Mathura_Fatehpur Sikri_Amritsar_Jammu_Rishikesh_Dehradun - April 2009

Trip to explore various places in North India

Me and 3 other friends left for Mathura by train (AP Express) at 7 AM from Secunderabad to attend our friends' wedding. The train journey was lots of fun with Sumit living up to his image of being an 'Entertainer'. It was movies and music all the way.

We reached Mathura at 7:15 AM and were picked up by a cab arranged for us. Proceeded to Vrindavan. My first impression of Mathura wasn't that appealing. We have to move through narrow and bad roads with bhajan kirtans playing loudly everywhere - 'Welcome to the land of Sri Krishna Kanhaiya'.

We reached Vrindavan and stayed at 'Shree Radha Sewa Trust', pretty decent and most importantly AC rooms. It was extremely HOT! The entire day was spent in getting used to the Marwadi - Vrindavan style wedding customs, eating loads of Marwadi food cooked in oure ghee and loads of malai wali lassi. We checked out 'Raas Leela'. It reminded me of the Surdas poems I had byhearted in school! The Raas Leela was way too long to keep me focused and sometimes hilarious. The crazy part was that it was perfomed entirely by men dresses up as women, singing and dancing all throughout.

We were all dead tired by the end of the day, or should I say beginning of the next day...

The next day we hired a shared autorickshaw to take us around Vrindavan. Sumit's typical UP bhaiyya type negotiation skills came in handy and we settled to pay up an amount of Rs 250 for 8 of us, not a bad deal at all!!!

We checked out 3-4 temples. We were all dressed in summer casuals with our shades on (why am I sharing this... stay tuned.. you will know!). While entering one of the temples, the locals told us to remove our shades and put them in our bags or else they would be grabbed up by the monkeys roaming around. We thought they were just trying to act funny and obviously did not listen to them. Inside the temple, one monkey suddenly tried to pull the shades from my hand, but I succeeded in not parting with them. Later, at another temple, one monkey plucked out Daman's glasses from his face and wan away. We were all absolutely shocked. How can such a thing happen? Why were all these monkey's interested in everyone's shades! Thankfully the locals helped us retreive his glasses without causing too much damage to them.

We also checked out 'Madhuban'. Our guide took us around and it sounded like a haunted ghost story, absolutely nothing close to what I expected. He said all the trees transform into women at night and sounds of ghunghroo could be heard all night. We asked him if we could actually see it to beleive it. He got cheesed and said that this place is closed at night. Anyways, one positive message I could get from the entire story was that people in Madhuban are supposed to be 'happy'.. Radhe! Radhe!

We were all set for the wedding by evening. It was a mix of traditional values and modern technology. We witnessed some 'automated' pheras and bollywood style rainfall of flowers.

We hired a cab and headed to Fatehpur Sikri, Buand Darwaza adn Salim Chisti's Masjid. Fatehpur Sikri is huge, although very weared out and rusted. Salim Chisti's Masjid is famous for wishes coming true. However, I felt it has now become a business with commercial interests. It no longer has the peace and charm it was once associated with.

We headed back to Delhi. It took us nearly 4 hours to reach Delhi from Fatehpur Sikri. We boarded the overnight train to Amritsar. All of us just slept through the entire journey - after effects of the wedding ;)

We reached Amritsar by 8 AM and checked in at our hotel - R.S. Residency. We wanted a hotel close to the Golden temple and could locate it very easily with the help of the auto drivers. The cost of transport in Amritsar was very cheap and we also enjoyed the now nearly extinct cycle rickshaw rides.

Golden Temple was beautiful and it took us about an hour for the darshan. It was very crowded as it was a Sunday. We then checked out a few more temples and headed to the Wagah Border. It took us about an hour to reach Wagah Border from Amritsar. The auto ride was not at all pleasant, as it was unbearably hot and we were absolutely not prepared for that kind of heat! Wagah Border was no surprise and as expected we witnessed the hour long ceremony between the Indian & Pakistani soldiers. However, I was more interested in trying to check out the Pakistani audience and their behaviour. I always felt that the people of these two nations are very similar and think alike. Its the politics that creates all the differenes. It felt good to know that we were just 23 Kms from Lahore and hope to go there someday (hopefullt before the Talibanization of Pakistan!). We returned to the Golden Temple at night. It was a sight worth a million!!! Anyone who visits Amritsar should definitely go to the Golden Temple at night. The view of the temple shining and its reflection in the water is breath taking.

The next morning, we boarded the train from Amritsar to Jammu. We reached Jammu by 2 PM and hired a cab for Katra. The road from Jammu to Katra is uphill all the way and very beautiful. I was so thrilled to be back on the Himalayas! They always have a very positive and special effect on me. We reached Katra in a couple of hours our checked in to our hotel - Hotel Varun. It was off season, so we could get a very good deal.

We started our climb to Vaishno Devi at around 6 in the evening. The views throughout the climb are awesome, but the climb is very strenous and takes it toll on you. Katra is at a height of 2500 ft and the highest point in our climb was at 6200 ft. We gained an altitude of 3700 ft in approximately 5 hours! The entire stretch of 24 Kms is lined up with shops selling food, snacks, cold drinks, etc. We were shocked to come across Cafe Coffee Day & Barista on the way. We did our darshan in just 10 minutes since there was no rush at the temple. We are allowed the darshan for less than 30 seconds, after climbing up all the wat in the biting cold and rain.... Is it really worth it???

We reached our hotel by around 7 in the morning, dead tired! We could hardly move and just crashed....!

We spent the next day just lazing around in the hotel and regaining all our lost energy. We then headed for a siteseeing tour of Jammu in the afternoon and checked out Gulab Singh's palace, Baag-E-Bahu and the Tawi river. We then boarded the overnight train from Jammu to Rishikesh.

We reached Rishikesh at around 8 in the morning. It was a very small and cute station with mountains all around. We were picked up and transfered to our camp site by the river Ganga. The views from our camps were ming blowing. We took our time, allowed all the beauty to sink in as we sat on the rocks with our feet dangling in the ice cold waters of the river Ganga.

We then headed to Shivpuri, the starting point for our rafting. We were given the usual instructions before we hit the waters. We faced Class 3 and 4 rapids like Three Blind Mice, Golf Course, Roller Coaster, Good Afternoon and many more. I had done rafting in Leh earlier and could not help compare the two experiences. The rapids on the Indus in Leh are much bigger and the water is much more colder. The views in Leh are much better. However, you get a chance to body surf and float in the water at Rishikesh for a pretty long time. This was a very different experience and beyond something I could think of. At Rishikesh, we also jumped off a 20 ft high cliff into the water. I was terrified once I climbed up at looked at what I was getting into. But after a few nerve wracking moments, went for the jump and it was one hell of an experience. After all, they just don't say 'Dar Ke Aage Jeet Hai' without a reason!

We spent the rest of the day just admiring the scenic beauty from our camps and feeling very satisfied with all that we had done so far.

The next morning we trekked to 'Neer Waterfall' from our camp. It was a 5 Km trek and worth all the hard work. We then hired a cab and drove down to Dehradun from Rishikesh. The journey was amidst forests and mountains and took us about 2 hours.

We were disappointed on reaching Dehradun. There was nothing to see and the weather was not pleasant at all. It had no characteristics of a hill station. May be we should have done a little more ground work before choosing Dehradun or may be we were just too tired to explore Dehradun!

We boarded the overnight train from Dehradun to Delhi and then took the flight to Hyderabad. The end of a very exciting, tiring but awesome journey!!!

Ladakh - Aug 2006

Me and my friends (6 of us) set out to conquer the cold desert of Ladakh in India. This was my first ever adventure trip with friends and I must say.. it was a life time experience. We did a lot of research on the net about the region before we left like the places to see, activities to do, medicines to carry, etc.

We reached Delhi after 4 hours of flight delay. We stayed at one of my friends' uncle's place at Delhi. He had awesome army connections and helped us plan our trip to Ladakh. We went around Delhi at night, heard stories about Ladakh and went to bed after a couple of drinks :) We had to catch the early morning flight to Leh. At Delhi, we checked out the India Gate, Rahstrapati Bhavan and the Parliament House.

The view from the flight was breath-taking. We had the view of the Himalayan ranges all throughout our flight and all of us were just glued to our windows! The airport at Leh is the hightest in the world and it was a breathtaking landing in between the mountains. Just a second here or there and we would be buried in the moutains. After getting out of the plane, we could feel the freshness of the air. The temperature was around 26 degrees C. We were already instructed to give ourselves time to get acclimatized due to the high altitude, otherwise there was the risk of high altitude sickness :(

Day 1: We then reached the Acclimatization camp at 206 Base Camp. We had a very good view of the airport and the runway from our camp. We then spent the day lazing around and trying to sink in the unbelievable views of the larger than life size of the mountains. Although we were asked not to go out and wander, we could not resist the tempting terrains and a few of us did a short trek on one of the mountains nearby. (We had to pay a price for this later :(((() We spent the rest of the day exploring the Leh market and organizing for activities to be done in the next few days. Later at night we also visited the famous Buddha Stupa at Leh.

On Day 2 in Ladakh we started for the Pang Yang Tso Lake. The route to this lake took us through the Mighty Changla Pass (17800 feet); the third hightest motorable road in the world! On our way, we stopped for lunch at the highest guest room complex in the world at Sasoma. I also had my first stint with snow on our way... wow.. truly Mind Blowing!!!

Pang Yang Tso Lake: 13800Ft, 130Km wide. This lake freezes in winter. It is surrounded by mountains on all the four sides and ends in Tibet.

The Mighty Changla Pass - Third highest motorable road in the world at an altitude of 17800 feet.

Me @ the highest Guest Room Complex of the world.

The Tangtse Bridge at Sasoma.

On Day 3, we set out for river rafting on the Indus and camping overnight by the riverside. We had to drive to the starting point. Here, we were giving short rafting lessons and what to do incase of an emergency or if any one of us falls down into the river. We listened patiently and felt like we were preparing for our board exams.. all of us were really nervous! The views while rafting were incredible. The first splash of ice cold water made us comfortably numb! While rafting we made a few good friends and one of them turned out to be my god-sent life-saver. While on Rapid 3, there was a huge current in front of us and I somehow lost my balance and bang.... slipped out of the raft into the chilling river... Thats it... I thought my life's come to end and I'll never come back :( Although I knew how to swim, but the freezing temperature of the water made me forget everything. Thankfully I remembered what the instructor had told us and adhered to it. Somehow I managed to reach the raft and my saviour pulled me in!! This is one experience I'll remember as long as I live!

We had lunch at our camp site and then explored the near by villages. The locals are very friendly and helpful. Great bunch of people. How I wish I could exchange life with one of them and live in these mountains forever. The grass is always greener on the other side.. ain't it? ;)

We had a bonfire at night and it was such a blessing on that chilly river bank. After dinner, we got inside our sleeping bags and tried to catch a few hours of sleep. The next morning, we spent a few hours playing volleyball and throwball before leaving for the 206 Base Camp. This was one helluva experience.. U'll hear me say this again n again.. but I can't help it.. every moment spent here was an experience in itself.

Day 4 - Khardungla Mission Accomplished!

This day was all about going great heights and snow, snow, and some more snow. We left by road for Khardungla - the highest motorable road in the world at an altitude of 18360 feet. We were lucky that the weather was clear and we were allowed to go up. Even if the weather is slightly dodgy, tourists are not allowed to go up as there are risks of landslides and avalanches! The route to Khardungla takes you through some unbelievable sights.. this truly was another planet.. Heaven on Earth!!! When we reached Khardungla Top, our driver told us that we should not stay out for more than 10 minutes as the temperature outside was Minus 5 degrees. We got down only to realize that our legs were in 3 feet of snow! For someone who had not seen snow in her life, this feeling could not be described in words :) We celebrated our success here and before we even finished celebrating, our body started freezing. We had the option of cycling down from Khardungla on our way back, but thank god we did not opt for that.. it had started snowing and we definitely would not have been able to stand in the snow.. forget cycling down! We then went to the

Army Bunker @ Khardungla and had a hot cup of tea. I cannot tell how much this hot cup of tea helped us in this crazy freezing temp. Heaven!!! We then continued our journey downward on the other side of Khardungla via South Pullu and Silk Route to reach the Parthapur Base Camp where we spent the next 2 days. We also saw a few army videos of the Siachen Glacier. After seeing these, we just could not wait to go to the Siachen Base Camp and meet the brave Indian Army.

On Day 5 we drove down river Nubra to reach the Sicahen Base Camp(Fifth The Finest - Rajput Regiment). This camp is not accessible to civilians. We were a few priveldged ones, thanks to my friends's uncle!!! The drive to this camp was amazing and we were awed by the different terrains in Ladakh. This was more of a deserted terrain in the colours of brown an blue! On our way, we had to cross quite a few small rocky rivers. Good for us that we were in a Tata Safari, any other small vehicle would have given way.

We reached the Siachen base camp and had a hearty lunch. The army guys welcomed us really well and were very hospitable. We learnt quite a few facts about Siachen here. Siachen is the Costliest, Highest and the Coldest Battlefield in the world. The temperatures on the glacier where the Indian army soldiers are posted on a 3 month basis can go down to minus 65 degrees. (Just beyond my imagination how a human can survive there!) The Indian army spends close to Rs 1.5 crores everyday to sustain the camps on Siachen. Many soldiers have also lost their lives here. Even then, we came across a group of young army soldiers who were going to go up at the Siachen camp in a few days and they were all very excited!!

The army guys then took us around the camp. We checked out the mouth of the river Nubra. We also went to the O.P. Baba Shrine. This is the shrine that every soldier goes to before he leaves for duty on Siachen. This shrine is named after an army soldier called O.P. who lost his life on the glacier, but his body was never found. People still feel he is alive and helps the army in times of need.

These interactions with the Indian army made us look back at ourselves and think what we have done with our lives. We felt so miniscule in front of them. Self Realization!!! :)

On Day 6, it was time for us to get back to Leh via Khardungla again. On our way back we stopped at the Sand Dunes.. yes its a cold desert in Ladakh.

We went for a ride on the double humped camels. This is a very rare species of camels. We also checked out Dalai Lama's palace near North Pullu. Again, it was snowing on our way to Kahrdungla and this time, none of us had the courage to get down at Khardungla in the heavy snow!!!

This was our last day in Ladakh and trust me none of us wanted to leave this serene, calm, peaceful, enchanting place and get back to the busy city life! We also thought of getting back to Delhi via Manali through the Leh - Manali highway. But that did not work out :( The locals said we must definitely try the Srinagar - Leh - Manali highway once in our life. I'm still waiting and will definitely do that!!!

While in Leh, don't miss out on the shopping and eating. We just loved the Tibetian food, especially the momos. The prices were also very reasonable.

This trip to Ladakh taught me many things. I am so in love with the Himalayas!!! I took an oath that every year, however busy I am with my so called work ;) I will definitely take a break and take to the mountains. After all life is short and I have so many more heavens on earth to be discovered!