G-Plot Diary
7.4.23. Kolkata>GPlot
8.4.23 GPlot
9.4.23 GPlot >Kolkata
We are planning to go there for quite some time. But finally we went there on 7.4.2023. with 3 people. From 8 we are down to 3 ! Most of my friends dropped out at the last moment.
Blogger Krishnendu Sarkar nicely summed up G plot as :
"GPlot is a small island located in South 24 Parganas within the confluence of the sea with the river. GPlot is a completely offbeat and relaxing destination. GPlot being newly discovered and unknown to mainstream tourists is a perfect destination if your idea of spending a weekend far away from the hustle bustle of the city where you can even listen to your heartbeat. GPlot boasts about the village culture, thus if you don’t mind leaving your urban sophistication and luxuries behind and just looking for a clean bed where you can crash down, you should visit GPlot before it gets popular! "
Get Lost 'owned' by Sintu and Subhrangshu , "has taken this risk of setting up tourism amongst this village, far away from the city, where someone would rarely think of doing anything!" ... "So they comes up with off beat destinations" like Kotra Khali, Mousuni Island, Jhandi, Bangriposhi ...."every other day" !
7.4.2023.
Get In :
Ballygunge Station (Train) >Kakdwip Train Station (auto) > Kakdwip Bus stop > Pathar-pratima Bus Stand (Bus/Toto) > Chand-mari'r Ghat (walk) > Chand-mari Ghat (By Ferry, which leaves at 9.30 am) > Tawter Hat (by vano)>Indrapur Bazar(by vano)>Gobardhanpur (By Vano)
1. We took local train (5.27 am) from Ballygunge to Kakdwip. It stopped for 15 minutes at Laxmikantapur.
2.From train station take an auto rickshaw to reach bus stand by Toto (Rs 10 - around 1.5 Km)
3. Then we hired a Toto for Rs 200 (or you can take a Bus) to Patharpratima. Then go to the Ferry terminal/Ghat (by walk, if you take bus) which leaves for Chadmari (Chadmari's Ghat). There is another Ghat for a different direction. Our Toto dropped us at the wrong Ghat - which is 5 minutes walk from "Chadmari's Ghat". So if you do not want to walk, tell the auto Rickshaw to drop you at Chadmari jawar Ghat. The journey from Kakdwip to Patharpratima takes around 45 minutes. (Alternately you can come to Patharpratima by a bus, from Esplanade Bus Depot in the morning. This is now possible due to construction of a new bridge)
"NOTE: There are various islands which are only connected via this waterways. So from Patharpratima / Ramganga, there are several ferries going in different directions, so keep in mind that you have to take the ferry for Chandmari Ghat. "
4.From Patharpratima you have to take a ferry to Chandmari and get down at Chandmari Ghat which takes 1 hour 15 minutes. After several other stops (picking up and dropping passengers) it reaches Chandmari Ghat which is the last stop.
5. From Chandmari Ghat you have to reserve a Vano to reach Gobardhanpur which takes around 45 minutes - 1 hour. You have to pay Rs 450 to Vano. If it is Toto, then you have to pay around Rs 300. But there is a syndicate, so normally you have to get down at Tawter Hat and Indrapur Bazar, if you take shared Vano. While catching the vano from Indrapur Bazar/ Chand-mari Ghat, one should mention Gobordhan-pur, Baghajatin Club for easy understanding. GPlot is divided into many part. At the end is Gobordhan-pur. G Plot is around 30 Km in length
This is the most convenient to go to G-Plot because of the boat timing. But while coming back , there is another route, which suits the boat timing - which I will discuss later. Anyway we got down at Baghajatin Club at around 12.30 pm. So it took more than 7 hours !
Baghajatin Club : "This was actually a club which was lying around unutilized. So Sintu and Subhrangshu renovated this into a cottage in order to support and boost tourism. The cottage has 4 Bedrooms which can accommodate 2 people each. And a spacious hall which is mostly where you’d sit down to relax and have your food ! The hall has a dining table on one end and 2 beds on the other end where another 2 more persons can accommodate easily. So in total, the place can accommodate around 10 persons."
We had a lunch just after reaching. We have informed Janomejay babu that we are very hungry.
There are 2 different directions to go to the beach. From the road (from where you have to take a right turn to reach Baghajatin Club) , if you take left (just in front of the road boat repairing is going on) then you reach the sea while passing through the Mangrove Forest. On the way falls small thatched huts. So it is the confluence of Forest and Sea.
If you take right, towards the market, then you will reach the 'proper' beach (Gobardhanpur Beach).
After lunch Kaushik and I took the left turn and went at the end of the road, where it meets the sea. This way to the beach is really a nice walk through the forest. We met some local villagers. Kaushik spotted lot of birds - Pied Kingfisher, Sandpiper, Green Bee eater, Eurasian Curlew, Cuckoo,Coucal etc.
We came back just after the sun set. In the afternoon we had some snacks with tea. We had dinner at around 9.30 pm. The food is good.
8.4.2023.
Kaushik woke up early morning and did bird photography. Since I was very tired got up at 8.30 am Kaushik came back and had breakfast with us. After breakfast we went to Gobardhanpur Beach. This is actually a proper beach. We spent some time walking around the beach ! There are 3 shops selling tea and snacks near the beach. We saw 2 tourist group at the beach. I learnt there are 2/3 resorts nearby. They are staying there. Kaushik and I went for Bird photography and went inside the forest.
We came back to our resort at around 1.30 PM and had lunch. After that we went for a small afternoon nap! Then we went to the confluence of sea and mangrove forest. While coming back we chatted with the locals and got to know the sea was further away when his grandfather came from Medinipur / Midnapore. Now it has been engulfed by the sea.
Janmejay Babu served us evening snacks – Alu Chop (on my request) and Muri same as like yesterday. Alu Chop (Potato Chop) was really good.
9.4.2023.
Since we planned to take 8.30 am boat, we left at around 7.15 am. There are 2 options - either we can get down at Indrapur Bazar and take a boat to reach Ramganga Pier (Patharpratima and Ramganga are just the opposite Piers facing each other. Ferries leave from Patharpratima and stops at Ramganga to pick up passengers before proceeding further). But since the Pier at Indrapur Bazar is broken we decided to go to Chand-mari Pier.
At Chandmari Ghat, we decided, instead of going to Kakdwip Train station , we took a bus to go to Laxmikantapur for a 1 hour ride. One can go to Laxmi-kantapur Train Station from Ramganga ghat also.
From Laxmi-kantapur we took a train to reach Sonarpur and another train to reach Ballygunge Station. We reached home at 2 pm.
Tip : According to the blogger K Sarkar , " I have personally taken both the route... I felt the route via Lakshmikantapur – Ramganga have a little more advantage over Kakdwip – Patharpratima especially while returning back to Kolkata.
1. . if you get down at Lakshmikantapur (since it falls before Kakdwip) you save around 15-20 mins of trains journey. Also while coming back, there are direct trains from Lakshmikantapur, so possibilities of getting seats are more than that of Kakdwip. Because there are no direct trains from Kakdwip. Most of them leaves from Namkhana and most of the seats gets filled up at Namkhana only. So getting seats from Kakdwip can be a little bit challenging though. So Lakshmikantapur have a bit of advantage here over Kakdwip.
2. So if you are coming from Lakshmikantapur, you can factor in both the direct trains from Lakshmikantapur and the trains coming from Namkhana as well."
I think he is correct. So unknowingly we took the right decision.
Get away
We were told by Amit of Get Lost (http://www.getlost.net.in/), that the journey to Kalash / Bonnie Camp costs around Rs. 10,000 – 12,000 including the ferry, fooding and permit charges.
Contact person is - Amit : http://www.getlost.net.in/ - 9836830342 , 9831309512 , 6291377154
(You can refer to this nice blog - https://krishnandusarkar.com/gplot-a-weekend-getaway-from-kolkata/. The one which is in italics is taken from his blog)
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