Visit to vaishno Devi.

Vaishno Devi

Before i share my experience about visit to Vaishno Devi, let me explain you little Geography of VaishnoDevi.

The base point for Vaishno Devi is Katra.

Katra to Vaishno Devi is 14km Trek.
Half way to Katra is Ardh Kuari. So Vaishno Devi to Ardh Kuari is 6 km, Ardh Kuari to Vaishno Devi is another 6km.

And 2 km further from vaishno Devi is Bhairo Baba Temple.

So Vaishno Devi is not just one temple but its a visit to 3 temple. i.e. Ardh Kuari, Vaishno Devi and Bhairo Baba.

If you are planning to go by a helicopter, The helipad is at Sanjichhat, This is between vaishno devi and Bhairo Baba Temple.
For vaishnodevi you need to Trek down half a km from Sanjichhat, and for Bhairo Baba Temple, you need to to Trek up about 1.5km

To be completed ....

Excursions
Patni Top

Planning a Trip to Jaisalmer???

Planning a Trip to Jaisalmer???

District Map of Rajasthan

Jaisalmer is the biggest district of Rajasthan state.
"Jaisalmer" means "the Hill Fort of Jaisal". Jaisalmer is also called the "Golden City" because the yellow sand.

It lies in western part of rajasthan, close to pakistan border.

Places to see in Jaisalmer.

1. Jaisalmer Fort: This is one of the most important tourist point for any tourist visiting jaisalmer. This fort is also called  “Sonar Qila”

This is a living fort, there are lot of hotels, shops inside the fort, there are residential houses inside, Hence this fort is open through out the day.
Fort can be visited any time of the day, But places inside the fort have timings.
If time permits, try another visit after sunset when lights are lit.

Places Inside Fort
-Jaisalmer Palace
There is no ticket/timings or camera fees for the fort, But this is the actual place tourist visit inside fort, where you buy entry ticket, You have ad filled audio guided tours.
-Jain Temple
This should take 15-30 min to explore.

-Laxminath Temple
Few mtrs from Jain temple, No entry ticket, Should not take more than 15 min


2. Gadisar Lake
Less then 2km from fort is Gadisagar lake, This is opposit Rajasthan tourist reception center.
It does not have much to offer except the boating in lake and the shrines around.


3. Patwon Ki Haveli
For a Haveli experience, this is a must visit. this is one of the biggest haveli.
There is a Private and a govt. haveli.
As soon as you enter the arch on enterance of the road, there is a staircase to the right and a ticket desk. This is a privately managed haveli with a very high ticket. walk few mtrs and to the left you will get a Protected Monument blue notice board, and a person sitting at desk, this is the govt. managed Patwon Ki Haveli.

4. Salim Singh Ki Haveli
Most part is closed for public. They have just 2 rooms open. If you have visited patwon ki haveli. This is not worth the visit, neither worth the ticket cost.

5. Nathmal Ji Ki Haveli
About 400 mts from fort is this haveli. No entry ticket.
Entry is only till the courtyard. which is hardly 10 steps from enterance.
Nothing much to explore, you can only take pictures.


Other Places in and around Jaisalmer

Lodrawa (Lodurva or Lodarva)
This is 15 km from jaisalmer. It is known for its architectural ruins and surrounding sand dunes. Also famous for the Jain temple close to it.

Kuldhara
An abondoned village. These are only ruins.

Akal Wood Fossil Park:
Just 17 Kms from Jaisalmer on Barmer Road are fossilized wood of 180 millions years old forest.

Bada Bagh
6 Km off the Jaisalmer city on Ramgarh Road
The site has three different things to watch, a garden, a tank and a dam.

Parathe Wali Gali, Chandni Chowk, Delhi

Parathe Wali Gali (The Indian Bread)

View Paratha Wali Gali in a larger map

You must have heard this name a lot, this lane is in the famous Chandini Chowk market.

This is short lane, and entry to this road is very narrow.

Entering this lane reminded me of mumbai Local Train and Delhi's Rajiv chowk station. Hope, those reading this must have experienced one of this place.

There are few shops, may be less then 10, But there is always a waiting.

They prepare paratha's with different stuffings. variety include every thing from the regular potato, onions to kaju, rabri, badam, paneer, cheese, mushroom, matar, gobi , carrot and many more..

These are deep fried paratha's, After you are done eating, you are served lassi.

Nearest metro: Chandni Chowk

India Gate, Delhi

India Gate, Delhi

India Gate, One of the Iconic monument of Delhi, Situated in the national capital.

If you take a close look at the walls of the monument, you will find there are names engraved on it.
The memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afghan war of 1919.

Amar Jawan Jyoti: Under the Arch of the India Gate, you will find a burning flame, Burning since January 26, 1971 is the "Amar Jawan Jyoti" (the flame of the immortal warrior)

Republic Day Parade: Every year 26th January, The Republic Day Parade starts from Rashtrapati Bhavan and passes through India Gate.

All the Roads leading to India Gate are closed for vehicles but open to public.
Every Evening lot of people visit this place when the monument is lit up.

Yamunotri Gangotri Kedarnath and Badrinath

Yamunotri Gangotri Kedarnath and Badrinath

It is called as Chotta char Dham of North, Located in Himalaya in Uttranchal State.

The Original Char dham of India are Puri, Rameswaram, Dwarka, and Badrinath, Located in four differet states i.e. Odissa, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat & Uttrakhand Respectively.

Yamnotri

                                                                      

Gangotri

Kedarnath

Badrinath

Tip: There is a belief that these 4 places are to be visited in this order, Otherwise your tour will not complete. There will be some Interuptions.

Map Showing all 4 pilgramage points.

Must Visit During this Tour: Valley of Flowers & Hemkund Sahib

To visit these place, the road access is upto Joshimath, From here you need to trek.

Yamnotri

Unfortunately we could not visit this place. We started out trip from Gangotri, As per our taxi driver these 4 places are to be visited in order, so we could not go back and we had to proceed further to kedarnath. 

Gangotri

Accessible by road, your vechile will drop till the parking of the temple. Another half km walk and you are there at the temple.

To the left side of the temple, You have steps taking you to the ghats.

Ghats at Gangotri

Ghats at Gangotri

Ghats & Landscape at Gangotri

Water at these ghats is so chilling, Its hard to step down in water even for a sec, But there were many people who were taking a dip in these chilling water.

Tip: Roads leading to these temple places are narrow and rough, and at few places you will find traffic is allowed only in one direction and other direction will be held up for hrs and they release it on a periodic interval.

So a 50km distance may not mean 2-3 hrs, if your moving direction traffic is held up, it could also take 6-7 hrs.

Kedarnath

Trek for kedarnath starts from Gaurikund, This being end of a narrow road. There are vechiles who are try

ing to return and there are some who have left the vechile parked on road side, 

It advisable to take your hotel 2-3km before gaurikund, thhen start your journey fresh next day

Reaching kedarnath shrine by Helicopter: There are multiple pvt. operatiors.
They start from phatta and drop you just few mtrs away from shrine. but they charge above 9000+ per person.

Hot Springs at GauriKund

At start of the trek from gaurikud you have a dense local market with narrow lanes selling things like small oxygen cylinder, disposable rain coats and stuff you might need during your 14km journey.

From this market there is a deviation to right which takes you to gauri-kund(hot water spring).

After you have crossed the narrow market lanes, you have another challenge.

you need to cross the stable of pony/horse. yes there are 1000's of those and there is no way to cross it without brushing yourself or getting a push from few of them.

:-) Might sound scary to few of  them.

Well, this is start if your journey, You need to share your 14km trek with the ponies.

There have been cases of people falling from ponies or ponies pushing the trekers away.

Roads are uneven at many places, When you have ponies all along the way, you can imagine the shit and above all the weather conditions are wet so... 

Below are two pics showing worst part of the roads...

Trek to Kedarnath

Trek to Kedarnath

Eating on way to Kedarnath : McDonalds, KFC, Barista, CCD. you have non of those.  :-(

You only find temporary make shift shops selling Hot parotha's, Maggie, Omlette or packed biscuits/chips.

Make shift shops on way where you can eat. 

Seating area inside the make shift shops.

Enterance of the shops

Place to Rest: These temporary shops which serve you food during day, By night they all pile up the chairs.
And lay the matress which were piled up during day. They drop the curtains at shop enterance. Dinning room changes to bedroom at available for rs 100 per person per night.

Singapore, Maylasia & Thailand

Singapore, Maylasia & Thailand

Most people go abroad on a package tour. But i believe you dont explore the city if you are on a guided tour.
When you have to plan every thing from choosing airline, selecting hotel in a big city. where to eat or how to travel, You get to know a lot about city.
We are budget travellers, so we prefered to travel in low cost airlines and stay in budget hotel and travel in buses/trains.

This was my first Internation Trip. We visited these 3 countries.

It was inique in many ways, one reason being, we crossed Internation borders by Air,Bus & Sea.

Travelled from bangalore,India to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Airasia.
Kuala Lumpur to Singapore by Bus, then returned back to Kuala Lumpur by bus.
Maylasia to Thailand by Sea.

           
View Visited in a larger map

Amritsar

Amritsar

We reached Amritsar at night at about 2am. Me and my family we were 6 people.

This place is famous for many things, But most of all is the Golden Temple.

This is the most prominent of all the Gurdwara in the world. 
Many will also remember the famous Indian military operation blue star of 1984.

This place is also famous for the Jalianwala Bagh which is just 200 mtrs from the Golden temple.

Another famous place which close to Amritsar is the India-Pakistan Border.

Indian side is called the Attari Border, Pakistan side is called Wagah Border.

This place is about 25km from Amritsar, But it is easily accessible, if you reach at the gate of Golden temple at about 2-3pm, you have plenty of shared auto, who will take you to the border.