Weekend getaway to Bhuj & the Great Rann of Kutch
5 min readAttending wedding in Gujarat she said, want to join in? Not for the wedding but I was more excited to visit Gujarat. And when someone says Gujarat!! Kutch is something which hits your mind first.
Being on budget travel, all I could see was trains as my medium of transport. Trains are the cheapest and fastest (after planes) medium of travel in India. I had to travel to Mumbai first as my friends had already booked tickets from Mumbai to Bhuj. Bhuj is one of the city in Gujarat known for its historical buildings and temples many of which were damaged by earthquacks.
Not giving a second thought to our plans we booked 2 days stay package with the event group : http://www.rannutsav.com/ . Well organised with good food, stay and transportation. They also provide pick up and drop from stations. The package also includes complimentary sight seeing to some of the buildings in Bhuj. But as per our plans and tight schedule we planned to visit these place plus more of it before going to Kutch.
We arrived in Bhuj from Mumbai at around 1 pm. Could already notice changes in my skin as the weather was hot and dry, checked my phone, it was 32 degree celsius. Still the localities talked in pride about the weather being best at that time of the season and it crosses over 42 degree celsius in the month of March and after. There was a constant change in the temperature by evening, it was chill and windy dropping to 20 degree celsius.
Booked our stay at Hotel RajMahal in Bhuj, the owner was very helpful with required information and also upgraded our room to bigger size at discounted rate. We had very less time to cover different points in Bhuj, as we left the hotel at around 3 pm.
Covering one point to another. Aina Mahal is must visit to know the history of Bhuj. The palace is of 18th century and is damaged due to earthquakes. As the name says Aina – Mirror, the palace is covered with marbles, glasses and mirrors. Each room of the palace has a story to tell and also displays amazing art and architecture of the times.
The new Shri Swami Narayan Mandir is another beautiful display of art and architecture built with marble and gold.
Next morning begins with excitement at 10:30 am is the arrival of pick up from Bhuj Station to Tent City of Rann Utsav calls for the journey to the Great Kutch . It takes almost 2 hours from Bhuj city to the Rann Of Kutch. While travelling we come across different places and are briefed about each place by the event assistant. We also come across the Indian Air-force base which was a part of Indo-Pak war. The assistant also briefed about the war for Kutch and contribution of locals to it.
Arrived at the destination by 12:30 pm. The Tent City is built with art, culture and creative care, well planned, there are electronic golf carts to take you places around tent city. Once you are in, you can confirm your registrations for the tent as per your selected package. The staffs are well organised and very helpful with needed information. The tents are clean with basic available necessities. Each person is provided with meal coupon – breakfast, lunch and dinner.
At around 2 pm we had our lunch, the meals was served in buffet setup. Delicious and represented the tastes of Gujarat. At at around 4:30 pm we set off to the Great Rann of Kutch in camel cart!! woooah! Sadly I didn’t get to ride a camel, as there were no riders seat mounted on any. Each camel had marking on them like tattoos ready for war! ehh I’m just kidding, must be representing camel id. The race was ON! oh! camel cart race… haha, may be the camels were having fun racing one another with care. I was seating right in-front, side of the rider. It was my first time experience seeing a camel in real, so strong! and fast as well, amazing. Dev!, was the name of our camel 😀 he liked biscuits.
And finally the moment arrived as I stepped into the Great Rann of Kutch. So White! So pure! So huge! Nothing like it!.. just endless white desert! and to add to its beauty was an amazing mesmerising sunset !! Ran around, scream and a wheel cart was all I could do for the moment.
I wished I had a bike with off-roading tyres!! wooahh that would be amazing catching the sun. I was fascinated to see, it was all salt. White Rann Of Kutch is all salt, desert of salt. I couldn’t capture any moment of the sunset with camera cause I was frozen to live this exceptional view of sun going down in the huge rann. Beautiful!
Returning back, gazing the sky filled with stars and moonlight. It was amazing.
Back to tent city, we had a delicious Gujarati dinner and hot Jalebi and ice-cream to end it, along with live music.
Followed by traditional cultural Gujarat folk dances and events around the tent city. It was so cold and windy at night. We sat outside our tent admiring the beauty of Kutch as the cold wind kissed our cheeks while we talked, smiled and giggled, disturbing peacefully sleeping neighbouring tents.
Experienced heat of the sun and chill of the night. Rann of Kutch, fascinating white desert. And in the morning we wave goodbye and thank you for creating such an amazing memories. Can’t get over the slogan ! #Kutch nahi dekha to kuch nahi dekha!!
Next morning after good heavy breakfast we checkout at around 10:30 am, back to Bhuj as we travel and plan for our next place to explore – Mount Abu, Rajasthan.