Visit to Mandarmani

Mandarmani is a newly discovered, unexplored and virgin sea beach. It is located 172 km away from Kolkata. It is a peaceful and calm beach where you will find not many visitors hanging around the beach. It is also one of the longest motorable sea beach in India. During low tides the water shifts far away from the beach and during high tides it comes very close. So one must be careful while driving on the beach. Recently many hotels and resorts have come up at Mandarmani making it a more attractive option for tourists.

Mandarmani Sea Beach

From Esplanade bus terminus, we boarded a bus and reached Chawalkhola. From there we hired a car which took us to Mandarmani. A metalled all weather road connects Chawalkhola and Dadanpatrabar, a small village en route Mandarmani. From here our car drove along the beach. It was a unique experience. On reaching Mandarmani, we booked a room at Hotel Neel Nirjaney. It was already quite late in the afternoon. Hence we didn't get much time to spend near the sea. Then we ate at our hotel's restaurant. Probably all hotels in Mandarmani have their own restaurant. The food was not up to the mark. After lunch we went to have a look at some small shops near the sea which sell toys, shell necklace, balls and other stuffs. We remained inside the hotel in the evening and watched TV.

Trip to Puri

Puri is  famous for Lord Jagannath temple. The famous annual Rath Yatra or the festival of chariots is celebrated here. This festival is generally celebrated in the month of July. Millions of people from different parts of India come to Puri to watch this festival. It is also a very popular beach resort. It is famous for its long and broad sandy sea beach. One can even view the sunrise and sunset from the beach.

As we were planning a trip to Puri, I thought that this time we will stay in a holiday home instead of a hotel. So I went to the United Bank of India, College Street branch and booked a room at the holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. As the day of journey was nearing we were getting excited. On the day of the journey, we boarded the Howrah-Puri Express from Howrah railway station at 22:35 hrs. The train reached Puri at 07:30 hrs. Coming out of the station we saw that many cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws were waiting to take passengers to hotels or holiday homes. We took two cycle rickshaws and reached our destination holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. There was a caretaker so we had no problem in taking the luggage to the room. I went to a nearby gas store and from there I hired a small sized gas cylinder. Then we went for a bath at the sea beach. The beach was excellent and the waves produced by the sea here were quite high. After spending some time there we came back to our holiday home and had bath. That day we had lunch at a sea facing restaurant. In the evening we went to the sea beach. The cool sea breeze relaxed our mind and body. We also had some shopping at the shops which were situated opposite to the sea. These shops mainly sell apparels, saris, towels and other clothing products. Then we came back to our holiday home, cooked our food and had dinner.

A Visit to Mumbai

[Continued from Saputara, Gujarat's Own Hill Station] Mumbai, formerly Bombay is the capital city of Maharashtra and is one of the most populous cities in the world. Mumbai constituted of seven islands where the fishermen were the main inhabitants. Today, Mumbai is the commercial and entertainment capital of India. Altogether Mumbai has a tropical climate with a little variation between the summer and winter temperatures. It also experiences a lot of rainfall during the monsoon.

Gateway of India

We woke up early in the morning because we had to catch the Flying Rani Express which was scheduled to leave Surat at 05:25 am. On reaching the station we saw that the train was almost ready to depart from the platform. It was a double decker train. We took our seats in the upper deck. Our train started its journey towards Mumbai. We reached Mumbai Central at 10:10 am. From there we took a taxi and went to search for hotels near the Mumbai CST Terminus (Victoria Terminus). There we booked a room at Hotel New Bengal. Our hotel had three restaurants namely Zaffran, Howrah and First Floor. In the afternoon we had lunch at the restaurant Howrah. It mainly served typical bengali cuisine. The food was quite good. That evening we went to see the Gateway of India, one of the most popular attractions of Mumbai. The structure was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay to attend the Delhi Durbar in the year 1911. The last British troops left India through the Gateway in a ceremony on 28 February 1948. On the way we saw the Flora Fountain, now renamed as Hutatma Chowk. After spending some time near the sea coast we came back to our hotel.

Saputara, Gujarat's Own Hill Station

[Continued from My Visit to Daman] Saputara is the only hill station of Gujarat and it is still unexplored and unspoilt. Saputara is situated in the Sahyadri range and has an altitude of about 1000 m. The name 'Saputara' is derived from the Snake God worshiped by the tribal people and translates into "The Abode of the Serpants". Nature has blessed Saputara with picturesque landscapes, hills, table-tops, lakes and water falls.

Echo Point

We had planned to visit Saputara earlier so we had inquired at the bus stand the day before our journey about the bus timings. The next day we went to the bus stand of Surat. On reaching the bus stand we found out that the 8 o' clock bus had left earlier and so we have to wait for the next bus at 9 o' clock. The bus left Surat and went on its journey towards Saputara. It went over crisscrossing the river Ambika. Then it went through a road which was surrounded by dense forest. This was the Vansda National Park, one of the most unexplored, old and dense forest of India. Many types of animals are found in this forest including leopard, hyena and chital, jungle cat, Indian flying fox, wild boar and many other animals. On the way to Saputara we also saw many tribal settlements. We reached Saputara at around 2:00 pm. There we booked a room at hotel Chitrakoot and also had the lunch there. Gujarati and Jain food was served at the restaurant and the food was very delicious. In the evening we went to have a look at the local market which sold many goods from honey to camel leather shoes.

My Visit to Daman

[Continued from Visit to Tithal] I started my journey from Valsad. We boarded the Sayaji Nagari Express from Valsad Railway Station at around 11 am and reached Vapi at 11:20 am. From the adjoining bus stand, we boarded a bus which took us to Nani Daman. On the way we crossed the check post. Atlast we reached Daman. On reaching Daman we saw that there were many types of public transports like bus, taxis and auto rickshaws plying in the city.

Nani Daman Fort

Firstly we went to book a hotel. After keeping our luggage in the hotel room we went to have our lunch. After having lunch we went for sight seeing. We booked a cab and it took us to Nani Daman Fort. This fort is situated on the north of Nani Daman. Although this fort is quite small, there are schools, radio stations, market, hotels, tourism centre and even burial grounds situated within this fort. The main attraction of this fort is the large gateway to the fort facing the river. Then we went to Jampore beach. It is a very pleasant spot and one can even plan a picnic on the shades of the Casuarina groves. After that we went to Mirasol Lake Garden. It is a wonderful place with two islands connected by a bridge and surrounded by a lake. There are provisions for boating in this lake. Other attractions include the toy train and video games.

Visit to Tithal

[Continued from Trip to Surat] We started our journey from Surat at around 9 pm. We boarded the Sayaji Nagari Express which leaved Surat at 10 am and reached Valsad at around 11 o' clock. From there we hired a Auto Rickshaw which took us to Tithal. We booked a room in Hotel Sri Lekha and went straight to the beach which was a few steps away from the Hotel. On reaching the sea beach of Tithal we were quite excited because the sea beach was much better than that of Dumas beach at Surat. But it was quite late in the afternoon so we decided to have lunch first and then in the evening we would come to the sea again. It was mandatory to have food in the Hotel's restaurant at least once in a day. So we had the lunch there. Gujarati and Punjabi dishes were mainly served in the hotel. The food was not bad but it was not up to the mark.

Tithal Sea Beach

Trip to Surat

This time I planned to visit Surat, a port city in Gujarat. Surat is situated on the bank of  the river Tapti. It is well known for its diamond and textile industry. The city is also called the Diamond Capital of the world and Textile City of India. Based on Surat we would visit Tithal, Daman and Saputara. Finally we would go to Mumbai and then come back to Kolkata.

Surat Textile Market

We boarded the Howrah-Ahmedabad Express which leaved Howrah station at 23:55 hrs. After spending the second day in train, we reached Surat on the third day at around 11 am. There were many hotels opposite to the railway station. We booked a room in Hotel Imperial. Although the hotel was clean and the rooms were good enough but there were no windows in the rooms. After having lunch in our hotel's restaurant we came out of our hotel. We saw that there was a bus stand just opposite to our hotel. We boarded one of the bus and it took us to the Textile Market situated in Ring Road. Many types of beautifully embroidered saris with zaris which are woven manually were being sold here. Most of the saris were made of synthetic fibres. After that we came back to the hotel. In the evening we had a look at the market near the station. There were so many things which were sold here - electrical appliances, fruits and vegetables, sweets, newspapers, snacks and much more. At night we ate at the Roopa Restaurant. The food was of standard quality.

A Visit to Deoghar

It was winter time in Kolkata. I was thinking of where to go. Suddenly, I thought that Deoghar could be the right place for my winter trip. Deoghar is a small temple town located in the state of Jharkhand. The famous Baba Baidyanath temple is situated here. So, I went to a Passenger Reservation Centre in Kolkata and reserved a ticket in the Janshatabdi Express. Our journey was scheduled to commence just a few days after Christmas.

Baba Baidyanath Dham Mandir

As usual, we went to the Howrah Railway Station from where our journey shall commence. We boarded the Howrah-Patna Janshatabdi Express which leaved Howrah at 14:05 hrs. We disembarked from the train at Jasidih. The train reached Jasidih, half an hour late from its scheduled time at 18:24 hrs. Outside the station, there were many auto rickshaws waiting to pick up passengers. We took one of them and set off on our journey to Deoghar which was situated at a distance of 8 kms from Jasidih. On reaching Deoghar, I had a tough time in booking rooms in hotel. All the hotels had No Vacancy. At last we booked a room in a hotel which was not of the standard we expected but there was no choice. After keeping the luggage in the hotel, we came out to have a look at the market near Tower, the city centre. Thank God, the hotel was near to the Tower. After that we went to have dinner. There were hardly 3-4 restaurants near the Tower. We had to stand in a long queue before we were able to sit in a table and place the order. The quality of food served was good and it was worth standing in the queue.