Hanumangarh

Day 10 – Sam Sand Dunes to Hanumangarh – 3 Sep 2018

We got up pretty early at the desert camp, as the sleep was not that great. As we walked around the resort, we could see many people sleeping outside their tents because of the heat in the night. We wanted to leave as early as possible as we had a long distance to cover, and it would be good to cross the desert region before the sun hits hard. We got ready, had breakfast and left the place around 9am.

TOTAL KMS: 551 Kms
TIME TAKEN: 10 hours 19 mins
AVG FUEL EFFICIENCY: 23.1 Km/L
ROUTE: Mohangarh-Suratgarh
TOLL PAID: Nil
HOTEL STAYED: Rajvi Palace Hotel

Our next destination was Amritsar and getting there from Jaisalmer was not possible in one day. We needed a stopover and after lots of research and making multiple changes to the itinerary, we decided that is going to be Hanumangarh. All the people whom I talked to in Jaisalmer, felt that this will be a crazy route to take. Everyone suggested going via Bikaner, and that seemed to be reasonable as well. But I just wanted to try this road against the usual Highway roads to experience Rajasthan’s true village landscapes. And I am sure that was the perfect decision! This road would be one among the most adventurous roads we took during our entire trip.

It was an awesome experience to drive very close to the border, with literally abandoned roads for hours. It looked empty for miles and miles, but yet filled with a lot of surprises on the way. We would have come across not more than four small towns in between. We did spot a local gathering in one of these towns which looked like a panchayat or a strange traditional practice with some loud music and fire in the background.

A very lonely and narrow single lane road with just barren land and bushy plants on both the sides, for almost 400kms, made it a special drive. However it would have been very difficult to get any help on the way, in case of an emergency.

All we could see were flocks of sheep crossing the road once in a while, and we could spot peacocks and camels along the road side. There were clusters of round mud houses, roofed with hay and cow dung stamped on the walls, things looked really like a landscape in fairy tales! The road mostly ran along the sides of Indira Gandhi Canal, which feeds most of the dry areas of Rajasthan.

Driving through Bikaner would have added another National highway to our list, but this one just added an amazing experience to the entire trip. We could not find any proper restaurants on the road. Finally we stopped for lunch at a small road side dhaba, as we were sure of not finding any other options. However that was an amazing lunch of roti, sabji and curd. But I am sure the owner charged me more as I could see two of them giggling while taking money from me. Anyways, that was not too much what they took.

And finally after driving around 550 kms for 10 hours, we reached our hotel, Rajvi Palace Hotel in Hanumangarh.

This is a city with lots of historical significance, and is an agricultural marketplace. As we drove to our hotel, we could see stretches of magnificent forts and temples with stunning engravings along the way. We had a very comfortable stay in Hanumangarh, and we just relaxed in our room for the rest of the day, without going anywhere out.