Tuesday, January 24, 2012

S of Alibaug

S of Alibaug, Jan 23, 2012.

34 km

I knew this would be a short day and was in no hurry to leave this morning. The boat left the dock by India Gate sharp on time at 1115. The boatride is just an hour to Mandve. There was some confusion about the price for taking my bike on the boat. The man at the booth were I bought the ticket said it would be 75 Rs for me and I think he said I would have to pay an additoinal 25 onboard for the bike. But at the gate the dude said I must pay 75 for the bike as well, so I did. Then after I had boarded another fellow came to me saying I must pay 50 for the bike. I told him I had already paid 75 and he was satisfied with that. I think I was taken for a ride there but am not sure for how much.

It is quite amazing to be in real rural countryside so very near giant Bombay. It was very quiet and beautifully green when I rode away from the dock at Mandve. Very soon I found a nice little reastaurant by the roadside and stopped for lunch. Then onwards towards Alibaug. The road that had at first been very good soon turned worse, and traffic picked up too.


Instant countryside

I was not too impressed with Alibaug and decided to move on a bit further along the coast. Just some 5 kms out of town is a much nicer beach where I also found a little guest house. I asked some rickshaw drivers about guest houses and was told to cycle another 2 kms and then by a Maharaja statue turn right towards the beach. I did and saw signs for a Naomi Hotel, and headed that way. But just before arriving at Naomi I saw another sweet little place called Dolphin House. Here I have a good room and a large lovely verandah. The village seems to be called Nagaon. On Google Maps it is near Sonar Peth. It is real nice here. The beach is more or less totally empty, and clean. But the coast seems to be very shallow and it may be that by high tide the whole beach comes under water.


Mandala painted on the ground

I saw two ATM machines in Alibaug but there may well be more. The town is larger than I had expected.

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