8:02 AM - 
Road Trip
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Road Trip
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Diwali Road Trip - Day 1
Our plan was to leave Thane and keep driving as far as we could reach - either Vadodara or Ahmedabad. Loaded our Honda Civic Car with a crate of water bottles, varieties of eatables and food packets, we started driving at 4:30 pm.
The national highway NH8 is well maintained and we estimated we could reach Ahmedabad at midnight where we would take a break. There are lots of food options like Cafe Coffee day (62km marker), McDonalds (142km marker), Sugar & Spice food plaza (183km marker) on this route.
We faced our first hurdle at around 9 P.M at Bharuch, Gujarat. The traffic came to a standstill. The 4 lane highway NH-8 was jammed with 6 lanes of bus, lorry and passenger cars. From our google map GPRS, we were aware of a bridge about 8 kms away from where we were parked.
There are 2 bridges across the Narmada River on NH8 one for each direction. For the last couple of months or so, the old bridge is closed for repairs. The new bridge with only 2 lanes, handles the traffic in both directions !! Passenger cars and bikes heading towards Surat are allowed to use the old bridge. The following photographs were taken on our way back to Thane.
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| Old Narmada Bridge |
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| Traffic on the opposite side towards Bharuch |
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Two Wheelers and Cars are only allowed on the old bridge |
When we saw somebody selling water bottles, we knew something was wrong. Slowly we started noticing that, there was a peanut vendor, popcorn vendor and there was a lot of trash on the road. When enquired with a nearby lorry driver, we were told that the traffic jam was normal and could take anywhere from 5hrs to 10hrs depending on the traffic density !!! Having inched through the traffic for about 2 kms in 3hrs, we decided to take a U-turn @ midnight. We headed back to Surat.
This was my first stay at a Ginger Hotel - had clean room, white bedspreads, clean bathrooms (toothbrush/bathsoap/toilet roll provided), closet space...a good place to crash. By the time we checked-in and went to bed it was 2 am !!
Ginger Hotel, Surat
Ginger Hotel, Surat
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