Mumbai - Alibagh - Mumbai

"No matter where you go, there you are."

Gang : Kshitij, Pankaj, Ashish and Mohit

After lot of discussions Alibag was decided as our weekend destination. This was my maiden ride and that too solo. I dropped Kshitij at bus stand where they all were suppose to catch ST bus for alibagh but the rush in the bus was enough to scare all and finally my rich friends settled for cool cab.

This is nice route if you want to do a quickie and mind you journey is the best part Alibag is not all that great destination to be. After panvel I took turn for Alibagh where sign board indicated Goa 546 Kms away. I plan to visit Goa in September once monsoons are over. From panvel to pen roads are nice but there is descent traffic of trucks and buses. Scenery is best around karnala where there are lots of curves. I took a stop near Pen where I catched up with other guys. We had tea and breakfast at one of the road side dhabha. Started again and now scenery seems to be diminished interesting part was straight fine roads and FM radio. Mumbai FM is aired in Alibag also so one can enjoy listening to music on this highway.

I reached Alibagh in less then two hours. Alibagh is more like village with weekend tourism major stake holder in its economy. Took some time to find appropriate hotel finally managed to get one family suite non a/c for 1300 bucks. I must admit it was real hot day and we had chosen wrong time to visit the place. After having real bad lunch everyone took a nap but that was curtailed to short one because of hot weather. Finally woke Ashish up and decided to go to Khim beach some 8 Kms away from our hotel.


Kihim Beach




Rare sight...No one on beach

There is narrow approach road for this beach that reminds of some roads in Goa. Reached khim beach in 20 minutes, it’s a beautiful beach guarded by palm and coconut trees. Also visible from beach are two forts one of them is colaba fort. There were hardly 15-20 people on the entire beach. Took some snaps of the beach but since I have visited Goa this beach didn’t excited me much. We went back to our hotel and woke Kshitij and went to visit colaba fort. This fort is located some 1.5 Km into the sea and is accessible only during low tide i.e around 4 to 6 in evening. When we reached the beach I was surprised to notice that due to low tide water has receded to large extent and one can easily walk till fort. Horse cart was also an option but we decided to walk. It was interesting walk with water till knee height it took us around 30 minutes to reach there.

This fort like many other forts in India was not in best of the conditions though it has its own legacy and there is even entry fee for that, still it’s not maintained at all. However fort gives spectacular view from top with water all around it. After taking some snaps we returned back.


Sea Horse ???

We enquired for bar near sea beach so as to have nice evening imbibing alcohol facing the sea but to our surprise none of the hotel near beach served liquor. This was discouraging specially after visiting Goa where even a provision store might have liquor. Finally we found restaurant named “Lilac” was descent enough enjoyed nice food and great company.

We were not able to sleep at night courtesy mosquitoes and non availability of electricity. Electricity is one big problem at this place. We checked out at about 12 noon by that time it was really hot. I rode back alone stopping alone once for sugar cane juice…yummy its very refreshing on a hot summer day. I reached back within 2 hours.


Trip Khatam Chalo wapas Mumbai

Alibagh is worth visiting only during winters or monsoon and that too if you have nice group of friends

Mumbai - Karla- Lonavala - Khandala -Mumbai

Mumbai Pune Express Highway

Gang : Kshitij, Pankaj, Ashish,Saswat,Mohit, Kartikaye aka Goa

Photo courtesy : Kartikaye Gomber's sony erricsson cell phone

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."

This ride has everything what any biker will love. Long straight roads, nice curves towards the end, a small stretch on express highway and off course beautiful scenery.
We started at morning 6 AM Kshitij was pillion this time. Early morning is joy to ride nice atmosphere and empty roads. We took early stop at Mc-Donalds at panvel which opens as early as 6 in morning. After a burger and coffee started again and committed one big mistake without looking at any sign board took a flyover and that turned out to be EXPRESS HIGHWAY !!!!!!!!! realized that very soon but was already too late, a policeman came on bike and asked to stop. He told us that we have been captured by video camera …GOD !!!!!! really technology has made its way in our country. Policeman also informed that fine of doing such kind of act is 2200 Indian rupees !!!!!!! that was about twice the budget I had planned for entire trip. After much persuasions issue was settled for 500 bucks but that itself was big amount. A bad start for any kind of trip indicating omens are not right. Anyway I thought not to think more about it and vowed to read every sign board carefully.

Finally got off the Express or Expensive highway and took NH-4. After some traffic near Panvel the road was all ours. There are lot of long straight stretches with ups and downs till khopoli and one really enjoys the landscapes. After khopoli roads get stepper and speed dies down but the beauty of the view is mesmerizing. After driving for few kilometers NH-4 merged with express highway and that ride was a treat with few rising elevations. Express highway is perfect example of what comes out when sophisticated human engineering meets supreme nature. Roads gels perfectly with the beautiful mountains.



After taking khandala exit point we were back on NH-4 within few minutes we reached MTDC resort at Karla. This resort located near karla caves is ideal place to live lush green site unmatched peace and very economical. Saswat and Kartikaye joined us and we moved to Karla caves. Karla caves are some 3-4 Kms from MTDC resort and has steepest elevation in shortest distance. I had few problems negotiating elevations but finally managed to conquer the altitudes required. Karla caves date back to 160 BC these beautifully carved caves take you a journey back in past narrating glorious Indian history. These caves have Chaityas (halls) and viharas (monasteries) built in time of Hinayana sect. Hinayana means “the low or inferior vehicle” yana means vehicle Hinayana was older path in Buddhist sect. Mahayana being the later one which means “greater vehicle”. All these vehicles signifies what kind of yana or vehicle one need to used to achieve enlightment or nirvana.


MTDC resort at Karla


View from Karla Caves

On our way back to MTDC resort stopped at a dhabha for lunch but that turned out to be pathetic its service was worst ever seen. Finally returned to MTDC resort and took a short nap. At around 5 we all except Pankaj and Mohit (both drunk by now) went about exploring the resort. We found an old wrecked bridge Karikaye took lot of snaps with his new mobile camera while Mohanty kept coming up with some creative poses for snaps (at least he claimed them creative). We chatted for about three hours, there was little drizzle and that made things better. This chatting session continued after dinner also and by the time we decided to sleep it was already 2 AM. It was wonderful to remember good old college days.

Next day we checked out of the resort at 9 AM and hired a Tata Sumo for sight seeing. We covered all points in lonavala and khandala guess I don’t need to say anything more about breathless beauty these two hill stations posses. Enjoyment touches its zenith if you are in company of your friends. After covering all the points we purchased famous lonavala chikki and jelly. I left alone on bike and covered entire stretch without any stop except for one for the couple who had a flat I hitch hiked mechanic for them. They were highly obliged by the gesture.


Tiger Point Lonavala


This was one of the most wonderful trip I hope more such are on cards. Need to visit again lonavala during monsoons.