Ashwini's Travel Tales

An Caladh, Annach Mor, Scotland - hidden secret

2011-05-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

When we decided to find a self catering accomodation in Scotland, we had to look for something that looked good and felt good. We finally decided on An Caladh, Annach Mor Road, in Rosneath Peninsula, which was a 4 star rated accomodation.
We were excited to reach there and we couldn't wait to see the place. Our anticipation went on increasing as we were driving on the Helensburgh road towards Clynder and we could see the other end of the Gare Loch and looking at the Scotland's beauty. We were mesmerised when we reached the house. We were warmly greeted, house was fantastic and couldn't ask for more. Stunning.
We enjoyed the stay with beautiful views, overlooking the Gare Loch and sun shining both sides. Loch Lomond visit seemed a little bit bore when compared to this. We loved the Acquarium though.
At the tip of Rosneath peninsula is Killcregan, where a 10 minute ferry took to the beautiful place of Cougar. Cougar is well connected to Glasgow with trains and ferries to important places. Lots of cafes and shops make the stroll much more lively.
Arrochar was a wonderful place. Much better than Loch Lomond and nestling and bustling amongst mountains, feeling the Loch Long. A must visit.
A few pictures:

South-end-on-sea, Essex

2010-11-04T04:53:00.001-07:00

After a long time, we as a family got to go out and closest destination we could think of was South-end-on-sea. It was the easiest as we had a direct train line from Barking. And we got family room booked in Travelodge for 50£ a day!
South-end-on-sea is the quick weekend getaway spot for Londoners and a tourist destination. It has the longest pier of 1.5miles and you can take a small train to and fro. The Adventure Island makes it all the more colourful and attractive with various rides for all ages.
A small nice creepy town with lots of things to offer and with University of Essex, the student crowd made it all the more lively. The high street is pretty long with many stores and coffee shops.
We went at the end of October and with the typical English weather, it was still good. We had some sunshine and lots of cold wind. This place in summer would be really busy with a road lined with casinos and eateries on the sea front.
South-end-on-sea is a typical getaway from busy life.

Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, Wales

2009-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Often, when we go to places, we find accomodation that will just help us in the basic amneties. This is one place, where the B&B itself is like a healing resort due to it's location, hospitality and accessibility.

Right in between the little plains of Nant Ffrancon, Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, is the right next to A5 on the way to Bethesda, North Wales. Wales is very beautiful, and this place makes it even more beautiful. Mountains on both sides, a little stream running by the side, the grazing sheep, spacious, and the serinity adds to the list. I have never fallen in love with any other accomodation, like this one.

It also has spiritual linkage, that it offers as the location for Dru Yoga course venue. The vegeterian breakfast was wonderful. People were extremely hospitable giving personal attention.

One of the plus points of this Lodge apart from the above qualities are it's location. It is right in the heart of North Wales and almost reachable to any place within half an hour drive. What more one can ask for?

Near by places: Bethesda is the nearest big location for local groceries and restaurants(hardly 10 mins drive). Lake Ogwen is very close. Betws-y-coed and Menai Strait on opposite sides are easily accessible. This place is on the boundaries of Snowdonia National Park and close to Llanberis, Beddgelert Bangor, and Anglessey(hardly half an hour drive).

It definitely is a walker's/climber's paradise. Information is handy from the experts in the lodge. The rooms are quite, clean and tidy. The showers are excellent and provide the much needed relaxation after a hard day's walk/travel.

If you plan to visit North Wales, and if you like a place which is worth staying, try getting accomodation in Snowdonia Mountain Lodge.

Contact Details provided on: http://www.snowdoniamountainlodge.com/

Dubare Elephant Camp, Nisargadham, Coorg

2008-09-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

River Rafting at Kaveri Nisargadham

River Kaveri, Dubare Elephant Camp

Nice place to enjoy the cool waters

Elephant Ride, Dubare Elephant Camp

Abbey Falls, Coorg

Beautiful Sunset, Raja Seat, Coorg

Tibetian Settlement, Bylakuppe, Mysore

2008-09-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

Bhuddist Monastery, Bylakuppe

Bhuddist Monastery, Bylakuppe

Bhuddist Monastery, Bylakuppe

Bhuddist Monastery, Bylakuppe

Bhuddist Monastery Entrance

Bhuddist Monastery Tower

Nagarahole, Mysore

2008-09-29T07:09:00.001-07:00

Jungle Resort, Nagarahole. Worth the visit

Tribal dance, campfire in the Jungle Resort

Spotted a Tusker in the forest

A nearby Bhuddist Monestary

At last, we see her at a distance of 6 ft and then she walks away from us

Spotted Dear

A tusker in the Vet

Ranganatittu Pakshidhama, Mysore

2008-09-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

Kingfisher
Kingfisher

Crocodile approaching us

River Stone bird

Egrets

Cool Blue Kaveri

Small islands of Rangana tittu

Bamboo shoots

Rome, Italy

2008-09-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Roof of Santa Maria, Transtevere

The oldest bridge in Rome

Inside Pantheon

Pantheon, from behind

Colosseum in the night

Trevi Fountain

The Spanish Steps

The Last Judgement, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

(Da Vinci's finest painting)

From the top of Vatican City

Inside Vatican City (Bernini's work)

Bernini's work

Vatican City Campus

Vatican City

Piazza Venezia, Rome

Blakeney Point - Seals Colony, Norfolk

2008-09-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

Blakeney Point is worth a visit. It's on the East coast of UK, close to Sheringham, Norfolk. One wonderful thing that we saw was how the creek filled with water during the high tide in a matter of 10 minutes.

The creek is filled with water from high tide just in about 10 minutes of time.

The Empty Creek, boats waiting for the high tide water

A full bloom apple tree on the way to Morston Quay

The Blakeney Island

Morston Quay

The Grey Seal

Black Seal

The Seal Colony

Sinking City - Venice

2008-09-01T02:37:00.000-07:00

A street/canal in the Venice

Beautiful Masks

The Famous romantic Gondola - One ride is a must

Of 118 Islands of Venice

An Evening view of Venice

At sunset

The San Marco Church

The Famous Rialto Bridge

Sinking City Venice

Vaishno Devi - Mata ne bulaya hai!

2007-09-25T04:47:00.000-07:00

To the popular belief, that one gets to visit Vaishnodevi only when she invites. I was in Gurgaon for more than a year and I could not visit Vaishno Devi, yes after many trials.

So finally, she did call us. And we were glad to go there.

From Delhi we took a flight to Jammu. The special Security treatment started from New Delhi itself. In the airport, we were asked to identify the bags even after the security check.

Jammu Tawi river from the plane was looking dry even in August! We landed and were surprised to see that our mobiles though on, were not working. After 15-20 minutes, we realised that only local postpaid mobiles work! Could see army personnel everywhere. First impression of Jammu turned out to be what we had imagined of Jammu except that the city turned out to be bigger than what we imagined.

We had already booked the car and the driver was waiting for us. Driver suggested that we directly head to Katra, the basecamp for Vaishnodevi trek. It took us a little more than an hour to reach Katra.

Hotel Asia Vaishnodevi is a good one to stay. We got the room with the view of Trikoota hills. That was good. We took rest in the afternoon. We checked with the hotel for Darshan details. It turned out to be very useful for us.

This is what he said. "When you go for the pindi darshan, take the chunri for the pooja. People mistake that there is an idol inside which they try to find. There's no idol. There are only 3 Pindi's of Mata Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati. There will be two Pandits sitting. One from the Shrine Board and one from a family. The priest appointed by the Board sits at the other end of the artificial gufa(cave). Give him the things you want to offer. He will offer it to the Mata on your behalf and you will get sometime to have the darshan, as well. And for climbing/trekking, it is better that you start in the night and reach by early morning. The crowd will be less and you can have good darshan. If it's raining buy 'use-n-throw' raincoats which are available for 15-20rs. It will help you to cover from the rains"

We followed everything to the core except for buying raincoats. After buying the tickets, we started ascending by 9.30pm to cover 13km stretch in 5 hours. Almost, for the first 3 kms stretch there are lots of shops on either side. We expected that it will be continue till the temple and we were wrong. After this, there are many points where the shops are setup but not through the whole stretch.

We walked continuously for an hour or more and had some coffee. Then, with short breaks, we reached Ardh Kuwari, at around 12.00pm. Here we booked the ticket for our Ardh Kuwari Darshan. They told us that we can come back in the morning for the darshan as the queue was long!

We continued. At some places we started taking stairs instead of the road. It rained heavily, and intermittently, and we got drenched. And a little after Ardh Kuwari, the power also went off. We were a little surprised, waited for sometime and then continued to walk.

Prem se bolo, Jay mata di,
pyar se bolo, Jay mata di,
mote bolo, Jay mata di,
chote bolo, Jay mata di,
bade bolo, Jay mata di,
bolo re bolo Jay mata di,
Jay mata di, Jay mata di,

this was heard all along. We also tried chanting as we continued. Dirty roads, no light, too many horses on either sides, at times we would feel a little awkward, scared and all. But nothing stopped us from moving ahead. We had heard that it is safe to walk in the night, hence we mustered courage to go ahead, even when we were alone on those roads/stairs.

We reached the camp around 3.00am in the morning. We got the token converted into our gate pass no. and proceeded ahead. Kept our small bagpacks in the locker and got into the queue to get darshan.

By 3.15am we were in the new Gufa where the Pindis are located (Access to the old gufa is blocked, though the new articial gufa is just next to the old one.). We gave our offerings to the Shrine Board pandit, got a good view of Mata ji, and moved ahead. Hardly a minutes' time for the darshan! But, worth all the effort. A sense of satisfaction surrounds you!

We came out and requested the security guards to help us enter again. They denied. We went to the place of gate pass and requested. They also denied.

So, we decided to proceed to Bhairav nath darshan after few minutes of resting. Also, we had heard that the Bhairav Nath will be closed between 5.00am - 8.00am for the morning pooja, to which we hurried to reach before 5.00am. I guess, the ascend here is steep and almost vertical.

After a patch of road, we took only stairs to reach Bhairav nath, a stretch of around 2kms from Vaishno devi. Reached there a little after 5.00am. Had darshan and moved and came out. Were extremely tired. There was no proper place to sit, as well. We waited there till 6.30am to have a glimpse of the sunrise, but to our dismay, it was cloudy and raining.

Started our descend around 6.30am from another way. Finally, clicked some snaps! :) The view was very beautiful. We started seeing that people were already on job and were doing early morning duties of cleaning roads, toilets etc. Some relief to see a little cleaner roads while walking.

Had breakfast in between and continued to walk down. We tried to take the stairs wherever possible.

Reached Ardh-kuwari, around 8.30am. After waiting for sometime, we got to know that the number we had got for the darshan, would probably take a day's time to be counted. We did not have one more day in our plan, to wait, so we moved ahead.

There are two Cafe Coffee Day outlets - one at Ardh-kuwari and one at base camp! There was no place to sit, so we moved downwards. We took stairs. Though it was quick, it was tiring, too. The stairs were more dangerous as they were slippery due to heavy rains in the night. Reached base camp, had a cup of milk with little traces of coffee in it, in CCD and moved, ahead.

It took us two more hours to reach the hotel. Extremely tired, we went, freshened up and slept like logs! :)

Woke up in the evening and went around for shopping! :) We could hardly walk. You can get good Kashmiri work done on dress materials, sarees and shawls. You get good apricots, and other dry fruits, also. Worth buying with little price bargain, at some places.

Be careful about the local food. We ate at a famous eatery and next day fell prey into food poisoning.

All in all, a good trip! Hope, Mata calls you to Vaishno Devi, soon.

Few quick facts:
Distance from base camp : 13km
How to Ascend: Take horse ride, walk by stairs or roads, or take helicopter
Time taken to ascend: Depends on people. Generally, 5-6 hours is required
Precautions: If rainy season take raincoats, jackets. Walk light. Keep a torch and a shawl. Wear good shoes if you plan to walk.
Don't drink too much of tea/coffee/water on the way.
Best time to trek: During night.
Accomodation: Plenty of hotels available. Even the Board has retiring rooms atop the hill.

Calcutta - culturally yours!

2007-09-25T04:12:00.000-07:00

A deserted Calcutta Street

Backside view of Victoria Memorial

Front view of Victoria Memorial

Victoria Memorial

Victoria Memorial

The New Bridge - Vidya sagar setu

The Howrah Bridge

The Kalighat street

The word "North-east India" always has a magical sway on me and I have been wanting to visit some of the places, there, for a long time. When, recently, I got an option to go to Calcutta, I was on my toes to welcome the surprise package.

Calcutta - gateway to North Eastern states, ex-capital of Delhi, place of intellectuals, culturally vibrant, and what not, is true to all its nameplates.

The torrential rains played spoil sport in our trip. The Victoria Memorial, Kali Ghat, The Howrah Bridge, is all what we could see. And, yes, we did some shopping, too.

Kali Ghat - the place where there's the Kali mandir, was like a dreaded place becuase of the priests and the vendors. The people were literally like pounding on you for services and suck money. The driver was mentioning that they take as much as Rs.200 for taking care of your chappals/shoes! Beware of them, if you have to visit this place. The Golden rule is to be on your own and not to talk/heed to anyone speaking to you.

I have never seen such beautiful pose of Goddess Kali. The beautiful and expressive eyes of Goddess Kali have magical powers that one gets struck to his feet upon seeing Her. I wish, I could spend more time seeing her.

Best time to visit: Early morning before 9 or 9.30am. Avoid Saturdays.

Victoria Memorial - Good place to revitalise your national spirits. The muesuem has a good collection of paintings. A very good and well maintianed lawn. A must visit.

Howrah Bridge - the engineering marvel, the Ravindra Setu, travelling on which, for me was a great experience. Could not get out of the car and watch the river and near by surroundings due to rain.

Shopping
We were during the right time. Durga Pooja is around the corner and people were busy setting up their home and themselves for the Pooja.

The New Market or The Hogg Market, Garia Hat were full with festive activities despite the "torrential" rains.

The New Market is pretty impressive for Cotton Suits, dresses, bed sheets for Kantha work, Leather products - especially Purses and bags with Shantiniketan prints, Jute products and artificial flowers.

Garia Hat is famous for Calcutta Saree's - Calcutta Cotton with Kantha work, Printed, or Silk, Dhaka Cotton and so many varieties, were there. We could not do much as we had less time and it was raining too much.

Prefer to go to a fixed price shop to avoid being cheated.

Sweets
We bought the Bengali sweets from Mithai, and savoured Mishti Dahi, Sandesh, Ras gulla.

Roads
Road condition was okay, not very good. The rains had caused too much of water clogging and to our scare at certain places. Looks like the good development stopped in Calcutta after the British left to New Delhi.

We could not make it to many places. Shantiniketan, Dakshineshwar - Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, trams, etc are still drawing my attention to Calcutta.

Calcutta, when will you invite me, again?

Colors of Life - RGB!

2007-05-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

The base colors in this world are Red, Green and Blue!

Red: Symbolizes Purity, danger, powerful etc
Green: Symbolizes prosperity, jealousness (!)
Blue: Peace, Gloomy, temperament

You mix different proportions of these colors to get the vibrant colors of life!

It means that you play with these colors in life to show different emotions! Too much of anything is bad!

You are right! Life is about balancing! Anything too much, is too bad! Nature is the perfect example of using the color combinations to the perfection! Learn from nature and try to be balanced.

Mantralaya - Raghavendra Swami

2007-05-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

After a long pending plan, we decided to make it to Mantralaya! Though we knew that it's going to be extremely hot in that area, we continued with our plan.

Mantralaya, is the place where Sri Raghavendra swami entered into the Brindavan, alive - Sajeeva Samadhi, after getting the instructions from the Lord.

Sri Raghavendra Swami, is one of the saints who spread the Dvaita philosophy to many. He did penance on the banks of Tunga Bhadra river in a temple called as Pancha mukhi Anjaneya (five headed Hanuman), which falls in Karnataka. Here, after 12 years of penance Lord appeared to him and instructed him to take Samadhi at Manchale, current Mantralaya(in AP). Following the instructions, Sri Rayaru, as he is lovingly called by his devotees, decided to take samadhi. When multitude of his followers begged him, he is believed to have said that he will be alive in this samadhi state for 700 years. Till then, he will continue to help his devotees.

Sri Rayaru, is known to be a very good player of Veena. He has composed many literary works which are revered today. His prime deity was Sri Rama.

How did we go
By Car
Route
Bangalore to Gutty -> NH 7. Gutti/Gooty -> Mantralaya state road. MSN Maps helped a lot. (maps.msn.com)
Distance
Roughly around 400km
Road condition
Good. The NH7 is a single road with demarcation. State roads were not all that bad.
Climate
Summers - extremely hot(above 42 degrees)
Places to visit
1. Panchamukhi Anjaneya(half an hour drive from Mantralaya)
2. Mantralaya (Sri Rayara Brundavana, Manchallamma (local diety))
Pooja timings
8.00am to 10.00am in the morning.
7.30pm to 9.00pm in the evening
Restrictions
For darshana, men are supposed not to wear shirts and for the pooja, they are supposed to be in dhoti instead of pants.
Tunga bhadra
This river will flow full during rainy season and will be dry during summer
Food
Not many good hotels are around. Lunch is served in the temple itself.
Accommodation
Many hotels are available matching different budgets. Even the Matha has a lot of rooms available.
Time required
1 day is sufficient to have darshana and complete pooja/offerings.

We started by 4.30am in the morning and reached Mantralaya by 12.30pm. We took rest for a while. We went to Panchamukhi Anjaneya temple which took around 1.30 to complete the visit. Came back to Mantralaya by 7.00pm and headed for darshana and went to bed. Next morning we had darshana and left to Bangalore by 12.30pm.

Happy visiting! :)

Big Banyan Tree, Ramohalli, Bangalore

2007-04-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

The Big Banyan tree or Dodda Aalada mara in Kannada

We had been to this sprawling tree in March, 2007. Inspite of the summer starting the area of the tree was cool. Worth a visit once. We also went to the dam nearby which was dry. I am sure, it's better in rainy season with lush landscapes! I would suggest to visit this place during August, September for getting the right views and enjoy more!

How to Reach: We took the Magadi Road route which was pretty good! It's around 35-50Kms from Bangalore (Depending on the part of Bangalore you live in). We had gone in our own vehicle. We could see many citi buses plying till there.

What we liked: The tree and the serenity, as we had gone pretty early in the morning

What we disliked: The plastic & the cola culture that has spread to the tiny village

Best time to visit: August to January

One more thing: There are many farms here growing saplings of variety of flowers. We got a few of them. They were quality one's for good price! You can try them. Wish we had got more!!

Reflection of La Defense, Paris

2007-04-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

The hi-end business district of Paris, France captured in the lens!

Need more info about Udupi!

2006-12-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Here you go!
http://prithvibhat.com/ : A personal blog started by Prithvi now a passion to him!

Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Champs Elysees!

2006-12-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

You got it right! It is Paris! And that Paris is one city that synonyms with fashion, wine and dine, the city is lovely and active except for the wild cold!

Tour Eiffel
Eiffel Tower is truly an engineering marvel. If not for Eiffel we would have not known how Nuts and bolts can make a beautiful structure like this. Escalators were used to take the people 320 meters up to the top floor of Eiffel tower, a hundred years ago! OATIS was involved with them since then. My GK has increased by a bit.

Follow this site for more facts on Tour Eiffel : http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/documentation/chiffres/index.html.

Eiffel Tower in the morning

A closer look at the tower

Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum is one of the biggest museums hosting a lot variety, most famous for the Smiling Monalisa! It definitely take more than 3-4 days to completely see the museum!

A bright French Painting of 1500AD

The Fashion Street

And how can one forget the posh famous fashion street - Champs Elysees. It's all the more lively with the Christmas and New Year festivities!

The elated street of Champs Elysees

Wah Taj Wah!

2006-10-31T05:37:00.000-08:00

A stroll around Taj

The Taj

Beautiful Rose

2006-10-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

This kind of beautiful and pleasant smelling roses were often found on the way to Badri! I still can smell the fragrence of this rose! Ahhh!

Pajaka Kshethra

2006-10-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Pajaka - the birth place of Sri Madhva Acharya is a quite and serene place!

For the one spiritually oriented, it's the place to feel elated and having a chance to know more about His divine charishma! And for the one otherwise, it's a small hamlet in the midst of lush green forests, hillocks to soak your heart in serenity!

Places to visit in Pajaka:

1. Ananta Padmanabha Mandira
The home of Sri Madhva. Here you can see a small shrine dedicated to Sri Ananta Padmanabha. You can get to know the wonderful stories of the powerful Acharya in his childhood.

Attached to this temple is the teertha(pond), created by Sri Acharya to please his age old father. It's believed that taking a dip in this pond is equvivalent to taking a dip in the four sacred ponds created by Sri Parashurama - Parashu Teertha, Bana(Spelt as Baana) Teertha, Gada Teertha and Dhanu Teertha.

2. Madhva Mandira
This is the place where Sri Vadiraja Swamy has installed the idol of Sri Madhva Acharya. You can also see the foot prints of Sri Acharya here.

3. Kunjaru Giri Temple
On small hillock around 1km from Pajaka is where Sri Durga resides. This small hillock is very beautiful giving the glimpses of Western ghats one side, Manipal at the another other side and the Arabian sea. This quite temple becomes home of activities during Navaratri/Dasara for the nine day long celebrations.

4. Parashurama Temple
Opposite to the Kunjaru hillock, there's one more where a temple is built for Lord Parashurama. At the base of the foot hill is one of the teertha he created thorwing his weapons.

5. Gurukula - Vedic School
This gurukula is aided by Pejawara matha and around 100 students reside here to quench their spiritual quest.

How to Reach
There are plenty of buses(private and govt) to visit Udupi from Bangalore, Mysore, Hassan, Madikeri etc.

From Udupi, Pajaka is around 15kms. There are very few buses at designated time to come directly to Pajaka. You can check for them in the service busstand.

If the direct bus is late, you can take a bus to Subhas Nagara, get down at Kunjaru Cross. From there take an auto to Pajaka. The auto rickshaw guys will also take you to Kunjaru temple, and then to Pajaka for a nominal fare.

Where to Stay
There are a lot of hotels and Dharma Chatras in Udupi. Pajaka, you can get a room to stay but you will have to have your own bedsheets etc for making it a comfortable stay.

Check for a few photographs of Pajaka Kshethra here.

Hogenakkal Falls - India's Niagara!

2006-10-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Mini hogenakkal falls gushing with full water

Hogenakkal Falls - aka "Smoking Rocks"

Pajaka Kshetra, Udupi, Karnataka

2006-09-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sri Madhva Acharya

Sri Kunjaru Temple

A house in Pajaka

Sri Madhva's Birth Place - Pajaka Kshetra

Pajaka Kshetra - Madhva Matha/Mandira

Vrindavan & Mathura - Birth Place of Sri Krishna

2006-09-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

Vrindavan
It is believed that Sri Krishna was born in Nandagaon and would come to Vrindavan on the banks of Yamuna as cow boy. He has had many legends here.

Vrindavan today has many Ashrams. Every step you can see one ashram.

Beware of the priests
Vrindavan today is a commercial place. The guides do more harm than help. They have tie up with the temple priests especially of the old Krishna-Radha Temple which takes care of the "ladies" hostel kind of set up, the cows and the temple expenses.

In this temple one has to sit and have darshan of Sri Krishna and Radhe. They make you sit while the curtains are closed. They bargain for the money, I mean donation and then only open the curtains for you to see the Lord. How mean! Beware. These priests are no less in begging and coaxing you to shred money. They start with the figure 5000rs!

With the kind of experience we had here, we forgot for sometime about our purpose of visit!

Places to visit
ISKCON temple
Brij Bihari Temple - Old South Indian styled temple
Radhe Mohan Temple - get ready for the massacre
Yamuna ghat - where people take holy dip and can see where Krishna was supposed to have played with his friends.
Vrindavan - People believe that Krishna visits every night here and no one has ventured out to see him.

Things to do
1. Drink the butter milk (with butter and milk cream)
2. Take a round at the Vrindavan
3. Take a boat ride on Yamuna and see the bathing ghats
4. Clap and Laugh loudly. People believe that a person who comes here and laughs will continue that happiness through out his life!

Mathura
This is the place where Lord Sri Krishna had ousted his maternal uncle and ruled the Kingdom.

Mathura is enroute to Agra from Delhi, after Vrindavan.

The Sri Krishna temple complex is very big. The temple closes by 12.00 noon and opens in the evening. Krishna rules. We had been there on August 17,2006 the day after the Krishna Janmashtami was celebrated. It was extremely crowded with the Go-paalakas of Uttar Pradesh.

You can shop here for Sri Krishna- Radhe photos and other religious things.

We did not venture out much as we had had a bad experience in Vrindavan.

In and around Badrinath

2006-09-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Vishnu Prayag

Backdrop of Hanuman Chetti

River Saraswati is only seen here

Auli (Ski Resort)

Beautiful Mana Village

Badrinath - Travel Details

2006-09-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

The Route
Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Dev Prayag – Srinagar – Rudraprayag –Pipalkoti – Karnaprayag - Nanda prayag - Joshimath – Gobind Ghat – Vishnu Prayag – Badrinath - Mana village

Distance To Badrinath from:
Delhi - 518 km,
Haridwar - 321 km
Dehradun 343 kmRishikesh - 297 km
Deoprayag - 225 km
Rudraprayag - 155 km
Karnprayag - 123 km
Joshimath - 42 km (takes 2.30 – 3.00 hours)

STD Codes
Haridwar: 0133
Devprayag : 01378
Rudraprayag : 01364
Karanprayag : 01363
Nandaprayag : 01372
Joshimath: 01389
Badrinath: 01381 (Only BSNL and Reliance telephone works here)

Accommodation
Most of the above mentioned halts have GMVN. There are a string of many other hotels as well. I have heard that during season finding a room could be extremely difficult and better to book before.

Rates: During off season the rates can go down to 300-500 and during season it will go up to 1000rs. Bargaining works. You can also get dormitory. Generally, GMVNs give a dorm free for the taxi driver.

Climate at Joshimath/Badrinath
Winter: Too Cold. Badrinath is anyway NOT accessible. Joshimath/Auli is accessible for Skiing. Obvious that you have to have loads of warm clothes.
May End-June and Oct Beginning: Very Cold. Warm clothes - a must. The roads will be brought back to proper conditions by the Force.
July - September : Pleasant. Carry one or two pullovers. Night's are cold and the hotels provide a thick rajai for you to curl in them. This time being rainy season, the condition of roads are very bad and sometimes risky.

Travel Services
There are many buses that start from Rishikesh/Haridwar to Badrinath early morning by 5.30am and vice versa from Badrinath. It will be better to book them one night before at the least. You can also hire a car/jeep for the travel purpose.

Food
From Haridwar you will find many dhaba’s on the roadside which generally provide Rice, Roti and daal and generally they are good. You will also get modified version of South Indian and Chinese. Try to get food at a smaller dhabha and in a smaller village than a hotel in a major town. Most of the hotels aren’t very clean. All these hotels serve vegetarian food only.

Shopping
Rishikesh
Best place to shop, especially for precious stones, Saligrams, Rudraksh and stuff like that. Woolen clothes are cheap here as well.

Joshimath
You will get good shawls, CDs and cassettes. They said that we could find Saligram, Rudraksh and precious stones here but we could not find much.

Badrinath
I felt that it’s very expensive to buy any precious thing here. Otherwise general shopping can be done.

Sode, Soda, Sonde – Sri Bhootaraja’s Sannidhana

2006-09-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

Sri Vadiraja Matha, Sode

Soda/Sode/Sonda is a tiny hamlet in Sirsi Taluk, 17 kms off the town. This is the place chosen by Sri Vadiraja Swamy, pontiff of Vadiraja Math, one of the eight Udupi Ashta Matha’s.

Places to visit here:
Sri Rama Trivikrama Temple
Sri Bhootaraja Temple
Sri Vadiraja Brindavana(Samadhi)
Tapovana (Where Vadiraja Swami meditated)

There are many more places like Swarnavalli Matha, etc to visit, but I have seen only these. All the above three are located very close. The last two are in the same complex.

The temple rituals timings are:
Morning
8:30 Trivikram Devara Pooja
9:00 Vrindavan Pooja
10:00 Bhootarajar Pooja
11:45 Teertha Prasad(lunch)

Evening
6:30 Trivikrama Pooja
7:00 Vrindavan Pooja
7:45 Bhootarajar Pooja
8:15 Teerthaprasad (Dinner)

As this is a very small place, the make-shift hotels near by offer home made food and at their convenience. You might have to go and knock the door to checkout for cup of tea at odd hours.

The temple complex has Chatra /Retiring rooms for a nominal fee. Or one can stay at Sirsi and visit this place.

There are many private run buses from Bangalore to this place, as it’s of religious importance to the followers of Ashta Matha, and also the Swarnavalli Matha.

You want to relish the chirps of birds, lush green surroundings, peaceful atmosphere, just head to this place.

A visit to Badrinaryan’s Abode

2006-08-31T02:52:00.000-07:00

From Bangalore
After sufficient delays in the flight due to the bomb threats in Delhi and Mumbai Airport we reached Delhi a 2.30am. Reaching Gurgaon – IT & BPO capital of Haryana, took another 1 hour.

Plan
Day 1: Our plan was to reach any place on the route to Badrinath by evening/late evening.
Day 2: Reaching Badrinath and visiting the Lord Badri and Mana village.
Day 3: Spend sometime at Auli, the winter Ski Resort and reach Rishikesh
Day 4: Visit Rishikesh and Haridwar and reach Gurgaon back
(Day 1: August 12 & Day 4: August 15, 2006)

Bad start
We got ready by 5.00am to start our Badri trip. There was no sign of the car and as well as the driver. After lot of initial hiccups we started from Gurgaon only at 9.00am. Bad start! We halted in Delhi for some health checkup of the car. Finally, we started our trip to Badri around 10.00am from Delhi.

Day 1
We wanted to halt at Rudraprayag and it looked like we could not make it. Due to unavoidable delay around 1.00pm, we headed towards Rishikesh from UP. As we passed Rishikesh we enjoyed the initial preview of the Himalayas. Wow! Climate was extremely hot till Rishikesh and after that it started cooling down. We reached Byasi - the first village at the foot hills of Himalayas around 4.30pm. This place offers pretty good public conveniences. We were late and could not get lunch anywhere. We had something to satisfy our stomach and headed forward. As we neared Dev Prayag, it started raining heavily. Even with the heavy rains and thunders we were enjoying our first view of majestic Himalayas. We could reach till Srinagar by 7.45-8.00pm. We had decided to halt at GMVN here instead of venturing further. GMVN has good hotels in most of the places en-route.

Day 2
We could only start by 6.00am. We reached Rudraprayag by 7.30am and spent sometime at the Sangam where Alakananda meets Mandakini. We had breakfast and moved north. We reached a small hamlet near PipalKoti at around 11.00am. The area is like small plains below the Himalayas where rich paddy fields invite you to the sea of green. Spent sometime, had tea and proceeded to reach Joshimath around 12.30.

Joshimath
Jyotir math now called Joshimath was installed by Sri Shankaracharya. We visited Narasimha temple which is the winter resort of Sri Badri Narayana and his accomplices.

From Joshimath, the route to Badri is almost one way because of which traffic is controlled. The gates open at designated time from Badri and Joshimath. There’s one more gate at Govind Ghat which is synchronized with the initial gate timings.

The roads are scary due to the rainy season. At two or three places Alakananda had devoured the road and the mountains had to be cut to create new roads. The roads are steep, narrow, spoiled by frequent landslides and mountain deposits. A small mistake by the driver can fetch tickets to heaven/hell.

The first major station you get after Joshimath is Govind Ghat, where you can start trek to Hemkund Sahib – Sikh’s pilgrimage sight, Valley of Flowers and Kedarnath.

After Govind Ghat, major station to halt is Vishnu Prayag. Here, Alakananda meets Dauli Ganga or Dhavala Ganga. There’s a small temple devoted to Vishnu and a police check-post. Alakananda’s force is a terror as she flows down from Himalayas. At Vishnu Prayag, a power station is being constructed to generate power from Alakananda’s ferocity!

Hanuman Chatti is the next halt. People say that one should pray and visit his temple on the roadside before proceeding to Badrinath. We happily did it. There are many mountains surrounding it. The one behind the small shrine is called as “Hanuman Topi”. Localities mention that Hanuman did his tapasya here and when he was leaving this place, he left his topi there itself!

Mana
It took more than 3 hours to reach Badri from Joshimath with very small breaks. The road condition was that bad. We reached Badri around 5.30 so directly headed to Mana – last Indian village. This little hamlet smells of Sri Tulasi. After half a kilometer walkd, we reached the Bhim Pul, the place where Bhima had helped Druapadi on their way to Swarga. Here one can see Saraswati emerging from the mountains in lightening speed! The place is very cold and deafening. A must see.

There are two gufa’s one for Sri Vyasa and another one for Sri Ganapati. It’s said that Mahabharata was narrated by Sri Vyasa at a distance and Lord Ganapati wrote it as narrated.

Also, a little ahead is the Vasudhara – beautiful waterfall. We could not make it till there as it was getting dark. We had the Tulusi Chai which tastes a little different and came back to Badri.

Badrinath Temple
After checking in to the hotel at GMVN we went to the temple around 7.00pm. The temple was not all that crowded compared to what I had heard of during season time. I suppose during season it takes 5 -10 hours of waiting in the queue to get darshan. People were pushing from all the sides. But it was a good darshan.

One thing that amused and surprised me was the Pooja rates. The minimum one had to pay for a pooja is 750Rs and can go on till 10,000Rs! As usual, priests were like modern beggars asking for dakshina only then they would handover the prasada!

We got to see the Nirmalya Pooja and immediately after that by 8.00 the temple closed.

Next morning, we went to the Tapt Kund by 4.30am though it opens by 4.00am. The glacier provides a good refreshing hot water bath to the tired body. Almost boiling water gives a sense of relief and removes the fatigue and fills in more energy. The steam of the boiling water can be seen at a distance while crossing Alakananda to enter into the shrine.

Sri Badrinarayan was getting dressed up for the day. We prayed to Him and requested that He give us more chances to visit His beautiful abode.

Backward Journey
Back in the car at 6.45am, we were already late for the first gate. Indica gave up starting and was chilling in the pleasant weather of Sri Badrinath. After half an hour’s try slowly the car gave signals of moving forward which we did not hesitate to move forward.

It was extremely cloudy and drizzling and we could see only at a distance of hardly 100meters. Slowly we moved down. On the way back near Vishnu prayag, the newly carved out mountain was slowly shredding off its weight and we had the adrenaline rush of our life to cross that patch. We had seen many such bad patches through-out but this one was ultimate!

Govind Ghat
We halted at Govind Ghat for breakfast. It was raining and it meant that we had to wait at many places seeing the Himalayas shredding their weight on the roads from a distance! :)
Luckily, as we progressed the weather cleared. A sigh of relief!

Though we planned to reach Rishikesh by evening, we could only make it till Srinagar by 7.00pm due to many delays while descending. We spent sometime near the river side where Alakananda spreads herself in the temporary plains of Srinagar. Then we relaxed in the night planning about the next day’s program.

Dev Prayag
We started at 6.00am with a chai and headed to Dev Prayag the most visited of Prayag’s where Alakananda meets Bhagirathi to become Ganga. Spent sometime here and moved to reach Rishikesh.

Rishikesh
Ganga and the Yoga centers make Rishikesh a place worth visit. There are many places to visit here but I felt, Rishikesh is the best place to shop for Navaratna, Saligrams, Rudraksh and precious stones. You will get the original one’s and at the right price. There are many state owned shops which give the certificate also.

Haridwar
Reached Haridwar and directly headed to Chandi Mata mandir on top of the hill. We tried the cable car to the temple which was good. Our next destination was Palimaru Math. We went there by 4.30pm, met one purified soul – Sri Acharya, an engineer, who was there to help the construction. But due to some legal problems the construction has been halted. We purified ourselves in the Ganges and took the blessings of Sri Swamiji who was there for his Chaturmasya Vrat. Had a sumptuous lunch after ages (4 days in our case) and took their farewell.

Ganga Arti
We waited for the Ganga Arti till 7.15pm in the evening. Har ki Pairi was full to its brim with the pilgrims. People looked like ants swarming around. Luckily, we had a very good view of the Arti. Time to say bye bye Haridwar and we did exactly the same.

En-route to Gurgaon, at Muzzafarabad, one tyre gave up after traveling 1000km in 4 days. Bad luck was that the tyre changing kit was missing in the car. After waking up many people the tyre was replaced and we reached Gurgaon at 2.00am.

Our pilgrimage to Badrinath happened almost as planned and went on without major problems. Thanks to the Almighty.

Badrinath, is a must visit for anyone weather an ardent devotee or a nature lover or one who marvels the science and technology. My hope is that this writing should inspire you to visit Badrinath at least once.

Jog Falls, Karnataka

2006-08-31T01:21:00.000-07:00

A waterfall near Jog

The Jog Falls

The other side of Jog

"Manavanagi huttida mele en en kandi
Saayotanaka samsaradolage gandaa gundi...
Herikondu hogodilla sattaag bandi
Irodra olage omme nodu Joga gundi..."

This little poem talks philosophically and takes you to Joga. It says, what have all you seen after being born as a human. Till the death, you are involved in the up's and down's of life... and not that you can carry everything when you die, so make sure you visit Joga at least once in your lifetime!

Not an exaggeration this poem is! Joga lives it. After the monsoon starts and rivers start swelling and increasing their weight, it's a feast to see Jog falls in full swing. River Sharavati falls into a gorge in four cascades – known locally as Raja, Rani, Rover, and Rocket 253 meters downwards to become the Asia's highest falls.

August, Septmeber is the right time to visit Jog Falls. The river will be in full swing and you can see the gushing water pouring. You can go almost till the bottom of this falls, better when the water is less. The Jog falls under the village called Gerusoppa where Sharavati's ferociousness is used to generate power.

There are few hotels in Jog. The food is not very good. Best option would be to halt at near by places like Shimoga or Sirsi and visit Jog.

We had halted in Sirsi and went to visit Jog falls. Jog is at a distance of 60kms from Sirsi which can be traversed in 1-1.5 hours. Sirsi has pretty good hotels to stay as well. We had hired a car from Srinivas Joshi for Rs. 800 and a day's travel.

Saayodrolage omme nodu Joga gundi!