Ride to Gandikota from Chennai by Rohit Karmakar & friends in December 2016

Chennai - Gandikota - Chennai ride by Rohit Karmakar & friends in December 2016.

Onward journey route: Chennai - Nellore - Prodattur - Jammalamadugu - Gandikota.
Travel time during onward ride: 7 hrs without halts.

Return journey route: Gandikota - Jammalamadugu - Prodattur - Mydukur - Kadapa - Renigunta - Chennai.

Hotel Mangalmurti, Shamlaji, Gujarat - Indian Roadie preferred hotel on NH8

Hotel Mangalmurti, Shamlaji, Gujarat (on the right while driving from Udaipur to Ahmedabad) is:
126 kms from Udaipur Bypass - NH8 crossing,
52 kms from Khandiobari toll plaza,
11 kms from Gujrat-Rajasthan (GJ-RJ) state border.

While driving from Ahmedabad to Udaipur, Hotel Mangalmurti, Shamlaji is:
49 kms from Himmatnagar crossing (Medistar Hospital),
18 kms from Vantada toll plaza.

Hotel Mangalmurti, Shamlaji, Gujarat is barely a 5 mins walk from the Shamlaji Temple, a renowned Vaishnav Shrine.
The Shamlaji Melo, also called the Kartik Purnima fair is held in the month of November every year and lasts for about two weeks.

Route for a road trip to Ayodhya/ Ajodhya Hills (Pahar) from Kolkata

From wherever one might stay in Kolkata or its suburbs, one has to cross the River Hooghly by driving on the Vivekananda Setu or Nivedita Setu and reach Dankuni toll plaza on NH19 (erstwhile, NH2).
Thereafter, it's a straight beautiful drive via Palsit toll plaza, Shaktigarh (of the ubiquitous Lyangcha sweetdish fame), Burdwan bypass, Panagarh bypass, Durgapur, Andal, Ranigunj (Punjabi More), Ninga more, Kalipahari, Asansol bypass, Asansol Engineering College crossing, upto Neamatpur crossing.

Exit NH19 and turn left, drive under the Howrah - Delhi railway line to reach the old GT Road to Neamatpur town. Turn right , drive for about 500 mtrs on old G.T.Road towards Barakar & again take left on the New IISCO Road to reach Disergarh.
Disergarh is the Headquarters of Eastern Coalfields Ltd. The nearest railway station is Barakar, barely 4 kms away.


At Disergarh (Burdwan district), drive on Netaji Subhas Setu over River Barakar/ River Damodar to reach Parbelia (Purulia district) on the other end.









From Parbelia, an idea of the following distances to important towns/ cities will be useful for every roadie:
Raghunathpur 27 kms, Jaychandi Hills 30 kms, Panchet Hills 15 kms, Purulia 68 kms, Santhaldih 52 kms, Ayodhya Hills 117 kms, Jamshedpur 159 kms, Dhanbad 156 kms, Ranchi 193 kms, Bankura 159 kms

After Parbelia, drive past Sarbari More, Gobag (Nethuria Block), Raghunathpur and reach Purulia.
Turn right at Sarbari More to drive to Panchet Hills and Panchet Dam.




Turn right immediately after Nethuria Block Development Office to reach Garpanchakot.

On reaching Purulia continue driving on NH419, cross River Kangshabati and reach Tamna More.
Thereafter, there are two options to reach Ajodhya Hills.

Option 1: Turn right at Tamna More to exit NH419. Drive on Ajodhya Hills Road via Sirkabad (Pin Code 723154) and reach Ajodhya Hills.





Option 2: From Tamna More proceed ahead for another 23 kms on NH419 upto Balarampur. Take a right turn after crossing Balarampur College, start driving on SH4 and drive past Kandra to reach Baghmundi, which is the foothills of Ajodhya Hills. Then drive up to Ayodhya hills.

Ayodhya Hills can also be reached by driving via Kotolpur - Bishnupur - Bankura - Purulia.

For people driving/ riding from Kolkata, the NH2 option is a better one.

RTDC Hotel Gavri, Rishabdev, Rajasthan - Indian Roadie preferred hotel on NH8

RTDC Hotel Gavri, Rishabdev, Rajasthan on NH8 at a small elevation on the right while driving from Udaipur towards Ahmedabad is an Indian Roadie Preferred Hotel in Rajasthan.

The facility owned by Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) is located between Paduna toll plaza (Udaipur end) and Khandiobari toll plaza (Ahmedabad end). The distance between the two toll plazas is 39 kms.

While driving on NH8 from Udaipur towards Ahmedabad, the cumulative distance of RTDC Hotel Gavri, Rishabdev from:
- Crossing of Udaipur city exit/ entrance (towards Ahmedabad) & the Udaipur bypass = 61 kms.
- Paduna toll plaza = 26 kms.

While driving on NH8 from Ahmedabad towards Udaipur, the cumulative distance of RTDC Hotel Gavri, Rishabdev from :
- Himmatnagar toll plaza = 142 kms.
- Himmatnagar crossing (Medistar Hospital) = 114 kms.
- Vantada toll plaza = 82 kms.
- Shamlaji = 65 kms.
- Gujarat/ Rajasthan state border = 54 kms.
- Khandiobari toll plaza = 13 kms.

Stay away from 'pedas' in Deoghar

When in Deoghar, Jharkhand, please stay away from:

- Pedas which are made from 15 days old camel milk which comes from Rajasthan and is full of germs and insects. Camel milk doesn't curdle before a month because of high salt content.

- Pandas who are always ready to rip off Bongs.

(Source: Copied from a traveller's warning on Facebook who has stayed in Deoghar for 5 yrs and by his own admission has a complete idea about the place/ happenings)

I can't resist stuffing myself with a few 'pedas' whenever I see those being made/ sold. The revelation has made me extremely apprehensive.

Rs 5 to Rs 100 high security coupons as new currency at National Highway toll plazas

What next ? Chocolates as legal currency for highway users?
Customers are already getting something similar from the Nandini milk parlours in Bangalore!

Isn't this system of parallel currency illegal??

The government halted toll collection when its decision to accept the withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at toll plazas led to chaos in the absence of adequate change, causing massive traffic snarls.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has introduced high security coupons of denominations ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 100 to serve as currency for toll on national highways and for return as change to motorists after toll deduction. The proposal comes in the wake of the government’s decision not to extend toll exemption on national highways beyond December 2, 2016.

The government halted toll collection when its decision to accept the withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at toll plazas led to chaos in the absence of adequate change, causing massive traffic snarls. On November 9, it announced toll exemption until midnight of November 11 but later extended it to November 14, 18 and 24 and finally to December 2, 2016.

Considering that returning change to toll payers would still be a daunting task due to shortage of lower denomination currencies, sources said the ministry has proposed that coupons of denominations Rs 5, 10, 50 and 100 be issued at main toll plazas which motorists could buy and hand over at nearly 400 toll plazas.

Toll collectors would have to accept these coupons and would have the right to hand coupons as change to highway users.

These could be bought against the scrapped Rs 500 notes that are valid for toll payment. However, the ministry is seeking exemption for use of the old Rs 500 note and hence, the proposed coupons for paying toll until December 31. The present deadline for accepting old Rs 500 for toll was until midnight of December 15, 2016.

As a safety measure, these coupons would have security features of bar codes, hologram with the NHAI logo and serial numbers akin to those on new currencies to avoid duplication or printing of fakes.

To prevent black money holders from buying it in bulk for redemption of these coupons against the new currency at a later date, the ministry proposes to distribute them only through officials of the NHAI.

Since these would be distributed through NHAI, the coupons shall be redeemed by the authority both to toll operators as well as motorists. Nearly 90 officials of the NHAI are being deployed for this programme.

The ministry has also lined up sufficient swipe machines at toll booths with help from State Bank of India and others to facilitate payments and flow of traffic.

(Source: IndianExpress.com)

Hotels in Kolhapur, Maharashtra with car parking space

List of hotels in Kolhapur (on and off the Mumbai to Bangalore NH4) with safe car parking space as suggested by roadies from their own experience of staying overnight.

1. Hotel Ganeshratna Executive, Kolhapur. The property is just on the highway with all the amenities and secured parking space. Tariff only Rs1200/-. Mcdonalds is just 5 minutes from the Hotel.







2. Hotel Radiant, Kolhapur. +919921711234. Very decent hotel & nice food.




3. Hotel Jotiba, Kolhapur. They serve awesome breakfast. There is another restaurant near to this which serve excellent Kolhapuri non-veg food.






4. Hotel Opal, Old Pune - Bangalore Road, Kolhapur.





5. Hotel Sayaji, Kolhapur. Luxurious and a very expensive for an overnight stay.