Day 9 (Dec 31, 2010): Ajmer to Jaipur

After long we were riding on the NH8 yet again. We were on our final destination – Jaipur. We had left around 7 am with the intent to have our breakfast at Krishnagarh. It was around 25 km lovely ride amidst the fog and took us took us no time to reach. We diverted right and asked for directions to the Krishnagarh fort. The locals guided us and we were riding on the way when fortifications atop a hillock caught our attention. We thought that was Krishnagarh and kept going in that direction. A concrete road on its steep slopes took us right up to the fort entrance which had a sign board “Bal Hanuman Mandir”. We entered it. It was a small square area with 4 lofty bastions guarding a small shrine of infant Hanuman – the monkey god. The temple is also called the Charburuja Bal Hanuman Mandir because of the bastion setup. We bowed before the neatly decorated image of the lord, had a quick survey of the bastions and the views from there and got down. I had unknowingly added another fort in my huge list – Hanumangarh. Getting here had turned out to be a bonus!

The sleepy town of Krishnagarh

From the hillock we had spotted Krishnagarh at a distance. We were now riding it its direction. The road ran along the banks of a placid lake. The morning sun had scattered its rays on the clear waters making it glitter. The beauty here was eye-hurting. The main fort of Krishnagarh is under restoration and the old caretaker did not let us get in. We thought we would check out the Phoolmahal palace (a heritage hotel) and have our breakfast. However, we were denied entry here too as the hotel did not entertain the walk-in guest. They cooked only for the resident guests. A little disappointed we saw whatever we could and got back to the highway where we treated ourselves with a delectable bunch of varied parathas.

We had gotten back on the 6 lane highway and were quite enjoying the ride. Mother Nature thought of having some more fun to be added to this. A few km later, the landscape suddenly changed and so did the weather. It was extremely chilly. Smog blocked visibility after 10 feet. The vehicles seemed to have slowed down and so did we. We tried following a truck to keep away from mishaps. We could not speed up here. It was quite scary. But on the other hand it was exciting too! Surviving the mixed feelings and of course the weather we finally reached Jaipur around lunch time.         

The foggy NH8 - the photo does not give the feel though!

We had booked the hotel in advance and hence we didn’t have the hassles of looking for one.  We checked into the Hotel Golden, freshened up and looked up the newspapers for the avenues to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. Options galore, we finalized on Sikka Lounge and went over to the place to collect the passes. Then was the time for Anu’s most awaited event – shopping. We hit Johri Bazar, where we shopped till we dropped. We had spent around 4 hours here. Later we spent the evening with dance, loud music and a warm welcome to the beginning of the new decade.

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