After a long time I was finally about to have my long awaited holidays,
Its too tiring and monotonouse to work in corporate life in metro like mumbai, that you must have
atleast two holidays a year...
On the eve of december the 27th I was too excited that m gonna leave for my holidays for 3 days
to kutch...
I planned it 2 months ago(you have to plan when bookings open on irctc otherwise you are only gonna
endup on waiting lists.....)and there r only 2 regular trains and 2 spl trains only available tfor bhuj..
Few reasons for selecting bhuj
* its less crowded as tourist spot...
* plenty of budget hotels which allows you to plan budget holidays (believe me options starts from rs 600)
* Rann of kutch was most unique place amongst all tourist destinations I knew.....
On the night of 27the december I boarded BHUJ AC SF XPRESS which has arrival time of 00:25 at borivali and it stops for around 5
mins here....
When I wokeup on the early morning next day around 7:30, We had already crossed ahmedabad, After freshening a lil, I came to
the door of the coach and stood there enjoying force of the wind and seeing the land full of flat un ending Horizon,
small farms comes sometimes in your sight, land mostly filled with "bawal" as we call in gujarati,
(so called wild plants which has spurs and wild berries..)
occassionally you can see small hills and behind them orangeish light of morning sun fading in blue smoothly...
after while I felt hungry ,
but biggest problem with reserving A/C coach ticket is food,
the vendors cant come in those coaches
and either these coaches are at the beginning
or at the end of the train so you will find almost the end of platforms whenever
youll get down on the platform,
finally after few station our train stopped at station which was long enough for me to find hot fried methi bhajiyas and
tea, took 2 plate as they were really tasty went back to take one more plate , they were made of "methi bhaji " and besan...
we had huge groupe of "Swaminarayan sampraday"in our coach who were on their JATRA... and they were to stay at famous swaminarayan
temple of bhuj. often while travellilng to gujarat to gujarat Ive seen these kind of groups most of the times they have
huge portion of coach booked and all food arranged for everybody, different group from different purpose (must be fun travelling that way too)
Finally we reached bhuj around 1:30, bhuj was very quite and small station, we got outside and saw big hordings of 3 things that are very popular throughout bhuj,
rann mahotsav ,narendra modi and gujarat tourism.
just like anyother station in india ,Rickshaw
walas started following us, I negotiated with them and we decided to reach our hotel (GRAND 3D) in 50 rs.
As our rickshaw was passing from road, i found bhuj feels more like small town/village which wasnt what I had expected it to be,It was much quiter then I thought,
we reached our hotel and checked in , we went to our room and to our surprise although it was a very nice hotel out of around 20-25 rooms on our floor , we were the only
guest, we had our lunch and in de evening left to ST depot as we wanted to inquire about bus service available for "RANOTSAV"
NOTE: (WELL worst part abt bhu tourism is no proper information abt transportion is available,
even our hotel guy did'nt have any information abt buses for white rann
HERE ARE THE OPTION YOU CAN TAKE
*you can hire a car like indica which will cost you around 2000-3500 depending on season,
if you are budget traveller
*YOU CAN GET "CHAKADO"(BIGGER RICKSHAWS) WHICH WILL COST YOU ARND 800
OR
*THERE ARE ALSO FEW PRIVATE BUS SERVICES AVAILABLE BUT DIN GET INFO ABT THEM , I SAW THEM AT WHITE RANN
OR
*THE CHEAPEST AND BEST OPTION IS GUJARAT ST BUS, THERE IS ONLY ONE BUS IN THE MORNING 9:00 FROM BHUJ DEPOT.
IT WILL TAKE YOU TO WHITE RANN AROUND 11:30 AND WILL GIVE YOU TIME TO SEE FOR AROUND AN HOUR THEN IT WILL TAKE YOU TO SITE OF
RANN UTSAV JUST FOR SHOPPING OF RURAL ART PRODUCTSAND TAKE YOU BACK AT ARND 3:00-4:00
(One big thing you must consider while planning your trip to white rann or mata no madhor kalo dunger Is that these places are far away from city arnd 60-80 kms , you wont find any village or any person in your way
As our hotel person told us its like no mans land...
it was a big reason for me choosing public transport to travel..)
BUS TICKET IS 100 +100 RETURN +100 FOR PERMISSION(YOU NEED PERMISSION AS THERE IS PAKISTAN BORDER IN THAT AREA)
note: THIS IS BEST PART ABT GOIN FROM ST BUS BUS CONDUCTOR COLLECTED MONEY AND ID PROOF DETAILS IN THE BUS AND WE JUST HAD
TO HALD FOR PERMISSION ARND 5 MINS...
WHERE IN IF YOU ARE GOIN BY ANY OTHER MEANS IT MAY TAKE HOURS , AS WE SAW LONG LINES OF VEHICLES PARKED THERE FOR THE PERMIT..
)
after boarding the st bus (which was also full) arnd 11:00 we started looking out of the window to find the white desert
after halt at military tent we started seeing beautifull view and were like wooow,
where yellow line was ending and getting converted in clear white horizon thats all you see and there is no end to it..
Finally our bus stopped and we were asked to go and come back in an hour we finally entered rann of kutch,
where you get confused oh its like beach but wheres the sea, far far away you just see white white and white,
when we reached it was afternoon, so salt was a lil wet(BY THE WAY WHITE DESERT IS ALL SALT),
me and my wife broke the line and went inside the white rann , I pulled out camera and took some clicks of my wife,
we wanted to take our snaps together , but there was noone around we can ask, and as i have DSLR it gets difficult for people to handle it.
LUCKILY I TOOK TRIPOD ALONG so, I pulled it out and took few of our snaps... suddenly I just felt like spreading my hands (NO I AM NOT FAN OF SHAHRUKH KHAN,
THAT WAS FEELING WHEN YOU SEE SUCH NATURAL BEAUTY AND FEEL BLESSED TO BE THERE...)
we came out from the rann and boarded our bus and it took us to the site of utsav, where there was a good place for shopping
of local handicrafted products.
(TIP: if you wanna buy handycraft products you'll get better variety and cheaper rate at bhujs main market near prag mahel)
around 3:00 we returned to bhuj bus stand and had lunch (best thing abt bhuj is quality of food is gud wherever we ate..)
Next day was our last in bhuj, so we had planned to do some local sightseeing.we left for prag mahal but we reached ther arnd 11:45 and it was abt to close at 12:00,
so, we decided to come later and went out in main market ,my wife did osme shopping there were really nice handicrafte works at good price.
when we returned we visited prag mahel,
prag mahel has some really nice royal style
constructed architecture and some really nice
"jhumars"(also some animal heads on the wall
excites some tourists but I found it sick..) also
youll ifnde signboard mentioning "HERE A SCENE FROM MOVIE LAGAAN WAS SHOT"
we left from prag mahal and went to Aaina mahal which just adjusant to prag mahal,that was more like museum and had few nice glass
articles it took around 20 minutes to finish visiting Aaina mahal,
at later part of day we had few many choices to go, like bhuj museum,ashapura temple and Swaminarayan temple,as there was time constraint we decided to go to swaminarayan
temple ,
it was hardly 1 km away from prag mahal , in that 1 km we saw atleast 20 temples , If you like visiting temples
bhuj wont disappoint you.
we reached swaminarayan temple at around 6:00 its nice white temple , with flooring of marble i guess, and I liked the shiva idol
in the garden before the tample, we did darshan and went behind the temple ,
and that was the best part, It was surrounded with lawn
greenary , so quite and peaceful and there we spent rest of eve abt 45 mins sitting there watching sun set it was beautiful feeling, and there our trip ended
rest is usual we packed our bags and returned home....
Its too tiring and monotonouse to work in corporate life in metro like mumbai, that you must have
atleast two holidays a year...
On the eve of december the 27th I was too excited that m gonna leave for my holidays for 3 days
to kutch...
I planned it 2 months ago(you have to plan when bookings open on irctc otherwise you are only gonna
endup on waiting lists.....)and there r only 2 regular trains and 2 spl trains only available tfor bhuj..
Few reasons for selecting bhuj
* its less crowded as tourist spot...
* plenty of budget hotels which allows you to plan budget holidays (believe me options starts from rs 600)
* Rann of kutch was most unique place amongst all tourist destinations I knew.....
On the night of 27the december I boarded BHUJ AC SF XPRESS which has arrival time of 00:25 at borivali and it stops for around 5
mins here....
( TIP: try boooking your tickets from BDTS then BVI your chances of getting confirm ticket are good)unother if you are planning to go in xmas holidays book tickets at 8:00 o clock de day booking opens , as seats get filled up\too fast and around 8.30 you will land on RAC or WL)
When I wokeup on the early morning next day around 7:30, We had already crossed ahmedabad, After freshening a lil, I came tothe door of the coach and stood there enjoying force of the wind and seeing the land full of flat un ending Horizon,
small farms comes sometimes in your sight, land mostly filled with "bawal" as we call in gujarati,
(so called wild plants which has spurs and wild berries..)
occassionally you can see small hills and behind them orangeish light of morning sun fading in blue smoothly...
after while I felt hungry ,
but biggest problem with reserving A/C coach ticket is food,
the vendors cant come in those coaches
and either these coaches are at the beginning
or at the end of the train so you will find almost the end of platforms whenever
youll get down on the platform,finally after few station our train stopped at station which was long enough for me to find hot fried methi bhajiyas and
tea, took 2 plate as they were really tasty went back to take one more plate , they were made of "methi bhaji " and besan...
we had huge groupe of "Swaminarayan sampraday"in our coach who were on their JATRA... and they were to stay at famous swaminarayan
temple of bhuj. often while travellilng to gujarat to gujarat Ive seen these kind of groups most of the times they have
huge portion of coach booked and all food arranged for everybody, different group from different purpose (must be fun travelling that way too)
Finally we reached bhuj around 1:30, bhuj was very quite and small station, we got outside and saw big hordings of 3 things that are very popular throughout bhuj,
rann mahotsav ,narendra modi and gujarat tourism.
walas started following us, I negotiated with them and we decided to reach our hotel (GRAND 3D) in 50 rs.
As our rickshaw was passing from road, i found bhuj feels more like small town/village which wasnt what I had expected it to be,It was much quiter then I thought,
we reached our hotel and checked in , we went to our room and to our surprise although it was a very nice hotel out of around 20-25 rooms on our floor , we were the only
guest, we had our lunch and in de evening left to ST depot as we wanted to inquire about bus service available for "RANOTSAV"
NOTE: (WELL worst part abt bhu tourism is no proper information abt transportion is available,
even our hotel guy did'nt have any information abt buses for white rann
HERE ARE THE OPTION YOU CAN TAKE
*you can hire a car like indica which will cost you around 2000-3500 depending on season,
if you are budget traveller
*YOU CAN GET "CHAKADO"(BIGGER RICKSHAWS) WHICH WILL COST YOU ARND 800
OR
*THERE ARE ALSO FEW PRIVATE BUS SERVICES AVAILABLE BUT DIN GET INFO ABT THEM , I SAW THEM AT WHITE RANN
OR
*THE CHEAPEST AND BEST OPTION IS GUJARAT ST BUS, THERE IS ONLY ONE BUS IN THE MORNING 9:00 FROM BHUJ DEPOT.
IT WILL TAKE YOU TO WHITE RANN AROUND 11:30 AND WILL GIVE YOU TIME TO SEE FOR AROUND AN HOUR THEN IT WILL TAKE YOU TO SITE OF
RANN UTSAV JUST FOR SHOPPING OF RURAL ART PRODUCTSAND TAKE YOU BACK AT ARND 3:00-4:00
(One big thing you must consider while planning your trip to white rann or mata no madhor kalo dunger Is that these places are far away from city arnd 60-80 kms , you wont find any village or any person in your way
As our hotel person told us its like no mans land...
it was a big reason for me choosing public transport to travel..)
BUS TICKET IS 100 +100 RETURN +100 FOR PERMISSION(YOU NEED PERMISSION AS THERE IS PAKISTAN BORDER IN THAT AREA)
note: THIS IS BEST PART ABT GOIN FROM ST BUS BUS CONDUCTOR COLLECTED MONEY AND ID PROOF DETAILS IN THE BUS AND WE JUST HAD
TO HALD FOR PERMISSION ARND 5 MINS...
WHERE IN IF YOU ARE GOIN BY ANY OTHER MEANS IT MAY TAKE HOURS , AS WE SAW LONG LINES OF VEHICLES PARKED THERE FOR THE PERMIT..
)
after boarding the st bus (which was also full) arnd 11:00 we started looking out of the window to find the white desert
after halt at military tent we started seeing beautifull view and were like wooow,
where yellow line was ending and getting converted in clear white horizon thats all you see and there is no end to it..
Finally our bus stopped and we were asked to go and come back in an hour we finally entered rann of kutch,where you get confused oh its like beach but wheres the sea, far far away you just see white white and white,
when we reached it was afternoon, so salt was a lil wet(BY THE WAY WHITE DESERT IS ALL SALT),
me and my wife broke the line and went inside the white rann , I pulled out camera and took some clicks of my wife,
we wanted to take our snaps together , but there was noone around we can ask, and as i have DSLR it gets difficult for people to handle it.
LUCKILY I TOOK TRIPOD ALONG so, I pulled it out and took few of our snaps... suddenly I just felt like spreading my hands (NO I AM NOT FAN OF SHAHRUKH KHAN,
THAT WAS FEELING WHEN YOU SEE SUCH NATURAL BEAUTY AND FEEL BLESSED TO BE THERE...)
we came out from the rann and boarded our bus and it took us to the site of utsav, where there was a good place for shopping
of local handicrafted products.
(TIP: if you wanna buy handycraft products you'll get better variety and cheaper rate at bhujs main market near prag mahel)
around 3:00 we returned to bhuj bus stand and had lunch (best thing abt bhuj is quality of food is gud wherever we ate..)
Next day was our last in bhuj, so we had planned to do some local sightseeing.we left for prag mahal but we reached ther arnd 11:45 and it was abt to close at 12:00,
so, we decided to come later and went out in main market ,my wife did osme shopping there were really nice handicrafte works at good price.
when we returned we visited prag mahel,
prag mahel has some really nice royal style
constructed architecture and some really nice
"jhumars"(also some animal heads on the wall
excites some tourists but I found it sick..) also
youll ifnde signboard mentioning "HERE A SCENE FROM MOVIE LAGAAN WAS SHOT"
we left from prag mahal and went to Aaina mahal which just adjusant to prag mahal,that was more like museum and had few nice glass
articles it took around 20 minutes to finish visiting Aaina mahal,
at later part of day we had few many choices to go, like bhuj museum,ashapura temple and Swaminarayan temple,as there was time constraint we decided to go to swaminarayan
temple ,
it was hardly 1 km away from prag mahal , in that 1 km we saw atleast 20 temples , If you like visiting temples
bhuj wont disappoint you.
we reached swaminarayan temple at around 6:00 its nice white temple , with flooring of marble i guess, and I liked the shiva idol
in the garden before the tample, we did darshan and went behind the temple ,
and that was the best part, It was surrounded with lawn
greenary , so quite and peaceful and there we spent rest of eve abt 45 mins sitting there watching sun set it was beautiful feeling, and there our trip ended
rest is usual we packed our bags and returned home....
