We are going to Baaali!

Yes, that is what Anisha kept saying for almost a week prior to our Bali vacation. Bali vacation was supposed to be OUR trip with Anisha, kind of the last trip with her being the center of everything. It was also my pregnancy break after which I would be grounded for more than a year.
Anisha was super excited about the trip and one thing that she looked forward to was to eat strawberries in Bali. Yes, that's the story I made up when she kept asking me for strawberries in Hyderabad in the month of Aug. I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping that we get strawberries in Bali.

Aug 28, 2015
This night was our flight to Bali. It  was a long one: Hyd - Singapore (with 9 hours of wait) - Bali via Tiger Airways. At the Hyd airport, Anisha was super excited and was wide awake until we boarded at around 1:00 am. Luckily she was fast asleep once on board. As the flight was empty, I found an empty seat for myself and tried to catch some sleep. I was woken up in the middle of deep sleep by the rude Tiger Airways staff saying that I had occupied the row with more leg space and asked me to move to some other row. This reminds me to give them a poor review for this rude gesture.

Aug 29, 2015
Bright morning and we reached Singapore. We had to spend around 9 hours here until our next connecting flight. Both me and Anirban quickly freshened up and Anisha was quite cranky with all the timezone changes and lack of sleep. We headed to the food courts and the typical aroma of Chinese food wafted through. I was all excited to start the journey of Chinese and Indonesian cuisine and started with the Red Bean Bun and Chicken Pao to remind me of my Singapore days. Anisha spent a lot of time playing the various slides. The airport is very well kept and very convenient that it invokes a sense of responsibility to keep the place clean and tidy. The rest of time was spent in window shopping and visits to the toilets and then finally the time to board. The airplane was filled with people of different races and everyone kind of beamed with the excitement of  visiting Bali.
Landed in Bali around 5:30 pm. The airport was quite efficient with the visa-on arrival process really quick and easy. We headed to the pre-paid taxi counter and asked for the Nusa-Dua. Anirban was trying to get accustomed to the  Rs to Rp conversion factor. I decided not to strain my self with the mathematical stuff the whole vacation.

As we drove into the Ayodhya drive way, I was dumbstruck with the hugeness and the grandeur of the hotel. The architecture looked intricate and gave a feeling of entering a huge palace of sorts. Balinese locals are very very polite. They always, always greet you with a smile and very courteous. We experienced this hospitality throughout the trip at all places. We were soon led to the room and decided to spend the evening at the hotel and have an early sleep. Headed to the Indonesian restaurant and ordered some interesting starters and main course which was soon gulped down. The weather was a bit chilly and I was little worried about Anisha and me.

Aug 30, 2015
Anirban was asking us to hurry so that we reach the breakfast place "before things finish!".  After a sumptuous breakfast, we headed out to the beach.  The beach was beautiful but the waters were quite rough. Anisha was disturbed by the waters that she stayed away from beach after that. After an hour at the beach, we headed to the swimming pool. We hired a driver from www.familybalitours.com to take us around Nusa Dua. Our drive Gede Anatara was help courteous and helpful. We first headed to the Turtle Conservation Center. There were some huge turtles. However, it did not look like  a conservation center, but you do get to see a lot of turtles. In addition to the turtles, there were some birds and snakes which were kept captive. I have my known doubts if these animals were kept there legally or not.

After that, we headed to the Uluwatu temple. Our first Balinese temple to visit. Had to wear the sarong and could not enter the temple. However, the temple is perched on the edge of a cliff and is one of the temples that protect Bali. There is a long walk along the cliff edge making for an excellent view. All along I was worried about the monkeys and on our return, we saw 3 monkeys playing. Perceiving them to be harmless we walked past them, and then all of a sudden, one of them grabbed Anirban's sun glasses. The one I had gifted him and one that costed quite a lot!!! The monkey instantly started twisting the handle and it kind of hurt me to stand there helplessly and watch the monkey ruining the glasses. Immediately a guy supposed to handle these monkeys came by and threw a chocolate at the monkey. The monkey reluctantly reached out to the chocolate and abandoned the glasses. Gede quickly helped us get the specs back but it was already ruined beyond repair!

From here we headed to the Jimbaran Bay to view the sunset and have some yummy sea food dinner. The location was beautiful with you sitting by the beach, candle light, cool breeze blowing and at a distance you can watch aeroplanes landing and taking off from the Bali airport. It made for the perfect setting. We ordered a whole snapper with some grilled prawns and had a good meal.

Aug 31, 2015
We decided to head to the zoo today. A short walk out of Ayodhya, we met a couple of taxi drivers. Haggled for half the fare and then headed to the zoo. The zoo although small was quite expensive. We first started with the wild encounters where we had pictures taken with the bear cat, baby crocodile and a friendly baboon. We also made it to a show where I got to kiss a parrot! We walked around the zoo and Anisha enjoyed every-bit of it. She was disappointed that the elephant did not blow its trumpet the way I had been telling her. Once done with the zoo, we headed to Kuta for shopping. Walked around a lot and then had dinner at Warung Nikmat. The fried chicken with rice was yummy and Anisha enjoyed it.

Sept 1, 2015
We had to check out of Ayodhya today and we had not enjoyed the resort as such. Woke up early and hired the cycles. The cycle had a basket in which I made Anisha sit and we headed out the explore the Nusa Dua resort complex. The place was beautiful with manicured roadside lawns. After cycling for an hour and pain in all the wrong places, we headed back. Hit the beach one last time. Spent a couple of hours at the pool with Anisha being swayed around. Soon it was time for us to head to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali.

The drive to Ubud from Nusa Dua is a long one and as you reach Ubud is when the Ubud traffic hits you. Narrow lanes with huge cars moving at snails pace! All the lanes are dotted with shops with artifacts be it wooden carving, stone carving, glass decor, elaborate paintings, bamboo items and other hand made articles. We passed through the Tegalalang market which was diverse with respect with the kind of shops before we reached our hotel Puri Ganga. Amidst rice fields and a lot of cockerels  sounding their horn, Anisha was all excited. We decided to head to the Ubud market place for the evening. From the market place, it was a long long walk to the Monkey Forest. Once inside the forest again our simian nightmare kicked in. We were all too cautious of the monkeys which are there in hordes. One of them managed to take a bottle of water from my hand which I was all the more willing to hand over rather than fight to keep it! With a quick walk around and the uneasy fear of being attacked, we decided to head out. I wanted to visit the Aung Rai Musuem of Art - ARMA and walked towards it. It was a very long walk and in the end we found out that it was almost about to close for the day. With my legs aching, we settled down for a while deciding where to have our dinner. We decided to head to Naughty Nuri's Warung. This apparently was quite far from the Ubud center nevertheless we had some yummy pork ribs and Indonesian chicken sate. Anisha met a little girl Ella all the way from Belgium who was quite fond of her. With aching legs and a fine drizzle, we headed back to Ubud center. Anisha was fast asleep and we decided to utilize this time to pamper ourselves to a quick Balinese foot massage. After the really relaxing experience we head back to the hotel.

Sept 2, 2015
The trip had already taken its toll on me by now. I was quite tired and exhausted and the thought of heading out again seemed strenuous. After an interesting breakfast at the hotel, we hired a taxi to head to Mount Batur, Kintamani. Just as the journey started, the driver said he would not be able to cover the Ulun Danu temple which I so wanted to see. It kind of put me off and we tried to make the best of the situation. The drive to Kintamani from Ubud was a long  and pleasant one via orange orchards. The site of Mount Batur a dormant volcano was refreshing. We could see the black soil on the sides on the mountain which most probably is the lava which flowed down when it last erupted. From Kintamani, the driver offered to take us to the painting and block printing centers. I did try my hand at it, however did not seem all that great. From here we headed to the Tegenungan Waterfall. The waterfall was Anisha first waterfall sighting and she wanted to go right down. It was a tiresome walk down and back up but I think it was worth all the effort. My exhaustion index was already reaching its critical threshold by now. The driver then dropped us back at Ubud. As I could not take it any further we decided to head back to the hotel and relax there.

Sept 3, 2015
Still tired and exhausted, I was done with my sight seeing in Bali. Today we were to head to Seminyak. Seminyak again gave a different view of Bali. With plush restaurants and designer clothes stores, we spent the evening window shopping. Had refreshing coffee at Revolver Coffee. Anisha was again asleep during this time and we managed to get some "US"time sitting there and just enjoying the place.  From here we headed to Mama San for dinner, however, children were not allowed and I was offended. From here we headed to our second choice...again a long walk! Made's Warung was happening place with live music and lot of people unlike the typical Warung feeling. Anisha had a ball of a time here running after a boy and just copying everything that he did. Although at times our tempers rose when we saw her rolling all over the floor, we finally gave in and laughed it off. Again a long walk back to the hotel!

Sept 4, 2015
Decided to rest the whole day! Hit the beach after breakfast. Calm waters and this time Anisha was more open to experiencing the beach. Once the beach was done, me and Anisha  spent time in the pool while Anirban headed for a complete body massage  -  Balinese style...by a lady! He came back all relaxed and I totally envied him. Evening we headed out to Kuta to complete my so called shopping. Anything I liked seemed to evade me and I was quite disappointed towards the end. Our last dinner at Bali was credited to Bo and Bun. We tried their all-in-one starter which was pretty interesting followed by chicken satay and beef soup. Once we had slurped in the last spoon, we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Bali.

Sept 5, 2015
Day to head back. Had a quick breakfast and made it to the airport. As usual the Tiger Airways queue was longer than ever and took us more than an hour to get to the counter, only to find the message "Expecting mothers contact our staff" Phew! Why don't I read such sign boards in time?

Back in Singapore. Now we had a 10 hour wait. The aroma of Chinese cuisine was no longer an aroma but kind of repulsive and I longed for Indian dal and chapathi. However, that being the last day of our foreign trip, I did not want to get back to the Indian cuisine just yet. So the last rounds of noodle soup, laksa and prawn dumplings made their way onto our table. We visited almost all the shops in the airport and Anirban added bottles after bottles to his duty free shopping collection. I was tired and just wanted to reach home now and the wait seemed longer than ever.

Sept 6, 2015
00:30 touch down in Hyderabad. We finally made it. With the scare of volcanic ash disrupting the whole trip, news of airplanes disappearing in the south Asian part of the world and the risk of traveling by a low-cost airline,  we made it back to Hyderabad safe and sound.  A day just to relax to get over the tiredness of the trip! Now why did I go on a vacation???

Road Trip - HYD - Bangalore - Bandipur - Waynad

Last week had 2 holidays - Independence day and Ramzan sandwiched with a weekend and 2 working days in between. So 2 days of leave meant a 6 day vacation. Anirban planned an exciting road trip which exactly fitted the time frame we had. Tinku and Pallavi landed in Hyd on Aug 14. We headed straight to the 'Jewels of Nizam' restaurant. Gorged on some delicious haleem and biryani and headed back home to pack for the trip.

On Aug 15th we were off. Our i10 was jam packed with things and we managed to squeeze in too. Started the first stretch of journey from Hyderabad to Bangalore. This is one of the best highways I have been on till date. Smooth straight roads, no bumps, hardly any people around and all villages completely circumvented. The only downside is that there are no good eating joints en route and the hefty toll you need to pay every 100 kms. Pallavi was the official DJ for the journey with her amazing set of songs on her Ipod. She kept playing the right numbers which reflected our mood.We reached Bangalore by 3:00pm, after a heavy lunch at my sisters place, rested well for the next days journey.

Aug 16 - woke up by 5:30 am and by the time we could hit the road it was 7:45 am. The first stretch to Mysore road was amazing. Thanks to NICE. However, by the time we could realize the NICE road had ended and we were on the crowded Mysore Road. It almost impossible to have a smooth ride on this road, with the number of cars and trucks plying between these 2 cities. We were in Mysore by 12:00pm and were trying to figure out the way to head to Bandipur. With 3 smart phones, none of the map apps worked with strange messages like 'GPS data isn't available now' or 'Unable to load map now'. So we kept going around in circles with all roads in Mysore leading to the Palace. We finally managed to hit the road that led to Bandipur and the milestone read 80kms.

Our reservation was at Jungle lodges and resorts and were quite disappointed with the location of the resort. Its located just outside a village but quite far way from the Bandipur forests as such. Food was mediocre. However they did have these beautiful life size paintings in each room. Ours had a the spotted deer painted on it. To add to our disappointed was the fact that safaris in tiger reserves was banned by the Supreme court. That meant nothing to do at Bandipur. We were stumped. We decided to drive through the Bandipur and Ooty highways which passes through the Bandipur and Madumalai forests.  We were lucky to spot lots of deer, nice big heard of bisons with calves, a young wild elephant, many birds and the the best of all a magnificent, glorious male bison. It looked so glamouros, with its nice shiny coat, clearly visible muscles and looked hefty. He was clearly the Salman Khan among the bisons.

The next days Aug 17, we left early to try our luck. The drive through the forest was beautiful with tall trees and sunlight peeping through. We then started on our journey to Waynad. The drive again was through the other part of Bandipur tiger reserve, we kept looking out and we did spot a heard of elephants at quite a distance. The board 'Welcome to Kerala' gave me a sense of happiness. Soon we were in Sultan Bathery trying to find our way around. We had our booking done at Wynberg resorts which nestled away between paddy fields and coffee plantations. As the resort was located off the way, we decided to first visit  Edakkal caves which has stone carvings of per-historic times. The walk to the cave was memorable with heavy rains pouring over us and steep climbs. We had to sweat it out to reach the cave. I did not find the cravings exciting however the slit through the rock was beautiful .

We found our way to the resort with the meticulous directions given by Mr Vancheeswaran. When we reached the resort we were quite skeptical. It looked quite dark due to the tall trees and thick coffee bushes and the chorus of crickets singing their lungs out. Surprisingly we had a good nights sleep, probably the cricket chorus doubled up as a lullaby.

The next day Aug 18 we headed out to Soojipara falls. En-route to the falls we passed through tea plantation which was picturesque. The water fall was a quick walk downhill.  Half way through we could hear the falls roar. At the falls it looked powerful, spraying a fine mist all over us. From the falls we headed to Pookote lake, again with the directions and maps given by Mr Vanchy. The lake was a typical 'hill station lake' with lots of people boating around. Once done, we headed to Kalpetta. We shopped here for all spices and all possible things we could carry back in the car.

Aug 19 -  Time to head back home. We decided to take the Nagarhole route back to Mysore. This was a long drive through the jungle.So sightings whatsoever, except for a pair a cute Malabar giant squirrel. Soon we were back in Mysore. We did a quick stop over to see the Palace. In spite of the crowd we managed to cover the whole palace in less than an hour. Now back on the Mysore - Bangalore highway, racing between cars and zip, zap, zoom, we made through the risky drive back to Bangalore.

The next day Aug 20, we headed back to Hyd. The peaceful drive back, cruising along at 120kmph and above. Back in Hyd by 7:00 pm.   

Antarvedi - a place unexplored

A couple of weeks back, my boss called us for a sudden meeting at his guest house in Antarvedi. Thats when I looked it up on google maps. So Antarvedi is located on the banks of river Godavari in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pardesh. The location is beautiful because it is at this point that Godavari merges into the Indian Ocean.

Antarvedi has a sleepy village setting with all the paddy fields, the coconut leaf huts, the long unending stretches of coconut trees, very cheerful locals and of course the prawn farm landlords (earning crores of Rs).  It has a small but ancient temple with a story of Sage Vashishta associated with it. As I mentioned earlier as the river meets the sea you also have a beautiful, virtually unexplored beach. My boss has a few acres of land right on the banks of Godavari and has build a beautiful guest house over looking it. I had the privilege of staying there for a few days.

So if you do get to this part of Andhra and you are not a local and are wondering as to what you could do, here are a few tips
1) Walk around to get a true village feel. Check out the prawn and fish farms. The locals will be delighted to pull out a fish and show you. See if you can meet any of the prawn crorepati and get a few tips from them.
2) Lot of rare birds around. Take out your SLR and click away.
3) Ofcourse visit the beach. Make sure you do so either in the early mornings or towards the late evening. While you are at it, see if you can spot any dolphins swimming by.  I visited the beach in the morning and was very lucky to spot a few dolphins by just standing right there on the beach
4) Visit the local fish market and buy your share of the best quality prawn either dried or fresh
5) See if you can get yourself invited to any of the locals house. People in this part of Andhra are known to be generous with their guest and make amazing food. I got to relish a couple of crab and fish(chepala pulusu) dishes during my stay and they did taste yummy.
6) If all this is done and you still have time, find a comfortable place, settle down to read or even better write a book. 

Dophin swimming by

Sunset on river Godavari

Sunrise amidst coco palms

I think this is a Racquet Tail

Indian Roller or the Blue Jay

Cute crabs on the beach

Structure in the middle of no where

Fresh catch of the day

Fish from the farm

APTDC also has a resort in this region at a place called Dindi. I think there is another privately run resort just opposite the APTDC resort. Its hard to find any other accommodation here. The best time to  visit is the winters as Andhra as a whole has harsh summers.  The nearest towns are Narsapur and Bhimavaram.

Dandeli - a weekend getaway

A few weeks back I had been to Dandeli. For those who are wondering where Dandeli is, it is the Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka, nestled between the western ghats. Dandeli is almost synonymous with white water rafting in the south of India. The river Kali flowing through the jungles provide enough excitement for any novice rafter. Dandeli is also a bird-watchers paradise. Many species of birds are easily spotted here especially the 3 varieties of the Malabar Hornbill.

Our trip was on a tight budget and so we traveled by bus from Hyderabad until Hubli. Reached Hubli by 8:30 and were lucky to get a bus going to Dandeli from Hubli itself. The frequency of buses to Dandeli from Hubli is less. You can also go to Dharwad and take a bus from there to Hubli. Hubli and Dharwad are well connected with buses plying at regular interval.

Reached Dandeli by 12:00 noon. We had our bookings done at the  State Forest  Dept, Kulgi Nature Camp. These are the most economical, well maintained, and quite beautifully located accommodation you will find in Dandeli. The only disadvantage being that this guest house is located in Ambika nagar which is almost 30km from Ganeshgudi, and Ganeshgudi is the place where all the rafting and water activities happen. If you have a vehicle of your own it should not be a problem.  The resorts on Ganeshgudi are exorbitantly priced, and I feel only the Tree houses of Hornbill deserve those rates, because they are located just by the river on tree. If not for that, its not worth staying in Ganeshgudi.

Nature Camp -  Tents

Log Huts

Kulgi Nature Camp can be booked by calling the Forest Dept at Dy. Conservator of Forests,Wildlife division,
Dandeli, Karnataka, India, Phone - 08284-231585 and Fax: 08284-331585, 08284-232960, 08284-232981 or 9916218630 Kiran Fernandez(an officer in the dept). Once you confirm the availability over phone, send them a DD by fax or courier to confirm your reservation. They are priced at Rs 1000 per day for the tents and Rs 1500 per day for the log huts. Once in Dandeli, visit the Forest Dept office in Dandeli first, pick up your receipt before proceeding to Kulgi.  While you are at the Forest Dept Office, look around the tall trees and you are sure to spot at least one Malabar Pied Hornbill. The Nature camp has both tents and log huts. Both are well furnished with attached bathrooms and midst of forest. I preferred the tents to the log huts. The food served is decent.

That very evening we headed to Ganeshgudi for the rafting. Anyone in Dandeli can arrange a white water rafting for you. We got it done through the Nature Camp guys. The rafting was quite good with a few good rapids that we navigated. All along you will spot different species of birds, so do look out.

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Dandeli is also supposedly one of the few places in India where you can spot the Black Panther. A large birding group who was with us at the Camp supposedly spotted one, on one of their birding trails. We were unlucky though.

A kingfisher

The next early morning we went for the jungle safari. Spotted a few deers and some birds like the kingfisher and a brown flycatcher. Once back at the camp we went on a birding trail which you can take from Kulgi camp. It around 2 km walk through the jungle along a barely defined path. The only bird we spotted was a woodpecker and got bit by leeches all over. In the evening we headed to Syntheri Rocks This is a beautiful place. Surprisingly we were the only ones at the falls and so had nice serene experience.

The camp as such is a nice place to walk around and is surrounded by the jungle. There is a good possibility of spotting something while staying at the camp itself.

Syntheri Rocks

 The next morning we headed out of Dandeli towards Yellapur. Our drive took us to a spot which was a water reservoir or backwaters of some kind. It was a picturesque spot, early in the morning and looked so very peaceful.

The Backwaters I mentioned about :)

So go head and plan that Dandeli trip now :)

A trip to Mowgli's Forest - Pench

Last weekend was a long one I decided not to go to Bangalore. I decided to put the weekend to good use and we planned to go to Pench. Hemanth and priyanka readily agreed and soon we were booking our bus tickets . Called up Dr Ghosh and he readily agreed to get the accommodation and the safari tickets done. With that in place we were all set for Pench.

Pench is one of the few tiger reserves we have in India, located in MP around 200 km from Nagpur. It is also the place that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write the famous Jungle Book. Pench is one of the safe havens for tigers with active forest gourds and a healthy tiger population of around 35 tigers supported by around 3000 animals of the deer family including chital(spotted deers), Sambars and the Neelgai. Tigers here have been able to successfully reproduce in the wild and there are instances of tigresses having multiple litters. Thanks to the forest management here and the supportive villages around. Forest guards patrol the forest armed with just a lathi stick. Not sure how they would tackle a poacher if they ever encounter one.

From Nagpur we hired a taxi which took us straight to our resort. The spirit of Sankranthi was infused in us thanks to the continuous 'Til Gud Laddu and Gud Gud Bole ' over the radio. Not sure what the second part means though. The resort where we had booked was called the S Kumar 999. With such a shady name we had our hopes low. But after reaching the place, it was a pleasant surprise. With beautiful lawns and cute cottages the place had a nice comfy feeling. They also had tent accommodations which we did not dare trying because the nights were quite cold. After a yummy lunch, topped with rassogolla and gulab jamuns we were ready for our first drive into the forest.

In Pench the open jeep safaris are well organized. There is a fixed set of 5 routes and you would be assigned a route on first come basis. On each route they would have around 10 vehicles. So a total of 50 vehicles are allowed into the forest for each trip and 40 of these slots can be booked online at the MP tourism website www.mptourism.com. The rest 10 are on first come first serve basis.

As we entered the forest all of us were quite excited and started looking around. The first to greet us where the spotted deers and the langurs. Each set of spotted deer had a langur accompanying them and the relation between these 2 species is symbiotic. The Langur warns the deers of predators and deers eat of the leaves that the langur drops off the trees. Watching a langur eat is quite interesting. They pluck small stalks from the tree, suck the sap from the stalk and throw the stalk down. These stalks are then eaten by the deers.

Pench is mostly comprised of teak trees. Some portions are completely grassy. These are mostly the areas which once were villages and now turned into the forest reserve. There are other interesting trees like the crocodile bark tree and the ghost tree - this truly looks ghostly.

croc tree

Ghost Tree

We roamed all along our route trying to listen to alarm calls but in vain. We saw more Chitals and langurs and quite a few peacocks. A couple of sambar deers were spotted too. We returned slightly unhappy. Back in the resort, the cold had started to set in and we huddled around a small bon fire set up for us with Hot tea and pakodas. Stories of cruel managers, older trips dominated the conversations.

The next day we had an early morning safari and so woke up by 5:00 am. The forest gates open by 6:30 and its important to be the first vehicle going in because there are higher chances of seeing animals on the path before the rush into the deeper forest troubled by the Gypsys haunting them. Though the morning was freezing cold we reached the gate on time and were the first vehicle to go in. Again we were welcomes by the deers, this time not many langurs around. We drove round and round. Our guide Subhash was very informative. He kept telling us the little nuggets about the forest. We were looking out for alarms calls either by the langurs or the chitals. At one particular stretch, we suddenly heard the langurs become restless and hopping from tree to tree and calling out. the chitals too held their heads up in attention. All of us had a feeling that the tiger would walk in anytime now. But all that remained was silence and no sight of the tiger.

The silence in the forest is kind of a numbing sensation. There are times when it is so silent you don't hear even the birds nor a twig move. It kind of brings about a feeling of self realization or introspection. Its a strange feeling but a nice one for sure. Reminded me of my nephew hindi translation for 'pin drop silence' - 'Sui patak sannata'.

We continued roaming around and came across the beautiful Neelgai. They looked so graceful especially the male in the misty back drop of the forest. It reminded me of Harry potter's Patronas. At one particular stretch we spotted the pug marks of tiger. we followed the marks but it ended at one point. Looked like the tiger went into the forest from that point on. After more futile attempts to spot the tiger we returned to our resort.

After some tasty lunch we geared up for our 3rd trip into the forest. We decided to take the same route as in the morning because we had heard alarms calls and were hopeful that we might spot the tiger then. We roamed the same paths over and over again. It was only the chitals, the langurs , the sambar deers and a far off neelgai and yes a jackal that was merciful to us. The tiger was least interested in knowing who had trespassed its territory.

Pench is also a home of different varieties of birds. we saw owls, racket tailed bird, serpent eagle, jungle babblers, kingfishers, woodpeckers, parrots, vulture and the grey hornbill.

We returned to our resort for another cozy night around our bon fire. After some time Dr Ghosh joined us. We went for a short drive in his car. He gave us a basic SLR tutorial and we tried some shots under his guidance.

The next morning was our last chance and last safari. We again reached the spot first. This time Lallan was our driver and according to Dr Ghosh, he was a guy with good instincts. Lallan lives just outside the Pench gate and owns the Lallan Bhojanalay. So with the Dr and Lallan in our jeep, we were hopeful. We drove around looking for pug marks, alarm calls any possible trace. we went to the spots where there were the alarm calls of a sambar deer the previous night. Played the wait and watch game but the tiger was no where in sight. After some more effort and trying others locations, we came to terms with the fact that we are not going to have a tiger sighting in this trip. We saw tigers pic in the docs camera and consoled ourselves. The rest of the safari was spent is trying different shots.

Soon we were on our way back to Nagpur. We had a few hours in Nagpur before we could board the bus. Roamed around near Lohe Ka Pul. Bought sweets - the famous til gud ka laddu that we had heard so much about. Also went into an interesting Bengali Sweet shop, I think it was called Anand. Heard it was around 100 years old. They had pictures of all famous bengali's starting from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to not sure who the latest was. But was interesting to see photos of JC Bose, Sarat Chandra chatterjee, Bankim chandra chatterjee etc etc. Bought some Nolengud ka Sandesh from there and headed back to Hyd

Tadoba - My first tyrst with the Tiger

I had been wanting to visit a Tiger Sanctuary but had not got an opportunity as such. Moreover, I was under the impression that a visit to a Wildlife reserve would be quite boring with nothing much to do, but wait for animals to show themselves. So I had not seriously thought of visiting one.
So one fine day, out of the blue we wanted to go on a long drive and decided to visit Pench Tiger Reserve. Unfortunately, I found out that Pench was closed for the monsoon, even though the monsoons were yet to start off. In a couple of days, I saw an invite by GHAC to visit Tadoba. had never heard of this name before, so did not bother to read the mail. Only when Anirban said lets got to Tadoba that I looked up that mail to see if it was good enough. As I browsed, I saw some pics taken at Tadoba the week before and I was surprised. I quickly said Yes, lets go. So we planned to go there the coming weekend and tried to get company but in vain.

On the D day, 23/Jul/2010, we left office by noon, quickly packed and started on our journey. I was actually very apprehensive about the journey because it was just the 2 of us, in an i10, with no prior driving experience, had to pass through Naxal areas and forest areas before we reach our destination. The first part of our drive was really enjoyable with the rain following us. The Medak highway was really green and fresh just after a heavy downpour. As we headed towards Siddipet we could see so many butterflies flying around right in front of our car as it cruised along at nearly 100kmph. Some of them crashing on our windsheilds as though we were getting a high if they made it through alive.

We soon passed through Mancherial - .I too had my fair share of driving. We passed to many villages and driving through these villages was difficult, with autos filled with people trotting by but right in the middle of the road. Once out of the village we would again go into cruise mode.

It almost became dark when we were close to the outskirts of AP. While passing through a small village, we werejust following a truck on a single lane bridge, when a two wheeler, over took us and started to over take the truck in front of us. When he was to the right of the truck, he lost his balance and ended up under the trucks rear wheels and was crushed to death immediately. We had to witness this horrific accident and both of us were completely shaken. When the truck did not stop and continue to move, we too silently followed was the man was dead anyways. When we passed through a police check post, I told my husband to stop and I frantically told the police that the truck in front of us had just killed the person. The police moved fast and intercepted the trunk. Then on second thought i realized that it was no fault of the truck guy and I had handed him over to the police for no fault of his and that his family was doomed and that he would spend x number for years in prison and that he would have to pay a hefty price to his owner, all these thoughts made me feel like I had blood on my hands. I was even more shaken now and totally confused. But we had no choice but to just go ahead.

We enterd Maharashtra, passed through Rajura, Bellarpur and finally reached Chandrapur. Chandrapur is quite a big place and we took a much needed break and picked up some dinner. It was already 10 pm by now and we had to still find our way to our MTDC hotel which was arounf 15 km from the forest gate. Finding our way to the Forest gate itself was quite diffult and I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw the closed gate in front of me. We had to convince the gaurd to let us as the gate closes by 8:30 pm. Once inside the gate, it was along road through the forest to the Hotel. On our way we could see rabbit hopping by and even soemthing that looked like a mongoose. Finally we reached the hotel and collapsed on our bed, as we had to wake up by 5:00 am the next day.

24/Jul I was up by 4:30 and in very low spirits and the events from the previous night still haunted me. By 5:30 we were ready and waiting for Bandu the driver we had booked. Bandu arrived in his Gypsy and we headed towards the forest. Tadaba has 2 ranges the Moharli Range and the Tadoba Range. You have to choose which range you wnat to visit at the gate and buy an entry ticket accordinly. The entry ticket for 2 along with a guide costed us just 250 Rs. We opted for the Mohar;i range for this trip. The forst looked lush green, with water collected in small ponds. the drive was very refreshing. We first spotted the a couple Sambar Deer. They headed into the jungle once they saw us. As we drove along we could see a few peacocks and the Serpent Eagle. Within a few more minutes we spotted 4 Indian Bison or the Gaur. They looked at us and continued their grazing when they realized we were not a threat. We drove along hoping to spot the ever elusive Tiger. I had no hopes of spotting one, and Jusrt enjoyed the drive through the forest in the open gypsy. In Tadoba you are allowed to take in your own vehicle as well. We were just worried that our i10 would not be able to handle the slushy roads and wnated to give it some rest after the long journey.

We drove along and when we eneterd a small nuddy path we saw that all the otehr gypsys had stopped and everyone looking in one direction. Soon we realized that they had spotted 3 tigers snoozing in the bushes. We too starined ourselves to see and could not see from our gypsy and the bamboo forming tiger mirages and playing games with us. We finally got onto another gypsy that had a better view and Lo behold , 2 majestic tigers dozing away, pawing on flies troubling them. We were super excited. When they swooshed theirs paws to rid the flies, they lloked cute. At times they changed sides and gave us a lazy look. The guide told us that there was a tigress with 4 cubs around 8 months old and ones that we were wathing were 2 of the 4 cubs. Though only 8 moht they looked quiote fully grown. After spending close to an hour there, we headed back. The park is open from 6:00 am to 11:am in the morning and again from 3:00pm to 7:pm in the night.

Our second trip to the forst was for the tadoba range, but since we had the sightings in Moharli, we decied to visit Moharlu again in the evening. This time we were joined my Dr Abhijit Deshpande and cardiologist and Wildlife Photographer. He had his camera gear with a few lenses and was we chatted along we realized that each of his lense where worth lacs. My dream of becoming a Wildlife photograph came crashing down. We again headed to the same spot where we had seen the tigers in the morning. As we were a little late, we could again see a long line of gypsy and realised that again we had missed a good view. We got to know that a tiger was sitting on the path when all these gypsies arrived and drove it back into the jungle. The widlife photographe with us told us that we stay put as the tiger would come back and try to cross the path and that its the same family that has been split. So we stood right there for over 20 minutes, when we suddnely spotted the tiger within the woods again. And this time no crowed, just 2 gypsy. So we waited and watched and tiger slowed moved closer, emerged from the jungle, got onto the path, gave us a look, walked on the path for a while, before disappearing into the jungle again. It was a sight to watch, and we were thrilled. So since 3 of the familay mebers had moved to the other part of the forest everyone was sure that the other 2 too wuold follow. So again this time we stayed put, waiting for the other 2 to emarge. By then most of the other gypsyis had returned. We stood there waiting in a line. We then suddenly noticed a tigers face, at the distance of 15 ft from us. It slowly moved closer, not at all perturned by the fact that there was a line of gype filled with people watching it. It caem closer towards nehind our jeep and at one point was only 5 ft from Anirban. It just sniffed around, maybe cursing us for troubling and stopping him from crossing over, walked further ahead and crossed over. This was the closest we could get. We tried our best to get a decent shot with our camra but our camera failed to do justice. We returned happy and extremely satisfied after ahving a plate of amazing poha at a stall near the tadoba gate.

Sunday was our last trip to the forest. We had decided we would leave after the trip and hit the roads atleast by 12:00 pm. I was woken up to the sound of pouring rain and was disappointed that this tripo to the forest is ruined. We were ready and Dr Abheek Ghosh came knowcking on our door. After a fromal intro we started off into the jungly on his gypsy. As it was raning he had put on the covers and we only had to watch out from the side. We went back to the same spot as yesterday, with the rain pouring over and nothing in sight, we roamed around a little. We stopped at a clearing thinking that we would move ahead based on a pacock or a langurs call. No call, just the sound of rain continued. After waiting for around an hour, we decided to head for a cup of tea. As our jeep drove by at a distance we saw a couple of vehcles stopped right in the middle of the road. It was the same seen again, 3 vubs had crossed over right to the other part fo the forest and the vehicle in front of us had the sight pf his life. So we just hoped that the other 2 are left back and and decided to stay put.

Then suddenly Anirban could spot the face of a tiger, just at the edge of the forest. All of us sat attentive as there were no more jeeps but us now. The tiger just looked at us unable to make up its mind whether to cross the road in our presence or to come back later. It waited there looking at us time to time, eating a few blades of grass and just waiting for us to leave. But we were stubborn too. We waited patiently. The tiger did not budge. Mostly it was one of the cubs and was a little initimidated by our presence. Very soon another jeep joined us and both played the waiting game. The Tiger gave up and went in back to the forest. When we sat there waiting for the tiger to emerge back. Suddenly I spotted something moving on the road way ahead. I thought it was the tiger and shouted out. But it was Sloth bear crossing the road to the other part of the jungle. So we continued waiting. After a few minutes one tiger emerged from the forest on our right at a distnace, paced around a bit maybe trying to signal to his sibling to come and join the rest. This seemed true as in a few minutes, the tiger that had disappeared came back, abd this time crossed the majestically to join its siblings. Once its crossed over, it was joined by the 2 more tigers and they lay in thicket near the road, dozing and licking and wiping themselves dry, though it continued to rain. We waited as watched then snooze, roll over, sneeze, lick each other dry and when we had enough headed to the chai shop, hoping to enjoy some poha, but to our bad luck Poha was finished for the day.

We headed back and had to quickly start on our journey back. We started off by around 12.00 pm as we drove through the forest heading for the gate, the greenery around us made us feel so enriched. The journey back was much more easy because we covered most of the distance in the day and reached Hyd by 9:30pm

Snow Capped

Last week I had been on one of the most memorable trips of my life. It was the first time that I was visiting North India and we were heading to the one of the best places there - Himachal Pradesh. With bags packed we headed to the airport directly from our offices. It was so much of a relief just thinking about the fact that we would be escaping Hyderabad's heat for the next whole week. We reached the airport on time and headed straight to our favourite idly factory and I happily hogged on all kinds of idlies. Very soon we were on our flight to Delhi.

April 30 2010
As the flight hovered over the Delhi Airport, I could see rain drops from the windows. When we got off we were surprised by the pleasant Delhi weather as it had rained and now there was some cool breeze blowing. All the horrors of 'Delli ki garmi' proved to be wrong. Soon we were heading towards Noida and Titun was having a hard time trying to recollect all places from his childhood. We were then stuck in jam at 11:30 pm and were getting a bit scared at the way our taxi driver was squeezing between vehicles. The he suddenly blurted out 'In kuttho ke wahje se hain jam'. I was wondering as to how dogs could cause just a big jam and asked him innocently 'kuttho ke wajha se?'. That's when he pointed out to a group of traffic cops and said yeh dekho kuttha. The rest of the journey we decided not to have any conversation with the driver. Once home, Julie didi fed us to some yummy Pepper Chicken and Meetha Pulua and some seekh kababs. Immediately hit the bed.

May 1 2010
After a heavy breakfast of Alu Paratha we headed towards dwarka to look at our house. The whole journey took up most of the day and after a few games with Ishan we had to head to the bus stop. Soon we were on our journey to Shimla. We had a couple of weird Chines people on our bus, who did weird things like exercising at 12:00 in the night.

May 2 2010
We woke up when the bus conductor shouted out that we had reached and that we had to get out. As soon as we got off the bus we were mobbed by a group of taxi drivers and waiting to dupe us. Most of them were interested in duping the Chinese and kept crowding around them. One of them agreed to take us to our hotel Sukh Sagar and demanded 100 Rs. We had to readily agree as we had no clue and by the time we sat in the taxi it was already time to get off. Our check in time was only 12.00 pm and here we were at the Hotel already by 5:30 am. After requesting and pleading I settled down for a nap on the couch at the reception. At around 8:30 we finally got our room and we quickly freshened up and started out on our day.

We hired a taxi for the day for around 1400 Rs and headed to Nanderal and Tattapani. Our first stop was Tattapani where we had heard we could try some rafting. As we headed towards the rafting point we could see lot of ads for rafting and couple of rafts here and there. Once at the point, which supposedly had Hot springs, which looked more like 5*3 tank of water and was called the Spring View. The Sutlej flowed by this hotel and looked very muddy and too peacefully for a good rafting experience. After waiting for an hour or so, we were asked to board a jeep which had our raft tied over it and headed to a place called Sunni. We were to raft for around 6 km for 650Rs each. At Sunni we walked down to the river bank and our guide gave a quick tutorial as to how we are supposed to row and the instructions to be followed. Soon we wore our life jackets and hopped onto the raft. We would row in sync when he asked us to and relax when he asked us to. We would row hard when we see a rapid ahead and try to go head on against the waves. At some points the rapids ere quite exhilarating. Once we reached the peaceful part of the river, our guide told us that we could jump into the water then. Titun immediately jumped in and froze to death. I quickly followed suit and felt the numbness caused by the ice cold water. After a few more minutes in the water we had to hop back on the raft we were again heading some rapids. The whole experience was great and we were back at Tattapani in no time.
We had a quick maggi lunch and headed to Nanderal.

Nanderal has many stories behind it and one that we were told was that it was named after a British officers daughter called Alexandria Nandheral. I think it has the only Gold Course of HimaChal Pradesh. We took a horse ride up the hill dotted with pine trees. The best part of the price of the ride is fixed and there are boards everywhere giving you the details. You can also easily walk up these hills. After roaming around a while we took the horse ride back and then headed back to the hotel.

After a short recess at the hotel, we headed to the Shimla Mall Road. Though it has no Mall as such it lined with clothes shops, eateries, bakeries and ATMS. A walk on this road gives you a feel of an movie set. You have a tiny police station, a fire station with just a jeep and beautiful old church. We had some yummy pastries and eclairs and stopped by Dim Sums a Chinese restaurant for our dinner. Though the ambience was nothing great the food was quite good. We returned a hit the bed as we had a long day ahead.

May 3 2010
We woke up early around 6:00 and hurriedly got ready and checkout of our hotel. We had booked a taxi for the next 6 days at the rate of 14500 per day and he was already waiting for us. We hit the roads and kept looking out of the window as very view was too beautiful to be ignored. We made our first stop at Wild Flower Hall, Shimla and munched on some Alu Parathas at a road side Dhabha. Then we started our on our long journey to Sangla. We passed through Kufri - Fagu - Theog - Narkhanda - Rampur -
The journey till Rampur was very smooth with hills and valleys filled with pine and deodar tress. There were patches of Apple orchards on the way but no Apples in sight. This whole stretch was quite cool and pleasant too. Once we reached Rampur, we could see the Sutlej, flowing on the foothills of mighty mountains. Now though this sounds good, did not look good as most of these mountains are barren or are used as dumping grounds and the river looks very very muddy and weather was quite sunny too. Rampur as such was a busy place compared to all the places seen in Himachal until then. As we passed Rampur, Sutlej steadily flew along with constructions of barricades on either side of the river though i don't quite understand their purpose. After driving for some time we reached Jeori where you can take a deviation to Sarahan. All the way from Jeaori Sutlej is dotted with Hydro Electric projects. We continued to drive along the river all the way until Wangtoo. This is the places where you had a dam across Sutlej and this place is busy with construction going on the either sides of the road, with huge lorries crawling along and huge bull dozers noisily grabbing mud and stones. This part of the road was the worst part with the roads being in a bad shape thanks to the lorris and this continues until Karcham and Tapri and until you see a Sign board saying Thank You by the JayPee Group. This stretch all the way from Rampur till Tapri was the most taxing as you have no shop, no water nothing all along.

But as the saying goes, it only when you have bad things that you can appreciate the good things, as we passed tapri and took the deviation to Sangla we had our first sight of a Snow Capped mountain. We were excited, thrilled and our driver very aptly played the song 'Yeh Haseein Vadiya' from roja, that definitely added to the thrill we felt as we again passed through pine filled mountains with the snow capped mountains at their back drop. The Sangla valley looked awesome with the road on the edge of cliffs and here the river flowed with a greenish tinge and it looks so fresh, so untouched, so free.

We headed to our Igloo camp and were welcomed by Neelam a very sweet ever smiling guy.
Our tent was called the Snow View and I guess it was aptly names because we see a few snow capped mountains right in front of us and we could see the Sangla Kanda to our right and the Back of Kinner Kailash to our left. We could hear the river flowing by but could not see it from the tent as such.
After a small snack we decided to spend some time by the river as it was already 5:30 and nothing else would have been possible. We ordered a lavish meal of Chicken, Dal, Sabzi and roti and started walking to the river. A nepali guy accompanied us telling us about places in and around Sangla. We had to walk all the way till the sangla market where we reached a bridge over the baspa river and were totally disappointed that the river was not all that clean in that area and the surrounding were not all the good to enjoy the beauty of the river. After asking the locals we were a dissapointed that we had to spend our time at this dirty stretch, we decided to make the most of what we have and sat by the river bank and cooled our heels. The walk back to the camp was again a long one and Neelam was out there searching for us as it was already dark. We hogged on the tasty dinner prepared and had not clue as to how to spend time in the tent with no TV and deafening silence around it. We both took to read a book and soon fell asleep covering ourselves completely with the blanket.


May 4 2010

I woke around 7:15 and could see bright sunlight outside. I went out and the sight was worth a million troubles. There was lot more snow on all those peaks and this snow sparkled and glistened in the sunlight. I came running inside and called Titun out and we both were too excited and happy with the view. After spending more than an hour enjoying the view, we had to get ready to leave to Chitkul. We were hoping that we could find some snow there so that we could play in it. Chitkul is the last inhabited village on the Indian side. The drive to Chitkul was again breathtaking with more and more snow capped peaks now in sight. The road was very narrow besides deep gorges. At times we had to share the roads with big Army trucks and that was scary. Chitkul is sparsely populated and with small temple and a school by the river. It is surrounded by these snow capped peaks which look so accessible that we were tempted to make it over one of them. So we started trekking, walking towards the snow capped peaks. We had the river Baspa flowing crispy clean and ferociously besides us. We walked and walked until we reached the No Entry sign out up by the ITBP. We joined a group of gujarathis who were already requesting the border police to let them in and we tailed along. At the Border Police Camp we met an officer Rajveer Shekwat. He had a funny looking nose and was more than willing to talk to us. He got his sub ordinates to serve us water and tea and started telling things about his camp. He was around 47 years old and looked much more fit than all of us who were puffing and huffing after the long walk. He told us that had lost a part of his nose to frost bite when he was posted in Leh. He told us that there was a camp further ahead that would require a 2 day trek and how the army was well supplied with daily essentials.The best part when he showed us a packet called the Kempo Packet, that had meal for a Jawan. It contained ready to use Rotis, Veg Pulau, Alu Matar Sabjee, Sooji ka Halwa, Tea Bags, sugar and even paper napkins. I realized that are army men are taken very good care of when he told me that they had supplies that would last them more than 6 months. As the snow peaks lay ahead of this camp we were not allowed to go to them. After wishing them by we decided t o try our luck by crossing the river and scale some mountains on the other side of the river. But the river was so fierce that we dare not cross it and headed back to chitkul and back to Igloo.

That evening we decided to take another route to the river. This also was a long complicated one but it was worth it when we reached an isolated part of the river back surrounded by the pine filled tress to one side, rounded rocks on the other and the snow capped peaks further away. I think this was one of the best moments in the whole trip as we spent around a hour, listening to the gurgling of the river.

May 5 2010

The mountains surrounding our tent were so tempting that i so much wanted to climb one of the snow capped peaks and play in the snow. After insisting a lot, Titun finally agreed and after talking to Neelam last night we decided to climb Sangla Khanda, which had a lake on top of it and walking further would take you to the snow capped peak. So we asked Neelam to arrange for a guide and I was thoroughly excited about the trek and the snow and lake did not fantasize me much. Though Titun insisted that we only go up to the lake I dreamt of being on top of the peak. I woke up by 5 this morning and hurriedly got ready and waited for Titun to get ready. He took one whole hour and this one hour I was so restless, that i had literally calm my self down. Finally Titun was ready by 6:40 or so and we rushed out, picked up our breakfast and started walking with our guide.
The first part of the trek was ok where we had to cross the bridge. The started the climb. Our guide told us that this stretch was the only steep part and everything was easy. I am not sure if he said that to keep up our spirits or things were easy for him. Though quite steep , we managed to climb up way behind the locals who smiled at us when we sat down huffing and puffing. After the initial steep, the climb was more enjoyable though taxing at times. We climbed and climbed and climbed. Everytime we asked our guide how much longer he gave a very optimistic answer and climbing for so long we would realize that he was fooling us. The empty stomach and our low fitness levels was already taking its toll on us, we were now stopping more frequently when our guide seemed perfectly fine. I quickly picked up a stick to help me out but not much use. We dragged ourselves along, until we could see the top of the hill that had the lake. Our guide told us that the lake was just after the bend and though we walked and walked the bend never came and by now both of us were extremely exhausted. Then guide got this brilliant idea of taking us by a short cut which meant we climb the hill at almost 80 degree angle. This squeezed the last bit of energy left in us and titun kept threatening to give up. He sat down on this steep hill saying we would not move further and was totalled pissed off with me for making him strain himself so hard. I tried to convince him we inched along and along and then finally we could see the lake. We just collapsed by the side of it and took some deep breaths. I quickly munched on the much needed breakfast and looked up at the snow clad peak still tempting me. But looking at my condition I had to console my self by saying that the grapes are sour and gave up on them. We played the lake for a while, walked around, chatting for some time and decided to head back.

The climb down was initially very relaxing. The view was amazing and for once we could actually enjoy the view. As we went down and down and down, our legs again started aching but we had to move along. By the time we reached the foothills, are legs were shaky with no energy left at all. Finally we reached the bridge across the river and now had to climb back on to the road. This was the worst part of the trek for me. I was so exhausted that I could just not walk. Never felt so tired. Though it was raining by now, I preferred getting drenched in the rain than move along. After struggling we managed to reach the road and called our taxi to take us to our tent. Once back we had a much needed shower, has a heavy lunch of rajma chawal and started out to Kalpa.

The drive to Kalpa let us relax and give complete rest to our feet and we both dozed off and missed the bad part of the road at Tapri and Karcham. When I woke up, again we could see the beautiful mountains and I munched on the cherrys we had with us. It was raining quite hard when we reached Kalpa. We checked into Kinner Kailash, the best hotel in Kalpa. There was no way that we could venture out. kalpa was much colder that Sangla and I enjoyed the Heater for some time. We just lazed around as there was nothing much to do.

May 6 2010

We woke up to clear sky and we could see Kinner Kailash just outside our window and it looked awesome. The cottony clouds just drifted by it and there was lots of snow on the mountain becuase of the rain last night. We quickly got ready and headed to the Rogi Village. The drive to the village was beautiful, again with steep cliffs, pine filled slopes and snow capped mountains further away. Once at the village we realized that there was nothing special there as such, so we just walked around clicking pics trying to get the best shot. From there we walked further to the suicide point and Titun was crawling around there, clicked a few pics and headed to the Kalpa Market.

In Kalpa market, we saw a small monastery, looked more like a Buddist temple. From there we went searching for the Kinnauri caps and could find none, so headed to Rekong Peo as there was nothing else to do the rest for the day. Rekong peo has a much bigger market compared to Kalpa with lots of shows for shawls, footwear, small eat out places and groceries. We roamed around the local market, picked up a shawl and 2 kinnauri caps, had some junk chinese food.

We headed back to Kalpa and spent the evening in the hotel. We went out for a walk and saw the hotel run by Deb Bhumi travels and tours. They had a hotel at Sangla too. So we decided to check them out. Ordered Lemon Juice, which tasted terrible as they made it with hot water. Headed back to the hotel and munched on some snacks.

May 7 2010
We had to leave to Sarahan as early as possible as we had juts a day at Sarahan. We left our hotel by 8 am, bid farewell to the might Kinner Kailash and started towards Sarahan. The journey towards Sarahan was quite long. We had to pass the dreaded stretch from Wangtoo to Jeori and then take take the deviation from there to Sarahan. Once we took the turn towards Sarahan, there were many apple orchards enroute, but all the apples were really tiny. We could see bunches and bunches of roses and they were so abundant as the bougainvilla in our cities. Sarahan again was very scenic, located at the top of a mountain, surrounded by a lot of trees, lots of flowers and your see something like a plataeu of snow capped mountains at a distance. One among them is the Srikand Peak which is again a holy place. We checked into Hotel Srikand again owned by the HPTDC. This hotel had its floors below the ground. So ours was 301, so we had to go 3 floors under. As the hotel is situation on the edge of the mountain, you still get a good view from the window. But Kinner Kailash was much better than this, when it came to the feel, cleanliness and service. The hotel had it large share of roses all around it. All the plants are filled with atleast more than 20 roses each.
We reached Sarahan around 12 noon, and because the menu of this hotel and the Kinnaer Kailash were the same we decided to have lunch else where. After roaming around the market place a while, we decided to settle for a lunch at Sarika which is again owned by the Deb Bhumi tours and Travels (remember?) The place was shabby and the cook looked even shabbier. Because Titun wanted to have 'simple food' we still opted for this place. Had our simple dal chawal and omlette and had to return to our hotel as it was raining.

After relax for an hour or so, it was already close to 4 pm and the rains had stopped and weather looked just perfect. We headed out and first went to the Bhima Kali Mandir the main attraction at this place. Wew had to wear caps, remove footwear, remove all leather accessories, no mobiles and cameras. Luckily they had a locker facility so it was not much of a problem. We quickly went in and were soon out as most parts opf the temple was in accessible with No entry boards all over. Apart from the temple, there is a bird sanctuary with some specail species fo pheasants. But unfortunately it was closed due to the breeding season. So we decided to walk around aimlessly. We passed some fields, a large stadium, playing all the latest hit songs and it looked like a circket match was about to start. We pitch covers were being drawn off and some players walking in. We continues to walk further and could hear the chirping of lots of birds and also could spot some species that we dont normally see in the cities. We walked further along with the road winding through pine forests until we saw some kind of a park which was a view point, as the edge of a mountain giving you a clear view of the plateau of the snow capped peaks. After spending soem time there we headed back as Titun had to watch the T20 match, India vs Australia. The rest of the time was spent in cursing the Indian players.


May 8 2010
Our was almost over :( Waking up to such a feeling was bad. we lazed around a bit and checked out by 10. We were hoping to reach Shimla by 5 or so. As the car made its ways through the winding roads, we had to bid farewell to the snow capped mountains for good. We would not see any of them anymore, atleady not before a year or so. We reached Narkanda around noon and wanted to have lunch in a dhaba callled the New Himalayan dhaba. This place was located in the main market area. The plaxce as such did not look great but the food was yummy. We had Rajma, Paneer Burjee and some Kadi. The service really quick. The rest of the journey we both were dozing off in the car.
Soon we reached Kufri and decided to cover this place too. Kufri si again a hill top, which you go on a horse. Kufri is mainly meant for skiing during the winter months. During the summer there is absolkutely nothing there for a tourist. The is small park with some rides in it which did not interest us much. The place was very crowded and over the experience was not worth the effort. We headed back quite quickly and headed to Shimla. Once in shimla we had to spend the next 3 hours here until we could board the bus. We first visited Combermere, mainly to use their toilets as we were not quite sure we would find clean ones elsewhere. Had a cup of coffee each and left. We romaed around the mall and Titn again had an Eclairs. With nothing else to do, we had a light dinner at China Town on a street just off the mall road. From there we boarded our bus and was on our way back to Delhi, gearing up to face the heat.