Manoj Shriyan (school friend) called me on 30th Jan 09 and told me about the PAGODA which in under construction at Gorai . He asked me whether we can make it on 31st Jan. I confirmed my acceptance to his idea. In the interim I asked Denzil Dsouza about the PAGODA, and he too agreed after making some adjustments with his guitar classes. Next day Denzil met me at 7.40 a.m. at Gokuldham gate and we started our journey. Manoj had asked us to meet at Raghuleela mall. Manoj was having loose motion problem since yesterday, however he still came.Thats the spirit of nature-lovers and travelers which binds together. So we were on 2 bikes and we reached the jetty. The link to the place where the jetty leaves is difficult for bikes as it skids a lot. We had taken a help of the helper who charges INR 20.00 per bike. The place where the jetty leaves is common transit for people going to Essel world. One can see the giant PAGODA clearly and was looking amazing in the morning. The morning environment was amazing and there were people waiting anxiously to be ferried to the other side of the city. Mostly we could see young couples since the place is known for couples. We loaded our bikes on the boat which is large enough to accommodate 4-5 bikes and roughly 30 persons. The boat left the bank and within 5-7 minutes we reached the other side. There is a checkpoint which charges INR 5.00 /person and INR 10.00/bike. The entry point has small shanties selling wafers, mineral waters, tea, and biscuits. There is a BEST bust stop too and autos which takes to the beach/essel world and the villages inside. We took our bike and started towards the PAGODA which is clearly visible on that island. After driving straight for roughly 10.00 minutes we came to a point where we took left. After driving for roughly 1.00 minutes we came to a security checking point. The security person enquired us of our visit, and I told him we had come to see the PAGODA. We drove straight and reached a place which was the bust stand and on the left side was the path to essel world. There is a security check point and after enquiry they allowed us to go inside and asked us to left right after reaching the petrol pump. The drive inside the gate was really amazing, since it was quiet, lonely path. Roughly after 7 minutes we reached the petrol pump and the magnificent PAGODA (Vipatsana center) was in front of us. We stopped and started taking the pictures of the giant structure. We were left speechless looking at the sheer size of the structure. The PAGODA was under construction and was buzzing with workers who were busy with chisels and other equipments. We parked our bike nearby and started taking pictures with our cell phones from all the angles. We stepped inside the PAGODA, and were left speechless. The place was such a huge structure and it looked like we were small dwarfs standing. It was very big and could easily accommodate 500 -700 persons. We took pictures from all the angles. We decided to climb on the PAGODA to have a much better view. Since the construction was still on, there were supporting structures, which we climbed to reach the level above. The island seems to come alive because of this structure as this was the tallest monument. On one side we were able to see Mumbai and the other side was mangroves as far as one can see. Adjoining the PAGODA was a tall pole kind of structure bearing ASHOKA emblem. Towards the left side was a small PAGODA. Adjoining to this was building which seemed to be the staying places for Monks. We were able to see few monks. The sun was becoming hotter and we decided to visit the beach and before that we stopped for some refreshments. We took 3 sandwiches and 6 cups of tea. Total damages were INR 100.00. After driving straight we reached the beach and walked into the sea and looked at the nature’s beauty. We had coconut water on the beach and left for home. Thus came the journey to an end.
This was my first travel with Manoj Shriyan , however not the only one.
Keytakeaways: start early, take your own vehicle.
More photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30002962@N05/
