A week in Goa and Gokarna

The last time I had written a blog was about three years ago when I was mesmerized with the beauty of Ladakh. Now after my Mumbai, Goa and Gokarna trip, I thought I should write again. There are so many things that I want to remember and share. I will try to keep the post short and crisp just because I am not sure when my wish to write a blog entry expires.

Day 0 - Sunday
After spending couple of nights in Mumbai, I reach Dadar Railway station in the morning to catch Mandovi express to Goa. This is a great choice if you want to see the Konkan lush green stretch. One can take a flight directly to Goa but I would suggest flying to Mumbai and then taking this train. The flight to Mumbai will always be cheaper due to more number of connections. The beauty increases as the train moves towards south. This train is almost never delayed but it was for me! 4 hours and I had enough time to go to Colaba, have expensive Muesli as breakfast at Cafe Mondegar and then a quick walk around the Gateway of India before heading off to the Mumbai Central to catch my train. The original plan was to get down at Madgaon, which is the main railway station of Goa and then take a bus/taxi to Palolem but as it was too late, my instincts told me to get down at Tivim and get to Arambol. Tivim is the station which should be used to go to any of the North Goa beaches. The train reached at 2215 and the exit was flocked by taxi, auto and motorcycle guys. Approximate cost of going to Arambol is around rupees 500, 350 and 250 for taxi, auto and mocycles (they are not legal and anyone can ride, but it works well if you are alone and bargaining is possible!) Best is to get more people and share a taxi or an auto. Buses are available as well but only till evening. So finally I am in Goa and I am on my first beach - ARAMBOL!

Day 1 - Monday
It was November mid, so the average tourist crowd still hadn't attacked Goa and Arambol is anyway more relaxed than the other counterparts in North. I stayed at the Cock's Town, no jokes ;-), for Rs 150 a night. Basic beach shack with fan, table and bed. The 'beach road' has some grocery shops and not to mention the Liquor shop if you feel you want to open your own private ghetto bar on the beach, with no closing time ;-) It’s about 200 m from the beach on that road and you can’t miss it. Lots of bars and shops are also there on this road. Arambol is basically two beaches divided by a cliff. The accommodation is concentrated on the cliff and the first beach. The other beach is popular for its 'healing' mud. It reminded me of the Dead Sea but atleast I wasn’t afraid of playing with the water around it trying to save my eyes from the salt! There is a shallow pool of water there with people trying to find good mud to put on them but the more adventurous ones will go through the jungle path to find better mud and a more cozy setting between the rocks, flowing water and trees. During the night, the cops are extra vigilant on the beach and you might be asked questions about your existence!

Day 2 - Tuesday
Another activity possible here is canoeing. You can see canoes on the beach and you can enquire about the deals on the beach cafes but there is one main shop for which you will have to walk about 300 m away from the beach into the town. Most of the canoes seen on the beach belong to this shop. The deal we got was Rs 500 for a 2-person Canoe for 2 hours, but we were told not to reveal the price as generally they charge the double!! You can wander in the ocean for two hours, but a good plan will be to go to the other beach, relax and sip a bottle of beer and then trace the way back. One way takes about 40 minutes with about half an hour to rest on the beach. If you don’t drink, have some pineapples or coconuts (you can have it even if you do drink ;-) and ........ Bargain! It’s your right!!!
One problem with Goa is that post sunset, buses can be renamed as Dodos, and so you don’t have many options to move around. Hiring a bike or a scooter is a good option. You can get a Honda Activa for Rs 150 a day and maybe lesser if you need it for few hours. You can strike a deal for Rs 100 a day if you are keeping it for longer duration.

From Arambol, the cheapest possible way to reach Anjuna is to take a bus to Mapusa and then one to Anjuna. The Wednesday Flea market is probably one of the best in the world, if not the best so better to be in Anjuna on a Wednesday if you are around!

From the bus stand it’s about less than a kilometer walk to the beach. Not sure why but couldn’t see many stay options on the beach. Mostly restaurants/bars with some rooms behind it. Around the middle of the beach, found a hotel with double rooms for 350 a night. It was just behind the Sunset Bar and the Shore Bar. If you are traveling alone, you can get the same room for Rs 250 and stay alone. Logic can’t explain this :)

The restaurants/bars are a bit more expensive than Arambol but there are many options on the cliff as well as on the beach. Try the Avalon Sunset restaurant on the cliff. Cheap and great food. Lounge area available to sit and relax (and smoke ? ;) and a good spot to see the sunset. The speed of service is a bit slow but the food tastes great! Try the Masala Papad, Goan Prawn Curry and Grilled King fish!

Day 3 - Wednesday
Got up late after some long night walks and enjoying the esteemed Old Monk Black Rum mixed with local Coke (I mean Coca Cola ;-))
After a cup of strong coffee, made my way to the astonishing flea market. All that I have read about the hippy culture of the 60s comes to my mind again! Starting from embroidered carpets to large earrings to Goan Spices to lamp shades to CDs of Goa trance - the market has it all! It’s advisable not to carry too much money when you go there as it would be hard not to spend it. Shop owners were speaking fluent English and multiple channels of bargaining going on everywhere... "Good price for you .. Only you..", "morning sunshine cheap price for you, madam" ..
Ideal place for photography - colours, people, children, objects, landscapes, fashion.. just say it!

Once I was done with this phenomenal flea market, walked about 300 m from my guest house to the taxi stand (the straight road from the Shore Bar also leads there) to hire a bike. I wanted the Honda Activa and I got it. The cost is generally Rs 150 - 200 per day depending on the bike and the beach and what colour you are ;-)
Started with Old Goa, spent about an hour walking around "the church" and then straight to Calangute. Thanked my instincts for not choosing this beach to stay. It’s probably the most touristy beach on Goa with package tourists and honeymooners just flocking around everywhere. Finding a place to park the bike was a bit difficult but eventually found a place in front of the Sulabh community toilet.
This is the place for water sports. I would have loved to do some parasailing but didn’t have the time and honestly the number of people was a complete turn off.
On the way back took a detour into the village with an attempt to get lost. Wanted to have a glimpse of the North Goan village side. Stopped by one of the "thelas" (road side shops) selling West Indian snacks - Pani Puri, Sev Puri. After driving the bike in the sun for couple of hours, the snacks tasted great.
Wanted to see the sunset at one of the beaches, and it was about 430 so thought of heading back towards Anjuna. Just before reaching, I suddenly remembered would be nice to have a quick look at the Vagator beach and probably see the sunset there. The 10 minute bike ride from Anjuna to Vagator was great. Open fields all around but road climbing up steadily. The path ended to the entry to the famous Nine Bar. The not so faint techno music coming out from there was too good to miss. They kept my bottle of Old Monk and Coke at the entry. The setting inside was amazing. Not to mention, a brilliant view of the Sunset. There were hardly any people at that time but I could easily imagine that the place will rock once the party begins!
Original plan was to get to South Goa the same night, so left the place and headed back to Anjuna. Realised it was too late and getting to Palolem at that time was quite complicated. So what else, found myself at one of the nice music bars within the next hour. It was at the beginning of the beach (the other side of the flea market). A tad expensive but was too lazy and the speakers were good!
The end was going to Paradiso, probably one of the most famous clubs in Goa. Wouldn’t have gone there paying Rs 1000, if I wouldn’t have met this Goan local, who offered to take me and some others in for free as he knew the chap sitting at the entry. Once you are in, the drinks are on the house! The place was quite spacious and well decorated. Music was commercial at the beginning but slowly turned to house, drum & base and techno. I felt half the people there were from Russia - old or new.

Day 4 - Thursday
Slept last night around 4, so couldn’t get up before 10. Quick breakfast and off to the bus stop to take the bus to Panjim. Had to change at Mapusa, then at Panjim and finally at Margao to reach Palolem. Exceptional Cheeku shake for Rs 20 at the Panjim bus station. Overall travel time will be about 3-4 hours, depending on time of the day and waiting time for the next bus. Overall ticket cost about Rs 50. I knew I would be coming back to Palolem to spend my last night in Goa so directly headed off to Patnem, which is about 3 kms on the road and maybe half the distance through the beach. Stayed at Shiva's place which is the 8th cafe taking right from the landmark stairs on the beach. My friend's living there behind the cafe and he introduced me to RK, the owner of the place. Goan Local, extremely sweet man!
The waves down here in South Goa were much bigger in size but the beach wasn’t that clean. The reason was the flood that swept the area couple of weeks back, bringing tonnes of dirt near the beachfront. Highlight of the evening was attending a typical Goan family celebration (a 1 yr old's birthday) followed by some drinks at a local bar, which was the next house! It’s very hard to explain in words, the setting of the bar; outside the house of the owner, round thatched umbrella - shaped covered area with a centre table and 6 chairs. Millions of mosquitoes keeping one of the hands busy, while the other holding a pint of Kingfisher beer. Long live Vijay Mallaya ;-) It was surely a different Kingfisher that we get here in Delhi.
Just when I thought that I should call it a day, heard someone saying "Palolem is happening tonight" and there you go! I was on the way to Palolem. Word of caution - if you are scared of dogs, don’t even think about taking the motor road. It’s dark and there are atleast 100 dogs who do nothing but bark at you without any fu**in reason. Reached Palolem and straight to Cafe Del Mar. Decent beachside cafe/bar with a lounge setting outside and bean bags inside. Medium priced alcohol and sheesha at Rs 180 available as well. Was too lazy to walk back at that hour and so stayed back at Palolem for the remaining part of the night.

Day 5 - Friday
Started the day with some fresh Watermelon and Pineapple juice and Nutella pancakes. I won’t lie but finally I was missing some real Indian breakfast! Heard some stories from locals about a Jellyfish invasion last week and was a bit apprehensive to go for a quick dip. But nevertheless, the huge waves were good enough to pull me towards them.
The breakfast wasn’t a heavy one and an hour of swimming in the sea had created a storm in my stomach! After having lots of sea food and meat during the last week, thought it would be a good idea to have some Vegan food eh? ;) We went to this restaurant called the Blue planet. Excellent variety of healthy juices and food. Ordered a Lasagna and some health juice. The bill was Rs 210 which was a bit on the higher side according to Goa standards, especially when you are having Vegetarian food!

The train to my next Destination, Gokarna was at 1500 and I paid the bill at about 445. Walked up to the auto stand and got a tuk tuk for Rs 50 to the train station, almost knowing the fact that I will be missing the train and will have to go to the bus station. When I reached the station at 1505, the train was entering the platform. The ticket guy was out of his seat, assuming no one will come now to buy tickets and this being the only train running at that time. He came running, issued me the ticket and I was off to the general compartment in a flash. About an hour and a half later I was in Gokarna, U.K (that’s how they write Uttar (North) Karnataka). Heard a lot about the Om beach and wanted to go there but saw some other travelers going to Kudle beach, and just accompanied them! Instincts eh? ;-) It’s Rs 200 to the beach from the station whether you go to Om or Kudle. The 45 minutes drive was just mesmerizing. Narrow "hilly" roads through lush greenery and finally the view of the sea.
Kudle was very peaceful, not too many people. Most of them here were long time travelers who come here year after year, due to various reasons, primarily escaping the winters. Gokarna is much cheaper than Goa both when it comes to Accommodation or food. You can get a place to stay for about Rs 150 per night for a beach facing hut or Rs 100 otherwise. Yoga looked like the prime activity that people indulged in on the beach. Apart from that, juggling, hula-hoop, making sand sculptures. Post sunset, you can go to one of the nice cafes (trust me, that’s all you will do for any of the beaches - just that you have to know which the good ones are). I would recommend Sea Rock Cafe, Ganga Cafe and the best one was the Rock Namaste cafe, where a group of about 20 people who randomly met there were making music out of nowhere. I saw instruments which I have never seen or heard about. The Hang Drum was the highlight. Seemed easy to play but was quite soothing to the ears. The group shifted base to the beach in the moonlight once the cafe closed down.

Day 6 - Saturday
After a pancake and black coffee breakfast (pancake again ?!!), started my walk towards the religious Gokarna town. It’s a brisk 30 minute walk with one of the points giving a great view of the Gokarna beach. After spending 5 days on beaches, the town was a completely different setting. Soothing fragrance in the air, Sandalwood being the only constituent I could recognise. Locals escorting the foreigners towards the temples trying to give them a glimpse of the culture. People looked generally happy here, and it was funny to try and speak Hindi with them. I would say 1 out of 3 spoke and 2 out of 3 understood. Stopped by at an instrument shop in the town (on the road towards the bus station) and started looking for the new instruments I experienced the previous night. Could find all but the special Hang Drum! My time was running out and I had to see the Om beach. Faintly remembered someone saying about boats to the Om beach from the Gokarna beach. Gokarna beach didn’t have many people, most of them just made a brief visit after the holy town. The boat ride to Om Beach was Rs 75 (Bargained down from 100 with the disclaimer that I won’t reveal the price to the others)
1530h: Om beach looked livelier and having known that I only have couple of days with me in Gokarna, I should have stayed here. Walked my way to the end of the beach to the slightly elevated Freedom Cafe, sunset Point. Most of the staff was from Nepal so I order a plate of Grilled Kingfish, prepared in Nepalese style, with Chips and special sauce (I use the word 'special' when I don’t know what actually it is ;-) The sunset surely had a role to play in the taste ;-) I had planned to trek back to Kudle but as it was getting dark and I was in a dilemma. Walked to the start of the beach towards the famous Namaste Cafe (I am calling it the start of the beach as it closer to the point where Tuk tuks (auto rickshaws) drop you. I exactly got what I wanted at the Namaste cafe, a cup of strong coffee and a bright torch or the way! If I am intoxicated, I will NOT take this path after dark as there is no light and all you have is the beaten track which at some points is difficult to understand when there are stones and rocks. Once back in Kudle, straight went to the Rock Namaste cafe in hope of some repeat of the live music extravaganza! It was quite calm that evening and I ended up getting thrashed by Daniel from Buenos Aires in a game of Rapid Chess. Enough for the day - had a pint of beer and off to bed.

Day 7 - Sunday
Got up at 7 which was the earliest for this trip. Cool Breeze, was great to walk up and down the beach at that hour. Some swimming and then it was time to get ready to catch my train to Canacona, intending to spend my last night in Palolem.
Walk back to Gokarna town. I was out of money and the previous day, the ATMs weren’t working. There are 3 ATMs in the town. One Karnataka Bank one, which only accepts VISA cards, one SBI which often doesn’t work but accepts Master Card too and I didn’t see the third one. Auto rickshaw to Gokarna Town train station for Rs 110 (down from 150); I am sure I could have taken the bus but was my last day so the backpackerish feeling was dying out and thought of spoiling myself! Contrary to Indian habits, I was at the station 20 minutes before the arrival time of the Mangalore - Madgaon Passenger train who’s ETA was 1020. It finally arrived a bit after 11. Met some wonderful people at the train station almost all of them heading towards South Goa.
I am writing this blog entry for almost a week now and now I am trying to wrap up my last day quickly :)!
It was my last day but still felt like going into some village and countryside in South Goa. A good brunch at Rocolo cafe and I was all ready for a quick excursion. Good deal at getting a Honda Activa at Rs 100 for 4 hours. I must say the landscapes in South Goa were more scenic than the north. It was like green idyllic hill station. Made my way to the unspoilt Cola Beach, which was about an hour of easy drive from Palolem. There are no cafes or even small shops on the beach (finally found a beach like that!). There’s a fort around this beach, where I would have gone if I had time! On the way back, a brief stop at the Agonda beach and clicking some sunset pictures. The air was cool, pleasant and refreshing (while I was thinking of the cold weather that would welcome me in Delhi the next morning)
Nothing much for the evening - a huge Kingfish for 2 costing Rs 350 - with Rice, Salad and Chips, couple of cocktails and a double apple flavoured Sheesha for the icing on the cake. Palolem has loads of cafes to choose from - various cuisines, music genres, cafe setups, kinds of people and a walk up and down is generally helpful before deciding on the perfect one for the evening.

Day 8 - Monday
Rs 1000 for a taxi to go from Palolem to Dabolim airport at 0430 in the morning but no other choice. The price can vary without any reason :) Taxi will have to be arranged the previous night. Takes just above an hour for the 65 km trip. The roads were curvy and I was too sleepy.
Early Morning Indian Airlines flight to Delhi via Mumbai.

Folks, this is the Second part of the story. It’s advisable to read the previous post first.

17^th August

Alpa, who got injured had to be rested and Asha decided to stay with her for the day. But the good part was the plan to Khardungla was on. We 5, 4 from the Mumbai gang ( I think I should name them now.. – Mayank, Toj, Roma and Sreeja .. ) and Harneet paaji on his pulsar daring to do the highest motorable road in the world. The Manali – Leh Sumo experience was not something to be remembered, so we decided for some luxury and ordered Tata Safaris but little we knew that only 4 people can sit comfortably – one on the front and 3 in the middle. The back was almost non – existent. Only kids could fit in I guess. Varun being the lightest of us ;), was given the opportunity to sit in the front and rest of us in the middle. It was tough, especially after you pay more for luxury. But thanks to the nice shockers, the ride was bearable. Khardungla is around 40 KMs from Leh and we had to cover around 7000 Ft (around 2200 meters) in 3 hours which is a lot.

The road was too curvy but if you ask me, it was not too scenic. Snow covered mountains started to be seen more and more as we climbed higher. Someone would say pointing to any arbit mountain – “That must be KhardungLa”. Someone even told us that we might find snow there and we had people who haven’t seen snow as yet, so they waited for the time to come. The winds started to get chillier. We saw people who were doing this trip on bicycles and some on foot too, though the number of cyclists were much more; Fully geared up with a funky cyclist helmet and a cycle with atleast 12 gears.
Finally we reach what’s better known as K-Top. Fuckin 18,340 feet above the sea level. We all hugged and congratulated Harneet. It was indeed an achievement to do this on a 150 CC bike.The place nothing but a army canteen, some sign boards, some igloo like iron huts and the thinnest air possible when you are traveling on Road.

One fact which very less people know is that whether KhardungLa indeed the highest. MarsimikLa, is at 18,364 is the highest but it’s arguable that if at all it’s motorable. (Why is MS Word showing error on the word motorable?????) Secondly Border Roads association (BRO) has done a tremendous work constructing the roads and hence is much more popular than Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), who take care of the road to MarsimikLa and roads near the Indo-Tibet Border.

So where were we. Yes, we took loads of snaps in front of the Signboard which read, “KhardungLa – The highest motorable pass in the world”. It felt like an achievement.

Glimpses of the Siachen could be seen from the top. We had tea and Maggi. My friend went inside one of the army huts and found out that the current temperature was -1 degrees. The chilly winds made it worse. The tea helped a lot.

That same road led to Nubra, which I so wanted to see. It was time to leave; we had already spent around an hour against half an hour which is the maximum we should have spent according to the notice boards. I was feeling a little uneasy, drowsy and short of breath by this time. Just got into the SUV and tried to take a nap. Did succeed to some extent. We were back in Leh around 5. We had to go to Vicky Lama’s place in the evening for Dinner. We also planned for a booze night in our room, since that day was ‘supposed’ to be the last night when we will all be together. The Mumbai gang had curtailed their trip and planned to fly back the next day while we had a 2 day plan for Pangong Tso Lake. Our stock from Delhi had almost finished and hence we bought some rum and vodka, at almost double price. Someone was still in his correct senses to realize that it would be good to get some present for Vicky’s mom.
As planned we called up Vicky and met him. Leh is a small place and every second person there knew him. He took us to a Souvenir shop so that we can buy something for folks back home. Interestingly we spent around an hour there and it was already getting dark. Vicky arranged for a Scorpio, which belonged to his friend. It was great to see a Lama driving a 2600 CC Vehicle. So now we had a Lama in Leh who was driving a Scorpio. His mothers place, Choglamsar was around 7-8 KMs away and we reached there around 815.
I always wanted to see the local life of the Ladakhi people. This was the first time we got to see that. Due to the floods over the past month, the power scene was highly disrupted. I got to know that they get electricity once in 5 days. The case was similar in Leh as well but the town being a little more polished, had generators J.
We were ‘Juleyed’ by his family – mom, aunt, sister, brother in law (People in Ladakh greet by saying ‘Juley’). Vicky took us to his room. It was beautifully and carefully decorated. After some casual chit chat, food was served – farm fresh vegetable (‘Sarson Ka Saag’) and Rotis. We just hogged like anything. Ashish never had Saag in his life, even he had a ball. After the rotis, he was actually putting the Saag between two biscuits and having it. Ha ha..
We were served the Ladakhi Gurgur Chai (Tea) and explained how it is made with butter and other ingredients. Vicky’s mom got some ladakhi outfits for us to wear and take photographs. It felt great.

It was time to go back. Varun greeted in his own special way –
“Thank you auntiji, it was veryyyy nice meeting you all Bahut Accha laga.. Juley auntiji, thank you auntiji..”

We had to rush back to our room to set it up for the party since girls were also invited to our madhouse. We rolled off the party and waited for them. Finally, only Mayank and Toj arrived. What a waste!!! .. Lol… Mayank doesn’t drink and Toj said he only drinks on special occasions. Very decent guys they were so even we were thinking once before saying ‘words of wisdom’ and Varun was only using Fuck.. :D …
60ml in and all barriers broken. To hell with the world.
Mayank wasn’t feeling too well so he left around 1. It was as if Toj was waiting for the moment. We offered him vodka and he accepted with open hands.. J) kidding guys..
Madness went on till 3 and we almost forgot we had to go to Pangong in the morning. Finally we called it a night and crashed.

18^th August (Pangong Tso)

After the madhouse the night before, we didn’t expect to get up before 9. The Scorpio for the day was ready. He was chatting with the Hotel manager Aman when I went outside to have a check on the weather and order Tea and something to eat. Aman was such an ass all throughout our stay.
I hate goodbyes. We all cried when the Mumbai folks bid us farewell. Sob Sob.. Ha ha ha ha. Clicked a snap in front of the hotel with all sad faces.

We were on our way to what according to me the best part of the Leh trip. The weather was amazing. We detoured towards ChangLa from Karu which is on the Manali – Leh highway. Some patches of greenery could be seen. Around noon, we reached the third highest pass in the world, ChangLa at around 17800 Feet.
The route was beautiful. Small lakes, river streams, amazing mountain textures. We were planning to stay the night near Pangong but were not sure about the accommodation. Few people told us that it’s better to stay a little before the lake in villages and not exactly near the shore. But that ‘little before’ was around 30 KMs and this was weird. I wished to see the sunrise and staying on tents/hotels in villages this far would no way help my cause. We took the risk and went ahead.

Just 4 KMs before the lake, we saw a glimpse of the crystal clear blue waters of the Pangong Lake. There was a signboard which read – “First view point of the World Famous Pangong Tso Lake”. Finally after 10 minutes, our jaws literally fell down and we were dumbstruck. The vast body of water was in front of us. We had heard from people that you have to be lucky to see various colours in the water. See this picture and decide if we were lucky. J

The lake was beautiful and the mountain backdrop made it even gorgeous. We didn’t know what to do. To sit and savor it or to find a place to stay the night. Logic prevailed again and we chose the second option. There was only one option there to stay, a guest house with 6 disconnected double rooms; around 200 meters from the lake. Our luck couldn’t have been better. We got two rooms just facing the lake and that too totally within our budget. We were ecstatic by now. Everything was going our way.

We kept our bags and drove down to another part of the lake around 2 KMs from the previous place. From here we could see a very thin stretch of land extending into the lake. We decided to go to the very end of the stretch and sit there. Varun had his Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand with him and he found a comfortable place by the lake and started reading. We reached the point we aimed at. Birds flying, amazing mountain textures, snow capped mountains and last but not the least mighty Pangong at 11500 feet right in front of you!! Time passed away like anything and we couldn’t even realize how we spent around an hour and a half sitting and chatting there. I also did some experimentation with photography there.

It was getting dark and we had to get back. There was no electricity here as well.

We got back to our rooms and a few moments later 3 army men entered our room just for general enquiry. Who knew that an hour later we all would be drinking together.. :-p ….

All of them were very interesting. We got to hear many stories from them – Stories from Siachen, Kashmir and about the Ladakhi people who earn even 20 Grands working as porters in Siachen. It was great to listen to all the Madarch*d, Bahinch*d from them after almost a week, these being very common in Delhi. Some new ones I rememeber are Madarlu*d and the best one – Ga*d ke baal safed ho jayenge !! Ha ha too much !! They got one bottle of Local Rum (OB Rum – Oakland Breweries made in Srinagar) and in 15 minutes the bottle was gone. Army guys !! We somehow arranged another bottle for the 5 of us for the night. It was 930 and we were 2 pegs down. (After the 2 with the army guys). The Kitchen was about to be closed and that was our only source of food over there. We were not feeling the cold thanks to the fluid running in our blood and we decided to go near the lake for night walk. The visibility outside was almost zero, the only source being the light of the stars and our torch. (Even the moon wasn’t there. gosh!!!).. The clear sky above was majestic. Millions of stars. Great Bear, Orion, Venus, Mars … all of them, crystal clear, right above you. And in that state of illusion, I asked for a wish every time I saw a shooting star. J The cold started to catch up on us and we had to leave for our room. Around 1130 we crashed.

19^th August

I wanted to see the sun coming out from behind the mountains in the backdrop of the majestic lake. Got up around 545 and thanked god that the sun wasn’t out as yet but the light can be seen from behind the mountains. Ashish was ready too with his SLR. The sun came out and we couldn’t stop ourselves acting like crazy shutterbugs. The following photos were taken by me at 9, 12, 15 and 20 minutes past 6.

Finally after relishing the sunrise, we went for tea at the only cafeteria by the lake. By this time even Sudhish was there. He was the one who used to get up before all of us everyday. But he almost missed out the sunrise.

We were invited for the Army Mess in the morning for the breakfast. The only thing in our mind was if we could get a ride on the army boat on the lake. Boating was allowed only on army approval and for Army families. We didn’t have either but what we had was memories of last night with the Electro-Mechanical Engineers who take care of the Motorboats. They were more than happy to welcome us and they had already taken permission from their higher officials so that we can be given a ride. It was overwhelming. We were given the life jackets while one of the guys filled in the fuel. The boat was exactly like one of those “Saving Private Ryan” war ships. It was one of the patrolling ships which are used for surveillance in the Indo – China territory.

It was a short 15 minute ride on the lake but felt great. We actually chased a group of wild ducks too. We had tea with the officials and were given a good bye chocolate too J.

We got our bags from the room and started for Leh. We had breakfast on the way and managed to reach our hotel by 6 after visiting the 3 major Gompas (monasteries) – Hemis, Thiksey and Shey. All of these were in our route, Hemis being at a detour of 7 KMs.

Hemis was huge but badly maintained. Thiksey was beautiful and there is a mammoth Buddha statue there. It spanned 2 floors of the Gompa and people are only allowed to enter the upper floor to see it.

Our trip was coming to an end.

We rested in our room for an hour, played cards and came out to see Leh for the last time during this trip. We were short of cash and had to get a good deal on the SUV for the drive to Srinagar. We ran around for an hour and finally Vicky Lama helped us get a good deal.
We crashed early, got up early at 4 and by 430 were on our way towards Srinagar.

I am not elaborating on the journey afterwards. :)

We reached Kargil around noon, had our lunch and were off towards Sonamarg. Kashmir welcomed us with all the greenery we missed over the last week. We booked a complete cottage in Sonamarg for the night.

Next morning after visiting Thajiar glacier, we reached Srinagar around 7 PM.

Flight next afternoon at 2 for Delhi.

Easily the best trip of my life.

I have only put the pictures relevant to the content in the blog. More can be found out at www.flickr.com/photos/arijitganguly

I have covered the preface for the trip in my other blog Digital Arsenal.

13^th August

After a brief halt at Kullu around 8am for a cup of tea, we started for Manali. The adrenaline started rushing in as our bus maneuvered the curves through the lush green apple farms. The landscape was amazing but of course we didn’t know what’s in store for us for the coming week.

We reach Manali at 930 where Harneet was searching for us at the Bus Stop. FYI we got Harneet from Orkut J … He was going to make the trip on his 150 CC Pulsar. He had already booked a room for us and for another group from Mumbai (again Orkut..) who were about to reach at the same time as us but unfortunately the Mumbai group took a private Volvo which unfortunately is into money making. J The Mumbai gang reached at 12 and we were all set to kickoff at 2. I would use the “Mumbai Gang” many times so please don’t get bugged. J Harneet had already booked 2 Tata Sumos for us. He got us a good deal at 8k with one night halt.

Before we started for Manali we heard that it’s raining badly in Manali and to some extent in Leh and we were happy to see clear sky but just as we stepped out towards our SUV, it stated to downpour heavily.

This is the Manali – Leh route according to height and distance. The other graphic shows the map. Feel free to browse to these pictures. ( I know you will need this).

The much awaited ride to Leh got off and everyone was happy at the inception of the “Ride of a lifetime” as many people call it but the joy was short-lived and it was found that due to some truck accident the road has been blocked near the Solang detour just an hour from Manali. This is one route where anything can happen anytime - Landslides, Army Convoys, Road repairs. Planning for time is extremely difficult.

The clock struck 5 PM and there was no way we can go according to our plan and reach Jispa/Keylong by Sunset. The route was mesmerizing and we wanted to see every mile of it in broad daylight. It was a dicey decision to make whether to go back to Manali or continue forward. We chose the second option. By the time we reached Marhi, the sun was gone. Jispa still being around 120 KMs was out of Question. We knew whatever distance we cover post Marhi would all be in dark. The trip duration was fixed and we couldn’t have afforded to lose a day like this.

It was amazing to see Rohtang Pass in the dark.. L Sob..Sob.. We had nothing to do apart from clicking pictures standing in front of the height stone.

We reached Koksar around 830 PM. Tandi, another 35 KMs was the last fuel station before Leh so Harneet planned to halt there for the night so that he can fill in his tank in the morning and go ahead. Due to limited accommodation there we headed for Keylong. We got tented accommodation at Keylong (we expected nothing great at 11:15 in the night). It was a government resort. 165 bucks per person including taxes.

7 guys, 4 girls, 5 tents, Day 1 Over.

We covered less than a quarter of the route in a day and had around 370 KMs to cover the next day and we simply couldn’t have compromised on the sleep.

14^th August

I was stunned in the morning to see the landscape around us. God knows what all we missed last night. We leave for what we knew would be an outstretched day for us. Leaving the food and snacks breaks we had to travel at around 35-40 KM an hour which was a lot to take for a road like that.

We first halt at Darcha at 0700 hours for tea and Maggi.

At 7 AM with full sunlight we could still see the moon clearly. We were at an altitude close to 11000 Ft and our next destination was the BaralachLa pass which stood at 16000 Ft. I had put the high altitude tablets in the front section of my bag with loads of water in stock just to make sure no one falls prey to AMS. As time passed the landscape started changing, the greenery started to decline. The colour of the rocks started to change.

We reach BaralachLa and for the first time we could feel the “Thin Air”. We barely walked 100 meters and were out of breath.

Having in mind that spending too much time on a Pass could lead to breathing issues, we take off. An hour later we enter the plains of Sarchu. This is the last area in the Manali – Leh route which is in Himachal Pradesh. This place was amazing. At an altitude of 14000 Ft, we couldn’t imagine such vast stretches of land between mountains. With ‘some’ greenery still left, the landscape was breathless. This place is also the halt point for most people who do this route in 2 days. Lots of camping organizations cash in on this.

We passed the Nakeela and the Lachlang passes stopping there just for clicking photographs in front of the Altitude board.

Around 3 PM, we stop at Pang for our much awaited lunch. It was going to be a long stretched day and indeed it was. This place was like 10-12 tents on one side of the highway. We were already in Ladakh. This was confirmed as out driver suggested us to try the Gurgur Chai, the local salted tea of Ladakh.

AMS had got hold of Ashish who was screaming with headache. For once we thought he had a migraine attack as none of us knew the symptoms of AMS. All he wanted was to break the journey and lie down which was simply not possible considering the fact that it was already half past three and we still had close to 175 KMs to cover. We had Diamox, but it didn’t solve the cause. Amit solved his natures call. My goodness, it was indeed hard to find a place there where you can shit and not be seen. It’s all so open. But he made it. Nature helps when nature calls. J

Post pang what we saw was the highlight of the Manali – Leh highway. Some call it More Plains, others call it Moray plains. 27 kilometers stretch of plains where you can drive your vehicle close to 100 KMs an hour. You get out of the vehicle and it feels as if you are standing on a different planet altogether. Maybe these pictures will help me try to explain.

Even Ashish forgot his pain and started clicking pictures. Once the plains ended, the light started to dim and the air became thinner and thinner. We were approaching the second highest Motorable pass in the world, TangangLa. Someone told us we might even see snow there but we were apprehensive. It started raining heavily and temperature suddenly started to fall. Ashish’s condition worsened. We reached TangangLa. Windy and chilly like anything. Couldn’t even stand outside for 2 minutes.

Energy levels were at the bottom and everyone was desperate to just drop the bags and crash but it was still 3 hours. The road around the pass was terrible.

It got dark as we were approaching Upshi, the last major halt before Leh. We reached there around 1930 and people had tea/snacks/soup/thukpa. Ashish didn’t get out of the car.

We had this unusual sense of happiness inside mixed with the fatigue that we were just an hour away from our destination.

After 2 days we saw street lights and proper stretch of civilization. We could see schools, concrete houses, and small buildings. We were there. We had made it within time limits after almost having lost a day.

We saw hoardings with Leh written on them. The driver dropped us at ChangSpa from where we called up a hotel(we had the address details) and he picked us up from there to the hotel.

HOTEL HORIZON, OLD LEH ROAD, NEAR MAIN MARKET.

We just dropped the bags, got into night mode and crashed.

April 15th, 2006

They say that acclimatization is very important, especially if u r coming by air but we were pretty sure we had our share of acclimatization on road. Still we knew that if even one person falls ill, we won’t be able to go ahead with our plans. Secondly, apart from me everyone was pissed off with traveling. So we decided we would rest as much as we can. I was feeling rollers on my feet and couldn’t stay inside the hotel. The best part of the story - It was 15th August. Had tea, got ready and started for the Polo ground where Independence Day celebration was going on. Barren mountain on four sides and polo ground in between; tricolour hoisted, hundreds of policemen and army men and school children performing dances and skits, center of everybody’s attention. I was laughing at myself that I had never seen a Republic Day or Independence Day Celebration in Delhi where I have been staying for the past 24 years and here I am, witnessing probably the highest Independence Day celebration in the world.

It was noon and we didn’t eat anything since last evening. I don’t know but the only thing in my mind was a plate full of Mutton Momos and Chilly sauce. I wanted to have 15-16 of them. We searched for a decent clean place and literally hogged.

I planned to complete sight seeing in Leh by the end of the day. The two major places remaining were the Leh Palace and the Shanti Stupa. We started for Leh Palace.

It was a 1200 -1500 meter uphill walk. More we closed down to Leh Palace, the better was the view of the town. The entry to the palace was Rs. 5 For Indian Nationals and 2$ for foreigners. The caretaker didn’t even charge us that amount. The place was shady. No light, Broken Walls, Damaged Woodwork. Lot of repair work was going on. We climbed the stairs and reached the top of the palace. The bird’s eye view of Leh was breathtaking.
Apart from the view, I didn’t personally like the palace much. So personal advice would be to skip the palace and have the same or even better view from Shanti Stupa.

Almost all the adrenalin for the day was still inside us and we had to do something more. Just as we got out from the Palace, we saw people hiking down from a unknown route. The source was not visible. After asking I found out that there was some temple but it was at around an hour of hike. We were game for it. On the way up we saw a stupid Brit (no offences meant), who was hiking down barefooted. I asked him what the motive was and there was no answer. The temple was closed but the sight from the top was so amazing that we forgot why we had hiked.

We met a person from Israel (almost half the people we met all throughout the trip were from Israel), who left his job so that he could trek in the Himalayas. He trekked from Manali to Leh in 21 days.

Hiking down was much easier.

It was 3’o clock on the very first day in Leh and still we thought something more can be fitted in. Ashish was all fit by now and he suggested a small bike tour in Leh and around. I was the only other person game for it and after asking god knows how many people we found a shop in ChangSpa and got hold of 2 bikes, a 150 CC Pulsar and a 100 CC Boxer. We paid Rs 250 for the Pulsar and Rs 200 for the Boxer for 3 hours and just when were about to kick off, I realized that the Pulsar had some major issues.

4’o clock: Ashish and me on a Boxer flying down the Leh – Srinagar Highway. J

The road was very smooth unlike the road from Manali.

A girl from Bangalore, whom I met online through a Ladakh community, had told me that Spithuk monastery is not to be missed. I remembered that and we headed towards Spithuk which was around 8 KMs from Leh. Just out of the main town we could see the walls of the Leh Airport. Two small gates signified the Arrival and the Departure.

Barren desert like mountains on both sides and we were doing at 80 KMPH. We did a brief halt at “The Hall of Fame”, a small museum taken care by the army. It contains the information about the wars in Siachen and some very interesting memorabilia.

We reached Spithuk around 5 PM. The view of the airbase and the airport was mind-blowing. We could see the Sindhu river as well. The monastery was small but very soothing. We borrowed a Nikon binocular from one of the caretakers of the monastery to have a look all around. Checked out some snow covered peaks.

Just adjacent to the monastery, we found a Kali temple. This was unexpected but we got stunned to see a giant Kali Statue. It was the biggest I have ever seen and we got the information that its hundreds of years old.

It was 730 PM when we returned the bike.

One thing very important I forgot to mention all throughout this blog is PERMITS!! Almost every place you go from Leh, you need a permit. We got screwed up as 15^th and 16^th were national holidays. Harneet got permits for 16^th, 17^th and 18^th for KhardungLa and Pangong Tso. We got so happy that we didn’t have to waste a single because of Permits. The Permit contained 12 names; We 5, Harneet and the gang of six from Mumbai. Sudhish called up the Mumbai gang to fix up the plan for the morning. His voice suddenly turned tensed and soft.

The group had met with an accident on the way back to Leh on the Srinagar Highway. Their SUV tumbled on the middle of the road saving an ass. Yeah a real ass. We rushed to the hospital to find out that they were safe (almost). Only Alpa had stitches on her head and rest of them got minor bruises and muscle pains. Though the physical impact wasn’t much, they were mentally shattered. Khardungla next day was surely a NO for them.

We could only hope that she gets well soon and we all can go together.

16^th August

Next morning, we got to know that Alpa would be rested in the hospital till evening. We dropped KhardungLa for the day so that we all could go next day. The only bad thing that happened was after all the planning we could see Nubra Valley being left off. With the permit dates, this wasn’t possible. Moreover due to some miscommunication, Harneet didn’t get the permits for Nubra at all.

We spent most of the day at Shanti Stupa. Very quite place (‘Shanti’ is peace in Hindi) and you can spend hours there. Adding to this one can get amazing views of Leh and the surrounding areas. The Shanti Stupa had illustrations depicting the life cycle of Lord Buddha. We got the real feel of ChangSpa that day. It’s the most happening lane in Leh with Awesome crowd, Awesome ambience and last but not the least Awesome food. After climbing up and down god knows how many stairs to Shanti Stupa, we were craving for some good food and we entered a nice roof top restaurant which seemed nice. All we could find there were Israelis smoking and a lovely European female sitting alone waiting for something/someone. Next one and a half hours all we had was continental food and some Kebabs starting from Italian Salad to Chicken in Cheese. Sumptuous Lunch I would call it.

Over the first two days, our 1 GB memory card was over. So we had to transfer the images. We had to pay fuckin 70 bucks for burning each CD (after bargaining!!). Internet was 120 bucks per hour. They have some sort of union for everything there and so you can’t get away with the rates. I don’t think even Paris or London would be this expensive when it comes to these services.

Sudhish met a monk (Lama) at the cybercafé and he brought him to our hotel room. His real name was very difficult so we called him by his nickname Vicky. He had just returned few days back after 14 years of Buddhist studies in Darjeeling. If you don’t see him in his Monk outfit, its very hard for you to tell that he can be a monk. He drives a Mahindra Scorpio and an Enfield 350, he has interest in Zinedine Zidane, he remembers crazy bollywood dialogues and songs and you can absolutely discuss anything with him. Girlfriends too.. Ha ha..

Vicky invited us for dinner the next evening at his mother’s home, where he was currently staying; a place called Choglamsar around 10 KMs from Leh. We were very excited about the fact that we would be going to a monk’s house.

Vicky left and all 12 of us met for dinner and went to Tibetan Kitchen, which was supposed to be good but unfortunately it didn’t have space for such a small group as ours. We finally entered a place called Penguin Café (referred by own very own Vicky). I don’t remember what others ordered but I ordered Chicken Lassagne and Ashish sitting next to me ordered Steak. We savored it like anything with Apple Juice adding to the taste.

The Hoggers Day I would call it.

I would be publishing this much because it would be too long to write the whole thing and publish. Hope the second part of the trip comes up by another ten days.