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This
is more of a Personal journey that I wanted to make for quite some time but the
time was not right for some reason till now. When we were young we would on an
instance notice head out to Mount Abu, we have atleast made this same type of
journey in the past with our friends but not since a long time now. I messaged
a friend of mine if he would like to accompany me on the journey; this was
going to be a 2 night 3 day weekend get away on bikes to Mount Abu, he
instantly agreed to it, the day was Friday 14th of March.
Day – 1
We
decide to meet at a predefined spot at the wee hours of the morning, it was
exactly 3:15 am and my friend calls, I was in the process of taking a shower
and getting ready, we wanted to leave Ahmedabad early and get to Mount Abu before
11 as previously it took about 7 hours with adequate halts to rest the bike and
our aching bottoms and fill hour ever hungry stomachs with good delicious food
enroute. So I hurriedly got ready and checked my bag which I had readied with
the basic essentials 1 jeans, 3 tees, toilet kit, first aid kit, TOILET PAPER
for those on road emergencies...ha ha ha. The Registration book of the bike is
very important as there r police checks and they demand the papers and yr
driving license so double checked those, tied my bag to the saree guard of the
bike with bungee cords so that it does not fall or slip out. I had got the bike
serviced and checked a day prior, the brakes and the engine oil and the petrol.
Kick start the bike and meet my fried at out spot, his nephew was also joining
us on the journey. Good we had another driver to shuffle between the bikes if
we got tired. Discussed the halts we would take and I put my IPod on, nice
mellow rock music and began, we were taking the route via Kalol, Mehsana, Unjha,
Sidhpur, Palanpur, Abu Road & Mount Abu, this road was very much known to
us as we have done this journey en number of times in the car and previously
years back on the bike. This road is very good it is 2 lanes divided and is a
toll road so is very nicely maintained. We decide on an average speed of 60
klms as it would be safe and easy to manage.
Our
1st stop is for tea and khari biscuits about 55 klms from Ahmedabad
we rest the bike, refuel our selves with tea and head on we take another halt
when the milometer showed 168 klms for breakfast at Palanpur this famous hotel
called WAY WAIT, the food here is good and fresh. We head out again after
stuffing ourselves silly with Dosa, Menduvada and A jumbo grill sandwich with
tea and cold drinks. We then enter Rajasthan and the road goes from good to
worst, bumps and diversions for the 38 klms run to Abu Road, they r in the
process of building the road here so some patches are very good and some are
backbreaking bad. We some how pulled on and entered Abu road and our excitement
was out of bounds as now our end destination mount Abu was just 27 klms away
but this was a difficult hill climb with winding roads and tight turns and
oncoming traffic which compromises of our of control bus drivers who think the
road is their property and run up and down these mountains with phenomenal
speed.
We
start our climb slow and steady by this time it is already bright and sunny so
the road is very much visible to us. We honk and we climb slow and steady the
milestones count down to our end destination and just after the 6 klms mark
comes a temple of HANUMAN JI which I carry immense faith in so we stop park our
bikes and say our prayers, this was the personal reason I wanted to make this
journey was to visit this temple and say thanks for some of the things which
have been fulfilled in my life. Faith is faith and cannot be contained. We our
prayers said with the blessings and Prasad in our tummy we head out again to
Abu. We reach Abu’s toll collecting plaza which is compulsory to pay this is a
tourist tax and had to be paid about 10 bucks a person and is lasting for the
entire time u stay in mount Abu. We head to the hotel I had booked on the net
and to which I had confirmed the directions before we got there, also requested
for a early check in as we were going to reach early. This hotel was called
UDAIGARH and is very well placed on a top of a hill and gives commanding views
of mount Abu, I have already given the hotel a review and written all my
grievances in the hotel review section so will not go on about it here. We
reach the hotel safely and check in to our room.
We
decide to get ready quickly and head out to our favorite spot, we have
nicknamed AAMIR KHAN Spot as there is this story that the local guides tell
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