National Geographic Traveller India November 2018

n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 7 I S S U E 5 • N AT G EO T R AVE L L ER . I N

Latin America 20 amazing escapes

Call of the Great

Wide open Darwin

finding home in the aussie outback

Ladakh

scaling a new peak at sixty

Yellowstone

solo trail in the iconic park

Hong Kong

green spaces beyond high-rises

N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C T R AV E L L E R I N D I A

November2018 VOL. 7 ISSUE 5

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The Itinerary

40 BINGE WALKING THROUGH A

50 A NEW SUN RISES IN SANTIAGO A steadily infusing immigrant culture and diversity has given the Chilean capital a shot in the arm

ROMAN GHETTO

26 THE BIG EASY’S BIRTHDAY BALL Celebrate New Orleans’ tricentennial with legendary cocktails, artsy strolls, and jazz on every corner

A food trail in a Jewish neighbourhood in Rome reveals culinary and historical secrets

54 DAY-TRIPPING IN SUNNY SKÅNE Have a day to spare when in Copenhagen? Visit Sweden for a taste of fika, local produce and natural beauty

34 GUWAHATI: LOUDMOUTH,

44 72 HOURS IN TURKEY’S WILD WEST

58 LIFE THROUGH ROSE-TINTED

In Izmir, spices and souvenirs abound in bazaars, and Greco-Roman ruins jostle by a startlingly blue Aegean Sea

The villages along the Alsace route in northeastern France have pretty good vino and prettier landscapes

SHORT TAIL

A walk in the woods of Northeast India opens up a world of birds

WINE GLASSES

GUSTASP AND JEROO IRANI

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36 TITANS OF INDUSTRIAL AGE Geeking out at revitalised mines and giant excavators in Germany

Regulars 20 Editorial | 136 Travel Quiz 44

64 TURN UP THE VOLUMES In a digital age, travellers find novel appeal in the splendour and secrets of grand libraries 68 GALLIVANTING THE LATIN WAY Twenty adventures in Latin America that explore ancient sites and modern bites 74 HOW TO MEET A MERMAID A National Geographic explorer shares tips on coming face to face with the inspiration of legends, dugongs 76 CAPITAL VIEWS IN BEIJING Historic neighbourhoods to modern marvels, here’s how to see it all

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THE ADDRESS

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80 A BUNGALOW TO REMEMBER The Calcutta Bungalow, a restored 1920s townhouse, is an ode to the quirks and quaintness of the city

ON THE COVER Ladakh is an artist’s dream, a landscape dripping in visual poetry Call of the Great WIDE OPEN and lyricism.

Darwin Ladakh Yellowstone Hong Kong Yawning valleys and desolate plains abound.

Not to forget, the Himalayas, always lifting every backdrop from merely picturesque to the realm of surreal. Sopon Chienwittayakun snaps one such frame: a caravan of trekkers on camels, trudging along the Nubra Valley in Leh, as snow-capped peaks loom in the distance. It must have been a quiet journey, you reckon, for when confronted with beauty so undeniable, words melt away.

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • ` 1 5 0 • VO L . 7 I S S U E 5 • N AT G E O T R AV E L L E R . I N

LATIN AMERICA 20 AMAZING ESCAPES

FINDING HOME IN THE AUSSIE OUTBACK

SCALING A NEW PEAK AT SIXTY

SOLO TRAIL IN THE ICONIC PARK

GREEN SPACES BEYOND HIGH-RISES

CEM CANBAY/AGE FOTOSTOCK/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (MONUMENT), PHOTO COURTESY: THE CALCUTTA BUNGALOW (HOTEL) COPYRIGHT @ SOPON CHIENWITTAYAKUN/MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES (COVER)

78 COFFEE, TEA OR ME? At Wayanad’s Pepper Trail, one can find tree houses with a side of birdsong; coffee, tea and pepper plantations; and hearty servings of Kerala puttu

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The Destination 84 DARWIN’S THEORY OF PERPETUAL MOTION

In Australia’s far north, home is where the hikes are long and the heart hammering. A passer-by runs into travellers who stayed more than the night

110 BASE INSTINCTS Piercing peaks, breathless trails, and Sherpas’ stories by the fire—the way to the Everest Base Camp is paved in glory and pain

94 LADAKH: BRIDGES ALONG

118 YELLOWSTONE: A WOMAN

College friends celebrate turning 60 on a trek to Tso Moriri. Laughter eases the journey; epiphanies mark the summit

At Yellowstone National Park, a traveller emerges from the isolation of solo travel to truly connect with herself

THE TSO AND LA

IN THE WOODS

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THE JOURNEY 128 LAND LOST IN TIME Gurez, a Kashmiri valley straddling India and Pakistan, retains the old ways of the Dard-Shin community

DEEPTI ASTHANA

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100 HONG KONG HIGH Scenic, hour-long ferry rides and drives from the city are portals to Hong Kong’s greener worlds: a UNESCO geopark, hiking trails, culture-rich islands—even a pirate’s cave

EDITORIAL LAKSHMI SANKARAN

FREE ON THE OUTSIDE

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one of them, he mentioned setting eyes on the desert for the first time, and feeling as if he was having his own T. E. Lawrence moment.

Years later, watching the classic was an equally transporting experience. Each time, Lean’s camera dissolved from close-ups of Peter O’Toole’s mysteriously phlegmatic Lawrence to the sunlit sand dunes, bleeding out of the 70mm screen as it were, the impact was transcendent. For me, the desert was as elementally stark as outdoors got, Martian in its unfamiliarity and removed from all modern signifiers of life.

Narratives dedicated to the outdoors must, therefore, pin down what it is like to be swept up in the enormity of nature. In this issue, trekkers will identify with one writer’s exultations at the end of her journey to the Everest Base Camp. A mind-expanding immersion in Australia’s Northern Territory is peppered with characters who gave up urban comforts for a life in the wild.

In the less-frequented parts of Yellowstone National Park, another solo traveller descends into solitude. We also encounter a different Hong Kong, hiding green bounty beyond its skyline. Somerset Maugham believed that the wise traveller only travelled in his or her imagination. It’s true, the latter is unmatched but even a fevered imagination can only be nourished from being in the great outdoors.

BUENA VISTA IMAGES/DIGITALVISION/GETTY IMAGES

THE DESERT WAS AS STARK AS OUTDOORS GOT, MARTIAN IN ITS UNFAMILIARITY AND REMOVED FROM ALL MODERN LIFE

he great outdoors, around which our November edition pivots, is a deceptive catch-all, as such phrases tend to be. In day-to-day conversations, anything from after-school camping trips to sailing in the waters of Papua New Guinea risks being lumped in the same breath. But whoever put their mind to the term was no doubt thinking of great with a capital G. They were dreaming of outdoors that offer as much dislocation as possible. Where snow peaks rise out of clouds and canyons plunge the recesses of the earth.

Geoff Dyer, one of travel journalism’s finest exponents, calls this a “sense of elsewhere.”

Writing of an aunt, who sent him postcards from the southwest of America when he was in school, he recalls, “Hilda sent me brochures from places like the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and Monument Valley. These were landscapes I had glimpsed in Westerns, but the fact that someone I knew had been to them—had proved that they were real—gave me my first real sense of elsewhere.”

My elsewhere memory from childhood doesn’t conjure anywhere near the same eloquence but it was just as resonant. One of my father’s favourite films was David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, perhaps a result of spending over a decade in the Middle East. He often sent long letters from his travels and, in

OUR MISSION National Geographic Traveller India is about immersive travel and authentic storytelling, inspiring readers to create their own journeys and return with amazing stories. Our distinctive yellow rectangle is a window into a world of unparalleled discovery.

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​Write to me at natgeoeditor@ack-media.com or Editor, National Geographic Traveller India, 7th Floor, AFL House, Lok Bharti Complex, Marol Maroshi Road, Andheri East, Mumbai- 400059.

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THE ITINERARY U.S.A.

THE BIG EASY'S BIRTHDAY BALL

The beat of New Orleans: Darryl Young, “Dancing Man 504,” struts a fine line.

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New Orleans sure knows how to throw itself a party.

Marking its 300th birthday in 2018, this city founded by the French has stocked the bar with Sazerac and kept the king cake coming for the merrymakers flocking here to explore and to celebrate.

Neighbourhoods such as Riverbend, Algiers, and Mid-City burble with fresh energy. The bikeshare program Blue Bikes pairs with the city’s flat-as-a-bartop terrain to make an afternoon’s pedal under the shade of live oaks—and through history—a winning prospect.

Hop off at Magazine Street for finderskeepers shopping (beaded clutches, vintage enamel­ ware) and let your appetite guide you to restaurants, such as Indian-themed Saffron NOLA, that showcase the many cuisines in this vibrant city. Grab a fork and raise a glass.

On its birthday New Orleans is a gift to all.

—Starlight Williams and Andrew Nelson

DAYMON GARDNER, TAMER KOSELI (ALL ILLUSTRATIONS)

CELEBRATE THE CITY’S TRICENTENNIAL WITH LEGENDARY COCKTAILS, ARTSY STROLLS, AND JAZZ ON EVERY CORNER

THE ITINERARY TURKEY

72 HOURS IN TURKEY’S WILD WEST IN IZMIR, SPICES AND SOUVENIRS ABOUND IN TURKISH BAZAARS, AND GRECO-ROMAN RUINS JOSTLE BY A STARTLINGLY BLUE AEGEAN SEA BY BHAVYA DORE

Tourists walk through Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage city that has seen successive Greek and Roman settlements.

DAY 1

10 A.M. INTO IZMIR CITY Open the innings with cay (tea) and/or kahve (coffee), which in Turkey come in small servings, generally without milk.

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Coffee is a tasty, sludgy bog in a cup, cay might be flavoured or not—either way a winner. These are available in cafés and stalls through the city, and usually cost no more than a few liras. Since this region was once ruled by the ancients, it stands to reason that the first stop should be the Roman agora (entry 10 liras/`120), ruins of a public square dating back to the 4th century. Though the site is in the process of being further excavated and expanded, it is still a pretty good historical aperitif for day two to follow, with its archways, columns and sewage plans.

12 P.M. MARKET MEANDER Take a gander at the 500-year-old

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | NOVEMBER 2018

Kemeralti Market, a vast enterprise comprising open-air stalls and traditional shops selling items ranging from clothes to spices, juice to souvenirs.

3 P.M. ALL ALONG THE

CLOCK TOWER

The Konak Square with its intricately patterned clock tower built in the Ottoman-style is the city’s beating heart.

The 117-year-old timepiece was a gift from German emperor Wilhelm II and is an architectural feast for the eyes.

The bite-sized mosque on the edge of the square adds to the scene. Feel free to have a lie down on the surrounding gardens before heaving yourself up for the next bit of walking.

FOKKE BAARSSEN/SHUTTERSTOCK

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n hour's flight out of Istanbul, Izmir city is by the Aegean Sea on Turkey’s west coast. What stands out here is how the ancient world still pokes through—cities can be built and rebuilt endlessly, a mosque and a church can sit side by side and a woman in a burkini and a woman in a twopiece can wade into the sea in the same frame. Seeking a three-day excursion featuring ruins, a beach and other Turkish delights? Go west, it is wild.

THE ITINERARY SWEDEN

Fika (inset) at Flickorna Lundgren (left) or trekking the Kullaberg Nature Reserve (right) are the best ways to spend afternoons in Skåne.

DAY-TRIPPING IN SUNNY SKÅNE SWEDEN'S SOUTHERN TIP KNITS TOGETHER HISTORY, NATURE AND GASTRONOMY BY JOANNA LOBO

10.30 A.M. CITY HIGH

A 30-minute drive from Helsingborg, and I am in Höganäs, a city known for its salt-glazed earthenware. I head to one of Sweden’s oldest pottery factories, Höganäs Saltglaserat. A small 54

prodcution unit of the factory remains today alongside the new Höganäs Saluhall, a market hall with old-world charm. The coal-fired brick kilns still function; they now bake bread too.

The market meanders around these kilns­—a pottery store, a café, and a grocery store with fresh produce, baked treats, cold food (pickles, meats and cheeses) and gourmet preserves. I get to sample this upstairs, in the cavernous dining section. Lunch is served buffetstyle and is a popular after-shopping activity, and I join the crowd gathered around a spread of salads, roast beef, and fish filets slathered with olive oil and herbs (hoganassaluhall.se).

1 P.M. WHAT'S BREWING

A stroll outside brings me to Höganäs Bryggeri, formed five years ago in what used to be a garage. Behind the counter is Magnus Einarsen, who hands out testers of the Miss Behave IPA, one of their 10 brews.

“The owners here had one goal: to start a brewery before

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | NOVEMBER 2018

they die. They started small but now the beer is winning awards, and it sells in U.S.A., Britain, and Dubai!” he says (hoganasbryggeri.se).

1.30 P.M. WILD CARD

From the market, I am driven along the coast to the tip of the picturesque Kullen peninsula, where I find the Kullaberg Nature Reserve. It’s popular for outdoor activities like nature walks and hiking, cave explorations, and rock climbing, each with a view of dense foliage and the Øresund waters. My activity of choice is setting off in a boat in search of porpoises, which populate the waters around the reserve.

Our guide is marine biology student Filip Stedt, who advises us to look for flocks of seagulls congregated at a spot—a sign that porpoises (who drive fish to the surface) are near. The water is choppy and the sun reflecting on the waves causes many false sightings. We spot only two porpoises in an hour. “Their numbers have

PHOTO COURTESY: GIUSEPPE LIVERINO (HOUSE & TREK), JOANNA LOBO (FIKA)

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kåne is the best part of Sweden; you will find the most beautiful men here,” says the young officer checking my passport in Helsingborg, Sweden. “The Danes are only good at drinking. Write about us,” he adds.

It’s 9 a.m. and I’m looking forward to a rapid fire introduction to Sweden. Of the many perks of visiting Copenhagen, the most interesting has to be the ability to be in two countries within minutes.

A hop, skip and 20-minute ferry ride later from Helsingør, a 40-minute drive from Copenhagen, I am in Sweden.

The border encounter has whetted my appetite for the bounty offered by the southern tip of Sweden, Skåne (pronounced scorn-uh). The region is like a patchwork quilt, knitting together sandy beaches, natural beauty, culinary experiences and Swedish heritage. I have one day to soak it all in.

THE ITINERARY FRANCE

Alsace’s proximity to the Rhine river makes the region’s terroir wine friendly.

LIFE THROUGH ROSE-TINTED WINE GLASSES COLMAR AND ITS NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES IN NORTHEASTERN FRANCE CAN LAY CLAIM TO PRETTY GOOD VIN0 AND PRETTIER LANDSCAPES TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY GUSTASP AND JEROO IRANI

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e had expected to get tipsy on the wines in northeastern France but not drunk on the picturesque villages along the wine route of Alsace. A short drive from Colmar, which is Alsace’s wine hub, we stumbled upon hamlets of such jaw-dropping beauty that they could give the luscious wines produced in the region an inferiority complex.

The 170-kilometre route from Strasbourg in the north to Mulhouse in the south meanders along the foothills of the Vosges and charts a course through a 1,000-year-old wine growing area. There are around 800 cellars or wine growers in the region where 58

tourists can swirl, sniff and sip, and occasionally arch their eyebrows to look like knowledgeable wine experts, as they sample regional specialties.

What we found just as heady were the villages that we explored one windy afternoon when the vineyards were a luminescent mint green. In the east of Alsace, lay the Rhine river and the Black Forest mountain range of Germany, all conjuring a painterly canvas of colours. To add to the drama, the region is dotted with nearly 500 castles, many of them perched precariously on mountaintops, resembling stage props in a fairy tale.

Were they the eyries of fearsome ogres,

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we wondered, as we drove past.

Our base was Colmar, a town drenched in colour, with its Venicelike canals over which leaned timberframed homes preening at their own reflections. We drove to our first stop, the town of Riquewihr, 11 kilometres north of Colmar, whose name had a rich Germanic ring to it like the names of many of the other villages we had encountered—Kaysersberg, Eguisheim and Voegtlinshoffen.

This was not surprising, for in the past, Alsace was tossed like a disputed heirloom between France and Germany, giving the region its presentday Franco-German tinge in cuisine,

PHOTO COURTESY: THE CALCUTTA BUNGALOW

THE ADDRESS

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | NOVEMBER 2018

WEST BENGAL

A BUNGALOW TO REMEMBER

THE CALCUTTA BUNGALOW, A RESTORED 1920S TOWNHOUSE, IS AN ODE TO THE

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strange variety of secret societies existed in Calcutta in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.

Some of these include National Association for Parents of Sleepless Children (a small society that still exists), Bengal Bhattacharya Society (seemingly, people with the last name ‘Bhattacharya’ gathered here), St. John Ambulance (a relief charity now functional in multiple cities across the world, but it was a secret, elite society in Calcutta), Calcutta Microscopical Club, and the relatively popular Sherlock Holmes Society of India (for detectives).

I learn of these during my onenight stay at the Calcutta Bungalow, a 1926 townhouse-turned-B&B in North Calcutta that has existed since before art deco architecture became popular in the city. Glued on a wall panel on the ground floor are over a dozen brass plaques etched with names of secret societies, blending appropriately with the stay’s decor.

Chongas or loudspeakers upcycled as

lamp shades, a small, framed poster of Boroline, traditional Bakelite switches, gamchas or classic plaid cotton towels, and khorkhoris (wooden windows with levers for effortless modification of ventilation and sunlight) used as headrests in beds and as tabletops transport an observer back in time.

Every room has a working typewriter and some are even for sale at the stay’s souvenir shop.

Run by Iftekhar Ahsan and Christopher Chen of Calcutta Walks, which offers diverse tours of the city, the 92-year-old bungalow has a central square courtyard or uthon, half of which is still occupied by a family that owns part of the property. Within, The Calcutta Bungalow is a blend of modern and vintage. There are creature comforts such as air conditioning, but also colonial arches and exposed brick walls with chun shurkhi, a mixture of 16 ingredients including lime, mortar, and lentils.

The stay’s six rooms are named after different neighbourhoods in Calcutta.

I spend the afternoon exploring the

property as I familiarise myself with Calcutta’s heritage. Two rooms that catch my fancy are ‘Boipara’—boi means books and para is Bengali for neighbourhood—and ‘Jatrapara,’ an ode to jatra, Calcutta’s popular folk theatre that dates back to the 16th century. The former is a tribute to the city’s undying love for books and to College Street, the hub of literature and the original book market. A portion of the floor at the room’s entrance is furnished with old marble plaques featuring calligraphy from the 18th century. Traditionally, when a relative died, family members donated a sum of money to a temple so they could purchase a part of the temple floor to place a marble plaque carrying the name of the deceased. Many of these plaques were ordered but not claimed, and that is how they landed up in The Calcutta Bungalow. Within, Boipara is filled with literature on Calcutta, among which I spot a framed poster Facing Page: An Ambassador parked outside the Calcutta Bungalow is used to ferry guests; Signs of restoration (top) are subtle, and sensitive to the original structure.

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PHOTO COURTESY: THE CALCUTTA BUNGALOW

QUIRKS AND QUAINTNESS OF THE CITY BY CHANDNI DOULATRAMANI

THE DESTINATION

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The star-punched Outback sky is lovelier for its association with the aboriginal tale of The Seven Sisters, which references the Pleiades cluster.

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AUSTRALIA

IN AUSTRALIA’S FAR NORTH, HOME IS WHERE THE HIKES ARE LONG AND THE HEART HAMMERING. A PASSER-BY RUNS INTO TRAVELLERS WHO STAYED MORE THAN THE NIGHT

CAVAN IMAGES/CAVAN/GETTY IMAGES (CAR), PINKCACTUS/SHUTERSTOCK (ILLUSTRATIONS)

BY SOHINI DAS GUPTA

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THE DESTINATION

“Oi, how’s it going?” A sun-flushed hiker grins at me on his way down from the upper pool of the Edith Falls, as I try to squeeze past his troop in the opposite direction. We are in Nitmiluk National Park, three hours from Darwin city in Australia’s Top End—the northernmost section of the country’s Northern Territory. Usually, this cue to exchange a minute of mild banter before going our own ways—a cultural quirk I was finding to be typical of NT—would be met with equal enthusiasm. Today however, I’ve been Humpty-Dumptying along the uphill trail leading up to the waterfall in a swimsuit (“It’s a short hike away, my guide Adam had promised) so I

in time, so my fingers graze, don’t grab the blades for support.

Of course he knows all about the screwpine, the palm-like foliage north Australia wears like a head of punk spikes. I would have remembered its genus name—pandanus—and the fact that it is used by aboriginal people to weave ropes, baskets and objects of daily use, had I not been led astray by the bacon and red grapes at a forest picnic the day before. It was over the Famous Five-ish meal of cheese, crackers and lemon fizz that the 33-year-old revealed his deep enchantment with the Outback to our traveller’s group of five.

It’s not just the pandanus that Adam knows closely. He can tell you where along your hike you might run into a frilled-neck lizard, skulking. He knows where to stop on Stuart Highway for a bottle of cold Coopers beer, and why the scaly woollybutt trees lounge topless. (Their barks thin out bottom-up). Natural, for a man who spends his waking hours

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nearly pass on the offer. But surely our man here would know if the water up top is worth the bruised knees? “Great swim,” he flashes a thumb, as I beam back and resume the climb.

Perhaps the hustle would seem easier if I caught up with Adam, got him chatting. Adam Mattner has the best stories, and he does a fine job of telling them.

ADAM, WHO FELL IN LOVE *Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.

It takes me two timeouts, but I’m finally on Adam’s trail. “Not the screwpine! It’s sharp at the edges.” The warning comes just 86

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acquainting people with the boorish beauty that surrounds the Territory towns of Darwin, Litchfield and Katherine. Even holidays are for running back to the wild with wife Melissa, he admits. I imagine the pair walking the escarpments, watching six o’clock suns scud along skies of Fanta orange, thanking sugar gliders and rainbow bee-eaters for stopping by. It makes me happy, and it makes me curious. Having been on the road with Adam, I know he is from the southern city of Victoria.

We’ve split Jumpy’s kangaroo-shaped chips and investigated his sympathy for freshwater crocodiles (“Freshies are cute, it’s the salties you got to watch out for”). By southern, I mean 3,753 kilometres south of our port-side haunt. Why would a man move vertically across the heart of his country, lock stock and barrel, leaving behind all but wife for life in Australia’s least populated capital city? Adam would have been living in Darwin for three years this dry season. (Top End’s weather is split into the sticky, stormy wet season between November and April; and the dry season through May to October.)

SOHINI DAS GUPTA (3), RYBARMAREKK/SHUTTERSTOCK (4), FACING PAGE: ECOPICTURE/FOTOSEARCH LBRF/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (1), ANDREW MICHAEL/PIXTAL/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (2), PHOTO COURTESY: TOURISM AUSTRALIA (5 & 7), AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER, STILL LEARNING.../ MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES (6), DIGITALMAMMOTH/SHUTTERSTOCK (8)

Once a jolly *swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his *billy boiled, You’ll come a-waltzing *Matilda, with me

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1 The galah cockatoo is only one of the many bird species found in the Kakadu National Park, a 19,000 sq. km. protected zone near Darwin. 2 Driving around the Top End, you will cross paths with the wallaby, a macropod reminiscent of, but smaller than, the kangaroo. 3 Darwin’s city centre is a zany mix of croc-souvenir stores, Korean cafés and street art.

4 While spotting a kangaroo or wallaby on the road can be exciting, drivers in NT have to ensure that the sudden sightings don’t result in accidents. 5 Natural colours fashioned from earth, minerals or vegetation are used by some aboriginal groups as body paint. 6 The Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise sees the Adelaide River residents vault for meaty treats. 7 Some forms of aboriginal music make use of the didgeridoo, a wooden wind instrument with a rich, sombre sound.

8 Kangaroo meat, enjoyed as steaks or in burgers, has a deep, earthy taste.

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ANDREW MICHAEL/PIXTAL/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (2), PHOTO COURTESY: TOURISM AUSTRALIA (5 & 7), AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER, STILL LEARNING.../ MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES (6), DIGITALMAMMOTH/SHUTTERSTOCK (8)

AUSTRALIA

THE DESTINATION

Scenic, hour-long ferry rides and drives from the city are portals to Hong Kong’s greener worlds: a UNESCO geopark, hiking trails, culturerich islands—even a pirate’s cave BY KAREENA GIANANI

HONG KO N 100

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HONG KONG

The cable car gliding over Hong Kong’s largest island, Lantau, offers a buffet of views: emerald forests, tall peaks, and the glimmering South China Sea.

NOVEMBER 2018 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA

JOE CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY/MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES

O NG HIGH 101

HONG KONG

10.32 a.m.

The 100-kilometre MacLehose Trail begins at the High Island Reservoir East Dam in the Sai Kung Peninsula, part of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark. The trail’s 10 sections weave through eight country parks, covering 20,000 hectares. Hikers who give it the week it demands are rewarded with ever-changing views: centuries-old villages, sea caves, Hong Kong’s tallest peaks, fiddler crabs, meadows, and beaches that come up like apparitions.

A few metres into the MacLehose Trail, my guide Vivian Wong points to a curious sight. The walls of cliffs rising from the sea have uniform reddish hexagonal columns; they look like tight stacks of matchsticks. They stretch for 100 square kilometres and were formed from a giant volcano 140 million years ago. Its summit collapsed to form a caldera. Gradually, the volcanic ash and lava within cooled off in the shape of these stupefying hexagonal columns.

I hike further, and am overtaken by a silent army of Hong Kongers—lean, 60-something women who seem to be walking on air; there’s even a man in a white shirt and trousers, who looks like he changed his mind on his work commute.

At the beginning of Section 2 is a series of descending steps. Picnickers come up, hollering, with suitcases on their heads. Down lies a campsite at Long Ke Wan, a pearlwhite beach; the South China Sea flaunts that dreamy hue of aquamarine. The MacLehose Trail continues to wind further. Uprooted trees are strewn around the beach.

Typhoon Mangkhut, explains Jane, a hiker in my group.

She remembers the first time she camped here, a few years ago. “The night sky lights everything up. Think of the fairylit Hong Kong skyline, only this time, it’s the stars beaming down on us.” (Get an Octopus transport card and take one of the regular buses plying between the MTR stations Hang Hau and Diamond Hill and Sai Kung town, and then take a taxi to the starting point of the hike, East Dam.)

8 p.m.

Dare to Dinner Back in the city, the restaurant 1935 in the Central district brings Sichuan to the plate that night. Every bite of the crunchy okra and yam, bundled up and coated with salty egg yolk and deep fried, is a tango of textures. Next up is a dish with litchi-like, perfectly round balls arranged to look like a bunch of grapes, placed in thick chicken broth. “Winter melon,” helps Wong. The Chinese melon has no real taste of its own. I pop one globule in my mouth: it’s hot, soft, and tastes of the sea, thanks to the slivers of conpoy (dried scallop). Finish it off with a Pep Chi Razzi, a fruity vodka cocktail served in a metallic pineapple-shaped glass with a feisty Sichuan chilli on top.

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NORBERT EISELE-HEIN/IMAGEBROKER/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARY (HIKERS), LEE YIU TUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK (BEACH)

Wild Side

THE DESTINATION

DAY 1 MACLEHOSE TRAIL

Breakfast of Champions

8.10 a.m. You don’t come to a Hong Kong cha chan teng to linger. Be it Kam Wah in the hood of Wan Chai, or Hong Lin in Mong Kok, every inch of these no-fuss, anti-frills eateries is packed with locals clicking chopsticks in bowls of soupy instant noodles topped with egg or pork; beef macaroni in tomato soup, and sweet milk tea. See that blur of a server? Don’t dally when she comes over and order an egg tart and bo luo bao (‘pineapple bun’)—a fat slab of butter pressed in a

9.35 a.m.

City Slipping In Hong Kong, people, skyscrapers, stalls, and smells bounce off one another—and how I love it—but move northwards to Kowloon and further up to New Territories, and the glassy facades melt away. Me and my hiking group of seven drive about 45 minutes to the seaside town of Sai Kung, where Hong Kongers and their pet poodles often spend weekends exploring nearby fishing villages and seafood—but mainly, hiking trails.

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The cabbie who takes me up the 20-minute drive to the start of the MacLehose trail speaks only Cantonese. Good thing we don’t feel the need for conversation, for we’re surrounded by still, turquoise waters, bottle green hills popping up everywhere. I’d never imagined anything like this in or around Hong Kong, and definitely not within an hour’s reach.

TSUJI/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES (CITY), ADDY HO/ALAMY/INDIAPICTURE (FOOD)

sugar-topped bun; it’s like being hugged by toasty bread.

THE DESTINATION

BASE INSTINCTS

BY TUNALI MUKHERJEE

Snow-crowned eight-thousanders dominate the view en route to Khumjung village.

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Piercing peaks, breathless trails, and Sherpas’ stories by the fire—the way to the Everest Base Camp is paved in glory and pain

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THE DESTINATION

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CANNOT SEE MOUNT EVEREST from the Everest Base Camp?” I asked Rigzin, my trek leader, who flashed one of his disarming smiles in response. Day two of the Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek—and it was only just sinking in that I had voluntarily embarked on a 10-day trip that takes me up to a height of 17,389 feet across 130 kilometres of mountain terrain with a 10-kilo backpack. All this, only to reach a destination from where I cannot even see the mountain the trek was named after! I looked around at my fellow trekkers, determinedly huffing their way uphill.

Are they aware of this… treachery? I had assumed that the world’s highest mountain would be a dominant figure in the Himalayan skyline, towards which we’d be marching—a fleece-clad army high on yak milk. Standing at 29,029 feet, she is Chomolungma (‘Holy Mother’) in Tibet, Sagarmatha in Nepal, and the reason why around 800 people risk their lives each year in their attempt to reach the top of the world.

Obviously, I had underestimated the lofty eight-thousanders that surround Mount Everest, obscuring her from one’s direct line of vision. The Solukhumbu district in northeast Nepal, home to the summit, has four of the highest mountains on Earth. Locals here wake up to sights that people from the plains spend lifetimes chasing.

My journey to this difficult but hypnotic terrain began with a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, touted as one of the most dangerous airports in the world, also notorious for delays.

What else can you expect of a route where the flight’s fate is majorly dependent on how sunny the mountain gods are feeling? As the 18-seater plane seared through clouds and

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Every expedition towards the Everest from Nepal has to pass via Namche Bazaar, making it one of the country’s the most prosperous villages; Lukla (facing page) is one of the world’s most dangerous airports thanks to its short inclined runway and precarious location.

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THE JOURNEY

GUREZ, A KASHMIRI VALLEY STRADDLING INDIA AND PAKISTAN, RETAINS THE OLD WAYS OF THE DARD-SHIN COMMUNITY TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEEPTI ASTHANA 128

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LAND LOST IN TIME

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Homes in Barnai and other villages of this vast area by the Kishanganga are still built in indigenous ways. The woodlog houses plastered with mud help locals deal with the fierce winters where temperatures drop as low as -40ยบC. NOVEMBER 2018 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA

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Nestled amidst the snow-capped Himalayas of Kashmir, Gurez was once part of the ancient Silk Route connecting Kashmir with Kashgar in modern-day China. In its heyday, sometime during the 12th century, the valley was known as Dardistan, after the Dard-Shin community who call it home. In the wake of the Partition, trapped by its topography and the LOC, Gurez became an isolated, militarised region. Finally, in 2007, this once unknown part of Kashmir was opened up for foreigners and special permits were relaxed for locals.

The people have since been welcoming travellers back into their lives and homes.