03 Mar

Visiting Saputara – A perfect getaway from Vadodara

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Just as you enter Navsari on NH-8, be careful not to use the Flyover ! . Keep your Google Maps or Navigators ready again. After taking Left from Navsari crossing, the Road is narrow and Single Lane. But build Quality is good, so no issues in Driving.(Ref Pictures). Then the real journey started, amidst the Lush Green Fields and forest area. We passed through the National Forest, which looked great at early morning. Driving here in early morning, with cloud cover was great ! No AC’s required, just fresh Air.

We took a little de-toure toward Gira Waterfall, which was very good. The Way to Gira waterfalls is well marked and you will find few Tourists Buses parked on the main Road itself. The Fall is about 2-3 KM’s inside the narrow trail, which Is just enough for 2 cars to pass, that too at some locations only, so Drive carefully and Slowly. Plenty of Options for snacks are available. Tough it didn’t rained that day, flow of water was still good. It’s nice place with sign Board of “Beware of Crocodiles”! all around ! . We didn’t found any though . (Lucky)

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A Visit to Lavasa, Pune

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There is not much to do at Lavasa except walking along the waterfront promenade, the prime attraction, which is very well maintained and clean. It was about 10mins walk from our hotel, Mercure. It also offers various options for dining at restaurants serving delicacies from different countries like American, Australian, Lebanese, Singaporean, Chinese along with Pizzas, Ice-creams and Indian street foods like Chats & Tikkas. Some of these are overpriced. It is recommended to have meals at the hotel; however, one can try these restaurants for one meal.

We had our dinner at American Diner, which was obviously a costly affair. The place had on offer, a 5 course dinner for a couple (Valentine’s eve) at a discounted price of Rs. 1000/- (we did not opt for it). The restaurant serves imported drinks. We tried a Vodka brand called Pinky (this is the first time, we heard about this brand). It was ok.

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Delhi to Lucknow in 5 hours via YEW and Agra Lucknow Expressway

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It was a pleasure driving on this road. I counted 57 vehicles while going towards Lucknow on this expressway which means a lot of people are still unaware of it. I tried to maintain a consistent speed of 120 kmph on this road, but to my surprise I found I was driving at 130-135 kmph. There is very little noise while driving on this road. I encountered total 4 small diversions (diversion means when you have to drive on the wrong side of the expressway).

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Holi at Holy Place of Mathura-Vrindavan

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When you will reach Temple, you can see people doing arti at Temple gate, as inside of Temple was quite crowded. Then everyone was entering inside through bit random queue, Priests were throwing colors on crowd, even everyone was throwing colors inside temple to show their happiness in celebrating holi with Lord Krishna, It’s an unbelievable experience to be a part of this event. When you are there you can’t see everything but just feel the blessing of that divine environment.

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Goaing – from Goa to Delhi

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After the mandatory getting-lost-and-going-round-in-circles-before-finding-the-destination that we seem to do in most new cities, we reach our destination after 2 solid hours of wandering the drowning streets of Ghatkopar in a downpour worthy of …. Mumbai! The thing to note is that more time was spent in negotiating the traffic (read: stuck in traffic) than driving!

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Travel reminiscences from the 1970s …

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अब के बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख़्वाबों में मिलें,
जिस तरह सूखे हुए फूल, क़िताबों में मिले

While recently listening to the above gazal of Ahmad Faraz,by Mehdi Hassan,the line ”jis tarah sukhe hue phuul kitabon mein milen” jogged my memory about the old faded travel photographs of years gone by lying, for decades, in the trunk in the basement.

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Lavish yet affordable trip to Matheran, near Mumbai

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• Girls should consider wearing something very appropriate as the crowd consist of good as well as cheap public.
• As a couple you should consider not carrying much luggage as there is no one to look after it.
• Please be careful of the broken bottle glasses all over the place.
• Please be prepared with the right type of footwear since the place is slippery.
• The water currents are very mild and the fall is amongst the safest fall in the state.
While leaving for top we again got a share cab for us with the same fare. We trekked from Dasturi to our hotel this time. Yeah! Now I am planning to add trekker in my resume..lol. The rest of the day we spent inside our cozy hotel.

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The road less travelled – Kolkata to Kaluk

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At about 1 p.m. Tara took his first halt at Teesta Valley. Very near to this place is the point of White Water River Rafting on Teesta. The area is dotted with a few small eateries run by the local villagers. Tara took us to one named Tashi Restaurant. All the eateries here, as this one, are very basic. I am a bit apprehensive about eating at small joints as the hygiene factor is low, but had no other alternative here. However, the good food coupled with the beautiful Teesta flowing beside the eatery made me set all thoughts aside for a few moments. Had it been some other place, such a beautiful locale would surely have been commercialized and turned into a Mc Donald’s or KFC with the wealth again going to the rich hands.

Our car moved on towards Jorethang. Tara was true. The stretch from Malli to Jorethang was in really poor condition. Although it was for wider and better roads in coming days, the ride was extremely stressful for us. Clouds of dust engulfed us at short intervals. We are much more impatient than our counterparts residing at higher altitudes.

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मेघालय – शिलोंग , स्कॉटलैंड ऑफ़ दी ईस्ट

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जब हमने सुना कि एशिया का सबसे स्वच्छ गांव का पुरस्कार भारत के एक गांव ने जीता है और वो मेघालय में है तो मैंने इसे अपने प्लान में शामिल किया । लीविंग रूट ब्रिज देखने के बाद हम इस इस गांव में पहुंचे जो कि लीविंग रूट ब्रिज वाले गांव से 2 किमी दूर स्थित है।गाँव को साफ़ कैसे रख पाते है जबकि सैलानी आते जाते रहते है रोज़ खूब सारे।

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शिव खोडी – SHIV KHODI

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भोले बाबा के दर्शन करके, नीचे रन्सू में आकर के भोजन करके तृप्त हुए और जम्मू की और चल दिए. बारिश और आंधी तूफ़ान बहुत तेज था. पहाड़ के एक मोड पर हमारी बस कि टक्कर एक ट्रेक्टर ट्राली से हो गयी. वह टक्कर लगते ही पलट गयी. बस पीछे की  और खिसकने लगी. पीछे सैकड़ों फीट गहरी खाई थी.

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Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary – The Green and Serene spot of Haryana

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After some time we reached the watch-tower and beneath the same we were lucky to spot a barking deer and we were quick to click a picture of the same. Then from the watch towers we spotted the beautiful sightings of the migratory birds.

Common Teal, Common Greenshank, Ruff, Black-winged Stilt, Northern Pintail, White Wagtail, Northern Shoveler, Yellow Wagtail, Rosy Pelican, Spot-billed Pelican, Gadwall, Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper,

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