Asses in Alibaug

[Continued from my last post]

The next morning we (Figya included) boarded the Sinhagad Express (Pune to Mumbai) at 6.30. Our plan (rather Seal's) was to reach Karjat, catch a local train to Neral and take the toy train from there to our ultimate destination, Matheran. Seal had also assured us that the journey from Pune to Karjat would be a feast for the eyes and that getting up early would be worth it and for that matter, even a night out would be justified. As luck would have it, ultimately, we were left searching for reasons to justify the jaunt itself.

Firstly, the Sinhagad Express turned out to be supremely crowded. We jostled for leg room with the coffee/tea vendors scurrying around dispensing their wares, not to mention other vendors selling vada pav and chikki. And the view or whatever we managed to glimpse over the heads of the crowd wasn't exactly picturesque.

At Karjat, we took a local to Neral. Aboard the train, we learnt that the toy train had been cancelled a year ago, after heavy rains had washed away the tracks. We got down at Neral & debated our next move, eventually deciding to proceed to Alibaug, for which we would need to catch a bus from Karjat. So another local back to Karjat. (Figya suggested not buying the tickets - luckily we didn't listen to him - at Karjat we were asked to produce the tickets to go out of the station).

A panoramic view of the Karjat bus stand

The bus itself!

We boarded the bus to Alibaug only to find that it went only till a place called Pen (pronounced 'pane', with a hard 'n'). After having had our first 'meal' of the day in Pen, we managed to hire an auto to Alibaug. In Alibaug, a room at Hotel Shreyas left us 800 odd bucks poorer. Once we were settled, heavy cursing ensued, with the mantle of Chief Scapegoat being passed around.

In the evening we set out for the bus stand to enquire about the first bus to Pune the next morning. We found a bakery nearby which was run by some people from Hubli and we ended up contributing our mite to their day's collections. We went to the beach next. Whatever meagre hopes of redemption we had were promptly dashed on the rocks on the beach and buried under its dirty brown sands. There was a fort which was on an island by itself, making it more or less inaccessible. Perfectly safe from any kind of intruders!

The fort in Alibaug

Sunset in Alibaug

As the sun set on a long day, we trudged back to the room to spend an equally long night. As we braved the bloodsuckers and creepy-crawlies in the room, our only prayer was for a safe passage away from "Ali's garden".

Next : Epilogue

Tags : Travel

Posted by Rajat @ 10:41 PM