On the road

Day 1 of the journey: Pune-Delhi-Bagdogra-Phuentsholing “Look guys! We are crossing over to the other side!” I exclaimed.   I could not keep the sadness out of my voice as we crossed the Bhutan Gate and ended our week-long sojourn with Bhutan. The sense of loss and longing only intensified just after travelling a few metres into Jaigaon, India   from Phuentsholing, Bhutan. On the Indian side of the gate, there were crowds, incessant honking, heaps of dirt, no respect for traffic rules. On the Bhutan side of the gate, there was a sense of calm, peace, quiet, clean streets, non-fictional zebra crossings, no litter, and respect for traffic rules. It seemed extremely hard to believe that these countries that share a border can be so drastically different. “It’s all due to the population,” our driver had informed us on the first day. “The population of whole of Bhutan is around 6-7 lakhs, but in India, even a small district will have a much larger population.” There was definite

(Total distance travelled : approximately 1000km over a period of 5 days) Beautiful Goa!   If we don’t take a vacation every 2-3 months, we get severe withdrawal symptoms, the hubster and I. So after the Sirsi-Karwar road trip in January 2017, it was time for our yearly Goa pilgrimage in April. Goa is never disappointing and you can always find something or the other to do there, no matter how many times you visit. I had permission to leave early from work that day and the hubster came to pick me up. We had planned on leaving directly from my workplace, so he was all packed and loaded up and since we left at around 12 noon, we were on the highway in no time. NH4 is a road we have taken many many times. Though the road till Kolhapur is still being built, it was heartening indeed to see much of the work was done. Since there was not much traffic either, we really enjoyed the drive. There are signposts throughout and it is an easy drive to Goa. However, once we rea

It would actually begin today. We would be trekking from Govindghat to Ghangria, which was the starting point for both the VoF and Hemkund Sahib trek. We were woken up by our trek leader at 6.30 am and were supposed to start trekking by 8 am, after another briefing. This briefing included some pointers on how to use the trekking pole, the correct way of wearing the trekking shoes and the correct way of carrying a backpack. Most of us got a pouch called the 'ecobag'. This bag is worn around the waist and is used to dispose off any trash we might generate on the way such as chocolate wrappers, biscuit wrappers, etc. It is also used to collect the trash left on the trail by other trekkers. This is a commendable and superb initiative by Indiahikes. The waste thus collected is segregated and then carried all the way down, away from the mountains, where it is finally disposed off. River Pushpavati accompanied us throughout This day involved walking for approximatel

Though strictly not a road trip, the unique travel experience bears sharing! Socially awkward, shy or even reticent.. all these are the words I would use to describe myself. I painted this water-colour of VoF from a picture off the internet.. and it made me want to see the valley for myself! Yet I chose 'realistic' (with a little help from the bestie) as a prefix for my name; as the word that describes me the best in a game our trek leader made us play after the first day's trek was done. The game was an ice-breaker and designed to familiarize ourselves with our trek-mates. Each of us was supposed to prefix our name with an adjective, preferably starting with the same letter as our first name and recall all the adjectives along with the names repeated. After walking 12 kilometers (all uphill) and having gained an elevation of just over 5000 ft, my muscles were screaming as we sat crossed legged on the corridor of the guest-house in Ghangria, from where we

Mangalore, Udupi and finally back to Pune! We had informed Jerry that we would be checking out a day earlier than planned, and we were eagerly looking forward to the prospect of visiting Mangalore. Since we were experiencing coast-withdrawal symptoms, we decided to cut short our stay in Mangalore by one day and go to Udupi instead. We booked a beach resort called Paradise Isle beach resort, and were eagerly looking forward to spending some time, albeit short, on the beach. After a quick breakfast, we hit the road around 8.30 am. The distance from Wayanad to Mangalore is approximately 260 kilometers and according to our calculations, we would be able to cover this distance in approximately five hours. Upon inquiring, Jerry and Mr. Joseph were of the opinion that we should climb down the ghat and take the coastal route, which was easier of the two, and hence less chances of us getting lost on unknown roads. Having ignored sage advice once on the way to Mysuru, we decided to take the

Day 3- Around Wayanad: Edakkal caves This is what we had started dreaming of! The next day brought with it the prospect of Kerala ishtyle breakfast again, much to our dismay. We had requested for dosas to be prepared and had kept our hopes quite low. As it turned out, the dosas couldn't be prepared as they were short of one ingredient and we had flat appams with vegetable stew. This too is one of the dishes I love, but the stew had the same spice combination that we had been eating during all our meals. Eating lunch at the resort was out of question and the view from the balcony that had totally impressed us on Day 1, wasn't doing much. (We were like yeah, birds, hills, big deal! Give us some food!!!!) Were we being too fussy? After all, there are millions who cannot even afford one square meal a day, and here we were, turning up our noses at supposedly good Kerala-style food. Though this thought shamed us, it was also true that the food being offered was making me il