Trip To Ambaji:
Total Kms: 400 approximately
Total Expenditure: 250 per head
Total Riders: 6
The Travel Log:
0545: It was a wintry morning of 22nd Dec, 2007 when me and my 5 other friends embarked on a trip to Ambaji – Dharoi Dam – Idar. Since, we all live in different parts of the city we decided to meet at Taj Umeed Hotel near the SVP Airport.
0615: Me, Tom, Yash had decided to meet at Akbarnagar circle and we were on time and we had our first cuppa tea and cigarettes for the lungs right there. Vinu was late as usual, but due to the driving we made up and reached on time.
0630: We all met at the starting point of the trip and found that Ryan and Raga had already arrived at the place and Ryan had started to click in the pictures using his newly acquired Canon Powershot S3 IS camera. So, we had a few pictures clicked on the spot and grabbed a few smoke before proceeding to our actual destination.
For our journey, we had 4 Bajaj Pulsars (3 modified) and one Hero Honda CBZ, adequate packets of cigarettes for our nicotine addicted lungs, 2 cameras (Canon Powershot S3 IS and Nikon CoolPix E4600), helmets and jackets to keep the cold air at bay.
En-route, the guys got angry as Ryan instead of concentrating on driving was more interested in capturing the morning sun and other landscape pictures including the smoking chimneys of the Torrent Power Station. These photo sessions did eat into our precious time for the 186KM journey (one-way trip).
0800: Our first break – some tea shop on the highway where we grabbed 18-20 cuppa tea and some khari (a type of biscuits) and as usual cigarettes. Here, we had a good laughter as we made fun of Yash for his addiction of chatting on the cell phone and Ryan lost his temper when Yash pointed to the tidbits of khari on his brand new camera which was hanging from my neck! Man, what a flaring temper…
In the meantime, we encountered quite a series of unfortunate mishaps. Tom lost his helmet which was hanging by the side of the bike and we had to go back and check if it was still lying somewhere on the sides of the highway. Then, I was riding his Pulsar and at a turn, I applied the front disc brake and behold I was skidding down the road. The bike came to a halting stop and was hanging down a ledge into a small ditch filled with thorny bushes. I was lucky to be saved by the grace of god or due to the blessings of my parents.
1300: Finally, after long and tiring ride through some scenic routes and hilly roads, we reached Ambaji. The climate had changed from cold chill to a heating oven with the sun beating down on us. We had a small break for tea, biscuits and snacks and proceeded to the temple complex. The people around (rather shopkeepers) told us there won’t be much devotees at this time. However, we beg to differ. The whole complex was crowded and it about an hour to get the darshan of the Ambaji deity.
• TIP: For first times – please never pay heed to the shopkeepers and always settle the bill for the offerings before going in for darshan as the prices are out right expensive and appalling.
1430: We had our lunch at a hotel near the temple complex and had ciggs for dessert (hmm, so soothing). Then, our route finder Ryan advised that we go down the Gubbar route (its another temple with 999 steps leading to the zenith “gubbar” in gujarati – the local dialect) as he had heard that there is a river with crocodiles swarming. We thought that this would be splendid, but as our luck was we couldn’t find neither the river nor the crocodiles. However, there were some photogenic locations and we made a good use of them.
1630: We reached the Ambaji temple complex and had tea and ciggs before returning back to Ahmedabad. We decided to go to Dharoi dam on our return as was in between the route we had chosen for our return home.
1825: We reached Dharoi dam as the sun was nearly setting down beyond the water body and the night was creeping in on us. The scenes were so astounding, but as photography wasn’t permitted in this perimeter, we missed a lot of superb pictures.
2100: We were riding at a steady speed of 75 km/hr and in Gandhinagar when Raga’s CBZ got punctured. And, as our bad luck continued, we couldn’t find any single workshop to repair the puncture. Finally, after long discussions and arguments, we finally loaded the bike and Raga on a loading tempo and continued our journey to Ahmedabad. We parked the bike at one of our friend’s place in Chandkheda and went ahead towards our final frontier (Home, Sweet Home).
0000: We reached RTO circle on Ashram Road and waited for other’s to accompany us for dinner. We had pav bhaji and bread (the last pieces available with the vendor) at Akbarnagar circle and finally pushed off for our respective homes at 0100 hrs.
This was a tiresome journey with lots of mishaps and incidents. But we all thoroughly enjoyed our trip and it will remain encrusted in our memories for a long long time.
Best wishes for all those who are planning to make this trip. Awating your comments and feedbacks [:-)].
Total Kms: 400 approximately
Total Expenditure: 250 per head
Total Riders: 6
The Travel Log:
0545: It was a wintry morning of 22nd Dec, 2007 when me and my 5 other friends embarked on a trip to Ambaji – Dharoi Dam – Idar. Since, we all live in different parts of the city we decided to meet at Taj Umeed Hotel near the SVP Airport.
0615: Me, Tom, Yash had decided to meet at Akbarnagar circle and we were on time and we had our first cuppa tea and cigarettes for the lungs right there. Vinu was late as usual, but due to the driving we made up and reached on time.
0630: We all met at the starting point of the trip and found that Ryan and Raga had already arrived at the place and Ryan had started to click in the pictures using his newly acquired Canon Powershot S3 IS camera. So, we had a few pictures clicked on the spot and grabbed a few smoke before proceeding to our actual destination.
For our journey, we had 4 Bajaj Pulsars (3 modified) and one Hero Honda CBZ, adequate packets of cigarettes for our nicotine addicted lungs, 2 cameras (Canon Powershot S3 IS and Nikon CoolPix E4600), helmets and jackets to keep the cold air at bay.
En-route, the guys got angry as Ryan instead of concentrating on driving was more interested in capturing the morning sun and other landscape pictures including the smoking chimneys of the Torrent Power Station. These photo sessions did eat into our precious time for the 186KM journey (one-way trip).
0800: Our first break – some tea shop on the highway where we grabbed 18-20 cuppa tea and some khari (a type of biscuits) and as usual cigarettes. Here, we had a good laughter as we made fun of Yash for his addiction of chatting on the cell phone and Ryan lost his temper when Yash pointed to the tidbits of khari on his brand new camera which was hanging from my neck! Man, what a flaring temper…
In the meantime, we encountered quite a series of unfortunate mishaps. Tom lost his helmet which was hanging by the side of the bike and we had to go back and check if it was still lying somewhere on the sides of the highway. Then, I was riding his Pulsar and at a turn, I applied the front disc brake and behold I was skidding down the road. The bike came to a halting stop and was hanging down a ledge into a small ditch filled with thorny bushes. I was lucky to be saved by the grace of god or due to the blessings of my parents.
1300: Finally, after long and tiring ride through some scenic routes and hilly roads, we reached Ambaji. The climate had changed from cold chill to a heating oven with the sun beating down on us. We had a small break for tea, biscuits and snacks and proceeded to the temple complex. The people around (rather shopkeepers) told us there won’t be much devotees at this time. However, we beg to differ. The whole complex was crowded and it about an hour to get the darshan of the Ambaji deity.
• TIP: For first times – please never pay heed to the shopkeepers and always settle the bill for the offerings before going in for darshan as the prices are out right expensive and appalling.
1430: We had our lunch at a hotel near the temple complex and had ciggs for dessert (hmm, so soothing). Then, our route finder Ryan advised that we go down the Gubbar route (its another temple with 999 steps leading to the zenith “gubbar” in gujarati – the local dialect) as he had heard that there is a river with crocodiles swarming. We thought that this would be splendid, but as our luck was we couldn’t find neither the river nor the crocodiles. However, there were some photogenic locations and we made a good use of them.
1630: We reached the Ambaji temple complex and had tea and ciggs before returning back to Ahmedabad. We decided to go to Dharoi dam on our return as was in between the route we had chosen for our return home.
1825: We reached Dharoi dam as the sun was nearly setting down beyond the water body and the night was creeping in on us. The scenes were so astounding, but as photography wasn’t permitted in this perimeter, we missed a lot of superb pictures.
2100: We were riding at a steady speed of 75 km/hr and in Gandhinagar when Raga’s CBZ got punctured. And, as our bad luck continued, we couldn’t find any single workshop to repair the puncture. Finally, after long discussions and arguments, we finally loaded the bike and Raga on a loading tempo and continued our journey to Ahmedabad. We parked the bike at one of our friend’s place in Chandkheda and went ahead towards our final frontier (Home, Sweet Home).
0000: We reached RTO circle on Ashram Road and waited for other’s to accompany us for dinner. We had pav bhaji and bread (the last pieces available with the vendor) at Akbarnagar circle and finally pushed off for our respective homes at 0100 hrs.
This was a tiresome journey with lots of mishaps and incidents. But we all thoroughly enjoyed our trip and it will remain encrusted in our memories for a long long time.
Best wishes for all those who are planning to make this trip. Awating your comments and feedbacks [:-)].
