Roads

Self-Drive trip across Thailand (7 days, 2000 kms) : Part 6 – Chiang Mai

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We also spend some time in a fantastic session called ‘Chat with Monks’. This particular wat, which is also a training facility for the young monks, offers tourists an opportunity to interact informally with the monks. There is a common area where the tourist group is met by one of the waiting monks. You can sit with him and discuss anything related to Monks/ Buddhism/ Thailand or any other topic of interest. Well, to answer the ‘why’ of it – such interactions enable the monks to practise spoken English as also widening their knowledge base and the tourists, of course gather valuable insight.

A good & handy source of drinking water is the vending machines placed at common areas. Though bottled water is available across Thailand costing B15 – B30 or more depending on when and where you buy them; these vending machines (working on coin system) offer you potable water @ B1 (one bhat) for a litre.

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A memorable trip on bike to rediscover myself in the foothills of Himalayas – Part I

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Life is full of joy and sorrow, happiness and disappointments, ups and down and Life can also throw unexpected surprises – I was taught in my school and I am also explaining the meaning to my son now. But, at that point of time those are only “THE WORDS” for me and nothing else. Remember ‘3 Idiots’ – “Jab dost fail ho to dukh hota hai, lekin jab dost top kare to aur bhi dukh hota hai”

What else would you do in my place, when the requester is the CEO of your Company? Do you have any other option? I know some who might still have some other options, but fortunately or unfortunately, I am not so impulsive in nature and the other option to fly – was an unthinkable proposition for me that time.

I have a great respect for Mr. Ram S. Ramasundar, the then CEO of Electrolux India, who is like a God Father for me, I had no other option but to say “Yes Sir, I will”.

It was already 11 in the morning and I had an i-ticket. I asked permission to go to the counter to cancel the ticket, to get 50% refund for the cancellation. Who says money doesn’t matter.

“Do one thing, prepare a voucher – it will be reimbursed fully from accounts, I will approve the same.” So, one of my worry had been taken care of…but what about the disappointments.

From a very beautiful morning, all of a sudden it became one of the worst day for me. With a heavy heart, I called up home to inform that I won’t be able to come. Durga Puja was over by the time I hang up the phone for me, as well as for them, even before the first sound of Dhak.

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Pune to South Goa Road Trip

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At 12.30 pm we crossed over into Karnataka, and paid another toll. Immediately we could sense that we were in a different state. The traffic was much less in Karnataka as compared to the heavy traffic right upto Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The scenery was better, with undulating hills in the distance. There were flowering bushes in the road divider which made the drive more pleasant, and lay-byes with public utilities at regular intervals along the highway.

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वाटरटन नेशनल पार्क और यु.एस. बोर्डर (भाग २)

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पार्क की सुबह बहुत खूबसूरत थी. हिरण जैसे दो प्राणी घूम रहे थे. सुबह उठ कर एक चक्कर गांव का लगाता हूँ. एक दुकान खुली देख कर अंदर काफी लेने जाता हूँ, साथ ही खाने के लिए एक पेस्ट्री ले लेता हूँ. यह दुकान वाला बहुत सामान बेच रहा था. काफी, ब्रेड चोकलेट, और बहुत सा सामान. पेट्रोल पम्प भी इस दुकान वाले का ही था. साथ में साइकल भी किराये पर दे रहा था. एक साइकल का एक घंटे का किराया १० डॉलर, और हेल्मट के १० डॉलर अलग से. साथ में मोटर बाइक भी किराये के लिए थे.

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Motorcycle Diaries. Road to Ladakh…at Tso Kar

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As we entered the mountainous terrain, I observed the colour of the flowing river on our left – so different than the rivers we were used to see during this ride!
Out first break of the day was at Rumtse, the same hamlet where we stopped on our way to Leh a few days ago.
As I sat down here, I observed an acute silence amongst riders, as if all excitement had gone missing, as if we left it at Leh. There weren’t banters flowing around, no one was pushing each other, no laughter; only a passive wait…till this Ladakhi kid showed up.

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वाटरटन नेशनल पार्क और यु.एस. बोर्डर (भाग १)

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वाटरटन नेशनल पार्क यु.एस. के मोंटाना प्रान्त और कैनेडा के अलबर्टा प्रान्त के बोर्डर पर स्थित है. लाखों लोग यु.एस. और कैनेडा से हर साल नेशनल पार्क घूमने आते हैं. फोर्ट सस्केच्वन से वाटर टन पार्क की दूरी ६०० की. मी. है.

कैलगरी शहर के बाद सबवे पर लंच के लिए रुकते हैं. सबवे की संसार में 37,207 से ज्यादा लोकेशन हैं. भारत में 282 लोकेशन हैं. सबवे सेक्टर 15 फरीदाबाद में भी है. विदेश में शाकाहारी भोजन के लिए सबवे अच्छा आप्शन हैं. मेनू में पहले सफ़ेद या ब्राउन ब्रेड, उसके के बाद सौस, खीरा, टमाटर प्याज, शिमला मिर्च, (कच्ची कटी हुई) आदि डाल कर सब त्यार कर दिया जाता है.  भारत में यह ८० रूपये से शुरू होता है, विदेश  में ४ से ६ डॉलर का है.

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Summer Vacation – A trip to Bakkhali, the Delta of Ganges & my childhood place

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After a full 3 hours in the sea and breakfast, we went to visit Henry’s island (2 km) – a must visit place. During 1980s, the West Bengal Fisheries Department took the initiative of turning Henry’s Island into a tourist spot. More than 50 ponds were dug under pisciculture project, occupying over 25 bigha on 100-hectare of land. Fresh fish and shrimps straight out the ponds are a must try for the visitors. Trees such as gora, kankru, palm, naturally growing sundari and hetal have been planted.

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Self-Drive trip across Thailand (7 days, 2000 kms) : Part 5 – Bang Saen to Kampaeng Phet

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We had plans of visiting heritage sites and local night market, but lassitude takes over as soon as we arrive. After strolling around the neighbourhood, spying on local shops and outlets, we are back to the guest house.
There are number of cosy sit-outs within the house. In the evening, guests have gathered here to relax and chat-up. Soon I connect up with Bill, an Austrian from Vienna and Shoo, a Thai traveller. Yes, they tell, they are also travelling across Thailand. While exchanging notes I discover that both of them (though travelling separately) are very special Ghumakkars. Bill (actually Bills, a couple) has arrived here Cycling all the way from AUSTRIA! Well, the story goes like this. They are avid cyclists. They have covered large parts of the globe cycling. Bill roughly cycles for an year in one go! By end of the year long loop, he is back in Vienna to earn his livelihood. After earning for about 6-8 months, he is again out for the next trip. He tells us that he does not own a car and has a very small house in Vienna. He works just to make enough money for the next trip. Same is the story of his partner. She is from the same place and they share the same passion. They are 6 months into the current trip and plan to cycle north to China and then through Kazakhstan and Eastern Europe to Vienna. Their belongings, typical for cyclists, comprise of two rucksacks (strapped to either side of the carrier) and a sleeping bag cum tenting equipment.

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Trip to Darbar Sahib-Where self meets the soul…-I

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There is this railway crossing on the Dinanagar-Gurdaspur stretch of NH-15 which lies miraculously at the centre of a leftward curve. Most of the drivers usually get caught unaware at this crossing. I was familiar with the notoriety of this curve and hence was attentive to its arrival. Just after crossing over the railway line, we stopped near a fruit-seller to fill our empty stomachs and sat on the nearby tube-well to chat. Our jokes and pranks didn’t seem to end anytime soon but we realised that we should pull ahead. Back to the car, we hit the road again and entered Gurdaspur city after 10 kms. There is a bypass which you can take to avoid the traffic and congestion at the Gurdaspur town but since it was a national holiday (2nd Oct), the traffic was sparse and we drove through the city. Looking around for some nice place to have a proper breakfast, all four of us had our necks craned out of the window. However, any place proposed by one was put down by the rest…a big disadvantage of traveling in an all-guys-group i think. Suddenly, I saw a turbanated policeman signalling us to stop. I just wanted to zip ahead as we were on the right side of law in every respect (thats what I believed till then) but Jaspreet insisted that we should stop as the Punjab Police cops chase such cars which dont stop and then harrass you even more…the job they are best at. Stopping a few metres ahead, I asked everyone to relax and not to get out of the car…a mistake that cost us 200 bucks!!! The Sardarji policeman came upto our car…positioned his elbows on the window and asked where we were from. We replied in Punjabi that we are from Jammu and heading towards The Harmandir Sahib. The Sardarji smiled at us and asked us why we had not fastened our seat belts…..HOLY SHIT… We realised that after we started driving from our last stop where we had fruits, we had just forgot to fasten our seat-belts.

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Motorcycle Diaries. Road to Ladakh (Bidding adieu to Leh)

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While returning from this point, I took a brief stop at the Magnetic Hill. This has always been a site of amusement for me. This hill is located on NH1, at around 45kms from Leh, at a height of 11,000 feet above sea level. Rumour has it that this hill has magnetic properties! In fact, BRO has put a signboard too, which lends considerable credibility to this rumor, at least for the first timers! There is also a square box-area painted on the road where the signboard requests drivers to park the four-wheelers in the neutral gear. According to the prevalent myth, the magnetic properties of the hill are strong enough to pull cars uphill! In reality, the effect is at best an optical illusion and there is no magnetic property in the area. I have experience this twice now. Yet this place is a crowd-puller and is now a popular stop for travelers to Leh. I am publishing an image I took last year!

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Rejuvenating Trip to Naukuchiatal

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After a good stroll, my hunger meter was on & I enjoyed a nice buffet spread at restaurant. We went again for best spot near lake side & enjoyed the peace around the place. One shikara was approaching us & he offered us to take ride in lake. He also offered us cab service for local sightseeing. We decided to visit Sattal which was about 15-20 kms from our place. After taking a nap, we were ready to go on sightseeing, we preferred to took cab and rely on local info.

While on way to Sattal, we also explored Naldamiyanti Tal & Garuda Tal.The drive was very sceneric and Garuda tal was worth going. it was a perfect place to have a picnic or just being in lap of nature. Sattal was little commercialsed & we just spent ½ hr there.

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Motorcycle Diaries. Road to Ladakh (Leh to Hunder)

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While descending, I saw the River Shyok flowing at a distance. As I rode further, I came across the road widening into sandy plains long-drawn-out between the rows of mountains. I stopped and filled in the changing views – the river, the mountains, barren sandy plains on which the roads look like thin, dark lines drawn till horizon. Hereinafter came several small villages, where kids would waved at me, tempting me to given them a Hi-five! The mountains around me were full of gravel, which threatened to come down anytime! This was indeed one of the most unusual places on the planet!

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