Hi, My name is Mukesh and this description is about our recent trip to a place known as Kaudiyala in Uttaranchal above Rishikesh. I am a traveller and loves to explore new places, food, culture and i have a group of friends, colleagues , relatives and they join me during various trips as per their convenience.
Kaudiyala is a small place / stop over kind 40 kms from Rishikesh on the highway to Devprayag / Uttarkashi. There are few resorts (One KMVN) and one Private with 8-10 shops. KMVN resort is exactly at the river side and consists of independent cottages for stay.
This place is very calm, away from worries of city, at night, during morning one can only hear the sound of flowing Ganges.
In this trip we were 3 colleagues and one relative, pooled in Rs 3000/ and we headed for the journey. We decided to travel by car so started our journey on 11th of May 2012 at 6 am from Dwarka , New Delhi with tankful in Alto. Took the route towards Ghaziabad, crossing Merrut, Moradnagar, Roorkee, we reached Haridwar. At Haridwar which is approx 200 Kms from Delhi we took a break for break fast at Hotel on the road.
Journey from Delhi to Haridwar was great, smooth and we reached in 5 hours with a tea break on the highway. At Haridwar we have Aloo Paratha and tea, lovely food enjoyed and started our car towards Rishikesh, which is approx 40 kms from Haridwar.
Route from Haridwar to Rishikesh has lot of traffic but thats ok for a Delhite, managed and crossed Rishikesh and then hills started, after another 1.5 hours we reached Kaudiyala , parked our car in front of the resort and checked in our cottage.
1st day we roamed around the resort, checked out shops and stalls for availability of things around. We took rest for some time took towels, clothes and started towards Ganges side for a holy dip. This place was absolutely secluded and it was like a private beach with white sand.
All 3 of us took a dip in the cold water, it was very refreshing and one literally forgets all his worries and tension, this is the power of Gangajal, i never miss a chance and really enjoy taking dip in Ganges water.
Now we were back in our cottage, nothing to do, limited mobile signals. During evening we searched for our rafting programme scheduled for next day. We fixed rafting for next day at 10:30 am from Shivpuri to Rishikesh, approx 10 kms. Shivpuri is 20 kms back towards Rishikesh but as we had conveyance so nothing to worry.
Our first day ended with a lovel dinner and spending time looking at Ganges , hearing roar of water and long walks after dinner. Next day had our tea in resort sitting on the banks of Ganges , what a lovely refershing morning. Got ready with shorts, t shirts, sunglasses, sunblock creams and sandals. Started our car to reach Shivpuri, on the way there were lot of adventure tourism companies having set up near Ganges with a package of rafting.
We reached Shivpuri, completed formalities for rafting, there were 6 more persons in our raft with one trainer and other helper. With basics of what to do and what not, our trainer started the journey.
There were approx 4-5 rapids to be cleared before reaching Rishikesh amongst which a rapid known as Roller coaster is the most dangerous, as soon as we started 1st rapid came in within 5 minutes we crossed the same, confidence started building up then after one more rapid, roller coaster came, it was really horrible and it seems that raft will overturn but we crossed the same.
All of us were full of excitement and adventure and thrill, this was an out of the world experience , now thrill doesn’t stop here, our trainer told that before we reach a cliff for cliff jumping we all will jump in river when he will ask to do. As soon as the last rapid came , he asked us to jump and we did, what a thrill……and excitment, chilled water and strong flow of water, but we are holding a rope tied with raft and floated with raft for 2-3 kms.
Everything stablised once we reached for cliff jumping, this was a jump from approx 30 feet height again a great thing to do. Finishing off just stopped before Rishikesh, came out of river , completely exhausted so had lemon water to claim our energies back. Took a local bus to reach Shivpuri where our vehicle was waiting.
Reached our resort had rest and then planned for a dinner at a private resort opposite KMVN. Had a lovely food at 8 pm with Jeera Aloo, Daal, roti etc. We were so tired we called it off and went for sleep at 10 pm as we had to leave for Delhi at 7 am in the morning.
After having tea, settling our bills we started our jouney back, our complete body was in ache becasue of the efforts being put in for rowing raft a day before, all of us were still feeling sleepy and tired.
On the way back to Delhi took lot more time than usual coz of jam at Roorkee and other places.
Overall nice trip, full of adventure and thrill……………
Great debut post, Mukesh; welcome aboard.
Your description of the river rafting and negotiating the roller coaster rapids is exhilarating. Looking forward to reading more such interesting experiences from you.
Hi,
Welcome to Ghumakkar.
Nice post. Keep writing. River rafting is always a fun and adventurous.
Keep travelling
Very well narrated.
Hotel in Kaudiyala comes under GMVN not KMVN.
Keep traveling , keep sharing.
Welcome aboard.
Very nice – enjoyed the story.
Keep sharing.
Thanks everybody for the feedback, yes the resort comes under GMVN (correction), thanks Mahesh.
Will come up with some more stories.
regards
mukesh
Mukesh San you have become good writer and hope to see your books on your travel to different places. Very well narrated and described each and every scenario with photographs. Prospect writer of the book……. My Journey… Never Ending….
Very Nicely described post along with good captured picture.
Nice to know about Kudiyala which is new for me..
Thanlkssssssssssss
Ritesh…..AGRA
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Welcome to ghumakkar . Beautiful post and nice description
Thanks for sharing .
Welcome to Ghumakkar, Mukesh Ji! Beautiful narration. A bit more explanation about your experiences & feelings during river rafting would have been interesting to read. We had done river rafting a couple of years back in the month of December in chilling Ganges…an experience to cherish..:)..
Keep wandering & keep sharing!!!
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Welcome aboard Mukesh. River Rafting on Ganga is now extremely popular in Delhi and around. Please share the charges and the services and if possible, contact numbers of the guide if you would want to recommend him.
I did my share of Ganga Rafting about 10 years back, a few times and throughly enjoyed it. I am waiting for my daughter to be 10+ to resume this.
Please also consider the useful suggestions from Vipin. Wishes.
And please sign-up for a profile photo by registering your email id at http://www.gravatar.com
Charges for river rafting are Rs 500 per pax and in case organisers donot get enough pax charge minimum Rs 2000 i.e. a raft has to have 4 pax minimum for a trip.
These charges are for rafting between Shivpuri and Rishikesh (approx 10 kms). Shivpuri is 20 kms from Kaudiyala towards Rishikesh.
I dont have the contact details of organisers but one can find lot of them on the road at Shivpuri.
There is one more option of taking 1 night package on line (lot of websites and organisers are available, just google it) where the charges are somewhere between Rs 2500 – 3000 per pax including 1 night stay at camp, food, games and of course rafting . We choose Kaudiyala for serene environment, calm place and no rush.
Enjoy
Hi Mukesh!
Great debut post!
Still not able to gather enough guts to go whitewater rafting. Maybe some day.
Nirdesh