Uttarakhand

рдмрджреНрд░реАрдирд╛рде -Mana, the last village!

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Badrinath is at a height of 11,204 feet above msl. It is around 530 Kms from Delhi and the route is Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh -Devprayag-Rudraprayag – Karanprayag-Chamoli -Joshimath – Badrinath. Badrinath route opens in first week of May and is closed for winters after Deepawali.
If going by own vehicle, one has to reach upto Karanprayag or Nandprayag and take a night’s halt. If there are two drivers, one can easily reach upto Joshimathh and stay there, saving one day.
For train journey, the last station is Rishikesh, from where hired taxis, chartered buses, route buses and jeeps are easily available for Badri Nath.

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Leaving Munsyari – The long drawn route

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So with full gusto, I rev-ed the engine and started back amid beautiful landscapes, away from the thoughtful and calm gaze of Panchachuli, the peak which was in the back yard of our stay. The journey from Munsyari to Birthi was spent gazing at mountains, standing tall and quite, looking at the occasional habitat along side the road with Pahadi folk wearing black topis, half jacket over long shirts and pajamas and throwing infectious smiles as they go through with their daily chores. Because of rains, the road was not in its prime so we were a tad cautious; but there was an natural desire to drive a little faster and be able to reach Sattal, which as per our friends from Pahad was not a realistic goal.

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Our Trip to Kanatal, Uttrakhand

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We were on a 8-10 feet mud track with the rock face on one side and a steep fall on the other side of the track. One of the kids in our group was playing. While running around the child fell and tumbled down the fall. The child’s landed onto bushes growing at the side of the mountain and the child was lying on the bushes. One of the instructors immediately went down with the help of a rope and carried the child back up. The child was in a state of shock and all of us were shaken up too. However the child was perfectly fine physically. We went over to a local doctor who examined the child and reconfirmed that the child was fine. All of us thanked almighty for the grace and agreed to be more cautious. Although shaken we wanted to move forward.
We were back in the camp by 5:30 and were raring to take up many other activities. There were a range of activities including Burma Bridge rope crossing, a ropes course, and a range of sports including football, cricket, volleyball, etc.

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Badri Nath – Himalayan Beauty !

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Temples and historical places for the religious & spirituals…. and Auli skiing, valley of flowers trek, Geo-thermal springs of Tapovan and satopanth treks and Nanda Devi bio-sphere park, for the nature lovers but non-religious people.
Yes it is Badrinath. I have already seen so many posts on Badrinath, giving ample description and beautiful photos, but each posts carries a new fragrance of Badri Nath, so I thought I should give my part of the story on Badri Nath, and give another fragrance of this wonderful place.

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Patal Bhuvaneshwar caves: Treasure trove of Indian Mythology

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While we were planning the Kumaon itinerary, research on the net did not convince us to include the cave complex in the trip. Few bloggers felt it was unsafe, slippery, and muddy and for those who liked it, I was not sure if it was due to their religious inclination or were the caves really worth a visit for a secular tourist.

I discussed these apprehensions with my friend Mona, who belongs to that region. She insisted that we must include them in the itinerary and added that some of her old relatives visited the caves and found them scintillating. So even with all the reservations, Patal Bhuvaneshwar was not completely striked out from the plan.

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Trip to Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal and Nainital.

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After a long and hard discussion we all are agreed for a small 2 day New Year celebration trip to the Lake District starting off with Bhimtal. We decided to book our tickets via train as it is the easiest and most comfortable means of transport. It was 29th December we three started our journey.
The entire night journey in train was extremely good.The whole night in the train was passed by playing cards and we three were too excited as our long time planning is now executed.

Till now we didnтАЩt face any problem in reaching station and boarding on train everything was utter smooth. At morning we arrived at Kathgodam station at nearly 5:30 am and …

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рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА – рдХреБрдЫ рдЦрдЯреНрдЯреА…. рдХреБрдЫ рдореАрдареА (2)

рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА – рдХреБрдЫ рдЦрдЯреНрдЯреА…. рдХреБрдЫ рдореАрдареА (2)

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рдХреНрдпрд╛ рд╣реИ рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА…
рдкрдврд╝реЛ рддреЛ рдЗрдХ рдХрд┐рддрд╛рдм рд╣реИ рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА
рджреЗрдЦреЛ рдЧрд░ рддреЛ рдЗрдХ рдЦреНрд╡рд╛рдм рд╣реИ рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА
рд╣рдВрд╕реЛ рддреЛ рдЖрд╕рд╛рди рдмрди рдЬрд╛рддреА рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА
рд╕реБрдиреЛ рддреЛ рдЬреНрдЮрд╛рди рдмрди рдЬрд╛рддреА рдШреБрдордХреНрдХрдбрд╝реА

Dear friends, in my previous post of the series, you saw how important the reminiscences are in our travelling. Many a times, we forget other details of our travellings and remember it by the sweet & sour memories of that travelling. Travelling is not simply going to some places or reaching the heights of Himalayas… when we rewind the films of our travels and see it frame by frame … we find that it has changed our life altogether. It has made us more confident, given us more tolerance, given us more strength and sometimes even changed our perspective towards life and its aim.

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A quick tour toTarkeshwar  – рддрд╛рд░рдХреЗрд╢реНрд╡рд░ рдорд╣рд╛рджреЗрд╡

A quick tour toTarkeshwar – рддрд╛рд░рдХреЗрд╢реНрд╡рд░ рдорд╣рд╛рджреЗрд╡

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I always have two sets of Ghummakari. One is with my family, where we book good accommodation and with all gears ready and behaving like “рдЕрдЪреНрдЫрд╛ рдмрдЪреНрдЪрд╛” (or rather achha buddha now LOL). The other set of trip is with group of my childhood friends (Laxman, Awasthi, Vijay & Pradeep).

With friends, our trip is quick, without any hotel bookings or preparations for the way and with minimum budget . It is so quick that sometimes we decide at night that tomorrow morning we are going. I keep a small tent, purchased from Scotland, in the boot of car, , which houses two and can be fitted in 20 minutes… but like our trains we can 3 or 4 slip into that in emergency.

Our trip to Tarkeshwar Mahadev was such a quickie. A day before we decided to dash and lo…next morning 4 am we were on the road with petrol tank full. all five of us packed well in the car and crossed Meerut in one hour. Road from Meerut towards Kotdwar is not easily recognised during traffic hours as it looks like a small bazar, but in the wee hours it welcomed us with open lanes.

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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┬аHimalayan┬аpeaks 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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рдкрд┐рдгреНрдбрд╛рд░реА рдЧреНрд▓реЗрд╢рд┐рдпрд░ рдпрд╛рддреНрд░рд╛- рдЬрд░реВрд░реА рдЬрд╛рдирдХрд╛рд░реА, рдирдХреНрд╢рд╛ рдФрд░ рдЦрд░реНрдЪрд╛

рдкрд┐рдгреНрдбрд╛рд░реА рдЧреНрд▓реЗрд╢рд┐рдпрд░ рдпрд╛рддреНрд░рд╛- рдЬрд░реВрд░реА рдЬрд╛рдирдХрд╛рд░реА, рдирдХреНрд╢рд╛ рдФрд░ рдЦрд░реНрдЪрд╛

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рдкрд┐рдгреНрдбрд╛рд░реА рдЧреНрд▓реЗрд╢рд┐рдпрд░ рдЙрддреНрддрд░рд╛рдЦрдгреНрдб рдХреЗ рдХреБрдорд╛рдКрдВ рдордгреНрдбрд▓ рдореЗрдВ рдмрд╛рдЧреЗрд╢реНрд╡рд░ рдЬрд┐рд▓реЗ рдореЗрдВ рд╕реНрдерд┐рдд рд╣реИред рдпрд╣рд╛рдВ рдЬрд╛рдиреЗ рдХреЗ рд▓рд┐рдпреЗ рд╕рдмрд╕реЗ рдкрд╣рд▓реЗ рд╣рд▓реНрджреНрд╡рд╛рдиреА рдкрд╣реБрдВрдЪрдирд╛ рд╣реЛрддрд╛ рд╣реИред рд╣рд▓реНрджреНрд╡рд╛рдиреА рд╕реЗ…

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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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