Memoirs of my Travels

Pooh-Delhi

2011-01-05T18:24:00.031+05:30

in morning the chaurkidaar knocked at 8am to give tea. and along with it he gave us a really scary piece of news.. very coolly with a big smile he said "ji wo badal wapas aa gaye hai.." what!!! clouds settling in again.. means it could start snowing anytime.. abbe ismein hasne ki kya baat hai...

this news like sent a wave of energy through us and we quickly jumped out of the bed. if anyone would have seen us packing and loading our stuff, it would have been like watching an animated film in fast forward. last night some people had come from Ludhiana in a jeep. they were also warming their vehicle, putting hot water on the engine to warm it and the coolant to get it started. thank god we had a better vehicle which started on the first twist of the key. quickly we left pooh by 9. the sun was out but the snow had not started to melt.
the river had also started to freeze from the top..

i was praying that we dont encounter any ascend with snow. with all this ice on the road, i was pretty sure it would be difficult to climb..

but infact it turned out to be the other way round. the tires were getting better grip on the uneven hard ice. we could hear the brittle ice crunching under the tires as we went along. on the way we saw a army soldier walking along the road.. we stopped and offered him a lift. he wanted to go till Rampur and graciously accepted.. similarly we also let a local and a middle aged man come along till Akpa. this was to ensure we had some man power incase the car got stuck somewhere. the old man wudn't be much of an help but we couldn't refuse him when he said he was not well. the locals were saying that the climb after the Akpa bridge might be tricky. so we were better prepared for it now..

initially as i drove i was a bit scared. i was all the time fighting with this feeling that at the next corner we will find a climb that we wont be able to negotiate and get stuck.. also i was praying that we dont encounter any landslides.. after driving for an hour or so, i saw that the clouds were beginning to clear..

this was good news.. also the sun was out and it got warmer.. but the road was not in that good a shape.. throughout the way it was either covered with ice or broken..

the snow covered valley..

although we did find some good stretches where the snow has been cleared but here also we had to drive carefully as there were big pieces ice on the road.. and here also there was a line of ice in the middle which scratched the irritatingly low bumper of our car..

we made good progress.. after spillo mobile networks were available and our phones started working.. i cant describe the feeling at time.. it was as if i had been cut off and now was again connected to my loved ones.. that really made me realize how important cell phones are..

more snow on the road..

now the army movement had also started and we encountered many vehicles.. one place we got stuck in this jam. there only one vehicle could pass and vehicles from both sides had created a deadlock.. but the army vehicles were equipped with 4 wheel drive and had chains on the tires. they easily drove over the ice and crossed...

but when the local vehicles tried following them, they slipped in all ways possible.. this one slipped sharply sideways and nearly banged into my car..

we also had to back our car onto the ice to give more space to these vehicles which lead to further scratches on the bumper..
then we reached Akpa.. the place were trouble was expected and were we found enough of it.. first there was a stretch of road where the snow had been cleared..

at the end of this stretch was a bridge.. just before the bridge was a huge puddle of water whose surface was frozen.. i thought i will build momentum and cross the puddle.. immediately after the puddle was a mall incline to climb the bridge which was absolutely frozen.. if i stopped on it, surely the tires will not find grip to climb further.. was i dint anticipate was that the puddle was deep and at the bottom was mud.. the car went straight into the puddle and got stuck.. no matter how much i accelerated, the tires kept on spinning in the mud and ice below.. then all our passengers and manik got out and pushed.. the car moved forward but the wheel wont climb the incline.. then some locals also came and pushed.. still no use!! finally someone got some piece of wood which was placed under the tire and everyone pushed and the car climbed up.. pheww!!! tired, everyone sat in and we crossed the bridge.. immediately after the bridge was the incline everyone had warned about.. it was under the shadow of trees so dint get much sunlight.. hence the snow here was thick and slippery.. and as expected our car again couldn't climb.. we pushed hard and it moved ahead few meters.. and then again stopped.. we definely did not have the energy to push it all the way.. and there was no dirt on the road sides to cover the snow.. with no option left, we waited.. soon a car full of locals came.. thank god.. but instead of helping us push the car forward, they pushed it to a side and drove off.. kya yaar!!! then after resting some time, we pushed again.. this time i also got down and pushed.. the car moved ahead but not much.. now we had a corner in front of us.. pushing the car up seemed impossible.. then came another car.. this time the locals helped us and we were able to push the car up the corner.. after the corner the ice was bit harder and slipping left and right, the wheels got some grip and were able to climb.. only a single lane of road was drivable.. when an another car came from the other direction, i had to literally climb on the snow to let is pass.. thank god it happened only once.. the car was skidding badly but again again due to ABS, i was able to control it.. after some time the incline ended and came a steep decline.. again the ABS was a life saver..
after some time we were stopped by a landslide.. oh no!!!

this is what i feared.. and normally landslides could take hours or even days to clear depending on their intensity.. but now luck was favoring us. it only about half an hour and we were on our way.. as we were descending it was getting very hot.. also there was less snow on the hills around.. as we reached the cut for Recong Peo

there was more water in the waterfalls now..

it was really relieving to see no sign of snow on the hills around..

the petrol pump at Powari..

now it was manik's turn to drive.. we were really relaxed.. we had cleared the snow and were finally free.. we could drive till ever where we reached that day and then leave next morning and drive home.. now joking and enjoying the drive we crossed the rest of Kinnaur.. i cant say the same about the car though.. the bad stretch near karcham was a torture for it.. and now after being stuck for so many days, we too were more worried about getting out than about the car.. many times it was hit from under and each time my heart skipped a beat..

i was so happy to have mobile network back that i couldn't stop calling people.. after my family and my office, i simply started calling people to wish them a happy new year..

after some time there was no sign on snow even on the highest peaks around.. no one could say it was snowing anywhere in this part of india.. our car, covered in mud with splashes of water, seemed odd..

another waterfall on the way..

finally we reached Rampur, our destination for the day..

at Rampur we stopped for our first meal of the day.. all the emotions had made me forget that i had not had much to each since morning.. when we finished our food, it was around 7pm. now we had to go and look for a place to stay.. as we got back into the car, this insane idea of driving home right then, came to our minds.. it seemed stupid but the thought of reaching home was tempting.. we had not eaten properly, not had bath for a week or even brushed our teeth properly.. also my father was leaving for Hyderabad next morning and i would not be able to meet him for another week.. so as much as we tried to, we couldn't prevent ourselves from succumbing to this idea.. so instead of turning towards the rampur town, we kept on driving on.. soon it was dark..

we had been told that there would be snow around Narkanda and we dint want to take any chances of getting stuck again.. so we were going to take an alternate route which would bypass Narkanda and get us straight to Shimla.. after Shimla there was no snow.. for this we took the cut for Tattpani from Kingal.. now we came on a small and lonely road.. it was totally black all around and we could only see as far as the beam of our headlights.. on one side was the rocky mountain and on the other side was the valley.. there was no one in sight and no traffic on the road.. but atleast the road was in good shape.. it had potholes but nothing which our car couldn't smoothen out.. now and then as passed a village which again were empty.. the roads..

occasionally there were jungles on the sides also.. many times i thought we were lost but there was no one to ask, so we kept on going.. a waterfall we crossed on the way..

many times we saw a fox or two cross the road.. but till i took out the camera, they ran away.. on time i managed to catch this one..

after hours of driving through the empty roads, we finally saw a sign for shimla.. ok, so we were on the right track.. then we came across a fork and took the cut marked for shimla.. the road started climbing up.. we crossed naldera and mashobra.. now there was snow visible on the sides of the road which increased as we climbed higher.. i just hoped we dont get snow on the road as it would be very tricky to negotiate in dark.. good thing was that we dint.. we took some long way and looped around shimla and finally crossed it.. now it was almost 2pm and i was starting to get really sleepy. but i dint want to sleep leaving manik driving alone, incase he too fell asleep while driving.. so i persuaded him to stop at the next hotel we saw.. we could sleep the rest of the night and restart our journey next morning.. we tried several places but couldn't get a decent hotel and in the process i fell asleep in the car itself.. when i woke up we had almost crossed the hills.. after chandigarh, i took the wheel and manik went to sleep.. in the plains, again our luck was good and we dint get any fog or traffic.. we quickly reached murthal where we stopped for a parantha dinner or actually i should say breakfast.. next stop was home.. we finally reached home and it felt so nice.. thus ended a trip which was planned for relaxing but turned out exactly the opposite.. and at the end we had an adventure we could never forget the rest of our lives..

Stuck in Pooh

2011-01-05T18:24:00.022+05:30

next morning we got up late.. since we had decided to wait for a confirmation of the road opening, there was no hurry.. the hotel chaukidaar told us that there was no water so the morning necessities had to be carried outside on the road. Shitting in open with ice all around and then wiping your ass with ice is an experience I pray you never have to go through.
even the river was frozen..

our guest house..

then we went to the town to find out about the road conditions. there we had a delicious thupka and momo lunch.. looks tempting, doesn't it!!

People said that the road ahead was open and we even saw many cars leaving. but we did not share their confidence and we decided to wait for a day more. we came back to the room. today there was electricity, so finally after carrying it around for almost 10 days, we used the laptop. after transferring the photos from the camera to the laptop we started watching the latest episode Of top gear. then we went to the Pooh town to get some petrol. There was a marriage procession going on in the town. Chalo at least some people are happy in this ungodly weather. There is no petrol pump in Pooh. only petrol available is that stored by shopkeepers. So the petrol here is sold Rs.10 more than the market value, not much i would say. We bought 10 litres, enough to get us comfortably to the proper petrol pump at Powari which was 58 kms away. We came back and started a movie. In between the movie a person from the guest house staff knocked on our door and said that there was a call for Manik. This was very very surprising for us. we had not been able to contact our parents since we called them from Sumdo 3 days ago. there was no way they could have known we were in Pooh. we quickly rushed to the kitchen. the phone there only had local outgoing and obviously incoming from anywhere. to our absolute surprise, it turned out to be Salil!! he inquired about our well being and told us that our parents were worried and had called him. then he put my parents in conference and i was able to talk to them.. they seemed really worried.. the news channels had been forecasting snow storms and avalanches in Kinnaur and on top of that people all around were calling them and telling them about such reports.. damn the new channels!! there was not even a single cloud in sky and they were going on about how people were stuck in snow.. also so many people calling my parents was making the reports more believable and further increasing their fear.. why dont people first verify a news before spreading it around and troubling others!!! when we got over the initial shock of the call and the joy of talking to our parents, the question again came to our minds.. how the hell did Salil trace us?? i dont know where all he must have called, from who all he had gotten the numbers before he finally got to us in Pooh.. we really couldn't figure out how he could have done that.. and words can not describe how thankful we were to him.. this really proved to me that no matter where you go, people who care for you will find you..

we were in luck because immediately after we finished talking to our parents, the light went and with it the telephone connection. we came back to the room & waited for the dinner to be ready. after some time the light came back and we resumed our movie. at night the roof and the windows again shook under the pressure of the strong winds.. again i prayed that no landslide happens as i went to sleep.. tomorrow will be the next stretch of the trip.. lets hope we get out of this snow...

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Chango-Pooh

2011-01-05T18:24:00.020+05:30

Around 11 in morning manik rushed into the room. I was still in bed thinking whether or not to get out of the warm quilt. He said that the election duty guys were leaving and if we wanted to leave with them we had to pack up immediately.. i quickly got out of bed and started packing my stuff.. but when i looked outside i still saw a thick layer of snow on the road.
the melting ice floating in the river..

also even till now we had not seen any vehicle had come from the other side. this meant that we could not be sure that the road was fully operational. So I wanted to wait for a day more. i would have been more confident in going after the army trucks had started moving. But Manik insisted on leaving with the election people and the thought of reaching home seemed appealing to me also, so we quickly packed our things and loaded them into the car. Manik had also bought 2 people to travel with us. this was a good idea as we would have man power in case we needed to push the car. also one of them was a local driver, so he could help us drive in the snow. but by the time we packed everything and came outside, the others cars had left and with them also the 2 people Manik had got. Our hosts suggested we still go on, so we got into the car, bid farewell to our hosts and with me at the wheel started towards Pooh. We drove with a big knot of fear in our stomachs and words of prayer on our lips. The road was still covered in snow and the melting top layer was still making it slippery.
oops.. where did this come from..

we were getting the hang of driving in snow. the trick was to keep driving at constant speed in first gear with no sudden breaking or acceleration. With ABS in the car, we had the confidence that at least our wheels will not get locked on breaking and we will not slide. After covering 8-9kms, at one incline the car got stuck. the wheels kept on spinning in one place and it refused to move ahead. I got down and looked around. I saw this was the same place from where we had returned to Chango 4 days ago. what rotten luck!! we saw a car some distance ahead of us. there were around 7-8 people pushing it up the incline. after the car crossed the incline, the people stopped to catch a breath. we called to them for help but in-spite of us shouting very loudly, they either dint hear or chose not to. manik was in a state on despair and panic. he couldn't decide what to do and was very worried and started walking towards the car to get help. but today i determined to move ahead. i started picking up dirt from the side and putting it on the road in front of the tires. then i moved the car over the trail of dirt and it started climbing. yipee!! but as the wheel crossed the dirt trail and came back on ice, it again got stuck. The climb was about a kilometer long and it was not possible for 2 of us to put dirt on that large a distance. The only option left was to return back to Chango and try after few more days. now another problem was coming into picture. we were running short on petrol and there was no petrol pump for quite a long distance. if we went back to Chango and again tried some other day, we might not have enough petrol to make it to Pooh. getting angry at ourselves for not filling the tank fully at Kaza dint help much.. with no idea we simply sat down there waiting for someone/something to come along and help us. Luck was on our side and soon a truck came. 4 locals got out of it.. they said that putting dirt was the only way to make the car climb.. they also had a shovel. four of them and me after lot of effort covered the climb with dirt. we crapped the ice from over the gravel on the sides of the road and dug out the dirt. then we put this dirt in a sack and spread it on the road. had we come a day or two later, the BRO guys would have already done this for us. manik was not feeling so good so he went to sit in the car. it must have taken more than an hour and at the end i left i so breathless that when i opened my mouth to spreak no words came out, only air. i drove the car over the dirt trail with manik and the truck guys pushing it. once it got the momentum, the car started climbing the inclines much more easily. if i had stopped to let manik sit in the car, i would have lost the momentum and would have gotten stuck again. so i assumed he will following in the truck and kept on going on. I got stuck again twice but the truck was behind me. But both these times, the car just needed a push to move ahead. Lesson learned was always have 4-5 people in the car, so that when needed there are people to push. The climb was over in a few kilometers. After that it was all downhill. the only possible danger was the Malling Nala but there the BRO had laid stones and i was able to cross it. but now another problem popped up. when the BRO JCB's put the dirt on the road, they simply scoop out a chunk of gravel from the hill and spread it on the road. with the mud many times also came big pieces of rock. but the JCB did not care about this as army vehicles are anyways pretty high. so when you drive over this dirt, there are big pieces of rock protruding out. if your car does not have huge clearance like a honda jazz does not, these stones scratched the underbelly of the car very badly. anyways negotiating these stones and in the process denting the car a few times, i reached the helipad near Nako. there i waited for Manik and the truck. after he arrived, we had some breakfast and started again. the road was now mostly down hill except one stretch. but we were confident as with ABS in the car, down hill on snow was not a problem. for the possibly tricky uphill stretch, we still had the truck behind us to help. by now manik was also relaxed and he resumed his duty of taking photos. we realized that both times in all the tension, we had forgotten to take the photo of the place where we had got stuck.
as we started to climb down.. lot less ice on this side of the mountain..

but still a lot on the road

as we went down.. these corners were tricky as the car was not too willing to turn. even on turning the steering wheel, the car continued to go straight..

but then the ABS would start working its magic and the car would take the line i wanted it to take..

the tracks made by other vehicles left a line of ice in the middle.. we soon realized that our car was lower than any car which had passed over these trails and hence was many times constantly scraping against the raised portion of ice. we had seen Altos pass, so our car was even lower than Altos..

going down and down...

we kept on going non stop.. soon we reached the Ka-Zigs..

while negotiating these turns i could slowly feel the resistance in the steering wheel increasing. soon it was taking a lot of effort to take a U turn.. it felt as if something was stopping the tire from turning. we stopped and got out to check.. the wheel arch's were completely filled with ice which was slowly getting harder. hence the wheel could not turn. we picked up some large stones and chipped the ice away..

there was this weird machine standing there which seemed like a road roller but dint have any rollers..

after the end of Ka Zigs the road got clear for few kilometers..

then after crossing the Khab bridge, we again encountered ice..

the sun had set by now and the ice had again gotten hard.. we were able to climb up the ice and without any trouble reach Pooh just as it got dark.. we went to the government guest house straight away.. we again had to beg the caretaker to give us room which were all reserved for election duty.. after waiting for some time he finally allotted a room to us.. there was no water but at-least there was light and warm food.. i saw these icicles hanging from the bathroom window..
the gangsta look...

after dinner when i went to bed, i noticed a new problem. It was very very windy outside. So much so that even after covering myself with 4 layers of blankets, i could still hear the rumbling of the wind. the tin roof of the building was constantly trembling as if it would fly away any minutes. under pressure from the wind, the windows were banging. The wind meant less chances of snow as it would blow away the clouds but such strong wind could cause loose rocks to fall, leading to landslides. here was no confirmation that the way from Pooh towards Rampur had been cleared, so we decided to wait in Pooh for another day. But every time i heard the wind, the fear that we will get stuck because of landslide increased. So much so that i could barely sleep at night..

Total distance traveled: 54kms

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Stuck in Chango: Day 3

2011-01-05T18:23:00.015+05:30

next morning when i got up, i slowly took out my head from the sleeping bag, just hoping that it had not started snowing again.. thankfully our luck had not worn out.. it was still bright and sunny and the snow was still melting.. how ever it wasn't melting as fast as i had expected it to.. even now the layer of ice was thick and still not drivable.. melt fast you bloody snow!!! when we went out we saw our hosts were cutting the wood..

it was almost 12 and the breakfast had been cleared. so we made the Maggie which we had bought.. the kitchen..

some piping hot noodles..

or i should say smoking hot..

there were more people around today.. infact we saw the labor digging out dirt from under the snow and putting on the snow.. we also got the news that BRO people had also started working on clearing the road.. this was a good news.. this meant we would be free from this entrapment soon. then came even better news.. although the road ahead was still snowed out, the road on the other side till the village called Sumdo was now open and the big cars were now coming from there. in Sumdo we could find a telephone. so finally we will be able to get through to our parents.. this gave us some relief. the people we were with said we will go there in the evening.. this was a real relief.. it was as if a huge load had been lifted from my head.. now i actually felt like having fun.. and what could be more fun in a snow washed place than building a snowman.. so we went out started making one.. Manik's duty was to collect the raw material and mine was to do the construction.. and so our snow man was ready.. then i added some accessories..

so finally meet mr. chill..

we felt like scientists who had just completed a robot.. if only we could make it clear the road for us..

then we called our hosts also for a group photographs..

after photo session was over me realized that we had made the snowman right behind our car and till it was there, we could not move the car.. what idiots we were!!

so mr. chill was brutally murdered..

as we were building our snowman, people were clearing the snow from the roof.. what made me wonder was that why was the roof in such a place which gets so much snow, flat..

a beautiful shot by manik

this is the ice on the car..
After lunch we went to Sumdo to call home.. the road still had some snow but the cars had now made tire tracks on it on which we were getting some traction. some parts were totally dry also. we drove very very slowly (mostly in second gear). when ever we breaked hard, the car skidded a but before the ABS kicked in. during those few moments, the hearts of people accompanying us were literally in their mouth. as we neared Sumdo we were stopped by the next big potential threat.. landslide!!.. now when the snow was melting, there was increased chance of it causing landslides.. and in our country clearing of landslides is not quick. i immediately prayed to god that there be no landslides once the road opens. there the whole road was totally covered with rocks and the car could not go forward.. since we were just a kilometre away, we decided part the car at a safe distance and walk the rest of the way.. as we were going, a JCB arrived to clear the road.. finally we reached Sumdo and to our delight the phones were working.. we were talking to our parents after 4 days and i cant even describe how relieved they were to hear our voices.. Now were also at peace. Even if we had to stay there for a few more days now, it would not be a problem. i also realized that we had absolutely lost track of time. that was the last day of my vacations and the next day people in office would be expecting me. so i called up my office also. then we started walking back to our car. Sumdo is right on the border of Spiti and Kinnaur districts.. so we can say we actually went to Spiti from Kinnaur to make a phone call.. :)
Kinnaur on one side..

Spiti on the other..

still lot of snow.. if you see carefully you will also see a small blue car in the picture..

the sun had started to set..

we reached Chango and stopped for a chat with some locals.. there were also some people on election duty who were stranded there like us (well not exactly like us because they had proper accommodations with many servants to cook food, cleanup etc).. they said they will be leaving the next day and their's would be a group of 5-6 cars.. for us it would be good to go with such a big group because we would have lot of help if we needed it. Manik told them to also take us along..

then we returned to our "home" as the sun was setting.. what i liked about this pic was the even the last rays of the sun were melting the ice..

some kitchen photography while the dinner was being prepared..

at night again i tried my hand at star trials.. again the problem was that due to the cold, the battery dint last very long..

so hence ended another day in Chango with hope that this would be the last one here.. hopefully tomorrow the road will open and we would be able to go home..

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Stuck in Chango: Day 2

2011-01-05T18:23:00.009+05:30

Next morning when I opened my eyes very bright light blinded me.. after my eyes adjusted a bit, I looked towards the source to see what was so bright.. the light was coming from outside the window and what I saw made me jump with happiness.. there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was out!! the bright sunlight from the sun that was reflecting from the snow covered mountains was blinding me.. I ran out to find an equally happy Manik..

My poor car again..

Now there were some signs of life in what had been a desolate place past 2 days.. some birds captured beautifully by Manik..

This pipe had been tapped into some under water reservoir.. so even when all the water was frozen, this continued providing water.. this was our source of fresh water..

children were sliding around in the snow..

My car had been standing in the same place for 2 days now.. so I decided to clean her up and also to start her once so see everything was working fine..

with the snow melting cleaning was easy..

But without goggles it was difficult to stay outside very long. We stayed inside the day now waiting for the snow to melt.. I did my bit by going outside and trying to break snow with my shoes but dint make much difference.. also 3 days since contact from home.. my parents must be really panicing now.. but still no electricity, no phones..

in the evening we went out sight seeing through the village.. the locals told us that there were 2 monasteries in Chango which were just a few kms away.. so we set out to see the nearest one..

could resist the temptation of playing in snow.. angels wings..

More apple orchards..

as the snow was melting the snow covered roads were not becoming very slippery..

as we came near the village, every where children and teenagers were playing in snow.. on the slope they were sliding down on wooden boards or on plastic pieces which they attached under their shoes.

it was quite a long walk, mostly uphill..

more apple trees..

After walking over an hour, we still could not see monastery.. finally when we see saw it, it still looked far far away. i will kill the person who told us it was only 5kms away!!

tired from walking, Manik decided to not go ahead.. instead he took a closer look through his lens..

I walked on and came across this bridge on the river.. crossing this was tricky as the ice on top had melted and ice below had become really slippery..

The ice covered river..

After the river was again a climb with a very small trail going up through the snow.. there were some locals there who warned me that I should be on a look out for falling rocks..
On the way..

After lot of climbing and getting out of breath, I saw this path ahead.. (the line of the trees is the path..)

This dint seem to safe.. the snow was slippery and below it was loose gravel.. I was already finding it difficult to get a foot hold.. so I also turned back.. on reaching back to the place where I had left Manik, I couldn’t find him there.. but there we these kids playing cricket..

I was amazed how these kids were running on ice on which we could bearly stand.. we went ahead into the village.. there on a cross section there was a small monastery..
The inside..

The outside..

in the village..

There was another monastery near the village but it was far away.. from where we stood we could even see the path to it..

in no mood to walk further, we turned around and headed back..
some color in the whiteness..

the river..

we reached back pretty tired and very very cold.. my shoes were dripping wet but due the waterproof socks, the feet were dry.. but still they were getting numb with cold.. so we went straight to the bukhari..

our hosts seemed busy and were not there.. we were too cold to tell.. infact later we noticed they had been absent for a very long time.. but right then we put lot of wood in the fire and warmed ourselves up..

it was the new years eve.. and this was not the way we had ever imagined we would be celebrating it.. but still our hosts played sport and got us some local liqour from the village.. it was called ghanti.. first i was apprehensive in drinking because local liquors can be very strong, very bitter and not easy to handle.. also our new friends poured half a glass full of the drink and then mixed little water.. the liquid was white in color and looked suspicious.. and half glass peg of anything would be a smasher.. i kept on refusing but they insisted, i had to concede.. hesitantly i took a sip.. it was sweetish and tasted like apples.. i took a bigger sip.. it was indeed very nice.. infact is was a very mild drink made from apples and after 2 bottles also we were not high..
our new year party..

waking up till 12 itself was a big deviation from routine for these people and immediately after wishing each other new year and having dinner they went to sleep.. i too went to sleep praying to god to open the roads tomorrow or atleast enable the phone lines.. more angels in my dreams...

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Departure from Kaza: rendezvous with snow...

2011-01-05T18:22:00.014+05:30

Next morning was again a cold one.. dint feel like getting out from under the 2 blankets and sleeping bag.. Manik got up early in the morning and went for a walk outside..
the early morning sky..

sky as clear as my camera's lens..

Finally we got up, got ready and left.. first destination was Komic. we took the turn for Komic from the main road. it is a steep uphill climb.. but after driving around 7kms we were stopped by a small sort of land slide.. the road was covered with big stones and as low as our car was, it could not cross over.. what a waste of time (and a costly one too as we would later realize)..
view of the valley from from we turned back..

more frozen water..

then we decided to cross the bridge after Kaza and go to the other side from where we could click a pic of the Kye monastery..
the straight road after crossing the bridge..

yup i could not resist the temptation to floor the accelerator..

after driving a few kms we were stopped by this..

this was some water on the road probably from a drain which had frozen to ice.. people were crossing it in the tire tracks..

we got out a decided to walk till the place from where we could click the Kye monastery..

all the drains were frozen..

lage haath macros bhi kheech lete hain..

after crossing the ice we reached Rangrik village..

a buddha statue on top of a hill..

we also had a zoom lens..

view of the Kye monastery..

some more macros..

Clouds beginning to settle. but we dint notice that.. mother nature was giving us our warning but we dint read the signs..

we turned the car and started back for Kaza stopping again and again to click photos.. the bridge..

view from the bridge..

we got some fuel at the petrol pump in Kaza but only little more than that sufficient to get us to Powari (today was the day of blunders and we had to make very basic ones also..)
some monastery before Kaza..

Plan was to have breakfast in Kaza and also call home. we had not called him after we lost the mobile network after crossing Pooh. as we were entering Kaza, we saw people around us were in great hurry. a bus was standing and people were quickly throwing their luggage in and boarding it. also many taxis and private cars were rushing out. well as i said, we were oblivious to any signs today.. so we went in, found a PCO and called home.. the connection took as much as 10minutes to connect per call.. finally we got through.. i told my parents how disappointed i was on not finding any snow. As we stepped out of the shop we got the surprise of our life.. very fine white colored powder was falling from the sky.. the ground was of sort of white color..

oh my god.. it was snowing.. the first reaction was of thrill.. we tried to click many photos.. we had finally managed to find snow..

then suddenly (and thankfully!!) the sense kicked it.. now all signs were visible and coherently telling us one thing: run!!! beginning of snow here meant possibility of higher roads closing in the route ahead. we forgot the food and the photos and turned the car around and hurried.. the news from the horizon was not very encouraging..

the road was by now covered by a very thin layer of snow.. although the grip was still good, hard acceleration/breaking caused the wheels to skid..

there were patches of white on the mountain tops also..

on one side my heart was wanting the landscape to be absolutely white, on the other side i was wishing that the roads remain open.. we still could not resist the temptation of stopping to click photos..

wildlife crossing..

things were getting worse..

the turn for Pin Valley.. once we even considered going to Pin Valley and staying there at night.. thank god we dint do that..

brown turning to white..

As we got nearer to Tabo, the snow stopped. We thought we had outrun the snow and were out of danger. So we slowed down again and took more frequent breaks. Bad decision..

frozen water fall..

no snow..

following the pigeons..

now relieved that we were clear of the snow we took out the food we had in car and ate something for the first time in the day..

but after few kms the snow came back and this time with full fury..

this time it was here to stay.. the vistas were turning white faster..

at the check post at Sumdo, the road was covered with a proper thick layer of snow..

as we left Spiti and entered Kinnaur..

now it was getting really difficult to drive..

i applied the breaks but the car continued to move in the same line (and right towards the edge of the cliff on the corner!!!).. i felt i was a goner for sure.. even thought of opening the door and jumping out..

then magic happened.. i felt a series of jerks in the break peddle and the car slowed down and turned where i wanted it to turn.. first i felt i had broken something.. then i remembered my car had ABS (so this is how it feels like).. saved!!! thank god...

the white vistas i so wanted to see..

apple trees, all dried up in winter..

crossed some village..

now came the real challenge.. the ascend to Malling.. the descend had been a piece of cake when we had come from Nako.. now we had to climb all the way up..

visibility was at all time low..

the road was now covered with layers of snow.. it must have been snowing here for quite some time now.. fresh snow had melted and now solidified as ice which has now been covered with more snow..

locals had instructed us to put the car in first gear and just keep on climbing.. no sudden variations in speed, no breaking.. sudden acceleration was causing the wheel to spin.. we got stuck 1-2 times.. one of us had to get out and push the car.. the progress was slow and it was already 4pm.. not many hours of sun light (what ever was left in the fog anyways).. after climbing for many kms we came across a few cars coming down. these were MUVs with 4 wheel drives.. one vehicle even had chain on the tires.. they had climbed from the other side but with 4x4 it would have been easy.. told us to drive cautiously.. when we were 4-5kms away from Malling, we encountered a corner which was followed by a straight stretch of road which was climbing up a bit steeply.. we had to slow down on the corner due to which we lost momentum and then on the climb our car just refused to move forward.. having front wheel drive was not helping much either.. the wheels were just spinning in the snow.. we pushed and pushed but no luck.. then came a truck.. the people from the truck also helped us push the car.. the car moved ahead but again got stuck as soon as the people stopped pushing.. damn!! the truck could not wait anymore.. the weather was not any better.. they dug some mud from under the snow and put it on the snow and the truck was able to climb up.. left with no choice we turned around and started for the village we had just left behind.. we were so glum that we dint talk much on the way back.. there was also this tension of how much time we will have to be stuck here..

we reached the small village again.. this was the first time we noticed its name (one which we might not forget our entire lifes..).. Chango..

the village was absolutely desolate.. the fog and snow added to the eeriness..

we finally found a shop were a few people were sitting next to a fire.. they told us that there no hotel or guest house will be open in this season.. there was a guest house of some irrigation department about a kms from there.. it will be open.. they also gave us the phone number of the person who could locate the caretaker for us.. we reached the guest house and as expected it was locked and the caretaker was not there.. it was getting dark and there was no way we could go further in that weather.. also with all the snow around, it was getting very very cold..

i just hoped that we get some accommodation there or we will be in a pretty bad situation.. we called up the caretaker from the house next door.. a stroke of luck.. we got through and he came.. following were the conditions he gave us the guest house on
- no water (all water frozen)
- no toilets (again in them water frozen). do what ever you want in open and wipe with snow
- no electricity (gov cuts the electricity when it snows)
- no food (he will provide us the kitchen but will not cook for us)
- we had to cook our own food. if we wanted we could get maggi from the village
- he will provide us as many blankets as we want
again no choice.. on requesting many times, he agreed to atleast cook some rice for that day, which we gobbled down hungrily.

tired from all the physical effort of pushing the car and mental effort of worrying, with 2 blankets and a sleeping bag to keep me warm, i got into the bed.. we knew we were stuck for long and all the mistakes which we had made kept coming in front of my eyes.. had we reached an hour earlier we would have crossed Malling.. if only we had noticed the clouds or the people rushing off.. if only we had not wasted time in going to Rangrik.. if only we had not slowed down after Tabo.. cursing myself, i drifted into a deep sleep..

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Stuck in Chango: Day 1

2011-01-05T18:22:00.013+05:30

i was riding my bike though heavy snow.. the terrain all around was recently white washed.. the cold air which managed to squeeze through the small gaps between my riding jacket collar and the 2 layers of mufflers, sent a chill down my spine.. the snow on the road was getting heavier and but I was determined to go ahead.. slowly I was falling deeper and deeper into the quagmire of white powder.. soon the snow reached till me knees and my bike and I were stuck.. then till me shoulders and I could not move.. I shouted for help but ended up having more snow in my mouth.. and as the snow covered my face, there was a rush of blood to my head and I woke up with a jerk.. weird dream!! specially for a fellow from the plains who lived no where near the snow.. i got up and looked around.. no electrivity.. freezing cold.. snowing heavily outside.. the dream dint seem that weird actually.. anyways I went back to sleep..

I got up late next morning.. Manik was not there.. I went to the hand pump outside, got some water, boiled it and brushed my teeth.. I thought Manik must have gone to the house next door, so I too went there.. he was not there but he had gone with our neighbors to the village to get some milk.. Some pics from his “trek”.. the snow covered climb..

It was pretty slippery to go up these paths..

Locals playing in snow..

God bless our neighbours.. while I was waiting for Manik they served me hot tea and a delicious breakfast of paranthas.. if they had not helped us I would have been having Maggi in breakfast followed by Maggi in lunch and dinner.. Manik and the others soon came back.. behind them some people came running asking for help.. this was the reason why..

Their car was not climbing the incline so they reversed and tried to climb build up momentum and climb.. well the car skid and hence the above result.. we helped push the car out of the naali.. actually they did, I was clicking pics.. 

The dried up apple orchards which were omnipresent in this village..

Our hosts..

Manik..

The river right across the road..

Yours truly..

A cute little dog ran upto us.. the locals told us that this dog lived across the river and had swam across and run to them.. poor owner.. he must be searching the entire village on both sides of the river whenever his dog runs away..

My poor car.. if it had voice, it would abuse me with the dirtiest words possible.. it would be wondering that where have I bought it.. its not meant for this terrain.. this is clear from the fact that there is no Honda dealer/service center in entire Himachal and Uttaranchal mountain region.

Our host’s stock of wood.. man this was a savior.. they had this metal firplace with a long chimney which they called Bukhari.. it kept the room so warm that no matter how freezing cold it was outside, there was no need to wear even a jacket inside..

There was nothing much to do.. no electricity meant no electronic gadgets.. we had our phones, a laptop and a tablet with lots of movies but no battery in all of them.. also no telephones.. this causes another problem.. we had called up our parents more than 24 hours ago and that time we had told them that there is no sigh of snow.. surely they would have seen the news of the snow on tv and not having heard from us for more than a day, they would be really worried.. I was just hoping that they don’t start thinking that I was stranded in snow on some pass or worse, fallen off a cliff and start looking was ways to send someone to find us (which is exactly what they were doing!!).. and there was nothing we could do.. phones were not working.. there were phones in an army base in the next town but with the roads closed we could not go there.. this helplessness was causing a lot of tension and I was unable to enjoy myself.. to pass time we played cards.. temporarily the mind was diverted but then again it came back to helplessness of not being able to let mmy parents know that I was alright..

In the evening the snow stopped.. the sky cleared..

Finally!!! We were elated and ran out..

The locals said that after the snow stops, it will take 2 days for the road to clear.. but hopefully the electricity will come back and I would be able to call home.. we went for a walk till the village..

Pulley across the river..

The only thing color in the whole landscape..

What irony.. dried trees surrounded by frozen water..

but joy and hope were short lived.. soon the clouds came back and with them also the snow..

The long walk in the snow to the village.. it was difficult to get a foot hold and we were slipping everywhere.. also the snow was going into the shoes and melting.. good that I had bought waterproof socks., ever though my toes were numb with cold, they were atleast dry..

Watte pose.. 

We came back with 10 packets of Maggi noodles and soup.. even though our neighbors had shared their food with us, we dint want to add burden on them; specially since there was no way of knowing how many days we would be stuck there..

Ab ye gadha hai ki baraf mein ghum raha hai ki hum gadhe hain ki iski photo kheech rahe hain..

We came back and spent rest of the day waiting for snow to stop. Our hosts had also traveled a lot and we passed time sharing our stories and hearing theirs.. Snow stopped again once but before we could even be happy it started again.. after dinner with our new friends, we went to sleep.. it was now 2 days since we had talked to our parents!!

Total distance traveled: 2kms (on foot)

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Pooh-Nako-Kaza

2011-01-05T18:20:00.010+05:30

Next day was again a late start. This was now becoming a habit and little did we know that later in the trip this would get us into trouble.
nice view from our guest house.. the houses on left are the Pooh village..

army camp as we left Pooh..

the roads here were good..

the Khab bridge where there is the confluence of river Spiti and Satlij.. the one on right is Spiti and one coming from under the bridge is Satluj..

the Kazigs.. a series of sharp loops..

high up in Kinnaur but still no sign of snow..

the cold desert..

a small army convoy..

magic of wide angle.. we were standing right under the tree..

soon we reached Nako.. we parked the car and walked inside the village in search of the Nako lake..

religious inscriptions on rocks.. man what intricate work!!

the prayer wheels.. a common sight in this region..

first glimpse of the Nako lake.. and yes, it was completely frozen!!!

we walked further inside the village, trying to figure out which way leads to the lake.. surprisingly the village seemed pretty empty..

more carvings..

finally we reached the lake.. there where some children playing ice hockey on it..

yup, its frozen and safe enough to walk..

hesitantly i started walking towards the center.. on tv i have seen may times that the lake surface suddenly breaks and people fall inside the chilled water.. so i tested the ice in front of me before taking each step and finally reached the center.. the children wanted me to play ice hockey with them which i politely refused.. surprisingly they were running on the ice with normal foot wear.. many times they slipped also and fell badly but then they must be used to it..

i was more confident on the way back..

then it was Manik's turn.. as he stepped on to the ice it started creaking.. i was so sure that he would either break the ice and fall or slip on it and fall.. i was ready with the camera on burst mode to catch this.. but sadly he dint fall and also went till the center and came back..

dried up trees around the lake..

cute little kid in the village..

the prayer flags..

then we walked back to the car and left Nako.. on the main highway there is a dhaaba and a helipad behind it.. we had some food at the dhaaba and clicked some pics on the helipad..

we moved ahead.. plan was to go till Tabo and return the next day.. now we were seeing lot more ice.. the mountains were still brown but where ever there was water, it was freezing up.. some places where the water crossed the roads, there were patches of ice. the car got stuck on the very first such drain it encountered. the font wheel went inside the drain and got stuck.. even the front bumber banged on the edge of the drain.. after much pushing and putting rocks in the drain we finally got it out.. then came the bigger challenge.. Malling Nala..

thankfully the car dint get stuck and we were able to cross it quickly.. the highest point on the route..

the sand mountains.. i wonder how they are still standing..

the easy descent (baad mein issi ne humari maar li!!)..

abbe isse bread lene ke liye bhi lambe trek ka plan banana padta hoga..

chango.. a small, sort-of insignificant village on the way to Tabo.. (baaki to baad mein pata chalega..)

driving along the Spiti river..

Sumdo check post right after entering Spiti.. mind it, no photography is allowed here..

more sand hills..

that reads "mere dil wich tera ghar hove"..

chandigarh pahunch gaye bhai.. delhi ab door nahi..

the straight roads before Tabo..

Tabo..

Here we started searching for a place to stay.. the hotels seemed closed. only thing people said would be open will be the monastery..

here also there weren't many facilities available.. there was no water and only dorm rooms were available.. since we still had time, we decided to go ahead till Kaza..

there was a guest house few kms after Tabo in a place called Poh.. there also there were no facilities and so we moved ahead..

soon it got dark but Manik dint reduce the speed..

we stopped at the first building which looked like a guest house..

this was the circuit house.. the caretaker provided us a warm room and with a heater.. this turned out to be the comfortable stay in the trip.. we hogged down the food he provided and then again tried to click some star trails..

then when it got too cold to stand out, we returned to the room.. After a hard day's work, finally some comfort.. but there was lot of dissatisfaction.. the aim of the trip was still not fulfilled.. we had set out to find snow and here we had reached Kaza and still no snow.. what luck!! no snow in december in Spiti.. and tomorrow we will be returning.. so with a sad heart i went to sleep..

Total distance traveled: 154kms

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Sarahan-Pooh

2011-01-05T18:19:00.005+05:30

Tired from first day's drive, we got up very late. Sarahan has a temple dedicated to Bhimkali which has a large following in this region. So first we went to see this temple. it was a short walk from our guest house. View of the temple from or guest house..

At the temple we had to take out shoes to go in. even though i was wearing socks, within a few metres of walking, the feet felt like blocks of ice. Thank god inside the temple it was carpeted inside. Manik had been here before so stayed outside. Sadly no photos were allowed inside the main temple. but we could take photos outside it.
another temple in the complex..

the main temple entrance..

the main temple.. the one on the left is open everyday.. i think the one on the right is only opened for special ceremonies..

on the top floor of the tower on left..

door knob

then we had a quick breakfast in the market and then came back to the car.. it was very dirty from yesterdays journey and so we decided to clean it.. intention was do so every day but as they say "man proposes, god disposes".. there was a tap on the side of the road from which chilled water was flowing.. infact the water on the ground next to the tap was already frozen.. still dedicated as we are, we cleaned the car.. then after packing our stuff, we set out to see a hawa mahal nearby.. the locals had said its only a few kms away.. and what a waste of time this turned out to be.. after driving many kilometres we still couldn't see any building.. we were driving uphill, so the views were nice..

that while cluster of houses is Sarahan..

our "stretched Jazz limo".. :)

then we asked the locals and came to know we had missed the place.. after again and again asking people, we finally reached it and this turned out to be what we were looking for..

what the hell.. we had wasted almost an hour for this small hut in the middle on nowhere.. So till the time we left sarahan it was already 12:30pm.. on the way we saw more ice.. i small waterfall which was frozen by the cold..

i climbed down for a closer look..

so this showed that the temperature was low enough and where ever there would be water, it would be frozen.. we were looking forward to reaching Nako lake..

after crossing Jeori we entered the Kinnaur district.. view from the gate to Kinnaur..

on the otherside..

the hills were absolutely brown, no sign of snow.. koi nahi, we will see it as we go higher..
we were almost stopping at the same places where we had clicked pics in our trip Spiti 2 years ago.. again the stretched Jazz limo..

the rock cut roads of Kinnaur...

yours truly driving.. the roads were narrower but the traffic was less, so driving was fun..

as we got deeper into Kinnaur, the roads started becoming bad or i should say "normal"..

as we started getting close to the JP Dam, roads turned from bad to worse. till Karcham there was no tarmac, only gravel.. we drove on stopping now and then to click photos..

the gravel roads.. this is probably the best of the lot..

construction work going on everywhere...

the JP dam..

trucks came pretty close to shaving the mountains..

better stay away from this van..

along the river..

Jazz wasn't exactly the best choice for this sort of terrain.. it is very lower (infact lower than an Alto which we would find out soon).. big stones kept on scratching the bumper and the bottom of the car.. again the bad conditions came in my turn to drive.. driving at 20, taking care of every stone and pot hole was no fun.. also every time something hit the car, my heart pained.. Not to mention what the bumps were doing to rest of the body. then we reached Karcham..

After crossing Karcham, we suddenly stopped feeling any bumps.. ahead us was a wide smooth road.. it was like driving on clouds..

and as we had changed driver a few kms before, again Manik was driving on the good road and at 100 kmph.

But good things dont last long. Thats wot make them good. So just in few kms the road became narrow but it was at least in good condition with stretches of dirt after every few kms. we drove on clicking pics here and there..
the petrol pump after Recong Peo..

places ahead..

a lovely waterfall..

at a wider angle..

the dry landscape..

another waterfall..

gravel roads..

and dirt mountains..

again frozen water on the road sides..

i wanted to capture the sun set but since we were in the valley, we had to be satisfied with this..

We reached a very small town called Spillo (or Speelo as it was spelled at some places) just after it got dark. There was a decent looking restaurant there and we had a leisurely dinner.. Then went out to find a place to stay.. There is only one guest house there and it also wasn't in the best condition and had a single shared toilet. Left with no option we had to move ahead to the next town, Pooh. After driving in dark on roads which were alternate again stretches of tarmac and gravel, we reached the town very late. The hotels there were closed but thankfully we found the PWD guest house open. But it was also booked for the ongoing elections. After requesting a lot, the choukidaar said he will see if something could be done. Finally after waiting for a long time he gave us a room. It was a nice and comfortable room with enough space inside to play cricket. After a simple but warm dinner, we tried our hand at abstract photography.. so there were ghosts appearing..

me shrinking..

manik (further!!!) becoming bigger ..

aliens landing from space..

and star trails..

Finally when none of the pics turned out as expectedewe finally decided to goto Sleep.

Total distance traveled: 200kms

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Delhi-Sarahan

2011-01-05T18:12:00.009+05:30

It was a cold cold winter morning.. Getting up at 2am wasn't easy. Quickly i loaded the stuff in the car and after taking my parent's blessings, left for Manik's house. After stuffing the car further, we left at 4 am. Since we had a car we dint try to optimize the things we were carrying. In between 2 people we had more than 6bags, 2 sleeping bags, 2 quilts, a laptop and the obviously 2 camera bags..

As soon as we got out of Delhi mother nature presented us with our first obstacle.. We were greeted by dense fog with visibility not more than few 100 meters. I was driving.. And believe me it was not easy.. Cars and trucks popped out of no where in front of you.. Suddenly you realized that the road had turned and you were driving straight towards the divider.. Road was almost empty.. So speed was almost constant at 60.. Progress was painstakingly slow (although the good things was that the car was giving a very good average) .. Driving was boring.. Nothing interesting was playing on the radio and on top of that Manik covered himself with a shawl and went to sleep..

First stop was after Ambala where we refueled the car. From there on Manik started driving. My bad luck or his good luck, the fog cleared after few kms. Kya yaar.. I had been driving at 60 and Manik gets a clear highway and now fog.. Soon we hit the hills and reached Parwanoo by 9.30. Here we stopped for breakfast ..

in the hills the sky was now clear and it was pretty sunny..

we had a heavy breakfast of paranthas..

Then we started again with me at the wheel and Manik at the camera..

Road was ok till Shimla. Jazz is a very comfortable car so few potholes here and there dint trouble us.

After Shimla till Narkanda the road was pathetic. A few kms after crossing Kufri we saw a lot of people standing on the side of the road and clicking pics. We also stopped to see the "view". from that place you can see the whole valley which was covered with thick forests. people were getting excited seeing that.. i am not particularly found of such crowds and Manik captured that look perfectly..

After Narkanda road lovely.. As the dusk got nearer, it got colder. one place we saw something shining on the slope. we stopped to check it out.. this was our first sighting of the snow..

then we continued on, stoppped at Rampur for the usual photo..

as we went on it soon got dark and cold. but dint matter much in the car and finally we reached Sarahan. there we checked in to a guest house on the bus stop..

Total distance traveled: 551kms

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Garden of 5 Senses

2010-12-24T03:16:00.004+05:30

People had told us that Garden of 5 senses hs lot of flowers and is an awesome place for macro photography. so we decided to check it out. The garden is located at Said-ul-Aizab village , close to the Mehrauli heritage area in New Delhi.

To say that the trip was disappointing would be an understatement.. there were few flowers near the entrance and some here and there but mostly the park was filled with couples trying to get intimate behind the cover of the trees and bushes. us walking around with cameras caused discomfort and embarrassment to many..

pics from the walk..

sundial..

phool pattiyan...

aur makhiyan..

aur ullu..

the solar garden..

man crawling out of the shell??

view from top a hill inside the garden..

om....

a dragon fly..

wind chime..

in the lotus garden..

:)

never seen this flower before..

knowledge is supreme..

the bokeh..

trying my hand at abstracts..

these are more conventional..

slr without a macro lens has limited capibility of clicking macros. so i took a point an shoot also. and this is what its super macro mode produced..

Qutab Minar

2010-12-24T01:52:00.010+05:30

Qutub-ud-din Aibak laid the foundation for Qutub Minar in 1199 AD and his successor and son-in-law Shamsu'd-Din- Iitutmish completed the structure by adding three more stories. Standing at 72.5 meters, it is the highest stone tower in India. Its base diameter is 14.3 meters and its top diameter is 2.7 meters. It has 379 steps leading to its top story. The lower three stories are made using red sand stone and the top two with marble and sand stone. read more...

i went to Qutab Minar in the morning as the sun was spreading its rays..

light bursting from the trees..

the majestic tower..

some posers..

the cleaners..

the beautiful architecture..

a closer look..

bench-mark.. :)

the security..

the iron pillar..

the rising sun..

some parrots chasing each other..

others looking..

damaging the national monument. maaro salle ko...

happy singh.. :)

down the memory lane..

another angle..

my favorite...

the minar..

meeting in progress..

another angle..

more inscriptions..

one of the many tombs in the campus..

the failed attempt at remaking the Qutab Minar..

cp flower market

2010-12-04T14:11:00.004+05:30

we visited the whole sale flower market in Connaught Place just opposite PVR Rivoli in front of the Coffee Home. Here are few pics from the trip..

no place to stand..

fire..

roses are red..

some people were lost..

phool mala..

chai wallas..

nakli but beautiful..

color and shadows..

pink roses..

carnations..

genda..

india gate

2010-12-02T00:05:00.003+05:30

The India Gate was built in 1931 and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. This 42 m high stone arch of victory, universally known as India Gate, stands at the eastern end of Rajpath. It was previously officially known as the All India War Memorial. The names of the 90,000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the First World War, Afghan campaign of 1919 and the North-West Frontier operations are inscribed on the walls of this grand structure.In the year 1971, an eternal flame or Amar Jawan Jyoti, was lit under the arch of the India Gate to honor the brave unknown, soldier. The flame is flanked by uniformed soldiers, who stand guard over the flame. more info

the India Gate..

the Amar Jawan Jyoti

fountains in the gardens around india gate..

sunrise at india gate..

india gate at night..

akshardham temple

2010-12-01T23:05:00.003+05:30

Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi epitomises 10,000 years of Indian culture in all its breathtaking grandeur, beauty, wisdom and bliss. It brilliantly showcases the essence of India’s ancient architecture, traditions and timeless spiritual messages. The Akshardham experience is an enlightening journey through India’s glorious art, values and contributions for the progress, happiness and harmony of mankind. For more info visit
http://www.akshardham.com/

delhi zoo

2010-12-01T22:11:00.006+05:30

The National Zoological Park of Delhi or Delhi Zoo as it is popularly known, is located next to Purana Qila (Old Fort), on its southern side. The Delhi Zoo houses over one thousand varieties of animals, reptiles and birds. It also has nearly all varieties of deer found in the country. The white tiger from Rewa, the elephant, which plays a harmonica and the leopard, are some of its highlights apart from the many endangered species of India seen in the park. more info

the main attraction: the king of the jungle.. a white tiger..

posing for the camera.. say cheese..

the Indian as the back and African elephant in the front..

a duck..

a boring day for the leopard...

i see you.. a hippo..

yawning..

lunch time..

a really cute kid enjoying the zoo..

a giraffe..

emu..

leopard..

i dont know the name of this bird.. but is was beautiful..

crocodile sleeping in the sun..

more giraffes..

mighty rhino..

some deers..

if you go to the zoo on a weekend you will find many school trip there..

diwali

2010-12-01T22:01:00.002+05:30

pics from the diwali celebrations this year..

Chakri..

Anaar: looks like light bursting out of the ground..

this one burst mid way..

anaar and chakri..

Rockets: fire in the sky..

colourful anaar..

more rockets..

Back to Edinburgh

2010-10-26T22:26:00.004+05:30

I woke up at 7:20. Got ready and had the tasty breakfast my hostess had cooked. The plan was simple. Reach Edinburgh before 1 (that’s when Hertz closes on Saturday). If possible see castles on the way. I really wanted to visit the Balmoral Castle which was near Ballater. This is where the Royal family comes to stay every year around august. It would have been good to see. But it was going to open at 11 and if I waited till that time, I would have never made it to Edinburgh on time. The castles which I would have liked to visit are Crathes castle and Glamis Castle. On the way I stopped at the Braemer Castle. After that the road turned towards some white colored hills. Yes, I could see snow covered peaks ahead. This time I got the chance to take pictures. This was the ski slopes of Glen**check name just after Braemer. On the way I saw a board for the Scone Castlecheck name. although this castle was not on my list, but I decided to check it out still. After this I reached Edinburgh, refueled and returned my car and took a bus to the station. And here I am writing this log….

Total distance in the day: 118mi

Total 912mi

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Castle Trail

2010-10-26T22:24:00.003+05:30

In the tourist guides, they have marked what they call the Castle trail. On this there are around 20 castles, each 10-20 miles from other. Today I decided to follow this trail, covering as many castles as I could. Here each castle has an entry fee of 5-13 pounds depending on the castle. Even if it is a ruin, they still have the fee. My plan was to only go inside the good ones and for the rest just click a photo from outside. First on the list was Balvenie castle which was just down the road from the Glenfiddich distillery. It was closed at that time. Deviating a little from the Castle Trail, I visited the Strathisla distillery in Keith. This is the oldest distillery in the Highlands. It is owned by Chivas Brothers who also own brands like Chival Regal, 100 Pipers, Aberlour, Glenlivet and Royal Salut. The Strathisla single malt is the main ingredient of the Chivas Regal blend or the heart as they call it. The tour cost 5 pounds, which later I felt was a waste as the content was same as the one in Glenfiddich. If you buy Chivas Regal 12yo from here, they can give you a back label with a personalized message written on it. Next I went to Huntly Castle, Duff House, Delgatie Castle, Fyvie Castle (no one there), Tolquhon Castle (mon-fri closed). At night I reached Ballater and tried to find a place to stay. There were many B&B’s but they all had double rooms and they were charging the same even if one person stayed there. Finally a lady agreed to reduce the rent from 45 pounds to 35pounds. I was trying to get her to reduce this further to 30 but she wont agree. Since this was the best deal I was getting, so I decided to stay here. Later when I was telling her how I had travelled 800miles in 5 days and how much cold it is here as compared to Delhi, she said I could have the room for 30pounds.

Total distance in the day: 161mi

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Whiskey trail

2010-10-26T22:23:00.002+05:30

Due to the isolated route to the castle, I decided to leave a bit later. I left by 9:30am. Took the route to Nairn. Very near to Culrain is the Glenmorangie distillery in Tain. But I skipped it and went straight towards Nairn. On way I took a detour to Cawdor Castle. First I missed the turn. Then after going a few miles ahead, had to turn back. Then again I went the wrong way. After the turn from the main road, there was no sign. Then finally I fed the castle name in the GPS and reached it. But all the effort was in vain. The castle was closed. Then I entered Nairn and refueled the car. On the way I saw a church where some marriage for going on. Then headed towards brodie castle. My unlucky day, it too was closed. Then went to Elgin. This was a bigger town. The main problem in bigger towns is parking. But here as I entered I saw a sign “Free parkin for 3hrs then 70pounds”. I wasn’t staying for 3 hours.. In Elgin, I went to see the ruins of the church. This too was closed. But I was able to take pictures from over the wall. Whats happening today. Well, enough monuments. I rode straight to the whiskey land. The region around the river Spey (called speyside region), has maximum of the whiskey distilleries in Scotland. My destination was Dufftown, the malt whiskey capital of the world. On the way there were many distilleries. When you visit a distillery, they take you on a tour and show you the whiskey making process. Then they let you sample of their single malts. The first destination I fed into my GPS was Macallan distillery. The guidebook said its in Craigellachie, but the GPS showed Aberlour. Obviously GPS cannot be wrong, so I followed the route it showed. As I was taking a right hand corner on a road with huge trees on both sides, the GPS has “Macallan distillery on your right”. Abbe oy!!.. so GPS isn’t always right. Then i went to where guide book said. Again wrong place but here the local guided me to correct route. Take the route for Archiestown to go to Macallan. Then you will see signs for the distillery. It was 3:15 when I reached the distillery. But last tour had already lft at 3pm. So the lady there asked me to come back next morning at 10. But she did give me my complimentary dram of whiskey. I also fond their gift shop quite good. Then I called up Glenfiddich which is in Dufftown, a few miles away, to see if they were still open. They said they give tours till 4:30pm. So I quickly drove to Dufftown. On the way I saw the Aberlour and Dewar distilleries. The distillery is just at the edge of the town. A beautiful girl in a short skirt (in such biting cold!!) gave us a tour. The best part was that it was free whereas all other distilleries charge for it. Glenlivet tour is also free. Also at Glenfiddich they don’t have fixed timings for tours. You can go there anytime before 4:30pm. At the end of tour they gave Glenfiddich 12 years old,15 and 18 for tasting. When you taste all 3 together, then you come to know why the 18yo is so expensive. Their shop also had Balvenie whiskeys which is their sister distillery. After the tour i came to Dufftown. There was no youth hostel here so I started looking for a bed and breakfast. I had read about one run by an old lady called Mrs. Welsh. The address was 48 balvenie street. It turned out to be a cosy room and the hostess, Mrs Welsh was a very nice lady. She rents the double room at 17pounds per bed. She gave it to me for 17 pounds, saying i will be using just one bed so I need to pay for it only. She was also a chatty lady who has lots of stories to tell. Sit with her and you will not know how many hours have passed by. After resting some time I went for a walk in the town. There is nothing much in the town except the shops selling essential things. I went inside the super market. It had the largest collection of single malts i have seen. People were taking quarters of Famous Grouse like people in India have royal stag. I came back and after some more chatting with Mrs Welsh and her other customers, went to sleep.

Total distance in the day: 121mi

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Isle of Skye-Loch Ness-Inverness

2010-10-26T22:20:00.003+05:30

Next morning I got up very early and left when it was still dark. When I came out of the hostel, there was a layer of ice on the car. Having never faced this situation before, I dint know what to do. Foolishly I tried turning the wipers on. But they were also frozen and made such a harsh noise that I thought that I had scratched the windscreen. Thankfully no damage. Then I turned on the heating and defogging. This worked. The ice melted. The car meter showed the temperature as 1 degree. When I finally left, it was 6.30am. The plan was to go around Isle of Skye and then to Loch Ness. First stop was the mountains after Portree. As I drove, the sun started rising. But the temperature was not increasing, Sometimes the car meter even showed -1 degress. 8mi after Portree is Old man of Storr. Here I waited for the sun to rise. Then I drove on. On the way was Kilt Rock. After Staffin I took the road to Uig through the Quaraing. These are the mountains in this area. The road was a narrow single lane road. It was at a higher elevation, and so it became cooler. Infact there were even some snow flakes on the way. But this was nothing compared to what was coming later in the day. At the top, there is a coffee stall. I got out and took some pictures. But it was too cold to stay out very long. One good thing about touring in the car is AC/Heater. Some water had gone into my shoes but when my toes started feeling cold, I could simply divert the heater to my feet and problem solved. Uig is another place where one can stay and explore the countryside around. There are some good walks, waterfall etc. My next destination was Dunvegan castle which was 30miles away. The rain was following me. If I was driving, it was sunny but whenever I stopped at a place, the clouds would catch up and it started raining. When I reached Dunvegan Castle, the sign said “closed for repair”. That was really disappointing. The detour to the castle had cost me 60 extra miles and atleast 2 hours. There are some coral beaches 1mi ahead of the castle but as I started going towards them, it started raining. So I turned around started for my next destination Eilean Donan Castle. Again the road was lovely to drive on which some high speed twisties. When I reached the castle, the sky was turning to an ominous black color. As I clicked pics it started raining. I started for Loch Ness but this time I could not outrun the rain. It rained a lot. The road was mostly through dense forests with huge trees draped in autumn colors on both sides of the road. On the way I stopped at the ruins of the Uquart Castlecheck name. this seemed to me the mosted over-hyped monument in the country. There was nothing but a few walls standing on the shore of Loch Ness but still it had an entry fee of 7.5 pounds. I just took pics over the wall and moved on. Plan was to stay at the Loch Ness youth hostel which is right on the banks of the lake. But as the tourist season was over, the hostel was closed. I decided to stay at the hostel in Inverness. Inverness, called the capital of the Highlands, is one of the bigger towns of Scotland. From here you can go for cruises on Loch Ness and there are also many activities to do. In the rain there was no point in going for the cruise. Also in the guide to Scotland hostels I saw a hostel called Carbisdale Castle which was 42miles from Inverness and seemed to be inside a castle. This seemed interesting, so decided to drive to it. It was starting to get dark. A few miles after Inverness, GPS directed me to turn right to highway b##. After taking the turn I saw that I was on a narrow road where only one vehicle could pass at one time. First I thought I took a wrong turn as the GPS could not be wrong (the next day broke this belief of mine). But then I saw the name of the highway written on a board and was surprised. Later in my journey I realized that the highways starting with “b” are such small roads. The ones marked with “a” and 3 digits have one lane on each side and the ones marked “a” plus 2 digits have one lane on each side but are much broaded. The ones starting with “m” are the high speed motorways with 2-3 lanes. Coming back to the “highway”. As I said this was a narrow road with forests on both sides. Thankfully there was not much traffic, so could drive at a good speed. Then I reached a broader road passing through fields. On the horizon I could see snow covered hills. Seeing snow is always exciting for me. I tried to find a place to stop to click pictures but there wasn’t any in that road. That’s an advantage of touring on a bike. You can stop where ever you want without disturbing the traffic. Also it was getting dark and I dint want to be in such an isolated place after dark. Then I realized that the road was turning towards those hills. Wow and oh-no.. I would be seeing snow.. but I have no experience of driving in snow. Well I have experience of riding a bike on ice but lets say that’s an experience I’d like to forget. Soon there was snow on both sides of the road. My hands where itching to stop and take a pic but I could not afford the delay. Then the forests became denser, the road became narrower. This road seems to lead to nowhere. Should I turn around? If I have to do that later, then I will have to return through this road in dark. Nahi yaar, this is not India; roads are safe here. For last few miles there was jungle on one side and lake on other. Finally I saw a sign indicating the village Culrain (where I had to reach). There I saw a sign for the Carbisdale Castlecheck name. I entered the huge stone gates but then also I could not se any castle. There was more forests and narrow road. I was expecting people wit guns o jump out any minute from the trees and loot me. Finally I reached the castle. I had made it in time. The sky was just starting to turn black. I was expecting the castle to be empty. Who the hell would come to it here in the middle of nowhere. Honestly I don’t think anyone could even make it there without a GPS. But to my surprise there were around 15 cars parked there. I booked a room which was for 19 pounds. Then I also had to book the dinner as there was no other place to eat for miles. They served a nice 3 course meal. It was a beautiful palace with a statue gallery (containing mostly nude ladies) and with paintings on all the walls (also mostly depicting nude ladies). My room was in the tower on the second floor. Sounded simple. But reaching it wasn’t. The castle was like a maze. On door after another, leading to another. it took good 2 minutes from the ground floor to reach the room on the second floor. But it was exciting staying in a castle. Having the dinner in the royal dining room. Then sitting in the library and deciding the next days itinerary. The receptionist, a French guy with a Scottish accent was also very helpful. There were a couple of guys staying there who had cycled to that place. Considering the rain and the cold, would say they really had a lot of guts..

Total distance in the day: 258mi

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Edinburgh-Isle of Skye

2010-10-26T22:15:00.005+05:30

The first day was going to be a long drive. I had left some of my woolens and my umbrella in London. Raaghav was coming to Glasgow and was kind enough to bring them along. So I first went to Glasgow. The time from Edinburgh to Glasgow was no such as the time to get out of Edinburgh and the time to get inside Glasgow. Around 10 miles before Glasgow there was a huge jam and the cars were moving at a speed of 20. Then inside Glasgow, I made an incorrect turn and had to drive a lot to get back to the correct turn. Then after reaching there, Raaghav told me that I had to come somewhere else. Thank God I had the GPS or that whole day I would have spent finding the way. Then from Glasgow I started for Fort William. From there the plan was to drive along the Road to the Isles which I had read passed though some beautiful Scottish countryside.
The most irritating part about driving in any country outside India, is the traffic rules. People respect lanes, speed limits and pedestrians. One had to be very careful specially when used to driving the way we do in Delhi. On the motorway the speed limit was 70 mph. On other highways it was 60. In any town or city the limit was 30. There were speed cameras everywhere. If anyone gives the indicator, let him come in your lane. Also people drive in lanes even on a roundabout. I found figuring the roundabout etiquette particularly difficult. What I understood was that before entering the roundabout see that if anyone is coming and then wait for them to pass. If you have to take first exit then stand in left lane. Otherwise in the right lane. On the roundabout, stay in the innermost lane till you want to exit, then change lane to the outer one. What the hell.. itna dimaag to maine car seekhte hue bhi nahi lagaya tha..
After sometime the motorway ended and I came to the highway. This meant basically the speed limit reduced and now the road was a single lane on each side. This is how most of the highways in the country are. Soon the hills started. I drove along some lovely twisties with huge trees along both sides and many times running along lakes. Specially around Glencoe the roads were a pleasure to drive on. After Glencoe, I passed Fort William. This is a good place to stay and go for walks around the Ben Navis mountain. There are also a lot of activities available to do here. I took the road which went to Carpoch, Glenfinnan and then Arisaig. Made a brief stop at the Glenfinnan monument. Took and quick photo and moved on. After Arisaig, I took the route marked “Alternate Coastal Route”. This is also called the Road to the Isles. The next town on the road was Morar. It was a single lane road which ran through fields and jungles and then next to the sea. I saw many white sand beaches. But it was raining and very cold, so not much to do on the beach except clicking a photo. The weather during the whole trip was awkward. It used to start drizzling. Then after some time the sun used to come out. Then it again it started drizzling. So in on day I got both types of skies in my photos: cloudy as well as clear. The road was fun to drive on. It went up and down and right and left. At one moment you are climbing up. In front you can just see the tip of ascend but nothing beyond, then the road suddenly turns and starts declining. Sometimes as you reach the top of the rise, the road dips as well as turns left/right. Also it was very empty so I dint have to worry about people coming from the opposite side. At the end of the crazy route I reached Mallaig. From here I was to take a ferry to Armadale in Isle of Skye. I reached at a good time. The ferry was just about to leave. I loaded my car in the boat and took a seat at the snacks counter. It was a half an hour journey and I reached Armadale at 5pm. The final destination for the day was still around 60miles away. Had it been India, I would have easily reached it before sunset. But here with the speed restrictions and rain, i would get very late. So I stopped at Broadford and took up a room at the youth hostel which had a nice location, right next to a lake. The lady at the reception had recently been to Delhi and as with anyone who comes to India, could not forget the trip.

Total distance in the day: 254 mi

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Edinburgh

2010-10-26T22:09:00.004+05:30

On reaching Edinburgh I checked in to the youth hostel and rested for some time. Then I started for the Edinburgh Palace. The street from this palace to the Hollyrood Palace (check name) is called the Royal Mile. On it there are many other places to visit. First I walked along the Princess Street which runs parallel to the Royal Mile. From here you can see the old buildings. It was raining lightly. Entry to the castle was around 13pounds. This included a guided tour of the palace. The guide showed us around. He told us that the palace was so safe that it had never been taken by force. The view from the top was nice. The guide just gave a description of each part of the castle from outside. Then you could visit each part at your own pace. There was a hall where the crown jewels of Scotland were kept along with a stone called Stone of Destiny. This was a stop on which all the kings were coroneted. It had a nice exhibition leading to it with stories of the Scottish kings. Till the time I left Edinburgh Palace it was 4pm. The place from where I had to rent the car was open till 5,so I quickly ran to it. I took a Ford Fiesta from Hertz. This I got at around 20 pounds per day. I also took a GPS which was additional 14pounds per day. I was thinking whether taking it was a good choice or not as the Hertz person was saying its not required, all roads are well marked. Here Fiesta is not a sedan like in India but a hatchback. Since there was still time left and I also had a car, I decided to drive down towards Rosslyn Chapel which was 7miles from Edinburgh. This is the same chapel which was shown in movie The Da Vinci code. I had taken a GPS navigator with the car but it took me some time to get used to it. This involved lot of wrong turns and angry horns from the people driving behind me. The Hertz salesman had said that the Chapel is on the way to Penicuik. Till the time I reached Roslin, it was already closed. Damn!! It was getting dark, so I quickly returned to Edinburgh. After reaching the hostel, I printed out the route for the road trip and went to sleep.

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rdbday9

2010-01-20T19:23:00.003+05:30

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rdbday8

2010-01-20T19:23:00.001+05:30

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rdbday7

2010-01-20T19:22:00.004+05:30

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rdbday6

2010-01-20T19:22:00.003+05:30

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rdbday5

2010-01-20T19:22:00.001+05:30

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rdbday4

2010-01-20T19:20:00.005+05:30

To my surprise we woke up on the first alarm. Quickly we packed our stuff, checked out and went to the bus stop. I carry 3 sets of rechargeable batteries for my camera. In the morning I realized that I had already used 2 of them and the third one was in use. This was a major cause of concern because the last thing I wanted was the batteries to runout in the middle of the day. I asked a book stall person at the bus stop, if I could plug the charger in his shop. He refused saying that it will consume too much power. The tea stall person let me plug the charger but charged Rs. 5 for it. At 6 the bus left Jodhpur. The journey was uneventful and uncomfortable. Although I was sleeping most of the time but the it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. I kept on waking up at regular intervals. We reached Ranakpur at 9:50am. We got a room in the temple dharmashala for which I had to give Rs. 200 (out of which I got Rs.80 back later when I was leaving). The room was huge in which around 10 people could sleep easily. It had 2 single beds and 3 bathrooms , all very clean. We had a bath and then went to have food. The canteen had thali system with Rs.25 per thali. the food was good especially the khatti-meethi daal and chutney. Then we wnet to visit the temple. It was almost 12pm and unknowingly we were at the right time. Cameras and visitors (non-Jains) are allowed inside the temple only after 12pm till 5pm. I had heard a lot about the carvings inside the temple but when I entered the temple, I was simply spellbound. Exquisite is the only word that comes to my mind. Such intricate carvings. And it not that a few pillars are beautiful, all 1444 pillars have been made different with equally fine handwork. You felt like photographing each and every pillar. I went around clicking pics, in the mean while Sunil was talking to a pandit. We met after almost half an hour and till that time he knew enough about the temple that he could conduct a guided tour, which he infact did for me. The information below along the pics has been provided by him only.

After spending some more time at the temple, we went to find about transport to Kumbalgarh. The tea stall person near the bus stop told us that there is no direct bus from Ranakpur to Kumbalgarh. We could take a bus till Saiyara and then from there either a bus till Kumbalgarh or take jeep till Kelwara and an auto till Kumbalgarh( 5kms from Kelwara). I thought lets rest for an hour and then we will leave. But my tired body had other plans. Once I went to sleep, I did not get up for 2:30hours. In my dream I saw that it was night and I was still sleeping and this made me wake up with a jerk. I woke Sunil, we quickly packed and ran to the bus stop. It was 4pm already. I calculated that we had to go 50kms, that would mean 1.5hours. I might still catch the sunset. Luckily there was a bus standing there which would take us till Saiyara. Time saved, I would definitely catch the sunset. We dint get any place to sit but there was ample space to stand. The 20km journey till Saiyara took around an hour through the single lane mountain roads. The only saving grace was that the roads were in good condition, hence the ride was not bumpy. There was still time. If I reach Kumbalgarh fast from here, I will still catch the sunset. From Saiyara we could either take a shared jeep or a bus. We decided to take the bus. Soon we realized what a wrong decision this was. The bus driver was driving as if this was the only journey he had to make till the end of the day. It stopped at every village on the way loading and unloading goods and people. In one village they loaded gas cylinders on the roof. Then in the next village in front of a gas depot, they unloaded them. Once he just stopped the bus to say hi to someone on the road. The journey of 30km took 1.5 hours on empty roads. Once again sunset missed!!! The bus dropped us off at a crossing where the board said Kumbalgarh 2kms. The conductor had recommended a cheap guest house called Lucky, a few metres from the crossing. But the place was only cheap in its facilities. It has no beds, toilet was also shared and the whole place was dirty and the guy was asking Rs. 500 for that room. We immediately rejected it and started moving towards Kumbalgarh. It was almost dark now. The road started climbing up and walking with the tons of weight on our back was getting very tiring. Soon we were walking in total darkness. After sometime we saw the lights of the fort at a distance. Thank god we were almost there. After walking almost 1.5kms we came to a place from which there was a great view of the fort. Talking to the guard standing there revealed that there was no place to stay ahead. There was only the fort. I almost fell down with disappointment. We had walked all the way uphill for no reason. I felt like killing myself for not asking anyone before stating to walk towards the fort. We rested for a short time and started walking back towards the crossing. From the crossing one way goes uphill to the fort, the other downhill towards Kelwara. On the road downhill there are many hotels but these are resort type places and expensive. You get budget hotels only in Kelwara, 5kms from Kumbalgarh. We managed to convince a restaurant owner to give us a room behind his restaurant. It had nothing except a bed, quilt and blanket. It was already 7:30pm. The bus conductor had told us that a cultural festival was going on in the fort. We arranged a taxi and went back to the fort. This festival is held every year on these dates. We dint know about and happened to by be there at that time. the whole fort was lit up beautifully. A lot of people were going in. there was a huge tent in the ground with Odissi dances going on. We watched for some time, then left. We took some more pics and returned to the room. The dinner the restaurant made was unexpectedly tasty and we went to sleep as soon as we hit the bed. There was a direct bus to Udaipur from Kumbalgarh at 9am. So we had to get up by 8 and we should reach Udaipur by 12pm. But how I wish things go the way I plan them…

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rdb3

2010-01-20T19:15:00.003+05:30

Not complete yet.. pics not uploaded..

The train reached Jodhpur at 5:30 in the morning. What an ungodly time to reach. Deepak had again arranged a guesthouse and a car, god bless his soul for that. We went straight to it and went to sleep. We got up at 8, got dressed and left for our city darshan. First stop Janta Mishtan Bhandar. Deepak treated us to some really awesome pyaj ki kachori and samosas. Then we had lassi which was more like shrikhand. Filled to the brim, we went to bus stop to get tickets for our onwards journey. Viraj, Vaibhav and Deepak would leave for home from Jodhpur and Sunil and I would go to Udaipur via Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh. We booked the next morning 5:30 bus for Ranakpur. There were also buses in the evening but we still had to see Jodhpur so couldn’t catch those. Next we went to the Mehrangarh fort. It was an imposing mammoth structure over the blue city of Jodhpur. One thing I liked was that there was a lift (you need to buy tickets for it) till the top of the fort. So you could actually go straight till the top and start you tour from there. We did the same. We explored each and every part of the palace, took lots of pics. After hours of roaming around, we left. We had lunch at a place called Pokhar which is right opposite the Janta Mishtan Bhandar. The Rajasthani food was really good. I had a mini thali which had gate ki sabji, paneer ki sabji, raita and roti. Deepak and Sunil also has thali’s. Vaibhav has haldi walle matter which was very tasty. And Viraj: rawa dosa!!! After once again testing the tensile strength of our stomachs we returned to the guesthouse. The light during the day was pretty harsh, so we decided to go to the Umaid Palace Hotel around sunset. This is a palace which has now been converted to a five star hotel. Visitors can see only a few parts of the palace. For the hotel you need to have an advanced booking. But once again we got late and by the time we reached Umaid Palace, the sun was already setting. Also the entry to the palace was closed for the tourists. This was something we weren’t aware of. The palace closes at 5pm. We were very disappointed. We dropped Viraj and Vaibhav to the station and then went to Kailana Lake. It was almost dark when we reached there. We went for a quick pedal boat ride around the lake and left. The last stop for the day was a place called On the Rocks which everyone had recommended was a good place for a drink. Before that we stopped at this juice centre which Deepak said was famous for its pinapple juice. Taking the first sip I could see why it was famous. The juice was really awesome. It even had ice cream. Then we went to On the Rocks. The place was an expected surprise. It has an American style décor. The ambience of the place was pretty good. The music could have been better had the DJ stuck to one genre. Deepak left after a few hours, Sunil and I sat there till the place shut down at 11. We had to leave the government guesthouse so we took a room near the bus stop. We walked back to the room and watched tv. We had to get up at 4:30. Pata nahi kaise uth payenge… one advice for booking room: check that if the bathroom has water, does the flush work and most important does the bathroom have sufficient ventilation… I slept at around 2am. Not a wise decision. But obviously I dint know how tiring the next day was going to be, or I would have slept at 9 pm itself..

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Jaiselmer: Palace and haveli..

2010-01-20T17:24:00.009+05:30

Today was a day of sight seeing. We woke up early morning to click the sunrise which was not very photogenic.. so after looking around for sometime, i went back to sleep.

i woke up after 2 hours.. the others were already awake and the camel-wallas were busy finding their camels who wondered away at night.. Normally the breakfast is also prepared in the desert itself by the camel-wallas but we decided to return to our guesthouse and have breakfast after washing up.
the desert lines..

abbe camera idhar hai..

ready for take-off..

registan mein khila phul..

again the torturous camel ride.. in fact now i seemed to be getting used to the pain..

Then we left for Jaiselmer. Thanks to Deepak’s contacts, we got a room in a government guesthouse in Jaiselmer where we dumped our stuff. First stop was Jaiselmer fort. The fort remains open throughout the day but the Jain temples inside it close at 1pm. It was almost 1 so we took an auto till the top. The Rajput forts are usually situated on top a hill and have a steep winding road till the palace. The auto was climbing on the first gear with the engine generating all the torque it possibly could. I was thinking that if even once this guy breaks, he wouldn’t be able to climb again. And being India, there were loads of people on the road. But that's nothing which constant honking and hitting a few cant take care of. We rushed to the Jain temple just in time to see its gates close. The temple next to it was still open. It was dedicated to Rishabdevji/Chandraprabhu..

the carving inside was lovely..

the statue of Rishabdevji..

shucks, this one came out blurred..

the statues inside the main temple as seen through a window..

We took a guide for the rest of the fort. At first we thought we could manage it ourselves but when we couldn’t even find the entry of the fort ourselves, we thought taking a guide would be a better option. It was almost like a whole city inside the fort. The guide told us that almost 4000 people still live inside it.
the markets..

He took us around the fort.

we saw the weapons and the thrones..

abbe camera wahan nahi yahan hai..

sun blasting through the high walls..

the balconies..

overlooking the city..

the reason for the place being called Jaiselmer..

the rulers of Jaiselmer..

family tree..

jharokhas..

sculptures..

The best part was the roof. We could see the whole city from there.

from my "wide angle" lens..

the fort walls..

the three musketeers..

maharaja sunil singh..

mata..

the puppet shop outside the fort..

the view from outside..

By the time the tour ended we were very very hungry. All the locals recommended a restaurant called Desert Bite. It was a 10 minutes walk from the fort and the walking aggravated the hunger further. After reaching there we all started ordering everything. We ordered Rajasthani, Mughlai and even a chilly paneer. But the food dint disappoint us. The best was the Gatte ki sabji. Then we went back to the guesthouse to rest a bit. Viraj, Sunil, Vaibhav and I played cards. The game was court-piece which Vaibhav and I won 23-4 (this is just to rub salt on Viraj and Sunil’s wounds). At around sunset Sunil, Deepak and I left for Patwa-ki-haveli..

The auto took us through the narrow streets of the town, jumping over open drains and narrowly missing people. I could see the sun setting and was cursing myself for not leaving a bit early. When we reached the haveli, it was almost dark. Thank God I had a tripod (still some pics have blur). We hired a guide who took us around the haveli.
the work on the walls..

the temple of the haveli..

the sitting room..

the locks..

the bedroom..

the dressing room..

nice roof..

paintings on the wall..

a really old camera..

jab tripod hai to teeno araamse baithke photo kyun na khichwaye..

the turban collection..

and the royal perfumes..

the games room..

From the roof you get excellent view of the fort.

I would recommend reaching there just before the sunset.
closer look..

that was the end of the tour..
on the way out, the litup havelis..

Outside the haveli there are stalls of Rajasthani handicrafts. We bought calenders with Rajasthani paintings which we later noticed said “printed in Delhi”.
view from near the stalls..

Then we roamed around the market looking for a good place to sit and relax.. a view of the fort at night..

We had to catch the train for Jodhpur at 11:15pm. We sat in the bar near Hotel Raj Nivas and enjoyed a few drinks.

Then we took an auto, picked up Vaibhav, Viraj and our stuff from the guesthouse and reached the station. we had RAC tickets for the sleeper coach which meant we would be sitting as we froze in the cold throughout the night. In the train we got our RAC tickets confirmed. So now we would alteast be able to sleep as we froze. but my sleeping bag saved me and i slept peacefully and comfortably. Little did I know that this would be the last good night’s sleep I would be getting for many days to come..
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Jaiselmer-Khuri Sand Dunes: Desert fun..

2010-01-20T17:11:00.022+05:30

As I stepped out of the train, I was expecting an empty dusty station. But to my surprise the station was bustling with activity.

Jaiselmer; the beginning of a looong journey. The travelers (from left to right): Vaibhav, myself, Sunil, Deepak and Viraj(taking the pic)

The train journey had been pretty uneventful. Most of the time was spent in playing cards and passing comments in Hindi on the a foreigner couple sitting right opposite to us. Vaibhav was reading a P.G.Woodhouse. To pass time we asked him to tell us the story till point he had read. He very sincerely narrated the story of Mr. Bertie Booster, and his servant Jeeves and one Mr. Orlie Perl which we enjoyed with the added share of jokes from our side.
After getting down at Jaiselmer, we booked tickets for Jodhpur for the next day and immediately left for the Khuri sand dunes. The taxis on the station ask for Rs. 1000 for the journey. There is also a bus to Khuri but the taxiwallas will tell you that you have missed it and there is no otherway to reach there. So confirm once before taking a taxi.
view of the jaiselmer fort

As you leave Jaislemer, you come to a straight road which seems to come from infinity and end in infinity. On both sides is the bush infested desert with no population.

kab khatam hogi ye road..

Distance to Khuri is 45km. We took almost an hour to reach what looked like a maze of guesthouses. I was wondering if people here had any other profession but tourism. We had booked rooms in Badal House; a small but clean place which had been recommended by Lonely Planet and many people on various forums.

from inside..

We were greeted by the smiling Badal Singh. We immediately asked him to lay the lunch. What we got was some tasty bajra roti cooked on a chulha with a dal with seemed to have all the dals in it, along with achar. Although I don’t like bajra roti much but to a person who was having his first meal of the day at 2, it tasted good. After having a stomachful we rested a bit.
view from my room window..

At 4pm we set out for desert safari. Badal Singh arranges the camels and can also arrange stay in the desert in the night if you want. This includes campfire and food which the camel-wallas prepare. But he does not provide any tents. he will provide the quilts, mattresses and blankets and you can sleep in the open sky. Some of us where a bit apprehensive about sleeping in open in the cold. So we took tents from another person (of Mama guesthouse) who also organizes stay in desert. Badal Singh charges Rs.500 per person for the camel+night stay+food.
our ships..

powerdown mode..

We took a camel each (you can also have 2 people on one camel) and set out for the desert.
me..

First stop was a small shop were we bought some cold drinks and chips. Next was a well where the camel-wallas filled their water bottles.

colourful water delivery...

Then started the real journey. Riding a camel in an experience in itself. Imagine someone kicking your balls and butt alternately and simultaneously hammering your back and thighs. That would be somewhat close to what you feel on a camel.
the dunes in sight..

The “enjoyable” ride lasted for a good one hour. We crossed seas of shrubs and bushes,

climbed up and down big sand dunes

more sandscapes

as the sun was setting..

and finally stopped at on top of one of the dunes..

viraj..

The camel-wallas immediately started collecting wood for fire and started cooking the dinner. they tied the legs of their camels together and let them loose..

we explored the area around us and generally fooled around. is he laughing at our antics..

We were like a bunch of kids who had been set loose in a open ground after hours of sitting in a classroom. We were jumping from a dune to see who could jump farthest (Deepak and I almost fell face first into the sand), making drawings in the sand and even racing each other. After some time we got tired and started playing cross’n’nuts and complete the drawing in the sand.
the waves of sand..

our campsite..

the camel watching the sun go down..

Deepak's creation..

sunset.. dimaag ki batti zala de..

Vaibhav and Viraj were doing some R&D of their own.
me..

pakde rehna, nahi to bechara doob jayega..

the crests and troughs..

as they say leaving footprints on the sands of time..

like time, sand also slips out of your hands..

finally the sun sets..

As it got dark we setted down and started telling jokes to pass time. It was now also getting cold. Thank God I was wearing all the clothes I had bought. The camel-wallas were now busy preparing the dinner.

in the darkness i heard something moving in the bush and this is what i saw..

They set up a fire for us also and drinks and antakshari started.

In sync with the Rajasthani mood all the alphabets were pronounced ending with an “ay”. So ‘m’ became ‘may’, ‘r’ became ‘ray’ and ‘g’ became ‘gay’. The camel-wallas had made daal-baati and aloo ki sabji in dinner. We asked them to bring us some. It tasted good.

a group photo by the fire. some people just cant sit still..

The songs were soon followed by dance. My mobile provided the music and Vaibhav showed his Danceworkx moves and Deepak his bollywood style.

The tent walla came late at night with the tents. I was amazed how he was able to find us in that much darkness without any landmarks to guide him. He set up the tents and others expect Sunil and me went to sleep. Late at the night the scene was amazing. We were sitting near a dying fire with the embers glowering at us as if cursing us for not letting them sleep. The whole sand dune was bathed in the moonlight from a shrinking moon. You could clearly see the contours of the dunes as they rose and fell. Overhead the sky was wearing a blanket of stars which covered each and every inch of it. I don’t I have seem so many stars in the sky before. I wont have minded sleeping under the sky if we dint have the tents. We sat there till the last piece of wood was burnt and then went to sleep..

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the journey is about to begin...

2010-01-20T17:11:00.016+05:30

this is one of those stories which will takes its time in unfolding..
but believe me the story will be worth the wait..
here is a small glimpse of what you can expect..

the journey began in the deserts of Rajasthan..

through the forts and palaces..

to the quite beaches of Diu..

and ended in the streets of Mumbai..

the journey had that sunsets

and sunrises..

campfires..

temples..

sculpures and paintings..

local dances..

city scapes..

lakes..

nightshots..

some unusual local food..

and the posers...

so look on for the rest.. i will update the blog as quickly as i can....

Procedure for obtaining permits for Bhutan

2008-11-02T23:43:00.002+05:30

Bhutan permits for indians: go to the immigration office. It is situated on the right side of the road next to the petrol pump after you enter though the gate. Go to the permit section on the first floor. Take the form and fill it. Attach an id proof and 1 photo. Pan card n license not considered valid id proof. You can use a voter id card or passport. Submit it at the counter. They wil click a digital pic for permit. You will get the permit after few hours depending on how many pending applications before you. So make sure you submit the form by afternoon so that you get the permit by evening. Office is open from 10 to 4. This permit will be for thimphu and paro only. For further you'll have to get this extended from thimphu. For the vehicle permit, go to the road safety and transport office rsta. There give an application in the licensing section on first floor. Along with the application give the xerox copies of your license, RC, insurance and the immigration permit. Then you need to pay the fee (we paid Rs.50 per vehicle) in the accounts section and attach the receipt. Then the guy will make the permits which will be signed by the officer. Road permits are issued for 1 week only and have to be extended from Thimphu. Timing for permits are 9-11 and 2-4 and they are pretty strict about the timings. All office close at 4.

Mirik, Nepal: Where there is a will, there’s a way..

2008-10-12T00:13:00.012+05:30

Got up at 8am. Went to station and booked my bike. For a change I dint have to struggle. The packing and booking were done at a good speed. I talked to the porter who would be loading the bike. He said if I was there near the luggage coach when the train came, he would load the bike and take rs.100 for it. Else he will load it in a different train. I left my bike and got out of the station. It was 10am and my train was at 5pm. I had 7hours and nothing to do. I was touring, why sit at home and watch tv. I decided to go to the Mirik lake and from there to the Pashupati market in Nepal. I took a taxi, picked up my camera from the hotel and started. First the way was broken up. When we got out of the city, we entered the forests of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary..

Then there was an army camp. It was surprising to see a Go-Karting place there maintained by AWWA. Roads after that were narrow single lane and twisted passing through forests.

After many kilometers the hills started.

The hills were covered with bright green tea estates.

The roads were very bad. Good I wasn’t on my bike. There were only 25kms of hills but the roads were very steep and narrow. Even 2 cars could not pass each other properly. And since I was not riding today, it was not raining. The weather was lovely. Bright and sunny but not warm. soon i realised that the front wheel on my side was wobbling a lot. it was totally worn out and the driver changed it..

while i clicked more pics..

soon fog started drifting in..

Also throughout the way were beautiful flowers.

I reached Mirik at 12:30pm. I got down and took a walk around the lake.

It was a typical tourist spot with families enjoying picnic and horse riding..

Another pano of the lake..

Took a few pics and then we started for Pashupati market. Some more pics on the way..

Nepal border was 15kms from Mirik. Reached there at 1:30pm.

I had to leave my taxi there, cross the border on foot and take a cab from there to the market. It took rs.150. You can also walk but it was a tiring 2km walk. In the market you get clothes, shoes and electronics (mp3 players, cameras, home appliances) which were pretty cheap.

I got 32gb pen drive for rs.300 (which turned out to be fake and only 512mb). A Nepali rupee is .62 times an Indian rupee. I dint have much time and I left at 1:45pm. On the way back I stopped many times to click photographs. The clouds..

The flowers were just so beautiful that I could not stop myself from stopping again and again to take the pics.

oops forgot to shut the macro mode off. flower came in focus and not the cat..

more flowers..

still learning how to focus in macro mode..

Soon I realized that if I stopped anymore I would miss my train. We reached NJP by 4pm. I had run out my money. So first we searched for an ATM. An HDFC one we found was closed. An SBI one had a very long line. Another HDFC one had no money. Finally in an UBI atm I got the money. I reached the hotel at 4:20pm. Train was at 5pm and I had a room full of stuff to pack. Rushed through the packing. 4:35pm.. Picked up the stuff and went downstairs. Hotel manager had not called the rickshaw. 4:40pm.. Shit I was getting late. Rickshaw came, I quickly loaded my stuff and myself. He started pushing the thing instead of peddling. Slowly we reached the station. Good I had taken a hotel right next to the station. 4:50pm. I rushed up the stairs of the bridge and down to the platform. Luggage was heavy and both my hands were aching. Train wasn’t there. Thank god!! I put my luggage down and sat down. Then I realized that I had not had anything to eat since morning. I saw a food stall behind me. Quickly I asked the guy to make an omelette. I was feeling so hungry that I asked him to wrap it in a roti. Then I had some aalo sabzi with the roti. Tasted wonderful or maybe i was too hungry. Soon train came and I ran to keep my luggage on my seat. I had a sleeper class ticket. Then I rushed to the luggage compartment. There I could not see my bike anywhere. I asked around and they told me that the whole luggage compartment was booked for someone and no other luggage would be loaded in it. I heard some noise from behind and saw 4-5 porters bringing my bike. When they came to know that the compartment was sealed, they said they’ll load it in the compartment at the other end. So we ran the entire length of the train to the other end. There they loaded my bike and asked for rs.150. Bit more that what had been decided earlier but its ok. Then again I ran back to my coach. There was still come time for train to leave. I ran to the AC coach and asked the TT if there was any space in it. He said yes and that I could sit in it if I gave him rs300 extra along with the difference in the fare. So again I ran back, picked up all my luggage and ran to the AC coach. So finally I sat down and took a deep breath. The realization that the trip was over hit me and with a heavy heart I went to sleep..

Distance traveled in the day: 150kms
Total distance in the trip: 2716kms

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Paro-Newjalpaiguri: Keep on rolling baby, you know what time it is..

2008-10-12T00:12:00.008+05:30

I left Paro at 5:30 in the morning. It was raining early in the morning.
The only airport in Bhutan. sorry for the shake, i was in a hurry as camera was getting wet..

I was running short on petrol. But I found the petrol pump closed. The road till 10kms after Chuzom was lovely. After that rain stopped. The roads were now narrow.

I was going at good speed. The petrol needle was way below the empty mark. An army truck driver told me that there was a pump at Bunakha(14kms away). 20 kms passed and still no sign of Bunakha. Well it finally came. But no one was there. I was about to leave when a man came carrying an oil drum. He filled the petrol. It was 8:30 and I was 101kms from Phuentsholling.
Religious symbols on the way..

bad news from the heavens..

As I went on the road started getting bad after Chukha. After some tarmac road totally disappeared. Also it started raining. I rode in mud and water for many hours. Yup thats the road..

more bautiful roads..

I stopped in an army canteen for food..

I was pretty tired after the bad roads and rested for some time there. As I started again, it started raining. If the mud was not enough, the fog started settling. What perfect riding conditions!!! Totally wet, cold, having numb hands and riding in rain and fog..

i kept on going leaving my mark on the road..

I reached Phuentsholling gate at 12:30pm. After crossing the gate I took a long break. It wasn’t raining and I was feeling very hot in all the woolens I was wearing. I took off the raingear, the riding jacket liner and the gloves.

good bye Bhutan...

I prayed to god for no rain in the plains. Then I went to a mechanic and got my bike’s chain tightened which again was making all sorts of noises. While talking to the people there I came to know that there is another way to Siliguri from Phuentsholling and it was shorter than the way I had taken while coming. Also they said it was less broken up. But it was through the mountains. I was in a dilemma. What to do? Long way through the plains or short way through the mountains. But if the route through the mountains was broken it would take much longer. And main point was that I knew how the plains walla route was. For the shorter route I had to turn at the crossing after Birpara for a place called Binaguri. When I reached the crossing I decided to take a chance. A road sign showed that Siliguri was less than 100km through that way. After the turn the road was totally broken up. I was already regretting my decision. Also I was hungry. But after the bad patch came a smooth road. Then there were alternating patches of bad roads and good roads. But standing on the foot pegs I kept on going. on both sides there were green fields..

good stretches of road..

Soon hunger became unbearable. I stopped at a shop in the market I was passing and had some juice and namkeen and chips. God was listening to me today. So far no rains. The shopkeeper said it took them 3hrs to reach Siliguri from here in a bus. I relaxed a bit. It was 2:30pm and would definitely reach there faster than a bus. So I would reach before the dark. i stopped more frequently..

Soon I reached a place called Chalsa. While going from Siliguri to Phuentsholling, we had crossed this place. We must have taken the other route from here. I kept on going, waiting for the hills to begin. Well the so called “mountain walla rasta” had only 10kms of hills before Sevoke. On the road side..

next to the sculpture..

Coronation bridge in the background at Sevoke..

from the bridge..

I reached Siliguri at 5pm. I took a hotel near the station so that next day it would be convenient to catch the train.

Distance traveled in the day: 351kms
Total distance in the trip: 2566kms

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Haa Valley, Paro: Macromania..

2008-10-12T00:11:00.012+05:30

I got up and had a nice hot water bath (doing that after 3days actually...) left Thimphu at 6:30am.
view from my window..

Few kms and it started drizzling. Damn the rain. I had to stop and wear the raingear. After some time it stopped but there was no sign of the sun.

i showed the permits again at Chuzom and took the cut for Haa Valley.
the confluence and the chortens at Chuzom..

Roads were ok but narrow. Only one vehicle could go at one time. Many places new tarmac had been laid. It was so new that the air still had the smell of molten tar.
But still no sign of sun..

There were lots of flowers all around. Fields of flowers..

pink ones..

more ones..

I was enjoying clicking the macros.

The locals thought that I was about the pluck their flowers and started walking towards me(probably to beat me). I am sure they must have found it pretty odd when I took out my camera and started taking the photos of the flowers.

I don’t know why but in Bhutan I found the number of street dogs to be unusually high. Specially here.
The goood road..

cauliflower fields..

bad light continues..

pine cones..

Bhutanese religious symbols all around..

more flowers (i wish i had better light)..

one more religious symbol..

By 10 I reached Haa. I was really very hungry as I hadn’t had anything to eat since morning. Straight away I searched for the market and went to a restaurant. Only got fried rice and tea but alteast it was food. In the market a driving test was going on. Jitni gaon ki aabadi nahi lag rahi usse zyada loog to test dene aye hue the..

Then I went to the Dzong. On the way I saw this archery competition going on in a ground. Archery by the way is the national sport of Bhutan. Straight away I could see that these guys were not amateurs. They were shooting at a target which I could not even see with naked eyes. I person standing next to me tried a lot to point it to me but it wasn’t just visible. And the archers were hitting it.
The archer..

the target(see the white thing i have marked with the blue circle?)..

After watching for some time I went to the Dzong. First the guard dint allow me to take pictures. He was looking at me with lot of suspicion. He then called up some official and then when that official came, I talked to him. The official asked the full details of my trip, where was from, why i was visiing Bhutan, why i was on my bike. He told me that they were on high alert as their Prime Minister was going to visit the area. I took some pics of the dzong and of the many beautiful flowers in its grounds.

The Haa Dzong..

finally some flower whose name i knew..

Then i left for Llakhang Karpo.
A stupa on the way..

On a ground next to the road an Indian Army fair was going on..

A horse riding show..

Llakhang Karpo..

In the courtyard of the monastery the monks were practicing their traditional dance. Must be for the PM, I thought.

A monk who knew good English showed me around. There was a small temple which had a big statue of Buddha. He said that the sculptor who was making the statue ran out of mud when had made the body till the neck and the head was left incomplete. The next day the head appeared on its own by magic. Since then people worship this idol. There is another monastery in the area called Llakhang Nagpo. But I found out that it lies further on the way leading to Techu Gompa which was 8kms from where I was. I went on that way and saw that the route was a very steep dirt track which was going away from the civilization up into the hills. I neither had the time nor the will to negotiate it. But I am sure that the monstery must be situated in a very scenic location, surrounded by lush green hills. View of Llakhang Karpo from top the a hill..

I took the road which would take me to Paro via the Chelela pass. A 360degree pano from the top..

more flowers..

the same one without the petals..

lovely purple..

symbol 3..

signs of rain..

symbol 4..

prayer flags..

before Chalela all the trees were moss covered..

As I reached the top of Chelela, the rain became heavy.

there were many many prayer flags on the top..

some posing (i kept the camera under a shade)..

It kept on raining till Paro. I was wet and cold and kept on riding non stop.

I reached Paro and checked-in in the first hotel I found. I slept for an hour and then went to have some thing to eat. I got chili pakoras and samosa with chili sauce. Empty stomach, so much chili, my stomach started burning. It was 3pm, time for some local sightseeing. I took a taxi (in no mood to ride in the rain again) for Drugyel Dzong (14kms from Paro).
The wet roads and finally me not driving..

On the way I asked the driver to point out Tatsang Llakhang to me. It is a monastery situated 3000m above Paro and there to reach there you need to do a very steep 3-4 hours climb. I really wanted to go there but for that you need permits from the Cultural Ministry in Thimphu. Anyways now I dint have the time to go there. So I took a pic which was very hazy because of the clouds and the distance.

I would advise people going to Bhutan to keep one day only for Paro as there are many places to see and Tatsang Llakhang is a must see. I reached Drugyel Dzong which turned out to be a great disappointment. The fort was a bloody ruin. No roof, only walls. Not a great view from top either. I tried force some pics but nothing much to click. On top of that i had to wall uphill for some distance which also left me out of breathe. The entrance to the fort..

the interiors..

there was a big tower in the centre..

from the topmost point..

view from the outside..

the valley below..

Then i came back to Paro. The taxi driver also said that he always wondered why people went to see the ruin. I was like, you idiot if you had told that to me earlier I would have saved a lot of time and money. From the market I took pics of the Rinpun Dzong and the Ta Dzong.
Rinpun Dzong..

Ta Dzong..

The Paro market..

My camera memory card was full, so I went to the room and changed it. Next I found a bakery and bought a pastry, a doughnut and a cake. My stomach was burning a lot now and eating these gave me some respite. It was dark now. I went to a bridge I saw nearby and tried my hand at night photography.
The Rinpun Dzong..

The Ta Dzong..

The river..

Star trials on the bridge..

As i was walking through the market i saw an amphitheatre which was filled with people. There was a talent competition going on. Different groups were coming and performing local, western or bollywood dances or singing songs. Lovely ladies all around. After 15 days of seeing trees, mountains, valleys, lakes, road and old hags, this was the perfect end. My eyes were welcoming this change. Dont mind the shake in the pics. Shooting dancing people at night isnt easy even wiht a tripod..

These guys sang a local melody. Notice the traditional dress the singer is wearing. People in Bhutan are very senti about their traditionl dress. You will find everyone wearing it.

The crowd..

a bollywood number..

the local beauty..

traditional dance..

this dude did some amazing break dance..

more traditional dance..

By this time my last set of camera batteries also died, so rest of the show was for my eyes only. I went to sleep at 8:30pm. A long tiring journey tomorrow..

Distance traveled in the day: 189kms
Total distance in the trip: 2215kms

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Trongsa-Thimphu: The start of the return journey..

2008-10-12T00:10:00.026+05:30

I got up at 7. Actually I was woken up by the hotel attendant as I had told him that i would be leaving early in the morning. Lazily I got out of the bed, got ready and went to see the Dzong at 8:30. Warning: never believe a local if he says some place is at a walkable distance. And a bigger WARNING: never take the shortcut which they show you. Well I did both these mistakes. I left the bike at the hotel (even though I was carrying my helmet) and then took the shortcut. I ended up climbing down a steep flight of stairs which I counted had 204 steps.
The Trongsa Dzong..

At the Dzong entry there was a beautiful garden with many exotic flowers.

Some of the pics i took..

Now as I reached the gate of the dzong I dint know where to start from. So I asked a person coming towards me. He asked me for my badge. What badge? He said I had to show the permits at the entry and they will issue a badge. Since this was a government building, we could not just walk in like this. And I had forgotten to get the permits. He and I both tried convincing the guards but they dint let me enter without the permits. I regretted asking the man for directions. If I had just walked in, maybe i would have been able to see the dzong(as i had already crossed the guards while clicking the flowers). Again with the helmet in my hand and the riding jacket making me sweat I climbed up the stairs.
Bhutanese houses..

On reaching the market, I stopped at a restaurant which had the sign “Indian food served here”. Again I was hit by the realization that I was a foreigner right now. I ordered poori-sabzi. This is what I got…

The white thing is potatoes and green chilies in cheese sauce. Yup you guessed it right: Ema Datshi.
a children playing nearby..

After food I called up home. No news of the tickets. The agent was not picking up his phone. No option but to wait. Because if I got an extension I would have lotsa time and would be going ahead towards Samdrup Dzongkar (the exit from India into Assam) and if no extension then I would be having just enough time to reach back to Phuentsholling. Was calling home after every half hour but was still not getting any confirmed news. In order to save time, I packed up my stuff and loaded it on the bike. I boy standing there and watching me told me that he had seen a similarly loaded bike a few minutes ago at the checkpost before Trongsa. I was surprised. I knew Jithu was somewhere behind but how could he have reached here so fast. After sometime came Jithu, smiling ear to ear. We greeted each other like long lost brothers. His chain had come loose and after getting that mended, he had taken the same route as me. Then 86km before Trongsa after riding in very heavy rain and through streams of mud which gave hints of landslide, he stopped. The final confirmation came at 12. Extension of ticket not possible. So it was 12, that meant around 5.5 hrs of light left. 200kms to Thimphu. Stopping at Wandue (129kms from here) would mean a long ride (Wandue-Phuentsholling is around 240kms) next day. I decided to push it, to cut down the breaks and not the speed. I reminded myself that the secret to achieving good average speed is not riding fast but riding consistently. But soon it started raining. A quick stop to wear the raingear and I was back on the way. The only breaks I took were to show the passes.
The rainy evening..

One stop was at the Pelela top(70kms from Trongsa).

Many times I felt like stopping for pics but dint to it. On Pelela it was very cold and wore my woolen gloves and muffler. It was now raining intermittently. But some times the rain was pretty heavy. I reached Wandue at 4:15. Now around 70kms to Semtokha and about an hour of light left. If I could just reach Dochula before dark, I would have just 17kms of good roads to do using my acentric headlights. I decided to give it a shot. Non stop I was riding. Just couldn’t stop myself for stopping for the pic of these beautiful flowers.

But in a hurry it also came blurred. I rode, rode and rode.
some vistas on the way..

Sharp 5:30pm and I was on time for my appointment with Dochula just as the last rays of the sun were fading. 183kms in 5 and half hours with heavy rains and bad roads.. not bad man!! Now relaxed I went to the hotel near Dochula and had a luxurious snack of tea and omellete and toasts with lots of butter. I thought it would be nice to stay here itself but Rs.1600 for a single room was even beyond my budget for 3 days. But a nicely made place with traditional paintings and handicrafts everywhere and 6 beautiful women in traditional uniform smiling and standing at the door.
Some photography till the food was being made.. The clouds over Dochula (it was actually pitch dark when this pic was taken)

some flags nearby..

After having rested and taking some night shots of the valley, I started for Semtokha. I though I will find a place there instead of going back to Thimphu, because it is on the way from Thimphu to Chuzom. So I will save some distance and also not have to negotiate the one ways in Thimphu. Now I was riding slow and steady and stopping many time for pics.

Tried to take a pic of the Semtokha Dzong but without the tripod couldn’t get a good shot( i had a tripod but was too lazy to take it out)..

After reaching Semtokha, I tried finding a hotel but people said that I will only get at Thimphu. So again I came back to thimphu and started looking for a hotel. No hotel had a single room and the double rooms were costly. Finally I checked into this new hotel which gave me a double room for Rs.300 after negotiations. Tomorrow was going to be my last day in Bhutan. The plan was to ride till Phuentsholling and the next day to NJP. Due to the various delays, we had skipped many places which offered good photography opportunities. Foremost amongst them were Bumthang and Paro. The photographer in me wasn’t satisfied. He had been deprived his share of fun. He wasn’t ready to let me end the trip this way. So after another look at the Bhutan map and the travel guide, the decision was made. I was going to Haa Valley the next day and from there to Paro. This time the rider in me had to compromise. Now I would have to do Paro to NJP in a single day. Its around 300km. on paper very much possible. Only concern was that the roads would be in bad shape and so the journey will be a long and tiring one. Koi gal nai!! I will rest in the train yaar.. so with this decision I went to sleep...

Distance traveled in the day: 205kms
Total distance in the trip: 2026kms

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Thimphu-Trongsa: Reaching the dragon’s heart..

2008-10-12T00:10:00.024+05:30

I woke up at 4am. There was no sunlight so I went back to sleep. Wrong decision. Finally I left by 5:30 (6am local time). It was a late start. Also I had not asked the directions for further journey the previous day. Now I was having problem finding people to ask for directions. Once again the ones which I found gave unclear directions. As a result it took me some time, and again i ,managed to reach this stupa..

But I was finally on the right way. The only crossing in bhutna where there is any sort of traffic control..

My first destination was Punakha valley (77kms from Thimphu). I missed the cut for Punakha from Semtokha(a few kms after Thimphu). Had to take a longer route which led me back to Semtokha. A prayer wheel in Semtokha

Distances from Semtokha..

A few kilometres after Semtokha I had to show my permits. The officer was very interested in Indian vehicles. First question he asked was when was Nano being launched. Then he asked me the cost of my bike and started comparing with that in Bhutan. 17kms from Thimphu I reached Dochula Pass(3116m). A beautiful scene awaited me. On the other side of the valley, amidst cotton-like clouds I could see snow capped mountains. As I took out my camera, the clouds covered them.
Dochula..

the snow covered mountains..

clouds..

The pass is famous for its 108 chortens.

an angry bachha..

I continued, stopping ofter for photographs. I was in no hurry and was enjoying riding at my speed.
more play of light and clouds..

the grenary and the trees..

When I reached Lobseya, I took a turn for Punakha. As I turned towards it, I was having this nice feeling that im gonna see something good. The first view of Punakha..

It was a beautiful place. Shades of green, yellow and blue. Another pano..

an attempt to take a 360degree pano..

Confluence of 2 rivers..

what a place to live in!!

another panoramic view..

Although I was starting to feel hungry, I thought I will see the Dzong first. Dzong’s are the forts which now have government offices and the numerous temples. But they are huge places and without a guide can be confusing. You need to show your permits to enter a Dzong (so don’t forget to carry them).
The Punakha Dzong..

The dzong is located at the confluence of 2 rivers: Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu. The confluence..

the entrance of the dzong towering above me, making me feel like a small ant..

The place was a absolute maze. There were lots and lots of doors all around. I had no idea which one to go into. So I did the simplest thing. I kept walking straight..
The architecture was typical Bhutanese with decorated windows..

and decorated balconies..

and temples..

and doorways..

and obviously the colourful paintings..

I climbed up a flight of stairs. Reached this hall..

Then I say some foreigners (and I realized hey im also a foreigner right now..) on the other side. another window..

I climbed down and asked their guide. He told me that the temple in front of us was the only temple worth visiting in the dzong.

another view of th temples..

The priest opened the temple for us. It has a huge prayer hall. Along both the walla on the sides were statues kept in glass cases. These I think were the bodhisattvas. In the centre was very tall 20-30feet statue of Buddha with various other statues of varying height on its either side. All the walls of the room were covered with colorful paintings. I looked around for some time. No photography was allowed. I clicked many paintings on the outside walls although I had no idea what they were.
This painting i know is called kal-chakra..

or was it this one??

Oh heck, i forgot again..One place the guard said that the paintings signify the 4 directions. the paintings on the side of the prayer wheel are of 2 directions..

the third one..

After this I left the Dzong. As i got out i saw another temple on the other side..

It was 9:30am. Now my stomach was sending warning signals.
A view of the Dzong as i left..

In our country we people shift to different towns but here I came to know that the whole Punakha town had been moved from near the Dzong so some place else 10kms away. I went to the town. The lady at the restaurant I went to dint know hindi. I saw a packet of Wei Wei noodles in the window and pointed to it. She made it and that was my brunch. View as i started back..

Next stop was Chimi Llakhang. Llakhang means a monastery. I was told to park near a chorten in Lobseya village and walk till the monastery. The villagers showed me a way through the fields. I walked taking photos on the way.
The fields..

the colors of the crop..

my way on the highway..

birds flying around..

huts..

When I reached another village, I could not see any monastery. The problem was that here even the houses are build in the same way. So they too looked like monasteries. I asked an old man for the directions. He dint know much Hindi, but could recognize the name of monastery. He pointed back to the way from where I had come. I thought I must have taken some wrong way through the fields. So frustrated I turned back. It was a sunny day and was pretty hot. Sweating and tired after walking half an hour through the fields I reached back. Then I asked another man the directions. This one knew hindi and pointed to a building with golden roof on top a mountain beyond the village from where I had turned back. He said that was Chimi Llakhang. In no mood to walk so much and also short on time, I came back to the bike and rode away. You see the building encircled in the pic. thats the monastery. the village you see in the middle of the pic is from where i turned back and the village at the right with red roofed house was from where i started walking..

Next place to come was Wandue Phodrang (21kms from Punakha). Here again there is a Dzong situated strategically on top of a hill.

I had to show the permits on a checkpost. On asking I came to know that 3 bikes had passed about an hour ago. These must be the Mumbai guys. I dint go to the Dzong, just clicked some pics.

After the checkpost i crossed a river and the road started climbing up.. From the other side i saw these chortens on the riven bank..

the view on the other side of the river..

the view above..

As i rode one, it was afternoon and bright and sunny. I had started pretty early and was not feeling sleepy. Soon the sleep took total control and i could barely keep my eyes open. I stopped in a tree's shade, took off my helmet, kept my hands on the tank bag and my head over them and went to sleep. I think i slept that way for around 40minutes. When i woke up my hands and legs were asleep(numb). Refreshed i started again. Now I was heading towards Pele La(3390m). View on this side of Pelela..

A few kms before Pelela there was a diversion for Phobjikha, a valley where the black necked cranes migrated in winters..

As I was gaining height, it started getting cold. Also drops of rain started falling. I put on my riding jacket liner and also the rain gear. Pics at the break..

I made a brief stop at the pass top for pics. In Bhutan, there are no boards on the passes like we have in India.
Pelela..

As I crossed the pass it seemed I had stepped into a different room. It stopped raining. The scene around me totally changed. The long trees had been replaced by small shrubs. There were lots of flowers every where.

The valleys were shrouded in different shades of green and yellow. The rain had washed away all the dirt and made the colors lively.

I stopped frequently for photographs.

the smooth roads..

a pano of the view..

more greenary..

another shade..

and another shade..

i was riding along the river.. a designer bridge over it..

On the way i came across the Chendebji Stupa..

a waterfall on the way..

Now my destination was Trongsa(129kms from Wandue). Soon it was afternoon. Time for rain, which as usual was very punctual. I put my camera in the tankbag and kept on riding. It was 3:30pm and I swas very hungry. I stopped at a restaurant and had some tea and chips. I was 21kms from Trongsa. After riding few kms the rain became light and I was able to click more pics. I had read that I could get the best view of the Trongsa Dzong 14kms before Trongsa. I was calculating the kms and this indeed was true. the view..

the first clear view of the sky since afternoon..

Trongsa dzong..

A few kms before Trongsa I was standing at the top of the mountain and I could see the valley filled with clouds. Slowly the clouds were rising up.

the clouds now above me..

I could also see the sun setting.

I reached Trongsa at 5pm. I had wanted to visit a place called Bumthang, which was 67kms from Trongsa. That valley is called the Switzerland of Bhutan and is said to be really beautiful. But now it was almost dark and with the rains starting again, I saw no point in going further. So I checked into the first hotel I could find. It turned out to be damn cheap also. Rs.100 for a single room. Now I was taking great care while spending because I was running out of money (now I had average budget of rs.500 per day) and I could not find any ATM anywhere. Also nowhere are the credit cards accepted. After resting a bit, I went to the market for dinner. I opted for a Bhutanese one. Did I tell you that the most popular food item in Bhutan is chili. Here they grow a lot of red and green chili and it is liberally used in their food. I had 3 dishes out of which 2 were of chili and accompanying them was red chili pickles. The most popular local dish is Ema Datshi: raw green chilies in cheese sauce. The other dish was raddish, meat and red chili. And them there was rice and dal. The dinner really warmed me up. We Indians too have spicy food but there is a limit. Having raw chilies is in a different league all together. From Trongsa the roads forks. One way goes to Jakar, the main town of Bumthang and the other to a place called Gelephu. I asked around and came to know that we could exit Bhutan through Gelephu also. But since I dint have permits I could not do that. So I would have to go all the way back through Thimphu to Phuentsholling (around 400kms) when I was just 250kms away from Indian border (through Gelephu). Tomorrow my father will tell me if he was able to get my tickets extended or not. Tomorrow I will come to know whether I will be covering the rest of Bhutan or my Bhutan sojourn ends here in Trongsa and I will be spending the rest of the 3 days returning to NJP.

Distance traveled in the day: 237kms
Total distance in the trip: 1821kms

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Phuentsholling-Thimphu: The Bhutan saga begins..

2008-10-12T00:10:00.017+05:30

Today we finally get to see Bhutan. One thing you'll notice immediately as you enter Phuentsholling is the large number of SUVs and Pickup trucks in Bhutan. And its not just the usual Tata's and Mahindra's, you'll find all the SUV's from the different manufacturers: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Chevolet, Ford, Honda and even Kia. Toyota is specially popular. You'll find the full range of SUV's and Pickup trucks from Toyota available there. We left for Thimphu at 7:00 local time which by the way is half an hour ahead of India. Initially the roads were in a bad shape. Lots of patches of mud and potholes. few pics on the way..
first stop..

tired from bad roads..

first look at the beauty of Bhutan..

Indian Oil in Bhutan!!!

the pathetic roads(where Amit got stuck)..

more greenary..

butterfly..

Lots of trucks to over-take. Warning: People in Bhutan have a very very bad sense of distance. One person told us that the road was ok after 15kms. 50kms and we were still riding in mud. Finally after around halfway road got better. Atleast it was tarmac even if there were potholes. we took a break after getting the good road. an attempt at a 360 degree pano..

the whole country was covered with greenary..

and everywhere you wil find these religious symbols..

People told us that only Phuentsholling-Thimphu stretch had bad roads. In rest of Bhutan the roads were good. Lets hope they were right. Also the roads were pretty narrow. If a truck came from the other side, even our bikes had to stop or go off the road. I was riding at the tail of the group and we were riding pretty slow. After some time i started feeling really very sleepy. So much that i almost fell asleep riding and had to stop and sit with my eyes closed to let the sleep pass. Look at those eyes(pic taken by Amit)..

then i got down and roamed around a bit..

another stop to show the permits..

after this i was riding ahead and at a good pace so that i dont fall asleep. So when ever i could not see others in my rear view mirror, i used to stop for photography..

clouded sky..

About 11kms before a place called Chuzom a miracle happened. Suddenly the road became a wide 4 lane expressway. Such smooth road, I thought I had fallen asleep. If I had called that road in Sikkim silk smooth, this was as flying in air.

These last 11kms went in a flash. Speed of 60-70 seemed slow. We reached Chuzom. Here the road forks in 3 directions. One road goes to Thimphu, other to Paro and the third to Haa Valley. We had to show permits here. At Chuzom there is a confluence of 2 rivers; Paro river joins Thimphu river. Next to the meeting rivers were 3 chortens. One of them made in Tibetian architecture, the second one in Bhutanese style and the third one in Nepalese. The chortens..

Well im not speculating this. I had read about them in a book on Bhutan for the trip. As I was taking pics of the Chorten (which were being blocked by a bloody tree), it started raining. We put on the rain gear. Now having done this everyday and even many times in one day, I was getting pretty efficient at it. But Anup was still struggling. His rain coat was almost the same size as his riding jacket and it required a lot of struggle to get it on. The great roads continued beyond Chuzom and soon we were in plains..

We reached Thimphu at 2pm. Without wasting anytime we went straight to the Immigration office to get permits for going further than Thimphu. While driving through the city I felt something was odd about the traffic. Amit almost bumped into a car which was going around a circle painted on the ground while we went through it. But we dint have time to think much about the traffic, more important thing occupying our mind were the permits. Remember the government offices close at 4pm. We couldn’t afford another delay because of them. After searching for some time we finally found the right office. We had to fill another form and attach copies of our id proof. Just to save time Amit and me went to the transport office to get our road permits extended. After another round of the city and more searching we found it, only to be told that we will need the new immigration permits for the road permits. So again we came back to the others. When we got the permits we rushed to the transport office. Thankfully, the work here was fast. The officer saw our immigration permits and just wrote on the road permits that they were for all the areas as the immigration permits. 10 minutes and we were out. Now we were more relaxed and started to search for a hotel. When we were looking around in the market, I went into a shop selling Bhutanese paintings and prayer flags. I picked up a painting which I liked and was going to buy it when I saw printed at the bottom: “courtesy Government of Sikkim, India”. Well finding an Indian painting in Bhutan was irritating enough when I saw the next line: “Printed in *** press, Ferozshah Road, Delhi”. This was the limit. When an “original” Bhutanese painting was coming from my own city, whats the point of buying it from Bhutan. I no longer felt like shopping and went outside. Also now driving through the city, I observed the traffic more carefully. People were really very patient when it came to driving. Everyone drove below 50 in the city, in a straight line in the middle lane on a 3 lane road. They gave indicators even when going around a circle. There were no signals and infact I have heard that there is only one in entire Bhutan. At the crossings people stop for the traffic from the other side themselves. The people who want to turn left also stand in the line behind people who are wanting to go straight. This is when there is a lane of the road empty on the left which they can use to turn. Bikes also road in the same line. Also all roads were one-ways. If you took a wrong turn (as I did many many times) you will have to go a long way to the other end to turn and then come back to same place again. Also no one used the horn in the city (which was really good). So much traffic sense at one time was getting kinda irritating to me, a person who was coming from Delhi, a city where riding in the city is like playing RoadRash. The clock tower in front of our hotel..

After dumping stuff at the hotel I quickly left for the zoo. I wanted to see the national animal of Bhutan, Takin. Others also wanted to come but after resting a bit. It was already around 4 and the light was fading. So I started searching for the zoo. Not many people knew the way but sadly they still gave me the directions. After a long time of climbing steep winding roads and many times back tracking I reached the zoo. It wasn’t a zoo actually, it was a Takin reserve.

history of Takin..

It was a big park which had a fence all around it and a path going around the fence. Inside the park were a few Takins and many deers..

It was almost the sunset and hence the blurred photos. Takin is a funny sort of a creature. It has the body of a cow and the head of a goat. Also it wasn’t very photographer friendly. As I took one step towards it, it stepped away. The deers on the other hand were the opposite. So presenting the porfolio of the Takin..

As I started taking the photo of one of the deers, it walked straight to the edge of the cage, right towards me.

After light became so bad that I could not take any more pics, I left the place. I was on a hill and the way back offered some really good pics of the city.

I repented having left my tripod at the hotel. As it got darker..

a little further ahead..

Again i got totally lost and took a wrong turn and then tried to come back to the place but god knows reached where. I was standing in front of a temple which looked really pretty with the lights n’ all.

Then again I found my way and after many more one-ways reached the hotel. Today was the last day of the group ride. From tomorrow onwards we will be splitting group. Each of us coming from different cities had different dates of departure and now had to plan their remaining trip accordingly. The Mumbai guys had to reach Guwahati in 2.5 days. Their plan was to cross the rest of Bhutan as fast as they could. As Amit said: “guys!!! we are going to do a cannonball run”. Jithu had many days and was going to reach Guwahati leisurely. My plan was to see as much as I could without missing anything in the rush. Aim was to travel forward from Thimphu for the next day. Then if my ticket got extended I would go all the way till Guwahati and in case it dint get extended I would have to go back till NJP. So I planned to leave early next day at 3 so that I could see the maximum things.

Distance traveled in the day: 204kms
Total distance in the trip: 1584kms

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a total waste of a day...

2008-10-12T00:10:00.014+05:30

Nothing much to do today. We got up araam se. Me and Amit went to get the permits from the RSTA. But we had already left our luck in Lachen. The office was closed. Every Tuesday they conduct a driving test in which all the officials of the department are busy. We were told to sit on a bench in front of the closed office. I saw the officer who we had met the day before and went to him. He told us that permits weren't his responsibility and asked us to go to another officer. That officer wasnt even ready to listen why we had come to him. As soon he heard the words road permits, he directed us to another office which turned out to be that of the first officer. So again we were sitting in front of the closed office. Since permit timings were till 12, we waited till then and came back to the hotel. Next slot was 2-4. I dropped Amit at the hotel and went to higher grounds to get a better view.

me posing..

our hotel..

To pass time then we washed our bikes which looked as if they had just been taken out of a sand pit. Then all others went for a swim while i had some lunch.

Soon it was 2 and both of us again went back to the office. This time the office was open. And this time the same guy who had said that permits weren't his duty, signed the permits for us. Although this also required a lot of patience. First i had to deal with a junior who was so slow that i had to hold my right hand with the left to stop it from snatching the pen from him and making the permit myself. Then there was the lady at the cash window who took eternity in counting Rs.250 and making the receipt. It was a relief when the senior officer saw of standing and shouted at his juniors for taking so much time. But finally i got them. For details on permit process see page... After getting the permits Amit dropped me in the main marker and returned to the hotel. Since now we were international we dint have outgoing on our mobiles and the incoming was costing bloody rs50 per minute. Also the ISD costs were rs.21 per minute and that wasnt cheap either. So i crossed back into India and called home at the usual rs.2 a minute. Since we had wasted many days i knew i could not see everything i had initially planned. So i was trying to get my train tickets extended by 2-3 days. But tickets were not available and the agents are not reliable. My father said i will get a confirmation only after 3 days. So i crossed back into Bhutan and returned to the hotel where i spent the rest of the day sleeping and watching tv..
the sunset..

Distance traveled in the day: 20kms
Total distance in the trip: 1380kms

Procedure for obtaining Bhutan permits
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Newjalpaiguri- Phuentsholling: Enter the dragon..

2008-10-12T00:09:00.042+05:30

Firstly thanks to Anup for penning down the log for today in my diary. So here goes my version of his log..
The day started with Amit trying to wake everyone off the bed at 5am. Damn!! After the ride from Lachun with all possible pit stops: tire puncture, landslide, people falling.. it was too trying for us to get up. Somehow we managed.. By 8.00 we were ready to leave but the exit to the hotel was blocked by cars whose owners were no where to be found. We waited till the section got cleared. 8.30 we started the ride. Rode constantly. I had a map in my tank bag which i was frequently refering to. The road till Sevoke was great straight tarmac, then it got bad. Lots of pothole. Then after few kms a smooth tarmac came. Then there was alternating stretches of potholes and flat roads. What good speed we made on the good roads, we lost on the bad roads. On both sides the of road were huge lush green tea gardens..
the good part..

jungle boy..

the line up..

We were riding on the Siliguri-Guwahati highway. We left this road at point from where Jaigaon was 18kms. The road after this was badly broken up. We reached the Bhutan border at 2.30pm. Jaigon is the Indian side of the border. There is a gate where there was a long line of cars waiting to enter Bhutan and from the other side a long line of cars was entering India.

On the gate there Bhutanese police guards checking the cars and some people sitting on the ground spraying a purple liquid on the tires. This we came to know later was to prevent bird flue virus from entering the country. There were also an immigration officer who checked our ids and told us to go to the immigration office on the otherside. We crossed the gate and there we were, in Bhutan..
The gate.. Yes we are STANDING IN BHUTAN!!!

We parked our bikes in an office parking and Anup and i went to get the permit. There the process was simple. We got a form to fill. While Anup filled his form, i went back to others who were taking care of the bikes, to give them their forms. Anup submitted his form and took charge of the bikes and we all went to submit our forms. So need to give the form with 2 photographs and id photostat. Then they click a digital photograph there for printing on the permit. Then we were asked to wait till 4 for the permits. Now we had to take permits for our bikes from the Road safety and transport office, RSTA. For this we first needed the immigration permits. So we waited till 4.

Till the time we were talking to the locals finding out more about Bhutan. The level of literacy left me astonished. The guard of the office took the LP Bhutan from us and was reading stuff from it. Finally after a lot of efforts from Anup we got the permits. Then we rushed to the rsta office fearing it might close. Our fears came true. The officer at the office said that we were late and should come tomorrow. If this was not enough to make us said he told us that the roads from Phuentsholling to Thimphu were closed every Monday and Tuesday for repair. WE WERE STUCK IN Phuentsholling FOR 2 DAYS.. Nothing else to do we decided to live 2 days lavishly. We checked into hotel Westend Inn. Great accommodation for Rs.550+650. First thing i did was have a nice leisurely shower. Sun set from my room window

After others had also got ready, we decided to checkout the "best pub in town". It happened to be a snooker bar. We played many games with some rounds of local whisky. It gave a good kick.
the khiladi's..

the anadi's (look at the whisky dripping from his eyes)..

the champions in making..

Then we came back to the hotel and sat on the pool side with some more Bhutanese whisky. Then we had some great local food and went to sleep.

Distance traveled in the day: 167kms
Total distance in the trip: 1360kms

Procedure for obtaining Bhutan permits
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Lachen-Siliguri: What more could go wrong!!

2008-10-12T00:09:00.035+05:30

Menu for today was hard riding. Aim was to reach Phuentsholling today. But somehow we dint show any urgency. We started at 8.30. Since most of the ride was downhill, the ride was faster. A board on the way. I totally agree with this..

But fate had something else in store for us. 4kms after Chumthang there was very very long line of cars. Stopping the cars was landslide.

The bull dozer was clearing it but we were told it'll take atleast 4hours to clear.

By now sun had come out and it was getting really hot. After many days we had this much warmth. Firstly we took off all the woolens. Then i remembered the wet clothes in my bag. I quickly took them out and put them on the bike to dry.

view around..

waiting in the sun..

macro..

fooling around to pass time..

mischief written all over the face..

Lot of bakar done, pics clicked, clothes dried, now what to do. Of course this..

I put the iner liners and riding jackets and made a small hut for myself to rest. Actually original intention was to make it big enough so that 3 people could sit and play cards but finally there was place for just one.
For 2hours we were stuck there. At 12.30 there way was cleared. We quickly got ready as we were standing in front of a long line of cars. If they overtook us, overtaking them again would be a painful job. But immediately after crossing the landslide, we had to stop. Amit had not put his gear on. God knows why he was sitting and watching when we were getting ready. Now we had a long line of taxis and buses to overtake. I stopped counting after 21. Soon it started raining. Another stop to put on the rain gear. Then onwards it rained for sometime, then stopped and then rained but no sign of sun. 4kms before Mangan, come another blow to our average speed. Anup had a flat tire. They were carrying spare tube, pump and tools to open the tire but dint have the tools to take out the tube. I took Amit's bike and got a mechanic from Mangan. Then we stopped at Mangan for lunch. Jithu and I got our bike's chain tightened and front break pads replaced. Now the bike was not making funny noises. After a leisurely lunch we set off again. It was raining. We filled petrol in the bikes. Talking to the locals we came to know that there was a way from Mangan to Singtam which by which we could bypass Gangtok. After Singtam we would rejoin the Mangan-Gangtok-Siliguri highway. This could save us a lot of time as going through Gangtok would mean wasting time in the long traffic jams. Also this route was shorter. We had come from the roue pointed by the following board. Now we went straight from this milestone..

But after a few kms this dint seem a good idea. Saying the roads were bad would be an understatement. The worst one of my life. Thankfully this was till a place called Dikchu. After that we got one of the smoothest roads iv ridden on. A wide 4 lane road. It was so smooth that you felt you were riding in a limo. It was starting to get dark but only 30km left to the main highway. Since we were going at more than 60-70, it wont take much time. We were crossing a bridge, when my nose starting itching. I left the handle, raised my visor and started scratching my nose. Wham!! And before i could take my hand out of the helmet, i realized i was on my hands and knees. I quickly got up and saw that the whole bridge was covered with wet mud and my bike was on top of a thick patch. No damage to me but i broke a clutch lever. Another delay. Now it was totally dark and in torch light i changed it. Good i carry a spare one. It took around 20-30mins. We started again but now we were riding cautiously. My headlight had become acentric. I could not see on the right side. Jithu saw this and guided me by riding on my right. God bless him. Now it was raining hard. We reached Sevoke at 9.30. There was a train track on the way. As our luck had been on the day, i couldnt expect anything else. The signal was red and the gate was closed. The train came after a long time and to our suprise stopped. After a long wait came another train. It passes, then the first one went. Finally we reached Siliguri at 11.

Distance traveled in the day: 206kms
Total distance in the trip: 1193kms

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