Day 3

2009-12-27 - Khed -> Mahad -> [Raigad Fort] -> Mahad -> Poladpur[halt]

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Rohit,Gururaj,Raghavendra,Purushottam,Hamsa

Raigad or Rajgad ?:
It was a moment of confusion on reaching Khed, after speaking to various conductors, inquiry sections in the bust stand and the general public not many knew about Raigad nor Rajgad, each gave different answers, we soon realised Rajgad and Raigad were indeed two different Places both in Maharashtra.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View from the shortcut

Our intention was to Reach Rajgad near Pune, we finally ended up in Raigad.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Just before the Re-union

But Raigad wasn’t disappointing either, just that our initial planning and places to visit had to be reshuffled.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Purushottam

On reaching Raigad we had plans to take the rope way, on seeing the waiting list we decided to trek it up; our turn was scheduled at 1800 hours.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Scenic View

Early during the ascent Guru went out peeing, and a shortcut was discovered.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View Point

The group forgot to communicate Guru about the alternate route we intend to take, the group split into 3 and we ended up in a 2 hour delay before re-grouping.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Reunion

We started at 0930 hours and touched down by 1500 hours. We head back to Mahad checked out of the hotel and ended up in Poladhpur.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Along the Path

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Road Down Below

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Purple Beauty

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad Fort

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - That's Me

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Arcade

Day 1 ~ 2

2009-12-25 ~ 2009-12-26 - Bangalore -> Khollapur [Lakshmi Temple] -> Khed

Introduction:

To begin with we were six, namely Hamsa, Jayashree, Gururaj, Purushottam, Raghavendra and I (Rohit). We hit Khollapur via Rani Chennamma Express, which landed us there late in the afternoon.

From 2009-12-26 - Khollapur Lakshmi Temple

From 2009-12-26 - Khollapur Lakshmi Temple Long wait

We went in search of the temple’s Dharamshala, which was full. We dumped our luggage in a small lodge nearby, freshen up and soon left to the Khollapur Lakshmi Temple. Soon after the darshan we tried Maharashtra special ‘Misal’; initially the group seemed to enjoy this delicacy but very soon we started to hate it. It tastes like Malasa puri without Puris in it + Mixture + Oil, along with it was served Paavs.

From 2009-12-26 - Kumkum being sold at Khollapur

As it drew closed to Dusk the roads got too busy and you could see people all around. The roads too were filled with people, it wasn’t tough for us to get lost however due to our distinct attire [Heavy Flashy Backpacks] we managed to stick together. We had plans to visit another view point closeby with too little time we dropped the idea and headed straight to the Bust stand. After a lot of discussion we decided to get to Khed and then to Rajgad.