Gujarat - The Highway Diaries - II

Day 4 - 23-Jan-17
Sunrise at a beach near Dwarka
We gathered our stuff, charged batteries and got ready to leave for Dwarka, and by 3 AM we were back on the road. Dwarka was 220 kms from Keshod and we hoped to be there by 7 AM. We halted for refueling at one point and tea to help us stay awake through the night. I was handling the map's responsibility, and figured that there was a beach on the way, hidden from the road but visible on the map. So, we took the detour, and it was worth it. It was an isolated place, a virgin beach called Bechtel and just the five of us there, the sun was just rising and I managed to get a few decent shots of the place. It was serene and we stayed for almost an hour there, before starting our journey again. 

 Another half an hour later, we were at Dwarka, parking near the Dwarkadhish temple. We were famished by the time we reached and had a heavy breakfast before entering the temple. The temple was very crowded, and you could see a lot of people begging, or rather, extorting money from the tourists. 

 It is a common scene across most of the holy places across the country, where the so-called god-men threaten people of dire consequences if they don't get cash out of you in the name of God. Since I am a non-believer, I stayed outside while the others went in near the idols. 
Dwarkadhish temple
The temple was constructed beautifully, the details on the walls were intricate. And it is huge! There's a flag at the top of the temple's highest dome, and I witnessed a guy changing it. He was up there, all by himself, without any safety harness. The flag was three times his size and yet, he didn't look uncomfortable while he was up there.
Seagulls, gliding above our boat
We left the temple by 11 AM and headed towards Beth Dwarka, the Dwarka island, which is near a place called Okha 30+ kms from Dwarkadhish. We had to take a ferry which would take around a half an hour to reach the island. While on the ferry, seagulls chase the boats around, and people feed them biscuits. We reached the island by 1245 PM and the temple was closed till 530 PM. We roamed around the place before getting a ferry for the return journey. It was hot now and we were all exhausted due to lack of sleep and the heat. We decided to get back to the hotel asap. A few wrong turns and bad roads later, we had reached the hotel. An hour's nap later, we played UNO till 2 AM, till finally falling asleep.

 Day 5 - 24-Jan-17
Dulhe Raja
It was the D-Day - Gujju's wedding was today! Today's plan was visit the wedding, head to Somnath temple and finally, halt at Gir for the night. The wedding went well, it was a community wedding and hence, very crowded. We met the bride and the groom, clicked a few pictures, and left in an hour for Somnath. The distance to Somnath was around 40 kms. We reached there in an hour.  


 The temple is huge, one of the oldest in India and with a rich history. It is supposed to have been destroyed and rebuilt seventeen times! It is one of the twelve jyotirlinga and boasts of a Shiva idol that used to float in the air - architectural brilliance. It is located such that there is no land between the Somnath temple to Antartica. Its definitely worth a visit. 

 Close to the Somnath temple, down the road, is the Triveni sangam. There are a lot of birds here as well, that are fed by people visiting the place. 
Somnath temple
From Somnath, it was time to head to Gir Forest. We hadn't made hotel bookings, just the Safari. We reached this hotel called Rainbow, and we told the receptionist that we'll mention the hotel name online if he gave us a good deal. He obliged! The hotel was pretty neat, surrounded by forest area enroute to the Safari entrance. We had our dinner at a hotel called Taj, that served non-veg food, and it tasted alright too except for the fish. Our safari was at 9 AM the next day, so we slept at 2 AM, after a few rounds of UNO again. Everyone was starting to improve now. This was the last UNO battle of the journey, and we had a lot of fun moments, before finally closing for the day.

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Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 29, 2017 at 10:21 PM

    On the way to Dwaraka, to be awake, we were sharing different Ghost Stories and interesting stuff from Ramayana and Mahabharata.. ;) :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Backpack NomadJanuary 30, 2017 at 4:20 AM

      Haa, aur Pakya ko kuch samaj nai raha tha, and ironically, he was most excited to visit Dwarka. :D

      Delete

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