Our trip with pictures:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/o37x88U4K7kvjNX2JGYhxgYe
We got up around 6:00 am. Hot large Tea arrived sharp at 6:30. We relished every drop. Specially since it was sooo cold. We got ready by 8:00 am and stepped out. We gave all dirty clothes for laundry, had breakfast-Aaloo Paratha, Plain Paratha with Yogurt and then Hot Milk. We walked around the town. We went to Ram Ghaat. The Ghaat was Made about 25 year ago to create a place for people to take bath in Narmada Maiya. Before that the river was a small stream at this point. We walked around the town and purchased some fruits and Chikki. We went to the resort to check out. After some discussion as to what should be our plan to cross over to the north bank. We
Decided to load up the car and go. We did tell the hotel owner that we may come back for the night. We went to Kapildhara Water Falls iand Durvasa Muni Gufaa (Cave). The waterfall was in the forest. We walked about 1.5 kms and climbed down rocks to reach the bottom. It was beautiful. The fall was surrounded but large trees. There were many people visiting. Men were taking a dip in the water pool below the Fall. There were plenty of monkeys roaming about. Specially close to the food and drink stalls on the path. The stall keepers have long sticks they use to stomp on the ground to scare the monkeys. But effort is only successful momentarily. Within minutes they are back looking to see what they can snatch to eat. We spent about an hour near the Falls. Then we went in different direction to get to Dudhadhara and Durvasa Muni Gufaa. We went inside the cave. It was dark and we had to bend down really low to go in. We sat there for few minutes.I can only imagine how quiet it would have been back in Durvasa Muni’s time. Only sounds would be the natural waterfall, birds and animals. We came out and walked up to the car and drove towards the next place, Jaleshwar Mandir. We stopped in the place where we had breakfast and ordered late lunch. Jaleshwar Mandir was located in the forest area. We got there around 4:30 pm. It was a small Mandir. Very old. This area is filled with small old temples. We stayed for a few minutes and then got back to Amarkantak town. We had spoken to few people about what is the best way to see Maa Narmada Temple. Can we see from the North side or South side. As we cannot come back to North side once we cross over to the south side. Each person gave a version of story as they knew best. We were wondering what to do. Every evening there is Narmada Maiya Aarti at 6:00 pm or so at Ram Ghaat. We decided to hang around and see the Aarti. I was expecting a lot of people to be there. But we were the only three waiting. Around 6:15 pm one Priest came with an assistant and set up for Aarti. They didn’t wait for anyone to gather around. They readied all the lamps and did the Aarti. We watched till the end. Once the Aarti was done the Priest spoke to us for few minutes. We asked him if we can go into the temple to see Narmada Maiya’s Idol. He said we can go inside from North side without any problem. We should not go around the Kund (spring where Narmada originated). We got to the temple just when evening Aarti was going on. The Priest did an excellent job of performing the Aarti. Though it was cold there were about 60-70 people attending the Aarti. We took pictures where we could. It was about 7:45 pm when we finished our temple visit. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner. In many restaurants in these parts they have Chinese starters in the evening meal and India starter like Samosas Pakodas etc in the morning for breakfast including Aaloo Parathas. Many street side food stalls make only Nashta (Breakfast) and others make only Meals. Anyway we finished dinner and went to the Prince Palace Resort for the night. I ordered hot Tea for the night. I forgot to mention less sugar. It was soooo cold we did not mind the extra sugar as long as the Tea was hot. We both had Tea and went bed. Today we walked 12.1 kms around Amarkantak.