Standard disclaimer – the post IS long, yet amusing :) Read at your own peril.
I seem to be in love with World Heritage sites. My last post was on Blue Mountains, a beautiful stretch of mountains near Sydney. This post is based on my experience at the Valley of Flowers (addressed VoF in further sections) and nearby areas in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayas. While both of the sites are beautiful World Heritage sites, VoF was way beyond any competition from the Blue Mountains. I was alone at Blue Mountains – however this time around I was accompanied by Lopa, my wife – and Nupur & Prem, our friends. The company made the journey much more engaging and memorable.
Planning
I have heard many people say that an unplanned trip is the best one. I agree to a certain extent – however there are a few disclaimers for that statement to hold true. One – you need to have ample time (go and check how many “privilege” leaves you have gathered, and in case you have sufficient – go woo your manager). Two – you need to be able to spend as much money as you can (you have a choice here, hack your way to an Ambani bank account, or start minting money). Considering the fact that aam aadmi has no provisions to satisfy either one of the above criteria, we had to plan!
The first major assignment was to time our trip. VoF is in full bloom for a few months only – namely, from July to September. Even in these three months, the bloom reduces towards the end of the period. Our planning started when I was still rooted in Sydney, trying to complete my project commitment there. Lopa and Nupur are to be credited with coming up with the idea of going to the VoF – I had never heard of the place (so much so for being a lover of travel, nature, and all such fancy terms). I blindly said a yes – before finding out the valley is somewhere in Himalayas. Arranging logistics for such a trip is time consuming, and at times impossible when you have to plan it for four individuals who work in separate firms. I was always available (find out why) – but the other three had limited leaves, and had to let their managers know about their plans well in advance. We zoomed in on two sets of dates, around the Aug 15th period (it was a long weekend) and another around the end of August/ beginning of September period. The logic behind the second set of dates was availability of hotel rooms in that period, for we feared there will be too many people in the long weekend around August 15th, the Indian Independence Day.
Once we decided the period of visit, it was now time to do some budgeting for the trip. Travel from Bangalore to Uttaranchal meant we had to touch-base Delhi. Nearest airport was Delhi, and therefore we had no other alternative. It was also the bulk of our expenses. Traveling on train to and fro was out of question, because we did not have those many days. So we decided we will go on plane and return on a train. The next major expense was the travel from Delhi to VoF and back. We had ideas about hiring a taxi, and taking it all the way. The trip involved trekking for three days – so the vehicle would have been idle for better part of three days. It puffed up the figures in the excel sheet, and we made frantic calls to several tour operators to check if there was a cheaper alternative. One tour operator surprised us all by quoting 20k per head for an all expenses trip to VoF from Delhi. In comparison – we had a budget of 25-30k for all four of us at max!! There was a bus tour available from GMVNL (the state tourism department) – and it departed from Haridwar. It seemed a feasible idea, but it would have restricted us in terms of how much time we wanted to spend in a particular place. At the end of it – we decided we will just plan for the to and fro trip to Delhi – and beyond that, we will take it as it comes.
Bangalore-Delhi-Haridwar
Finally the D-day arrived and we embarked on our journey. It was an early morning flight to Delhi, and we had booked a Meru cab for the 60 km airport trip. The driver drove fast and steadily and we arrived at the airport in fairly quick time. We slept on the flight and arrived at Delhi. It was Independence Day, and we feared several sections of the streets of Delhi will be blocked. However a pre-paid taxi from the Airport to Kashmere Gate Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) took us hardly 35-40 minutes. We had planned to take a bus to Haridwar – a distance of 250 odd kilometers – as this was the cheapest way to get there. There was a train, but it was booked well in advance.
The ISBT was – well, a typical bus terminus of any Indian city. It was crowded, it was dirty, and it was full of commotion. Streaks of black water (drain water?), mud, littered pavements, and foul smelling atmosphere sagged our enthusiasm. The sweltering weather did not help us either – almost draining out the spirits of Nupur – she was dehydrated. And when we finally found the right spot to catch a bus to Haridwar/Rishikesh – we were traumatized to see the jam-packed bus that came in. The law of the land seemed to be favouring the “first-come-first-serve” approach to grab a seat. You had to run to get the first available seat – and even then rest assured the bus will be cramped up to its limit – with people occupying every square inch of space available. Getting a seat was a luxury – people were ready to stand on the space between seats, on the steps of the bus, and some even on the ladder behind the bus.
We decided to abort the bus trip – and started looking for a taxi that can take us to Haridwar. It was then that the infamous rogues of Delhi started coming to their own. This is a publicly known aspect, and I have experienced this on my own – cheats/thugs rule in this part of the world. Every other person we met in the terminus claimed to have a taxi ready to get us to Haridwar – they just wanted a cut. That it was an Independence Day, and taxis were impossible to find was another story. They quoted random prices; all they wanted was some “bakra”. After much of haggling and much more of nuisance, we finally found a group of auto rickshaw men – who claimed they could arrange a taxi for us. A few phone calls exchanged and off we went to another place (presumably Karol Bagh) in an auto rickshaw. This was where the travel agent was located – who could give us a taxi for the Haridwar trip.
The taxi – a red Maruti 800 – seemed it required a servicing for at least a decade and a half. It was the only option available – and we took it for 2000 bucks. The roads that led out of Delhi were horrendous – and were a sharp contrast to the roads within Delhi. With the classy Maruti touching top speeds of 40 km per hour – our dreams of roaming around Haridwar in the evening were remote. A tyre puncture (thankfully we had lunch at that time) well and truly dashed our hopes and we barely made it to Haridwar around 8-8.30 in the evening. The ride took us approximately 7-8 hours – it was the slowest and most agonizing stretch of 250 kms that we will ever have. We cursed our way to a small inexpensive hotel – who repeatedly asked for valid proofs to ensure we were married couples! Apparently in this part of the world – couples sneak into budget rooms for a night to get a few hours of pleasure – not that it is wrong, however deriving business from pleasure is – and that is what the hotel owners were trying to curb.
We freshened up – and strolled around to reach the famous hari-ki-pauri ghat. There were other temples in nearby hillocks which were closed by that time of the night. Some prayers and chants were flowing through the evening air, as we gazed down at river Ganga – this was supposed to be one of the holiest Hindu places of the world. We had to leave early next morning, our next destination was Joshimath – and it was 270 km from Haridwar. We enquired about possible ways of reaching the place – there was a GMVNL bus the next morning from the bus stop. We booked four seats for 1200 rupees and rested for the night.
Haridwar-Joshimath
The morning after saw us more enthusiastic. The dull Delhi car ride was behind us – and we were looking forward to a more picturesque journey – now that we had left the plains behind. We reached the bus stop before time, and saw a line of buses – similar to the ones we saw at the ISBT. Only there were not many people – just a bigger group of 8-10 men, and we four. It had started drizzling by the time we reached the bus stop. Before the bus started, we took our breakfast from a thela – poori-bhaji and tea. We kept our bigger bags in the bus trunk – if I may call it so – and sat comfortably in our seats. Lopa felt it was not necessary to put the bags behind, and we could have kept them near our feet. But I thought it would be much more comfortable with us being able to spread our legs if necessary.
The bus moved out of Haridwar – and houses, hotels, businesses lined the road till Rishikesh on almost a continuous basis. Rishikesh is famous for its Laxman jhula, and is another famous Hindu religious destination. Catching glimpses of the Laxman jhula, we proceeded forward and the road started winding through the hills. River Ganga was right next to the road, and the steep views from the bus to the river below were both thrilling as well as frightening. Just as we left Rishikesh town, we encountered a minor landslide. A huge boulder had crashed down the slopes above – and was smack in the middle of the road. My father had been to Rishikesh earlier, and he had warned me about this time of the year being prone to landslides. But we did not have a choice – this was high-season for VoF, and there was no way we were postponing our trip. The bus stayed stationary for about 30 minutes, before the road was cleared by highway clearing force – these men are deployed all throughout Uttaranchal where landslides are a common occurrence.
Our journey continued, and all throughout the way river Ganga accompanied us. The hills were beautiful and Lopa filmed a lot of spots on her camera. This was the start of the high activity week for the camera – Garhwal Himalayas had many more pleasant scenes to unravel.
It was slow progress; the terrain was tricky and meandering. We basically followed the river’s source as we headed upwards. We encountered a lot of Prayags (where two streams/rivers meet) on our way and ate bhuttas (roasted corn) at Rudraprayag. Somewhere in between, we had our lunch at a road-side dhaba – and it was effectively the best resemblance of lunch we had for the next few days. As we neared Joshimath, we encountered some really bad stretches of road. Boulders were strewn across the roads, and we were all petrified! We had thought we will reach Joshimath before evening, but the mountain roads meant the average speed must have been 30-35 km per hour at max. There is a drive-ban from evening 8 in the hills – as roads are so narrow that it becomes very risky in the dark.
It was dark by the time we reached Joshimath. We hopped out of the bus, and stretched our legs. It had been a long day – and we had spent nearly 11-12 hours on the bus that day. There were a lot of passengers who had put their luggage in the backside of the bus. We kept waiting, as our bags were at the bottom of the pile – first in, last out! My bag was at the extreme end, and to my horror it was completely drenched with mud and was soaking wet. Surely it was the mud and gravel from the roadside which had crept in the bus trunk somehow, and my bag being at the bottom of the pile – it was the worst affected. All my clothes were drenched, and I didn’t even have spare underwear! The others also had a few clothes affected, and the need of the hour was to find a place to dry the lot. We found the GMVNL tourism hotel, and booked two rooms. We sprawled all our clothes in the rooms, and I cleaned up my bag.
I selected a few clothes and started looking for a laundry shop where I could get the clothes pressed. It was already close to 9 when we started looking for a laundry shop. Most of the shops were closed for the day, and the only few that remained open were small restaurants. There was a solitary laundry shop open, and the shopkeeper was reluctant to do it, since I needed the clothes delivered later in the night. It was then that I realized the “economies” of need-based-pricing. Since it was an urgent necessity, I was charged 15 rupees per cloth. I was annoyed, but I was helpless. I needed a few dry clothes to continue my journey. I also bought an extra set of underwear – they were unknown brands, but effective all the same!
Dinner was a few parathas and some dal. Poor quality food wound up the worst evening that I had in the entire trip.
Joshimath – Govindghat - Ghangria
This was a big day – we had to first reach Govindghat – and then trek 14 kms to Ghangria. It had to be an early start – the thing with mountains is – you have to start early because the days are shorter up there. And we had to catch the first “gate” on our way to Govindghat. The “gate” system means traffic is one-way in the narrow mountain roads for a certain number of hours – the next period of time is for the reverse traffic directions. Buses/shared taxis/sumos left Joshimath at 6.30 in the morning. Chilly water of the GMVNL tourist place greeted us first thing in the morning – and we walked to the nearby taxi stand at one end of Joshimath. As we waited for the shared vehicle to fill up its quota of 10 people, we saw the scenic mountains all around us. It was a majestic place and we all were excited about the trek. We wanted to reach Ghangria as soon as possible, and paid up for 3 additional passengers (30 bucks per head) to leave early. The twists and turns in the short passage (20 kms) from Joshimath to Govindghat took us approximately 1.5 hours. It was a bumpy ride, and treacherous roads and scary drops were commonplace.
Once at Govindghat, we headed straight for breakfast. We had no idea whether we will be able to trek all the way up to Ghangria – and so had a heavy breakfast. We met another group of trekkers from Pune at the restaurant – it was an all men group, and they were experienced trekkers. I thought we will get some company along the way – we realized later there will no dearth of people as it will be filled with Sikh pilgrims who were on their way to Hemkund Sahib. Lopa called up her sister and we cancelled the return tickets for additional couple of days of the trip – we were already feeling so good that we wanted to extend the holidays as long as possible!
We bought some raincoats which were a one-piece lengthy polythene dress that covered most of the body. At ten rupee per piece – they were inexpensive and a simple way to avoid getting completely wet. It could hold drizzle and a bit more – though torrential rains would mean we will get drenched. Four walking sticks (with pointed metallic ends) was the next shopping item. And then we started our trek. 14 kms being a long way – we didn’t want to take any chance with our luggage – and hired a mule to carry our bags to the top. We had to reach Ghangria early, as we had no information on accommodation in the place. We had read in the blogs about a GMVNL tourism hotel – but it was almost always fully booked. There was a gurudwara, but then we wanted a hotel for better comfort. The mule owner wanted one of us to go with him on the mule, as he was sure we will take much more time with our feet. But none of us wanted to miss out on the trek – it was a challenge we wanted to conquer.
The route was mostly zigzagged; the path was paved with stones, and a bit of concrete to hold the stones. It was good initially, though there were places where the track had mud and gravel. At the first bend, I had realized this was going to be a slow trek. The girls were a few paces behind us, but surely we were going to have a lot of stop-overs all throughout the route. The view was getting better as we marched ahead, and we frequently had photo-shoot sessions. With no rains – we were enjoying our trek. We were virtually following a stream as we went up the mountains. Numerous villages lined up the trekking path, with small shanties selling raincoats, walking sticks, and food! The staple food for this part of the world seemed Maggie – almost everywhere it was the only snack in offer. And yes, it was priced 30 bucks per plate! Actually we felt it was justified to a certain extent – the only way these people received any goods was through this same path we were trekking on – on mules, as there were no road/railways to reach these places. And apart from tourism industry, there was no other means of employment for the area.
The drizzle had by now converted to a steady downpour as we approached midway. We took shelter in one of the shanties, and had piping hot tea, and some Maggie. It added some more energy to our bodies and we continued our journey. The stream was gushing all along the path and was a constant companion all the way through. Just about 4kms to the pit-stop (read Ghangria), we crossed the stream on a foot-bridge. From this point onwards, the trek was extremely tough. Till this point there were stretches of uphill- and then subsequent downhill. But after the bridge, the entire path was uphill. Lopa and I took frequent breaks and stopped every 20 steps or so. Prem and Nupur went substantially ahead and we could catch up with them only at Ghangria. We were amazed by the stamina of Nupur – she has such a slight frame, and yet had the enthusiasm and the energy to march on with much fewer breaks.
Finally we reached Ghangria, and by that time Nupur and Prem had already enquired about the hotels. We finalized on one, and it was a pretty good room for 250 bucks per night. There was no fan (there was no necessity in such conditions). Power remained for only a few hours during day time, as there was no supply in these areas. Diesel generators were used to supply power for a couple of hours in the morning and the evening. We freshened up, and sprawled the clothes again hoping they will dry marginally. The weather was chilling, and the blanket in the bed ensured the sleeping area was a touch warmer. We strolled around the area later in the evening, and had some snacks from a nearby eatery. The entire place was filled with shops and hotels – there were no residential areas. When we enquired, we were told the town remains open only for three months in the year – the rest of the time it is entirely covered with 8-12 feet of snow. And all the hoteliers and shopkeepers came from different places during the “season” to set shop and earn some money from the tourists.
Valley of Flowers
We woke up a tad bit later than the past few days because the trek to VoF from Ghangria was only 3 km one way. Lazily we woke up and had our breakfast of Aloo Parathas from our hotel, and proceeded towards the end of the town to start our trek. As I mentioned earlier, the entire town was full of shops and hotels – I took a jacket on rent as mine was completely drenched on the previous day. We passed the Gurudwara which was full of Sikh pilgrims who were on their way to Hemkund Sahib – Ghangria being the pit stop for both VoF as well as Hemkund Sahib. We had thought we will stay over at the Gurudwara in case we did not get a place to stay at Ghangria. The place was jam-pack, and we were happy we could get a hotel instead!
It was cloudy as we left Ghangria – and the initial few meters were as tough as the last part of the trek yesterday. It was demoralizing, and we started feeling 3 kms uphill is going to be a tough task for us – and this was supposed to be “easy” trek! Soon there was a diversion from the steps, and we took a left to enter the VoF area. There was an entry ticket of 50 bucks per person and camera charges. A detailed map of the area was also present, and the valley seemed spread over a large area. We proceeded further and the trek got prettier with every step. We spent a lot of time in the initial few meters of the valley. Small bushes with pretty flowers were lined up near the path we were walking on – and Prem and I were busy taking close-up photographs. Soon we realized we had to move on, it was pretty cloudy as such and we wanted to come back from the main valley before the weather became too bad.
Soon we encountered a small stream which one had to cross through with a make-shift bridge – the bridge being a small rectangular metal sheet over two large rocks. It was a touch scary – and I wondered if it would carry my weight. In spite of my doubts – I made Lopa pose on the metal sheet by asking her to sit on it while I clicked a few photographs – now that it was tried and tested, I crossed over ;-) A few more bends and then we crossed a proper bridge and the river was gushing down the slopes beneath. The river was fairly wild but it all added up to the overall charm of the place. After this the trek again became steep as we had to cross a hill and get over to the other side. There were tall trees surrounding us and suddenly the landscape had changed from open views of hills faraway to dense jungle setting with much less sunlight pouring in.
Again, after crossing the hill we came across wide open spaces and beautiful views. It had started drizzling but nothing deterred us. Actually the drizzle ensured that were not tired at all. There were a lot of people who were going to VoF – but it was not as crowded as it was when we had trekked to Ghangria. The major lot goes to Hemkund Sahib, probably the second most religious spot for Sikhs after Amritsar’s Golden Temple. We saw a few foreigners as we trekked along – VoF is a popular destination, both among Indians and foreigners alike.
Soon we encountered a glacier – it was the first time I was seeing a glacier. Most of it was melted as the river gushed right through it. We were on one side of the glacier and the trekking path was now all muddy. At one point we had to go closer to the river on our way down the slope over the glacier. With no path as such, were on “all fours” as we crawled to slide down the slope – one wrong move or extra momentum, and we would have gone down the river with everyone in front of us. Thankfully, no scary event occurred and we continued our trek.
We realized that there were two major varieties of flowers that had bloomed all across the valley as we trekked along – don’t ask me the names, had I chosen botany as a profession, I might have helped you! We enquired people who were on their way back whether they saw more varieties of flowers. With most people giving a negative reply, we were a touch is disappointed – we had imagined various species of flowers. Nevertheless we moved on. Another small stream crossing, and then we entered the main valley. The moment we entered we were dumb-founded. It was a huge valley – with mountains covering it from all sides, and it was full of flowers! With a small path to walk in between, the rest was entirely flowers. It was such a beautiful sight – this must be something similar, if not better than heaven. Imagine - flowers all around – beautiful weather, clouds swirling around, green mountains surrounding the entire valley, and streams flowing down the peaks of some of them. What can I say - scenery par excellence!
We took a lot of photographs – me and Prem chasing down bees to capture a photo with a bee sipping in the honey from a flower. After covering a lot of area in the valley, we finally decided to return back because for whatever stretch we could see, it was the same set of flowers (contrary to what the map said at the entry to the valley). On the return, we were very tired. The previous day’s trekking had taken its toll, and Lopa and I had decided we will not be able to trek to Hemkund Sahib the next day. That was supposed to be a tougher trek, and the steep trek meant we were not taking any chances with mules to go up – for that would have been scarier!
Another set of snacks in the evening led us to a very deserving sleep at the hotel. Prem and Nupur were going to Hemkund, while Lopa and I were proceeding towards Badrinath the next day. We had decided to meet again at Badrinath.
Ghangria – Govindghat – Badrinath
We woke up thinking of the missed opportunity – we had come so far, and will probably never come back to this place – so not going to Hemkund Sahib was not a pleasant feeling. But the body, especially the legs, had given up. We parted ways at the breakfast table, and hired mules to carry our bags. Though we were tired, we could not gather courage to sit on mules – it was just not a comfortable idea. I was willing to sit on them – but Lopa was scared – so we had to abandon the idea of going down to Govindghat on a mule. We walked down, and it was also a tricky proposition because we had to rush down in some steep areas, which led to a bit of sliding. Nevertheless we reached Govindghat much faster than the time we took to go up, approximately half the time in fact.
We had thought that just the way we reached Govindghat from Joshimath on a shared sumo; we will get something similar on our way to Badrinath – which was again just 20-35 kms from Govindghat. But we realized we had reached at a time when the one way gate system was on and we had to wait for the next time period to leave the place. We waited on the road, sitting on a stone/cement slab without having any clue what type of vehicle we could go in. There were a few private buses (probably carrying people all the way from Delhi) parked – but those were completely full and did not take passengers for short destinations. Finally we sat on a local bus (well, I did not get a seat for a long time) and proceeded towards Badrinath. Most were locals; however there was a set of three foreigners who looked more like hippies.
The bus suddenly stopped behind in what seemed a long queue of vehicles. It was another landslide. I got down the bus to check how bad it was – it was another minor case, and some army personnel were cleaning the debris. The foreigner trio left the bus and walked to Badrinath – approximately another 5-6km from the point where our bus had stopped. It was a 30 minute halt, and then we entered Badrinath town. From the first impressions, Badrinath was a very neat town, and even at these heights – each and every modern facility was available – including internet! That was probably because it is a major Hindu pilgrimage, and also because there was significant army presence – with the China border very nearby. We found a good hotel – easily the best in this particular trip, and ordered a heavy meal. My shoes were stinking, with all that dampness at Ghangria/VoF. I trashed them inside a cupboard, and then we called up our respective homes to give them an update on how our trip has been so far. After that we both slept off like logs. We had initially wanted to see the evening aarti at Badrinath – but then again – you cannot do much when your body demands rest.
The next day we woke up early. We did not know when Nupur and Prem were supposed to come to Badrinath. With no mobile network at Ghangria, there was no way we could connect to Nupur and Prem. We could not even tell them which hotel we were staying at. Therefore, Lopa had contacted a common friend at Bangalore (whom Nupur also contacted later) to let Nupur know the place we were staying at.
Lopa and I decided to go to the temple. We reached the place after a walk of 10-15 minutes from the hotel. It is not a huge structure as one would associate with one of the prime pilgrimage destinations of Hindus. Nor was there a huge crowd of devotees that you would usually find in such places. However we did see a long waiting area with asbestos covering stretching far away from the temple. Apparently on peak periods (read ram navami, diwali, etc.) people stand in queues which are well over a km long! The setting of the temple was remarkable. On one side there was this river which had freezing water in it. On the other hand there was this hot spring geyser where devotees were taking bath before entering the shrine. My mother had asked both of us to take a dip in the hot water – it seems sins get washed away if you manage doing that. Lopa and I tried getting into the hot spring area, but immediately retreated when we realized it was more a public bath for men, with each and every guy in his underwear. The scene was messy, and we thought we were better off with our sins!!
The temple was relatively simple from inside, and our darshan hardly lasted 10 minutes or so. After that we did some bhakti shopping. I collected some CDs which had some history about the place and its nearby areas (mythological history). Lopa collected some memorabilia of the temple town. We came back to the hotel and waited for Nupur and Prem in the bus stop. They came soon and we asked them to visit the temple while we ventured further into Badrinath town. The place seemed a very neat and clean town and we were highly impressed with the facilities of the town. Everything seemed organized and the people also seemed very friendly. We even spotted a mini VoF in one of the bylanes of Badrinath town – though this time around the valley had only cauliflowers!!
Badrinath-Govindghat-Joshimath-Karnaprayag
We had some time in hand – so we had thought that we will go to Mussoorie or Dehradun whilst Nupur and Prem wanted to stay back in Delhi at their relatives’ place for a day. Either way we had to go back to Haridwar to proceed further. We took a shared sumo at Badrinath bus stand that was going till Joshimath. There was another family with husband, wife, and two children. They had been travelling for the past month or so and they had completed all four dhams in Uttaranchal :Gangotri, Jamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath and were returning back to Rudraprayag where they had kept most of their belongings in some cloak room type of a set-up. We were amazed at their endurance levels – they were stuck many times thanks to landslides, but they continued their journey, all to complete the four dhams. I wonder how some people manage to stay away from work for such long periods. By the looks of it, they seemed middle class or less, and such a long trip would have definitely cost them a lot of money. But they seemed least bothered about the duration of their trip! Was this a case of mind over matter, rather faith over pragmatism? If you know the answer – enlighten moi!
There was a twist in the tale a few kilometers from Badrinath. A landslide had stopped the traffic in either direction. Huge boulders of stone had blocked the road. We were about 700-900 meters from the road blockade. There was a line of vehicles on both sides of the blockade. Armymen were breaking the bigger stones into smaller rubbles. And an Army truck was involved in clearing the debris. Amidst all this chaos; one thing stood out clearly. There was a lane discipline maintained by vehicles on either side of the blockade. It being a mountain terrain, two vehicles juxtaposed would cover the entire width of the highway. And if that happens, there is no way a third vehicle can pass them. With one side of the road having steep mountain side, and the other being a mighty drop – this could have stuck us all in a massive traffic jam. Therefore vehicles were stretched out in a long queue waiting for the debris to be cleared away. The blockade remained for close to an hour and a half, thereby reducing our chances to reach Rishikesh by the evening.
The journey till Joshimath was uneventful. It was at Joshimath that we had to take a decision on what our vehicle would be. Hiring a taxi/sumo would have caused a huge dent in our pockets – and going by bus would mean the travel time will be extended by several hours. After much deliberation, we found another shared sumo that was going till Chamoli – which was a district headquarter. Packed into the back side of the sumo, we mostly dozed in this leg of our journey. It was quite some time since we had our previous meal. Therefore once we reached Chamoli we decided to have some snacks.
Our bladders were full given the jerks and turns of the roads. We started looking for a toilet – hoping we will find one of those Sulabh Sauchalayas. While not one of the Sulabh series, we nevertheless found one immediately next to the bus stop. It was a public urinal – and typical to most Indian cities – its stench meant we could not hover in the 100 meters surrounding the place. We had to find a place fast and we started looking for hotels/restaurants which looked decent enough to have a toilet. The restaurants were basically road side shacks – and did not have any toilets. We finally entered a hotel which had a man sitting at the reception. I enquired if we could use the toilet in one of the rooms. The man said a no – and it made me wonder if the rooms were full. On the contrary, the hotel was mostly empty. I even offered the man 20-30 bucks so that we can use the toilet. But the man was in no mood to listen. We did not have a choice – we paid full charges of a room (250 rupees) to use its toilet! We were very annoyed at the arrogance of the man at the reception. Instead of being co-operative, he had chosen to extract some money out of us thanks to the sorry state of our respective bladders! Nupur and I wanted to teach the guy a lesson – so in our anger, we stamped the bed sheets of the room so that we extract something worth the 250 bucks! To top it all, our snacks were horrible and we wondered if maggi was the best possible meal in this area.
The landslide near Badrinath had pushed our schedule a bit. We had to reach as close to Rishikesh as possible so that our plans for the Mussoorie-Dehradun could be executed. We decided to rent out a vehicle to continue our onward journey. It was one of those city to city shared vehicles which originally plied from Chamoli to Nandaprayag. We thought if we could take the vehicle till Rudraprayag, it would be good for us. We started bargaining with the driver – but he wanted a lot of money for going that far. After much haggling, he was ready to drop us off at Karnaprayag (which was in between Nandaprayag and Rudraprayag) for a reasonable sum of money.
Karnaprayag was entirely different from what we had experienced for the past 3 days. It was at a much lower altitude than the other places, and therefore we could make out a drastic drop in the chillness of the air. There were two ways leading out from Karnaprayag – one going towards Rudraprayag, and Dehradun or Haridwar subsequently. The other was going towards Almora, and Nainital subsequently. The girls started having a different idea – they wanted to go towards Almora now. The idea was to reach Palankhet (mentioned in the movie Raja Hindustani) – stay a day or two – and then move to Delhi. Me being me - I was irritated at this sudden change of plan. We had discussed the Mussoorie plan so many times that I was annoyed with this destination shift. I vent my anger at poor Lopa – and unreasonably shouted at her :(.
The driver dropped us off at a hotel known to him, and we decided to stay for the night at the place. The tempera“MENTAL” me did not help in deciding the rooms where we had to stay. Lopa had not checked the bathroom and the moment we entered the room – we got reminded of the stench at Chamoli bus stand. We changed the room – and then after a cool down session through the night – we were ready to proceed towards Palankhet the next morning.
Karnaprayag - StopA-StopB-StopC….-Palankhet errr….Ranikhet
Once we asked people in the hotel about Palankhet and the possible means of travel to reach the place, we came to know that it is actually Ranikhet which was nearby. Apparently there is no place called Palankhet in Uttaranchal – whether it does exist is another story! The distance between Karnaprayag and Ranikhet was about 135 kilometers and there were no direct links between the towns. True to the traveler spirit, we decided to go ahead with the first available vehicle to take us to the next town – whatever it might be; as long as it took us further towards Ranikhet. These were shared vehicles – usually a Jeep or a Sumo.
This break journey meant we changed about 6-7 times in between towns. Each leg would cost us anywhere between 40-80 rupees for the four of us. The shared vehicles were jam packed – and we somehow stuffed ourselves in the vehicles to continue our journey. I don’t even remember the names of the towns – but we did cross places named Gwaldam, Chaukhutia, and Dwarahat. In the final stretch before Ranikhet – we were in a Jeep which was rusted all around and barely moved in the 40 kmph range. The circular mountain roads meant the vehicle moaned most of the time as it moved up some hill. Finally – the vehicle broke down and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately there was another shared Sumo passing through the area – we got into it and reached Ranikhet.
Stay at Ranikhet
As we entered the town, the Sumo driver mentioned that though not Raja Hindustani – the place was indeed a popular movie shoot location. Shahid Kapoor and his crew were in the location for some movie it seems. Well, at least we ended up in a place where a Kapoor had visited, if not a Khan! But there were no regrets – Ranikhet was a beautiful place with scenic views all around.
We checked into a hotel that seemed pretty dated by its looks. The facilities were decent and prices reasonable. We were told this was the off-season and summers are when people come by hordes to this quaint little town. Hence the rates were down 50%! Not that we were complaining :)! We walked around the place – ate veg momos and egg noodles at a Chinese joint. Got a trivia byte there – these guys offered only mutton in the non vegetarian momos – there was no chicken momo being made anywhere in town!
Tall cider (pine?) trees and vast spaces of solitude greeted us as we strolled around the place. It was a welcome change from the constant travel that we had been doing in the past day or so. We took a lot of snaps and fooled around doing nothing specific. I bought a pair of slippers because by now my shoes were stinking so badly that they were beyond day-to-day usage. With no more trekking ahead, I could use the slippers going forward.
Ranikhet-Haldwani-Delhi
It was time to move towards Delhi – and we enquired if any buses went to Delhi directly from Ranikhet. Like all other times, there were no direct connects. We were told that we could reach a place called Haldwani – and from there we could catch buses to Delhi. We took yet another shared Sumo – and passed through Bhowali, Bhimtal, and Kathgodam on our way to Haldwani. Nainital was just a few kilometers away from Bhowali – however we did not have any more time in hand to venture out to any other place. The views from the roads were spectacular all through – though we had descended down to the plains by the time we reached Haldwani.
We took our lunch at Haldwani and looked for buses to Delhi at its bus stand. Buses similar to the ones we saw at the Delhi ISBT plied between the two places. It was midday already and the sun was blazing down at full intensity. We were already a bit tired with our travels. Hence we skipped the idea of a bus journey and instead hired a taxi. It was a private vehicle turned taxi – and there was a waiting period for getting the actual vehicle ready. The driver had picked us from the Haldwani bus stand and took us to the actual vehicle owner’s shop. As we waited, I saw a procession of political activists. It was election times for college students. However the procession was more like a big baarat. I have seen student politics and such processions – but none like this. There were crackers being bust like in a baarat – and loud music and motorcycle stunts! It started raining by the time we left Haldwani.
We crossed the main gate of Jim Corbett National Park – and rued not having time to spend a day or two there. Having heard so many stories about the place, it was a pity not being able to visit the place. We had researched a lot on VoF and nearby areas – and therefore all these extras could not be accommodated in our itinerary. The rest of the journey was uneventful and we reached Delhi around evening 8 PM. A minor scuffle with our driver meant Nupur and Prem had to take an autorickshaw to their relative’s place from somewhere near Saket. The driver claimed the understanding was to just reach Delhi at one particular location – not drop people around to multiple locations within Delhi.
Stay at Delhi
After we got down from the taxi, we had taken a room at one of the less expensive hotels (it was actually a lodge of sorts). Delhi being Delhi was expensive – and the facilities we wanted (a clean room, clean bed sheets, clean bathroom, and maybe an air conditioner) would have cost us upwards of 3500 rupees per night! That was way beyond our budget and we had moved to a budget hotel at Yusuf Sarai in one of the by lanes near AIIMS. The place was shanty looking, and it had an air cooler. We were surprised when the reception guy wanted a photocopy of my ID card and a verbal confirmation that Lopa and I were married. Myriad ways of increasing security check it seems! And to add to our discomfort, the photocopy guy mentioned that you should ensure that the ID photocopy is not misused as such was the norm in Delhi! We had decided that we will spend the night and move from this hotel the very next day.
The next day we moved to another hotel – this time near the New Delhi Railway station. We had wanted to move near the airport so that it was easier for us to fly back – but then we felt the places on our agenda would be far off if we stayed near the airport. And either way the hotels near the airport were expensive by our standards – one even quoting an exorbitant 7500 INR per night! All it provided were the basic facilities that I have mentioned earlier – and the looks of the hotel did not convince me enough that it was anything more than a standard decent hotel.
We had two things on our agenda – do some shopping (Lopa insisted Delhi was a paradise for reasonably priced Salwar Kameez) and do some sight-seeing if possible. We had no clue how else to kill time – maybe watch a movie somewhere later in the evening so that part of the day is spent. We wanted best possible places to go for shopping. A few phone calls went to friends and relatives meant we had zeroed in on a few places. First we went to the Sarojini Nagar market. Lopa bought a few clothes there, but overall we were disappointed with the hype about Delhi being cheap for clothes. Maybe we are not the best hagglers in terms of bargaining, but still the prices were marginally, and not drastically, low from those in Bangalore. We then went to Connaught Place (Palika Bazaar) and finally booked tickets to watch a movie at the Regal Cinema.
The next day we booked a taxi to do some sight-seeing. Our flight was due only in the afternoon. We visited the ITDC shop and bought a couple of sarees (which were NOT good :() for our respective moms. Buying a couple of blankets meant we had overshot our pre-decided trip budget another 10k! We then decided to go to Akshardham and Qutub Minar. Akshardham was beautiful – we rued not having come in the evening as we missed out on the musical light and sound fountain show. I am still amazed at the amounts of money people pump in for religious activities, especially in India. The investment to create such a structure would have been massive, and it would have come from several parts of the world. Wish such an investment was also directed towards improving overall living standards in our country! Lopa was least interested about Qutub Minar because it was a very hot day. Post lunch, we went straight to the Airport because it was the only place at Delhi where we could sit in an air conditioned environment without having to spend additional money.
Back to Base
We had arrived well ahead of schedule at the airport. We spoke to our families in between and then finally took the flight to Bangalore. The entire trip had lasted 8 days and it was one long and fun-filled holiday! We rued missing out on a few places like Corbett and Nainital – maybe we could have stayed back a little longer at those places rather than spending a day and half at Delhi. But nevertheless – it was one of the best holidays that we have had for a long time – with Valley of Flowers being the highlight of a wonderful trip.
