Leh..... Living Life..

Day 2 at Leh-

After sleeping for a night in Leh, we got comfortably acclimatized to the altitude. However, not much of work could be done.

We planned to go to the famous Pangong lake by bikes. But Mohit’s health and my fears did not allow us to get on the bikes. So, Ravi Bhaiya (Mohit’s brother) booked a cab for us. We left early in the morning at around 6 a.m. as we planned to return by evening. But I would really love to stay for a night there. I can only imagine how it would be to look at the star studded deep blue sky with a tranquil lake besides surrounded by looming mountains. Even the thought of this gives me goose bumps. Never mind, it has been added to my wish list. Next time!!! Oh yes! I am coming here again. Some time in my life!

 Way to Pangong! So Serene!!!

 Caution! These roads are highly accident prone

As we left early, we did not face much of traffic. It can be very difficult to drive with huge traffic on bad road to Pangong. So it is always advisable to leave early. We were stopped by a herd of holy cows of Ladakh- Yalks.

Ladakh's holy cow

We stopped at a tea stall for Maggi and tea. The stall owner added some local herb in it and it was the yummiest Maggi I have ever had. She had a beautiful and shy daughter who posed beautifully for us. Here are some pics-

Then we left for the lake. After around one hour, we got the first glimpse of The Pangong lake. Oh My God!!! That is so beautiful. This is something someone should visit at least once. And a lot of tourists have come after the movie 3 Idiots. But one thing we forget is to maintain the dignity of the place. Why can’t we leave the habit of dropping chips packets and plastic bottles everywhere? We must know that these places are very difficult to reach let alone clean. So any junk left would remain there forever and ever. So we should not destroy such vulnerable places.


We were reaching close to Pangong and our excitement was shooting. Around 35 kms of Pangong lake lies in India and rest of around 100 km is in China.

Since this place has become famous after “3 Idiots”, we find many food stalls named after characters of 3 idiots.

 
 

 We enjoyed in the salt lake and had some great pictures taken.


 
 

Tohfa Qubool Ho!

Nothing to say!

This is one experience I find difficult to express. The beauty, serenity and tranquility of the place is ineffable.

 

 

Even the photographs are less beautiful. After having lunch, we left for Leh. While returning, we stopped at Changla Pass. Its not advisable to stay at passes, so we left early. moreover, we were so much in awe of Pangong that everything else seemed less beautiful. 

Leaving ChangLa Pass

JULEY!!!

Reaching Leh...

Tranquil Leh

 We started at around 9 in the morning and took hardly 1.5 hours to reach Leh. In between, there was military base at Karu. Army has developed this road beautifully. It was a pleasure moving along Sindhu river. I have seen more rivers as compared to whole my life on this trip!

We enjoyed this part of our journey the most. And then we reach Leh.... the land of souls...

We stayed there in Kendriya Vidyalaya teachers quaters with Mohit's brother. 

 Staying there was a wonderful experience which a hotel could never offer. We had been traveling since 4 days but still faced problem in breathing in Leh. Even a short walk of 100m was enough to tire us. We took rest for few hours and then moved out for lunch.

We were roaming around on bikes but whenever we had to walk, it seemed difficult to breathe.  We went to army museum and wanted to go to King's palace after that but Leh is not a place to plan hectic schedule. It is a slow town and it will bring you down to its own pace. Also, the museum leaves you so tired that you can not think of more sight seeing.

We reached Leh on 26 July. And this is something special. Army celebrates this day as "VIJAY DIWAS". And I feel lucky to visit Leh on this date. We became a part of special screening of a documentary made on Kargil war. The whole environment made us feel so proud. Here are a few pics:

Army museum

Army tents at Siachen

Tiranga

Here is some action in the museum: 

 

This saying is enough for an adrenaline rush of pride and honour

 With all this action we winded up our day at the museum and headed for a nice coffee at a cafe outside the museum.

Then we went for some food and finally back to hostel for a good sleep. Just to make sure we wake up next morning acclimatized. Good night...

Dhanaulti... Holidaying the peaceful way...

Its April 2013... Its been four months since my last vacation and for me it was too much. I was tired of Delhi crowd and routine work. So, my freaking mind shoved me to take a break as early as possible.

I am one of those lucky people whose relatives reside in tourist spots. Mine are in Mussoorie. I was just dying to move out of Delhi for the weekend. I thought to go to Dhanaulti (near Mussoorie) after some googling.

(I always google before going somewhere). The results were perfect as per my requirement. Dhanaulti is a small hill station 24 Km from Mussoorie and 29 Km from Chamba as it is located between the two. We can board a bus to Mussoorie and from there, we can either take bus, shared taxi or private taxi to Dhanaulti. Its around 10 hour journey. This much information was readily available on net.

Then I called up my brother in Mussoorie to ask about the place. He straightaway alarmed me against my wish claiming it to be a boring place where I won't have anything to do... Hey Bro.. Who wants to do anything... M on a holiday!!!

So now decided. Dhanaulti. That's my destination for the coming weekend. I again googled about this little town (town is a huge word for Dhanaulti.. even village is big!!!) and booked Hotel drive inn. Its centrally located near the only tourist attraction. And now I was waiting for the weekend to come. Till then, I was ready to bear crowd and work.

Here comes the Friday and we booked our seats in A.C. bus from Anand Vihar to Mussoorie. We could also chose to go to Dehradun through Volvo and then any bus from Dehradun to Mussoorie. That makes the journey much more comfortable. Train is also good option.

We started from Anand Vihar at 11 O'Clock in the night and reached Mussoorie at around 6.30 in the morning. There we had some tea and snacks till we waited for the bus for Chamba that would take us to Dhanaulti. God! we were tired like hell!!! The 1.5 hour long route is twisted around mountains. Headache and nausea come along easily. But the moment we reached, the air of Dhanaulti washed away all our tiredness.

On the way to Dhanaulti

The journey to Dhanaulti form Mussoorie is like a roller coaster ride. But its worth the pain.  Its sheer delight to enjoy the natural beauty of the place. Unlike Mussorie, Dhanaulti is still untouched of urbanisation. Just pure air, water and sooo much of nature to soak in.

The bus dropped us exactly in front of our hotel.  The place was so calm and peaceful. The air seemed so heavenly.

Amazing views all through the way

 It as around 9 in the morning. There wasn't much staff in the hotel but still they were ready to help in best way possible. We got into our room, freshened up and rested for an hour. By this time, we started feeling hungry. We put warm jackets and shoes (It was wonderfully cold even in summer :-)) and pulled ourselves out of the comfy room. 
 Just in front of the hotel exit, we could locate so many eating options. We wandered up to the Eco Park (That's hardly 5 minutes walk from hotel Drive Inn). And finally settled for Maggi and Aloo paratha. We didn't want to indulge too much into eating as we were in full mood to spend entire day cherishing the beauty of the place.

Entry to the Eco Park

After having our Brunch, we headed for Eco Park. It is the main attraction of Dhanaulti. 

There are two Eco-parks, "Amber" and "Dhara" about 200 m apart. Its a small forest area managed by forest department and local people. The entry ticket is 20 Rs. 

As we entered, there were few kids playing in the park. We went ahead and enjoyed the serenity of the place. 

Flowers at eco park

Flowers at eco park

 Long deodar trees, fresh flowers, lush green surroundings and serenity of the place was enough to mesmerize any city folk.

Me at peace
  

Its a place so tranquil, so quiet that we forgot all our worries.

Highest point at the park

In a small toy tunnel at the park

Highest point at the park

The pics might look ordinary as I am no great photographer. But the whole atmosphere was magical. Everyone surely deserves to feel the magic.

Other end of the tunnel

View Point- It gives extraordinary view of snow clad Himalayas

 We spent around 3 hours in the park and by now our hungry stomach was crying for food... :-(

Just near to the park were few restaurants. They don't offer very hi fi menu but yes, good food and nice hospitality is promised. I don't know whether it was the effect of pure enviro or happy folks of Dhanaulti, even plain water was so tempting. We had some snacks in the restaurant and then we headed off to our hotel.

Dhanaulti is a small hilly area so it gets closed early in the night. So, we came back again to have dinner in the same restaurant at around 8 in night. We enjoyed simple dinner.

Rhododendron (Buransh) flowers

You must be thinking if there is anything special in Dhanaulti. Yes. Apart from tranquility and simplicity, we noticed Rhododendron juice selling in almost every shop. We asked one of the shopkeepers about the juice and came to know that it is the juice of local "Buransh flowers". Its good for heart and controls high Blood Pressure. The taste is so good that once we tried it we could not resist buying as much as we could carry. Its a must buy in Dhanaulti.
 As I was unable to click the pics of buransh flowers, I have taken this pic from  "A Wandering Mind" a wonderful blog by Anuradha Shankar.

After a great day, we returned back to the hotel and rested to get up early with the birds... When in Dhanaulti, you don't need to set the alarm. Birds take care of that.

we had booked shared taxi earlier day. So, at 8 a.m. sharp we finished our breakfast and headed towards Mussoorie. Just make sure to prebook shared taxi as private taxi is costly as well as it devoids you of enchanting journey with locals. We booked shared taxi but we never regretted that. 

Journey with locals

The taxi wala was allowing everyone to enter and kids were allowed to travel for free- truly a rare gesture. Everyone was helping each other to settle down, to put their luggage and even with less space everybody was managing happily. Throughout the journey, it seemed, everybody knew each other. 
 
This was the life at Dhanaulti. Simple, pure and peaceful...