Road Trip

Delhi Nainital Road Review

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NH 24 – Delhi, Ghazibad, Hapur, Garh Mukteshwar (NHAI)
NH 24 – Simbhavli, Gajraula, Moradabad, Rampur (NHAI)
NH 87 – Rampur, Bilaspur, Rudrapur (mostly UP)
NH 87 – Rudrapur, Haldwani, Nainital/Bhimtal (Uttrakhand)

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Yuksom – a peaceful abode in the laps of Eastern Himalayas

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Yuksom is still regarded as the base camp of Kanchenjungha, although ascent from Sikkim side has stopped over a decade ago. The mountains are revered as God by localites and stepping foot on the sacred slopes amounts to desecration of the divine forces. Kanchenjungha is abode of the Gods. We came across camps of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Their basic and advanced mountaineering courses are conducted at Rathong Glacier, the starting point of which also happens to be Yuksom.

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गढ़वाल घुमक्कडी: कर्णप्रयाग – विष्णुप्रयाग – बद्रीनाथ

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चूँकि आज हमे सिर्फ़ बद्रीनाथ ही पहुँचना था (जो की यहाँ से मात्र 125 किमी ही है), इसलिए हम संगम पर काफ़ी देर बैठे मस्ती करते रहे. संगम का आनंद लेकर और दोनो नदियों के जल से विशुद्धि व उर्जा पाकर हम लोग आगे की यात्रा पर निकलने को तैय्यार थे. ढाबे पर नाश्ता करने के बाद, हम लोग सीधे बद्रीनाथ की बस लेने आ पहुँचे. थोड़ी देर इंतेज़ार के बाद, एकाध बसें आई पर सब खचाखच भारी हुई, पाँव रखने तक की जगह नही थी, यात्रा सीज़न मे ये एक आम नज़ारा है.

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Road to Leh!

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This July, I completed a motorcycle ride from Gurgaon to Ladakh, covering Spiti Valley, Leh, Kargil and Srinagar – one of my many trips to this part of the world. Despite having done these rides multiple times earlier, why do I keep riding to these crazy terrains, where unless someone has actually travelled on a motorcycle? They wouldn’t believe what one would experience. What’s the lure of Ladakh still, when everyone and their mothers-in-law are riding/driving/flying there these days? When

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Heavenly Dooars – Kolkata to Moorti Drive

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he pot hole patches, were horrible, near Biprit at least 3 Km stretch was practically same full and just before touching to highway at Islampur a particular stretch was just nightmare.I was really thinking of a breakdown. After reaching highway to Siliguri the last 95 Km was a bliss. The most awaiting good features of highway.

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Hyderabad to Delhi and back

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A few days back,  I was surfing all possible internet sites for the quest to perform self-driven road journey from Hyderabad to Delhi and further north to Himachal. Earlier I never drove down on this route in one stretch so I was little apprehensive about practicality issues. 

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Delhi -> Jodhpur ->Jaisalmer -> Bikaner Road Review

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A road trip starting from Delhi to Jodhpur, then over to Jaisalmer and a return back via Bikaner is an amazing experience. It is always advisable to start the journey at the break of dawn to avoid the rush hour. We started around 3:00 AM (did I say break of dawn?) and were in Jaipur by 7.00 AM. The Delhi-Jaipur Highway (NH-8) is under construction for expansion. Be prepared to face a lot of mud & deep craters on the roads. We still managed to go maintain a speed of 60-70 Kmph and sometimes accelerated to about 110 kmph. Good facilities for breakfast and refreshments along the highway provided by Rajasthan Tourism & other privately held outlets make the journey comfortable.

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Biking across Northern Thailand- Part 1

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What was supposed to be a 400km ride turned out to be a late night biking expedition covering 530kms, as we rode 60+kms in wrong direction. All was well till noon, when we stopped for lunch at Mae Sariang. Post lunch, we should have taken Route 105, instead we continued on Route 108. A few display said this road heads to Chiang Mai and that didn’t ring a bell to any of us. Only later, our pilot Sumon pulled over, cross checked his map, consulted our support team (who had take right turn) and decided that we need to go back. Without a whim we rode back all the way to  the city where we had lunch. We should have added another 200 curves to our count by then,  because of this extra ride.

It was evening by now and we still had another 230kms to cover. We fuelled up and began riding, this time in the right direction.
Soon it became darker and suddenly, we found ourselves on dirt track. This feels like India- we told ourselves. Our speed dropped to single digit and we negotiated the bad road slowly, maintaining gap between bikes to let the dust settle. We were very close to Burma border, with our road running parallel to it. There were hardly any vehicles other than hours and there were no lights or shops or anything else. Pitch dark, deep forest and 100 more kms to go.

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Road trip – Delhi to Hyderabad in 2 days

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Via DND, Agra expressway we enjoyed our route with little bit of smog in between which we assumed to be gentle clouds relaxing our self through the express way. At 75 kms we paid around Rs. 415 at Jewar in the starting and did not had to pay for the next 2 tolls for Mathura and Agra plaza.

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The land of monasteries and mysteries of God……

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I entered the ‘Spiti Valley – The Middle Land’ realizing that i have lost all the contact with the world outside. If everything goes according to the plan, it would be after 3 days i.e. on 7th Oct evening when I’ll get the network back upon reaching Manali. But for now let me enjoy the beauty of the Spiti Valley for the final 27 kms left to cover from Sumdo to Tabo. As the valley now divided into two parts ‘Light & Shade’ looked magnificent in the setting sun….

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Travel Games – Games to play for kids while on a road trip

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This video has been created by my daughter Vrinda (7 years), we call her Kuhu at home, and my niece Pihu (12 years). We love to go on road trips and many a times it gets difficult to keep kids entertained while one is on the run. In this video, Pihu and Kuhu share some of the games that we love to play while travelling. Most kids love these games. These can be played with grownups as well. Each of these games is educational game in it’s own way.

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