07 Jul

Exploring AP – Nagarjun – Suryalanka – Vijaywada

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My favorite, never take the route back which you take to reach a destination, thus maximizing the opportunity to explore and know more. There are so many places in AP to Visit, so it was a week long plan to make a trip. I had 3 days in spare and almost 700-800km or budget based on my car’s milage. We were longing for Suryalanka beach from long, its the nearest beach from Hyderabad, not much advised in summer but still a beach is my attraction. We listed down, bora caves, bellum caves, warrangal, vijaywada, srisailam, nagarjun sagar, suryalanka, vishakhapatnam and many more. Finally, friday afternoon I decided for Srisailam, a piligrimage with just 200 odd km away from my home in Hyderabad. So, I texted my wife and my brother in law (he was on a short visit to our place) that pack your bags we are going to “Suryalanka”… that was an inadvertent mistake. Which I did not realize until I reached home from office. I was surprised to know that my family was apparently happy to know that we are going ot Suryalanka. I spoiled their excitement admitting the mistake.

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Solo Travel, Himachal Tribal Circuit – Spiti Valley

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Next morning brought a very pleasant surprise. In the morning, I was having tea in the hotel balcony, clicking pictures of the serenity of Spiti valley. One youngster arrived in the compound of the hotel on a bike. It took me a while to recognize that he was one of the two boys from Mumbai whom I had met three days ago at the time of land slide traffic hold up near Karcham. Thus far, I was thinking that the bikers must have turned back from Nako village, where the road was totally destroyed. I was curious to know, how they had crossed that stretch. He [Alok} informed me that when they reached Nako village, being a Sunday, there was no BRO labor at Nako. So, they took a night halt in Nako village and next morning, with the help of BRO labor, they lifted their bikes across the steel girder. Hats off to these adventurous souls.

In Kaza also, I had to hire a car for visiting Key monastery and Kibber village [highest altitude village in the world- accessible by road}. In these valleys, government buses to remote villages go in the evening and return early next morning. Thus, 4-5 hour trip by car would take two days by public transport. We went about 7 kms. on the highway towards Manali and then took a right turn uphill for Kye monastery. It is an old monastery some 15 kms. from Kaza and the uphill road is good. But this monastery is not considered as important as Tabo and Dhankar monasteries by the Buddhists. The monastery is in much better shape, compared to the Dhankar monastery.

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केदारनाथ यात्रा 2014 – सोनप्रयाग से केदारनाथ।

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रामबाड़ा पहुँच तो होश उड़ गए। सिर्फ रामबाड़ा नाम के अलावा  पर सही माने मे कुछ नहीं बचा था। अभी  मैं मंदाकनी नदी के बाएँ ओर चल रहा था लेकिन रामबाड़ा बाद आगे का पूरा रास्ता जिस पहाड़ पर बना था वो पहाड़ पिछले साल ढह गया था। सीधा बोलूँ तो रामबाड़ा बाद प्रशाशन नया रास्ता बनाया था। नए रास्ते पर जाने लिए बाएँ ओर से मंदाकनी को एक पुल के  जरिए पार करके दाएँ ओर जाना था। और अभी तक इस पुल पर काम चल रहा था।

कितने भयानक रूप से जलजला आया होगा। रामबाड़ा का नामोनिशान मिटा दिया। मेरी पिछली यात्राओं मे मैं और मेरा साथी यहीं पर विश्राम किया करते थे और पेट भर पराँठे खाया करते थे। यहाँ पर रात को सोने का इंतज़ाम भी हुआ करता था। ऐसी ही मेरी एक यात्रा मे केदारनाथ के दर्शन से लौटते वक़्त हमने रात के 2 बजे यहीं रामबाड़ा पर एक दूकान वाले से विनती करके कुछ खाने की पेशकश की थी। उस वक़्त उसके पास सिर्फ आलू की सब्ज़ी थी। हम उस साल 6 दोस्त गए थे। सभी भूखे थे हमारी हालत पर दुकानदार को तरस आया और बोला कि चलो ठीक है अंदर आ जाओ और पहले चाय पी लो तबतक मैं आटा गूँद देता हूँ। गर्म-गर्म रोटी और आलू की सब्ज़ी खाकर मज़ा आ गया था। तो मेरा ये वाक्य सुनाने का तात्पर्य यह है कि रामबाड़ा अपने आप मे एक सम्पूर्ण कसबे की तरह था। जहाँ पर यात्रा सीजन मे लोग हजारों की संख्या मे होते थे।   यहीं पर खच्चर स्टैंड भी हुआ करता था। लेकिन इस बार सब खत्म। जो पहली बार गया होगा वो कल्पना और यकीन अभी नहीं कर सकता कि रामबाड़ा पर कैसा कहर टूटा था।

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Try Chivla Beach this summer – a weekend getaway from Goa

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There are plenty of fish & sea-food options with prices same as what I mentioned earlier. To give you an idea of prices, we had a Surmayee [King-Fish] Thali for 250/- (medium size rawa fried piece of Kingfish, Kingfish Curry with Chapati and Rice], a ‘Kalwa Thali’ at 280/- (One portion of Kalwa Masala, one small rawa fried Crab, Kalwa Curry with Chapati and Rice].

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How I got the real flavour of Switzerland

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On top of all this it had started drizzling, I still remember the walk. With my phone serving as the music player and torch and the hood of my rucksack as a pseudo rain coat, I walked across the dark pathways hearing distant bell tinging which was coming from nearby farmland. I walked across “cows” and saw “PRIVAT” sign board, and heaved a sigh of relief after meeting the hosts.

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Bringing Back Some Hues from the Beautiful Valley Of Kashmir

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This time around we decided to travel to Kashmir, the most “in news” state of our country, for all the very wrong reasons though! The Gurupurb holiday clubbed with a weekend gave us the three days to plan our trip. We left for Kashmir, fraught with all the apprehensions in the world, and yet excited. On arrival at the airport we were warmly greeted by Dr. M.H Wani, an academician, working towards nation building in his own humble ways; however we didn’t know how our myopic views about this breathtaking place were to be altered by the end of this trip!

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Ladakh Calling… (Part 6) Leh – Sarchu (260 Kms)

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From “Zing Zing Bar” it was more a downhill journey & our bulls were easily cruising through. By the time we reached “Darcha” it was 12:00 Hrs. We had a cup of tea with hot maggi & pushed of quickly. It started becoming cold with moderate rain. “Keylong” was just 8 kms away when it started raining heavily. We took a halt under a tree shade & after few minutes of (SuGa) break we resumed our journey. It was 14:00 Hrs when we reached “Keylong” & managed to get a decent room on the road side & parked our bikes just in front of our room.

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A Goan Monsoon

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We were driving down to Goa one more time, our fifth holiday in Goa since December 2001. I had booked in Club Mahindra’s Varca Beach resort almost two months ahead. We got the booking easily because it is the end of blue season (slack season) at this time in Goa. Only die-hard Goa lovers go at this time because of the monsoon rains.

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A Himalayan Pilgrimage – 1

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When we entered the valley of Badrinath it was a sight to cherish and worth all the efforts. The sun was in full view, though clouds were meandering around. The snow-clad peaks were shining in full glory above the valley. There was not a hint of discomfort which most of us felt at KN, though the altitude of BN at 3411m is only slightly less than that of KN at 3584m. We felt as if we are at Hardwar!

When we reached Srinagar, we thought of it as a lowly (in altitude) place, whereas in the past, on our way up, we thought we were up in heavens when we reached here. Srinagar is indeed a beautiful place with a wide riverbed. One wished one had an extra day for this place.

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Driving from Lucknow to Nainital and Corbett – Road Review

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The road upto Bareilly was generally good and but bad in a few patches. However, Bareilly to Lalkuan was a different story altogether. I believe there is a bypass outside of Bareilly but I couldn’t find it so I had to go through the city. If someone gets to know of the location of the bypass do inform. The number of trucks have to be seen to be believed. Coupled with bad roads it’s definitely a slow track. There’s some kinda factory before Lalkuan and trucks are lined up on both sides of the road. Where there are trucks, there are traffic jams and coupled with atrocious truck drivers the experience is tough. There is also extensive construction work on this sector.

The road improves dramatically from Lalkuan. A stop is advised before the climb from Kathghodham to Nainital. The Drive from this point on is smooth cos the roads are very good, maintained well and aren’t as steep as people would have you believe.

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Pahalgam, the real beauty of Kashmir

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Next morning, had early break fast and went out to look for ponies as we shall explore Pahelgam on horseback. After some bargaining with the local pony owners we decided to visit Baisaran, Dabian, Kashmir valley & Pahelgam valley.We hired 3 ponies, one each for us and started off at a gentle pace. The pony attendants walked beside us guiding the animals. These places are some of the most beautiful locales in Pahelgam but can be explored only on horseback. So aged people and those who are not capable to ride ponies will be deprived from such scenic places. we moved on through the hilly trails and reached Pahelgam valley, a point from where the city can be viewed. Then we moved across streams, hilly terrain, boulders and reached a vast grassland called Baisaran or mini Switzerland.

The lush green grasslands, lined with pine trees and mountains beyond, were a treat for the eyes.After running around for some time we mounted on our ponies again and started moving down the slope of the mountains through the pine forest. By this time we had learnt to control the ponies with the reins. My son particularly was very excited. It was really an amazing experience. Next we arrived at Dabian.

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