Friday, May 30, 2014

IN BETWEEN THE HILLS- PANGOT ! (XIX)

23rd May, 2014- 25th May, 2014

Sitting at home one day we decided to explore an unexplored place- and while surfing we found this place- Pangot, 15 kms ahead of Nainital and we decided to start this 3 days expedition! We hired a taxi and surprisingly the taxi driver also hadn't heard about this place. We hardly slept the previous night and were busy packing , talking, searching cottages and hotels, surfing about the place. We- 6 of us started our journey at around 6.30 in morning. It was approx. 8 hrs journey and we reached Pangot at around 3.00 pm and our search for good cottages started. We hadn't booked the cottages before, we were playing luck game. There were just 4-5 cottages and one big hotel. We went in 2-3 cottages, but unfortunately all were booked. Then we went to that hotel (with a feeling that this was our last resort). We were about to book that hotel, but something stopped us and we once again thought of trying our luck. 

THE KAFAL HOUSE

We went in another cottage- THE KAFAL HOUSE- and it came as a bliss to us. Beautiful cottage with beautiful people. Despite the cottage been booked, its caretaker arranged rooms for us. The service was awesome, neat and clean and words are less to describe the food. And the plus point was that it was very reasonable. We met one more person there, probably the owner, Naresh, 29 years old, tall and handsome, living alone in a tin cottage-house and he named it as Shiva’s Den (and this was not the same as Shiva's den in mcleodganj). It was a small, beautiful tin room, with blue lights, soft music, mattresses, cushions and was filled with agarbatti smell. It was divine. We sat there for quite a while, had tea (lemon grass and nettle tea- he had his own farms).

NETTLE LEAVES




 When asked about his life he told that earlier he was working in a BPO, then started his own business, then one day he left everything and came there to stay. He had so much to tell and we had so much to ask him. We listened to his travel stories, the mountain stories, talked about our stories! For a while I thought of quitting my job as well. :-) One of his friends later on joined us and he also started telling us about his various treks and also various spooky mountain stories.

The place was full of artists. Naresh told us that Kung fu Panda summer camp was also there. While having dinner we met world famous photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee who recently had spot snow leopard in Ladakh. A very simple man. We exchanged some greetings and then he got busy in his food.





PANGOT

Pangot is a place for bird watchers. One can find around 250-280 bird species there. What is required is a pair of binoculars and DSLR (unfortunately we were not carrying the both), still we managed to spot various different kinds of birds in different colours- purple, blue, green parrots with yellow tails!



















BRAHAMASTHALI

The next day we decided to go to Brahamasthali (as suggested by Naresh). It was 12kms ahead of Pangot plus around 1 and a half kms trek. I was not sure about the trek, but I still decided to give it a try (and thank God I tried). The trek was in the midst of lush green forests, sometimes it was scary also as we could hear noises of some wild animals (probably our imagination). The view, half way through the trek was mesmerising. We went till top, some 9000 ft. There was a small temple and a baba's (saint) kutiya. It was difficult to guess his age but he seemed to be old but was smart and active and he was basically famous for his chillam. We chatted with him for almost an hour. He offered us Rooafza with curd (which was very innovative and tasty) which he prepared in his small kutiya only. There was chulha also in that kutiya. Astonishingly he was well aware about the outside world- he discussed about politics, the places, the tourism. There was no TV there, but then I noticed a small radio set lying in his kutiya. He told that he listened to samachar (news) everyday. While leaving he gave us a register and a pen and told us to write something in it. He did that with every visitor. 

OUR TREK STARTED FROM HERE



HALF WAY THROUGH THE TREK

TREK




TEMPLE AT 9000 FT
















In the whole trip our driver, Ravinder Singh, also played a very important role.He was of our age only and he became like a friend to us. He was cute, funny and caring. He went with us to trek. He was quite an interesting person and used to crack various jokes in between. I asked about his family and he told that his parents and sister are settled in America. He stays in Delhi with his wife and 1 year old son and trying to get visa for all of them.

OUR BELOVED DRIVER MR RAVINDER SINGH ON EXTREME LEFT


In evening we went to Mall Road, Nainital to have dinner and by night 11.00pm we were back in our very own Kafal House.


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

KASHMIR (XVIII)

The more I think about this place, the more I wish to go there again.

THE THIRD DAY- GULMARG
21st April, 2014

In morning we were all ready to check out from our hotel and go to Gulmarg and stay there for one night. But to our disappointment Abdullah bhaiya told us that it was an election time in Kashmir and it would be better for us to come back to Srinagar and not to stay in Gulmarg. There was curfew in Srinagar that day. This trip was going quite unexpected and adventurous. We started our journey for Gulmarg and reached there in approx 1 and a half hour. Because of our previous day experience this time we were more careful and more prompt in bargaining. We took jackets and boots on rent and entered Gulmarg. The first word which came out of my mouth was "Wow". It was the land totally covered under snow. 



We booked our tickets for Gondola (cable car). There were two phases- Phase I and Phase II. First hault was at Phase I. The land seemed to be covered under white diamonds. The snow was shining brightly. And in that cold we had coke and yummy kashmiri pulav. The local boy there offered us Kashmiri kahwa- it was the mixture of 11 different things including Kesar, daalchini, badaam etc- very tasty and nutritious. Then  Phase II took us to a height of approx 13000 ft- till LOC. Not everyone go there, but those who don't go, they surely miss on something very interesting. To my amazement the LOC was the only place where mobile signals were coming. It was windy and it was difficult to walk in that thick snow. We stayed there for almost half an hour and felt as if we were flying. We were at the top peak and all other mountains were beneath us.


















THE FOURTH DAY- PAHALGAM
22nd April, 2014

Pahalgam was totally different from other places in Kashmir. All other places were mountains, but this was a valley- popularly known as mini Switzerland. It was drizzling, little snow and too much greenery. It was the 45 minutes horse trek. 





THE FIFTH DAY- SRINAGAR
23rd April, 2014  

We had our flight for Delhi in evening, so we decided to spend the day time in Srinagar only. We hired a shikara- a boat in Dal lake. We thought that it would be normal boating for an hour or so- but what we saw kept us amazed. There was a full floating market inside Dal lake. These pictures would speak it all:



















In flight we were all in our jackets and mufflers  and suddenly there was an announcement "Bahar ka taapmaan 36 degree hai" (outside temperature is 36 degree Celsius).

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