Abhaneri, Dausa, Rajasthan, India

Destination: Abhaneri, Dausa, Rajasthan, India


Date: Friday 2 Jan 2009

Origin: Jaipur

Mode of Travel: Self Driven Car

From Jaipur to Abhaneri : I took the NH-11 from Jaipur towards Agra. This locally, is known as Agra Road. The road, near Jaipur is loaded with traffic at times. It also passes from the hilly area. So I wasted some time there in traffic Jam. Beyond that, the road is much better and the drive was comfortable. Cross Dausa and Drive further. There will be a Toll Booth and after that there is a left turn from which road diverts for Bandikui. This Crossing is known as Sikandra Chauraha. In case of any confusion, ask any local person for the way to Bandikui. Take the neft turn (towards north).


There is a toll booth again. Tell them specifically that you just want to go till Abhaneri and come back. The cost of toll will be less. By default, they assume that you are going further. Cross the Toll Booth and shortly there will be a small circle on the road. Take a right from there. 1.5 KMs ahead on this road, one can see the Harshat Mata Temple and the Chand Baori.

The Chand Baori (The Great Step well) : There were few folks from ASI and they offered me to give a detailed tour of the place. The name of the person is Mr. Gopi and he was knowledgable about the place. At the end he did not even ask for money. But I gave him a small amount.

In Gopi's words "This place was built sometime in 8th or 9th century by Maharaja Chand. Not only this step well, but there was a whole city at this place. Later there was a flood and the complete city got synced into water and covered by mud. Many centuries later, a traveller from Jaipur convinced the Royal family to dig this place and the result was there. This step well has more than 1000 stairs and while going ip it is very difficult to remeber the path that was taken to to come down. Water used to get collected at the bottom and then there was a whole setup that used to carry the water upwards and used to work as a shower for the king."

Harshat Mata Temple: Royal family used to worship here after taking bath at the step well.

In Gopi's words : "This temple was around 450 feet high and there used to be a lamp on the topmost point of it. An invader was returning after attacking near by places and he saw the light of the lamp. The result was, he attacked this temple, looted it and destryed everything."


The remains of the temples have been decorated in a nice fashion around the temple.

Abhaneri, the Place : It is another example of the perfect rural India. There are many Jugads on the road in this area. I hope, it is clear what a Jugad means. :), if not, see the below pic.

Bhangarh, Alwar, Rajasthan, India

Destination: Bhangarh, Alwar, Rajasthan, India


Date: Friday 2 Jan 2009


Origin: Jaipur


Mode of Travel: Self Driven Car


From Jaipur to Bhangarh: I took the NH-11 from Jaipur towards Agra. This locally, is known as Agra Road. The road, near Jaipur is loaded with traffic at times. It also passes from the hilly area. So I wasted some time there in traffic Jam. Beyond that, the road is much better and the drive was comfortable. Just before Dosa, there is a left turn towards North. This is NH-11A. Under confusion, ask the local people for the road to Ajabgarh. This road took me to Bhangarh. One has to take a left diversion to reach the place. Boards with proper directions are in place. Local people are also very helpful, in case of any help.


Bhangarh: There is a lot of text on internet which claims that this place is haunted by Ghosts. I went there and didn't find any Ghosts, but yes, the place is scary. The old and huge Banyan trees have something unusual in them. None of the buildings in the front has roofs on them. It is thought provoking that why just the roofs are gone? The walls are still in good shape.


The front entry has a board from ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) which says that domestic animals are not allowed inside. But, the place seems to be a heaven for local shepherds. I talked to one of the shepherds and she told me that the place is very good and very well maintained. Still no body used to come there. So, they rumored the story of Ghosts. Now, the number of visitors have increases but most of the visitors are still young couples who seek some solitaire from the crowded society. :)


The place if well maintained and neat. A big portion has a green lush grass ground. However, there are so many monkeys around that one has to take care while sitting down and relaxing. I touched almost every corner of the place. On the top, I noticed that a sadhu stays there. I was not concerned much so did not care to talk to him. Few of the temples are still live and worshiped.


This place is definitely worth a visit. If someone is passing from Alwar, Agar-Jaipur NH-11 or Dausa, this can be a good destination.

One day travel to Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan

Destination: Sambhar Lake, Jaipur, Rajasthan


Date: Sunday, Oct 26, 2008.

Origin: Jaipur City

End: Jaipur City

Group: I traveled alone in a small car, Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo.

Location: Sambhar town and lake are in Jaipur district but far from the main Jaipur city.

From Jaipur City to Sambhar Lake:

1. Started from the Civil Lines crossing on the NH-8 (Jaipur Ajmer road) towards south-west @0415.

2. At 19.5 KMs met toll booth. The cost at the time of travel was INR 65/- for one way. Same amount was charged while returning also. I did not mind paying this amount because the road was excellent. It was a six lane smooth highway. At morning time there was no traffic so I was able to drive as a fast as I could.

3. At 62 KM turn to west of north (right). This place is called Dudu. There is an over bridge on the crossing for the traffic that want to go straight. Better to not to take this bridge otherwise one has to take a U turn. In doubt, ask anyone for the road to Sambhar.

4. At 77 KM there was a Y turn. One road was going straight while one was going to right. I got confused here but finally found a board which directed me to take a right turn. Little bit ahead there is Nariana Village. After that there is railway track. It was still dark and I was little bit confused about the way.

5. This portion of drive was great. There were no light and the sky was dark and clear. The moon was looking beautiful with the mystical stars. These many stars are hardly seen from polluted city sky.

[Far off View of the Shakambari Devi Temple and the hill. This is a perfect example of Mirage. The reflection is not in the water!!!]

6. At 112 KM take a left turn (west), just before the railway crossing. This turned has been marked in wikimapia (http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=26.8974441&lon=75.1869965&z=17&l=0&m=h&v=2). One has to drive 24 KM on this road to reach the Shakambari Devi temple. This road also goes to Core-seina Village but ends at the temple.
Just after this turn, there is railway track on right. This is part of the factory where salt is made. This place reminded on of some old black and white movies. There were so many abandoned railway carriages while were lying freely. The best part was there, there was no one around and I had a deep inspecting of the place.


At Sambhar Lake:

I parked my car at the temple. There was no one around. Was able to see a single chambered temple on the lake surface. Walked there and came to know that it is 'Bahiron Baba' Temple. Came back to my car, took my bag with water and eatables with me and started to climb the hill. The temple of the Shakambari Devi is at the base of this hill. Hill climb was easy and there is a resting place on top. See the pic, I do not know what it is called.

[Bhairon baba temple on the lake surface and the never-ending end]

Now I was looking at the extra-extra-extra-ordinary place. I had seen such a place only in the pics of moon. I could not had believed that such a place can even exist on earth. This place seems to be the end of earth. One can easily see the demarcation line for earth. There was green land just on my back. On my front, left and right there was just flat, white, reflecting surface. I tried hard to see the end with my naked eyes, but failed. I stared for sometime and felt that I can feel the roundness of earth. After that I took out my 300mm zoom lens. On Nikon 40x, it worked as 450mm. I was able to see uncountable number of red and white colored birds on one side. On the other side, I was not able to see the end even at 450mm end. Man, this place is amaaaaazzzzziiiingggg!!!



There was whole army of ants which tried to spoil my food but I was fast enough to change the location. I spent some time on the hill top and then decided to walk on the lake surface. On the bank, there was typical desert vegetation. I got many thrones on my lower. It is better to be in an outfit which does not take these thrones. After doing the painful job of removing these thrones, I started to walk. I was not able to see the horizon. I walked, walked and walked for an hour. I was not having anything to measure but in an hour I must have covered at least 4 KMs. I was still not able to see the end. But I came to the point where I was able to see the water and the surface was moist after this point. I did not want to dirty my legs in the mud and I was also getting over with the drinking water. Hence, I decided to return. I tried to capture birds at 450mm zoom but still, I was just able to take a glimpse of them. On my left, there was no end and sky was meeting the earth.

[I walked to this point. I was sitting at the top of the hill an hour back. These two pics shows the view from my back and front]

Lunch time:

I moved back and drove to Sambhar town. On the way, there was a family which was waiting for a public vehicle. They asked me for lift and I got agreed.

At Sambhar town, I had the lunch at 'Yadav Pavitra Bhojnalaya'. Do not expect much at this place. But the taste of the food was awesome. It was still just 1300 and I had to wait till sunset. I drove to the road to Shakambari Devi temple, parked the car under a tree and took a nice nap. After two hours I got up and as soon as I moved the car, I realized that something has hit the car. Damn, it was a big stone under the engine which had lifted the left tire in the air. These are the stones used by village people to sit and wait for the vehicles. I took out the jack and removed the stone. When I got up, I had already taken a bath in sand. I drove further and saw a small lake. I washed my self there. Waited sometime under the peeple tree on the pavement and then moved ahead again toward the Temple.

Drive on the Lake:

This time, around 1 KM before temple, I saw a way to get in the lake. This way is made by trucks and tractors. I moved my car off road and followed this. Just after 100m, I was again on that never ending flat white surface. This was great experience to drive. One can drive as fast as his vehicle and heart allows. There is no one, absolutely on one, around you to even see and stop. I drove to the other side of the hill and waited there for the sun to be set. It was still 1630 and there was around 90 mins left for sunset. In sometime I realized this place is getting scary. There is just flat surface till horizon and then there is nothing on it. Not even a small insect. The wind has enough power to throw all the obstacles to the bank. Suddenly I heard a dog bark and I got more scared. But I was not able to see any dog in the directing from which the sound was coming. I again used my zoom lens and I was able to see a dog far off. The thing is, because there is no obstacle, even is there is small sound somewhere, it can be heard KMs far off.


Then it was the time for sunset. It was a great experience to see sun syncing exactly in side the earth. I had never seen sun syncing like this. The sky was not very colorful because there were no clouds around.

Sun disappeared and I drove my car back to the same way from which I came. On the drive to home, I was just thinking about this life time place. Another example that there is so much to see and there is so much of variation on the earth. The traffic was more on NH-8 on the return journey as compared to morning 4 O'clock. It took me 3 hours to return back.

Ways to reach :
1. By road - Follow the path that I took. Jaipur (NH-8) <->Dudu <-> Naraina <-> Sambhar. The Rajasthan roadways buses can also be taken from Jaipur to Sambhar. I say a bud on the way to Core-seina. However, I do not know where that bus was going.
2. By train - Train from Jaipur to Phulera takes just 45 mins. After that Sambhar is not more than 10 KMs. This is an excellent option.


Few Points:
1. Carry enough water with you because you may not find shops selling packed water.
2. One can easily see the glimpse of the rural India here. There are many villages on the road from Sambhar to Shakambari Devi Temple. I saw women carrying water vessels on their head from the same water body where the animals were taking bath on the other side. After some time children jumped inside the water to take a bath. Old men were sitting under the tree shadow and smoking 'beedi'. I wish I could become invisible and keep seeing this life style for some time. The people were little bit consious to see a guy from some city in a car.
3. This is a MUST GO place before leaving this world and I am glad that I was there.