My Journey to Gujarat - A Review
As I write this blog it’s been exactly a month since I returned from my first leg of journey across India. I went to Gujarat with no expectations and the state overwhelmed me from what it had to offer. I spent 26 days in this awesome state and had it not been for the wedding of couple of my best friends I would have liked to stay a week more. The food is super delicious, the people are friendly, the infrastructure is impressive and it still does not rank high on the tourists map. Of course that will change in the years to come considering the amount of efforts the state government is putting to promote tourism in the state. A review therefore is definitely required for the tiny audience as to how I spent close to 4 weeks here.
I started my ride on 09 Jan and my first destination was Bhuj in the Kutch region of Gujarat. A ride of approximately 900 kilometers was covered over 3 days and I spent 5 days in Bhuj, the big town in Kutch. In that duration I went to White Rann of Kutch which totally blew me away. Post that, I moved to the northern end of Kutch spending a night at Fort Lakhpat Gurdwara and from there I moved to Koteshwar where I witnessed one of the best sunsets ever in my life.
Mandvi in the southern part of Kutch was my next (and last in Kutch) destination where I spent a couple of days trying get someone to explain to me the art of shipbuilding but failed L. All that the ship builders would tell me was that you just put the wooden planks together and “that’s it, it’s ready!” “That’s it” takes more than a couple years :I .
I headed to Jamnagar next and the city had little to offer. Wait a minute! I had the best street food – Bread Batata Katka out there. That should be enough for a foodie like me. There was another encounter of a special kind but I may or may not be blogging about it. So you can keep guessing ;). And when I left Jamnagar one early morning I had no clue as to where I was headed – Dwarka or Porbandar. .
But before I could make that decision in the afternoon of the same day I spent the morning visiting the Marine Life Sactuary at Narara, some 50 odd kilometers east of Jamnagar. Once I reached the town of Khambaliya in the afternoon from where I could head further east to Dwaraka or south to Porbandar I chose the latter
I spent my days in Porbandar by making frequent trips from my bed to the toilet seat! Stomach troubles hit me along with mild fever. But in the evenings when I used to feel a bit better I would take a walk to the beach which was half a minute walk if I jumped over the balcony of my hotel room and walked across the gate facing the beach or 2 minutes walk if I took the main entrance facing the road. Relax about the jumping over the balcony thing, because although my room was on the ground floor I had to lock the door to my room which faced the main entrance. I also visited the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation.
My next destination was Somnath and I did not intend to stay the night (but head directly to Gir National Forest after visiting the temple). However, looking at the beauty and magnificence of the place, I made up my mind to watch the sunset at this symbolic monument and to hit Gir National Forest the next morning. I spent the time before sunset trying to click pictures of waves and them hitting the rocks but failed to capture the beauty I witnessedL. The waves here were some of the biggest I saw in Gujarat and my shots, as an effort at capturing them, were pathetic.
My final destination was Gir National forest and those moments I spent watching the lions, words and pictures will fail to describe them. You have to be there and experience it to understand and acknowledge what I am talking about.
After Gir I was so excited that there was nothing, in my opinion, that could match the heights of amazement that I had reached and this would be a fitting end before I rode back home. Well, 2 days after I left Gir I was back home in Mumbai.
And Finally here’s a statistical review -
Days in Gujarat – 26
Kilometers clocked – 2800 approximately
Total Expenses – Rs. 24722
Break up of expenses
Food – Rs 4487
Fuel – Rs 3775
Stay – Rs 8100
Did you like my review of Gujarat. Leave a comment and let me know!
(With editorial inputs by Jovitha D’souza)