Dalhousie - Mini Switzerland

Hey People!!!

My travelogue about my first trek with YHAI – DALHOUSIE WINTER TREK

I had been to Dalhousie from 20th – 25th Dec ‘07 with Youth Hostel Association of India (YHAI). Before leaving I was really cynical about going for trek all alone as I didn’t know anyone there. But I should agree to the fact that I was completely wrong to think so, as I had amazing time with new people. I had enrolled my name in 2nd batch which consisted of 43 of which we were only 3 girls (what luck ;P). Being the only 3 girls in the batch we were looked after by everyone. Now let me talk about my experience in details.

I started my journey on 18th Dec. My train departed from Pune at around 5:20 pm. So I had to travel from Mumbai to Pu is located on the western edge of the Dhauladhar mountain range of the Himalayas. It is surrounded by the beautiful scenery of snow-capped peaks. Dalhousie is situated at 6000-9000 feet above sea level. Like-wise YHAI base camp is situated in midst the snow-capped mountains and the city. A beautifully constructed hostel gives excellent view of Dhauladhar ranges. After checking in the hostel I went to roam around as no one from batch had reported till that time. The entire roads were covered by snow so I was finding it difficult to walk. I walked till Gandhi Chowk & returned back to hostel as it started getting dark at around 5-5:30 pm. When I reached back I found out that two more girls have reported along with other batch members. It was then we were told that our batch had just 3 girls. We went off to sleep by 10:00pm as were supposed to get up early morning.

On second day i.e. on 21st Dec, we were woken up at 5:00am. It was really cold that early morning but this was one of the rules we were informed about earlier. After tea we went for jogging till Subhash Chowk and there we did some stretching exercise. After coming back to base camp we had our breakfast and gathered in the ground to bid farewell to the first batch that proceeded for the trek. After they left we went for acclimatization walk till a place known as ne by Bus. The train journey was uneventful, actually too boring. I reached Chakki Bank on 20th Dec at around 9:45am from where I went to Pathankot by auto. Both Pathankot & Chakki Bank lie in Punjab. From Pathankot I took a bus for Dalhousie. The bus journey is for about 3 ½ hrs. After Banikhet bus-stop the journey was exciting as I could see snow everywhere. Banikhet is 7kms short of Dalhousie where the road bifurcates for Chamba & Dalhousie. This was the first time I saw snow. I was so excited thinking about what laid ahead. It was amazing feeling. I reached Dalhousie at 3:30pm.

DalhousiePanchpula which is around 3-4kms from base camp. Panchpula stream is the main source of water supply to Dalhousie. There is an elegant monument erected at Panchpula where several streams meet at one point. This monument a samadhi was built in memory of great revolutionary Sardar Ajit Singh who breathed his last in Panchpula. We had great time at Panchpula as we had snow fights amongst ourselves. I had a great time there as we started knowing members of our batch during the fights. After reaching back to hostel we had our lunch & were asked to pack only the required items in sack provided by YHAI for higher trek. We deposited our extra luggage at the hostel after which we had an orientation talk by our camp leaders. We were explained the do’s & don’ts to be followed during the trek. After dinner we had a small camp fire where we sang regional songs, some did mimics & some cracked jokes.

The next day i.e. on 22nd as usual we woke up at 5am had our tea & breakfast and did our final packing. At about 8am our batch along with 3rd batch gathered in the ground where we were bid farewell for the higher trek to Kalatop. Kalatop is 10 kms from the base camp & is situated at an altitude of 8000 feet. The trek till Barapatthar was more or less even with no snow. But beyond that we encountered snow everywhere. It was such a serene experience to be standing in-midst snow on every side. From here we had slight difficulty walking on snow but I was helped a lot by my group. Those who had hunter shoes had better grip so they leaded the group and I had to place my legs in the footholds created by them. It was such a fun to walk in the snow. The spot really commands a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. One can see the hills, snow-capped mountains, the valleys, the greenery and the ruggedness standing from the place. The place has been declared a wild life sanctuary by the government as the forest comprising of the deodar trees and various bushes provides a safe habitat for wild animals. Our camp site at Kalatop was beautifully placed right at the top with breathtaking view everywhere. There were 3 cottages of which one was canteen, one was our girls’ room and the other was boys’ room. But all the three cottages were quite apart from each other with snow-laded roads. We were off to bed quite early as we had to proceed to Khajjiar the very next day.

On 23rd we were off to Khajjiar. Trek is about 11kms from Kalatop. Pre-lunch trek was quite smooth as in we didn’t face any difficulty to trek. During lunch we had halted at a very beautiful place overlooking a small wooden bridge. We were entertained by the locals with there folk (pahadi) songs. The post-lunch trek was the most difficult part of our three day trek. The climb was highly steep, no proper footholds, loose rocks and soil. There were branches which had grown in such a way that we had to climb it and cross or crawl from under. It was a painful but most exciting part of the trek. But we had been instructed by the guides leading us not to sit as we could face difficulty after rest. So to relax a bit we were asked to stand for a minute or so before resuming our trek again. The trek downhill was as difficult as the climb uphill. But the trek was fun as we had to trek through the forest to reach Khajjiar. A small pictorial saucer-shaped plateau surrounded by dense pine and deodar forests, Khajjiar is designated as “Mini Switzerland”. It is situated at an altitude of 6,500 ft. above sea level. Set against the backdrop of dense pines, deodars and lush green meadow, Khajjiar is elegantly nestled down in the foothills of the grand Dhauladhar ranges of the Western Himalayas. Khajjiar has an islet with a small lake surrounding it.

On 24th Dec we headed for Chamba early morning. The trek was about 8kms from Khajjiar. This stretch of trek was not as exciting as the previous ones because of the route which was mainly road. Due to this we were actually quite bored and more tired. A single suspension bridge is the only access to the Chamba town. Below the bridge flows the river Ravi. It was fun to walk across the bridge as it used to swing. For me this was the only exciting think of the trek. The Chamba valley lies enclosed between two principal spur ranges of the Great Himalaya, the Dhauladhar and the Pangi-Pir Panjal. Chamba has often been referred to as the Florence of the Himalaya, for like that Italian city, it abounds in street and curbside art treasures as well as a host of magnificent temples & idols. The Chamba city hosts the famous Laxminarayan group of temples. After reaching our camp at Khajjiar we rested for sometime before heading towards the city. For the first time in last 3 days we broke one rule (to go off to bed by 10pm) by staying awake till midnight to wish each other Merry Christmas. We were entertained by Kaustubh. Must say he is a very good mimicry artist. We had a great fun watching him mimic everyone from the group.

On 25th Dec, our last day of trek, we headed back towards Dalhousie base camp by bus. After reaching the base camp, we were presented our certificates by secretary of YHAI-Dalhousie. Before checking out we decided to celebrate Christmas and B’day of two of our batch members by bringing two cakes. The Christmas cake was cut by the youngest member of our batch. We had hired a bus as we 22 of us were to go to Pathankot together. From there 4 Mumbai people headed towards Amritsar and remaining of us headed for Delhi.

This was the by-far the best trip till now. I thoroughly enjoyed my trek and it was great meeting so many new people. I definitely found some good friends too.

So this was all about my experience of my first snow filled trek. Hope u all enjoyed reading it.

Gujarat

My travelogue about my visit to Gujarat. Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Though not being in college anymore, I joined them for this trip. Luckily got to go with them. We started the excursion on 27^th Oct ’07 and came back on 5th Nov 2007. We departed from Mumbai (bandra terminus) on 27th Oct in the evening by Saurashtra express.

We reached Rajkot station at around 8am the other day i.e. on 28th. Our first halt was at Junagadh so had to take a bus ride from Rajkot to junagadh. We stayed there in dharamshala. The place was quite neat and serene. After lunch we went for local sight-seeing. A typical village, situated at the foot of Girnar hills. We visited Darbar Hall Museum (where there is a display of the interesting collection of weapons, thrones, silver articles, costumes, paintings, tapestries, and palanquins used by Nawab of Junagadh), Science Museum, Sakkarbaug Zoo (the oldest zoo of Gujarat & 3rd oldest in India. The rare Gir lions are bred here), and the Dattatray Temple. One has to climb 10,000 steps to reach the temple. Somehow we 15 students managed to climb 1000 steps in about half an hour. The temple is situated in a jungle so occasionally one can hear the calls of wild animals. A beautiful experience though a bit tiring. The very next day we left for Gir.

Early morning on 29th Oct we left Junagadh for Gir National Park. We were to stay there for 2 days & 2 nights. We stayed in a farm house which was far beautiful than we can have imagined. Located in a jungle, it was next to a river full of crocodiles and alligators and one can sight beautiful birds sitting in a machan built next to the farm house. First we went to Gir Interpretation Centre where information about the national park, animals and birds found there is been given.

Gir is the only home for pure Asiatic Lions. The area is divided into National Park which measures about 258 km² and Sanctuary which measures about 1153 km².The area was declared as protected 1900's by the then Nawab of Junagadh. This was done due to decline in number of lion which went as low as 15, because of game hunting.The park and the sanctuary remain open all year but the best visiting season would be late november and early-March.

Gir is the largest dry deciduous forest in western India, Teak being the main flora. The fauna consists of Asiatic lions, leopards, hyenas, marsh crocodile, chitals, being few of the fauna found here. The avian fauna includes Vultures, Crested Serpent Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Bush Quail, etc. Gir also has lion breeding programme which carries out studies of the behaviour of the Asiatic lions and also practices artificial insemination.

From there we went for an evening Safari & spotted 1 lion & 2 lioness sitting and other 2 lioness crossing our vehicle. It was such an experience to sight this magnificent animal in the wild.

After safari we went to a Crocodile Breeding Centre. The centre supports around 20 fully adult crocs along with their eggs and young ones. Luckily because of Hussein sir, the forest officer of Gir, I could hold a baby croc in my hands. It was such a cute baby though quite powerful. I was lucky to get such a chance.

The most fun part of the day or should I say the night was a tribal dance by Siddhi tribe. The people of this tribe are South Africans brought by the Nawab of Gujarat as slaves. The dance is based on nature and animals. After sometime even we joined them in their dance.

The next day i.e. on 30th Oct we went to Diu Fort. It is a beautiful fort once used as prison by britishers. On the very top one can see 4 canons. From there we went for CMFT (centre of marine fishery technology) visit. After a small seminar at the institute we headed for Somnath temple. It is one of the 12 Jyotirlings. The Somnath Temple is known as 'the Shrine Eternal', as although the temple has been destroyed 6 times it has been rebuilt every single time. The present temple is the 7th temple reconstructed on the original site. The present temple, Kailash Mahameru Prasada, is built in the built in the Chalukya style of temple architecture and reflects the skill of the Sompuras, Gujarat's master masons. We reached there on time for maha aarti at 7 pm. Such a divine place. We returned back to our farmhouse in gir that night.

The very next day i.e. on 31st in the morning we headed for Jamnagar via Okha, Porbandar& Diu. Okha is a fish landing centre where we had to go for a visit. But unfortunately we couldn’t observe any fish catch as the fishing boats had not yet arrived from the catch. Then we headed for Porbandar beach. The beach is an eye-treat gently rocked by the winds and the wave from the Arabian sea. The beach was not that clean but one can observe variety of organisms, algae and shells. We did collect lots of specimen for college purpose. After collection we headed towards Jamnagar where we were to stay till 4th Nov.

The next day i.e. on 1st Nov was a relaxed day as we did shopping and local sight-seeing at Jamnagar. In the evening we went to Baal Hanuman Temple, Lakhota Palace and Smashan, both of which are recorded in Limca Book of Awards. The story behind the temple is that a saint was looking for a place to built a temple for Rama and finally he found this spot which was a bushy area used for urinal purposes. He started to recite prayers from that time and is still going on from generations to generations without being stopped i.e. Akhanda Jap. It is now being going on for 19,979 days nonstop hence is being recorded in Limca Book of Awards. Whereas the Smashan bhoomi is the one of a kind due to inscription of complete Ramayan in the form of pictures. It was not scary but one could feel calmness in the air.

On 2nd we headed for Pirotan Island, the one of a kind Marine National Park in India. It is situated almost 22km, off the coast near Jamnagar. It is a 3 square km area of Island, and is covered with Mangroves. The Pirotan Island has beautiful scenarios, and magnificent view of sunrise and sunset. On our way to the island we saw a family of dolphins swimming parallel to our boat. It was one of a kind experience. They were least bothered by our presence. Our boats were anchored away from the shoreline so we had to jump in the water and walk towards the beach. It was fun walking in the water. The entire island have various marine lives like crabs (Neptune, Hermit crabs, Ghost crabs, etc), jelly fishes, sea snakes, sea slugs, sea anemone and nests variety of birds (Cranes, little and larger egrets, grey heron, etc). After a walk on the island and observing marine lives we headed for our boats. As it was a low tide we had to walk down on the sea bed towards our boat and had to wait for two hours for the water to come towards the shoreline. Till that time we had a little walk on the sea bed and sat their till the onset of high tide. We could actually see water slowly coming towards us. After 1 ½ hours we climbed the boats and waited our boat to drift in the water. We reached the mainland at around 8 in the night. The boat ride in the evening was soothing and calming. This trip to island is something I will cherish for a long time.

On 3rd we went to visit Jamnagar Fishery Institute where we saw Prawn & Lobster Culture and then went for Shore visit behind the institute itself. There again we observed various marine lives. From there we headed towards Dwarka. It is rated as one of the 7 most ancient cities in the country. The legendary city of Dwarka dwelling place of Krishna. It is believed that, due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dvaraka has submerged 6 times and modern Dwarka is the 7th city to be built in the area. It is on the mouth of the Gomti River into Gulf of Kutch. The Dwarka temple has 5 storey tower which was built by Sambha, who is the grandson of Lord Krishna. The temple was made of limestone and sand. There is a flag hoisted in the temple tower everyday which waves in air beautifully welcoming the pilgrims. There are two gateways namely Swarga Dwar where pilgrims enter and Moksha Dwar where pilgrims exit. From the temple one can view the Sangamam of River Gomati flowing towards the sea. While returning back to our hotel in jamnagar we had a dance party in the bus itself. It was crazy because everyone danced in such a cramped place including our professors. It was such a fun.

On 4th since we had to leave for mumbai in the afternoon, the morning time was spent in packing and in clicking group snaps. We boarded the train at 1:35 in the afternoon and reached mumbai on 5th at 5 am. The night was spent chit-chatting, playing cards, singing songs and all such stuffs.

Overall my trip was fun, thrilling, exciting and above all a learning experience. I got to see various marine forms I knew but didn’t see. Overall it was a wonderful experience.

So that’s about my trip to Gujarat. Hope you enjoy reading my travelogue. See ya.

Mahabaleshwar

My travelogue about my visit to Mahabaleshwar. Hope you all enjoy reading it. A 3 day trip proved to be more enjoyable than we expected. Let us recount the memories of the trip.

We started our trip on 1st Dec 2006 by bus. We M.Sc students were allotted last 2 rows and ahead of us were Sy boys. We had lots of fun with them. They were quite enthusiastic playing and singing with us. By afternoon we reached Pratapgadh. Our bus stopped at foot of Pratapgadh where we first visited a small emporium and then we headed towards the fort. The walk till the fort was real fun.

Pratapgadh is 195km away from Mumbai & 25kms away from Mahabaleshwar. The majestic fort was built in 1656 by Moropant Trimak Pingle under the command of the Maratha ruler Shivaji. It was here that the mighty general of Bijapur, Afzal Khan was killed by Shivaji. One can visit the tomb of Afzal Khan at the foot of the fort. There is a temple of Goddess Bhavani. There is a statue of Shivaji Maharaj inside the fort called Bale killa. The fort has a great view.

From here we headed towards Mahabaleshwar. We reached quite late at night. We stayed in a hotel Mount Castle which lies at the starting of ghat heading towards Wai. It was a beautiful hotel.

Let me give u a short history of Mahabaleshwar as told by our tour guide. Mahabaleshwar is at height of 4500 feet above sea level. Mahabaleshwar is one of the most spectacular and the largest of Maharashtra's hill-stations. Maharaja Pratapsinha of Satara (1818 to 1839) engineered a scheme to develop Mahabaleshwar as health resort.

Sir John Malcolm, the first governor to visit Mahabaleshwar in 1828, established Mahabaleshwar in 1829. Sir Charles Malet, the first resident in Pune durbar of the Peshwas in 1791 happens to be the first European to step on this plateau. In the 19th century, as soon as the sanitarium was founded, an open jail detention center was established. Convicts from China & Malaysia were stationed here. Mahabaleshwar was the summer capital of the Governor of the old Bombay Presidency. The Britishers built various mansions, Cottages and bungalows around the town, lending it a charismatic, sophistication.

The next day i.e. on 2nd we started our sightseeing by Wilson point. It is also called as sunrise point. It is the highest pt of about 4710 ft above sea level. It is a vast plateau. From there we went to Helen’s point. River Solshi starts from this point with a small fall near her origin. Poetic blue valley will be in front of you. An amazing sight to see. In the afternoon we went to visit Apiculture centre. After a small demonstration of how the process of extracting honey is being done, we visited Lodwick point, Elphinstone point, Arthur’s seat, Tiger’s spring, the Window, Kates point & Echo point (all the 7 points together are known as 7 sisters).

Almost 1,240 meters above the sea level, Lodwick Point has a great view. There is a monument in memory of the general, erected by his son. Walking ahead towards the Arthur’s seat lays Elphinstone point. The point overlooks two valleys, Koyna on the left & Savitri on the right. It is named after a former Governor of Mumbai. Between Lodwick Point and Elphinstone Point lies the Dhobi waterfall. Lying at 1,348 mts above sea-level is the queen of all points, the Arthur's Seat. It is mesmerizing to see the barren deep valley Savitri on the left & shallow green valley on the right. It is more interesting to know that Arthur's seat is the only place showing geographical division of Kokan & Deccan, two territories of Mahabaleshwar, so clear & so near. To reach Tiger’s spring we have to go by steps for about a km. The spring is supposed to be the source of the river Savtri. Immediately below the seat is a small ledge known as Window point. One has to go deep by steps to reach the window point. From this point one can observe the glorious valleys. Between Window point & Echo point lays the Kates Point. It offers breathtaking view of Krishna valley & deep waters of the Dhom dam. From southern side it looks like an elephants head. The last point in this series is the Echo point. We had great fun at this point calling our names and did all idiotic stuffs.

Late evening we visited Mapro. We visited the factory where we could observe the process and effort put into it to make delicious fruit jams, crushes & syrups. We had ice-cream there which was too yummy. Mapro has a very beautiful garden of colorful and amazing flowers.

After coming back to our hotel few of us along with Nayak sir & Vikrant sir walked down to the market to have soup. There while having soup unknowingly Vikrant sir told me about some surprise party which was planned at mid-night. Everyone present there was angry b’coz the surprise party was meant for me. After reaching hotel at around 11:30pm I went to my room and went off to sleep as if I never knew about the plan. 10min prior midnight I was woken up by Sy guys and they took me to the lawn where we sat talking. At midnight I called home after which everyone took me to the party room where we had a blast. I was thoroughly moved by the gesture and also missed my family and friends. I had a great time.

On 3rd we started off for a Venna lake. The place wasn’t happening at all. Actually few of us got pretty bored. Others went of for boating and all but we chose to sit in the dhaba next to the lake. After sometimes we wandered around to explore the place. Later in the evening we went to Panchgini market where I gave an ice-cream treat to M.Sc and Sy boys. I must say I really missed friends.

On 4th we headed to Wai, my native place. This was the first time I had being to my native place. It is 88 Kms. from Pune. Wai is situated at the banks of Krishna river. It is famous for temples. We visited the Sericulture institute of Wai where we were shown the process of extracting silk from the silkworms. Next we visited the famous Dholya Ganapati temple. It is considered as the important temple of Maharashtra. The idol of Lord Ganesh is very big. The temple is situated on the beautiful ghats of river Krishna. After spending time at the temple we headed back to Mumbai.