Har ki Dun trip - Day 1
well, here i go ... starting the world of blogging with my last trek to har ki dun. anywyas, what else to write ... nothing exciting happening in chennai and people don't like to read on derivatives just for fun and entertainment
so, some months ago, after all the final exams, assignments, n everything else was over ... i zoomed off to har ki dun. first stop was delhi, dumped my stuff there, and then off i went to dehradun. stayed put in ddoon for a day, checked out kempty falls (walked to that place and back from rajpur road). the enxt day i set off to the bus stand. there were no direct buses to purola, so i followed the old policy of hop, skip n jump. there was a bus going to damta, which i boarded. some bong tourists were also there - college students from calcutta, out for their hols. they were pretty excited to see the hills.
from mussoorie, u got some good view of the snow clad peaks.
In mussoorie, the bus stopped for some time, during which i clicked some snaps. the views were very pretty. i met another guy, a med-rep (medical representative) who was also going to purola. he sells drugs, etc for the doctors over there. now this bus was only uptil damta. so i decided to tag along with him till purola.
after mussoorie, the path just goes down down n more down. then u cross the river and travel on the other side of the road. it is part of the mussorie chakrata route. the route was ok but the bus was a bit cranky. so it shook a lot and someone with a sensitive ehad can have a headache pretty quickly. as for me, i was overjoyed in being back in the hills, so no headache problems for me.
the bus went till damta, another small town next to the river. there was another bus which would go to purola, but it seemed pretty "closed" with small windows. the first one was more spacious, or so i felt. so we both decided to hitch a ride in a jeep. luckily, this MR chap found some chaps from another pharma company who were also out there to sell some of their stuff. so we hitched a lift from them till netwar.
well, those buggers gave us a lift till netwar, but then asked for 30 bucks (for drinks) .
hard luck yaar, i was thinking we came for free in the car. anyways, i sadly parted with 15 bucks. actually, my MR friend later told me that these guys r from a rival pharma company, so they might have asked him for 30 bucks. plus, he had also told them that i was his cuz and was just coming along with him to check out the place, etc... none of that worked.
from netwar, there r 2 different roads heading further up. one is to barkot (on the yamunotri route), which we had taken once, a long time ago, on a school trip. the other one goes to the tons valley. we took a bus for purola which is in the tons valley. as soon as u cross the bridge and enter the tons valley, things get a shade "greener" . slowly, the arwa starts to resemble a "fairyland"... and by the time u reach purola, ur eyes r feeling sooooo good after seeing so many beautiful pine trees and pine cones all around, a gentle stream flowing below, small huts .. mmm, i am in a different time zone altogether.
well, this nice friend of mine got down at purola. i had earlier decided to stay in purola fro the night, but since i reached it at 2:30 pm, i decided to carry on. now, we had met a guy in the bus, a teacher, who sort of really started pestering me...asking me to visit his house in mori (the last bus stop). earlier, i was friendly with him, but then i tried to ignore him when he really started asking too much. he also bough some grapes for himself, and offered a bit "too many" to me. well, i also had 20-30 and then politely refused any more.
i guess then he tried to indicate that he was not trying to pester me or pamper me. so he offered the grapes to the other kids sitting round him. in fact, wither he was a very generous n kind hearted person or there was some sinister motive behind it. it was a slightly crowded bus n we all were sitting in the front part. check the above pic..he is the guy with a traditional "topi" on his head ... sitting right at the front of the bus. there was a garhwali village gal sitting next to me (in a typical garhwali costume, etc). she told the lady sittign enxt to her in pahari that "un bacchon ke to bhagya khul gaye hain" (those kids' r having a lucky day today) --- coz they were being offered so many grapes by a stranger.
ok, enough of that man. now let's talk about the journey. it was sooooooo beautiful. yaar, mazaa aa gayaa (dude, i had lots of fun). from purola to jermola..and beyaond...is a stretch of the most beautiful pine forest in the world. it is a sight whose beauty can only be seen and experienced, it cannot be written down in words. i was wondering n musing n thinkign to myself..that in the old days, the rishi-munis, sages n ascetics used to give up all their worldly pleasures n come here for tapasya (prayers). well, after looking at this beauty, one can very well understand that they came to the right place. it is a world that is different from what u will see in places liek delhi, noida, chennai, blore...and much more beautiful, more more happy...there is something about the place that pulls u to it.
near jermola, i heard, is the largest pine tree in the world. the good thing about buses is that u can travel evry cheaply. the bad thing is that u canniot make the driver stop to take pics. i will definitely go there agin someday n take lots n lots of pics of that place. bjarne strostroup developed c++ to be a better verion of c. i think God made that area to be a better version of heaven.
later on, a person also got his goat in the bus. well, i had taken my doggie many times on a bus (even on a rickshaw), but this was very funny .. at elast i felt so. i triedto take some pics of the goat but she was very fidgety. first time she turned away from em as i was adjusting the camera. thus the backside pic. 2nd time i was able to capture her face pic. later on i learnt that she was going to be "dinner". poor goat
Well, after Mori (the last stop of the bus), i took a small jeep to netwar. i was planning to reach sankri, if there was time. otherwise i would have to spend the night in netwar. well, i had to try really hard to fit into the jeep. the drivers try to stuff in as many ppl as possible. one of the guys among them was a wildlife warden. so he said i will have to pay soem money for entry into that area which wasa national wildlife park. it was equal to 90 bucks, but he charged 10 more....
he told me that i could stay in the forest guest houses along the way. well, that took care of one problem. we reached netwar in the evning, around 6 pm or so. i though that it would not be wise to go all the way up to sankri coz it'll be pretty dark n the road can be pretty narrow at some points.
the forest guest house is situated some way ahead of the village. there si a small hut below it where another chap employed by the forest deptt. stays with his family. the guard stays below in the village. so i had to go up, and then ask these ppl to call the guard. the guard came up, asked for the reservation. well, i said i did nto have any, so he, rather reluctantly, opened it up for me. now that was a bit scary. the place is ok, with bed, kitchen. but no electricity. n if u have to stay there alone, no electricity n opnly candles, in the forest, night time, it can get a bit like a horror movie.
he opened it up for me n left. but after checking the place, i decided that it would be really tough to stay therre for the night. so i thought of checking out at some other places. first i went down to the village to have some dinner. a gorkha lady runs a nice lil dhabha with hot food. dinner is for 25 bucks. if u don't take rice, then it is worth 18 bucks.
after having a nice dinner i went around the place. there was a small restaurant, which offered beds for the night. cost of 1 bed = rs. 25. i decided to spend the nigth there. zzzzzzzzzz.
so, some months ago, after all the final exams, assignments, n everything else was over ... i zoomed off to har ki dun. first stop was delhi, dumped my stuff there, and then off i went to dehradun. stayed put in ddoon for a day, checked out kempty falls (walked to that place and back from rajpur road). the enxt day i set off to the bus stand. there were no direct buses to purola, so i followed the old policy of hop, skip n jump. there was a bus going to damta, which i boarded. some bong tourists were also there - college students from calcutta, out for their hols. they were pretty excited to see the hills.
from mussoorie, u got some good view of the snow clad peaks.
In mussoorie, the bus stopped for some time, during which i clicked some snaps. the views were very pretty. i met another guy, a med-rep (medical representative) who was also going to purola. he sells drugs, etc for the doctors over there. now this bus was only uptil damta. so i decided to tag along with him till purola.
after mussoorie, the path just goes down down n more down. then u cross the river and travel on the other side of the road. it is part of the mussorie chakrata route. the route was ok but the bus was a bit cranky. so it shook a lot and someone with a sensitive ehad can have a headache pretty quickly. as for me, i was overjoyed in being back in the hills, so no headache problems for me.
the bus went till damta, another small town next to the river. there was another bus which would go to purola, but it seemed pretty "closed" with small windows. the first one was more spacious, or so i felt. so we both decided to hitch a ride in a jeep. luckily, this MR chap found some chaps from another pharma company who were also out there to sell some of their stuff. so we hitched a lift from them till netwar.
well, those buggers gave us a lift till netwar, but then asked for 30 bucks (for drinks) .
hard luck yaar, i was thinking we came for free in the car. anyways, i sadly parted with 15 bucks. actually, my MR friend later told me that these guys r from a rival pharma company, so they might have asked him for 30 bucks. plus, he had also told them that i was his cuz and was just coming along with him to check out the place, etc... none of that worked.
from netwar, there r 2 different roads heading further up. one is to barkot (on the yamunotri route), which we had taken once, a long time ago, on a school trip. the other one goes to the tons valley. we took a bus for purola which is in the tons valley. as soon as u cross the bridge and enter the tons valley, things get a shade "greener" . slowly, the arwa starts to resemble a "fairyland"... and by the time u reach purola, ur eyes r feeling sooooo good after seeing so many beautiful pine trees and pine cones all around, a gentle stream flowing below, small huts .. mmm, i am in a different time zone altogether.
well, this nice friend of mine got down at purola. i had earlier decided to stay in purola fro the night, but since i reached it at 2:30 pm, i decided to carry on. now, we had met a guy in the bus, a teacher, who sort of really started pestering me...asking me to visit his house in mori (the last bus stop). earlier, i was friendly with him, but then i tried to ignore him when he really started asking too much. he also bough some grapes for himself, and offered a bit "too many" to me. well, i also had 20-30 and then politely refused any more.
i guess then he tried to indicate that he was not trying to pester me or pamper me. so he offered the grapes to the other kids sitting round him. in fact, wither he was a very generous n kind hearted person or there was some sinister motive behind it. it was a slightly crowded bus n we all were sitting in the front part. check the above pic..he is the guy with a traditional "topi" on his head ... sitting right at the front of the bus. there was a garhwali village gal sitting next to me (in a typical garhwali costume, etc). she told the lady sittign enxt to her in pahari that "un bacchon ke to bhagya khul gaye hain" (those kids' r having a lucky day today) --- coz they were being offered so many grapes by a stranger.
ok, enough of that man. now let's talk about the journey. it was sooooooo beautiful. yaar, mazaa aa gayaa (dude, i had lots of fun). from purola to jermola..and beyaond...is a stretch of the most beautiful pine forest in the world. it is a sight whose beauty can only be seen and experienced, it cannot be written down in words. i was wondering n musing n thinkign to myself..that in the old days, the rishi-munis, sages n ascetics used to give up all their worldly pleasures n come here for tapasya (prayers). well, after looking at this beauty, one can very well understand that they came to the right place. it is a world that is different from what u will see in places liek delhi, noida, chennai, blore...and much more beautiful, more more happy...there is something about the place that pulls u to it.
near jermola, i heard, is the largest pine tree in the world. the good thing about buses is that u can travel evry cheaply. the bad thing is that u canniot make the driver stop to take pics. i will definitely go there agin someday n take lots n lots of pics of that place. bjarne strostroup developed c++ to be a better verion of c. i think God made that area to be a better version of heaven.
later on, a person also got his goat in the bus. well, i had taken my doggie many times on a bus (even on a rickshaw), but this was very funny .. at elast i felt so. i triedto take some pics of the goat but she was very fidgety. first time she turned away from em as i was adjusting the camera. thus the backside pic. 2nd time i was able to capture her face pic. later on i learnt that she was going to be "dinner". poor goat
Well, after Mori (the last stop of the bus), i took a small jeep to netwar. i was planning to reach sankri, if there was time. otherwise i would have to spend the night in netwar. well, i had to try really hard to fit into the jeep. the drivers try to stuff in as many ppl as possible. one of the guys among them was a wildlife warden. so he said i will have to pay soem money for entry into that area which wasa national wildlife park. it was equal to 90 bucks, but he charged 10 more....
he told me that i could stay in the forest guest houses along the way. well, that took care of one problem. we reached netwar in the evning, around 6 pm or so. i though that it would not be wise to go all the way up to sankri coz it'll be pretty dark n the road can be pretty narrow at some points.
the forest guest house is situated some way ahead of the village. there si a small hut below it where another chap employed by the forest deptt. stays with his family. the guard stays below in the village. so i had to go up, and then ask these ppl to call the guard. the guard came up, asked for the reservation. well, i said i did nto have any, so he, rather reluctantly, opened it up for me. now that was a bit scary. the place is ok, with bed, kitchen. but no electricity. n if u have to stay there alone, no electricity n opnly candles, in the forest, night time, it can get a bit like a horror movie.
he opened it up for me n left. but after checking the place, i decided that it would be really tough to stay therre for the night. so i thought of checking out at some other places. first i went down to the village to have some dinner. a gorkha lady runs a nice lil dhabha with hot food. dinner is for 25 bucks. if u don't take rice, then it is worth 18 bucks.
after having a nice dinner i went around the place. there was a small restaurant, which offered beds for the night. cost of 1 bed = rs. 25. i decided to spend the nigth there. zzzzzzzzzz.
posted by Prashant Joshi at 6:04 PM
5 Comments:
fantastic pictures. i am really jealous of you.
..liked ur flow in writing...mazaa aya..now let me get to day 2 :)
good, enjoy :-)
Nice Pic Dude
hey prashant, i had mailed you asking about a few details for Har-ki-dun trek in october ..anyways took me time to compile my blog and here it is
mellonmountain.blogspot.com
Post a Comment
<< Home