From Daman to Diu

Never knew till recently, that though they form a part of same Union Territory, Daman and Diu are far aprt from each other, around 650kms from each other. While Daman lies at the start of Gujarat, Diu is the southern most tip of the Kathiawadi region of Gujarat.

From Daman we set off to Ahmedabad, taking the Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara route. Roads they remain excellent throughout. Ahmedabad was just a night halt, and no exploring. But the roads of Ahmedabad, they are too chaotic, no signals at all, not even at major junctions. This was not expected out of NaMo's own land. 

From Ahmedabad set out to Diu by around 10 in the morning. There are a lot of factories and industries on the outskirts of  Ahmedabad. In fact the entire belt from Surat to Ahmedabad there are quite a lot of industrial activity happening, but nothing much once you move forward into Gujarat.

Offroading somewhere before Savar Kundla

The route to Diu from Ahemedabad gave us a real taste of rural Ahmedabad. The famed good roads of Gujarat do not exist on this route. The route took us through Dhandukha, Vallabhipur, Savar Kundla, Damnagar, Chalala and Una  and these were all state highways (so called), but were so narrow and at one particular place there was no road and we had to drive through this. True rural experience and offroading op. Moreover, this route lacks any sort of facilities for food stopovers. The Bhavnagar, Mahuva, Rajula, Una route may be better. We also passed very close to Lothal, one of the prominent cities of ancient Indus Valley Civilization, however did not stop by. Its just 80kms from Ahmedabad.

One more thing that you notice on any Gujarat highways are herds of cattle, sheep, goats taking a leisure walk, and I should mention it here the cattle and their horns are truly worth seeing, seem so robust. Another ubiquitous feature on the roads is the enfield turned 'Jugaad' or Chakkada locally. They come in all hues and colors, brightly decorated and painted. I was tempted to hitch a ride on one of them, but couldn't manage. Also noticed that this was the main mode of transport for the villagers, buses were rarely seen on the state roads.

The Jugaad/Chakkada

In spite of the conditions of the road, I found this journey enjoyable. We got to see so much of what the real Gujarat is. Colorful attire of ladies, the typical attire of cattle herdsmen, acres of cotton farms, a glimpse into the food habits, a camel caravan somewhere along the way, colorful crowded markets, groups of aged men chatting under a tree almost in all the villages we passed by and much more.

Bhel stalls are found all over

The fafdas,bhujias and more

Daman- Upcoming Goa??

Daman is at a distance of about 167 kms from Mumbai. One would have to get off the Mumbai- Ahmedabad highway few kilometers short of Vapi, towards your left. This is the entrance to Moti-Daman. Daman is divided into 2, Moti (Big in Gujarati) Daman and Nani (Small) Daman by the river Daman Ganga.

Our first impression of Daman was very nice. We entered Daman from Vapi side and passed the area at 11 in the night. It felt we were passing through a forest. Dense vegetation on both the sides of the road with not a single soul on the road. Then there is a huge gate with a big statue of a fisherman welcoming you to the Union Territory of Daman. The roads are broad, well maintained and well lit. This was Moti Daman, where all the administrative offices are located. Ahead on the road, is a church (It is Basilica of Bom Jesus, I think) and many old houses reminding you of the Portuguese occupation of Daman. Along with Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Goa, Daman was a Portuguese colony for over 300 years and was liberated in 1961.

Well-lit Daman Fort also looked formidable. You pass on the Rajiv Gandhi setu(bridge) to reach Nani Daman. This bridge again was very well maintained, which got us thinking if it was a general phenomenon being a Union Territory maintained under the aegis of the President of India himself. After crossing this bridge, you enter Nani Daman.

We stayed twice at Daman both ways, while going to and coming back from Gujarat. We stayed the second time because the first time, we felt there was more to explore at Daman. The first stay at Daman was at Silver Sands Beach Resort just off

Sunset @Daman Jetty

Devka beach and the second one was at Hotel Emerald near Daman jetty. These fare among the affordable range of hotels at Daman. There are more luxurious ones too, along the Devka beach, near the Coastal Highway like Hotel Miramar, Ocean Panorama etc.

Daman has many similarities with Goa, the Portuguese influence being the obvious one, beaches and beach shacks are the other ones.

However the beaches of Daman do not have the usual brown sand. Instead they have black sand and due to the beach shacks and incessant use of plastic, the beaches are quite filthy, especially Devka beach. As we stayed right in front of Devka beach, we went for an early morning walk and found plastics wrappers and covers strewn all over the beach. The water too seemed quite dirty. Moreover, there are lots of rocks preventing you from swimming.

Empty shacks at Devka beach 

Rocky sea

The scene at Jampore beach at Moti Daman seemed much better. There are beach shacks here too, but the beach looked better maintained. These beach shacks serve all kinds of alcohol (at a premium) and sea food, like fried fish, prawns etc You could also pick the sea food you like at Daman markets and ask one of the shack owners to prepare it according to your taste for a fee. We tried some seafood and found the preparation quite good. This beach also offers rides on camels, horses etc. One interesting feature at Jampore beach is that, waters does not flow to the beach, instead you would have to walk in soft sand ahead to reach the sea.

The most popular thing at Daman is liquor. Daman lies sandwiched between Maharashtra and Gujarat and the latter one being a dry state, there is a steady inflow of people from Gujarat to quench their thirst. There is good variety of liquor available at Daman, which is not generally available anywhere else. The prices are also cheaper. In fact, liquor shops at Daman open much before any other shops.

Relaxed pace of life at Daman

All said and done, Daman is a place where you can spend a day or two in leisure, as it is not as crowded as Goa. The roads are relatively empty and the town still retains the old world charm, especially Moti Daman, with its fort , churches and old Portuguese architecture. 

Beginning of the Road Trip to Gujarat

A road trip is something that I have always enjoyed, new roads, new landscapes, the people along the road everything seems so exciting. Something, that I enjoy more than this is planning for the trip. Having done many weekend driving holidays in and around Bangalore, sought for something more this time. A long holiday was overdue and the holiday season in December meant non-availability of seats on flights. So what could be better than a road trip.

Amitabh Bachan's ad for Gujarat Tourism had definitely enticed me and wanted to make it to Kutch. Tried lots of, route permutations and combinations and depending on availability of accommodation, finally decided on Bangalore-Mumbai-Daman-Ahmedabad-Diu-Gondal-Hodka-Bhuj and return.

So it was December 22, left at the decided time of 5am and just a kilometer or two from home, our well behaved Safari started making some problems, steering vibration, clutch not returning. Not wanting to lose the initial momentum, we drove till Hiriyur and stopped for breakfast at Hotel Aroma. Note there are hardly any decent places to eat after you cross the usual Kamat Upchars and Coffee Days before Tumkur. After breakfast the problem with the vehicle seemed more pronounced and we decided to get some help at Chitradurga.

It was a Sunday, and a call to the Toll Free Tata Motos number gave us the number of a Tata authorised service center in Chitradurga. Call to the manager and he asked us to wait at the workshop while he would send in a mechanic. That wait lasted for 2 hours and the mechanic finally arrived. He did something and the vehicle seemed fine. We were planning for lunch at Belgaum with my brother, which looked far fetched now.

At 1130 am we started from Chitradurga and manged to reach Hubli by around 3. Lunch at Rajasthani Ghar Dhaba just after Dharwad high court. It was a cuisine not explored, by doing so, it marked a start of our road trip in the true sense. Excellent panner tikka masala, Dal tempered with red chilly and oil and hot rotis were really needed. Finally ordered Sev Tomato which was the icing on the cake. Some buttermilk to go with it and the meal was complete.

It was my turn at the wheels and with some temporary arrangement at the clutch, I was not very comfortable and loads of tractors and trucks carrying sugarcanes to the factories on the road added to it and finally gave up little after Belgaum as we didn't want to lose time. It was getting dark and we hoped to reach Satara/Karad by 2000h and halt for the day.

As we bid farewell to the roads of Karnataka, the condition of roads did not remain all the good. Lot of bikers on the road after Kolhapur and the roads were only 2 laned on each side. Finally we decided on Hotel Alankaar at Karad for our night halt. A decent hotel right in front of the Bus Station with good food.
We decided to start early the next day as we had a booking at Daman for the night. We could start only by 9 after  a tasty breakfast of Misal Pav.

The New Katraj tunnel

Fully loaded for the trip

By 1130 we were in Pune and looked around for authorised workshops to find a proper solution to the problem in Tata Safari. We spotted Concorde Motors and went in. Amazing facility and excellent staff. Safari got a quick fix there where we realised that there was a problem with the clutch plate and it would have to be used very carefully. We get our vehicle back at around 5. So the entire day was gone. We had two options either halt at Mumbai or drive till Daman. Went with the second option and drove till night 11 and reached Daman. It was the first time we had ever driven after sunset on the highways. The road from Mumbai to Daman, being a part of Mumbai-Ahmedabad road was very good, once we got on to the highway. However crossing Mumbai and getting on to the highway does take a good 2 hrs.

See you in Daman!!!!