MOUNT ABU-NDANCE OF LEISURE

                Mount Abu is a hill station located on the border of Gujarat and Rajasthan (though it technically comes under Rajasthan).  This travelogue is a brief account of my visit to Mount Abu from 26 December,
2013 to 29 December, 2013 (so please note that the prices and charges quoted here pertains to that period).

Nakki Lake at Night

                We left Mumbai at 3.30 pm on 25 December, 2013 through Ranakpur Express and reached Abu Road at 4.15 the next day.  The weather was chilly in the morning when we got down at Abu Road.  But thanks to the Tea Vendors in Abu Road station who serve hot ginger tea which helped to keep us warm for a while. From Abu Road, Mount Abu is about 45 -60 minutes drive.  State Transport buses take you to Mount Abu from Abu Road Station every half an hour from 5.00 a.m. in the morning. Also, there are private vehicles (Swift, Indica Cars) which are parked right outside the station which ply to Mount Abu for Rs. 500 per Car.  There are Jeeps too, which you can share with other passengers.  We got an Indica Car which took us through the steep and curvy roads through the mountains and dropped us at our pre-booked Hotel Chanakya located near Polo ground.

Hotel Chanakya

Hotel Chanakya near Polo ground provides a basic but comfortable accommodation very conveniently located and easily accessible to the market, Nakki Lake and Sunset Point.  We had paid approx. INR 4800 per night for two adults and a child. There is however, no open space or garden in case you have a liking for sitting out in the lawns and spending time out.

Ambience and Hygiene : The Ambience of the Hotel is good.  The Rooms are clean, bedsheets, towels and blankets are fresh.  The rooms are comfortable but could do with more style (we came across other hotels which were way better in terms of ambience and look with much less tariffs).   The washrooms were clean with running hot water in all the taps including the wash sink from 7.00 am to 11.00 am (though we observed the hot water was available even till 6 in the evening). 

Shikaara at Nakki Lake

Service : Room Service was quick and efficient – be it the cleaning or providing basic amenities. The staff was polite and courteous.  On a lighter note, I was only bothered about a particular staff who had a constant frown on his face  as if he was struggling with all the problems of the world.

Food : They have a namesake Restaurant which serves breakfast and Lunch/Dinner.  We had tried breakfast on first day (Parathas) which was average and had French fries on one of the chilling evening which was a bit oily.  Tea was ok too.  Coffee was much better and we ordered that for morning and evening all through our stay there.  Lunch/Dinner – we didn’t try there.  There were much better options in the market area.

Other Hotels

We happened to check out the other hotels while on our walks during the day.  Two hotels we checked out was – Hotel Savera Palace and Hotel Florence both of which were priced around INR 3000 per night (1500 INR less than what we paid for our stay in Hotel Chanakya).    But can’t say if we had booked it from Mumbai, they would have quoted the same price.  I think the trick is to always book a room for one day and go to the place checking out other hotels during the walks and bargain with them for other days.  There is always a risk involved here in case the rooms are actually not available (like we faced during our visit to Lonavala during monsoon). Also, I guess if you go with luggage, they have a tendency to charge you more as they realize you don’t have bookings and looking out for accommodation.  In short, book hotels in advance and ignore the pricing if you are not the adventorous type.

Hotel Florence : This Hotel is located on the way to  China market near the market area.  A bit secluded but it’s a 1 min walk to the market.  It’s seems newly constructed and has small garden area and there is common balcony area outside the rooms. The rooms are beautifully decorated and ambience is very good.  As I said it looked new, it depends upon how they maintain the rooms in future.   They only provide stay and tea/coffee/breakfast. 

Hotel Savera Palace :

This Hotel is a little further up from Hotel Florence.  But is a good property with swimming pools and lawns.  The Rooms are very good and comfortable and they even have a separate single bed in case the accommodation is for three people.  They also have their own restaurant and they offer packages during occasions like Diwali, Christmas, etc.  They were having a package for INR 5000 per person including food and stay with other activities for Christmas from 29 December – 31 December.

Other Hotel which looked good and appealing from outside were Hotel Lake Palace which provides a  beautiful view of the Nakki Lake.

Ideal place to stay would be to find a Hotel which is near to both Nakki Lake and market area as most of the evenings are spend in this area.

Guru Shikhar

Pet Pooja :

There are lots of options from cheap to reasonably priced eateries to try out.

For satisfying our hunger pangs, we had tried -

Arbuda Restaurant – located near the Circle on the turning of the road, which was always crowded and had to wait one day for our turn to enter.  This is the only place we had our breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the days after trying out other eateries the first day.

There we tried yummy parathas (though little oily), pizzas with loads of cheese and toppings with thick but melting pizza base, Chinese (Fried Rice, Veg Manchurian), Dal fry and Jeera Rice.  All the food were really mouth watering and of the best quality.  They serve the best masala tea.  Service was quick and fast. A really good place to have your pet pooja done.  I would rate it 5/5 compared to other eateries there.

Chacha’s Café near Chacha’s Museum – We had tried lunch there one day and it was good. The quantity was good and price was reasonable. Though the service was a bit delayed.

Other Restaurants include Honest which was good too.  We had breakfast once there.  Only place I would suggest to avoid is Food-Inn Fast Food next to Honest Restaurant which was horrible in terms of the pricing and quantity/quality of food they serve. 

Surprisingly, I couldn’t find authentic Gujarati / Rajasthani food there.  The one place we tried was horrible.  Arbuda Rest too serves Gujarati Thali in separate Dining Rooms but didn’t try there as I was the only one interested in the family.

Also, there are lots of street stalls serving hot bread/butter/omelette, Maggi and other breakfast items.  Rabdi (Rs. 40- 80) is one item quite awesome and famous there and you get it in almost every second shop in Mount Abu.  There are also street stalls serving Hot milk prepared on huge kadai’s (Rs. 30)  and gajar ka halwa (Rs. 50) which is yummy and helps to warm yourself during the chilly night walks.

Weather :

Weather was cold/chilling but pleasant.  They say it goes minus degrees on days.  Though we didn’t experience it. Also at times the Nakki Lake gets frozen. The climate is pleasantly cold whole day and chilling at night.  Carry woolens wears and caps for those cold breezy night walks and during the day.  As told by cab driver there, it’s pleasant to visit Mount Abu anytime of the year.  Even in monsoon, the climate is good and you also get enjoy the water falls as bonus.

Places to visit :

There are lots of travel agencies which gives you Abu darshan sight seeing for full day covering the below points and other points for INR 100 per person in a 2 X 2 luxury bus. We had taken the same for sight seeing.  However, since there was some road work going on the way to Guru Shikhar, the Bus tour couldn’t take us there.  Hence, had to take a sight seeing tour again next day by Indica Car (for INR 1000 per car) which gives you the same tour, but since we had seen the other points the previous day, we just took a tour of the Guru Shikhar and Honeymoon point again.

Nakki Lake : The Major attraction is the Nakki Lake. You can do paddle boating (INR 160 for two persons), Shikaara (INR 330 for half an hour) for a boat, row boating.  We tried paddle boating during the day and it was fun in the cold weather there.  We tried the Shikaara on one evening and it was really beautiful in the dark.  Really relaxing and gave a feeling of being one with the nature.  There are lots of shops there offering photo snaps in rajasthani traditional dresses for INR 50 per photo (including the dress).  Other tourist places also offer this facility for INR 20.

Honeymoon Point : This is another point of interest at Mount Abu.  You get a beautiful view of the entire western Rajasthan on a clear day.

Guru Shikar : This is the highest point in Mount Abu and gives a beautiful view of the Aravalli Mountain ranges.

Delwara Temple : You have to visit this Jain Temple.  It looks quite ordinary and simple looking temple
from outside. But has the most beautiful marble carvings you may have ever seen.  Every inch of the pillar and the ceiling of this temple is carved in intricate marble designs.  You can spend an hour and still find it difficult to cover all the carvings in the temple. A must visit.

Peace Park : This is a beautiful Rose garden maintained by the Bhramakumaris Trust.  They have really beautiful huge Roses and other flower plants.  Only point of disappoint is the way the Trust volunteers  force you to listen to an introduction to their teachings.  It gets on your nerves after a while and we had to leave their discourse half way to enjoy the Park.  Not that what they say was not interesting / not agreeable.  But the point is, people come there to enjoy the Park.

Sunset Point : It’s a 20 minute walk from the market area and there is a huge crowd for viewing the sunset around 5.30 pm every evening.  There are jeeps available which take you to the Sunset point for INR 10 per person.  They drop you at a distance.  You have to  walk / climb a distance of 2 minutes to reach the Sunset Point.  The Sunset view was beautiful.  However, you get better view if it’s a clear day without the mist and fog.

What to buy there : Like our Guide on Bus tour said, Mount Abu does not produce any handicrafts or other things.  Whatever you get there is from other states, you end up paying more than what you get at the local places.  But as there is a tendency with tourists, you end up buying something or the other from the tourist places you visit.  There are imitation jewellery, dress materials, sarees, artifacts, shoes, chappals, other regular stuff you get at places of tourism.

Ambaji Temple : Now this temple is not located in Mount Abu but 22 kms from Abu Road.  It’s located in Gujarat.  Since we were leaving by evening train and had to check out in the morning, the visit to Ambaji Temple was perfectly fitting in our schedule. It’s 1 ½ hour ride from Mount Abu to Ambaji Temple.  Private Tourist vehicles plying to Ahmedabad drop you at Bus Stand near Ambaji Temple for INR 100 per person.  It’s a beautiful temple and was crowded.  Took an hour to have darshan of Goddess Ambaji.  The temple is still being constructed/renovated.  So would be good to visit there after a few months when the temple is completely done.  After the temple visit, we had our lunch at Green Restaurant which serves good Gujarati thalis.

From Ambaji Temple to Abu Road,  both Gujarat and Rajasthan Transport buses ply to Abu Road every half an hour but it looked too crowded. Private Jeeps also take you to Abu Road station for INR 30 per person. Could’nt find other modes like private cars there.  Might be there but did’nt have the time and energy to find the same.  We took a private jeep to Abu Road station which takes around an hour to reach and we reached Abu Road Station an hour before our scheduled departure.

Other Trivia : The pantry/food available during the train journey includes dhokla (which is cold most of the times), bhel which was tasty, dinner served in pantry was ok excluding the chappatis which were bearable.  Also, the pantry served cold paneer pakodas which seemed more like besan pakodas with tiny pieces of paneer in it.  I guess the Railway catering needs to improve their culinary skills and hospitality services.

To sum it up, Mount Abu is not a place if you are looking for sight seeing locations.  It’s more of a retreat for relaxing and rewinding – re-charging your energies and getting refreshed before you head back to your routine office targets and deadlines.  And yes… while you are in  Mount Abu…don’t forget to have their famous Rabdi… I did…one for each day of my stay there..:)