DAY 5 - 18th December (Bhuj-Rajwadi Resort, Kalo Dungar and India Bridge)
This was to be a relaxing day. Not a lot of riding and we, for the first and last time in the ride, had a place booked for the night - the Rajwadi Rann Resort. We try and start rides with confirmed stays, but usually end up figuring out things on the fly. For a 11-day ride, it is quite a feat to have only night's stay booked and manage a different hotel every day. However, that is the advantage of riding in small groups, you can manage such things. I assumed the HOG contingent had places of stay, restaurants, chai stalls, everything booked for their entire journey!
The Rajwadi Resort is on the road that leads towards the Rann Utsav and the 'main' White Desert. Now, if you have been following the other parts of the blog, you'd have realized that we have already seen parts of the White Desert. But what we saw is never marketed as such. It is only in conjunction to the Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City that the White Desert is referred to. If someone is looking forward to a nice, touristy trip, this is where they will land up!
Close to the Rajwadi Resort is the BSF Checkpost, where you have to obtain passes to enter the White Desert. They charge per person and per vehicle also; you can thus assume that they will allow you to enter the area with your bikes, but fate had something else in store for us. More on this later though. For now, we checked into the resort. The resort is like a Gujarati version of Choki Dhani. We had a fantastic lunch with multiple cups of chai and set off towards Kalo Dungar (the Black Hill).
This place was a tad disappointing,. The views were OK'ish from the top but we were now inching closer to the touristy areas and it showed - the hill was full of people. Also, we didn't really get where the 'black' came from. The hills were brown and red. Perhaps viewed from a distance, they contrasted with the white salt and gave the impression of being black hills. We also caught a glimpse of our next stop for the day - India Bridge.
One can cross the India Bridge without any issue, but only till the BSF post. To go beyond that, closer to the border, you need a special permit that you can get only in Bhuj. The issue is that you rarely find such information at one place anywhere. We'd keep hearing such things the next day too, of getting permits from some other place. While it is a little disappointing, I completely understand the security concerns and respect their need to have multiple levels of checking before permitting people so close to the border. Taking photos at the India Bridge is not allowed so we just chilled around for a bit, chatting with the BSF jawans.
We rode back to the resort while the sun was setting. Given the location, there was no chance of procuring any extra supplies today. We asked for more chai. He had very less left, but instead of refusing, he got us half a cup each, that we referred to as 'chai shots'. That was the closest we'd get to alcohol this night. We finished dinner and then went out for a short walk to the BSF post nearby. Point to be noted - the Milky Way wasn't visible here, even if we were in the desert. We spoke the policeman there about the possibility of camping. By now, we weren't very hopeful of camping, but we thought we could manage something near the Tent City. There, however, you have to stay in their tents only, so the chances of camping somewhere were dimming with each day.
We turned in early for the night. I switched on the fan and slept without the blanket, much to Dips' consternation.
DAY 6 - 19th December (Dhordo Tent City and Lakhpat)
We were finally going to the famous Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City! Well, we weren't as excited as I sound here. We'd gotten an inkling of how things were there and they turned out to be worse, actually. We packed up and left for the place. It was a short ride. At the Rann Utsav, we had to purchase tickets to get inside, so we just got a few pics clicked there and went on towards the White Desert.
A few kilometers before, we were stopped by the BSF. Due to an impending VIP visit, no private vehicles weren't allowed beyond this point! This is what the permits were actually for, but within a day, the rules had somehow changed. This irritated all of us. We could clearly see that we couldn't get down into the salt here, it was still too wet. But we were determined to make it inside somehow on bikes. So we went back to the Utsav area, where we had lunch at the stalls while Ankit tried his best to get us through with the help of his contacts. All to no avail though. We went back, parked our bikes and got into the bus that would drop us until the edge of the White Desert. From that point, you have to walk or take the camel cart or tonga till viewing point.
The only thing of note here was the viewing point. It was built to resemble the atomic structure of the salt crystal. It stood out against the white background of the salt desert. You could walk through the waterlogged salt desert for a short distance, but there was nothing much else here. We decided to ride to Lakhpat for the night.
I loved the ride to Lakhpat. We were moving away from the desert and into greener areas. Bushes and trees crowded close to the narrow road. None of us noticed that we were straying off the route and we ended up with a 15 kms misnavigation. Ankit's geographical sixth sense kicked in and we asked around and got onto the right path. I wouldn't have minded riding further on those roads though! It was on this stretch that we discussed Rajaji's penchant for following and how he avoided leading! On BoP rides, there is no strict formation, but we generally slot into our most comfortable positions - Ankit leading, followed by Rajaji, me and Dips. Everyone would shift once in a while. If you lead, you are expected to pause at junctions, confirm the route if required, flag down others for a pitstop, etc. Rajaji, however, would actively avoid leading, so we decided to test this the next day.
Lakhpat is a small fort-town. There are no hotels or resorts here, just the Gurudwara. We've had 2 dry nights in a row, and looks like we'd make a hattrick! Still, the surroundings were peaceful and we settled for a simple and delicious dinner at langar time. Rajaji was showing off his linguistic prowess by conversing in Punjabi everywhere. He'd continue doing this the next day too, albeit in Gujarati. We hit the sack, hoping tomorrow would be a more eventful day.
This was to be a relaxing day. Not a lot of riding and we, for the first and last time in the ride, had a place booked for the night - the Rajwadi Rann Resort. We try and start rides with confirmed stays, but usually end up figuring out things on the fly. For a 11-day ride, it is quite a feat to have only night's stay booked and manage a different hotel every day. However, that is the advantage of riding in small groups, you can manage such things. I assumed the HOG contingent had places of stay, restaurants, chai stalls, everything booked for their entire journey!
The Rajwadi Resort is on the road that leads towards the Rann Utsav and the 'main' White Desert. Now, if you have been following the other parts of the blog, you'd have realized that we have already seen parts of the White Desert. But what we saw is never marketed as such. It is only in conjunction to the Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City that the White Desert is referred to. If someone is looking forward to a nice, touristy trip, this is where they will land up!
Close to the Rajwadi Resort is the BSF Checkpost, where you have to obtain passes to enter the White Desert. They charge per person and per vehicle also; you can thus assume that they will allow you to enter the area with your bikes, but fate had something else in store for us. More on this later though. For now, we checked into the resort. The resort is like a Gujarati version of Choki Dhani. We had a fantastic lunch with multiple cups of chai and set off towards Kalo Dungar (the Black Hill).
One can cross the India Bridge without any issue, but only till the BSF post. To go beyond that, closer to the border, you need a special permit that you can get only in Bhuj. The issue is that you rarely find such information at one place anywhere. We'd keep hearing such things the next day too, of getting permits from some other place. While it is a little disappointing, I completely understand the security concerns and respect their need to have multiple levels of checking before permitting people so close to the border. Taking photos at the India Bridge is not allowed so we just chilled around for a bit, chatting with the BSF jawans.
We rode back to the resort while the sun was setting. Given the location, there was no chance of procuring any extra supplies today. We asked for more chai. He had very less left, but instead of refusing, he got us half a cup each, that we referred to as 'chai shots'. That was the closest we'd get to alcohol this night. We finished dinner and then went out for a short walk to the BSF post nearby. Point to be noted - the Milky Way wasn't visible here, even if we were in the desert. We spoke the policeman there about the possibility of camping. By now, we weren't very hopeful of camping, but we thought we could manage something near the Tent City. There, however, you have to stay in their tents only, so the chances of camping somewhere were dimming with each day.
We turned in early for the night. I switched on the fan and slept without the blanket, much to Dips' consternation.
DAY 6 - 19th December (Dhordo Tent City and Lakhpat)
We were finally going to the famous Rann Utsav and Dhordo Tent City! Well, we weren't as excited as I sound here. We'd gotten an inkling of how things were there and they turned out to be worse, actually. We packed up and left for the place. It was a short ride. At the Rann Utsav, we had to purchase tickets to get inside, so we just got a few pics clicked there and went on towards the White Desert.
A few kilometers before, we were stopped by the BSF. Due to an impending VIP visit, no private vehicles weren't allowed beyond this point! This is what the permits were actually for, but within a day, the rules had somehow changed. This irritated all of us. We could clearly see that we couldn't get down into the salt here, it was still too wet. But we were determined to make it inside somehow on bikes. So we went back to the Utsav area, where we had lunch at the stalls while Ankit tried his best to get us through with the help of his contacts. All to no avail though. We went back, parked our bikes and got into the bus that would drop us until the edge of the White Desert. From that point, you have to walk or take the camel cart or tonga till viewing point.
I loved the ride to Lakhpat. We were moving away from the desert and into greener areas. Bushes and trees crowded close to the narrow road. None of us noticed that we were straying off the route and we ended up with a 15 kms misnavigation. Ankit's geographical sixth sense kicked in and we asked around and got onto the right path. I wouldn't have minded riding further on those roads though! It was on this stretch that we discussed Rajaji's penchant for following and how he avoided leading! On BoP rides, there is no strict formation, but we generally slot into our most comfortable positions - Ankit leading, followed by Rajaji, me and Dips. Everyone would shift once in a while. If you lead, you are expected to pause at junctions, confirm the route if required, flag down others for a pitstop, etc. Rajaji, however, would actively avoid leading, so we decided to test this the next day.
Lakhpat is a small fort-town. There are no hotels or resorts here, just the Gurudwara. We've had 2 dry nights in a row, and looks like we'd make a hattrick! Still, the surroundings were peaceful and we settled for a simple and delicious dinner at langar time. Rajaji was showing off his linguistic prowess by conversing in Punjabi everywhere. He'd continue doing this the next day too, albeit in Gujarati. We hit the sack, hoping tomorrow would be a more eventful day.
Misnavigation. What's that? Impossible with me being the navigator which you have experienced many a times.
ReplyDeleteZaheer the follower eh! Tell me more about it 😉
Misnavigation BoP ka tradition hai! Agli baar zaroor karna.
ReplyDeleteLeader mile toh chal padte hai peeche Rajaji.