Honeymoon in Himalayas
June
6: Our day starts early at 3AM. Today we are starting on our honeymoon.
Not everybody amongst our elders is convinced with our travel plans.
Friends are surprised to know our plans, but wish us good luck. We have
decided to start our life together with a visit to Himalayas. We board
the Air Deccan flight to Delhi at 5.50AM. My backpack weighs 12kg,
while Veena's weighs 8kg. We take a bus from ISBT, Delhi to
Rishikesh, which refuses to go past Haridwar due to heavy traffic jam
on Haridwar-Rishikesh route. We pay a hefty sum to a Rickshaw to reach
Rishikesh. It starts to rain heavily when we land in Rishikesh. Not a
good beginning to our long tour ahead by any means. We settle down in
the first available hotel near Rishikesh bus stand.
Our plan is to travel to Yamunotri early morning next day. But no bookings (GMVN bus) are available to Yamunotri. But tickets to Gangotri are available. We decide to go for it.
June 7: We wake up at 5AM and approach the GMVN bus to Gangotri. Bus conductor has given our seats to somebody else (for reasons best known to him) and they refuse to vacate. After some heated argument, conductor manages to secure two not-so-comfortable seats for us. I am not at all surprised by this; I see that GMVN buses, the drivers and the conductors haven't made progress in last 5 years. I have seen the same story of chaos every year, this being my 4th visit to this place.
After 13 hours of torturous travel we reach Gangotri at 7.45PM. There is nothing good to say about this travel from Rishikesh to Gangotri in GMVN bus. The story is same to any other destination, be it Yamunotri, Kedarnath or Badrinath. Driver inaugurates smoking and the conductor follows it up religiously every 15 minutes. Passengers (mainly local ones) don't loose a chance to light up a Beedi. Bus stops everywhere to pick up the local passengers in utter disregard to the long distance travelers. This route ideally should take 9-10hours, but we are at the mercy of the driver and he knows it.
The saving grace of this journey is the spectacular surrounding mountains. The route, most of the times follows the Bhagirathi river. We go past the important town of Uttarkashi where buses generally stop for lunch.
Its cold and raining when we reach Gangotri. It takes an effort to get our wet backpacks down from the bus. We waste no time in checking into the first available room. After a good dinner, we crash for the day.
June 8: The alarm rings at 4.15AM. My thermometer is reading 5C. We pack our bags, dress up in our trek attire and leave Gangotri at 5.15AM. Our plan is to go till Gaumukh and we have two days for completing this. The route from Gangotri to Gaumukh is in total 18km with Gangotri to Bhojbasa 14km and Bhojbasa to Gaumukh 4km. While Gangotri is at 3048m, Bhojbasa is at 3972m and Gaumukh is at 4200m.
The Bhagirathi peaks (I, II & III) remain visible for most part of the route. A few other snow capped peaks are also visible along the route (one is Meru and other is Sumeru as mentioned by a local villager). We go past Chirbasa village enroute. This place gets its name from the Pine trees that grow here. We reach Bhojbasa at 12.15PM. Bhojbasa gets its name from the Birch trees present here. Trekkers who venture further ahead to Tapovan and Nandanban and piligrims to Gaumukh prefer to spend the night in Bhojbasa. Bhojbasa has a cluster of dhabasa providing food and shelter. There is a GMVN rest house which has rooms and tents. There is also an Ashram here which provides free food and accommodation to piligrims.
Since we have arrived earlier than expected, we decide to visit Gaumukh before resting for the night in Bhojbasa. We manage to get two beds in GMVN tents. GMVN has pitched 4 huge tents each accommodating 8 cots. After finishing lunch in GMVN canteen, we start to Gaumukh at 1.15PM. The route from Bhojbasa to Gaumukh is a bit hard as it mostly passes through huge boulders alongside Bhagirathi river. Shivling peak is not visible today due to heavy clouds. It appears that it might rain any time and it worries us. We walk quickly ignoring the slight dizziness caused by high altitude. We at at Gaumukh at 2.30PM. Gaumukh is the place where the glacier ends and the river begins. Though Gangotri is worshipped as the birth place of river Ganga, it technically originates from Gaumukh. I can now understand why our Puranas say that King Bhagiratha brought down the Ganga from heaven, this place is nothing short of any heaven. We spend an hour in this heaven before starting back to Bhojbasa. Though this is the first trek of any sorts for Veena, she has done commendably well, she isn't complaining. Another cold night is spent in Bhojbasa.
June 9: Today also we get up at 4.15AM. The thermometer reads 3C. We wait for sometime to get a glimpse of Bhagirathi peaks in the first rays of sun, but give it up as it is too cloudy. We start back on our 14km return trek Gangotri at 4.45AM. As sun rises, we get to see the bright colored peaks all around. This view of peaks in the early sunlight is worth all the effort.
We reach Chirbasa at 6.45AM. Breakfast is finished with a highly refreshing cup of masala tea. Tea down south has never tasted so good. Walking back is always tiresome and we manage to reach Gangotri at 11AM. We need to reach as close to Yamunotri as possible today itself. We catch the 11.30AM bus to Uttarkashi. It is pouring hard when we reach Uttarkashi at 5.30PM. We check into a hotel. We manage to visit the famous Vishwanatha temple of Uttarkashi.
June 10: Today we get up a bit late at 5.30AM. We have reserved the tickets to Hanumanchatti (2143m) yesterday itself. Bus leaves Uttarkashi at 7AM. We break for lunch at Barkot. We are at Hanumanchatti at 3PM. One has to take jeep to Jankichatti (2676m) from here. We meet a family from Punjab who have been following the same route as us from Gangotri. While they decide to climb Yamunotri (3235m) on the same day, we settle down in a hotel. The hotel room offers an excellent view of the Yamunotri mountains.
June 11; This is going to be a long day, Our plan is to climb up to Yamunotri, return and if possible reach Dehradun on the same day. Day begins early at 4.30AM. We are out on the trail to Yamunotri at 5.15AM. We do a continuously steep uphill climb to reach Yamunotri at 7.30AM. I refresh myself with a hot sulphur water bath. After a quick visit to the shrine and breakfast, we start down.
Our plan is to travel to Yamunotri early morning next day. But no bookings (GMVN bus) are available to Yamunotri. But tickets to Gangotri are available. We decide to go for it.
June 7: We wake up at 5AM and approach the GMVN bus to Gangotri. Bus conductor has given our seats to somebody else (for reasons best known to him) and they refuse to vacate. After some heated argument, conductor manages to secure two not-so-comfortable seats for us. I am not at all surprised by this; I see that GMVN buses, the drivers and the conductors haven't made progress in last 5 years. I have seen the same story of chaos every year, this being my 4th visit to this place.
After 13 hours of torturous travel we reach Gangotri at 7.45PM. There is nothing good to say about this travel from Rishikesh to Gangotri in GMVN bus. The story is same to any other destination, be it Yamunotri, Kedarnath or Badrinath. Driver inaugurates smoking and the conductor follows it up religiously every 15 minutes. Passengers (mainly local ones) don't loose a chance to light up a Beedi. Bus stops everywhere to pick up the local passengers in utter disregard to the long distance travelers. This route ideally should take 9-10hours, but we are at the mercy of the driver and he knows it.
The saving grace of this journey is the spectacular surrounding mountains. The route, most of the times follows the Bhagirathi river. We go past the important town of Uttarkashi where buses generally stop for lunch.
Its cold and raining when we reach Gangotri. It takes an effort to get our wet backpacks down from the bus. We waste no time in checking into the first available room. After a good dinner, we crash for the day.
June 8: The alarm rings at 4.15AM. My thermometer is reading 5C. We pack our bags, dress up in our trek attire and leave Gangotri at 5.15AM. Our plan is to go till Gaumukh and we have two days for completing this. The route from Gangotri to Gaumukh is in total 18km with Gangotri to Bhojbasa 14km and Bhojbasa to Gaumukh 4km. While Gangotri is at 3048m, Bhojbasa is at 3972m and Gaumukh is at 4200m.
The Bhagirathi peaks (I, II & III) remain visible for most part of the route. A few other snow capped peaks are also visible along the route (one is Meru and other is Sumeru as mentioned by a local villager). We go past Chirbasa village enroute. This place gets its name from the Pine trees that grow here. We reach Bhojbasa at 12.15PM. Bhojbasa gets its name from the Birch trees present here. Trekkers who venture further ahead to Tapovan and Nandanban and piligrims to Gaumukh prefer to spend the night in Bhojbasa. Bhojbasa has a cluster of dhabasa providing food and shelter. There is a GMVN rest house which has rooms and tents. There is also an Ashram here which provides free food and accommodation to piligrims.
Since we have arrived earlier than expected, we decide to visit Gaumukh before resting for the night in Bhojbasa. We manage to get two beds in GMVN tents. GMVN has pitched 4 huge tents each accommodating 8 cots. After finishing lunch in GMVN canteen, we start to Gaumukh at 1.15PM. The route from Bhojbasa to Gaumukh is a bit hard as it mostly passes through huge boulders alongside Bhagirathi river. Shivling peak is not visible today due to heavy clouds. It appears that it might rain any time and it worries us. We walk quickly ignoring the slight dizziness caused by high altitude. We at at Gaumukh at 2.30PM. Gaumukh is the place where the glacier ends and the river begins. Though Gangotri is worshipped as the birth place of river Ganga, it technically originates from Gaumukh. I can now understand why our Puranas say that King Bhagiratha brought down the Ganga from heaven, this place is nothing short of any heaven. We spend an hour in this heaven before starting back to Bhojbasa. Though this is the first trek of any sorts for Veena, she has done commendably well, she isn't complaining. Another cold night is spent in Bhojbasa.
June 9: Today also we get up at 4.15AM. The thermometer reads 3C. We wait for sometime to get a glimpse of Bhagirathi peaks in the first rays of sun, but give it up as it is too cloudy. We start back on our 14km return trek Gangotri at 4.45AM. As sun rises, we get to see the bright colored peaks all around. This view of peaks in the early sunlight is worth all the effort.
We reach Chirbasa at 6.45AM. Breakfast is finished with a highly refreshing cup of masala tea. Tea down south has never tasted so good. Walking back is always tiresome and we manage to reach Gangotri at 11AM. We need to reach as close to Yamunotri as possible today itself. We catch the 11.30AM bus to Uttarkashi. It is pouring hard when we reach Uttarkashi at 5.30PM. We check into a hotel. We manage to visit the famous Vishwanatha temple of Uttarkashi.
June 10: Today we get up a bit late at 5.30AM. We have reserved the tickets to Hanumanchatti (2143m) yesterday itself. Bus leaves Uttarkashi at 7AM. We break for lunch at Barkot. We are at Hanumanchatti at 3PM. One has to take jeep to Jankichatti (2676m) from here. We meet a family from Punjab who have been following the same route as us from Gangotri. While they decide to climb Yamunotri (3235m) on the same day, we settle down in a hotel. The hotel room offers an excellent view of the Yamunotri mountains.
June 11; This is going to be a long day, Our plan is to climb up to Yamunotri, return and if possible reach Dehradun on the same day. Day begins early at 4.30AM. We are out on the trail to Yamunotri at 5.15AM. We do a continuously steep uphill climb to reach Yamunotri at 7.30AM. I refresh myself with a hot sulphur water bath. After a quick visit to the shrine and breakfast, we start down.
We are at Hanumanchatti at 11AM. The Punjab family joins us here, together we fill a jeep. We are lucky to have a group because jeep won't leave until its full. Our jeep journey to Barkot starts with ladies occupying available few seats and men dumped like sheep in the back of the vehicle. Its tough to travel in a jeep like a luggage especially in that ghat route. A couple of villagers are standing on the edge, even after warning from the driver. Our jeep is stopped by Police and the two villagers and the driver get square beatings from Police. Here there is no fine for breaking rules; you are punished then and there. From Barkot we take another jeep to reach a village called Naugaun. From Naugaun we book another jeep to reach Vikasnagar. We take a bus from Vikasnagar to Dehradun. We arrive at Dehradun at 9PM. The surroundings look unfamiliar to me; I am told that we are in the new bus stand which is out of the city. We book an auto and ask the driver to take us to a good hotel in the city. Today all hotels in Dehradun are overflowing due to some army function in the city. We barely manage to get a single bedroom in a hotel. We are not bothered; our dead tired bodies quickly crash.
June 12: Today we don't have a target time to get up. We have finished the hard and good part of our honeymoon and we still have days left to do some more travel. Today we will do local sight seeing around Dehradun. First we visit Mussouri, the queen of hills. We feel that this is a highly over rated hill station. I am sure that's the feeling you get when you are coming from the heavenly places like Gangotri and Gaumukh. Or may be Mussouri looks different when it snows. We also visit Kempty falls as every other visitor to this place does. Again this is one water falls which is highly over rated by tourists. Nothing spectacular, but still people flock to this place so much so that the route is blocked by vehicles for hours together and one has to literally walk to reach the place. We finally manage to come out this messy place and reach Dehradun. Today the hotel is empty and we shift to a better double room.
June 13: We are traveling by train to reach Haridwar. We head straight to Karnataka Dharmashala. This is my 4th visit to this place; I am delighted to see the old proprietor Mr.Ramamurthy. We check into a decent room here. Today we have all the time in the world to explore the crowded lanes of Haridwar. We do some shopping, eat some freshly made sweets, cool ourselves with lassi and finally end the day by attending the Ganga Arati.
June
14: We have to board the Air Deccan flight from Delhi tonight to
Bangalore. I get a message on my mobile that its delayed by 2 hours.
We travel to Delhi by bus. We check into the domestic airport only to
realize that there is not a good enough place in this airport to have a
decent dinner. The one place which
serves dinner has a bar along
with it. We spend some time in it; feel odd in the company of well
dressed people sipping a drink. We walk out and satisfy our appetite by
sandwich and coffee in the only available snack joint in the airport.
After a couple of hours of unscheduled delay, our plane finally arrives
to take us and we arrive in Bangalore early morning 4AM.
June 15: I get up late and start to office. Veena is lucky; she has a week more of vacation to get used to the new home.
Bharata - bharata[dot]rao[at]gmail[dot]c0m
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