It started with a thought and ended with an awesome trip. I know when I start writing about the actual tour itinerary people will not believe it was so planned. To be precise I had started planning for the tour 3 months in advance.
Being a banker and a travel freak is not an easy combination. I had limited holiday and a long list of places to visit. So let me tell you my original plan all done on my own:
Mumbai to Amritsar
Amritsar to Ajmer& Pushkar
Ajmer to Dwarka
Dwarka to Somnath
Somnath to Mumbai
Hmm…I know what you are thinking. Crazy girl!
But Life is not easy. The first hurdle was suitable travel dates for all members, then the leave approval and the worst train tickets. The first hurdle was sorted in notime. The second took too much time. Any other person in my kind of situation would have cancelled the trip even with the leave got sanctioned just 3 days ahead of my anticipated tour date. We were at zero execution level 3 days before the tour. No tickets, no hotel reservation and no shopping!
I would not mind people calling me crazy as I may be the only or in a few who have confirmed return ticket for the journey but no ticket booked for reaching the destination.
People suggest of change to a nearby destination but I was stubborn. Plans, routes, destination, people were changing randomly but somewhere I know I wanted to stick to my original plan. Luckily, Yes very luckily we got an agent to book tatkal tickets for us from Mumbai to Amritsar. I was so overwhelmed with the news that I did not think of anything else but just packing my stuff and leaving. My poor friend P who was under the impression that the trip is cancelled got to know the news just 24 hours before. We all just started shopping as we were going for a whole 9 days.
Trip begins:
Destination 1: Amritsar
Guess what we learned after boarding the train that the actual journey time was 12 hours more than what we estimated it to be. This was just the beginning. We traveled for 32 hours to reach Amritsar. This was beyond any of our capacities. We reached Amritsar a night took a rick to the Golden temple but decided to not to visit it the same day as we had not taken bath for 2 days. We booked a A/C room for 4 of us, took a shower and ate at the lunger in golden temple before sleeping at 12 that night.
Next day we went to the Golden temple. We had a glimpse of golden temple at night when we want to have food. In the day light it looked majestic and beautiful. A true divine site. The water in the lake was clear and the temple campus was full of devotees. We sunk our feet in the lake and felt the stress release from our body. A guard and a grandmother come rushing towards us to tell us not to leave our feet in the water as it was also used for drinking and considered as ’Amrit’. We took some splash of water over our body and entered the golden temple. I felt calm inside myself. After praying and a wish asking session we had awesome food a the lungur with thousands of other devotees and left for our hotel room.
In the afternoon we did what the girls feel glad to do in places like Amritsar………Shopping! Amritsar can be a shopping heaven for people who love to where Punjab suits. Very reasonable and affordable, but this can be strictly a girls perspective.
The next spot was to die for. Yes we set off to visit the Wagah Border Ceremony. A seriously breathe taking view. After a shot visit to a local nearby hindu temple which contains the mini structures of all the pilgrims in India we reached the wagah border. After overcoming a lot of hurdles we got to enter the dancing floor where foreigners were dancing on the border on Indian patriotic songs like “Sabse aage hoge Hindustani “. Then the ceremony started and the crowd from both the side India and Pakistan roared for their soldiers. We the Pakistani gates opened I could see there people on the other side. We were just 20-30 feet or less away from Pakistan. Being at wagah border once is not enough. I felt proud of being an Indian but after being to wagah border I know “ I am Lucky to be an Indian!”
The next day I want to Golden temple along at 4.30 in the morning to seen the temple before leaving Amitsar. I brought a little of the “Amrit” in the lake with me in a bottle. The sweet water will keep all the sweet memories alive forever.
We had a shot visit to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre site. My heart goes out for all those who were murdered cold-blooded at the ground. Its had to believe that a person can be so heartless. Its just hard to explain in words.
Destination 2: Ajmer and Puskar
Ajmer is in Rajasthan and a pleasant pilgram to visit. We haulted for a very shot while in Ajmer went to the divine HAZRAT KHWAJA GARIB NAWAZ dargah. We prayed at the dargah and left for Pushkar in the evening.
Puskar is known for the only Jagatpita Brahma Mandir. Puskar lake was a pleasant site. We were accompanied my a tour guide who briefed my about the history of the temple and lake. We visited the temple and paid our offerings. Then came most wonderful part of visiting Rajasthan. A Camel Ride!
Yes, that too for may be half an hour or so. I was alone on the camels back and it felt like a bumpy ride. But the experience was one of the most memorable once. After the ride we had authentic rajasthan cuisines- Daal - Batti , Marwadi Gatta Kadhi and Ker Sangri ........of course we couldn't finish it all with the ghee flooded in our plates
Destination 3: Jaipur
Jaipur was a told unplanned visit. It was not on my itinerary when we started but we had extra days in hand so we decide to take a tour. So we visited:
Jantar Mantar
Central Museum
Jalmahal
Hawa Mahal
Amer Fort
Badi chopar jaipur
Pink city
Rajkamal cinama
And not to forget Kanak Vatika where we clicked photos in traditional Rajasthan costumes
Jaipur is beautiful and good for shopping. My maharani saree is suppose to arrive any moment from Jaipur by post. Yes, it can happen only in India and the idea must be a outcome of a overspend man. You can shop at the handcraft shop in Jaipur pay 50% of the amount and pay rest on free home delivery. Just for Information (Girls just go for it!)
Destination 4 : Somnath
Somnath was the most difficult once to reach I agree. We had no tickets to go to Somnath in Gujarat. Thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the people in Jaipur we could manage to get a connecting ticked to Somnath form Ahmedabad. The journey was long and Ahemedabad is confusing. We took 2 hours to get to a Jain hotel in Ahmedabad after getting down. I had realized that this journey was not going to be easy and special thanks to my friend P who has been a great positive support all through my journey.
We had a bus in the evening from Ahmedabad to Somnath so to spend our spare time we visited Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad. A typical guju place to be and beautiful relaxing spot. There was a toy train to take us around the lake and the lake was surrounded with games, food stalls and guju’s. Guju’s are real foodies
Our bus started at 8 pm from Ahmedabad and broke down on the highway at 12 in the night near Rajkot. We were strangers and know no route. The conductor told us to board a bus for Rajkot from where we could get a bus to somnath. We did as per his instructions. We got down a Rajkot and took a bus to destination new somnath. To our surprise the bus conductor dropped us to an new bus depot as the bus going to take a longer route for which our tickets were not valid. After a long want and arguments with the bus instructed in office at 4.30 in the morning we got a bus directly to Somnath. I hope I get a chance to tell this to Amitabh Bachchan as he keeps telling us “ kuch din toh gujaro Gujarat mein “
We reached Somnath and the moment we saw the temple I felt like saying the toil was worth. A beautiful majestic Somnath temple stands a the coast overlooking the beautiful vigorous Arabian Sea. You can attain Peace of mind and salvation at this place.
Destination 5 : Dwarka
We reached dwarka the same day as the travel distance between Somnath and Dwarka is less. It was Guru pornima and temple was filled with devotees. The temple is huge and situated on the coast. The idol was beautiful and the temple consists of various forms of Lord Krishna. We visited Bet dwarka which is suppose to be the original temple built thousands of years ago. The weather was beautiful and we were among the few to see the idol first in the day. It was a beautiful idol carved in stone and I could seat and watch it for hours. The next spot was the ancient Rukhmani Devi temple near Dwarka. We just reached 5 mins before the temple gates were closed for visitors. It felt as if mata Rukhmani was waiting for us. We drank water at the temple which signifies the end of yatra.
We took a train back to Mumbai.
This tour made me realize the importance of good friends and company. Special thanks to all those who have helped me make this unplanned and unbelievable tour a reality.
You all must be thinking it’s a very expensive tour. So just for your information:
Estimated tour expenses per person at the time of planning excluding food: Rs. 8000/-
Actual tour expenses per person after the tour including food: Rs. 6500/-
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