Getting out of Delhi:

Got up quite early since we couldn't sleep much anyway and geared up.  Even at 5 AM in the morning, it was quite warm.  We woke up Sachi Uncle, who came down to the parking with us to bid us good bye.  We loaded the bike, confirmed with uncle about the directions that we had to take to get onto Delhi-Jaipur road, and headed out of Mayur Vihar.  And the ride had begun!

We got out of the residential area and followed the directions uncle gave us until we missed a turn that would lead us to Gurgaon Expressway.  We had to ride ahead, take a turn and get on to this road.  Delhi has so many flyovers and one ways, that its easy to lose your way.  Added to that, I kept giving Abhi wrong directions! We were supposed to take the road to AIIMS and continue on the expressway towards Jaipur but I made him take a wrong turn and we ended up in an expressway to Noida..he he!

Riding through Delhi, we saw couple of cyclists.  We got curious and went closer, passing the other vehicles to see what kind of cycles they were riding. What looked like two guys cycling along with a few curious four wheelers slowing down to take look from far, actually turned out to be Rahul Gandhi cycling with his Z security!! We were riding between the cycles and the security vehicles! It was then that we heard the honking from one of the security vehicles which had moved next to us.  wowing (about RG cycling) and oops-ing (that we might have looked suspicious with all that riding gear on), we rode ahead. :) I couldnt help but look back a couple of times to see RG cycling and wouldn't have been surprised if the security came chasing, pointing their automatics at us :D

The six lane is lined on either side with malls and almost every corporate giant from all over the globe.  In the next half an hour or so we were out of the capital riding on the expressway wherever possible and getting off it near the toll booths since there were sign boards all through the route saying motorcycles were not allowed on the expressway.  We weren't very sure why that was, but saw quite a few motorcycles on the six lane though.

We stopped after Gurgaon for a breakfast of vegetable sandwiches and chai. We had not slept well the previous night mainly because Abhi kept waking up often, (which was every two minutes and I am not exaggerating!) which in turn woke me up; So, during breakfast, I brought it up.  Abhi supposedly had recurring dreams of we getting lost somewhere in the desert, with no water or shade, sweating (with me in that jacket!)..jeez! heh!

After breakfast, we got back on to the highway we rode on and reached Dharuhera.  We stopped at a fork in the highway - one that led to Jaipur and the other to Rewari, towards Bikaner.  Decision time! It was still around 8 AM, we hadn't yet crossed Haryana and had about 400 odd kms to ride and it was already getting hot inside my jacket.   But, we also did not want to change the plan.  We then thought 'what the heck! Lets just stick to the plan and ride to Bikaner!'

Riding through Shekhawati:

Riding through Rewari we got to Narnaul, which is the last town in Haryana before we entered Rajasthan.  Across the border, its still quite green and the heat was manageable.   As the sun got stronger, we rode through Khetri-Singhada-Chidawa.  Some distance after Chidawa we took a short break under a tree to cool off a little bit.  We had stopped next to a tea shop.  An old man there tried to speak to us in what sounded like english since the people there thought that we were 'Videshis' (Foreigners). We managed to convince them that we weren't and we were very much Indians. Had some tea there and got going.

We could now see sand patches and small dunes here and there as we continued riding to Jhunjhunu .  About 10 kms from Jhunjhunu, on our way to Mandawa,we stopped at a place called 'Vinayak Shudh Bhojanalay'.  Vodka had mentioned about these bhojanalays to us before we left Bangalore.  All through Rajasthan one can find these 'Sudh/Pavitra Bhojanalays' which are small to medium sized eateries that serve clean and tasty vegetarian food.  Its the best bet when traveling and dont want to take chances with food. Moreover, no one bothers you if you decide to sit around and relax for while longer.  If you are not sure what to order, just ask for rotis, dhal fry and lassi.  Onions and lemon pieces come with it without asking for.  The grub is so good that my mouth waters every time I think about it. Simple but yummy! This place even had a Khaitan air cooler which was specifically made for the desert heat.

Mandawa is at a distance of 50 kms from Jhunjhunu and we decided to ride till there and take a small break.  It was around 1 in the afternoon.  By the time we rode around 30 kms, we were feeling the heat.  We couldnt see a single soul on the road except for a few people walking (!!) carrying some flags in that hot midday sun.  My skin was burning under the jacket already and I couldn't wait to stop. Around 5 kms to Mandawa, we couldnt bear it any longer and we stopped under a huge peepal tree.  Seemed like both of us were sapped out of all the water that were dehydrated.  Thankfully we had a couple of water bottles and were carrying electral.  The shade from the tree, electral and cool breeze worked and we felt much better within minutes. Thats how it was for us throughout the ride in Rajasthan.  Out in the heat, its extreme and it burns you, but its so cool and breezy under the shade that you wonder whether you were hallucinating about the heat!

A kid on a cycle saw us and the bike and got talking to us.  He was wondering why were riding from Delhi to Bikaner when we could have drove down in a car.  He also mentioned that this was the first time in September that it was this hot.  He thought we were crazy to be riding, that too in the afternoon when it was around 35 degs, when no one ventures outside.  He suggested that we go to Mandawa where A/C rooms were available.  We told him that we liked the peepal tree better for which he gave a toothy grin and said that everyone in his village did that :)

The walkers with the flags caught up with us and decided to rest under the tree too.  The flags had 'Jai Mata Di' written over them and we figured that they must be visiting a temple somewhere in Mandawa.  But why walk? We couldnt figure that out. Anyway, We decided to wait it out for a couple of hours and took turns to snooze and catch up on last night's lost sleep.

It was much better when we started to ride out at around 4 in the evening.  We had around 200 kms to go and we rode through Mandawa and Fatehpur.  The stretch from Khetri to Jhunjhunu is called the Shekhawati. Both the towns, Mandawa and Fatehpur are filled with old buildings whose walls have the famous shekhawati paintings.  Most of the buildings are Havelis or palaces which now housed either the residences or shops.  We saw quite a few monuments that were restored and marked protected by the government of India and also a few that were falling apart. 

On NH 11, to Bikaner:

As the sun began its descent, we connected to NH 11 which would take us to Bikaner.  It was still very hot even though the sun had set, a sign that we had entered the Great Thar. Alongside the dunes we got to see quite a few peacocks, sometimes by the highway, sometimes on the fences and sometimes just leisurely crossing the road! .  We still saw quite a few groups of people walking with 'Jai Mata Di' flags.  We guessed that it might be because of navaratri and people are going to some nearby temple to offer their prayers.

A couple of short water breaks enroute, we finally reached the outskirts of Bikaner.  As I mentioned earlier, Sachi uncle had arranged our stay here at a heritage hotel called Jaswanth Bhavan.  We called the owner of this place and took directions.  The place was very close to the railway station and hence we headed in the general direction towards the station.  Different directions given by people on the way and my bad luck with directions on that particular day was making us go in circles! Finally, one of the locals whom we asked directions mentioned that he was heading that way and we could follow him.  We followed him for a couple of kms where he stopped near an unlit lane and told us that Jaswanth Bhavan was at the end of that lane.  We thanked the guy and rode into the lane. we figured that we were next to the railway station.  At the end of this lane, just like the guy mentioned, we saw Jaswanth Bhavan.  We had made it through the first 500 kms of riding! Phew!

Jaswanth Bhavan, Bikaner:

We must have been a terrible sight to Mr and Mrs Hanumanth Singh, since we arrived sweaty and tired from the ride.  We were shown our room and informed that the dinner would be served at 9.  We were put up in an air conditioned heritage room. We freshened up with a nice cold bath, called home and Sachi Uncle to inform them that we had made it to Bikaner safe.  It was quite a spread for dinner: Butter rotis, Dhal Fry, Chicken Gravy, Raita, Rice and a sweet dish.  Aunty was there with us making sure we were served well.  We got to know from her that Jaswanth Bhavan was an ancestral property and was more than 150 yrs old.  One part of it was their residence and the rest of it had been converted into a hotel.  She was surprised that we rode from Delhi to Bikaner in the heat and mentioned that Rajasthan had never been so hot in the month of September in a very long time.  She wished us good luck when we told her that we were planning to ride all the way to Bangalore during the next 14 days :) After a walk through the property, we bid her goodnight after informing her that we would be leaving by 5 AM in the morning.

We could not visit any of the places in and around Bikaner because of time constraints, but riding in the heat to get here was an experience. It was also an indication of what was yet to come.  We thought we had survived 500 kms of riding through 35 deg heat on Day 1 and since Bikaner was in the desert, thats how hot it would get on the next day too.  With these thoughts we slept like logs that night. But, little did we know what was in store for us on our way to Jaisalmer!