Jawhar - 14th Aug 2011

Other weekend getaways

Arnala Beach | Gorai beach | Jawhar | Karla Caves | Karnala Bird Sanctuary | Kashid | Konkan | Mahabaleshwar | Matheran

 

"When you are an avid reader, you should read a bad book once in a while....

to know why it is bad, and the others are good"

It was a long weekend, and after a pretty long time too!! As usual the tube took some time to light up and by then most of the places were already booked. Jawhar was on my mind for quite some time, and it appearing on the '52 weekend getaways from Mumbai' on Outlook Traveller flavoured the temptation a bit more. All hotels I called up in Jawhar were already booked and after lotta searching on the net, got the number of a Hotel Rajmahal and thankfully it was available...no online booking though. Not having a menu of many choices, transferred money to Mr. V.K.Karbhari's (the owner) account to book the room. So I was finally going!!



Hotel Raj Mahal

 Wanted to do this the raw way, so got up early and caught the ST (State Transport) bus for Jawhar at 7:00 am. My non-fussy family didn't complain a bit. The ST was a 2 x 2 seater. No bookings for this bus, no queues either, when the bus comes...run, throw your umbrella, bag inside from the window and book your seats...convenient, isn't it?

En route to Jawhar, after Wada, the scenery is beautiful, as is common on all hilly areas. The last stretch of the road was a bit bad. Natures' 'GO GREEN' posters were to be seen in all shades as the bus passed through rice fields, grassy stretches and forests. On the way, saw the boards of Sajan Nature club and Diwekarwadi (camping sites - http://www.naturetrails.in/). Reached Jawhar around 10:30 and wasn't very difficult to locate the hotel as it is near to the bus stand, rather opposite to it. This hotel is an economical and a decent one with good enough service, considering the place. It started raining heavily, so we didn't get much of a chance to venture out. Finally at 4:00 pm, we braved our umbrellas and walked towards Hanuman Point. Have to mention that the town of Jawhar is one filthy place, shitty in the true sense of the word. The only compensation was that my nephew hadn't seen a pig before and got exited when he saw them...Oink...oink !!!
Hanuman Point is about 1-1.5 km away from Hotel RajMahal or from the bus stand. A Hanuman temple adorns the centre of the plateau and you can see the valley below and the vehicles snaking up and down the curvy roads. When we were leaving the plateau, fog was spreading its wings all over and in the distance we could see the Jai Vilas Palace in a blur.





Jai Veer Hanuman




View from the Hanuman point

 


Jai Vilas Palace from the Hanuman Point

 

The Jai Vilas Palace is about half a km from the Hanuman Point. You can easily miss the road to the palace. Now this is a nice place to be around and so is the walk to the palace. Coming down from the Hanuman Point, take a left at the forking road with a statue. Walk for about 5-7 minutes and keep looking to your left. A narrow pathway leads left, towards the forest as you leave the highway. This path is strewn with cashew trees, if you can recognise one. I was seeing a cashew tree for the first time. All along the path, you will be bewildered to see so many cashew trees and wonder how you can see them only here and not elsewhere in the town. Walking for around 15 minutes in the midst of the trees, you suddenly see the crest of the Jai Niwas Palace. With permission from the caretakers you can walk in and along the boundaries of the palace. With a little bakshish, you can have a guided tour inside too. The guide shows you the darbar, the tribal king and queens' photos, sketches the King Mukne made himself, the tiger he hunted down, his kids room with the wooden toys, a telescope, the verandahs, the visitors room etc. The palace was leaking badly from the inside. However, from the outside, it looks nice, simple and royal. As you walk to the rear of the palace, you get to see a beautiful view of the valley below and in the distance you can see the peak of a trekking destination (dunno which mountain, but I have seen its pic somewhere for sure). 

Kaju Tree



Road to Jai Nivas Palace



Jai Nivas Palace



Jai Nivas Palace



Jai Nivas Palace



View of the valley from the Jai Nivas Palace





The only other point in Jawhar is the Sunset point which is about 1 km from the bus stand in the opposite direction of the Hanuman point. As I said before, the road leading to the points are filthy. From the Sunset point, you can watch a river gushing below and I can only imagine that it will really be beautiful to watch the sun go down here, but since it was a cloudy day, wasn't lucky to see the phenomena.

Though I enjoyed the break from Mumbai, I would definitely think twice before going back to Jawhar. Surprising that this place features in Maharashtra Tourisms' website as well!! Government...government...Anna Hazare aage badho...hum tumhare saath hai!!!

Jawhar for the travellers

• Regular ST buses go from Thane (almost every hour), Nasik, Pune also I guess
• Local transport - Rickshaws, Jeeps
• Places to visit in Jawhar - Hanuman Point, Sunset Point, Jai Vilas Palace, Warli exhibition (near Sunset Point)
• Places near Jawhar  - Dabhosa (Dabdaba falls) 18 km away, Bhupatgad fort (find info on the net), Kohoj  Hill fort (find info on the net)
• Other camping destinations near Jawhar - Sajan Nature Club, Doctors Farm, Divekarwadi
• Accomodation - Sunset Resort (near Sunset Point), Hotel Pushpanjali (near Sunset Resort), Hotel RajMahal (near ST stand)

Revisiting Matheran, 15th Apr 2011

Other weekend getaways

Arnala Beach | Gorai beach | Jawhar | Karla Caves | Karnala Bird Sanctuary | Kashid | Konkan | Mahabaleshwar | Matheran

Other forts and trekking destinations

Jaigad | Karnala Fort | Korigad | Kothligad | Korlai Fort |  Pratapgad | Rajgad | Ratnadurga | Tikona | Torna | Vijaydurg

Sometimes the most impromptu decisions turn out to be the good ones!! Tired of the failing plans of my RELIABLE friends at office, Thursday night I returned home and asked my folks to pack their bags as we were going to Matheran the next day.

The last time I had visited Matheran was with friends from my previous workplace. The trip was a very memorable one, more in terms of the masti we did than the sight seeing, but revisiting the same places this time, brought back all the memories and the pieces fell in place.

As usual, struggled to get up early in the morning and missed the train to Karjat that we had initially planned to take. Took the next Khopoli train, and managed to get in with my family with the same thoughts 'Saala itna public aata kahan se hai', 'Inko chutti ke din bhi aaram nahi hai', 'Chup chap ghar pe baithke IPL kyon nahi dekhte'.... Obviously 'Itna', 'Inko' includes me, us and the guy next to me had to have the same mentally traumatic questions as I stepped on his foot BY MISTAKE and said SORRY...

Reaching Neral was the easy part. As we stood in line for the toy train, came the shocker!!
"10:30 ka sirf 2 ticket bacha hai, aur 11:40 ka tickets to ye 6 logon me hi khatam ho jaayega. 12:50 ka tickets milega aapko". Which meant, landing in Neral at 9:30, we would need to stand in line till 12:15 to get the tickets and catch the train at 12:50 - way to go man!! phew!! We had the option to catch a cab and rush to Matheran, but with a kid, my nephew in the kitty, refused to turn down the huffing and puffing train.
The toy train is one of the best parts of going to Matheran, so if possible, try not to miss it. We reached Matheran in another 2 hours enjoying every bit of the train ride on the curvy tracks up the mountain. The scenery needless to say, was beautiful all the way. The valley below grew deeper and deeper as the train geared upway. Two halts at tiny stations called 'JUMA PATTI' and "WATER PIPE' brought the localites around selling jambhuls, lime water, cold drinks, bhel etc. The scene was straight from a faraway tale of an Enid Blyton book.

Bhartiya Rail - Toy Train

As we reached Matheran and tried to get out of the station, we were made to pay 25 bucks each for getting out of the station - Local Tax they say...arre idhar tak aaya to station dekhne thodi aaya...ghoomne aaya...so like all good citizens, we paid.

We took a room near the main market and near the Khandala point called 'Laxmi (something)' - okay kind of accomodation. Rested for some time and ventured out. Saw Cecil point (awesome panoramic view), Charlotte Lake, Lords point and Echo point. Sahil and my mom enjoyed on horseback as we tred behind them...

Ghudsavar

Cecil point needs a special mention here as it gives a very beautiful view of the the surrounding mountains, one casting a shadow on the other and relishing views of the valley below.
One can spend some time with kids on the Charlotte lake or spend some romantic moments on its banks if it isn't too crowded.
Didn't find the Lords' point to be that great. The Echo point is better - we reached their during sunset, watching the cliffs getting darker. Our shouts weren't answered though by the invisible sound duplicater...none of our (all present at the echo point) shouts echoed...where's the Matheran complaint register??

Cecil point

Spent the evening at the mall road/market and bought a cap, sword (khilona yaar) and a cane bag. Had dinner and pushed back to the hotel, did some jhoola jhooling in the yard and pushed off to a peaceful sleep.

16th Apr 2011
Next day, got up early as decided and left the hotel at 6:30. Missed the sunrise but spent a great time walking through the jungle and breathing the fresh air. Its a real pleasure to walk through these calm and serene jungles with a cool breeze brushing across, listening to the rustling of the leaves, calling of the birds, and the only other sound you hear are your footsteps....beautiful.
We visited Khandala point, Alexander point and were off to see the Cecil point yet again. One should not miss walking to the Alexander point, its really nice and if you have more time to spend, venture further to the Chowk point and maybe even further to the One tree hill point if your legs or the horses legs (read money in your pocket) allow you.

Checked out from the hotel at 9:30 am, had some breakfast and walked back to the station. The same story was about to repeat...we would only manage to get the train at 4:30 pm, so we decided instead to walk till Dasturi via the tracks (30-40 mins) and then catch a taxi to Neral, missing the toy train ride this time.

As I stepped into my home, I realised that for 2 whole days, I had not had a single thought about my work, office and all the little unwanted thoughts you burden yourself with all the time...maybe thats the magic of a getaway....reminds me of a Bryan Adams song...here's a part of it....C ya!!!!

I got my motor runnin' fingers drummin'

I never planned to stay

getaway ya know it's now or never

getaway nobody lives forever

we're only waitin' just to make you getaway

- Bryan Adams

Do's....

• Plan early and book early for the toy train and see that your travel to Neral and the toy train timing to Matheran fall in sync.
• Book your accomodation in advance if possible. However, you won't find all the available accomodations on websites, only the costly ones are listed. If you are looking out for cheaper accomodation, try the ones near the station which are offered by the localites...though it would be a bit far from the market and other points.
• Walk...enjoy the pleasures of nature with your own legs.
• Ride a horse....this is one of the places where you'll really enjoy it.
• Do visit the Alexander and Cecil points
• Things you will generally find in the market - Caps, Hats, lots of Chappals, bags, leather items

Dont's.....

• Don't leave a part of you in the forests....don't litter
• Don't venture in your best attires, they are gonna turn red...Matheran is full of red mud
• Don't have eatables in your hands when there are monkeys around...they might just give you the shock of your lives
• Don't expect things to cost the same as they do in the city...

Neral - Matheran toy train time table