Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

yes bro, but you see we were running behind the schedule and seeing the sun set while passing the white rann was simply outstanding, hence we took the decision to skip it..maybe next time for sure

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

You missed Dholavira! The place was great! The harappan village was worth a visit. And the view from there was amazing! A green patch with the rann just above the horizon!
And the road through the rann.. The best place ive been to till date..

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Once again, nice clicks dada!

Sent from my Xperia L.

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Day 4 (3rd February): Santalpur - Little Rann of Kutch - Dholavira - Samkhiyali

The day started off with a good note, when I woke up in the morning and looked out on the window, I saw a barren desert around the guest house, lighting up my eyes. I called Ashish and Tapa immediately who were still in bed and asked them to have a look outside the window. I went out and saw Eshwari already roaming around, taking pictures of the surroundings, an early riser I must say and the best thing was to see the grin on her face and her running around to take pics. I guess when you are out on a trip, you need to be one and here are some of the shots which she got in the morning.





We went down to the restaurant and ordered breakfast, coffee and puri. And in few minutes time, Sunil arrived at the guest house. We had already sent the location of the guest house earlier in the morning so that it is easier for us to locate him. I was relieved with this fact that finally the group was together from the day the kutch trip started. Anyways, we finished off our breakfast and I utilized this time inquiring about the exact place to enter the little rann of kutch and negotiating with the guest house owner to keep our luggage in our rooms until we are back by noon. So, in few moments, we started off on the highway, towards the little rann. We had to take a left from the highway at about 5 kms from the guest house and head towards a small village, the little rann being behind the village. However, even before we could approach the rann, we ended up in another barren stretch of land where we pulled over. And it goes without saying that people started pulling out the cameras out here. The pictures below are a mix from everyone's camera.























Moving on from the location after some picture shooting, we finally reached the village. The moment we entered the village, there was chaos and obvious interest about us, where we coming from and all those stuff. It was like the entire village has come to greet us. Some older folks asked us where do we intend to go to which I asked about the little rann. One person pointed me to the way to the rann. In the middle of this conversation, Tapabrata clicked a few pictures though.









After answering all their questions, we headed towards the rann. We were already off the tarmac and the path was full with sand and we slowly made our way to the rann. And within few metres, we entered the little rann of kutch. A vast, barren land, with no trees, no water, hot and you could see the horizon all around you. It was an amazing feeling the moment I stepped into the rann. People started parking the bikes and start photoshoot, while I took some time to let the feeling settle down and finally pulled out my camera.




























Spending a good 1 hour at the little rann of kutch, we headed our way back to the guest house. We waited for everyone to regroup once we touched the highway. We sighted one local transportation system and clicked a picture of it.





By the time we reached the guest house, it was almost 12:30 pm so we ordered lunch and started packing, ready to head out towards Dholavira. We already got the taste of how hot it is going to be, so we decided not to fill up our tummies with food, and rather have something light. In an hour, we headed out on the highway, towards Chitrod. The NH 17 highway passes through the little rann of kutch as well, so I being the pillion on this day as well, got some good shots of it from the highway.





From Chitrod, we headed towards Rapar. It was now SH 51 which was butter smooth as well, no potholes and we did not have any problems covering the distances fast.





To Be Continued..

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Day 4 Continues..

As we crossed Rapar and Desalpar, we encountered deserted lands on both sides of the road. There was already lot of wind blast around this place so a short stop was something everyone needed. And, I utilized this time for clicking some pictures.













Few minutes of stop and we resumed our riding. The wind blasts resumed for quite a few kms and it was getting difficult to keep a good pace now. I wanted some shots of the group so I utilized this opportunity as a pillion.









When we crossed the village of Lodrani, the Sun was getting ready to start its plunge towards the horizon and I started doubting whether we would be able to make it to Dholavira on time. Less I knew that I would encounter something magical on the way to Dholavira that would make us drop the plan of going to Dholavira and would make our day special. We got the first view of white rann few kms after we crossed Lodrani. So beautiful, magical feeling it was with cold rays from Sun over the horizon that we were spellbound with it and ended up stopping. No words can express that feeling and I was already having goosebumps seeing the beauty of nature. It took me quite some time to settle down, and believe that I am here, finally. I would not waste any more words here because as I mentioned before, no words can express the feeling I had at that point of time. I would rather share the pictures we took at this place. We were so "awwed" by this place that we decided to stay there till the sun set.

































Mesmerized by the beauty of nature, we slowly started off from the place. We decided to drop the plan of visiting Dholavira because it was already dark and instead we headed towards Samkhiyali. It was pitch dark in the night and all of us rode together, so that no one gets left behind. By the time we reached Samkhiyali, it was 9 pm already and we started hunting for a guest house to bunk for the night. However, it did not take much time for us to look for a guest house and just on the highway, to our left we found one. We checked out the rooms and although they were not in great shape, but still it was bunkable for us, because the target was to leave as early as possible the next day. The rooms were of 400/- and we had good and safe parking space for our bikes which seemed fine for us.

Putting in our luggage in the rooms, we headed out for dinner. We located one big hotel just on the opposite side of the highway where we ended up having some delicious unlimited gujarati thali. By the time we crashed on our beds, it was already 10:30 pm. I was going through all the pictures clicked at White and the Little Rann and recollecting how good the day was. I do not remember when I fell asleep looking at them though.

Accommodation for the day:

Hotel Name: Not worth mentioning.
Location: Samkhiyali, on NH15, towards Bhuj.
Tariff: 400/- double bed.

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

ha ha..thank you thank you

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

One really great Travelog there. Khub bhaalo dada ... I am glued

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

thanks for the kind words..more to follow soon

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Great going man.. Keep it coming!!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Not sure about hanging myself.. But definitely I will hang you if you continue posting like this..

Cheers
G1

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

this is just the beginning or to be precise, just the third day, the main trip is yet to happen from now on..so..be prepared to hang yourself!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

As Discussed,

I hate you all..

Yours truly
A jealous guy

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Nice one Suvra bhai.

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

thank you once again bhai log!

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Wow! Great narration & pics boss.

Re: Gujarat Extravaganza

Amazing narration Suvra da!