Mumbai: December 2011

I went to Mumbai with a group of friends during the Christmas vacation in 2011. Two of my close friends living in Mumbai were getting married next month and the idea of this vacation was to catch up with them and have fun in and around Mumbai. Our loosely-planned itinerary looked like this:

Fri: Fly to Mumbai in evening, go out for dining/clubbing

Sat: Trip to Alibaug and Kashid beaches – popular weekend getaways near Mumbai

Sun: Local Mumbai fun

Mon: Take the afternoon Rajdhani train back to Delhi from Mumbai

We had booked a Friday evening flight from Delhi to Mumbai, but the flight got delayed by a few hours. By the time we landed, it was already a bit late to go out, so we had a joyful house party instead at our friends’ place. We fought the hangover next morning and headed out to our planned weekend getaway, but not before relishing the delicious and super-spicy street food (comprising bhelpudi, paanipudi, vada paav, Bombay sandwich and the like) at the popular Chowpatty beach.

The best way to go from Mumbai to Alibaug or Kashid is the following: Take a ferry (catamaran) from the Gateway of India to Mandwa jetty. 2-3 companies run this ferry service and their ticket counters are located right on the jetties. From Mandwa you can get a bus or an auto-rickshaw to Alibaug (20 km from Mandwa) or Kashid (30 km further from Alibaug). After the 1.5-hour ferry ride to Mandwa, we took a big auto-rickshaw (seating 8-10 people) to Kashid. We decided to skip Alibaug because we did not have so much time at hand and we had heard that Kashid has a better beach than Alibaug.

The auto-rickshaw journey was slow and painful and on the way itself we decided that we are not doing the return trip on an auto-rickshaw. I was also disappointed with the Kashid beach, it is more hype than substance. The beach isn’t very clean and you would not want to lie down on the sand. A handful of people conduct water-sports such as water-scooter rides and banana rides. There are few odd rocks on the beach in shallow water which are a nuisance. I tripped on one and skinned my knee. Several small tea shops line the beach, which also offer dingy changing areas and buckets of fresh water for bathing clean after frolicking in the sea. There’s no electricity, so it’s a bad idea to use these services after sundown. We were caught on the wrong side here too.

Since it was Christmas weekend, it was tough finding accommodation for the night in Kashid for a big group as ours. After bumping into half a dozen ‘no vacancy’ signboards, just as we were contemplating taking the painful auto-rickshaw ride back to the relatively bigger town of Alibaug in hopes of finding accommodation there, we managed to get two large rooms in a hotel in Kashid. We requested extra bedding so that the ten of us could sleep peacefully after the tiring day. More than anything we were happy at finally getting our hands on the tidy washrooms with running water where we could freshen up. We were starving, but unfortunately the dinner was awful. We tried every single dish from the menu, but it didn’t help. But since all of us friends had gotten together after a long time, the mood was upbeat and the chit-chats ran well into the night.

Next morning we managed to get a taxi to drop us off at Mandwa. From there we took a ferry and reached Mumbai around lunch time. We ate at the famous Leopold Café in Colaba (which is the upscale Mumbai market close to the Gateway of India). The café is always bustling with tourists, mostly foreigners. We were lucky to get a table for ten at that hour, that too on Christmas Day. The beer was refreshing and the food was yummy. The waiters, however, did not seem very excited at the prospect of serving our table.

We took a pit-stop at our friends’ place in the evening where we dressed up and headed out to Aer, the famous rooftop lounge on the 34th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Worli. A couple of us went a bit early to reserve a table, and it turned out to be a good move. Aer offers an amazing view of the city from the top, and is very breezy. We had a few drinks there but since the place is not really famous for its food, we left in a couple of hours and headed for dinner at Veda restaurant in Lower Parel. The restaurant is designed by Indian fashion designer Rohit Bal. The food was delicious – something I was not counting on because of my not-so-good experience at Veda in Delhi from a year back. We all came with an appetite and were well satisfied with the food. Most notable was their dal makhani (lentils), which is the closest I’ve seen anyone come to the legendary Dal Bukhara, the trademark dal makhani served at the Bukhara restaurant at the ITC Maurya hotel in Delhi.

Exhausted as we were, there was more fun to be had before calling it a day. We finished dinner and headed out to Nariman Point and Marine Drive. After hanging out there for a bit, we went to experience the newly-constructed Bandra-Worli Sea Link bridge. We also stopped by and got ourselves clicked next to the Indian film superstar Shahrukh Khan’s bungalow, Mannat, in Bandra.

After a peaceful night’s sleep at our friends’ place, we packed the next day and prepared to head back to Delhi. We had a few hours at hand before our train departed, so we checked into Theobroma, a popular bakery located on Colaba Causeway. We bought some cakes from there and finally headed out to Mumbai Central train station to catch our train. Rajdhani is one of the fastest and finest trains in India – it departs from Mumbai in afternoon and arrives at Delhi early next morning. They serve good food and snacks all through the journey. The train was on time and the journey was peaceful.

This was a memorable trip for me because it was perhaps our gang’s last trip together before everyone heads out in a different direction as they begin a new chapter in their lives. The pictures from this trip bring a smile to my face every time I flip through them.

Expenses (per person):

Delhi to Mumbai flight: Rs. 4000

Ferry between Gateway of India and Mandwa: Rs. 100 each side

Auto-rickshaw from Mandwa to Kashid: Rs. 1000 for the group of ten

Taxi from Kashid to Mandwa: Rs. 1500 for the group of ten

Hotel in Kashid: Rs. 1000 per person

Food at Leopold Café: Rs. 500 per person

Food at Veda: Rs. 600 per person

Mumbai to Delhi train: Rs. 1500

Great eating-out and party places in Delhi

List of must-visit places for foodies in Delhi. Courtesy Kiranjeet Kaur aka KK - the Queen of Foodieland!

Eating-out in Delhi:

The Big Chill Café (Khan Market, DLF Mall Saket, Kailash Colony) – Offers excellent Italian food, desserts, and shakes. Chocolate truffle pastry, mud-pie, and blueberry cheesecake are out of this world. The place has a unique ambiance with movie posters all over, and looong waiting lines on weekends!

Amici (Khan Market) – Famous for delicious Italian food, good and friendly staff!

Culinarie (GK-2, S-Block) – A nice, little open-air restaurant in GK-2; famous for incredible Chinese and Thai (non-veg) food. The place serves the best honey chicken in town!

Olive Bar and Kitchen – Famous for Page-3 parties, Olive Bar and Kitchen is the place if you are looking to enjoy an expensive Mediterranean meal.

Aqua (The Park, CP) – The poolside restaurant and bar at The Park; perfect destination for romantic dinners! Average food and service.

Lodi, The Garden Restaurant (Lodhi Road) – An awesome eating place with outdoor seating in the middle of Lodi Gardens. The restaurant is famous for its European cuisine and is ideal for brunch as well as quiet candlelight dinners.

Magique (Garden of Five Senses, near Saket) – An Asian fusion restaurant and bar within The Garden of Five Senses. Open air ambiance is the USP of this place!

Sevella (The Claridges, Aurangzeb Road) – Known for elegant ambience and expensive Mediterranean food!

Shalom (GK-1, N-block market) – Lounge bar that offers fantabulous Mediterranean cuisine. The place draws good crowd on most days, and turns into a happening party place on Saturday nights!

Yellow Brick Road (Ambassador Hotel) – 24X7 restaurant and coffee shop, This is a good place to head out for late dinner, desserts, or just coffee – “Bull’s Eye” is to die for!!

Diva (GK-2, M-block market) – Famous Italian restaurant in town with plenteous eating options for vegetarians. Good food, good service, and good crowd!

The Living Room Café and Kitchen (Hauz Khas Village) –This funky lounge café in Hauz Khas is an ideal place for leisurely meals and conversations. TLR invites musicians and bands for in-house gigs on Saturday nights.

Tonino (Mehrauli) – One of the best restaurants in Delhi that offers fantastic Italian food and wine options. Famous for its elegant ambiance and fine dining experience!

Cilantro (Trident, Gurgaon) – A fine dining restaurant with beautiful ambience and amazing food. The place is a bit expensive.

Party places:

Hype

F Bar

Smoke House Grill

LAP

Jynxx

Lure

Manre

Ai

Capitol

Agni

Rishikesh (India): May 2011

Rafting: Check
Cliff-jumping: Check!

River rafting in Rishikesh is among the first things that come to mind when thinking of weekend getaways around Delhi. It is funny how long I had to wait to get my hands on it; this was my umpteenth visit to Rishikesh and even this time it seemed I'd have to return from Rishikesh a raft-virgin as our plans almost went horribly astray.

My travel group this time was a mix of friends and friends-of-friends. Three of us drove down from Gurgaon to Rishikesh on Saturday morning; four others were already in Rishikesh since the previous day. Although the distance is just around 270km, it takes a good 7-8 hours to cover due to traffic bottlenecks near Meerut bypass and Purkazi. The road condition is also not great; perhaps the only thing to look forward to is the famous "Jain Shikanji" restaurant along the highway in Modinagar (60km from Delhi), which serves fizzy lemonade and some yummy Indian snacks. There are a handful of such restaurants each claiming to be the "original" one; we stopped at one without bothering to investigate!

We reached Rishikesh at around 3pm and met up with our friends who had arrived there a day earlier. Rafting takes place from Shivpuri (16km upstream from Rishikesh) to Lakshman Jhoola, a suspension bridge on the river - the most popular landmark in Rishikesh. We had booked a "beach camp", a tented accommodation on the river bank at Shivpuri. We parked our car at the Lakshman Jhoola parking and went to our camp on the rafting agent's vehicle. The idea was to stay at the camp overnight, come down rafting from the camp to Lakshman Jhoola the next day, pick up our car from there and head back home.

Rishikesh usually has pleasant weather but the May heat was taking a toll on us. The campsite had 30-odd basic-style tents each with a double-bed, mattresses, pillows and quilts - that's about it. We did not get the logic of quilts at that time of the day but thanked God for them only a few hours later. Of course there was no electricity, and mobile network was patchy (Vodafone worked, Airtel didn't). The loo tents were pitched at one end of the campsite. There was a single kitchen-tent where they lay out food buffet-style. We had some late lunch and then decided to cool off in the river. The water was very cold and it was a great respite from the heat. Several rafts from upstream camps passed us by; we were to wait till next morning for our turn. The flow of the river is quite fast at this time of the year as the glacier melts rapidly in the summer heat.

In about an hour, things changed dramatically. Wind picked up speed and pretty soon a light shower started. The weather worsened exponentially from thereon. Wind became so strong that several tents collapsed. The seven of us gathered under one tent and held the bamboo poles tightly in place to keep them from collapsing. The campsite was located such that a sort of funnel was forming with hills sloping upwards from both sides of the river. Hence the intensity of the wind and the rain. Even as the torrential rain was showing no signs of letting up, it started hailing. Temperatures dropped drastically and we were feeling very cold in our wet clothes. We were all wondering at the same time, irrespective of what man achieves, how helpless he is in front of nature.

Rain and wind finally subsided in about half-an-hour. We looked at the quilts in the tent with new-found respect. We were also wondering what had become of the rafters who had set out in this weather; we met some later in the evening and they said it was great fun and adventure!

There was tea and biscuits after the rain, and a bonfire and drinks later in the evening. Dinner was served in the same kitchen-tent. The food was simple and tasty. We had a sound sleep tucked beneath our cosy quilts.

We woke up next day to a bright sunny morning and hung out our wet clothes to dry. The original plan was to set off in our raft at 10am, however the rafting agent informed us over phone from his office in Rishikesh that the road from Rishikesh to Shivpuri (the campsite) had been blocked and there'd be a delay of a couple hours. We were still fine with it and decided to while away time at the river. However there was no progress - it was also quite difficult to coordinate with the rafting agent due to the poor mobile network. We needed to head back to Delhi by afternoon considering the 8-hour drive, else we'd not be in a very comfortable position to attend office the next morning. There was also some miscommunication regarding whether we would board the raft at the campsite, or at a designated boarding point about a kilometer downstream from the camp. This latter boarding point is the hub of rafting activity and most rafts start off from there. I was beginning to give up all hope of rafting in this trip too as the clock struck 2pm. Thankfully we finally came to know that the raft was ready for us. We cheered up and rowed off along the lively, cold waters of the river, under the supervision of our raft's "Captain" who gave us a boring treatise beforehand on the techniques of rowing and the meaning of commands he would use during the course.

We negotiated a couple of rapids with relative ease even as the raft tossed wildly. Then a big one came - it's named the Golf Course. A huge wave crashed on the raft head-on, almost overturning it. Half the persons on board were thrown off the raft into the river. There was no danger of drowning since we all had life-jackets on; however, the danger of smashing on the rocks in the river bed was quite real. The current was so fast that it was impossible for even experienced swimmers to keep control of direction. Two persons were directly underneath the raft and had to hold their breath for a bit without panicking to be able to come up to the surface. Using a rope and our oars, we were able to pull up all the folks into the raft, except for one who we could not reach and another raft behind us picked him up. He was "transferred" back to our raft five minutes later in calmer waters.

Some nerves were indeed frayed but we all pulled ourselves together and negotiated a few more rapids. The highlight of the rafting was the cliff-jumping where we jumped from a 20-feet high rock into the river. It has got to be the most exhilarating thing I've done till date. The chill that runs down your spine on looking below from the edge of the "cliff", the courage you summon to take the plunge, the three seconds of free-fall, the loud crash with which you hit the water, the first breath of air you inhale after emerging from underneath - it's all priceless. These things remain with you for life.

This cliff-jumping point is towards the end of the rafting route and is also called the "Maggi Point" as a vendor perched on the rocks sells Maggi noodles and cold drinks to the rafters. He must make preposterous amount of money on good days (read most weekends) - you have to see how crowded it gets there and how hungrily the starving rafters gobble the food after two hours of heavy rowing exercise.

We de-boarded the raft at Lakshman Jhoola, had a quick bite at the popular German Bakery at one end of the suspension bridge, picked up our cars from the parking and rolled off towards Delhi by 6pm. We reached our place at 2am, caught a few hours of much-needed sleep and went to our offices the next day.

It was indeed a very happening weekend trip. It had way more adventure than I'd have imagined, but it couldn't have come at a better time. God knows I needed this!!


Expenses:

Overnight accommodation in tent (twin-sharing) + 3 meals + morning & evening tea + rafting: Rs. 1850 per person

We drove down to Rishikesh and incurred the usual fuel expenses

Jim Corbett National Park (India): January 2011

I recently went to the Jim Corbett National Park with my office gang from Delhi. This famous tiger reserve is located in the Kumaon region of Himalayas in Uttarakhand state, and has become a popular weekend get-away from Delhi.

So we were exploring the jungle in our safari jeeps when all of a sudden there was a ruffle in the bushes and this huge tiger came out of nowhere onto the track right in front of us. It was absolutely majestic, and it did not look dangerous (you can guess by their body language). Even as we were struggling to decide if we should breathe, hide or click pictures, voila! Another one came out of the thicket, moving ever so slowly and royally, to join his pal on his lazy evening jungle walk.

Suddenly someone shook me up. “Wake up, we’ve arrived at Ramnagar station”.

Our group comprised of 12 people, including my boss Jimmy, in whose honor this trip was planned. Hence also this choice of place – “Jim” Corbett. We left on Friday evening after office. Although with 12 people, taking a mini-bus would have made sense, but we had learned a thing or two about the condition of the road connecting Delhi to Kumaon (Nainital/Jim Corbett) during one of our earlier trips to Sat Tal. So we decided to take the convenient night train this time.

Something about the train: ‘Ranikhet Express’ starts from Old Delhi station at 10:40pm. It splits into two at Moradabad – one set of coaches heads to Kathgodam (train station for Nainital) and the other one to Ramnagar (train station for Jim Corbett), both reaching their destinations at 5am. The opposite happens on the way back – ‘Corbett Park Link Express’ departs from Ramnagar at 9:45pm and merges with the ‘Ranikhet Express’ coming from Kathgodam at Moradabad, and the combined set of coaches heads to Delhi, arriving at 4am.

So we arrived at the Ramnagar station early morning on Saturday and hired taxis for our resort. We had booked rooms at the Infinity Resort, located 9km from Ramnagar station at Dhikuli. Several other resorts (including Wild Crest and Club Mahindra) are located in the same area, on a strip of land sandwiched between the road and the Kosi river. That’s how they all say on their websites that they have a river flowing through their backyard and their rooms are “river-view”.

We had pre-requested for early check-in and were shown to our rooms promptly. The resort is lovely – our luggage was carried in a cool hand-cart, we were greeted by a huge elephant as soon as we crossed the reception area, there are swings, a TT table, a pool table, a tiny pond with pet ducks and a charming wooden foot over-bridge. Their central dining area is called the Gol Ghar (round house) where they also arrange bonfires in the evening. This opens into a terrace where you can dine beneath an open sky that comes fitted with a fantastic view of the river. With a little effort you can climb down from the terrace and walk right into the river bed. We did this twice during our weekend stay and it was absolute fun.

The rooms are tidy, each room has a balcony, and of course, they’re all “river-view”. Surprisingly there’s no TV in the rooms. The use of woodwork is noticeable throughout the resort. I must also mention their swimming pool (which I could not enjoy due to a bad cold that I caught right before the trip) – it is one of the few which is reasonably deep at one end, and offers pleasurable pool-side beer experience. (Although they could do with a smarter guy serving drinks.)

Our itinerary was open for the two days we were there. There was a lot to do inside the resort itself – river frolicking, swimming, TT, carom, pool, swings, cards, and partying. And of course, FOOD. Theirs was the best buffet I’ve come across at a resort. We all overate and loved it.

On Saturday afternoon we went for adventure sports at Garjia, a little further down from Dhikuli. There’s a suspension bridge on the Kosi river at Garjia where a couple of adventure sports operators offer adrenaline rush by tying you to a rope and making you jump from the bridge into the river. They even promise you money-back should you smash your head on the rocks in the process. I again had to give it a miss as I could not afford to get wet in the cold, though my office pals had great fun jumping from the bridge at Rs. 150 per person. Fortunately we did not have to seek any refunds. We procured booze before returning to the resort and had a great party at night in our rooms.

We had also pre-requested for a late check-out on Sunday. We checked out post lunch at 2pm; our train left only after 9pm, so we left our luggage at the resort and went for a jungle safari.

Something about the safari: There are several zones inside Jim Corbett National Park where you can do a jeep safari, the most popular being Dhikala, Bijrani, and Jhirna. Dhikala is the innermost part of the reserve with the maximum chances of sighting a tiger (which is still fairly low). You can do a jeep safari here only if you stay in the government’s Forest Rest House at Dhikala. Only staunch wildlife enthusiasts must stay at Dhikala (or for that matter, at any other Forest Rest House) – they do not allow booze, loud music and non-vegetarian food, and there are no “river-view” rooms; yet Dhikala gets booked months in advance. The other two – Bijrani and Jhirna – are popular among tourists staying outside the reserve. Further, there are two safari timings – morning (5am) and afternoon (2pm). The jeep safari lasts 3 hours, and happens in 6-seater jeeps where the driver is your guide. Permits are required, which can be easily arranged by the hotel/resort you're staying at.

Our afternoon safari at Jhirna was nowhere close to my dream in the train. The forest cover was low, it was quite dry and dusty, and the only wildlife we saw was deer, peacocks, a creepy lizard, and a mammoth tusker, which appeared to be twice the size of our resort’s pet elephant. We stopped for tea near the Jhirna Forest Rest House where a hyperactive gang of monkeys was entertaining everyone with their antics. On our way back we returned the binoculars we had rented at the entry gate, but not before clicking cool pictures flaunting them.

We had a quick dinner at a restaurant near Ramnagar station and boarded our train well in time. We played poker for a bit before retiring to our berths. The train reached Delhi early morning where we split, only to meet again a few hours later in office.

Overall it was a fun weekend trip, and we were glad we took the train this time as it was far less tiring. We did not see any tigers, and none of us complained.


Expenses:

Train return ticket: Rs. 500 per person
Taxi between Ramnagar station and resort: Rs. 400-500 (9km)
Resort stay: Rs. 5000 per room per night (2 persons) incl. all meals
Adventure sports: Rs. 150 per person per activity
Jeep safari: Rs. 3500 per jeep (6 persons)

Overall expenses: Rs. 5000 per person

Things to do in Goa

If you are traveling to Goa, you might want to keep the following keywords in mind. This is the filtered list of all things fun in Goa. Courtesy Kiranjeet Kaur aka KK:

• Anjuna Flea Market (Wednesday till 6 pm): Sunsest view at Shore Bar, Osama a hip boutique, German Bakery
• Place to party - Disco Valley, Paridiso, Curlies - South Anjuna, Primrose
• Vagatore beach - Nine Bar
• Candolim beach - Frank Zappa
• Palolem beach (South Goa)
• Yum Yum Tom Yum, (on the south side of the beach near the very end, you have to walk in about 100 m from the beach, ask for Pelton's if you have difficulty finding the place)
• Boat ride to an island, Firang DJ, Neptune
• Martins Corner - the page 3 place
• Ashwem beach
• Arambol beach
• Saturday night flea market in Arpora, organized by a German since early nineties, is by far the largest and most vibrant flea market in North Goa. There is also a sizeable performance area which promotes local talent
• Baga - Zanzibar
• Baga - Cavalla, on Wednesday/Friday nights
• Fort Tiracol further down from Arambol. You need to take the ferry on the river to get to it. Amazing eagle’s view from the top of Fort Tiracol. From Tiracol you can head further to Paradise beach, which is untouched.

Sat Tal (India): October 2010

I've just come back from an amazing weekend get-away near Delhi.

The place is called Sat Tal (Hindi for seven lakes). It is located near Nainital in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand state. It is 350 km from Delhi and 20 km from Nainital. The main attraction of the place is that you can stay in a tent on the hills and do adventure activities near the main lake.

There are two ways to reach Sat Tal - by road and by rail, of which rail is the better, less tiring option.

• Road: The route is Delhi, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gajraula (stopover to eat), Moradabad, Rampur, Kathgodam, Sat Tal. Be prepared for unpredictable mammoth traffic jams on the way, especially at Rampur and railway crossings. Internet says the road journey takes 7 hours, but 10-11 hours is more like how it actually works out. There's a McDonalds drive-through at Gajraula.
  
• Rail: Convenient night train (Ranikhet Express) from Old Delhi railway station to Kathgodam (30 km from Nainital / Sat Tal), and back. Taxis to Nainital and Sat Tal are readily available from Kathgodam.
  

We could not get the train tickets, so we hired a 10-seater Tempo Traveler and went by road. We were a group of seven people from office. We started on Saturday at 4am from Gurgaon, picked up some friends from Delhi, and eventually reached Sat Tal at 4pm, asking our way around as we neared the destination.

We were too tired when we reached there, but were blown away by the first view of the camp where we were to stay. We had booked the Sat Tal Birding Camp (they have a nice website). It is a set of 5-odd tents pitched on opportunistic flat clearings on the mountain slope. Hence all tents are not at the same level - the dining tent is perched at the top, and you have to climb down to the lodging tents. The tents themselves are amazing - very spacious, housing comfortable double-beds with mattresses, wooden chairs and tables, bed-side tables and lamps, and attached washrooms with hot showers and clean loos. More importantly, they have electricity and charging points. The camp site is 4 km uphill from the main lake.

Although it was already evening, the staff was very prompt in serving us a sumptuous lunch. The caretaker was very helpful in suggesting the activities we could do during our stay. We headed to the lake as it grew darker and colder. We hired paddle boats and soaked in every bit of the one hour we were there in the still, dark, murky water of the lake. We were the only tourists around at that time. The vendors near the lake offered to cook pakodas with tea for us, but we were too full and too tired. So we returned to the camp. On our request the caretaker arranged a bonfire for us. After spending a few hours there we headed for dinner late at night and then retired to our tents to get some precious sleep.

To our surprise we managed to wake up early next day - this usually happens in the mountains. After tea, we trekked down to another small lake close to the camp site. The lake was full of fish and we took a quick swim in its icy cold water. There was a small fresh water stream running nearby where we spent an hour. There was also a flower nursery adjacent to the lake where vans were being loaded with flowerpots to be taken to Delhi.

We trekked back to the camp for breakfast and checked out by noon. The caretaker informed us that we could do some adventure activities near the main lake within the 2-3 hours we had at our disposal, so we headed there. Vinod is a known guy in that area who takes visitors for rock climbing, rappelling (just the reverse of rock climbing), kayaking and river-crossing (well, more like lake-crossing). Due to lack of time we decided to skip kayaking and did the other three. Near the rock climbing site we spotted a huge tree that had fallen into the valley but had been held mid-way from falling fully by other trees. So we invented this adventure-activity of our own by walking on this tree a la tightrope. One slip and we'd have landed in the deep ravine below!

After an exhilarating couple of hours at the adventure stuff, we headed back to Delhi in the afternoon. We reached home late at night.

Overall, the trip was a great experience, though it could have been less tiring had we taken the train. I have bittersweet memories from this trip that will last forever.


Expenses:

Tempo Traveler (taxi): Total running 800 km @ Rs. 15/km
Taxes: UP state tax Rs. 500 per day, Uttarakhand state tax Rs. 500 per day
Camping: Rs. 2000 per person per day incl. all meals (Sat Tal Birding Camp)
Boating: Paddle boats (4-seater) @ Rs. 190 for one hour
Adventure activities: Rs. 150-200 per activity per person
Bonfire: Rs. 350

Overall expenses: Rs. 5000 per person

Mumbai, Goa, Pune (India): September 2010

Why would anyone go to Goa in monsoons beats most people.

Are you most people?

A full-blown family vacation had been due for quite a while when we decided to visit my uncle in Pune in early September. My brother and I took a week off from office and began searching for what we could include in our Pune trip. When you search for "monsoon tourism" destinations in India, the first few places on the list are all around the Mumbai-Pune belt. These include Matheran, Lonavla/Khandala, Bhandardhara, Malshej Ghat and Mahabaleshwar. Outside this zone, the other monsoon destinations include Konkan, Western Ghats and the Malabar coast, which roughly translates to Goa and Kerala.

This made life easy for us - we drew up a circuit to cover the whole Mumbai-Pune zone. The map looked somewhat like this (approx. distances from Mumbai):


The only fixtures on the itinerary till now were:

Reach Mumbai on Sunday morning by train from Delhi, and,
Fly back from Pune to Delhi next Sunday.

Everything in between was fluid (we're talking about monsoon tourism after all, ain't we!) We had not finalized how we were going to travel to our selected places, and where we were to lodge. This is one luxury you enjoy in off-season - too much pre-booking is not required.

Two hours before the train's departure as we were finalizing the places to stay at Matheran, Bhandardhara et al, Mom expressed her wish to go to Goa as she'd never been there before. Suddenly the idea of visiting the half-dozen destinations which we had shortlisted started appearing tacky to us - Goa is just an overnight train journey from Mumbai/Pune and has the sea. We chucked our destination map and decided for Goa.

The train journey from Delhi to Mumbai was enjoyable. Rajdhani train stops at just 4-odd places on this 1500 km route, and they keep on bringing stuff to eat all the time.

We reached Mumbai Central station at 8am (this station is different from Mumbai CST aka Mumbai VT which is 8-10km from Mumbai Central). We got our train tickets to Goa for the same night through one of the travel agents lurking around at the station's reservation counter. He said he'll use some VIP quota option to help us beat the waiting list of passengers and will charge Rs. 300 per person for this 'favor'. We agreed but did not get our seat confirmation right away even after paying the chap - he asked us to wait till the boarding chart is prepared 2 hours before departure. We were annoyed and asked him to reverse the deal - he hadn't told us anything about having to wait for the confirmation. But he was adamant that he'll get us the seats. There was precious little we could do but to take his word and wait till evening.

We had the day at our disposal in Mumbai, so after breakfast at the unique McDonalds-Rajdhani combo counter at the Mumbai Central station, we headed out to Gateway of India. (Now in case you are unaware, this latter Rajdhani is a very famous restaurant chain serving Indian food. It has nothing to do with Rajdhani the train, except for the common name.)

Situated on the edge of the sea, the aptly named Gateway of India is a sight to behold, what with the majestic Taj Mahal hotel located right across the road. It is hard to imagine that this place was the site of the unfortunate Mumbai terror attacks just a couple years back.

We decided to take a regular ferry to the Elephanta Island from the jetty at the Gateway of India. This one-hour ferry ride was absolute pleasure. The ferries have a capacity of over 50 people; the lower deck is covered while the upper deck is open to the sky. They charge Rs. 10 extra to let you climb to the upper deck. It rained heavily for some part of our ride and everyone came to the lower deck during that time.

I saw countless ships - some of them the largest I've ever seen - happily anchored at a distance from the shore. I wondered how the Coast Guard kept an eye on the activities of all of them, the sea-route being so notorious for smuggling activity.

The Elephanta Caves were great. It takes a bit of an effort to climb to the caves from where the ferries are docked. The whole ascending path is lined with souvenir shops and a couple of eating places. I bought some carved stone elephant souvenirs to mark my visit to the Elephanta Caves. The basic concept of the caves is that they've been carved out of a single rock, including the pillars and the sculptures of Lord Shiva, which all stand defaced today. They say the Portuguese did it. I'm not sure if I'll buy that.

We spent a couple of hours at the overcast Elephanta Island and ate roasted corn which was surprisingly sweet. I wasn't getting any mobile signal there and was getting edgy to know if the tonight's tickets to Goa had been confirmed. I let out a sigh of relief as I checked the Indian Railways website on my mobile on nearing the Gateway of India shore and found our seats confirmed. The agent hadn't lied after all.

We did a vintage Victoria chariot ride from the Gateway of India to Colaba market. We munched on the famous Bombay bhel-puri (crispy puffed rice garnished with ultra-spicy sauces, chillies and onions) and grabbed some quick dinner before heading back to the train station to board our 11pm night train to Goa. This time, it was the Mumbai CST station which is known for its Victorian architecture.

The night journey to Goa was peaceful and we woke up to the beautiful lush-green surroundings which the Konkan railway runs through. Madgaon is the biggest train station of Goa, but we de-boarded a bit before at Thivim which is up north of Madgaon and hence nearer to the North Goa beach of Calangute where we had planned to lodge. This was deja-vu as I had done the same drill three years back when I visited Goa with friends in Christmas - I've written about that trip earlier on this blog.

We took a taxi from Thivim to Calangute. There's a big pre-paid taxi stand outside the Thivim station, though we opted for a taxi outside the pre-paid union as this guy was willing to get us to Calangute cheaper. Maruti Omni van is the most common type of taxi in Goa.

During the half-hour long drive to Calangute, we saw more shades of green than we had ever seen before. It was as if the vegetation was celebrating every drop of rain that fell from the sky. Occasionally we saw paddy fields and small ponds along the way, overflowing with water. The dark gray road meandered through the greenery and we wished the drive never ends. Soon we arrived at the familiar-looking market of Calangute. At this very moment my colleagues in Delhi were arriving at their familiar-looking office desks. Gosh, did I ever have a better start to a Monday morning!

A friend of the brother-in-law of a friend of my father (whew) owns a hotel adjacent to the Calangute beach. This was the place we were to lodge at. There were very few tourists and the hotels had slashed their prices by more than half, and we got an even higher discount owing to our acquaintance. The hotel had a swimming pool too, so my brother could finally learn swimming.

Over the next three days we visited many beaches beyond Calangute - Baga, Anjuna, Vargator, Candolim, and Miramar. The first four are within 10-15 km of Calangute while Miramar is down south, in the capital Panjim.

'Natural' is a very famous ice cream brand of Mumbai. Their ice creams are creamy in the true sense and contain real fruit pulp. I rued having missed in Mumbai. But lo behold! I was elated to find out that they've opened a parlor right on the Calangute beach, one minute away from where we were staying. Add that to the list of reasons why you should stay at Calangute when you visit Goa.

We walked down in the rain from Calangute to Baga with our umbrellas. The rains in Goa are funny and fully tropical in character - they'll happen all of a sudden with shattering intensity, and then stop as suddenly, like someone just shut down the hose.

Baga's highlight was the prawn-curry rice I had at Britto's restaurant which overlooks the sea. The serving was huge and I had a bloated tummy for the rest of the day.

Anjuna's famous Wednesday flea-market was closed for the monsoons. We were told it opens around October. We visited the rocky side of the beach instead of the sandy one.

Vargator was unique in its own sense. It features a high cliff from where you have to climb down to reach the sea level. It isn't exactly rock climbing; there are smooth tracks that lead down to the shore. This beach was my personal favorite on this trip, though you get bored after an hour or so.

Candolim is where the Aguada Fort is. This fort is strategically built as it is open to the sea from three sides. Goa's Taj hotel resort is located on this beach, and my idol Vijay Mallya has a villa, called the Kingfisher Villa, next to it. There was a rusting, old ship docked at this beach which our driver told us had been there for the last 10 years, polluting the beach. The next day this stuff was in newspapers - the court had asked the government to remove the ship from the beach.

Miramar beach, strictly not to be confused with the one in Florida, is a different sort of beach located in Panjim. It is more like the Juhu beach in Mumbai. I didn't like it much after all that I'd seen.

For friends back home, we bought some, rather a lot of cashews, which are Goa's specialty. Fenny, a hard drink made from fermented cashews, is more famous than the cashew itself. I hate its taste and we did not buy any.

There is one thing you should NOT try at Goa. I'm not talking about weed. Do not take the "river-cruise" on the Mandovi river in Panjim. Our driver who had more or less become our guide, suggested the river-cruise to us and we bought the tickets. Several companies operate such cruises and they sell tickets at cashew and wine shops throughout Goa. During high season in December, these tickets sell for a premium. The idea is that they put you on a boat, then dock a little distance away in the middle of the river, and start playing loud music to which you are supposed to groove for an hour. Only, the music tends to get on your nerves and they serve preposterous amounts of diesel fumes for free, from which you have no escape - you're in the middle of the river, remember? They also show some "traditional Goan performances" which is actually a real shady, cheap show on the lower deck. You can escape to the open-air upper deck but can't sit there. We realized what we had gotten into in the first ten minutes of waiting before the boat set off. We called off the adventure and de-boarded. It took a lot of water and fresh air to wash diesel fumes down our throat. Our ferry ride to the Elephanta Islands was a trillion times better.

With our mixed bag of experiences, which were all excellent apart from the river-cruise, we bid adieu to Goa and boarded the overnight train to Pune the tickets for which I got booked through a local travel agent, through the same drill as in Mumbai but with greater amount of trust this time.

The remaining two days of our trip were more of a family affair. My uncle is an astronomer and before Pune he lived in Nainital at the UP State Observatory campus. Several of my summer vacations as a kid have been spent there gazing at the Moon's craters, Mars' surface and Saturn's rings through huge telescopes. He's now working on theories of the formation of the universe - the Big Bang and related whiz stuff - at the University of Pune. He showed us around his office complex and it looked more like a space museum. They've grown carpet grass on the roofs where they have cocktail parties.

We went to the Laxmi Road market for some purchasing the old folks had to do. The market reminds you of Delhi's Chandni Chowk, minus the fabulous eateries of the latter. The Ganpati festival was about to begin in Pune and the streets were heavily crowded. The fervor with which Maharashtrians celebrate Ganpati is outstanding. I also found some time to visit a good friend who lives in Nigdi, which is to Pune as Gurgaon is to Delhi.

We flew back to Delhi on Sunday noon - this was the only pre-planned thing we'd done since arriving in Mumbai one week back.

Do I think we should have done the more monsoon-famous Matheran, Lonavla etc. as planned originally in place of Goa? Naah!! Goa is at its natural best in monsoons, and it is neither as crowded as in December nor as deserted as people say it would be in this season. I've seen Goa at Christmas, and I've now seen Goa in monsoons. I can't really say which one is better - it's apples and oranges.

Some approximate costs:

Delhi to Mumbai train (Rajdhani): Rs. 1800 per person
Gateway of India to Elephanta Islands ferry: Rs. 150 per person (return trip)
Mumbai to Goa train: Rs. 1500 per person
Thivim to Calangute taxi: Rs. 300
Monsoon hotel rates in Goa: Rs. 1500-2000 per room (with swimming pool, non-5-star)
Beer can in Goa, 500ml: Rs. 38 (Rs. 70 in Delhi!)
Goa day taxi, 80 km limit: Rs. 1000
Goa river-cruise: Rs. 150 per person
Calangute to Vasco da Gama taxi: Rs. 700
Goa to Pune train: Rs. 1000 per person
Pune to Delhi flight: Rs. 4000 per person

Agra (India): April 2010

I just concluded a different kind of weekend trip - I went to Agra with my parents and two more families, both the uncles being schoolfellows of my father. I've not gone for such big fat family trips since my childhood, but the old fellas wanted to catch up and I wanted to see Agra. I'd seen the Taj Mahal once before on a school trip when I was 10; I had hazy memory and no pictures of the same.

We booked a 10-seater Tempo Traveler (a sort of mini-bus; google for pictures) for the road trip and rolled off on the morning on Saturday. We started at my parents' place in Delhi and went via Gurgaon, in order to pick up the two uncles & co. The logical route from Gurgaon to Agra is via Palwal in Haryana, which we decided to take. The road condition turned out to be poor and the traffic was bad, making the journey long and tiring. A better way would have been to go back to Delhi from Gurgaon and take the conventional highway route to Agra, even if it meant doing 50-odd extra kilometers.

We stopped for lunch en-route at Mathura (The Status restaurant at the Brijwasi Hotel located near the State Bank office - fabulous food, peaceful decor) and reached our hotel in Agra (Royal Residency, located on the Fatehabad Road opposite the TDI shopping mall) after noon. The heat was overpowering and we decided to rest for a while before heading to the Taj Mahal. We didn't realize when it struck half past five and we were left with just half an hour to dress up and get the entry tickets for the Taj. (Entry tickets are sold till 6 pm and visiting hours for the Taj are till 7 pm). We reached the ticket counter seconds before its closing time and managed to see the spectacle of Taj at sunset. Outside, the Taj looked majestic at twilight, while the inside hall of the Taj was dark and the zillion sweaty, loud-mouthed tourists were frantically taking pictures with their camera flashes, blatantly ignoring the signboards forbidding photography inside the hall. I was appalled to see what one of the greatest monuments of our country had come to. I did not venture inside. We had some food at McDonalds at the TDI Mall opposite our hotel before calling it a day. I dozed off early while the old timers kept chatting late into the night.

The next day was more like my kind of tourism. The group wanted to end their Agra sojourn right there and head to Fatehpur Sikri (50 km from Agra - famous for the gigantic arched doorway 'Buland Darwaza'). They also wanted to visit the Lord Krishna temples in Mathura and Vrindavan on their way back to Delhi. I'd no immediate interest in these places; besides, my Lonely Planet India guidebook told me that I'd a lot left to see in Agra, so I split from the group there. As I headed out alone I had the familiar energy and the spring in the step of a lone traveler. An autorickshaw driver proposed to take me around to the places of my interest scattered across the crowded city for Rs. 250. I took the deal.

I visited Mahtab Bagh (a Mughal-style garden that presents a great view of the back side on the Taj Mahal from across the Yamuna river), Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb (build on the same concept and as symmetrically as the Taj Mahal but one generation earlier), and the Agra Fort (the gorgeous and mammoth fort of the Mughals). Just when I was beginning to trust my autorickshaw driver who patiently waited outside these places as I took my time clicking hundreds of pictures, he took me to a couple of shops which give commissions to these drivers for bringing tourists. I sensed it and did not buy anything from there, and the driver refused to take me to the shops I'd heard about as being special to Agra (for instance the Panchhi Petha shop which is famous of its sweets), citing no knowledge of those shops.

Incidentally one of my good friends from college was hosting his brother's engagement party in Agra the same day, so I briefly dropped by to say hello before boarding my 4 pm bus to Delhi. The state tourism's air conditioned buses leave the Idgah bus station in Agra for Delhi every hour and they do not issue tickets in advance. These are not Volvo-style coaches; there are only two per day of the latter (called the 'Swarn Shatabdi' service) - one leaves in the morning and the other at 3 pm.

I reached Delhi at 9:30 pm and was back at my place in Gurgaon in another hour.

Key expenses:
Tempo Traveler: Rs. 8500 for the trip (approx. 600 km)
Hotel in Agra (Royal Residency): Rs. 1500 per room per night
Entry tickets for the monuments: In the range of Rs. 5 to 30
Sightseeing by autorickshaw: Rs. 250
Bus from Agra to Delhi: Rs. 220

Dharamsala, McLeodganj, Triund (India): December 2009

We decided to celebrate the New Year in the popular and scenic hill station of Dharamsala/McLeodganj, located in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. McLeodganj is 9 km further from Dharamsala and is the bigger tourist center of the two. It also houses the Government in Exile of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Number of travelers: 9

The itinerary:
Day 1: Take night train from Delhi to Pathankot
Day 2: Take a taxi from Pathankot to McLeodganj early morning, spend the day in McLeodganj (New Year eve)
Day 3: Head for a trek to Triund (9-10 km from McLeodganj), stay overnight in Triund
Day 4: Trek from Triund to Laka, then head back and reach McLeodganj by afternoon
Day 5: Take a taxi from McLeodganj to Pathankot, take the night train back to Delhi
Day 6: Reach Delhi early morning

Our train from Delhi to Pathankot was delayed by a couple of hours due to fog, though we didn't mind since we had booked the swanky first class compartment. The privacy of the compartment ensured that we could crack stupid jokes, laugh aloud and dance around freely. We missed this fun in our return journey since we could not travel first class.

We reached Pathankot early next morning. Considering our large group size, we were thinking of hiring two taxis from Pathankot to McLeodganj, but were happy to spot big vans lined up at the station to ferry upto 10 tourists at a time. The ride takes around 3.5 hours and is generally pleasurable, however there's a catch - the cabbies treat Dharamsala and McLeodganj quite differently, even though they are just 9 km apart. We were unaware of this and made a deal till Dharamsala for Rs. 1500, however when we asked to be dropped at McLeodganj the taxi charged us an extra Rs. 400, that too after much bargaining (a discussion which one of us cheekily videotaped! We laughed at the video later.)

We needed to look for accommodation since we hadn't booked any in advance. McLeodganj's main square looked quite crowded, so we went 2 km further ahead to Bhagsunag (commonly called Bhagsu) and took a nice hotel with a large terrace on each floor and an excellent view - that of the destination of our planned trek for the next day. Prices were around Rs. 1000 per room (we took 4 rooms), though there was a fallout while checking out four days later when the owner backtracked from the quoted price. The issue was settled amicably after a few heated discussions.

As planned we spent the day roaming around the main square. We had an amazing lunch at the McLlo restaurant, which proudly features a photograph of Pierce Brosnan enjoying a meal at the restaurant. The pastry shop right below the restaurant made for excellent dessert. Then we visited the main temple complex, which is attached to the residence of the Dalai Lama. It wasn't crowded or overflowing with security personnel like we had expected. Later in the evening we had wild New Year celebrations with drinking, dancing and hookah (which we had brought along from Delhi) that ran pretty late into the night. This put our next day's planned trek to Triund at risk, since we had to start early morning and no one seemed to be in a mood to wake up before noon. However we did manage to pull ourselves up together, even if it was after our guide Ricky said he would call off the trek if we delayed any further!

The trek to Triund was tough - it is not your regular mountain kachha track that you'll walk along to reach to the top. It is filled with boulders of all shapes and sizes and is quite steep at times. We did not find any snow on the way. We burnt more calories in those six hours than we did in the whole year, and it showed in the way we devoured food on a wayside cafe. The owner of the shed was kind enough to share a few puffs with me and I was then at peace.

The destination, Triund, is a flat ridge which overlooks the Dhauladhar mountain range - named so because of its permanent white, snow-covered slopes. From Triund the Dhauladhar mountain looks tantalizingly close; you feel you can touch it with a little extra effort. We reached the destination in time to catch the sun set over the horizon and to witness the visual spectacle of the gradually setting sun making the Dhauladhar mountains change color from shimmering white to golden yellow to supernatural red. What a start to the new year.

Triund has no electricity other than a few solar-powered lamps. There are no hotels, though a couple of sheds (brick-walled with tin roofs) are present, one of them run by the government (the Forest Rest House). You can choose between the sheds and the tents which the couple of tea stalls stationed there rent out to tourists. Our guide Ricky made arrangements for us to stay in the private shed (the one not run by the government). We took up four rooms here too. The shed owner arranged for a bonfire and piping hot dinner. There was utter darkness and freezing cold. Rum helped us survive the night and we woke up to bright sunlight next morning.

Not all were interested in trekking further to Laka - the snow line. Three went ahead with Ricky and six, including me, headed back to McLeodganj. We reached back by afternoon and had a much deserved hot shower. Going out in the evening for dinner seemed out of the question and we ordered room service. (By the way, we had retained our hotel rooms in McLeodganj (Bhagsu) when we spent the night in Triund since we had left our luggage in the hotel.)

Next day we did some shopping for folks back home - yak wool shawls, souvenirs and plum wine, the local specialty. Then came the highlight of the trip for me - it rained! Mountains, winters and rain - the land of Monks gave me my salvation. It must have snowed in Triund - guess we missed it by one day!

It rained the entire way as we did the usual 3.5 hour downhill journey to Pathankot. From there we took our night train to arrive back in Delhi early next morning.

Key expenses:
Return train tickets (Delhi-Pathankot-Delhi)*: Rs. 2000 per person
Taxi from Pathankot to McLeodganj: Rs. 1900
Hotel (Spring Valley Resort - Bhagsu): Rs. 1000 per room per night
Shed in Triund: Rs. 500 per room
Guide: Total Rs. 1500 for the group
Taxi from McLeodganj to Pathankot: Rs. 1500

Total expenses per person: Approx. Rs. 5000

Photographs are on my Facebook page.

*Note: Another way of traveling between McLeodganj and Delhi is by bus - Volvo night buses ply between the two destinations and take around 12 hours one-way. You can book the bus tickets from the main square in McLeodganj (below McLlo restaurant) - it costs around Rs. 800. Personally, I'm not a big fan of bus rides in mountains, or otherwise.

Manali to Leh on Bicycle

I salute these guys. You are my inspiration.

http://www.bodenseepeter.de/2007/09/01/manali-leh-2/

One day.

Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Pictures

Here is the trip's photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139478&id=597905358&l=d6d1a7643c

Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 10 of 10

Patiala to Delhi

Home run

We woke up late to the scent of Aloo Paranthas and Halwa being cooked in the kitchen. When you play ungettable your loved one wants you even more. This is exactly what the Aloo Parantha had been doing for the last ten days. We devoured the heavy breakfast and felt at peace.

Then we went sightseeing with our local friend who showed us houses of some friends from college and office, some palatial bungalows, the State Bank of Patiala's headquarters, the National Institute of Sports and the Thapar Engineering College.

We left for Delhi at mid day. It was very hot and humid. We thanked the person who invented air conditioner for cars.

I reached my place at around 7 PM after a brief tryst with Delhi's traffic. Parents were happy to see me in good shape. I distributed the stuff I'd bought along from Ladakh and Srinagar.

After a 10-day vacation of the kind many dream about but only a few embark upon, I feel a sense of achievement. This is probably the closest I'd go to the elements. I can now watch the Tata Safari's famous 'Reclaim your life' advertisement with a been-there-done-that look on my face.

Until next time!

Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 9 of 10

Srinagar to Patiala

Today was all about covering kilometers.

One of my friends from this trip hails from Patiala. We had decided yesterday that we'll try and cover the 500 Km distance between Srinagar and Patiala in one day and will start early morning to accomplish this. We had given standing instructions to the driver to wake up early for we'll be ready with our luggage at 5 AM. When the driver knocked at our hotel rooms at 5:30 AM, our rooms were resounding with our snores.

We got ready and packed quickly and left without breakfast. We could see how Srinagar looked like a military zone in the morning with army men with red flags and sniffer dogs patrolling every nook and corner of the city and the outskirts. It was scary enough for us to not stop anywhere for tea. Later we came to know that the ongoing holy Amarnath Yatra was the reason for such heavy security, to keep the terrorists at bay.

Between Srinagar and Jammu is a place called Pida which is famous for its dhabas serving Rajma-Chawal (rice with red kidney beans curry). We had a heavy brunch there and moved on.

The Jawahar Tunnel separates Jammu from Kashmir. Drilled through the huge mountains, it is of utmost military importance and at 3 Km long it is among the longest tunnels in Asia. It is a standing example of man's persistence to tame Nature. We felt proud as we passed through it, though it reminded us a bit of the Delhi Metro's underground route.

We took a turn around 40 Km before Jammu and bypassed it by going through the Samba sector of J&K. This way we saved around 2 hours of Jammu's traffic.

After a few kilometers at Pathankot we hit a massive traffic jam. The locals had blocked the road demanding water. They would let go only after some water tankers came from Jammu to rid them of their misery. It was ironic since it was raining at the time. However our daring and skillful driver managed to take the side lane and cross all the mayhem almost unnoticed. At one point some women saw us driving past and they picked up stones threatening to hit our car. We stopped briefly and drove on when they were distracted elsewhere.

After that the journey was quite uneventful and we reached Patiala amidst heavy rain at 9:30 PM. Aunty had cooked a sumptuous meal for us which we downed in no time. The trip was almost over now and we had to head back to Delhi tomorrow.

Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 8 of 10

Sonamarg to Srinagar

Today we saw first hand why Kashmir is called Paradise on Earth.

We woke up early and decided to take Sonamarg’s famous pony ride to the Thajiwas Glacier. We were told that the ice had mostly melted, but the place is famous for its views of the slopes and the stream rather than the ice. The cottage caretaker arranged ponies for us at Rs. 300 per person for a 5-6 Km round journey to the glacier. Before that we had a quick breakfast at the guesthouse’s cafeteria.

As the ponies slowly marched ahead from the cottage, the beauty of the valley started unfolding around us, trying to prepare us for the spectacular climax of the journey. The ponies had to cross a gentle stream on the way where they halted for a minute for a well deserved drink of water. On more than one occasion I thought I’d fall off – the track was so precarious, but the ponies did a good job.

The beauty of the place where the ponies took us is hard to put in words. It comprises of a gushing white stream running down playfully from the ice cap of a distant mountain, which turns more gentle as it flows into a slightly sloping lush green valley. We were standing in this valley along with a herd of sheep that were nibbling on the grass. To this add some mist and a gentle, cool breeze and voila, you have your very own Paradise on Earth.

A handful of tea shops have come up at this place who do a brisk business selling tea and Maggi noodles. Small wooden bridges have been built at many places on the stream making both the banks easily accessible. Water is too cold even to touch, leave alone drawing up your pants and sitting down with feet dipped in the stream.

We spent almost an hour there when it started to drizzle. It was time to head back from this paradise to our car at the guesthouse and move on to the next destination – Srinagar.

Srinagar is a two-hour drive from Sonamarg. The road runs along the Sindhu river for the most part. We reached Srinagar in the afternoon, the last 7-8 Km of the drive being along the Dal Lake. The first view of the lake isn’t the best of sights – the surface is covered with algae and hyacinth, and the water stinks of rotting vegetation. We saw a large earth-mover engaged in removing the sea weed from the lake.

Fist thing to take care of on reaching Srinagar was to get accommodation for the night. We inquired at a few hotels on the Boulevard Road by the Dal Lake including the J&K Tourism Development Corporation’s hotel; however they all were quite expensive, charging up to Rs. 2000 for a double room for a night. We consulted our Lonely Planet guide book and finally took two rooms for Rs. 700 each at the Dhum Dhum Hotel located at one end of the Boulevard Road. The price of this low tariff is the noisy street facing the hotel. Soon after taking the rooms we went out to see what Srinagar has to offer.

The people here are a proud lot – they do not think very highly of other tourist places, especially those located in the same state, like Leh. On more than one occasion we were told how barren Leh’s mountains are and how the people there do not deserve the tourist money and attention they get. We, of course, loved Leh and were not very appreciative of such comments.

We shopped for some souvenirs at the J&K Government’s Art Emporium on the Boulevard Road. Then we went for a Shikara ride on the Dal Lake. Shikara is a typical Kashmiri boat – a Shikara is to Srinagar as a Gondola is to Venice.

This boat ride was also an amazing experience. Although the water was infested with sea weed and hyacinth, the views and the serenity more than compensated for it. Even the smell of the water was a part of the experience rather than a deterrent. Of course it could be a problem if someone decided to stay overnight in one of the thousand houseboats lined up in the Dal Lake, but for a one hour Shikara ride it did not matter so much. The person paddling for you will generally take you to one of the shops on the ‘floating market’ – a group of boats housing local merchandise and souvenirs. Surprisingly these shop-boats are equipped to accept credit cards, a facility which even some land-based shops do not have in Srinagar.

As for the houseboats, they are a popular camping place for tourists who do not wish to stay in the regular land-based hotels. A typical houseboat has four double rooms, a common living room, a television, and electricity. Food is prepared on the boat as per your order, and Shikaras can carry you ashore for Rs. 10. A general annoyance is the saffron and souvenir vendors who keep stalking you in their own boats. They do not spare the tourists taking Shikara rides either.

After almost two hours in the lake and purchasing some stuff from the ‘floating market’, we went for dinner. We savored the famous Mutton Rogan Josh – a Kashmiri dish made from lamb’s meat. The vegetarian dishes were not so great though.

We had heard that Srinagar closes down by 8 PM; however today the markets at the Boulevard Road were open well after 9. We took an auto-rickshaw to our hotel and now plan to leave for Patiala early morning tomorrow.

Road Trip to Leh (India): July 2009 – Day 7 of 10

Leh to Sonamarg

Sonamarg is located between Kargil and Srinagar.

We started at around 7 AM from our guesthouse in Leh to try and reach Srinagar by evening. It generally takes 10-12 hours to cover the 400-odd Km distance. Kargil is the midpoint.

The road was excellent as we started. We reached the Gurgudwara Patthar Sahib, a Sikh place of worship made and maintained by the Indian Army. It is among the world’s highest-located Gurudwaras at 12 thousand feet.

We had a great breakfast at Khalste, around 100 Km from Leh. We reached Kargil at noon, however we did not stop there. 40 Km from Kargil is Drass, the second coldest inhabited place on earth after a town in Siberia. Though at this time of the year and the day, the temperature was high enough to keep us comfortable in T-shirts. Here we also sighted Tiger Hill, from where intruders from across the border were famously flushed out by the Indian Army in the battle of 1999. Markings of the 10th anniversary celebrations of this victory could be seen on several mountain slopes.

We were 40 Km from Sonamarg when we realized that we were out of fuel. The next gas station was only at Sonamarg and we were still to cross the treacherous Zozi La pass. We asked for diesel from an army camp but could not get it. Then we tried asking the trucks passing by, offering to purchase it from them at a higher price than market, before finally getting 10 liters for Rs. 500, almost double the market rate. This exercise consumed an hour and we thought it prudent not to go on till Srinagar but stop a few kilometers before at Sonamarg.

Sonamarg is a heavenly place with lush green mountain slopes with herds of sheep and horses grazing, and a gentle white stream running across the valley. The famous Hindu pilgrimage, the Amarnath Yatra, also starts from a place close to Sonamarg. As a result there was heavy military presence in the area since these pilgrims are often a target of terrorists.

The main market of Sonamarg is exceedingly small and the large guesthouse of J&K Tourism Development Corporation occupies the centerstage. We went straight to its office and a friendly old man showed us our options to stay for the night. We took a luxury cottage up on the mountain slope for a discounted price of Rs. 1800 for the night. The cottage had two spacious bedrooms, a drawing room and a kitchen. One of us is a tea freak and he was overjoyed to see the stove where he later made his own tea, the way he likes it. We had a filling dinner down at the market. We also bought some tasty Kashmiri apples.

We were happy to have stayed at Sonamarg since it would have been very late if we tried reaching Srinagar today, plus we would have missed the sightseeing at Sonamarg which we plan to do tomorrow.