Day 1: The journey begins: Kozhikode to Haridwar via Delhi 14/05/2018
The big day was finally here, a highly anticipated journey was about to begin and everyone at home woke up all excited and pumped up! Sitting in the Indigo flight from Kozhikode to Delhi I asked myself about the idea of the trip itself, was it a fun tour or an adventure?(This is mostly done by people as a pilgrimage!) But the thought soon ended with the simple conclusion that the experience is exciting whatever it's intentions were…. The sandstorms and flight diversions at Delhi, the previous day had poured in worried enquiries and messages from all well wishers. For some reason it never really bothered us nor was it a topic of discussion. Nevertheless we landed on time at the Indira Gandhi international airport in Delhi. Now came the interesting part, unable to book an OLA outstation cab,we had to settle for a pre-paid taxi from the airport to Haridwar. The Google maps and gps was all set and each move of the unknown driver was watched with doubt,the bigger comedy was the communication issue! His local slang of hindi was beyond our grasp and our Malayalam jokes and talk should have bothered him too !!! The happy time I had was when my hindi proved to be much better in communication and as they say the man with a broken nose is the king when the people don't have a nose at all!! LOL! As time went on and with some extra time added by the Delhi traffic, the driver proved to be a fantastic driver and the GPS slowly started to get switched off …. And we finally reached our destination of hotel Ganges Rivera at Haridwar at 11:55pm and I sit here in the room typing my daily travelogue. Now the journey begins, the next 10 days through the lap of the Himalayas exploring the beauty and exploring possibilities ! Time to sleep now, it's been a very long journey (11:30am to 11:55pm) and longer ones lie ahead… as I slip into the hands of sleep I end day 1 ! (I have tried to keep this short… still it's long! Ok ya time to sleep ) !!!!!
Day 2: At Haridwar: The holy dip and the Aarti in the Ganges. 15/05/2018
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| Har Ki Pauri |
The first destination today morning was an Ayyappa temple here at Haridwar which was our contact here and further plans had to be made after visiting the same. The Ayyappa temple was located in a busy and narrow street (most streets here are crowded and narrow). A Kerala restuarant stood right opposite the temple and yes as they say “you can find a mallu everywhere !”.(The food was not really malayali though :|) We booked a car for the next 6 days starting from tomorrow which is the big journey into the lap of Himalayas (Kedarnath treck, Badrinath and everything that is en-route). We visited a few places nearby before returning to our room and taking a good rest for the big evening plan at 'Har ki pauri’ which is bank of river Ganga ! At approx 4:00pm we started for har Ki pauri. The stories say that sins are washed away after a dip in the 'holy Ganges ‘ and it's worshiped as sacred by millions of people in our country. The dip in the ice cold river was super cool to say the least and whether or not sins are washed away, it's a pretty awesome thing to do :)) It was followed by the Ganga Aarti at 6:30 and it was fascinating to see the number of people that had gathered to see the spectacle unfold. This is something that happens on a daily basis and you have filled crowds too… I could see people who were bhakths, tourists, locals, foreigners, north indians, south indians and every type of people standing there witnessing the Aarti of river Ganga ! Now the long sitting for the Aarti has got me totally physically tired but the mind on the other hand is totally energised for the adventures that start tomorrow ! Time to get some sleep as journey starts again tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning ! For now it's good night….
Note:
The food was awesome (especially the paneer ) at Ganges rivera and even the dinner at a local Dhaba was cool.
Day 3: En-route to Kedarnath : Dev Prayag to JPG palace 16/05/2018
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| Dev Prayag |
The vehicle which will accompany us for the next 6 days arrived 30mins early at 7:00am. Joining us in this journey was Sahib Singh and his Tata zest ! It has been a long 9 hour drive to Sitapur which is 2km away from the trekking point towards Kedarnath. On our way here,we saw some places which were both beautiful and amazing at the same time. The first one was 'Dev Prayag ‘ which is the meeting point of rivers 'Alakananda’ and 'Bageerathi’ which comes down from Badrinath and Gangotri respectively. As we moved on we reached the 2nd meeting point 'Rudra Prayag’ which is the point where 'Mandagini’ from Kedarnath and 'Alakananda’ meet each other. The natural beauty throughout the journey was beyond any poetic explanation or appreciation!!! Finally we reached Sitapur at 5:30pm.
Twist in the tale was that all hotels here were filled, and regret of not doing a prior booking swept through everyone's face as we found Hotel JPG palace which did have a room available :)) Another incident that happened was a place where fresh water from the mountains could be collected , it was ice cold and we could drink it directly…. The least I could say is 'Heavenly’ !! It always feels so good to go back to nature from all the suffocations of modernity, it is simple and beautiful ! Another important thing to note is that no mobile network has coverage at Sitapur. People tell us that Bsnl connectivity is available as we progress on the trek but it hasn't affected us and anyway I am staying away from all social networks for the next 8 days ! Tomorrow we start for the trek at 4:00 in the morning and tommorow's stay will be somewhere at Kedar, maybe in a tent !! Time to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow …. Exciting journey is about to begin!!!!!!
Note:
The same type of food and different oil has started to get boring but the quality has been good so far!
Day 4: Himalayan treck and Kedarnath dham 17/05/2018
Waking up at 3:00am we got ready for our big day, 'the Himalayan trek ‘. We moved in our car to Sonuprayag from where we had to move to Gouwrikund via a jeep. The real trek of 17+ KM begins from Gowrikund. There are options for helicopter,horse and Palki but we had decided to walk the whole distance. One thing to note here is that 17km in itself is huge and with steep and hilly conditions it feels double the distance. The trek was magical and totally awesome ! The first sight of Himalayan mountains with all the snow can be seen from a long distance as we start the trek and the moment we see it close by at the end of the trip makes it totally memorable and worth the pain of trekking. I have to say that the best part of the journey was the trek and drinking the ice cold water from river Mandakini. It took as approx 12hours to complete the total trek as we moved slowly enjoying each and every moment on the way. A standard way is provided for the horses and trekkers to move but for the sake of adventure we did take many mountainous routes . Reaching Kedarnath totally tired and exhausted we realized the truth that most rooms were pre-booked and in the ice-cold climate we had to find an accommodation(feels like this will be recurring statement :P). Finally we found a home-stay from a lady Aarti Shukla which had average facilities but for a body that had trekked for 12 hours any bed means sleep!!! Tomorrow morning we start our journey down and may probably opt for a helicopter or horse since we have a 5 day journey ahead and even today Amma had to opt for a palki after 5km! The most interesting part is that even after a trek of 18+Km(1.5Km after reaching the top towards main area) both me and pappa are pretty ok !! #Proud!!! Finally it's chilling cold which varies between -1 and 4 degree Celsius …time to get some quality sleep as the journey continues tomorrow!
Note: A totally stupid,arrogant and time wasting food dhaba incident too happened at night:
people usually become calm at himalayas, but for me it was about getting angry at someone after a very long time... LOL :P But yeah they were really annoying !
The oxygen level keeps decreasing as you trek and it becomes difficult to walk fast even for people with no asthma issues!
Day 5: En-route Badrinath : At Anu Sri Lodge 18/05/2018
The ice cold water at Kedarnath made it impossible to even wash our hands! Making things more problematic and at the same time exciting was the fact that we had no water heater in our room!!! Ya at 0°C we didn't have a water heater. But considering the fact that we at-least got a room is in itself a huge thing ! Thankfully the owner provided hot water and we got ready to visit the temple. The temple is surrounded by the Himalayan mountains and is at a beautiful spot. The helicopter services were all pre-booked and we had to settle for a horse ride down towards Gowrikund. The horse took approx 5 hours to get back to Gowrikund. In our journey there were rain scares several times but thankfully we escaped all that and reached back safely. Getting back in our car Sahib Singh drove us towards Badrinath which is still 100+KM away. Today we stay at Anu Sri Lodge which is on our route to Badrinath which is our next destination. The whole treck to Kedarnath has basic food and water facilities at every 2-3Km. We did see many people falling off their horses and getting hurt too! There are few people who treat their horses very badly and it feels bad for anyone to see the way the poor creatures are treated. It should also be noted that there are also people who take care of their horses. The trek was the experience of a lifetime and the view of the Himalaya is absolutely fantastic! There were devotees, tourists and adventure enthusiasts trekking along side ! Now comes the journey to Badrinath Dham, which was a starting point at my dream of visiting all these places ! Yes, the description of Badrinath and it's scenic beauty with Himalayas around it and river Alaknanda flowing with grace gave birth to my dream of visiting all these places! Tommorow the journey reaches Badrinath! Exciting, adventurous and totally worth it is what I describe the journey so far…. Good night… journey continues !!
Day 6: Chilling cold and rain at Badrinath: Health scare 19/05/2018
Waking up at Anu sri, we visited Okhi Math a temple nearby which according to legend is the place where Kedarnath resides for 6 months. The place was beautiful and simple, the temperature level at this place is pretty normal and was a big relief after the chilling climate at Kedar. The travel towards Badrinath was tough because of normal health issues that happen due to high altitudes and sudden temperature changes. The Badrinath climate was extreme with temperature dropping as low as -2 at night alongside heavy rain. The food is really starting to become a problem due to the different oil and a sort of boredom towards the normal roti,curry combination. The walk towards the dham at night proved to be an experience to remember because of the chilling cold and the rains that accompanied us. The moment when we removed our shoes to get inside the temple,ice cold crept through our feet and felt like an iron rode that was piercing through! If the usual high altitude health issues are kept aside it was adventurous, which it was meant to be! A notable incident was a spectacle shop at Gopeshwar. Pappa's specs had got damaged from kedar and had to be fixed for which we stopped at a shop in Gopeshwar, a small town in our route. The people there were really lovely and very helping in nature, we may never meet those people ever again but they left a really positive image in our hearts which is something goodness always leaves! (Food for thought!!).
Day 7-10: Return from Badri, 2 days at Haridwar and return to calicut via Dehrudun and Delhi.
I was unable to pen-down incidents of each day from day 6 due to a combination of tired body and laziness creeping through. So on day 7 we started our journey back to haridwar and decided to stay at Rudraprayag for the night. The drivers of this route has to be given a special mention due to the risks and tough roads that they have to drive. On day 8 we reached our hotel swagat at haridwar and the journey into the lap of himalays had been successfully completed. A big shout-out to Sahib singh who was a very important part of our whole adventure!!! The 2 days at Haridwar was spend roaming around in many local tourist attractions in haridwar which won't be included in this travelogue since it is outside the scope of the subject 'In the lap of himalayas'. Finally on 24th May we boarded our flights from Dehradun to Delhi and from Delhi to Kozhikode. A journey to remember, a journey that taught a lot and a journey to get inspired from......... Here ends another dream and here begins the work towards the next!!!!
Today as I look back at the whole journey , I can only say that it was the journey of a lifetime. The Himalayas left me with wanting more and as I left himalayas behind, it was with the hope of exploring it more closer in the years to come. The flame of hope shines with brightness about exploring the Tibetan and other sides of himalayas. A journey and the problems that happen within is helps us understand ourselves better and also helps us in understanding the world in different ways:
I conclude this blog post publishing the travelogue of the journey into the lap of Himalayas with my signature conclusion :Travel is all about exploring the world, lives of people and finally starting to explore yourself !
The Revolution of Love shall win !
-Sreesreshta Nair(SN)
Follow on twitter @Sreesreshta
note:
All pictures used in the blog are personally clicked ones and copyright belongs to teabreakwithlife.
Usual blog for the month is postponed to june since the travelogue is being published now!
Thank You!
Awesome. Felt as if I traveled the whole journey with you guys. Truly an experience of a life time.
ReplyDeletehaha! True.... a really interesting experience indeed :))
DeleteGoing to himalayas is always a mesmerizing and humbling experience. Glad you could to do it at an early age!
ReplyDelete:))
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