the light baggage

Overview: Once we had a thought of visiting the North-East of India, the first task was to decide on what states to visit. After some thought we finalised on Manipur and Tripura. Now to come up with an itinerary, it was an uphill task, because all the districts in Manipur and Tripura are full of surprises, so arriving at the places to visit was difficult. So finally we selected a mix of nature, heritage and culture. Day 1: We landed in Imphal at 9:30am and the cab driver arrived at the airport at the right time. Our first place of interest was the Kangla Fort.Believed to be in existence since the 1st century CE with the Ningthouja dynasty under Nongda Lairen Pakhangba. Encircled by the traditional 4 divisions of the state, the area includes the burial places, sacred sites, megalithic mounds and places of worship. Some of the important historical structures in the fort are the Citadel wall, the Kanglasha, Sri Govindjee temple, Bir Tikendrajit temple and Gen Slim's cottage. The a...

Overview: This was our final day with Zoomcar, and we started early as usual to avoid queues at the Sardar Patel statue. We reached the parking lot at Kevadia at around 7:30am. The ticket counters open at 8:30am, so we had our breakfast and morning tea near the parking lot. There are 4 types of ticket, Rs 30 for a bus ride and a glimpse of teh statue, Rs 150 for entry into the Sardar Patel Statue premises and the museum, Rs 350 for reaching the top of the statue through elevator, and Rs 1000 ticket for priority pass and avoiding any queues. We took the Rs 150 ticket and hopped on to the bus. The bus takes the visitors to the Sardar Patel statue, Valley of Flowers and the Sardar Sarovar Dam. We reached Sardar Patel statue in 10 mins by bus. We were awestruck by the sheer size of the statue, and couldn't help but take pictures at every step till we reached the foot of the Iron Man. An average man is not even half the size of the toe of the statue. This was something we had not seen ...

Overview: Another long day was awaiting when we started our journey from Rajkot towards Champaner Archaeological site. We started around 5:30am and reached Champaner at around 11:30am. The roads are very good all across Gujarat, so we did not feel much stress of driving. Inside the Champaner Fort is the Shehar-ki-masjid, a private mosque built for the royal family of the Gujarat Sultanate in teh 15th-16th century. The mosque is built in Indo-Sarcenic architecture, with the outer pillars resembling the Hindu temple type of architecture. The outer structure is flanked by 2 minarets on both the sides. A few yards from Shehar-ki-Masjid is the Mandvi or the Customs house, used as a tax collection booth. This structure locally known as the bazaar. Also nearby are some stray structures and the 3-celled building, used as a prison in the 15th century. Shehar-ki-Masjid, Champaner Champaner Custom House After relishing these monuments, we headed to the Pavagadh hill, which looked mas...

Overview: We had booked a safari at Devaliya Interpretation Zone at Gir at 9am. So we started from Diu at around 5:30am so that we could reach their on time. The distance from Diu to Sasan Gir is around 100kms so we kept a driving time of 3 hours and 30 mins buffer. We had some confusion on whether to book a 3 hour safari into the Gir forest or 1 hour safari to the Gir Interpretation Zone, where a smaller fenced area of Gir has been created so that more animals can be spotted. The decision proved good in the end after we spotted the Asiatic Lion, Jackal, Vultures, Wild Cat, Leopard and a few migratory birds. Spotting these animals in their natural habitat was a great experience early in the morning. It took around 1.5 hours from the safari starting point to return to the same place. The ticket cost is Rs 200 per head, and Rs 200 for camera. We had to pay an additional Rs 1900 for the gypsy. Gir Gir From here, we headed to Junagadh, around 1.5 hours drive from here. We firs...

Overview: The road from Dwarka to Somnath is a bit bumpy due to the highway expansion project happening on the stretch, we had to face some trouble with the dust and smoke from the bigger vehicles today. Starting off early as usual, we reached Porbandar at around 8am, the sun was just emerging out of fog along with the song of the birds. We visited the Sudama temple in Porbandar dedicated to the friendship between Sudama and Lord Krishna. We also got the special 'Chivda' as prasadam as it was Lord Krishna's favourite. Sudama Temple, Porbandar Sudama Temple, Porbandar From here, we went to Bhalka Tirth on the outskirts of the town of Somnath. This is believed to be the place where Lord Krishna was hit by a hunter named Jara resulting in the end of Krishna's era. Bhalka Tirth From Bhalka, Somnath is around 5 kms. There is a parking lot outside the temple complex, and no electronic devices are allowed inside the temple. The Somnath temple is one of the ...

Overview: Started the day early with a visit to the Narara Marine Park near Jamnagar. We didn't have much info about this place, but still headed out hoping for some surprises. We reached the place at around 7:30am, but the ticket counter didn't open until 8:15am. We took the tickets and there were some guides also to be hired for Rs 300. We decided to explore the place on our own. We followed the path which other people were taking through some bushes and mangroves. Once the horizon expanded, we could see vast area of the Gulf of Kutch, with shallow waters and migratory birds flocking the waters. We walked for a km into the shallow waters, we could spot some corals, sea urchins and starfish. We turned back after spending an hour into the waters. This place is good to explore if we have plenty of time on hand. Narara Marine Park Narara Marine Park Narara Marine Park Narara Marine Park From Narara we proceeded to Naganath Jyotirlinga temple, which is a part...