My Tours: temple

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Dakor and Pavagadh (ડાકોર અને પાવાગઢ)

We had arranged a tour to Pavagadh and Dakor on 12^th December, 2010. We were 9: me, Ankit (my friend), Ankit’s wife, Ankit’s two sisters (one of them is cousin), cousin’s husband, total 2 children of the sisters and Ankit’s brother Gopal (cousin), excluding the driver; managed seats in Innova car. Pavagadh hill is a very popular for the temple of Godess Kali and it is located in Panchmahal district of Gujarat. While Dakor is a city famous for its temple of Dakor temple of Lord Krishna and it is located in Kheda district of Gujarat state.

We departed from Bhavnagar to Pavagadh at around 1:30 AM. We took halts at two restaurants in between the path. At around 6:15 AM, we reached to Pavagadh Taleti. We got refreshed at a Dharmshala. At around 7:40, we departed from the Dharmshala and reached to the hill base at 7:50 AM. I told others that we are very late; we should have started ascending at 5:30 AM, now some of us will not be able to go without rope-way.

After some discussion, we all decided to go by stairs. But after almost 300 steps, Ankit’s cousin (sister) told that she will not be able to go to the top only by the stairs. So, her husband and Gopal go down to the rope-way starting point with the Ankit’s cousin and her ~5 year old child. Meanwhile, we were going up. I have good stamina of climbing, so I decided to go faster then other. I reached to the rope-way ending point and Ankit’s sister and his son were waiting there. They had reached there just before 10 minutes and it was 8:35 AM. I had taken approx. 40 minutes to reach there. We waited for 15 minutes for Ankit, Ankit’s wife, Ankit’s sister and the sister’s son; and another 15 minutes for Ankit’s cousin’s husband and Gopal to arrive. Then we all started moving ahead. Now the way was almost flat up the top. At around 9:35, we all reached to the temple. I waited outside the temple for 20 minutes for others to complete praying and coming out. After that, at a flat area on the hill, there was a lake, known as “Dudhiyu Talav” and some huts. We roamed around for 30 minutes and then started descending to the base. Now all others, except me and Gopal, decided to go by rope-way. We took just 15 minutes to reach at the base but others were coming very slowly and I had to wait for Gopal to come there for 15 minutes and another 20 minutes for the other people to come.

Now it was 11:50 AM. Our next destination was Dakor. But it was a route of approx. 2:30 hours. So, we decided that we will take lunch at a restaurant mid way. The road from Pavagadh to Dakor was very very bad. It was just approx. 80 km but it will take 2:30 hours to reach there because of the extremely bad condition of the road. It was like a roller coaster ride.

We found a good restaurant at 1:30 PM. There was almost nobody at there except a truck, but after some time, the restaurant filled with many tourists. After taking the lunch, and passing some time in talking, we decided to left for Dakor. We had to pass time at the restaurant because we had completed lunch at around 2:20 PM and now the distance to Dakor was short. It would take less than 30 minutes to reach there, but if we reach there before 4:30 PM, we had to pass time there because the temple’s next opening time was 4:30 PM. So, we departed from the restaurant to Dakor at around 3:10 PM.

We reached to Dakor at 3:35 PM, parked the car at a parking plot and started walking of 10 minutes to the temple. After reaching to the temple, we still had ample of time to pass until the gates of the temple are opened. We roamed in the Dakor city’s market. Ankit’s sisters brought some kitchen appliance. I also brought a carry bag for just Rs. 10. Then, all, except me and the driver, took a ride in boats in a near by beautiful lake. My phone’s battery was drying speedily therefore I wasn’t taking snaps from its camera.

Now it was time of opening the gates of the temple. There were lots of people in queues to get a very short duration look of Lord Krishna. The gates are kept open only for an hour. It is the temple’s trust’s politics to show that there are lots of people visiting the temple by allowing only very short time duration for entrance and making a big crowd. It’s shameful.

All completed their worships and now it’s time to move on. It was approx. 5:15 PM, when we reached back to the car parking plot. My head was aching slightly and ache was increasing by time due to lots of noise, high-speed wind and especially because of continuous sunlight. Some of us were still wanted to visit another place, which I don’t remember as of writing this, but some were preferring to go back to home. That place’s closing time was 5 or 6 PM and therefore either that place could have already been closed or we will not be able to reach there on time or we will not get enough time to spend there. So, we decided to go back directly to Bhavnagar. Via Anand city, Baandhani Chowkdi (intersection), Vataman and a restaurant “Anmol” we reached to Ankit’s home, from where we had started the journey, at around 11:10 PM. All were very tired except me. Yes, I still had to work up to 3 AM after going to home!

Here are some pics from the Pavagadh hill:

(Below) Take a look, how bad Indian people are at keeping cleanliness

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Maalnath Tour

On 26^th July, 2009, we had a lucky and pleasant journey. I and Ombhai (peon of the I T Experts Academy) were the two only travelers. Before three days we had decided to go to Maalnath Temple which is approx. 15 Km from Bhavnagar. Generally people go to Maalnath on bikes and therefore my bike was chosen for the tour. But on the day before the tour, Saturday night, I changed my decision that we will not go by bike because of the rainy season and bad roads between Kobdi village and Maalnath; so, instead, I decided that we will go to Kobdi by Rickshaw/Chhakada and then if we don't get any vehicle after that, then we will complete the remaining distance by walking. Kobdi is at about 7.5 Km far from Bhavnagar, so we had to walk another 7.5 Km. But here comes our LUCK.

At 12 AM, I was with Akash (one of my close friend) at Kaalanala, and Ombhai called me to come at Bhid-bhanjan temple, where he is living and from where we can get a vehicle. Kaalanala is just near to the temple so, I told Akash to drop me at Bhid-bhanjan. After some minutes of waiting with Akash, Ombhai came and I told Akash that he may go now and we get departed for the time.

From the starting point at the Bhid-bhanjan, Bhavnagar, we easily got a Rickshaw which dropped us up to Kobdi village. It took almost half an hour and 20 Rs. (10 Rs. per person). At Kobdi, Ombhai brought a Maavo and I brought a Pan of Kaatho and Sopari (because of ulcer in my mouth). We had already asked to the Rickshaw driver, who had dropped us up to Kobdi, if he wanted us to take up to Maalnath, but he had refused.

After Kobdi we started walking towards Maalnath which was yet 7.5 Km far. I took some photos of the windmills of Suzlon which were at Maalnath but appearing from the road. After walking for a little more than a kilometer, we got a truck. It took us up to 1.8 Km more and now it had to turn to a different way. So, we were at almost 4.5 Km from Maalnath. We again started walking.

After another approx. 1.2 Km of walk we got another vehicle, a Jeep like Car, I think it was Tata's 207Di. It helped us up to another approx 2.4 Km. The car driver has reached to his destination so he dropped us and again we started walking towards Maalnath. Maalnath was now only approx. a kilometer. Again we started walking and but again after just a walk of a half kilometer we got a Rickshaw and it took us up to Maalnath.

Now here is how our luck was good: We had decided to go from Kobdi to Maalnath by walk but after every few meters of walk we got vehicles!! And none of them accepted any fare from us!!! We asked to the 2^nd rickshaw driver if he could also take us back to the Bhavnagar and he accepted our request. Well, the last sentence seems OK but here is another twist. The rickshaw driver would not accept our request because the rickshaw was taken on rent by the family traveling in it. But the main family member and Ombhai had already met each other very often at Bhid-bhanjan temple and therefore he had told the rickshaw driver to let us come with them!!!!

More luck: At Maalnath, I wasn't aware that all the food stalls behind the temple were of the relatives of Ombhai!!! They provided us the breakfast meal for free!!!! They refused accepting any money from us.

We reached at Maalnath temple just 2:45 PM. Maalnath is beautifully surrounded by hills and the hills were looking very greenish and fresh in the monsoon. After breakfast, we climbed up the hill to go to the Suzlon wind farm. We took some walk and also took many photos of the windmills.

At 4:10 PM, we decided to go back and the rickshaw driver and the family were waiting for us. Now they were also wanting to go to the Trambak a.k.a. Tapovan which was another 6 Km far from Maalnath. 3 Km road for Trambak was the same in-between Maalnath and Kobdi. The road to Trambak was very bad. But we reached to Trambak without any problem. We enjoyed a waterfall at there for 5 minutes; I also took a photograph and then returned back to the rickshaw. We waited there for 10 minutes for the family to come back. On their return we all returned back to Bhavnagar. I left the rickshaw near the Sahkaari Haat and started walking towards my home which was almost 1.5 Km.

All the time of the tour, Ombhai was saying: Look, how many people are coming on bike, we should also have a bike. And I was saying: Look, how bad the roads are. And it is monsoon. We should not bring bike at this time. We will definitely come with bike, but only in winter and summer. Ombhai were very helpful during this tour. The whole journey was very very pleasant and I enjoyed it a lot.

Hear is the table of Traveling

From and To	Travelled By	Distance Travelled	Total Travel	Remaining
Up to Kobdi	Rickshaw	7.5	7.5	7.5
Kobdi to Maalnath	Walk	1.2	7.7	6.2
	Truck	1.8	9.5	4.4
	Walk	1.2	11.7	3.2
	Car	2.4	14.1	0.9
	Walk	0.5	14.6	0.4
	Rickshaw	0.4	15.0	0.0

Photos

A far view of Suzlon windmills

Diving in the Kund at Maalnath

Diving Sequence in 6 photos

Views from the Maalnath

Can you imagine what is the white big thing? Its just a small part of the windmill where the blades are fit. Two big holes to attach the blades can be seen, one is behind the scene.