Me - The Traveller II

Hi,
Traveller II will start from where I had left off in my last article. I have listed all the places here which I have visited till date and unfortunately this list is not increasing. My attempts to go on another holiday are not working out but I hope that my curiosity for different places, culture, nature, adventure and cuisine continues in Traveller III and finds its place on my blog :)

Ludhiana, Kulu, Manali, Rohtang -
We were lucky. Why? A group of 13 people from the company got
leave simultaneously and started off to Simla. The plan was to go via Ludhiana where one our friend Nischal belonged. We took a train to Ludhiana, spent a day there enjoying lunch at his place. The city seemed crowded. Roads are narrow and houses are placed very near to each other. I think all the cities which were formed few hundreds of years ago have these characteristics. At night we started off in a four wheeler to Simla. The route was via chandigarh. Wow the city is too good...well I mean the roads. Anyway the city has the distinction of being the first planned city. Girls do u remember the race, with a handsome guy in the car ;) Well we didn't race but we surely did joke about it. We reached Simla but the main road leading to Simla was so crowded with travel buses that it really scared us. There was a traffic jam and it was so polluted that we decided to skip Simla and we directly headed for Manali. On the way, we took a halt ahead of Simla in a nice hotel. That night at 12:00 the bunch raided Kaushik's room and pulled him out to give birthday bumps. Next morning we travelled the twist and turns of Kullu by sitting atop our vehicle. That is called enjoying nature but looking back I feel that was a stupid decision. It was too risky. Accidents don't happen everyday and with prior notice. You never know which unlucky moment is ahead of you. It makes sense not to go in such situations.
Manali is beautiful, very beautiful. I saw the first sight of snow from the window of my hotel room. The weather is so pleasant. The sunlight is so soothing and very right. There is happiness in the atmosphere. Greenery all around with the tall coniferous trees. I was impressed with the Beas river. I liked the sound of the flowing water. Just a stroll on its mall road was also enjoyable. I don't know but as I said happiness is in the air. The cold weather and hot momo's is a good combination. Try it. We saw quite a few hotels owned by Tibetians which flashed messages of a 'Free Tibet'. Right across the lane of our hotel was a Buddhist monastery. We drove to Solang the next day. Solang is a huge clear green patch of land. We did parasailing there. The 5 min float in air was a must. The point when you jump from the cliff (well, cliff is too big a word...whatever) till you are pulled up in air was the best moment. You feel it only in your stomach. We then requested and danced with the locals on some folk song. The steps were quite simple. All of us were wearing the traditional dress except Kaka who was wearing the traditional dress but with the female head gear. LOL Whenever I see the photo (nick named kaka - kaki) I still burst out laughing. The kaki is Vandana. We went to hidimba temple and ghatotkach temple as well. In the prior temple, shooting for Roja took place. Remember the kidnapping shot. We saw yaks there. I liked the animal. Next we went to Rohtang. Again its a total tourist spot and jam packed with people and vehicles. The year old snow had turned black coz of pollution. Rohtang has stones, which have lots of mica in them. They shine in light. I collected lots of them for all the kids in my house. I think they also make a good item for interior decoration. We tried skiing at Rohtang. Back in Manali, we also celebrated Farah's birthday. That night we played the king and queen. This was a hilarious incident and I must describe it. The game is quite easy. There is a royal couple and a courtier. Rest of the crowd has to act like a messenger from different kingdoms, praise the queen and gift them something special. If they like the gift then you get a chance to sit near the King. Well all this kid stuff apart, main aim is to make the person sit in an area where he will surely fall down. Rahul n me were the King and queen while Fa was the courtier. While we made arrangements in our room (for the person to fall), the rest of the junta was made to sit in another room. One messenger enters at a time. From amongst the junta, I guess, Sharky new the game and these people planned a boomerang. The all plotted to make an attack on the king. When we announced that one messenger could come in, no one was ready to come in (well they were still finalising the plot). We smelled that something was cooking in and changed our plans to. Our suite had two rooms connected via a bathroom. I stood behind the bathroom door with water mug in my hand. As per their plot they all raided in and took us by surprise but we too succeeded to put water on them. It was too hilarious. Imagine all this in the middle of the night. 13 people making hungama. What next, it was the manager of the hotel yelling at us. This was one helluva trip, unforgettable. Well atleast Rahul and Yoyo will agree to it. We came back from Manali via Ludhiana sitting in a train near the door with no reservations.

Cochin, Lakshadweep -
This is one of the lesser known places, well at least I found that many of my colleagues were not aware of tours to this set of islands. Lakshadweep is a paradise. Must see with 5 stars. My friends have told me to make sure I write this like a travelogue since this is a lesser known destination. Well, I'll try and describe it at best but I'm sure words will not be adequate to bring the beauty of this place on paper. We went from Pune to Cochin. We spent a day in Cochin sightseeing. We went to see the Chinese fishing nets, a palace and the backwaters. Of these only the backwater ride was great. The other two can be safely skipped IMHO. We saw a small scale coir
industry during our backwater ride. I made a feeble attempt to make a coir rope but nevertheless it was fun. I also tried my hand at rowing the boat with the help of a bamboo. Put the bamboo in water and............huh it floats instead of going down in the water. Try again and ...not fair. It takes huge energy to manage to put down the bamboo such that it touches the soil below the water and then give a huge push.The next day we were off to our dream destination -
Lakshadweep. We had booked for a three island tour, which meant we would be staying on the ship and travel by the night to reach a new destination in the morning. Rule number 1 - please learn to swim else you are missing out on many wonderful moments in life. Pack your swimming gear and sun ban lotion and
off to the islands we go. As far as my knowledge goes, all islands are not open to tourism anyways. Some islands can be visited but we cannot stay here. One island has been kept for foreigners. Foreigners cannot visit any other island. We took off on sail by the vessel Tipu Sultan. This is basically a very old small size ship and I hear it has now been discontinued. Even at that time it was a cargo ship converted to a passenger ship. Don't miss the sight of cute dolphins playing and entertaining the people at the Cochin port. As the ship sails, you realize the vast expanse of water that surrounds you and you a tiny spec in front of nature's vast expanse. It's blue everywhere, a beautiful sight. The sight of birds becomes rare as you get far away from the land. You can chance upon some fish. After travelling for a few ours, it does get monotonous but by then it's sunset time. Never miss a sunrise and sunset from the sea. As the huge ball of fire stat dipping down, it starts changing shades of itself as well as the nearby water. The shades of red, orange and yellow reflect from the glistening water as the water gulps down this huge ball of fire. With the onset of the night, you can see the moon and stars shining all above you. You should be on the deck rather than the cabins to experience all this. A strong wind starts blowing and it gets rather cold at night. It was time for games, songs and music. We danced till late night. We all slept on the deck in sleeping bags (although we were booked for the ac chair car). The morning sun dawned on us the thrill and excitement of visiting the first island Kalpeni.

Kalpeni - The main ship stopped mid way in the sea. We saw many small motor boats coming towards us. All passengers were disembarked into these boats and we headed off to kalpeni. I found Kalpeni as the most scenic island. It has many neighbouring islands, which a person can pay a visit by swimming across. Let me clarify. A small landmass with 4 trees is also an island. There are many such islands in variety of sizes and shapes nearby. The water is not too deep. All islands are coral islands. What exactly is a coral. These are limestone deposits created a tiny organism (which is immobile itself). The limestone is produced by it to secure itself to the rocks or many times on top of dead corals. As time goes by, layers of limestone deposit to form huge landmass. Such islands are coral islands. The water looks green wherever the depth is less due to corals and blue if it is deep. So watch out. We went snorkelling here. Gosh, the variety of fish you see down there is amazing. So many colours shapes and sizes. We also saw starfish and puffer fish. By the way, do you know that Lakshadweep is famous for its yellow finned tuna. There is a huge tuna fishing industry here. Don't forget to buy canned fish. It rained while we snorkelled. This was the most amazing sight. Tiny islands with swaying palm trees, tiny huts, blue waters and good food yum....ain't it the description of a perfect holiday.

Minicoy - Our next destination was Minicoy, the farthest island (from India) amongst the island group. This island is very near to Maldives. The locals speak the same language. It is so close that you can get a glimpse of Maldives...well that stmt was to describe how close ;) So if you wish to go to Maldives, you know you have a cheaper alternative. The travel to Minicoy was a little difficult. The sea was choppy and most people were sick the night before we reached Minicoy. In Minicoy, I tried my hand at different kinds of boats. I tried controlling the sail of the sailing boat. Wow, as the wind becomes strong the boat takes up a good speed. I was also successful in reversing the direction of the sail. It was a huge task to move the sail around the mast with the wind taking it forward. Of course a guy was there to help me. Well that goes without saying ;) I tried my hand at row boats. Multiple people were rowing it. Next we went up the lighthouse. People with vertigo - I suggest inspite of your fear don't avoid it. The view was awesome. Tiny islands and beautiful white coastline containing the blue green waters was amazing. I wish I had a chopper to give me nice ride but this wasn't any less either.

Kavaratti - The next destination was the capital of Lakshadweep, the Kavratti island. The highlight of our visit here was glass bottom boat ride and scuba diving. The boat is quite small with a glass window in the centre. The crystal clear waters give you quite a clear view of the water bed. Along with loads of different fish, we saw a huge sea turtle. Next we went for the most exciting part of the trip, the scuba dive. We faced some problems with scuba diving. The scuba diving facility is government run. They were running short of oxygen cylinders. Hence many of the people especially kids and non swimmers were denied a dive. Anyone can dive. You need not know how to swim to dive. A swimmer will be more at ease since he is aquainted with water at the least. BTW, SCUBA stands for Self Contained Under Water Breathing Apparatus. Breathing using the apparatus, is equally difficult for swimmers and non swimmers. It takes a bit of a time to adjust to it. We were shown a video tape giving information on diving. To tell you the truth, the video managed to scare me but I was so enthu about the whole idea that it did not deter me. I had come all the way to Lakshadweep because I wanted to dive. It's not as scary though...reason....we did not go that deep. It was a less than 15 minute dive at a very minimal depth (remember we were short of oxygen cylinders. One cylinder was used to accomodate more than one person). As you keep going down with your instructor, you can feel the pressure of water build up on your chest. The instructor signals to ask if you're okay. Once you are down, oh wow, was I watching discvery channel. There were fish all around me. I can never forget the sight. This was our last stop and with a heavy heart we started our journey back. Please visit this place at least once, though you will long to go there again and again.

Rishikesh -
One of the Char Dhams. You must be wondering how come I visited this place of worship and spiritual healing. Kahin maine sanyas lene ka to plan nahi banaya tha ;) Rishikesh has developed as a major water sports centre and I went to Rishikesh for experiencing white water rafting over the Ganges. Ganga is a huge river. It's not a very wide river but it's surely very very deep. We stayed in tents by the river side, our tents barely few feet away from the flowing ice cold water. For every Hindu, it's the ultimate dream to bathe in the Ganga and get rid of all the sins in your life. My parents too wanted to do this but the water was too chilling. They had to be content with quick "symbolic" dip in the water. Initialy we were told aout the basics of rafting, team work, instructions to be followed by the lead navigator and ways to save yourself in case you fall off the raft. Our instructor told us how to come out of the raft in case it topples and you are under it......phew scary thought but don't be. First and foremost, for beginners, rafting is carried out in lower grade rapids and the instructors are too good. They will not let this happen. Rapids are the water current developed at certain areas in the river where the water either suddenly turns or where the depth of the water changes. Crossing this patch of currents requires a lot of skill. Rapids are classified in grades based on the current strength and difficulty in navigation. Rapids below grade 4 are advisable for beginners. A grade 4 rapid is quite difficult to cross and chances of falling off the raft become higher and higher as the grade increases. All of us were given life jackets. We went through different streches of the Ganga for the 3 days of rafting. Once in a rapid you just paddle, paddle, paddle till you have crossed it. Team work plays a huge role. Most difficult part is to hold yourself on the edge of the raft with your feet tightly pressed on the raft floor. Next ...believ it or not, we actually jumped off in one of the rapids to experience a body surf and God was it scary. Let me confess I was scared. Once I jumped in, this is the time I realised how strong the current is. With a high speed, the current had already taken me along. The points to remember were to lie flat on the back with the oar held by the chest, not
come near the raft and not go to the river banks lest you go and bang on the rocks. What sort of instructions are these, I wondered. The raft is my sole hope and I shouldn't go near it. In case we did go towards the bank or the raft, we should use the oar to keep away from it. As the river turned elegantly, I was drifted to the banks. Thats it, I thought. I closed my eyes and said Ganga maiyya ki jay. Ab tere havale hoon and as I opened my eyes, I saw myself going towards the safe zone. I heaved a sigh of relief. Once the rapid was over, our instructor went by collecting all floating bodies (of course alive and one piece). By the time it was my turn, I was way ahead of my raft and I was still moving further with the current. Ab to gayi. I yelled to catch attention. By this time I had reached the other side of the river. I caught hold of the rock that came near. I was ice cold. My hands were white and wrinkled. My instructor looked at me and laughingly got the raft near me and finally pulled me out. I think I valued life after that. I came out but I know I wanted to do this again. As I write this, I have relived the moment with my heart racing and goose bumps to accompany. We visited a temple here to perform the Ganga Arti. The environment here is so pure and serene. The chants ringing in the air just lights up magic in your minds. We lit small diyas and let them afloat on the water. It looks so good with small diyas dotting the water at night. Do not miss this experience.

Pabbar valley -
Last summer I went trekking with a group of friends to a lesser known area in the Himalayas, the Pabbar valley. .......keep reading for more ;)