Travelling for me is not just about covering distance.. Its all about knowing more & more places, people, cultures, history & amazing creations of almighty or even our ancestors..
Its something which everybody should experience.. so pack your bags & explore our amazing world..
The heaven on the other side of Khardung La is called Nubra valley.. a beautiful V shaped valley where one can spend 3-4 days relaxing & still wont get bored.
The total distance from Leh to Diskit which is the main village in Nubra is 118 Kms. & you can go 7 more kms. To visit hunder which is famous for white sand dunes.
The river flowing through Nubra valley is amazing & the landscapes are really beautiful. This is actually a desert & you will witness sand filled planes all over on your way to Hunder. But the roads built by BRO are in very good conditions.
There is only a Gompa to see in Diskit, but Hunder is worth spending some time.. Small village near famous white sand dunes gives you best relaxation.. One can stay in Habib guest house, which is a small house
but people are very nice especially the owner himself. You can spend great time playing in sand dunes or watching sunset. If you want to take break from your normal life full of tensions, this is the place. People
also come here for bird watching & photography.
One more attraction of Nubra is double Humped camel.. Yes they have two humps on their back.. In ancient times this was the silk route, & most of the trades with middle Asian countries were through this road..
The camels I mentioned above are also from middle east asia.
The road ahead of Hunder goes to Siachen but civilians are not allowed after certain point..
If you are in Nubra valley, try local breakfast called Khambir.. It tastes amazing with honey & butter.. Its kind of local bread but when served hot.. Its amazing.
If you are planning to visit pangong tso directly from here, no need to go till khardung la once again, there is an alternative route through Wari La using which you can avaoid going to Khardung La again. So if you are planning trip to Leh, dont miss Nubra valley, in fact I would suggest keep 2 days separately for visiting this beautiful place.
Khardung la pass is every rider's dream.. Yes its highest Motorable point in the world. At 18,380 ft above sea level you really touch the sky at Khardung La.
This pass is near Leh town, you have to travel only 40 Kms to reach this top. Road to the top is very good & if you are travelling to Leh this is must visit.
Not only because its beautiful but it's the highest point you can travel in vehicle, if you are civilian.
For visiting Khardung La one has to take inner line permits from District commissioner leh. You can get them through agents also.
If you are travelling on bike, you will reach the top in an hour. On the way, you have to show your permits at South Pullu.
You can also have maggy or tea here, as you need to reach North Pullu or come back here for your next meal.
From north Pullu, Khardung La is just about 15 kms.
Its not difficult pass at all, If your bike gives combustion problem, remove the filter & it will go smoothly.
Just 2-3 kms before Khardung la pass, you will see a point called India gate, people stop here for taking pictures.. even we did, but couldn't understand how to enter India from this gate?
Just 2-3 kms more & you are there... On the top of the world, Nobody can go higher than you, at least not in vehicle.
There is a signboard indicating this is the highest motorable point in the world.
The pass is always crowded as whoever comes to Leh usually visits Khardung La. But its not advisable to be here for more than 20-30 minutes.
The Indian Army men stay here for entire year though.
After visiting Khardung La, you can either come down on same route to leh town, but if you have time going ahead is must..
After Khardung La you are descending, so don't worry if you are feeling giddy it wont last for long time..by the time you reach north Pullu you will be alright.
So whether you are on bike or in car, don't miss this chance to be on the top of the world & if possible visit Nubra valley too & post your experiences so that more & more people get to visit these beautiful places.
Cherrapunji as you all know is famous for highest rainfalls in the world...
But if you are visiting cherrapunji, there is much more to it than rainfall & waterfalls.
Today I will be taking you to a fabulous example of bio-engineering...
On Shillong cherrapunjee highway, keep moving towards Mawsmai caves...
Just 3 kms before mawsmai caves you enter a village where new road starts to your right.
The important landmark you can notice on left hand side is restaurant called HIlbari.
You will see the signboard showing cherrapunjee holiday resort..
Its 15 kms away from this junction. 15 kms is bit tough travel due to bad roads but the hoardings painted on the road will keep you moving till you reach the resort.
After crossing this distance, you will see a bunglow. This is the resort... a fantastic place to spend time. For visiting living root bridge, you have to take stop here.
The owner of this resort Mr Rayen is very interesting person. He and his wife run this resort & all people serving you here are from nearby villages.
Mr. Rayen is originally from Tamilnadu & his wife is from this village where the resort is nestled. Mr. rayen was working with nationalize bank & after taking retirement he has started this small but beautiful place.
You will feel very homely after reaching here..
They serve good food, you can enjoy campfire & evening music program performed by local artists.
Next morning resort can arrange guide for you or if you are regular trekker you can go on your own.. but I guess the advantage of taking guide is you can ask him about local people, villages around & other
things which you wont come to know otherwise.
One has to descend 2000 steps to reach our attraction, living root bridge.
This is a single decker living root bridge.. used by locals to cross the river.
Now, what's so special about this bridge? Its built without using any artificial construction material, fabulous example of bnio-engineering..
Here locals plant two trees with elastic roots, one on each side of river. Then they put bamboo, or wooden plank over the river with its end touching roots of both trees on both banks.
The roots are then trained to grow on this bamboo or plank. Roots of both the trees grow over the plank till they meet each other & even further till they reach opposite side.
Once roots of both the trees are grown... your bridge is ready to use.
The binding of these roots is so strong that people can easily use this bridge for their daily commute.
After this single decker bridge you have to come back till junction where steps start for going up(not trek starting point) & take right route.. You have to walk for another 40 minutes & you can see Double
decker living rot bridge. On your way, you will realize that the bridge is not any artwork or experience but this is the way they used to built bridges for their commute & hence there are ample of such bridges, some of them extending over 100 feet.
Due to elastic nature of roots they are able to take huge load for years.
Tired after walking so long? Don't worry walk 10 more minutes ahead of double decker bridge & you will reach the place called natural swimming pool.
It's amazing & your tiredness is gone away. Due to limestone, the water reflects the blue sky & as there is no pollution here, its very clean calmly flowing water..
Enjoy swimming here, have your meal(Which you have to carry from resort), & get ready to climb back al those 2000 steps & 2 kms of walk..
It will take another 3-3.5 hours to come back.. end of the day you will be tired but happy that you have seen something very different & unusual..
So enjoy the hospitality of Mr. Dennis rayen & also the trek.. If you are visiting Cherrapunjee dont miss it..
Shillong Is the beautiful capital of beautiful state Meghalaya. Surrounded by hills from all sides, it provides picture perfect location for hill station.
One has to travel around 90 Kms from Guwahati on NH44 to reach Shillong. The road from Guwahati to Shillong is very scenic & you won't realize when the 2:30 hrs of travelling are over.
One amazing thing about Shilllong is the crowd of this town. You will really be amazed by the young & stylish crowd around you.
Very important thing I noticed is how liberal this region is, when it comes to females completely contradicting to other regions of India, especially north India.
One can see plenty of groups of young student wearing funky clothes, jacket, shoes & maintaining latest haircuts enjoying on roads of Police bazaar, which is prominent marketplace in the town.
If you roam around police bazaar for a while, one more thing worth noticing is shoe shops in the town. I guess every third shop in this market sales shoes & still all shops are crowded.
There are many restaurants & malls in police bazaar that's another reason why the area is always full of people.
Places of Interest:
Police bazaar: I guess I have written enough about it above, but just to add one point if you want to purchase artifacts of Khasi or Naga style, this is a place.
Bada Bazaar: Another shopping destination, this is bigger market, but not as happening as PB. (note: both bazaars are closed on sunday)
Shillong Church: Very beautiful church at the heart of the town.
Shillong Peak: It's a hill top very close to the town. Vehicle goes till the final point. The view of Shillong from this point is wonderful.
Airforce Museum: Few kilometers ahead of Shillong peak, here you can see many miniature aircraft models, & know many things about Indian Airforce.
Elephant falls: 3 stage falls few kms away from Shillong. Till 1897, shape of rocks in this falls was resembling to elephant hence called elephant falls, but the rock structure vanished in earthquake &
now the elephant is gone only falls exist, but its pleasant spot & its on the way to Cherrapunji.
Wards Lake: Its very picture perfect lake.. Very close to Shillong town. It's a small lake & garden is built around it. The overall set of lake, garden & small wooden bridge over it looks pretty.
Badapani: It's a huge dam 20 kms before Shillong on Guwahati - Shillong road. Looks fabulous in the morning & its really huge in size. There are few small Island in this lake. Orchid resort built besides the
lake is very good place to stay if you want to relax with your family / partner. One can also opt for Boat house in Badapani.
Places to be covered along with Shillong:
Cherrapunji, Mawsmai caves, Dainthen hills, Thadlaskein lake, Cherrapunji waterfalls, Living root bridge, Dawki, Jaren..
Mawsmai Caves
So what are you waiting for? Pack your bag & head to youngistan of Hindustan.
One more important note just before ending the post.
There is a helicopter service from Shillong to Guwahati & its very cost effective 1000 Rs. Per person. The helipad is at Airforce base near Shillong.
North east India is blessed with wealthy wild life & one can find variety of species of animals, birds, plants etc. in North east India. Kaziranga is a huge forest covering area of 730 Sq. Kms. The forest is around 140 Kms from Guwahati. Capital of Assam state & nearest Airport is jorhat at 80 kms.
The main attraction of Kaziranga is ample quantity of single horned Rhino & elephants. But there are many interesting things about Kaziranga other than Rhino. There are various plants grow in this forest but most
amazing is elephant grass. If you are lucky enough you can also see Tiger, Indian Bison, dears, Gadwall duck, Wigeon duck, blue winged duck, white winged wood duck, leopard, clouded leopard and the list will go on
& on.
You have to stay near Kaziranga if you want to enjoy the safari. There are two type of safaris available elephant safari & jeep safari.
Elephant Safari:
It is normally in the morning time & elephants enter the forest in groups. The first safari starts at 5:00 am. & continues till 6:15 or 6:30 am. The probability of locating Rhino is very high in this safari & as the day progresses this probability reduces. The reason is, with first batch of elephants entering the forest most of the animals get distracted & move away from the usual track of elephants. So try to book first safari. No need to worry about darkness.. by the time you enter forest, there is sufficient light. Biggest advantage of elephant safari is you can see rhino from 20-30 feet distance which is amazing.
Jeep safari:
It starts in the afternoon. The probability of locating animals is very less & even if you see them you can't go as closer to rhino as you can in elephant safari. The only advantage of this safari is you cover more forest landscape as jeep covers around 30-40 kms of periphery in the safari whereas elephant covers merely 2 kms. I guess those who want to see more kaziranga forest should opt for jeep safari.
As of 18/11/2009 Elephant safari costs Rs. 325 per person & 4 ppl sit on every elephant. Jeep safari is bit expensive around Rs. 900.
Things you should know before visiting Kaziranga:
1> There are around 40 resorts to accommodate you near Kaziranga but none of them is inside forest. So if somebody says stay inside Kaziranga he/she is giving false info.
2> Kaziranga is not a zoo. Nobody can guarantee whether you will see any animals & how many of them you will get to see.
3> Safari is not a usual picnic where you can go sing songs, chat loudly & enjoy as you wish. You need to keep pin drop silence, if not the animals get distracted & run away. Finally you as well as other tourists will land up seeing no animals. So please follow the law of forests.
4> Again, its not zoo, don't mischief with the animals. They are open & your mistake can land you in big trouble.
5> Carry your camera, there is a lot of matter to shoot / click. But video camera charges are Rs. 500. Still camera Rs. 50 as of 2009.
6> There is a big river flows through Kaziranga, try fresh water fish from this river.
Visiting Kaziranga was great experience & I am sure even you will enjoy it.. but I felt very bad to see, negligence of government towards the forest.
They can create a small gallery/ museum showing photographs of different animals found, their info., store skins / hornes / skulls of dead animals / show map of forest etc.
We have heard or seen many beautiful islands around the world, then what so special about this one??
Usually when we visualize island, its in sea, but Majouli is a biggest river island in the world. Its surrounded by mighty Brahmaputra river from all sides. So its very different experience to visit this scenic island.
The island is in Assam state. One can travel till Jorhat town which also has airport. If you are travelling by road, on NH37 & if you are travelling from guwahati - dibrugarh you can see diversion for place called Nimati Ghat to your left. Nimatighat is 10 kms away from high way. From here you have to catch a ferry for Kamalabari.
Your vehicle is also transported using ferry but be careful.. There is place for only 3 cars in each boat so if there is huge rush.. it may be a problem.. Ferry service starts @ 7:00 am in the morning & last ferry is @ 4:00 pm. Ferry takes around 90 minutes to cross mighty Brahmaputra & its great experience to see such a huge river.
Once you reach the Majouli, road till Kamalabari & bamboo huts on will give hints of amazing things awaiting for you. These are tribal villages on Majouli. After reaching Kamalabari you can head straight to
the village Garmur. There are many bamboo cottages built by locals for tourists. There are two beautiful cottages constructed by French & British person. If you are lucky you can get chance to stay in one of
those.. & trust me its wonderful experience to spend time in bamboo cottage. You can also enjoy local thali here. Contact Manjit 09957186356, & he can arrange food, accommodation & guide for you.
Places of Interest:
Majouli is spread across 700 Sq. Kms of area & has many small villages spread across the Island.
If you are visiting Majouli in winter you can enjoy bird watching in various plains on the island, as many birds migrate here from all over the world.
In mid November, you can also visit annual festivals of Satras.
There are 17 Satras spread across the Majouli.. No need to see all, guide can show you selected few near Kamalabari. Satra means temples of Vaishnav's. Vaishnav's are people in Hindu religion who are devotees of
lord Vishnu. These Satra's are not just temple building but they have community centers, library, museum & quarters for Vaishnav people. If you have visited or read Bali, you will find many similarities in rituals carried out in Bali & Majouli.
There is a big mask making industry & pottery making industry on this island but you jave to travel 20 Kms from Kamalabari to visit these places. These masks are mostly used in mythological dramas by local
artists of Satras.
You can also visit Tribal villages near Kamlabari.. visiting their bamboo houses is fun.
For coming back again you have to do ferry exercise.. load the vehicle in ferry & come back...
From me they took Rs. 600 for tata Sumo & they take 400 for small car. I guess me being visitor rate was bit high.
Most amazing thing in Majouli is people on the Island.. if you visit the island don't leave a single chance to interact with them.. Every year Brahmaputra washes their homes... no facilities of commute provided
by government but still you can easily notice smiles on their face & their welcoming nature...
If you are planning to visit Assam don't miss Majouli.
This November I got opportunity to visit the unexplored paradise in of India..
our own North east A. K. A. 7 sisters.. but due to lesser time I could meet only 2 of these 7 beautiful sisters..
I was there for 9 days starting from 14th Nov to 23rd Nov.
Instead of writing a huge travelogue I am segregating the info in multiple posts...
This first post is just to share travel plan & places I covered in 9 days...
If anybody planning to visit it will be useful.. I guess J
Day to day Itinerary:
14th Nov:
Travelled from Mumbai to Shibsagar via Dibrugarh. Caught Indigo plane at 7:50 am from Mumbai to Kolkata. Connected flight Kolkata to Dibrugarh @ 12:30 pm.
Travelled from Dibrugarh to Shibsagar via bus & stayed in hotel Aryan. (Sky chef is best choice but was full).
15th Nov:
Visited a temple & Rong ghar built by Ahom kings in Shibsagar which took 2-3 hours. At 1:00 pm. Started for Jorhat town.. had lunch in jorhat town & headed to Nimati Ghat
Next plan was to visit Majouli Island, for reaching there one has to catch ferry till Kamlabari.
They also load your car in the ferry.. & each time only 3 cars can be accommodated on ferry.
Rush was too high & the person with whom we had done ferry booking was absconding so had to wait till 6:00pm.
At 6 pm our ferry started from Nimatighat to Kamalabari which is on Majouli Island, it takes 90 minutes to cross huge Brahmaputra river.
After reaching Kamalabari we proceeded to Garmur which is another village in Majouli island.
We met a person called Manjit who arranged accommodation in Bamboo cottages for us & also Assami dinner. After dinner we called the day off in our beautiful & elegant bamboo cottage. Just 600 rs. Per day.
16th Nov:
Had our tea & breakfast in the morning & started for Majouli site seeing at 9: am
There are 17 Satra's on Majouli Island. Satra means temple of lord Vishnu where Vaishnav's on the island perform prayers & cultural activities.
We visited 2 major Satra's on the Island, If you have visited or read about Bali, you will find similar rituals & plays performed in Satras.
(I am not aware of their connection with south east Asia but many things are very similar).
Stopped for a while on planes of Majouli to do bird watching.. many birds migrate to this beautiful island in the winter & bird lovers should definitely visit this Island.
Further proceeded to visit tribal village near Kamalabari.. Its beautiful village situated near Brahmaputra & you can meet tribal people visit their houses made up of Bamboo
After sightseeing came the most tricky part.. secure place for our tata sumo in ferry boat... each time they took 600 Rs. For car & driver is complementary.. I don't know how much they take from others??? But one local guy had to pay only 30 Rs. For bike...
After returning to nimati ghat, we returned to jorhat & headed straight to Kaziranga which is 80 Kms from jorhat.
Stayed in Green reed resort 3 kms from kaziranga. Cottage was 1000 Rs. There are around 40 resorts here but if somebody claims the resort is within Kaziranga forest then its false claim.
17th Nov:
Had early morning appointment with King of kaziranga yes the mighty single horned Rhino... Elephant safari started at 5:15 am in the morning & was till 6:40 am. Saw 10-12 Rhinos, Bisons, dears & different birds..
After elephant safari rested in our resort for 2 hours & then started our journey to Badapani which is a huge lake in Meghalaya 20 kms before Shillong..
One can see many tea garden en route.. One can also drink / buy fresh tea from some of these gardens..
Reached badapani @ 7:00pm, checked in into Orchid resort which is very close to badapani lake & very good place to stay.
Delux room was 1800 rs. Standard room was 1300 rs.
18th Nov:
Started from Badapani in the morning, visited shillong peak, elephant falls & headed to cherapunjee.
Visited Mawsmai caves, eco park & then headed to Cherapunjee holiday resort run by Mr. & mrs. Rayen. Just 3 kms before Mawsmai caves you can see diversion for mr. Rayen's resort.
( You can see Restaurant called hilbari to your left. Owner of this restaurant (I forgot name) is great travel enthusiast & will be happy to guide you. )
Visited mawsmai caves & then went to Cherapunjee Holiday resort.
Enjoyed camp fire, music program in the resort & ended the day after dinner. Room 1200 Rs.
19th Nov: Our guide Peter was ready to take us to Living root bridge trek. Had our breakfast, took some food along and started trek at 8 am.
Had to descend 2000 steps when we reached at single decker Living root bridge.
Further walked for another km. to reach double decker living root bridge...
Further walked for another km. to reach natural swimming pool...
Enjoyed at the swimming pool for an hour had lunch there & headed back to resort..
Total time duration is 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. i.e. 8 hours.. The bridges are best example of bio-engineering & if you can descend & climb back 2500 steps you should do this.
Took rest in resort for remaining day.
20th Nov. Visited second highest fall in India near Cherapunjee market. & then headed to Dawki, If you have one more day you can visit Dainthen hills & caves with unique rock formations.
For visiting Dawki one has to come back till 20 kms before Shilong... There is a diversion for dawki. From diversion Dawki is another 50 Kms.
En route one can visit cleanest village in Aisa which is near Pongtung village. One has to take right turn after Pongtung & travel 18 kms to reach here. Reached Dawki at 2 pm. Visited Bangladesh border &
headed further to Jowai..
Around 20 kms before jowai, you will see village called JAREN, stop here.. On left hand side, just before entering the village you will see small hill.. We climbed it & you can see many Pitcher plants on this hill.. These are unique plants having Pitcher shaped flowers.. remember 8th std. science book???After this we headed to Shillong via jowai.. If time permits one can visit Thadlaskein lake.
Returned to Shillong roam in shilling market for a while, had our dinner & returned to badapani for stay.
21st Nov. Visited Shillong Church, Ward's lake then stopped at Police bazaar for shopping..
Had our lunch, did some shopping for 3-4 hours & then headed to Guwahati.
Distance between Shillong & Guwahati is around 100 kms & takes 3 hours to reach Guwahati..
Reached Guwahati at 8:00 pm. Checked into hotel rajmahal near Guwahati railway station. Per room 3500 rs. There are cheaper options available on A.t. road, or near stadium.
22nd Nov. Guwahati sightseeing.. Visited Kamakhya temple, Balaji temple & Kalakshetra..
I didn't find Guwahati worth spending time Instead one can spend more time in Meghalaya & catch helicopter from shilling to Guwahati 1000 per seat..
Also did some shopping, but few shops were open as it was Sunday..
23rd Nov. Again did some shopping, visited emporium & few shops at PNB
road, near reserve bank. Checked out from hotel at 12:40 pm. To catch flight.
Caught flight from guwahati @ 3:20 pm. To Mumbai via Kolkata..
Reached Mumbai at 8:20 pm.
Total expenses for two: 52K including airfare & all expense if 4 people are travelling..
Travel in group of four is advisable as tourism is not developed very well in some part so you have to run around managing few things.
Transportation cost very high: Indica 1000Rs per day + diesel + driver's allowance
Sumo AC 1300Rs per day + diesel + driver's allowance
Must visit: Majouli Island, Kaziranga, Shillong, Mawsmai caves, Jaren,
Living root bridge
Can be skipped: guwahati, Shibsagar..
If planning to skip Shibsagar, catch flight till Jorhat instead of
Dibrugarh..
Can cover more: Dainthen Hills, Tawang if u have 3 days,
On the long weekend of 26,27,28th of September 2009 me & Prajakta
decided to explore konkan instead of going to typical picnic spots..
Guhagar being my village we headed there.
Started early at 6:00am from dahisar we travelled to chembur - vashi
- panvel - palaspe. Here we took our first break for breakfast. Had
famous "Shri Datta missal,vadapav & tea". (If you are travelling for the
first time on this route, shri datta is famous outlet just before
karnala & around 6-7 Kms after Panvel. If you love Maharashtrian dishes
like vada, missal, khichadi, kothimbir vadi, kharvas etc.)
After breakfast, we continued further on NH17 to cross Karnala bird
sanctuary - Pen - Wadkhal(From here straight road goes to Alibaug,
revdanda,kihim etc.) - nagothane - Maangaon. After this we decided to
explore different route & took right turn for Goregaon (not the one in
mumbai). From here road goes to mandangad (thanks to Mhapral Ambet
bridge). Road is in good condition. It's a small country road (Its state
highway but only two vehicles can pass at a time, no multiple lanes). We
reached Mandangad in 40 minutes from Goregaon.
From mandangad there are two roads first head to bankot & Velas,
another to Kelshi. We took the Kelshi route. After Kelshi, we headed to
Anjarle. Anjarle is beautiful village at Arabian sea shore. It has old
Ganesh mandir called Kadyavarcha ganpati, a very simple temple with
beautiful Murti of Ganpati Bappa.
After visiting the temple we headed to Dapoli. This road to Dapoli is
very scenic it goes parallel to the coastline & we can see 4 forts near
Harnai namely (Kanakdurg, Suvarndurg, Goa & ... ) 3 of them are on land
& one on island. Via harnai & karde you reach Dapoli total distance
between Anjarle & dapoli is 30 Kms.
From Dapoli, we took road to Dabhol. We travelled another 30 Kms to
reach Dhopawe. From Dhopave we loaded our car into a a ferry boat (They
load car, truck, bus anything) & in 15 mins we reached anjanvel after
crossing the creek.
From Anjanvel Guhagar is just 15 Kms. So, after many breaks & visit to
Anjarle & one tyre replacement we reached Guhagar @ 3:00pm. (If you
travel without breaks on this road 5 hours are sufficient, total
distance is 315 kms from dahisar)
We stayed at Mody Villa. Its very good place to stay.. its actually a
big bungalow, with many bedrooms & you can rent the rooms.. People
serving there are very good & I really liked hospitality & cleanliness &
of course food. Relaxed in our room for a while & then took a stroll
through huge wadi behind mody Villa which ends at Guhagar beach.
Guhagar beach is really marvelous... Its very long maybe 2-3 kms. The
water is very clear.. fresh air & no pollution. May be one of the best
beach in Konkan. After roaming on beach for an hour, we went into
village. We noticed Navratri festival going on in Durga devi Madir, so
we joined the ceremony..
On returning back had our fishy dinner & completed the fun filled day.
On next day morning, had a heavy breakfast of kande Pohe & started for
Hedvi. Hedvi is 26 Kms from Guhagar & road to hedvi is less travelled &
hence its amazing.. no traffic just drive as you want. We reached Hedvi
in less than half an hour. Dashbhuja Ganesh mandir at hedvi is beautiful
(When I say beautiful temple in Konkan please don't expect huge temple
with carving etc. here the temples are very simple but there locations
are fantastic & you really feel close to god in the calm & simplistic
arrangement in and around the temple) . After Ganesh Mandir, we visited
Hedvi beach. Its very small but beautiful beach & layered rocks around
the beach are really interesting.
Another interesting thing in Hedvi is Bamanghal, near Hedvi beach.
Sea has literally tore the rock & huge gap is developed in between the
rock. At the time of high tide water enters this gap with huge force &
that the time this place is worth watching.
On the way back to Guhagar, we visited Velneshwar, Velneshwar beach is
also very scenic. But whats more scenic is location of MTDC @ Velneshwar
(If you get chance, its worth staying at this place). Velneshwar is 18
Kms away from Guhagar. In first half of the day we covered both the
places & went back to Guhagar.
After taking some rest in wadi behind our hotel, we headed to
Gopalgad. It's a fort guarding Anjanvel creek. The fort once under
possession of Maratha's is now occupied by some local person illegally &
he has planted mango trees in the fort & now he is demanding huge bucks
from government to leave the fort (It happens only in India) . The
fortification is really good and intact as of now but many plants are
growing on outer walls which will lead to collision of these walls in
near future. If you go towards west direction along the fort wall you
can get down till the creek. If you are here at the time of sunset, be
there to enjoy the sunset its amazing.
From Gopalgad, we came back to hotel & went to take a stroll at
Guhagar beach again.
On day 3 we visited two temples in Guhagar, Ufratya tondacha ganpati &
Vyadeshwar. After this visit started our return journey.(For those who
are going in car. There is no petrol pump at Guhagar but there is one on
road to Chiplun at place called Shrungartali). For returning we chose
to travel on NH17. So from Vyadeshwar mandir we tokk left, this road
heads to chiplun which is around 40 Kms from Guhagar. From Chiplun, join
NH17 & head straight to Mumbai. Those who have time can visit two more
interesting places here first is Shivsrushti at Dervan village near
Chiplun & second is Parshuram mandir between Chiplun & Khed.
It took us 6 hours to reach home. We started at 12:00 noon & reached
dahisar at 6:00 pm.
One last tip to those travelling on NH17 for first time there are very
limited eating options on this road. So after Palaspe & Karnala if you
are still hungry, make sure you stop at Vitthal Kamat restaurant near
Mahad.
While travelling in India you come across various forms of beautiful locations. Some of them are created by God nature & others by God’s best creation HUMAN. Rajasthan is a state in western India with very low rainfall & huge area of the state is covered by desert & low fertility land. Still Rajasthan is one of the most visited places in India. Where nature felt short Indian artists took the responsibility of beautification.
In my trip to Rajasthan, I enjoyed 3 days of stay at Jaisalmer. I travelled from Jaipur to Bikaner & then Bikaner to Jaisalmer. When we reached Jaisalmer it was around 7:00 pm. I was tired by entire day of travelling from Bikaner to Jaisalmer but Jaisalmer welcomes us with beautiful glittering Golden fort of Jaisalmer & all fatigue, tiredness goes away. One can’t take eye off the fort. After sunset flood lights are operational focusing on golden walls of the fort. We went to the hotel, relaxed for a while & had a dinner. I tried local specialty called KER SANGRI. It’s a leafy vegetable which grows in desert around Jaisalmer. After dinner we went for a stroll around this beautiful fort.
The morning was as beautiful as evening. We moved out of hotel to visit entire Jaisalmer fort. It’s 900 years old fort, but still in very good condition. The rock found in this area is golden in color & entire fort is built using this rock. It’s a ground fort & you don’t have to climb but just to take a walk. One can see beautifully carved palace built for queens. Some beautifully carved Jain temples & many huge palaces, gallaries etc.
Next spot was Patavaon ki Haveli. These are 5 huge multistory palaces built by one merchant for his 5 sons. All palaces are beautifully carved & one can get glimpses of how Rajasthani people used to leave life king size.
There is one more haveli called nathumal ki haveli. Specialty of this structure is its not in symmetry. Two artist brothers from Rajasthan had built it simultaneously as per their creativity. Both parts are equally beautiful.
On way back to hotel I tried some delicious laddus which is specialty dish of Jaisalmer. Many foreign tourists visit this place for seeing Jaisalmer fort & sand dunes.
After lunch we left for the biggest attraction of Jaisalmer. As most of you are aware, Jaisalmer is perhaps the last big town before “Thar desert”. So the sand dunes of Thar are very close to Jaisalmer. We travelled around 40 Kms to reach village called SAM there is another village called KHURI which is close to sand dunes.
We reached tent camp of SAM @ 4:00 pm. Settled down in swiss tent, had tea & then headed straight to sand dunes camel ride. Riding a camel is really great experience (for us of course, for camel it must have been nightmare). The camel doesn’t eat anything but you have to keep feeding his master if you want to go in deeper desert. (Actually SAM sand dune point has become too crowded due to many tourist visiting so if you really want the feeling of being in desert you have to go further in desert). The dunes are big & the view is breathtaking if you visit at the time of sunset.
We played in dunes, had a photo shoot & then came back to our camp at SAM. This was perhaps one of the best evenings I had spent. What could have been better arrangement for celebrating my first marriage anniversary?
When we returned to our camp / desert resort @ SAM, we had another treat in terms of Rajasthani cultural program organized by resort. Local artists played rajasthani songs, performed dances.. The program was short & sweet. We enjoyed the program & then had typical Rajasthani dinner which includes Dal Bati, Churma, Gatta Kadhi, Ker Sangri, Gathi vegetable, rice etc. After sumptuous meal we enjoyed campfire & then concluded our day.
Next morning returned to jaisalmer & halted at hotel to freshen up & then bid goodbye to this beautiful golden city..
People may find it very common & every alternate mumbaikar must have experienced it.. but night out @ Mumbai is always special. Its fun roaming on streets of Mumbai entire night experiencing how this beautiful city looks at different times.. from late evening hours to early morning.
When I went for night out first time I was expecting deserted streets, all closed shops, hotels etc. but its not so.
Just take out your car / bikes on some Saturday night and head straight to south Mumbai. There are so many places one can enjoy.
Colaba: This place provides many options for having good times. Starting from old movie theaters to new era discotheques, sports bars, theme restaurants, cafe and many more. If you are going in group, you can visit sports bar near regal or if you are foodie just go to the next lane & visit Bade Miya and enjoy great Kababs & Tandoori.
Marine lines: Sitting at queens necklace itself is a great fun. Enjoy the breeze, have a cup of coffee & you can have malishhhhh... Hungry?? head to Sukhsagar for pavbhaji or mama mia for pizza if the wallet is thick enough then you have unlimited options here...
Croffered market: Just reach at the end of JJ flyover & you have best Mughlai serving restaurant in the town here named Jaffran... its open entire night. so you can enjoy some pub & after end of jam session you can visit this place..
Are you hukka lover??? head straight to Bandra. It provides multiple options from mocha to coalz or mughal sarai... If you are in Bandra, then the latest jewel of mumbai is must visit.. Bandra Worli Sea Link..
Also there are some specific areas to visit in specific times... If its Ramzaan, dont miss mohammed Ali road which will offer huge variety from biryani to kababs, malpoa to firni, tandoori to malai....
If its Ganesh Utsav, Just get down at Dadar & head to Lalbaug.. & enjoy wonderful decorations & huge ganesh pandals...
Dont have vehicle?? no probs, catch last train to churchgate or CST enjoy the night.. If you dont feel sleepy, then wait on marine lines or worli sea face till sunrise to bid bye bye to your night out....
Hope you will go on night out soon & post a comment here...
Me & Mayuresh were discussing about trip to the toughest circuit of the world since April.. 3rd June was the date when I shoot my first mail to Boss, Mayur, Pappu & PK writing proposed itinerary of the trip… Since then everyone was counting days left for the tour… We entered July & it felt great as the tour came as close as next month… 26th July was the start point as everybody brought their bikes at my place.
On 30th July we packed the bikes, & all 10 bikes started their journey well before us.. Then started last minute checklists, packings, mandal saman purchasing, managing rain gears, winter gears & shoes..
Days passed so fast & calendar showed 7th August 2009… Next day early morning we had to start our journey… Me, Mayuresh, Prasad, Mayur, Sonu gathered at my home & Vikram, Pappu, Tejas gathered at Vikram’s place. Shamik stayed at his office & came directly to airport…
Day1: We all gathered at airport & caught spicejet plane from Mumbai @ 5:50 am reached Gurgaon IFFCO colony @ 9:30. (Mayuresh’s father stay there as he has transferred to Delhi for job) Unpacked our bikes & prepared them for the ride (If you are transporting bikes with movers & packers, please remember u need at least 2-3 hours to start your journey from start of unpacking).
After unpacking we went to Madhav bhavan for flag off ceremony arranged by RSS. Came back to our base camp loaded luggage on bikes & started the journey @ 3:30 pm.
It took us more than an hour to cross boundries of Delhi. @ 6:30 pm we reached sonipat.(If you are starting from Gurgoan travel till Dhaula Kuan - then to Naraina then to azadpur & then to karnal by pass. This way you can avoid most of Delhi traffic). Once your reach Karnal by pass you have to follow NH1 till you reach Ambala.
Received wishes from DC there & started further journey @ 7:30 pm. We travelled 160 kms more to cross Murthal, Kurukshetra, Panipat & Karnal in a way & reached Ambala @ 11:30 pm. Stayed @ Hotel Mirchi.
Total travel on day 1 was 200Kms. Road was very good. If you are travelling in group you can travel this road any time, even at night.
Day2: Started from hotel @ 9:00 am. Went straight to Ambala Cant. To buy extra ropes, take out money from ATM, had our breakfast @ Pooransingh Dhaba. (This is must visit outlet besides Cant. Bus stand).
Started from cant @ 10:30 am. One has to travel towards amrutsar & ask for diversion for Ropad. Road till Ropad is very good. One can easily ride at 80 kmph.
From Ropad we took road to Bilaspur. We have to cross Bilaspur & then head to Mandi.
We reached Mandi @ 6:30 pm. Then we stopped there for food as we never had anything after Ambala (This thing should be strictly avoided on should take halt @ Bilaspur for food). After eating we headed to manali. Again road here is very good, so no problem for night journey.
Mandi – manali distance is 110 kms. & one can easily cover it in 2:30 hours. We met a small accident on road. Reached manali @ 1:00 am.
Distance travelled was 370 kms on this day.
One can travel Delhi – manali in single day but try this only if the group is small upto 4-5 bikes & you have to leave Delhi @ 6:00 am
Day3: Accident we met last night called for some repair work. (In Manali, if you go downwards from market you get few mechanics. there is also spare parts shop opposite Raju mechanic)
We prepared bikes once again but it took some time & when we left Manali it was already 12:15 pm. (If you are planning Manali-sarchu in single day, you have to leave manali before 7 am. Else it will be difficult) By the time we crossed Rohtang(Its 58 kms away from manali takes around 2:30 hours to reach) it was already 6pm.
Again due to bike break down (Remember, more the bikes more are chances of breakdown) Our plan failed once again & we could reach Keylong that day. (Ideally we should have reached Leh by now, we were not even half way). Stayed @ Keylong.
Keylong provides many options for accommodation. (Remember Tandi is a village 7 kms before keylong, there is a petrol pump in this village. This is a last petrol pump before Karu & you have no petrol pump in 365 kms, so please fill the petrol & if you have bikes with low mileage then carry some extra petrol. If somehow you fail to get petrol here, you can get it in Sarchu or Pang but I am not sure about its quality + its Rs. 100/litre)
Distance travelled 130 Kms.
Day4: Yet again we started late & by the time we left Tandi petrol pump it was already 11:30. There was no major breakdown on this day. Still we could go till Sarchu.
We travelled only 115 Kms this day & had to stop @ Sarchu. (The key to success is start your travel before 7:30 am every day else your plan is gone).
On the way, we crossed Baralacha La which is at altitude of 16000+ ft. & beautiful Deepak Tal.
Sarchu is at very high altitude + we crossed Baralacha La, which is high altitude pass. Some guys faced problem of AMS due to lower level of oxygen. (We were taking diamox 250 every morning since we left Manali still few guys faced the problem. Please carry ample stock of diamox tablets & electrol/ enerzol with you).
We stayed in tent @ Sarchu (150 per person including dinner & Breakfast). Note: ppl may suffer through AMS in Sarchu, so please don’t forget to take diamox.
Day5: This was the day of action. We badly wanted to break our bad riding record of last two days & hence all 14 were on bikes @ 8:00 am. Today we had to reach leh @ any cost. (Sarchu to Leh is 270 Kms).
We struggled for some time with bikes, due to very low temperature they took some time to start but still we could start the journey on time.
When we travelled 12 kms from Sarchu, we crossed himachal Pradesh & entered J& K.
Road from Sarchu to Pang is in really good condition & we reached Pang @ 12:30 pm. Had our lunch @ Pang & started for further journey @ 2:00 pm. All went well till we entered more plains.. More plains are 40 Kms of flat deserted plain land @ the height of over 14000 ft. The views from more plains are fantastic…
While crossing more plains, Tejas met an accident & his bike broke down.. Me, Raj & Tejas were well behind others trying to fix Tejas’s bike. We attempted many things fixing it, toeing it with my bike (In this attempt Tejas met another accident, I tried to toe it at faster speed & we lost co-ordination between bikes & he felled once again), we also tried to find a truck in which we can load the bike. Everything failed & we decided that I will go ahead to get help & Raj & Tejas will still stay back & try to fix bike.. I travelled 30 Kms to reach the place where Mayuresh, Pravin, Sonu were waiting while Vikram, Mayur & Prabhakar had gone ahead to Leh. I sent Mayuresh & Pravin to Tejas’s rescue & 5 of us led to Leh.
We crossed Tanglang La at 6:15 & reached Upashi @ 8:00 pm. Leh was still 50Kms but we decided to reach leh today itself. We started for leh at 8:45 & reached there by 10:30pm thanks to very good road.. Reached hotel @ 11:00 pm had a bath & went for dinner. When we completed the dinner, most awaited good news came. Mayuresh, Pravin, Raj & Tejas all had reached Leh. That news wiped of all fatigue & we all were in celebration mood. A guy called Ankur who had met us earlier at Manali, was also travelling from More plains. He & his friends were well aware of mechanical work, they fixed Tejas’s bike & finally whole team travelled till Leh… & finally all warriors were in Leh on day 5. Total distance travelled was 270 kms.
Day6 : This was a rest day & everybody utilized it to the fullest extent. We went out of hotel only for lunch, dinner & servicing bike… We managed permits through an agent. (For visiting K top, Nubra valley, Pangong Tso & Tso moriri one has to get in line permit from district collector office. We never went to the office but managed it through agent for Rs. 140 per person for 4 days permit).
We tried some tibetian food MOMO, THUPA & Chaumein(This is chineese). That’s first & last time I had Thupa.. Mutton momo was good.
In the evening we got all bikes checked from mechanic called Mohan Sharma. He is on service road on Leh manali road(But I would suggest one should go to other guy named Jumma, he is better option & his shop is on Airport road). We then filled our machines (Very interesting thing happened: all bikes on petrol pump at this time were from Maharashtra.. two other groups 1 from Pune & one from thane had come to similar ride.)
Mayur, Vikram, Tejas & Sonu went to bring Kabab & manage for dinner but there was no trace of these guys for next 2 hours… Finally me & Pappu stayed in hotel & asked others to advance to any good restaurant. Finally we could track 4 absconding people.. Initially we were angry on them, but they searched the best food outlet which kept satisfying us for entire stay at Leh. (Name of the hotel is Pizzeria & its near Tibetian refugee market). We had heavy dinner & returned to our hotel.
Day7 : Today we started early for K Top & Nubra valley, Courtesy Pappu, who did his job of waking up everybody early with great consistency.
On the way, we had to stop at south Pullu & submit the permits we got from DC office.
We rode without any hassles to K top. Its not very far from Leh, may be 40 Kms. We reached there quickly.. On the way we stopped @ India gate(I don’t know how one can enter india via this gate) & clicked many pictures.. The Indian flag managed by Boss had really great impact & we enjoyed the pics holding the tricolor.
We then proceeded to K top. Sonu’s bike had serious breathing problem & was behaving like asthama patient, but still we all could manage to reach the HIGHEST MOTORABLE POINT together & I cant describe what everyone was feeling.. Feeling top of the world?? In fact we were on the top of the world… We did it. Riding from Delhi all the way to the top.. so many obstacles to stop..but we crossed them.. & we did it.. All 14 warriors with all 11 bikes on decided day of 14 August… we captured it.. We hoisted the Indian Tricolor…
After extensive photo shoot, we started our descend for Nubra valley.. We took halt at North pullu, had maggi took diamox tablets from military hospital there (Thanks to superman who reminded us that we don’t have tablets & we can get them from Army first Aid center).
We then headed to diskit which is around 60 Kms from north Pullu, crossed village Khardung on the way. While crossing Khardung we mate some other bike groups & had a combined photo session on the road. Roads in Nubra valley were in really good condition & ride was fun.
Nubra valley is really beautiful & we made our way through it till Diskit. Hunder is a village 7 kms ahead of Diskit. Hunder is where you get to enjoy double hump camels & white sand dunes. We didn’t wait at Diskit & headed straight to Hunder.
We stayed at Habib’s great house. Its beautiful place for relaxing, if you enjoy hospitality & simplicity. We had a tea & then had a long game of 3 patti… Everybody was relaxed & this was perhaps the first time when we did something other than packing-unpacking & riding.. We enjoyed 3 patti followed by simple but tasty dinner.
Had a sound sleep that night.. Total distance travelled was 130 Kms.
Day8 : Independence day… 15th August & we were those we lucky people who were celebrating it so close to Siachen. We had a delicious Khambirs in breakfast (Its kashmiri roti which is very fluffy. You have to divide it into two parts & fill it with honey / butter / jam). After heavy breakfast we headed straight to sand dunes..
For 2-3 hours we enjoyed the dunes.. had extensive photo shoots, enjoyed camel ride, sung national anthem, enjoyed small riverbank… perhaps the best morning.. rather best day on tour.. really enjoyed the independence day…
Came back to guest house, had lunch & then headed straight to Leh. Stopped at K top for a while, enjoyed the snow & then went back to Leh..
Dattabhau & Sunil mama joined us at leh.
Me & Pappu then went to check for car to Pangong Tso also managed permits for Dattabhau & Sunil mama. Hired a car for one day pangong Tso trip. Then went for dinner @ Pizerria of course.
Total distance travelled: 130 Kms.
Day9 : We started early morning @ 6:30 am (surprised?? Even I was..) but we did it… Today 5 bikes were travelling to Pangong Tso & 8 warriors opted for scorpio.
We headed straight to Karu which is 30 kms from Leh.. & then from Karu took left turn to head to Shakti. We crossed this track very quickly as roads were in excellent conditions.. We crossed Shakti, roads made me so relaxed that I didn’t even bother to look at them constantly… andddddd… bangggggg I had to pay the price.. I felt at 60 Kmph & my bike’s ferring was all broken. Mayuresh was behind me. He picked up my bike, thank god it started.. I continued riding as injuries were not so deep. I stopped at military camp took the first aid & headed straight to Chang La. (This was the toughest pass according to me). I reached ChangLa alone. Mayur & Kiran had gone well ahead & Mayuresh’s bike was not climbing well so Mayuresh & Pravin were behind… I had a tea there then took 3-4 snaps & headed for Pangong immediately.
Met kiran at one military camp but he opted for breakfast at the camp while I moved further. I reached Pagal nala parked my bike & started walking towards Pangong lake. I met one biker & he gave me ride till the lake.. I had a long stroll & then started search.. After a while I saw warriors seating in a tent enjoying food. I joined them had some maggy & dal rice.
Food was followed by extensive photo session at the lake. While photo session was on its way Mayuresh, Pilu, Pravin & Kiran reached there.. Few more pics followed by lunch for those who had reached late & we headed to Pagal nala.
Water current had increased drastically… but fortunately we stopped a military truck which allowed us to aboard. They carried us till the other bank & we reached till the bikes safely. We started the return journey well within time & climate was good.. We were enjoying the ride.
Suddenly the entire situation changed, wind became chilling, clouds gathered in sky & it started raining… bikes were not running smoothly, temperature dropped, it started raining heavily… we advanced further… but after some time rain became so heavy that Kiran, mayuresh & Pravin opted to wait at military camp. Me & mayur kept riding along the scorpio… As we reached near Chang La, the rains freezed & snowfall was started.. frankly I enjoyed initial 2 mins… but then it turned hostile… the snowfall became so heavy that it started affecting visibility… Me and mayur drove parallel & Boss, pappu, Tejas forced driver to match with our speed… This entire setup worked well & we reached Chang La, riding @ -8 degrees.. had a tea there changed socks.. Mayur stripped Tejas’s pants as his jeans was not wearable after heavy rains & snowfall.. We both immediately started descend & came to leh without stopping anywhere..
Other guys stayed at Chang la till Mayuresh, Pravin & Kiran reached there. They contacted military camp & traced the three guys & finally when they reached… all came together to Leh.. As Kiran was not feeling well our Rescue squad head Vikram More rode his bike till Leh.
Once all reached, we headed to Pizerria to finish some more chicken & then went to bed..
Total distance travelled: 320 kms.
Day 10: This day was for roaming around in Leh… but most of us were in hotel.. in the evening we did some shopping, then booked a car to dump our luggage till Srinagar had our dinner & went to bed… My bike undergone a plastic surgery & we removed filter from Sonu’s bike & did small work on Shamik’s clutch lever
Day11 : We started early.. We had decided that we will travel till Srinagar in single day… as this will give us entire day in beautiful Srinagar… We started at 6:30 am. Enroute we visited lamayuru which is one of the oldest monestry.
After lamayuru we crossed FotuLa, which is highest pass on leh Srinagar route(13500 ft which is at lesser altitude than lowest pass of manali leh route). The road is very good till here… After FotuLa we headed straight to Kargil. Travelling without too many breaks we reached kargil bit early, but Tejas met an accident in between. We didn’t stop at Kargil for long & headed straight to Drass which is 40 Kms ahead of Kargil. Here I gave ride to Mr. K C Roy, who is serving artillery division. He explained me many things about kargil war..
Drass is 2nd coldest human habitat in the world. We stopped at Drass war memorial. Location of memorial itself is very beautiful.. it is situated between tololing, Tiger hill, Phyno thorn & one more peak which were real points of action.
We really feel proud about those who laid down their lives for India. Wherever you are from, whatever are your interests, if you are travelling on this route you should visit the memorial.
It was 6:00 pm when we started from memorial & Tejas’s bike gave up… we started it & it went till Drass. We had food at Drass, Roganjosh, Kheema & paneer mutter.. It was getting colder & colder. It also started raining & the bike was not starting. We decided to call end of day at Drass. Searched for accommodation parked our bikes & stayed there.
Total distance travelled 270 kms.
Day12 : Me & Pappu had given up our wake up call job… The car driver had took that from us.. We were ready by 7:30 am. We then stopped a truck, he agreed to load bikes & carry them till Srinagar. We loaded 3 bikes in the truck (Sonu, tejas, Shamik). We started in rains.. kept travelling.. & reached sonamarg @ 11:30 am. (I felt once again on the way, while crossing Zoji La). Had some breakfast @ Sonamarg (They put anything between breads & call it sandwitch).
We tried to find mechanic but failed.. So we decided to carry bikes till village called Kangan in truck. Bikers rode ahead & tracked the mechanic in kangan village which is 30kms before Srinagar.
He fixed tejas’s bike quickly, but after carrying in truck Sonu’s bike was not getting started.. & to everybody’s surprise Shamik’s bike got puncture inside the truck(?) it took around 90 minutes to fix everything & then we headed to Srinagar.
Finally we reached Srinagar at 6:00 pm. Went stratight to hotel.. had a party entire evening & then headed to restaurant called Mughal Darbar.. The food was really tasty we tried starter called Kanti, mutton chaap, & two spicy chicken gravies.. after dinner had a walk of two kms.. on roads of Srinagar…
Reached hotel @ 11:30 pm. Total distance travelled 200 kms.
Day13: had a breakfast at restaurant called Purohit.. It serves many Marathi cuisines so all warriors attacked on Kande pohe, batata wada, upama, shira.. (The restaurant is on main road near dal gate).
After heavy breakfast, we headed for Jammu. The roads are in excellent conditions.. We crossed Jawahar tunnel, then khooni nala & reached at patni top which is a famous hill station. There we had evening snacks & continued the journey to reach a village from which there was a diversion for Pathankot. We took the shortcut to pathankot. The roads are not in very good condition & at around 8:30 pm. Tejas’s bike was punctured. Thank god we had a mechanic at 10 kms, he fixed the bike & we continued further. 5 kms before pathankot, we called off our day at 11:30 pm & stayed at hotel Vishal. Enjoyed dinner of chicken there.
Total distance travelled 400 kms.
Day14: This was the last day of the journey. We started at 9 am. Then stopped at Dhaba near pathankot. Had heavy breakfast of parathas, daal, lassi & then headed to delhi.. When we crossed jalandhar it started raining & continued for a while.
We crossed 200 kms & then took halt for lunch at a dhaba. For all days we were travelling together & even if anybody is ahead he use to stop for others after a while, but this time Shamik was so focused on reaching delhi that he didn’t even realize that me & Pravin trying to stop him… he kept riding till he reached Delhi. After lunch we started for delhi. We crossed Kurukshetra & got the news that Mayuresh & Pilu met accident. We waited for them at 3000 kms mark. Once they reached we started once again & at 9:00 pm reached Sonipat. We had asked Tejas to wait here for us but we couldn’t trace him… We all were worried & had no clue… We tried but their cells were not reachable for more than 1 hour we tried to find some solution. Actually we wanted to stop 30 kms before delhi celebrate the completion & then enter delhi in the morning… but now when two guys were missing all celebration plans were cancelled & we headed to Delhi.
We lost hours in search & hence reached Delhi very late. Pravin came to our rescue & quickly managed accommodation & food for us. We headed to gurgaon with Pravin, meanwhile Shamik & tejas called us to inform that they were in Delhi safely. We were really angry about this entire episode but then we reached gurgaon had food… some drinks, anger settled down & we enjoyed review of all 14 thrill packed days.. Me, Mayur, Pappu, Pravin, Boss & Sonu stayed at Pravin’s place Mayuresh & Prasad went to Dattabhau’s place.. We all who had stayed with Pravin enjoyed till 3 am & then called off the day.
Day15: We went straight to Dattabhau(Mayuresh’s father) residence as that was our assembly point. Or Then we took our bikes to mover & packer(Rotlu Shekhavat). He packed the bikes, meanwhile we moved to sector 14 & had lunch(Veg for a change). Then came back to IFFCO colony packed our bags cut cake arranged by Pravin & Tejas.. Recorded goodbye lines of all warriors.. & started the return journey…
On the way we visited house of Mr. Sharma & spend some time there… This some time was so long that most of us lost the confidence that we can catch the flight… but ganpati bappa was waiting for us here in Mumbai so he managed vehicle for us & we reached airport in time… plane started @ 9:15pm & we were back in Amachi Mumbai at 11:15pm Clicked some last snaps on airport & then headed for our homes……
Before completing this travelogue I should thank few people who helped us a lot during this journey…
In first place Mayuresh’s Father (Dattabhau), who stay at Gurgoan due to his job, provided us basecamp at gurgoan. He received the bikes we had sent (without keys) at Gurgoan & took care of them for 4 days. Also provided us assembly point on our return journey & arranged beautiful flag off for us.
Sharmaji, who stay in IFFCO colony gurgoan, provided us his house for all preparations before leaving for ride
Indian Army, which helps everybody enroute & especially people like us who are not carrying any back up vehicle.. They helped us not only with providing secured roads but with tea, snacks, giving us lift, guiding us for roads, providing first aid and in many more ways….
And last but not least our families back home who showed faith in us. They took enough pain trying our not-reachable phones or contacting each other to get information about us. Wished us for every part of the journey.
With that I conclude this scribble (Its too long to be called scribble though), but the concluding is just for this trip… The warriors & their machines are ready once again to conquer new highs… Till then let us all enjoy the memories of conquering toughest circuit of the world without any backup or any mechanic or any professional tour manager… BRAVO MARATHA WARRIORS
