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TREKKING
Tryst with adventure
Shefali Tripathi Mehta
A hammock, a book, endless blue skies and a gurgling river flowing by. The romance of a toy train gently meandering through scenic hills peppered with quaint stone houses, rolling valleys and quiet streams. Long walks into pristine, pine-scented landscapes. The thrill of trekking through unexplored terrain, river rafting and paragliding. Beach volleyball, sumptuous barbecues and bonfire. It’s like an elaborate buffet spread for each to pick what they fancy.
Beyond crowded Shimla and Manali, there are uncharted havens of beauty and tranquillity in the lesser-known regions of the western Himalayas. On a very hot, dusty Delhi-day, we started for Joginder Nagar (Mandi district) by road to arrive by night and be greeted by tall pines swaying in deep gorges, a balmy breeze and our unassuming host, a full-time doctor with a full-time passion for the great outdoors, Dr Naresh Singhla. Dr Singhla and his team run Alpine Treks — a chain of camping resorts at various off-the-guide-book locations around Joginder Nagar.
Heaven on earth
At an altitude of 4,000 feet in the valley of the Dhauladhar or the White Mountains, Joginder Nagar is a restfully green hill town with floating clouds and sudden showers. The first property, Trekkers Nest, is a basic motel, a stopover. Tidy rooms, clean beds and bath and fresh cooked food. In short, homely warmth and personal attention guaranteed.
From there you could choose like us to camp in tents at Barot (40 km), snugly nestled among the mountains. The River Uhl runs along the campsite. It’s a great place for angling. All outdoor and adventure activities are arranged for at Barot. For those seeking a quiet time, it is restful just to watch the lights change.
The morning blush creeps over the mountain tops, sprinkling gold over the pines, filling them slowly till they turn warm and exude their scent. The floating sky flaunts several clear hues of blue till noon and then the evening cascades into the valley in a big shadow, all at once.
You can also take the 12 km-ride to Winch Camp (8,000 feet) in the quaint and one-of-its-kind haulage trolley. The ride matches the stomach churning thrill of a roller coaster with the quaintness of yore and affords an unparalleled view of forests packed with deodars and rhododendron (burans).
The mountain air kept us ravenous at all times. From fresh caught trout to hill-people dal with rice, aloo-gobi parathas, and even instant noodles on demand, the camp cook dished out ambrosial hot meals. Like a light bulb, the moon hung low almost at a hand’s length and as the night grew cold, we curled around a bonfire. The night was exceptionally quiet and the murmur of the Uhl assured as we zipped ourselves up into our tents.
We drove to Jhatingiri (16 km) and then trekked up to Phooladhar (the mountain of flowers) at 8,000 feet. It is an easy trail and the ridge presents a stunning sight of the Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal Ranges. Here, you can camp in tents too.
There are many more medium and long duration trekking trails upto 17,000 feet. For the hardy, there is every conceivable form of mountain and river adventure — rock climbing, rappelling and river crossing. In winter, one can enjoy a spot of fresh snowfall and some basic skiing too.
Nearby spots worth a dekko are — the Shanan Power House, one of the oldest hydro-electric powerhouses of the world, the Nargu Wild Life Sanctuary, home to the ghoral and the Himalayan black bear, the historic Baijnath Temple (23 km) originally built in 804 AD where Lord Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanath, the Lord of Physicians. It is believed that it was here that Ravan prayed to Lord Shiva to grant him immortality.
Billing (16 km) at 8,600 feet is a world famous paragliding site. The Paragliding Pre-World Cup is held here every year in the months of October or November. The tea gardens of Palampur (30 km) and Dharamsala (89 km) are the other attractions. In the month of August and September, devotees trek up to the holy Dianasur Lake at a height of 14,000 feet where a variety of herbs, medicinal plants and exotic flowers are found.
Travel tips
How to get there: By Air: The nearest airports are Gaggal (Kangra) 60 km (2 hours’ hill drive) and Bhuntar near Kullu 110 km (4 hours’ hill drive).
By Road: 65 km by road from Kangra, 56 km from Mandi, 496 km from Delhi and 250 km from Chandigarh.
By Rail: The narrow gauge rail from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar takes 5 hours to cover a distance of 150 km.
Best time to visit: Year-round, except the monsoon months of July-August.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Look, no plastic! - Himachal Pradesh
A little after Mohali, the cabbie asked if Joginder Nagar was the name of the person or the place!! :)
JOGINDER NAGAR at the altitude of 3,300 feet in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh commands a spectacular view of the majestic Dhauladhar (literally, White Mountains) range of the Himalayas.
Dhauladhar, the white mountains.
In 1925, Raja Joginder Sen and Col. B. C. Batty planned a hydel power scheme and a narrow-gauge railway track was laid from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar (1,220 m) to carry the heavy machinery transported from Britain. A Haulage-way system was laid from the site of Shanan Power House to Barot, where the reservoir was constructed on Uhl river. After tunneling and piping the water over several kilometers from the river Uhl to Joginder Nagar, the Shanan Power House (110 MW) was built by a team of engineers headed by Colonel Batty. Shanan Power House was the only hydroelectric project in northern India which fed undivided Punjab and Delhi. The vision of the hydel project scheme was to construct five power stations using the same water that is drawn from the Uhl river but the plan could not be executed following the death of Colonel Batty.(WIKI)
It took us 15 hours by road to traverse through 3 states and reach JN from Delhi – via Zilmil Parathas of Karnal; Krishna the charioteer at the gates of Kurukshetra; peach-laden carts of Ropar; the hospitable people of Mohali - to this lovely house of our gracious hosts in JN. (Below) View from the house and the hotel.
The plan was to take the haulage trolley from JN to Barot - to Winch Camp then trek 4 km to Head Gear - some steep, some level and roughly a downhill trek to Barot – in all a 16 km walk. I chickened out! I wanted to breath in the beauty of the mountains and not pant it out :) Being Sunday, the haulage trolley wasn’t working and we decided to spend the day visiting people. First to Lad Bharol - such a sweet name but didn't prepare us for the sweetness that was to come...
And then to Sindhol. (Below) A steep walk down to the river Beas. A boat to cross the river and a rough ride to the village of Sindhol.
(Above) The river Beas. The ride to Sindhol was through villages so small and sparse that the signboards read: Population: 21(!)
(Below) Our wonderful hosts at Sindhol who welcomed us with beautiful food, beds to relax, gardens to roam, mango trees to pluck fruit from, a cow to pat and warm hugs to last a lifetime.
(Below) Our wonderful hosts at Sindhol who welcomed us with beautiful food, beds to relax, gardens to roam, mango trees to pluck fruit from, a cow to pat and warm hugs to last a lifetime.
These wonderful women gave us beautiful rainbow bangles and loads of love. (Below) The house of this wonderful family. From here we drove to Palampur to visit relatives. It was a wonderful ride with the Beas running along a long way with us first a gold streak, then a band, a strand, and...
Day 2: The trek: Traveled from Joginder Nagar to Jhatingiri -20km by car. Then took the path up - Jhatingiri to Phooladhar - 4 km to reach the height of 9000 ft.
Our guide-porter-cook, Ravan. I persisted and he told. Imagine calling Robin Singh, Ravan!! The dude was a charmer. Here, he climbed this tree right at the edge of a great fall as we looked on with bated breath to get me these flowers that I wore in my hair :)
(Below) View from half way up!
Fellow trekkers? nah...the wonderful women each carrying more than 10 kg of rations up there where they live. Later they invited us to their homes and gifted us bags of elephant garlic and dried Brah (the flower Robin got) Edible, the flower is a key ingredient (with loads of garlic, yum-yum) in their delectable chutney.
(Below) Potato farms on the way and a potato farmer’s stone house. Curiosity gets the better of the children.
(Below) Potato farms on the way and a potato farmer’s stone house. Curiosity gets the better of the children.
Tops! – Phooladhar – Mountain of Flowers! The flowers come a little later, after the rain. Some of the party. Needed some rest here. Then the climb down.
Drove down into the valley - Jhatingiri to Barot - 20 km. Reaching Barot evening. Roamed the area around the town - the reservoir, walnut and apple trees, a weeping willow and these wild flowers!
The campsite with the river Uhl flowing by. Lovely! the weather was cool (cold for us bangloreans and our sweaters, jackets, mufflers and my cap were out immediately :) )
(Above) Waiting for tea and the special treat. The moon's up early and the tummies are growling.
Here the much awaited maggi! on Anando's recco that maggi tastes even more (possible? yeah!!) wonderful in a camp!
In spite of the cold, the river was so tempting that we were soon into the chilled waters.
Crisp morning, crisper aloo parathas and we were ready for the onward journey…. Goodbye Robin...
And more goodbyes back in JN to our gracious hosts Dr Singhla and his sweet wife, Dr Aruna who are also the owners of the camping resort - Trekkers' Nest at Barot and Trekkers' Nest Hotel in Joginder Nagar.
For more details: http://www.himachaltrekinfo.com/
Onwards to Dharamshala. Stopped for darshan of Chamunda Devi in the Kangra Valley and reached Dharamshala evening. (below) view of Dharamshala from our room. That's the brand new cricket stadium which hosted the T20.
McLeodganj is a suburb of Dharamshala and the headquarters of the Tibiten govt-in-exile, the seat of the Dalai Lama. We drove down to Mcleodganj soon after checking in. The main street leading to the road to the Dalai Lama's temple has this beautiful monastery and compulsive shoppers like me are in danger of going totally berserk!
(above) Inside the temple. (below) View of McLeodganj from the Dalai Lama's temple.
Day 4: A darshan of Jwala Devi in the Kangra Valley. The temple has permanently burning flames. It is believed that Emperor Akbar paid yearly visits to the Jwalaji Temple after he became impressed with the holy flames that kept burning even after he had put a massive chatra or canopy over it to extinguish it. The silver canopy is on display here.
And it was time to bid goodbye to the Devbhoomi - land of gods - where we saw god in the eyes of every person we met.
Himachal Pradsesh has a ban on polybags and polythene - strictly implemented. All you polybags-loving folks, get ready to buy fruit in newspaper! i know who's cringing :))
Monday, January 4, 2010
MA - L - PE
...the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land
Listen!
(Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold)
Shadows under the eyes, bone tired and needing a rest, that’s what a MA –L–PE holiday can do to you. All because of its quaint loveliness that wants you to waste no time resting or sleeping or being away from the beach. Especially if all you can see from your hotel room is the beach and the sea beyond.
Soul soothing sound of waves, the sound of eternality, the eternal note of continuity. It makes one want to believe in the certainty of life and at its deceptive consistency all at once.
450 km from Bangalore, 60 km from Mangalore, 7 km from Udupi, is the small beach town of Malpe. We followed this oil tanker for much of the route - through verdant Sakleshpur and the ghats leading to Mangalore.
This picturesque drive is so suffused with greenery that the chance waterfalls that you hear before you see, still surprise. The falls on one side and the pebbly stream running along on the other go a long way in keeping the spirits intact even as the bones crunch on the terrifyingly potty road (nah, no Pa effect this, just borrowed from a friend). But this is true only on a good day for the mindless quarrying has everything covered in dust. We were fortunate to catch the beauty on the way back thanks to the rain.
This picturesque drive is so suffused with greenery that the chance waterfalls that you hear before you see, still surprise. The falls on one side and the pebbly stream running along on the other go a long way in keeping the spirits intact even as the bones crunch on the terrifyingly potty road (nah, no Pa effect this, just borrowed from a friend). But this is true only on a good day for the mindless quarrying has everything covered in dust. We were fortunate to catch the beauty on the way back thanks to the rain.
There is only one property – Paradise Isle – well intentioned - clean rooms, obliging staff, okay food but poorly managed. They can’t handle the pressure of the ‘season’. With no clear check-in/out policy, they cannot help people overstaying. We were witness to some drama there and in the restaurants too for lack of place or food being late or cold or something… Avoid weekends, especially long, Christmas, NY ones. On these, the place has people waiting in the lobby like at a fast food place. Waiting for someone to check out!
Weekend, day time, this is a very crowded beach. Best to stay away. Spend that time exploring the little town and the nearby Udupi. But early mornings and late nights is the time to be on this beach. We walked the shoreline till midnight and were back before sunrise to have the beach all to us!
St Mary's island from a distance.
Other things to do here are to take speed boat rides and visit the St Mary’s Island. Neither of which we did. First for the fear of vertigo and second for the fear of vertigo in the blazing sun!
The Sri Krishna Math in Udupi is seven kilometer away from Malpe beach. One of the holiest places for pilgrimage in southern India, the Shri Krishna Math was founded in the 13th century by Shri Madhvacharya, the founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta.
The interesting legend here is about the 16th century ardent devotee of Krishna, Kanakadasa who was not allowed into the temple because of his low caste but Krishna pleased by his devotion, turned to face a hole at the back of the temple wall from where Kanakdasa could see him. This window known as Kanakana Kindi can be seen today.
Early mornings and late evenings are a good time to visit the temple as the queues get too long during the day and there are no ‘paid’ darshans to help you skip the queue. Finally, a temple where all are equal before God.
Firewood stored in the shape of a rath.
Madhwa Pushkarani/sarovar
While we roamed the streets, a festive spirit suddenly seemed to take over and before we knew there were dancers in colorful costumes and in oversized masks that took over the street from both sides. On asking some students, we came to know that a month long celebration was on as a navratan chariot had been gifted to the math.
The Karaga Kolata started with what looked like dandiya – with the sticks and had many bhangra steps too!
Then the majestic rath came in a large procession.
We were told to eat at Maitri Samaj. Only, we had no clue there were so many. Did peep in at a couple but chickened out :D
Below, some shots from the moving car on the way back.
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