07 Jul

Destination Pooh…(Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh)

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The route winds along the Sutlej going upstream along its left bank. Crossing the Sutlej over the Shongtong brige, we reach Powari. Here, the road bifurcates left to Recong Peo, the administrative headquarters of Kinnaur district, some way up the mountainside and the highway (NH 22) continues along the river. Further up from Recong Peo is Kalpa (earlier called the Chini village) and the highest village further up is Roghi from where one can get stunning views of the venerated Kinner Kailash peak. I’ve heard that the route to Roghi with narrow, cliff hugging roads is one of the most amazing sights and rewarding places to visit. In fact Chini village, now Kalpa, has some more significance in independent India. The people of this village were the first to cast their votes in independent India on 25 October 1951 (since they get snowed in in winter) while the rest of India voted in Dec-Jan. Further back in history, the old Hindustan Tibet highway used to pass through this place on its way through Shipkila into Tibet.

It is said that Kinner Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva and is thus considered sacred by the Hindus. Legend goes that Bhasmasur, after getting a boon from Lord Shiva that anybody on whose head he places his palm would be turned to ashes, tries it on the Lord himself. The Lord hides from him and prays to Lord Vishnu at this place after which Lord Vishnu comes to his aid and slays the demon. The Shivling is visible atop this Kinner Kailash peak.

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Memories of Mewar (I): Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur.

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The fort is built on a hill at a height of 1100 metres and requires a considerable effort to climb to the top. But once you are in the palace at the top of the fort, also known as ‘Badal Mahal’, you are rewarded with awesome views of the forested Aravalli hills, with the Mewar region on the eastern side and Marwar region on the west. The forests surrounding the fort comprise the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary which is home to leopard, sloth bear, monkeys, wolf, jackal, sambar, peacock, jungle fowl and a host of other birds and animal species.
[caption id="attachment_94003" align="aligncenter" width="640"]Badal Mahal. Badal Mahal.[/caption]

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Hotel Review: Hotel Sunshine, Sonamarg, Kashmir

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We were coming from Baltal on our way back from Amarnath Yatra. We crossed the Sonmarg town. It is a small town with string of shops on the Srinagar- Leh highway (NH-1D) spreads over a kilometre or so. We noticed some road side hotels there, but all looked very ordinary. We moved towards the direction of Srinagar and after travelling less than a kilometre we stopped at Hotel Sunshine which locates on the national highway and adjacent to Hotel Snow Land (a luxurious hotel).

The first look of the Hotel from outside was impressive! Location, marvellous! Sometimes we find it hard to get a hotel in a good location that fits into our pocket. Hotel Sunshine offered us the both.
Located in Sonamarg on the bank of river Indus (Sindh), Hotel Sunshine is surrounded by the lush green mountains with snow cape peaks. It offers respite to the visitors from the hustle and bustle of Sonamarg town. The hotel complex shares the same view at an affordable price with its costly neighbour ‘Hotel Snow Land’.

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A visit to Kalakund near Indore, the birth-place of legendary Indian sweet

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Then came the most awaited phase of the trip. The Patalpani – Kalakund ghat section. One could feel the extreme beauty of it complimented by the railways. The tunnels, viaducts and being surrounded by lush green mountain ranges mesmerised the passengers. I would recommend this place to creative minds. Such views have the potential to fill their minds up with optimistic thoughts and also to photographers. This rail route was laid about 150 years ago by the British rulers. Soon admiring these charming scenes we enter the Kalakund railway station.The locomotive honks make the ‘Kalakand’ vendors become active. Kalakand is a famous sweet dish with Kalakund as its origin, it is a fine treat for all the sweet tooths. On the right side, behind the railway station building river choral flows and on the left side, on a hill we have a building for scout guide, locally known as ‘Mahal’. After spending a few hours there, exploring Kalakund we returned home. But that tranquillity had took over my heart. I have fallen in love with that place. Human needs peace from the hectic life and the minds too need peace and such places serve the purpose.

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Sonamarg, Golden Meadow of Kashmir

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We enjoyed the morning amidst the splendour around the hotel and decided to see the view points in the afternoon. Here, all the viewpoints come on the way to its main attraction ‘Thajiwas Glacier’. To reach the glacier, one may go either by riding pony from Sonamarg town or by a cab which drops near the spot “Ram Teri Ganga Maile”. A nice motorable road is available upto this spot and thereafter one has to hire pony or walk down to the base of Thajiwas Glacier. Walking from there is much preferable to riding pony because it is only a short distance to cover and walking is mainly through the plain roads.

Like most tourists places, pony rides as well as the cab rates are overpriced here and one has no other option but to accept an unreasonable price after much bargaining. How tough it was to agree with a price of Rs.2100/- for a ride of 6kms, to and fro! But did we have any option?

We started the journey and soon saw the beautiful Sonamarg Club, a popular staying option for the bollywood stars when they are here for shooting. Surrounded by the giant conifers and beautiful mountains it locates on a hillock by the side of the road to Thajwas Glacier.

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Rambha and Barkul – The flavours of Chilka

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A few were really very nice. Having spent our time at Kalijai we hopped back into the boat and returned to panthanivas. After lunch we took a Tata Iris van and moved on to take a llok at some local places of interest. First we went to Nirmaljhar temple 11 kms away. Inside the small gate there is a small pond in the centre, a small temple on the left and the main temple on the right. A stream flowing from the Easter Ghats has been directed here into a small kund, The sweet sound of flowing water was the only one that could be heard. There was no other living being inside. At the rear, there are small deities of ‘Dashabatara’. Though the temple has immense significance we hardly saw any signs of maintenance. We moved on to Narayani Mata temple 10 kms away. This temple is situated atop Valerry hill. After ascending the loopy road our car came to an abrupt halt. There were several cars and busses ahead of us caught in a fierce jam. Each was having its free run with restless crowd of people don’t know from where created a ruckus. The lone traffic police stood helplessly. After failed attempts by our driver to make a way through, he asked us to make the rest of the journey on foot and parked the car. We started walking past the vehicles and crowd and made our way up the steep road.

I could not understand what we so many people doing here. The area was surrounded by jungle with ‘saal’ and other trees. As we climbed further up the road we saw groups of people cooking food on giant pots. That’s it! These local people are having a picnic, and what a place to choose – a jungle. Never before I had seen so many people (thousands) picnicking in a forest. After walking further we came into a clearing with several steps. There were few shops selling puja items. Manu devotees were buying these for offering to the goddess. After climbing one more flight of stairs we reached the temple sitting amidst the forest with trees and boulders hanging over it. There were lots of monkeys prancing around and I had to be very careful with my cameras. My son was however very amused. The temple complex had a small ‘kund’ and one side there were a few fallen tree trunks (courtesy phailin).

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A hike to Montellegro

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A few more photo-stops and we realized that by the time we would reach up, it would be well above three hours. The hike was relentlessly steep but we had no way out now. To aggravate the difficulty, path was paved with rough stones and we had to look where we put our feet.

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Kenya 2014 – 7 days (Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementaita,Masai Mara)

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Lake Nakuru was our next spot and we got to have lunch at the Lake Nakuru lodge, again a beautiful property and we set off towards the lake, a beautiful sight to see the flamingoes, though they were very far we did to see them flock away…. what a beautiful sight, lake nakuru was truly a beautiful lake….again Rain was a spoilsport and all the animals went hiding and hence missed the change of seeing any wild cats….we settled down early evening at the Lake Elementita Serena Camp, a very exclusive camp and so glad that we stayed here, we had the view of the lake from the lobby…..couldn’t ask for more…..an absolute heaven. Each tent tastefully furnished with its own private veranda and NO we did not leave this opportunity to toast a glass of wine! Had the most yummilious food of all the lodges that we had stayed so far…. peaceful dinner with some live music…..back in our cozy lodge we slept off listening to hyenas….
We had to leave early morning, which was crispy and clear,and we left left sighing and wishing we could have spent more time in this beautiful lodge. Local people did say “If a visitor comes to Africa and it rains it means that you are blessed”….hmmmm…..I think were blessed enough and prayed it did not rain…lolz….we were off on road to the most awaited destination of our Trip….the Masai Mara….

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Amarnath Yatra :: Panchtarni to Holy Cave

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The test of faith on Lord Shiva continued all the way to Shrine. To reach there, it’s another kilometre through slippery snowy path by the side of river Amaravati, and when we reached below the cave, we saw long stairs to climb and a longer queue to follow. The cave is located at an elevation of 13,500 feet above the sea level and its opening is a large semi-circular hollow into a cliff.
It was about 60-70 stairs before the cave we saw the base hospital and a young man of 33-34 years. He could not make it to the cave and took his last breath there. I looked up inside the cave and the belief became firm again. To reach at Shiva’s feet, one must have his blessings; one must have got his calling.

I entered inside the cave with my two friends. The floor of the cave was extremely cold and wet. In deepest right corner of the cave, I saw Lord Shiva, in his unique shape of ice-lingam about 11-12 feet tall. I bent at his feet (the ice base) and offered Billa leaves. I stood quiet there for some time with folded hand but I forgot to seek anything from ‘Mahadeva’ and came out happily from the cave with a sense of fulfillment.

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पवित्र गुफा से बालटाल वापसी (Part 5)

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अमर नाथ यात्रा पर जाने के दो रास्ते हैं। एक पहलगाम होकर और दूसरा सोनमर्ग बालटाल से। । पहलगाम से जाने वाले रास्ते को सरल और सुविधाजनक समझा जाता है लेकिन रास्ता लम्बा है और कुल दुरी 32 किलोमीटर है । बालटाल वाले रास्ते से अमरनाथ गुफा की दूरी केवल 14 किलोमीटर है लेकिन यह बहुत ही दुर्गम रास्ता है और सुरक्षा की दृष्टि से भी संदिग्ध है।

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Around London – Weymouth, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

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It’s been few months in UK (London) and was not sure what all things I can cover nearby outside London and I was constantly thinking about it. Few weeks back one after noon I along with my colleague somehow zeroed in on Weymouth which have few other places called Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove around it… I started exploring what all things we can cover in our three days trip and my colleague started exploring the options how to reach there … till evening we were all set to go on the Friday evening…

We boarded the train on Friday evening and were supposed to reach our Holiday Park in Weymouth by midnight and which we did after few delays….

Saturday Morning 1 st Day – exploring Weymouth — The view was awesome as the beach and the grasslands were visible from our Caravan and we were aware that it would be a long day walk ahead.  We spend couple of hours in our resort and headed towards the beach for which we came to Weymouth.  The sun was bright and penetrating and it took around 20 minutes to reach the sea shore. The moment we put our toes in the cold water all of us got refreshed… As it was a pebble beach there was no sticky feeling of sand and it was convenient going to and fro into the water …if you know what I meanJ. We spend few hours over there and then decided to walk along the shore which looks to be 3-4 miles

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Amarnath Yatra :: Ganesh Top to Panchtarni

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We saw pilgrims tired and exhausted, moving slowly resting after every step or two and painfully looking at the steep ascent of Ganesh Top, thinking might be about the steps left, some were searching the shortest route and other going slow but steady. The pain was much less for us except sore back due to long horse riding. Suddenly, we saw a U shape mountain just before the Ganesh Top, standing tall and high, looking at the pilgrims as if it was a gate to heaven. Slowly we climbed up to the highest point of Amarnath Yatra route, the Mahagunus Top or the Ganesh Top at an altitude of 14500 ft above the sea level. The Army had a post there too and was at the services of pilgrims.

It is believed that Lord Shiva asked his son Ganesha to stay at this mountain peak and moved further with Goddess Parvati to the cave. Lord Ganesha might saw them off from here. He might have seen them descending to the valley of Panchtarni.

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