Sunday, July 17, 2011

Trip to Matheran 2011


The Plan. . .

We all were working in company in a dead fast speed. Bringing contracts to processing to designing plants to developing them and finally supplying it to our site engineers.
Clients were mostly Indians or South Asians so we have to mess with them from time to time either for some work issue or for payment issue. Now, was the perfect time for company to take a roll ahead of its stable thinking from No-Trip to Two-Trip.

The Beginning . . .

Journey begins at 2306Hrs of 15 June 2011 from Anand with huge bon-voyage from company at station. We were provided with food snacks and other emoluments of Journey which we usually get from Hotels. It was first trip of company in which members were given grants to “go for fun”.

Day - 1 :: No Plan to something
Train dropped us at right time (0545hrs) at Dadar and from there we went to Neral in Local train. It took us 2 hrs to reach Neral.
Neral is the point from where beauty stretches its arm wide spread area of 200 Km on heavenly beautiful hills with lakes like peace in-between enjoyment. We took toy train to reach Matheran and it took 2 Hrs from Neral to Matheran. A list of hotels was contacted on spot. This also took 2 hrs to shack for best price to comfort in Matheran (Real deal is :: never book a Hotel from Internet agents or even hotels directly through phone; unless its peak season and you know that it’s a peak season). Finally we went in Hotel Preeti; took rest and then lunch at 3:30 in noon.
On first day, we only visited Heart Point and Monkey Point; probably the best place to view top view of mountains and see hill-river formation (Only possible in off-season of End of June month. Ahead of June they are flowing rivers and much better scenery that’s why August to November are peak seasons.)
The Best part (or worst for others) was :: there-were no roads no turns just village Kachha-road (pagdandi type) with no direction or detail of which point you will reach. For me; it was the first time to experience the novel “ How Christopher Found America! ?” and similarly I discovered “Monkey Point”.

Day - 2 :: Just keep walking ;)

We left Hotel room at 0900 Hrs. and reached Madhavji Point and khandala point at 0925 Hrs. Worthy visiting points.
This is the day I lost Christopher in me (he he) and we made few of our own points; Then finally landed in right places. The truth is once you sync. With the place you will start realizing that nature`s instinct are best guide here and you don’t need that much of boards here –OR- I am just a nature geek ;P
We reached Charllotte Lake and took breakfast there. Lords point is just next to the lake. Probably the most densely packed with hills. Still it’s not as best as Heart point.
Echo point is probably the must visit point – not only for echo but also when rainy clouds come and gives a shower to area below us; gives a clear view that God is sprinkling water in his garden.

Kind George and Edward points are the points where you can see a sudden change in height after walking 3 kms Within Echo point. Louisa Point is other side of Echo point but as awesome as Echo point. You can see walls of Echo point from here and with dark shades on walls.
Ahead we saw a board which gave us 2 direction (1) Honeymoon point and (2) Malang Point. Never go to Honeymoon point. Its basically a suicide point. Malang point is where next level of beauty stretches. Coronation Point shows the lake above the falls on the mountains next to it. Sun-set point is must be the place from where Producer of Animation movie “Disney - UP” got the inspiration of “paradise fall”.
In evening when sun goes down its actually soothing to soul. After the evening we realized that sun is not there and path is all dark. We all used our mobile battery which was stupidest thing we did on the trip. Always carry Torch to any of the points, weather day or night.

When we reached Hotel there was no electricity there too. We were told to wait in dark till person can go to generator and get it started since we were the only guests there. In the mean time we saw few sparkling lights roaming around our face and on trees. First feeling of every one was “I am gonna faint “but as soon as things become clear we saw a flock of Light Moth or “Jugnoo” every-where.

As soon as light came back we couldent see them anymore. But their invisible company was one of the best things that we saw.

Day - 3 :: Tired Faces, Horse and Destiny

The day begin with tired faces with 2 day`s wet cloths everywhere in room and hungry monkey`s outside waiting for opportunity when doors are left open so that they can steel food. A flow of painkillers and medicines was consumed in order to call caliber for the day. This caliber came to end as soon as we hit main road to visit 7 Points. We called few horses to bargain. When we came to split place, few horse men slashed their price to grounds and we hired 2 horses namely – “Classic” and “Pyarelal”. I didn’t sat on any of the horse because it’s insane in my view, although those who sat told me that “classic” is awesome but “pyarelal” is naughty.
Our next stop was Alexander Point. End of Mountain ranges. Deep steep valley with lots of trees on hills so that you cannot measure the depth of fall. Although Villagers living down there, can be seen crossing the railing and going down to their “home”.
Rambagh was the point where we saw peace of valley and felt the wind of weather through a huge window type opening in-between the hill. This was the point from where road leads to “Panther Caves”. Roads are currently closed and marked dangerous after 2007 panther attack incident.
We took the same road ahead and reached Little Chowk Point which is not at all little. We took a break here and God also poured his quota of the day over there. Chowk Point was our next destination. We all were excited to see the end of Matheran. Chauk point has a huge lake to its end. This lake can be seen from Chauk Point to One tree Hill which was our next and last destination of Journey. The tree on One tree hill fell in heavy rain 2 years back. Another tree is growing on same place and the hill still looks same beautiful with the small bushy tree growing over it. One tree hill is also visible from Belvedere Point where we reached in 20 minutes. This was the last point of our journey.

This was the point every one realized that we have completed our target. Still a long walk back to Hotel was remaining, which was joyful as hotels in the Jungle were as awesome as any view point.

On our way to main market we bought : Chikki from Nariman Point, Few leather Items, Girls bought Leather sandals and guys as usual eat food while they were shopping.
We took dinner and went to Hotel at Around 7:30 in evening. We have to catch a bus in morning to Lonavala-Khandala.

For horses call : Vinayak : 09420059402

Preeti Hotel

Address :

Kasturba Rd ,Matheran Matheran -410102

Tel. :

+912148230364

Mobile. :

+919421915109

Divadkar Hotel

Address :

M G Road Matheran -410102

Tel. :

+912148230223, +912148230273, +912148230789

Mobile. :

+919763645678

Email :

ymdabholkar@gmail.com

Website :

www.divadkarhotel.com


6 comments:

  1. Why you must consider staying in a good hotel in Matheran? A great hotel ensures a memorable trip. A good nights sleep will ensure your travel in Matheran during the day is memorable. Hotel plays a major role in your overall travel experience. Good rooms, hot water in bathrooms, flawless service and good restaurants in the hotel are a few things that will ensure a happy trip to Matheran. Rangoli Retreat is one such hotel in Matheran. It has a 4.2 star guest rating and has a lot of happy customer who loved their stay at Rangoli Retreat. Find more about this hotel and other good Matheran hotels at www.hotelpushpak.com

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  3. Nice blog. thanks for providing so usefull information.Matheran, a small hill station located quite cozily and comfortably in the Sayahdri range.Have you checked 2 star hotels in matheran .

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  4. This is an excellent guide.Thanks very much for sharing these tips! This is a very good description on trip to Matheran.There are many hotels in Matheran that offer many amenities including food.

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  5. Good post. We also enjoy last year matheran trip. We stay in Matheran for 2 nights at riviera hotel matheran . It is nice hotel. It is best place to visit in Maharashtra.

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  6. Nice post. Matheran is such a lovely place. Matheran is a quiet, serene hill-station, which has managed to maintain its tranquility despite being thronged by a large number of tourists every year. Check out best Matheran hotels for accommodation.

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