs along a huge mass of land housing a number of temple complexes and it is inevitable to avoid comparisons to the Great Wall of China. We were told that the total running distance of the fort was 38km, which was very impressive considering the height at which it was built. It was built by Rana Kumbha in the 15th century.

Fort during the Sound and Light Show

The next day they headed back to Ahmedabad, while I rode towards the Pink city-Jaipur.

Day 14- Ahmedabad to Kumbalgarh

Being a weekend, Vikram an avid bulleteer himself, decided to join me on a short trip to Kumbalgarh in Rajasthan and having good company on road is wonderful. We decided to leave by noon after waking up late. While sipping on our midday chai, Eva agreed to join us too. now Vikram jr was pissed off that he was left out, although there was a pillion option wid me. since he had his own views about riding pillion (:-)) and also the fact the he will have to take a bus back home alone, he ditched it.

As we hit the road at about 1.30 pm, there was a leak of fuel from Vikram's carb, which we fixed in no time. For a moment, he thought his road trip had ended in less than 10 mins. We first stopped for lunch at one of the highway dhabas, ordering roti, dal, rice, curd and one of the gujarati sabjis made from baingan. food was ok, but the two full glasses of chaas (spicy buttermilk) did us good.

We reached the Rajasthan border by around 4pm and eagerly approached the "Water hole" which was right at the border line. Apparently all vehicles coming into Rajasthan from Gujarat pit stop here, since alchohol is banned in Gujarat. Chilled beer tastes better when the conditions are hot and man- we did see heaven!
From there on we hope to reach Kumbalgarh in an hours time. The final stretch was somehow very narrow and potholed and Eva was finding it very difficult to ride pillion, since vikram did not have the backrest bar. We swapped bikes for the final stretch and finally reached at about 7 pm.

Kumbalgarh is the place of birth of Maharaja Rana Pratap and it is about 100km north of Udaipur. For those who havent been to the state of Rajasthan, we only know it as a desert. Surprisingly Kumbalgarh is clothed in green vegetation and gets pretty cold at night and early mornings. Infact it was really misty when we stayed there.
We stayed at the tented accomodation up the hill and hit the bed pretty early.

Distance Travelled- 380 km
Journey- Ahmedabad to Kumbalgarh
Roads- 65%- Excellent, 10%- Good, 25%- Very Bad