May 25, 20195 min read

SUMMER ROAD TRIP ’19- Part I

Updated: Jul 11, 2023

Travelling. If you guys have read any of my first blogs, you would know that I love to travel. Recently, due to a lot of important work, I was unable to go on a nice, long vacation. But about two weeks ago, I finally got my trip. It was not an overseas trip or anything, but it was a lot of fun nevertheless, because it comprised of the three things I love most about traveling- history, food and family.

If you’re wondering where I went, I went to some cities that I’ve been to several times, but this time I visited them in a somewhat different light. The first stop of my road trip was The Statue of Unity which comes en route to Ahmedabad. It is a recently constructed structure and is currently the tallest statue in the world. The area around it is still developing but I’m sure that once it is developed, it would be even more delightful to visit the place. Currently, only the statue portion is properly developed. The Sardar Sarovar Dam is located nearby and they are also developing a Valley of Flowers which gives you a beautiful view of both the statue and the dam.

In the statue, the lower portion comprises of a small museum which is very cool(yes, I’m a nerd but it honestly is). It also has videos summarizing what is written if you are too lazy to read. Next, we went to the viewing gallery which is on a floor that coincides with the second button of the coat of the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The view is good but would be very beautiful when the river is full of water in the non-summer seasons.

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Some things that I would advise to people planning to go to that place would be, firstly, please be smarter than me and don’t visit the statue in summer because I was almost roasted and was it just a coincidence that there an orange alert the day we went there? Also, the river was almost dried up due to the severe heat. Anyways, I think the best seasons to visit the place would be the monsoon season (June- September) and the winter season (November-February) because the heat will be comparatively less and the greenery and water in the river would be more too. Another thing would be that if you are travelling by your own car, don’t buy the extra bus ticket, rather drive up to the dam and Valley of Flowers yourself which are just a few kilometers ahead of the statue and then peacefully visit the statue. Also, PLEASE do not miss the light and sound show that happens in the evening because it was soo well-organised.

After this long, tiring but fun visit, the next stop of the day was Ahmedabad, the Manchester or Boston of India. The one thing I adore about this place is that you can get good food at any hour of the day, literally! And it’s so tasty too. One should not miss out on having ice-cream, coffee at Shambhu’s Coffee and one of the tastiest vada pavs. Other than the food, I did something different when I went there this time. I went on the Heritage Walk of Amdavad on the morning of the fourth day of my trip, that the state government has started to organize in that city and I have to say that it was one of the best walk-throughs of a city I’ve had. Not only did the guide know his city well, but was also comfortable in a number of languages making it easier for people of multiple languages to enroll for this walk.

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As I was walking through the Old Ahmedabad pols and exploring their different and unique characteristics and cultural and social aspects, I truly felt as if I was walking though the vintage era of the city. I had never thought that I was so unaware of these aspects of a city I’ve been to before several times.

Coming back to the third day in Ahmedabad, we planned to go the place where I’ve dreamed of going to since I first read about the place in 5th grade. If you follow me on social media, you’d know about this. The place was Lothal, a famous port which was part of one of the earliest civilizations of the world- the Harappan civilization. If I could go back in time and live in any era, it would definitely be this. I’m a huge fan of history and therefore I was super excited about this visit but I don’t want to lie to y’all by saying that it met my expectations because it didn’t. It had a museum, an audio-visual presentation and the actual site obviously but a place like this is incomplete without a guide or at least some boards on the site describing what the place was and what it was used for rather than the visitors or tourists just doing guesswork in the heat. But since, I was in a really good mood that day, I still enjoyed the place for the feel it gave off (sounds weird but is true).

Another thing I discovered that day was that some restaurants in Ahmedabad serve really good Khichdi, it was so yummy. Also, if you’re wondering why I was having khichdi is because I had stuffed myself with a lot of junk food the previous day being the complete clichéd Gujarati food freak that I am, I might have gotten too excited and adding on to that, the non-humidity summer heat that I was roaming in for the last three days in, did not suit me very well. But somehow I didn’t fall sick because I was in a very optimistic mood throughout those six days.

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So, these were the first three days of my summer road trip ’19. Part II will be out very soon. Keep updated!

Where did you go this summer? Was it a “route back to the roots” or a “route to the new” lands? How was your experience and did you have any memorable events while on your trip? Please do feel free to share your experiences with me in the comment box below. If you liked this article, please do give it a like, share it with your family and friends and also do not forget to follow my blog and Instagram handle https://www.instagram.com/helzeeblog/ for any further blog updates.

Also, the last picture of this article is the work of Tanish Bhakri ( https://instagram.com/tanishbhakri?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=8bqb7voffsjm ) See you next time! Till then, always remember, Be brave. Be strong. Be great.❤