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!!
