MYJOURNEY ACROSS THE RUSTIC PUNJAB REGION.

Many of us had been to the Punjab state ,might be as a tourist/ resident/ or just passing by...But surely most of u might not be that lucky to experience the beauty of rustic Punjab region. It so happened that my husband had to attend some meeting at Bhatinda Oil Refinery & he planned to take the journey by road from Jammu City to Bhatinda City in Punjab -almost some 400+kms distance & 8 long hours of journey. I just didn't wish to miss this opportunity to see the rustic Punjab state.,though ,earlier I had been to Jalander,Amritsar,Ludiana ,Ambala, But ,this time we were to take on a wrong route through the countryside of Punjab to Bhatinda City.
     We started a bit early in the morning around 9:30am from Jammu city ,were we presently reside.... took the national highway drive to KATHUA city in the Jammu region of J&K state & then off to LAKHANPUR Border...after all check at the state checkpost we proceeded in to Punjab region.

At LAKHANPUR BORDER.

 

At MADHOPUR 

 

After Lakhanpur Checkpost ,we were crossing across over R. Ravi at Madhopur.......The whole landscape changed drastically now......No more ,highmountains across the landscape....its only 2 hrs that we had passed so-o far.....................still a long way to go;

PATHANKOT is almost 93kms from Lakhanpur border & after pathankot ,we were to take towards Dinanagar....I just kept watching carefully ,how the crops/vegetation kept changing from one place to the next......Every place in Punjab have a particular yield.....But its harvesting time everywhere ,either crop cutting was on or some places ,people were preparing their land for the next sowing season....

 

 

 

 

After DINANAGER, Its was GURDASPUR---- Followed by DHARIWAL & BATALA ...we kept drive across the country side on to MEHTA CHOWK.Saw a lot of cultivation around as we drove across towards Jalander- Amritsar highway...................... It was getting quite late & we were in search of a quality Dhaba for lunch.... after a long drive on JALANDER- AMRITSAR HIGHWAY ,we came across a proper place to have our lunch.Saw lot of pea cultivation in this region...We were to bypass AMRITSAR CITY instead ...

 

 

 

After bypassing AMRITSAR CITY, we headed towards the Holy City of TARAN TARAN......Now ,we were driving almost parallel to the border...

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove off from Taran taran towards ZIRA ...its just awesome to see those lovely CANAL SYSTEM that Irrigates the land of Punjab....Driving over the Dam at Zira with the sun going down over its ,was a fabulous experience.    Now we were to drive off towards FARIDKOT..... really felt quite exhausted by now & without a cup of tea ,we just could n't move ahead.The Dhan Mandi at Zira ,was a great experience to see the amount of FOOD GRAINS grown in our country ,but the sad side of it is ,still in INDIA ,so-o many goes off to sleep without food...

 

 

After FARIDKOT ,we were to reach BHATINDA CITY within an hour & half but the road turned out to be bad & over crowded.................. until we reached National Fertiliser Complex at Bhatinda City. My idea was ,Bhatinda city might be a little village But ,MITTAL'S have changed its total look ................... Just got so-o impressed ,that I can simply compare the place with PUNE CITY, with lot of flyovers, good roads, Big malls............ Just impressive!!!!

 

OUR TRIP TO THE TROUBLED LAND OF KATHUA-J&K.

Since we are stationed at Jammu city presently, my whole idea is to go round to every corner of J&K state during our tenure. This time we thought of a straight drive off to Kathua from Jammu city. This place generally doesn't feature in ones itenary ,if willing to visit J&K. But , to me, every corner of Jammu & Kashmir is just picture perfect .Kathua is some 80kms from Jammu city down towards Pathankot.
    Since , except dhabas,having food becomes a problem as one travels by road across the state, we thought of packing our lunch along + snacks.... Our target was JASROTA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY & UJH BARRAGE... The main places,as we drove off ,was SAMBA, HIRANAGAR, DAYAL CHAK to mention a few..... after, we reached JASROTA,from the highway ,we took the turn towards left into small narrow bylanes towards Jasrota wild life sanctuary..... Its quite a few more Kms drive thru' jungle roads...soon we could locate the UJH BARRAGE from the top of mountain roads amidst dense jungle.... We just wanted to go upto the waterfront at Ujh barrage.....but we were really having tough time to find a road to reach the location ..... Our SUV just helped us to drive thru' bolders/muds/jungles ..& ultimately we were there at the sight..... R. Ravi...blue sky & the beautiful Kassh flowers ,just made a beautiful scenary of the landscape. We walked across the barrage lock gate to the other end & now the Jasrota sanctuary was standing tall infront of us;We were more busy watching various types of birds , standing on the top of the barrage lockgate....After sometimes, we just wanted to find some good location  in the sanctuary to munch our snacks/fruit juice; Oh, the monkeys are on...waiting to have their share...................... After that we started onto our walk across the Bird watching zone..........................The walking area is somewhat restricted  with fences...... It was almost lunch time & we thought to finish off our lunch.... Our friend had a small oven to prepare soup & so-o the lunch was spreaded...... amidst dense jungle; What a romantic way to enjoy a good life.... River Ravi/Ujh barrage infront ... amidst Wildlife sanctuary ,a plate of Rajma-chawl,Vegs. & soup...... Next we tried the fort there & later a visit to Samba fort in ruins ,before we returned back in the evening.....

The view from the Ujh barrage.

R. Ravi.

Jasrota Wild life Sanctuary.

BHADERWAH-THE UNTOUCHED BEAUTY OF J&K.





Bhaderwah town

     BHADERWAH -THE UNTOUCHED BEAUTY OF J&K.

Bhaderwah,situated at the bottom of Aashapati peak of Kailash range in Doda distt. of j&K state .Lush green meadows,rolling hills,widespread conifers & challenging rock faces makes this place picture perfect locale. The Seoj,Padri,Roushara, Jantron provides a best place for Eco adventure activities. Jai, Chinta, Khellar,Churala, Blaisa are best valleys for camping as well as trekking.

R.Chenab cutting across Doda region.

Enjoying at the R. Chinta bank at Bhaderwah.

   Often considered as unexplored paradise on earth , Bhaderwah is credited with breathtaking pictureques spots all thru' out the year. Chinta Valley , set on the backdrop of amazing thick conifers is eye feasting ,this valley is ontop of a mountain range of height 6,500ft.Exquiste  view of Chinta riverflowing down thru' the valley are breathtaking.

The Igloo rooms of the Alpine Resort,Khellar Valley.

The Apples & Pears being sold besides the Orchards at Bhaderwah.

   Best season : March-October..... Sumer temp.:- 8C-14C. Altitude-1107mts.

Doda town

Route from Jammu ---- Jammu- Udhampur-Kud- Patnitop-Batote(NH-1A)---then ,need to take onto NH-1B route to Pul-Doda & then move on to Bhaderwah...if interested to visit Kishtwar also ,it is better recommended to plan atleast for 3 days trip orelse, the journey becomes very hectic(as per my experience)...
  Not much big hotels/ resorts at Bhaderwah ..Homestays are most preferred by travellers to Bhaderwah.... If enthusiatic, Do carry Ur tent & make ur stay by the river bed of inside the meadows spreaded across .................. Mostly , Maggi is available as food ..so better be prepared & carry food along .
***** NH1B --truely is well maintained route to take on the journey into the Doda region ,but preferred vehicles are SUV's as often roads get choked by falling rocks ....

The view of Bhaderwah from Khani top

The Chinta valley.

AWAY FROM MUMBAI CITY (Maharashtra).

 With the name MUMBAI CITY ,we often associate ,its happening lifestyle, Bollywood, big shopping mall culture, bustling traffic & lot of difficulties during rainy season...But ,still I say ,"its the best place in India to LIVE Life on your own terms".... People coming to mumbai ,stick to the city's inner circuit ...But as one drive out of the island city of mumbai ...

Kharghar International Golf Course(Navi-Mumbai).

Navi-mumbai is awesome place----planned well & spreaded across. As one drive out of Navimumbai , Alibaug is the nearest beach town that welcomes everyone to its shores...Nagoan beach,Mandwa beaches are too good.............Further down as U move on towards Murud & Rewdanda.......one will be left spellbound to witness the untouched beauty of the Konkan coast. Before ,one enters Murud ,they'll come across the white sand beach -Kashid beach( now-adays ,lot of watersport activities are taking place there)....its quite a flat beach................. Murud is a tiny town ,living in peace with the beauty of the sea. The Janjira fort in the midst of the sea , is also great to visit in tiny boats that sail across the sea.... Further down,one can visit Harihareshwar & Shrivardhan....At Harihareshwar,there's the famous Shiva temple & welknown as Dakshin Kashi....After Raigad distt. ends ,its the land of the Alphanso Mangoes(RATNAGIRI)............The famous, GANPATIPHULE BEACH,should always be in everyones itenary ,if intending to visit Mumbai.Since, I had been to Bondi beach( Sydney-Australia)...I felt , Ganpatiphule beach is far more better than Bondi , only it doesn't have a company to publicise; There many good hotels for those who intend to explore Ratnagiri ,which is complimented with high western ghats range as well the Arabian sea coast.

Ratnagiri beach.

Ratnagiri sea front.

Ganpatiphule beach.

GANPATIPHULE BEACH.

Khandala ghat.

BHIMASHANKAR JYOTHIRLING (Maharashtra).

Bhimashankar Jyothirling.

As we planned to visit Bhimashankar jyothirling, our first concern was the route/road & about the drive off to the region. This Jyothirling  is situated in Maharashtra but the route is offbeat( better to avoid during heavy rains)....

The drive across the Khed ghats.

Narayangoan.

Mancher

Salgaon-the  last village after which the Bhimashankar ghats begins.

    We started off for the place quick early in the morning from our home in Navi-mumbai,because we wanted to avoid the truck jam atChakan phata...It took us almost 6 hrs drive to the place...On the way there 3 imp. temples (Ashtavinayak),which we didn't include in our Itenary....But one mistake we made was we didn't take along sufficient food items for the journey ... There's hardly any good eatteries on the way ; So, need to be prepared before visiting the place orelse ,will have to continue hungry....The drive is just awesomethru' the Shadydri range ....but road conditions are not that good; & onces ontop of the range ,its better to drive safely as we came across lot many accidents on the range(just smashed vehicles)..There's 2 jungle resorts ontop of the range( but requires prior booking).....After reaching the temple site ,its 300 steps downhill to the shrine & quite slippery...But the surrounding is too good to enjoy,before standing on the line for the Darshan. Now a days Pujas are restricted except darshan only. On the way, Bhimashankar Dam is also a beautiful site to enjoy.

The view from top of Bhimashankar ghats.

The drive continues thru' the Bhimashankar ghats.

Bhimashankar Dam

The beautiful Shadydri range (Maharashtra).

***** Better to be here ,soon after the rains are over in this region.