Here it is - story of another solo adventure - short weekend trip to a hill station for a change. After Daman - 2019 and Diu - 2021 trips, the next destination was supposed to be Goa but as it is not suited for a short/solo trip, I zeroed in on Mount Abu as my summer interlude.
As usual, there was about an hour of extra waiting at the pick up point for the sleeper bus followed by sleepless, uneventful journey. It was well past my breakfast time & the bus stopped right in the snacks zone. There I had a satisfying breakfast of Meduvada with tea to begin the adventure on a tasty note.
DAY 1
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| Entering Abu at Sunrise |
Reaching the hotel was not so pleasant experience as It didn't look like it looked online & also it cost me 200 Rs. to travel the 1.5 km distance to the hotel, maybe that was the fixed charge of a jeep there. Anyway after a wait of about an hour I got my room to freshen up & to look forward.
By the way, this story is being written in December 2022 & I feel like I cannot recall minute details of the trip. I do remember that the first thing the hotel manager offered me was an activa to move around the places in and around Mount Abu. The hotel turned out to be less beautiful than expected & the manager was friendlier than expected but in a shady way.
My first visit on activa was to the Delwara Jain temples which have beautiful, intricate marble carvings but only for our eyes not for our cameras. The summer is not severe here but still it was quite hot to move around in the afternoon so I decided to rest in the afternoon & move out in the evening.
The Sunset point is worth a visit & its a perfect place to pass a complete evening with picnic like feel, many picturesque viewing points & an added attraction of horse riding. The horse ride was less than 1 kilometer but while riding I thought about my muscle power against the horse & I stayed terrified the whole distance imagining it going out of control of the walking driver! The thrilling ride & beautiful clicks of Sunset summed up the evening for me & I headed back to my hotel. On a different note, I encountered the three girls who had come to stay in my hotel the same day, even though the attempt at conversation was failed but it did feel good to have a go at it.
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| Sunset Point - Mount Abu |
The famous Nakki lake was also visited on my way to Sunset point, felt sad to not have a partner for boating & moved ahead after having a tea.
DAY 2
Riding Activa to Delwara temples through the curvy, sloping mountain roads was thrilling but I opted to ride safe for the more distant places & so hired a Taxi the next day. Guru shikar was the farthest in my list & that was our first stop. I never enjoy climbing mountains to reach temples of never before heard of deities but it was easy to climb & I came down fast to go for the next place.
Next was the Lover's point which is more suitable for holding hands & looking in to each other's eyes than to love making as it is kind of flat open top area of the hills. Also, it is the shooting location of one of my favorite music albums Qayamat se Qayamat tak. Presently I have only myself to love so I captured few more selfies & left.
The final site was Achalgarh fort & Achaleshwar temple & as the fort is not allowed to visit I started to climb towards the temple. On the way up I saw a portrait of a queen in a handicraft shop & bought one as a memorabilia of the trip, not much in Abu was remaining to be seen anyway.
The afternoons here were cooler than home but not so pleasant as you may expect from a hill station. So rest was all I could do after lunch up to evening.
Now the evening time came again & I had already completed my to visit list so it was up to Nakki lake & Sunset point to give me some quality time. Here I got myself clicked by a professional photographer and that was all there for me to do at Nakki lake. At the Sunset point I explored few more view points & captured beautiful images after having a nice evening snack.
And last on the to do list was a bar visit in a costly hotel. Drinks were good but here also my age old wish to ask someone "your place or mine" remained unfulfilled.
