Travels of a Family Man

2010-06-17T13:49:00.002+05:30

Spiti Valley / Kalpa / Sarahan : Impressions

Here are some impressions from my recent trip to Sarahan, Kalpa and Spiti Valley

- Banjara Camps did a great job of arranging the trip as usual. Special thanks to Kavitha. Thanks to Rajesh for a great lunch at their office. You can check out details about Banjara Camps at http://www.banjaracamps.com

- I finally figured out after 3 years as to how we reached Sangla from Shoja!!We had done this drive 3 years back

- The first place we stopped was Khairighat. This was more for the overnight stay. The aloo paranthas at this place were best in the trip according to Ranjani and Harini, who survived mainly on aloo paranthas

- Did a one station ride in the Toy Train. Nice views along the way.

- Our first major stop was Sarahan, which is a lovely place with a great view of the Srikand mountain range in front of you. The Bhimakali temple is worth a visit. I would highly recommend people to visit Sarahan

- We followed Sutlej from near Rampur, all the way till Khab. After Khab, we followed Spiti. There is no greater pleasure than running along with the river

- Sutlej is dirty and so is Spiti during this season. They turn clear during winter months it seems

- The next stop was Kalpa. Lot of greenery around Kalpa. We also saw the Kinner Kailash range. There is a rock on one of the mountains, which when viewed from far away, changes colors!!! The driver showed us the rock much before we reached Kalpa and we could see the changing colors. The strange thing was it was not changing colors due to change in the sunlight. It was happening on its own!!! Great experience to see this from that place and then from Kalpa. Couldn't see that the next day as the whole place was crowded

- The HPTDC hotel in Kalpa was very good. It got the best stay rating from Ranjani and Harini since it was duplex one and they had the top room all for themselves!!!

- Stopped at a charming waterfall on way to Tabo from Kalpa

- Visited Nako en route to Tabo. The Nako lake is the most photogenic lake I have ever seen. It looks very normal when seen nearby but in photos it looks amazing

- Saw the 'sangam' of Sutlej and Spiti at Khab. Sutlej comes in from Tibet and Spiti from the Spiti Valley. If we had climbed up one of the hills here we could have seen Tibet. But civilians are not allowed beyond a point. It is still a thrilling experience to know that beyond the hills you are seeing lies a foreign country

- We stopped on the banks of the Spiti River along the way. Gayathri and Ranjani found a rock which they christened 'Lion King' rock. Apparently, the lion in the movie stands on a similar looking rock.

- Most of the villages on the way to Tabo have population of 75 to 230 people. Way less than the people in one multi storied apartment complex in Bangalore!!

- The most thrilling part of the trip, according to Ranjani, was the crossing of Tinku naala, when the water was in full flow

- Tabo monastery is definitely worth a visit. There are some life size figures mounted on a pedestal inside the monastery which are breathtaking.

- Saw some zillion stars in the night sky. Pollution does not exist here

- The drive to Dhankar Monastery and the view from there is superb. You can see the Pin River joining Spiti River from here.

- Visited the highest inhabited village called Kibber. We saw the Ki monastery on the way but did not go in. You can clearly see and feel the remoteness of these places.

- Saw a Himalayan Red Fox during our drive to Ki. Took lot of snaps. The fox almost merges with the surroundings

- Also saw a bunch of Bharal or Himalayan Blue Sheep on our way

- Tabo and Kaza remind you of Ladhak. The same sort of landscape, wide open spaces and lack of greenery. The only difference is that in Ladhak, everything is far bigger

- When we were returning back to Kalpa from Tabo, Gayathri remarked, "Aah. Now it feels we are back in civilization", after seeing some greenery near Kalpa

- Could not visit Pin Valley as the roads were not in great condition. Looks like if you were to see wildlife in Pin valley, you must trek.

- Good food everywhere. In HPTDC hotels, in Tabo and in Banjara Camps in Kaza. Very tasty North Indian food. Anyone going from down South should be prepared to eat North Indian food

- Driver stopped at a couple of places along the way for lunch. The ambience was nothing to shout about but the food was very good. I had instructed him that to me food mattered more than the ambience!!

- The most surprising part of the journey was the inability to get a good cup of tea!!! I mean, if at all you expect some good tea, it is in North India but it was not to be. We can't expect it in Spiti Valley since it is too remote and doesn't have much cattle. They depend on Amul tetra packs for milk. But you do expect it in Chandigarh or Narkanda or Shimla but everyone has now started using tea bags!!! The guy in Chandigarh station told me that given the rush, they did not want to 'make' tea. Hence tea bags!! It looks like people just want to have the satisfaction of having had something called tea. Hot and sweet is all they seem to look for. Otherwise I cannot explain how people can accept tea bags!!

- Overall a great trip. A bit exhausting because we kept driving all the 10 days but some amount of physical pain has to be endured if you want to see these lovely places.

2010-06-14T17:03:00.002+05:30

Spiti Valley : The Thrilling Adventure

"Do you see the dark, damp patches out there", asked our driver, Amit, pointing to the hill on the other side of the river. "This is the place where the mountain caved in, trapping a convoy of 34 military trucks. People say that some of the trucks were carrying oil and the oil is slowly seeping up to the surface. They have not been able to dig out the trucks nor the people trapped inside." Our driver was full of such anecdotes, which he dispensed liberally throughout the trip, heightening Gayathri's anxiety. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.

We arrived in Delhi, were picked up by my friend Ramakrishna, whom I was seeing after a gap of more than 2 decades. He took us home, then drove us to Banjara Camps office, where we met Rajesh and Kavitha. Our adventure started in Delhi itself. We left Banjara Camps office a bit late and I was not sure when we will get to the railway station. Ramakrishan had a GPS system in his car and luckily for us, it worked, since Ramakrishna was not sure of the directions to the station. The stern lady, who spoke to us from the GPS console, guided us perfectly asking us to 'take a right at the next turn', 'now take a left' etc. We arrived at Delhi station around 10-15 mins before departure, quickly engaged a porter. As luck would have it, our platform was the furthest and so was our compartment. We got in with around 5 mins to spare. Rajesh called up asking if we were in the train as he was also not sure if we left his office early enough. Thanks to Ramakrishna and his GPS for getting us to station on time. We reached Chandigarh, from where the driver picked us up and drove us to Kairighat, where we stayed for the night.

The next day we wanted to take a small ride on the Simla mountain train. Having learned that the train would arrive at the next station in next 10 mins, our driver drove like a F1 drivers, taking the curves hard. Yet we missed that train. So we did the next best thing. We took the train that was going towards Kalka asking the driver to pick us up at the next station. Gayathri then told the driver that we have all the time in the world and not to worry about driving fast.

The next day, we drove from Sarahan to Kalpa. The drive was good except for the dam site on the way. After we checked into the hotel, we went to a drive to a nearby village. The whole drive was a scary one. The mountains here had almost vertical sides and the depth was enough to give you vertigo. Amit stopped at one places, where there was sheer drop, informing us that this was the suicide point. When you get down and near the edge you can understand why it is called so, especially when your knees turn weak suddenly. Gayathri refused to come anywhere close to the edge and kept a safe 10 ft distance from the edge. As we drove on Ranjani asked, "Why is that place called suicide point? If you fall off from anywhere, you are gone." Harini replied, "Only from the point you will hit the ground straight, without hitting anything on the way." When we turned a curve we could see that what Harini said was very true. The mountain there was vertical and nothing to bounce off on the way down!! Amit, our driver told, "If someone is contemplating suicide, we must bring that person here. This is so scary that the person will immediately change his mind about suicide."

Next day we started from Kalpa for Tabo. After travelling for some time, I saw a very fragile mountain on the other side of the river. It was as if the mountain was just made of sand and would collapse any time now . I pointed the mountain out this fact to Amit. To which he said, "Do you see the dark, damp patches out there? This is the place where the mountain caved in, trapping a convoy of 34 military trucks. People say that some of the trucks were carrying oil and the oil is slowly seeping up to the surface. They have not been able to dig out neither the trucks till nor the people trapped inside." He continued, "That was the original road to Tabo. Since that portion caved in, they have built this road. Landslides and mountains caving in are quite common here. Whenever I start from my house to Spiti Valley I am not sure if I will get back. So I never tell my parents I am going to Spiti Valley." I could then see why he was saying that since most of the mountains around that area seemed very fragile. We crossed a bridge and went to the other side and I was looking at all those mountains and it was not encouraging at all. It seemed that all the mountains were looking for the least pretext to start a landslide. There were enough rocks of varying sizes on each one of them and vegetation was completely absent. No signs of greenery around. We left it back in Kalpa.

We proceeded further and then saw some people drilling on the side of the mountain. So we had to stop for a few minutes. There were a couple of people on the top who were doing the drilling part and a couple of guys below regulating the traffic. The guys regulating the traffic waved us on. Apparently they had not made this fact known to the guys drilling up. So a few meters away from us some mud and stone rained down. Our driver shouted, "Do you guys plan to kill us?" We passed that hurdle and after some more time saw a line of vehicles stopped at one place. Our driver stopped as well and checked what the problem was.

We all love waterfalls, isn't it. This problem also had to do with a waterfall. It was a nice waterfall, except that it was falling on the road. The flow of water was high and our driver remarked that sometimes this flow can wash away large trucks!! The place where the water flowed on the road was in bad shape as can be expected. The filled up the craters with some stones using a large earth moving equipment. Ranjani and I went to see this spot, which was not visible from where our car was parked. Slowly vehicles started moving and each one rocked and rolled as they crossed this hurdle. Our driver had one anecdote for this spot. "Once the flow was so high that we were stuck under this overhang here", he said pointing to an overhang. "We were here for two days. One Nepali fellow was serving tea for Rs.20/- and paranthas were costing Rs.50/- each." We were thankful we got out of that place, which was known as Tinku naala and a well known problem spot in the route.

We proceeded towards Nako, after having seen the sangam of Sutlej and Spiti at Khab. The mountains were again looking ominous. There were two types of mountains here. One type looked as if it was made of a single stone and other type looked as if it was a humongous file of sand!! It was mid day, the sun was hot and absolutely not a single soul or vehicle as far as the eye can see. Amit kept pointing to the road we will be taking, which looked as like a parting of hair. And the road ran so high that you were scared just looking at it. That there was no sign of any habitation wasn't helping either.

We got to Nako and after lunch proceeded towards Tabo. Along the way is the most notorious of all hurdles, Maling naala. The way the driver spoke, this place is almost legendary in this area now. This was to be the most difficult and dangerous crossing. The driver stopped at a temple before the Maling naala, prayed and then got into the car. The Maling naala was supposed to be similar to Tinku naala, with water flowing on the road but more dangerous because of is location at a curve in the road between two mountains. It was an anti climax there as Maling naala was completely dry!!! Something which the driver did not anticipate. He more than made up for lack of excitement by his driving. Imagine this scenario. We are on a mountain road with no protection against crashing down, the road curves every 5 mts, the road is wide enough to let one and half vehicles simultaneously. In this road, our driver drove at around 50 or 60 kms speed, with one hand on the steering, his neck craning forward and up, his eyes focussed on the mountain above to see if any landslide is starting, and all the while turning the car left and right as demanded by the mountain. All the while me staring at the mountain side and the sheer drop below. "This area is very dangerous. At any point here a landslide can happen and we can be trapped." Apparently he has not thought about the possibility of us hurtling downwards. He then showed us a spot, on the left of which was a sheer drop, and told, "This is the place where once I got my car out of water and for a minute the car made it as if it was going to go down the side. I pumped my accelerator and got myself out of that mess but I was shit scared." After crossing Maling naala, we reached Tabo without any further incidents. Next day we left for Kaza. As we were approaching Kaza, we saw a couple of very dirty 'naalas' on the other side of the Spiti river. Gayathri asked what they were. Amit replied, "They are naalas." "Where does the road go?" "That goes to Pin Valley". Gayathri, who had enough of naalas, told firmly, "We are not going to Pin Valley."

After two nights at Kaza, it was time to head back to Tabo after lunch. The weather had dramatically changed. It was dark now with ominous black clouds hovering on the horizon, a stiff wind was blowing. In the valley ahead we could see some sandstorms starting and a light drizzle had started as well. Just as we were ready to head out, our driver made the suggestion, "The weather is bad. Shall we stay here today and head for Kalpa directly tomorrow?" We decided against it saying that we will turn back in case we encounter any problem. "The wind is the biggest enemy', said our driver. "This wind is the one which starts the landslides. Even if there are no landslides, stones will start falling. Can you also keep an eye on the mountain so that we know when something is happening." I said yes and started keeping an eye on the barren mountains. Even if I were to take my eyes off for a second, Gayathri would urge me, "Keep looking at the mountains". Our driver was also driving with one eye on the mountain. Our vigil paid dividends as I spotted a place where small stones started running down. I asked Amit to stop. He stopped and we could see one small stone after another come down, hit the road, keep going down and land in the river below. It was clear demonstration of the power of gravity, acceleration due to gravity and the Newton laws. Reasonable sized stones were rolling down and you can clearly see the pace they gather as they come down. If you are on the way, the wind-shield is gone for sure. Amit hurriedly looked for an overhang and got the car parked under one so that we were safe from falling stones. The wind stopped blowing after a dozen stones had rolled down. Amit put his hand out of the window to check if the wind has stopped blowing and the started. The problem was that once we crossed the point where the stones have rained down, the whole mountain held the threat of more stones falling down for the next half a kilometre!! And there were no overhangs around!! If stones started rolling down from multiple places, you were sure to get hurt, whether you stop or proceed. Luckily for us, no such thing happened and we got out of that place safely. The rest of the drive to Tabo didn't give us any heart attacks.

Gayathri had only thing on her mind from the time we reached Tabo the first time. How are we going to get back across Maling and Tinku naala. The fear was accentuated when the driver before driving out of Tabo said, "Bring lots of food. You never where we will be stuck for how long. It is better to have food handy." Very practical guy. Our first hurdle was Maling. There was some water in it but not much. We crossed this without a problem. Then our driver showed a spot next to the Maling naala and said, "That portion had caved in once. I stood here for two days at a stretch and had to go back because they couldn't clear the road."

One of the main reasons to dread these naalas is simple. If you were blocked on your way back, you stay blocked!! Let me explain. There are two routes to getting to Spiti Valley (Tabo and Kaza.) One comes from Manali and remains closed during winter till first week of June. We were in Spiti Valley during May second week and hence this approach was not feasible. So the only way out was through these naalas into Kinnaur and if there is any landslide along the way, you were stuck in the Spiti Valley for days together.

Tinku naala too behaved itself and we crossed that without a problem. Then we came across a line of vehicles stopped on the road. This time it was not a naala but the same old drilling problem. Without waiting for the signal to proceed some vehicles started moving and this led to a traffic jam what with the vehicles coming from the other side at the same time. Our car was stuck in a place where pebbles started falling on our car from the freshly drilled mountain side. Our driver shouted to the vehicle driver behind him to move and we reversed our car, not before a few more pebbles fell on our car, irritating the driver. (For his was a brand new Innova.) As usual, he had an anecdote for such incidents as well. "Once I was stuck in such a jam because of drilling. Two guys in a car, foolish fellows, went forward without waiting for the signal to proceed. A huge tree fell on the car crushing those fellows to death. I used to take huge risks on the road earlier. After that incident I have mellowed down."

That was the last major incident before we reached Kalpa to stay for the night. The drive from Kalpa towards Kalka went smoothly. The flight back home was smooth as well. It was as if all adventure stopped once we got out of Spiti Valley. Thus ended a 10 day trip to one of India's remote areas. This is not a trip for the weak hearted. If you need some adventure, this is the place to go. You need to do nothing. Driving till there is adventure enough.

P.S: After I came back, I called Rajesh to thank him for the arrangements. He informed me that a few days after I left Tabo, there was a landslide somewhere near Maling naala which shut down the road for two days. He had to direct some of his visitors to Shoja since Tabo was not reachable. We were lucky. Both to see the Spiti Valley and not to get trapped!!

2009-05-26T23:09:00.034+05:30

Far from the madding crowd - Red Hills Ooty

When Gods conspire against you there isn't much you can do. That was my feeling after my repeated attempts to undertake the Himalaya tour this summer failed. Lot of unavoidable factors came into play and by end April I gave up on the Himalayan tour. Instead I decided that I will undertake a small trip to Ooty. Not as a replacement for the Himalayas but more as an exploratory trip of this region. Turns out to be a lovely region and I enjoyed the trip thoroughly.

When I say Ooty, lot of experienced travellers must have felt, "What, Ooty and enjoyment? How can you enjoy in that crowd?" The secret was not to stay in Ooty but to stay far away. Around 28kms or so away. I had heard some good reports about this resort called Red Hills from my friend Andy and I looked it up in Outlook Traveller. I then called Vijaykumar, who owns this place, and made the necessary bookings. You can contact Vijaykumar at +91-9442254755. You can look up his web page at http://www.redhill-india.com/

I left home at around 6 am on the morning of 18th May and stopped at Kamat at Ramanagara on the way, as usual, for breakfast. Reached Ooty around 12:30. The roads were uniformly good except for a 10km stretch between Gundlupet and Bandipur. As usual, inside Bandipur we saw lot of spotted deer and black faced langurs. At Ooty I had some signal problems resulting in calling up Vijaykumar and getting the route. I finally got through to him and got the route from him. You need to get to a place called Emerald and after that the road is quite bad and there are two forest segments there. As usual Gayathri was not sure if we were on the right path. I too thought the same but told her we were going the correct way. Turned out I was right. We reached the Red Hills resort just after 2pm, in time for lunch.

The location of Red Hills resort is something to die for. It is an old fashioned British bungalow, sitting on a top of a hill, which overlooks the lovely Emerald Lake. We could understand why the lake was named Emerald when we climbed up towards Red Hills resort. The water has a green hue and the whole lake shines. One look at the lake and our tiredness vanished!! Surrounding the Red Hills resort are some tea plantations and a mountain, which we would climb the next day. The eye could see only greenery all around and the huge lake. Very soothing sight indeed. Our room was in the rear and we had the view of the mountain. We had our lunch, rested for some time and then went out for a small walk, taking a zillion photos on the way, according to Ranjani and Harini. ("Why do you keep shooting the same thing again and again", they continuously ask. It is difficult to explain the concept of bracketing to them. Especially when all the photos turn out bad!!!) It was cold in the evening, requiring sweaters to be worn. The dinner was great. Infact all meals were great. The Red Hills people have a fabulous cook.

The next day was our trek day.

All treks start the same way, with a lot of enthusiasm. All treks end the same way, "Are we ever going to reach our place?!!". The trek started with four of us and with our current 'neighbor's' family. Mrs.Palak came for the trek along with her two adorable daughters, Eesha and Rithika. The trek started with everyone being gung ho about it and that lasted for a whole of 10 mins or so till the steep climb started. The whole climb was accompanied by the expected exclamations. "I can't walk a step further", "We still have to climb some more?!!" "I think we have climbed enough. Let's get back" etc. I urged everyone saying that we had only 10 more mins of climb and kept repeating this at 10 mins interval. We came to a clearing and flat ground and took a rest. The guide showed the peak to all members and the exclamations started again. "No way can we climb that much", "You guys go and come down. We will wait here". The guide put a rest to the argument saying that we will not be coming down the same way and instead would be taking a route through the forest. I told everyone that it will be great walking through the forest though I had no clue how it would be!! Slowly and steadily we reached the summit and the view from there was definitely worth all the trouble. Perched on the summit, we could see hills surrounding us on all sides and way below two lovely lakes and two dams. The clouds were right in front of us and it was as if we were on the top of the world. The loneliness, the silence and the vast space spread out in front of us eased the physical pain. After taking in the scenery to our heart's content and resting for some time, we started our trek downwards. The downward trek is always more tricky than the upward one, especially when the soil is loose or if it had rained recently. The track in front of us met both the requirements!! As the guide had promised, we came into the forest and it was a nice feeling being there. It was dark, both due to the fact that the weather was cloudy and due to the tree cover. There were lots of insects which would bite us once in a while. Nothing serious but I could realise what the early guys who explored the Amazon must have gone through!! We would not have made it through the forest without a guide. The trail just vanishes or takes unexpected turns. Suddenly we would not see the people who went before us and we would shout. They would shout back and then we knew what route they had taken. Harini kept asking, "How much more?" and as you would have guessed, I kept saying, "10 more minutes." We landed at our resort after passing through some tea plantations. The trip had taken us more than 3hrs. The star of the trek was the 5 yr old Eesha, who climbed effortlessly.

There was a suggestion earlier that we trek down to the lake later in the day. It is supposed to be a 30 min trek. After the morning trek, everyone dreaded the word trek and the idea was vetoed. Instead we decided to drive to Parson Valley and Pothemedu. Both these places have huge lakes and there is a dam on each of these lakes. More than the lakes, it was the possibility of seeing some wildlife that excited me. Palak and his family came with us and it was a joy having them along. We got an excellent guide called Rajendran, an elderly and experienced person. The route initially is not very great but after some time the roads become better and we enter into the forest area. This area is adjacent to the Mukurthi National Park. The National Park itself is closed to visitors since the road inside has been washed away. Rajendran pointed out to a mountain and told us that we had climbed that summit, which was way way up. There was a collective gasp. The enormity of what was achieved stuck everyone only now!! After we had gone a few kms, Rajendran asked me not to honk as we were getting into the area which had wildlife. We reached the parson valley dam without seeing any wildlife except for a mangoose which ran across and which only Rajendran and I saw. At the dam, we saw a wild rabbit, a huge fellow, run into the forest. Everyone was exited seeing the rabbit. The dam is a nice one and the lake is huge. From this dam we started to the Pothemedu lake and dam. As we were cruising along, Rajendran asked me to stop and pointed into the trees and said, "Sambhar Deer." None of us could make out where they were. It slowly dawned on us that Rajendran was pointing to the next hill via the trees and there they were. Two Sambar deer which were grazing, stopped the activity and were looking in our direction. Though they were quite far away they could hear us and they watched us with interest. Slowly they left that place and we started towards the lake. It was a lovely lake and Rajendran said that had it not been for the clouds, the lake at sunset would be even better. I could imagine that.

After spending some time at the lake, we started back without realising that we were going to have a big wildlife encounter soon. As we drove all of us were looking for some animal or the other. As I turned a corner, right in front of the car was a herd of more than 30 bisons. They were on the road. They came in all sizes. Huge fellows and small fellows and lot in between. They had huge curved horns. The horns had great potential of hurting you. They were all standing in the middle and staring at the car. I stopped the car. Gayathri quickly brought up the window on her side. We started taking photos. Then I switched the camera to video mode and gave it to Rajendran to shoot. Gayathri was worried. "How do we get across?" Rajendran was an experienced guide and asked us not to worry. He told me to slowly move the car to the right, giving ample space on the left for the bison to move. I shifted my car to the right. The bisons slowly started moving to the left of the car. You can see they were also scared as the ran fast in order to cross the car. A few of the them ran, crossed the car in a hurry and were behind us now. Suddenly one bison decided that it was probably not safe to cross the car and after having come in line with the windows, turned sharply and went back to join the herd. After this maneuvour, the other bisons decided not to risk it and stood their ground and stared at us. Now we had reached an impasse in our peace talks!! I asked Rajendran what we should do. He asked me to honk and start moving slowly. I started the car and slowly crawled, honking once in a while. The bisons slowly started moving to my right and passing the car. Rajendran pointed to one huge fellow who was starting at us and didn't seem scared at all and said, "That is the leader. It is a male bison and is generally not afraid." His posture was such that he was looking at us as if we were some inferior beings. We passed without any more issues and later Rajendran told us how strong these bisons were and how they had killed a couple of people who happened to get down from their car. In our group I don't think anyone had that idea. One look at the horns was enough to deter any just adventurous ideas. On the way we saw another rabbit and Rajendran, who can pluck wildlife out of thin area, kept pointing to far away hills and showing us Sambhar Deer. There was no way that we could have seen any of the Sambhar Deer that day had it not been for Rajendran. The only sambhar we would have seen that night is the variety you mix with your rice!!

The next day I wanted to drive to the Upper Bhavani reservoir. I asked Rajendran to accompany us on the trip and he agreed. The initial part of the drive is through tea plantations and vegetable fields. You can see people growing cabbage, carrots and potatoes. After some time we come to a huge tea plantations. The hills surrounding you are full of tea plants. After crossing this plantation, we entered the forest area. Suddenly Rajendran pointed through the trees and said, "Sambhar". For the life of me, I could not see any deer. He again pointed and said, "It is drinking water". I could then see it. Rajendran had spotted the sambhar deer just back seeing its backside!! This guy was amazing. I got out of the car and saw into the trees. The deer turned and looked at me. He was a big fellow with big horns. Ranjani also got down and the deer was still staring at us. Before Gayathri could get down, it ran away but Gayathri and Harini could see it as it ran. After this forest stretch was another tea estate and after the tea estate was the last stretch of the forest before reaching the Upper Bhavani reservoir. As we were going through this forest area, we met some forest officials. They said that we should be careful as Elephants were sighted in this area. The reaction of Gayathri was predictable. "Lets turn around." We didn't and continued further. The forest in this area is not like that in Bandipur or Mudumalai. Those forests are neat, there are view lines and the forest is a bit away from the road. Here, the forest hugs you. It encloses you from all sides and you have the feeling of really being inside the stomach of the forest. Added to it the weather was cloudy and the feeling of this being a very personal forest increased. We reached Upper Bhavani reservoir without any more sightings of wild life.

At the reservoir, they wouldn't let is in because we did not have the required permits. They asked to come back and check after some time since some senior engineers were coming now. A forest guard suggested that we drive down the road and go see a smaller dam. It was drizzling lightly and we decided to take the advice. As we went down, the loneliness increased. Trees had fallen down and they have been cleared. No sign of any humans anywhere nearby, dark clouds, the thin drizzle, the forest around us and the potential of encountering an elephant or two!! It was turning scary for Gayathri and the kids. We reached the small lake on which there was a dam. Down below we could see a skeleton of a Sambhar deer. Rajendran said that the wild dogs must have attacked it and eaten it. We had our packed lunch there and started back to Upper Bhavani. On the way I spotted a Sambhar deer on my right. It was staring at us, then it jumped down and crossed the road and disappeard into the trees on my left. Everyone was thrilled seeing this.

When we reached Upper Bhavani reservoir again, they again said it was not possible for us to go to the dam. We need to walk down to the dam. So we asked permission to look at the lake and the dam from above. When we went in we couldn't see anything. Passing clouds had engulfed the whole area and all we could see was white all around. It was quite chill there. We waited for some time and then gave up. Rajendran was not happy saying that we had come all the way and not seen the dam. I asked him not to worry for the whole trip was about the drive and not the dam. As we were about to leave, it miraculously cleared. The clouds were blown away by the wind revealing outstanding scenery in front of us. First the lake became visible, then the dam and then a building in the other hill and then more hills all around. "Picturesque" said Gayathri and it was indeed a picturesque place. We imbibed the scenery to our heart's content and slowly the clouds started erasing the scenery and very quickly the whole scenery disappeared!! It was almost like a magic show with the magician briefly revealing the unexpected.

The drive back was lovely because we spotted a lot of wildlife. I mean, Rajendran spotted a lot of wildlife. We saw quite a few sambhar deers, we saw black monkeys. These are not black faced monkeys that you see in Mudumalai and Bandipur. These are black all over except for the beard and head which are white. At one point we saw a lot of them. We also sighted some wild hens and a rabbit in a tea garden. Not to mention a huge variety of birds. No bisons though. It looked to us that all bisons were in the Pothamedu area yesterday!!! The eventual day ended with us reaching the resort at around 6pm and having a nice dinner. We left for Bangalore the next day.

Red Hills is a lovely resort. The hosts, Vijaykumars, are very friendly and very professional. The cook is amazing. He has magic in his hands. Added to it, for children there is a very friendly dog, a German Shepard, named Moby. The favorite pass time of the dog is to fetch something. It generally gets a big stone in his mouth and deposits in front of you. Once you throw the stone away, it fetches it back. The children love it and the dog is absolutely friendly and also accompanies people on their trek up the mountain!!! There are also a couple of cats and a kitten which come to the dining hall in the night. The white one is very friendly and used to sit on Ranjani's lap most of the time and would lick your hand. The children had a ball with these pets. I would definitely recommend a trip to this place if you want a bit of solitude for a few days.

2009-03-19T19:35:00.009+05:30

On to the forbidden land

"It is as safe as shopping in a Delhi mall", replied Rajesh Ojha, of Banjara Camps, when I asked him by mail if it was safe to go to Srinagar. I was not sure what he meant for the weekends at Big Bazar cannot be termed safe!! Anyway I concluded that he meant there would be no issue and decided on my trip. It would be Srinagar and from there by road to Leh.

Planning is very crucial when you undertake a trip like this. I am not talking about the actual travel between Srinagar and Leh. I was sure Rajesh would take care of it. My worry was internal planning. That is, keeping the whole thing a secret from the family. There was no way that I could have made this happen had my parents or Gayathri's parents had got an indication of what we were trying to do. Kashmir is forbidden territory and add Kargil to the mix and it becomes explosive. Hence I told everyone including Gayathri and kids that it was a secret project and told them to guess. For sake of misleading them, I told them we would be going to a desert in summer. Technically Ladakh is a high altitude desert. Ranjani had this in her text book and she said, "Lets not go to any desert. If at all you want to go to a desert, lets go to Ladakh. It is an high altitude desert." I did not reply.

So no one except me had a clue as to where we would be going and the guessing game was on. We landed in Delhi, had lunch that day with Ghate and family, then went to the Banjara Camps office where we met Rajesh Ojha. As we were discussing with him, he showed the picture of Pangong Tso lake and told the kids, "This is where you are going." All of them were excited since the secret was out. Rajesh realized he had made a mistake since I had told him about the surprise factor earlier. Anyway he kept the Srinagar part a secret.

It was when we were standing in a queue at the airport that Gayathri saw Srinagar on the display and asked, "Are we going to Srinagar?" I said yes and she was happy that she had guessed right. The weather was excellent in the sense that there were no clouds when we flew into Srinagar and we had a wonderful view of the Pir Panjal range. From the flight you can see how wide the valley of Srinagar is. In case you are flying from Delhi, ensure you get a window seat and pray for a clear sky. The view is fantabulous and I am sure no one would want to miss it.

The a/c inside the plane was not working properly and everyone was sweating profusely. We landed in Srinagar and when we stepped out of the plane, it was an exhilarating feeling. It was exactly opposite of how you feel when you step out of flight in Chennai. It would be cool inside the flight and the humidity hits you when you step out. In case of Srinagar, it was hot inside the plane and when we stepped out it was as if we have entered a city which was centrally air conditioned!! The feeling is indescribable. A lovely airport with the Pir Panjal range all around you.

We called our respective homes. As expected, they were taken aback when we said we were in Srinagar. The question was the same, is it safe there? Ofcourse, their worry increased when we told our route which included Kargil. We told them that things were fine and there wouldn't be any problems.

The driver and our guide were waiting for us. They took us to the boat house on the Nageen Lake. The boat is a huge one and fully grounded. You don't get much of a feeling of being on a boat. It was very well done boat and had a cable TV and all. There was a nice dining room as well. We had some biscuits and tea and started for a shikara ride on the Nageen lake. We could see lot of bird life along the lake. A guy came in another shikara and sold us some seeds. Generally you have lot of people selling lot of things in the lake.

Afternoon led us to the various gardens in Srinagar. Three gardens are very famous and we visited two of them. The gardens are well laid out and well maintained. The highlight of that evening was the visit to Pari Mahal. This is situated on a hillock and offers excellent view of the famous Dal Lake and the whole of Srinagar. I took quite a few photos from here. It was dark by the time we left Pari Mahal and landed up near our boat house. We needed to cross the lake and get to the other side to reach our boat house. It was pitch dark there and Gayathri was wondering if the boatman can see anything. He could and he got us to our boat house. It was different kind of experience, having a ride on the lake so late in the evening when you can see almost nothing. It was dinner and rest. Gulmarg was awaiting us the next day.

2009-03-19T16:57:00.012+05:30

The Ski Capital of India

The Gondola ride is breathtaking and a not-to-be-missed ride, said one travel book. Well we did miss it going up. But we took another fascinating route up, which was to ride the horses.

The morning saw us head for Gulmarg. Before going there, I asked the driver to go to the bakery, where bought some of the delicious biscuits again for the journey. The journey, till you get close to Gulmarg, is nothing to shout about. Mostly dusty country side. The mountains start getting closer and taller as we get nearer to Gulmarg. The driver pointed to mountain range on the left side just before we got to Gulmarg and remarked that over the mountains was Pak Occupied Kashmir. We were really at the very border of India.

We started climbing the mountain. Stopped at a tea stall for some tea and our guide picked up a local guide. We also picked up some warm clothing and snow boots here. We started after the hot cup of chai and reached the base of Gulmarg, where the gondola starts. Gondola is the cable car which ferries people to the top of the mountain. Two mountains in fact. The first level is where people get off to go and play at the snow point or the glacier. The second level takes you to the top of the mountain range from where you can see the mountain range on the Pakistan side. We decided to take horses on our way up so that we can savor the scenery better and take the Gondola on the way down, so that we don't miss that experience either.

After some bargaining we got four horses and we started off the 5 km climb. Our guide trekked the mountain. As you climb the mountain, you realize how intelligent these horses are. They seem to know the route perfectly well. Each of the horses had a handler but not Harini's horse. The horse casually climbed the route without anyone telling it what to do. Added to it, the horses check how the surface is and then put their whole weight and their feet. There were many tricky places were we were not sure if the horses can cross but they did it and did it with ease. Another thing I noticed was when one horse saw another horse struggle at some place it took a small detour and avoided that stretch. Just like humans. Should actually say, better than humans.

The ride up was lovely. We first stopped near a stream and relaxed for some time. Then we stopped at tea stall. We got a panoramic view of the mountain range from here and also saw some great meadows in front of us. This area gets carpeted with snow during winter and this is the primary destination of all skiers in India it seems. After the rise of militancy, some place in Himachal has also started attracting skiers but if the magazines are to be believed, there is no place like Gulmarg to ski in India.

We finally reached our destination, the snow point. There were quite a few people there and we negotiated with some guys who had the snow sled. We walked up the slope and then we had to sit behind the guy on the sled as he ran the sled downwards. It was a terrific ride. The guys maneavour very well and all of us enjoyed it very much. You can climb even higher and come down but we were too tired to go higher than where we went. Higher up was a waterfall as well which we could see from a distance. The snow boots came in handy. After the sled ride we came to the gondola station and had our lunch there. Then it was time for the gondola ride. I wanted to go higher up to the next level of the mountain but it was getting late and hence we decided to go down. It was a great ride with us getting a panoramic view of the whole place. We got down and then started the ride back to the house boat and a well deserved rest.

2009-03-19T12:07:00.010+05:30

Along the Sindh river - To the Path of Gold

"It seems to rain after 2pm. Yesterday we were completely drenched. But the experience of the seeing the place is worth it." This remark from another tourist hiked up my anticipation. We were going to Sonamarg, literally, the Path of Gold. It is a poor description of this glorious place. For what is the value of gold in face of such amazing beauty. (Ofcourse it helps us reach there :)

After saying goodbye to our host, we started off the the Shankaracharya temple, which is perched atop a hillock. It is said that Adi Shankara was here during his travels. The Shankaracharya temple is famous here and it was very crowded as well. The security is very tight. No vehicles are allowed after a certain point. You can image the level of security by the fact that a BSF jawan acts as the pujari and gives the prasad!! I don't know why it is so but it was a sardar jawan who gave us the prasad. The hill offers a lovely view of Srinagar. We met an elderly couple, who had also come from South, as a part of a large group. They were in Srinagar to visit this temple and were also going to Vaishno Devi.

We left for Sonmarg from here. I asked the driver to stop near some good bakery to buy biscuits to eat on the way. We bought some and went out of the city. Initially the scenery is nothing to shout about. It all changes after some time when you start seeing the Sindh river. You can clearly make out the meaning of white water when you see the Sindh. This is typical picture post card stuff. Green green trees all around and the white water of the river flowing furiously. We would not see such white water as the Sindh anywhere later in our journey. Driving here is such a pleasure with this type of scenery around you.

If I was happy with what I was seeing around I hadn't reckoned with what Sonamarg was to offer. I was dumbfounded when I saw my resort. Not exactly on seeing the resort but on seeing its location. The place where we were standing was a very wide valley. In front of us was the mountain range and behind the resort ran the Sindh river and far away were more mountains. The presence of many horse near the river added made the scenery very pastoral. From inside our room we could see the river and there was a small sitout where you could be one with the elements.

The major attraction of Sonamarg was the snowpoint or the glacier. This was supposed to around 3 to 4 kms from our resort. Initially we thought we would trek this distance but (as it happens most of the time) we went by car till around half a kilometer from the place, beyond which you cannot take the car. We hired some woolen overcoats and jerkins after some debate within ourselves. It was threatening to rain but would it? You can't be sure and so we went with the jerkins in our hand, ready to face any eventuality. We need to trek for some time before you reach the main snow point, where there was lot of activity happening. The crowd was too much and we decided not to worry about snow activities since we had done that in Gulmarg. Instead we went to another place where there was less snow but it was isolated. The trek was nice and thrilling to the kids since they had to cross the river on some very precarious bridges. Gayathri was scared but nothing happened. We saw one lady try to cross the river, which is shallow, stepping on some stones and falling down. It must have really been freezing cold there. The whole area is amazing. Secluded and away from the main road, this is another picture postcard area. Lovely green trees, a variety of them, and the clean clean river flowing between the mountains and lot of snow around. There are times when you feel that you don't need too much from life and being here you would get that feeling.

The kids played in the snow for some time, I took lot of photos and then we got back to the resort. The next day would take us over the Zozilla pass and to the Theater of War.

2009-03-19T11:42:00.009+05:30

Zozilla - The first pass on the way

We started early in the morning. Our guide was saying that we need to leave early else we can be blocked just outside of Sonamarg. This is because the military convoys pass that way and the vehicle traffic on the other side is stopped till the convoy passes. The first vehicle in the convoy has a red flag and the last one has a green flag. You are expected to stop till the green flag bearing vehicle has passed you.

So off we started from Sonamarg and very soon started climbing a mountain. After some time our guide pointed us to the valley below and told us that it was the base camp for Amarnath Yatra. This was the Baltal base camp. The other route is via Pahalgam. Our guide showed us the route the yatris would take. It was between two mountains and it is supposed to continue for something like 18 kms or more. It was a wonderful sight. I guess you may have a different perspective when you actually walk that route but from high above it was lovely.

The Sindh river was flowing with us for quite some time. The road took us to the Zozilla pass. This was name which we had heard during the Kargil conflict. This was the first pass we crossed on our way to Leh from Srinagar. The pass is almost like a flat land. I was expecting to see two sides of mountain ranges from the pass but there was no such sight from the Zozilla pass. What was around was lot of snow. There were some lovely snow formations in the river. There would be a smooth chunk of snow in some very modernistic shape and would have an hole in the middle through which the cold waters of Sindh passed through. We got down here and walked around on the snow. It was freezing cold in that area. Our guide pointed to a soldier who was perched high atop a mountain, all alone. We waved to him and he waved back. Wonder how he is able to sustain himself there. It can get absolutely lonely there.

We crossed the Zozilla pass and after sometime I saw a creature, which seemed like a fox from a distance, run on the mountain. I asked others to look but the creature vanished. A few kilometers later we got our first good look at the Himalayan Marmot. It was not a fox but looks more like a beaver. We saw some stout fellows there. We were to see a lot more of them on our journey but nothing like seeing them for the first time. They were outside for a few seconds and then ran and vanished into their burrows. We stopped at an army place as we found a restroom there. I spoke to an army person who had come from Wynad in Kerala. That is an area I had visited and he was from Manantavady, another area I have been to. The driver found a skull of an Ibex, with horns and all. Harini caught hold of it and I took a couple of snaps.

Then we started for Drass and Kargil, names etched in every Indian consciousness

2009-03-19T11:11:00.010+05:30

To the Theater of War

It is Kargil which evokes war memories in us but it was in Drass that the major battle was won. From what I heard Kargil town itself was probably not involved in any battle but Drass was the epicenter of a great battle which lead to the Indian forces capturing two strategic hills here. One of them, which we were seeing to our far left, was the Tiger Hill and straight ahead of us, behind the war memorial, was the Tololing hill.

We were getting hungry as we were approaching Kargil when our guide insisted that we stop at Drass and look at the war memorial. I should thank him for this. It gave us an idea of what the soldiers have achieved during the Kargil conflict and it also let us pay our humble respects to the memory of so many brave men who dies during the conflict.

Until you actually are at Drass, you will not realize the magnitude of what was done. The recapture of the Tololing hill is nothing short of a miracle. You will understand it when you see the hill. It is a hill which has no cover at all. I mean it is a hill with no major boulders, no trees or as the Americans would say it, no nothing. The enemy sitting at the top and probably having night scopes would find any soldier trying to get on the hill as easy target. There is no place to hide. Added to it, the hill offers a wonderful view of the highway. The highway that connects Srinagar to Leh. With bazookas or some rocket launchers, the enemy could blast any vehicle traversing this road and effectively blocking all access to Leh from Srinagar. I was intrigued and checked how the battle was won. From what I could understand, the Indian forces from an hill the other side of the highway started firing shells using the highly effective but unfortunately infamous Bofors guns. Under the cover of heavy shelling and braving the enemy fire, Indian soldiers climbed the hill and retook it. An feat of extraordinary courage. Our guide was saying how the engineers helped by building some makeshift bridges to help carry the Bofors guns to whichever place required.

The visit inside the memorial was a poignant one. Pictures of the hill and of soldiers who lost their lives during this battle are displayed here, as well as some new clippings. It also gives a list of those who were awarded the bravery awards. I came to know that when a soldier is awarded a Paramvir Chakra, he is above all ranks. In the sense that everyone in the army, including the Indian President, who is the C-in-C of the army, must salute him. It doesn't matter what his actual rank is within the army. All his superiors need to salute him. The pride with which the army maintains this place and their hospitality was very touching. They insisted that we have something cool to drink before we left there. Drass is supposed to be the second coldest place on the earth. The day we went was warm but in winter it snows a lot and the highway gets snowed out it seems. It is a tough place for the soldiers, given that they have to contend with the extreme weather and a hostile neighbor. My respect for the soldiers grew manifold after this visit.

We left the memorial in a quite mood to Kargil and reached there for lunch. When we called our respective homes, they were like, "What, you are in Kargil? Is it safe?" It is more than safe and I think after the Kargil war, there are probably few places in India which are safer. We had our lunch and came to the main marketplace to buy some stuff in the evening. Kargil is a stopover town and there is nothing you can consider as beautiful around here. It is a dusty town and the river which flows is muddy. Travellers come to this town enroute to Leh or Srinagar for a night halt but Kargil is more known as a night halt to reach the Zanskar area. Everyone halts here for the night before proceeding to Zanskar. That is a trip which I must do sometime in the future.

2009-03-18T14:20:00.018+05:30

Alchi - The place to do nothing

"Till Mulbek you can see the Muslim influence", said our guide. "From there on it is Buddhist country". We were starting from Kargil. We cross the river and Mulbek was the first stop in the day. We were to climb two high passes and pass through some moonscapes before we would land in the quaint and quite village of Alchi.

At Mulbek we stopped to look at the rock carving of the future Buddha. I think the future Buddha is known by the name of Maitreya. Seemed a lot like Lord Shiva statue. Very close in style of the Hindu statues that you see. A couple of small shops are present near the rock carving. As usual, irrespective of where we stop, irrespective of when we have eaten, Rajani and Harini need to buy something from a shop when they see one. That is their strategy for keeping the economy healthy. So we bought some stuff here as well and started from Mulbek.

There were two passes on the way that we needed to cross, Namika La and Fotu La. Unlike other high altitude passes, these passes were dry and there was no snow anywhere around. A pass is supposed to help you cross from one side of the mountain range to another but at the passes that I have been earlier I have not been able to see both the sides clearly. In both these passes, you can stand besides the board which tells you the height of the pass (this is mandatory :) and you can see the ranges on both sides. The curving roads and the absolute lack of traffic of any sort heightens the sense of isolation. It is a lovely feeling , being there on the pass, with the wind blowing and absolute silence all around. Gayathri and I got down and took a few snaps. The kids were bored by the routine and sat in the car. There was a TV transmission tower on one of these passes.

From there we started for Lamayuru. You can see the Lamayuru monastery from a distance and it offers a lovely view. Most of the monasteries in Ladakh are built on the edge of the mountains. If you were to step out of any windows it is surely 'moksha' for you. The external facade of these monasteries is not very striking. They look like normal mud houses built on the ledge of some mountain. The exact location of these monasteries, which makes you feel that it can topple down anytime, and the fact that it is not one building but a cluster of buildings which gives them the grandeur when you view them from a distance. We reached the monastery and as usual, the inside was very colorful and attractive. The view from the monastery was lovely as could be expected. Ranjani and Harini did the thing of spinning the wheel. They were liking this. We had our lunch at a hotel adjoining the monastery. Though the service was slow the food was good.

Our stomachs now full, we started for Alchi. Lamayuru is famous for its moonscapes. This comes after you cross the monastery and proceed towards Alchi. A short distance after the monastery we saw many rock faces. It looks as if someone has carved faces of people on the rocks but in truth these are carved by the natural elements. There were many such 'modern art' pieces on the mountains there. Next came the moonscape. This is a large area, which is a part of these mountains, which are supposed to look like the surface of the moon. The color of this area differs from the adjoining mountains. It is very creamish in color and the surface is definitely strange to look at. As in many cases, no photograph can convey this strangeness. You need to be there to experience it.

We pass the moonscape and then starts the most fascinating and the frustrating part of that day's journey. The fascinating part first. As we drive along we start seeing mountains of different colors !! Looks like there are some mineral deposits in the rocks which give them color. Some of them give the mountain a reddish glow, while some give it a greenish tinge. Depending on how the light strikes them, you get to see different shades. Now we are passing through a passage between mountains, not exactly a valley. The whole atmosphere suddenly changes. There is absolute silence. Nothing except the sound of our vehicle. No evidence that any life form exists on this planet. It is as if we have come to a totally uninhabited planet without having to take a spaceship!! Gayathri echoes my thoughts, "Wow. This is so lonely. As if no one exists." Experiences like this are something worth dying for. Especially to city folks like me.

Then comes the frustrating part of the journey. When at a distance we can see the turn we need to take to reach Alchi, we notice a convoy in front of us. We are on a mountain road were passing a vehicle is difficult and the rule here is that if there is a convoy in front of you, you will not pass it, for security reasons. It seems that some minister is going to Ladakh that day and for some strange reason he requires a posse of armed guards in multiple guards to guard him in one of the safest places. So we crawl behind this cars, frustrated that we cannot move faster. The scenery is wonderful but the inability to pass a slow moving vehicle in front of you can give you an headache. Blame it on too much highway riding, if you will. Luckily for us this is not a Kerala highway where it is dusty and hot and you cannot pass !! The weather is cool and the scenery around is lovely so that saves the day and the headache. Finally we turn right while the convoy heads straight. The right turn gets us off the mountain and into vast space very typical of Ladakh. As few turns later, we enter the Alchi village.

Alchi is really small. There are very few houses and the monastery. We get to the hotel were we are to stay. They are still not fully ready. They don't anticipate the tourist rush till the first week of June so everything is still being done up. We dump our luggage and walk to the monastery. It is a lovely monstery and is well known in this part of Ladakh. There are some very old paintings, supposed to be done by Kashmiri painters. We speak with the monk there for some time and then come out. Gayathri and kids get back to the room while I walk around for some more time. The village ends after I cross a few houses!! I see some wonderful birds and there is quite a bit of greenery around. Looks like they cultivate peas here. At a distance I notice some ruined buildings. Must have been old forts or an old monastery which is in a state of disrepair. Alchi is a very small village but a very quite and peaceful one. I can imagine many people coming here to soothe their nerves. If you want to do absolutely nothing, Alchi is a very place to do it. I would highly recommend you to get to Alchi in case you are planning a Ladakh trip.

The next day would lead us to the highest motorable pass in the world.

2008-08-12T14:04:00.007+05:30

Nubra Valley - The Silk route beckons

"It can also be the highest traffic jam in the world", warned a travel magazine of Kardungla. Kardungla is more famous as the highest motorable road in the world at 18,000+ feet. Luckily we did not get stuck there but the potential exists. Before that, as the saying goes, "Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start".

We left Alchi after breakfast and headed for the Likir monastery. The vastness of Ladakh is probably best experienced during the drive from Alchi to Leh. From the highway connecting Alchi to Ladakh we took a left turn to go to the Likir monstery. The land is vast in front of you and at a great distance away are the mountains. The vastness of this land is accentuated by the fact that there are no man made structures anywhere around. Nor is there any greenery. It is just barren land and barren mountains all around.

Likir has a nice golden Buddha outside the monastery. The Buddha is peacfully sitting in a chair. The whole ambiance and luckily for us, the weather as well, was one of calm. You can see vast distances every side you turned and in the mountains ahead, cows were tiny dots. Nothing else appears on the landscape and the eternal Ladhaki silence envelopes you. I took in the scene for quite sometime before entering the monastery.

We left Likir and drove towards Leh. The land seems even more vast now and you can see kilometers of road ahead of you. "This is where the shot the song in a Hindi movie", said our guide. The sky a deep blue and the clouds so white that they hurt your eye, hovering above brown mountains. Marvels of God. These are areas which give amateur photographers like me a nightmare. There is no way that you can capture the grandeur of what lay in front of you. No lens and sensor can match the combination of your eye and brain. As you approach Leh, you see the Ladakh Range of mountains on one side and the Zanskar range on the other side. The Indus runs with you for some time.

Our destination was not Leh but the Nubra Valley. So we went briefly into Leh to buy a pair of batteries and were on our way to an important tourist destination within Ladakh. The Kardungla Pass. Actually I should be saying, Kardungla, since La means a pass but everyone, including the board there, says Kardungla Pass !!! It has the distinction of being the hightest motorable pass in the world. Add to any other highest thing that you want, like the 'Highest Traffic Jam in the World', 'Highest Tea Shop in the world', 'Highest Hotel in the world', 'Highest Urinal in the world'. Hey, wait a sec. The last one is not true. There is no urinal out there !!! Anyway, you get the drift don't you.

As you go past Leh and get into the mountains for the Kardungla climb, you get an amazing view of the Ladakh range. So many snow capped mountains and they give you an idea of how high you are climbing. Up ahead you can see the road on the mountain and way way up the Kardungla. The road appears on the snowy landscape as if someone has parted the white hair on an old man. On the razor sharp slope of one of the mountains, we saw a mountain goat standing fearlessly on a ledge. It merged so well with the mountain that it took the expert eye of our driver to spot it. We made the mandatory stop at Kardungla and took pictures besides the board proclaiming that this was the "Highest ..". you know what !! This board must be the maximum photographed board. My guess is even Monalisa may not have been photographed so much !! The guys who wrote out the board must be feeling very proud !!

As we descended from Kardungla into North Pulu, we started seeing the marmots. These cute guys kept appearing once in a while to the delight of all of us. In one area, we saw 4 to 5 of them. All the them scurried into their burrows. We thought it was the noise of our vehicle till we saw the eagle swoop down and sit on one of the stones above a burrow. He (or she) was obviously searching for lunch. The eagle sat calmly on the rock and was not fazed by the noise of our vehicle. As it always happens, you have the wrong lens fitted on your camera when you need it !! I had the 28 - 70mm lens on my camera, when I desperately needed a 300mm. I took one shot of the eagle and then hurriedly took out the 300mm lens from the bag, took off the smaller lens from the camera, simultaneously started fitting the 300mm lens and praying that no vehicle came from behind us to disturb the eagle. Maybe I was too preoccupied with fitting the 300mm lens that I didn't pray hard enough. Just as I finished fitting the 300mm lens a car came from behind us, honking gloriously !! So now I had my 300mm lens pointing at lot of stones !! The eagle never came back but we saw a lot of marmots running all over the place. We crossed that and saw an amazing frozen lake with a couple of rare ducks in it. We were too hungry that we did not stop there but promised ourselves that we would stop on our way back.

We had our packed lunch at North Pulu and Gayathri started complaining as soon as we started from here. This was definitely due to the height. I asked her to take a Saridon and told her that we will be OK once we drop by another 1000 ft or so. North Pulu was at 15,000 ft and it was quite cold out there. We proceeded from here towards our destination, Tigar village. The landscape kept changing along the way and we reached our destination by evening. The rest of the day was for rest !!! Pardon the bad pun. (In case you didn't notice :))

From North Pulu, you slowly descend into the Nubra Valley. Two rivers, Nubra and Shyok, meet here. If you take the left road, you will go to Diskit and Hunger. The right road leads to Sumur and Panamic and all the way to the Siachen glacier. This is an arid area with the small towns providing whatever little greenery they can. In the distance is the mighty Karakoram range. On one side Pakistan and one the other China. You are really at the edge of your country here.

We pass through a small village road and arrive at our destination, 'The Silk Route Cottages'. The season hasn't started yet and there is barely any staff there. A small mud road runs behind this resort and that was the original Silk Route. Inside the cottage we sees some photographs taken during the early part of the 20th century of people who walked the Silk Route. With some leather wrapped around their legs, rugs across their shoulders and mules carrying their load, these people have braved this harsh landscape in order to trade. Unthinkable for people like us who cannot step out without a jacket over the sweater and a monkey cap over the scarf. Hats off to these doughty people.

The next day we started after breakfast to the Diskit monastery. On the way I saw a huge sandy tract of land in the middle of which a bus, dwarfed by the immense expanse, was traveling slowly. I pointed it to the driver. He said we would also pass that way. It was an amazing sight. We crossed that place and arrived at Diskit monastery. After seeing the monastery, we left for Hunder.

Hunder is a strange place. I mean it is a mini desert. Ladakh itself is called a high altitude desert but Hunder really is a desert. It is a large area where you have sand dunes, and, listen carefully, camels !! Yup. This area has Bactrian camels, which were supposed to have got here during the Silk route days. It is really a funny feeling seeing sand dunes at this altitude and in the evening you can see dust storms here. The bactrian camels are domesticated and form the livelihood of many people here. These double humped camels take tourist for a ride on the sand dunes. All four of us took the ride. Each on one camel, ofcourse. You get the most scared when the camel gets up. These fellows are very sturdy and you feel quite safe sitting on them. Nearby these sand dunes is a forest of thorn buck. We played on the sand dunes for some time and when you take your slippers off, your feet burn !! We got back to our cottage, had lunch and visited the Panamic hot springs. This is till where you can go in this part of India. Beyond this is the military area. 70Kms away is one more highest in the world. The highest battleground, Siachen. It is when you see these mighty mountains do you crave for a world without borders. I mean, what sense does it make to have such natural beauty and have no one except few soldiers from each country see it !!! Nature not only tells you about the insignificance of man, it also tells you about the foolishness of man. On way back to our cottage from Panamic, we stopped near a small hill. A trek up the hill takes you to a nice little lake. This has holy significance to the Tibeteans and you can see the common sight of stone over stone over stone all along the way to the lake.

The next day we started for Leh and as we had planned stopped at the frozen lake. A couple of ducks were still around and a few marmots kept popping out of their burrows. We got out of our Qualis and slowly walked towards the lake, trying not to make any sound so that we can shoot the ducks. With our cameras. Our guide made a small noise and the ducks immediately took wing !!! I took a couple of snaps of Gayathri. The kids just refused to get out of the car. We kept seeing the marmots, got to Kardungla and with a bit of breathlessness made our way to Leh, for a well deserved evening of rest.

2008-07-31T15:30:00.018+05:30

Gasping for breath – Pangong Tso

We thought it would only be a drive to the lake and back but it turned out to be a wildlife safari as well!!! And I am not complaining.

The day started pretty early. We left the resort at 6:15 and stooped after 40 kms to have some hot parathas or paranthas, as they call them here. From that point we took a left turn to get to the Changla Pass. The straight road leads to Manali.

Slowly and steadily the road climbed up and up. We could see the lines the road forms on the mountains and at a distance was the Changla Pass, all covered with snow. The temperature started dropping as the car kept climbing. At one point, on the mountain slopes, there suddenly appeared a bunch of rabbits. We slowed down to see all of them run away from us. The Himalayan pheasants (not sure what it is actually called), with an ash color body with a touch of red feathers kept crossing the road at regular intervals, reminding me of one of the great unanswered questions of all time, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”. We got to the Changla pass, which is the third highest motorable pass in the world. Ladakh afterall is the land of high passes. It was all covered with snow. Luckily for us some important military person had come then and the military folks gave all of us some tea. It was godsend in that weather.

We slowly started the climb down and the beaver like Himalayan Marmots started appearing. These cute guys are seen in high altitudes. As we progressed we started sighting them more frequently and kept stopping to take some snaps and videos. They were very shy and kept running into their burrows as soon as they sensed our presence. There was a stream running below and along the banks there were many more of them. The best sighting happened after we had traveled some more distance. And I royally screwed up a great photo-op.

What happened was that we came across this marmot which was standing on its legs and was very close to our car. My SLR was not with me and Gayathri passed on her Digicam to me. I was sitting next to the driver and had the best view of this fellow. In the movie called ‘Ghost and the Darkness’, Michael Douglas shouts at Van Kilmer for having used a new gun to combat a lion and failing. I understood what he meant. I rarely take pictures with the Digicam. In my urgency to get a good snap of the marmot, I zoomed on him, got him perfectly centered and then in my infinite wisdom, pressed the ‘Off’ button !!! So instead of the marmot freezing on the screen, it just disappeared. It took me a second to realize that the screen was now blank due to my blunder. Desperately I switched on the camera. The modern electronic devices need some time to get their brains in working condition and the camera was slowly booting up. As you could have guessed, the marmot waited till the camera was ready for action and then vanished before I should shoot. I gave the camera back to Gayathri, who took it with a ‘how-come-I got-to-marry-this-guy’ expression on her face.

Along with marmots, we kept sighting lot of different varieties of birds. We stopped at one place to take some pictures of the scenery around, when we saw a hare running at top speed. Until you have seen these animals running in the wild you do not get an idea of the speed they achieve. This guy just bounced around and was gone in a jiffy. Even our best athletes can’t match the speed nor the perseverance. We proceeded further and down in the valley below the driver spotted a ‘Kiang’, also known as the Himalayan Wild Ass. This looks like a cousin of the horse. They are supposed to be present in the Chungthang Plateau, which was not where we were. So initially, Ankur, our guide, challenged our driver and said it was either a horse or an ass. But the driver was a wise young guy and it turned out that he was correct. We were thrilled to see the Kiang and imagine our surprise when we saw a large bunch of them a few kms later. All these fellows were grazing and we could get down and have our fill of photographs. They stayed where they were and so I could now check the button and click the right one!!!

The landscape was typical Ladakh landscape. It was with great difficulty that we could move away from all the wildlife that we saw. Slowly the car was proceeding towards the lake. At one juncture we see a board which proclaims that you can get the glimpse of the lake from that point. We did see a spot of blue at a distance but nothing prepares you for what would hit you in the next 15 mins time.

We turned a bend and then gasped for breath. The high altitude of Ladakh had nothing to do with it. The Pangong Tso lake appeared in front us, bearing an indescribably beautiful blue color. It is as if someone up above decided to lay down a layer of turquoise on the earth and decided on this place. The blue spreads out like a huge carpet as far as your eye can see and you have to suppress your urge to walk on it, reminding yourself that it is indeed water. The lake’s blue is further accentuated by the brown mountains that surround it on all sides. A cloudless sky, bright sunshine and in the distance, snow capped peaks. The only thing you hear is the silence, the whole area enveloped in a calm which only nature can provide.

The beauty of the place hits you as soon as you take the turn. Involuntarily you gasp for breath and your mouth remains open. The only words that escape our lips simultaneously is, “Unbelievable”. I get down the car with the sense of wonder intact and only then realize that my mouth is still open. I close it, only to open it again and mutter, “Unbelievable”. I lost count of how many times how many of us used that word. It is said of Tajmahal that though it is the most photographed monument in the world, when you see it, you are filled with a sense of wonder. Multiply that effect with any number greater than 0xffff and you still would not get the magnitude of wonder right. Photographs do no justice to this lake. You need to be there, atleast once in your lifetime.

Pangong Tso lake is unique in the sense that ¼ of it lies in India and the rest lies in China !! Since this is the border area, no boat rides are allowed on the lake. So there is no unnecessary activity which spoils the beauty of this lake. We did see a border patrol boat on the lake.

There were lot of sea gull type birds in the lake and I had a ball capturing them on the camera as well as photographing the lake. Gayathri too kept muttering, “Unbelievable”. The kids were mightily thrilled. We were there for some time and then started towards a resort a couple of kms away along the lake. The lake kept changing color as we drove along its edge. You can probably see every shade between green and blue there. We saw some very rare type of ducks. White ducks with a dash of red. We had our packed lunch at the resort and after a cup of tea, left for Leh. We kept on looking at the lake till the last possible moment savoring its beauty. It was almost as if you were leaving behind a magical place.

On our way back, we saw the Kiang group at the same place we left them. The marmots kept appearing along the way. One additional animal we saw was a mountain goat, sitting on a ledge along with its kid, which was sitting on another ledge!! We arrived in Leh for our evening cup of tea.

This trip to Pangong Tso turned out to be the highlight of the Ladakh tour and I was happy that I had kept it towards the end. In this one day trip, nature reimbursed me all the money I spent on the trip and then gave some more. When you stand facing such mighty nature and great beauty, you do tend to question many of the material values we hold dear.

Pangong Tso, I will be back.

2008-02-05T13:41:00.002+05:30

Mudumalai - Third time lucky

I wasn't sure if the trip would happen this time and it was becoming a habit. The earlier two trips which I had planned for Mudumalai didn't happen. For some valid reason ofcourse. So when all events pointed to the same thing happening again I was worried!!! It turned out to be third time lucky and we were off along with Subbu's family (Subbu, Shobana and Skanda) to Mudumalai during the Christmas break of last year (2007).

I had heard about the Leewood Estate (aka Anaikadu resort) from my boss. I checked their website and gave their number to my friend Subbu. He diligently followed up with them and ensured all the arrangements were taken care of. (Check out the website http://www.homestaykodagu.com/home_stay/anaikaadu_resort.htm for more details on the resort that we stayed at)

We left at around 11:15 am and drove all the way till Mysore before stopping for lunch at Hotel Siddartha. The road from Mysore to Mudumalai was quite OK with a few bad patches. We crossed Gundlupet and after some time entered the Bandipur National Park. As usual I was very happy to see the forest. The road was good and it was a pleasure driving here. On the way Harini sighted a deer and then some peacocks. There were black faced monkeys at one point which were interacting with people. This is not something the forest authorities permit but people do stop and start interacting with animals when they can. Not a good thing to do in a forest. We crossed Bandipur and entered the Mudumalai section. You cross the Moyar river here but the river is not very wide. The traffic in the Mudumalai area was dense and it took as a longer time than we anticipated to get to Masinagudi. We finally go to Masinagudi where a driver from the resort was waiting for us.

At Masinagudi we took a right turn after the police station and drove for around 7 kms to get to the Singara post. There we left our car and the driver took us in his 4 wheel drive for 3kms. There is no road here and the dirt track is not easily motorable. This place requires a vehicle with high clearance. It was a rough drive with the vehicle passing over tough terrain and going over some streams. So you can imagine all of us being shaken and stirred !!! Inspite of all this, the drive on this stretch was probably the best drive of our trip as we saw the maximum wildlife here. The driver first showed us a couple of deers which were hidden behind some bushes. Then we saw peacocks and we got lucky and saw a sambar deer. The big fellow, with light brown skin and no horns, looked at us with interest briefly and then vanished into the sunset !! After these sightings we reached the resort and what a place it was !!!

The moment we saw the resort we were taken in by it. It was standing there alone, away from the office building. The ground floor was a huge open dining hall from where you can comfortably sit and see the coffee estates and the forest in front of you. The two room upstairs had 4 beds each. The rooms opened out to a balcony, which faced the forest and the water hole and the salt pit in it. Seats were thoughtfully provided so that the scenery and wildlife can be observed leisurely from here. The website advertises this as 'your own machan' and I cannot but agree with the description.

After the customary bonfire and a nice dinner, Subbu, Shobana, Gayathri and I sat on the balcony, late in the night, after the kids had slept. Were were lucky that it was a full moon day. . The cloudless sky ensured that the illumination of the moon was enough for us to observe any animal which came nearby. Gayathri suddenly noticed a movement and pointed it out to us. Subbu had a bought binoculars along and when we used the binoculars we saw that it was wild boar which had crossed the fence somehow and come in. We watched it with interest for some time before it disappeared. We sat there for some more time imbibing the experience and it was an experience to cherish. The forest all around us and the hills of Mudumalai were illuminated by the radiance of the full moon. The silence that enveloped us was broken once in a while by the engine of some vehicle climbing a steep ghat section somewhere we couldn't see. The eager anticipation of all four of us for some wildlife and us sitting next to each other and talking in whispers so as not to scare off any wildlife that would come. Time passed with us not sighting any other animal and we decided to call it a day, or shall we say, call it a night !!!

The next day, after breakfast we went for a small trek till what was supposed to be a river nearby. It looked more like a small jungle stream than a river. It was quite hot that day and the place our guide took was like a small pond formed by this stream and it was hidden by lot of tall trees. It was cool at this place and we spent some time taking photos. On the way to the stream we saw the footmarks of bison and elephant and elephant dung in some places. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we didn't encounter any wildlife during our small trek.

The post lunch period saw us leaving for the Mudumalai sanctuary for the bus safari. There was not much of wildlife in sight during the initial part of the safari. Almost towards the end of the trip we saw a group of bisons. Other than the bison, we saw the usual suspects, deer and peacock !! After the safari, we went to the Teppakadu Elephant camp. Here is where trained elephants arrive after their 'day job'. The elephants started arriving one after the other. You can watch them being fed by the officials here. This place also has a small museum on wildlife which gives good information. One of the attractions here baby elephant, which is supposed to have been orphaned, and was picked up by the forest officials. It now lives at this camp. We got back to Singara Post where the 4 wheel drive came to pick us. Just as we got into the estate the driver took us straight on instead of turning towards our rooms. I was wondering what he was doing when the headlights of the car illuminated a bunch of deers near the salt pit. It was a unique way of seeing the deer !!

The night again, after bonfire and dinner, we sat again on the balcony to try our luck and see if we could sight some wildlife in the night. The moon didn't rise as early as the last day and we had to wait for some more time for illumination. Our vigil didn't yield us much in terms of wildlife sighting but no one complained.

The lack of sightings in the night was compensated by the deers, peacock and the different birds that we saw in the morning. There were a bunch of deers which had come to the water hole. They must have arrived early in the morning or very late in the night. As it started dawning and the light from the sun started grazing the earth, the deers started leaving. The peacocks remained till the kids woke up and needless to say, the kids were thrilled to watch the peacocks.

We decided to go to Ooty the next day and left after breakfast. We climbed up the ghat and in an hour's time we were in Ooty. We decided to see the botanical gardens and the lake. As a town, I felt Ooty can be maintained better. It does lack neatness. Since we were there on a week day the rush was not too much. We saw the botanical garden, had our lunch at Commercial Street, bought some Ooty chocolates from a bakery there and went to the lake, where we took a boat ride. We left Ooty after 3 o clock and got back to Singara post.

The 4 wheel drive this time was again very eventful. We were looking for some wildlife and when we were about to cross a stream I noticed a bison standing nearby and staring at us. Our driver stopped the vehicle for all of us to have a look and take a photograph if possible. When you see it close by, you realize the hugeness of this creature. With his black skin glistening in the dying light he was watching us. And we watched him and realised that he was not alone. We were thrilled to see more bisons, whom the trees had covered earlier. Slowly they started moving away into the thicker part of the forest. Very reluctantly we had to leave that place and get back to our rooms. When we got back to our rooms, we saw that a huge number of deers have come to the water hole. There were atleast 15 deers or more. Added to it there were also a few black faced monkeys around. All of us had tea sitting in our balcony and watching the wildlife outside. You could realize how sensitive to sound the deers were. These chaps would have been around 300 mts or more away from us would turn their heads and look in our direction whenever we spoke to each other, even if it was in a low tone !! After some time a wild boar came that way and vanished into the overgrowth. Our excitement was high when we sighted something like an ant eater, which moved very fast and vanished.

The night bonfire was interesting for the kids as Subbu had organized a treasure hunt. The kids were maha excited by the treasure hunt and finally found the treasure, which was with Subbu !!! After the dinner our night vigil continued. The moonrise was getting delayed every day and we sat in darkness that enveloped us. Suddenly we heard something like a splash and Subbu was sure that some animal had entered the water hole. With eyes wide open and with the aid of binoculars we saw and saw but nothing was visible. Reluctantly we went to sleep as we had to leave the next day.

We woke up early and I decided to go for a walk within the estate. Being a good 'cityzen', as usual, I got out with my mp3 player and the headphone. Once I got out of the room I realized what a stupid thing that was. The sounds of the forest early in the morning are more melodious than what any great music director can dream of. I can fully resonate with a recent ad when it says, "Why listen to the sound of humans when you can hear the music of heavens". I saw some nice birds and peacocks. It was a lovely experience walking within the estate in the morning.

We left the place very reluctantly. It was great going on this trip with Subbu and Shobana. Ranjani and Harini became good friends with Skanda. This trip was an experience which all of us will treasure.

2007-10-19T12:09:00.001+05:30

God's own district in God's own land

It was strange. The car was coming around the bend. That is not strange. What was strange was that it was coming in reverse. I was about to take the turn when I saw this car coming around the bend. I turned to Gayathri and told her that this driver must be crazy as the car passed us, still in the reverse mode. Gayathri being more perceptive told me that the driver of that car was trying to say something to us. So I slowed down and did the same maneuver that he had done earlier, which was to come in reverse. I got on level with his car and heard him say something in Malayalam. I could make out that he was saying something about 'Aane', which sounded very close to the Tamil word 'yaanai', which means elephant. So most probably there was an elephant up ahead on the road !! The person sitting next to the driver got down. He was a typical Malayali, wearing a dhoti and sporting a beard. He moved forward with his body bent slightly and looked around the bend as kids do when they are playing hide-and-seek. He started saying something in Malayalam and I have no clue what he was saying but from his excitement I could guess he has sighted the pachyderm. A few minutes later we sighted the majestic tusker as he was climbing the hill. It was a great sight and one which I had least expected. Does add to the excitement of travel, doesn't it?

We had started that morning after breakfast at Chilligere. We had crossed the Tholpetty sanctuary and were proceeding towards Mananthavady when this incident occurred. Needless to say Gayathri and the kids were terribly excited. One the elephant made his way up, we continued on our way. I had initially thought of going to Calicut and I have heard that the ghat section leading to Calicut or Kozhikode was a lovely one. I was a bit upset that I would be missing driving on that section. I needn't have worried for the route I was to take was as lovely as any route that I had taken in this region.

Wynad is a district which adds to the great beauty that is Kerala. This is not the typical Kerala of backwaters, palm trees and coconut groves that we regularly see in the ads. This is a hilly and forest terrain. I had been to Vythri a few years earlier and had a great time there visiting places like Pookod lake and Soochipara falls. This time I was in another part of Wynad. The Tholpetty sanctuary, Kuruva islands, Tirunelly temple etc. Seeing the beauty that abounds in Wynad all I can say is that this is God's own district in God's own country. If anyone of you has not seen Wynad do plan a trip. It will definitely be worthwhile.

We got to Mananthavady, on the way buying slippers for Harini, who had lost one slipper earlier that day. Till Mananthavady the road is good and after Manathavady it becomes great. I am not talking about the condition of the road, which was good. I am talking about the ghat section. As you start climbing down you go over multiple hills and the ghats seem unending. Added to it was the fact at some places you had a canopy of trees where no sunlight would enter and at other places you could see tea plantations. This road which leads you to Talaserry is a joy if you love the hills. I was thrilled but Gayathri wasn't. She kept on asking, "When will this end?". I wanted it to continue for a long time and my wish was granted !!!

We had lunch at Talaserry, at a hotel which had outdoor service. It was hot and we were sitting by the sea. The waters were sparkling and we could see lot of boats and ships around. From there we went to Kannur, on the way we went to a beach where the sand is so tightly packed that we can drive our car there. It is also called a drive in beach. We stopped for some time at the Kannur beach. It is a nice beach and there were quite a few people though it was around 4 o clock. I guess the beach would get crowded later in the evening. From Kannur we started for our final destination, Nileswaram. We reached there as the sun was setting.

We checked into the Nalanda resorts, just outside of Nileswaram. It is a nice resort on the banks of the Nileswaram river. It sits bang on the NH17. Nice tidy rooms and good food. Being on the banks of the river is good and bad. Good because it makes for a lovely scenery. Bad because of the mosquitoes and other insects which bite !!! The service is slow. Infact I should write it as, the service is sloooooooooowwwww. It can really get on your nerves but the staff is so polite that you cannot kick them on their rear, which you so much want to do !!

The next morning we took the boat ride on Nileswaram backwaters. The boat was the traditional one you see on Kerala backwaters. The boatman rowed it with the long pole. It was an excellent one hour on the river wherein we got to see a lot of bird life and schools of tiny fishes. We saw the cormorant, kingfisher, some eagles and parrots. It was a bit hot that day and though I wanted the boat ride to last longer I was vetoed 3:1 by the women and we returned back to our room.

Evening saw us going to the Bekal fort. It is a nice structure and the view from the fort is great and you can see the typical Kerala scenery of the beach and the swaying coconut trees from here. You cannot go to the beach directly from the fort. You need to get back to the main road and then get to the beach. The Bekal beach was quite deserted and there were quite a lot of pebbles in the sand here. We stood in the beach for some time and watched the sun dip into the ocean and the sky changing its mood rapidly. We were back for a nice dinner at the resort.

I checked the map to see which was the best route to take. Initially my idea was to proceed till Mangalore via Kasargoad and then take the highway to Hassan. When I checked the map I saw that there was a deviation which I could take before I reached Hassan and this would lead me to Jalsa and then to Sulya from where I can go to Kukke Subramanya. Since Gayathri is interested in visiting holy places she was all for this route. The route turned out to be a nice one with the road twisting and turning and lot of coffee estates and forest area on the way. We reached Kukke around lunch and luckily before they close the doors of the temple. After the darshan we had lunch there and started for Hassan. The first twenty kilometers were hell with practically no road being present. It was an offroading experience. The road got superb around 5 kilometers before we hit the foothills of the Shiradi ghat. From there on till Nelamangala it was a great drive. As usual, from Nelamangala till home was a typical Bangalore drive, which you generally forget in a hurry. Thus ended our winter of 2005 trip.

2007-09-22T13:04:00.001+05:30

The Amazing Karnataka - Kerala Border

The first thing that strikes you when you step out of your room at night is the number of stars in the sky and the clarity with which you can see them. We city dwellers rarely look up and when we do the haze ensures that you feel as if you need an eye checkup. So it was with wonder that we watched the sky and the stars at Kutta, late on a December night in the year 2005.

The earlier year we had been to Karwar and the West Coast of Karnataka. This year we decided to explore some other part of the same coast. The plan was to go to Kutta on the Karnataka Kerala border, stay there for a few days, proceed to Calicut and from there to Kasargod before getting back to Bangalore. Due to the winter holidays for the kids getting truncated, we had to forego the trip to Calicut but went straight to Nileswaram. But I am jumping ahead.

The trip as usual started with a breakfast at Kamat at Ramnagara. From there we took the deviation off Mysore road onto Srirangapatna and from there to Hunsur. At Hunsur bus stop you need to take a left to go to Nagarhole. After driving for some time you come to the forest gate. Here the forest guard told us to shut out all music and not to stop till we got to the other end and obviously not to get down anywhere in the middle. We were passing through the Nagarhole National Park and it was a great experience being in the forest. The roads were bad and so we had to drive slowly, which was fine with me. I wanted to enjoy the atmosphere and I was in no tearing hurry. There was absolutely no traffic there. The forest silently watches you and the call of some bird accentuates the silence and enhances the loneliness. It is wonderful feeling being there all alone. As we went along we kept looking around to see if we can spot some animals. As is usual around these parts, we only saw a few deers, which were looking at us with total disinterest.

We reached the other end of the park and the place where we were going to stay, Chilligere Estates, was around 6 kms from here. We had to take a small deviation from the main road and continue for another km or two before we got to this homestay. The homestay is a set of rooms adjacent to the main building, where the owners stay. The rooms were comfortable. The linen wasn't too white but I wasn't expecting a 5 Star hotel !!! We freshened up and had our lunch, which was delicious.

The Kerala border is around 6 to 8 kms from this place. Though there is a board announcing your arrival into Kerala, we felt there was no need for that. The moment you find that you are no longer shaking inside your car, you know you have arrived in Kerala !! The roads on Karnataka side were pathetic and those on the Kerala side were wonderful. That evening we crossed the border into Kerala to visit the Tholpetty sanctuary. Actually you can say that it is one more gate for the Nagarhole sanctuary !!! Both these sanctuaries are contiguous. We had to hire a jeep. They allow only jeeps or jeep type vehicles, like Qualis and Sumo. It was late in the evening when we went in and the light was just about starting to fade. We had a guide with us who was trying to spot some wild animals so that we felt that we have got the Rs.300 worth of experience. (That's what we paid for the jeep). He need not have worried. I was so taken up by the forest that seeing or not seeing a wild animal didn't matter. The fading light which filtered through the dense forest, the gurgling streams, the chatter of the birds was enough for me. Our guide was asking other jeep drivers if they had sighted any wild animals. The first wild animal we saw were the wild buffaloes. After this Gayathri suddenly sighted a wild boar. That is not a common sight. We then saw the usual inhabitants who are the most generally viewed, the derr and the langur. Our guide was not satisfied with these sightings and was thrilled when we could see a peacock in the wild. He was almost feeling that he has earned his salary !!! Then at a distance we saw around four elephants enjoying themselves in a small pool. Our guide attained nirvana. The sight was a fabulous one with two HUGE elephants and two smaller elephants bathing in that pool. It was far away and the light was dim so we couldn't get great photos.

We got back to our room and the host asked us what we saw. When we told them what we saw, they mentioned that this was what people generally saw. I later read a book about the animals in Nagarhole and Bandipur and it turns of that the majority of the denizens are nocturnal guys and appear only after we have gone to sleep !! So when you go there go for the experience of being in the forest and not for sighting any exotic wild animal.

After dinner we stepped out of our room and we saw the crystal clear sky and the million stars. Gayathri was first one out and she was stunned. She called me and showed the stars. After seeing the sky in the city when you see the sky in the countryside you feel as if you are wearing a pair of glasses which has corrected your vision and everything now is crystal clear !!! Luckily for us it was cloudless night. There is no haze nor any artificial lights around. The only light was from the main house and from our room. You can just relax fully taking in the grandness of the universe and the great silence all around. Makes you realize how little is needed to be at peace.

The next morning we started for the Iruppu falls. We drove down to the falls and could see lot of people who have come there to trek and get to the top of the Brahmagiri peak. At Iruppu you need to park your car and trek up to the waterfalls. The way up is beautiful and makes for a lovely small trek. Thankfully there was no plastic around but we saw another familiar not-so-great sight at the waterfall, men bathing in their undies !!! Somehow the sight of a waterfall tempts the Indian male to strip and at almost at every waterfall in South India you will find this rather unappetizing sight. It is made worse by the fact that most of these guys are totally out of shape but seem to have no inhibitions in displaying their oversize torsos. It is not that people should take a bath in a waterfall but can come equipped with some decent costume. Afterall you know that you are going to visit the waterfall. If people are sensible everyone can enjoy these places better. Iruppu falls is a lovely place and you can appreciate its beauty. Even guys with undies cannot take that away !!!

From Iruppu we drove down to see the tea plantations. I don't know the name of the place but it was great sight there. You would normally not expect a tea plantation in midst of the coffee country but there it was, reminding us of the tea estates that we saw in Waynad. From there we came back to our room. We were too tired that day so we decided not to go out in the evening and ended up playing some badminton there itself.

The next day saw us starting for the Tirunelli temple. We again entered Kerala, passed the Tholpetty Sanctuary and after some time took a sharp right turn (almost a U Turn). The area of Tholpetty is superb with very little traffic and trees on both sides blocking the sunlight or just letting only a few rays to pass through. We got to the foothills of a small hill on which the quaint temple stands. We climbed up to see us surrounded on all sides by the Brahmagiri ranges. It is an excellent sight from up there. The names of the mountains on all sides is mentioned on a board at he temple but unfortunately it is in Malayalam. You can trek a bit further up and you will get to a small waterfall and a stream that flows. We went up here and put our feet in water, which was ice cold. We also saw the Malabar Squirrel here. This a gigantic fellow, as far as squirrels go. He has a reddish coat and keep jumping from tree to tree. Unfortunately he was too far away and was constantly moving that it just was not possible to capture him on my camera.

From Tirunelli temple we got back to the Tholpetty - Manathavady road. You travel on this road for some distance and you get a T-junction. Taking right here leads to Mananthavady. Taking left and then taking a right leads to the Kuruva islands, which was our destination. Once you take the right turn the road narrows and after some time you start travelling on a village and towards the end of your journey on a mud road. Reminds you of the approach to Dubare.

The Kuruva islands can be reached by walking across the river, which is not very deep here. Or you can go by boat. We decided not to go to island but instead took a boat ride on the river. It was great experience. I was pestering the boat to look out for some snakes on the trees since I had seen a snake in the Lakkidi lake earlier. Gayathri was not impressed and was asking me as to why I wanted snakes. Suddenly the boatman spotted a small thin snake on a branch of a tree and took us near to that tree. Again the snake was too far away for a good picture but my day was made. We got back to our room and again decided to just relax in the evening. Other guests had come in that day and we made friends with them over bonfire that night.

The next day saw us starting off for the North Kerala coast about which I will write a separate post. We were saying good bye to an excellent place where there is lot to see and do and lot more if you don't want to see anything or do anything !!!

2007-06-01T11:17:00.001+05:30

Himachal Visit - Some tips and musings

- I had my full trip arranged through Banjara Camps and Resorts. They had done an excellent job of planning the trip. Their web site is http://www.banjaracamps.com

- Himachal is hill country. The moment you enter Himachal from Punjab you have started climbing the mountains. I heard there is some place in Himachal where there are plains but that is supposed to be a very short stretch. So be prepared for a mountain journey. In case you have motion sickness, ensure you consult a doctor and carry the necessary medicines.

- Himachal is cold, especially for us from down south. So pack in lot of woolen wear and also jackets to keep the cold away. You should take your kids along if they are 4 or 5 yrs age or above. One person came with a kid who was around 1 1/2 yr old and he was having a tough time protecting the kid from the cold.

- South Indians must be ready to eat North Indian food as you will not get idli sambar here. The food is delicious though. We had great paratas in roadside dhabas when we were going to Chandigarh from Delhi and also in a small dhaba when we were coming from Tanedar to Kalka. Try the paneer dishes and you will never eat panner again in Bangalore !! It is so fresh out there.

- Food at the Banjara Camps was delicious as well. Especially at Shoja and Sangla. Tanedar has a bit of catching up to do to be on par with the other two. The cook at Sangla tried South Indian dishes but with mixed results. The north indian stuff was fabulous though.

- Take lot of music with you, whether you are going with your kids or not. The driving times could range anywhere from 5 to 9 hrs and having music of your choice will surely help during the trip. So ensure the car you hire has a music system

- You can read again my earlier article in this blog about how best to handle children during long drives. I used all those tricks to keep them busy !! They were playing Dhoom 2 tape most of the time and I almost got to liking a song or two !!!

- There will be some zillion photo opportunities available for you so take lot of memory with you. I am assuming that you are still not using the film camera and have changed to digital. In case you still like film camera, take a lot of film with you. Needless to say, pack your batteries and also your battery charger. The number of photos you can take will be proportional to the patience you have and the effort that you can put in

- Beware that most of the villages that you pass on your way in Himachal are small ones and many a times you may not find a restroom around. So ensure you talk to your car driver and tell him that you will need bio breaks along the way. He will then stop at the hotels which have decent restrooms.

- It is better to plan your full trip before you leave. As I said Banjara Camps people are good at it. Rajesh Ojha, who is a co-founder of Banjara, is an extremely pleasant person and he also has great knowledge of Himalayas, having travelled extensively there. So you are interacting with professionals here and they can tell you which plan would work and which wouldnt. I interacted with a person called Kavita and she was very helpful in planning the trip and was also very prompt in her replies.

- Banjara Camps arranged for my car. The driver was a nice chap called Chaman. He had lots of patience, a great virtue while driving in the hills, and he has seen most of the places so he knew which ones were worth visiting and which ones were not.

- As far as tariff goes, Banjara Camps are comparable to Jungle Lodges rates in Karnataka. Their location, service and food definitely made me feel that I got my money's worth. Of their three locations that I visited, Sangla, Shoja and Tanedar, it is Tanedar which has the normal resort feel. The other two give you a totally different experience altogether.

- What you need to keep in mind is that you will be spending lot more on travel than you would spend on stay and food !! Especially if you are from South India. So try and plan your travel early enough so that you can save a lot on flight fares to Delhi.

- In Himachal, people are probably the fittest anywhere in India. Gayathri pointed out to me that there wasnt anyone there who was fat or obese. Everyone was trim. Must be all the walking that they do !!

- In conclusion all I can say is that when you get time, head for these hills. It is an experience you will never forget. I am just waiting to go to Tabo, Kaza and my dream destination of Ladakh soon.

2007-06-01T09:26:00.001+05:30

Pleasure and Pain - The Racham walk

"It is a 11km walk and my 5 yr old son was able to do it" said Rajesh, who was cheerful as usual. Somehow with Rajesh around you get the confidence that you can do things and they will turn out well. So I decided to that we all would do the 11 km trek to Racham village. And it was a decision that I will not regret.

The start of trek itself gives an idea of what is in store. We crossed a charming old bridge and entered the Batseri village. It is a small village with steep and narrow roads. The group was led by Rajesh and we had another Banjara Camp guide who made up the rear. We were thirteen in all and given that Ranjani and Harini were also trekking, our family always was making up the rear. It was almost as if the Banjara people had given us a separate guide. When Rajesh instructed the guide to bring up the rear, Gayathri told me "Poor fellow. He will be with us all the time"!! We had left around 8 o clock after having a light breakfast. There was a nice temple in the village built of wood and recently polished. We stopped for some time to admired the architecture and the carvings on the wood. The temple was closed though.

The walk continued through the village where we could see small tracts of land being cultivated. These tracts of land were fenced as there were lot of cattle around. Infact a calf kept following us for some time, looking for its mother and bellowing 'maaaa'. After some time it heard the reassurance from its mother, who replied with a louder 'Maaaa'. After seeing them happily united, we continued. The path took us on level ground from some time and then it started climbing a bit. The pastoral scene slowly vanished and we were now in the fir forest. The beauty of the trek, we realized later, was how often the landscape changed. We walked through the fir forest for some time before we saw a glazier at a height. None of wanted to climb that far and so we continued forward. After some time we came across another glazier which was on our path. This enabled Ranjani and Harini to play in the snow for some time and others to take some photographs. It was a small glazier and the snow wasnt pure white. In most of these places the snow has a dirty look !!

It was now time to proceed and we were gingerly walking on the snow to get to the other side. The guide and I had helped the kids across the snow. I then put my camera back into the bag and zipped it when the guide came running and said,"Snap, snap". I couldnt understand what he was trying to convey. I looked at where he was pointing and realized that he hadnt said 'Snap, Snap" but had said "Saanp, snap". There were two viper snakes under a stone and he wanted me to take a snap. Ranjani and Harini were excited, the others had gone ahead and missed seeing the snakes. The heads of both snakes were hidden under the stone and the typical stripes on their body was visible. I had already packed my camera and the snakes were retreating inside. So I couldnt take a snap. The guide said, "The snakes wont do anything until you step on them". I never had that idea.

After this place started the steep climb. The terrain slowly changed again and it was rocky. In some places the soil was loose and the track was very narrow and was rounding small cliffs. It was not too dangerous since there were no gorges where you would fall off vertically but there were enough places where you were walking on the edge and one slip could slide you down. Not something you look forward to !! When we started we had crossed the Baspa and it had disappeared from our sight. Now it made its appearance again and it was joy watching the bubbly white river through the trees and hearing its roar. We took a few snaps of the river and continued the climb. As usual we were bringing up the rear and people were waiting for us.

It was time for a change in scenery again. After having seen the pastoral land, fir forest and rocky formations, it was time to see the meadows. Yes, it was flat land now and here were green meadows. Rajesh suggested that we trek a bit further and rest. So we went up ahead and found a great clearing where we all sat down on the grass to have some snacks (not snakes !!). That place was good with lot of grass and surrounded on all sides by tall trees. Snacks were packed at Banjara and our guide was carrying it. It consisted on a veg sandwich for each of us, a bar of chocolate and apple juice. That was probably the optimum snack since you dont want to put on weight when you are doing some serious climbing !! People in our batch had got some cherries and walnut which they shared with all. After relaxing for some time, we started the walk again.

We were again in steep country !! In some places the trail almost vanished as we had to climb over rocks. Infact at one place, Rajesh who was leading the group almost went in a wrong direction. Our guide was quick to spot it and rushed ahead to tell Rajesh where the trail was !! The climb was almost continuous and the kids started feeling the pain now. We gave both Ranjani and Harini a stick to help them climb. The land was covered with the leaves of the fir trees giving it a soft carpet feel. But the kids were in no mood to enjoy all this. Harini constantly asking "How much more time"? and slowly that question gave way to the exclamation, "My legs are paining". In order to keep them occupied I asked them to look out for insects and whenever they see a new insect they would get 5 marks. The person getting most marks would get a price. There were 5 marks for spotting butterflies as well !! There were more rocks to climb and the climb continued being steep. Looking for insects did help in diverting the mind of the kids from the trek but it wouldnt last for long. After some time I had to promise them chocolates when we reached the camp, later promised them ice creams once we got back to Delhi and then promised them the book of their choice when we got back to Bangalore !! Gayathri was also feeling the pain by now and felt that the trek was probably a bit harsh on the kids. No other family had got their kids along and she felt that maybe I should have gone alone. I told her not to worry and that kids would recover soon.

Just as Harini was probably reaching the end of her patience, we came to flat land. We were standing on a ground which was like a plateau and looking straight at the Racham Valley, the valley which had so fascinated me the day earlier. There definitely cannot be a better sight to end an arduous trek than this. The wide valley, the hills and the Baspa river refresh you instantly.

It was great sight for Gayathri and the kids to see our car parked at a distance. Harini, who till then was lagging behind, started walking briskly and she was the first one to get near the car. I took some photographs of the valley but I knew that I wouldnt be able to capture the grandeur of the scene on my CCD sensor. These are times when you want to give up photography !!!

We went back to the camp in our car, had lunch and crashed. All of us slept for atleast 2 hrs or more. When we woke up it was close to tea time and tea was very welcome along with the pakoras that they had made. Lots of people were doing river crossing, this where you cross the river hanging on to a rope. They have an harness which ensure you dont fall and you need to pull yourself using your hands and get to the other side. Though it looks easy it takes enormous amount of effort and I was in condition to put that effort. So I gave it a go by. As expected the kids recovered pretty fast wanted to do the river crossing. In case of kids they are safely tied to the rope and pulled across and they dont need to put any effort. It was a thrilling experience for them.

We had our usual bonfire and a great round of Anthakshari and Dumb Charades. By this time all families had come to know each other well and everyone was enjoying themselves. The next morning was our time to leave and we said our goodbyes to everyone over breakfast. Many others were leaving as well and they were proceeding to places like Tabo or Shoja. We started from Sangla and went to Sarahan to visit the temple there and to have lunch. From Sarahan we came down to Tanedar by evening. We spent the night at Tanedar and the next day took us to Kalka from where we took the Shatabdi to Delhi. We got back to Bangalore after spending one full day in Delhi for sight seeing and SHOPPING !!!

Thus ended a charming trip to Himachal and the hills. Thanks are due to Banjara Camp people for having organized this lovely trip.

2007-05-31T17:17:00.001+05:30

The enchanting drive to Chitkul

"You can go to Chitkul tomorrow", said Bishnoi, the manager at Banjara Camps. "The drive is very scenic". He turned out be 100% right and probably more. It was an enchanting drive with the scenery changing constantly and you gasping for breath after seeing so much beauty at one place.

The early morning tea was something all of us welcomed given the cold weather. The tea is served outside under a large tent. We met people once again and most of them were going to Chitkul. Infact, _all_ of them were going to Chitkul. After breakfast we started our drive leisurely.

The car climbed up from the camp site and joined the main road. Initially you get no clue of what is in store for us. The scenery remains unchanged for the first few kilometers. Then slowly you see that you are travelling on a very narrow road which curves around the mountain and far below you pure white water of Baspa river runs over the rocks. As you are enjoying this scenery you reach the small village of Racham and the scenery suddenly becomes more beautiful by a large factor (if there is some way to measure the beauty of a scene).

The narrow valley through which Baspa has been running suddenly widens up and lets you experience the vastness of this area. In front of you is the wide valley and all around the gigantic mountains. As you stand there staring at the scene, you get the same feeling when you stand alone and stare at the stars on a clear night. You are encompassed by vastness on all sides and you realize that nature can be overpowering. I asked the driver to stop and we got out and took some pictures. There was no way that any wide angle lens would do justice to what I was experiencing but it is always good to capture some memories for future 'chewing of the cud'.

The road further was equally beautiful. Suddenly coniferous trees started appearing and with them appeared round white boulders. It was fascinating to see so many boulders strewn around. Added to this were the streams which ran over these boulders forming tiny waterfalls. At one place the water stream was running on the road for some length. Gayathri and the kids were sure that they wanted to stand in the waterfall and wet their feet on the way back, little realizing that it was not an option !!

After some time, the trees disappeared. We were in barren land with the mountains around us barren and with lot of boulders and small stones all around us. The beauty of the scene made us stop again and take some photos. The wide area strewn with white round rocks, the distant barren mountains some of them covered with snow, the deep blue sky with a fluffy cloud or two, everything seemed to be made only for photographers. It was difficult to move away from the beauty but as they say 'Woods are lovely, dark and deep'. I guess you know the rest :)

We then reached the village of Chitkul. On this side of Himachal, this is the last village. Three kilometers from here is the last Indian outpost, which is manned by the Indo Tibetian Border Force. After that, when you cross the mountains, you get into Tibet.

The car stops at Chitkul and we need to trek for 3kms to reach the last place that you can go as far as Himachal is concerned. We started walking and the sky started turning dark. The air was gathering water and rushing all around. I met a local old man as I was walking and we started talking.

Old Man: You enjoying youself here
Me: Yes. The scenery is wonderful
Old Man: You should come a few months later. This whole area will be green and it looks even more magical !!

(Well, those who have kids whose school starts in June cannot think of going anywhere during the months June to Aug. All you can do is to imagine how much more beautiful this area would be in those months !!)

The old man had a Pomeranian dog. Needless to say Ranjani and Harini immediately went and patted the dog and took photos with it.

By this time the sky was fully dark and a light drizzle had started. We had no option but to return back to some shelter. We were each wearing one sweater and we had no spare. If that got drenched we were in serious trouble. So we rushed back to where our car was parked and took shelter in a small shop which was selling almost anything. The rain had intensified and those who had gone earlier than us for the trek came back fully drenched. There is absolutely no shelter once you start trekking.

Gayathri was very upset that it was still raining and that we may not have a chance to stand in the small waterfalls. Luckily for her the rain had almost stopped as we were going back and I asked the driver to stop at a place where the water was running on the road. Gayathri and kids got down to go and stand in the water and were back inside the car almost immediately !! "The water gives a shock" said Ranjani and Harini, with lot of excitement. The water was probably a glazier melt and it was must have been freezing cold. Gayathri was upset. "This is injustice. Such beautiful flow of water and you cant keep your feet in this even during summer !! How will anyone enjoy this?"

We came back to Banjara Camps, had a great lunch and relaxed for some time. Then we went down in the evening to sit on the banks of Baspa. The bank here is full of pebbles of different sizes, shapes and color. The river water is cold and crystal clear. The river rushes with a good force over the boulders. It is not very wide here but you cant think of walking across the river due to the cold and the force with which the river flows. I took some snaps of the pebbles and was cursing myself for not having got my polarizer which would have been very useful here.

The river flowing continuously, the mountains in front of us with green trees, the distant horizon with the sky a deep shade of blue, the white clouds floating around, the calmness of the area and absolutely no trace of any humanity around can put you into a philosophical mood !! As I sat next to Gayathri I realized this as she asked me, "Just like the waves of the ocean, the river keeps running on and on, without ever tiring". True. The mysteries of nature are many and in times like this we can feel a calm descend on us as we take in the scenery and forget our trivial worries. The water cold but not very cold. This allowed us to put our feet in the river water for some time, withdraw it and put it back after some time. We sat there till it was starting to get dark and came back to the room.

An elderly couple who we had met in Shoja had come to Sangla that evening. We were talking with them for some time. Then we had tea and the kids started playing. The bonfire as usual happened at 8 o clock. After that we had dinner. The cook had decided to go continental that day, which meant baked vegetables and lots of dishes whose names you cannot pronounce !! Gayathri had a look at it and said that she cant eat any of it. Where were the chapatis? The day was saved by another family which had ordered Jain food. Gayathri got her strength back when she saw rice, dal and chapati. It was important that she got her strength back. She didnt realize it at that point in time but the next day, the Racham walk, would make her realize it !!

2007-05-24T18:32:00.002+05:30

On the banks of Baspa - The Amazing Sangla Valley

We started from Shoja around 10 o clock after a nice breakfast. The kids were not very happy to leave as they had fallen in love with the place and with the dogs there. We drove through the Jalori Pass, got to the other side and proceeded further. The landscape initially is one of coniferous forests, pines, firs etc. After some time the terrain changes and you start seeing mountains with no trees on them. Only grass grows on them. We saw a charming mountain stream running alongside us and we stopped and wet our feet in this stream. It was a nice experience.

Right from Shoja till we came to this place, there was no river or stream around and I was missing that. Then the stream appeared and after some time we were in the Sutlej Valley. Sutlej appears here and it has a muddy color to it. The crystal clear streams of Tirthan or Baspa, which we would encounter later, it wasnt. I told Gayathri that it could be that the river was flowing over a muddy area which gave it this color. The terrain around it also becomes a bit barren with mountains having nothing on them. The whole area has a muddy look to it. There are a few towns on the shores of Sutlej and we stopped in a town called Rampur for our lunch at a HPTDC hotel. Our driver went off to fix some problem which he had discovered in the Scorpio. He said he would be gone for atleast an hour. We told him that we would have lunch and wait for him. We neednt have worried. The hotel guys served us so slowly that the driver fixed the defect, came back after an hour and waited for us !!!

We started around 2:30 from this place and our progress was OK for the next hour or so. After that we hit a dam site where lot of work was going on. The roads were mud roads and with the traffic around it was difficult to keep the window opened here. It was so dusty that it reminded me of the city !! Around this area is where the Baspa river merges with Sutlej and loses its identity. We had to take a right turn from here in order to get to Sangla. The progress till this place was painfully slow and once we turned right our speed picked up a bit but we got into othe problems !!

The road leading to Sangla is narrow and as I had said earlier all roads here are ghat roads. So there were times when a vehicle would come in front of us and depending on the mood of the drivers, one of them would have to back up so that the other can go thru. We thus played 'pehele aap, pehele aap' with a few vehicles !! On the way we saw a bunch of 'chirus'. These animals are a cross between yak and cow. Initially I thought they were yak but the driver said they werent and upon closer inspection could see there werent yak. We also saw some wild horses. They looked like a cross between horse and donkey !!

We crossed the Sangla town and were going in the direction of another town called Racham. On this road, you need to take a deviation, which goes to your right and downhill and this leads to the Banjara Camps tents which are on the banks of the river Baspa. It was around 7:30pm when we reached here. We were shown our tent. It was a spacious one with three beds in there. They also provided me with an additional mattress as we were four of us. These tents have attached restrooms and also have a water heater. It is a bit cold in the tents compared to a normal room but they give hot water packs to keep yourself warm in the night. Added to it you have a razai and a woolen blanket. So if you cover yourself with a razai and keep the hot water pack next to you, you will end up sweating in the night.

The Banjara Camps at Sangla is located at an outstanding place. The tents are on the banks of the river Baspa. (You neednt worry if the river will overflow and enter your tents !! The tents are at an elevation compared to the river) There is a path which leads to the river. One one side you have the mountains with lot of greenery and on the other side you have black mountains with snow covered peaks. Once in a while these mountains are covered with white fluffly clouds which add to their beauty. All through the night you will hear the gentle murmur of the Baspa river as it glides over the smooth pebbles which lie on its path. You can also see a couple of glaciers and a small village at a distance.

The bonfire was started around 8 o clock and I went to join it. People were playing anthakshari and I started singing some songs that I knew. Anthakshari is a good way to make friends. People are united quickly in music that anything else. If you sing a couple of songs which they like, they tend to like you as well. This had happened in Sikkim last year and it happended here on two nights. Another hint: Sing Kishore Kumar + RD Burman songs and you will be a well liked guy almost immediately !!

In Banjara resorts the food is generally served in a central dining hall, which allows people to interact with each other. During dinner, which was very tasty, I spoke to people who had come from far and wide and realised that most of them have come from the same far and wide place, Mumbai !!! This trend continued for the next couple of days, of people arriving from Mumbai. For a second I felt like a Mumbai duck out of water !!! There was one family from Banglore and they, Sunil and his wife, happened to be close friends of my former boss. As can be expected, we wondered what a small world it was !!!Sunil gave a monkey cap for Gayathri and it proved very useful. Thanks Sunil.

The next day would be the wonderful ride to Chitkul.

2007-05-17T16:53:00.001+05:30

Trip to the Land of Mountains - Himachal Pradesh

Shoja - A Naturalist Delight

When I tried switching on the A/C in the Scorpio, it wouldnt work. So tried to down the windows electronically. That wouldnt work either. As there was no mechanical option to down the windows, we were now in a car which had literally become a furnace with the Chandigarh sun blazing fiercely. Not a great start to the journey!!! Our driver managed to find a mechanic, who checked the fuse, realised it was blown and replaced it. We started off at around 10:30 from Chandigarh on the way to Shoja.

We had arrived the earlier day at Delhi from Bangalore. We were met by the driver of our vehicle arranged by Banjara Camps people. He first drove us to Chandigarh, where we halted for the night and had food at a South Indian restaurant which was charging sky high rates !! The plan was to leave by 9 o clock the next morning to this place called Shoja but due to the aforementioned troubles, ended up leaving only around 10:30 am.

The drive was along the road to Kullu. We passed the towns of Bilaspur and Mandi. On this road, instead of taking a left and going into a tunnel towards Kullu, you need to go straight to reach Shoja. The scenery till this point isnt really breathtaking and doesnt prepare you for what lies ahead. Only after we cross this place, Himachal started to slowly reveal itself. We went into the Tirthan Valley. The river was crystal clear and lot of pine trees started appearing. The sun was on the last leg of its descent and the air was slowly cooling down. Around 6:30pm we stopped for some tea and it had become real cold. The air was chill and the cup of hot tea was very welcome. The place where we had tea, was surrounded by mountain ranges filled with pine trees and there was a small mountain stream flowing nearby. After the tea, we proceeded to the Banjara Camps resort at Shoja.

The setting of the resort blew us off and the scenery around the area casually brushed aside the tiredness we were feeling till then. The room we stayed was on a ledge of a mountain. From your verandah, which is covered with glass windows, you have the view of a pine covered mountain opposite to you. You also get a great view of the valley beneath and the snaking road which gets you up. You get to see a whole range of mountains, some of them covered with the coniferous forests, some of them on which some agriculture is taking place, some which have meadows on the top and some of which, at a distance, are snow covered. Gayathri and I, after seeing the place, simultaneously exclaimed, "Lets not do anything. Just lets sit and relax". Shoja will have this sort of impact on you. An extremely calm place, with very less of civilization around, no distractions like TV, this is the best place to be if you want to get away from all the urban sounds !! We did exactly that, which is to relax, on the day we landed. They had a bonfire going and we had some nice soup around the bonfire. After this we proceeded for dinner, which was delicious.

We decided to start the next day leisurely and we implemented the plan. After a leisurely breakfast we set off to a place called Jalori Pass. Preetam, who was our host, drove us there. The drive to Jalori pass was a short one but within those 5 to 10 mins, I could see a variety of trees around. I have no clue of their names but the brouchers mention names like Deodar, Pine, Fir, Cedar etc etc. I am sure all of these were around and lots more !! A naturalist would have died of sheer delight here. Added to this, we also were blessed with cloudy and pleasant weather.

The Jalori pass has nothing great around but you can trek from there to the Servalsar lake. We went to the meadows nearby and saw some shepherds coming down from the mountains with their mountain goats. Looks like these guys dont stay at one place and keep moving to lower altitudes in winter and go the other way during summer. Ranjani and Harini loved the goats and kept touching them. The goats were of a different kind and had a covering of wool quite different from what we would see around here. We took snaps of the shepherds and showed them the photo on the digital camera's display.

On the way back from Jalori pass, we stopped at a place were there was some snow, not lots. Ranjani and Harini played with snow for some time while I took photos of the mountains around. Again I was stunned by the range of trees around and was able to get some shots with trees of different colors in the shot. I am sure this area will be superb during autumn when the leaves change color.

A small distance before the resort is a trail through the pine forest which leads to a waterfall. The trek is supposed to take around 45 mins to 1 hr. We started and went around 500 mts when we saw lightning and heard the thunder. It was quite dark and the prospects of rain were bright, while the weather was not !!! So we decided to head back to the camp. As we were coming back, we encountered two dogs, one of which the kids had seen earlier at the resort and had made friends with. Ranjani and Harini were very thrilled to see these dogs and wanted to get the dogs back in our Scorpio so that they didnt get drenched in the rain. We had to explain to them that dogs took much better care of themselves and knew how to protect themselves from the elements. They half heartedly left the dogs behind and got into the car. As soon as we reached the resort, it started pouring. For once we had made the right decision :)

Had a nice lunch, rested for some time and then Preetam took us for a village walk. By this time some more families had come in and all of us went to this walk together. This walk took us to the village which is adjacent to the Banjara property. The trail we were walking threw up some amazing scenes of beauty around that it would have been very easy to exhaust the memory of your camera in a matter of few minutes. The lush green fields, the garlic plants, the various trees, the setting sun lighting up the mountains beautifully and the charming village. It was a small but memorable walk. The kids in the village were playing cricket with a ball made of thick rubber bands and paper !!! I tried my hand at bowling to a kid. I tried my off spin but the ball wouldnt spin !! Most of the people went back but Preetam, I and another gentleman trekked up a small hill nearby. A steep but a nice climb.

At Shoja, there are quite a few activities that you can indulge in. There is a mountain with meadows on the top offering a 360 degree view of the whole place. This takes around hour and half trek from Jalori pass. Looks like there is a steep climb for around 20 mins to reach the summit. The other option is to trek to the Servalsar lake from Jalori pass. Or trek to the waterfall from the resort itself. Ofcourse there is also the village trek that I spoke about.

When we got to Shoja and to the Banjara Resort, we met Rajesh Ojha, who is the co-founder of Banjara. I can only describe him as a very natural person. He is very casual, knows a lot about the area and is extremely friendly. My daughters took an instant liking to him. He can give you a lot of information about the areas there and also about the Himalayas.

The other thing the kids love here are the dogs that keep coming in. Lot of them seem to be some sort of sheep dogs. They belong to someone in the village but they keep coming to this resort and are extremely friendly. The kids love playing with them and feeding them. My kids were constantly asking for the dogs and when we were about to leave they didnt want to leave till they had said their goodbyes to the dogs.

There was a bonfire that night. The kids enjoyed themselves by playing dumb charades and by feeding the dog, named Johny. (The dog that met us during the trek was called Roney). They also played carroms, which was kept outside the dining room. After a nice dinner, we went to sleep, preparing ourselves for the drive to Sangla the next day.

2007-05-17T16:39:00.001+05:30

Western Karnataka Coast - Place to Stay and Eat

Here is some info on places where you can stay and places to eat at Gokarna, Karwar and Udupi

Gokarna: If you dont want to shell out a huge amount to OM Beach resort, the only other decent option is Hotel Gokarn. Ph No: 8386-256622, 8386-257368. (www.geocities.com/hotelgokarn/ ) This is not a fancy hotel. A basic hotel. The small Darshini type hotel attached to this doesnt look to0 great but the meals were quite good.

As far eating in Gokarna is concerned, it is better to head off to the beach and eat at Prema's place there. It is a small joint but serves some very good food.

Karwar: I stayed at Hotel Bhadra. Ph: 08382-225412, 225613. Decent value-for-money place on the highway itself. The Jungle Lodges office is situated opposite this hotel and you can do a day trip to Devbagh resorts of Jungle Lodges. The other staying option is at the Jungle Lodges resort in Devbagh. A nice place but will cost you much more.

Food at Hotel Bhadra is quite good so you can have it there. You can also check with the Jungle Lodges folks and go to Devbagh resort for lunch

Udupi : In Udupi we stayed at Hotel Srirama Residency (0820-2530761). A very neat place, good value for money and very close to the temple. There are a couple of more hotels around this place which also looked good. Hotel Karavali on the highway is also a good hotel, though it is a bit far from the temple. (http://www.karavaligroup.com/ Ph:0820 2522860)

Udupi has lot of eating options if you are a South Indian. We ate at Hotel Srirama and Woodlands, which was near to Hotel Srirama. You can always try lot of other good hotels around.

2007-03-17T09:29:00.001+05:30

Kawar beach - Between a rock and a watery place

The main attraction of Karwar is the beach. On one side the western ghats tower over you. You can see the Konkan railway train precariously passing on these mountains. On the other side is the Arabian sea where the hot orange sun cools himself by slowly immersing himself into the waters there. No wonder Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore was impressed and inspired by this place.

We went to the Karwar beach that evening. We saw a strange sight there. We were standing at beach waiting for the water to careess our legs. The waves came and splashed against us. When the next wave came, the wave front would die a couple of feet before us. The next round would see the wave dying a few more feet before us and after a few mins the wave front was ending atleast 10 feet before us. It was as if the sea was withdrawing itself. In due course of time, the wave front would come forward till our feet and the cycle would repeat. The effect of tsunami. It felt as if someone had taken hold of the globle called earth and slowly rocking it.

The beach was quite clean and we had a good time there. We would see some ships anchored at a distance and the lights of the ship glow when it became dark. There were some municipal people monitoring the situation near the beach and cautioning the people not to go in too far into the sea. There was also some cultural show going at the beach. Some school kids were dancing and we watched it for some time. The whole setting on the beach was very nice, with the wind blowing from one side and music from the other.

The next day morning we started for Devbagh beach. This is a property of Jungle Lodges. If you dont get a reservation there, you can do a day trip to Devbagh from Karwar. I had paid for a half day trip at their office opposite the hotel I was staying (Hotel Badra). You need to go to a small jetty from where a motor boat will take you on the Kali river and deposit you at Devbagh. We went to the jetty and saw that the Kali river was boiling. See the state of the river Gayathri wanted to turn back and not take any risk. The boatman didnt make it better either. "I have never seen the river like this sir. Heard some huts along the banks were washed away yesterday night. All these due to the tsunami". Added to this we had to wait for some time for the boat to arrive from Devbagh. All these led to escalation of anxiety. Finally the boat arrived. As it took us towards Devbagh we felt as if was bobbing up and down too much. Anyway we arrived at Devbagh and went to the beach. The long strech of sand here is very clean and they provide the beach umbrellas and chairs to relax. Given that the tsunami had stuck the earlier day and the waves were behaving unpredictably, they didnt allow us to get into water, though we managed to get our feet wet !! There were no water sports either. The whole atmosphere at Devbagh invites you to just hang up your boots and relax. The cute cottage, the long stretch of the beach, the pine trees all around and the seclusion make this an ideal place for honeymooners and for those who want to rejuvenate themself. On the way back, Kali river has subsided quite a lot. That evening we went to the Karwar beach again. Well, there isnt much you can do at Karwar than go to the beach !!

Udupi, Sringeri and Hornadu - A short pilgrimage

The next day morning after breakfast we started our drive from Karwar to Udupi. The NH17 is a great road to drive. It follows the west coast all the way from Trivandrum to Karwar. The sea is always around 1 to 2 kms away from the road. Unfortunately the sea never is seen from the road except at Marvante. At Marvante for some distance the sea comes along with you. I made a mental not to come to this place sometime in the future (hasnt happened yet). On this road is Murudeswar, where the imposing Siva statue can be seen from the road. I saw it and went in to see it from near. It was hot at the beach and we had a darshan of Siva from the car. This place with the giant statue of Siva on the beach and the mutistoried hotel nearby is very impressive. I am sure it gets quite crowded during the season. We did see a lot of people on the beach even though it was close to noon and hot.

We arrived at Udupi at lunch time. By mistake I took a wrong turn and ended up at Manipal. I didnt realise the Udupi and Manipal were so near. I mean you just step out for a walk at Udipi and you are in Manipal !! Anyway we reached our hotel, had lunch and relaxed. Which meant we slept. The evening was spent at the Malpe beach. This is around 7 kms from Udupi. Here too the waves exhibited the same tendency as at Karwar but to a lesser degree. This was also a very clean beach but a bit crowded. Since it was the christmas vacation time, there were bus loads to school children at most places that we visited. The were some college going kids as well here. Ranjani and Harini enjoy being at the beach and they enjoyed themselves at the Malpe beach. They also had camel rides here, which for the kids, was a thrilling affair.

Returning back from the beach, we headed to the famous Krishna temple at Udupi. The temple structure is not like the traditional temples of Tamil Nadu. The way you see the idol is also is also unconventional. You the see the idol through a small window. (There is a story associated with this). I know that some people are disappointed when they see a small idol and that too through a window. Both Gayathri and I liked the atmosphere of the temple. It is paradoxical but there was some sort of serenity here though the whole area was crowded and noisy. We sat there for some time to soak in the atmosphere and we promised to ourselves that we will visit the temple again the next day. The temple has an elephant and we saw it outside the temple which made the kids very happy.

Since I had been driving for long streches, I decided to give myself a break and hire a cab to go to Sringeri and Hornadu. The cab driver came in later than we had asked him to. We started to Sringeri. On the way was Agumbe. It is a short ghat section but very steep. We stopped at the top to have a view of the surounding area. As usual with most hill top views the surrounding mountains were covered in haze. The sunset view is supposed to be great from here.

We arrived at the Shringeri temple around noon time. The temple is on the banks of the Bhadra river. We went to the Sharadhamba sannidhi. This is a very well maintained temple and the place is calm. There were some children learing the vedas and the sound of veda recitation always brings in some untold joy and peace. After the darshan of Sharadambha we went down the steps to be on the banks of the river. There a lot of big fish here which are fed by the devotees. The kids were happy watching the fish thrash around in water when some food is thrown. We had our lunch at the temple. Most of the temples in Western Karnataka provide food for the devotees. Here is the first time that I observed rasam being served first and then sambar !!

From Sringeri we left for Horanadu. The drive through Kudremukh was wonderful and I was sure I was going to come to this place again, which I did. (I had written in detail about Kudremukh and Hornadu in my earlier post). We had a darshan of Annapoorneshwari at Horanadu and came back to Udupi in the evening.

Next day morning was a visit to the Udupi Krishna temple, evening at the beach. The day after we left Udupi for Bangalore. While climbing the Sakleshpur ghat we could feel our car grunting and groaning and going up the ghat with great difficulty. After we got down the ghat, I opened the bonnet and peeped in, as if I knew all about cars. I had no clue what to look for and as can be expecetd found nothing wrong !!! We came to Hassan and I took the car to a mechanic. He found out that one of the cable which goes to the spark plug was faulty. Out of the three cylinders in the car, only two have been firing !!! So we had climbed up the Sakleshpur ghat with only 2/3 power !! Should appreciate the Maruti 800s sturdiness. The mechanic changed the cable and now it was a different car altogether !! We stayed at Hassan and visited Belur and Halebid, where the sculptures were mind boggling. That afternoon we left for Bangalore.

The drive from Hassan to Neelamangala was smooth and we came to Neelamangala in quick time. As usual the drive from Neelamangala to my house was a nightmare. Welcome to Bangalore !!

2007-02-23T13:31:00.001+05:30

Western Karnataka Coast - Gokarna and the amazing OM beach

"It will be a very small ghat section. Maximun 15 to 20 mins. Not more. There is no need to worry". This is what I told Gayathri. This was our first major road trip, with or without the whole family. I had decided to go to Gokarna and Karwar. Gayathri was pretty apprehensive about the Ghat sections along the way. My in-laws were also apprehensive and lot of ideas were floating around like hiring a cab or hiring a cab etc. That is why I gave gyan to Gayathri that the Ghat section was very small and there was nothing to be worried about !! I had no clue about the ghat section but I was sure that I had to drive and I had to take my car. The Gerasoppa ghat would be more than 50 kms and took close to 2hrs to cross but what a beautiful ride it would be.

My friend Andy had been to Gokarna and he was very impressed with that place. I was oscillating between a South India tour which would take me to Tanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tituvaiyaru, Tiruchi etc or a Karnataka West coast tour to Gokarna, Karwar and Udupi. Hearing Andy tell me about Gokarna, I decided on the later. It was the Christmas weekend of 2004. If you havent realised the significance of my decision to go to West Coast, you will get to know as we go along.

We started very early in the morning. The earlier night I felt my Maruti misfiring but the garage guy said not to worry. We left at 5:15 hence got to Nelamangala quite soon and hit the Tumkur toll road. It was a wonderful road. Andy had told me that the road is as good as a US road and that he didnt believe it when his friend had told him. Well, I didnt believe Andy until I saw the road. It's a great road but to be fair to our highway guys they have laid such roads in many more stretches like Hosur to Krishnagiri and then all the way to Chennai. That's progress.

We stopped for breakfast at Tumkur. I had all along associated Tumkur road with the Pune highway. So at Tumkur I saw the map and started going on the Pune road towards Sira. After going almost 2.5 kms I realised that my destination was NOT Pune !!! I did a U turn came back to Tumkur and proceeded on the Shimoga road. We got to Shimoga just before lunch time but decided to have lunch anyway. I didnt want to cross Shimoga without having lunch. After lunch we started from Shimoga and as we got out of Shimoga, I stopped the car, folded the back seat of Maurti and made my kids lie down. They happily slept for a some time and woke up only when we got near Jog.

We stopped briefly near the diversion that takes us to Jog. I didnt want to go to Jog since that would delay me and I wanted to be out of the ghat section before it got late. At the point you can see the river running. Had tea is a small 'dabba' tea shop and proceeded.

The Ghat section starts after Jog. What a ghat section it is !! I loved it and Gayathri hated it since she starts getting motion sickness when we go on Ghat section. It was full of twists and turns, lot of hairpin bends and steep climbs. All the way, the scenery was fantastic all around. I would look at the scenery and exclaim to Gayathri, "Wow. Look at that !!!". She would always reply back, "I look at that. You better look at the ROAD"!! I could understand her anxiety as the roads were curving and you need to be on high alert. I dont know how many mountains we crossed but we did cross a lot of them. It would look as if we have come down and the ghat section is done with, when the next mountain will appear in front of you and the climb would start again. Again you will come down only to start climbing again. After some time Gayathri was fully frustrated, "When will get to level ground". Everyone was hungry and tired and wanted to get to a hotel fast. It took us almost two hours to cross this section.

You hit the town of Honavar after your final descent. You almost will run into the Kamat Hotel which is bang on the coastal highway NH 17. It was a no brainer as to where we should stop. My car by itself went into the Kamat parking lot !! After refreshing ourselves, we drove to Gokarna. We arrived there after 6 o clock. I had booked us in Hotel Gokarn. Not a very great place but the best you can get in Gokarna.

We went to the temple that night. As soon as you get there, the priests will surround you and tell you that they can do lot of pooja's for you. For a price of course. Since one of my friends had warned me about this, I told them, "Thanks but no thanks" and went in only for the darshan. the temple has many legends associated with it but somehow seeing all the priests running after people, I really didnt get a great feeling here. We had dinner at Prema's hotel on the beach and came back to sleep. Tomorrow will be our day at the beaches of Gokarna.

We came to Prema's hotel for breakfast and then went and stood at the Gokarna beach. It is a nice beach and was lonely in the morning hours. In the evening you will see lot more people. But you dont go to Gokarna for this beach. You go there for the other beaches. The Om beach, Paradise beach etc. We went and bargained with the boat guys, who have motors fitted to their boats. They will take you into the ocean and then to the Om beach. You can trek a small hill and get to Om beach as well. Since my daughters were small, we decided to take the ocean route !!

Om beach is fantastic. Even though there lot more people due to vacation, still you felt it was lonely !! You feel that you have the whole beach to yourself. Since not many people come here, it is neat and the water a lovely hue of blue. The water is shallow and you can happily swim here, which I did. Ranjani and Harini were lierally rolling the water. Though the sun was shining brightly, it wasnt too hot. It was an ultimate place to relax, to swim and to enjoy yourself. The boatman, though had agreed only for an hour, seeing us enjoying here was willing to wait for a longer time. It was with great difficulty that we tore ourselves from this place and started back. On the way back we spotted a dolphin and that was a bonus.

We came back to the Gokarna beach, had our lunch at Prema's hotel, came back to Hotel Gokarn and check out. I then drove to Karwar and checked into Hotel Badra there. We switched on the TV and it was then we got the news. The same time as we were at the Gokarna and Om beaches, the East Coast had been devastated by the terrible Tsunami !! It was shocking to see so many people lose their lives to the Tsunami.

The shadow of Tsunami would hang over all the beaches for the next few days.

2007-01-30T14:42:00.000+05:30

Sikkim - Some info

Getting there : The best way is to get to Kolkata and from there to New Jalpaiguri by train. In case you want to fly, you need to get to Bagdogra. There are flights operating from Kolkata and also from Delhi to Bagdogra. The only problem is that the flight fare is generally high and you dont get any great fare even if you book very early. New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Bagdogra are next to each other and so you can get to any of these places in order to get to Gangtok. You need to hire a cab from here. The cost will depend on the season. Last year it cost me Rs.1400/- one way. You can contact this cab driver. He was very nice guy and drove safely.

Jantu - Cab driver - 9932534996. Speak to him in Hindi or Bengali and not in English !!

Places to stay in Gangtok: Check out www.sikkiminfo.net for different hotel options. The hotels I stayed were:

Hotel Sonam Delek : Ask for Tam Ding - Ph: 03592-202566 The place doesnt look too upmarket but the rooms are neat and the price is reasonable. The restaurant serves great food.

Mintokling guest house: This has a resort type of feel to it. The rooms are good and the delux suite is reasonably priced and is spacious. Has a good view of the mountains. The food was a bit bland here but the stay was good. Ask for Pema. Ph: 03592-204226.

North Sikkim : You need to take the help of a travel agency to go to North Sikkim. I went thru Marcopolo agency. They did an excellent job. The driver who came with us for the North Sikkim trip was great. He drove well and was friendly. The rest house they have in Lachen is very basic. Lachung property is better and probably the best in that area. The guide was also very helpful. The whole trip was arranged in a professional manner.

Marcopolo Travels: Ask for Karmatashi Bhutia (the owner) or for Ganesh Ram Sharma (Manager) Phone: 03592-204116/229407/221723

I have heard that Sikkim Tours and Travels is also a good travel agency. Contact Lukendra. Phone No: 03592-202188 / 227191

A word of caution about North Sikkim tour. There is a lot of travel by jeep involved and the weather can be harsh depending on when you are going there. Added to it, variety in terms of food is very less. So if you have very small kids or senior citizens travelling with you, think and find out all details before you undertake this trip.

Food: There is no problem about food in Gangtok. Nowadays everyone eats chappatis and North Indian dishes. These are available in Gangtok easily. Chinese food is also available. In Lachen and Lachung you will not have much say about the food. You will get vegetarian food but the variety is very limited. All the provision to Lachen and Lachung comes from Gangtok and so dont expect to get A La Carte menu. The breakfast is usually bread toast at Lachen and bread toast and poori at Lachung. Lunch and dinner have phulkas/chapatis and rice. You will have dal and a curry. The rice is a variety of boiled rice. I was used to it since I had been to Kolkata many times earlier and had eaten this rice. Gayathri had a bit of a problem getting used to it.

Safety and the people: Both Gangtok and North Sikkim turned out to be very safe places. The people are extremely polite and helpful. All the cab drivers we got were very pleasant, friendly and patient. The prices were agreed upon in advance and so there no cheating involved. Overall I found the people of Sikkim to be excellent in their hospitality. You can get along at most places by speaking in Hindi.

2007-01-30T14:07:00.000+05:30

The Valley of Flowers which wasnt

"There is no need to rent the snow boots. You rent some wind cheaters. It will be windy there and the jackets will be useful against the wind", said the senior guide. No harm came to him because I abhor violence !!!

The journey from Lachen to Lachung was a short and uneventful one. It took us around 2 hrs to get to Lachung from Lachen. The scenery, as usual, was breathtaking. Just before entering the Lachung town, there was a nice waterfall. We stopped here since the driver wanted to have tea at a tea shop here. We also had a cup of tea and took some snaps near the waterfall.

The place we stayed at Lachung was a nice one. It was better than the one we stayed at Lachen. The cold was also less here and the hotel people gave us hot water packs, which were very useful. Upon arrival, we were treated to plate of onion pakodas, which were extremely tasty. That night I had a minor shock. I had covered myself with a razai and about to sleep. I turned around and suddenly felt breathless. It took me some time to get back to normal !! I was wondering as to what happened to me. The razai was heavy but not so heavy that you become breathless. There didnt seem to be any doctor or hospital around and here I was feeling breathless. Anyway I slowly relaxed and was able to sleep. Only the next morning did I realize that what happened was not due to my lack of fitness but due to the altitude at which we were staying. We were staying at close to 13000 ft and I did notice the effort I had to put in when I took a morning stroll to get some photography done.

The next day morning, we started for Yumthang, the Valley of flowers. It is not too far from Lachung and takes around an hour or so to get there. Along the way we saw a lot of yaks. We passed through the rhododendron sanctuary. There are supposed to be around 63 or so varieties of these flowers which grow here. Unfortunately when we went it was still snowing and so the flowers were not in bloom. There were some trees which had flowers on them. This itself gave us an idea of how beautiful this sanctuary would be in the summer time.

As we entered the Yumthang area, we saw a board, 'Welcome to the Valley of Flowers'. We were excited to get there. As we got out of the vehicle, the scene in front of our eyes totally surprised us !! There were no flowers. Instead the whole valley was filled with snow !!! This is a big valley and the whole of the valley was covered with snow. From the main road, around 200 mts away ran the river. Past the river, around 100 mts off were the mountains again. To our left, around 20 to 30 mts away were the mountains. Both the sides of the road were fully covered with snow. The snow had carpeted the whole area till the river and it would be great walking all the way till the river in the snow. The area again resembled a black and white picture, with the black mountains being covered with glowing white snow.

I looked round for the senior guide, who had advised us against renting the snow boots. All the people who had come there had come prepared. They were taking off their slippers, putting on their snow boots and started walking and playing in the snow. Here we were, looking totally dumb and frustrated, with all the snow around us calling us to play and we unable to step into it. It took great control not to give the senior guide a few bangs on his head. Instead I went and bugged him and told him to get me some boots on rent. After almost half an hour or more, he managed to get a couple of them. We sent in Ranjani and Harini and they just loved it in the snow. After some time, we got two more pairs of boots and then Gayathri and I went in.

Nothing beats the experience of walking in snow. The land beneath us was not even and we were not sure if we stepping on firm ground or on a stone. I did fall a couple of times but it was enjoyable. I walked till around the place where the river was flowing. Harini had done done something close to a snow man and the kids didnt want to come out of the snow. We finally came out and went to a water spring which was nearby. They have built a room around the spring. The water was luke warm. What was interesting was the walk to the spring. You had walk across a bridge in order to cross the river. The bridge also had snow on it which made it slippery. The light had faded a bit and I was able to take a couple of good snaps of this area.

We came back to out hotel for lunch. In the evening we visited a monastery nearby. Before that I had taken Gayathri and kids for a small walk around. There were some kids playing cricket here. I joined them and played for some time !! It was a nice experience.

The next day after breakfast we started for Gangtok. We had lunch at the same place where I had earlier had salt tea !! Along the way, as we were getting near to Gangtok, we saw our first and the only glimpse of Kanchenjunga. It was a towering peak which seemed to tear apart the clouds. It was visible for less than 5 mins before being covered with the clouds again. It was raining in Gangtok when we arrived and the drizzle continued for some time.

Thus ended our North Sikkim trip. The next day we were off toNew Jalpaiguri from where we would go to Kolkata and get back to Bangalore

2007-01-29T14:14:00.000+05:30

The unsuccessful attempt to reach Gurudongmar lake

The light drizzle continued the next day as well. We had finished breakfast, when we got a call from the reception informing us that the vehicle from our tour agent has arrived. We went down with our luggage. The driver said, " We need to start soon so that we can get to Lachen soon". As soon as we loaded our luggage, the driver promptly disappeared !!! He informed us that he was going to the market to buy a spanner. So there we were, all luggage loaded and looking lost !! We came in to sit at the reception. A set of old people were already sitting there and one of them asked me,"Are you off to North Sikkim?". I said yes upon which he told me that there was a landslide and the road was blocked. Oh great. At this time the guide from the travel agency arrived. He said that the road was being cleared and there should be no problem. I hoped so. After some time the driver came and we started, not knowing what roadblock lay ahead.

If you thought the 'guide' meant someone who knew the land intimately and knew about its history and will educate you about the mountains etc, you will be sorely disappointed. He was a tour guide, which means he will tell you where we will stop, where we will eat, what we will eat and when you need to get up tomorrow etc. He was more like an arranger of the trip. Anyway the guy who came with us was a young chap, who was very polite and did arrange things well.

We started in the drizzle and the first stop was not very far from Gangtok. We had to climb a small hillock to have a good view of the region, which we did. Then started the actual journey. I had initially thought that nothing would beat the drive from New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok. This drive was to prove that wrong. We were entering the actual Himalayan ranges now. The mountains became huge. After seeing them, the Brahmagiri ranges look like small hillocks. The Teesta river was running along with us all the way and whenever we stopped we could hear the gushing of the water. The Teesta was running with gay abandon over the rocks and the water was crystal clear. Once in a while the river would drop a few feet to create a mini water fall. Teesta would run along with us at our level sometimes. When we crossed bridges, it would run underneath us and we could feel its force. Most of the time it was way below us but always visible. Added to it was the vegetation all around us and it was a real pleasure driving along this road. I thought this was the best road journey I will ever have. I was to be proved wrong the very next day !!!

At many places we crossed some old bridges and when you cross these bridges you get a lovely view of the river beneath you and the mountains surrounding you. Generally we were climbing mountains, so we could see the valley below and the mountains in the front of us. At one point, we got a great side view. There were mountains on both sides stretching as far as the eye could see and the river running between the mountains as if it was the river which had cleaved these mountains. An outstanding sight. Mention must here be made about the Border Road Organisation, who have done a wonderful job on all these roads. I guess to have such great roads in a remote area like this wouldnt have been possible without their dedicated effort. Three cheers to all of them.

The journey to Lachen was a long one but the scenery kept us captivated. It took us more than 6 hrs to get there. On the way we had first stopped for lunch. I came to know that the driver and guide were having salt tea !!! Yup. That is right. They put some butter and salt in the tea. I had to have it and asked for a cup. After I drank that Gayathri asked me how it was. I told her it tasted like tea with salt in it !!! She knows me well not to react to such statements !! We then stopped in the evening at Chungthang and had tea, this time with sugar. The kids had Maggie noodles. By the time we reached Lachen, it was getting dark.

The facilities at Lachen are very basic and the tour agency had told me this. The place we stayed cannot be called a hotel. It was a multi storied building in reverse !! It started with the ground floor and was about three levels deep. The rooms were plain but they had hot water and electricity. The most fascinating part of the stay here was the disappearing act of the cast and crew there. When we went in, one guy showed us the room and disappeared. When I came out I saw that the driver and the guide have also disappeared. I searched for some soul but couldnt find any. After sometime the guy who showed us the room appeared bearing some tea. Then again he disappeared !! Suddenly the guide would pop up and say something and disappear. Then this guy would appear with some news about dinner and then promptly vanish. I was scared that I too would suddenly vanish without my own knowledge !! I wasnt the only one feeling that way. A family which had come there the previous day told me that they couldnt find anyone when they wanted something !!

Lachen was cold. Gayathri comes from Chennai and is not used to this type of cold. The temperature was getting close to zero degrees. Chennai people's concept of a cold day is when the temperature hits 20 degree centigrade. You can see people in sweater and mufflers in Dec in Chennai when the mercury touches 20 !! So you can imagine what a single digit temperature would have felt like to them. Gayathri was literally shivering and so were the kids. I asked for a room heater. The guy said he will check the availability and vanished. He didnt appear again for some time. Gayathri was fully draped in blanket and a razai but was still feeling cold. The guy finally appeared with a heater. We gave a sigh of relief when the heater gave out some hot air. This relief was short lived when the fuse gave out. I again went in search of someone and by some miracle located the guy who got us the heater. Told him about the problem. He came to the room, checked the heater, confirmed there was a problem, took the heater and you guess it, he vanished. Then the guide appeared. I told him about the heater. He said he will check about it and did the vanishing trick !! Finally the first guy appeared with a heater which worked and kept working. Only after this did Gayathri's agony subside.

Given the cold weather, we werent sure if we wanted to go to the Gurudongmar lake. I wanted to see it but wasnt sure if the kids will be able to take in the cold. We finally decided to go and we started a bit late than what the driver would have liked. Now came a journey which was incredible. After we left Lachen, the mountains seemed to grow even taller. Wherever our eyes turned we saw snow capped mountains. The whole place was deserted and ours was the only car on the road. Along the way there were lot of yaks grazing. Cows were climbing the mountains surefooted. There were waterfalls everywhere you turned. We could clearly see the snow melt and come down in the form of a waterfall. There were small purple flowers growing out of the ground all along the way, giving the whole place a colorful glow. This area is supposed to be a birdwatchers paradise and we could see why. As we were driving along, suddenly a big group of tiny birds would take off, fly in front of our jeep for some time, then do a tight right turn in such unison that it would have made the best fighter pilot jealous. As you watch these birds with amazement, another bird, slightly larger, with a black body and a lovely brown tail would start off from a bush and fly away. As you watch that wonderful bird with your mouth agape, there would rise a couple of tiny birds with wonderfully colored wings and fly away. I am not a bird watcher but I was sure taken in by the sheer variety of birds I saw during the journey. If a birdwatcher were to come here I am sure he will just die of sheer pleasure. The yaks, flowers, birds, waterfalls, snow capped mountains and the ever flowing river made this a journey which was unforgettable. This sure beat the journey of yesterday.

After traveling for quite some time, we encountered snow. There had been a very heavy snowfall the earlier day it seems and the whole area was now covered in snow. We traveled for some more time before we saw a large caravan of jeeps in front of us. A couple of vehicles had got stuck in the snow and all the people were trying to help these guys. We were stuck behind the vehicles for close to one hour and our dream of visiting Gurudongmar lake vanished. Somehow they got the vehicles out and we proceed for some more time. The snow was thicker here and almost everyone turned back since it made no sense trying to get to Gurudongmar. One guy had told us, when we were waiting for the traffic to move, that Gurudongmar was at a high altitude (17,000+ feet) and kids may find it difficult there. Gayathri was apprehensive and she was relieved when we turned back. We turned back at a place called Thangu, which was at 15000 ft, had tea there and proceed back to Lachen. Due to the heavy snow, we couldnt get to see Chopta Valley either. The kids though were very happy since they could play in snow again. We came back to Lachen, had our lunch and left for Lachung. Not seeing Gurudongmar was a regret.

The next day was our planned trip to the Valley of Flowers near Lachung. We were in for a surprise.

2007-01-25T14:37:00.000+05:30

Tsango, Snow and the fading light

Gayathri and the kids were to see snow for the first time in their lives. It was to be snow, that beautiful lake called Tsongo and fading light on the second day of our stay in Gangtok.

We had slept quite well with the hotel guys providing us a room heater to beat the cold. I woke up in the morning and came down to check about the trip to Tsongo lake with the manager. As I got off the last step and turned around, I was stuck by the scenery outside. A light drizzle was on, the light was dull and the whole area was covered by mist. I walked to the terrace to take in the scene. Nothing odd about it except for the fact that the terrace was on the ground floor !!! Well, in Sikkim most of the people build their houses on the mountain slopes. So you can have terrace on the ground floor as well !! I quickly went and got Gayathri down to see the scene. It was misty and it looked as if all the clouds had legs as they crawled across the mountains, which were there on every side we turned.

The manager had arranged for the Tsongo lake trip. We paid around Rs.1200 for the trip. It was a bit high as it was the season. The driver turned up by the time we finished our breakfast. He was past middle age and he turned out to be a safe driver and a pleasant man.

The drive started and after we had gone some distance I had the first glimpse of a snow capped mountain. (There are no snow capped mountains when you drive from New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok) I was sitting in the front seat of Maruti Omni besides the driver. I turned around and told Gayathri and the kids, "Look there, way beyond. Can you see the snow capped mountains". "Wow" said Gayathri and the kids. "Thats where we are going sir", said the driver. "What" !!! The mountains looked way way away. "Yes sir. We have to cross x number of mountains to get there" said the driver. I have forgotten if x is 11 or 20, but it was surely in double digits.

We started climbing the mountains and the houses and trees below were diminishing in size. The view of the valley was fantastic and you would enjoy it as long as you dont suffer from vertigo. We kept steadily climbing and the sizes of objects kept steadily decreasing. Gayathri, who is not a great fan of heights, told me,"We are climbing so high that it looks like we will directly go to Kailash". The scenery beneath was scary or wonderful depending on your point of view. I mean the figurative point of view !!

After crossing a few mountains the light started dimming. The drizzle had stopped earlier. It was then we saw those white patches along the road. All along the road and on the mountain side, we could see patches of something which was dirty white. "What is it", we asked the driver. "Snow", he said. "Whoooa", said the kids. "Stop, stop. We want to touch it". It was the first contact with snow for Gayathri and the kids and were they thrilled!! This snow was made of tiny crystals and was not the powdery one. Both Ranjani and Harini squealed in delight when they touched the snow and felt the chill on their hands. Even the more restrained Gayathri couldnt control herself. She picked up some snow and threw at me !!!

Promising them that there will be more snow ahead, I got them back into the car and we went ahead. We stopped at a tea house and had some hot tea. Lot of other cars had also stopped at this place. The amount of snow around us had increased and so had the thickness of the mist. The light was fading. The kids as usual wanted me to buy some stuff to eat from the shops there. We started and passed a couple of waterfalls. I still clearly remember an area which was in between two mountains. The road was curving and the mountains had cut off most of the already failing light. The extremely dull light, the black mountains and the silver waterfall combined in such a way that it reminded me of the dark scenery in Harry Potter movies.

After some distance we came to point where the road widened. There was a river running besides the road and the road had probably been widened so that people can stop and watch the river. A great idea. There was more snow around, the river running in midst of it and the whole area covered with mist and the half light. It was too good a scene to miss. We stopped the car and asked the driver to take a picture of us.

The snow around us was getting thicker and whiter. There were lot of army camps around and all of them were covered in snow. As the vehicles were getting nearer to the Tsongo lake the climb was steep and the snow on the road made it tougher for the cars. We could see a couple of cars getting stuck in the snow and other drivers helping them get out of the mess. "These small boys dont know how to drive in these conditions", said our driver. "The trick is to give the right power at the right time. It takes experience to know this". As could be expected, he got stuck in the next five minutes when he was climbing a curving slope which had snow on it. There was an awkward silence in our vehicle and a couple of drivers from other cars helped us out of this situation. That was the last climb and a few hundred yards off, we were at Tsongo lake.

Generally whenever you read about a lake, people describe it as shimmering in the heat or glowing like a pearl. Though I would have loved to use such high flying descriptions, unfortunately I cannot. The lake was neither shimmering nor glowing since the light there was not bright. It was half light and the scenery was a surrealist delight. The black mountains around the lake were covered with white snow giving you the illusion that you have mistakenly stepped into a Black and White world. You would probably have believed it had it not been for the colorful dresses of the people around. Tsongo is an almost oval shaped lake lying in midst of the mountains. The lake was a real delight to behold and its location impeccable. Looks like this lake is frozen during the winter and looks even more beautiful. My colleague told me that when he had come to Tsongo, there was no snow around but the lake was partially frozen !!

It was extremely chill and we were saved by the fact that we had shopped for the woolens the previous day. The gloves were absolutely essential and I had a tough time when I removed them to take some snaps. It was freezing cold and my hands started paining. So I had to put on my gloves back soon.

We went on a yak ride. There are lot of guys with yaks around this lake and this is probably the most entertaining thing you can do around the lake. Harini refused to get on the yak and stayed back in the car. There were too many people and vehicles around. The area was slushy with the half melted snow and it was a difficult task getting around on foot. So you can imagine how much more difficult it would have been for a yak !! The yak handler though made the yak walk between the narrowest of path between cars, made it climb over ledges and walk in the mostly slushiest of the areas. They way the yaks maneuvered around, I wouldnt have been surprised had a yak climbed over a car and got down on the other side !! They did look capable.

We came back after a short ride, took Harini along to play in the snow. Ranjani started feeling very cold after playing the snow for some time and now it was her turn to get back and stay in the car !! Harini was enjoying herself in the snow and started throwing snow at us. She and Gayathri threw snow at each other which made them very happy.

We then went and had some hot chai and got some hot Maggie noodles for the kids. You need to clear off from the Tsongo lake by 1 or 1:30pm. That is the rule there. So all vehicles started pulling off. We too started. Along the way it started getting foggy. Infact the fog became so dense that the visibility decreased to almost 10 feet. Given that we were going on curving mountain roads with no barrier on the side, this was not an advantage !! Inspite of all our apprehensions, we still couldnt stop ourselves from appreciating the lovely scenery !! Terror and Beauty coexist in such situations. The driver got us back without any incidents. We had our lunch in the hotel and couldnt go outside in the evening as it was continuously raining.

The next would take us to Lachen. It was a trip which would make Gayathri and the kids shiver !!

2007-01-18T14:07:00.000+05:30

Glory of the Eastern Himalayas - A trip to Sikkim

When I told him that I intended to go to Sikkim for my summer holidays my colleague gave me a gem of an advice. He said, "Most of the travel agents would want try and pack your holiday with Gangtok, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Dont fall for it. Go to Northern Sikkim". I took his advice and oh boy, did that enhance my enjoyment of the whole trip !!!

The travel agent I spoke to in Bangalore gave an itinerary which did include Darjeeling and Kalimpong !!! Deciding to do this on my own, with the help of the favourite travel adviser, the World Wide Web, I searched for hotels in Gangtok and also the agents in Gangtok who can arrange for the North Sikkim tour. I was to realise much later that I had hit pay dirt !!! The hotels were good and the Gangtok agency had arranged an excellent North Sikkim tour. (www.sikkiminfo.net is a good place to get info about Sikkim)

The same colleague same me another advice which led me to do lot of shopping in Gangtok. That is a different story which I shall relate as we go by.

We had gone to Hyderabad to visit my parents during the summer vacation. The summer of 2006. From Hyd we flew into Calcutta. My good friend, Subbu, had arranged for accommodation in Calcutta. He had also invited me to his house. The hospitality of Subbu and his wife Shobana is something that we cannot forget. After having dinner at his house, we went to the Sealdah station from where we boarded the 'Darjeeling Mail'. This goes upto a place called 'New Jalpaiguri'. In case you want to fly in from Calcutta, you need to fly to Bagdogra, which is very close to New Jalpaiguri. The train leaves around 10 o clock in the night and reaches New Jalpaiguri after 8 o clock in the morning.

New Jalpaiguri is the place where you will land when you want to go to Darjeeling or Gangtok or Kalimpong. You will need to take a bus or some sort of road transport from this station to get to any of the places I had mentioned above. We opted for a Tata Sumo type of vehicle (it was called a different name but it was a Tata vehicle and looked very much like the Sumo). The driver turned out to be a very nice chap. The rate varies depending on the season and when we went in April it was the season. So it is a no-brainer to guess that the rates were high !! I think we paid around Rs.1400 for the trip.

The trip to Gangtok takes around 5hrs or so. The land is quite flat for the first 15 to 20 kms. After that the mountain section starts and it is a drive to savor. When you get to the mountain section the Teesta river joins you and comes along with you almost all the way to Gangtok. Imagine a drive where you can constantly see the river flowing in the valley for close to 50kms !!! You cannot take your eyes off the scenery around you. I thought it was probably the best ride on any ghat section that I would get. I would be proved wrong later !! On the way we saw the Sikkim-Manipal Institute of Technology. What a place to have an education institution!! Standing almost on the edge of a cliff and the Tessta flowing way below, it is a location which dreams and postcards are made of. My wife asked me, "How can people here study? It is such a wonderful place". Nature at its distracting best !!

The vehicles which ply from New Jalpaiguri are generally West Bengal registered vehicles. They are not allowed to ply inside Gangtok. So they get to a taxi stand, which is very crowded with all sort of vehicles, and drop you there. You need to take another taxi from here to reach your hotel. It is a bit of pain but you have no choice !!

I had booked myself into a hotel called Sonam Delek. The hotel is in a narrow road. The external facade isnt very attractive but the hotel is a good one. The rooms are neat and the charges are quite attractive. I got a 4 bed room for around Rs.1100/- per day. The added attraction of this hotel is that their restaurant is very good and both the breakfast and dinner were very tasty. (The manager here, called Tam Ling, had stayed in Bangalore. When I had called him from Bangalore for the hotel booking he tried speaking to me in Kannada, with a Nepalese accent. I couldnt make out what he was saying till me told me, "Sir, I am speaking in Kannada". Normalcy was restored) The staff was helpful and so was the manager. They arranged for the trip to Tsongo lake, about which I will talk later.

After lunch and some rest, we decided to go in the evening for a walk along the most famous road in Gangtok. You guessed it, M G Road !! We went there after 6 o clock and it started getting cold. My colleague had told me that late April will be quite warm and I didnt need any warm clothes. Oh boy, was he _wrong_ !! We walked on this road and had chai in one of the shops there. A slow drizzle started and the temperature dropped further !! Now the complaints of 'feeling cold' started coming in from my wife and kids. And here we were without any warm clothing whatsoever !! Added to it someone there told us that the cold will get worser in North Sikkim. So we did the most sensible thing that can be done. We shopped for sweaters. The guy in the shop told us that if were going to North Sikkim, we might as well buy some gloves and monkey caps. It would turn out be a great advice. The rain had intensified by then. So we had no choice but to take an auto to our hotel, which was quite close by. Had a nice hot dinner and went to sleep.

The next day would take us to the amazing Tsongo lake.

2007-01-04T13:04:00.000+05:30

On to the Kudremukh mountains

I wanted to explore the Kudremukh mountains so my brother and I started off one day by car to Kalasa. This was during May 2006. The family was in Chennai and we two decided to go off to Kudremukh. I was fascinated by the Kudremukh region when we had earlier gone from Sringeri to Hornadu.

I searched the travel books and came to know that there are only two options which are available for your stay. And both of them at Kalasa. There is no option to stay at Kudremukh. One option is the Silent Valley Resorts and the other is Hotel Chandan . Since Silent Valley Resort was fully booked, I called up Hotel Chandan and booked a double room.

Kalasa is a small place and the hotel isnt great a great place to stay if are with your family. I saw lot of small cockroaches in the room. So avoid it if you are going there with your family. The Silent Valley Resorts is the other place and is around 5 to 6 kms from Kalasa on the way to Kudremukh. Those who have stayed at Silent Valley Resorts have not waxed eloquently on the facilities but were quite neutral. Food is a problem in Kalasa. You dont have any decent hotels here and people werent too happy with the food in Silent Valley either.

We started off early in the morning from Bangalore, stopped on the way at Hotel Mayura enroute to Hassan. Then we took the Belur road. The road was newly laid at that time and it was a great pleasure driving on this road. From Belur you go towards Mudigere and then towards Kottigehara. (You can find the directions for reaching Kalasa in the Silent Valley Resorts website www.silentvalley.net/roadmap.htm). At Kottigehara, we stopped for tea. You need to take a right turn here and proceed 7 kms before taking a almost U-Left turn. The road climbs steeply here. We missed this turn and by the time I realised it we were far gone !!! It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since the road was in a bad condition compared to the wrong road that we took. (We realised it when we came back by the normal route). We went almost till Ballehannur and took a left road which led us to Kalasa. We checked into Hotel Chandan.

After having lunch and relaxing for some time, we left for the Annapoorneshwari temple at Hornadu. Hornadu is around 7 kms from Kalasa would take you around 15 mins to reach there. On the way you get a nice stream where you can stop for some time. The road is also good in the sense that there are lot of twists and turns. (I am nowadays so hooked to these ghat roads that driving on straight roads doesnt give much pleasure :(

You can rarely get such a location as the one where the Annapoorneshwari temple is situated. It is in a valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The mountains seem to enclose this place and the moment you stop your vehicle and get out, you feel a kind of calm even before you enter the temple complex. Sitting on the steps leading to the temple and looking at the mountains rising in front is an experience you must not miss. If you sit there during the twilight hour, your experience will be more enriching as it was in our case. Being so close to nature gives a sort of peace which we city dwellers can only dream about.

The temple is a nice though not as spectacular as the more famous temples of the south. The idol inside is a big one. As is the custom in many temples of this region, guys have to go in bare chested. Free meals are provided in the temple. (Afterall, she is Annapoorneshwari , one who provides food and she cant let her devotees go hungry)

Next morning, after a simple breakfast (we really didnt have a choice :) we left for the Kudremukh National Park. My idea was to just drive through that region and enjoy the scenery around. We passed the Silent Valley Resorts on our way to the park. The drive is an enjoyable one with the forest cover or coffee plantations always with you when you drive. The roads have lot of twists, turns and gradients to keep you awake :)) It is green all around and you may spot a langur or two on the way. Though it is called a National Park, except for monkeys and birds, you will not get to spot any wildlife.

Our stop in the National Park was at Hanumangundi Falls. On the way to the falls you see a board saying 'Ganga Moola' 1 Km. You need to trek for a km to get to the Gangamoola but the problem is that you need to stop your car and then trek. At the place where you want to stop there is a No Parking board !!! Infact at many places they say that you shouldnt park your car in the park and wander around. I dont know how they expect you to trek to this place if you cant park your car anywhere nearby !! Gangamoola is supposed to be the birthplace of three rivers, Tunga, Bhadra and Netra. Given the peculiar problem that I described, we couldnt trek to this place.

We stopped at the Hanumangundi falls. Dont immediately imagine that we stopped very near the falls and you can see the falls from the place where we stopped !! The place where you have to stop is near the Hanumangundi Falls hoarding !! There is an office here which will issue a ticket. I forgot the cost of the ticket. After you buy this ticket, you need to climb down a good number of stairs before you see the waterfall. The steps are steep and you will lose breath climbing back if you are not in good shape.

The climb though is worth it. The waterfall is a nice place to have a bath. So go prepared with change of clothes. You will find people at the waterfalls but it is not overly crowded. You do get a feeling of seclusion even if a few people are around. You can easily spend an hour or more at these falls.

From here, Karkala isnt too far off. If my memory serves me right, it should be around 25 kms or so from here. At the Karala, you can get to see a nice Jain temples and a huge statue of one of the Jain gurus. This place is situated on top of a small hillock. The temple was closed when we went. We could only see the statue from outside the gate and it looks impressive.

More importantly, Karkala has some good places to eat !!! Seeing the hotels, I thought it would be a good idea to stay at Karkala and explore Kudremukh than staying at Kalasa. We had a decent lunch and got back to our hotel. We left the next morning to Bangalore and on the way I was able to get some good shots of the mountains with the sunlight filtering through the clouds.

This area is definitely worth a two day trip.

2006-12-15T16:00:00.000+05:30

Places to Stay and Eat at Kushalnagar and Madikeri

At Kushalnagar, the two good hotels are:

1. Kannika International (Ph: 08276-274728, 273401/02/03). It has slightly old look. I didnt check out the rooms but the food is very good.

2. Hotel Shylaja Arris (Ph:08276-272762) This was a newly built hotel so the rooms very neat and fresh. There were a few teething problems but I guess they would have solved it by now. Their restaurant serves Andhra food ("first restaurant to serve Andhra food in Kushalnagar" etc). The food was OK.

3. Nisargadhama (Ph: 08272-228305) This is the Forest Office number in Madikeri. You will need to call them and send them a draft if you want to book a cottage at Nisargadhama. The location is superb but the food is pathetic in the canteen there. Even if you are staying here, it is better to head for Kannika or any hotel in that vicinity.

At Madikeri

1. We stayed at Brahmagiri Comforts.(Ph: 08272- 225866 / 224866 / 224867) The road leading to it is very narrow and steep. You need to ask for directions getting to the hotel or you will miss it. It is a mediocre hotel. We didnt eat there. There is a good vegetarian restaurant on the main road, less than 5mins from this hotel. We had food there which was good.

At Bhagmandala
1. I dont know about the staying options here but the best and probably the only place to eat is the Hotel Mayura. The lunch was good here.

At Kakabe

1. I didnt notice any good eating places here. If you are going to Kakabe, ensure you get to the Iguttappa temple during lunch time. That way your food problem will be solved :))

2006-12-13T16:08:00.000+05:30

Trip to Madikeri, Bhagmandala, Talacauvery and Kakabe

We started from Kushalnagar in the morning after breakfast and headed to Madikere. Madikere is around 45 to 50 km from Kushalnagar and you should do this distance in an hours time. This is the ghat section but the hills slope very gently. So the drive is quite good and not very strenuous.

We got to Madikeri and went to the hotel, Brahmagiri Comforts. We just dumped our bags here and started for Bhagmandala and Talacauvery. This road is also on a ghat section and has many twists and turns. On the way there is a small shop where you can have a cup of coffee and can also buy coffee powder and spices. What caught the eye was the slogan there, which went 'Drink and Drive'. They meant coffee ofcourse :)) We stopped here and had a cup of coffee, bought some spices and drove down to Bhagmandala.

Well, if you are not too religious a person, there isnt much to do at Bhagmandala !! You can see two river streams joining there. There is also a temple here which you can visit.

From there we went to Tala Cauvery. This is the birthplace of Cauvery. There is a small tank built here and you can take a dip in that. Take a change of clothes along if you want to take a dip. Next to this spot are steps which lead up to the peak of the mountain. Frome there you can see a lot of the Brahmagiri ranges and also the hills of Kerala. Since it was close to lunch time and we were hungry, we didnt climb up this mountain.

On the way back we stopped for lunch at Hotel Mayura at Bhagmandala. This is the only decent place to eat in the whole stretch from Madikeri to Tala Cauvery. So ensure your stop is such that you are at Bhagmandala when you are hungry :)) The food is good here but do expect a crowd since everyone going this side wants to eat here !!

Starting from the hotel, we went headed for Kakabe. For this you need to go straight thru a village road without turning left at Bhagmandala. It is better to ask people at Bhagmandala on the road that you have to take. This drive is excellent. It takes you thru lot of plantations and except for seeing a town bus once in a while, you get absolutely no traffic on the road. It is very peaceful.

Our destination at Kakabe was the Iguttappa temple. When you reach the taxi stand at Kakabe, you need to take a right and follow the sign boards to get to this temple. The temple is on top of a hillock and is on all sides surrounded by mountains. You can see Todiyendamol, the tallest peak in Coorg, from here. The temple is a Kerala style temple.

As luck would have it, we reached there when the temple was closed. We got there around 4pm but the temple opens only after 5pm or so. They close at 1 pm. So keep this in mind when you plan a trip to this temple. The priests were very nice people and asked us to stay back. But I didnt want to drive late in the night not knowing the route. So we put a small donation in the hundi and the priests gave us some prasad and some coffee !! We started from here and drove back to Madikeri.

The next day morning, we left for Abbey falls. These falls are part of a private estate. We reached quite early and so the crowd was very less. You need to park your car and then walk down for 10 mins to get to the waterfall. This walk will make you feel miserable. It is not the strain of walking but the strain of seeing !! Everywhere along the path plastic is strewn. Empty chips packets, cigarette packets, empty plastic bottles etc etc.

But your anger vanishes when you see the falls. Abbey was in its full glory when we went there. It was a wonderful sight and we could go down and stand in the water. We didnt take a shower in the falls but you could do that if you take a change of clothes along. We stayed there for quite some time and by the time we were leaving, it was getting crowded.

We drove back from Madikeri, with a brief halt at Nisargadhama, for my daughters to say Hi to the rabbits and then had lunch at Kushalnagar, before heading back to Bangalore. We got back to Bangalore late in the evening.

2006-12-12T17:13:00.000+05:30

Trip to Kushalnagar

Last year (2005), just after Diwali, along with my wife and two daughters, I went on a trip to Coorg. Coorg is a district and the places we visited included Kushalnagar, Madikeri, Bhagmandala and Talakaveri.

We started early in the morning, around 6:15, from Bangalore. Enroute is our favourite breakfast place, Kamat Lokaruchi, in Ramnagara. The dishes are good and the coffee is better :)) From here you proceed towards Mysore and before you reach Mysore, you need to take a right leading into Srirangapatna. I dont know how the road signs are now, but we almost missed the turn. So keep looking out for this. You will need to go to Hunsur and from there to Kushalnagar. Keep a map with you.

You can easily reach Kushalnagar by lunch time if you are out of Bangalore limits by 6:30am. We reached there during lunch time. I had booked accommodation in Nisargadhama. This is on the banks of Cauvery and is a tourist spot. It looked great but I realized the problems much later in the day. If you are there without your kids, it is a great place to stay. Lot of bamboo trees and the Cauvery flowing nearby. Late in the evening, the caretaker came and told us to keep all our belongings in a big wooden box !!! He said that rats generally come into the room at night. My kids were scared and wanted to know what else came in. Frogs certainly did. So the night was spent with the lights switched on !! You would be better off staying at either Kannika International or Shylaja Arris, the two decent hotels there. And dont even think of eating in the canteen at Nisargadhama.

On the first day evening, we went to Bylakuppe, where the Tibetian monasteries are situated. This is off the Hunsur-Kushalnagar road. If you are coming from Kushalnagar to Hunsur, you need to take a right turning. It is close to Kushalnagar and there are lot of signs. You should visit the big monastery here, which is excellent. Dont go there thinking you will get some Tibetian stuff there. Whatever the shops had was the usual junk you would get in Bangalore. The monastery is a nice place. Dont miss it.

Tibetian Monastery at Bylekuppe

It was raining the next day. So we started a bit late and went to Dubare. This elephant camp on the banks of Cauvery is an excellent place to visit. You need to drive from Kushalnagar towards Madikere. A couple of kilometers after Nisargadhama, you will get a cross road. You need to take the left turn here. The road leads to Siddapura but you dont need to go that far. After some distance on this road, you will need to take a village road to your left. You will see a sign here. Drive carefully and slowly since there is almost no road here.

Dubare is a nice place. Lot of water in the river. You need to cross to the other bank on a boat. There you can interact with elephants. You get to wash them and feed them. As can be expected, the kids love this a lot. Since the parents are tired of washing and feeding their children daily, they dont want to do it one more time ;)) Just kidding. You will also get a good lecture about the elephants and their habits. Then you will be taken on an elephant ride. If the rush is high, there will be a long wait for this ride !! If I were to go again, I will skip the elephant ride and go sit with my feet in Cauvery. That is a great feeling.

We had lunch at Dubare. There is a restaurant here and we were not sure how good it would be but the lunch turned out to be hot and good. We then got back to Nisargadhama. My daughters had by this time formed a great bond with the rabbits there and kept on feeding them. In the evening we moved from Nisargadhama to Hotel Shylaja Arris.

Will write about the visit to Madikere, Talacauvery and Kakabe in my next post.

2006-12-12T13:45:00.000+05:30

Traveling with the family in a car

I started actively traveling only after I had two kids !! That too after my second kid was more than 5 years old. Traveling with your family is great fun and at the same time a great challenge as well. I will give some idea of what to expect when you travel with your kids and what I generally do to ensure we have a safe and pleasant journey.

Making two kids sit in an enclosed automobile for 6 to 12 hours is a real challenge. Kids have attention span which is lesser than the time between two shots in a MTV video !! So boredom sets in quite fast and f they are bored, you are sure to hear about it :)) Once they start either nagging or crying, headache to you will be inevitable. So when you set out with your kids, the first thing you should take care is to ensure they are occupied for a major amount of time.

In case your car has a DVD player, your task becomes easy. But many of us poor souls either dont have it or dont want to have it. So you will have to look at imaginative ways to keep them occupied.

One of the best ways is to let them sleep !! In case you have a car like Maruti, Santro or such, you can fold the back seat completely, put on a bedspread and give them a pillow. This will enable them to sleep for an hour or two. In case you have a car like Innova, Qualis or such, you will not have much problem of space. So if you plan to travel regularly with your kids, buy a car which gives them space to sleep. Cars with a boot dont allow you to fold the rear seats completely and getting space for kids to sleep will be a problem.

The next option to keep them away from boredom, is to feed them at regular intervals :) Yup, they seem to develop an insatiable appetite when they travel. So it is always a good idea to carry with you some chips, wafers, biscuits etc. As usual, kids like junk food more (which the parents like as well but dont admit the fact), which is not very good for health. So give these stuff in small doses. Nowadays you get cornflakes of various flavours in small packs. These are healthy and the kids seem to like eating it without any milk. Try and carry eatables which are dry so that you dont need to stop at regular intervals to wash your hands !! Also carrying some tetra packs of fruit juices would help.

Next option is to carry lot of music that the kids like. Depending on their age group and their peers, the music would vary from 'Karadi Tales' to the latest rage. Ensure you play music which you like once in a while. Otherwise you may get frustrated by the music that they play and your road rage will increase !!

Another option is to start playing some word games. These generally keep them occupied for some time. The type of games you play depends a lot on the age group of your kids. You can invent some games as you go along like asking them to look out and tell you all the objects that are green in color. Maybe not a great game, but hey, it keeps them occupied.

The important thing when traveling with the family is to time your stops properly. Proper planning becomes very important. Food has to be provided at appropriate time and the place should be such that all of you can take a hydraulic break. So check out where the best stops are along the way and then decide when you would like to leave from home. For example, if you are going from Bangalore to Kushalnagar, you can plan for a stop at Kamat Lokaruchi at Ramnagara for breakfast and you will be in Kushalnagar for lunch.

Also remember, boredom sets in even at the resort where you will be staying, especially if they dont have a TV with cable connection !! Lots of Jungle Resorts will fall in this category and so you need to be prepared for it as well. Since you cannot play out in the night, take some indoor games with you like Ludo, Cards etc. Encourage kids to paint / draw. The best option is to get them to bed early :)) Some resorts have camp fires which the children enjoy immensely.

You also need to ensure that you have your First Aid kit ready and the important medicines with you. You can sometimes be in a remote place and getting to a decent medical shop would be a problem. The least you should pack are tablets for headache (Saridon), fever (Crocin), antacids (Zinetac, Eno, Gelusil), stomach ache(check with your doctor), vomiting (domstal) etc for the parents. If any of you has motion sickness or feels dizzy on ghat roads, keep some betel nut powder and a pack of Poppins with you. Visit your doctor before a long drive and check what medicines you need to pack for the children.