Travel Diary

The journey of Temple – Karnataka

It was a long weekend in the month of April 2022. The pandemic had already come to standstill . The summers in Goa are usually not favourable, but we are used to it as this is the month where we get to taste the king of fruit, mangoes grown here.

So, over this 3 days weekend, we just planned to have a long drive south. It was confirmed just a day before. we didn’t book any accommodation , neither there was any itinerary. Plan was to just drive and wherever we reach just explore it.

So, on the day , we woke up early in the morning, packed up the things in our grand i10 and the drive started. We started around 8:45 am and we decided to reach Mookambika temple by end of day which was around 260 km ( It was my dads long wish to visit the temple ).

After starting at 8:45 am, ideally, I thought will be getting plain roads with no traffic, but all along the way there was moving traffic and overtaking was difficult. somehow around 10:30 am we took our first break at Mallikarjun temple ( Its our Kul devata)

We visit here multiple times, but just clicked some pics as roof top had been upgraded from tradition mud tiles to copper roofings.

From here after taking blessings we left to our next destination.

It was all cloudy ( which I like 😊) so drive wasn’t tiring. We entered Karwar check post and as we were moving ahead we saw a slow going wagonr and jokingly we said that it may be our cousin ( he bought new car and drives slowly ). But coincidence had another plan for our joke that day, we hardly moved few meters ahead and to our surprise we saw another wagonr and this time really it was him and his family 😊 ( That was height of coincidence ). We made them stop, spoke a bit and moved ahead.

And with the beautiful Karwar beach at one end we started moving ahead. We took a stop at Amadalli Ganapati temple. Usually people travelling on the NH66 highway visits this temple.

We took the blessings and set our eyes on next path. It was around 12 noon, and my mom had brought some tea and chaklis. So we just parked aside and took a small tea break before moving ahead.

As I knew that our car didn’t had fast tag, that was my next worry. We reached the first toll ( Belekeri ). I went to ICICI office only to have a bad news that they don’t have tags. Now I was furious with ICICI tag management (as they had not delivered my online booked tag for more than one year and just suggested me to have tag from any NH toll gate). And here I had to pay double amount in cash.

Please have fast tag, Or you will have to pay double in cash.

Now nothing was going in my head as I was furious. My dad took the driving seat and all I was doing was just blaming the tag guys in my mind.

As we reached near Ankola, we saw some grocers sitting under bridge selling Mangoes and churna (It’s a Konkani name for fruit found in this season in Konkan region). We took a break to buy some, also i took the opportunity to call ICICI tag customer care to get it cancelled if they are not able to provide provide support.

We started moving ahead commenting , joking but back of my mind was next toll 😜. After some time around 1pm we reached the second toll, and to some relief, the tag was available. I just configured my account and got the new fast tag installed and now our car was ready to go through it’s first toll tag. Honnavar is the first tag it paid 😊.

Around 2 pm we reached the Honnavar city circle where we decided to take a lunch break. We saw a very small restaurant (Hotel Sumukhu), but all crowded. Luckily we could get a table without waiting and we just had our eye on banana leaf laid with fresh King fish and unlimited rice and fish curry.

If you want to have fresh Kingfish you must have it in Honnavar. And always prefer small restaurant where crowd is more, as that’s where you will get the best food!!!

After having this delicious Thali and getting our tummies full we started our lazy journey again. My dad decided to have a backseat and have his sleep, while I had my mom to accompany on front seat. All the way we could see a lot of Mango trees and all trees had ample of Mangoes on it.

On that day it was Hanuman Jayanthi, so as we moving ahead we could see orange banners all along the road. We thought it will end in a couple of km’s till we reach Murudeshwar (temple having India’s second tallest Shiva Statue) , but that didn’t stop there. The next city was Bhatkal around 15-20 km from there, and all along they had placed the orange banners. And only a more few km ahead from Bhatkal we found that there was a new temple which was about to be inaugurated and all this decoration was because of it.

We paid the NH toll at Bhatkal and after few km more drive Miss Google told us to take left road and get out of the highway. Kollur city was around 45 mins away and all we had go is through some narrow curvy roads. Kollur is the city where Mookambika temple is located.

After some curvy narrow roads, finally we reached around 500 mts to Mookambika temple and that is where we decided to check some accommodations. We made a stop exactly where we saw on maps 500 meters aways. The owner of that hotel was just outside, he told us that only one room is available and rest all is full. He also mentioned that there is huge rush of people due to long weekend, hence hotel rooms are not available in ample.

We observed that most people who come over here are Mallus ( from Kerala ). Even the owner of accomodation where we stayed was a Mallu.

Room was spacious and clean. We quickly got fresh and decided to walk towards temple to check what are the rules and rituals to be followed in temple (as we had plans to take the blessings next day early morning). We had a cup of tea on way ( tea had a very different taste here and I didn’t like it much) .

We entered the temple premises and just walked along the premise. We took the darshan ticket for next morning.

But for some reason my legs were paining . Maybe driving after long time and also all of us were very tired and feeling sleepy. So we came back to our room to take rest.

We needed to plan for next day travel also. But in that time got a call from my mom’s sister and she advised a couple of more places and Bingooo that became our itinerary 😊 . My Mom like any typical Indian mother had carried some pooran Poli (Sweet bread ) for snacks. We ate it along with Mango that we bought in morning from Ankola and slept as early as 9 pm.

Next day morning woke up early and got fresh. We started the walk towards the temple around 7 am. The climate was pleasant and we could see Kodachadri hills at the back drop.

Walk to Mookambika temple with Kodachadri Hills at Backdrop

We had to wait for 30 mins in queue outside the main temple as Alankar was happening. After that we took our darshan, collected prasad and with blessings of Devi Mookambika happily started walking back to our room.

People are not allowed inside temple while Alankar (Dressing, putting ornaments, adornment) of Goddess Mookambika happens.

Also there are restrictions on clothes that you can wear.

While walking back we had our mandatory medu wada for breakfast. I know its not completely healthy, but when you come to south India it’s a must try. You won’t get that taste in any branded South Indian restaurants present in other part of the world.

So our next destination was Sringeri Mutt (Place of enlightenment) , which is one of the four Mutts build by Adi Shankaracharya. I had already visited the Dwarkadhish in Dwarka Gujarat. ( The other 2 are in Orissa and Uttarakhand ).

From Kollur its around 110 km. Without wasting must time around 10 am we set our eye on next path. The road from Kollur to Sringeri was just awesome. It is maintained under state highway but it was really good.On way we just took one break to have coconut water.

And now just as we had a stop to have coconut water, we were about to encounter the hilly road which is known as dangerous for driving due to dangerous U-turn curves. It’s the Agumbe ghat. I had seen a lot of videos on agumbe ghat which is located in shimoga district and this was the day I got the chance to drive.

Please drive carefully while driving through agumbe ghat!!!

After having fun driving this roads, we finally reached Sringeri Mutt around 1 pm. Just as we set our foot out of car, we experienced the scorching heat. It was really bad and when you come out of full-ac, all of sudden it feels unbearable.

We saw large number of cars in parking which implied there is a huge rush , but as we went inside that was not the case. Crowd was there, but there was no long queues. (A funny incident happened with our footwear which remains a secret with me and my parents 😊)

We walked along the premises and visited Sharada Devi temple. The entrance of the temple had that typical south Indian architecture, but inside there was a temple which had architecture which gave me resemblance of sun temple in Gujarat.

After visiting all the temples we decided to have lunch in Mutt itself. The queue for lunch was 10 times bigger than the queue inside temple 😊. The Maha Prasadam had rice , sambhar, curd rice, khichdi and payasam ( sweet dish ).

After eating, we took couple of more pictures and decided to move to our next destination which was Annapurna temple. Its located in Hornardu village which as per Google maps was just 41 km , but that was the craziest 41 km I have ever seen. It had jungle safari, mud driving, heavy rainfall, coffee plantation, unbelievable narrow roads, very narrow bridge with no barricades ( if you miscalculate you will be in waters).

It was a real roller coaster road. We hardly got good patches of road and it was all about climbing the hill and getting down. The scenic beauty was awesome, but at 4pm it was so dark as if it’s 7pm ( made me remember the Meghalaya trip )

While starting the trip I had seen weather report in south Karnataka, and it showed chances of shower are there and hence we were prepared for it.

The rain was heavy , but we didnt stay inside car, as we had got our rain coat and umbrellas and wanted to make use of it :P. So we stepped out. The rain was indeed a relief from this scorching heat. The mountains with cloud layers over it looked reaaly soothing to our eyes. We took darshan of Devi Annapurna ( Goddess of Food ). Here people donate rice to temple, which is used for prasadam. We also did the same, and after taking prasadam we came out of temple. The temperature/ weather was really pleasant. It was drizzling a bit and that made it even more beautiful. She just walked along towards our car.

Now it was time of where to stay. The village isn’t too developed and there are hardly any lodges available ( which too are shaddy ). As per initial plan we had plans of staying in tea plantation homestay in samse which was more 15 km, so at 5 pm sharp we decided to go there and check out some homestays. On way we just took a tea break ( the taste of tea was similar to what we had in Kollur, didn’t like it ) .Just beside the restaurant there was a shop selling local home made south Indian Masala and other food items. We bought some Sāmbhar powder and masala powder. The owner was good and she suggested that if you planning to stay in homestay in Samse than chances are less as its long weekend and it gets pre booked 15-20 days before. Also she mentioned we can look for some accomodation in kalse which is a city just 6 km ahead from that place.

But I am gutsy guy, and decided to to check in Samse only, and if we didn’t find it than we can go to next city crossing the forest area which was Karkala.

We just started moving ahead and around 6 pm we reached near samse. The sunset had already happened and golden hour had already gone by. But as we were slowing down to find if there are any advertisement boards stating homestay, we could see tea plantation. I had seen tea plantation before in Ooty, but I always like to see green nature around me. Before natural light could completely fade out , we clicked some photos.

We called some homestays from ad boards there but all were full as it was long weekend. So with no option we decided to drive for more 2 and half hour to reach Karakala.The only concern was it passes through forest range of Kudremukha ( when I drive through forest at night I remember my Coorg incident with wild Elephant )

Just as we started entering the forest range area, there was a forest check post , where we could hear someone whistling , but we just ignored and entered the forest road.

You need to take forest pass to cross Kudremukha forest Range or its per person 200 Rs fine.

The roads were average but there was no one we could see ( of course how can you expect human being hopping around in forest which is house for wild animals ) . The vehicle movement on this road was very less. Hearing to some tunes and talking about our day we started moving ahead.

After almost 2 hour drive we could reach the end of forest check post , where we were asked for pass and we didn’t had it. We somehow managed to convince the forest officer that we weren’t aware about it and also there was no one stationed at check post. We somehow dodged the fine, but guys please take a pass ( its free of cost)

We were back on good roads again, and we reached our night halt destination Karakala around 8:45 pm. It’s a small city and only a few stay options available here. I assume here the population of community following Jainism is higher , as there are many Jain temples around and also the famous Gomateshwara statue.

We checked in two accommodations and both were full. We thought if we didn’t get another option lets have dinner and move ahead towards NH 66. But luckily got an option and had a halt over there. For dinner we went out were we had Thalis. Post thali we had Paan and enjoying the slight drizzle we came to hotel. Summarizing the day we went to sleep.

Next day we didn’t had much plan but it was all about returning to home, so we woke up a late. and started our day around 9 am.

After breakfast we checked out from room , and my dad just got list of nearby places from the hotel owner. First on list was Gomateshwara Statue ( It was just around a km from place where we stayed ) , but the gate was closed for car, so we didn’t plan to walk the stairs and decided to move to next location.

Our next location was a small village by name Varanga. It’s known for famous Jain temple in the middle of water and you can traverse only with the help of wooden boat.

It was my first experience is such boat. I was a bit nervous as there are no safety jackets or any such precautions and a small wooden boat carried almost 17-18 adults at one time. It was all about balancing. I though enjoyed the ride.

Had blessings of Gomateshwara and now it was all about driving back to Goa with so many memories to take back as well.

On way we decided to have lunch in Murudeshwar and moved ahead with that mindset. Murudeshwar is a place known for Shiva temple and also the second tallest statue of Lord Shiva is installed here.

Around 1:45 pm we reached Murudeshwar to have our lunch. It was average not that good. Even strange part was there wasn’t much crowd here.

With our tummies averagely happy due to average food 😊 we set our foot on road again. We had set destination on maps as our home address, but just as we moved a few kilometers we could see entrance way to Idagunji Ganapati temple. Just before reaching Murudeshwar my sister had called and had mentioned about the same temple.

As this trip was all about someone else setting up itinerary, we decided not to break that trend and took a right turn to enter that village to take blessings of Lord Ganapati. Its just 4 km inside the NH 66. We need to walk for 5 mins from parking.

We took the blessings and started back the journey. Now plan was to just reach home. We took a halt at 4:30pm in Ankola to buy some more mangoes😊.

As we reached Karwar around 5:30 pm we were out of fuel and hence had to refuel. We just had 2 litres of petrol, so that we can reach Goa border where petrol is cheaper 😜.

We reached home around 8:30 pm due to lot of traffic on way.

This is how a long weekend was turned into a short trip with parents . If you read till here please like and follow. Signing Off until next destination 😊

The Scotland Of India – Coorg

Coorg – The hill Station known for its Coffee Plantation

24 th December 2020 , Christmas and New year was just around the corner. Everyone was waiting for new year with a hope of getting rid of coronavirus pandemic which had already ruined the entire year in all sense.Travel to most of the places was restricted, but it was getting a bit normalized as it came to end of year.

So, by taking minimal risk and to get rid of boredom stuck inside rooms for most part of the year, we planned a small three day trip. The trip was way too impromptu that we hardly planned anything as such and just decided to take a day off and make use of the long weekend. Our parents refused and all being senior it was risky for them to travel, so it was me and my sister again to travel to what is known to be The Scotland of India – Madikeri aka Coorg.

We woke up as early as 7 am in the morning. Got fresh, packed quickly some clothes. Googled few places to roam around coorg and downloaded the songs playlist in Pendrive (which eventually didn’t work due to Pendrive format issue🤦‍♂️ ).We finally stepped ourselves out of cocoon to travel enroute Coorg with our brand new Maruti Celerio ZXI (Just one month old ).

We left Ponda at 9 am, and maps showed us to be reaching approx. around 7:30 pm. We pretty much knew the road till Mangalore, so without much ado had our mandatory tea and accelerated ourselves to the destination. Morning drives are always good (even though not so early 😜). But with less traffic and not having to switch on AC depicts that it was pleasant. At around 10:30 am we reached Karwar, and since we didn’t have our breakfast in the morning. We entered the city to take a stop. We decided to have heavy breakfast and ordered idli’s, bun and sabji and one masala Dosa along with not to be forgotten TEA.

Tummies were full and happy, but still a lot of drive was left. So, without wasting more time started our forward journey all along the southern coast. As we started moving ahead it was peak time for sun to bless with heat and humidity due to coastal bend. For every beautiful coastal line there’s something you need to get yourself compromised with. Roads were all 4 lanes but after some time it got a bit boring driving through those highways with sun heat increasing, and even AC with full fan just not making it pleasant.

We took our Lunch break just close to 3:30 pm along Udupi Highway at Shardha International. Had Gobi Manchurian and veg fried rice. Food was average. We were still on track to reach destination before 8 pm. But since this trip was without any plans, searched for accommodation near Coorg. Since safety was highest priority booked accommodation at KSTDC ( Karnataka state Tourism Development corporation ) near Talacauvery , which is run by state government.

Setting our map destination to this KSTDC location started moving ahead. After crossing Mangalore , we had to leave the toll road to move towards Coorg (Toll Road goes ahead towards Kerala). Dodging some city traffic we started moving ahead at very slow pace. Only worrying part was had to cover the hilly region road under dark , which was painful.

All was going normal (but with me that’s quite unusual 😊), and there came the twist. All thanks to trust that we have on our Google maps. It made us to take a right turn and just 2 mins through it , it felt to be some outskirt. And the adventure started. It was almost a single lane road through forest. The road was all about zig zag curves. I had to change gear literally every 10-20 seconds. Bored of which I decided to climb through this curvy roads on second gear itself. As moved ahead the conditions of roads also got worsened a bit.

There were no street lights and more weird was no cars were crossing us , and also no one was following us. By now it was sure we had taken the wrong route, as couldn’t see any cars on route to famous tourist destination is impossible, until I was stupid to think that way. Just moving ahead to add more fear, there was board stating, work in progress ahead ( clearing for landslide ). The road was so narrow with valley on one side even taking U-turn was difficult on that road.

Also to add more problems, there was no network ( offcource how can expect in the middle of the jungle , which is house for animals and not social animals like us ). Slowly we started moving ahead and after sometime we were happy to see some street lights and houses. But there came two new things infront of us. One we could see more of Kerala number plates car parked and also we got limited range enough to send us the message stating Welcome to Kerala. From no checkpost/border crossing through jungle we had reached Kerala.

Now we were more concerned , but seeing some cars and people made us a bit relaxed and move ahead. But as we were going slow, it was already around 7:30 pm and now the destination was showing us as we will be reaching around 9 pm.

But as we moved ahead the happiness got over and curvy zig zag climb roads started, with single lane and u-bends/turns every few seconds. We could only see once in a while a few jeeps carrying transport goods. and every time we had to stop to cross as roads were very small and valley on one side with mountain on another. Our destination time started increasing and in no time it showed us to be reaching at 9:45 pm.

Finally we reached the checkpost . It was the Kerala checkpost from where we re-entered Karnataka, not sure how we reached Kerala without any border checks 😜

Once entered Karnataka, we could see more jeeps but roads remained the same. And than all of sudden one traveler jeep having family on-boarded in it told us to wait, They were Mallus and were saying “halli halli“, we didn’t understand. Than they started showing us the action of elephant. and we understood that elephant is ahead. For first second I was like, ‘Yeahhh’ and than for a second thought, its wild unmanned and I am in a celerio. It can easily crush us. I asked them whether its coming or going, so that I can take U-turn.

They said its going, and they calmed us so that we could proceed slowly. We slowly moved ahead and few meters ahead we saw a huge wild elephant all by himself climbing the road. Till that time I used to love elephants, but not that day . I was scared till hell. The elephant had almost covered up the entire road. Just stopped the car and waited it to go. Now it was almost 9 pm and we just stayed feared thinking how elephant can escape from this roads and just hoping it doesn’t turn back and come attack us.

But than came couple of trucks and they shouted halli halli. By now I knew halli is elephant, but I just feared that by the truck head lights hope it doesn’t turn back. We waited for 15 mins and than just slowly moved ahead, we moved almost at 10 km/hr speed for next 15 mins, and than thought , it must have gone towards side and zip lined ourselves from there. Now the open windows of car was closed and now thoughts started generating in mind whether we may encounter more wild animals on our way.

That was one of the crazy drive through jungles I had , that I will remember forever. And through all this we finally reached our destination around 10:30 pm. The restaurant of the accommodation was almost closed and even the hotel main doors were closed. As they told us hey tried to contact us , but we were not reachable , ( Off course we were playing hide and seek with that elephant all that time ).

We just requested them to give whatever food that is available . The staff was kind enough to arrange rice , sambhar and pickle. We quickly got fresh and had our dinner laughing now on all the incidents. We even decided to drop plan to watch elephants the next day 😎. After this crazy day it was time to take some rest.

Next day early morning woke up around 6:30 am. It was cold and pleasant. I quickly got fresh and had my cup of tea. The view outside the hotel was majestic, could see huge mountains and this is the one from where river Kaveri originates.

We got all ready and started exploring Coorg and what more to start from blessings of Tala Cauvery ( where Kaveri river originates ). Driving through hills covered with coffee plantation . My main intent to explore coorg was to see coffee plantation and I was happy to drive along this vast green laid beauty.

We reached the temple parking from where we need to walk a bit.

If not able to walk you can take richshaws as well, but its hardly few meters.

We took blessings and snapped some cool pictures from location , before heading down hill. I was more mesmerized to see the sky and the Sahyadri hills at long range was just awesome start to our coorg site seeing.

On way there were many shops selling home grown cardamom (elaichi ) and coffee powder along with coffee chocolates. We bought some packets of each of them as souvenir and also to give to our guests back home and moved towards the hotel.

But as moving down hill the coffee plantation photo to be taken was always on mind. Also wanted to know how the coffee beans are crushed to make the powder. So waited at one house to-do the same , but due to language barrier couldn’t understand much and just moved ahead from there, with hope that we could see more in our further journey.

After reaching hotel we did our breakfast and another cup of tea. We packed our bags and checked out, but before leaving from hotel at walking distance there was temple , so we decided to just walk all through the market area towards temple. But the scorching heat made us look foolish to walk in the sun. We just saw temple from outside and ran towards our car. With full ac on we continued our journey.

We took a stop to refuel our car and than the journey to explore started .

Our first plan was to just explore any coffee plantation, so we stopped by one site.

As we were taking pictures an old man came to us. He started asking something which I didn’t understand , but with little knowledge of kannada language I explained him that we here to explore the plantation and click some pics.

We learnt that he was the one who owned this property and he was happy that we came to explore his property. He gave us good info about different types of beans and different stages of how coffee powder is made from this beans right from plucking to getting baked and crushed in factories.I made a video which I have with me.

Also he invited us at his home. The people here are very kind. We walked all along to meet his family. All along it was all lush green plantation of pepper spice and coffee beans. At same time we were all communicating in Kannada. I learnt one thing with little knowledge of language you can communicate, it’s all about expressions and emotions that matters the most.

He introduced us to his wife and also told that he will make coffee for us. But since we already had our breakfast we just Thanked him for all this overwhelmed gestures. He gave us tour of his home grown vegetation in the backyard and also gave some beans

We were really lucky to meet this guy , and now by now my Coorg trip was complete and rest exploration was just a bonus.

Thanking him we moved ahead, we could see more coffee plantation, but after some time it wasn’t having any more wow factor😜.

As we moved towards city, the cold weather turned into warm and it was all crowded. Now I thought the night mishap did help us explore the best part of coorg instead of exploring the crowded city of coorg.

It had crossed 1 pm and we wanted to have lunch but it was so crowded that there was hardly any place to park car. So we decided to skip from city and have food somewhere on way. We took the Madikeri Mysore road to see the monastery. The road was awesome. On way we took a break at Naad Kaapi ( Google Map Location ).

We just took that stop as we were hungry not knowing why God had made us stop here at this restaurant ( you will understand as the day will go ahead ) .This was newly opened and the restaurant uncle, aunty were really kind. They used to cook themselves and made us the meal that we want. That was really nice.

They prepared it on the spot and we enjoyed the veg meal here. The old couple that run this restaurant are really friendly and helpful.

After having our tummies full we went ahead to explore the monastery. But as we reached near the destination we could see there was no rush/ crowd. We were surprised and as walked out of car to check, we got to know the monastery was closed for tourist entry due to Covid restrictions. This was the first upset for this trip, but we were like ok and clicked some pictures from outside.

We also did some shopping just outside the monastery where we bought different flavours of coffee. And now we just sat our next destination as Dumbare Elephant camp. As we had that encounter with elephant the earlier night, we were not too excited to visit this place, but since it was just around 3:30 pm and lots of time remaining to wrap up the day, we decided to go ahead.

But as we were moving ahead we saw Cafe Levista. ( We had seen a lot many hoardings and local shops selling the brand Levista coffee). So as we saw this cafe , we decided to try it out.

The cafe was way too luxurious and better than CCD. We ordered cappuccino. The price was also lesser than the other brand cafe. The taste was also good and all around the cafe had TV screens showcasing how the cafe is brewed.

Lazily we moved out of cafe (as we were afraid of elephant which was our next destination 😜). On way we took a break to see hanging bridge. This was the same water body extending from the Dumbare camp where elephants have bath. We enjoyed the scenic beauty and moved ahead to the camp.

As we reached the camp parking , we were back to crowded area. We parked the car and got to know that there was a boat that takes you to the other end of the camp where you can see elephant up close. We stood in queue but missed the boat as timing of last boat closes at 5 pm. We weren’t sad at all. But stood along to see elephants entering the water to have a bath.

So that was the wrap for the day for our sightseeing. As the sun was setting we decided to have a stop for tea/coffee and book our accomodation for that day.

We decided to have a stop at Naad kaapi itself where we had lunch, as it felt like more of home than restaurant. We ordered french fries and coffee ( for first time preferred tea over coffee , that’s what coorg can do to anyone ).

And now when I open Goibibo, I couldn’t find a single accomodation available.I thought we will get accomodation easily but that was not true ( The accommodations were full due to long weekend christmas holiday and people had come out just after covid restrictions ). Now at 6:30 pm in evening I was a bit worried of how to find the accommodation.

But to our help was uncle ( the owner of Naad Kaapi ). He contacted with his friends and helped us find a accomodation and he helped us have it negotiated for a discounted rate. This Kodagu guys are really awesome.

So we thanked uncle and went towards the cottage to get fresh.The blue Bell cottage was in middle of coffee estate. I wondered if I could get a chance to stay in coffee estate , but never thought it will come true. if you are destined to achieve your dream and if you are working hard for it, somewhere with help of someone god will help make you achieve it.

The road from highway towards the cottage was very narrow road. I was a bit nervous as I didnt wanted any scratches on our new car. The cottage was really nice. We quickly got fresh and wandered around the property. ( A funny incident about dog running after me happened while I was doing the payment. I am damn afraid of dogs 😊 )

We came back to Naad Kaapi restaurant to have our dinner. We had our dinner talking with owner and exchanging each other cultures and info. We again said a big thank to uncle and aunty and made ourselves to cottage.

Next day early morning we woke up around 6:30 am. The temperatures were very low all night. The owner of the cottage prepared tea for us , we had our tea and started moving back towards Ponda .

We started at 7 am in the morning and it was 493 km long drive. The drive was going to be smooth , but driving back on same path is always boring, but summarising our trip we started descending from the hills of coorg and catch the NH 66 highway from Mangalore to Goa.

We just took one break at around 10:30 am when we entered the Mangalore city highway for breakfast where we had masala dosa.

Just took a small stop at maravanthe beach on way . The sun was just over our head , but this beach was just next to road, that it made us step down and have a look. We quickly clicked some pics and moved ahead. ( You can google to check the drone photos of this beach, it’s really awesome )

After that we didn’t take any more breaks, except one refuel break and reached home ( Ponda Goa ) at 5:45 pm ( 10 hours continuous drive ).

It was a fun three day vacay and if you read till here please like and follow. Thank you and signing Off untill next destination.

One Horned Indian Rhinos – Pobitora ( Mini Kaziranga )

#SaveRhinos

Dodging ourselves from the traffic of Shillong ( Refer previous blog for details ), we got onto Shillong Guwahati high way. As we started moving away from city, we could see queue of cars waiting on other side and it continued for almost 3-4 kms, that’s how much of traffic congestion was there.

We quickly fueled at nearest petrol pump and took a pee break over there itself and set our eyes over Pobitora. The plan was to cover up as much km as possible and stop when there is city around 20-30 km before the sanctuary.

It was all highway and roads were good to have good speed. On way we tried to get hold of some fruits so that if we reach late than that will be our dinner, but as it crossed 8 pm the shops had started closing, so without wasting much time we started moving ahead. We had to again give a double Toll of Rs 160 since we didn’t had fast tag.

At around 9: 30 pm we reached a junction where it mentioned Pobitora at 1 hr. distance and told us to leave the Guwahati road.

We were aware that post 10 pm everything closes and we wont get anything, so after 5 minutes we decided to stay at nearby lodge. It wasn’t clean but it was about staying at night and leaving early in the morning.

We ordered Chole masala and Roti’s and took two Amul kool. Without wasting much time we ate and slept as had to wake up early in the morning.

Next morning we woke up at 4 am and this was the first time we woke up so early and reason behind this was, we wanted to do elephant safari and we didn’t find anything for online booking, and localities advised us to reach before 6 am to have any chance to get ticket.

So we quickly ,got ready in camouflaged clothes and left room around 4:30 am. It showed reaching in 1 hour 15 mins, but as we took to the highways, there was hardly any visibility . It was all foggy and visibility was hardly 2 meters. It was hard driving. For a moment I thought we wont be making in time and than came another hurdle , a toll of Rs 230 . Usually people come to Pobitora from Guwahati and its a no toll road, but since we were going via Dispur we got the Sonapur Toll

Now bit irritated moved ahead , visibility was not getting any better at all but than just few km ahead we took a left , that road would go through villages to Pobitora. But at first left itself there was train gate, another hurdle. When you get so many hurdles you loose hope, but I am used to it and knows that at end its always good.

Wait was for 10 mins for Freight train to move and for gates to open. Foggy narrow roads, all dark and going through villages, seems a bit scary but that’s how it was and only our car was there.

We couldn’t see the sunrise due to heavy fog, but some brightness was there around 5:15 am and that’s when we finally had our first view on Brahmaputra river. We crossed the bridge, there wasn’t clear visibility but it just calmed and relaxed our crazy morning.

We entered and reached Pobitora Wildlife sanctuary gate around 5:45 am , only to find that the gate is closed, the office is closed and no one there except us. My sister took a small nap and I just roamed in the fog. At around 6:15 am one forest officer/ care taker came, He was a aged person, but very kind and told us that office will open at 6:30 am. More people started coming after 6:15 am

Officially the ticket office opened at 6:30 am sharp , and we were first to join the queue (happy that at least somewhere we were first 😜). But No. it was not our day yet.

The officials said there are pre-bookings for elephant safari and they will be sent first and if there is any vacant seat or no-show from pre-booking than only the on-spot people will get a chance. All slots for 6:30 am were full.

A bit sad, but were told to wait for 7:30 am slot, ( which is second and last slot ) there may be chances, or go for jeep safari. A bit saddened we sat, but there was only 1 % hope as we were first in the waiting list. Every on-spot people convincing the officials , but he just said book it online or people book via agencies.

“Info : I didn’t find it anywhere in Google , also their number was unavailable. What was told to me over there was to connect via Assam forest official site Assam Forest Government Site“

At 7 am the official gave a slight hope that the first 2 people are confirmed, but need to wait till 7:20 am. There was happiness, but still we didn’t wanted to celebrate as still 20 mins were there. We quickly had a tea from nearby resto and were just hanging around the ticket counter 😊.

Finally 7:20 am came and official told us to pay the amount and gave us the ticket. Some memories or happiness needs a scenario to be created so that it can embark in our memories forever and this was definitely one among it.

Rs 500 per Pax for elephant safari

All happy dancing we headed towards the elephant safari gate. It was our first time with Elephant safari. Getting the ticket itself made us so happy that the anxiety to do safari reduced 😜.

It was 3 person on one elephant taking us through a walk through high grass field giving us the glimpse of one -horned Rhinos.

There are about 106 Rhinos currently in Pobitora. Unlike Kaziranga here the chances of viewing Rhinos are high as this is the place where density is high.We could see many Rhino families staying together.

Smaller horned Rhino was female and bit bigger horn was male. Their gestation period is around 15 months, and birth interval ranges from 34 to 51 months hence its population is very less. Also when Brahmaputra river Floods they move towards the hilly region. Also the forest officers have made arrangement for their safety. Also they don’t litter in any place but they mark an area for waste and always go there to dump.

After a wonderful safari, it was time to relish the memory over some breakfast. Had Parathas and omlete and Assam style Dal and mandatory tea. We bought a couple of Rhinos carved in wood as souvenir and taking this memories it was end of our trip.

It was around 10:30 am and sister’s flight was around 3:50 pm , so we thought there was enough time to explore another place and what’s better than having blessings of Goddess to wrap wonderful trip. So we set our maps to Kamakhya temple.

Roads are fine, but discipline of driving and cleanliness of Assam not good as to Meghalaya. On way we could see Brahmaputra river, as we were driving all along it.

We took a break in middle to buy some Assam team and went ahead towards temple. But traffic was following us as well, but we had kept a buffer and planned it.

All along the way, we could see lots of railway stations, not sure if Dispur is the main railway connecting the north east.

The road from entrance till temple is all curvy climbing a hill, also giving a view of Guwahati. We reached the temple parking around 12:30 pm and decided to have quick darshan and leave by 1 pm, but things doesn’t go as planned 😊

There was long queue for darshan, so we decided to pray from outside and leave. Meanwhile the support worker of temple helped us to connect with the pandit of the temple. The Pandit did all the puja and gave us the teerth, we took the blessings of goddesses and in a hurry made ourselves towards the parking (still as souvenir bought a cloth towel that is used in Assam for puja ). It was late and we had to rearrange the things as well, and at that very moment we remembered the physical Aadhar card of my sister was with the rent car owner (It was taken as a security). It was already past 1 pm and still 1 hour to reach airport and to add more complications we were low on fuel.

It was all chaos, before we decided to just arrange the bags and quickly reach downhill towards main road. The main road showed all red on maps. We had a really long wait in Shillong a day before and that was still running in our mind. We were running cut to cut on time, but somehow through moving traffic we made course to petrol pump, filled Rs 200 petrol and dropped my sister at airport at 2:10 pm sharp,

“UIDAI downloaded e-Aadhar can act as physical card verification at airport”

But as we reached airport there were huge queues. Somehow she managed to check-in the baggage and pass the security (more time because of tea powder, which went through multiple testing)

“Guwahati airport is a bit busy , so better go a bit early, or you will need to rush badly”

While she was going through it, I just took car to near by hotel ( Manikanta , where we had our first breakfast of trip ). As her flight took off for Goa (via Hyderabad, where she got hardly 15 minutes to board flight 😊), I had my lunch and tea and than I decided to drop the car at parking.

First I booked a oyo room for myself just opposite to airport and than took the car, hearing songs and relishing memories explored through six mile area of Guwahati(which can be said as one of main happening place ).

Gave the car back and for first time booked Ola pilot.

The pilot was very informative, but I was too tired to grasp all info .He dropped me to my room near airport. I was so tired that I got fresh , booked my flight (Guwahati – Delhi – Goa) for next day morning and fell asleep, only to wake up in morning and making my way towards airport to say Bye Bye to this trip.

Thanks everyone for reading till here. If you like please share and signing off until next destination 😊

India’s Second Wettest Land – Cherapunjee

Cherrapunji – The place which receives highest rainfall ( this was what taught to me in my geography ). Until I reach here only to find that it is second and Māwsynrām is first 😊

So from Dawki our next destination was to reach Sohra ( Please refer previous blogs of how we reached Dawki ).

As we moved ahead through the Dawki river bridge and viewing the Dawki from the heights, it was nice view to have while driving. The owner of the resto in Dawki where we had our lunch had mentioned us that the Asia’s cleanest village was just an hour journey from Dawki. But our problem was our mobile network was still showing Bangladesh network and we had no range at all.

Luckily we could read a sign board saying take a left to Mawlynnong, as we took it ahead of us was a traveler tempo filled with tourist ( As we headed ahead we could see several traveler tempos mostly having tourists from Maharashtra) . Now we thought of taking risk by just following the bus as definitely it will take them to all viewing spots. (After some time got to know one bad and one good news , good was that they were going towards clean village and bad was that even the driver of the tempo was unaware about the road 😜)

Going through curvy narrow roads with fencing of left side separating India and Bangladesh and village life and bamboo houses all over. The drive was fun and views were good. With the help of sign we kept moving ahead.

Around 3 pm we reached a spot where many tourist vehicles were parked, so following the herd we did park the car and asked the nearby what exactly is the spot here, the localities mentioned that in 20-30 mins walk there is living root bridge.

At first we decided to get back into car and leave to our real destination, as we had planned for the famous Nongriat living root bridge. But than just spared a second to have second thought to just quickly explore it , as sometimes you may miss some unknown locations.

The name of the village was Riwai and it was just 3 km before Mawlynnong village. It was a decent track of 15-20 mins and we could view the single living root bridge. This place is for those who cant trek the Nongriat double decker bridge and also the senior citizens can easily walk and visit this place.

Clicking some pictures we started the climb up back. We cant say it as trek as proper stairs are there that we need to climb. After some breathe losing climb we reached back to top where there are small shops.

For souvenir we took a miniature Koh( basket that people put of their back to go to work, or like the one used for plucking tea leaves) and also one wind chime.

We quickly got into the car as it was almost close to 4 pm and we had to see the cleanest village yet.

Those 3 kms towards reaching to the cleanest village I was just thinking and talking about what can be more clean in this village. As through out the state wherever we steeped it was clean.

The entry fee is Rs 100 per car

As we entered, one thing I could understand was its a commercialized hub to show the villages in Meghalaya. There was nothing unique of this village, as I mentioned earlier wherever we went across Meghalaya it was clean.

We just walked across the village and clicked some pictures. Finally had to do something and hence had a cup of tea here in one of bamboo house. ( Tea was average ). When I say commercialization, it meant almost all houses had home stay or were providing tea and snacks. But one positive was , its a good strategy to bring tourist to villages in Meghalaya and thereby helping them connect and also have some economy flowing in this part of the country.

After evening walk through village, it was time to get back to Sohra. We made quick call at home and started the journey. On way we found people from Bhoi community making fish and vegetable in authentic way using bamboo shoot.

As we started moving up, the network was back. It was dark as usual around 5 pm and on maps it showed us 3 hour to reach Cherrapunji. Going through curvy roads and music, we couldn’t witness much on the other side of the valley , but could differentiate the high dark hills.

Without anymore breaks we made ourselves towards Sohra. We reached Sohra around 8 pm, but city seemed quite calm. It didn’t seemed to be hush hush city but a normal village which is developing into a city.

We didn’t had any booking so just stopped by big apartment where it was written as Homestay available. Enquired with uncle and his family but it seemed all rooms in his property were full, but he helped us with one nearby property which belonged to his friend. he contacted and guided us to the place.

At first it seemed a bit weird as the property was new and in the entire property no one was staying. It was empty , and only we were going to stay. But the property owner assured us that its completely safe. Also he told his younger child to stay in the property itself and help us with whatever needed.

Got this property at very reasonable price of Rs 1400

Kindness in Meghalaya never ends. It was around 8:30 pm and they told us due to Covid-19 restrictions, all restaurants close by 9 pm. so we quickly got fresh and went to nearby restaurant.

I will specially mention the name of the resto, “Halari”. It was a very basic normal restaurant , no ambience nothing, but food was really good. We ordered parathas and jeera rice/ daal. All awesome. And at end we had 2 cups of coffee, that too was perfect. The temperature was showing as 7 degrees but didn’t feel the cold, or may be now we were slowly getting used to climate.

We came back to room and quickly got fresh and did re-packing to arrange things back as we had a huge day of trekking coming up the next day.

Next day early morning (6 :30 am), we woke up and it was the day to explore the all famous double decker bridge.

Quickly packed all the luggage back into car. Shaan the care taker of property was kind enough to make red tea 😊

We skipped our breakfast and directly made ourselves towards Tyrna village which is the base village for the Trek to start. The road towards village is picturesque with valley on one side. Roads are narrow though

We reached the car parking point around 8 am and 8:15 am sharp we started our descent taking a bamboo stick (for climbing back 😜, it does help). It was dense forest but very steep steps. As we were moving down it was all fun but after 10 mins looking at steepness and height of steps we were worried about coming back up.

Just after 20 -25 mins descent there is a way to view the single root bridge. We were initially planning to skip it, as we had seen one before a day earlier, but my sister looking at stairs decided to explore it and she made up her mind not to go any more ahead.

So we decided to explore it again. It was really awesome. The roots making up the bridge , this natural built beautiful bridge is one to add in your bucket list. We waited for 30 mins and in meantime looking at other people my sister also decided to make it to double decker. We decided to go slowly with various breaks.

We started for the double decker trek from there. It was more 400-500 steps descent through dense forest before we could cross the Nongriat bridge. We had experience of walking over hanging bridge in Dawki, so this time it was a bit easy, but the water as in Dawki all clean and beautiful, as if some one has added a blue coloring agent to it.

And than starts a bit difficult ascend for the last 1000 steps, but if you are fit its very easy. Having various stops we finally witnessed the beautiful double decker bridge. We had seen a lot of images so while witnessing we didn’t feel it different from what seen in photos over Google, but reaching here, trekking till here is a memory in itself.

We just took a long break and various trials to have photos with no one on the bridge. It was a bit hard as it was a bit crowded and every time a new group used to come.

We sat along the rocks and ordered two veg Maggi. ( costed us Rs 50 and water bottle costed 40 ). From here people usually go ahead to Rainbow waterfalls, but we didn’t go there and decided to return back .

After walking over the double decker bridge various times and trying to click the best pics we started the ascend at around 11 :15 am.

The cameras went inside the bags and concentration was to make it back to the parking. We considered a deadline of 12:30 pm to reach top at start of trek and went with same deadline. Slowly and steadily we started, but it was getting difficult as we were moving up. We took breaks every 20-30 steps. Due to steep and heighted steps, the ascend was becoming difficult. For our accompany we had two elderly ladies ( 60 + aged), they were struggling but were better than our pace.

Talking to them and sharing the thoughts, slowly and steadily we reached the first half ( single root bridge ), we took a break for some sting (energy juice). Took a 5 min break and started the last 1000 + steps. With time it was getting difficult and we were just counting down the remaining steps.

With multiple stoppages and pain in knees we finally made it back to top. There were struggles in completing it, but accomplishing something definitely makes you happy.

At around 1:15 pm, We just took back the bamboo as souvenir and made ourselves on further journey.

I was a bit hungry but we decided to stop by at our next site seeing and have our lunch over there. We munched upon some chaklis and ladoos on way.

Our next destination was Mawsmai caves. I have visited various caves in Goa and Maharashtra before , but never entered inside the cave, so was anxious about it.

We reached the cave site around 2 pm, all hungry, but at first decided to quickly explore it and than have lunch, but just as we entered, we could see the steps again that we needed to climb. We had gone phobic about this stairs and didn’t wanted to walk anymore, but it was just 1 min walk.

We entered the cave, and it was all calm, cold and very clean. Usually there are bats and bad smell inside the cave, but here the rocks were very smooth and clean.

The curvatures were mostly like lion legs, but we couldn’t understand much on the structure, but it was worth one time visit.

We clicked our pictures and came out. and as we started walking towards the parking, we could see a shop renting out local Khasi culture traditional clothes. My sister has interest in trying out the clothes and is photoholic ( a new word from me 😊) . Dressed up and clicked a few pics.

It was time to get some energy and fill up the tummies. We just entered a local resto before the parking and ordered momos. Coming to North East and not trying momos is a shame.

We also had parathas and tea to accompany . We quickly wrapped up the food and started our journey. It was almost 3:30 pm and our plan was to reach Guwahati that day which showed almost 6 hours, also I wanted to see the view of Sohra, the valleys around.

So we decided to skip the Nohkalikai falls (anyways its best viewed in monsoons) and quickly started towards Shillong. We took full speed enjoying the cool views of valley. We thought of not stopping but the sunset and valley view forced us to stop.

We were close to Shillong as early as 4:45 pm itself and from there it was only 3 hours journey more, so now our planned changed to witness the cherry blossom festival at night (Heard Naseeruddin shah had come).

We called Grant (the property care taker of Dew Drop In where we stayed the first night) and took the location of the Polo ground where it was held, but to our anguish just 5 mins later we were stuck in traffic. The traffic was so bad that it took us 2 hours just for 5 kms. Not sure it was due to festival or usually over weekends this traffic exits.

But one thing we noticed was the discipline, no one overtook or made a third lane and created more congestion. Instead everyone used to stop the car completely and wait.

Around 7 pm we reached Shillong, but it was of no use of waiting, as we had more distance to cover and lots of time was lost. We quickly changed the destination over maps to Pobitora wildlife Sanctuary and took a left road towards Guwahati.

Please like if you read till here and see you in next blog.

Asia’s Cleanest River – Umngot (Dawki)

Umngot River – The Cleanest River in Asia as per reports, but definitely cleanest as what I have seen till Date from whatever I have explored.

From Krangsuri waterfall Parking ,we booked our riverside tent stay for the night. (Refer previous blog on how we reached the falls).

Again catching up the curvy roads and scenic beauty all along we moved ahead towards the cleanest river. But after a few kilo meters we saw trucks lined up, loaded with heavy stones. It was two lane road with one lane occupied by this parked trucks and only one lane available for cars to move from both side.

So with car honking slowly we had to move ahead, we thought it would be a very small queue of about 500 meter to 1 km. and Dawki was around 20 kms from the falls. But let me tell you the queue never ended (Later we got to know , this trucks are basically exporting the stones to Bangladesh). With trucks on left all along and car honking to slowly move ahead, it took us a bit of time to reach our destination.

This drive was not pleasing, but after some time around 3:30 pm, we reached a diversion which read ( Dawki 1 km straight and Shnongpedeng/Darrang Valley right 3 km )

We got confused as the location which the tent owner gave was making us move right. So we called him just to confirm and he said yes. Shnongpedeng (took us some time to learn it pronounce) is the place where you can do all water activities and it is less crowded and less commercialized at least till the date we reached as compared to Dawki which is way too commercialized.

We made our ways through narrow road and as we moved ahead it got more narrower, around 1 km on maps it showed dead end, so out of a bit concern called that guy again, and he said don’t worry just come towards the dead end. As we started again, we could sight the river down the valley on left side and that relieved us that we are reaching closer to the location.

There was a mandatory check done and we were let in . There was a private parking at dead end, and we met our guide Karbi. He was a very humble guy and helped us give overview of the place. Our first eye sight fell on the zip line and we were like, this we definitely need to do. But due to those truck traffic, it was already 4:30 pm and started to get dark, so nothing was possible for the day , except for great memories to be re shared .

But before it gets too dark, we took a walk along the hanging bridge. The experience was good, but it was moving a bit too much and also the flooring was not 100 % safe, but it was good to have a great view and coming to adventure place and having such complains doesn’t suit either.

We just took our essentials and moved ourselves towards the tent. The view was really awesome, no words to describe it, you need to be witness it coming here.

Since we didn’t had our lunch we asked for Maggi and tea. And just enjoyed to Maggi, tea and cold breeze all along. The most important part which I would like to re state is the cleanliness. usually there are some plastics or bad smell or lots of pest/ mosquitos. But here there is nothing, its only you and nature. (HOPE PEOPLE KEEP THIS AS CLEAN AS IT IS).

There was no mobile internet and why would you need it anyways when you have come to just be with nature.

We made camp fire. Karbi and his cousin (Kupar) were really great hosts. They belonged to half Khasi and half Jaintia tribes and spoke different language from what Khasi people talk. The host was very helpful and taught us some greeting words in their language. And he himself was more anxious to plan and click the best photos for us and plan the activities.

We had our normal veg thali. The food was normal and Karbi had already given us a hint before that we can go to nearby restaurant for better food, but we didn’t wanted to go anywhere and wanted to stay at tent site in front on bonfire and enjoy the evening to be added in to the memories.

There were some other group who were dancing on some Assamese songs and let me tell you the famous Zingaat song by Ajay-Atul is famous and known in north-east as well😊

It was getting more and more colder , so we decided to call off for the day and go inside the tent and take rest. The mobile battery and power banks gets drained out faster due to cold weather, but we had enough charge remaining to set our morning alarms.

Next day early morning, again as decided at start to wake up at 5:30 am, never happened 😜

Again reluctant to get out of tent due to cold, but wanted to view the beauty over morning sun rays falling all over it. Some how managed to get out of tent and got freshened up and ready with new set of clothes.

We decided to have twining this day. OOTD was twinning t-shirts. We had planned to wear it long back, finally got the opportunity. We clicked some pictures and had omlete bread and tea for breakfast. There was lot of cold wind around.

Post breakfast we walked over the bridge again. The zip line had not opened yet, also as per Karbi and Kupar the water was not stable to get good photos as its not stable due to wind. So we just waited over the bridge, this time a bit more confident than last evening 😊 and kept witnessing the view and grabbing some knowledge from Kupar.

At around 9:45 am the zip line started when winds became less, and than started the nervousness as it was our first time. We filled up the form and made payment and got ready for the first adventure zip line. The instructor was kind to give us instructions in details. For first few seconds of go I was a bit nervous but it lasted just 1-2 seconds and I just enjoyed the zip line.

Zip Line costed us Rs 500 per Pax

Post zip line , it was time for boating over the cleanest river, From 10 feet to 70 feet and still we could see the rocks beneath. The valley view was mesmerizing and to accompany us, our host Karbi was extra proactive, and made sure we got over the cliffs to get best view, also clicked some beautiful pictures from other side of the cliff and made this boating experience a fun and one to remember forever.

The experience came to an end, but there are some places which you feel like re-visiting again and this place is definitely I would love to .

Heartily Thanks to this guys. We moved forward just talking about this memories.

Tent Stay with Food, Campfire and Boating Costed us Rs 1100 per Pax.

We walked through village before saying Good Bye to this wonderful place

Again as we moved out we came across those lanes of truck, before we made adhoc plan to see the border.

This was the gateway for all Indian vehicles exporting rocks to Bangladesh. Its also known as the Zero point. We stepped a foot ahead of it and came back. There were army officers on check points. Also all trucks were getting sanitized while entering India. One army officer also noticed our twinning and complimented on same 😊.

“Interesting fact: Our mobile network changed to Grameenphone (International Roaming) and time used to shift 30 mins in front automatically.”

After clicking the mandatory photos , it was time to take a break at some restaurant. Also we were out of money. We just took a quick stop at Food Planet (https://food-planet-good-food-is-good-mood.business.site/). The owner was very humble and generous enough to help us. We ordered schezwan rice and omlete , and while the order was getting prepared, he also helped us get to the ATM to withdraw money. Kind gestures always make you happy.

The owner at Food Planet had self decorated for upcoming Christmas 2021

But our hunger didn’t stop there we even ordered fried rice over it. And after we finished over lunch , we asked for check, he gave us the bill which was hardly 300 bucks. and to add extra shocker to it, he asked us, is the bill ok or need to be negotiated. That’s the first strange incident happened wherein the owner restaurant is asking back if the bill is expensive and needs to be reduced. When we asked him, why did he said so, he mentioned the tourist people usually complained of high rates

“To all people visiting this area, please don’t negotiate over food or the basic needs that you need.”

We spoke a bit with sister of the resto owner who owns a shop next to it. We got some chips for munching on the way and started our journey towards the next destination.

Please like and share if you enjoyed reading this blog and see you on the other side of the blog..

The Scotland Of East – Shillong

Shillong – The Hill Station and Capital City of Meghalaya, is known as the Scotland of East India.

After horrifying scenes from second – wave of Covid-19 pandemic which hit India badly in the months on April to June 2021, everything seemed stopped and with positive cases increasing rapidly and GDP going down , travel and tourism was badly hit. It was start of October when everything started to fall back in place Thanks to Indian government constant push to get people vaccinated and creating records in vaccination.

In all this chaos there was one state in the east that was not much impacted by Covid-19, the cases here were less, and people were still happy to stay in their villages. So it struck me to explore what exactly is the life style over here.

So finally I planned to visit my first exploration in the North east, a bit curious a bit nervous ( about how familiar/friendly the localities will be to tourist). All plans were set before The travel Day arrived

We were ready with our packing and we had a late night flight on 23rd of November from Goa. We had booked a driver to drop us at airport, but with me things never go smoothly. As he was coming to pick us he met with accident and we had to arrange another. The place where I come from doesn’t have much cabs available and my Dad recently had an eye operation so driving for him was a bit risky. But with no option left and hardly 2 hours left for flight, Dad decided to drop us. We quickly had mom – made veg Pulao and let our ways out.

We reached just on time to complete our check-ins and security and reached the gate when boarding had just started.

We were just excited to what were going to explore and were just talking about some fun stuff and we landed Bengaluru around 11:30 pm and we had a very long lay-over of around 7 hours for our next flight to Guwahati. We were not allowed for domestic transfer (as it is for connecting flight less than 4 hours).

But strangely there was no crowd at the airport. The scenes were different when at late nights I ever reached the Kempegowda airport. Even the eateries were getting closed. We were quite hungry as we didn’t had heavy dinner. Ate one Chicken tikka sandwich at Puro Gusto which costed around 500 bucks. (Would recommend to pack your food ).

We just took some rest over nearby resting chairs. couldn’t sleep properly as boarding was at around 6 am and didn’t wanted to fall completely asleep.

As the sun came above the horizon and from dark it started going brighter , the visibility was still not there and this time due to heavy fogging. Our boarding started on time, but were thinking how in this heavy fog the flight would take off. And as thought due to this fog the flight just kept moving on the track for at least an hour due to increase in traffic congestion due to heavy fog. But we were hardly concerned about it, as we needed sleep and as we sat were sleeping all along our way. Not sure when the flight took off.

It was three and half hour flight and all along we just slept. We landed around 10:55 am.

We quickly took our baggage and got fresh at the airport itself. We had booked a self drive car from Fufu gadi. The car representative was waiting for us outside. Had read good reviews about them in Google so had booked it ( Alto ).

Alto on Rent For Self Drive Costed us Rs. 1300 per day without fuel

And once out of airport the representative got the car and to our surprise it was again the same k10 engine machine and black grey color (the same model and color with which we travelled across Gujarat)

Our first stop was just outside the Guwahati airport at hotel named Hotel Manikanta . Here they provide south and north Indian dishes. Its a small hotel and I think strategically well placed , as I could see all tourist having their first stop here to fill in their tummies.

We had Masala Dosa and the first sip the very known Assam Tea. It was good.

Now it was start of our itinerary, we quickly took our stop at nearest petrol pump to make the blinking indicator to full. (Petrol price was 93.4 , 1 rupee cheaper from Goa).

On maps we set our destination as Umiam Lake and made ourselves towards our first destiny. As we were driving the first 10-15 kms. it didn’t give any feel of North east vibes. Normal traffic , people switching lanes weirdly, all was similar as in other part of the country. Till we reached a Toll plaza and scenes changed drastically.

Since our car’s fast tag was not active, we had to pay 160 Rs. (Toll was 80 Rs.)

Make sure when you rent a car to check the fast tag or else you will have to pay double amount.

From concrete houses to cute bamboo/mud houses. All the curvy roads with distant high hills dressed with greenery over it. Lots of betel nut plantation all along. And most importantly the way people were driving. All were driving at normal pace keeping enough distance between two vehicles and hardly anyone over takes. For a second I was confused whether is there a rule that gets this discipline in this driving here. But the driving disciple needs special mention and appreciation to Meghalaya 😊 ( ML 11 )

This needs a special mention as 90 % of the vehicles were either the Maruti Suzuki 800 or Maruti Alto. Hats off to this guys maintaining this cars. I could hardly see any luxurious SUVs or Sedan (except yellow plated sedan tourist vehicles)

At the borders we were made to stop for mandatory Covid-19 vaccination testing. The Meghalaya govt has a nice tourism app wherein you can pre enter all the details and add the itinerary details and create a ticket and same needs to be get barcode checked at the check station along with Covid-19 certificates. This definitely saved a lot of time.

Please use the Meghalaya Govt. App :
Meghalaya Tourism App Link

We were just moving ahead and it was hardly around 2 pm and seemed like sun is starting to set, we shut the AC and opened the windows and could feel the first cold wind. It was indeed breezy and felt like a cold evening just at around 2- 2:30 pm, we quickly rushed to our first destination.

Around 3:30 pm we reached the Umiam Lake and luckily we reached at the best time, as it was the golden hour and sun was about to set. The USP of this place was its calmness. You just feel like sitting for hours doing nothing, just watch the sun set and hear some music over cool winds blowing around.

We clicked some photos and made our head back to main city Shillong. As we started the car it had already started getting darker and for me for whom this was the first time exploring east, it was very unusual to see darkness so early as 4 pm.

We slowly moved ahead, having some ladoos and chaklis ( mom always packs them for the trip ) and we could see red lines on the google maps indicating traffic. But as appreciated earlier this was moving traffic and all were disciplined enough to keep their vehicles in one lane and not create any congestion.

Slowly and Steadily we reached Shillong. We had booked our home stay 5 km away from city over the hill. We reached the stay (Dew Drop In) at around 5:30pm wherein it looked like 8:30-9 pm at night.

This was our first interaction and stay with Meghalaya localities. The lady sanitized the bags and seemed a bit rude at start ( later found may be she was a bit introvert enough to communicate with the guests )

As we entered the floors were all cold and to someone staying in Goa the 10 degree cold in the hills is definitely going to give a shivering experience. We quickly got fresh and wanted a cup of tea. But the owner had kept the tea dips and milk powder. I am not a fan of tea dips and so decided to go back to city and explore a few market area as well.

Interesting Fact : The people here usually have Red Tea and not Milk Tea.

We headed back to the city market. The famous market here is named as Police Bazar. After some searching we parked the car at car parking building which is just at the center of the bazar. First we entered inside small hotel to get a sip of tea.

"Interesting story (You can skip this para) : When we landed in Guwahati, we saw a family in the flight bus taking us to the departure gates. They were just standing in front of us and were unique enough to make us remember them. We saw the same family again in Umiam Lake, but that wasn't a much surprise as its a first stop for every traveler. But the same family at the tea shop in Police Bazar at same time, that needs to be said as a huge coincidence 😊 "

We had tea and wandered around street market. The street was full of woolen sweaters, hats, soft shoes and other woolen stuffs. It was around 7:30 pm and we got to know that the Bazar stops at around 8 pm. So we quickly bought one woolen poncho and than headed to get some hat and souvenir, but to our surprise here time is more important than business, when the guy was just packing up, he just said he cant sell as time is up , Its closed. That was strange.

We than walked around the opposite street , it was basically a vegetable and fruit market. And the vegetables looked so fresh and clean, that we couldn’t resist to buy some carrots and red radish.

Finally we got some water bottle and headed back to the stay.

It was chilling at the stay as it was at higher height than usual city. Before leaving to market we had asked the owner to prepare the food. The different among this was the Khasi food.

“Khasi is one the the tribe community in Meghalaya. The tribe names are based on the hill names where they belong to viz : the Khasi , Jaintia etc. There may be other tribes based on different names, the above two is what I got to know 😊”

As we were having our dinner , we met the main owner of the property Grant. He was a very lovely guy and gave us good information about their culture, food and what places worth explore. It was nice to and fro conversation as we had our dinner. The dinner mostly lacked spices, but when you travel you need to explore and not force yourself to eat how its prepared at home 😊

Post dinner , we were a bit tired but, I wanted to see the city peak point from terrace at night, but as stepped out the cold was unbearable. Hardly stood for 1 minute before rushing in (The shaky photo explains it all). Didnt waste much time and went to sleep.

Next day early morning we woke up around 7 am. As we were planning for this trip we thought of waking up at 5:30 daily 😜.

7 am was like 9-10 am in the west side of India, but still it was very cold. I just kept the geyser on and was reluctant to come out, as that was the only place were could breathe easily. Finally made mind to get ready as delays would mess up further plans. Had some photos in the terrace , seeing the Shillong peak . This property had a very nice terrace garden. Various flowers blooming. And finally we said good bye to this nice home stay.

As we moved ahead we could see many trees with pink and white flowers. We had a bit reading done of this pink trees before travelling , but Till that time we didn’t knew its Cherry blossom . And to a new knowledge the date was 25th Nov 2021 and it was the inaugural day of International Cherry Blossom Festival of India, which is hosted by Shillong every year during the month on November.

We were lucky to witness this beautiful trees as we moving ahead. Definitely waited to click a couple of photos (Knew will witness some kind of pink blooming trees so had planned to wear pink😊).

And without more delay we started making way to our first site seeing of the day, the Laitlum Canyon. But by mistake took a wrong road for 100 meters and for our luck may be we were forced to take wrong road to witness the Cathedral Catholic Church of Shillong.

And again coming on right path we started back to Canyon. As we were driving we started getting the feel of Meghalaya culture, It was completely different, the houses the cleanliness the curvy roads and scenic mountains. We took a short break for tea and reached the Laitlum canyon.

For Information , Asia’s cleanest river Umngot river originates from Laitlum Canyon.

Clicked some pictures and walked along to explore this place. It wasn’t something special that I didn’t see before, so it was all average. But the red radish which we bought last night (I had seen it first time in life). Was hungry and I tasted it, It was very spicy and couldn’t eat it. Than tried the carrots, It was really fresh.

As we planned to exit from this place , the mandatory try f Maggi over the hills is must. And we didn’t had anything from morning (excepts carrots :P). The veg Maggi was very delicious and when we asked them to make it spicy. The only spice that you will get here added is black pepper powder 🙂

After having breakfast , we started moving towards our next destination. On our way back we saw various bamboo and houses of village. We stopped to interact with family who had corns hanging all outside their house. They were warm and kind enough to give us information. It was for the pigs.

Our plan was to reach Dawki at the end of day, but we decided to go via Jowai (The west Jaintia Hills ), which had its own pros and cons.

As we started the roads were really good and on both sides huge mountains and pine tress and cherry blossom trees .We could also hear stone crushing sites.

All was good until at around 12 noon we got stuck for 30 mins due to some road construction work, but from there on the drive was not enjoyable. (By means of road condition as it was all muddy/ off road ). But I had some interesting stories going around from my sisters company to accompany 😊.

We didn’t stop for any breaks and reached our destination around 2 pm. I had not seen much about this waterfall named Krangsuri, but seen photos and thought its all photo shopped photos for insta.

The road way till parking was very off-road, but our alto could manage anything. It had already changed its color from grey to mud brown. Thanks to all the off-roading.

From parking we had to walk a few steps downwards to reach the falls. For us coming from Goa and witnessing waterfall didn’t make us anxious enough.

There was ticket at entrance which said 50 Rs per person. and since we were not interested much to see the falls we at first thought “Seriously 100 Rs for this falls.??”

But all this non anxious movement and non interest shown to explore vanished just by first look to this falls (It was like love at first sight ). The color of water was completely different. It was turquoise colored and I have never seen such before. Also it was very very clean. I just got shell shocked seeing it for first 2 minutes. Clicked some pics and went down to dip inside the water.

Had fun in water and just had first happiness in this trip viewing this beauty, but now it was time to climb the steps (This was warm up for our upcoming Trek).We reached back the parking just talking about this mesmerizing view. At parking lot, had some water and sprite from nearby shop. Had ladoos and Chaklis and made move to a place which was on top list of exploration.

Lets see you there in next post. Until than signing off. Please do like this post 🙂

A Leisure Day – Vadodara(Baroda)

Even though we were late to reach Ahmedabad and slept in the car itself ( Please Refer Previous blogs for reference), the tiredness in us made us have a great sleep, but some how I woke up early due to non comfort of sleeping over Driver’s seat.

It was still dark and just opposite to the car parked I saw a small decent shop selling some agarbattis and Pan masala. I just went ahead with a hope that I could get some help atleast with charging my phone. The elderly guy over there was very kind. He just mentioned that the Hotelier is lazy and always does that. He just told me to get mobile charged. Not just that he was also very kind enough to offer me tea and also he tried connecting to the Hotelier himself.

After some luck he could connect and Hotelier finally opened the door. But by than it was 6:30 am and taking that room was literraly of no use.

I just woke up my sister, we just unloaded the bags as I wanted to give back the car as it was last day with our great car Altoji which helped us make a successfull trip really smooth.

I just cleaned up the car and dumped all the plastic bottles and wrappers into the dustbin and called the guy who was assigned to pick the car. Sadly he mentioned that the area which I had chosen to drop is different from the Hotel location, so he shared me the location over WhatsApp that was near Sarangur Bridge.

I quickly went ahead and submitted the car. He did assessment of the car and finally gave me node of perfect submission and gave assurance that extra re- fuel amount will be refunded soon.

But in hurry I had forgotten to charge my mobile completely and it was dead again and frankly speaking I just took an Ola auto who dropped me to another unknown place. Somehow I managed to charge a couple of percent of my battery in a tapri and learnt the direction over maps and walked to the Hotel Location.

It was 9:30 am and we were all set to go to our next Destination i.e Vadodara. We had our Rent a car booked from Zoomcar in Vadodara from 10 am. But that wasn’t a concern as we had the booking for entire day.

But concern was right now we were missing our Altoji as there was a lot of stuff to carry and we were not sure how to reach. We started booking Uber and Ola outstation but either they were over priced or were cancelling. So Hotelier told us to go near the Ahmedabad – Vadodara Highway where we could get plenty of options. So we finally called Uber to take us to that place i.e CMT Express way.

From Ahmedabad to Vadodara Hotel on Special Taxi took us Rs 800/-

Once we reached there were plenty options on sharing basis, but we wanted it separate as we had lot of luggage. so we did some negotiation and finally came to a price where they agreed to take us.

Once we sat in the car I hardly remembered anything, the roads were damp smooth. I knew it will pass through Anand area (Place known for Amul Industry and Milk Revolution) . But the first time when I openend my eyes was at some junction in Vadodara itself where Driver told us to tell the maps direction of Hotel we booked.

We reached our Hotel around 12 noon. It was located in Sayajigunj Area just opposite to The Maharaja Sayajirao University.

The hotel was clean, we quickly got fresh, even though I was not fresh mentally but our last destination was Pending i.e. the tallest Statue of the World – Statue of Unity.

It was hardly 1 and half hour drive from Vadodara. So once I got fresh around 1 pm I started walking setting my maps to destination where the car was stationed.

Maps showed me walking direction passing through University. I waked through the university with various activities going around and it was a nostalgia feeling of my college life.

Finally i had glimse of the car parked just outside the Sayajigunj Garden and by its first look it looked very old. Opened the car and it literraly stinked a bit, I just completed the checklist and once I started the car it didn’t start at all. The battery was completely down. I tried to start it several times but no use. So I had to call the ZoomCar again to get it sorted for me. Finally after waiting there like a fool for around 30 minutes the agent came only to give me bad news that they don’t have any backup vehicle and they are sorry for this and will refund the amount.

I was really frustated with Zoomcar Gujurat as within span of 1 week this had happened twice. Just screaming out the frustation to the Customer care I started walking back to the Hotel location. By now it was 2 pm and hiring a private cab and going there wouldn’t make sense. So sadly came back to the Hotel. But somewhere I felt it all happened for good reason.(As we had not pre booked our tickets for Statue of Unity so our chances were less. Also I was really exhausted).

Straightaway we walked few meters only for Police Uncle who helped us to a really good restaurant named ” Radhika hotel”. Let me tell you I never had such a tasty authentic Gujurathi Thali till than. We had our tummies full and we did the best part than, went to our respective rooms and get a well needed sleep.

Woke up all lazy at around 5 pm, just had a tea and had no plans what to do. So a person out there told us that there is really good market by the name “Mangal Bazaar”, where you can do shopping.

We just hired an auto and went there. It was full rush and best place for streets as well as fashion shopping. The clothes were really cheap as compared to other cities we had seen so far. We did some shopping for Papa and me and also bought some sweets from Jagdish Sweet mart (Its a famous outlet in Vadodara, and make sure to buy from Original outlet as many shops have kept the same name. ). We came back to the hotel and did our Final packing.

At around 8:30 pm we weren’t much hungry but decided to go down for a walk and explore the area. But as we got down just below the hotel complex there’s a cute Tea cafe with weird tagline.So we decided to check it and also have something to eat. Gujurat state which is known as Dry state (No Alcholol) had a tea cafe with tea having various alcohol flavours. The cafe had a cute ambience and lots of games to play.

I tried Rum and Vodka tea(It literraly had same taste), ate maggi in Kulhad and played timeless Ludo and snake and Ladder. We stayed there for almost more than an hour that it was already 9:30 pm. So just had a small walk and went back to Hotel only to watch a Hindi dubbed South Indian movie 🙂 (I am a fan of such movies :P).

Next morning woke up around 8 am. We had pre booked our train fleet from Vadodara to Surat which was scheduled at around 9:30 am. (Train is the fastest mode of transport to reach Surat). Got fresh and checked out from Hotel. The Railway station was just 500 meters away from our Hotel location, so decided to just drag the luggage and walk along.

We didnt have our breakfast as we decided to just experience the food from train itself. The train was on time. The train was clean but it stinked a bit due to smell from the toilet, but since it was a short journey it was manageable. We had some bondi wadas and tea.

We reached Surat around 12 noon. My sister had her Flight back to Goa at around 4 pm. There was a lot of time but I had to get back to Pune that night itself. So we didn’t waste time and hired a cab and straightway moved towards airport. We just had view of well structured city of Surat and heard it is this place where most of the women clothes are designed and sold across the country and its way too cheap. (Definately a place needs to be explored in future).

We reached airport around 1 pm and it seemed a very small airport and I am assuming there are hardly any fleets from here by looking at it from outside. I bidded a Good Bye to my sister who had been a great company through out this trip and really it was our first trip together :).

And now I had no idea how I will get back to Pune. Only thing I knew that there are frequent trains from Surat to Mumbai. So as I was checking way to go out of airport to hire cab back to Railway station, a couple of guys told me that a bus will be coming in 5 minutes that will drop at the railway station and literraly within 5 minutes there was a local bus and I was dropped at Railway station for just Rs 20 (while going from station to Airport cab took Rs 260) and bus service was good and so was condition of the bus.

It was close to 2 pm as I moved inside the railway station and luckily I met with an agent who helped me get a Sleeper ticket (Even though for a second I thought I got fooled by that guy). The train journey was good this time, I was just recollecting all the memories of my 7 Days tour.

I got down at Borivalli station in Mumbai at around 5 pm and from there took a local to Dadar station as I was aware that outside Dadar station there are various sharing based options.

Took a cab till Wakad in Pune and from there Ola Auto to my Room. I Reached Room at around 9 pm.

The Great Trip to Gujurat ended with Great memories Added in my Life.

Please Like, Share and Follow if you liked reading this blog :).

Untill next Destination Signing Off :).

The Home of Asiatic Lion – Sasan Gir

After bidding Goodbye to many beautiful places around Gujurat (Read previous blogs for details) So finally at 7 : 30 pm we left for Sasan Gir which was still 150 kms away but more important it was via Junargarh and we had to go through the jungle area.

We quickly set our destination to our pre booked hotel which was just opposite to Sinh Sadan, (were registration takes place and Safari starts from this very location).

As we started moving ahead the vibes around the area was concerning, there was literraly no one and it was dark, no radium as well on the roads to help, hardly any houses nearby and only the headlight of our car. I was feeling hungry but didnt had guts to stop, it was so much a outskirt area. We had whatever mom had packed for us.

As we crossed Junargarh we just had a small stop to call at home and also had some Amul milk shake and moved ahead. And as we headed ahead the roads started to be more and more narrow. We were literraly in the Jungle area where usually wild animals even comes on the roads (had read a lot of news about it).

Finally we reached our Hotel around 11 pm. We were literraly in the middle of the jungle. Lucikily for us there was one restaurant open (which was also about to close). We didnt do checkin but first went ahead to have our dinner.

It was almost closing time so whatever we were ordering from Menu was getting a big No from the waiter. So we had a few chapati and sabzi and back to unload the luggage from car and get rest as next day we had to wake up as early as 5 am. My hair were messesd up and neither I was feeling good to get to bed without bath. So at 1 am I took shower and straight away slept

Next Day morning I woke up as early as 6am all excited (usually I am a lazy guy who has hardly seen Sunrise) for my first Jungle Safari. There are various slots available but I had chosen the first slot (6:45 am as it was Winters and Sun rise was around 7:30 am that day, Usually in Summer the first slot is around 6 am). This slot had the best chance of viewing the Lion.

We got ready with our Camoflauge outfits and came down, where our Receptionist suggested us to join an elder couple so that we share the Safari price. They were from orissa and were very quiet kind. We had our tea and all set to the registration desk to get the permit checked and get assigned the Jeep for our Safari. And like waiting for any results of exam, we were waiting for our results based on earlier days route (Route No 2 was the route everyone wanted). We got route number 9 and we were like ok as the Guide told us it is the longest route and passes through five other including route No . 2. No one are allowed to change route once entered the gate.

We need to Pre Book For Safari Permits online – Rs 800/- (WeekDay Price for Group of one to max six people). And Charges for Jeep Rs 1700/- plus Guide Rs 400/- extra.
There are only 50 Permits Available for a Day.

So entered the main Gate in the Dark and with eyes on both sides just to have glimse of mighty Lion/Lioness. It was dark and we could hardly see any animals out there, before we came across some deers. Only to our surprise the Guide told us that you will see plently of Deers as they give birth thrice a year , Quite Interesting.

As it started to fade away from dawn to morning sun rise the sky had unique colours to it, which I had never seen before. sitting behind a Jeep in the middle of the Jungle and beautiful sky to look up for :).

Interesting Fact as told by Guide : Deer gives birth thrice a year.

As we started moving ahead we could see a lot many deers, a few wild ass and glimse of few Blue bull. But as time was moving ahead with our Jeep our hopes of seeing Lion in its own habitat started fading. We also saw a beautiful way how animals communicate : (The monkeys used to get up at the top of the tree just to help the deers know if any leopard nearby. They started making weird sounds). We waited a long time but since may be due to lot of jeep congeston at place the leopard must have moved away.

We even came across a small village in the middle of the Jungle who do buffalo farming to their living by selling its milk and we also got to know that whenever any wild animal attacks buffalo, Government pays for it. They had pet some peacocks as well.

At around 9 : 45 am we were back to where it all started We were a bit sad but yes it needs a lot of patience and many many tries to get a glimse of Lion. But main part was the experience inside the Gir Jungle was a one that got added in the memory :).

And we started getting to know it was one of such day that all 12 routes couldn’t get a glimse of Lion. So we were like OK , we aren’t the unlucky people. But a group came and mentioned that Route 9 (our) was the luckiest as there was a Lion who had hunted down a deer and was eating it. For some time I was frustated with our guide, he wasn’t even looking it closely. But we also had our eyes open but couldn’t see any.

Lion always eats Fresh meat

We were about to go back to Hotel and checkout and move to our next Destination, but somewhere felt when in Gir a glimse of Lion is a must. SO we tweaked our plan and decided to take Jeep Safari this time to Devaliya. Luckily we got another group and we could share the total Safari amount.

Devaliya Interpretation Zone is in the Gir forest itself. The only difference being there are walls on four sides to make sure the animals can’t move from a specific acres of Land. So here chances of viewing Lions become close to 100%.

And as we Entered the Zone, at first we could see a Jackal moving here and there. Than we had a glimse of Vulture, it was the first time I had seen it. And more and more Deers and blue bull. But we just wanted to see the Asiantic Lion

And Finally we saw the Lion and the Lioness both resting below the tree. It seems Lions hunt down and eat fresh meat around 25-30 kg at one time and than just sleep for next 4-5 days. Size of the Asiantic Lions are a bit smaller than African Lions. Finally the smile was back that may be not an exact habitat but atleast not in zoo.

There are only 523 Lions left as per last survey and this year 2020 another survey is about to happen.
Interesting Story : Very long decades ago, few Lions were brought to India from Africa, but most of the Kings used to love Hunting and because of their pride they used to Hunt Lions. Only for people from Junargarh telling their King not to do and King keeping the words of his Kingdom didnt hunt and rather decided to Protect and thats the only reason why in the Entire Asian continent today we can see Lions only in Gir in their natural habitat.

We had glimse of Cheetah (was a bit far so couldn’t take photo) and more and more Deer. With all happy faces we came out but by now we were damn hungry as from morning 6 am we were out and it was almost 12 noon. So we had tea and Pohe from the Canteen inside the Interpretation Zone. We didnt explore the musuem as we were already late with our further travel, so without wasting much time got back to Sinh Sadan.
All the way we had fun with Mumbai guys who had joined us. We just settled our bills and we moved towoards our Hotel to check out.

We checked out from Hotel at exact 12 :30 pm. It had already messed our time line and to add on we had skipped Somnath temple the earlier Day (Refer previous blog) to be adjusted today . Coming so far and skipping was a big NO so decided to make our way to the Temple.
We didnt stop for lunch but had some minute maid and amul cool and rushed ourselves to another Jyotirling Temple – Somnath.

We reached the Temple premise at around 3 pm. The location where the temple is located is just picturesque. It is just along the coast of the sea and with sound of wind breeze and water just gives a relaxing feel. Photographs are not allowed inside the Temple area and also any kind of Electronic devices. We kept our belongings in samaan ghar and went ahead for Darshan.

There is a small temple outside the compond and it seems this is the first place where it was located and now they have shifted to this new huge beautiful temple.

We took blessings of Lord Shiva and let me tell you out of 5 which I had seen so far (Total there are 12) this one is the biggest statue of Lord I had seen. We sat down for few minutes , before we moved out, the weather was way too hot , but outside the temple it is well constructed to have shades all around and place to sit where people can view the never ending sea on one side and a beautiful structure on the other.

There are also beautiful structure made of all the 12 jyotirlings depicting its respective stories. We just sat there and roamed a bit, before it was time to bid a Bye to this place.

There is a light show which occurs at night over here. And now it was around 4 pm and getting Lunch at this time was hardly possible, but lucky for us where we had parked our car, there was a restaurant open. We quikly hoped in some Rice Daal and mutter masala
It was 4 :30 pm and we had to reach Ahmedabad that Day itself.

We already had an exhausting day right from waking up at 6 am in the morning to have two Safaris to have darshan of Lord Somnath, but it was never Ending as I had to cover 418 kms from here to reach Ahmedabad. When I did put it on Maps it showed will reach by 12 :30 am without break.

Without wasting any time, set my foot over accelerator and decided to reach as early as we could. I dont remember the roads as my only eyes were on time and distance to cover. We crossed Junargarh aroung 5:30- 6 pm approx where due to Sun set time I started feeling a bit dizzy and thought of taking break, but couldn’t find any good tapris to have tea but definately got a spot to click a few snaps . (Heard about famous Trek to Girnar over here)

We didnt take a break but with every mile I was getting tired, It started to be darker and was around 7:30 pm we reached Rajkot. This area seemed to be a very busy area, we came across a lot of traffic. Based on the traffic and rush I am assuming this one is one of the bussiness/economical hub of Gujurat.

It was around 8 :30 pm I was completely tired and also we had to re fuel the car. So took a stop at one of the pump and very next to it was a very decent posh dhaba.

We quickly had some chinese cuisine and called at home. Post that we noted down a few places which was safer to stay from security point where we could stay for the night if we fail to reach to Ahmedabad.

And as usual started .This was the worst drive I should point out in this entire trip. as firstly high beam lights of trucks from opposite side and lots of trucks moving around and some squid driving by few idiots .And add to it I was completely tired.

At around 10:30 pm I almost gave up untill which I had hardly maintaned a speed of 80 km/hr. we took a stop at one of the outlet of Honest (There are many outlets of Honest you can see and right from day one we had planned to take a snack break at this place). We had khaman dhokla, Fafda and dont remember the number of cups of tea I had.

We decided to stay at this place itself next to highway but it seemed a bit shady so decided to get it completed and booked hotel from Oyo (First time with Oyo), but maintaining speed was around 60 km/hr . The speed never went up offcource the stereo sound of our car did just to keep us active.

Never Drive when Sleepy.

Once we Entered Ahmedabad it was around 1:30 am in the night, the streets were completely empty and this peaceful city with the street lights all along has its own beauty.We reached Hotel location at around 2:30 am, only to notice my mobile battery had only 2% left. I called the hotelier 2 time before it was dead, I literraly did hit the glass door several times but no one responded.It was locked.

Finally which I always used to say sarcastically before the start of the trip, we were so tired that we decided to sleep in the car itself.

To know what happened next read through next blog. Untill than signing off 🙂

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The Holy Dham – Dwarka

At around 1 pm in the afternoon we finally started our journey to one of the four Dhams in India that is Dwarka, Also known to be the capital of Lord Krishna’s Kingdom.

Making our way out from Kutch district (please refer earlier blog), we were literraly dragging ourselves out and wanted to extend another day to explore some other places around and spend another day in Bongos, but yes there was more in the list of our trip so just kept moving ahead. We took a stop at Bhirandariya village again to pack some Mawa to take home.

We checked the tyre pressure of our car and moved ahead rapidly as we didnt book our stay in Dwarka and I had an assumption that it will be mostly a rural area. Maps read that without break we will be reaching the destination by 10:30 pm and I didnt wanted to delay anymore. But hardly after one hour drive my stomach started crying and this time I was seriously way too hungry. We couldnt find any good restaurants and I started getting irritated a bit. (Hunger got the anger in me).

Some how around 2:45 pm we got a dhaba. Had normal Gujrathi Thalis over here, food was average but a funnier incident happened. While making payment I just made a comment to the cashier (who was eating a kulfi) . He was so kind enough to give us Kulfi’s for free :). Good gesture impresses some times 😀

Got into the car and enjoyed Kulfi over drive. We reached the Highway and roads werent that interesting. Plain and had become boring, but I had to pickup the speed to reach as early as we could.

Finally around 6 pm we reached Jamnagar and over here we decided to take washroom break and tea (its a default in all my blogs :P). Jamnagar seemed to be a developed city, it gave vibes of a posh city .Took break for tea and checked for hotel availablility but mobile was almost dead, so decided to take a risk to book on the spot or backup was car for our rescue.

As we left the City area of Jamnagar as usual expected dark horryfying roads but just thirty minutes later witnessed bright street lights all around and roads giving vibe as if you are driving outside India, only to notice the big board of Reliance over there. And for next few miles it was just Reliance manufacture plant and refineries (By looking at the acres and acres of land of just business owned by one company, Reliance have really given employement to a lot of people).

As moved a bit further had glimse of Nayara Refinery as well. Once crossed that the roads were good with colourful blinking radium lights on the streets and with very few vehicles imlplies very few beaming headlights. We could catchup a good speed.

We managed to reach Dwarka City around 10:30 pm. And just when I stationed the car near the road, a guy came to us saying will help us provide hotel for better price. New place and sister with my company, I couldn’t trust that guy and before he called few more people to help us. I just put my step on the accelerator and moved ahead couple of miles and made a stop to quickly check any stays available online. There were hardly any options online (most of the hotels here have boycotted online hotel booking system).

Somehow I found one, I booked it and set the destination on maps to Hotel location only to find that the place was very shady and also the hotel was not operational. By now it was 11 pm, so decided just to go to the city after circling around 15 minutes only to find out that the place where I stationed the car for the first time is the only place where most of the hotels are available and temple Dwarkadish was just in its vicinity.

Just moved ahead and with fingers crossed just enquired at the first hotel, and luckily he said rooms are available. From here we could hear the Hindu rituals reciting from the Temple. Without wasting much time we got fresh and the receptionist of the hotel was very kind enough to help us to order food even though most of the restaurants had been closed. We ordered Daal Rice and Fried Rice. The Receptionist also gave us all the information about how we can explore all the places. It was past midnight and I was really tired, and after having some adventureous drive I bet everyone gets the best sleep :).

Morning waking up early had become a habit by now. Next day got up around 7 am and got fresh (water was still a bit salty). Got ready and since had very short time to cover a lot of things just rushed out to explore.

We first made ourselves towards one of the the twelve Jyotirling temple : Nagesvar temple. Enroute it was completely rural area and we for a second even felt “Are we really in Gujurat?”. It gave a vibe as if we were in Uttar Pradesh.

Before the maps could say reached your destination, we could spot the temple by virtue of big statue of Lord Shiva which was delight to see from long range. We thought there would be long queues to take blessing of lord ( assumed based on other Jyotirling temple ), but there was hardly any crowd. We took the blessings and had Prasad ladoo(some to take at home and some to make up for skipped breakfast 😛 ). Walked along the vicinity of the temple. The shades from the trees surrounding the temple were relief to otherwise harsh climate outside (even though it was 8:30 am in the morning).

And now I took risk to explore the westmost tip (and literraly messed up the further plan). So made ourselves to Okha fort, just quickly Googled the information about this place and it seems there is a temple, “Beyt Dwarka” and you can reach this temple by ferries plying from this port.

Roads weren’t good for last few miles ( also lost one of the screw of front number plate of car which was hanging on one side ). The place was average. (For a guy like me born and brought up in coastal area it didnt mesmerize much)

We clicked some pictures from the port which were loaded with trawlers and ferries docked. The water had a shade of green colour to it.

The climate was way to harsh for us to take a ferry and go to temple so decided to come back to witness the main Dwarkadish Temple, and also by 11 am we had to check out from Hotel.

We reached our hotel at around 11:30 am and I was rushing up to check out and get luggage, that while entering a Kind old guy (who was a truck driver) came to me and even though he knew only his local language and communication was an issue but still he managed to explain me that the number plate of my car is hanging and told if I lose it its a big problem (the way he explained made me listen it 🙂 and act like I wasnt aware of it at all). He tightened the screw on one side and by sharing a good rapport smiles both went ahead with our businness :).

loaded car with bags but since had skipped our breakfast, decided to have our brunch itself. So entered a decent restaunrant and ordered some Aloo Paranthas and tea. We got to know from the waiters that everyone working in that restaurant had come from Nepal including the owner :). The temple was just at the corner of this resto, but it was now around 12 :15 pm and the waiters told us that temple closes at 1 pm and than remains closed till 5 pm in the evening.

Now this close time I wasnt at all aware about and was worried if its way too crowded how could we get to witness and get blessings of deity. But without loosing hopes went ahead. Parked our car and entered the the temple area. Took some prasad (was like a chakra : weapon used by Lord Krishna) and went inside. It was crowded but there you will be entertained by lot many priests . Priests were wearing a very different kind of costume (seems Lord Krishna’s Kingdom used to wear such type).

One priest took the prasad we carried, did some rituals and gave us back, also he showed us way from where we could witness the beautiful statue of deity inside. When I had first look of it, one word to explain it all “impressive”, loaded with gold and precious stones. Some how in the crowd we took the blessings.

After taking blessings. roamed around to see the architecture of the temple. It was really beautiful.(Photos weren’t allowed from inside so clicked a few from outside.). It was like an ancient Sun temple with very fine carvings and artistic look. Also we can climb till some floors of this temple (Didnt get a chance as temple got closed at 1 pm sharp).

And as we were going towards our car there were lot of street vendors selling dresses and various artifacts for really reasonabale prices, that my sister couldnt resist exploring. Only to know later we were out of cash. (It literraly took us 1 hour to get to ATM and get some cash, we almost roamed around the entire market area). Once cash in hand it was her time to start her shopping and me at back of mind planning further about how to reach next destinations , But thought why rush, came out to explore lets not rush and dropped plan to visit Somnath Temple (Pushed it to next day).

Street Shops selling Traditional Dresses.

Most of the shops had closed by 2 pm but there were still enough to explore. After done with shopping at around 4 pm we decided to bid Bye to this place and one to keep in memories. But how could we leave Dwarka only by meeting Lord Krishna and not Goddess Rukhamani . So we didnt waste time to visit Rukhamani Temple.

At 4:45 pm after blessings finally stepped foot on the accelerator for our next destination , but how can I move ahead without tea :P. So had some tea with chips right infront of the Dwarkadish temple Entrance gate (photo shared at start of blog). And now it was finally time to leave this place.

Our next destination was something special and full of adventure and fun but to reach that destination we had to go via Porbandar so planned to take a mini stop at this place. I was a bit tired but as we moved ahead and views of big windmills and fields just took away the tiredness from my eyes. We even took a stop to click photo of a peacock which was roaming along the road.

We reached Porbander at sharp 6:30 pm and once in Porbandar how can one not think of exploring the place where the great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi was born. Making ourselves through small lanes we reached Kirti Mandir (Mahatma Gandhiji’s house name , even I didnt knew untill that time) and I think this day we had some luck going on our side as it seems it was about to get closed by 7 pm. We quickly explored the places along with timeline photos. There is a musuem dedicated to great leader with various photos and belongings of him.

I had earlier assumed that this place will be somewhere in the outskirt but nothing awaits to prove me wrong. The market area was very big with multiple lanes . We just walked to get vibe of this place. Had two cups of tea each :).

And by now it was 7:30 pm and what was awaiting us was more 150 kilometers and that too had to travel through one of the dense forest of the country. (Read next blog for details)

Singing off Untill next destination. Please do like and follow if you liked reading blog 🙂

The Pride of Kutch – Rann Utsav

So now it was time to make ourselves to the westmost part of the country the one known for the white desert (refer previous blog for details where moving from )

It was almost 2:00 pm and we had planned to reach Bhuj that day by evening and it was still showing around 290 kms more. So without wasting much time we rushed to the car.

We decided to have our lunch in car itself while driving, but was bit exhausted and with car AC on and driving on straight highways sometimes makes you a bit dizzy , so we decided to take a break in a dhaba at around 3:45 pm, where I had simple daal rice.

Dessert Land as we started reaching closer to west.

Once tummies were full it was time to speed up as fast as we could as I wanted to avoid drive at night time. Just overtaking countless trucks and with some singing by myself (as battery charge of mobile was low to play any songs and sadly car charging point was not working; neither FM radio had any frequency). It was almost 5 pm by than we got a checkpost where we were stopped to have a formality check as were we were heading to area prone to high security (also our car had other state, Karnataka, registration ). The police Sir’s were very kind, they checked the car and luggage and let us go with wishes to enjoy the journey and Rann Utsav :).

In mean while we forgot to make sure our car was running out of fuel, and luckily just meters ahead we could find a Essar petrol pump. We refuelled the car to max capacity it holds and the guy at the petrol pump was kind enough to help us by allowing to charge our mobile phones which was almost drained out by than.

We just took washroom break here and waited for some time for our mobile to get charged a bit and also Sun was about to set , so we could have a glimse of the view and capture it as well. We also inquired some information about Kutch their food habits, source of income and some fun facts.

And again the journey began to dodge the truck traffic and make the way towards destination , we were already in Kutch district but were still 100 kms away from Bhuj,
When natural lights started fading away and the beaming head lights of trucks from opposite side comes roaring at you, it was quite hard for me, so decided to take a tea break and get ourselves refreshed and what can refresh more than a cup of tea 🙂

There wasnt any Gujurathi snacks out there so didnt eat anything as we had some home made chakali’s and ladoos (wherever you go your Mom will make sure the snacks made by her will always accompany you :D). From this stop itself we booked our hotel and than slowly made ourselves to the highway ready to cover up remaining 35-40 kms.

But hardly 10 minutes later there was a diversion from Highway to go to Bhuj. I was happy assuming there wont be any more Truck traffic and we could reach earlier than expected only to find the patch of road was under contruction and was not good. At slow pace started moving ahead with some FM songs for our company. Mid way we could see a huge ship like structure with lights all over it, only to find when we reached nearer that it was BKT tyre factory.

And once we entered the city Google maps fooled us with another wrong location of our hotel, we called the hotel manager and somehow after roaming around city searching for hotel location, checked into hotel. We reached around 8:30 pm.

The room was clean except for the washroom where most of the taps were corroded giving indication of salt water.

The water was way too much salty even to have a face wash, so got some drinking water to get fresh. By now we were tired and exhausted after travelling around 412 kms, so without wasting much time we had our dinner in the restaurant at ground floor. Had normal Gujurathi Thali and Fried rice with lots of buttermilk (so much that we even parceled it in empty water bottle). And it was time to say bye to another memorable day.

Next day early morning woke up, brushed teeth and just washed face and hands and skipped bath as having bath was a big no with this salty water. Filled some empty bottles with filter water as a precaution as we were moving towards a more saltier land.

Got ready, loaded luggage back into the car and went ahead for what the tour was started for, to witness the Great White Desert :).

All excited we started at 8:30 am and decided to cover first the top most part of Kutch that is Kalo Dungar. Making our way through barren lands on both sides and beautiful road and colouful banners from Governement inviting to celebrate the Rann utsav. We couldn’t resist to have a stop for some clicks.

Since we didnt had our morning tea and breakfast I was very much hungry and searching out for much needed tea, before found a small tapri where had some tea. The climate was pleasant, it wasnt too cool not hot.

As we made ourseleves ahead we reached a bit crowded area. The name of Village where we had arrived was Bhirandariya village, known for various artifacts and milk Mawa.We took a stop just to eat some mawa, it was really delicious and one must definately try it.

We called our Guest house owner where we had pre booked our stay near Rann utsav and he told us that we need to take permit to enter the Rann utsav due to close proximity with Pakistan border and for other security concerns.

We reached the checkpost which is in Bhirandariya village itself. we could have taken the permit online itself but since we didnt had our rent a car number beforehead, we decided to have the permit from location itself. There wasnt any queue and the officers handling the permit process were really fast and we could get the permit within 5 minutes. We took permit for one day as we were staying only for one day, Also this permit is valid till next morning.

Permit : Per head Rs 100 / day and Rs 25 / day for 2 wheelers and Rs 50 / day for 4 wheelers.

At this very junction there are two roads one left moving towards Rann Utsav and second one straight heading to the top most area of district. We headed straight to witness our first destination of the day.

Fun filled Roller coaster roads made our way towards the top of the hill – Black Hill (Kalo Dungar). There are many road side vendors over here who will rush right at the parking either for camel ride or dress up in Kutch tradition for photographs. And few vendors renting binoculars (cheap quality zoom) to see Pakistan border :).

Since tourism is only the source of income for this people , we wore turbans and took a binocular(which was of no use) and started walking a few steps up towards the viewing area. It was a bit foggy and to our not so lucky day, we couldn’t see the border. We clicked some pictures and just roamed around. By now it was around 12 pm and sun was right above our head and wasnt making roaming easy, we just sat in the shade for some time.

Forgot to mention but before moving towards the viewing point took blessings of Lord Dattatreya. There were some rituals going on inside the temple. Google an interesting fact about this temple 😉 which I didnt witness :(.

To beat the heat we had some sugar cane juice and just checking the artificats being sold rushed towards the car parking (first time in the tour didnt rush towards car for next destination but for AC.). Drank some milk shake inside car as phone started ringing from our Guest house owner to check whether we will be coming for lunch.

Without wasting more time we set our maps destination to our Guest house location – Dhordo and started our journey but just few miles moving down the hill on a flat road we found a board as posted below and being an Engineer had to try it on our car. So stopped the car and tried three times but it worked once. (Didnt take much risk as with Engine off brakes weren’t active.)

By now it was 12 :30 pm, so quickly moved ahead. I was hungry as well because had skipped the breakfast. And thanks to Google maps we could find a shortcut to Dhordo village and this shortcut road was one I will remember forever. I dont think photos does any justice, but it was the start of white desert on both sides and plain straight road. I didnt wanted to stop, but couldnt resist again and had some snaps :).

After having the teaser I was all but excited to see the main White desert and with that excitment moved towards the Guest house. and to answer why Guest house : firstly wanted to stay with localites and understand their culture and gulp some home made food and secondly the Tent City which is a virtual city set up for Rann Utsav is way too expensive.

As we had our first sight on Bongos (This are traditional huts made from mud and cow dung and decorated with small mirrors and traditional paintings. ), I was really impressed by its look and it seems the local family owning it themselves had decorated it.

Bongo stay : Rs 2200 / day including Lunch Dinner and Breakfast and most important lots of Love from beautiful local families 🙂

Bongos were really clean and was the attached washroom. I quickly checked if water is salty or not and to my surprise it wasnt.So quickly had a bath and by now it was 2:00 pm and my stomach was cryng a lot. So after getting fresh gulped some delicious home made Kutchi food.(Only thing I felt good as well as bad was the family members were waiting for us and were to have their lunch after us).

I just ate way too much. Our plan was to leave to Rann Utsav once Sun start showing its magic light at around 4:30 pm. So I decided to take full advantage and had a nap till 4 pm. Just slept on bed laid outside the bongo with breeze flowing around.

And to our surprise (wasnt aware while booking it before) uncle owning the property was a traditional folk singer and he used to perform for Rann Utsav. He also insisted us to wear some Kutchi dress and we werent hesitant to try it. So now we were all dressed up in Kutchi style. Aunty helped my sister with all the matching jewellery and other stuff. Also aunty prepared for us the much needed tea.

After getting all set and all excited stepped out at around 4:45 pm towards the Rann. It was hardly 2 km from place where we stayed. Enroute we could see all the banners and flags well decorated and giving the vibe of some feast. But for me more than the feast it was the white Desert that my eyes (with glasses :D) were tempting to see :P.

Before entering the Rann area there is a checkpost which checks the permit.And finally ticking one more place from bucket list we entered the Desert area with large land of white salt on both side and we driving in between.

Even though I had seen it in Videos or photos but in reality it looks completely different and its impossible not to have a wow expression on your face.

As Sun started to descend with every minute the colour of the sand reflecting the light would take a different colour and it was beautiful to see. We walked along the white salt, but since Rainy season was extended the land had not dried up completely.

Walking clicking pics we spent around two hours before we remembered that Guest house owner uncle had mentioned he had a programme at the function arena and he would be singing , so we rushed to that place.

He made us sit on the dais and also dedicated a song for us :). It felt special.

It was fun to clap (people were doing traditional garbas, but I am bad with garba steps so clapping and enjoying the music with white background dimming into darker shade.)

It was around 7 pm and Moon light started taking effect . There is a viewing tower setup to see the entire white Rann (Desert) from a height. We didnt enjoy the sunset from this tower as were more busy to walk around over the salt land and capture the memories :). To see the moon light effect we went up the tower and moon light was a pleasure to see but it would have taken a best effect at around mid night when the moon would be just right at top of us. But this is when we got to know that the entrance gets closed at 8:30 pm itself and open for 2 hour slot (from 10 pm to 12 mid night) only on Full Moon day and we had reached a day before :(. So thought just see whatever colours we could see of the white dessert turning into beautiful shade of moon.

After waiting for around 30 minutes around 7:45 pm we left the dessert area to withness the Feast (Utsav) arena where there were some shops set up selling local artifacts and stalls playing some traditional entertainment :). And offcourse clicked some photos :P.

People are not allowed in the Rann area post 8:30 pm, except on Full Moon Days that too during Rann utsav allowed between 10 pm to 12 am due to high security reasons.

After some shopping we were done for the day and decided to get back to our Guest house. Reached around 9 pm, Got fresh and transfered all the photos and videos into laptop and by than our Dinner was ready. Aunty serverd some more delicious food, enjoyed the taste of everything.

By 10 pm we were done for the day and thought of going to sleep as wanted to witness early morning sunrise and had more destinations to cover next day. But to be honest Thanks to my belief in God and his blessings the best of the tour was here to come.

The Kids from and families just joined us and we did camp fire and talking about each other and making fun of one another that it was almost 11 pm and it didnt end here.

Now the elders also joined us and almost 10 people enjoying the conversation, we became so much friendly that I felt like a family now rather than stranger just a guest for a day. The temperature was deeping down rapidly as well, but campfire was there for our relief. Almost at midnight all ten of us though of having tea in chilling cold over campfire and aunty didnt hesitate. we had leg pulling on each other including the elders before we just mentioned that we missed our Full Moon light view of desert by a mere one day.

Only Sad thing I didnt Like was, Girls were not allowed to go to school which really made me sad and when I raised the concern, the family elders were on their say that it is how it happens in this place. “This Needs a change 😦 “

The owner told us to stay for one more day, but our plans were all placed very tight, But he gave a solution which I dont think i should be sharing as its a security breach and I wont be sharing any photos but let me tell you I did drive our car over the real main White desert with moon over us and enjoyed the moon light view . There is a photo in Google images which I thought is just a photoshop with filters, but let me tell you, in reality it looks exactly the same. With chilling cold and the best view of my life we came back to our room at around 2 am and directly rushed to sleep to end one of the best days of my life.

Next morning it was almost 7 am and Aunty woke us up as we had told her that we wanted to witness the Sunrise and it was to happen around 7:20 am. I was damn sleepy and decided to skip it, but somehow made my mind to get up and go. Without getting fresh , just started the car and rushed to the place. And I am not trying to exagerate but yes truly would have made a foolish mistake if I havent come to witness it.Saw the views from the Viewing tower

The view were mesmerizing, more than the views it was the colour change which I was interested in. We had the view from the viewing tower as well. And did some mandatory Camel riding 🙂 (In hurry I didnt even take my wallet and we didnt had a single penny but the Camel ride guys were so kind that they allowed us to take a ride and we told them will send money from the Guest owner. I sincerely liked the trust in this guys and would love to see all people having same faith in everyone :))

Post videos photos views camel ride it was time to say Tada to this beautiful place. My speed to almost 25 km/hr as I wanted to have a last glance of this beautiful land which is one of a type in the entire world. We reached back to room and Aunty served us some Theplas and tea to our delight. Had a very heavy breakfast and with equally heavy heart we had to bid a good bye to this beautiful family. We even bought some home made blankets which they sold for reasonably low prices, but this is only their source of income. We loaded our car back with luggage and said a Big Bye to this beautiful land of culture and memerising views.

It was almost 9:30 am and our next plan was to explore Bhuj city where we stayed before but didnt explore. So without wasting much time we set our destinations to Prag Mahal which was one of the attraction we wanted to witness.

We reached Prag Mahal only to know the other attractio Aina Mahal is just opposite to Prag Mahal. The views from the Rann wasnt going from my head and was also didnt had much sleep so wasnt much active to explore the palace, but did go and check each and every corners of this place. Even some bollywood movie scene were shot in this palace.

But sadly the interior of Aina Mahal Mahal was damaged due to Earthquake which had occured on Republic Day of 2001. We could easily see the damage from outside of Prag Mahal and cracks to the Clock tower.

We went straight up to the top of the clock tower to get glimse of entire Bhuj city (only sad part this manual clock tower was non operational post earthquake.)

It was almost 1 pm by now and with sister for your company and shopping stalls set wont please you but you need to go through those stalls. Shopping of a rare known ‘Bhandani’ sarees done for Mom and we decided to finally leave the Great district of Kutch.

Memories of Kutch is worth to be added in your life diaries. 🙂

we rushed to our car for a long drive to next destination which was almost 430 kms.

Singing off untill next destination 🙂 . Please do like and follow if you liked this travel Diary 🙂