Alibaug

"Alibaug was more of a being together with friends rather than a more relaxing trip" - Amit, Colleague

"I had never experienced so many emotions in a such a short span, that when we started the trip there was excitement and happy ness, but when it ended I felt as if something close to my heart was ending" - Jaypreet, Colleague

Total Words: 537 words
Estimated reading time: 2 mins 14 secs

Alibaug, situated around 60-70 miles from Mumbai, is now becoming a major residential hub for the people of Mumbai more than a tourist spot. The district, Alibaug, is a collection of about 60 small villages seems to be attracting people from Mumbai for weekend relaxation trips to investments in farmhouses. The land prices, till now, has helped many people grab up places in Alibaug. Also real estate developers seem to be keen on building hamlets/farmhouses. Some developers are also expected to be providing an exclusive yatch service to Mumbai, since mumbai is just 20-25 mins away by sea route..

With the excitement of going with the help of waterways, we one day decided to end up in Alibaug, for a weekend trip for nothing more than some time away from city life.. So we all decided to meet up at Gateway in Mumbai one morning to make it convenient for us to take a ferry to Alibaug. We all boarded the ferry, which costs you around 60 INR for a 60 minute ride to Mandhwa jetty. The ferry takes you through the numerous ships anchored around the Mumbai sea face, some of them being naval ships. A little bit into the sea and the skyline of Mumbai is a mesmerizing scene, which makes you thank yourself for boarding a ferry to Alibaug.
Alibaug's main village lies another 30 mins ride by road, after the ferry drops you at the Mandhwa jetty. The ferry providers deploy their own buses to enable you to cover this road distance. After reaching Alibaug, the main task was to look for an accommodation, which we havent done as the plan was instantaneous and we had hardly any time to do our bookings. We found a pretty decent resort "Ravi Kiran" which was situated near to the main chowk in the town.
The same evening saw us leaving for a nearby beach, it was supposed to one of the better ones in Alibaug. To our surprise, the water were too dirty, as compared to the waters at Diveagar... maybe because of the proximity to Mumbai.. So instead we had some plans of playing beach cricket. We snapped the gear required on hire from the adjacent shops and had our game started in no time. In an hours time all were tired and ready to chomp on bhajji's and some hot tea. The dinner back at the hotel, saw many cuisines being ordered in a haphazard manner, which is many times a fact when we all find ourselves together for dinner in some restaurant. One side of the table was indulged in savoring the food, but the other side was discussing "horror" stories.
Back at the hotel, all gathered in one room for gossips and timepass. How time passed by in that whole night, in which hardly anyone slept would take me another blog to describe..!!
The next morning, we had to pack our bags to get going back to our homes, back in Mumbai. The return journey was a more thrilling one as we experienced a high tide on our way back. A ride on a ferry during a high tide cannot be explained in words.. The ride was the most enjoyable for some whereas some where just wishing to be back on shore at the earliest..

To Get there:

• By Waterways
• Ferry - INR 60 to Mandhwa jetty and bus at no extra cost upto Alibaug
• Expected Travel time :80 - 90 mins
  
• Catamaran
  
• Air Contd - INR 110
  
• Non AC - INR 60 - 80
  
• Expected Travel time : 50-60 mins

By Road

• State transport
• Private buses plying on the route

Related Posts

• Diveagar

Diveagar

Total Words: 810 Time required: 3 mins 22 secs
Check out the slide show on diveagar snaps.. also at My Picassa Web albums

I would term this beach as a "Heaven on Earth". Frankly speaking, it was difficult to first grab the name of this place when one of our friends came to us and told about this beach, about two years back. The immediate reaction was to go out and explore this awesome place. And with our awesome expertise in planning the trips, a gang of 7 people were out on an adventure at 1900 hrs to an unknown place..

We started from Pune at about 2100 hrs (oh yes! we prefer night trips as it saves the whole day) with a white sumo. We had a fair idea of the road as narrated to us by the same friend. The road had to cross a dense forest ghat which is aptly called 'Tamhini Ghat', and the trip seemed to be fully loaded with surprises.

The sumo started trudging the ghat after about 2 hrs that we had been traveling. It was also the first trip to the amazing ghat in the Sahyadri range, even though it limited our visibility of the great heights in the plum darkness. The ghat is densely covered with greenery and the roads were still manageable with still less number of potholes as that compared with those in our city roads.

This time we were travelling in the winter and anyone who has been known Pune, can tell the intensity of the winters there. The fog that we had to dodge through was equally dense to the greenery that the ghat ensembles. At some sections of the ghat, the road ahead wasnt visible due to the dense fog, but we had to find our own way out and today we are still alive and kickin.. ;) The twists and turns enveloped with the greenery and the fog had already enthralled us, the heaven we were heading had to be something special..

We reached the Mumbai-Goa highway at about 0400 hrs and was a perfect time for the morning kadak chai, for those who enjoyed the ghat as well for those who enjoyed their siesta. The chai walah gave us the directions further and 'Diveagar' was still 2 hrs far from us. The beach falls about 40 kms from the Mumbai - Goa highway and again takes you through a jungle, this time at a level closer to the sea, and that actually helps you spot some creatures in the dark.. ..well what we could spot in all was an Owl :o .. The ghat road does not allow you to sleep in anticipation (even thanking those potholes)... The room we had already booked when we started the journey helped us settle down quickly when we finally reached the diveagar village, situated just besides the beach.. these rooms provide a good option to the absence of hotels in this area as this remains an unfazed tourist spot, with the room owners trying everybit of effort to ensure a good service, but yup at a price...!

After the morning refreshments, we had to dip in the waters.. for which we headed straight towards those refreshing sound of the waves.. (... which one would surely miss if s/he had to stay in pune ...). The water seemed to much better / cleaner than what one would find in other parts of the country, even putting behind the beaches of Goa.. As I mentioned, minimum number of tourists at this spot ensures a much more clean beach... a piece of plastic would be hard to spot and my plead would be to those people visiting there to ensure this cleanliness of the beach by refraining from littering..

After about 1-2 hrs in the water, the sun had started to trouble us with its intense heat and which in turn helped us swarm out of the waters to be back to our rooms, aptly waiting for the freshly prepared lunch with some local specialties. The food there is prepared by the room owners with specialties like the 'Modak' which is served with pure ghee.. trust me it tastes awesome.. for non-veggies, the fish varieties can be savored according to your choice...
The heavy lunch had made us feel lazy and everyone was bound to find the way to the bed, but as we had to leave for pune the same day, one of us took the charge to ensure no one falls asleep.. The en-route started at about 1600 hrs and we indeed had to go a long way back, especially after a good relaxing trip.


The trip back was filled with discussions on all the funny incidents at the trip. With this we all just could wrap those in our minds to be cherished for a lifetime.. not to mention, we all are going to miss each other and the fun we had together when we take the individual paths in our lives !!


Divegar - To reach there:
From Mumbai
By Road:

• Take a diversion to the Mumbai-Goa Highway which falls after Panvel
• The next diversion would be to 'Diveagar' about 100-120 kms from Mumbai and 14 kms before Murud Janjira
  
• The further road diversions can be judged by the on-road hoardings
  
• The road after diversion from Mumbai - goa highway would be around 40 kms
• Local people prove to be helpful in many cases to reach the final destination in the village

No other transport is available to reach this place.. Heaven has only one gate...;)

From Pune By Road:

• Drive to Chandni Chowk and take the Paud road to make it to the Mulshi ghat and then the consequent Tamhini Ghat
• The exit from Tamhini ghat on the Goa highway proves to be exactly in front of the Diveagar diversion
• Remaining directions would be the same as above
• Total Drive from Pune: about 120 Kms total

Trip to Matheran..

Words: 928 Reading Time: 3 mins 55 secs

Its always a happy mode when a student finishes his week long of tense exams and what could be more relieving than a trip plan to Matheran.. the heaven situated just 100 kms from Mumbai.

We, students at our college, decided to go for a trip after which all of them will go for one more stint in the corporate lives with an internship in respective companies. Matheran seemed to be the closest and best option we ought to choose.

Matheran, situated at 803 mt. above sea level is probably the only place, besides Venice in Italy from having banned the use of Motor vehicles in its permissible limits. This keeps Matheran absolutely free from pollution and well situated within dark green forests. Matheran was discovered in 1850s by the Britishers. The USP, as said in marketing terms of Matheran, is the Narrow Gauge (2.0 Ft wide) train popularly known as Toy Train, which was built by Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy in 1907 covers a distance of 20 Kms and consumes upto 1 hr 45 mins, taking you through the busy Mumbai - Pune route station Neral to the Forest engulfed Matheran.
The 3 hrs wait for taking that train to Matheran were spent by us lazily on Nerul Station in anticipation of the trip which would be attached with many memories. The train was pulled up on the station well before time which gave us ample time to snap memories in our camera.

The train has only 4 coaches and the charges are well below the normal taxi charge. The train finally chugged out of the station at the mentioned time with the driver and guard flurring the green flags.. the length of the train helps you clearly watch both the flags. The Train signaling system has still the old traditional manual systems and have been maintained over the years. It exchanges a ring which signals its arrival at 2 stations which it passes before reaching its destination. The train starts slowly climbing the hills, circling almost all the range surrounding Matheran. Beautiful scenes, the swirling track, the deep valleys and the some prevalent springs all mesmerize the 2 hrs journey to the top.

By the time we reached atop, it was almost dinner time and Matheran does not have much options but only an area where the restaurants are available,also eventually the only area where you get the mobile network. We directly stepped into the quite famous Khan's Hookahs and Tikkas restaurant. The only decent hotel, has a good ambience filled with fountains, cushions and music playing in the background. A hookah was ordered without any inspection of the menu card, the rest main course decision was a brain storming session with everybody's hungry stomachs affecting the decision making.

After a good and filling dinner, it was time for a walk back to the resort where bookings were already made by a batch of us who had arrived earlier in the day trekking all their way to the top, about 9 kms from Nerul station. A small visit in the dark jungle was amazing at that time, we were on our way to Khandala point, till the time everyone finished with their dinner. The only thing visible at that point, after all torches were turned off, was the moon that very well shined and no hindrances of pollution affecting its shining brightness.

In the next half an hour, we found ourselves in the resort looking and arranging for the rooms. The resort had a in house disco, and yes we were out there shaking a leg to the music. The DJ went on well till 11 in the night, as the resort was quite isolated to be heard by anyone.

The night was long with games like dumb charades and cards and alive with discussions for plan of the next day which would be eventually the last day in Matheran. The next morning started with a good hot water bath and good games of Carrom and Table tennis at the resort provided facilities, followed by a good tea. The post tea saw us trekking our way to some of the points like Echo Point, Charlotte Lake and missing out on points like One tree hill, Panorama point.

Matheran is filled with monkeys all around trying to snatch anything and everything they can eat, one will find monkeys roaming around like dogs do in the cities. A strange but funny incident happened when a monkey snatched a bag from one of our colleague's hands and ran away, but few of our brave guys followed it, finally the monkey climbed atop a tree with only taking one biscuit packet out of the 4-5 packets in that bag. The bag was safe and sound back with the owner. The remaining tour still remained incident-free.

The way back was kicked off after a lunch at some place in the market area, the food being pathetic my memory gives way for remembering its name. A filled stomach and Blurring noon sun, we were off to the Dasturi check point to catch a taxi back to the Nerul Station. We just missed a local train back to Mumbai by 3 -4 minutes and had to wait for another hour for the next train.

The journey back was filled with memories from the trip and incidents that occurred on the trip. This trip would certainly be at the back of our minds when we return back to our life in the corporate world and rejoice the memories when we would miss each other !!!

To reach Matheran: (From Mumbai)

• By Road: Take the Mumbai-Nashik Highway and turn the diversion for Nerul which lies about 100 km off Mumbai.
• By Rail: Board a local train from Dadar to Karjat or Khopoli, get down at Nerul Station after Ambernath .. take a cab to Matheran or the toy trains exclusive services
• Cab Fare: Rs 60 - 100 depending upon the day.. generally Maruti Vans etc..
  
• Toy train Fare : Rs 32 - General Class / Rs 170 - First Class