Things have changed

Things have changed, and they have changed a lot in past couple of years. As usual I have been traveling like crazy, and have done some amazing things. But alas, I am too lazy to write about them. Since I last published, I have

1. Driven an 12 year old Esteem to Leh and back, climbed the highest passes and claimed the toughest terrain on it, faced a life altering situation and survived.

2. Then I did the sector again on my Bullet 350, the highest passes, roughest terrain, toughest conditions, conquered them all, and made some wonderful friends. Khardung la, Tanglang la, Chang la, Zozi La, Rohtang La, Baralacha La, Pangong, Nubra, Hunder, Spagmik, Chusul, Tangste, Agham, Shyok, Pang, Sarchu, Paagal nala, kangla jal... done it all and would do it again.

3. Drove from Delhi to Goa, 36 hours, around 2200 km, via Udaipur and Mumbai.

4. Went to Pushkar Cattle fair.

5. Took a bus to Dharamshala.

6. Dabbled in Photography and now loving it.

Been broke, made a fortune, fell in love, got into a relationship, got out of a relationship, made amazing friends, retained old friends, expanded my horizons, lived my life.

I hope I would not be lazy and would write some details ;)

Road trip to Deeg and Vrindavan

It was the extended weekend of Republic day and I wanted to head out on a looong drive, however wanted to go with my parents. Unfortunately my mom was not game for it (I was suggesting Orccha OR Bundi), however she agreed to head to Vrindavan.

We started at around 8 am; however the traffic was a revelation. I have never seen such traffic on a highway before. The road that usually take 2.5 to 3 hours, took more than 5 hours. So I was expecting a heavy crowd in the temples and really wanted to avoid them, I decided to head for Deeg instead for the day and next day we can come back to Vrindavan.

I wanted to go through Vrindavan - Mathura - Bharatpur - Deeg, however the first step, i.e. Vrindavan to Mathura was plagued with a monstrous traffic blockade, so I decided to take the alternate route and headed Via Vrindavan - Govardhan - Deeg.

Now one thing is for sure, that I am not recommending this route to anyone, crossing Govardhan was a challenge, was stuck in jam for like couple of hours in front of the main temple and after that the road conditions were horrible. Anyhow, we reached in vicinity of Deeg and came across the old fort, and my dad exclaimed that is this what you brought us here to see and I was speechless for a while. But after driving another couple of minutes, I came across a number of cars parked on the roadside, and that was something out of ordinary for that kind of place. And when looked closely, it was the entry gate for the Jal Mahal or Lake Palace or water palace, whatever way you want to interpret it.

Now I was not expecting wonders there, however still wanted to see it. The entry fee was Rs.5 for Indians and much higher for foreigners. Once we entered the compound, it was a pleasant surprise; it’s a sprawling complex of residential area, with beautiful gardens and buildings. There are couple of main palaces, both named after lord Krishna. You get a free tour of the same, it seems most of the furniture is used by the rulers is still there. Overall it’s a place where you can spend few hours to the maximum.

After that I decided not to go back the same way we came, and headed off to Bharatpur instead. We decided to spend the right in Bharatpur and head for Vrindavan the next day, now fiding a hotel there was challenge, the first one we came across was The Park Palace, looked decent from a distance, looked crippled from closer look and finally shitty from inside: D. Headed off towards the bus station and found Hotel Maggo, Rs.350 per night for a room, semi decent condition, a BIG ZERO in terms of service, but that was our only option at that moment.

Somehow managed to spend the night and started at around 7 am for Vrindavan, the road is in good condition however the fog was real dense and driving at even 30-40 kmph was a big challenge. Finally reached Vrindavan and went to Banke Bihari mandir, which was crowded like anything. I did not go to any other temple, as I have no guts to brave the crowds, however my parents did go to ISKCON temple.

Below are pictures I took at Deeg from my 2 MP mobile camera, so do not expect wonder, what I will give you an idea of the place. In my opinion this place is good to spend a relaxed afternoon, and at around 200km from Delhi good option for a long drive (Day trip).

Lansdowne - Uttranchal

On Saturday, 28th July, I was sitting idle, watching "Seven years in Tibet" on DVD, at 2:30 pm I got a call from one of my friends, Jatin, who like me was getting bored.

Suddenly we decided to head ourtof Delhi and first name that popped up was Mussorie. But didn't excite us enough. We were looking for something new, some new roads, suddenly I remembered Lansdowne in next 20 minutes our bags were packed and we hit the road in an Alto. I didn't had much idea about the route, however just a vague idea about the names of small towns on the way, I remembered Meerut, Bijnaur and Kortdwar..but was not very sure. But anyhow we were already on road and first point was Meerut. In the meantime I called couple of guys who are from Pauri region and they confirmed the route.

We started at 3 pm, however till time we actually crossed Meerut and clocked 90 Km on the trip meter it was already four hours i.e. 7 pm. And we hadn't stopped anywhere except of petrol. The traffic was too hectic to handle for a highway.

However after we crossed Meerut things smoothened a bit and drive to Bijnaur was a decent one. however after crossing Bijnaur the road to Kotdwara was very good and driving was fun. Its a very good road for relaxed driving.

We reached Kotdwara at 10 PM and from there Lansdowne was another 40 odd Km. I knew that its not a very commercialized place and was not sure of we would get anything to eat at that late hour. So we asked local passerby for a good place to eat and he asked us to head to 'Aangan'.
It was Air-conditioned restaurant, with an average kind of feel to it, however it was beyond my expectations for a small town at that hour. Jatin is fond of spicy food and waiter recommended Kadhai Chicken, so we ordered Half Kadhai Chicken, Kadhai Paneer and Dal Makhani along with Lachha Pranthas. I must say that food was beyond my expectations and actually was really good. The prices were very reasonable and we paid Rs.250 for the entire meal.

Details :

Aangan - Hotel & Restaurant
Badrinath Marg, Opposite GGIC, Kotdwara - 246149
Garhwal, Uttranchal
Ph : (01382) 224881
Mobile : 0-9837356940 & 0-9412081660

So we started again at around 11 PM from Kotdwar, headed for last 40 Km of the journey. Actually the hills start from there. 15 minutes on the road and we saw a pack of wild elephants creating a chaos on the road, not aware of the danger we passed them, however later realized that vehicles had actually stopped on the other side. Even the trucks were not risking the Elephants and then I thought about our small little Alto.

Anyways after another half an hour I got the hunch that we were not on the right track and unfortunately we were not able to find a single living soul for several kilometers to confirm the route. Finally we had to wake someone up from a roadside house and he said that we were indeed on the wrong track and we had missed a turn.

Now that we can see that Lansdowne was 10 Kilometers it should not have take more that 30 minutes. However things changed dramatically soon there was a very thick cover of fog. It was not possible to drive at more that 5-10 Kmph and that too with extreme caution. 4 Km before Lansdowne there was a resort, I don't exactly recall the name but it something like "Pine View Resort". We tried for a room there, but unfortunately none was available.

We reached Lansdowne at around 1 a.m. (Sunday), after reaching Gandhi Chowk realized that this place was truly non commercialized, as we were not able to spot a single hotel. We actually had to stop a passing car and ask from them if there were any hotels there. We were told that there were Fairy Dale Resorts and other was a Government property (Uttranchal Bhawan or something).

For Fairy Dale there is a road on that forks from the Left side and its a steep slope. Now at 1 Am, covered with fog, any road will be bad, but this stretch was as bad as they come. It was hardly 100-200 M but it was a very bad patch.

So at 1:10 Am our car was parked in the Fairy Dale Resorts, that was a relief. Unfortunately even after much knocking on the reception door, no one opened up, and we assumed that it was locked and no one was there to attend.

This situation was really bad, it was almost 2 AM, and we didn't want to climb those dreaded 200 meters in those conditions. So we decided to camp in the car and reclined both the front seats and slept there itself.

I woke up at 5 AM and went to check the reception again, this time it opened in couple of knocks and I was surprised to find that there 3 attendants there. I told them about the problem in the night and they simply said sorry and hanged their head.

Anyhow we took a double room, for that they were asking for Rs.1,400, however we settled for Rs.1000 as anyhow we had to leave for Delhi by evening. Since we had few hours, we simply ordered some breakfast and went to sleep. Woke up at around 2 pm and checked out at 3 pm. However once we started the car, we realised that we had a flat tyre, took the help off the staff and changed the same. Now there was another problem, we didn't want to leave before getting the stepny fixed, however the only puncture wallah in Lansdowne was closed and was supposed to open at 4 pm. We drove to the market, looking for a restaurant to have lunch. There were hardly any choices, there were three of them, Zaika, Mayur and one another I don't recall. We settled in Zaika. They were not serving all the items on the menu, and after much deliberation we settled for Malai Kofta, Paneer Do Pyaja in veg and Kadhai Chicken in non-veg. All with Tawa Chapatis. The food was extremely good, and was freshly prepared. It wasn't very expensive either and we paid around Rs.220 for that sumptuous meal.

It was beyond 4 PM and puncture walla was still not open, we were told that we can get another one 20 KM from lansdowne and it was on the way to Kotdwara, so we decided to risk the 20 KM and eventually got the puncture fixed at Dugatta.

After that it was liesurly drive at 60-80 Kmph and made back to our homes at around midnight. The total petrol costed around Rs.1600.

However the place did impress us for its quietness and lack of activity, we hardly passed any cars on the hills. And lack of hotels and restaurant also suggest that this place doesn't get crowded.