I passed through Erode several times in my life. Usually I took the morning train from Bangalore to Coimbatore on my way to Nilgiri Mountains. Just before the Erode, train passes several groves of coconut trees and then after Kavery River Bridge, Erode come suddenly.

Once we took a straight bus from Kotagiri to Erode thinking to spend few hours in Erode rather in Coimbatore to wait for the return train to Bangalore. When we arrived here we felt like spending a night here and explore this place and that turned out very rewarding.

Hey, I am now at Toronto. One of the most multicultural cities in the world and is ranked as the safest large metropolitan area in North America. Today when I am writing this post I am completing my one month at Toronto. Due to God’s grace these 30 days went well here and I am hopeful we will have good time here. Toronto is a nice big city equipped with all the amenities and large Infrastructure. Hundreds of Buildings are in construction and the city which was growing horizontally also started growing vertically. I did not find much difficulty here in settling as Toronto is also like a typical metro city. Few things that I really liked here  (Which may be common for people who had visited foreign countries) or which I really wanted to share (Being a new person in abroad) are:

-       It’s a multicultural city, no one feels alienated here.

-       Public transport is just superb here, still some say (Toronto Transit Commission)TTC is a weak system as compared to London and Newyork , they have to improve a lot. Citybus  runs on trust e.g there are no conductors in a Bus , as soon as you enter inside the bus either show your pass to the driver or drop TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) token or 3 $  (Flat rate for using TTC) in the box. There is no one to check whether you had put the correct amount of coins or not.

-       In supermarkets, other than billing counters there are self check- out counters also where you can scan the items you are purchasing, make a bill, do payment and exit.

-        There is love in the Canada’s air. Everyone shows their love, affection anywhere and everywhere    in the city. You will find so many lovebirds in the city.

-       New Construction has made arrangement in such a way that one can walk in a Weatherproof comfort. e.g Our Apartment is connected at the basement till supermarket, Subway station and till office. There is no need to come out of these areas in case of extreme weathers. Toronto’s underground walkway PATH (29 kms)  is one of the largest underground shopping complex  as per Guiness World records.

It was the month of March 2012 when me and my husband planned to make a tour to North Bengal(Darjeeling-Kalimpong-Lava) in summer. We planned everything well in advance, from train tickets to hotels. After a long wait of about 3months we finally set off for our favourite destination on 1st of June 2012. The Darjeeling Mail which leaves Sealdah Station at 10.05pm reached us New Jalpaiguri Station(NJP) the next morning. I was quite pleased to see the easy availability of cab at the station. After a quick bite we took a cab and set off for Darjeeling. Narrow meandering roads reached us Darjeeling at noon that day. We just could not take our eyes off the picturesque view through the window panes of our hotel room. We could not wait to visit the famous Mall at Darjeeling. We had a pre-concieved notion(from people around us) that The Mall is a very congested, dirty and such other things. But it was a delight for us to see that not even a piece of paper is allowed to be dropped at the Mall. Moreover no vehicles are allowed in the Mall. Yes, its true that it is quite crowded, but then isn’t it obvious?

It was a nice day for all of us since morning. We were tired after a long road journey but were equally interested to explore the places in whatever time we have in our hand. We were also aware of the fact that we have just two days in our hand. However, the time in between was just a perfect match wherein the mind & body decided to wander around.

And why we shouldn’t? For people like us, who born and brought up in the plain, never want to miss the opportunity to explore the absolute green, verdant forests so close to Himalayas. It’s not always that we get such opportunity.

We got up early and the view from the window was just wonderful. We planned to have our breakfast inside the Hotel and leave for Jageshwar by 8 in the morning. However, our planned to leave early was delayed by more than an hour since the breakfast was served only after 8:30.  Meanwhile, I checked the route from a driver who was waiting for his guests staying at the hotel.

Sea to Sky Highway

Highway 99, also known as the Sea to Sky Highway, the Squamish Highway, Route 99, or Whistler Highway, is the major route running through the Vancouver area of British Columbia from the U. S. border, up Howe Sound through the Sea to Sky Country to Lillooet.

This is the most scenic highway of the world with as much awe-inspiring scenery. It is a drive with incredible sights at just about every turn. It’s also filled with fun stops, including outdoor destinations, cultural points of interest and historic sites.

Let’s head north from Vancouver on Highway 99 toward Whistler. We will be beginning at sea level and trace a route along the shore of Howe Sound, then this route leads us deep into the Coast Mountains and then climbs through old-growth rainforests before reaching Whistler 2,200 feet above sea level. It may takes about two hours, but with all the scenic stops along the way, it’s easy to make a whole day out of it.

Highway 99 is the Sea to Sky Highway, which winds through five distinct bio-geo-climatic zones in the Vancouver, Coast and Mountains region of BC, from coastal rain forest at Horseshoe Bay, through Squamish, Garibaldi Provincial Park, and the Resort town of Whistler.

Highway leaves the scenic area of Vancouver and now we are on the road, at our right is crashing waves of Hove Sound that is a steep-sided (North America’s southernmost fjord), water inlet to Pacific and at our left side is the wall of mountains and occasionally crashing and thundering waterfalls jumping out of the tallest trees of the world. The road and railway running parallel each other for much of the 28 miles (45 km) between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish at the head of the sound.

Along the way are several scenic and cultural points and outlooks. I usually don’t stop at many outlooks because whole area is extremely scenic. One trail from an outlook leads to a huge waterfall but then there are huge waterfalls all over. Some even crash upon the road when snow melts in June.

But let’s make a stop at Shannon Falls Provincial Park.

Just south of Squamish is this famous Shannon Falls Provincial Park. The falls are the third highest in BC at 335 meters above the Sea to Sky Highway. As the park is directly accessible from the highway this is an excellent place to stop off, admire the falls and stay for a picnic or enjoy some of the hiking trails, climbing, cycling and wildlife viewing. I stop here because I want my mind to stop here.

Let’s find a picnic bench and make a cup of tea. Whenever I am in British Columbia, I always keep tea gear with me. Well sometimes I don’t have tea making gear then I buy a camping mug and some green tea sachets; that is all I need. I scavenge wood under the trees and make a small fire and make tea in the mug that also serves as a cup.

Well I believe you also have your mug. If not then we will make tea in my mug and for cup, just any bottle will do the job.

Most funny thing that I always go to watch in the park is Steam Donkey.
Steam donkey, or donkey engine is the common nickname for a steam-powered winch, or logging engine widely used in logging operations in the gone era. It was just not limited to logging. It was also found in the mining, maritime, and nearly any other industry that needed a powered winch. (Winch is a thing that pulls a cable)

We had out tea and now let’s walk to the waterfall that we are already feeling its thundering and crashing and falling mist has made us wet anyway. It is not too far and get ready for the splash and more mist wetting.

Water is appearing from thousand feet amidst the tall trees. British Columbia has at least 50 types of majestic trees. Thuja is my favorite tree. I make homeopathy remedy from the leaves of this tree. Thuja is one of the most famous Homeopathy remedy. Two other very impressive huge trees here are Black cottonwood and Balsam poplar.

Well, had tea here and visited waterfall and gotten wet. Now let’s hit the road again.

It is not the destination that is important, but the journey to there and our destination is a wonder place called Whistler.

So again we are on the road and Howe inlet is now closing up and we can see the fjords at the other sides also. Well I used the ‘fjord’ word in my Alaska posts also but probably I forgot to mention the meaning of fjord.

http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity. The word comes to English from Norwegian, but related words are used in several Scandinavian languages, in many cases to refer to any long narrow body of water other than the more specific meaning it has in English.

Both the whole coast of Norway and the island of Greenland have many fjords.

Well, fjord comes to the end and here comes the scenic town of Squamish. From here road begins its climb leaving the Squamish below us. Squamish is the last town in a sense. From here in the north-west lies 1000 kilometers of endless mountains and glaciers extend to Prince Rupert with no road access, no town, no village and no-one. People do visit in these inaccessible mountains and lakes. Seaplanes drop them in some lakes of their choice along with provisions for the duration of their stay also they are given a satellite phone.

We leave behind and below the town of Squamish.

Highway is rising and now we are surrounded by snowy peaks at our all sides. Before Whistler I always do camping in the mountains, in the wilderness but today let’s cook our lunch in a day use picnic area in the wilderness. We don’t need a ton of gear to cook out lunch here. Just some firewood and make a fire in the grill box. Then I have two eggplants (baingans) that we will roast on the wood fire. So let’s do it. It takes barely 20 minutes and baingans are now roasted. Let’s peel off the outer burnt shell and add chat masala in the pulp.

We will eat this with Pita Bread that we bought from the supermarket in Squamish.

Well we had lunch.
See it was so easy.
Now let’s make a mug-full of tea, one cup for you and one cup for me.
See, without much effort we had food and then superb tea.

All we had a mug, tea sachets, 2 eggplants, pita bread, chat-masala and some salt. Everything fitted in a small plastic bag.

Let’s wash the mug at the thundering waterfall.

Be careful, not to get wet. We are in the mountains and it is cold.

It does not require a million dollars to have fun here in Canada.

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THUJA OCCIDENTALIS
http://homeoint. org/books/boericmm/t/thuj. htm

Chief manifestation is the formation of wart-like excrescences upon mucous and cutaneous surfaces-fig-warts and condylomata. Has a specific antibacterial action, as in gonorrhœa and vaccination. Suppressed gonorrhœa, salpingitis.

Ill-effects of vaccination. Sycotic pains, i. e, tearing in muscles and joints, worse at rest, better in dry weather, worse damp humid atmosphere; lameness. Complaints from moonlight.

Karnataka is a veritable treasure chest of temples and monuments. Karnataka’s monuments can be depicted stratigeographically from north to south. In the north, the group of neighbouring districts Bidar, Gulbarga and Bijapur perhaps has the largest cluster of tombs and monuments owing their lineage to the Bahmani Sultanate. Moving south 100 kms will bring you to the amazing temple sites of Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole showcasing the temple building skills of Early Chalukyas. Moving further south by 150 kms will bring you to the glorious and lonely ruins of Hampi, capital of the once mighty Hindu empire of Vijayanagar. Continuing our journey southwards by 130 kms will bring us to the Stupendous Chitradurga Fort (http://www.ghumakkar.com/2012/10/04/the-stupendous-chitradurga-fort/). Journeying down another 170 kms brings us to Belur with its beautiful temples belonging to the Hoysala Empire. Continuing our voyage of discovery, Shravanabelagola with its Jain Temple Complex and Gommateshvara Bahubali statue lies about 90 kms south east of Belur. Srirangapatna lies about 70 kms south of Shravanabelagola. Srirangapatna has temples belonging to Ganga dynasty and forts and tombs associated with Tipu Sultan. Another 20 kms is Mysore, the capital of Wodeyar dynasty. This roughly 1000 kms journey provides a sumptuous treat of tombs, temples, palaces and ruins. No wonder Karnataka Tourism’s tagline is ‘Karnataka – One State. Many Worlds’.

Aihole on the banks of Malaprabha river was the first capital of the Early Chalukyas. The Chalukya Dynasty was founded by Pulakesi I in 543AD and ruled over Deccan India for over 600 years. To put history in perspective, this was the Vedic Renaissance period. Elsewhere in India, Magadh dynasty had bit the dust and Gupta dynasty was on the verge of extinction; Ajanta Caves already had frescoes of Buddha, Aryabhat I had calculated the Pi value, and Balipal & Mahipal ruled Delhi.

In this post, I am going to take you through our trip’s Day 4-8.

Day 4

We set out to “Caleta Tagus” in the central western coast of Isabela island. In the morning we had a zodiac tour followed by a difficult hike. On the zodiac tour, we spotted a juvenile penguin shedding skin. The main attraction of the hike was the Darwin lake (extremely salty lake which does not support any life). Sailors who passed by this island had written the names of their boats and the year in which they sailed. The earliest one that we could spot was 1836. We also saw many species of Darwin finches.

In the afternoon, we set out to “Bahia Elizabeth” on the zodiac. On this tour, we experienced a quintessential Galapagos moment. On a single rock, we saw sea lions, a marine iguana, Galapagos penguins, blue footed boobies, brown pelicans and crabs resting without disturbing each other (please see video below).

Vipin joined Ghumakkar in Januray 2012 with his story on “Deoria Tal“. Very nicely told, with no exaggeration or un-necessary build-up. I tremendously enjoyed the easy trek and later, I could see this pattern in his comments and other logs. I knew that he has been traveling for a long time and is on the road most of the time but I also knew that not too far back, he met with a severe accident which has made him spent a lot of time at home, grounded. While I was making mental notes of how he would have handled this, I also prepared some questions. Mostly I do not plan a lot of questions and the conversation usually develops, organically. This was all the pre-work I did. When I finally could speak to Vipin, after I missed calling him at the scheduled time the previous night, it seemed to me as if we have been speaking for a while already. Our conversation was as fluid and easy as naukuchiatal lake, where I was when I called him. I knew that lakes fascinate Vipin and may be it was a destined coincidence. Over next 30 minutes, we talked about his travels to various places, the funny incidents which happen all the time, about his accident and the re-hab. I could almost see the glitter in his eyes when he spoke about his ‘Spiti by Pedal-Bike’ plan. We talked about his meeting with a lot of Ghumakkars over last few months and how being positive and encouraging is key to our collective success. More and many more with a live and free flowing conversation with Vipin Gaur, ‘Ghumakkar Featured Author for May 2013‘.

Ghum: Congratulations Vipin.
Vipin: Thank you Nandan Bhai. I am very happy for this. Please extend my wishes to other Editors.

Ghum: Sure Vipin. I hope through this interview, we get to know more about you. You would have already guessed that all of our community members are eagerly waiting for it.
Vipin: Yes, I know. hehe. I have been sharing few details about myself through my logs and I would be more than happy to answer any questions.

Ghum: Thanks. Let me begin with a different question this time. Usually I ask that how did they reach Ghumakkar. Lets park that question for a while. How old are you? and where are your roots?. If at all, there are any roots for a traveler like you. hehe
Vipin: I am 28 years old. I am the eldest brother in my family. I have two siblings, my sister and my brother and we are a small family. My mother is an all-rounder she works in MTNL and also works at home taking care of all our needs.