Uttarakhand :)

Reason to Smile: I am sure the title needs no introduction. I was there this January 2018 with the new year just popping out of the system to tell me "Don't you think you need a break from work? :P"

Yes, with all the mess happening around and stress that I kept feeling (for no reason) I knew I wanted to move out and be myself for a couple of days. I chose Uttarakhand for the mere reason that the destination is known for its peace, tranquility and serene nature. And that's exactly what I was looking forward to.

To my utmost surprise, the place not only gave me those chills down the spine -  Literally (minus 18 degrees:P) but also ensured that I get in touch with my own deep value of surrendering to the present ! That's life and that's what I used to always believe in for the longest of times. To me, only such long curvy, hilly and the most tricky patches of the road trips have been able to bring back that sense of belonging and shake my beliefs developed otherwise.

It is true that sometimes we tend to get so carried away in the dreamland that we live, that we do not realize on how real life works or rather we tend to ignore it for a while. My Uttarakhand Road trip made it just simple enough to understand that people, passion and perseverance are the only aspects that I should be counting for the rest of my life. And, this time around I wont budge :)

We started our road trip (7 monsters) from Delhi. All of us were from Mumbai and Travel Mates - Vishal had organised this very meticulously so that none of us come back home with those usual nags and complaints.

We landed in the evening and immediately tripped ourselves for an overnight journey to see the beautiful sunrise at Kumaon District. There are 13 districts in Uttarakhand which are grouped into two divisions, Kumaon and Garhwal. The agenda was to cover the Kumaon region in 5 days. The places we could possibly have the liberty to enjoy were : Nainital, Kasauni, Almora, Bageshwar Temple, Nanda Devi Temple, and Munsiyari. The average road travel time is about 8 to 10 hours daily !
Munsiyari remains one of the highest hill stations at an elevation of  about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) and is a starting point of various treks into the interior of the range. In local parlance, the name 'Munsiyari' refers to a 'place with snow'. Situated on the banks of Goriganga river, it is a fast-growing tourist destination, and mountaineers, glacier enthusiasts, high altitude trekkers and nature lovers commonly use it as their hub or base camp. 


It was a delight to enter a room with a view of Panchchuli Peaks right out of our bedroom window and feel the magnificent plunge hitting straight in your eyes ! The Key attractions noted : Nanda Devi Temple, Khaliya Top, Tribal Heritage Museum, and Kalamuni Temple.

The glimpses of this ecstatic paradise on earth from the Land of Gods are available on Facebook.

Do take a look and Keep Smiling :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Offbeat Goa :)

Image
Reason to Smile : The joblessness no matter how critical it may seem doesn't affect my travel life. There is nothing more that I can love about that. This time I got another chance to visit Goa. I was fortunate enough to explore those parts of Goa that I had not visited. I was there for a week and let me try and list them for my memories. Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary  is located in South Eastern  Goa.   It constitutes one of the vital corridors of the  Western Ghats  and covers an area of 211.05 km.  Netravali or Neturli is an important tributary of  River Zuari , which originates in the sanctuary. Forests mostly consist of moist deciduous vegetation interspersed with evergreen and semi-evergreen habitat. It is adjacent to  Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve , Karnataka on the eastern side,  Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary , Goa on the southern side and  Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park  on the northern sid...
Read more

Honnavar :)

Image
Reason to Smile: The lush green views, the rice and wheat plantations, the foggy mountains, the wet silver curvy roads and we 3 girls on a road trip. It all begins with this thought and check where we land up :) Honnavar - One small city in Karnataka, very close to Kumta, Gokarna, Murudeshwara Temple and many more such popular places. We headed straight to Madhu's native where her uncle lived. Her Mamaji, as we all affectionately called him, greeted us and was very strict about maintaining the schedule of our trip, for he was our official guide to take us to umpteen places around for sight seeing. Honnavar is a place not many people know about. We succumbed to a feeling that it was a good monsoon time to explore something unusual, less popular, and less commercial :) Day 1: So our first stop was a drive to Mirjan Fort. A huge fort located towards the South of Gokarna, about 30 kms from Honnavar is a fort that attracts visitors with its majestic looks.  As one enters the fo...
Read more

Kugaon Fort + Palasdeo Temple :)

Image
Reason to Smile: The movie made its roar in the Marathi film industry with all new faces as very sensitive and challenging characters as their debut. I have only heard about the movie and its feel shot at the backdrop of scenic adventure beautified by Kugav Fort near Solapur. I had seen them too in some of their promos on TV. While it looked exuberantly vibrant and beautiful, it was time to see whether it gives the same impact in real lights too ;) So without a doubt, there are number of nature lovers like me who had the same thought running on their minds. Ironically the place becomes just more popular only because its got highlighted in some movie. Or else Kugaon Fort was always there - just that it got visible to the public eye after 56 years of its existence !! Because all this while it was submerged under the crystal clear waters of River Bhima of Kugaon Village. It has significantly no traces of its charm on the web. So, it was surely not google this time to locate the place....
Read more