Suggestions from Mumbai, Gujurat or Varanasi and MP

sbballer33 · Sep 18th, 2004, 06:27

I recently got an opertunity to head back to my favorite country, India. I’ve arranged it so I have a stop over in Bombay and I’m trying to decide between a couple options. The fist time I was here 10 years ago for about 3.5 months I spent a lot of time in the south and also hit Delhi-Agra-Rajastan. I’ll have 17 days this time around from the 23 of December to 9th of January. I’m trying to decide between a couple options. One would be to try to hit the major sites of north central India I missed on my first visit.

That would involve a fairly expensive flight to Varanasi and then work my way back over land to Mumbai via Khajuraho, Orchha, Gwalior, Sanchi, Ajanta, Ellora, Aurangabad.

The benefit of this would be hitting the “A” list of sites that I’ve missed. The down side would be the flight expense to Varanasi. And not being able to get off the beaten path as much possible crowds of package tourist during the high tourist season.

My other option would be to hit Ajanta and Ellora and then head back west perhaps via Sanchi to Ahmedabad and Gujarat and spend the rest of the time there making my way to Palitana, Girnar, and a couple days in Sasan Gir. Or skip Sanchi and spend some time in Bhuj and see how it has manged post earthquake.

The benefit here is that I’ll get off to a less visited area with a better chance of mingling with the locals not having to worry about what scam are they trying to run. I really loved being in the rural villages of Orissa and Talmil Nadu last time I was here.

Any Suggestions? Hightlights of Gujarat? What would you do?

Thanks in advance.

Patelbhai · Sep 18th, 2004, 11:48

Some of the places you could visit in Gujarat are Diu, Daman, Surashtra - especially Somnath, Sasan Gir, Palitana, Ambaji (temple on a mountain... lots of monkies around you

), Saputara, Mount Abu, and, of course, Ahmedabad.

I have lived in Ahmedabad for about 4 years... and I really love the city. Try to spend the first week of January in Ahmedabad to watch the colorful skies full of kites. Official Kite Flying Day, or Uttarayan as we call it, is January 14th, but celebrations begin much earlier. Some of the places you should visit in Ahmedabad are CG Road (at night), Gandhi Ashram, Gujarat Vidyapith, Law Garden, Iskon Temple, Kankariya, etc. Places around Ahmedabad worth a visit include Akshardham at Gandhinagar, Surya Mandir (Sun Temple) at Modhera, Amul Dairy Plant in Anand, and so on.

If you liked villages of Orissa/TN, you would certainly enjoy rural life in Gujarat also. I have spent first 11 years of my life in a small village in North Gujarat, and now I realize how lucky I was to experience that.

Unfortunately I have not visited many of the places I listed above

I hope you get to. Enjoy your trip...

SHIMLA · Sep 18th, 2004, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patelbhai

Some of the places you could visit in Gujarat are Diu, Daman, Surashtra - especially Somnath, Sasan Gir, Palitana, Ambaji (temple on a mountain... lots of monkies around you

), Saputara, Mount Abu, and, of course, Ahmedabad.

Mount Abu is in Rajasthan, not in Gujarat !

Patelbhai · Sep 18th, 2004, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHIMLA

Mount Abu is in Rajasthan, not in Gujarat !

Oh my god... I apologize, please forgive me

sbballer33 · Sep 21st, 2004, 07:20

Thanks Patelbhai for the tips on Gujarat, I still keep going back and forth leaning between the two options. One day I'll read something about Gujarat and think that sounds great the next see something on UP and go back to undecided. Any more advice is greatly appreciated.

Sep 18th, 2004, 06:27	#1
sbballer33 or just micah Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Santa Barbara Posts: 60	Suggestions from Mumbai, Gujurat or Varanasi and MP I recently got an opertunity to head back to my favorite country, India. I’ve arranged it so I have a stop over in Bombay and I’m trying to decide between a couple options. The fist time I was here 10 years ago for about 3.5 months I spent a lot of time in the south and also hit Delhi-Agra-Rajastan. I’ll have 17 days this time around from the 23 of December to 9th of January. I’m trying to decide between a couple options. One would be to try to hit the major sites of north central India I missed on my first visit. That would involve a fairly expensive flight to Varanasi and then work my way back over land to Mumbai via Khajuraho, Orchha, Gwalior, Sanchi, Ajanta, Ellora, Aurangabad. The benefit of this would be hitting the “A” list of sites that I’ve missed. The down side would be the flight expense to Varanasi. And not being able to get off the beaten path as much possible crowds of package tourist during the high tourist season. My other option would be to hit Ajanta and Ellora and then head back west perhaps via Sanchi to Ahmedabad and Gujarat and spend the rest of the time there making my way to Palitana, Girnar, and a couple days in Sasan Gir. Or skip Sanchi and spend some time in Bhuj and see how it has manged post earthquake. The benefit here is that I’ll get off to a less visited area with a better chance of mingling with the locals not having to worry about what scam are they trying to run. I really loved being in the rural villages of Orissa and Talmil Nadu last time I was here. Any Suggestions? Hightlights of Gujarat? What would you do? Thanks in advance.

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Sep 18th, 2004, 11:48	#2
Patelbhai Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: California Posts: 23	Some of the places you could visit in Gujarat are Diu, Daman, Surashtra - especially Somnath, Sasan Gir, Palitana, Ambaji (temple on a mountain... lots of monkies around you ), Saputara, Mount Abu, and, of course, Ahmedabad. I have lived in Ahmedabad for about 4 years... and I really love the city. Try to spend the first week of January in Ahmedabad to watch the colorful skies full of kites. Official Kite Flying Day, or Uttarayan as we call it, is January 14th, but celebrations begin much earlier. Some of the places you should visit in Ahmedabad are CG Road (at night), Gandhi Ashram, Gujarat Vidyapith, Law Garden, Iskon Temple, Kankariya, etc. Places around Ahmedabad worth a visit include Akshardham at Gandhinagar, Surya Mandir (Sun Temple) at Modhera, Amul Dairy Plant in Anand, and so on. If you liked villages of Orissa/TN, you would certainly enjoy rural life in Gujarat also. I have spent first 11 years of my life in a small village in North Gujarat, and now I realize how lucky I was to experience that. Unfortunately I have not visited many of the places I listed above I hope you get to. Enjoy your trip...

Sep 21st, 2004, 07:20	#5
sbballer33 or just micah Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Santa Barbara Posts: 60	Thanks Patelbhai for the tips on Gujarat, I still keep going back and forth leaning between the two options. One day I'll read something about Gujarat and think that sounds great the next see something on UP and go back to undecided. Any more advice is greatly appreciated.

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