my Satpura trip...

Christmas weekend was made memorable this time by my visit to Pachmarhi. It is a Hill station in the Satpura ranges(also a wildlife centre).

How i went:
on the foggy saturday morning had to catch the Shatabdi express at 6 AM to Bhopal, so woke up my roomie sardar at 4:30 AM in the spine chilling cold. I never minded his abuses(he himself was confused whether to scorn me in Punjabi/Hindi or anyother lang.) at that point of time when i asked him to drop me in New Delhi railway station. Fortunately he obliged to it as he always wanted me to get out of the house, so that he can bring his date. The train reached Bhopal by 3:30 PM. Immediately enquired about the bus stand and reached there to find a bus leaving to Pachmarhi(198 Km's from bhopal) by 4:30 AM. The bus stopped in Pipariya and from there had to go in a Tata Sumo(that is how it works ;) to pachmarhi which was 50 Km away inside the dense forest. There is only 1 direct bus from Pachmarhi to Bhopal(learnt it the hard way) which i had already missed). Took a room there for Rs. 400 Per nite stay.
Places visited:

Day1: on the first day i thought places will be nearby and can be covered by walk. But came to know that most of the places were 9-10 KM from Pachmarhi, people use the Gypsy service(Rs. 500 for a fly.). Still i covered those which can be covered by walk. Places nearby are Church(my first place as it was Christmas that day), Pachmarhi Lake and Jata shankar(a shiva mandir beneath the caves).

After seeing that me roaming in single that hotel manger himself took his car to show me the places(of course had to shed some bucks ). He took me to the Mahadeo temple(another temple inside the rocks) travelling on the serpentine forest roads(??). Mahadeo temple is 10 Km from pachmarhi. Nearby to that is Chotta Mahadeo 1.5 Km from the bigger one. This is also a Shiva temple after walking in the rocks and u have to slide in between two narrow rocks to see the deity(quite interesting, had to take care not to get struck). These rock temples were more exhilarating than Vaishno devi.

Pandav caves is on the way to Mahadeo. This is the set of caves on top of a mountain where Pandavas had stayed. This place is surrounded by a beautiful man made garden. There are many viewing points in Pachmarhi. One is Priyadarshini, from this place only Pachmarhi was first discovered, then the other place is HandiKhoh(a place were u can see huge V shaped rocks), also the name was derived because an officer called Handi committed suicide. In the evening went to the Pachmarhi lake to view the sunset there which was too good.

Day 2:

I was joined with a family from Nagpur the second day for the touring in the Gypsy by my hotel Manager After visiting Jata Shankar again, then to Apsara Vihar which is 5 KM form Pachmarhi. In Apsara vihar u can get view of a huge falls called Rajath parpath and take bath in a smaller fall called Silver falls. this is the same falls in which Kareena does her ablution in the film Ashoka(starring Shah rukh khan). There is also another place in the same silver falls called Pachgani, this is where Pandavas stayed. This place has a naturally formed dressing room amidst the stream. The way to all these falls was through rough terrain and steep gorges, which is really an wonder full one. After Apsara Vihar, the next stop was at Bee falls, the biggest approachable falls in Pachmarhi. It comes under the Satpura Forest reserves so you have to get a ticket in Pachmarhi itself for parking vehicles. After a long time in my life im seeing water falls with water in it. Left to Bhopal in the same day in the night.

Day3:
Reached Bhopal by 4:30 AM, as usual slept in the railway Platform for 2-3 hours and then started my trip towards Sanchi. There was no road to Sanchi which i could visibly see only an experienced MP driver would know where it is, and my bus driver did know. Sanchi is 46 KM from Bhopal but made me feel like i had travelled 400 KM. Getting down at sanchi i headed straight to the Stupas which is on a small hillock. Only thing i knew was the Ashoka Chakra existed there so had a glimpse of it. The arhceological site is considered as world heritage as some are more than 8000 years old. U can spend 1 full day at this place as it had 5 stupas, 43 Monastries and temples. But i had to catch a train in the evening in Bhopal to delhi so had spent only for 3-4 hours. Made friendship with a South Korean guy and guided him in getting the bus to Bhopal and also taught him how to open the Peanuts. He was very impressed and gave me 1000 Won(South Korean currency). He is a Physiotherapy student travelling alone like me in India and was on his way to Ahmedabad. We will be meeting again in Delhi.

Reached Hazarat Nizamuddin by 5:30 AM(bloody train came on time even in dense fog) and back to my home sweet home by 8:00.