Pune Trip - Mulshi & Bhushi Dams - August 2012

It is meaningless planning vacation trips / holiday tours when you are 40+, so I have decided to Visit Pune (to meet my sis-in-law and co-bro) just in a weeks time! Thank God, we have got train tickets reserved. While onward journey was through Konark Express 3A, return tickets are of Chair Car (Shatabdi Express) it was a nice and different experience (will share that later in this post). That way we boarded into the Konark Express on Friday Morning and reached Pune by 12:15 AM on Saturday.

After taking rest for few hours (7+), we have started touring Pune (local places) on Saturday morning and then suddenly decided to drive towards Mulshi Dam (Water Falls) by bikes after sighting both Famous Ganesh Temple and Shaniwar Wada (Fort) followed by delicious Lunch @ Hotel Athidya! 

Mulshi Dam is about 50 Kms from the city and we drove to that place by two bikes and reached comfortably in about an hour and a half. That was a wonderful drive I ever had (though I had been to Srisailam and Araku many times, the climate and scenic beauties were incomparable), we managed to drive even in the rain by stopping at a few places with umbrellas safeguarding us.  Below is the Google Route Map from Pune to the waterfall that we have traveled! 

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More than capturing those beautiful scenes in cameras, we have enjoyed the exotic sceneries with our own eyes. Though the Dam is not our choice of visit, the main focus was to enjoy in the waterfalls (nearby to that dam - in fact most of the tourists are fond of that place which will certainly thrill them). To explore peaks and scenic views that was a great place, there was also a provision and way to trek and reach the peak point / highest altitude but we have confined ourselves to the waterfall that is on the safe ground level. 

By saturday evening (8:15 PM), we were back to Pune and prepared for Sunday's trip to Lonavala (by Train). As planned we catched the local train at 10:45 AM (it was a beautiful rainy day) and we reached the destination at around 12:30 PM. It was not a Vizag to Aruku kind of beautiful train journey in ghat - but was one of its kind. As soon as we reached Lonavala, we never felt that it was afternoon but was an early day (describing the climate and atmosphere). Then to travel about 4 Kms for reaching the Bhushi Dam, we took a cab. Route map (Roadway) from Pune to Lonavala can be seen in the Google map below..


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It was a very different experience to get into the overflowing water all the way for about 500 meters (from the dam) to get closer, by trekking. Interestingly as it was the lunch hour most of the fast food vendors are readily serving with hot Wadapavs, Corn Cobs and Tea in the middle of the flowing water (that was a rare and memorable experience enjoying food at such place). None of us felt like having lunch before 3 PM (as long as we were in the water), but slowly started walking towards the railway station to have lunch @ McDonald Lonavala followed by to catch the evening train. 

As the clock tickles 6:20 PM (on Sunday), we got into the train (it was heavily raining) and managed to occupy a few seats in that crowded rush. Reached back to Pune and took a brief rest (for about 5 hours)!! Finally on Monday morning both of us returned back to Hyderabad by Shatabdi Express (Chair Car), which was again a different experience for the first time as we just need to sit on chairs and having served with water bottle, news paper, breakfast followed by lunch by IRCTC itself (of-course the ticket cost includes the expenses for all these and is thus little high when compared to that of a 3A, but definitely less than a bus ticket cost). 

Few of the selected pictures can be seen in the below slideshow for your idea about my trip: