03 Mar

Deoria Tal – Tungnath – Chandrashila

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The last night’s amazing views of the sky dotted with innumerable twinkling stars left me spell bound and I was eagerly waiting for the sunrise. Next day, I got up at 4 and asked the tent shop owner to wake up the guide. After half an hour later, we started our climb to the peak and reached there well before time and now all (all bengalis except us as this place interestingly is mostly visited by the bengalis, witness to that are the shop signboards in bengali) were waiting for the sunrise. As soon as the sun rose from behind the Nanda Devi peak, all were all set to capture the golden ring created by the sunrise. Our guide told us the names of all the Himalayan peaks that ranges from Nanda Devi till Yamunotri Peak from right to left where Chaukhamba is the most dominating peak in the middle.

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Ground Zero

New York: The Big Apple

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The only sound in this serene neighbourhood was the constant whirring of the security choppers patrolling the Hudson. Though there wasn’t much to see in New Jersey, I found its peaceful charm quite endearing. Whether it was driving through Harrison, or checking out the sprawling campuses of New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers Institute at Newark, or bagging great discounts at Newport mall, Jersey Gardens mall, Macy’s, Wal-Mart, BJ’s and Shop Rite, or simply walking along the Pier… New Jersey really appealed to my senses in a way that very few can comprehend.

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Rays of Light

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We started our walk and soon saw the first of the Sarnath monument, the Chaukhandi Stupa. A beautiful, well kept garden surrounding the Stupa welcomes you with dancing butterflies and chirping birds. Chaukhandi Stupa has a square base. This stupa was built during Gupta times. And later during Islamic rule, it got the peculiar head with edges. Built in red bricks, it was an impressive site, standing tall under a blue sky, silently remembering the era by gone.
This main road of Sarnath is lined with some beautiful Buddhist temples donated and built by several east Asian Buddhist nations. It really shows their affection and devotion towards Gautam Buddha and it’s land.

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Trip to village(kirtinagar)

Trip to village(kirtinagar)

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The drive to Rankandiyal from Kirtinagar is around 8 kms along a small hill stream.In the month of June,the water was very clear and one could even drink it.I can vouch for its purity.The whole feeling was nostalgic since it was after 6-7 years that I was visiting the place.The sun was following with us and in no time,we reached the village.We went straight to the nani’s ancestral house where there was a big pandal and music was full on.The whole atmosphere was very divine and we were feeling very light after a long day of travel.We both were given a room in my uncle’s house.The room was small but quite cosy and we had to take blankets in the night.Soon we both were dead.

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Let’s Walk everywhere – Day 10 & 11

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Today was our tenth day here in London, and our plan for today was, er… nothing. We were basically going to sleep and rest for the first half of the day, then we would go to The Garden Café for a quick bite, and then for the second half we would come home and sleep and rest a bit more.
We decided to play a little game of taking pictures of the signboards that came on the way.

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Road trip – Delhi to Mussoorie

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GPS showed an internal road near Modinagar – about 40-50 km till Khatauli. We followed that – it was single lane with farm on one side and some small river kind of on other side. I was kind of worried, visibility went even bad, it was dense fog at 7.00 am – after some 10-15 km, and we decided to take another turn connecting back to main road…

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A Quiet Day in Romford – Day 9

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Today was our 9th day in London, and my mother had planned for us another ‘fun’ day at the mall. The logic was simple – it was raining, we had to be indoors, so we might as well be indoors outside. We were to go to The Brewery first, and then The Liberty Mall, both located within close proximity of each other, in Romford. Romford is one of the major commercial centres in the London suburbs.

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Iceland – Reykjavik, the capital !(Last part)

Iceland – Reykjavik, the capital !(Last part)

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Reykjavik is a small city having a total population around 120,000. There are very few foreigners here and Indians are hard to find. There are a few Indian families and 10 students in Iceland University. Reykjavik is on the North Atlantic sea. Since the warm gulf stream traverses nearby Reykjavik, the climate of Reykjavik is never harsh. A maximum of 15/16 degrees in summers and around -5/-6 in winters. Some days may see temperature as low as -16C but these are rare. We enjoy 6 months of day and 6 months of night here. Another interesting point is that every other Icelanders vows to have met a ghost or troll or an elve.  There are certain places around Reykjavik known for such entities.  I have yet to meet one !!

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Sandhan Valley Trek

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The descending is not that simple as it looks. We need to make way from many big rocks. The main problem faced while descending is that we were always in the search of shortest and the easiest path but there is no such path. 14 member of our group went ahead and 4 guys stayed back with 2 girls as they were finding it difficult to descend. The path till the first rappelling point is very time consuming. The first batch completed their rappelling patch and were waiting for us to reach. After around 6 hrs of walk on the rocky path we reached the 1st rappelling patch.  The first rappelling patch is about 45 feet. By 3 PM the last 6 members completed their 1st rappelling patch. We decided to have our lunch as we were walking continuously and were too hungry.

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Iceland – Glaciers , Green and Blue

Iceland – Glaciers , Green and Blue

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Remember the scene of James Bond’s film Die another day, where Pierce Brosnan had a car chase in a lagoon with an ice palace in background ? Voila there we are going now to the Ice-lagoon, One of the most beautiful place on earth.

The Vatnajokull glacier, the biggest glacier in Europe is surrounded by magnificent mountains, slopes… the whole route to Ice-lagoon gives a feeling as if we are in heaven. Beautiful small villages, water-falls and meadows !!!

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Iceland – the land of waterfalls (Part 3)

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The most unique is their gait. These horse, unlike all other horses in the world, gallop without moving their backbone. It is just like toy horse. Only the legs of the horse move and upper portion (back) remains steady. All other horses in the world, when move the rider has to jump up and down with his back… but here the story is altogether different.

Click on “PLAY” button to  see the beautiful gait of Icelandic horses

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Auli – Land of peaks, forest and flowers

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It was a clear day with sun rays warming our bodies that have gone numb due to the chill in the air. High snow clad peaks bordered with Golden oak and deodar kissing the deep blue sky above, welcomed us to Auli. A look at the place and all our tiredness of long journey through zig zag roads, landslides and pilgrims traffic is gone.

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