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Category: Roadtrips

what a weekend !!!

Lets look at the brighter side…

1. I got a bonus day with Ma Papa
2. The sudden low that I was feeling yesterday was much less today… it was relatively easier seeing them off
3. I know for sure that most things that one asks for, would happen… I wanted to go for a long drive yesterday and it happened…
4. I finished one of the nicer books I know, in about 3 hours… for a 200 page thick book that is not a bad deal at all! (Read the paragraph below…. loved it)

5. I went to a new Indian Restaurant
6. My second opportunity to drive a new Ford Fusion. Don’t confuse it with the Ford fusion in India. This one is a 2.5L 16V I4 175BHP engine… driving at speeds over 80mph is such a breeze!

and now time for the not so brighter side…

– The flight mom dad were to board to Delhi was overbooked and they had to stand at the gate for well over 2.5 hours before the staff gave them some vouchers for the night for a stay at the hotel and food. Though things worked out fine at the end, however this was an absolutely ridiculously handled episode.

– I was about to reach home, a distance of 80+ miles from the airport when mom called me and told me what happened, and I took a U turn to reach the airport again… They felt much better after I was there…

– I was stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway for over 90 minutes on my way back home today! uff !!! This long a jam on the freeway in the US, unbelievable… and what is more surprising is that this was because of two cars involved in an accident which was ridiculously irrelevent.

– It’s very difficult to stop crying when you are in a empty house, and there is no one to even attempt to make you stop crying. (And no wise comments on this point please… I am feeling much better right now)

– Silence is not going to be easy to manage with for the next few days

29 June 2009
50000 and still going strong !!!

A lot of people find me and my love for my car crazy… I don’t blame them for that passion is close to insanity anyway 🙂

Li’il do they realize that this probably is the level of commitment that I set for myself 🙂

About three and a half years after I bought my car, I still feel as great as I felt the first time I went out for a drive…

and this Sunday, we reached a milestone of 50000 kms… a journey worth it !!!

We met people during these years and kilometers, we lost some, we still have some… we saw people who loved us and understood us, and we also met people who did not understand the bond between the living and the non living… At one instance, I was even asked to go to hell and make babies with my car 😀 hahaha.. how I wish !!! A lot of my friends would not have to wait for the lakh rupee Nano then… I would have given them a lot of smaller cars for free !!!

So me and her when look back saw a lot that has happened in the last 50000 kms and we smile together !!!

It has been a life worth living !!!

and hope it stays that way !!!

God Bless !!!

24 March 2008
OF(F) Roads and Hills… (Delhi – McLeodganj – Delhi)

One Friday evening I had asked Tushar, while we were driving around in NOIDA, if he would like to go to Rishikesh in another hour… he almost freaked out and said no…I told him that this is how I would like to travel sometime… just think and go…

And it finally happened this Friday… I just called up Aro to tell him that he should not go to Vaishno Devi as he was planning because it was too crowded there… and he would not be able to manage over the weekend… and I also told him that I wanted to go out too… and then I told him that he could go to somewhere else and take me along… suggested Patni Top, Amritsar and Mcleodganj to him… He was keen on the hills, so we quickly conferenced Sanjit and decided that we were leaving in another 2 hours for Mcleodganj… So we were three people and we thought that a 4th one would not be too bad an idea…

So I talked to a few friends and Gaurav agreed… but we had to delay our plan by a few hours because he was to come only around 2100 hrs…

I went to Dwarka and picked up Aro and Sanjit… also decided that we were driving down in my car… and then moved to NOIDA… I packed my stuff, cleaned the memory card, took out the new lens, checked the batteries and was all set for the trip… Gaurav arrived on time… and we were out by 2130 hrs…

It was for sure a long way ahead… at least 12 hours… and the route I knew was Delhi- Chandigarh – Ropar/Roop Nagar – Kiratpur – Swarghat – Bilaspur – Mandi – Palampur – Gaggal – Dharamshaala – Mcleodganj…

I wanted to drive all this way, but it would have been very very taxing for me, so we decided that Delhi – Chandigarh is something that Aro would take care of and I do the rest…

I drove till Murthal… and we had the lovely paranthas and then I took the back seat… It was kinda strange to sit on the back seat of the car for the FIRST time in 2.5 years / 40000 kms J but it was kinda fun… Aro is a careful driver, however it still did not make me sleep, though I was relaxed and not getting tired… so good music and nice AC… And a decent speed made us reach Chandigarh in about 6 hours… We were there around 0330 hrs… Aro wanted to see where I stay in Chandigarh so we went to my place… Surprised and woke up my flat mate, took a CD, rested for 10 minutes before I took the wheel again for about 30 kms… Somewhere before Ropar I asked Aro to drive coz I was not really feeling like… he obliged not with a lot of happiness though this time and gave up in another 40 odd kms… We took our third stop at this dhaba (roadside restaurant) around 0600 hrs and had two cups of tea each… first time the cameras came out and a few stills were clicked… This is when the destination changed from Dharamshaala to Mandi, because of the distance we still have to cover.

I clicked Radha’s pics and loved them !!! here is one for you too 🙂

And now I took over the steering again… and started the most painful stretch of the drive… The road was good from Kiratpur towards Swarghat-Bilaspur-Mandi was good but there were a million loaded trucks on the way in front of us and coming from the other direction too which ensure that we were not moving at anything more then 20kmph for most part of our journey… Overtaking and zooming past saving ourselves from the traffic used all my driving skills and we finally took another pit-stop around 0900 hrs after we crossed Bilaspur.

This is where we discussed all our options right from what we can do in Mandi, to why we should not be back in Bilaspur, and how far was Shimla and Narkanda was a good place to visit, and why the hell did we even come this far… it was fun looking at the book Tushar had given me about Himachal and going through it to find out where we could go after driving for a good 11 hours J

Finally I put a stop to all the discussions and said that we were going to Dharamshaala and that’s IT. And I also promised that I would do that 170 kms which were left in about 4 hours making us reach the place around 1300 hrs.

Then we thought a li’il and decided that we would stop when the clock strikes 1400 hrs and move to the closest place irrespective of where we were…

We were also told that instead of moving towards Mandi –Palampur, we should proceed towards Hamirpur- Kangra – Gaggal route as it was shorter… We later realised that we had taken a very long route to begin with. There were other routes to Dharamshaala which were at least 70 kms shorter… but then the damage was done already…

We stopped about 28 kms before Mcleodganj for a bath in a river… Yes you read it right… We did jump into a small river and refreshed ourselves with that amazing water… this was a good 45 minutes break that all of us needed badly…

We finally reached Gaggal, after which I was familiar with the route, because I had changed my bus from there the last time I was going to Dharamshaala…

And we were in for a very very unpleasant surprise this time… The Road was not there… and was replaced by pebbles… the road was under construction for over 5 kms and it was nothing but pain to drive on that… uphill on a broken road with a single lane… Not the best things to happen to you and your car EVER…

We finally managed to reach McLeodganj around 1330 hrs… Just on time as I had promised the gang… and were shocked to see the amount of cars and people… too many of them… realised in not much time that it was a bad time of the year to come there… Parked the car about 500 mtrs away from the town entry and walked our way through the cars stuck in a jam towards the town… Managed to find a hotel with some difficulty, had food, relaxed for a while… and moved out to clicked pictures…

Managed to go a graveyard in the St. John’s Church about a km away from Mcleodganj and sit there for a while too… It gave me a different kind of peace, which I am going to talk to about in some other post of mine…

Ate, and walked and clicked that evening… Visit my favourite JJI Café and met Handsome there… he is a 2 month old Pup… lovely fur and beautiful puppy… had some food and shakes and moved out… Finally called it a day with some Pasta salad at an Italian food joint and watching some TV…

The next day started @ 0600 hrs for me and Gaurav and we went out to click… While Gaurav decided to head towards the Church again, I moved towards the Monastery. Took some pictures and then headed back to the hotel where I found Aro and Sanjit still sleeping away to glory… Gaurav also came back and we four finally managed to get out of the hotel by 0900 hrs and this time moved into a French restaurant for breakfast…

Roamed around the place for a couple of hours before we decided to move back at 1230 hrs… Checked out of the hotel and walked back to the car only to discover that were was a jam again… at least 50 cars wanted to move out of the town, and there was a similar number waiting to get inside…And that too on a single lane road!!! Phew!!!

The way I had the parked the car, it was pretty easy to turn it right there and I saved at least 1 hour by avoiding being a part of the traffic towards the town. So we slowly stared moving towards Dharamshaala, before we picked up some decent speed about 2 kms away from the town…

We had realised the correct and the smallest route towards Chandigarh and took that this time to move… 245 kms to Chandigarh from Dharamshaala via Gaggal – Kangra – Chintpurni Devi – Una – Nangal – Kiratpur – Roopnagar

The drive was a mix of good roads (most of the time), road under construction (wet and dusty) and no roads (waiting to be under construction). The first pit stop was somewhere around 1430 hrs on a Dhaba somewhere in Himachal. No idea where we were at that time.

Put a few Scorpios, some Taveras and Qualis’, and a Verna to shame on the hills before I reached the plains… Reached Chandigarh… got a Petrol Refill and handed over the steering to Aro but not for long as he was not comfortable on the road between Chandigarh to Ambala… I took the steering back and drove till Karnal before Aro took over again…

Dropped Aro and Sanjit at the Bus stand where they took at auto for Dwarka and reached home finally at 0300 hrs… A total driving time of about 15 hours this time…

Wonderful trip comes to and end…

And I am already waiting for the next one!!!

Some Important information:

Available Routes:

Delhi – Pathankot – Gaggal – Dharamshaala (My first route)
Delhi – Chandigarh – Ropar – Kiratpur – Bilaspur – Mandi – Palampur – Gaggal – Dharamshaala (Second route; while coming back from the first trip)
Delhi – Chandigarh – Ropar – Kiratpur – Bilaspur – Hamirpur – Kangra – Gaggal – Dharamshaala (Route while going; 2nd time)
Delhi – Chandigarh – Ropar – Kiratpur – Nangal – Una – Chintpurni – Kangra – Gaggal – Dharamshaala (Route While coming back 2nd time)

Total Driving distance:

511 kms (Route 4)
585 kms (Route 3)

Food Variety:
Indian; South Indian; Chinese; Italian; French; Tibetan

Accommodation:
Anything between 350 to 1350 per room on a twin sharing. Not many hotels have fans.

Checkout time:
Strict 1200 hrs

I think this has turned out to be one of the longest travelogues I have written… thanks for reading it till the end…

AND, and do Let me know in case you read this line too !!!

Oh… and the pictures can be found HERE

12 June 2007
Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Delhi

Prashant in sand, originally uploaded by ankur_gupta10.

do i need to say more !!!

😀

😀

😀

and now time for a detailed trip-o-logue…

Long discussions with a group called Let’s Go.. preperations and bookings… and last minute drop outs… this is what happened before the trip happened…

We finally managed to start around 0030 hrs on 26th January for Pushkar… it was just the four of us finally… Me, Ankur Gupta, Aditya, and Shubhika… about 100 kms on CNG and the rest on Petrol, we reached Puskar around 0600 hrs with one break and swapping of people on the front seats…

here are the key highlights of the drive to Pushkar and some statistical infomation…

1) Total Distance covered : Approx 425 kms…

2) Total Time taken : about 6 hours…

3) Top Speed : 160 kmph

4) Cars overtaken with sheer power : Skoda, Endeavour, Tata Safari and numerous others…

5) Best Stretch : A consistent 130 kmph on the Jaipur Ajmer road for about an hour

6) Car we were in : Fiat Rock Solid Petra

7) Number of Breaks : 1

We did not expect ourself to reach Pushkar that early, and were kinda surprised ourself when we reached there… fortunately we found a small Dhaba open in Pushkar and had our second tea of the drive there… we managed to kill about 30-40 odd minutes, before we moved to the Hotel Sunset where we had booked the rooms… this was right there in front of the Lake and the view was beautiful… thinking about not waking up anyone at that hour, we decided to just rest for a while, and then knock the doors… that we finally did and realised that the door keeper was not too keen on entertaining us and we left that place quickly… One local guy assisted us in reaching Hotel Kashyap Palace, which looked like a relatively new small hotel with 8 double rooms… no frills nothing, but clean and nice…

All we wanted to do at that hour was sleep for a while, before hitting the streets again in Pushkar… so we all crashed on the beds and woke up only around 1100 hrs, got fresh and all, and moved on to check out the small town… Our hotel was near the Govt. Sr. Secondry School Pushkar, and not too far away from the main market either… 10 minutes walk and we were at the Only temple in the world of Lord Brahma… did the usual walking around, shooting around and were out quickly… Had loads of nice food at a small restaurant called the Mamta Restaurant near the temple itself…

We tried to hire Camels for Safari, however there were no camels available, thanks to the maddening rush in the small town… which meant that we had to walk our way to the sunset point, which turned out to be a better idea then doing the safari… a walk back from the point took us to another restaurant, where we ate more…

Here is some statistical information about the day again…
1) Woke up around 1100 hrs…

2) Out of the Brahma Temple around 1400 hrs…

3) Things we had at the Mamta Restaurant : Rajasthani Thaali, Daal Bati Choorma, Gatte Ki Sabzi, More Daal Bati Choorma, Chaach… ( Bill : approx : 250 bucks)

4) Total Kms walked : Atleast 6

5) Things we had at the restaurant in the evening ( don’t remember the name though) : Mexican Enchilada, Pizza with loads of toppings, a very different Tomato Soup, Pineapple Lassi and Masala Chai… (Bill : Approx. 250 bucks)

We reached our hotel after a tiring day, and were very very happy when the Hotel owner decided to get food for us from his home… Though we were kinda stuffed already, but the great food did not stop us from eating more… And this time we had great Kadi, Chawal, Chapati, and some traditional sweet… lovely food and that too on the house… We were on the terrace of our hotel which has been made very nicely to sit a lot of people and chat.. wonderfully done…

A good night sleep and my regular alarm saw me waking up at 0700 hrs.. and we got out of the hotel after packing our stuff by 1000 hrs…

I did one of the toughest climbs ever this time… we were trying to reach a temple on the hill top through an unconventional way and did not realise that its going to be this challanging… no way to climb up and no way to get back… we literally searched for a space for almost all the steps that we took to reach the top… and a small mistake would have meant that we fall about 50 ft into stones and thorns… phew… but then we made it to the top.. only to find a closed door 🙂 anyway… it was the spirit that WON there… and we could come down just fine using the stairs that were there… and realised that it would have been tougher climbing up if we had taken that path…

Moved out of Pushkar after buying some excellent bers, and having some great Sugercane Juice… Went to Ajmer Sharif… now while I love the fact that I see people from all religions there, i hate the crowd there…. specially the beggers… God know what, but looks like that they have been professionally trained to speak a different line to get some money for a good 30 minutes… Had to get really aggressive to get two of them off my back, or else they would have followed us to Delhi i guess…

Left for Jaipur, got hit by a truck from the back and left with a damaged tail light… which led to spending a good 4 hours in a police station on the highway, with one of the most cooperative staff… the SHO, Mr. Rajvir Singh ensured the the driver was booked and a FIR lodged… it took some time, but we were out of there with the Truck confiscated, and a FIR lodged against the driver…

Took one break to eat on the highway, and then rushed to Jaipur, and went to Chowkhi Dhani, and ran out of there, scared by the crowd… I hope to go there again, sometime when its less crowded… had dinner at a place called Padharo Sa… decent food here… bill amount again approximately 250 bucks…

Left Jaipur around 2300 hrs and I was home around 0300 hrs… drove all the way from Ajmer to Jaipur to Delhi… and the best part was those 20 minutes when everyone else was sleeping, I was singing loudly, and driving at 120… i loved that time… loved it loved it loved it…

Some more statistics…

1) Total Kms Driven : about 850 kms

2) Room Tarriff in Puskhar : 400 bucks per night on twin sharing

3) Total expenditure for the trip : about 1800 bucks per person

4) Fun and feelings : Priceless

oh.. and a few pictures for the record have been posted here.

Some of my picks from the lot that I clicked can be see on my flickr page, or by clicking HERE…

30 January 2007
LansDowne PiCs…

The Pictures from the drive are finally with me… I know that I have missed atleast 1000 shots that I wanted to click because I was driving… You cannot get everyone in one trip can you 🙂 sometime later, I probably will be someone who would be driving… and I would only click !!!

But never mind, I think the percentage of shots I can publish now is much more then what it used to be earlier… so all is well… and Life IS good…

You can click HERE to check out the fotos…

2 July 2006
DeLHi-LaNsDoWnE-HaRiDwAr-DeLhi…

Time for a few statistics first…
~ Total distance: 720 kms
~ Total Petrol Burnt: ~55 lts
~ Approximate Mileage: 13 kmpl
~ Total hours of sleep between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon = 8 hours
~ Total expenditure per head in the trip (total divided between 3 people) < fun =”UNLIMITED” style=”font-weight: bold;”>Time for some highlights…
~ Buying a Palio was one of the best decisions ever… forget about how much I love the car… the only hatchback which can better the Palio 1.2 is the 1.6 Sports… nothing else !!!
~ The handling of the car on the hills is nothing less then FANTASTIC…
~ A lot of conversations added to the fun in the trip…
~ We did the first 254 kms in a li’il less then 4 hours, which included about 45 kms of hills… which means that the over 210 kms were done in less then 3 hours… an average speed of 70kmph and that too on the roads of UP…
~ I have not driven on a better road in UP then the Meerut-Bijnor-Najibabad-Kotdwar Highway…
~ We witnessed Clouds, Bright Sun, Heavy Downpours, Slight Drizzles, Flooded Highways, Slow Moving Carts, Bribe Taking Policemen, Erratic Drivers, Scenes which ask you scream WOW, and more that words cannot describe…Some important observations now…
~ Lansdowne is the closest hill station to Delhi at 254 kms… and the great road makes it really really accessible… The route that you have to take to reach Lansdowne is the Delhi- Meerut-Bijnor-Najibabad-Kotdwar-Pauri Route… a right turn after about 20 kms from Kotdwar on the Pauri route takes you to Lansdowne.
~ There is nothing that you can do there (even if you wanted). It’s just a small town on the top of a hill, inside a cantonment area. Your options are take long walks, talk to the people you are with, or just talk to anyone. If you are loner kinds… Its just the place to get away from everyone…
~ Only BSNL GSM works there… yippieeeeeeeeee…
~ There are only 4 hotels/resorts in Lansdowne… two of them are really not worth trying… One of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam’s guest house and the other one is the Fairy Dale Resort both at walking distance from the Main Market… The fifth option that takes you further away from anything related to humans is the Anand Retreat… About 3 kms away from the Main Market and driving on a 6 ft wide kuchcha road for 2.6 kms you will reach this resort in the middle of nowhere…
~ The best time to leave Delhi for Lansdowne is very very early morning around 0400 hours, this way you will be able to avoid most of the traffic and manage a speed of about 90-100 kmph most of the time with a few exceptions…
~ I would recommend going to Haridwar via Najibabad to anyone who asks me this question… better road, less traffic, better scenes… It would be about 50 kms more then usual, but is worth it…
~ There is an old Shiv Mandir about 45 kms away from Lansdowne called the Tarkeshwar Mahadev. Do not go into that direction in case you are not prepared to drive your vehicle on about 5.6 kms of something that is remotely away from being called a road… the other alternative is to walk those kilometres…

And now let me talk about my experience…

I was kinda scared that I would not be able to make the June Trip… and I was not sure where I wanted to go… I was discussing getting out of Delhi on the ODM day too… and looked like it would be just fine… we decided on the 25th wala weekend and it looked doable… Asked a couple of people… Aseem was ready… Deepak was game… Akash also was keen, though he dropped out at the last minute…

We tried hard to take Rohit along… but there were things that he could not run away from and go with us… so he stay put at his place over the weekend… too bad he missed it…

Aseem and Deepak were at my place by 2100 hours on Friday night, we had thought of sleeping for a few hours before we start an early morning drive… had a nice dinner at the Vishal’s kitchen and managed to sleep only by 0000 hours… rather go to bed around that time… kept talking and managed a sleep of only about a couple of hours… I was the last to sleep and the first to get up… which meant that I was awake at 0230 hours… got ready and woke the rest of the gang up @ 0300 hours… we managed to leave at 0325 hrs from my place and then went to the ATM… and managed to officially start our journey at 0341 hours…

Zoomed past the lesser mortals, took the right turns after asking the policemen about the route on BegumPul in Meerut… I could not believe the kind of road I was driving on the entire way… I was hoping for a much worse experience… actually was prepared for it… but could not really get out of the surprise till we reached Kotdwar… I was comfortably driving at 90-100 km/hr most of the time… oh… we almost hit a lot of stupid crows… who were not ready to fly off the middle of the road till the car was about 50 metres away from them… and we almost hit a few donkeys because they strayed on the wrong side of the road…phew.. that was a close shave… I do not care if the donkey had died on the spot… but a scratch on the car would have been a good enough reason for me to kill the rest of the donkeys and bury the owner alive with all of them!!!

Anyway… I was not really surprised after completing the first 210 kms in about 3 hours… we reached Lansdowne around 0730 hours… and then spent time looking for a place for ourselves… GMVN was booked… Fairydale was booked… we had breakfast there… had read about the kinda paranthas that place makes… but it was just average… I have had better stuff and more then once… so once our stomachs were full, we decided to find another place to stay… tried two very shady hotels in the main market but both of them were full too… so we were not stuck with just one option, the Anand Retreat !!! we talked to the guy there and got a room, a semi deluxe room, in 750 bucks… while driving to the place, it started raining pretty heavily and we reached there in about 30 odd minutes in the middle of a heavy downpour… driving on a mud-stone track in the kind of rain is definitely not one of the best things I have done to Radha… but she was there with me right through and we were safe… checked into the room… and were kinda stunned to see the number of bugs in the toilet… this is not what we had planned ? but there was li’il we could do now… it was raining cats and dogs outside… and we three were stuck in a room in the middle of nowhere… anyway…I decided to take a nap… and quickly fell asleep while watching the TV… got up fresh in two hours… It had stopped raining and Deepak had checked out most of the surroundings… Aseem gave us the idea of getting out of there for good.. and staying somewhere else… we bought it right away and decided to first drive around the place and see whatever we could and then decide what we really wanted to do and where we could stay in the night… went back to the Town, drove to a so called Lake, did not bother to get out of the car, took a u-turn and went to see the St. John’s church, The St. Mary’s Church ( I think I am messing up the name here) and the Tip-n-Top Point… went to snow-view point… and then rushed straight outside Lansdowne to Tarkeshwar Mahadev temple a good 45 kms away… reached there in good time but realised that the last 5.6 kms were mud-stone road… and I was not keen on taking the car there… Deepak and Aseem were not too sure either… so we took a u-turn… parked the car there for a while, had tea from a local shop and started back to Kotdwar… the plan was to reach Haridwar ASAP !!! I was expecting to reach there by 2100 hours… but we made it in good time this time too… Deepak slept on the back seat while me and Aseem talked our way throughout the drive back and managed to reach Haridwar around 2000 hours… nice roads again… beautiful sunset… and also a good 2 hours of conversation… I missed out on atleast a thousand shots because I was driving… I wish to capture them sometime when someone else is driving…

Haridwar was full of people… most of them from Delhi… ?… and that ensured that we did not get a room in Haridwar as well… so a quick decision to go to Rishikesh was taken… and we reached Rishikesh in about an hours time… got a room in the Maduban… this is where we eat most of the time… and this time managed to get a room there for 350 bucks… extra bed for 150 bucks… in all 500 bucks for the night…

Went to Chotiwala for Dinner but it had already closed, checked out a few more places to eat but no luck… and at the end we ate at a small road-side restaurant near the parking for Ram Jhula… not bad eh !!!

Walked back to Maduban, and crashed on the beds… I had opted for the floor… so I managed to enjoy the sleep on the floor… got up at 0400 hours on Sunday… and rushed to Haridwar to catch the Morning Atari… it seemed we were late and we decided to have a bath before going to the Har Ki Pauri… I had the holy bath after a long time… and I loved it… it happened to be some auspicious occasion too which I came to know after I reached home… so I am sure it helped me wash away some of the deadly sins committed by me in the last few months… we went to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale, to have the poories, but they had not started serving… so we had to be content with some Khasta Kachauri and some Halwa and some Gulab Jamuns… moved out of Haridwar and reached Roorkee to have the Lassi there, but the shop again was closed.. and this time to keep us company, Aseem bought some Mazaa, some chips, Appy Fizz, and Little Hearts… nice… thereon the struggle to overtake started… there was a bumper to bumper traffic on the opposite side… to over a vehicle I was like waiting for atleast 5 minutes on an average… things became better once we reached the Meerut Bypass… it had started raining too…

We stopped at Kadrabad to have the famous Jain Shikanji… this time it was better then the last 4-5 times I had it… because of less crowd I guess…

By the time we reached Modinagar it had started raining very heavily… and I drove with the left tyres in water throughout the town… the other side of the road was flooded as well with water… rain stopped after Muradnagar… and it was nice drive back home from there… dropped Deepak at the NOIDA Mode… and Aseem drove back to his place in his car which was parked at my place…

So this was the trip!!! I enjoyed writing as much about it as the drive itself… it was nice to know Deepak a li’il more… Aseem was nothing unusual, he has been with me for a number of years now and I more or less know him!!!

And for people who missed out this trip!!! Well I cannot say much but tell them that they missed out on one of the best drives I have ever been to!!!

Oh!!! And Next month, I want to go to Bhakra Nangal… anyone Game?

26 June 2006
DiLLi – VaLLeY oF fLoWeRs aNd BaCk !!!

So finally i sit down to write about my trip.. i was waiting for the fotos to come in before i write so that while you are reading about the trip you can also see what i saw…Friday, 8-Jul-05

I was back from office by 1400 hrs to attend myclass.. and back home by 1700 hrs after my class… Aro was not yet in.. coz the bus he was coming had a flat tyre.. and that delayed his arrival to my place… he finally managed to reach by 1800 hrs… and then we started packing our stuff… two huge bags… and about 50 line items needed to be packed for this long 8 day trip…. we were still not sure about that plan.. about when and where we would be except that we have to move out of home asap and reach the Lal Quila to catch our bus…

we left around 1900 hrs and took an auto to reach the Chandni Chawk Red light… i felt that the 5 rolls i was carrying were not good enough and i needed more.. so we went to the market there and grabbed another 5 pack of the Fuji 100 rolls… the shopkeeper gladly gave them to me for 220 bucks.. a good Rs. 2 more then the price in the market… next stop the travel agent’s counters.. and we found out that the first bus to Rishikesh would not leave before 2200 hrs… we were not ready to wait for that kinda time and move to ISBT to catch a bus…

We managed to get good seats in a faily decent 2X2 UP Roadways bus.. called the Pawan Gold… and took our seats at 2100 hours… at that time there are loads and loads of buses to Rishikesh… actually every 2 minutes you will see a bus moving into that direction… this bus looked like the most comfy of all.. and we took our tickets… cost of the tickets… 312 bucks for two… the bus finaly moved at 2145 hours after we had two big cups of the Mother Daily Mango Delight Icecream… we were expecting to reach Rishikesh by 0330 hrs in the morning… but a traffic jam after Muzaffar nagar increased the travel time by over 90 mintues…

~ UP roadways bus we took from Delhi to Rishikesh, seen here parked at the hotel near Khatauli… we had to push this bus to start it here.. making it a true 2X2 Pushback 🙂

Saturday, 9-July

We managed to reach Rishikesh only around 0530 hours… thanks to Traffic Jam.. and quickly rushed to the Srinagar Bas Stand.. this is where we had to take the next bus from… We were planning to go to Badrinath… we were told that we could take a bus run by GMOU Ltd. stands for the Garwal Motor Owners Union Ltd… infact most of the buses on this route are associated with this body…

when we reached there… we got to know that there was no way we could reach Badrinath by night.. as the bus was scheduled to move only at 0630 hours and it would reach Joshimath in about 12 hours… late enough to skip the last Gate from Joshimath… we had no other option but to board the bus… it was a small… actually reach small bus.. and we managed to get the first seats from the back on the gate’s side… i could hardly manged my legs between the two seats.. and was wondering how i would manage to be there in that bus for about 12 hours… trust me it was not a very nice thought… anyway.. the bus moved at 0630 hours for a destination about 300 kms and 12 hours away…..

we stopped for a quick breakfast after about an hour.. and had some Aaloo Paranthaas with Curd…

~Our first break after Rishikesh.. what you see in the foto is the bus which took us to Joshimath…

Long travel that was.. and the view outside the windows was really beautiful.. most of the time was spent sleeping and the rest looking outside the window…. we passed through.. Srinagar ( in Garhwal), RudraPrayag, KaranPrayag, Nand Prayag, PipalKoti etc to reach Joshimath in the evening…

We got stuck in a Jam caused by a landslide and had to waste about 45 minutes waiting for it to get cleared… and once it was done.. we moved ahead…

~ The road being cleared… Border Roads Organisation has done a great job with the roads on this route…

One thing which i noticed here in the jam was the disclipline with parking… reminded me of the reason why we got late on our way to Rishikesh.. the traffic from one side of the road would try and take as much space as they can.. and then block all the lanes that the traffic from the other side can use to cross.. but here it was different… the vehicles were nicely parked at one side of the road… and ensured that there was enough space forthe vehicles from the other side to cross when the road clears up…

~ Notice the way vehicles have been parked… rare sight in a jam if this was in Delhi…

We manged to reach Joshimath earlier then expected.. it was 1700hrs… and we got to know that we had missed the last gate only by 30 minutes… if we had not been caught in that Jam.. we would have reached Badrinath in the night itself… anyway… li’il that we could do about it… we searched for the GMVN ( Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) Guest house… and did not find it upto the mark… the room rent was 350 bucks for a night.. and it was not in the best shape either.. so we decided to look for something cheaper and better.. and then checked in a hotel called Hotel Sriram right next to the Guest house.. for a room which was for Rs. 250 a night.. definitely better then the guest house.. and the owner of the hotel was a very nice fella himself.. we spent about 30 minutes talking to him before we moved into the room… the view from the room was very beautiful… the air pure and the feeling great…

~ The view from our room at Joshimath…

Took a back with freezing cold water… and had a quick dinner before sleeping… did not take much time for our tired bodies to get to sleep… we had decided that instead of the going to Badrinath we would go to Govindghat.. and then to Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers before we move to Badrinath…

Sunday, 10-July

We got up early… around 0500 hours… managed to reach the gate by 0545 hours.. this is where we could get a bus to Govindghat…. managed to get the seats in a decent bus which moved at 0600 hrs… and we were in Govindghat by 0645 hours….

~The Gate system at Joshimath… to avoid any jams on the small road ahead !!!

We just could not stop looking at the mountains when we reached Govindghat.. the view was magical.. clouds all over.. huge majestic mountains… lovely wind…

~ Got down of the bus at Govindghat… the view was too beautiful to move from there…

and then we received a shock !!!!

we had thought that we could take a cab/taxi something to Ghangria… but this is where we realised that we had to walk 13 kms to reach Ghangria also known as Govinddham… anyway… li’il we could do about it… so we starting walking… and realised it in the first 500 metres that it was not going to be easy… though the weather was good.. there was no sun.. and it was kinda cool too… we were still all in sweat… and we had bags which weighed over 10 kgs each… it was going to be one challanging journey…

~ Rafting anyone 🙂 the sound of the waters could tell you about its might too…

I just could not take it anymore after about 6 kms.. and had to hire a pony… no no.. not for myself.. but the bag… talking about ponies… this entire path had a never ending smell of horse shit…

so basically you would breath air.. walk on stones.. listen to a small but very mighty river and smell horst shit on this way from Govindghat to Ghangria… there are plenty of small shops all along the path where you can get cold drinks (the 500 ml bottles) for 25 bucks… glucose buiscit packets for about 10 bucks… and anything to eat… and if it is packed… it is going to be awefully expensive.. and the prices would increase as the altitude increases….

We reached Ghangria around 1500 hours… very tired.. and very hungry.. and it had also started raining a li’il… and we did not have our raingear with us.. it was in the bag.. and the bags with the TattoWalla… who had already reached about 30 minutes before us…

~Our hotel at Ghangria

we had a quick afternoon meal… well.. for a meal we had some noodles… and then we checked into this small but decent hotel called the Hotel Pritam…

We were too tired and it did not take us more then 30 minutes to fall asleep… which means were already in deep sleep by 1600 hours….

We woke up around 2000 hrs… i guess we were hungry.. and then had a nice walk around the place… and some bad dinner… and some great Gulab Jamuns ( tat too at a price of just 5 bucks each)… now with everything so bloddy expensive there.. this treat was more then wat we could ask for… anyway…after having the sweets we headed back to our hotel… applied some move on the legs… they were in real bad pain.. and then went off to sleep to get up early next morning…

Monday, 11-Jul

Woke up at 0430 hours.. thanks to the alarm in my mobile… an alarm clock was all it could have been used for.. coz there were no signals i could catchafter rishikesh.. anyway.. that was something that i really liked… no one could call me up… away from the world….

so by 0530 hours were out of the hotel.. had some biscuits and some tea at a tea stall and then started our trek for Hemkund Sahib…. had no clue what were heading for… we thought what we had experienced in the last three kms to Ghangria was the worst that could happen.. it was a climb at 45 degs.. and we were walking on stones… had to look at every stone we were stepping on… otherwise would end up having some strained muscles.. and fractures…

anyway.. we knew it was going to be tough… 6 kms… and moving from 3049 m to Hemkund Sahib @ 4329 m.

~ 100s of Ponies are there in the morning… costs about150 bucks to reach the Glacieron the pony and then walk from there…

We were walking on a path which was not one of the best laid.. i remember looking at every stone that i kept my feet on…

~ The kinda path we were walking on.. this is a better part of the entire way…

But trust me.. it was worth it… the views that we had from the way…. the air that we were breathing.. the faith that we witnessed… it made it all worth it… people of all ages.. kids, women, men.. old or young… everyone was determined to climb up and reach the Gurudwara…

~ Look at the steep climb… some determination it takes to do this trek…

~ What a view… made all the pain worth it…

Finally after walking for over 4 hours… crossing a Glacier.. and climbing up over 1200 steps ( there were two ways to the Gurudwara after the glacier.. we could take the stairs or the slope.. we chose to walk on the steps… knowing that it is tougher to climb up the steps.. we still took’em… wanted to reach faster actually)

~ The Glacier we had to cross to reach Hemkund Sahib… looks scary.. and was too..

~Ice on my hand… and me on a Glacier…

The view at the Guru Dwara was breathtaking… it was just too beautiful to be described in words… i do not know enough adjectives to describe what i saw… so will just stick to some pics…

~ The lake near Hemkund Sahib…can’t believe i actually dip my feet in it…

~Hemkund Sahib

I managed to gather enough courage to dip my legs in the lake near the GuruDwara and wash my face with the water.. it was freezing cold… can’t tell u how bad i was shivering after i did that dare.. and there were ppl who were taking a dip in there.. .phew.. how did they manage it.. is something that they only know… to make things worse.. it started raining.. which dipped the temprature to sub-zero level and then the only pair of socks that i was wearing got wet… man !!! i was not in a good situation there…

went inside the GuruDwara…

came back…

had some hot and really tasty Khichdi and Tea at the Langar.. and then started walking back…
which turned out to be more painful and long then we expected.. every time i was keeping myfoot down on a stone.. the entire leg used to cry out loud in pain.. from my ankles to my knees… it seemed that i just could not take it any longer.. but still there was no other option but to carry on… and so we did…

and reached Ghangria at 1500 hours… with almost broken bones.. had managed to save myself from slipping a couple of times as well… the knees and the ankles were in pain like hell… and yet there was a satisfaction of achieving something that a lot of ppl do not…

~ Ghangria when we came back from Hemkund Sahib…

before we could sit down for lunch in our hotel.. there was a huge sound of stones falling.. and it was just behind ourhotel… we had to run hard to save ourself… the sound made us feel that a stone could hit us any moment.. but we were lucky.. though the noises were scary… the landslide was at a distance… so no harm done to anyone…

had a good lunch…. and then were off to sleep by 1630hours… not before applying lot of Move to our legs… this is were we realised how soothing these lotions can be…

got up around 2000 hrs for dinner… had a quick bite.. and then our favorite Gulab Jamuns and went off to sleep again by 2200 hrs… tmrw was going to be a long day… we had to go to the Valley of Flowers.. and then back to Govindghat….

Tuesday, 12-Jul

Woke up early morning… but coz we were so damn tired.. justcould not get out of our beds… managed to somehow get moving at 0530 hrs… the legs were still in a bad shape..lots of pain still.. but we had to do it…
so packed our biscuits.. and some peanuts… and started for the VOF….

~ a bridge that we had to cross on our way to the Valley…

soon after we entered the gate.. we realised we were in a different world… i could only hear a small river flowing nearby.. and could listen to the insects… even breating heavily would be considered noise there…

it was just to beautiful.. and right now.. i hate my vocab.. i just cannot find enough words to write what i felt… just cannot 🙁

anyway… the pics might just help…

~ Though this was not the peak time for flowers… we still managed to catch up with a lot of them…

We were again walking on some steep paths.. though the pain was there… the beauty of the surroundings.. kept the thoughts of the pain away…

~The trek is too beautiful… steep but beautiful… tiring and relaxing…

Crossed two small glaciers.. and two landslide areas with complete care… and got stuck at a glacier about 500 metres from the Valley… it looked too dangerous to move ahead on that.. though i had a stick with me.. i was not sure i should move ahead… i was scared.. coz there were no one around to help… and a minor mistake there could have meant… death… that too in cold waters… just could not take that risk…. so stayed there for sometime.. enjoyed the view.. and headed back to the hotel.. so that we could start our journey to Govindghat from there…

~ This is what the Valley of Flowers looks like…

~The Valley of Flowers… all nature.. pure as pure can be…

~ The glacier we could not cross… Aro became too sad after this… though i was kinda content with watever we managed…

We were back in Govinddham (Ghanngria) by 0930 hrs.. had some heavy breakfast, hired a pony to carry our bags and then moved started for Govindghat by 1015 hours… Had to walk for another 13 kms… we knew its going to be a tough walk ahead… and were determined to make it through…
so we started…

~ Some camp just before Gangria… probably was an Army camp… also had a helipad there..

~ Walking in the middle of the nature with almost dead feet… pain and pleasure together…

We reached Govindghat by 1500hrs…

~ These shoes were brand new when i moved out on friday.. and look at them now 🙂

this where i saw remains of a tragedy which struck the small town a few days back.. a flash flood… about 11 people lost there lives…. and about 230 vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition… 200 two wheelers and about 4-wheelers… the area was still being cleared and the scooters and the bikes were being dumped at the sides… it was scary to see the state of these….

~ A bike as good as waste in GovindGhat… reminds me of the power of Nature…

had to wait till 1715 hours before we got a bus for Badrinath…. we had again missed the previous gate by just about 15 minutes…

what we landed into was another jam.. because of a landslide… waited for an hour for that to clear up… and then decided to go back to Govindghat for the night… we were already too tired to take it any longer…. and then God knows that came to our minds… both of us decided to get back home…
the decision was quick and was not questioned by anyone of the two.. so we took at jeep to Joshimath and landed at the same hotel… where the owner was really glad to see us…

Talked to him for a good 45 minutes before we went to the room… then i rushed to get the tickets for the first bus out of Joshimath to Haridwar…
had a great dinner after a nice warm bath… and slept after repacking the entire stuff by 2200 hours…

Wednesday, 13-jul

Got up at 0330 hrs… and move out by 0400 hrs to take the Himgiri Express to Haridwar…. the drive back also involved a lot of sleep… beautiful sceneries around… some fotografs…

~ The Himgiri Express parked at a place called Teen Dhara…

~ Notice the small white car being pulled up…please drive very carefully always…

~C the Earth Movers in action again…

We were in haridwar by 1600 hrs.. looked for a place to keep our bags… and then moved to the Har ki Paudi… stayed there for while.. before going to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale.. to stuff our tummies with Poories, Halwa, Kachories, and Gulab Jamuns… then had some good Lassi… followed by a fantabolous pan….

~At Har Ki Paudi in Haridwar

bak to the Bus stand by 1715 hours.. and took the first bus to Delhi…. a failry decent bus.. the front seats again.. so that we could get enough leg room…. though we were expecting to reach delhi by 2200 hours… a Jam struck again.. and this time near Khatauli… just before Sakauti… spent a good 2.5 hours there before we reached the ISBT late night around 0100 hours…

it was a trip well done… too muchhard work.. and surroundings that i had never seen before… i would like to go again to the same places… but then this time i would act a li’il more intelligent…

we managed the entire trip in somewhere around 2500 bucks per head… and here are a few learnings from the trip :
– Start working out atleast a month in advance when you are planning such long treks…
– Stop smoking for this time period at least….
– Always carry a pair of socks with you 😉
– A stick always helps when you are climbing up or down…
– Always look before you step forward… make sure that you do not step on the wrong side of the stones…
– Carry along with you loads of will power and mental strength….

waiting for another trip already… well.. thats what i am …..

~Weather back home was great as well… took this foto after some good showers on Thursday

The pictures from the trip are available HERE.

16 July 2005