Ladakh Trip: Day 4 (Jaipur->Ambala City)

Ride Summary: Distance 480 km Time: 10 hrs

So I was finding zostel, where I was staying in Jaipur, pretty cool. I wanted to sleep around 7/8 pm for an early morning ride but found this guy named Allen from UK pretty interesting to talk to. He was visiting India for 6 weeks and we spoke on a number of subjects including our PM Mr. Modi! One thing led to another and I ended up sleeping around 11:30 pm. I had a 2 am alarm and when I woke up, I saw the brits staying there including Allen gearing up for the England friendly soccer game. Such things make living in a hostel-like concept so much fun.

I left Jaipur around 3 am. The road quality between Jaipur and Delhi is pretty bad these days. Especially in low light conditions and the numerous diversions, makes it quite difficult to ride in the night. But I had the entire day ahead of me and beating the heat was the plan! I reached the Haryana border around 6 am and stopped for gas and a cup of tea. The Haryana accent was already in full swing; would be hard to mimic it in a blog. I will reserve these incidents for an in-person description. More fun that way :)

Passing through the villages of the agro-based, fertile Haryana was amazing. Old men having hukkah at 6:30 in the morning, some women washing the buffaloes, and others, as usual, staring at a biker from Pune with surprise. I kinda liked Haryana a lot. It's scenic and most importantly, the roads are awesome.
Especially the Rohtak-Panipat toll road. The green fields made me turn on "Aisa des hai mera from VeerZara". Ohh! it felt so good! I stopped for breakfast at Jhajjar where I had some awesome aloo parathas. The owner was the 3rd person on this trip to ask me if I worked for the Indian army. "Sirjee, koi akela nikalta nahi hai aise, aap to military waale hi honge, jee?

While in Rohtak, passing through the market, I asked for directions several times. Usually, I never believe one person. It's a bad idea as most of the times they may misguide you. Some take it to their ego; mujhe directions nahi pata? That means, they have to send me in some direction with confidence. Asking a few rickshaw drives confirmed the Panipat toll road and I so thoroughly enjoyed it. It's hard to find a road in the US as well which is that good. The speed limits reflect the quality of the roads they have.

At Panipat, I was on the GT road. It surely reminds me of NJTP. I was starting to feel the heat now. I was about 30 min from Ambala City, where I had planned my halt at my wife's mausi's place. (It happens only in India??;-) Stopped at a nice Dhaba where I had Dal Tadka, Paneer Kadhai and some awesome fresh nan's. I kinda now see why the north Indians in my office aren't really happy with the North Indian food in Pune. The food in this part of the country tastes so different and so good. I topped it off with a sweet Lassi and reached Ambala City around 1 pm. Shweta, my wife, was supposed to join me here. She took a flight to Chandigarh and joined us around 7 pm in the evening. I completed a power nap till then. The Nadal-Djoko game was on; and boys being boys, I started watching some of it along with a couple of Tuborg's. Life is good, I must say!