A Solo Trip to white sand desert : "Rann of Kutch" !!!!I

A thought was always there deep in my mind to travel alone somewhere, so I was looking for an opportunity for the same. Having heard of 'Rannutsav'(an annually organized festival in Kutch displaying its exotica and colorfulness) and Makarsakranti coming up (providing me one extra holiday other than a week off, otherwise it is difficult to get a public holiday in Reliance :P), I found it to be a good opportunity to visit the 'mahotsav' and roam around alone exploring up myself. As I get finalized with my idea, I got the tickets booked for Bhuj, packed up bag, arranged a camera and left. Thus starting my first solo trip. I did not had any idea what it would turn up into, I was only excited I was travelling alone to a new place! :D

    I reached Bhuj at around 4 in the morning (I did not expect that bus would drop me so early), I went straight away to Railway Station following the path provided by GPS. It took me around half an hour to reach there; I bought a platform ticket (probably the first time) to enter the railway platform. I found that there was a dead silence on the platform, I somehow located the waiting room and got myself freshened up.

I searched for the places to visit in Bhuj and Kutch and decided to see places in Bhuj till evening and then leave for Rann of Katch to spend a night in the desert to watch out the glowing sand in presence of moon and to see the mahotsav on the coming day. Being this in mind, I left the station and went to famous Swami Narayan Mandir (2 km. from station), but the things never go as planned out. I got to know that everything opens after 9 and it was only 7 till then I decided to go to Dheeraj, a colleague in Reliance; came to knew that he had already visited to the place and was in Bhuj. As I went to him, he and his fellows told me the whole scenario about the mahotsav (which was basically meant for people who had book a tent in the village over there and there was no other option to stay and one has to return by night), I was a bit disappointed.

I searched for the options to stay there at night but being very expensive, I convinced myself to return by the same night. Next, I enquired about the public transport to go there and came to know that the only bus which go there left at 9 and there was no public vehicle later on. I then contacted travel agent about the prices of a private vehicle and being the price too high I decided to go there the next day. Fortunately, when I was moving out I found a family, which was already in the same situation; they asked me if I wished to travel with them and with a thought I said yes. Well who does not want to save money? I joined them and left for White desert, its 90 Km from Bhuj.

                          The driver first took us to Kalo Dungar Hill (highest point in Kutch). The panoramic view of desert mixing with sea there was a virtual delight and one could faintly see indo-pak border from there.



Where desert and sea meet!!!



Highest Point in Kutch



After Kalo Dungar, we went to Rann of Kutch ,there I saw from

outside the tent village named Dhordo under which premises the 'Rannutsav' was being organised  but unfortunately I could not

enter as it required tent pre-bookings ( which I think is beyond the

reach of the middle men because of the prices ). Skipping the

mahotsav, we moved to nearby "The White Rann of Kutch (located in Thar Desert). There I could see the widespread never ending sea of white sand (actually the sand is not white, it’s just a misconception! It looks white because of a thick layer of salt crystals spread all over the sand).



The never ending desert!





Through my lens !!!!



  



Sun Set !



As I maneuvered ahead I could see the sand went on growing whiter and whiter but could not reach the place where desert and sea meet. Tired, I sat there till moon was up in the sky watching the beautiful transition between sun dropping down and moon coming up. The temperature started dropping and chill waves started blowing and it was pretty cold in night there. As it was almost full moon, the sand was glowing milky white in its light and I could feel like if there was a sea of milk next to me. It was an ideal place to go with your girlfriend. One could spend whole night there but I had to come back, so with this scene captured in my eyes I went back to Bhuj.

The glowing sand

On reaching Bhuj, I bade farewell to the family and had my dinner. As this was supposed to be an adventure trip I decided not to rent a room and went to railway station to spend the night over there. I bought a platform ticket (person at counter asked me why I was buying a P/F ticket if there was no train scheduled then) and went straight to waiting room and slept. Woke up next day and planned to go Mandvi, a place 60 km. south to Bhuj. 

 Arriving there, I went to Vijay Villas Palace; the palace where “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" was shot and the palace where the legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan said " Kutch nhi dekha to kuch nhi dekha " in an promotional advertisement for Gujarat Tourism. The palace is built in Rajput style. There is a main central dome and small domes in sides along with bastions at the corners. There was a spiral stair case leading to a balcony from where I saw that the palace was surrounded with lush green forest and mountain. It was amazing to watch. Returning from there I went to Mandvi beach. As it was the occasion of "Makar Sakranti", a lot of families had flooded in with kites. People were flying up kites competing with each other, enjoying and watching this, I got a little taste of Gujarati culture. People celebrate the festivals very lavishly over here. A lot of designer kites were too flying in the sky. 



The Vijay Villas Palace





Stairway to heaven !!



Mandvi Beach





Designer Kites !

Returning back by the afternoon, I decided to visit the famous Aaina Mahal and Prag Mahal, located north to Hamirsar Lake in Bhuj. It was a state holiday that day and all monuments were closed, so I could only see them from outside. I captured some of the snaps and could not get into the details and history related to those. Since my bus back to Jamnagar was scheduled at 21:00 and I had pretty much time left, I decided to sit near the Hamirsar Lake. Siting besides the lake was so soothing and the marvelous act by a small kid on the rope just added charm to the moment. His performance was jaw dropping. The time just passed by and it was the time for the bus. I went to the stop, caught my bus and returned.



Prag Mahal





The wonder boy!

Hamirsar Lake



It was my first experience to travel alone somewhere and it was awesome!!! :). For the persons who wish/plan to go solo, I would suggest you may it try once. It's an amazing experience. You get an opportunity to explore yourself and a lot of time to give to yourself. The best part of travelling alone is that you have to convince yourself only. I now look forward for an opportunity to go solo on a trip. Roaming alone in the wild white desert, visiting marvelous palace, enjoying the Gujarati culture make me say "Kutch nhi dekha to kuch nhi dekha”!!! :) :D