To Udvada!!This post may not be very helpful to a foreign visitor to India, but he can try
what we do here: rent 
a low budget chauffeur driven car, charged on a per-kilometer basis, and go driving crazy to wherever, in India!!Most of us own small city driving cars, not suitable for long distance travel, especially on some rough Indian roads; the costs of sprucing up the car after return might
prove pretty heavy on the purse-strings..........so good idea to rent one, driver ET all, no hassles, no stress of driving in the midst of mad men behind other vehicles, especially public transport buses and heavy truck drivers, whose main aim in life is to mow down as many people they can!!If Indian bus drivers are made to visit psychiatrists, this breed would become the richest of all medics!! These worthy docs would find no time for others; India has, perhaps, the highest per ca pita population of mad, bus and heavy truck, drivers.
"Drive early, reach safely!" An early start has its dividends, you don't meet the above quoted mad men and their aggressive driving, they sleep late after doing some night driving, cooler temperatures-I mean the weather- preference over the searing heat during the day, with sitting in a hot cabin ........so they prefer driving after the day temperatures cool and that's driving evenings and early part of the night.
And, mornings, in India, the pure, dawn, cool breeze, chirping birds, and a superb view of the rising sun, can be as beautiful as any place on earth.
Besides, an early morning stop, an hour later, at a wayside tea vendor/stall (small restaurants, very low on hygiene!) for a cuppa hot tea can be an experience ........your home brewed tea is no comparison (carry your own paper cups.)
A small word about buddying up to your driver........compliment his driving at the earliest opportunity, offer him whatever you eat, snacks, tea/drinks ..............in all "rent a car with driver," the terms of the rental specify that the driver will find his way for food, and lodging at each stop. You can be nice by inviting him, on your account, to eat at the same wayside restaurant where you stop. (Some clarification-in India, the "high caste/status - mentality" works like this: the driver drops you off at an "expensive" or better ambiances restaurant, and goes off looking for a cheaper place to eat.) (as far as finding his own lodgings-every hotel has some staff/work rooms where your driver can sleep the nights etc.-that's how it works in India.)
In late 2000, we, my wife kids and me, decided we would drive from Pune (180 kilometers south east of Mumbai) to Rajasthan! This means covering huge distances from Pune, north through Maharashtra to Gujrat, and then cross into Rajasthan.
We had chosen our itinerary carefully, but I won't waste your time on that.
The car was late, turned up some 15/20 minutes behind schedule, at 5.45 a. m. (driver-"I got late filling up petrol, sorry.") We had wisely waited outside our home so we put in the luggage and piled in.
The morning air was crisp, cool- and a trifle hot as well, roads were empty except for early travellers, and a milk distribution van, some three wheeler "rickshaws," street lights were still on
Pune is at an altitude of some 1100 feet; when you leave the city, some 15 minutes later, the early morning temperature drops a few degrees as you head for the hills north- west of Pune. There are huge shady trees lining these rural inter-city roads (in all parts of India, huge shady trees line roads- a good thing, otherwise most roads are more like they need those craters filled.)
(However, Pune-Mumbai roads are in good shape.)
We drove past farmland, with trees dotting the landscape, and thorny cactus forming borders between these farms...........and flat plains planted with paddy or sugar cane, with hills strung up along the horizon to the west. No words to describe the sun coming up on the eastern horizon, the sky a rich gold red, then changing to a blue..........the Indian crow and kite and smaller birds fill the view before us.
We reached the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, an half hour drive from Pune, and headed north west to the northern suburbs of Mumbai at the permitted speed of 100 Kph, with cars speeding past at 120-130 kph -drivers who give a damn for speed limit rules.
Before Khandala, where the expressway descends down the Western Ghats to the Konkan coast and on to Mumbai, we stopped at a wayside restaurant for breakfast. Its now around 8 a. m. and the temperature around 20 degrees centigrade.
Before the Expressway was built, the descent (or going up), down to the coastal strip, known as the Konkan, 50/80 kilometers of coastal region from the beaches to the hills that go up to the Deccan Plateau, was awesome hairpin curves and sudden drops (or climbs-on the way up), and accidents were more frequent. The Expressway has changed all that. The views are the same- brown and green peaks, with the tops weathered off with wind, with these hills sloping down to green valleys, tiny villages in the hazy distance.
The Expressway terminates a few kilometers before the town of Panvel, where an half hour drive takes you south to Mumbai through the new city of Navi (new) Mumbai. However, we went through Navi Mumbai, with its new spanking high-rises, north west, to catch up with the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Highway (a six lane road still under construction in 2000, in some stretches, causing traffic pile up and awful frustration.)
A two hours drive and we stopped at the toll gates, a few kilometers south of Vapi, paid entry road tax for Gujrat State, and drove on to Udvada railway station (180 kilometers north of Mumbai.) Here, we left the Highway and entered the beautiful coastal rural region of south Gujrat, and drove 8 kilometers to Udvada town, a small quaint village where you step into the eighteenth century; modest roofed homes, washed in dull cream paint, with stepped entrances leading to a small porch, windows, with shutters opened to let in fresh sea breeze.
Udvada is unique..... it has a Zoroastrian temple where a sacred fire is kept burning, it was kindled in the eight century A. C. E. at a place called Sanjan, 40 kilometers to the south of this place, and will never be allowed to go out, an earthly symbol of God's eternal fire, the heavens.
There are modest hotels here, with names like Globe, Majestic, Nausherwan, where, for around Rupees 500 per night (US $ 15.00), you are treated to good hearty Parsi-Zoroastrian dishes, delicious, and prepared a way kept secret-- Chicken or Meat (goat) dhansak (the meat, generous pieces, cooked in a rich spicy fiery brown lentils thick gravy, spread on brown rice-it definitely rivals the Indian curry), with generous portions of onion salads and dash of sour lime. Large deep- fried mullet fish, first marinated in spices, and delicious desserts like milk bread puddings. Mornings, after tea, cooled fresh milk, sweetened with sugar and very richly frothed -the froth spilling down sides of the glass, is a treat that 's a must!! You scoop the froth with a spoon and pop it in your mouth......yummy.
Our plan was to spend the night here, visit the sacred temple in the morning, and then drive out, catch the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, and drive on the whole day to reach Ahmedabad.
Our hotel faces the sea, a gentle cool breeze, the night sky studded with stars, we have a lovely dinner - meat cutlets, and chicken spiced in rich gravy, had with unleavened bread-called chhapatis, some tangy pickles, and some ice cream churned in an old fashioned way.
PICTURES: Pic 1: Pune-Mumbai Expressway; 2& 3: -the great Iranshah Zoroastrian temple at Udvada; other pics- Udvada views.
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