Malvan - Journey Mumbai to Malvan

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Blue waters of the Arabian Sea lashing against the clean white sands of Maharashtra with light blue skies above makes a photo truly beautiful.  Fishing boats parked on the white sands waiting to be sailed in the blue sea and a few fishing boats out for a good catch makes our photos even more interesting. Yes this is Malvan.

I always wanted to visit the Konkan stretch so had planned the same with Hithakshi, remember Hithakshi, she accompanied me to Chinchotiwaterfalls.

We decided to do Malvan, Devgad and if possible Vengurla in the eight day trip, considering two days for travelling we had six days for sightseeing.

I inquired with the Sandeep the bus agent and he told me that there are no Volvo’s, AC buses and Sleeper buses plying to Malvan. The only mode of transport is a 2 X 2 seater bus or a private vehicle or ST bus. The later cannot be booked there.

He also told me that it would take around 14 hours to reach Malvan. “14 hours, I takes 12 hours to reach Goa, then why 14 hours to Malvan?” on this replied that for 4 hours the bus keeps moving in Mumbai city itself in order to collect commuters and then heads out of the city.

I got our tickets for a 2 X 2 seater bus. These buses are slightly smaller than the regular buses. Why are these buses smaller, is what I was wondering, never the less we had a place to sit in the bus and that is what matters.

The bus took off at 15:30 hours from Gokul near Borivali and I boarded the bus at 16:30 hours at Andheri. One hour just to travel from Borivali to Andheri. And to make it worse at 18:30 hours we were still in Bhandup in Mumbai. I lost my cool as it was three hours and we were still circulating in Mumbai picking up commuters.

And to top it, it took 4 halts on the way, ranging from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Which made me very uneasy.

No wonder it takes 14 hours. These private buses are a pain up the a**. Next time I’ll take the services of the ST bus as they will at least save me time commuting.

Finally next morning, when my eyes opened I saw small narrow tar roads cutting through the fields. The red tiled roofs of the beautiful colored houses of various shapes and sizes and the temples adorning the land. The private farms growing mango and jackfruit. “I am in Malvan” is what I said to myself.

Now I know why the size of the buses is smaller than the regular ones, because to the roads.

I finally alighted on the Malvan soil.

The roads throughout the city are narrow, wondering what a tough time the vehicle drivers will have trying to drive on these roads with the people and cattle for company.

Soon we were a part of the roads either walking on them or travelling by ST buses and rickshaws.

Malvan is famous for Sindhudurg Fort which can be accessed from the Malvan Jetty, The beaches of Malvan and the historic temples of Malvan.

We boarded a rickshaw from the market at a cost of Rs.50 to take us to Samudra Hotel on the frontiers of Kolamb Beach. The rickshaws here don’t work on the meter; the prices are expensive in comparison to the ST bus but better than walking it out at least.

Finally in around 30 minutes time we were at the Hotel, Samudra Hotel.