05 May

Dhanushkodi – No Land only Sand

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We reached Rameshwaram from Madurai about 3:00 PM, we planned to visit Rameshwaram temple in the morning, so we asked our taxi driver Kannan if there is any beach nearby, he nodded his head and said “Yeeessss” (I liked the way he used to say Yeeessss”), it is 13 kms from here and is called Dhanushkodi.
Well, we reached the beach in about 45 minutes, on the way, we also visited a temple where Lord Rama performed the “Raj Tilak” of Vibhishan. Kannan told us that this is the beach, it was very deserted. We found an Indian Navy post there, a tea stall and a snack shop. The Indian Ocean was beautiful, roaring and with high waves. We dared not go too deep inside and also asked the kids to stay off.

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Visiting Saputara – A perfect getaway from Vadodara

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Just as you enter Navsari on NH-8, be careful not to use the Flyover ! . Keep your Google Maps or Navigators ready again. After taking Left from Navsari crossing, the Road is narrow and Single Lane. But build Quality is good, so no issues in Driving.(Ref Pictures). Then the real journey started, amidst the Lush Green Fields and forest area. We passed through the National Forest, which looked great at early morning. Driving here in early morning, with cloud cover was great ! No AC’s required, just fresh Air.

We took a little de-toure toward Gira Waterfall, which was very good. The Way to Gira waterfalls is well marked and you will find few Tourists Buses parked on the main Road itself. The Fall is about 2-3 KM’s inside the narrow trail, which Is just enough for 2 cars to pass, that too at some locations only, so Drive carefully and Slowly. Plenty of Options for snacks are available. Tough it didn’t rained that day, flow of water was still good. It’s nice place with sign Board of “Beware of Crocodiles”! all around ! . We didn’t found any though . (Lucky)

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Travel reminiscences from the 1970s …

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अब के बिछड़े तो शायद कभी ख़्वाबों में मिलें,
जिस तरह सूखे हुए फूल, क़िताबों में मिले

While recently listening to the above gazal of Ahmad Faraz,by Mehdi Hassan,the line ”jis tarah sukhe hue phuul kitabon mein milen” jogged my memory about the old faded travel photographs of years gone by lying, for decades, in the trunk in the basement.

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Lavish yet affordable trip to Matheran, near Mumbai

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• Girls should consider wearing something very appropriate as the crowd consist of good as well as cheap public.
• As a couple you should consider not carrying much luggage as there is no one to look after it.
• Please be careful of the broken bottle glasses all over the place.
• Please be prepared with the right type of footwear since the place is slippery.
• The water currents are very mild and the fall is amongst the safest fall in the state.
While leaving for top we again got a share cab for us with the same fare. We trekked from Dasturi to our hotel this time. Yeah! Now I am planning to add trekker in my resume..lol. The rest of the day we spent inside our cozy hotel.

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The road less travelled – Kolkata to Kaluk

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At about 1 p.m. Tara took his first halt at Teesta Valley. Very near to this place is the point of White Water River Rafting on Teesta. The area is dotted with a few small eateries run by the local villagers. Tara took us to one named Tashi Restaurant. All the eateries here, as this one, are very basic. I am a bit apprehensive about eating at small joints as the hygiene factor is low, but had no other alternative here. However, the good food coupled with the beautiful Teesta flowing beside the eatery made me set all thoughts aside for a few moments. Had it been some other place, such a beautiful locale would surely have been commercialized and turned into a Mc Donald’s or KFC with the wealth again going to the rich hands.

Our car moved on towards Jorethang. Tara was true. The stretch from Malli to Jorethang was in really poor condition. Although it was for wider and better roads in coming days, the ride was extremely stressful for us. Clouds of dust engulfed us at short intervals. We are much more impatient than our counterparts residing at higher altitudes.

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शिव खोडी – SHIV KHODI

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भोले बाबा के दर्शन करके, नीचे रन्सू में आकर के भोजन करके तृप्त हुए और जम्मू की और चल दिए. बारिश और आंधी तूफ़ान बहुत तेज था. पहाड़ के एक मोड पर हमारी बस कि टक्कर एक ट्रेक्टर ट्राली से हो गयी. वह टक्कर लगते ही पलट गयी. बस पीछे की  और खिसकने लगी. पीछे सैकड़ों फीट गहरी खाई थी.

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My love-letter to Prague!

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The boat restaurant at night that floated on the water with Jazz musicians performing live, with candles on the table-tops and lights on the bank of River Vltava shimmering on the water, bits of chicken and sips of Czech white wine entering the elementary canal calming and soothing my senses…what else were I born to do on this Earth?

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The best of KASOL and TOSH in winters

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Hill top of tosh was completely covered with snow, we took some pics and then we started looking for hotels to stay, there were many hotels like: pink floyd, hill top, blue diamond. We checked facilities and rates in each and finally we choose blue diamond to stay. There we got a big room with 5 beds which was sufficient for 6 people, we were all wet, as it was raining when we were trekking to hill top of tosh, so we decided to play in snow and then change. We locked our room and went down to play in snow, we were literally freezing in that temperature, and it was around -2 degree celcius at that time.

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लेह – लद्दाख

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आये इस सुचना के साथ कि सुरक्षा कारणों से आम जन के लिए नुब्रा वैली कुछ दिनों के लिए बंद है अत:खार्दुन्गला से वापस आना होगा।

ऊपर जाकर या रास्ते में कुछ भी नही मिलता भोजन के लिए तो पहले लंच किया और फिर थोड़ी हताशा के साथ चल पड़े विश्व की सबसे ऊँचे सड़क मार्ग पर जो की 18380 फुट (5602मी) की ऊंचाई पर स्थित है,बेहद संकरी उबड़ खाबड़ रोड जो लेह से 40 किमी दूर है, भूरे निर्जन वनस्पति शून्य इस मार्ग पर चार पहिया वाहन कम और दो पहिया ज्यादा होते है,मोटरसाइकिल और साइकिल चालको की ये प्रिय सड़क है और हमें अपनी गाडी इनसे बचते हुए चलानी थी,लेह से किराये पे मिलते है ये वाहन।

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पार्वती घाटी (कुल्लू) में एकल (solo) घुमक्कड़ी — बिजली महादेव मंदिर, कुल्लू

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स्थानीय लोगों के अनुसार आकाश से गिरने वाली जोरदार बिजली भगवान महादेव के इस मंदिर में विराजमान पवित्र शिवलिंग पर गिरती है, जो इस पवित्र शिवलिंग को टुकड़ों में बिखेर देती है। बिजली से खंडित हुए शिवलिंग के आसपास गिरे टुकड़ों को एकत्रित करके मंदिर के पुजारी मक्खन की सहायता से शिवलिंग के टुकड़ों को फिर से शिवलिंग के आकर में जोड़ देते है. कुछ समय के पश्चात् चमत्कारी रूप से शिवलिंग अपने आप पहले की तरह पूर्ण रूप में परिवर्तित हो जाता है।

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