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.
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