Tripura Travelogue Part IV

 

Day 7

I had planned to go to Pilak today. One of the things that I had to figure out was the mode of transport. 

One of it included taking the bus from Udaipur to Jolaibari and the other one included taking the train.

I had spoken to the staff at the hotel about how to go there and luckily one of the staff was from that area and he suggested both ways and asked to call him in case of any assistance.

I decided to go via the train mode of transport which was quicker and showed only 10 minutes away from railways station a 3.3km distance on google maps.

Reached Jolaibari railway station and caught an auto to the market. On informing the driver on the share auto of visiting Pilak, he dropped me on the main road stating you will get auto from here to Pilak.

Given the experience, I had with the auto drivers here, I decided to check on google maps the distance by walking. It showed a good 2kms with an average time of 30-40 mins walk.

I decided to walk. From the time I got here, I never had walked enough for sightseeing and this seemed to be a good day to catch up on it. Before I embark on it, I decided to have a light meal as its was already noon.

This was such a good decision to walk, as I enjoyed every bit of it and gave my legs the workout that it needed.

As I got closer to the first site Shyam Sundar Tila, I found two local cyclist one an older guy and other relatively less younger slowing down the pace of the cycles and matching my steps. The older guy kept staring at me as he kept cycling at a slower pace. 

I decided to say Hi and that got him to stop his cycle and start asking questions to me about where I am from and all that. Answered him and asked how far is the place and was told its nearby. The old guy left and now it was the turn of the other guy who seemed happy to see a tourist visiting the historical sites. Soon he too left.

The Shyam Sundar Tila was completely empty with the exception of a lady who was playing music on her phone and seemed to be the caretaker of the place. 

Not much information is available about these sites, only stating that they were built around 9-10th century and who built them and why seemed to be kept as a mystery. There are total three sites in Pilak and they are dedicated to Buddhism & Hinduism sects.

There was terracotta carvings on the walls which gave an insight into that period and three idols of which two were over 6 feet in height but badly disfigured. There was no information available on who they were.

After spending sometime over there, I headed towards the second site Ancient Mound Pujakhola.

It was a bit of walk to the next site but the green fields spread across on both sides of the road certainly made up for it. I saw the signboard on the side of the road and could see a structure in middle of a farmland.

I confirmed with a passerby and that indeed was the second site. I walked in the middle of the farm and then found the gate to be locked. It was not locked with a  lock per se but it was locked in such a way that it was not easy for me to open it. 

I tried my luck with it and it wont open. Just as I was about to turn around. A man came out of nowhere and helped open the gate. I thanked him and was able to enter the site. It was a small site with again an idol carving of more than 6 feet albeit disfigured. Again, no details available anywhere on the site origins or description of the idol.

After clicking a few pictures, I decided to make my way to the last site which also included an ASI museum. This place was surprisingly the highlight especially the museum which holds the terracotta carvings which were well preserved and had many stories to tell. Sadly again one could not take photographs of it.

Again the site outside had idols/monuments which were disfigured and the description on it missing. I spend some time here seating under the shade of a huge tree spreading its branches whose name I did not know.

I decided to get an auto back to the railway station, but could not find any. I visited one of the shops for mineral water and there were people around chit chatting. My entrance got their attention and they went silent for a moment and one of them engaged in conversation with me. I asked if its possible to catch an auto and he suggested to walk stating it’s a 10 mins away from the railway station.

This route was different from the one I came through. I decided to rely on google baba and it did not disappoint as it took me through paths which I believe only locals use. I walked on the roads, then passing through houses and then on a nowhere land and following the directions of google landed up right at the station. 

Sometimes google baba takes one through the less travelled path and makes one feel alive once you reach your destination.

The journey on the train was also very interesting. I had never seen so many spiders building intricate cobwebs inside the coach before. They were not your regular small spiders and it seemed to not bother the locals too.

I did not had much expectation from Pilak but the walk, interaction with locals and the serenity of the place with greenery all over made me relish the experience a lot more. The ASI museum is recommended if interested in ancient carvings.

Day 8

It was time to say goodbye to Tripura as I was traveling back to Mumbai today. Before that I had to catch a train to Agartala and then an auto to the airport. The trains run on fixed timings and had to wait for the train to arrive. I met the backpacker pair again and together we hopped on to the train and bid our goodbyes as we reached Agartala.

In terms of tourism, Tripura has a lot more to do to attract tourists and also offer last mile connectivity and guidance to ensure that they reach hassle free to those sites.

The auto driver menace is something to be dealt with in absence of public transport like buses in certain areas.

It would have been nice to have signage about the backgrounds of the site and idols that are being showcased to know more about the history of the place and its importance.

As a foodie, I missed having local food. One can find Bengali food over here, but the local food like Mui Borok,     Bamboo Shoot, Chakhwi & Gudok, etc are not easily available. The restaurants over here offered the same cuisine that is available in urban city. Why not promote the local cuisine along with it?

Overall, Tripura has been a mixed bag of experience for me when it comes to traveling.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my travel experience and would love to your thoughts on it.

Tripura Travelogue Part I

Tripura Travelogue Part II

Tripura Travelogue Part III

Tripura Travelogue Part III

 

Day 5

Today was going to be a leisure day. It was going to be sightseeing in Udaipur, the city of lakes as I was told.

I first visited the Matabari temple also known ass Tripura Sundari temple and one of the Shakti Peeth wherein her right foot toe had fallen here.

This has to be the relatively smaller temple of such significance that I have come across build on Bengal’s ek-ratna architecture style.

There is lot of construction going around this temple and I completely forgot and missed the Kalyan Sagar pond which has rare bostami turtles and fishes living it. The pond is not visible from the temple’s end and one needs to ask to know its location.

Probably this could be another reason to come back again next time.

I went back to the hotel and the manager guided me to take shared auto to the market and from there you will have to go reserve. Got into a shared auto and after dropping off all the passenger, I told him to drop me at a stand whose name I don’t remember.

He asked me where I was from since I was speaking in Hindi and asked me where I wanted to go . I told him that I wanted to visit Bhubaneshwari temple. He said he will take me there for Rs. 70 and I agreed since it was on the outskirts.

I visited the place and it was temple without an idol but at a secluded place. Just opposite of it was the Old Raj bari Palace. The gates were closed for reasons unknown and I could see the Rabindrath Tagore statue placed opposite on the outside.

The auto guy said he will drop me back at my hotel for Rs.150 and I was like I am ok with it knowing that I am traveling for sightseeing.

On the way to my hotel, I asked him to stop at the Gunvati group of temples & then a temple again built on the ek-ratna architecture style.

The auto guy picks up a fellow in mid-way and as we reach the hotel and I gave him Rs. 200, he says he will charge me Rs. 170 for stopping to check those two sites. I was like if I had got an entry to the old raj bari palace, that would have taken more time than the ones I visited. Also if I engaged your services it does not matter as long as they fall in the way to the hotel. On top of that picking up a passenger in a reserved auto. He reluctantly gave me back Rs.50.

I was back in the hotel before 1 pm. Now this was weird. Never have I gone for a sightseeing and came back this early. Guess what, the Bhubaneshwari temple was not very far from the market. Like a 15-20 mins walk and I really wondered if I should have taken an auto at all. Given that I prefer to walk unless its really hot & humid and the place is far to reach.

Also have to say that Google maps time estimates also screwed things for me making me think places are far then they were if I choose to walk.

I decided to have my lunch at the hotel and then went for a walk at the Rajabar bus stand in order to find out about the bus routes for Amarpur. My destination to visit for tomorrow.

I kept on walking and I could not even find a proper bus stand on the road. I walked quite a bit and then decided to turn around and ahead for the hotel. One of the things that I realized was that people over here do not prefer to walk that much. I hardly saw people walking down the streets and found it strange.

I was not sure how I was supposed to reached to my destination for tomorrow. Called a few taxi/cab services which did not help as I thought it would be better to have a car arranged from here instead of Amarpur.

By the end of the day, I was relieved as I found a cab with the help of my hotel manager and went to a sound sleep.

 

Day 6

Today was the day I had planned to go to Chabimura & Dumboor lake.  For that If I had go on my on, I would have to travel to Amarpur and from there arrange a taxi/cab or maybe a bus/shared to go to both the places. Going to both the places was around 150 kms considering if I go Dumboor lake first.

This was going to be quiet a task. I thought it would be better if I could rent a taxi/cab from Udaipur itself but it could have got pretty expensive for a sole traveler. I had a conversation with the hotel manager Partho and he said that he can arrange a car for me.

That certainly got me excited but then the dillydallying happened. I would ask if he checked with him and it would always be yes, I will check with the driver in sometime.  This went on and then night had fallen. The only thing that I could think of him giving goli (excuses) or making a fool out of me.

Surprisingly, my room’s doorbell rang on the night before and I was informed to come downstairs to meet the driver. The doorbell eked out a devotional song which was so loud that I thought of telling them to knock the door instead of ringing the door bell.

Apparently the person providing the rent on car services was a relative of Partho. As we were discussing, money matter came up and I said around 3-3.5k is ok for me. The relative was also not sure on how much to charge. At that time, Partho informed that two foreigner backpackers had checked in and thought of asking them if they would be interested in joining.

Reaching them out became quite a task as Partho was trying to reach their phone but apparently it was not responsive. He sent one of the staff employees to bring them down and the guy named Conrad comes down.

I informed him about the plan to visit both the sites and the arrangements and we can split the fare between us. He was ok with it and checked with his lady friend named Rani and both agreed to join me. Renting the car would cost us Rs.3500.

Once everything was fixed, I heaved a sigh of relief and felt like my wish got fulfilled.

The day began around 7 am in the morning without any breakfast and heading first to Dumboor Lake. It was good time to know both Conrad and Rani (whose name I came to know later) 

Conrad was from Poland on a five week journey for his India trip. While Rani was backpacking with the intention of settling in the Kokan coast in the near future.

We managed to reach Dumboor and were lucky to witness local dance performed by the locals. 

Having a cup of tea and had a conversation with Rani, who on the first look looked like a foreigner with black hair, said she was an NRI with an OCI card. Her father was an Indian and mother American. In fact all her siblings had Indian names.

We made our way to the Dumboor lake and the cost of renting a boat was Rs. 2800. It was like we wait for 8 more people to turn up or hire the boat for the three of us. 

We did the later as this is an off beat place and there were no tourist people around with the exception of us. It was good that I had company otherwise shelling out that kind of money would have been an expensive affair.

It is said that the Dumbroo lake is in the shape of Lord Shiva’s Dumbroo, hence the name Dumbroo lake.
The whole round of the lake take around one and half to two hours that gives one a fair idea on how big the lake is. There is also an island called “Narkel Kunja” where we were dropped off and had to pay 30rs as an entry fee. It gives a feel of a small resort island with cottages and restaurant to stay. A good place to live among the waters.

The calmness of the water hits you once you go back on the boat and you find yourself lost mesmerized in the beauty of nature.

This has been the longest boat ride that I had ever been to and also special in a way that we were the only people around and were able to connect with nature as it were.

The next stop was Chabimura before that we had to have lunch on the way. This was a local restaurant offering thali with various options. One would find Bengalis everywhere and this was more of a Bengali local thali than the traditional food that I wanted to try.

Having our stomach full, we went ahead to our last destination Chabimura. The good thing here was that we did not had to hire a boat just for ourselves. There people already waiting and our presence made it to total of 11 people required for the boat. The cost per person was Rs.150.

Chabimura is known for its rock carvings carved on the steep mountain wall on the bank of Gomati. There are images carved of Shiva, Vishnu, kartika, Mahisasurmardini Durga and other Gods and goddesses. These images date back to 15th-16th centuries AD.

Just as the boat moves along between the two mountains, one can see the rock carvings greeting them on the right side of the mountain. 

There were other carvings too but there were covered by the moss that has grown over them. If one tries to capture them on camera, they certainly will not be able to make out easily.

This is a sad part when it comes to promoting places like this but not ensuring that care is taken to ensure that they are maintained properly.

We encountered what was thought to be a crocodile at first but turned out to be a water monitor lizard. I never knew India had those animals too as I think its not that common in India as its in South East Asia.

We went further ahead and finally saw what was the highlight of Chabimura, the Mahisasura Mardini Durga rock carving of more than 10 feet making its presence felt to us. 

Again moss had grown on parts of the image that refrained us from the enjoying the full beauty of the image carved.

It still remains a mystery on what purpose these rock carving served and did this place had more significance than we know today. Till now no one knows.

The boat ride halted at a place called the cave of Chabimura. It’s was a small trek that got complicated with water flowing on the stairs making the whole area slushy and difficult terrain to walk on. 

Thankfully no one fell and here one can see image of Shiva lingam carved as one heads towards the cave. Apparently its told that cave holds treasures and is also said to be cursed as per the folklore around it.

One of the strangest things that I observed that the mountain trees had trash hanging around it at least for few of them. This place is like a jungle and it makes one wonder if there are people living in there. Then again when promoting such a place, efforts should have been made to keep the place clean. 

Chabimura adds a mystic allure with the boat ride in a secluded place surrounded by mountains and dense forest and then you find these rock cravings out of nowhere with no human presence nearby.

We went back to our hotel and this was a day well spend!!

Tripura Travelogue Part IV

Tripura Travelogue Part I

Tripura Travelogue Part II

Tripura Travelogue Part III 

Tripura Travelogue Part II

 

 

Day 3

I had to get up early today as I had a train to catch namely the 12097 Agtl Kgbp Jansh  Dharmanagar which leaves at 6:00 am and reaches Dharmanagar at 8:30 am. 

Today I was going to Unakoti as a day trip. One has to book the train tickets in advance as they are reserved train bookings. I also had my return booking done on 13173 - Kanchanjungha Express leaving at 14:26 pm and reaching Agartala at 17:25 pm.

This would give me enough time to reach and wander around Unakoti and come back.

Unakoti can be reached via Dharmanagar and Kumarghat. One can plan this as a day’s trip from Agartala or can take accommodation in the mentioned places.

Once I reached the Dharmanagar station it was the same negotiation with the auto rickshaw drivers for going to Unakoti and back. The price quoted was Rs.1000 even though I was traveling solo. One has to use their bargaining skills to bring it down.

The distance to Unakoti from railway station is around 18-20 kms and takes around 30-45 mins to reach. The road national highway 208A is pretty empty and well made for smooth travel.

On the entrance, I asked how much time it would take to cover the place and surprisingly I was told it was going to be around one hour. That kind of surprised me as unakoti means less than a crore and to be able to cover them within an hour sounds too good to be true.

As one enters the rock carvings entrance, one comes across this might rock carving of one of the gods followed by another one. Those rock carvings really makes an impression on one on the way they have been carved out completely. It’s said to be dated around seventh to nine century.

No one knows who made them and they still remain a mystery with regards to their purpose.

The place is quite a walk and steep too at least for the stairs leading to the museum on the top. I don’t think it can be called a museum as such as it has a lot of idols kept under a roof and also has small open temples around it which I believe is worshiped by the locals.

The place where Ganesha image is found along with others gives it a picturesque look of a dam with the background of Shiva image in the back and water flowing through the pockets of hole in the rocks.

There is a stream of low lying water flowing opposite the Ganesha’s image and a bench to sit. I sat on the bench for quite some time as I took my time to take in what the place has to offer.

There was a path on the right side which I took and apparently no one is there. There are no signboards as in where it leads to and the path just continues. I came across an idol in the middle of the path and it would still go on. I walked quite a bit and I did not where it was leading to. I decided to return back as I did not want to get lost in the forest. The officials overlooking the site could certainly put up some signboards to where it led to.

As I sat on the bench opposite the Ganesha image, I saw one of the security guards making noises and I could hear activities behind the stream flowing. I turn around and saw an elephant with its calf. It was not wild but domesticated and was bought to the stream for bathing purposes by the mahout. I sat there watching it, taking photos & video of it. Something so close and to see mother child bond in nature is beautiful.

I decided to exit the place and took the snacks back from the entrance. They don’t allow to carry food inside and one has to leave them at the entrances.

On my way back to the station, I was informed by the auto driver that there was a 12:45pm Agartala Silchar express which I can get on. It certainly made sense that I can leave early and reach Agartala by 4-4:30 pm. The only hitch was that I had to take a general ticket to board the train and this was quite an experience.

It was quite a ride and thankfully I got a seat to sit and kept dozing off in between which helped. 

I have to say I had a lot of expectations from Unakoti. From what I have seen from the youtube videos, travelers blogs & videos. I expected more rock cravings to be seen than the ones that are usually seen on the internet.

 Apparently there are very few rock cravings than the claimed less than a crore gods of the ones that I mentioned. Apart from that one can hardly find any other rock carvings. What I have come to know that apparently there was an severe earthquake ages ago which damaged the other carvings. One can see broken cravings in front of the Shiva image.

The water flow never used to exist before but after the earthquake it appeared and flows nearby the Shiva and Ganesha carvings.

With the exception of one video that I came across no one talks about the rock carvings being less than unakoti. I think its misleading to do that and one should be transparent about what to expect, what one will see if one is making travel videos/blogs for other peoples reference.

I was a bit disappointed with my Unakoti’s expectations but the rock cravings are worth seeing.

Day 4

Today, I checked out of my hotel and headed to Udaipur wherein I had booked another hotel for four days.
I got into the local train of 07684 AGTL SBRM DEMU SPL Agartala to Udaipur which runs till Sabroom all day at a given timings.  

As I got down at the Udaipur railway station. I got scammed by the auto guy. I informed them of the hotel that I was staying and I was informed that they will be charged me Rs.100. I asked around and the same number was quoted to me. The hotel was supposed to be like 5-6 km away.

I agreed and he said he will be carrying other passengers too and I was ok. I thought I would probably be the last one to be dropped off. Guess what I was second passenger to be dropped off and I was like what happened. I paid the money and decided to check with my hotel.

A share ride from the railway station is Rs. 25 and is quoted Rs. 100/150 only if its reserved. I got scammed in one of the off-beat places of India. I have to say that I have traveled in other places in India but the way these guys scam tourist that too an Indian from another state is another level. This has never happened before.

I checked in to the hotel and decided to visit Neer Mahal. My room was not ready, so I was provided with a temporary accommodation. I asked the manager Partho on how to go about it and he told me to catch a bus to Bisramgarh and from there to Melaghar and its walkable distance from there.

I followed that and easily reached Neer Mahal. One needs to pay for the boat ride that cost Rs. 50 and then an additional charge of Rs. 30 post reaching the place.

The boating ride is a joy as one gets a complete glimpse of the palace on the outside

The palace is beautifully build and is a photogenic place. If your are a photographer or want good profile pictures taken, this is the place to be.

This palace was build by a British company  Martin and Burns and constructed by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma as a summer residence for the royal family.

This place bought me joy 😊 

Even though this is not a big palace but its made very aesthetically and colored in a mix of white and brown which only accentuates it more.

This place surely made up for the sadness that I felt of my expectations of Unakoti.

One thing that needs to be remembered is that the sun sets around 5pm or even earlier and its feels like 10 pm in the night.

There are hardly any street lights on the roads and it makes one wonder how people socialize as its pitch dark on the roads post 5 pm.

As I took back to back buses back to my hotel, it almost felt like I was traveling late in the night.

I was finally back to my room and it did not feel good. The room’s cleanliness level was manageable with the mirror in the room having stains due to it being old. The wash basin tap wont work and the mirror on top of it again no different than the room.

My room in Agartala was way much better than this in terms of rooms hygiene and cleanliness.

I made a complaint to the Manager and he said me to adjust for today and they will arrange tomorrow. 

With that I hit the bed and end my day knowing nothing will change and I will have to adjust as there are no better hotels nearby.

Tripura Travelogue Part III

Tripura Travelogue Part IV

Tripura Travelogue Part I