[soumiksett]

During the Durga Puja holidays, I thought of doing a medium budget road trip of around 1000 kilometers as I have 3 days’ time in hand. But during the Puja holidays no friends of mine agreed to accompany me, as they have keen interest in the Kolkata Durga Puja. But, I generally do not like chaos and do not like pandal hopping. Moreover, due to corona, I decided not to venture into the crowds with my little child. I was disappointed. But after Puja holidays from Ekadashi, I got 4 friends with their families along with 4 cars to accompany me. Immediately I made a plan for 4 days, and made advance bookings as it was peak season. But unfortunately, 3 of them dropped out 2 days before our journey as their close relative was hospitalized. We two friends decided not to cancel the trip and rest of our friends supported us. Finally our trip was on.

16th Oct 2021

I took my Santro and my friend took his Dzire, along with our families and met at Shyambazar at around 5 am. We decided to take the road via Dankuni - Shaktigarh - Panagarh - Asansol. There was a light fog, but that did not block our vision. We took the new Bali Bridge, and faced a little traffic at Dankuni toll plaza. We started to drive at moderate speeds and reached Shaktigarh around 7 am. The hotels had just started to open that time and after waiting 15/20, minutes we got hot puri and sabji along with lyangchas. We had woken up at 3:30 am that day, so by that time everybody was hungry. My little son, who generally does not like to eat anything also took 3 puris. We again started at 8 am and cruised at moderate speeds, crossed Asansol around 10 am, and after entering Jharkhand, we took a break at a petrol pump for refueling the tank and using the toilets. From here Gobindpur was only 30 km. We turned right from Gobindpur and immediately the view changed. Hillocks started to appear in the distance. We took some photography breaks.

Then we headed straight to Usri Falls near Giridih. It was around 12 pm then and the weather was hot and humid. At least 15 cars were standing at the parking space and the area was crowded. Being just after the rainy season, there was a lot of water in the falls with roaring sound. We enjoyed the view and took some good snaps.

Our next destination was Bakulia Jharna near Madhupur. With the help of Google Maps we reached the location but did not found any jharna there. After roaming for some time, we asked the locals and got the information that jharna was 1.5 km away and that too accessible by a walkable road only. The time was around 2 pm and the weather was too hot and humid. We decided not to venture there, but the children were too excited about the jungle trek and hence, we decided to move up to the jharna. On reaching it, we found that it was not too interesting, but the surrounding views were very nice. We were satisfied.

Our next agenda was lunch, but on the road we did not find not a single eating house. Only small shops were there. We inquired with several roadside small line hotels, but did not get food. So we proceeded our next destination Burhai Hill. Before entering here, we saw a small shop frying hot samosas. We had samosas for lunch, along with some fruitcakes and biscuits from the shop. Burhai Hill is a volcanic hill with a cave - a popular picnic spot for locals. Mata Buddheswari Temple is situated at the top of the hill and the Patro River flows below the hill. The view was nice. We spent some good time here and saw the sunset. Our next target was night stay. We made a booking at Hotel Nataraj Vihar, Deoghar and reached it at around 6 pm. The total distance covered was 430 km.

Meeting at Shyambazar


On the way to Giridih


Usri Falls


Usri Falls


We at Usri Falls


Bakulia Jharna


Bakulia Jharna


On the way to Burhai Hill


Buddheswari Temple


Burhai Hill


From top of Burhai Hill


Burhai Hill

[soumiksett]

17th Oct 2021

We woke up early in the morning with the intention of visiting and offering puja to Baba Baidhyanath Dham. The temple was 10 minutes walking distance from our hotel. We went there on foot, but the temple premises were too crowded and there was a long line for entry. We decided to offer respects from outside and purchased some PYARA for relatives and came back to hotel.

We checked out from the hotel at around 10 am, and headed straight towards Trikut Hill, which was 20 km away. The view of the hill was very nice from far. We parked our car at parking space and purchased tickets for the cable car. This cable car system is very exciting and luckily we didn’t get a long queue. We started to climb up the hill within 10 minutes. This route is very steep and the view from cable car is very thrilling. After half way, the speed of cable car decreases drastically. First we thought that the cable car was malfunctioning and our life had come to an end. But then we realized that due to the steepness, the speed had decreased and it was moving very slowly. Ultimately, we reached the hill top safely. We took a guide and visit all the spots on the hill. It was a nice experience to visit Trikut Hill. Enjoyed it a lot.

Then we moved towards Nandan Hill. There is only a steep road going on a hilltop park, and a large lake situated at the base. Spent some time here and finally moved towards Simultala.

Our booking was at Anya Resort at Simultala. We reached there before lunch. The rooms were small but nice, and the view from the balcony was also nice. We decided to visit Dharara Falls after lunch. But while we finished our lunch it started raining. When the rain stopped, it was almost 4 pm. We decided not to take our cars as the area is too much in the interior and we did not know the road. Moreover, we assumed it would be dark while returning, so the hotel manager arranged a big auto rickshaw for us and we set off for Dharara Falls. It was a huge open area, surrounded by hills and forest on all sides. The river flows inside a deep gorge - nice view all around. We witnessed a nice sunset here. After sundown, the entire area was completely dark and all other tourists returned back. We wanted to spend some more time, but the rain started again and we were compelled to return to our auto.

The Return journey of 18 km was through the dark narrow roads surrounded by dense forests. Everybody enjoyed it a lot. The total distance covered was 120 km.

Baidhyanath Temple


Baidhyanath Temple


Trikut Hill


Children


Trikut Hill


My son on Trikut Hill


Inside cable car


We on Trikut Hill


On the top of Trikut Hill

Nandan Pahar


On the way to Simultala


Anya Resort Simultala


Myself as auto driver


Dharara River


Deep gorge of the river


Anya Resort at night

[Samba]

You always venture the lesser know places. This travelogue is an awesome guide for a weekend destination by avoiding the crowd of the more popular tourist spots.
The ropeway ride looks quite interesting.
Thanks for sharing.

[haisaikat]

Good to see you Soumik venturing out in your Santro, your journeys are frequented in your two wheeler and less on this one (your Suorani and Duorani) .

The trail you followed seems to be the perfect family outing spot, will surely keep it for future options. The pictures came out nicely, I liked the hill top, cable car ride and the waterfalls.

Your original trip plan was for 4 days, but here you have accounted for 2 days only. Is there more to come including your return?

[soumiksett]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Your original trip plan was for 4 days, but here you have accounted for 2 days only. Is there more to come including your return?

Dada,

Actually a sudden meeting at office restrained myself from posting the full logue today, expecting to complete the logue by tomorrow

Thanks

[soumiksett]

Originally Posted by Samba

You always venture the lesser know places. This travelogue is an awesome guide for a weekend destination by avoiding the crowd of the more popular tourist spots.
The ropeway ride looks quite interesting.
Thanks for sharing.

Initially I had a bike trip plan of 2 days for this circuit covering only Usri Falls; Khandoli and Bhatinda Falls. But my son does not allow me single for this time, so I decided to increase the day and cover the full circuit.
Ropway ride was really adventourous and full of thrill, I enjoyed a lot.

BTW, expecting a beautiful TL from you soon about the highest lake in Asia

[soumiksett]

18th Oct, 2021

Today we had a plan to visit Simultala Rajbari and Lattu Pahar, early in the morning. These were around 4 km from our hotel. So we took our cars and started towards Simultala Rajbari first. The road was totally made up of mud and due to rain it had become slippery. We proceeded carefully but after sometime the road became worst and big big potholes started to appear. We thought to park the cars and go by foot, but with the help of local persons we overcame the situation and reached in front of Simultala Rajbari. It was actually the ruins and the broken structure was available for photo shoot. The view was nice, 360 degree view of hills and forest. Later we climbed Lattu Pahar, it was a hillock type and a temple is situated on the top. We spent some good time here and then came back to hotel.

We checked out from hotel at around 11 AM, our first target was Khandoli Dam near Giridih. But soon after our journey started, the sky became dark and rain started. We started to drove slowly with 4/5 times of photo break. The nature was beautiful all along the route. We reached Khandoli Dam at around 2 PM. But due to heavy rain we could not do the boating in the lake, it was a bad miss for all of us.

We took lunch with veg chowmin and chilli paneer in a road side restaurant. Then we proceeded further towards our next destination Paresnath Hill. But after driving half an hour we both felt sleepy, and took a break at a road side small coffee shop. We spent around 45 minutes here and enjoyed the rain on lying on khatiya. Then we reached Madhuban with the intention to visit the temple on Paresnath hill, but due to heavy rain we could not execute our plan, even we could not come out from the cars. Got no view of the hill, again that was a bad miss for all of us.

We started to proceed towards NH-2, drove carefully towards Hotel Shaan-E-Punjab near Topchachi Lake. Reached the hotel around 6 PM. Total distance covered around 200 km.

Lattu Pahar


Simultala Rajbari


Simultala Rajbari


Lattu Pahar


Simultala Rajbari from Lattu Pahar top


View from Lattu Pahar Top


My son at hilltop


View from our hotel


View from our hotel


We


Casual photosession


Khandoli Hill


Khandoli Park


Khandoli Lake


Madhubon

[soumiksett]

19th Oct, 2021

We woke up at around 6 am, and found total dark outside. Rain is going on continuously. We decided to check out around 8 AM, today our plan was to visit 3 spots and return back to home.

First we visited Topchachi Lake, but it was closed for tourists, on request the guards allowed us up to the lake side, not beyond that point. We reached the lake side, it was foggy weather, no other tourists or locals were there, only we 6 were roaming beside the lake. The lake covered almost by the cloud. We loved the environment spent more than 1 hour here and enjoyed nature.

We took breakfast at Hotel Shan-E-Punjab, and then proceeded towards Bhatinda Falls. This falls is situated in very interior and as usual we puzzled about the road directions. At last with the help of local people we reached in front of the falls. The view was very nice, full of water, and the roaring sound was audible from far. We took some snaps and spent almost 1 hour here. By this time sky became clear and sunlight came out. During return journey we took the proper road and faced huge traffic jam at Dhanbad town. We refuel the tanks at Dhanbad before coming out from Jharkhand.

Our next target was Maithon Dam. Though I visited many times but my son did not visit, So we entered Maithon Dam via Kumardubi. Weather was nice, we spent some good time sitting idle beside the dam and doing nothing.

It was around 3 PM and we felt hungry, decided to leave the place. We reached Asansol within half an hour and took lunch at a road side dhaba. Started to return towards Kolkata, weather was clear, we maintained a good speed up to Shaktigarh. Took a coffee break at Shaktigarh and finally we reached Dankuni at around 7:30 PM. Faced a huge traffic jam at Dankuni, ultimately reached home near Shayambazar at around 9 PM. Total distance covered around 400 km.

Morning tea time


Towards Topchachi Lake


Foggy Topchachi Lake


We at Topchachi Lake


Foggy Topchachi Lake


Topchachi Dam


Our photo shoot at Topchachi Lake


Topchachi Forest


We at Bhatinda Falls


Bhatinda Falls


Bhatinda Falls


My son at Bhatinda Falls


Entering Maithon Dam


Maithon Dam


Maithon Dam

[nischaltopno]

Thanks for sharing such lovely off beaten places from Bihar/Bengal/Jharkhand border. The lakes and the waterfalls are nice.

[ABHI_1512]

You have a knack of driving to lesser known places Soumik, the Trikut hill view presents itself in a breathtaking way. Also, the Simultala Palace looks resplendent in the glory of the days gone by, thanks for sharing such a delightful trip. Keep travelling,

Regards.