Adventure

Setting Sail to the Three Islands

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Always remember to carry your ID Card along with you as it is need at almost every tourist spot in the Andamans. The ferries depart every hour and we were to go by the 0930 one. We were not offered any lifejackets and the ferry setup made me worry. Safety was on compromise but yet again one doesn’t have any another option. Recently, a ferry sailing from North Bay to Ross Island sunk and as many as 21 people died. Why can’t we follow safety guidelines rather than waiting for accidents to take place? As soon as the boarding began, I was the first one to step in and occupy the seat ahead of the wheel room.

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Welcome to Andamans!

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The pilot announced “Crew, Ready for takeoff!” The flight from Chennai took off sharp at 0500 hours. It is advisable to opt for a windows seat as on the approach towards the beautiful Islands, one gets a visual treat offered by Andamans.

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To 13800 ft and back on foot – Sar Pass – I

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The Sar Pass Trek itself is for 11 days with 3 days at base camp, 4 days climbing and 3 days descending and breaking on the last day. It costs around Rs. 3000/- per head including accommodation in tents at all base camps, Rucksack, Sleeping Bags and food for the entire 11 days (Vegetarian). Participation is very heavy averaging about 55-60 per group at the rate of one group per day for 30 days.

So, I duly made my bookings got the necessary permissions from the Office and patiently waited for D Day. In the mean time preparations were on in full swing – medicines, winter wear, rain wear and most important – Shoes. I did so much research on shoes to wear – Hi Tec, Action, Bata Hunters, Merrel, Woodlands – There were so many brands and so many recommendations on so many websites. I finally zeroed in on Weinbrenner from Bata and I was not disappointed.

Kasol is located about 30 km from Bhunter which incidentally is the airport nearest to Kullu. Any of those numerous Volvo buses from Delhi to Manali will drop you at Bhunter. From there an hours ride to Kasol which is just 5 kms before Manikaran. The camp is located just outside of Kasol with the Parvati river flowing right beside it. The camp is made entirely of tents. There are bout 18-20 tents for the participants, Ladies on one side and gents on the other, A big lounge tent, Reception tent, Kitchen tent and the Camp Directors and other camp staffs tent. The only permanent buildings are the toilets. Each tent is large enough to accommodate 14 individuals – bit of a crush actually but the company is really good.

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A Yatra to Takstang Monastery

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Here winds are blowing strongly, carrying everybody’s prayer with it and bringing blessing for all- truly a heavenly experience. We enter into the monastery. There are small temples inside, each of them with images of Buddhist deities. The smell of incense fills the air, a divine atmosphere altogether. We are now near the Tiger’s Nest, a small board indicating that, the cave where the Guru Padmasambhava meditated. We peep into the cave one by one and feel great to witness such a sacred monastery.

On our way back down we stop in the cafeteria for our meal. But they charge Rs.460/- per head for buffet lunch, of course a vegetarian meal, so we remain happy with a bottle of cold drink at Rs.60/-. It takes less than an hour to get down. We thank God for blessing us with the opportunity to witness such a sacred place, to view such an architectural wonder and to accomplish the YATRA once in this life.

We are driving to Chelela Pass, the highest motorable roads in Bhutan which locates between the Haa and Paro valley. We are passing continuously through oak trees, at times glimpsing wild fowls with long tail feathers and free roaming yaks, then through snow capped roads climb slowly to the Chelela pass. A milestone placed along the road indicates the highest point on Dantak Road at an altitude of 3988 meter above the sea level. We see a perfect white Himalayan Mountains view from here.

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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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The Sunderban Tiger Reserve -Nature at one of its best

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where one can only see the azure sky merge with equally breathtaking river at a distance, small village boys running around on the “kuchhe pakdandi” of the adjoining villages, million hues created by a lone cloud that tries to mask the majestic sun and the alluring riot of colors created by ripples on the bluish silver water. One is bound to get lost in the soothing effect nature weaves here.
The first stop is at Pakhirala from where the permits are obtained by the streamers and boats to pass through the river. The second stop is Sajnekhali where tourists halt for the night to start the journey early next morning.

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Biking across Thailand – Bridge over the river kwai

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After our brief encounter with wild cats concluded, we headed to River Kwai bridge. River Kwai bridge was constructed under Japanese command during world war 2, to enable Japanese troops to cross across Thailand to Burma and eventually India. Thousands of PoW (Prisoners of wars) were deployed for construction work, without adequate food, rest or medical care. This resulted in deaths in thousands and being alive for one more day was a luxury at that time. Our generation isn’t really exposed to such life and death hardships and all we complain about is traffic, high fuel prices and slow internet. But life back then was very different. A visit to the museum and war memorial will remind us of harsh realities of life in the times of war. River Kwai bridge stands as a testimony to the fact that thousands had to die to satisfy greed of few emperors. The movie by its name, which was pictured in Srilanka has made this bridge immortal.

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Kareri Lake ~ a poetic trail

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Gaddis are basically a nomadic tribe who mainly lead a pastoral life depending on their cattle for their livelihood and wander in the high altitude alpine meadows for green and protein rich grass for their cattle and the nectar like pure water. These gaddis seem to be the happiest souls in the world without any worry cheering and living life happily in the lap of mother nature enjoying her eternal and purest beauty to the fullest. You envy at their life for a moment and then wish if you were born a gaddi, maybe in your next life…:)

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Disneyland # 3 – Hongkong Disneyland

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After swimming, evening walk, pictures, ladies dressed in nice costumes, we took a shuttle from our hotel to Disney hotel for the dinner. Disney hotel is built on Disney theme and it is beautiful, from outside and inside as well. Dinner was in “Enchanted Garden” Restaurant, it’s a very up-scale restaurant with a huge variety of food items in the buffet. It’s a multi-cuisine buffet, Asian, Italian, continental, European and on top of that Indian food – “aur kya chahiye desi ko”. Huge variety of Meat items, variety of sea food, poultry, must say that it’s a fiesta for meat lovers, vegetarians can also find lots of variety but not comparable to non-vegetarian items, Indian food too had Lamb, Chicken and Dal, but it was well prepared. During the dinner, all Disney Characters were visiting each and every table, kids as well as adults were super excited meeting Mickey, Mini, Goofy, Pluto and having photographed with them. We enjoyed a lot there for about 2 hours, good food, nice ambiance and on top of that Dinner with Mickey, Mini and others and came back to our hotel with unforgettable memories.

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Road Trip to Amarnath – Part 3

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The last two kilometer of the journey is by trekking steeply down from a mountain top. The charismatic FIRST view of the magnificent holy cave steals away all wary and wears and tears at once gasping you spellbound and numb for sometime. I could have died of awe viewing the magnitude of the gigantic and colossal natural structure of the holy cave. I remained stand still for few minutes capturing the astonishing view into my mind through all my senses so that I can never miss the view ever in my life. No technology or camera in the world ever invented to present the picture as it looks through your nature’s gifted naked eyes. Now I understood, why people risk lives every year to visit and pay obeisance to it. Slowly I walked closer to the shrine with my eyes stuck to it. The way to the shrine is along side of river Amravati with temporary shops and tents with colorful insulated sheets as in Baltal. The path was through frozen glacier and the tents were erected on blocks of ice, sized in rectangles. An insulated sheet covering the base of the ice and some blankets and cotton mattresses over it is the bed for sleeping inside the tent. Once you touch the bed, it seems to be cold and wet though not exactly wet but feels the same due to extreme cold.

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Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls – Explore the Roar

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Finally our turn came and we also boarded the huge ship on the upper deck. There was automated announcement and guided description of the tour in both English and French.But none of the passenger was bothered to hear the announcement. All were ready to take pictures , video as well was planning to protect camera from water spray. Then the tour started and it took us first towards American side falls and then taking U turn towards Canadian waterfall. Slowly -2 we were approaching Main falls and we had started feeling the spray of water and its intensity. After reaching very close we decided to keep our camera inside. It was an out of the world feeling. One can feel the flow , pressure of water by going so closer to it. I  was feeling as I had achieved something big .My dream of visiting Maid of the Mist finally came true.

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Bonderam – The flag festival of Divar Island, Goa

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A little background on this ‘one of its kind’ festival. The “Bonderam” festival is celebrated on the Island of Divar on the fourth Saturday of August every year. The word “Bonderam” originated from the involvement of flags. “Bandeira” is the Portuguese word for flag. It is stated that during the Portuguese rule in Goa there were frequent disputes between two sections of the Divar village, namely Sao Mathias and Piedade over property issues. These often led to violence and fights in the village. Subsequently, the Portuguese introduced a system of demarcation of boundaries with flags.

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