7th Dec 2016 - Sukothai to Mayyawaddy in Myanmar

7th Dec 2016 - Sukothai to Mayyawaddy in Myanmar



Our stay was at Paylin Hotel, Sukothai for the night. Not much in turns of facilities but quite neat. The food as would be in any rural Asian Country.

We were packed and ready by 7 AM and ready to go to the Sukothai (Kingdom Historic Park), this was the Capital of the Sukothai Nation and the ruins here go back to the 13th and 14th Centuries. 

One gets to go around in trams which have now been refurbished and have electric motors installed. We were provided with a guide and also received black sticky rice a new type of organic rice called RiceBerry as souvenirs / gifts. 

Here is something about Riceberry, click on this link ---Riceberry - to know more click here

Here is something from wikitravel about Sukothai

The city is a popular tourist destination because it is located near the ruins of the ancient city of Sukhothai, which was the Thai capital during the 13th Century C.E. The historical Sukhothai was the first capital of Siam founded by King Ramkhamhaeng. The province's temples and monuments have been restored and Sukhothai Historical Park is an area with numerous sites of historical interest which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other interesting places include Ramkhamhaeng National Museum, Ramkhamhaeng National Park, Sri Satchanalai National Park, and The Royal Palace and Wat Mahathat.

History

Sukhothai was capital of the first kingdom of Siam established some 800 years ago. The exact year is unknown but according to the Fine Arts Office it was between 1238 and 1257.

Established in around 1238 to 1257, Sukhothai literally means “Dawn of Happiness.” Phokhun Si Intharathit was the founder of the Phra Ruang Dynasty, Sukhothai’s first dynasty. For 120 years as the capital of Siam, Sukhothai was ruled by many kings. In this connection, the most dynamic monarch being King Ramkhamhaeng the Great, who created the Thai alphabet, laid the foundation for politics, monarchy, and religion, as well as, expanded its boundary of influence. Though the golden era of Sukhothai no longer exists, tourists should bear in mind that respect and admiration for the renowned ruined twin cities of Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai is highly valued.

With little time available to us we completed the ruins and the museum in less than three hours and were on our way to the Myanmar border by about 11AM.

In about 3 hours we reached MaeSot which is on the border with Myanmar. Myanmar is across the river Moei from Thailand (MaeSot). 

At the ruins of the Sukothai Historic Park

Map of the historic park

Face of Buddha at the museum.

Seed pods in a rural Thai market. Large eh???

Dried mushrooms? With the language barrier I could not find out what these where.

Entering Myanmar on the Thai side.

Entering Myanmar, on the Myanmar side of the border. Note the cars are now on the right side of the road.

Temporary registration of the car I was driving in Myanmar

Going to the duty free shop housed in a  Casino cum Hotel

Waiter at Grade One Hotel - Myawaddy.

We crossed into Myanmar and everything went without a hitch, we were expected and were given temporary numbers for our cars. On top of the bridge when you cross into Myanmar one has to switch to the right side of the road as traffic moves on the right side of the road in Myanmar and against the left side in Thailand. So we now have to contend with driving right hand drive cars on the right hand side of the road in Myanmar. The traffic was rather chaotic, not many care here for traffic rules or for their lives. We went to a Hotel cum Casino cum duty free shop where we all bought a few essentials and in about 90 minutes we were driving towards our Hotel - Grade One Hotel in Myawaddy. Again one of those Hotels in a small town in Myanmar, reasonably clean with not so smart decor and taste. 

29th Nov 2015 - Baroda to Mumbai

The objective of starting a little early into Mumbai was to reach before the traffic snarls delayed us getting into the Hotel and moreover we had planned on visiting someone at the edge of the city.

A early start was good though not as early as we would have liked, the breakfast took a little time and we were on our way shortly. We hit the highway soon after and made good time. The drive to Mumbai was good, the roads were good and though at parts maintenance was going and this was expected. The tolls were fast and yes real fast, the toll booth operators do not waste time and they are efficient, moving vehicles swiftly and without delay, so the long queues really did not punish us.

Once in Mumbai the traffic was as expected, heavy. We managed to get into our first visit just about 30 minutes late not bad considering that we took a wrong turn somewhere and we had to go about 10 Kms to find a U turn to get back to the road which we should have taken. One must realise that GPS is not accurate to the foot and is most often accurate to about 25 feet and in a city like Bombay where in parts of the city there are more than one road leading away from the main road, one needs to be careful, check the signages for the correct road and not entirely rely upon the GPS.

A few hours here and we were on our way again towards Fort. Where we were staying.

The drive was not too bad and we managed to get to our Hotel much before peak traffic. The hotel thankfully had skilled drivers who had to park the car many times during the day over the next few days as I would notice depending on the time of the day and traffic flow. The car would be shifted form one location to another.

28th November 2015 - Udaipur to Baroda

Great roads

Best road between Udaipur and Ahmedabad, gentle curves a delight

Ahmedabad bye ass not so smart too many speed breakers, dirty and too much unruly traffic

Ahmedabad to Baroda expressway great road but no stops for relaxing you start and then do not stop till you reach Baroda no amenities like on the yamuna expressway

Baroda

dinner at Mantap - Hotel express

26th Noveber 2015 - Jaipur to Udaipur

Yesterday we left Agra and started our drive to Delhi we had decided that on our way to Delhi we will drive through Mathura and ten to Brindavan before we hit the Yamuna Expressway.

At Mathura we made it to the Krishna Janma Bhoomi (the prison where Krishna was born) cars are not allowed near the entrance to this shrine so Aanand stayed back in the car trying to find a place to park. Mahalakshmi and I went on and were accosted by a few touts who promised to take us through the VIP gate and give us VIP darshan etc. We brushed them aside and went on, a while later we found that we knew very little about the shrine or how to get inside there were no signs and no information anywhere to guide us. We fell into the hands a of a tout who took us on saying that he will take us in no time through the VIP entrance and when we went there we found that everyone was a VIP and there was a very very long queue waiting to get in. Seeing this he said that he would take us through another entrance at which time we said enough is enough and walked away. On the way out Mahalakshmi asked a policeman the best way to get in and he said all we had to do was wait in the queue and go in and there is no problem at all, in fact the inside is easy to navigate. Not convinced we walked away and while we were walking to the car we noticed that the main gate had opened and people were going in. We rushed and packed our cameras mobiles into my handkerchief handed this over at the safe keeping counter and charged in. In a few minutes we were as there was not much of a crowd at this gate, as it had just opened. We walked over to a shop which accepted to take care of our footwear and once this was done we rushed to see the jail whee Krishna was born. The building was new and was constructed to give one the feeling that he was going into a dungeon and there it was a shrine in the room where krishna was supposed to have been born, whether this is true or not is a big question but what can one do against faith? We saw, we wondered ad were out, back to the shop to pickup our shoes and off we went to the car. The shop which had taken care of our shoes did not take any money for this little service, in fact they flatly refused.

By this time we realised that we were late and would not be able to make it to Brindavan, so we decided to drop the idea of Brindavan and started for Delh, we did stop over at one of the exits for some food.

It took us over 1.5 hours to get away from mathura, the very narrow roads, crowd and the not so helpful GPS conspired and worked against our desire for a fast and easy exit from this town.

Once we hit the Yamuna Express Way we were happy. The very broad roads, no traffic coming from the opposite side enabled us to move on at high speeds, 120 and no need to slow down. We reached Delhi in record time and reached our Hotel The Manor, the hotel is run by the same people who run The Habitat and The Manor boasts of one of India's top class restaurants "Indian Accent" a must for anyone interested in gourmet food.

We left early in the morning and drove down to Jaipur. At Gurgaon we had to stop on the highway for a short while to meet Rtn. Dr Nischol Pandey who was driving there to meet to shake hands with us. We did just that said our goodbyes and went our way. We had booked ourselves into The Jaipur Club, we had stayed there earlier when the rooms had just been renovated and when we checked in yesterday I was shocked, the room was something like one of the Lodge rooms that you see in tamil cinemas close to a railway station? All the soft furnishings were dirty and stained and we would have fallen il had we stayed there. Luckily we found ourselves room at the SMS Taj which was closeby. On the way to our newly found Hotel we stopped over at a Reliance Fresh to buy some snacks, milk, rice and curds - ha ha we make rice for the journey and have curd rice for lunch everyday we travel. When we came out o the store we found that the police had wheel locked the car, again luckily we found their number on the windshield and they came in soon as we called. The Rs 200 that I paid was well worth the trouble that otherwise we would have to go to before we went to our hotel. The hotel was great and the Rajasthani thali we had for dinner was good. We did decide to stay on for another day here as Mahalakshmi was not keeping too well, her cold was bugging her. But, no rooms available. 

We started our journey this morning at about 10AM with a packed breakfast with us. With a packed breakfast and lunch we were set to drive with little time wasted on lunch and breakfast. The breakfast we had in the car to save time and kept going,the light falls early here in the North and I do not want to drive after dusk. 

A few hours after we started and on NH79A I stopped at a roadside Dhaba which caters to lorry drivers for a cup of tea. The dhabba was furnished with Charpoys on which men were sitting and having their breakfast (lunch?) I shall publish the pictures that I took here on my blog http:/mindonedge.blogspot.com

The road was patchy at points and this slowed us down but we did manage to keep a respectable 60Km average through our our trip today.

We stopped for lunch at a Banyan tree on the side of the road and adjacent to which were a few shrines to some hindu gods which I was not able to identify, thanks for some shade and privacy we had a quick lunch and were off in a short while.

A few hours later we were driving through a small town or a village when Mahalakshmi noticed swords being sold on the roadside shops, we pulled over so I could buy one. On inquiry we were told tat peoplebuy these swords for use in religious ceremonies and weddings and the like, the Rajputs are a warrior clan right? We negotiated a price purchased a sharp sword, threw it into the dicky and were off.

Reached Udaipur at 5 PM, checked into the Hotel and then took a Uber to look around. This evening we had dinner at Natraj Dining Hall which serves a phenomenal Rajasthani Thali and in my opinion much better than the ones we get at Rajdhani in Chennai. we had gone looking for some handloom block print shirting material which we did not find but the thali was worth the trouble of having got out of the Hotel this evening.

Tomorrow we look around Udaipur and then we are off to Baroda.

We have covered over 4000 Km on our trip so far and have yet another 1600 or so more to go before we reach our destination - Bangalore.

With so much driving to do there is not much of photography being done. Yes I do use my phone to take the pictures and my trusted very small handy Kodak also comes into use. The only time I used my Nikon DSLR was in Varanasi.

Sometimes I just want to experience all there is around me and not be bothered with photographing it

25th November 2015 - Delhi to Jaipur

Made our rice mixed the curd rice and we were ready for the next leg, into Rajasthan. The hotel was kind enough to have our car cleaned inside and out. When the luggage was loaded into the car the cleanliness was motivating, the insides we ensured was always clean but the outsides we had no control over.

We checked out of our hotel soon after breakfast and we were soon on the highway to Gurgaon, we had agreed to meet a friend on the highway at Gurgaon to shake hands and if we had the time then for a cup of tea, by the time we reached Gurgaon we decided that we had no time for tea, so all we could manage was a hand shake a pat on each others back a photograph to record our meeting and we were off toward Jaipur.

The information we gathered was mixed and we were cautious, where the roads towards Jaipur good or bad? where there a lot of diversions because of a lot of road work going on? We would find out soon. We did, the roads were good, much of the construction work on the highway was complete and we were able to do the stretch in good time.

22nd November 2015 - Varanasi to Kanpur

We had no intention to stop at Kanpur, our original intention was to drive straight from Varanasi to Agra. However, when we realised that it gets dark quite early as winter draws close we thought it better to include one more stop between Agra and Varanasi. Kanpur was the candidate.

Allahabad was on the way to Kanpur but too close to Varanasi to merit a night stop. So Kanpur it was.  The drive from Varanasi to Kanpur was rather uneventful, the roads were good but nothing to write about. The people remain the same the only thing that separates them is the distance, the same careless attitude, whether it be lorries, cars, pedestrians, it is not that they do not care for their lives but the need is to demonstrate courage and arrogance and believe that nothing will happen. So what if a few people lose their lives in trying to prove that they do not care?

The Allahabad Bye Pass is a long one and almost at its end is a bridge over the Sangam.

Kanpur as a city does not impress, it is dirty, crowded and very very dusty and carried on its shoulder the disdain and arrogance and who the heck are you? Attitude. At a traffic signal we heard a loud siren and started moving towards the left to make what we thought would be an ambulance or a police car. What came was neither, it was Mahindra XUV 500 and at the flag post in front of the car was a political party’s flag.

The roads that we had to navigate to our hotel did not leave us with a deep impression of the city, it was much like Varanasi, Gaya and this was no great surprise as we were not expecting much from this city.

Though a Sunday some traffic signals did have lot of traffic and actually in one we had to wait for over 40 minutes to move.

We decided not to move out of the Hotel.

Planning the Golden Quadrilateral

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Many people have gone around  the Golden Quadrilateral and have spoken and written about it. The spirit of adventure kindled we started the planning and scouring the internet and the HVK Facebook page and came across a lot of information.

A few guidelines were set, we did not want to drive long distances everyday, we wanted to enjoy the drive and to take in the sights along the way. Not wanting to compete or set a record allowed us a lot of time and freedom. Never more than 600 km on a day and an average of about 400 per day was the target. Night stop over at larger towns or cities so we will be assured of a comfortable bed. No night driving and no stressful driving, meaning no driving at high speeds, risky maneouvres etc.

Travel light, easy and comfortable.

The vehicle is to be our new Hyundai Creta. The first service of the car will be at Vizag.

Date of departure 13th the Friday - November 2015.

Our route will be Chennai - Vijayawada - Vizag - Bhubaneswar - Kolkata - Gaya - Varanasi - Agra - Delhi - Jaipur - Udaipur - Baroda - Mumbai - Kolapur - Bangalore

The distance we expect to cover  in the 18 days or so will be about 5600 km.

We will stay two nights in those cities or towns which merit it and have not been there earlier, some of the cities chosen at the time of start are:
Vijaywada
Bhibaneshwar
Kolkata
Varanasi
Udaipur and Bombay

Other cities we stay for one night and spend a few hours looking around.

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