Ujjain Trip

Day and Date of Journey - 27 October 2022
Duration of trip - 3 days
Total Cost - 4000rs per head

Room for 2 days - 2000rs
Food for 2 days - 800rs
Prasad Package - 500rs
Nearby exploring - 300rs
Other stuff - 400rs

On this trip, I went with my office colleague, More of my best friend Akash Verma to Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Ujjain. To start with this, we had already booked our train tickets about 1 month prior to Journey.
As usual I started from my home town Pratapgarh Station, UP and the train was Bhopal SF Express (12184). One of the interesting facts is that the train starts from my city (Pratapgarh) and goes up to Bhopal junction. So I boarded the train at 07pm and was waiting for my friend to join me at Lucknow Charbagh Railway station around 10:30Pm. So the train arrived at the right time at Lucknow Junction and I met Akash and we started this trip together. After  having some food and snacks for dinner, we went to sleep and the next morning when I woke up it was Vidisha Junction on the way to Bhopal.
We reached Bhopal by around 09AM with a half an hour delay.

After reaching Bhopal, we looked up for a Bus service right from Bhopal to Ujjain via 3-4 points. We got the bus from Bhopal around 10AM and the distance between Bhopal and Ujjain via Road is around 250-300kms, so it took us almost 6-7 hours to reach Ujjain.
After reaching there, We started to look up for a hotel near Mahakaleshwar. We got to the hotel 1km  away from Temple and it was 07 PM at night when we checked-in. After refreshment, We decided to somewhat travel alongside the hotel area, and the temple too for the night view. We reached the temple at 09pm and it was a very immersive experience for us to get into temples new architecture and design, specially for the newly built corridors.
Then, we got into the temple for Darshan of Mahakal Baba and We got the first amazing  view (Baba ki Jhalak) inside the temple. Though it was very crowded at the time, we were lucky enough to get a proper Darshan of them. Clicking pictures is prohibited inside the main temple  premises. Then after a glimpse of Mahakal ji, We went out to view and experience the newly built corridors and beautiful Shivalinga as well. We enjoyed and cherished the beauty a lot.
Jai Mahakal Maharaj Ki.

Also It reminds me of a very famous shlok of Mahakal Baba -

"Akaal Mrityu Wo Mare Jo Kaam Kare Chandaal Ka, Kaal Uska Kya Kare Jo Bhakt Ho Mahakal Ka ❤️"

The next day as well, We went to Mahakaleshwar temple for the early morning Bhasma Aarti Tickets in the morning at 03AM.
It took us almost 5 hours to get the Bhasma Aarti Tickets in queue, as only limited seats are allocated on a daily basis for tickets.
After getting the confirmation for the next day of Bhasma Aarti of Mahakal, We went again for Darshan of mahakal, this time the queue in the temple was lengthy as it was daytime. But We got another chance of getting to see Mahakal and darshan. After that We went to see the morning view of the corridors and as we got hungry by the time, so we went for local foods in the streets of way towards the temple. Apart from this, we did some shopping as well such as the photo frame of Mahakal, Rudraksha mala, The Prasad Package and a lot more.
So hereby We covered the extensive and lovely Darshan of Mahakal Baba ❤️

In the evening on day 2 itself, we went to Darshan of Harisiddhi Mata mandir as well. It was somewhat around 1-2 km from our hotel location. It was super crowded at that time, We tried hard to get into the temple and after half an hour in the queue, we got to get into the temple.
Some of the glimpses from Harisiddhi Mata mandir -

Last day of our trip -

Finally on day 3, we got the chance to witness the Bhasma Aarti, we went to aarti venue, In midnight itself then we had to wait for around 03-04 hrs for aarti to start, around 4Am in morning aarti starts and it was really very amazing and enriching. We exited from the temple around 07AM in the morning. Then we planned to go to our last destination, Kaal Bhairav temple somewhat around 9 km from Mahakaleshwar temple. We reached there by 8Am and it was very crowded there too. We waited for 2 hrs to get into the temple and for Kaal Bhairav Baba darshan. After visiting and having darshan, directly we left for Ujjain railway station for having our lunch around 12Pm. Our return train was scheduled for 01:30Pm from Ujjain junction, we had a delicious lunch near the station area, at a restaurant.
So the next day we reached Prayagraj Junction in the morning at 06am  and from there we looked for a Bus towards my home city Pratapgarh. My friend has to change for another train from PRATAPGARH STATION, so I said a good bye to him at the station and he also reached Lucknow by 04Pm Evening.

It was a very amazing and full learning trip for both of us.
Thanks Akash for being my travelmate 😄