08 Aug

Trek to DudhSagar Falls: Trek along the Railway Track

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We hired a place to sleep at night near the beach only, 600 rs per day and then left to explore the night life of GOA. We left for the Anjuna beach where there is a secret pub called Curley’s. You can not reach there on car. You will have to park it around a km before the actual place. The ambiance at the place was just ecstatic, with a mixed Indian and foreigner crowd, the place was too good for the prices quoted. We had another pint of beer, checked about the dance party every night there. It was scheduled to start by 10 30, so we thought we won’t join it, as we wanted to start early morning next day towards Dudhsagar. Came back to the baga beach grabbed a bite and then went off to sleep.

Next morning we started towards Castle rock station, around 80 km from Panaji. To reach dudhsagar falls, one has to do trekking atleast for 2 km. There are 4 routes to reach the place, of which the Castle rock railway track trek is the longest 14 km and the best one too. We opted for the best. Reaching Castle rock by 9 30. We got ready for the trek, by giving away the extra luggage at a food shop on the station. Took idli from the shop, and started our trek. It was difficult to walk on the track and there was no parallel way to walk on. The enthralling views and the desire to reach the destination kept us moving.

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Giraffe Centre and Nairobi Town

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One of the engaging and delightful thing you can do there is to feed those animals with your own hands. Of course you cannot just make them eat anything of your choice, the volunteers roaming around there distribute the food that are only allowed.

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The Road To Valley of Flowers

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No human soul lives around the valley though it is not soulless completely! The valley remained unknown to the world until 1931, when arrived there like Alice in Wonderland, six British Mountaineers, who lost their way while returning from a successful expedition to Mt Kamet. Numerous wild flowers cover the Valley in monsoon and create a magical sight of a wonderland. Frank S. Smythe, one of the six British mountaineers, while mentioning about the Valley wrote, “it was impossible to take a step without crushing a flower”. They named it the Valley of Flower and thereafter the valley has become a popular place for summer expedition.

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Leh – Pangong – Srinagar

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The unbelievable part of this road trip was to be driving at 120kmph at 16000 feet above sea level at More plains. You just could see the road laid in front till the eyes could see. After this there’s a steep climb to Tanglang-La at 17,500 feet where I started feeling dizzy again. Susheel said lets take 30 mins rest here at the Pass and I had to tell him like a crazy panicking person that we need to rush down to feel better. Also it’s here I discovered Susheel wasn’t driving in the wrong lane due to bad driving habit learnt in the cities but deliberately to avoid the (view of the) steep fall on the valleys side, I was splitting my sides laughing and offered to drive but he wouldn’t let me, saying I was a crazy driver to be driving on that side and he didn’t want to die. Hahaha, still makes me go when I remember how we met unsuspecting drivers from the other direction in their rightful lanes honking at us. But we did have a taxi following us in the wrong lane and driving equally slow refusing to overtake. If you saw the views from Tanglang-La  you could perhaps be forgiven to be driving like that. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good pictures as he didn’t want to stop and catch an accidental glimpse of the abyss.

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A short Day trip from Vadodara to Hathnimata Temple & Waterfall

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From there, the air is very very clean and it’s all Green around !!,You’ll find yourself in typical village area, which lush green paddy fields , huts, etc. but the road is very Narrow at this point, and one must be care full.

Just a word of caution, drive very slow, as it’s village area and lot of children cross the roads every now and then, And try not to use Horns !!! Let’s do our bit not to disturb the locals.

A small Parking area is available, but, recently have seen a small field being cleared for make shift parking area. the Locals charge 5-10 Rs. for that.

Park your vehicles, and move ahead for a short trek over the flowing waters and that will lead you to the Waterfall !!, It’s a good place for Kids and every one. Sply Kids, they would love to see small Fishes in clear waters.

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Top Places to see in and around Fort Kochi

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Almost every tourist attractions in Fort Kochi have a history of their own so is the Chinese fishing net. Kochi, the ‘Queen of Arabian Sea’, was once a major centre of trade with the Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and the British where everyone had left their marks. While some claim that the Chinese traders from the court of Kublai Khan set up Chinese fishing nets to shores of Kochi that dates back to 14th century; some others say Chinese explorer Zhang He introduced the Chinese fishing nets here in early 15th century. Whatever may be the correct claim, the fact is that this system is in use for more than last 500 years.

Once a fishing accessory, the Chinese fishing nets, now have become a major tourist attraction in Fort Kochi.

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Fort Kochi – Explore Amidst the Colonial Charm

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No cannon or other displays that go along with a Fort do exist at Fort Kochi. Though there are narrow alleys but none led to any gallery or a palace of any king or queen that a fort guards. In fact there exists no fort though the name endures it. Fort Kochi is a place within the city of Kochi and lies in the peninsula. Perhaps the name takes its first part since a fort was built in this region by the Portuguese.

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Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Kanyakumari

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A memorial to Swamy Vivekananda stands on a rock surrounded by sea at Kanyakumari where he was presumably meditated on 25, 26 and 27th December 1892 before leaving for Chicago religious conference. It is the point of convergence of the three seas, the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the great Indian Ocean.

Swamy Vivekananda, the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (the best known saint of India during 19th century) and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission, on his quest to know the purpose of life, wandered all over India after the death of Sri Paramahamsa Dev. He came to Kanyakumari on 24.12.1892 and later, participated in the World Religious Conference at Chicago on 11th September 1893.

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Pangong Lake – Travelers’ Delight!

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The last leg of our journey to the mystical and majestic Ladakh was ‘Pangong Tso’! In local language Lake is called Tso. Pangong Lake falls in the disputed territory with China. So the whole lake does not belong to India. While China occupies two-third part of this magnificent high altitude lake, India remains satisfied with mere one-third part of it.

These days the Lake is a favourite tourist place among the domestic tourists much credit for which goes to the bollywood movie ‘3idiots’! …….

How incredible it was to see the tranquil lake and its azure blue waters! Pangong Tso is one of the largest saline lakes in Asia. On the Lake shore we walked and saw the effects of changing colours of the lake, aqua green to indigo blue! The saline water of the lake plays with the sunlight and produces different colours. We were told that during winter the lake freezes and become a solid surface to walk over it. Well, walking over a frozen lake! You need to check certainly the best season to visit there!

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