Day 9 : Gir Forest to Diu .. Day 10 :: Diu to Bhavnagar

Woke up early morning at 0600 hours all set for LION SAFARI on 6 seater Jeep .. If I would have gone all alone then it could have costed me 1700 INR and there comes the most important fundamental of Indians which is called "JUGAAD" which means " to do anything everything to get the same output but by saving time, money, efforts.. blah blah blaaah" so I did a JUGAAD too to save my money :P Waited outside the booking counter and I was lucky.. I found a group of TCS interns came to GIR with the same agenda of watching LIONS.. Well its not me who did Jugaad but kind of them that they agreed to take me in and I paid them my share and it wassss time to start the safariiiiiii .. :) :)

Adding some glipses -

Well have been here to see Lions but before it I found 5 INDORIs (those who belong to Indore - my city) :) :) and all of them in my Jeep.. what a small world :)

And ofcorse one more fan - he is the owner of the lodge where I stayed in..:)

After getting satisfied from the GIR forest I have to head towards Diu .. and couple of miles after I met Gopal who suggested me to NOT to take National Highway  but another way that can give the probability of seeing more lions, deers and all through the forests.. :) so the way is from Gir Sasan -> Madhupur -> Jhambur -> Jhamwada -> Girgadadha -> Diu .. And finally I reached Diu .. :) and the road way was also interesting.. ;)

The state transport uneven balanced and bent more towards right side.. and the road is absolutely flat.. poor passengers :(

Heavily loaded with Hays.. :)

Free horses gazing almost on no-grass land with abandoned factory in background..  

Few more enfield lovers and I got my free cup of tea... :)

And finally I reached on the gateways of national territory - Diu

My first glimpse of sand beach and vast sea-line and needless to forget that I was coming from dry state - Gujarat where liquor is banned to the place from where entire liquor lovers all over from Gujarat peeps in just to drink, drink and drink ........ and you know how much I hate beer :) I felt like having the one in my hand - right away.. :)

Attractions to see...

And I saw the makingggg of boats aswell - we in India don't need harbors to prepare them - we can just make them on the backyard of our houses. :) :)

All these are fishermen boats and on nearby shore I saw them weaving the nets and getting ready for fishing.. :)

Nagua beach - popular among tourists and locals and I dont know why since I found it pretty dirty, crowded and hyped and I would recomment Goghla beach instead.. Clean, less people and water sports aswell.. :)

But I chose to explore more and find a good hotel and relax but next day I started my exploration.. :)

Visit Diu Fort first ///

And then to beautiful St Paul's Church :)

On my way saw the fishermen viewing their nets :)

And something which I say the best and unique to see in DIU - it is SEA SHELL MUSEUM .. It is a collection of 5000 different shells inside it and if the collector of this treasure and the current taken - who is also a retired Captain now gets support from the government for better infrastructure then he has 15000 more shells at his home and he is willing to showcase his unique collection to world.. I was mesmerised and have done some good good shopping.. :)

Sahil - works as waiter in the hotel where I stayed who got released from his work at the same time when I was checking out and leaving Diu wished to drive my Enfield till his home which was on my way & I can not say NO to his gentle gesture and he really drove it nice.. :)

 And the attractive DIU Museum - it is under renovation right now but yes visiting there was worth a while.. :)

and finally I left Diu and had to travel 250 km to reach Bhavnagar - actually my actual destination was Dadra and Nager Haveli but that I can-not reach in one go so I chose to take a break in Bhavnagar and then from there it was around 400 km more.. :P woofff!! :) 

While driving I saw this interesting devotee of Krishna in the middle of the road - walking just on the center line which is divider of lanes, not caring of vehicles passing by, simply singing and chanting the prayers and while I really thought of asking and I actually did ask - Whats up - May I drop you somewhere? And the reply was - I am with my Creator and he wants me to be here so I am here.. It just bumped over my head and then I asked again - "And why walking in the middle of the street?" Answer was - "Just for Peace" .. I again did not get his point and I thought of cruising ahead - let him have his fun :)

Glad to see this interesting Red flags on the railway lane which conveys the message that vehicles are moving on the cross-roads hence STOP - just another level of safety.. so when the trains are about to come then they close the cross-roads and take away the flags.. this was for every passing train - that was bit weird..

Roads were asusual nice and now a tip to people travelling from Diu and Wish you go Vadodara and Surat.. best way to enjoy your trip is to go through forest way - if you are lucky you may see lions aswell :) Starting from Diu -> Una -> Amreli -> Bhavnagar -> Vadodara -> Surat

Finally I reached there and had my good sleep in a not-so-bad hotel :)