The Weekend of 13th Feb,2021 presented a good opportunity to travel.Saraswati Puja holiday being on 16th Feb, a Tuesday, if we availed a day’s leave on Monday then it would have been a holiday for 4 straight days. Started looking for destinations and finalized on the Ranchi-Betla-Netarhat triangle. Accordingly got in touch with resident D-BHPian Saket who said that whereas the trip is very much doable, the Betla Tiger Reserve was closed and hence safari wasn’t an option. Also, he told me that apart from the govt accommodation there weren’t much good hotels.
Discussed with my wife and concluded that 4 days travel to those 3 places will not leave us with ample time to explore the places and hence decided to plan for some other destination. Thought about Purulia for a while, however, most places were already visited. Checked the [URL]weekenddestinations.info[/URL] website and found that Asanboni, at the foothills of Dalma can be tried as a destination. Many BHPians, Samba, AJ-got-BHP had been there and infact Asanboni had hosted a team-bhp meet too. Initially tried for the Dalmanchal resort – but the reservation process pissed me off. Then talked to Samba and got the Tenth Milestone Resort phone numbers from him. Called up the resort, found that rooms were available which we booked by paying a token amount. The final plan was to reach Asanboni on 13th Feb. Stay for 2 nights and check out on 15th Feb. While returning pay a visit to Ghatshila, which falls on the way.
Started off our journey at 7.30 in the morning. Winter was almost over, but the mornings were still pleasant. Nothing much to write really about the initial part of the journey except that we faced a huge congestion at the Dhulagori (not sure of the exact spelling) toll plaza. Beyond that reached Kolaghat at 10 AM – indicating a travel time of 2.5 hrs to travel 70kms. Stopped at Sher-e-Punjab for breakfast and had the routine Aloo Paranthas. When I had travelled to Similipal last year drive till Baharagora but never beyond it. There were some lovely stretches with forests, paddy cultivations. Traffic was sparse and the road surface was smooth all the way to Ghatshila.At Ghatshila we filled up fuel and reached Asanboni around 3 in the afternoon. Check in process was smooth and we freshened up and had a late lunch of Roti, Butter Chicken and Kebabs. The food was lip smacking and later we found out that the restaurant was the main revenue generator for the hotel. In fact, in the 2 nights of our stay, we were the only room guests.
After lunch, went to the nearby Dimna lake. The sun was on the verge of setting and it looked indeed beautiful. My son had made a paper boat and he wanted to set it sail 😊. After spending 15 mins at the lake, we returned to the resort. In the evening there was nothing to do, so we went to the restaurant for some snacks and spent till it closed down at 11 PM.
After a sound sleep, we woke up late the following morning. I had Poori, Subzi whereas the missus and kid had toasts and eggs. The plan for the day was to visit the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary and Chandil Dam. So, lazily we left the hotel around 11 AM – the initial objective being Dalma. It was a nice hilly road that cut through several tribal villages. We photographed the colourful huts, cultivation fields that had dried brown. The palash and simul trees had started to shed their leaves and were starting to flower. It was smooth going till the Sanctuary gate – where we hit a bummer. The sanctuary was apparently closed due to the pandemic. A number of tourist vehicles, most bearing West Bengal number plates, returned empty handed.
Next we headed to Chandil Dam. We took a village road which connected us to the Ranchi highway. Travelled some distance on the highway and then left it to reach the Chandil dam road. Found out that several sections of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway was still under construction. But Chandil Dam road was initially excellent,with curves, it was delight to drive. The last mile, though, the road surface had peeled off and we had to climb a small hillock to reach the Chandil Dam Boating complex. Numerous vendors were selling different paraphernalia from chaats, golgappas, chowmeins. A group of picnickers had arrived who were cooking a feast. However, the boats were conspicuously absent. After spending sometime we took the return path. Saw that there were a few Dhabas on the highway but wasn’t sure about the hygiene so thought of having lunch at the hotel. Returned around 3 in the afternoon and ordered for some Jeera Rice, Dal Fry and Kadai Chicken – superbly cooked yet again. Post lunch, we went to the Jubilee Park and found it to be closed. Unfortunately for us, most of the attractions in Jharkhand were still closed due to the pandemic.
The next day we woke up a little early and freshened up and were ready to leave. Had breakfast around 9.30 AM and by 10 AM we were on the road. Tanked up at a fuel pump in the outskirts of Jamshedpur. We were scheduled to visit Ghatshila. We had shortlisted 3 places – Author Bibhutibhushan’s House, Phuldungri Hill top and Burudi Dam. We reached Ghatshila in slightly more than and hour and first went to the Phuldungri Hilltop. There was a view of the town and its hillocks beyond. Next we came down from the hill and went to Burudi Dam. On the way we found a pond of lotuses. And son then got excited and asked for a lotus to be picked. So, we stopped our car and found a old man who was willing to fetch him. Didn’t know that the lotus stems extended quite a length under the water. Armed with the lotus, we headed towards Burudi. We left the main highway and entered the narrow village roads. Found that papaya’s were blooming, farmers were busy tilling the land, there were numerous lakes and ponds and far beyond there were small hillocks. We reached the Burudi Dam, had a cup of tea in one of the stalls and then started our way back home. We decided to give Bibhutibhushan’s home a miss this time around hoping to be there sometime in the future.
During the return, we tried spotting some good Dhabas enroute but found that most were truck driver Dhabas . Some had quite catchy names like “Aaoji Khaoji Dhaba” 😊. Found a place near Jhargram called “Niramispur”. Unable to find a clean Dhaba we decided to stop at Sher-e-Punjab at Kolaghat – which we reached around 2.30. Had a heavy lunch and then it was the onwards drive home.
