Nubra Valley, the high altitude desert near Leh, you can see sand dunes and snow peaks in one frame.

Trip Taken July 2010

Adeventures like this one look so much more fun on paper than they really are! Take this trip, for example. The itenerary said: Fly from Hyderabad to Delhi. Then take a car from Delhi to Manali; 600kms but windy uphill roads about 2/3rds of the way so it took 14 hrs drive time in a car, the Himachal tourism bus took about 16 hrs (one of the people in the group came a day later in that bus). Moving along… Then drive from Manali to Leh Ladakh. We heard so many things about that drive. Then drive from Leh to Srinagar. Now that I think back, not one of the people I talked to were very descriptive nor forthcoming with information. Learning along those lines, I will expand on that for a bit, then. So the drive from Manali to Srinagar is roughly 1000km, from Delhi to Srinagar 1500km.

It is true that the drive from Manali to Leh is the the most beautiful and mesmerising drive of my life, and I have been to many wonderful places. Yet the facts are simple: you are basically driving through the Himalayas. Don’t underestimate the raw stength of something just because it is beautiful and amusing – that’s the main lesson I learnt from the mighty mountains. The drive is slow and rough. At an average of 15km per hour or less, places look close on the map but take for ever to get to. We started in Manali at 3pm. The road was fine, actually that would be considered great looking back at the whole trip, until Kopsar, and that part of the drive from Manali to Kopsar took us 1.5hrs. Then Kopsar to Keylong, our night stop, is 45kms. That road home took us 4.5hrs! We passed Rotang pass at around 6:30pm. There is nothing that interesting at the pass except that it is a high elevation point from which you can get a nice view of the road we travelled and the mountains below.

Ever changing stone formations all along the way

Keylong is basically a sleepy town, as all of them are, all towns inbetween are very small. Everyone knows every one else. The people are nice and helpful. They will help you find a place even if they have no rooms available. We stayed at Nordaling Guest house. It was clean, had a geyser for hotwater, and help with the luggage. I think it was a bit more expensive than should have been but we changed our schedule last minute. With no meals included, it cost us Rs.2000 for three rooms for five people. Is that too cheap? I don’t know. But I do know you can get it for less in small towns like that.

That driving style, time and speed would set the tone for the rest of the trip. Next morning, we started off at Kelong at 7am. That was a big mistake. If you get lazy and don’t get started at the crack of dawn, you will pay the dues by the end of the day. Early to bed, early to rise.. the rule of the jungle works in trips like this. The drive is 110km, pure ghat road, great mountains, high elevations. With no lunch break, the drive took us 8hrs and we got to Sarchu about 3pm. We were supposed to stay in Sarchu that night. But after Keylong, I thought Sarchu was a little town with buildings, some kind of permanent structure that indicated a town. So as we passed by a bunch of camp sites and signs that indicated we are in Sarchu,and I kept my eyes peeled for a building or two, including the name of our hotel. The camp sites came and went, a bridge came and went, a few more camp shops came and went. And then the scenery changed to a barren range of mountains again. No more Sarchu? We stopped and asked a truck driver. He said the camp sites were Sarchu. Darn! So we were past that by almost an hour. The next town, the only town betweent Sarchu and Leh, is Pang. It is 70km from Sarchu, on ghat roads, that is atleast a 4hr drive.

A "pass", which is the top of a mountain, snow piled either side

In a case like this, I made the call that it was better to move forward than to go back and forth. So we proceeded to Pang. Again, this is a town of around a dozen tents, mostly food and basic beds in each large tent, to serve travellers. They are nomadic people. The town is on high plains next to a small military campus and exists and is created by the nomads, only for 3-4 months out of the year. The food is very basic, the accomodation minimal. It’s freezing cold too so don’t forget a sleeping bag. Given all this, one better be prepared for a rugged trip, in shape physically and mentally. Whining won’t help, fussing about won’t build a hotel. This is the the great Himalayas, as God created it, to make us stand in awe and fear of the vastness and indifference of this natural wonder. All the beautiful scenes of green mountains with low hung clouds creating a most romantic set up for a song and dance, the shapes and colors of different stones as the ranges change form and the romance of it all disappear when most of us face uncomfortable situations. The trick here is to will yourself to be tough, take something from the rough ranges into yourself. Else you become too easy a target for nature and it will bring you to your knees, sick, tired, crying and resenting the idea of the adventure. As I said, this is as much a mental game as it is a physical challenge. Sarchu to Pang was the most difficult drive, the most beautiful one thus far and at the highest point of road reached to over 16,500ft. Pang itself is over 14,500ft.

We ate and slept in a hurry. Four out of five of us threw up atleast once that night. Two out of the four were sick all night and got no sleep. To be on the safe side, not knowing what combination of elements were taking their toll, we hit the road at the crack of dawn, 5am, to Leh so that we could be near a hospital in case things got bad. The distance from Pang to Leh is about 175km, the road stays tough as usual for half the distance, but greatly improves in the second half. So we got to Leh late afternoon around 3pm.

Thiksey Monastery, Leh

There are plenty of hotels in Leh. It is truely the commerce centre there and the centre of tourism in that region. We stayed at a nice, clean hotel with minimal necessities like hotwater and clean beds, although there was no heat. If you want a heater, that will cost an extra Rs200 per day and it is a gas heater so you will have to put up with the smell. Since people were not acclamated yet, we decided to change the itenerary around and give us a day of local sight seeing first, then a day of rafting. Local places worth seeing are the Thiksey Monastery, Stok palace (you will miss the fun in this if you are not willing to hike up to the delapitated palace and discover old wonders the hard way), Hemis monastery and the downtown of Leh itself.

Confluence of Zanskar river and Indus River, the venue of our white water rafting

Rafting was great. It was a scene out of some movie, Lord of the Rings comes to mind, with the canyon feel and a river cutting through it. 32km over three hours in a wet suit and life jacket in the sun has got to make one tired. The rapids are about a grade three, average and not too bad. It isn’t too hot in July on the waters, especially if you get wet, then you start to feel a little chilly too. Food was provided by the rafting company, “Wet and Wild”. The excursion, including the drive there and back, is about six hours, which pretty much takes the day. All there is to do after that is walk around the Tibetan stores in the evening and do some shopping for handicrats and other nick nacks.

Then, we left for Nubra Valley the following day. That is where the Bactrian camels are in the high altitude desert. I heard that; I couldn’t have imagined it though. It didn’t make sense to see sand dunes, camels and snow peaks in one picture frame. The drive took us all day only because we were stuck at an accident where a truck turned over at a curve for over 2 hours. It was extremely hot and the sun drained me of any enthusiasm and energy I had musterd that morning heading out. I really wanted to turn back and sleep in a comfortable bed in Leh, but thanks to my fellow travelers’ insistance, we moved on past the incident and reached the Hundur guest house at 3:30pm again. It was a beautiful guest house, with its own extensive vegetable garden and flower garden. It was a welcome quiet and retrospective evening and an opportunity to refuel my mind and body.

Early the next day we headed out for the camel ride into the dunes. Before we left Hundur, we set out to explore a couple of small gumpas (small Buddhist temples) on top of a mountain, where the road ends into the border military check post. That was an active hike, not too bad at all, and completely worth what I saw in the monasteries. The old wall paintings are always mystical to me, the outside of these gumpa’s are so unassuming that the wonders they hold inside hits you harder because of the gold and other prime colors. It is also a wonderful view from the top.

Flowers at our Nubra Valley guest house

The camel ride was fun. It is a photo op if there ever was one: snow peakes, sand dunes perfectly staged, camels with fur on their knees and double humps, and me riding alone. Ok. So not exactly alone, I had a guy to lead the horse. And I had my friend along with me. But they are fun pictures to show around, so we spent 15min out of the 30min camel ride taking good pictures. That being done, we headed back to Leh. Oh, and by the way, on the drive between Leh and Nubra comes the highest motorable pass in the world, Kahrdongle Pass at 18,500 ft. So you go from desert to snow peaks in freezing cold and frozen high altitude lakes, then back into warm Leh.

There are two lakes worth seeing near Leh. Both are around five hour drive each way. One is Pangong Lake and the other is Tsongo Lake. While Pangong is the more popular one and is seen in many movies, locals claim Tsongo is a much more beautiful lake and holds more meaning to the people there. Accordingly, there are plenty tourists at Pangong Lake, a small contributing factor being it is an hour less drive each way than Tsongo Lake. That is the information I have!

Our stay at Ladakh came to an end as of July 13th morning. So we packed up and headed west towards our final destination, Srinagar. Leh to Srinagar is about 485km, so we knew that drive would be a two day drive especially with sight seeing to do all along the way. And some the beautiful places there were along the way. Don’t miss Alchi monastery and Lamayuru Monastery. There is a decent restaraunt at Lamayuru and a motel incase you need an overnight stay. I don’t know the price but this is just in case something happens and that is how far you get on the way to Kargil which is usually a 7-8hr drive anyway. Including the stopping points and another traffic accident which blocked the roads for almost two hours, we took about 12 hours to get to our guest house in Mulbekh, a small town about 30km before Kargil. These places seem better than a town like Kargil at stop over points for me. They are cheap, peaceful and warm service when all you need is a shower, food and a bed at a good price before heading out the next morning.

River runs under glaciers, and nomads who liv there walking across it.

So back into the car and on the road towards Srinagar at 5:30am. The roads are a tease. They are bad long enough to make you tired of them by this point in the trip, then they get good suddenly and the life along with hope comes back into you, then when your body is thanking you for not shaking it from side to side anymore, it goes right back to ghat hilly roads. We passed the Amarnath Yatra at Phelgam, ate lunch and did some sight seeing at Sonamarg, switched cars (actually, they transferred us) and drove into Srinagar right at sunset. Sometimes, the little things just come along and it’s not until later that I am glad I was there in that moment, and it made for some great pictures that could not be repeated.

I learnt a lot about hostile cities, conflict zones, people played by politicians and how, beneath it all, life still goes on although cautiously. It was a bad time for Srinagar since the end of June. The curfew had been lifted days before we got there but now there was a “bandh” in progress, that means some people were protesting some political decision by forceably shutting down business. Interesting. So, if you get mad, shoot your foot off was what they were doing. With the local economy at a halt, all they were doing was hurting each other’s livlihood, keeping most tourists away which brought in a lot of money since this was the prime time of the year. It was laughable. Whose ever idea this was, it wasn’t a great one. Time and money lost ain’t never coming back. I should have left them a banner saying so!

Dal Lake, Srinagar, ad the evening Shikara rides

Still, we stayed at one of the nicest boat houses in a quiet area looking out at the Dal lake; its water lily gardens, see weeds, birds of all kinds, the people of the lake, and the normal activities around them unaffected by the land locked lunatics. The thing to do was to become one of the lake people and set out discovering each corner of the lake on a Shikara, a decorated canoe that a man rows gracefully. Dal lake is 70sqkm and filled with romantic corners. Great. Me and my female companion got into a Shikara, both wishing the other was a nice cute guy, not a home girl, and set sail starting at 4:30am for the flower and vegetable floating market.

The owner of the house boat was gracious enough to send us our own personal guide, his son. My other two companions were in a second Shikara. We went to the mosque on Friday, they cooked a great meal for us in the back of the boat (don’t ask me how he managed that so well, I don’t know), took us to a paper mache factory, through small canals with tree canopies, and a sunset cruise in the middle of the lake where people gather to relax and lovers come to enjoy the sunset.

And then there is the reality of India-Pakistan border

Other things to do around Srinagar are Nishat Bagh and tulip gardens. The rest of them, Pari Mahal, Mughal Gardens etc were kind of a waste of time, really. It would have been nice to be able to walk along the road by the lake in the evening and have some corn and other Indian treats, but even the locals abandoned their local spots and so we ran back onto the safety of the water.

The last thing that was on our itenerary that had to be deleted because of the situation in Srinagar was a day trip to Gulmarg and another day trip to Pahalgam. Instead, we took a trip to Sonamarg which is closer and seemed nice enough.There is horse riding is there, although it is expensive, but they take you all the way up to the glacier on top of the mountain. It is about as touristy an area as you can imagine in such remote places, so anything you touch, including a glass of tea, is expensive. One gets to see a lot of mountain communities, nomads, and their lifestyles in the country up and down the mountains. It is quite interesting, actually. It is hard selling in these regions, and hard core bargaining. My friend got a Pashmina scarf that started at a price of Rs2100 for Rs850!!! “How much is it really worth?”, she asked, confused that she actually got it for such a ridiculous price. Ultimately, these things are worth what you think they are, so if you have the guts to ask for a price, do it, you may get it!!

Rafting : Mukesh Joshi at www.wetnwild.in, +91-96229-67632, +91-94198-19721

Keylong Guesthouse: Mr Sonam at Nordaling@yahoo.com, +91-94180-45394

Dal Lake House Boat: Mustafa Goosani at kashmirtreat@rediffmail.com, +91-99067-37635

All rules written in Sikkim blog apply for high altitude, cold areas. Or else surrender yourself to the whim and fancy of mother nature and get tested, don’t complain! And here’s two new important additions to tips and things to look out for in Kashmir:

1. Since it is a conflict zone and a terrorist area, cell phones from outside Kashmir may or may not work at any time as part of security precautions. My SMS was cut off the whole time and calls sometimes. Any phone reception only happens in Leh, Kargil and Srinagar. Mostly, BSNL works better than any other.

2. Pre paid cell phones will not ever work in Kashmir. Security reasons. Makes sense!

3. The only two things you need a pass or entry permit for are Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake, since they are both border areas. My agent took care of that for me. I am an American passport and my friend Canadian. So don’t worry. Just give them the info they ask for on day one and they get it sone. There were plenty foreigners around us in these areas so we were not the exception, just the norm.

Cost of my trip including flight from Hyderabad to Delhi, 14 nights accomodation, car from Delhi to Srinagar (no public buses in between), rafting, food, water, flight back from Srinagar to Hyderabad, horse ride, Shikara for a day and tips along the way = Rs.40,000 per person.

www.ladakh-voyages.com, +91-99069-80298www.wetnwild.in, +91-96229-67632, +91-94198-19721

More of the same beautiful state, yet different!

Kumarakom, near the bird sanctuary

The rainy season is here and so it was time to see more of Kerala. I have a feeling I will keep going back there atleast for one long weekend every year. It offers more than a lot of places in the form of things to see of both nature and people. The last few trips out there I planned myself and bugged a friend of mine for help. This long weekend trip was to be quite simple so I thought I would trust a travel agent to do it. I can’t remember how and where I got the name of these people, but boy, they managed to screw up the vacation, which is quite hard to do when it is Kerala!!

What I wanted to do this time was quite simple: Kumarakom is connected to Allappey, or is a part of it, and this area is known to have several wonderful species of birds and also a bird sanctuary. The tourism book I read said one can take early morning boat rides into the bird sanctuary, early enough to hear the chirps and feel the clear morning air. That day we would stay on a boat house and cruise through the backwaters of Kumarakom. Then Munnar for some scenic beauty and greenery, relax at the tree house and back to Hyderabad on day four.

The only stretch we went down in Kumarakom

That was the plan, this is what went down: The drive from Cochin airport to Kumarakom was 2.5hrs. We stayed on the crappiest house boat ever, whose windows were so small my neck and back eventually hurt from straining to crouch down and out to look outside and at birds and take pictures. Though I had said in emails that the most important thing was the ride in the boat sanctuary, every body starting with the travel agent seemed on a mission not to let me go in a country boat into the sanctuary. They tried lying and said it didn’t open until 9am, then (because I’m nerdy) when I showed them the India tourism book that says otherwise, they said they would figure it out.

You can’t win against a conspiracy when you don’t know their language and they pretend not to know English. So the morning came and went, rain came and went, they said nothing about a boat. They did take us down a small water way for a short distance where we saw a glimpse of what we had come to see: gorgeous cranes and other birds with lotus flowers and other water plants around them. By then, our breakfast was served and the fact they couldn’t get bread, butter and jam right pissed me off so bad, I was ready to jump out of the boat and cry. Yes, I get emotional when my vacations are bad. It’s more the time and effort that have gone to shit than money. Worse because I know how fantastic a house boat experience can be so I know this is as bad as it can get.

That's the best shot of an eagle I got!

So bad boat, bad food, no bird sanctuary and no back water cruise later, it was time to get off the boat. If you read the Kerala Houseboat blog, I wrote about asking for a certain kind of boat with a sitting deck. Well, I’m not sure how stupid and gullible I am, but I bought the story from this guy “Biju” from Kairali Holidays, the name of the travel agency, that I can’t have a deck cause the boat’s height won’t accommodate the waters ways. What the??? We never went any where but a large mass of water cause the guys were too lazy to show us anything. At which point the deck would have been nice to stare far at the views, but that didn’t happen either. Really, it was a total waste of a house boat, money and a vacation day.

So, we are in the car and off to Munnar with our “multilingual” driver from Kairali Holidays; I forgot to ask if one of his languages was English, I guess! The drive from Kumarakom to Munnar is at least 4.5hrs. We started at 9:30am, so we had to break for lunch which took at least an hour and stopped to see some sights on the way to Munnar including some waterfalls. With heavy rains coming down, everything was clean, glistening and the waterfalls robust with fresh water.

Tree house, quite literally so

Again in Munnar, I had to fight and beg to stay at the tree house that I had made reservations before hand. I could not understand what the deal was, and why the well spoken man wouldn’t explain it if it really was a big deal and something was wrong, like maybe the thing was going to fall down if it kept raining, or maybe there were leaches all over it, maybe a hidden ghost of the rain… I don’t know, but I wasn’t seeing the point of not wanting me to stay where I wanted to. So long as it’s an argument in English, I can win, so I did.

The tree house itself is a short steep drive into the mountains about three floors up, build between the trunk and a large branch of a strong old tree. Getting up there in the rain was a little scary on small metal stairs, but adrenaline is part of the thrill. There it over looked beautiful mountains covered with tea plantations, landscaped with rocks between them, waterfalls flowing through, clouds passing by below, the lights of the small town on the hill across were foggy, as if it were all designed to make it picture perfect. It couldn’t have been any more romantic with no power and no one around where we were.

From the walk over the dam

The caretaker at the tree house was a nice man, and though he could not speak English, all we needed to communicate was coffee, tea, water and food, and he showed up on time for each to take our order. The order for dinner was placed over the phone with a restaurant close by and he went and got it for us. The prices were fine, and the food was quite good so no complaints there. He was unaware or uninformed that our price included the breakfast, but that is neither here not there at that point, and in continuation with the bad service theme of Kairali Holidays, we decided to go ahead and pay it instead of worrying him in such a remote area. Again, it was bread and jam without butter, same as the boathouse, and I started wondering if maybe that’s how they ate in Kerala; I can’t bring myself to believe that though. It’s hard to get as upset about the same thing twice though.

It pretty much rained cats and dogs the whole time we were there. I was telling my travel buddies that Kerala was known for its leeches in the monsoons, so expect to get one or two not to be scary but also to inform them the proper way to get rid of the leeches. You don’t smack them off of you, don’t force them off because they will leave something behind that causes a rash and irritation for about three months later. You carry salt and put the salt directly on them so they voluntarily let go. Well, that was a lesson in case of leeches; none so far though.

Munnar is mostly the hills and the drive through them. A visit to the spice garden is good and the spices are pure and fresh so I usually buy them when I go to such places. There are a couple of places that offer elephant rides but I don’t find riding an elephant that is being probed by a sharp object too appealing or safe, so I passed on that. We drove to the Mattupetty dam which is quite nice to walk around, then we drove down to Gundala Lake. That was quite a pretty sight and it would have been great to go in a peddling boat but they weren’t operational because of the heavy rains. Understandably so, I guess. But the drive let me float into my utopian dreams of a perfect place with perfect trees and weather and clouds to add to what could have been a perfect place for love to bloom had I found some one to share it with. No, no tears please. That wasn’t for empathy or sympathy. It was truly just a very romantic setting. And that’s what dreams are for.

Tea estates of Munnar

Back to reality, then. It is actually quite cold during the rains in Munnar. So be prepared to carry a couple of sweaters and a few extra pairs of socks. There is nothing more miserable than being wet and cold at the same time! Not much is available that is very nice for winter clothing there so don’t wait to go buy it. If you are stuck in the forest like I was, it is even cooler with nothing to do but enjoy nature, maybe a drink will help keep you warm and some chips to pass time. All that shopping can be done in Munnar itself

The drive back from Munnar to Cochin airport is about 120km and took us three hours flat. That is my Kerala trip this year. A few lessons learnt, new corners discovered, still love the state, but do stay away from Kairali Holidays. It wasn’t cheap, I paid a month ahead of the vacation with no argument to their quote, spoke to the guy a few times to let him know I had been to Kerala several times so please don’t disappoint me, called after the house boat to tell him how and why it sucked, wrote a formal email to him asking him to please explain why his services turned out to be piss poor, then decided to go ahead and do what the blog is supposed to do, which is inform people.

They also seem to run under these three banners, though I am not sure. It appears at the bottom of every email they send out. Hope I am not wrong, but check it out: www.kairaliholidays.com,  www.dreamkeralatourism.com,  www.keralatourisms.com

Please don’t let all this deter you from the subject, which is Kerala. It is still a “God’s Country”, and I will go back for more.