This strongly applies to my travelogue. So, if a what-is-what of Siliserh (pronounced as Sil-sed) Lake or Alwar is expected, then i am sorry that you will be disappointed :).
The Plan
I really needed to g
et a break from the monotonous routine of home-office-home. I was planning to hit the road. A list of probable destinations was made and i started striking out the least possible ones, considering the strict time frame of 1 day. I thought Lansdowne can be done in a day, but on seeing some forums, i got an idea that i can't do justice to the beauty of Lansdowne in one day.Sariska, coz, i love wildlife and seeing them in flesh would be exciting. I was bored of watching them again and again on channel number 69. But, this destination was turned down because of unavailability of adequate information like contact number of the tiger reserve, days on which it is open for visitors and charges and the like.
So, Siliserh Lake Palace it was. I zeroed in on today i.e 21st November 2010, as the day to burn some rubber. I promptly googled the route and took a print out of the same. For a second opinion, i searched the route in MapMyIndia but Google it was.
An exhaustive check list of things to carry was made, and it looked like as follows(this may not be the correct order, i am poor at prioritizing) ;)
Engine oil - For top up
Drinking water
Cash - :)
Map
Chain lubrication oil
Gloves
A chain lock
Camera (Just see the quality of pics, the 2MP camera in Nokia e63 is nothing but a joke)
Bike papers
Very exhaustive list indeed..;)
The journey
Foggy day. But i love to drive any day. I started my trip sharply at 7:15 am and headed to an ATM to get some currency. The tank was already half full, so i didn't feel the need to go to the petrol bunk for a fill up. But, i had a doubt that the rear tire was leaking and checked it up. I was right and was rightly charged with Rs. 10 for the tire valve, but i paid only Rs. 5 - see my tyranny! But, i knew its price value is not more than Re.1.
Hit the road again. The weather was simply fabulous, mind-blowing and awesomeness was in air. No, i am not exaggerating. I crossed the Delhi-Noida-Delhi toll and was riding at early 70's with only a countable number of vehicles on road. I increased my speed to early 80's to warm the tires up. I zoomed past the Gurgaon express way in 35 Mins flat, and made a record (crowd applauds), coz, this is the quickest time i have ever done Delhi-Gurgaon, even though this is the route to my office. I was thoroughly enjoying my ride and my beast was responding fantastically. I cruised at 75 Kmph and gradually twisted the throttle for a boost, till 85-90 Kmph.
Though Google hasn't disappointed me till now, i chose to confirm the route with a regular commuter of these routes. I met a truck driver at Manesar toll booth and got the exact directions. I had my breakfast at McDonald's, Manesar. Ordered a Veg McMuffin. Please don't ever try Veg McMuffin, it sux......!!! I badly wanted a cup of tea and decided that a tea stall is an economically correct decision. A tea @ Rs. 27...!, Do they make tea in a gold vessel?
The ride was getting better and better until i got stuck in one of the greatest things which accompanied the boom in automobile sector..A traffic jam..! I somehow squeezed between the vehicles and thus started my tryst with "Roads leading to Rajasthan".
Wait wait...tryst with..WTF.. i got stuck again, No, Google or the truck driver weren't to be blamed as i had been reading the map upside down for a while, as in, correct route but locations interchanged. Wish, Google had a map reading tutorial..*facepalm. And Eventually, i was on my way to Jaipur instead of Alwar. My killer vision caught a sign board playing hide and seek behind a tree and i found that i was heading nowhere. But, a traffic jam, yes..again, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, otherwise this travelogue would have been of " Destination unknown" instead of "Alwar". Instead of taking a left for bhewadi from darushera, i went straight on seeing the nice road ahead, how so greedy of me...!!
I hit back, but this did cost me a precious half an hour and some fuel. The clock had already stuck 10:15 Am. and i was no where near to Alwar, no sign of even a sign board. I retraced the route and successfully crossed the milestones of bhiwadi, tapukara and bahadurgarh zipping..woooohhh..what a ride it was....!!, finally reaching Alwar at 12: 00.
Siliserh lake is at distance of 13+ Kms from Alwar, and comes on the way to sariska from Alwar. Now, the printout was not clear this time and I followed the say of rickshawallahs. I am damn sure by this time that some of lucky ones chosen by me for explaining the route further, will never forget my face in their life. I asked, i questioned their intellect, i crosschecked routes with other guys, thus fueling a war of words among them. and i did this with as many as four guys, as i didn't want to end up in an unknown place. The roads till then i.e. from Delhi till the right turn to Siliserh were 99% awesome. Now, the road to Siliserh lake was narrow, dug here and there and poor to the core which gave my as well as my bike's rear some really bad beating. I was mad and hungry and some how wanted to reach the lake palace, so i rode at 75 KMPH through out this terrain. Catch my drift..?
About the siliserh lake and palace - Please see the quote at the starting of the article. Clicked some pics that's it.
The trip meter set to “0”
View of Yamuna from DND
DND flyway
Gurgaon to Manesar
Before
After
Cool breezy wind
Nice landscape
View from the Siliserh palace
Some curves
Beautiful. Isn’t it.?
Some visitors
Green hills
Can you see those tiny white dots? You can boat too.
Aah, yes, a Video too, to make you feel at Siliserh.
If you can see this pic, it means that your anti-virus is not up to date.
Pulsar 2 2 0
Top view
By seeing the inclination of trees, one can guess the direction of the wind. The wind influenced my speed greatly. Light two-wheelers at high speeds may just go out of control.
The trip meter at "398.7"
The Return
The Up time stat of 5 and a half hours, beaten to the pulp. I came home in flat 3 and half hours. Reasons,
I knew the route at the back of my mind now and I did not eat McMuffin.
Had a quick evening tea at gurgaon toll and back to home.
Quick stats:
Type of road trip: Solo
The route: Delhi-Gurgaon-Manesar-Daruhera-Tapukara-Alwar-Siliserh
Total distance covered: 398.7 Kms
Total time taken: 10 Hrs
Butt breaks: 3
Fuel guzzled: Less than 8 and 0.5 liters, so, the mileage was about 46 Km/Liter, as there was very little city riding.
Top speed: 137 Kmph
Currency spent (excluding petrol cost): about Rs 150
Experience: Out of this world
Performance of the bike in one word: A M A Z I N G
Pros of the beast: The feel of the throttle, the sound of the exhaust, the mileage, the power it generated even above 110Kmph, the superb handling, And the most important characteristic....The braking. *A kiss on the headlamp*
Cons of the beast: Hard seat..aaahhh...my .....!!!
Bye for now.
Krishna a.k.a Arvind,
very discriptive travelogue. Loved the pics, which cam u used? I hope u spend move weenends venturing out with ur 'blue-beauty' and update the experience here. Try getting hold of a couple more people, it will certainly add to the fun of travelling.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I am shocked. U liked the pics..? :0
ReplyDeleteI think they are bad. Thanks to my E63.Yeah, there's more to come, but this time in a group. I ventured out solo in search of that solace. :)
BTW, were you able to see the video..? i doubt that something went wrong while uploading.
technically, yes the pics r very poor but the content n location is awesome. try getting hold of a good resolution digital cam for the next time. yup i could c the video but its too short.
ReplyDelete