Trip to Ahmedabad-Udaipur-Mt Abu-22nd Oct-27th Oct

Day 2-23rd Oct

The next day got up refreshed after a tired night. But as we had a lot of places also to see decided to get ready fast , have breakfast and mve on to the next to see place on the list.The friver had suggested that we should see Kankaria before we move out of Ahmedabad as it might take a little time for us to go around the place. So by 9am we were out of the guesthouse   and today also we were seeing only Fafda being available were not in a mood to eat that.Sao we went in search of a nice South Indian restaurant. But we soon found out that Ahmedabad wakes up up at 10 am-11 am  as wherever we went in search of resturant it had still not opened so we decided to directly go to the lake and see if we could find anything to eat there.

Kankaria Lake is the biggest lake in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, India. A lakefront has been developed around it, which has many public attractions such as a zoo, toy train, kids city, balloon ride, water rides, water park, food stalls, and other entertainment facilities. The first thing we did when we entered the lakefront was to search for a restaurant , ordered some sandwich, dosa, etc and then explored around the Kankaria Lake. Definitely a nice place to visit in evenings  as even at 9 am the weather was a hot and humid. We were there for a hours, my friend trying out the train ride which  takes you arounf the lakefront and you can have a glimpse of the zoo, boating, garden ,entertainment park etc. It was 9 am when we left the place and post that , we told our driver to take us to Ekalingji temple  which comes on the way to Udaipur which was our next destination.

Eklingji Temple is one of the most famous temples of Rajasthan. Located in the town of Kailashpuri, the place got its popular name from the temple. Eklingji Temple is located at a distance of 22 km in the north of Udaipur, on the national highway no. 8. Eklingnath Temple is dedicated to the Lord Shiva of the Hindu religion. According to history , the temple was built in 734 A.D. by Bappa Rawal. Since that time, Eklingji has been the ruling deity of Mewar rulers. We reached the temple at 9:30 am but the temple opens at 10 am so we had some half an hour to kill.We explored the area around.Just a couple of minutes away from the temple is a small pond and a small Shiva temple .We sat there for some 20 minutes and came back to the main temple. By that time there was already a huge line of people waiting to go inside the temple. Finally by 10:15 am , the temple opened but  no one is allowed to take mobiles or cameras inside so we had to deposit it at the entrance.

On entering the hall, there is a huge idol of Nandi outside the main entrance. The temple houses a  striking four-faced idol of Eklingji (Lord Shiva) that is made out of black marble. Its height ranges around 50 feet and its four faces depict four forms of Lord Shiva. The east-facing part is recognized as Surya, the west-facing part is Lord Brahma, the north-facing part is Lord Vishnu and the south-facing part is Rudra i.e. Lord Shiva himself. The zenith of the multifaceted idol is known as 'Yantra that stands for the ultimate reality. The Shivlinga (Phallic form of Lord Shiva) garlanded by a silver snake, acquires the major attraction of people. The temple also comprises of 108 small and big temples. Loved the sculptures in the temple. It was am by the time we came out.The next we visited was Nathdwara, abode of Srinathji, Krishna, as the temple opens at 11 am .But our vehice could not go as the road was blocked for big vehicles.One has to take an auto rickshaw and it is some 15 minutes ride.

Nathdwara is a town in Rajasthan state of western India. It is located 48 kilometres north-east of Udaipur.This town is famous for its temple of Krishna which houses the idol of Shrinathji, a 14th-century, 7-year-old "infant" incarnation of Krishna. Nathdwara means ‘Gateway to Shrinathji’.One sees a different version of Krishna, a black faced idol of the God. I mean the face of the idol is different in its own way. According to history, The idol of the Lord Krishna was being transferred to a safer place from Vrindaban to protect it from destruction of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. When the idol reached the spot at village Sihad or Sinhad, the wheels of bullock cart in which the idol was being transported sank axle-deep in mud and could not be moved any farther. The accompanying priests realised that the particular place was the Lord's chosen spot and accordingly, a temple was built there under the rule and protection of the then Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar. Here too, one is not allowed to take cameras and phones . It was just too crowded at the temple with people almost pushing each other to have a glimpse of the God. There are various rooms one goes through to see different idols of Krishna. We came out finally after the Darshan, collected our belongings and explored the market area in Nathdwara buying some souvenirs . One can get some nice items to buy if you have the patience to look around .We all bought some dresses, sarees, toran, shoes .Of course you need to bargain but we shopped happily with one of the Aunty being the unanimous winner when it came to shopping but for some reason , do not know why she denied that saying she never shopped that much .Finally we made our way back to our Tempo Traveller around 1:30-2 pm I think.

Now we moved towards Udaipur. Here too we did not check into the hotel but told our driver to take us to the Lake Pichola.We reached around 5-5:30 pm in Udaipur. Lake Pichola, situated in Udaipur city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, is an artificial fresh water lake. It is one of the several. Two islands, Jag Niwas and Jag Mandir are located within Pichola Lake, and have been developed with several palaces to provide views of the lake. There are four islands on the lake:


 



 


 

• Jag Niwas, where is built the Lake Palace.
• Jag Mandir, with the palace of the same name.
• Mohan Mandir, from where the king would watch the annual Gangaur festival celebration.
• Arsi Vilas, Small Island which was an ammunition depot, but also a small palace. This one was built by one of the Maharanas of Udaipur to enjoy the sunset on the lake.

 


 

 

 

We took a boating ride around the lake to view the various places and the sunset which was just amazing sight to witness. The boating ride is a 20 minute ride on the lake. After the ride we thought of going to the ropeway which takes you to the Karni Mata temple and once can view Udaipur from the top. But the person at ticket counter suggested us to come the next day as the tickets were booked. So we roamed around the place for sometime and then went to the Hotel to check in where the rooms were already booked. It was 8 pm already but we thought of freshening up and decided to visit some shopping areas which usually close by 9pm.Unfortunately the guide whom we checked  in the hotel took us to the govt handicraft emporium which was very expensive and not in out budget . In spite of us telling him that we want to local shopping he was adamant on the emporiums .I guess he will be paid a small commission on taking the tourists to these places. Anyways we argued and made him show us the local shopping areas. We reached the hotel back at  pm and retied for the day.