My travels

The conclusions

2011-02-19T00:54:00.000-08:00

I have seen the poverty in india as well as the harsh conditions many of us are living in. It seems like the max gdp is redistributed in the favour of the more fortunate alone. Yet, you can see that here in india, or perhaps anywhere in the world where there might be a scarcity, people don't need reasons to be happy. Perhaps its their only option, but yet I feel, that india is perhaps the most developed country in case of people happuness...

Lots of good wishes o traveller!

Trip Stats

2010-06-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

Total distance : 7450 Km
Distance in hills : 1006 Km
Total number of days (Pune to Pune) : 43
Total number of driving days : 24
Total fuel consumed : 606 lt diesel
Total expense : Little over 2 lac. It includes car servicing, diesel, stay, food, buying gifts and everything else
Cheapest hotel : Rs 300 per night
Most expensive hotel : Rs 5000 per night

Day 42, 43 (May-23 to 24) : The last leg

2010-05-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for delay in posting.

We visited Laxminarayan temple once more in the morning to see the famous wall paintings in it before starting for Pune.

It was a longish drive (488 Km) to Indore and a really long drive (670 km) from Indore to Pune the next day. Driving through MP is always very enjoyable. We saw a big dust devil on the way. It was extending right up to high skies. For a change, I did not sleep at all during this drive :)

We had heard a lot about sweets in Indore so we decided to check it out. We had our dinner at Apana Sweets. Sweets were good but not like those we had in Kolkata but the Khichadi (simple dal-rice based Khichadi) was very good. I am sure that Dal Baphala also must have been good but it was finished by the time we reached there.

Drive from Indore to Pune was quite tiring. It took us 13 hours of mainly driving to reach Pune by 11:00 PM in night. Our long trip has finally come to an end. It will take some time before we get over the trip and get back to normal life :(

Wall paintings in Laxminarayan temple

The entrance of the temple is made in shape of an owl, the "vahan" of goddess Laxmi

Family of four on bike near Jhansi

This is how we avoided buying bottled water on the trip!

Some "shayari" on the back of a truck :)

Dusk on a ghat after Nashik

Day 40, 41 (May-21 to 22) Orccha

2010-05-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

We spent 4 full days in Lucknow with my grandmother and Bade Papa. After Lucknow, we left for Orchcha.

On our way, we got a glimpse of legendary Jhansi fort. The fort which was made famous by India's famous warrior queen, Rani Laxmibai. We didn't have time to go inside though. On Sonu Chacha's suggestion, we decided to go to Orchcha in MP. The city is a historian's dream. In all directions, one can see fortresses, temples and other royal monuments. It has so many stories to tell, that one cannot fit them in the small area given in a blog. One of the interesting stories is that of Madhukar Shah. Madhukar Shah became the king of Bundelkhand after the death of his beloved king, Bir Singh. In all of his monuments the confluence of Hindu and Muslim architecture can be seen. The temple he built for shri ram has a distinct mosque like look. Still, the type of the arches show the hindu culture. Combination of two cultures I observe often makes things look very good. However, according to a story, Lord Ram decided to stay at the place he first sat. Hence, the temple was used as a Krishna temple. The ram temple was built around the sitting place of ram.

In the Jehangir mehal, we saw a Sound and Light show. Compared to Golkonda, the show at Orchcha is much better. The sound effects are extremely good. Lighting to is done in an interesting way. Best of all, we three were the only visitors at the show as this was off season!! I loved the place very much.

Orchha fort during Light & Sound show

Beautiful restaurant of Orchha resort of MPTDC

Orccha Rajmahal from inside

That is my mom inside the fort

Another view of the Rajmahal

Paintings on the walls

Painting of Lord Ram, Sita and others in Mughal style

It was baking hot :(

Chaturbhuj temple. Even this has Mughal architecture

Laxminarayan temple in night

Day 35 to 39 (May-16 to 20) Lucknow my second home.

2010-05-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

We left Varanasi on the morning of May-16 and reached Lucknow by evening. Lucknow is my father's hometown. I was also born there. We were initially planning to leave on May-20 but decided to extend our stay by one more day.

Visiting lucknow as always was a great pleasure. Apart from my grandmother and my fathers elder brother who stays there, there were quite a few other relatives also that were visiting which made the stay even more fun.

The brilliant Kulphi and Dalmoth are great on taste. We missed Tunda Kebab this time. I and my brother Bharat were busy designing a r.c. aircraft. We learnt that making a helicopter is very difficult with the hub, thrust, Jesus nut turning mechanism and what not. So, we turned from the Chinook to a simple airplane. Even that isn't simple. We buyed a r.c car and dismanteled it to make a remote control motor, rudder and elevator. Learnt how the Differntial works and spent a lot of time moving trains in train simulator.

Day 34 (May-15) : Benaras

2010-05-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

My third cousins (Pragati and Unnati)

Benaras / Varansi is a wonderful old city with a very strong character. The temples are intensely carved but due to over-crowding, it has lost its calmness. If you happen to visit Benaras, don't miss the Ganga Pooja. or Ramnagar Saranath too is a must see. It is the first place where lord Buddha gave his first speech. The museum too is very interesting. The ashokan pillar with its four lions is very well preserved. Antother great pleasure was meeting my third cousins there. Shubham, Srushti, Pragati and unnati. Meeting Dhadhaji too was a surprise. Juhi or Srushthi made great Lemon Sherbet. I didn't get to see her drawings though. Again, I forgot to take a picture of her or her brother.

Sarnath

Crowded road in Benaras.

Foreigners waiting for ganga pooja

Ganga Pooja

Day 33 (May-14) : Bodhigaya

2010-05-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

We decided to enjoy Bihar and not rush through it. So, after Nalanda we halted at Bodhgaya, the place where lord Buddha is said to be enlightened. The B.S.T.D.C. hotel was beautiful. It took some effort to find it. We initially gave up and went to a decent looking hotel called Siddarth. The rate was 5000/- a night with no guarantee of AC as electricity was unreliable. We resumed our search and finally found the BSTDC hotel. The rates were just 735/-, the location was much better and uninterrupted AC was assured!! I think people underrate government hotels.

We learnt that standard food like mixed veg too gets the local flavour.

Bodh gaya, is a very peaceful place. The Bodhi vriksha there is of the fourth generation. It is presently 150 years old. There is no problem of Pundas there, so the place gives a better peaceful effect. Some things are unexplained, for example, the question of what exactly am I? A constellation of thoughts perhaps, but you are something else of course to be able to observe it!. The answer of this question is what Buddha probably experienced.

We left Bodhgaya by 12:00 PM and reached Ramnagar before 5:00 PM. Ramnagar is one side of Ganga while Varanasi on other side. My father had spent 4 years in Ramnagar and we went to see his old college and house. We also had the famous lassi there. You had to fight through the crowd to get it. Other than that, I found it to be a peaceful place. Two or three peacocks had settled on a tree behind my dad’s old house. Ramleela takes place on avery big scale in this place. The entire city becomes the stage, and people who are rich enough see the thing from elephant backs.

Reached Varanasi in night and checked in a UPTDC hotel near railway station.

Small stupa

Bodhi vriksha

The middle column in railing is from Ashoka's time ie 2300 years ago!

Penancing monk

Buddha's statue

Dharam chakras

Thai temple

Sunset on Ganga in Ramnagar

Ramnagar fort. It belongs to King of Kashi (Varanasi).

Diving in to Ganga for a bath

Day 31,32 (May-12 and 13) : Nalanda

2010-05-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

We were initially planning to drive through Bihar quickly. That we learnt would have been a great mistake. For we would have missed all the major Buddhist pilgrims, the Nalanda university and the great food.

Our first plan was to go via Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur. However after reaching pretty close to Darbhanga and Nepal border, we realized that the bridge there had been washed away in last year floods and had not been built as yet. So we had to backtrack 75 Km in night to halt at Purnia for night. Decided to take the Maoists infested area tomorrow to Gaya and then to Varanasi.

Leaving aside the lawlessness(we didn't witness any), Bihar is just wonderful. We had to go through Maoist problem area as the highway bridge was broken. We halted at Nalanda. The college is of dimensions 5km x 10km. However only 500mt x 500mt of it is excavated. An amazing fact about the university, is that when a certain portion of the complex became old, the kings simply filled it up with soil and built a new one over it ! The university had all facilities, including baths and a proper drainage system. The door gaurds would ask the students questions. Correct answerers alone would be allowed inside the complex.

As we walked over the stairs of the place, I could imagine the great scholars running up and down the same stairs, great minds at work.

A simple house in a Bihar village

Corns drying on the road

A de-railed train

Restored drainage system from centuries ago!

The university

Big temple complex

Storytelling stairs.

Day 30 (May-11) : Gurudongmor

2010-05-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s walk helped a lot. I didn’t feel a thing while mom got a bit of headache because of altitude. We went through an army post. The soldiers there gave us tea and soup. The lake was magnificent and the road was as wild as it can be. After the place where the army checked our permits, for 5-6 Km we went through an area where there were no fixed roads. It was like a high altitude plateau at around 16000 ft. One could make their own path!

There was only one other Jeep going to the lake that early in the morning. The tourists in that car were probably feeling so cold that they had outsourced even the job of clicking the pictures to the taxi driver! The driver used to stop the car every once in a while, take the camera from the tourists and click pictures. It was very weird. Those guys threw empty wafers bag also from their car. We picked it up and gave it back to their driver when we caught up with them.

We also spotted a couple of Himalayan marmots. The lake has circumference of around 3 Km with a Buddhist temple on the farther side. Jawans from Sikh regiment have also built a Gurudwara on the closer side where the road ends. They gave us free hot tea. We spent around 90 minutes there before starting back. Even while driving back, we kept stopping often and clicking pictures.

Let the pics speak for me...

Peeping snow peaks

Me again

Long way to go

Approaching the lake

Dad

Himalayan Marmot

Make your own road

Gurudongmar Lake

Clarity

One last look at the beautiful lake

A loitering cloud and its shadow

Splash

We dropped the idea of going to Pelling. Instead, we decided to go straight to Singtam that day and then drive on to Lucknow via Bihar on following days. The road to Singtam was very bad. Waterfalls actually went over the road! Rivers were flowing on the road, and the worst of all, the narrow road was bustling with many huge trucks. Our widecar had to be backed and taken through narrow places, with a deep cliff on one side. It was night so not many pics could be taken. I had to be out of the car to keep guiding dad to carefully manuver the car. It is a tough job for a cleaner. The road clearance of the car really helps!

We finally reached Singtam at around 8:00pm. it becomes very dark in the east at this time. We stayed at a place called Shimma lodge. Again, I was to sleep alone. However this time mom took my place. The place was dirt cheep. Compared to the other places there, and the one where we stayed in Omerga, the place was great value for money.

What a road

That is a stream flowing on the road

Effect of pressure difference between 17,300 ft and 4000 ft! We drank water from this bottle at the lake and this is what happened to it at Singtam

Day 29 (May-10) : So much to tell

2010-05-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Snow peaks over Yumathang valley

We stayed in small hotel called "Orchid Valley Hotel" last night. It was a small hotel costing 800 for two rooms. All the better hotels (there is one from Mayfair group of hotels costing 7000 upwards per night! Since Yumathang Rhododendron season is well known internationally, many will look for luxury hotel) were already booked. Since almost all the tourists visit North Sikkim through tour operators, all the hotels get booked from Gangtok itself. Most of the hotels do not even have proper reception area the hotel staff does not even know how much to charge if you land up there like us! Our hotel rooms did not have functioning latches to lock the rooms from inside or outside. They told us not to worry about that. But the beds and toilets were clean.

We woke up at around 6 o’clock in the morning. By the time, the breakfast was ready and we left the place, it was already 7:40. The plan was to see the rhododendron forest and then proceed to Zero Point, the farthest point where road (or what passes as road in these remote high Himalayan areas). The way to Zero-point went through the Rhododendron sanctuary. The weather was unusually clear. Snow peaks were surrounded by necklaces of clouds. They looked like the dwellings of god. The rhododendrons covered the entire valley. Other than a certain type of pine, no other tree could be seen. No explanation can describe the colours of the flowers. We couldn’t reach Zero-point though. We turned back as we had to drive back 140 Km through Lachung and Lachen to Thangu

Most tourists visiting Gurudongmar stay at Lachen. But we decided to spend the night at Thangu as it is at higher altitude (3780 meter or around 12800 ft) which will prepare us for even higher altitude of Gurudongmar. It will also save us 2 hours the next day and we will have better chance of reaching the lake before the weather turns bad later in the day. It started raining as we drove up from Chungtang to Lachen. There was hardly any other vehicle on the road and we were virtually alone on the Lachen to Thangu leg. Weather plays a big role in deciding your mood in high hills. The continuous drizzle and fog creates a feeling of mystery in green hills of Sikkim but it also makes it a bit dull and depressing!

Thangu is a seasonal village of around 400 people. These people also go back to lower altitude in November and return in April. From Lachen onward you mainly see Army or ITBP camps. They stay here in winter also!

Checked in to the best hotel in Thangu at 600 Rs a night! The family running the hotel stays on the ground floor and while the rooms are on first floor. The best part was the big kitchen and dining area with wooden stove complete with big chimney etc. It was fun sitting there as the lady there cooked food and her 2.5 year old son (Rengchen) kept playing. I and dad took an hour-long acclimatisation walk while Mom read her book on Tagore.

After returning from walk, a person asked us weather we had got our permits stamped at the check post 200 meters away from the hotel. We had missed seeing the post in fog. So Dad and I walked back to the check post only to find it locked. When we came back, the same person told us that he knows where the officer manning the check post stays and will take us there. Dad had to make two trips with that person before they finally located the police person in a local, makeshift bar! He had his permit stamp with him there also. He signed and stamped our permit. It seems no one comes to Thangu after 12:00 PM or so while we had reached around 4:00 PM

Entering the Yumathang Valley

Riot of colors

Pink rhododendron flowers

Close up of purple flowers

Orange Rhododendron

Gods vacation house

Purple flowers

White bloom

Yumathang Valley from top

Descending down to Lachung

Cool green waters of mountain stream

Kitchen cum Dining room at Thangu hotel

Day 28 (May-9) : Lachung, North Sikkim

2010-05-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Fog on the road as we leave Gangtok

Sorry for the late posting. Didn't get any connection in the mountains. After visiting Changu lake, we drove to Lachung the next day. The trip was a long one. It was very foggy as we started from Gangtok. Though I found it cool, Dad later told me that he was a bit scared driving in that low visibility! The visibility improved after 20 minutes or so!

We showed our permit at the military check posts. Sikkim is very green. The hills are full of waterfalls. Since the rainy season had already started, there was a lot of water in those falls. We realised that while May is a good time to visit rest of Himalayas, it is not the right time for Sikkim. The best season is March to April and then from September to November.

I slept most of the time as I had off time for the day as a cleaner :). We ended up in a hotel somewhat short of the dream hill station lodge. The place was called Orchid valley resort. All said and done, the food was extremely good. The cook seemed to take pride in his work. We did take a short acclimatization walk.

Sikkim is full of waterfalls

The Offroader

Another Waterfall

Washing car right under the sign that prohibits them from doing so!

bridge on the way to Lachung

A child in the window of a house in Lachung

Prayer flags over Lachung village

Day 27 (May-8) : Changu Lake

2010-05-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Changu lake in clouds!

Left for Changu lake by 8:30 AM. The road was pretty bad. I now realised the quality of our car as we travelled in a Sumo. The road clearance makes a great difference. The lake is beautiful and so are the yaks. I did not want to ride the Yak to reach the Pagoda though I did pose for a picture with Yak :). A walk is much better (and cheaper)!! I hate the people who litter in such a spot. The lake looked very dreamy with fog and clouds.

It started raining as we walked back from the Pagoda. Mom took a slightly different route as she was confident that that was a shorter route to the taxi stand. She was wrong! Dad and I reached there much faster. We then took out the umbrella from the car (we realised that whenever we did not take the umbrellas with us, it used to rain L ) and ran back to escort mom to the car.

On the way back, our Sumo got stuck in a jam as the bulldozer there was clearing a mud-slide. As we were parked there, stones started coming from the hillside. It was scary but nothing serious happened.

One more interesting thing on the road was ANDA bridge. We first thought that it was acronym for some army related term. Our driver told us that it stood for egg in Hindi! The bridge is situated exactly at 8000 ft which is considered by Army as the starting of high altitude. So if you are working below the ANDA bridge, you get one ANDA (egg) as part of your ration and if you work above the bridge, you get two!!

Then, we decided to go back to the zoo. We got to see the leopard and most amazingly, the leopard cat. After around four years of longing to see the creature after my visit to Dudhwa, my heart thirst was finally quenched. No photo to show of it though...

The next discovery, was that on the wet trail to see the leopard cat, leeches had attacked us. First time, these creatures ever sucked my blood. Disgusting really, but on a second thought, how much will little creature drink??

For once and for all, my fear of leeches has been overcome.

Walking track next to Changu lake

That is at the lake

A Taxi driver on the way to Changu lake :)

Our room in Royal Deemazong

Day 26 (May-7) : The Permit

2010-05-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well, early in the morning, we went to Gangtok to take the permit to enter North Sikkim border area. First, we parked our car on M.G. road. The tourism dept office there told us that one was not allowed to take our own car there and had to take a Taxi. When we insisted, they told us to try our luck at Police check post.

It was difficult to locate the permit office. After a long search, we reached a Xerox booth in an area where the office was supposed to be there. The person there was very helpful. A policeman came there. We told him that we wanted a permit. The guy said that we cannot get the permit. So, dad marched to the permit office and talked to the higher official. Finally, he agreed.

After getting the permit we ate in a local pizza joint. The place was very very good. The pizza was as good as gold. We then realised that our permit did not include Changu lake so we decided to take a taxi there the next day.

We then hired a taxi and decided to tour around Gangtok. The taxi first took us to the zoo. We saw the birds, the Himalayan bear. One thing about this zoo, is the concept of emergence zoo. The cages are very large. And we view the animals from a place high up. It sometimes becomes difficult to spot the animals, but, in this zoo the animals are the greatest priority. We also saw Himalayan birds like the Monal, red peasant and red panda. We couldn’t go further as it began to rain. We returned to our taxi and went to a flower show. The flowers were very pretty. Then, we went to the ropeway. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no crowd at the place when we reached there. We had the cable car to just 3 of us! By the end of the trip, as we got down, there was a huge crowd waiting to enter the cabin. Talk of luck
.

Parking with a view

M G Road at Gangtok

Red Panda

Himalayan Monal

Spotted Flowers

Gangtok from the ropeway

Day 25 (May-6) : Toy train and on to Gangtok

2010-05-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Toy train at Batasia Loop at Ghoom

We left out hotel quite early hoping to take the joy ride to Ghoom and back. However after reaching the railway station we were told that tickets had all been sold out. The booking opens 90 days in advance!! We decided to drive to Ghoom and see the train at Batasia Loop there.

Since we reached Ghhom ahead of time, we decided to have lunch at a roadside dhaba. The momos there were excellent! Then we went up to the Batasia Loop. The train track turns 360 degree and passes under itself, all within less than a Km. It was fun watching the train.

By the time we started for Gangtok, it was 2:00 PM. So dad drove fast in an attempt to reach Gangtok before night. He descended a bit too fast down to Teesta river. Due to continuous hard braking on corners, the brakes became so hot that they started smoking. When we realized that we stopped for them to cool. It took more than 30 minutes but the spot had a good view of Teesta.

By the time we reached Gangtok, it was getting dark. We did not realize that The Club Mahindra hotel, Royal Deemazong was around 12 Km further. We kept asking for direction and very few people knew the place. Finally we found a taxi that was going in that direction and followed it. It was totally dark by that time and drizzling. After a turn, all the lights of Gangtok disappeared from our view and we were worried whether we were really on right track. We finally reached the hotel by around 8:30 PM after some really anxious moments.

The Batasia Loop

Tea pickers at a tea farm

View of Teesta river

My mom waiting for the car brakes to cool down

Trying a self portrait :)

Day 23, 24 (May-4 and 5) : Kurseong and Darjeeling

2010-05-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

We left Shantiniketan early in the morning. A very interesting thing I observed, whenever we needed to find the road, someone or the other needed the lift to that very place! We came out of Shantiniketan, using the guidance of the old man, whom we had given lift. The journey as quiet pleasant at first. As we reached the chicken neck part, the road became narrow and congested. We reached Siliguri around 5:00 PM and continued on to Darjeeling.

Within 10 Km of climbing the foothills, it started to rain. My god! How it rained! The sky got lit up by lightening every now and then. The bolts of electric discharge were bigger than ever! We could hardly see anything on the road. Then, we entered a bridge and got in to a Jam. We were on it for 20 minutes or so. Then, we got to know that a huge tree had collapsed. A guy completely wet and cold in the rain asked us for a lift. He looked, pretty weird with some shady text written on his shirt. We reluctantly took him in. He could hardly talk. I was sitting back with him. I soon realized that the guy probably didn't understand a thing what was written on his shirt and we were judging him by that L He had become very cold, due to which, he couldn't speak properly. He guided us to Kursiong by an alternate path. The ride to Kursiong in driving rain was a bit scary. We lived in a WBTDC hotel there. The food was good and especially the momos. The service was quite good too. The best thing is that we seemed to be the only people there

We left Kursiong early the next day. The road to Darjeeling was okay. We did however end up in a long traffic jam. At a point, we entered a narrow gully and a huge jeep entered from the front. As the cleaner, I had to get down and guide dad in reverse out of the gully.

At Darjeeling, the WBTDC hotel was okay. The location was good but half the things in the menu were not available. When went to shop in the afternoon. Well, if you ever go to Darjeeling, pray don't ever eat continental or Chinese food there!

We should have stuck to momos. We went to Nathmulls to taste Darjeeling tea. I tasted the best quality pearl tea. Mom thought that it tasted like hot water. Papa, also didn't like it much and stuck with his basil tea. Mom too enjoyed her Ruby tea. I however, loved my tea. Its splendid aroma finds way to your heart through the nostrils. You must not take gulps of this tea though. Let it stand on your tongue, Savour the flavor. Let it slip down your throat. The smell of the tea actually gives a smooth feeling, reminding me of pearls(real pearls mind it!!).

Tomorrow we will go on a toy train to Batasia loop and back. Well if you want to come to hill-station to just relax a bit and tell others about it, Darjeeling may seem a good place. However, if you are like me, you may not enjoy the crowd here much. It must have been a very nice place a few years back but not now L I like things, which focus mainly on the core (in this case, mountains). I am hardcore in that sense, I am ready to live on a very rundown place for a good view

Driving through villages near Shantiniketan

Some more villages

Jam on the road to Darjeeling due to rains. You can also see the person I mentioned, standing in the rain.

Road to Darjeeling. You can see the train track next to it

View from Darjeeling

Darjeeling Tea Party :)

Roses

Day 22 (May-3) : Shantiniketan - Rabindranath’s dream

2010-05-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

After leaving Kolkata, we went to Shantiniketan. NH-2 (Durgapur expressway) is quite good as it is part of golden quadrilateral but 2B from there to Shantiniketan was very narrow and broken in parts. Thankfully there was not much traffic. I being the official cleaner of the car, have the right to comment on the condition of the traffic:) When we reached Shantiniketan, it was already evening. We hired two rickshaws, and took a tour of the place. It is a beautiful campus. Bought some books, bags and stayed in a hotel called Banshori, near the university. While going to the hotel we saw a cycle rickshaw puller parked in dark and playing beautiful flute. When we were returning after buying some gifts, we saw a student standing next to him and teaching him. He was playing even better and the sound of flute in the dark surrounded by trees was really heavenly. The food was excellent. As it was dark, I couldn't take any pic. I got a nice picture of lightning bolt on the way to Shantiniketan.

Lightning on the way to Shantiniketan

Day 21 (May-2) : The next day

2010-05-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays sighting was a real bliss. We were hoping another sighting today, but no such luck. We did see 1-hour old male tiger pug-marks, but no sign of the tiger. The pug marks were on both sides of a 200 foot water channels indicating that the tiger had crossed the channel there.

We went through a narrower creek, but it was not even close to the ones where the fishing boats go. This time in our boat, we were accompanied by three German doctors. They were really enjoying the place. I really wished they would see the tiger. Well, we did see many birds though...

The doctors had some work in Kolkata, but they had come to the Sunderbans on the weekend. I gave them my blog addresses, but foolishly (I don't know how it skipped my mind) I didn't ask them their name. Then, we left the place. In a long bus journey, we bid goodbye to each other, and parted. We are spending the night in a place called The Stay in Goria-hat.

We had proper Bengali dinner in a hotel called Bhojo-Hari Manna. The food was excellent (thanks to Subhojit kaka again for recommending the place) though the service was bad. All the waiters were glued to TV watching India South Africa match!

The resting cowboy

Lesser adjutant stork

Collard kingfisher

Fish eagle

Barn owl

Doctors from Germany

Niranjan Raptan

Day 19, 20 (Apr-30 and May-1) The Original forest

2010-05-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Our guide Mr.Mandal

Sunderbans.

The original, the most beautiful, wild, rich with the culture and the home of the only habitual man-eater – Sunderban. Forget any sort of sighting in this place, think you to be very lucky on seeing a deer. You should come here mainly to experience the mangrove forests and enjoy the leisurely boat ride on lonely channels! Relax, let the mangroves pass by your, listen to the interesting and terrible stories of the people here. The threat to the life here, and the guts of the people amazes all minds. Still, the love of their jungle stops them from waging war against the real ruler of the jungle. Sighting the tiger here is very tough indeed! One tiger is seen at an average every month by tourists. However it is different for local fishermen, prawn collectors and honey gatherers. Last year there were 80 incidents of tiger attack!!

As we were passing by the mangroves, another group from Durgash Travels joined us in our cruise. Any sort of sighting seemed impossible. Other than the egrets, no animal could be seen. We turned to beauty of the forest instead.

Hurrah!! The other boat waves the flag a tiger is spotted. The first this month!. Steer the boat, fast! fast! fast! But where is the tiger. I was lying on the slanting deck of the boat. I had forgotten my camera. As I scan the area, the guy besides me says something to me in Bengali. I follow his finger, and there it is. The Royal Bengal tiger! Fully grown male, approx 9-feet long! I start my camera, as the tiger glares at my eyes! The white manes making the creature look wild and ferocious. I try to focus my camera onto its huge body, but alas, before I focused, I saw the huge mask suddenly stand up and get lost into the dense tiger palm (Hental) forest. There it walks in the forest, no picture can be taken, the lord returns to his throne in the jungle.

An amazing sighting I must say, I cannot express my joy. Probably Bono-Bibi, the tiger goddess made the creature come to us. This was the biggest tiger I had ever seen, alas, no pictures. I cannot write all the stories of the jungle in this place, but one of our guide is a must tell..... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

One of our guides, Mr Niranjan Raptan, was local person, in a family of honey collectors. He was 16 years old, when he went to the forest with his uncle. As he was collecting honey the sight of the tiger scared him. His uncle threw himself onto Mr. Niranjan as the tiger pounced on him. The uncle got deeply wounded, but he did not budge. Mr. Niranjan was under the four legs of the tiger! He put his finger into the tiger’s eyes. In a reaction, the tiger scratched his hand. Mr. Niranjan lived but the uncle succumbed to his wounds.

In night a tribal dance group from local villages entertained with song and dance.

I will surely visit this place again, not as a tourist, but as a researcher.

Dobanki watchtower

Spotted doves

The islands during low tide

More than 60% of the land area gets submerged daily during high tides!

Stilt roots of Garjam tree, a variety of Mangrove trees

One more mangrove tree

Gliding along the water channels

Spotted owlets in front of our room

The star of the "Tribal Dance Show". The flute player

Day 14 to 18 (Apr-25 to 29) : Kolkata and Raichak

2010-04-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

We reached Raichak on 25-May in night after leaving Chandbali.

The last four days have been typical resort days. We spent lots of time loitering around Hugli (a distributary of Ganga) seeing the big ships, playing chess and swimming aimlessly. All said and done, the place is beautiful and service is very good. If you are planning to visit Kolkata, and want to live in a good RCI resort, Ffort raichak is your destination.

The resort Holiday Club, Ffort Raichak is really good. It is supposed to be the biggest resort in Eastern part of India. Not only is the location and building very good but the service is excellent. We checked in night and the next morning the resort manager, Mrs Bose visited us in the morning to check if we were comfortable! One of the facilities persons, Mr Phillip had the biggest smile I have ever seen.

Well, we did go to Kolkata. Ate some really good sweets in a place called Garia Hat, which reminds me of Pune's Laxmi road. We would have been completely lost had it not been for Shubhojit uncle, a person in my dads badminton group. The sweets in this place are too good. The sinful Rosogola, Malai Chop and Kheer-kadam is a must. Mishti dohi is also an excellent sweet.

Eating apart, we also saw the Queen Victoria memorial. It reminded me of the TajMahal. Its main beauty is not in its geometry, but in the intense carvings on its walls.

The Birla planetarium however was everything but impressive.

Fort like structure of hotel Ffort Raichak

Clock Tower at our hotel

Sunset at Ganga behind the hotel

Commuting to villages near Kolkata

Improvised auto rickshaw

I had never seen this many ambassador cars before!

Who is sitting below my horse and troubling it?

Victoria Memorial

Another view of Victoria Memorial

A tram in Kolkata

Sunset over Ganga

Day 13 (Apr-24) : Bhittarkanika

2010-04-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

I had decided not to take my camera in this place. What a forest!! No words can describe it! I cannot explain what a magnificent place this is. The entire lush green mangroves pass besides the lonely river. Millions of birds chirp to show their existence however only a few are seen. A naturalists's paradise with strangler figs, eight types of colourful and majestic kingfishers. We had a great start for this trip due to the good chance of sighting the salt water crocodile. On one train, we nearly walked for around 2 hours. It was worth it. We actually saw the water monitor lizard in the place! We were hearing some rustling near a natural pond. Mom and dad thought it was a waste of time and went ahead. I decided to stay behind. Guess what! Out comes a water monitor lizard on a tree. I called out to dad to take a photo. By the time he came, the lizard was entering the pond. He did take a good shot of the lizard using his huge lens. We saw 5 out of 8 species of kingfishers. However, we could take pictures on only three of them. The picture of the common kingfisher is pretty shaken though.

We ate in a place inside the forest. There was a crocodile hatchery there. We got a nice picture of the little things. The other adult crocs were huge. They passed close to the boat. So, due to the fixed zoom DSLR of my dad, all the photos of the bigger crocs have gone out of the frame. We got an extremely good photo of the rare brown winged kingfisher. I repeat again, the beauty of the place can only be understood visiting it!

Water Monitor Lizard

Brown winged kingfisher

Greater Egret

That's me!!

Lesser Adjutant stork

Monkeys on the trail

Pied Kingfisher

White throated kingfisher

Strangler fig with host tree dead and gone!

Eagle

Baby saltwater crocodiles in hatchery

Greater Egret in flight

Day 12 (Apr-23) : The craters filled road to Chandbali

2010-04-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

We left for Bhittarkannika, the first national park on our way. It is basically a mangrove forest. Next only o the Sunderbans. The road to place was initially pretty good. But later on, it turned out to be the worst road in our trip until now. Reminding me of the Kunjum pass (see my older blog). I am planning to take a photo of the road on our journey back to the place. The rural area by the road had thatched roofs, children were playing cricket in the dry fields. On child (a very happy creature) was completely naked and was playing cricket with his friends. Neither him nor his friends seemed to mind his state!

We saw parts of really large trucks being carried by other trucks that were large themselves!

We are presently living in a very rundown Orissa tourism hotel in a place called Chandbali just outside the forest. The room is a non-A/C one. The fan has little power and everything it seems is in a state of disrepair. Let’s have the taste of this part of India also.

Tyres of really large mining trucks being carried by other trucks.

Village scene on the way to Chandbali.

Day 11 (Apr-22) : Konark and Bhubneswar

2010-04-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

We left Puri and went directly to Konark. The temple was a superb building. The older, bigger temple was said to have a magnet. It would hold the temple together and also allow the iron idol of the sun god to levitate in the air. This magnet however would distract the ships from its original path. Hence, the British not realizing the value of the magnet, removed it. The temple tumbled down soon afterwards. The inside of the smaller temple to has been closed due to the problem of falling stones. The intricate designs on the temple are unparalleled. The clear beauty, geometry and astrology of the temple amazed me. Just imagine, in the 16^th century, when the magnet was still there, how the temple would look. In a dark hallway of many intricate carvings, right in the centre is an idol suspended in air, the rays of the sun falling directly on the idol. The sun’s light falls on one idol in the morning on another in the evening and on a third during sunset. The wheels of the temple are sundials using which we can tell the time with accuracy of three minutes. Our guide was also an interesting fellow, he was aged 84 years.

We then visited the Lingaraja temple. It too had the characteristics of a Orison temple. However, it was much better preserved than the Konark temple as it was further away from the sea.

I have been a complete fool! In my hurry, I deleted all my photos from Konark. It included an angle experiment, and the photo of our 84 year old guide. Papa has a photo of the guide from the back. A pity.

We then went to Bhubaneshwar. We went straight to the Nandankanan Zoological Park. We saw tigers, leopards and all the big cats. The typical big striped house cats you see in a zoo. The real things in the wild have a completely different atmosphere. However, I dragged my parents to that place to see if they had any new animal I didn’t know. To help my G.K :)

Our 84 year old guide at the entrance of Konark temple

Side view of the temple. Renovation work was going on.

Intricate carvings

These wheels are around 12-15 ft tall!

Statues from the walls of main part of temple that tumbled around 22 years ago

He almost looks alive!

Day 10 (Apr-21) : Trying for a dolphin

2010-04-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

We left early in the morning for Satapada, the place to see the Chilika lake Dolphins. We reached the place at around 12 pm. We ate in a dhaba, following the rules of authentic cuisine (see earlier posts). The food was good. We took a boat and left the place. In the middle of the lake, our driver stopped at a place. A guy from another boat came to us with a tub full of oysters. He took one in his hand and broke it. And wow a pearl!!!! He gave the price of the peal to be Rs.55. Every 5th oyster had a pearl. Every 15th had a black pearl. Our excitement took over us. One thing I noticed was that those pearls were not completely round but the guy told us that the oyster made the pearl that way. We believed it and bought a good amount for it.

The big truth :

The pearls were fake!!! Unfortunately, we got to know that when it was already too late.

Well, we did see dolphins, but it wasn't very good sighting. We couldn't take a single good photo of the Dolphin. But we did get a good sighting of the red crab and a school of small fish that kept jumping out of water. Few things to remember for future trips:

When you get costly metals, stones, etc at very cheap rates, always think that it is too good to be true.
Everything the nature makes is 100% PERFECT. I realised much later that the pearls must be perfectly spherical for it to be pure.
A loss once made is lost forever. Don't think about it much just learn your lessons and move on. All Izz Well

Stopping at a dhaba for lunch. The car was an object of curiosity for some

Ready to cast the net

This *black pearl in the shell" got us all excited!

Feeding on the prawns caught in the net

Red crabs on the bank

Day 9 (Apr-20) : Lord Jagannath

2010-04-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

We took a boat ride early in the morning on Chilka lake and went to a temple island (Kalijai) early in the morning. The ride was okay and I was trying hard to take a pic of a flying bird. I was not really successful. But just check out the pics. the temple was nothing great, but the route behind it certainly was. We actually saw nesting ground of large water birds with adult cormorants and herons feeding their young!!! Trees in that small area were full with birds and the place had become white with bird’s you know what. I got a few cool pics. Well, talk about luck!

Okay, I'm not a religious fellow. Nor do I agree to the fact that only Hindus are allowed to see Lord Jagannath. But taking all in to consideration, the temple is just AWESOME!!! Never have I seen such intricate carvings to last for 800 years! The idols are at least twice the life size.

We had planned not to do any Pooja, but by his grace, we entered at the right time to witness one of the greatest functions of the temple. A guy climbs up approx 150 ft temple to change the flag up there. This is done every evening irrespective of the weather. Even if there is cyclone!! What skill! Who says rock climbing is only done on mountains!

We entered the core temple to see the lords Jagannath and his brother Balabhadra(Shankar) & sister Subhadra(Brahma). We were asked to tell the lord what we wanted in our brains that wish is supposed to completed. First, I asked for admission to IIT. Then other things. After a just moment or two there, I said "I don't want anything" I don't know how it came to me, but somehow it filled my heart with content and great pleasure. A pleasure so great, that even forgot my existence for a moment or two.

Jagannath is the place where the lord is supposed to have been eating, hence, the Prasad here is an entire meal. What taste!! Simple rice but What a taste! The rice is cooked daily in the temple and the Prasad is called ओभोड़ा (aa - bho - dla) the dla part is bit tricky for non-north-Indian Hindi speaking people. So as I was saying, above 4 tonnes of food is cooked in huge containers and then served.

When we went back to our hotel, we saw a lot of lights on the beach. We went there to see a dance sequence for an Oriya movie being shot. It was interesting to see the hero and heroines going through the same steps again and again till the director and choreographer were satisfied.

A game of cards on the banks of Chilka lake

Dogs

Sparrows on the jetty

Prawns farms on the lake

Two birds

The boat ride to Kalijai temple (in background)

Cormorant nests

Dance sequence being shot for an Oriya film

Day 8 (Apr-19) : To Borra Caves and then to Puri

2010-04-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

We left Araku early next morning and went straight for the caves. These are natural caves made 3 million years earlier. I have uploaded some pictures but, the fact is, that it was very difficult to get decent pictures in the dark of the caves. Only a few pics of the entire place are worthy to be posted so, you can understand its beauty only when you see the place first hand. 3 Km from the caves, we stopped to have lunch in a roadside hotel. It was just a small hut but the food was excellent.

Well, that was it and we left for Puri. Got stuck in Truck Traffic jam a mile long. Well, we somehow cleared through it taking a bypass to it. The smooth,4 laned Golden Quadrilateral became a broken road under construction showing us clearly that we had finally reached Orissa.

We had been too ambitious, we couldn't reach Puri. So we stayed at Shree Sai lodge in a place called Balugaon. We ate dinner in a typical rundown roadside dhaba. Tell you what, we got 1 plate of rice for just Rs.8!!! Dal was for Rs.2!! The total food for three of us was of Rs.70!! The place was not exactly a W.H.O. authorised clean place but what is the use of eating the same old Paneer in Orissa? Try something authentic. If authentic is what you want, remember this logic :-

Never eat in a hotel which has a wooden polished door.
The hotel must not have an A/C
Better still, only table fans.

Entrance of the cave

Brain in stone. A natural formation

My dad himself is 5'10"

Garuda Formation.

The lighting on this stone made it seem that the cave was enchanted

Day 7 (Apr-18) : The Submarine

2010-04-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

So many things to tell!!

I cannot fit all of it in this place. We saw the India’s one and only submarine museum. Wow that was so cool! The sailors in the sub must be under constant stress. The place is so cramped, and to keep 75 crew members in it! Those guys must be living on sheer willpower in that place. We also visited the naval war museum. Vizag is a very clean and tidy city. I wish most of the Indian cities were like this.

As mentioned earlier, my two sisters Sharmila and Anuradha gifted two English rock music CDs. The fun part about these is that I cannot understand a word in the music though my father seems to recognize a few of those from his college days! But, the music itself gives a different mood to the atmosphere.

We left for Aruku hills after lunch. It is a small valley with the Borra caves close by. The drive was long, confusing and tiring. But most of all, enjoyable.

Waves on Vizag beach

Outside the submarine museum

Inside the submarine

A Dragon statue by the side of road

Taking a break on the road to Araku

Day 6 (Apr-17) : Visakhapatnam

2010-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

We left Vijaywada early in the morning. The journey was pretty uneventful except for excellent Andhra style food we found in a small roadside hotel. It was a small hotel. We could not understand anything as everything was written in Telugu but the lady running the restaurant understood that we wanted lunch J. It was an excellent meal!

I relaxed on the back seat. Slept a while as the various patterns in the sky sped past by. The area was quiet green and flourished. The translation problem is still there. We reached Visakhapatnam by 3:00 PM or so. We first went to an APTDC hotel in the city but they suggested that we go to their resort on Rushikonda beach as the location there was excellent. We followed his advice and he was indeed right. The resort is situated right next to the beach. This is the first time I have been on the eastern coast of India and seen Bay of Bengal.

I didn't click any good photos though

My father outside the roadside restaurant where we had excellent lunch

Day 5 (Apr-16) : The Translation Problem!

2010-04-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

We left Hyderabad early in the morning. Leaving the crowded city at last was a moment of bliss. However, as I slept at the back of the car, pictures of the historic city made a slideshow on the screen of my mind.

We are now in Vijaywada, a beautiful, clean, and spacey city. But, a problem . . . . .

Well when we reached the city, we asked a rickshaw driver about directions to APTDC (Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. During our last road trip also we had mainly stayed in hotels roun by tourism development corporations) hotel. The guy didn't know Hindi or English. He took us to a hotel in the city. The people here did not know English or Hindi. I wish somebody like my friends Revanth or Sruthi had been here to fill this gap in communication.

What’s more, we asked another driver to take us to the riverbank of Krishna. He did get that part. However while we were walking by the dam, he was telling us about many things of the town. All in Telugu. All we could understand were a word or two from each of his sentences. We think we understood what he said, but we would never know what the truth is. A good example of the saying 'ignorance is bliss!!!!

The little river I saw in Mahabaleshwar has become a mighty giant here in the south. It seems the river rises very high during the floods. Taking all into consideration, it was really great fun

Day 4 (15-Apr) : Another brick in the wall (let's say in charminar!)

2010-04-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

We thought of living another day at Hyderabad so that we could see Salarjung museum. This is the advantage of visiting places with no fixed plan and having so much flexibility.

We visited the Salarjung museum in morning. Wow it was really something. We weren't allowed to take cameras inside, but it was fantastic! The intricate beauty of Rebecca, the beauty of Babila was indeed breathtaking. The musical clock too was a cool sight. To complete the action packed day, we even saw reporters shooting Sania Mirza's reception. There were tons of them in front of Taj where the function was taking place.

Hyderabad seems to have the worst traffic we have seen anywhere :(

Reporter being reported!

Day 3 (Apr-14) : Other things in Hyderabad

2010-04-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

I am posting this link at 3:00 in the morning. Well I thought that Hyderabad would be quiet a boring place, but believe me I was completely wrong! We saw Charminar yesterday in noon. . Now, Charminar is a magnificent monument, but terribly crowded. We could not get any place to park so we left the car in front of the restaurant where we had our lunch and left the keys with security there in case they had to move the car and too an auto-rickshaw to go there. I did get an interesting shot of Charminar. If you observe, in non of the photos the base of the building is visible. That is because of the crowd you would see there.

We also went to Salarjung museum, but, due to Ambedkar Jayanti, It was closed L

But the best thing I noticed today was a difference in Pallavi Bua. I don't know what change I saw, but somehow, I felt she was a bit different now. The fact that she is now a proper Bua for me rather than a Didi, is pretty difficult for me to digest, but on other hand, interesting too!

She showed us the Microsoft campus, but photography was not allowed there. I had never even imagined it to be such a big office with so many facilities! It was certainly very majestic by its sheer size. The landscaping etc could put some resorts to shame.

Charminar the side view

A different angle

The normal shot

Bargaining at Charminar

Day 2 (13-Apr) : Hyderabad

2010-04-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we are presently in the city of Hyderabad staying at the excellent APTDC hotel at Taramati Baradari. The hotel is extension of the heritage building. We visited the superb fort of Golkonda. When we were watching the Sound and Light show there, the electricity went off and we left after waiting for 15 minutes. We picked up Pallavi Bua at 8 pm from near Cyber Tower and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Pallavi Bua had got a cake and we celebrated mom’s birthday there. Then we went to Golu bua's place of residence and even met her roomy there.

As an update, after posting my last Post, I crammed some logarithm into my small brain till around 11:30 in the night last night (I started at about 10:45!). We left Omerga at about 8:30 in the morning. Reached Andhra Pradesh via a small route through Karnataka. It was a fun ride. We had our breakfast in a typical Dhaba, with the unusual and interesting name of "Guru Nanak Punjabi Reddy Dhaba !!"

In Hyderabad, we tried and tried to find our hotel, made a lot of u-turns but ultimately with help of directions provided by the hotel manager and mainly the good luck, we made it to our hotel. It is behind the monument Tirumati Baradari, a structure made by the king for his beautiful courtesan, Tirumati.

An Angle I tried to get in the fort

If only the rocks could talk.......

A picture from Tirumati Baradari

Talking about an impenetrable Fort!

My photogenic mother.

Jail where Ramdas was kept for 12 years

Arches

Ruins of the Golconda fort

view from Pallavi Bua's house

Day 1 (Apr-12) : Bare beginnings.

2010-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Anybody who has read five point someone will think that I am copying this heading from him.

But I just couldn't think of a better heading. Well as briefing, we left Pune at about 10:30am. We are presently in a hotel in Omerga. Thanks to Sanjay Kale uncle, I could experiment with photography on the move. Just check some of the photos I clicked.

The back seat is packed with a lot of luggage, (courtesy Gollu Bua). Just like last time, the beginning always is filled with a lot of ideas, tension, etc. but, we will get used to within three-four days.

Two of my cute sisters Sharmila and Anuradha too visited me the day before our leaving. Well it proves what a cool trip its going to be !!!

The road after Solapur

Sunset

Walls of Nul Durga fort

The Team

Let The packing Commence!!

2010-04-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

It is time to start getting ready!!

we shall begin by 12th April.
5 days from now, it is bye-bye Pune and hi I don't know what. No reservations again, We hate to have the clock speeding behind us. Don't know when I shall be back , but not within atleast 20 day.Just as an updates, nothing much happened since my last post, other than getting admittion to Exed, losing my dad's wallet, which was a brisk the cancellation of this trip. Luckily, not much scolding (whew). The following ar ethe major destinations on our route:

1.Pune(well, the starting point is important!) 6. Darjeeling

2.Hyderabad 7.Patna

3.Vishakhapatnam 8.Lucknow
4.Kolkata 9.Bhopal

5. Sunderban 10. Pune (once again)

Proposed route to be Taken

Our cool car : Mitsubishi Montero

Just the intro

2010-04-03T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I am D.M.Bhatia. A very lucky boy to have very cool parents. I mean which parents take their 16 year old child on a 30 day road trip? It is always an exciting experience. The best part is going without reservations!
Check out my other blog. It is about the trip Which we took from pune to Kaza(Himachal Pradesh) and back. This blog is on the road trip I am going on next sunday to Sikkim on road.Hope You like it. Check my other blog on
http://www.mmygreatroadtrip.blogspot.com/