Kem cho? Trip to North Gujarat

Gujarat here we come!🤟🏻
All exicted!
South to West!
Flight from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad was at 6.40 am, reached Ahmedabad by 8.45 am.
We had booked a self driven Hyundai Accent through Mychoize. It's easy to travel around if we have a vehicle which we can take wherever we want at anytime (one of the best thing we did). We wanted to try the authentic Gujarati breakfast. So we had some Vada pav, dabeli and other things.

We had planned to visit Statue of Unity (SoU) on the first day. So we left for SoU which is around 200kms from Ahmedabad. It's 4 hour journey.
Tip: Do pre-book the tickets before going so that you'd not wait in the que for the tickets. And buy the Rs. 350 ticket as it gives us privilege to view from the top (there's a view point at the chest level of the statue to which we can go, through the lift that are positioned in both the legs of the statue). There's a photo gallery which contains how Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel persuaded every king to join with the government.
Later we left for Ahmedabad. On the way we stopped at Baroda for dinner. Had the best Gujarati Thali at Gordon Thal, Baroda(Vadodara). It's a must try if you are a food lover and like to try new dishes and cuisines. Gujarati dishes are on the sweetish side. Being from South India spicy dishes are our thing, so we found the dishes to be sweet, but the taste was amazing 😋.

Back to Ahmedabad. We had booked budget hotels as we only wanted a place for sleep and freshen up so we had booked a 2 star hotel. We had planned the places we wanted to visit and booked hotels close by.

End of day 1.

Day 2 was all about traveling to Bhuj, closest city to Great Rann of Kutch.
On the way to Bhuj we visited Sun Temple, Modhera (100 kms - 2hours drive from Ahmedabad). It's a heritage site recognised by UNESCO. The place is amazing. It's a treat for the eyes. It's a very good place for giving your photography skills some work.😝

Next stop is Rani Ki Vav. It's simply wow. It's apparently a well built by a queen of 10th century A.D. The carvings are so beautiful it's difficult to find artists of such talent nowadays. There were carvings and sculptures on the walls of the well. Such talent. And this the place which is there on the back of the new Rs. 100 note launched in 2018. The place has got lot of history behind it.

With the help and guidance of the hotel owner, we started off day 3 by visiting Prag Mahal the palace where the Kutch Maharaj lived. It's an old palace. Restoration process is going on to bring it back to its original condition. It has been converted into a museum which showcases the things which were used by the king.
And guess what the famous movie Lagaan was shot it this palace.

Next stop at Kala Dungar (The Black Hills). On the way we can take permit to visit Kutch desert at a checkpost. While climbing Kala Dungar there's a spot where magnetic field makes the vehicles go backwards if we don't accelerate it was interesting.
We can actually see the border from top of the hill. There's a bridge across the mountain which is end point of India. We climbed the hill on camel. The camels were trained so well. We went off-road on the camel to experience the real camel ride.

Later we left for Kutch Desert. We were there at the desert by evening. We wanted to see the sunset 😍. The desert is actually salt and not sand. It's a sea which has dried up years ago. Hence the salt. And hence the name The White Desert.

Day 4, we started from Bhuj to Ahmedabad (330 kms, 6 hours long drive). I must tell the roads are amazing in Gujarat. So well maintained. Drivers' paradise I must say.

On the way we stopped at Mandvi beach. It's paradise 😍. So peaceful. The feeling of standing at the end of the world is priceless. All the beaches give that feeling. Beaches are just amazing. And Mandvi is one of the beautiful beaches I've seen. It's very neat and clean too.

And the city looks beautiful at night. The Sabarmati river front is a must visit place in Ahmedabad.

Day 5 started late. We visited Akshardham and Sabarmati Ashram. Did some local shopping. Just spent the day moving around the city. The city is so well maintained and organised except for the traffic 😅. People just move without following much of the traffic rules. And the traffic police are chill about it. That's one weird thing which caught my attention other than that the people are really sweet.

And thus the end of our trip. One of the memorable trips. Had amazing time.
Many places are left to cover which will be done in Gujarat 2.0.😎