Day 11 – Bus Journey and Mt. Abu
Day 11 – Wednesday, 6th Nov 2013
Udaipur and Mt. Abu are quite close – around 150 km journey but there are no train routes on that sector. The only option we have is road transport.
It’s 8:30 am and we complete the check out formalities in Udaipur and head to the bus stand to catch a direct bus to Abu Road leaving at 9:30 am. I head to the ticket counter and purchase two tickets. State run buses have ladies quota and offer discounts for them to travel. My ticket cost 143 Rs and Khyati was 108 Rs. (25% discount)
Bus route
bus to Abu Road
The thing I hate about Indian buses is that they don’t provide a place to pee while on the journey. Buses don’t have toilets and any pit stops they make, if you leave the bus, they are not obliged to wait for you. you might find yourself stranded! haha…
Rajasthan highways are well maintained. The entire route is a 4 lane highway and we reach Abu Road station at 12:30 pm.
From Abu Road, the road to Mt. Abu is a curvy and hilly road. We are yet to cover a distance of 25 kms. Few buses operate on this route and there are shared jeeps. Private taxis are available but expensive. We choose the shared jeep option and await a jeep. Jeeps fill fast and they fill it to the brim. I say brim because for a seating capacity of 9 people, they seat minimum 13 and maximum 15 people. Crazy! Well, we wanted to experience this as well. We stuff our luggage on carrier of the jeep and sit down. There is insane traffic along the way as most tourists from Gujarat go to Mt. Abu for Diwali vacation. We are starting to think that this is probably not a good time to visit Mt. Abu and to add to our woes, we are without reservations. We need to go to Mt. Abu and find a Dharamshala or a hotel.
Road to Mt. Abu
The jeep comes to a halt with a screeching sound at the side of a road and the driver instructs everyone to alight. We have reached Mt. Abu. We inquire about Delwara temples and we find out that Delwara are still another 4 km further up and the jeep was only booked to Mt. Abu. I will need to find another jeep or so mode of transport to take me to Delwara.
Road to Delwara
It’s 2:30 pm and I set alone on our quest to find a room in this manic place. Every hotel / Dharamshala I ask are completely booked or charging exorbitant prices. I take the jeep to Delwara and inquire in Jain Dharamshalas but none of them have any availability for that night. Our last alternative seems to be a hotel and I negotiate with a hotelier for a 1 night stay. We pay 2700/- for the night (very high compared to Mt. Abu standards – rooms go for 500 to 700 per night in a 2-3* hotel)
The hotel guy offers me a pickup and we pick up Khyati and arrive back at the hotel.
It’s 5 pm and we are slightly tired after the bus and jeep journey earlier. Our stomachs are hungry and we crave for some good food. We walk to the Jain Bhojanshala and grab something to eat. Tomorrow is Labh Pancham (5th holy day of the Hindu calendar) and this is the reason of the extreme rush in this town. We hoped tomorrow this palce will quieten down but that’s for tomorrow to see.
We call it a night early and look forward to doing some local sight seeing the next day.
Best,
Paras