Travelers’ Adda Xplorer Editor’s Note Once again with a very good response from our reader, we are proudly launching the 3rd issue of Xplorer. Lots of traveling, photography, riding and adventures have been done during last quarter. This quarter we met many hard core travelers with us as active members. We are, as usual, searching for new places and trying to provide interesting as well as useful information. Many more ideas are coming forward for the betterment and development of our community. Many events, many travelogues and so many pictures are continuously decorating our community. We have many active members throughout this quarter like Hoodibaba, Arunava Das and Pradyut Kumar Dey who are contributing lots of information and spreading motivation between us. One of the fantastic and worth reading story is the story of a Ride to Laddakh shared by Hoodibaba. Introduced to Travelers’ Adda by Shubham, this person is being a great motivation to all the riders making this a myth that a small old Motorcycle can’t ridden for high altitude like Laddakh. Hats off to this rider and wish him all the best for future. This quarter my visit was to enjoy the monsoon on Bay of Bengal. I with my wife Swatilekha enjoyed the beach too much along with the ride on my motorcycle. In future we are planning for more and more travel with more fun and adventure and also planning to visit Himalayas in coming future. Our group is becoming more and more popular in Facebook too and the credit goes to all the members of the Adda. I must thank to Agnimitra Chowdhuri for his tremendous support to the community. On the other hand Shubham must be appreciated for his efforts that he is spending on building this community outside West Bengal. Last but not least we must thank Manojit for his time and presence in this forum and sharing his valuable ideas for the development of the Adda. Finally I’m thankful to you all to give a company for this forum and share our habit. We’ll always look forward to bring interesting and adventurous stories and pictures for you. Thanks to all our members for their sharing their stories and fantastic pictures.
Suryajit Bhattacharya
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Contents 2
Editor’s Note
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Trip of the Month –June 2012 - Roopkund Pradyut Kumar Dey
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Trip of the Month –July 2012 - Gurudongmar Saura Bhattacharjee
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Trip of the Month – August 2012 - Kollimalai Shubham Bairy
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Lazy Weekend - Tajpur - Mandarmoni Suryajit Bhattacharya
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Heritage - Imambara Suryajit Bhattacharya
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Travel Guru Travelers’ Adda
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Travel Guru’s Desk - Sasan Gir – Rann of Kutch Hoodibaba
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Around the World -Delft, Netherlands Manojit Pati
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Travelography Suryajit Bhattacharya
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The sun is on his southward journey and, as his blazing rays begin to slant, the subcontinent feels freedom from the oppressive heat of summer months. The monsoon has infused new life into trees and grass. It was autumn (Sharat). The weather was clear. The white clouds were floating on the blue sky. The sun rays were reflecting from the dew drenched green grass. When the nature is so kind and mysterious then we four trekkers found some time from our busy daily life to enjoy the thrills of the nature.
So, me, Tanurup, Somnath and Subhra planed a trek to beautiful, mysterious Roopkund. We started on 16th Sept, 2009 on the day of Janmastami (birthday of God Sri Krishna). It seems that the dream and desire comes true. We got into the Amritsar Mail from Howrah and reached Lucknow
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next day. We checked in a hotel there. After having some rest, we visited nearby glorious historical places. Same day, we got into the Naini Express at 10 PM and reached at Lalkuan station by next day early morning. We have hired a car to Dewal from the station. After having
some tea, we started, en-route we crossed Haldwani, Kathgodam, Bhimtal, Bhowali, Almora, Kousani, Gwaldam, Tharli one by one. We saw Pindar Ganga and Koli Ganga River on the way. Distance of Gwaldam from Lalkuan is about 170 KM and takes almost 6 hours. We had our
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Trip of the month June 2012
Roopkund by Pradyut Kumar Dey
lunch on the way. Gwaldam is a very beautiful hill station. The dense forest of Pine, Deodar and the magical sound of the river makes us emotional. We reached Dewal around 3 PM. But we faced a big problem when we heard that the last car to Wan had left for the day at 2 PM. All the enjoyment lost suddenly. It seemed that we lost all our hopes. But I feel that, problem during a trip gives more pleasure once resolved. And definitely, god was with us as usual. Suddenly, we remembered that we should go to that place (we came to know about this place when collecting information from Kolkata) where we could find some help. There a Bengali gentleman named Mr. Raju Saha helped us a lot to reach Lahjung. The God blessed us in the form of a human. He gave us a letter and after showing his letter, Kamal Sing drove us to Wan by his car. The rent was 650 rupees. It was 7 O’clock in the evening. The journey was through the lonely, dark, dense forest on a muddy road. Almost nothing was visible outside. The road was not in a good shape. There was nothing to do but to pray to the God for a safe journey. We crossed Kuling village on the way. At last, we reached Wan. All shop keepers closed their shops. However, after searching here and there we found one shop was opened. The kind God blessed us this time also. The owner, Hayat Sing was a teacher there. He greeted us warmly and arranged a home stay for us only for rupees 250. His wife served us hot tea and potato pakora and the taste was really good. It was very cold
and we have to start the trek next morning. We had our dinner and went to bed. In this atmosphere, the sound of waterfalls seemed like a music. We fell asleep listening to it. Day 1, 19-Sept-2009 (Wan – Bedini) It was a bright clear morning. The weather was very good. We have started our long awaited trek with our porter friends Ranjit Sing,
Tilak Sing and Bhuban Sing and our guide Mohan Sing Dhawan. The way was through the narrow trail serpentining the hills going upwards. The journey was strenuous but full of adventure and we enjoyed every moment of it. After crossing 8500 feet of altitude, we reached Ran Ki Dhar and had some rest there. Now the way was downhill through a forest with the shadow of Deodar trees. We could see some part of
the Shila Samundra Glacier (Ocean of rocks) and Trishul. Here the Sound of Neel Ganga River reminded the story of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The source of Neel Ganga River is Bedini Kund. We have crossed small wooden bridge on Neel Ganga River and after sometimes later, we reached Gairoli Patal. The route was now upwards and full of stones. After 3 kilometers of steep climbing, we reached Bedini Bugyal (12500 feet) via Doliadhor (11500 feet). There is some flat area where trekkers can camp for the night. There is a huge grazing ground for mules, horses and sheep. There are small temporary houses for the locals. They usually go down in winter. The beauty of the Bedini Bugyal was fantastic. The blue sky and the alpine meadow were remarkable. There is an ancient temple in the meadow. It was told that Veda Vyasa had written the Veda here. We collected permission to visit Roopkund from here at rupees 500. It is hard to express the color of sunset on Himalayas to those who did not witness it. The picturesque, red Trishul on the east on sunset made us spellbound. The snow clad Choukhamba, Hati, Khuri, Nilkantha are distinctly visible within the distance on the west. It seemed that the majestic Himalayan peaks and clouds were playing to each other. It was a thrilling experience and we enjoyed each moment of it. First time we are spending a night on 12500 feet. It was too cold to resist. We had some tea and biscuit. That brought some sort of relief. At the evening we all
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sheltered into the tents. We had our dinner early and moved into the comfort of our warm sleeping bags and went in slumber. Day 2, 20-Sept-09 (Bedini – Hunipatar) At this high altitude one of my closed friends, Somnath faced mountain sickness. He had to go down to Wan. We felt very sad for him. But what to do, we had to look forward to complete the trek. The nature is calling us; we did not have any mindset to look back. How tough the road is, does
not matter we are moving forward. After 500 feet of steep ascent, we got a road of mild uphill and downhill. After crossing it, we reached Ghora Latauni at the altitude of 13000 feet. It is a very beautiful place and hard to feel the Himalayas for someone who did not witness this. The morning is very bright, the weather is clear. Time is 9:45 AM. On the left side magnificent Choukhamba, Nandadevi, Pindar are clearly visible whereas spectacular Bhrambatoli bugyal is on the right side. One trek route
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from here leads to the Pindari Glacier and the other one is going to Joshimath via Kanol, Sutol. We reached Patarnachauni at 10:45 AM enjoying the divine beauty of the nature on the way. There are three big holes here and a very sad story behind it. The altitude is 13500 feet. Now the route is strenuous to upwards. We are facing some breathing problem due to thin air and steep climb. The route looks never ending. It seems that we entered into the fort of stones. Number of trees is very less here.We can hear the sound of bells of Koilubinayak. It brings some devotional feelings to our minds. Though, we are losing confidence due to this never ending strenuous climbing but we have to reach to that mysterious Roopkund. Atlast we reached Koilubinayak at 1:45 PM at the altitude of 15000 feet. There is a small idol of Lord Ganesha enclosed in a stone shrine. We prayed to the Lord Ganesha with some sweets and dry fruits which we brought from home for a safe pilgrimage to Roopkund. The scenic beauty of the place and spiritual stories of the temple gave some relief to our pain. Here the clouded snowcapped Himalayan peaks brought some new feelings. Neither the words nor the pictures can do full justice to this beauty. We are very lucky to witness this. The deep virgin forests, breath-taking green meadows, glorious Himalayan peaks, sound of river and streams, snowfall, narrow walking trails through the hills with endless deep valley are unforgettable. We can remind this forever. We are anxious but we are enthusiastic, curious and brave as well. It is an
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addiction to the nature and we are floating with it joyfully. Now we are moving towards Hunipatar via Baguabasa. We took little rest, had some food and start walking again. This is a straight strenuous climbing. Now we have entered into the slate zone. We found lots of different colorful flowers in bloom on the two sides of the road. After half an hour later, we reached Baguabasa at the altitude of 15500 feet. The temperature is around 1 degree Celsius. We are feeling a little headache due to
this high altitude. There is a small cave here, established by Swami Pranabanandaji. After a little while, we found the lot expected Bhramba Kamal. They are flooded on the two sides of the road. It is an awesome feeling which cannot be expressed in words. The flowers of the Heaven had come down to the Earth. At 2:15 PM, we reached Hunipatar. What we saw, what we felt on the way can be remembered for ever. It may not be possible to come here again but the memory will
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always remain close to our heart and soul. We will spend the night here today. Our porters and guide had already pitched the tents. Some tiredness had been reduced after having some tea. Trishul, Nandaghunti are very closer from here. Roopkund is located near the base of these Himalayan peaks. The weather is now very good. We are also feeling good at the end of a tough day. New hopes are on our eyes to see the mystery. Again we enjoyed the colorful sunset on the Trishul accompanied by the clouds. It was an excellent sunset to watch. The nature was at its best form, eternal and unforgettable. In this beautiful atmosphere, suddenly we heard a sound of landslide. At the evening, it was very dark, nothing is visible outside. After having dinner, we entered into the sleeping bags. Day 3, 21-Sept-09 (Hunipatar – Roopkund – Patarnachauni) Wake up early in morning to enjoy the memorable sunrise on the majestic Trishul, Nandakot, Choukhamba. Our guide and porters lit up fire with some dry wood and were trying to escape from such freezing cold. We joined them and had our tea. Now our journey started to that long awaited Roopkund. It was 7:25 in the morning. After 1 kilometer, we found the road is very challenging, narrow and full of big stones and ice. It was very hard to walk on with the freezing cold. But the weather was good. The endless route is straight upwards as far as we can see. Almost nothing is visible below
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into the deep valley due to cloud and mist. We took some rest and started walking slowly through this risky route of thick snow. It was very uncomfortable to walk on the thick snow of 2/3 feet deep. It seemed that we will not be able to return to home. However, we are moving forward with confidence and lots of hopes in mind. We can see our tents back clearly at Hunipatar. One trekking team is coming back through the narrow route of snow. We were feeling very uneasy to walk on to this scary road of soft
snow. We decided, we should proceed up to the place we can go. Roopkund is not far away from here. We are moving forward to that magical mystery. But after a little while, all our hopes, enthusiasm are lost when Subhra is not agreeing to proceed further. We travelled so long, we did so hard work but we will not be able to reach Roopkund; the fact lost all our enthusiasm, hopes and dreams. But what to do, we all decided that there is no need to take risk to this dangerous road. Roopkund is still 800 feet above from here. We are disappointed,
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frustrated and felt very sorry that we missed the chance so closely. We did not have any ropes or things which will help us to climb up to this risky road. However, what we have seen on the way was awesome and over our expectations. We have decided our next plan calmly. We saluted Hara-Parvati (Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati) from here. Our porter went to that mysterious Roopkund with some worship items and a camera. After one hour or so he came back. The images of our untouched Roopkund made a permanent, deep impression in our hearts. The region of the Roopkund at the altitude of 16300 feet of the Himalayas was entirely covered with a thick layer of snow and difficult to access. We have heard that lots of human skeleton were found at Roopkund, they can be seen only when the snow melts. The mystery of the skeleton is still unknown. At 12:30 PM, we returned to Hunipatar and had our lunch and got down to Patarnachauni by afternoon. We setup our tents and had dinner early due to bad weather. It was not possible to come out of the tents in such a bad weather. It was extremely cold. It seemed that the tents will fly away with the strong wind. We had nothing to do but to pray to God. Somehow we spent the night.
worried souls. We started walking through the hill watching the beauty of the colorful flowers. Now we have to cross dense Tebhaga woods. We have lost our way in the woods many times. At last, we reached Gharolipatal by 12:00 noon. We had our lunch there. Before evening we reached GMVN tourist rest house at Wan. We decided to do a feast with our porters and guide tonight. The rest house is made up of wood and surrounded with pine trees. The chilling cold, the sound of bells of a temple coming from far away
and the smell of food; the atmosphere was really fantastic. Next morning we hired a jeep and started towards Kousani. What we gained, what we felt from this trip cannot be compared. The courage, enthusiasm, joy achieved through this journey will deeply live forever in our souls. The trek route: Wan – Bedini – Patarnachauni – Koilubinayak – Baguabasa – Hunipatar – Roopkund Tor – Roopkund – Ali Bugyal – Tebhaga woods – Gharolipatal – Wan
Day 4, 22-Sept-09 (Patarnachauni – Ali – Wan) It was a bright, sunny morning. After having tea, our guide, Mohan Sing suggested to go to Wan via Ali Bugyal, Tebhaga woods. The world famous Ali Bugyal gave some peace to our
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I have rode from the Foothills of Darjeeling to the Bay of Bengal in the sweltering heat of April 2011, I have done a midnight trip to Tiger Hill and watched the sun turn the Kanchendzonga from gold to yellow, I had ridden to the Old Silk Route in the winter seasons and felt the chill, but this trip was nothing like before.
Prologue to the Ride: It had been nearly six months since our last bike trip to the Old Silk Route. The open roads, fun, adventure and most importantly freedom had been calling out since March. The time was due and we were supposed to ride to
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one of the highest mountain lake in the world, Gurudongmar Lake, situated at 17100 feet above sea level and a mere 9kms from the China border. But then Amit Nandi, one of the biker from our Bengal trip backed out as his mother asked him to not travel
mountains citing some astrological mishaps were on the cards. We were supposed to leave on the 1st of May. The cancellation was a big heartbreaker as we had planned it for nearly a year (originally we were
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Trip of the month July 2012
Gurugongmar by Saura Bhattacharjee
supposed to visit the lake in October but the earthquake had led us to cancel it that time). The 1st of May came and went; the heart-break and sadness grew bigger and more painful. Then slowly the thirst for adventure and riding started overtaking our emotions and within a couple of days I and Kinjal were ready to complete the trip to Ladakh version 2.0 sans our bike gang members. The old excitement was back as we started planning and preparing for the trip. We met members of SWAN, who had visited the lake a few weeks earlier. They advised us to take full protection and warned that the roads were in pathetic conditions and how difficult it was up there. One of my dad’s office colleagues too had expressed his desire to ride with us but then his ailing heart condition forced him to back down.
As regards preparation, we borrowed one set of biking gears from a member of SWAN who happened to be our friend. I had been planning to learn how to repair punctures but had not been able to learn till then. So we scraped the idea of taking any spare tubes or foot pump and
risked a gamble with fate. I had learned how to make the mixtures lean or rich and how to adjust the clutch cable (though I seriously doubted being able to do that if the need came). There was also the possibility of the road being closed due to landslides but we were ready for
It was now the two of us, me and Kinjal. The continued obstacles had made us determined more than ever to complete the trip. It had become a sort of challenge to both of us. Ramneek Singh, of Xkmph who had made the trip a few weeks back helped us a lot sharing his experience with us. I was sure about not being approved leave for four days and hence planned to just bunk office and doing the explanation later. Dr. Kinjal Banerjee (yes he is an eye surgeon), who has been my companion and pillion in every crazy trip of mine was also ready as ever. Preparing for the ride:
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anything. We were ready to go anywhere but not home in the next few days. We had also a Plan B in case we failed to make Gurudongmar Lake – we would visit Pelling. Day 1: The day finally arrived. After spending a near sleepless night, woke up pretty late as Kinjal had some important work and we would not be leaving early as planned. We left home, with both of our mothers praying for our safety while hiding their anger on our crazy unplanned sudden trip, and started on our ride to live our dream. After fuelling-up “Dhanno” we thumped our way through the metalled roads enjoying the freedom and he sound of the breeze whizzing past our helmets that we had long been craving for. We reached Rangpo and rain greeted us into the “Hidden Land of Sacred Treasures”. In our hurry to get out on the road we had forgotten to buy plastic sheets to cover the bag. We had to quickly buy a plastic-sheet to protect our bags from getting soaked up with rain. In the process we ended getting ourselves thoroughly drenched. After having cholebatore at a Marwari hotel in Rangpo we continued on our trip having dressed to ward off the rain, but we were sweating as well. We reached Singtam, which is a located 10kms from Rangpo, and from there took the road left after taking directions from the policeman on duty in the traffic post. A signboard informed us that our destination Mangan was 50 kms away. The roads were
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pretty good but then it wasn’t quite the same all the way through. We reached Mangan at around 4.30 p.m. and after checking out both high end and low-end hotels we chose to spend our night at Hotel Malling Residency, which was pretty cheap and well-maintained. Day 2 : We woke up pretty late, as the District Collectorate’s office
would not open before 10 a.m. and we were required to get our Restricted Line Permit from there. We freshened up, packed our things and left for the Collectorate’s office which was a mere 4kms from our hotel. One needs to provide photocopies of the driving license, bike registration, blue book, insurance, tax and a photo identity proof as in Voter card or PAN card.
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The employees were very helpful and guided us through the process. We wrote an application to the District Magistrate stating our desire to visit Gurudongmar Lake and that we were taking the risks personally. The DM was a very kind person and he gave us his best wishes for the journey stating that the rain-gods too had been pleased with us, as there had been no rain in the past few days. The sense of relief was evident on our faces as we had been worried the most regarding the weather other than anything else. The total time needed to obtain the permit was approximately 20 minutes and we did not need to spend a single penny. It was almost noon when we returned to our hotel. After paying our bill we spent another 20 minutes tying knots around the bag to keep it falling from the bike’s carrier we started on our way to Lachen, a small village located 60 kilometres from Mangan, where we were to stay up for the night. The roads were okay till Toong, the first checkpost, where the very helpful and polite policemen stamped our original permit, kept a Xerox of the same and saw us off with best regards.
from Mangan, by 2’o clock and after having 3-4 chocolates (according to Dr. Kinjal it was the best way to keep fit) we started out for Lachen. One important thing to note is that mobile signals are not available after Chungthang except BSNL. But still it is advisable to call everyone and inform them to
avert family panicking as dependable.
members from BSNL is not
The road to Lachen was very picturesque and we had a nice photo session in one place along with “Ðhanno”. We rode through serpentine roads playing hide and seek with the fading sunlights,
The 10 km road from Toong to Chungthang was the worst-hit in the earthquake of September 2011 and everyone had warned us of shooting boulders (loose rocks kept falling from the top) and lots of muck. But we were very lucky as it had not rained in the past 3-4 days and hence everything was dry as powder. We reached Chungthang, which was 30kms
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stopping occasionally for some fags or to rest our aching butts. We crossed a place called Chaten and reached the picturesque village of Lachen at 4.30 p.m. We stopped at the checkpost just before entering Lachen where another round of stamping permits and registering was completed. Thereafter, we arrived at Hotel Dhongkha La as recommended by Ramneek who had guaranteed that it was the best in Lachen. The owner provided us with a 2-bedded room at a cheap Rs.700. After a brisk walk combined with some photography sessions and lessons (courtesy Kinjal), we returned to the comfort of our beds and rested our tired limbs. We completed a nice dinner comprising vaat-dal-sabji-chicken and went off to sleep early. The next day we had to start early and this was one time that I would never like to be late.
next destination Thangu which was approximately 32 kms from Lachen. Kinjal’s watch displayed 5.30 a.m. which meant we were 30 minutes behind our planned departure. The ride till Thangu, watching the snow-clad mountains changing colours or the sun rays peeking
through two mountains, was just mesmerizing. I too was endowed with some speed demons and rode like hell through good, not so good and terrible roads leaving a trail of awe-inspired tourists in their 4*4 SUV’s behind us. As we climbed from 9000 feet to 10000, 11000 feet – the tall trees got replaced by shrubs and barren
Day 3 : The vibration of my cell phone along with the heavy metal tune of the alarm needs to ring atleast five times before I wake up on normal weekdays. But on this particular day I was awake 15 minutes before the alarm was to ring. The first thing I looked after opening my eyes was the sky to see how the weather was and I was not heart-broken. The rays of the morning sun was lighting up the dark but clear sky as well as the snow-clad peaks visible from the room’s window. We quickly freshened up and after enjoying a fag and my dose of Diamox (taken as a precaution for AMS) we started thumping towards our
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lands. We reached Thangu, located at 14000 feet, at 7.00 a.m. and were happy to have been able to overcome our 30 minutes lag. After having our staple diet (what else other than Perk and popcorns) and chatting up with some tourists who were startled seeing two guys riding upto Gurudongmar Lake we continued on our journey to the holy Lake, amazingly sweating from the warm conditions. It was another 30 kms ride to our final goal. The landscape changed completely a few kilometres after Thangu, as a desert-like terrain greeted us. We had seen pictures of such places but to see that beauty with one’s own eyes were just incredible. We rode through the cold desert, the snow clad mountains that we see from our roofs in Siliguri now just beside us and reachable. There was just endless desert like terrain as far as our eyes could see and the trail left by army trucks and tourist vehicles were the only means to know that we were on the right track and not going towards China. Our next and final stop was at Giaogong, the last army check post, located 12 kilometres before Gurudongmar Lake. The army man checking the permits was amazed by our craziness and appreciated our adventurous zeal. He gave us a token number 10, and kept the original permits with him. We were supposed to retrieve them on our way back (a
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nice way to ensure no one gets left out). Finally, we were approaching our destination and the excitement was getting over my driving senses. We had to ride over loose soil and boulders and more than once the bike skidded dangerously but nothing serious. We were just awestruck by the beauty of the place – the crystal clear sky, the snow clad peaks looking so close, the white clouds seemingly within our reach and the vast endless land till the horizon. The beauty can be captured in high powered camera lens but the feeling – well you need to be there. We raced through but increasing height meant power loss for the bike and slower pace but we kept on riding stopping occasionally for taking snaps and around 8.40 a.m. we arrived at Gurudongmar Lake. The last 100 meters was a high elevation and my bike gave up. Kinjal quickly disembarked to
reduce the weight on the bike and I half-clutched and talked dhanno all the way up in any means possible as there was no way I was going to let her miss the view of the lake. The first view of the lake filled my heart with joy, pride and a sense of achievement. I parked Dhanno and went back to help my pillion up the elevation. Kinjal was struggling with the bag and the 5 litres petrol jerry can that we had brought for emergency. The thin air and low oxygen density at 17100 feet made climbing any sort of elevation a tough job and I eased the bag off him to help him get back his breath. We both just stood there watching the beauty of lake and savouring every sense of joy in achieving our dream for quite some time. Kinjal went down the stairs (I seriously doubted myself due to my smoking habits) to the banks of the lake to collect some holy water. I was amazed to see army 15
jawans bathing in the cold freezing waters of the lake while we were shivering with cold. Kinjal came up after collecting the water and taking some snaps. We then visited the sarvdharmasthal and offered our prayers thanking every God for their blessings to help us live our dream. After spending some more time taking pictures and chatting up with awed tourists we bade goodbye to Gurudongmar and started on our way back at around 9.30 a.m. The excitement had subsided a bit as our mission was almost complete and now we started feeling trouble breathing. I was not able to view properly with my right eye and Kinjal stated that exposure to so much dust had dried up my eyes. It brought a relief as I was thinking that it was the first step to going blind. We sped down the loose soils and boulders in order to reach lower altitudes which meant more oxygen. On the way back we got a bit scared too as we thought that we must have come on the wrong route as we could not see any vehicles although the tracks left by their wheels were visible. Finally, an army truck provided relief informing that every way leads to the same place. We reached Giaogong, got back our original permits, thanked the jawans and continued on our way back. We arrived at our hotel at 1 p.m. riding through hot temperatures and dust much to the amazement
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of the owner who had expected us a little late. We were dying of hunger and after a heavy lunch we let our body get some much needed sleep. The sleep helped us shake-off the tiredness and we then celebrated our achievement with some rum and chips. The hotel owner too joined us and was a very nice person. We had a nice adda session before a great dinner comprising roti, sabji and pork (which was awesome). The next day we were to return home and hence got to bed early (as in 11’o clock) and slept off dreaming about the heaven to where we had been. Day 4: Woke up at 5.30 a.m. and slowly freshened up. The thought that today was the last day of our trip made us go into a slow mode. Finally we got ready, paid our bills, thanked the hotel owner for their hospitality promising to return very soon, bade farewell to
Jyoti (who served us as if we were her own brothers) and started on our 200kms ride back to Siliguri and more pathetically to our everyday lives. The roads did not seem as tough as it had while coming up and we sped down to Toong, where the policemen kept our original permit. We reached Mangan at around 11’o clock and after a quick breakfast started back towards Singtam. The cool weather of Lachen slowly made way for sweltering heat and by the time we reached Rangpo I was ready to ride naked, if that guaranteed some respite from the heat. We stopped at a shop just after entering West Bengal, drank full bottles of cold drinks and continued upon our return reaching Siliguri at around 4 p.m. Our mothers were the most happy to see their sons back home safely without a scratch.
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As a Bengali foody the name "kollimalai" always seemed to me as a sweet. But kollimalai is a hill station with lots of unknown place with lots of unknown adventures and surely A HEAVEN for nature lovers.
Like the most of my other trips I printed the maps from google map, and prepared my route. Though this time I was bit tensed as I planned this trip as a one day trip, one way is 350kms, so total
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riding would be 700kms, and this is the 1st time I am going to ride with Sujoy. But this plan didn't work. I planned this trip for the 1 holiday after CAT2 exam. We
slept early and started the journey at 3.30 am.
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Trip of the month August 2012
Kollimalai by Shubham Bairy
The last evening I checked the air pressure, engine oil level (I had 1 lit extra for top up). I reached krishnagiri in just 2 hours, means in proper time. After entering Salem, I could not find the main road for Kolli hills. As we asked the local people, they showed the road which was not in our map, and we lost our way. That time the sun was scorching on our head, and we need to go 100kms more to reach on normal village road, and no sign of hill on our sight. We were very tensed and worried about the place. This time we didn't had any camera so we clicked all the pictures on our 2mp mobile camera, SORRY for picture quality. However, we followed the route showed by local people. After crossing 100kms of normal village road we could find the hill road consists of 85 hairpin bends. Our cup of joy overflowed. After crossing the hairpin bends we found that roads are in "working progress" condition. They were allowing us to move further. But that was me, who didn't listen to anybody started riding on rough road full of sand, stone chips. Even I fell down once when I started to ride with pillion on this road but nothing happened. We continued our journey to Akash Ganga waterfalls, where we encountered 1000steps. It was really huge and full of water.
This image was believed to represent the spirit of a maiden who lured wayfarers by her beauty and then killed them. After visiting this place we decided to stay here for the day, started searching for lodge. But no hope, we came back to Simmendu, which is 15 km before
the kolli hills and the city point, where I got the lodge. Two bedded 450/- one night with parking place also, good deal at that moment. After having lunch and we rested for 2 hours in room as we was tired. After having rest, we had enough energy to travel around again. We started riding to the places of interests, by
Do you know the history of this name Kolli hills? These mountains were sometimes known as "Kolli Malai", the "Mountains of Death". The reason is that early literature records the existence of an image called Kollippavai on top of these hills.
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following the map on Bus stand. After that we call it a day, and switched of my bike engine for the day. Next morning we took breakfast and started return journey at 8.30am, but after coming down to plan land, it was very hot. It was nearly impossible to ride, we were riding for 30mins and was taking rests, we were making our gloves wet and riding, taking lots of water to get rid of this heat, at 4pm we reached Krishnagiri, from there my place is only 130 kms, but we decided to wait in the KRP dam park for some time to take rest then we will start again. INFORMATION: Kolli Hills or Kolli Malai is a small mountain range located in central Tamil Nadu in Namakkal district of India. The mountains are about 1000 to 1300 m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 km². The Kolli Hills has 70 hair pin bends to reach the top of the hills. The Kolli Hills are part of the Eastern Ghats, which is a mountain range that runs mostly parallel to the east coast of South India. The mountains are relatively untouched by commercial tourism and still retain their natural beauty. Two viewpoints - one at Seekuparai and another at Selur Nadu - are being developed to encourage tourism. The government maintains a pineapple research farm where hybrid varieties are created. Research about medicinal plants is also pursued on these mountains. The
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government holds a tourism festival in August. Kolli Hills has been the top choice for nature lovers, hiking enthusiasts, trekking clubs and meditation practitioners among hill stations in Tamil Nadu. In comparison to other hill stations in Tamil Nadu, Kolli Hills is not commercialized; less polluted and offers unique mountain ranges. Agaya Gangai is the famous waterfall situated near the Arappaleeswarar temple. Though it is called as Akash Ganga. How to reach Kollimalai By road Kollimalai is well connected to all the major cities of India. It can be reached by road from Chennai, Salem, Namakkal or Tiruchirapalli. National Highway 45 from Chennai takes you till Ulundurpettai, from there you will have to branch off on the road leading to Salem. A further southward diversion at the main town of Attur, will lead to Malliakarai, Namagiripettai and
Belukkuruchi, at the foot of the Kolli hills. If approaching from Salem, you can take the Rasipuram-Namakkal road via Kalappanayakanpatti, and reach Nadukombai from where the ghat road begins. By rail: The nearest railway station to Kollimalai is Salem 100kms. From there you will have to take cab, taxi or bus. By air: The nearest Tiruchirapalli, Kollimallai.
Airport is in 90kms from
Where to stay: Arrow Mansion lodge Near Indian bank,semmendu Ph: 9443694907, 04286-247494 Resorts: Nallathambi Resort & Wild Orchid Camp, Kolli Hills More information is available in internet on their website.
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Lazy Weekend
Tajpur - Mandarmoni by Suryajit Bhattacharya Again, from a Traveler from Travelers’ Adda, this time also a Rider from Riders’ Adda. We Riders at Kolkata, seriously lacks places to ride to, looks for mountains and fountains. Well, mountains are unbeatable but, have to ride without it. Well, we also have something which gives us absolute pleasure, powerful and beautiful enough to wonder us. Yes, it’s Bay of Bengal. And we are lucky enough to live at a distance which is good to give you a nice road trip for weekend.
During Monsoons, nothing be like having Khichdi and to Bay of Bengal. Well, I trip in my mind but
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could a ride had a never
expressed to anyone as I was not completely confirmed whether to do this or not. It was Wednesday when I asked Swati whether she is
okay if we have a road trip this weekend. As expected, she was absolutely fine with that. I said, we’ll start Saturday morning then
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and back by Sunday evening. She replied whether I’ll be fine to join the office on Monday by doing this? I said, yes. But I know, it’s not that easy as I’ll have to cover my the entire next week to my office without any rest, and I didn’t get any rest since 4 weekends before.
Thursday I called Swati that we’ll be moving on next day as I applied a leave on Friday. When I back from my office, I asked Swati whether we are going or not. I asked because I was very tired. She replied, yes. I said, only if I feel okay next morning, and will be starting little late instead of starting at 4:00 am. She was okay with that. Next morning I woke up around 6 as I did packing my stuffs in the saddle bags till 12 in the night. After tying the bags with the Motorcycle and finishing a small breakfast, we finally started at 9:30 am. The weather was absolutely pleasuring with little clouds and little cold in the morning. Through SH-13 (Old Delhi Road) we turn right to the Bidyabati Tarakeswar road and continued till NH-2 at near Singur. Then we continued till Baly and left NH-2 and entered NH-6 which took us
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to Kolaghat after around 1 and half hour. We halt there for around 10 minutes; I ordered one Tea and Swati having nothing, was busy with calling our parents. I feared that the road condition from Kolkaghat to Nandakumar (somewhere in middle of Kolkata – Tajpur) is going to be another worst experience as when I visited an year back, it was pathetic. But as I entered that road I understand that it’s not going to be that bad rather it became one
of the best riding conditions with 6 Lanes. Till Nandakumar I didn’t had any issue and was a pleasant experience. The bigger issue was with the road condition from Nandakumar to Kontai. I was feared, since Swati was with me and she doesn’t really likes bad roads which is quite obvious with a pillion on FZ-16. That road is also famous for road accidents due to its narrow width. Again I was again fooled as I entered the road. The road was like Black
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Carpet till Kontai. But the same in increasing the risk as when the roads were in very-very poor condition, the Buses and Cars used to run at a speed more than 80 km/h. And now the road condition is pleasant, increasing the risk of unpleasant incident. The road was full of sharp turns, shiny green small trees on both sides. When the sun was looking through the scattered clouds, the leaves was shining that much that it was difficult to keep eyes on, due to rain in the morning and a day before. Parallel to the road there is a waterway on the both sides, looks like rivers, just behind the trees. These canals were made to grab soil to incline the Roads. Also the area goes through the villages giving a beautiful, soft view of Incredible India. Miles and miles of ponds for fishkeeping was just lighting the nature with the reflection of sunlight. Anyways, we reached Kontai and I need some cash to be withdrawn from ATM. I remember HDFC ATM there at the highway. It’s recommended that you get enough cash before visiting Tajpur or Mandarmani, or you’ll have to come back to Kontai for cash if needed. By mistake I entered the town where I was supposed to go through the highway which touches the town from outside. The town was much crowded and took around 15 minutes to get lost from there. Finally I found the ATM and did my job there and moved ahead. Now what, everything was nearby. Earlier I turned left from Chawlkhola to visit Mandarmani. This time we continued 10-12
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more kilometers for Tajpur. After asking locals we left the highway and turn left to Tajpur. As we start riding that road, we found that once there was something called ROAD. Now its grave sized potholes in an7-8 feet wide passage which runs around 25-30 feet above the ground and surrounded by ponds for
fishkeeping. Well, it was around 4 km in length and you can easily see the other side which is Tajpur. This road was bad but was giving one of the best views of this trip. Wind was blowing and forcing small trees to hail us by touching the ground. The smell of Ocean was attracting us and we were completely lost in that lonely
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place. How you describe is up to you, superb environment, very poor road or I must say no road, no other creature like us, making it romantic or adventurous. Finally we reached Tajpur, an under construction place, a very few hotels, away from the beach. One big car on the beach was describing the presence of few other people. We asked for rooms in some of the hotels but rooms will be available only for one night and next day at early morning we’ll have to check out. That’s not good. That’s not what we planned. We visited the beach, which is, speaking clearly, not that attractive with small, verysmall waves containing too much of sand. So we changed our plan from A to B. Let’s visit Mandarmani, Swati asked. I said, why not. Swati visited there during December 2011 but was not in a condition to enjoy the beach due to cold. This will be her chance to do that, I said, and moved back to Mandarmani. This time a hotel opposite to JP Resort and just beside Hotel Live Sea Valley – The Hotel Panthatirtha was our choice as we selected this hotel for our next stay during last Visit in December. The only issue was the availability of hotel room. We got a Non AC room, at 800 INR till next 1:00 pm. It was around 3:30 when we entered the hotel room, did some quick lunch, get changed and moved on to the beach. Wow, really nothing could be like lying on the beach during
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monsoon. We found, there are only 2 couples were having a bath and around a total of 20 people could be seen on around the beach. After 2 hours on the beach, we get back to our room. Around 6:30 in the evening we gone for a walk had some food and come back to the resort campus as it was high tide. Till 11:30 we spent there. Far away from crowed, watching ocean in moonlight will give you ultimate happiness. The waves were touching our feet while sitting in the Hotel campus. You can thing or believe what I’m expressing but go there during full moon night or just before or after full moon, to feel it. The dinner was already ordered and served after 11:30 in our hotel room. They gave me a Mosquito coil as they knew that an attack was about to start. I didn’t light it up. Around 1:30 in the midnight, I found myself losing everything
because of Mosquitos. I thought to light the coil but where is the lighter? They gave me coil but didn’t give me any lighter and I was in my mood so forget to ask for that. Well, something I had to do. So I get out of my room and looking for someone. Luckily I found the watchman sleeping on his chair beside the beach side gate. I ask him for the lighter, again luckily he had one and I started lighting the coil in the corner. The fun was to see the watchman watching me strangely. When I ask, he said I must hold it between my lips to light it. As show him the coil, he said sorry, as he was expecting Cigarette and I was looking like lighting something else. Anyway, the Mosquitos were obedient enough to the coil.
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Next morning I woke early at 4:00 am, asked Swati to come with me to the beach for some photography. She denied and continued dreaming. Well, after getting fresh, around 4:40 am I start my motorcycle and start riding on the beach, did some photography. Around 5:30 am, when I was sitting on my bike without stand and both legs on the foot-pegs, Swati called me and said that she is ready and want to come with me and she came to that Tea Stall. After tea break, we visited the Mohana of the river and ride on sand, on waves coming here and there. It was a fine morning and the sky was looking deep blue from the windows of clouds. Around 8:00 am we did some breakfast and back to hotel to get ready for a bath. Till 10:40 we were playing
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with waves. Before we saw 20 people and that day there were only 17 people on the beach including us, massively unlike beaches like Digha. Well then we get back to hotel to get ready, pack the bags and by 12:30 we were ready. Swati was not very much interested in coming back and was looking at the waves slapping the wall of resort. I asked her if she want to stay one more day, but she said she is happy enough with this experience for the time being. We leave the resort by 1:00 pm and halted at a beach side Dhaba for tea and lunch. The back journey was also very interesting through the same beauty from different direction. We passed again the beautiful and dangerous road till Nandakumar and then halted at Sheer’E Panjaab at Kolaghat for
some snacks. Rest of the road we covered was the same way as we came. We reached our most pleasant place by 6:30 pm. Everyone have their own way of traveling, watching places and feeling the difference. This is how I felt during my Tajpur Mandarmani road trip. I’m very much thankful to Swati for giving her company and being with me; I know it’s more difficult to stay as pillion than riding the machine. I also very thankful to my parents to have their patients during my trip as this too was not an easy job to allow traveling on motorcycles, in India at least. Traveling is something that I like too much and I believe that this is why I love my home too much.
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Heritage
Imambara by Suryajit Bhattacharya
On a move to visit some historical places, an obstruction for a Rider is rainy weather. So during the selection of places, I kept some of
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very nearby places for such rainy days. One of such places is Imambara (Hooghly) visited on June 24, 2012 with my wife
Swatilekha. It was actually visited years back during college days with a friend called Swatilekha.
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Hooghly Imambara was built Muhammad Mohsin. The construction of the building was started during 1841 which completed in 1861. It’s a two storied Imambara with Mosque. There is a tall clock tower indicating the huge gate of the Imambara. There is a prayer hall which is the main attraction of the place. The prayer hall is decorated by hanging lanterns and marbles. The entire wall of prayer hall has little complicated but beautiful design and filled by text from Quran. All the glass works done using Belgium Glass. It’s taken under Hooghly Municipality and currently under a renovation process. The best time to visit is during Muharram as all the hanging lanterns get lighted and the entire place gets decorated for
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prayer. If visiting during Muharram, visit between 6 pm to 7 pm as after that it’s not allowed entering as the prayer starts. NOTE: Photography Inside Prayer Hall Is Strictly
Prohibited. On Special Request, Imambara Authority Allowed Travelers' Adda For Still Photography. With All Due Respect To The Place We Are Posting Only One Picture Of Prayer Hall.
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This is a new section introduced by Travelers’ Adda. We will select one of our members as travel guru who has extensive exposure in travelling and passion to share experience with others. We are proudly declaring Hoodibaba (Dinesh Sharma) as Travel Guru for this quarter.
He has travelled mostly in the Northern Himalayas with Caliber 115 cc bike. He is 56 years old and working in a Government Office at New Delhi. Basically,
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he is a solo rider and his recent trip was to Udaipur-SasangirDwarka-Narayan Sarovar-Rann of Kutch in the first week of April, 2012.
After becoming a member of Travelers’ Adda, he is constantly sharing his travel experiences with other members of the forum.
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Travel Guru
Travel Guru Hoodibaba
Through this travelogue I would like to remind all those who have smaller bikes with low cc power or those who have crossed their prime age, like myself, that it is possible to achieve anything. All that matter is the passion and zeal to do it. If I can do it, so can anybody else. So man, come out on the road and drive as far as you can.
Ever since I had returned from Ladakh last year, I was looking out for a chance to face the challenge of extreme hot weather and what better I could think of
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than a solo ride from Delhi to Ajmer-Udaipur-Junagar-Sasan Gir-Dwarkadish-Narayan Sarovar -Rann of Kutch-Dholavira.
Since, in the first week of April, there were only three working days and I thought why not take leave for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and make it a total of
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Travel Guru’s Desk
Sasan Gir – Rann of Kutch by Hoodibaba
9 days leave. I kept one day for rest after the long trip and was thus left with just 8 days to test my limits. I left Ghaziabad on Saturday the 31st March (00.00 hrs) with the aim to achieve the target in just 8 days and return on Saturday the 7th April, 2012. My Caliber 115 (Hoodibaba) was all smiling for this great adventure though it looked impossible. First of all, I would like to thank the Gujarati fellows who whole heartedly supported me and provided hospitality wherever they had a chance to interact with me during this trip. I would also like to mention that I found the roads – State High ways and even the interior roads in Gujarat – very well maintained which made my drive in whole of Gujarat smooth and comfortable. One thing I missed most in Gujarat was the local cuisine DHOKLA as whenever I asked for it, it was finished !!!! May be I was too buzy driving.
very hot. Reached Udaipur in the evening and booked a room at Dak Bungalow for Rs. 90/- per day. The stay was comfortable.To conclude Day’s visit, I must admit that driving on NH 8 was really tough as repair work or road widening is being done throughout starting from Gurgaon
to beyond Bewar in Rajasthan and the pace of completion is very very slow. In fact, I could not find any worker at any site. Day 2: Sunday, 1st April, 2012 Visited the City Palace (charges = Rs. 75 for entry, Rs. 200 for
Day 1: Saturday, 31st March, 2012 I started from Ramprastha (Ghaziabad) at 00.00 hours on Saturday, the 31st March, 2012 and after crossing traffic jam at Gurgaon and the diversions on NH 8 all the way upto Jaipur, reached Ajmer and visited the Durgah. There after left for Udaipur. The temperature rose as the day progressed making it really very difficult to drive on the high way. Had to stop frequently as I was feeling dehydrated in the blistering heat. Not many vehicles were playing on the road. It was really very
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camera and Rs. 150 for Guide). The visit was worth every penny I spent. Of the above, City Palace only is a must see place when you are in Udaipur. Could not visit Kumbhalgarh Fort at a distance of 70-80 kms due to shortage of time. Day 3: Monday, 2nd April, 2012 I started from Udaipur early morning and crossed Rajasthan by 10.00 a.m. The landscape changed dramatically as I entered Gujarat, it was more green and lively and there was clear sign of prosperity all over. I could not visit Shayamalaji Temple on NH 8 and turned towards Gandhinagar to have a look at it. It looked better planned and administered than the State Capital i.e. New Delhi. Again turned towards NH 8 on my way to Junagarh. Now the heat was making the ride more difficult and the Dhabas/Restaurants were far and few. On the way I saw hundreds of devotees walking on foot to have blessing of Devi, some 150 kms. away. Their discipline and devotion was clearly in contrast to the Kanwarias who throng the NH 58 on Delhi-Haridwar-Delhi highway and create a big law and problem for the administration. I reached Junagarh in the evening and booked accommodation at Girnar Hotel managed by Gujarat Tourism for a nominal charge of Rs. 250/-.
lane but there was no problem in the early hours. Last few kilometers had to drive in the forest and that too in the dark and was a bit scary since I was in Sasangir . Reached the Reception Centre of Gir Sanctuary and National Park by 6.00 a.m. and
was advised by the receptionist to adjust my seat with one of the fellows who still had seats available as it would be cheaper. Asked a few persons and one person had only 4 members team and thus accommodated me as now they had to shell out around
Day 4: Tuesday, 3rd April, 2012 Woke up early and left Junagarh at 4.15 a.m. to reach Sasangir (58 kms) by 6.00 a.m. The road is a 2
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Rs. 400 less for the permit and the transport cost. We entered the Gir forest by 6.30 a.m. and within half an hour were lucky to spot the Lion, the King of Gir Forest entering the bushes. All of us were spell bound and were just watching him as he was walking away from us in the bushes. He was not perhaps comfortable with the presence of humans and the jeeps around him as we had encroached his territory. He made his presence felt and roared a couple of times. After walking away from us about 50 yards, he stood still and moved his head towards us and we could hardly watch him through the bushes. I used my binocular to watch him clearly. He looked at us quite a few numbers of times and then turned his head in the opposite direction and sat on the ground. Perhaps he wanted us to leave. I could not take clear pics as now he was at quite a distance for my PS camera. But I was satisfied to see him in his full glory and respecting his freedom, moved away after spending around half an hour with him. Could not spot another lion and thus came out of the Forest sanctuary by 9.30 a.m. and left for Somnath via Veraval which is around 60 kms away. Reached Somnath Temple with ease and the police personnel at the Temple helped me park my bike near their police post. It was so kind of them. As they took care of my bike, I went inside the Somnath Temple. It is situated on the sea shore and has been reconstructed a number of times. The police personnel were amazed to see me having come all the way from Delhi, and that too solo on a simple bike. They
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guided me for my onward journey to Porbandar.The roads were in good condition although I had to drive just along the sea shore on a number of occasions. and after crossing Porbandar moved towards Dwarka. Reached Dwarka by 6.00 p.m. and booked accommodation at Gujarat Tourist
Lodge near the Circuit House. Since I had already visited Badrinath Dham, Puri Dham, Rameshwaram Dham, it was the last Dham which I was now visiting as it is considered auspicious to visit all the Four Dham in a life time according to Hindu mythology. And it was
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indeed a great moment for me. I visited the Dwarkadish Temple at 8.15 p.m. and was so overwhelmed by the atmosphere inside the temple that I did not wish to come out. Thanks you Hoodibaba, my bike, for having made it possible for me to visit Dwarkadish. Day 5: Wednesday, 4th April, 2012 Had another Darshan at Dwarkadish in the morning and visited other places around the temple before departing for Bet Dwarka. The Temple of Dwarkadish at Bet Dwarka is still under renovation and after visiting the temple returned to Okha by ferry. On the way back surprisingly there was no chaos at the jetty at Bet Dwarka.Had some breakfast at Okha and started my onward journey via Jamnagar and Morbi for Samakhiali on the way to Narayan Sarovar via Bhuj (to be visited the next day). Needless to mention that the State Highway to Jamnagar was in excellent condition. However, as mentioned earlier, the Dhabas/ Restaurants /Hotels were far and few. And another thing I noticed at these restaurants was that the local cuisines of Gujarat were altogether missing. Wonder what the local Gujarat fellows each while travelling on these Highways. I myself missed the local cuisines of Gujarat as I myself had been travelling on the highways most of the time. Reached Samakhiyali by the evening and booked room at Shri Samjhiyari Vastini Dharamshala (a new constructed huge building which was inaugurated by the
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hon’ble CM). The room had attached bathroom facility and was really big in size and clean, Charges Rs. 150/-. Day 6: Thursday, 5th April, 2012 Left for Narayan Sarovar early morning.Reached Bhuj about
100kms before noon and visited the Swaminarayan Temple at Bhuj.Thereafter moved towards Mata Ka Mud Temple which is another 100 kms on way to Narayan Sarovar. The temple was closed in the afternoon and after spending sometime in the compound, moved towards Narayan Sarovar which was
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another 60 kms away.The Sarovar had almost dried and there were very few birds in the Sarovar.Thereafter went to Koteshwar Temple which was also being renovated.and by the late afternoon returned to Samakhiyali for the night stay. Day 7 & 8: Friday, 6th April, 2012 Started for Rann of Kutch by 7.00 a.m. and overshot the diversion for Rapar and had to take an interior road which passed through the villages. I must admit that these interior roads were also very well maintained. Although I was driving at 70 kmpl but was driving with care as there were a number of peacocks and other such birds on the narrow road which appeared suddenly. I reached Rann of Kutch by Noon and was amazed to see the Great White Rann of Kutch. Must say that one has to see it to believe it. It was a bit scary. Visited the ancient site of Dholavira locally known as Kotada timba and the archeological site of the ruins of ancient Harappa which belongs to Indus Valley Civilization.I found that it was only a 2 lane highway and there were lots and lots of trucks. It was almost impossible to drive a two wheeler at that time in the dead of night. The glare of the headlights was just blinding my vision. Moreover, the roads were almost broken throughout and somehow reached Pali by 2.00 a.m. The ordeal continued further till I crossed Beawar and touched NH 8. Would not advise anybody to take this route which till date I remember was the deadliest road ever in my life, that
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too at night and all alone. As I reached Ajmer the sunlight welcomed me with smile. Thanked the Almighty God for saving my life. Still it was a long way to cover and with a full day to reach Home, decided to drive with ease as there were many diversions on the NH 8 with no sign of work being done as it had been left half completed, and that too with no proper sign boards as to which way to turn at many
places. One has to use his presence of mind to continue driving on NH 8 in this sector. The road conditions were really bad. After reaching Kotputli I was feeling almost burnt down and now had to take breaks very frequently. Somehow reached Gurgaon and thereafter with not much of a problem and riding for almost a full day all the way from Dholavira reached home at Ramprastha, Ghaziabad.
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Around the World
Delft, Netherlands by Manojit Pati Delft, known for painter Vermeer, Delft Blue pottery (Delftware) is a city of South Netherlands/Holland. Delft is also famous for the Delft University of Technology and its association with the Dutch royal family.
I have visited this place two times for official reason. First one during February 2011 and next one on June 2011. I enjoyed both the winter and summer. I have experienced -2 degree centigrade Travelers’ Adda
with strong wind during February end.
reached there alone on a cold evening. However, I was lucky enough to get a taxi to hotel.
First time, I reached there from Amsterdam airport Schiphol by train via Den Hague HS station. I 34
Next time it was from Germany to Netherlands by high speed trains via Utrecht. The city have number of monumental buildings, many streets there are canals of connected by typical bridges. Delft is well also known for the Delft pottery ceramic products which were styled on the imported Chinese porcelain of the 17th century.
The Market Square is the heart of the city. One can reach old church “Oude Kerk� which is 75-meterhigh brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical. This was founded in the year of 1246. During its build the foundations weren't strong enough to support the building, and the church began to lean. As they continued to build the church they tried to compensate its lean on each layer of the tower. Great painter Johannes Vermeer buried here.
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Nieuwe Kerk or New Church constructed between 1381 and 1496 contains the Dutch royal family's burial vault is another place of attraction from the market square.
market square.
Delft City hall is also a very nice building see which is again on
Beside the market square there are few places to get Doner kebab which is a Turkish dish made of roasted meat cooked on a vertical spit. This one is very common and popular fast food item in Europe.
There is also a very nice market on Saturday on market square. I had enjoyed lots of different sea fish items here.
I have tasted this from France, Germany and Netherlands. Basic preparation is same among the countries but have slide difference in taste and content. Few others variants are like durum, pita kebab, iskender kebab, shawarma etc.
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