Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Suvra,
Visual delight for all Xbhpians for sure, great tour and wonderful photography, kudos!!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

thank you for your lovely comments

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Apna naam dekha. AANsu chalak gate aankho se :P :P [Trans: Taers dropped by my eyes after reading my name]

And after seeing these splendid pics(in later part I didnt see pics, guess you all didnt showed me earlier... grrrrrr) i am determined to not write my tlog :P :P

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

aisa na karo miyan..do write your t-log..your is a special one, especially because it was done solo

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

You and sunset, paisa vasool pics!! I bet I would not remember so much from a trip to log it in such awesome detail.

Cheers!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

he he..thank you thank you miyan!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Day 7 (6th February): Bhuj - Mandvi - Morbi

The day started with some serious planning. We 2 more days to spent in Gujarat and as per our original plan, we were supposed to go to Mandvi from Bhuj and then head towards Jamnagar to visit the Marine National Park and then head towards Gir. However, we had already spent one extra day in Bhuj because of the bike service and we lost some time in Gandhinagar initially with the problems with the bikes. Everybody was asked if it was possible to extend 1 more day so that we can cover both Jamnagar as well as Gir. I and Sunil seemed fine with extending one more day, but Ashish told that he has some urgent classes to attend in his college so it will be impossible for him to extend for another day, rather he has to rush to Bangalore a day earlier. And Tapabrata was neutral. So, we dropped the plan of extending our trip and re-planned in order to drop Jamnagar from our route map, instead after finishing up in Mandvi, we would be heading towards Gir. so, after breakfast, I got ready and went to the hotel reception in order to settle the bills, whereas others got ready in the meantime.

By 10 am, we were ready and saddled up, and headed towards Mandvi, a mere 58 kms from Bhuj. The road was well laid, with no diversions or potholes but we were neither in a hurry, thanks to dropping Jamnagar from the plan. The temperature was rising and I was now experiencing humidity along the highway. It was nearing 11 am when we reached the outskirts of Mandvi, and when asked about the Wind Farm Beach, people directed us through a lightly populated city. In few moments we reached the beach which we saw in the pictures, while planning. Immediately, all 4 of us headed for the windmills where we had some photos planned. So, I and Tapabrata took out our cameras and started shooting pictures.





















Spending some 45 minutes at this beach, we headed back towards the city. Afternoon was very hot and humid and we started to feel the hunger now. However, our next destination was the Mandvi ship building yard and so we decided to have lunch after visiting the yard. We were guided by some local people to the ship building yard, but we were also told that right now, no ships are being built so we might end up seeing only some dumps or broken ships. We had come all this way so we did not want to back out. After passing through some really narrow lanes, we finally arrived at the yard. It looked promising by the structures, although it was dirty and currently, no ships were built. We parked our steeds and I took out my camera to roam around the yard a bit and get some shots.















We headed out of the yard and headed on the NH 8A towards Mundra. On our way, just at the outskirts of Mandvi, we found a restaurant named The Ocean Restaurant and went inside the same. By the time we were parking our bikes, we already had attracted the restaurant manager as well as the waiters, and the cook. Everyone came out to watch us, with thousands of questions running in their minds. The manager was delighted to hear that we are coming from Bangalore and we are on a Gujarat trip and offered us with delicious lunch. He was keen to know if we liked the food or if we needed any information to go around the city. We thanked him for his kind hospitality and focused on the delicious food kept in front of us. While having our food, we discussed about the route and the probable stop for the night and started browsing through the maps. We had to take the same 8A which crossed Bhachau and Morbi, after which we had to take diversion towards Rajkot. Bunking at Rajkot seemed a bit out of our reach provided the time we were starting after lunch. Morbi seemed to be the perfect place to bunk for the night, hence. So, after finishing up with the lunch, we started off for Morbi, 218 kms from Mandvi. The highway was a 2 laner for some 30 Kms and gradually, it changed to a 4 laner, bringing a relief to us, because there was an increased traffic of trucks, thanks to the port of Mundra. But, on the other hand, the road condition deteriorated and we had to check our speeds at certain places, following some deep potholes which shook our bike. I also noticed that my tail light clamp was broken again, thanks to the rough tarmac, and the entire tail light section was hanging from mudguard.

It was 7:30 pm when we reached the outskirts of Morbi, with me losing the complete tail section finally (I did not even realize when the tail light fell), the ZMR of Ashish having loose mirrors and the tail light of Tapabrata's CBR not working. Anyways, those were the least of our worries at the moment because we had to look for places to sleep for the night. We kept on inquiring and looking for guest houses, but none looked good to us. We started thinking now that maybe the best option is to stay somewhere on the highway itself, so that it will be easier for us to get on the highway early morning and head towards our next destination. So, we went back to the NH 8-A and to our surprise we located a decent enough hotel named Hotel Gurukrupa, just beside the highway. Me and Sunil went inside the hotel to check out the prices and the rooms and we both were satisfied. In the meantime, Tapabrata tried his hand on his camera to get the following picture out.



We rushed to the hotel room and got freshened up. We were too tired to look for a restaurant for dinner, so we decided to order for room service instead. After heavy dinner, we crashed almost immediately, putting the alarm for next day at 5am. I was particularly excited about the next day, because we were heading for Gir tomorrow, and I wanted see some of the Asiatic lions. Thinking about the next day, I do not even remember when I went off to sleep.

Accommodation For the Day:

Hotel Name: Hotel Gurukrupa
Address: Gurukrupa, Jail Road, NH 8-A, Morbi - 363641
Phone: +912822240357
Tariff: 1500/- for 4 bedroom

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Day 8 (7th February): Morbi - Junagadh - Gir

We woke up much before the alarm woke us up and by 5:30 am we were ready to hit the highway. The hotel was just beside the NH 8A and we could see an empty highway, with only local people riding their activas and mopeds. This was the perfect time for us to hit the highway. We quickly looked at the maps about the route we would be taking and it seemed to be a straight forward and fast route for us from Morbi. We would take the NH 8A all the way till Rajkot and from there NH 8B till Junagadh where a friend of Ashish would me meeting us, helping us with the stay in Gir. So, without further delay, we started off from Morbi and opened our throttle towards Rajkot. Superb road, added to cool breeze and the sunrise, gave a good feeling right from the start. By 8 am, we were at Kodiyar Nagar which was the junction of 8A and 8B, to which we took the 8B towards Rajkot. We stopped after few kms at a dhaba on our left to have morning breakfast. Tapabrata called up to let us know that he has stopped over at a petrol bunk to finish his morning rituals, not far from our place. So, we had breakfast, waited for Tapabrata to come and finish off his food and started getting ready for the next leg, when Ashish pointed out a Honda service centre just beside the dhaba. Tapabrata literally was overjoyed because he wanted a tail light bulb and rushed to the store, coming out with a bulb in his waving hand. Within few minutes, we started off from that place and moved towards Rajkot. NH 8B was equally in a great shape and we had pleasure riding on it. By 11:30 we were at the outskirts of Junagadh when my rear tyre went flat. I was in the middle of an empty highway, and could not see any soul around. I called up Tapabrata and let him know about the situation and parked the bike on the side of the road. Met one local on the highway on his splendor and when asked about any puncture shop, he directed me to one, which was around 1 KM away from my place. I had no choice but to push the bike, and after the never ending push, finally located the puncture guy. By this time, Tapabrata and Sunil arrived to the place and told me that Ashish has met his friend and they are waiting for us at the Junagadh entry gate. The puncture took around 30 minutes to fix and once done, we 3 rushed to meet the rest, to meet Ashish's friend, Abhishek.

Abhishek brought his friend Jasmine along and both of them escorted us into the city, into their "adda", where we met couple of other guys, all of them seemed well informed about the stay options in Gir. While we were gunned by ideas from all around, and things were getting confusing for us, I called up Ashish and told him that we are loosing time now and need to decide faster about the stay, so lets finalize one plan and head towards it. Ashish conveyed the same to Abhishek and he in turn called his friend, who owns a resort in Gir, named The Wilds Villa. After further discussions and negotiations, he agreed to give the rooms at 1000/- per person including dinner and breakfast, and it sounded to us as a good deal. We agreed to it and headed towards the house of Abhishek to dump our luggage and get freshened up a bit before we head out to Gir. We were welcomed warmly by Abhishek's family, offered us lunch and some cold drinks, to which we were obliged.

By 03:00 PM we were all set to start towards Gir, and Abhishek and Jasmine decided to accompany us as well. Gir national park was 50 kms from Junagadh and none of us wanted to miss the sunset in the forest. So, we headed out immediately towards Gir. The road to Gir is not great and there are a series of potholes on the way and we had to ride really carefully all along. After an odd 30-35 kms, we stopped over to get some shots from camera, because we were about to enter the Gir national park.







After few Kms, we entered the Gir national park and the road condition improved a lot. Just as we started liking our ride inside the forest, we were hit by a serious of speed breakers, each 1 Km apart, and we were again back to the square one, with Sunil and Tapabrata's faces turning red. Anyways, after few Kms, we saw the Sun just over the horizon, and seeing a small road on our right going inside the farm, we entered to click some pictures.









We continued further into the forest and by the time we reached the resort, it was quite dark and chilly. The resort did not have any fencing and when inquired, we came to know that the day before, two lions had come over to that very place. Take that! And we were excited. The setup was splendid though with bonfire setup around 3 "charpai" where we lied down. I took out the camera and started taking some shots.









And in the meantime Sunil captured this picture of me.



After some photo session, we were served with Gujarati thali and it goes without saying that we tripped over the food. It was tasty and delicious and nothing better would have suited to this environment. After the heavy dinner, we crashed to the cozy and warm beds. Abhishek however assured us that next day, we would be going for safari that starts early morning so we need to wake up sometime around 6 and be ready. Abhishek and Jasmine would be taking care of the tickets and other documentation required for the safari.

Accommodation for the day:

Resort Name: The Wilds Villa Gir
Resort Address: Bhojade Road, Gujarat 362135
Telephone: +919979797899

End of Day 8. Day 9 to follow soon.

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Again some captivating captures dada!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Awesome thread Dada !! Loved every bit...BTW how's your Black Mamba ??

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

thanks again krishna da

thank you..black mamba is good, it had awesome fun for the first 5 days, after the mamba started missing someone

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Superb man!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

thank you

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Lovely updates Dada

Last pics is the best Khoye hue khayalo mei..

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Day 9 (8th February): Gir -Junagadh - Ahmedabad

I woke up by the harsh alarm of my mobile at 6am and found out that Abhishek and Jasmine were already out of the cots, and were preparing to leave for the ticket counter. Assuming there was still some time at hand, I got freshened up and headed out with my camera for some early morning shots.







In the meantime we got a call from Abhishek that the slots for 6:30 am was full so he could not get ticket for the morning safari, instead he got the tickets for the 9:30 am safari so we need to reach the ticket counter by 9:15 am. The news spread and everyone started getting ready and finished our breakfast. When we reached the ticket counter, we saw lots of safari gypsys lined up, ready to leave towards the jungle. Few moments later, all of us boarded our designated gypsy and headed towards the Route No 7 of the jungle trail. Most of us were silent during the entire safari and were busy clicking pictures. I would hence skip the narration here and post the pictures which we clicked.





























After good 2 hours spent in admist the jungle of Gir, we headed towards Jungadh, to drop Abhishek and Jasmine. It was already noon so when we reached house of Abhishek, his parents offered us lunch, to which we did not say no. After some delicious lunch, we headed towards Ahmedabad, 315 kms far. We had to cross Rajkot and it was pretty much the same highway which we took while coming to Junagadh. Tapabarata and Ashish sped past on this known highway and me, along with Sunil started cruising along. Just as we were approaching Rajkot, my front tyre gave up. Two punctures, in two days! I was lucky this time though, as just on the opposite foot, there was a puncture shop. Sunil was following me and seeing my puncture, he pulled over alongside me. I called Tapabrata and asked him to continue as we were stuck. It took some good 30 minutes to fix the puncture and once it was fixed, me and Sunil resumed our leg towards Ahmedabad. Around 5:30 pm, I got a call from Tapabrata that they were approaching Ahmedabad and since it was quite early in the day, he and Ashish want to head towards Vadodara, which was another 100 kms. We were a good 100 kms away from Ahmedabad and it did not seem possible for us to stretch till Vadodara, hence we told them to continue as they wish. There was hence a split of two groups here, me and Sunil looking for to bunk at Ahmedabad for the night and Tapabrata and Ashish, heading towards Vadodara.

We stopped at a small shop to have tea and snacks, while the Sun was planning to shelter for the day as well. I took out my camera to capture the sunset from where we were standing.





After the short break, we headed towards Ahmedabad and by the time we reached inside the city, it was already 7:30 pm. We inquired about accommodation options and easily found a check guest house along the National Highway. We did not waste further time of ours, parked our bikes at a safe place and got freshened up. Called up Tapabrata and Ashish and found that they have also reached Vadodara and bunked at a decent enough guest house by the highway. Relieved, we had simple and short dinner and crashed.

End of Day 9, Day 10 to start soon..