Roadtrip Day 20: Gir to Junagadh [March 28, 2021]
Another day of short ride & more of spiritual exploration
Junagadh harbors the mountain called Girnar which, according to some beliefs, is considered a mountain older than Himalayas. As per Wikipedia, it was once upon a time a big Jain pilgrim but offlate, more Hindus flock to Girnar temple. Even after reading the entire path description on Wikipedia today evening, I am still confused as to which all temples/places of interest, I will cross, during the 10k stairs climb to the mountain top. Apart from the Girnar mountain & religious hike, Junagadh Taleti (the area around Girnar is called Taleti) harbors a lot of ashrams as well. One of the plan I had was to explore these ashrams & see which one vibes better for me.
I was up at around 6 AM & wrote Day 19 blog post, but unfortunately, due to last moment internet issue, could not release it.
After having breakfast, Anand bade me farewell at around 10 AM. The ride from Daksh resort to the Devaliya main road goes through Gir forest, but this time, I was better prepared. I passed Asiatic Lion Lodge & felt like taking the pic.
Notice that in the pic, a few kids have stopped a car with a stick. I had seen this for the first time in Gujarat. After clicking the pic, I headed to them slowly & they stopped me too, but with much more confidence & using their stick much lesser. I told them I dont know Gujarati to which one kid responded - should I talk to you in English. I said - hindi chalega & then they started talking in Hindi. They said something like - kabootar pakadne ke liye paise chahiye & today is holi. I said I am coming from far & I dont have money. I knew that this is going to be a patience game & kids gonna lose patience, so I just need to hold my ground long enough. Soon, they saw some locals approaching on bike & they decided to just disperse. I made my way ahead slowly & did not pretend to run by taking advantage of their lose of focus on me.
The ride in jungle was a true test of offroading. I am glad that I was doing it prior to my Spiti ride. It felt as difficult as riding the bike in snow.
Soon the unpaved road merged with Devaliya road . There was a bit of back to back traffic but nothing mentionable. I crossed a small river on the way & stopped by to take a pic.
I was in Junagadh by like 12 PM.
I saw below building when I was entering Junagadh. I wasn’t exactly sure what it is & later got to know that it is some school/university. Junagadh has quite a few old buildings. In Gujarati, Juna means old & Gadh means building. There is an old fort too but I was not too sure of visiting it in the heat.
I was more interested in Ashram area & was told that the area is known as Taleti. On the way, I had done some research about ashrams & found them located close to each other around Girnar mountain. Later I got to know that it is the Taleti area. While entering Taleti area, I called up Paresh bhai (I had met him during my stay in Bhuj) & he suggested me to checkin at Bharati Ashram, which I did. I was not allowed to checkin first as they dont allow single person, but a quick call to Paresh bhai sorted it. The ashram is a large complex & the room that I was given, looks like a room in school hostel. The room was ok, clean but with dust. I was asked to pay Rs 500 which I later negotiated to 300. I later saw Gorakhnath ashram & rooms there seemed much better, but they are expensive as per Google Reviews of the place (Rs 1.5-2k)
Post checkin, Paresh bhai came over & we did a quick tour of the city. We had Gujrati thali at Raj dining hall followed by Lassi at Modern sweet opposite it. Thali was good. Lassi was ok. It was very thick like sreekhand & little too sweet for me.
We visited Narsingh Mehta temple. Narsingh Mehtai was a Krishna devout & Junagadh was known as his city. This was before the Nawab’s time.
We decided to go to Kashmiri Bapu Ashram which is around 2 km walk from the point you park your vehicle. The way was through jungle & there were monkeys on the way. The ashram mandates that folks eat food before seeing the Bapu. We did the same. It was an ok experience overall. Nothing very great.
On the way back, I had glimpse of the Girnar temple which I had planned to visit in the night, as it was full moon night.
Anand, my friend whom I had met in Gir, called me up & told me that he intend to come to Junagadh as well. Earlier, I was planning to leave for Rajkot on 29th but then he told me that 29th being holi, shops including Bullet mechanic shops will be closed on 29th. So we changed plan & decided to be in Junagadh tomorrow (29th).
I had plan to get up at 2 AM & start the Girnar climb but then it was pretty hot in the night & I did not get good sleep. So I postponed the plan to early morning but that did not happen either. At the time of writing this post, it is 9 AM & now I have plan to take ropeway to the top & then descend down walking. Hopefully Anand will reach Junagadh by then & we then intend to visit a few ashrams for meditation etc.
Thanks to Paresh bhai for taking me around the city. Paresh bhai works as vetenary specialist in Junagadh & is planning to start his own brand. He provides cattle feed to most Gaushalas in/around Junagadh. Below is his pic in front of his shop. Also, the pic of Gaushala in Bharati Ashram, where there are only Gir cows. The Gaushala was a great place to visit. As usual, Gujarat cows have always been impressive to me :).
Which place is good to visit from this day?