My Travel Tales

Mussorie

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:18:00 +0000

I was a 6-7 year old child when I visited Mussorie for the first time. I still faintly remember it was summer and Mussorie was beautiful and full of flora and fauna.

While temperatures were soaring in city and Delhi was burning at 48 degrees in June, i visited this place over a weekend for getting some relief. It was not so chilling though, but 32 degree still felt good.

Mussorie, being the highly commercialized tourist spots of north, have lost its charm to some extent I feel. The Mall road is narrow and crowded.

A little pond on the entrance of Mussorie, which used to be a nice place, is now surrounded by so many shops. Mall road is same as a local market in any city, highly populated.

Kempty fall, which used to be beautifully surrounded by mountains, have changed completely, and is surrounded by a complete market place now. This is the biggest tourist attraction in Mussorie now.

The best place in Mussorie is Lal Tibba, from where you can get great views of The Himalyas. If you want to escape from hustle bustle of city for a while, then this place can give you moments of peace and is a great place to relax and cherish the god's beautiful creatures. Make peace with your soul with lip smacking tea/coffee and snacks at outlets.

Royal Jodhpur and Soulful Jaisalmer

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 20:22:00 +0000

Finally I happily strike one more place in my list after an amazing trip to The Golden City (Traveled 1880km Gurgaon -> Jodhpur -> Jaisalmer -> Gurgaon in August)

Jodhpur - The Blue City

Blue City or the Sun City it is called because all the houses in this city are painted blue. Starting from Mehrangarh Fort which gives a glimpse of royal life of maharajas, you can get the lovely views of city from top of fort, the little blue houses on the side of the buildings are just fantastic. The fort museum showcases lots of carriage seats, hukkas, wine glasses, dresses, swards, paintings, multicoloured glasses and engraved ceilings. Wall paintings demonstrate the lavish way maharajas used to live in their forts.

The busy market near Jodhpur Clock Tower was full of hustle and bustle. You can have awesome Pyaz kachori and tangy Mirchi Pakora at Nayi Sadak. If you are a shopaholic then have fun buying local handicrafts, bandhej sarees/skirts and other stuff. 5 PM is the closing time for all forts in Jodhpur so plan your city trip accordingly.

Our next destination was Umaid Bhawan Palace.

This is the only fort where maharaja still live with his family. Government acquired this eternally beautiful palace years ago but maharajas claimed and got their property back. Palace is divided into 3 parts - residential (entry not allowed for tourists), museum and hotel. Watch the videos of luxurious residence in museum and click some photos with Vintage cars of maharajas.

After exploring this, we made our way on to Jaisalmer......

Jaisalmer – A Night in Thar

This "Golden City" is among the most offbeat places in India and you get to feel it as you sink in the golden sand of Jaisalmer.

People say :

""Ghoda kijiye kath ka
Pind kijiye pashan ka
Bakhtar kijiye lohe ka
Tab dekhiye Jaisaan""

"Kath" means wood. Have a wooden horse who does not ask for grass and water (ghoda ho lakdi ka jo ghas aur pani na mange).
"Pind" means feet, "Pashan" means stones. Have feet made of rocks which does not get tired. (pair ho pathar k jo thakan na kre)
"Bakhtar" means torso. Have an iron torso which can bear 48-50 degrees temperature. (shareer ho lohe ka jo 48-50 degree bear kr sake)
"Jaisaan" means Jaisalmer. Then come and visit Jaisalmer

When traveling to Jaisalmer, it has a lot to soak in- Sun, Sand, Stories, Culture, People, Folk dances, Camel safaris, moonlit nights.... what more would you want??

The stories heard and read about ancient India are still the reality of this remote place. Ladies are not allowed to go out and study. When they see a city girl traveling to this place, you can make out this from their mere expressions. A really inhuman thing is Girl child is being killed right after birth in some villages. There is a village where girl headcount is negligible. Men pay lakhs of rupees to people in other villages for marrying their daughters. There are hardly any schools in this region. Men prefer to marry illiterate because she would not know about the laws of separation or the actions she may take in case of harassment. Love marriage is an alien word in their world. Tourism helped in uplifting this region a bit and resolved their problems such as water and electricity.

When in Jaisalmer, spend a night under stars in lap of desert, switch off your phones and switch on your senses and feel the rhythm of this gold painted land, experience one of the most remote places in India by riding on the back of a camel in Thar Desert.

This mesmerizing experience is what you need to clear your head before you take life by the horns.

Kuldhara – The haunted village of Jaisalmer

There are a lot of stories being told in news/internet about this place. What i got know after my visit to this abondoned village is:

Kul (vansh/parentage) + Dhara (dharti/land) : Kuldhara was land of Paliwal Brahmins, so it was called dhara (land) of their kul (Paliwal brahmins). There were 84 villages in that region. 200 years ago (in 18th century), people of these villages were harassed by ruler of that time and were paying him huge money in form of taxes. One day, ruler offered Paliwals to marry one daughter of their community but it was against their will as ruler belonged to some other caste. So Paliwals decided to leave the land. They vacated all of 84 villages overnight and cursed the king and the land. Nobody knows where they went or what happened to them.

After wars at borders, refuges started living in 83 villages but Kuldhara is the only village where no one lives. Not because some ghosts reside there but because this village is acquired by government to showcase the old property to the world. A part of it is now under construction which is being looked after an old man (and tells these stories). It is just media which highlighted it as a haunted village.

This is how i gathered some diverse memories in Royal Jodhpur and Soulful Jaisalmer.......

Mcleodganj - The Dhauladhar range of mountains

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Caught Himsuta bus from Delhi ISBT for Dharamshala after a hectic day at work, with an intent to spend next few days in lap of The Mighty Himalyas and see the best of it. Traveled overnight and entered the land of Gods. The city was serene and magnificent. The military trucks were the only vehicles on roads, exercising their drill operations.

As i witness the first glimpse of mountains, i grow into more excitement and glee. Mountains always make me happier, i sense the freshness of Himalyas bestow a magic on each one of us in its own way. Mountains had just emerged from snow blanket, so were misty and blooming in lush green which allured me even more.

With a 5 day itinerary in hand, i start my voyage in Mcleodganj:
Day 1 : A walk through the city
Day 2 to 4 : Trek from Dharamkot to Triund (9 km), Triund to Snowline (5km) and then back to Dharamkot
Day 5 : Paragliding from 2nd highest paragliding spot in the World - Bir Billing

So here we go:

Day 1 :

Reached Dharamshala at 5 AM in morning where our guide was already waiting for us. He took us to his guest house and offered tea and biscuits. After that 2 of us left for hotel hunting and came back with a nice one (The Oak Hotel).

Meanwhile i gave some yoga classes to rest of my friends (just for fun). As soon as we checked in hotel, it started raining heavily. Standing at a window side, looking at beautiful mountains drenched due to heavy down pour was a toast to eyes. After rain stopped and we got out and hit the roads of Dharamshala. We walked through the roads entire day, visited Mcleodganj tibetian market wherein locals were selling woolens, handicrafts, trekking equipments etc. Visited Dalai Lama monastery, Bhagsu temple etc. Relished a lot of lip smacking food at roadside stalls

In evening we had a plan to attend a rooftop party but fortunately/unfortunately it started raining again. So we spent some hours at German bakery and tasted a lot of food and played cards.

Day 2 :

As per plan we had to start our Triund Trek on second day, but due to heavy down pour roads were slippery and it was not safe to go. So we postponed it by a day and headed to Bir Billing for paragliding.

Reached there after a 3 hour drive, but unfortunatey wind pressure increased and none of us could do the paragliding. So we enjoyed beautiful sunset from Bir Billing. Truely it was worth.

Day 3 :

Post breakfast, we started our trek from Dharamkot to Triund valley. Passed through the beautiful dhauladar range of mountains, rhododendrom was at full bloom.

Had our lunch at a beautiful sight on the way, and talked about things like everyone of us would prefer to spend few hours at such a place rather than going to a 5 star hotel.

We were damn tired by the time we reached on top of valley. and then nature surprised us with its wonder.

We realized it just when we hit the Triund ground. What a view! You are actually above the clouds, crystal clear mountains and just greenery every where on one side and snow capped mountains on the another.

It was just few minutes back when we could't even imagine what we were going to get ahead. and here we were in the middle of entire Dhauladar range of mountains.

Immersed in digesting what we had in front of our eyes, Running from one side to another and cherishing every little moment of that sight, totally lost in a different world.

After some time, our guide took us to another side of valley. It seemed as if only few of us existed in the world at that moment as the place was devoid of people and with bare necessities.

Our guide arranged bonfire and cooked delicious dinner for us. and did some kalabajis with fire balls at dinner time.

So we sat around bonfire till long and chatted and then spent the night in the middle of paradise.

Day 4 :

Morning sunrise greeted us with more beautiful views then we ever expected. Sun rising behind the snow covered Dhauladhar mountains. We all sat together for breakfast and admired nature for its miracles.

Those simple bread butter/jam toast and tea tasted best in the open air where cold breezes were kissing our cheeks and adding more flavour to our food.

Then we started our trek further to Snowline. We all were excited to play with snow. Passed through deeply inclined snow covered slippery mountains. Once you are there on the top you feel other mountains are just a few steps ahead and when you start walking, you just go on and on.

The paths were endless. Some had a well defined trail and at some places we were the ones to define a trail. It was an amazing experience. Two of us took over their fear of height while walking on deeply inclined mountains.

Anyway we reached a tea shop which was covered with snow. Salute the man who runs this shop 9 months in an year. So we all had our share of tea and maggie, clicked some pictures and returned to Dharamkot.

Day 5 :

To try our luck again in paragliding, we drove to Bir Billing again and fortunately this was our day. Being the second highest paragliding spot in the world, the paragliding operators have really good equipments and very well trained trainers.

So we all flew from 3000m high mountain of Bir and landed in Billing. We all shared smiles and defeated our acrophobia.

Returned Dharamshala on same day to catch bus at 5 PM. We were lucky to reach exactly on time.

We returned to our respective places with some memories which can never ever be forgotten and would always be cherished.

Neemrana Fort - A Weekend Getaway from Delhi

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 20:50:00 +0000

What i have noticed about people of Delhi during my past ~4 years stay, that they JUST DO ANYTHING to go away from the hustle bustle of city.

Neemrana Fort is one of those places which are most equipped with Delhi crowd. It's within the radius of 100 km from Delhi on Delhi-Jaipur highway.

A place where you can find peace, as it's not too crowded. The best thing about this place is the fresh air, on the top of fort and gardens inside, gives your lungs a good chance to breath fresh non-polluted air for a day.

Along with the beautiful views of fort and valleys it offer, you can also try some sport here. Flying fox have arranged Zipping sport here, which is a must try. Trainers are well trained, and there is no danger. So far since year 2009, there are no cases of any slippages. Zipping in Neemrana offers really beautiful views of the nearby places.

Booking in advance is advisable, as they charge 300 bucks extra for on the spot booking for zipping.

If planning with family, you can also plan a stay at Luxurious rooms within fort. The Fort is a old property, but well maintained. It's open till 7 PM for visitors on all days.

The Great Himalyas

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 20:09:00 +0000

The more i read about it,

the more i get excited,

the more i love,

the more i think of seeing every bit of it,

and the more i feel the urge to feel it in real

Yes It's THE GREAT HIMALYAS

Known for its majestic height and diverse geological structure, it is the greatest gifts of nature with breathtaking beauty which rejuvenates body and soul. These hills comprise the areas of exceptional natural beauty, arid lands, sparkling waterfalls, rich vegetation which have attracted many tourists over the years from around the world.

The Himalyas, being the world's highest mountain chain, is such a gift to mankind which is a symbol of nature's beauty in true sense and portrays snow capped peaks, valleys, glaciers, rivers and meadows. Exploring The Himalayas brings you close to nature, its people, religion and culture.

As you traverse through different ranges of the Himalaya, you discover the geographic variation from lush green lands to arid lands, beautiful valleys and dense jungles. The Himalyas showcases its rich heritage, green and flowery meadows, varied climates which is considered a paradise on earth. Such variation is seen rarely anywhere in the world.

Ladakh - Experience of Lifetime

noreply@blogger.com (Richa Verma) — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:13:00 +0000

After lots of planning and discussions, we finalized our plan. Everyone in our group did not agree for a complete road trip, so we booked flight for Delhi to Leh and decided to return by road. Started our journey from Delhi on a very humid night in month of August by air, drenched with sweat we boarded the flight to Leh. It just took an hour to reach the paradise. Calling Ladakh just a mere hill station won't do justice to its beauty.

Have you ever had that feeling when you are just in awe of what you see in front of you? A sight what can be best described as the magic of god and you have to actually take in a deep breath and give yourself a couple of seconds so that your brain can actually register what is in front of you. Well if you haven't then you are missing out on something called life.
Then you need to visit Ladakh – a civilization over a 1000 years old in the most hostile environment in the world is nothing short than gods magic. Located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh can be accessed by roads, many of them having the credit of being the highest in the world.

People say Go Ladakh by road. I strongly agree on this point but experiencing the sights Ladakh offer from the sky above can also not be described in words. We can call it a painting made by very mature and attentive artist. So we chose to fly to Ladakh and return by road.

How we planned this trip was itself a very tedious task, as i did not have the group of die hard travel lovers. I was very passionate about traveling to Ladakh from many years. I fell more and more in love with this place as i read more about it. I had never traveled solo in my life, so not finding a group for Ladakh was very disheartening for me. But then god helped me, things changed and i met few people who were equally passionate about Ladakh and i got a chance to have the best experience of my life.

This is how we explored:

Day 1:

We visited the White Lotus School where last scene of 3 Idiots (movie) was shot. It's run by Dalai Lama. No tourist is allowed to talk to students or click their pictures. After grand success of 3 idiots, "Rancho Coffee Shop" have been opened in the premises of this school.

Then we visited peaceful Hemis & Thiskey Monasteries.

and then we went to Shey Palace and ended our day with a glorious sunset in mountains with their color changing from brown to sun kissed orange.

Day 2:
We started from Leh city and made our way to Khardungla Pass, which is the highest motorable pass in the world. One of us got sick due to altitude sickness. We all had kashmiri 'Kahwa' at the cafe run by military which acted as a life saver.

On the way to Diskit monestory, Shayok River flows by your side. It looks like a piece of land from distance because of the grey colored water river.

Then we traveled for few hours to reach the sand dunes of Nubra Valley. We saw double humped camels for the first time. This place is a just like an oasis. You get to see the variations such as water, mountains and greenery. We spent a night in a hotel in Nubra which had apple gardens.

Day 3:
We started our day with a visit to Panamic Hot Spring which is famous for its disease healing properties. It is said that if you get rid of your skin problems and joint pains if you take bath in this spring. Then we went to Samstangli Monastery on our way back to Leh city.

Day 4:
This day was the most awaited one and was going to be the most memorable one as we had to visit Pangong Lake. So we all got up early and got ready for the big day and big show. Visited the third highest motorable pass in the world which is Chang La.

Salute the Indian military for serving life saver tea at this cold and windy place where we could hardly breath.

Spotted a little cute animal MARMOT on way from Chang La to Pangong. We fed him kurkure, chips and chocolate which he was so gracefully coming, grabbing and running away.

and then Finally show began. With really high expectations and enthusiasm, we drove towards the biggest attraction and motivation of this trip. As we were heading closer to the lake, the excitement was rising. It felt like it was the new year eve and we were counting minutes for clock to hit 12. With every turn our vehicle took, our driver announced that we are almost there and we impatiently looked ahead. After lots of such announcements, we finally reached the most beautiful place in India.

The best of what i have seen in my life so far. What a place!! It's beauty can not be described in words. I promise you will be speechless on even getting a glimpse of Pangong as we all were. We were overwhelmed with the beauty of what we had in front of our eyes. With the winds flowing, we were trying to soak every moment spent at pristine Pangong. Few hours later, we made our way back to Leh city.

We came back to our hotel in Leh city and discussed further plans and decided to go to Shanti Stupa next morning and only 3 of us agreed.

Day 5:
As per plan, 3 of us woke up and walked to Shanti Stupa.

We 3 cam back to hotel and headed to Tso Moriri with our group which is located in a very remote area of Ladakh. Drove for 5-6 hours for getting there. A really great thing about ladakh is military is there to ensure your safety even in the remotest area.

Day 6 & 7:
Last 2 days we spent a lot of time in traveling and seeing the colors, altitudes and weather changing vividly. From the arid lands to the lands of full vegetation:

Pang -> Sarchu -> Jispa -> Keylong -> Rohtang -> Manali

The road from Leh to Manali never lets you down in terms of the awesome sights, sheer adventure and of course the challenge that it presents to you. It is 480 kms of pure adrenaline and is a bikers delight. Crossing passes at a height of 16000 feet plus requires determination more then skill.

These 480 kms can take anything between 2-3 days and you get to stop at some of the most pictureous places you will ever come across. A nights halt at the pictureous town of Jispa followed by camping for a night in the valley of Sarchu or next to the Tso kar lake .

While traveling on Leh Manali road one can experience first hand the change in mountains, people, and culture. You leave the Manali hills full of trees and enter a land where nothing grows. Stopping at a tea stall at 13000 feet and then cross the lake at Baralacha pass which cannot be described in words. One sight after the other, one experience after the other, it is definitely an experience of a lifetime.Do not think that the journey finishes once you reach leh.

There are things to see like 1000 year old monasteries where way of life has not been corrupted, places to go like camping at Nubra valley, and lakes to visit in this cold desert. It is a place that just sucks you in by its beauty and the warmth to its people.

I promise you, a trip to Ladakh is a journey of a life time. Its sheer beauty and starkness will make you wonder if you are on planet earth. Ladakh is a high altitude desert and is a pretty harsh place to stay; the beauty of this place can only be experienced first hand. Ladakh is crisscrossed with ancient Buddhist monasteries and small villages which provide color to other wise barren arid Ladakhi landscape.

Trekking is must in this area as you will come across spectacular monasteries located in the depths of Ladakh, you will pass through lush meadows and river gorges.

Ladakh is a mountaineer’s paradise with a number of high and low altitude peaks here for your climbing pleasure with 40% lesser oxygen, that you usually get in your cities, is a challenge in itself.

The long, narrow and enchanting Pangong lake is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m. It is 134 km long and extends from India to Tibet. The beauty of this lake is unexplainable in words.

A place too easily arrived at is scarcely worth traveling to at all. Consider the 'tired tourist' who simply seeks solace in much talked about destinations, where he tends to relax and stroll the evenings away, buy a few souvenirs and sample the cuisine from the endless menu. And there's the 'tireless traveler' the learning by living person who opts for a destination in order to explore and experience the unknown.

The 160 km trip to Pangong Lake from Leh is one such experience. The first stop on the way is Thiksey village famous for its huge monasteries, which cover an entire mountain ridge. Beyond this remote village, there is nothing but the extreme mountain ranges for company. The second stop is the Changla Pass (17,350 ft.), which could test ones lungs, for the lack of oxygen. This lake turns into glacier during winters.

The topography throughout the journey shoots up so abruptly that they throw off all calculations of distance - what looked to be a ten-minute crossing easily required an hour or more. At times, it appeared as if so many of nature's forces were warning us away at the steep slopes and uneasy bends and not to forget the great chunks of ice appearing static and frozen in time.

The best part of climbing in Ladakh is that there are a number of unexplored peaks as well as those peaks which are quiet famous and popular, here you have a wide variety of peaks to chose from for your climbing pleasure. The north side of Leh has the popular Nubra Valley which has a wide variety of peaks. These peaks fall in the restricted zone and prior permission is required for climbing these peaks.

It is very important for all foreign expeditions to get prior permission from the Indian mountaineering foundation. The foundation charges according to the availability and the popularity of the said peak, there is a liaison officer with each team and adequate coverage is provided in case of illness or accident.

The climbing season starts from May till October; the best time for climbing is between June and September.

At any point, Indian military is there to help, support and guide you. Safety is not at all a issue in Ladakh, be it for men or women.

I had the best experience of lifetime. Good Luck for yours.