Gaumukh Tapovan Trek!

Beginning of this year, a holy man looked at my birth chart and told me, 'You have life threat from Mountains'. I smiled, and said, 'You shouldn't have said that in front of my mom' ;-)

In my head, I thought, we all have to die one day and for me what can be better than mountains.

Today, sitting here, in the second last month of this year, I would like to admit it's not as rosy as it sounds, the whole ‘Dying in Mountains’ idea.  I have seen it very close, twice, this year.  It’s not that I am terrified or something, but I am not very excited about it, anymore.

To summarise my trekking trips this year, I have done quite a few treks in Bali for waterfalls, volcano, and rice fields.  Coming to the mountains, specifically, I have done 3 treks.

Nag Tibba in January, Everest Base Camp in April and Gaumukh Tapovan in the month of October.

I have mentioned briefly about the first 2 in my earlier post and had no intention of writing about Gaumukh Tapovan.

Last week, I was generally talking to my mom and out of the blue, she asked me, ‘Have you blogged about your recent trek?’

 It was surprising for me because she never ever asked about my blog.

I was a bit reluctant, I said, 'No, I didn't write about any of the mountain treks this year. They were not my best.' On which she replied, 'You should, good or bad, it's your journey and experience and it's your blog. It's all about learning'.

I told her about my blog, I think some 7-8 years ago. She is not very tech savvy but to my surprise, she remembered it. Though now she is a pro in online shopping on Myntra, Amazon, Big basket and other apps, this was unexpected.

So, I would like to give all the credit of this post to her. And I am going to skip the bad experience part for the post.

Coming back to my recent trek, Gaumukh Tapovan, it was an unplanned trip which I thought of sitting on Mount Batur in Bali and booked 4 days before the departure.

I didn’t intentionally plan Gaumukh Tapovan, it happened.

I don’t know where to begin.

It was an 8 day long trip with 4 days of trekking itinerary. 2 days for to and fro from Dehradun to Gangotri and vice-versa, 1 additional day at Gangotri and 1 at Bhojwasa Campsite.

Though, I changed my plan a bit and decided to descend alone a day before the trek officially ended.

The trip started from my favorite Dehradun, so much I am in love this place now and it’s like my second home.

As always, I reached Dehradun a day in advance.  This time I met an old friend who shifted to Dehradun sometime back. We went out for dinner and a movie before my trip started.

Day 1- Dehradun to Gangotri drive

After a long day on the road, we reached Gangotri at 7 pm. Had our dinner and slept.

Day 2- Relaxing day at Gangotri

This was an extra day at Gangotri. We roamed around, visited temples and attended Ganga Aarti at Gangotri temple in the evening. Blissful experience it was. The place was damn cold which gave me a fair idea of cold in upcoming days.

Day 3- Gangotri to Chirbassa- 9kms

It was an easy walk. We started around 9 am and reached our 1^st campsite by 3.30pm. The views were mesmerizing and the campsite was good and clean. I discovered a beautiful white sand Ganga beach in the evening and spent an amazing time there.

Day 4- Chirbassa to Bhojwasa- 5kms

A short and not so sweet walk. This day I felt blisters on my feet and the pain was terrible.

In the evening, I covered them with surgical tape but it was of no good. It was in really bad shape.

Plus in the afternoon, I saw some people from other camps were playing cricket so I couldn’t stop myself and joined them and we played till it was dark, for almost 4 hours. At that moment, I absolutely forgot about my blisters though it was paining, but, I was alright.

Day 5- Bhojwasa to Gaumukh to Bhojwasa- 10 kms

It was a long day and a bit tiring as well. For me, it was additionally painful because of my growing blisters. This day we had to cross three ice-cold rivers and my blisters made it worse for me. I am in pain even when I am writing about it, right now.

For the first time, I felt I am losing conscious while crossing the river.

In the ice-cold water, the blisters were hurting like someone was cutting my toes inside the water with a sharp knife, and the tape was all wet and washed off. After crossing the second river, tears started flowing and after crossing the 3^rd one I refused to walk. I just sat down on a big rock and cried for I don’t know how long.

I honestly felt I am going to die and will never be able to walk again in my life.

I couldn’t move because of blister-pain, my legs which were wet in icy water till upper thighs got froze and I was unable to feel any sensation in them for almost an hour. I failed to stand up, multiple times. Gosh! It was damn crazy.

Day 6- Bhojwasa to Gangotri

This day was supposed to be our Bhojwasa to Tapovan trek, but, I decided to descend back for 2 reasons- my blisters and the cold. I was dying to be in warm weather.

I descended alone and lost my way in between, but luckily, I found my way back and reached Gangotri around 5pm.

I was feeling blessed, I found a room and booked it. And for the next day, I decided to go back to Dehradun.

Day 7- Gangotri to Dehradun

I checked for the available mode of transport and boarded a local bus to Uttarkashi and from there I took a shared cab till Dehradun. Pheww!

By 7pm, I was in Dehradun, and I was very happy. It was perfectly warm weather.

Once again, I met my friend in Dehradun and since I had one extra day we celebrated my birthday in advance with another movie and lunch and dinner at an exotic place. And also, I stayed at her place for the extra day for which I never booked anything.

Though I love all weathers, this trip made me realize I can’t bear the excess cold.

For my last day, that was 20^th October, I had booked a nice place for myself and there I got a surprise upgrade so I had an amazing birthday celebration. :)

Overall, I loved my experience. There were certain bad elements I am not willing to talk about.

No, no, the blisters were not the bad part. They were for learning. :)

And yes, no more mountain trips this year. At least, for right now, I think so.  ;-)

Dear God, I love you. Take care of my people. Muuah. :)

Pictures from the trek-

Bali.

I don’t know if I can ever do justice to this post, for love can never be expressed in words.

All my life I thought, I am a beach person, in fact, I was sure. Then one day after my Rupin trek, I realized I love mountains more than anything and there is no feeling compared to the feeling I have in the mountains.

And eventually, unintentionally, one finely beautiful day, I fell in Love with Bali.

Such a confused creature I am, no less than any Imtiaz Ali’s character. Unknowingly falling for something and one day coming to a conclusion, all my life I lived an illusion.

I hate being emotional. I think all the suffering I have in my life is because of this one trait. But, then, all the beautiful things I enjoy to the core are also because of this. Sometimes, I wonder if people feel even 1% of the way I feel, with even half of its intensity. I can sense every emotion in my blood and bones, to the core of my being. And I hate it. I think life is simple if you are emotionless.

All my life I just kept running away from everything that had a potential of giving me pain, and emotions were on the top of the list. I hate it.

Sorry, coming back to Bali.

Bali was never my love at first sight. 

On 22^nd August’18, I landed in Bali at 10 pm and after standing in a long queue for immigration, luggage, currency and sim card when I finally managed to come out of the airport, I realized, my name placard was missing in the crowd of people.

Super tired, I called up my hotel to ask about the taxi status, on which they had some stupid reason to give and I had to wait for an hour more. After reaching my hotel at 1am, I instantly disliked the room and the rest of my night I spent online, looking for another place to stay. 

My first morning here, I realized my whole body was very badly shivering when I was still in a deep sleep; I managed to open my tired eyes and realized it was a deadly earthquake. Strongest that I have ever felt in my life, I rushed out of my room and thought of Lombok incidence that happened a few days ago. 

Anyhow, I had a bad headache all this while and it was a super scary start of my trip. 

And I was thinking, why the hell I picked Bali for travel. Why in the whole wide world people come here for a honeymoon, why!? I was badly freaked out.

Day 2 in Bali, I changed my hotel and from that moment onward everything magically changed. My second hotel was a beautiful boutique resort a bit away from the main city in the outskirts of Ubud, surrounded by lush green rice fields.

I enjoyed Ubud for 3 days before moving to North Bali where I had an interesting project to handle.

North Bali was a quiet, peaceful, serene and not-so-crowded place with virgin black volcanic sand beaches. No touristy crowd. Absolutely blissful. Perfectly my kinda place.

I loved the sunrises, sunsets, morning evening walks, evenings in open cafes with live classic music, so much to talk about and I have no words to explain. Plus the place I stayed in was one of the best in Bali, sea facing sunrise villa in a beautiful green resort, it couldn’t have been any better for sure. Without a doubt, I lived a dream.

I lived there for 35 days before moving back to Ubud where I spent 10 more days before I moved back to India.

And my India return was another story. My return was already booked with a 3-day long Singapore trip for my Birthday in-between. But as usual, plans are not for me.

2^nd Oct’18, after my Mount Batur climb, I was sitting on a mountain top looking at the beautiful sunrise in Bali. I sensed a strange craving within, I don't know why at that very moment I missed mountains very intensely. And in a fraction of a second, I was dying to go to the Himalayas. As if something was pulling me, a strange force.

I came back to my room and desperately checked all the possibilities available in near future, also, if my India return can be preponed, I could find 2 options but no Bali to Delhi ticket was available. I again checked next morning and found out one ticket option was available, booked it. 

I gave myself one day to unpack Bali and pack for my next adventure. Reached Delhi on 10th late evening and had my train booked for 12th early morning and had no clue how it will happen in-between. 

And it happened.                        

I was leaving Bali with tears in my eyes, but, I was looking forward to my mountain trip. Emotions are always complicated, defying all the logic.

Dear God, thank you for everything, you know I love you. Give me strength and take care of my people. Muuah.

In my Head!

Strange things are happening!

I finished my 3rd book this morning. 

Today, I got up at 6am, without any effort. Prepared my coffee and started reading. In between, prepared my breakfast, ate and continued with my book.

Weird thing is, every time I pick a book it somehow answers the question I have in the back of my mind or something I am thinking about at that very moment. Or may be we all know what we need to know, sometimes we need an external influence to realise what's inside our mind.

Like, few days back, before I thought of going back to my resolution of reading, I strongly felt I need a psychiatrist. I was unable to cope up with my head and I was strongly in need of help. At least that's what I felt. For me it's very difficult to talk to people, sometimes I hate being an introvert. And now a days, every Tom Dick and Harry is writing articles about mental health and blah blah. 

One strong reason was my messed up state of mind and other one was coming across these stupid posts on social media every now and then. 

Anyhow, in my opinion, restricting social media usage is somewhat peaceful!

Last Sunday evening, I saw a book store and randomly picked these books and decided to get back to reading. I casually decided to begin with "Veronica Decides to Die" by Paulo Coelho.

To my surprise, that book one by one when talked about madness, I found my answers for which I was seeking help and was feeling restless. I realized I no more need a psychiatrist and it's okay to be in a state where I am right now. Not everyone can feel with the same intensity.

The book left me wondering what just happened and I somehow ended up liking it, for how it answered my random questions.

The similar thing happened after finishing "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho too, it answered questions which were not even there in the first place. As if its some kind of Magic!

I was surprised for what it had done to my head.

When the book (Veronica..) was over, I was lost in my thoughts and I wished I could live a peaceful life in a small town and wrote on my blog about my craving for that slow life.

Right after Veronica.... I picked "The Choice" by Nicholas Spark.

Again, a wonderful thing happened, the story somehow left me feeling different. It was absolutely everything I would love to live. Slow peaceful adventurous life! As if someone gave beautiful words to my imagination. Except for the sadness in later part of the book I loved it thoroughly. It left me feeling happy.

In between all this, I was thinking, now a days I remember all my dreams and lately I have experienced similar dream twice! And somehow these dreams are leaving a strange impact on me. The end meaning is always similar!

Anyway, Friday night, I started reading my 3rd book which was "Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami. I found it dark and deep, not particularly a happy book to read. It was different experience though. Living through those dark thoughts and gloomy emotions!

I don't know why my brain is shouting out so loud. I have just finished Sputnik..., and I am still under it's effect. I might take few days to come out of it. Though I'll start my 4th one tonight. Hopefully!

This Sunday is going to be a busy one, winter is here and I have to look for my woolens, wash my summer wear and pack them back.. and few more chores to catch up with.

Let's see how it will turn out to be.

I don't really know what I just jotted down, cleared my head though. 

Hope to be here soon. 

Dear God, thanks for everything.

Just Another Day!

I need a dragon to commute in Delhi! (Those who love game of thrones will understand)

I don't remember writing about my day in last 3 years. Wow!

Advantages of driving a big car is you don't feel like driving it most of the time. You think of distance, traffic and the most important thing parking hassles. And then comes in mind the famous-accessible-convenient Delhi metro and if you are going back during traffic time, Ola play saves your day! ;-)

Today was a good day. I love days when my brain is busy. 

I had a meeting in a far away land. Of course! 40 kms one way is far away. I thought of driving first, but then I thought let's explore new metro routes. :P

From my Delhi office this metro station was 1.5 km walk on Google map. I decided to walk, festive gave me so many reasons to walk more. 

Such a college kid feeling it was. I was all ready like I used to be for college, flat sneakers, loose shirt, skinny denims. Woohoo and the adventure started! :-D

Carrying my laptop backpack, I left office. Walked, boarded metro and slept for good 30 mins. Yes, I can sleep anywhere, anytime! :P

Then a long walk till client's office. It was a good meeting.

I had my next meeting in the other corner of Delhi. I left for my office and it was 1 pm already... Ran towards office, ate my food, recharged myself with caffeine and left for the second meeting. 

This time again I preferred public transport, so convenient it is plus I was thinking I can shed down some festive weight this way :P

After my meeting, I took Ola and enjoyed some good Ola play music. Such a relief.

Sometimes I feel, I am living Santiago's life from 'The Alchemist', I saw a dream, decoded it and somehow lost. My current phase seems like the one where he was working with the Crystal Merchant, clueless about anything else in life. :P

My life is adventurous. Some days, I live main protagonist's life from Imtiaz Ali's movie and most of the time I am a Disney princess, talking about having courage and being kind!

Life is good. Life is busy. But I really miss my workout routine and other important things I am missing on to. Whatever it is. Let it be. 

God, If this was what You planned, So be it! 

I don't want anything from you. Nothing. Absolutely Nothing! 

Just take care of my people. 

My first Summit- Pangarchulla!

Every time I come back to my city from mountains, it takes me few days to adjust back...  I feel different, I feel good. I don’t feel like talking to anyone... And I always want to go back!

Pangarchulla was my first Summit, it was not an easy one though but I categorize it as Moderate-Difficult trek.

It was not a pre-planned journey for me. I booked it 2 days before the start date and had my booked tickets in waiting.

The journey was absolutely awesome, from the beginning till the end. 

It was beautiful and challenging at the same time.

To describe this trek in brief-

Maximum Altitude- 14700 ft

Temperature- Min- minus 10 degrees at night; Max- 5-8 degrees in day time

Weather- Rainy/Hailstorms/Snow

Grade- Moderate- Difficult

Trek distance- Approx. 34kms in 4 days

The Journey-

    HARIDWAR RAILWAY STATION

It was a 6 day journey and starting point was Haridwar.

I reached Haridwar a day in advance so that I can enjoy the city, local food and the famous Aarti at “Har ki Pauri”

Travelling alone in train was always my fear, but this time I decided to face it...I booked a train for Delhi to Haridwar and vice-versa.

To my surprise, I loved my train and the journey J

I reached Haridwar at 1pm and took rest... Since I ate quite a lot in train I decided to skip my lunch, slept for few hours, woke up at 5pm, had a black coffee and decided to go out and explore the city... 

I planned to go for an evening Aarti at “Har ki Pauri” followed by a sumptuous dinner at some decent place. I Googled for the best places to eat in Haridwar and decided to eat at an old Dhaba near “Har ki Pauri” known as “Hoshiyarpuri”.

Yayy! my evening was all set. I left guest house, walked till the time I found a rickshaw... Reached my destination “Har ki Pauri” just on time, it was almost 6pm and the place was flooding with people, aarti started around 7pm and was over by 7.30pm. It was amazingly peaceful experience just to be there.

After Aarti, I switched on my Google maps and started walking towards Hoshiyarpuri which was approx 1 km from there and the walk was absolutely worth it. I loved the food and ate a lot, it was already 9pm. I was super full so decided to walk halfway and took a rickshaw back to the guest house.

I slept early.

Day 1 (Haridwar to Joshimath)-

I got up early and quickly got ready, our assembly time was 6.30am at Haridwar railway station, the moment I stepped out f my accommodation it started raining cats and dogs with a crazy hailstorm, life couldn’t be better. 

I waited under a roadside shed for rain to stop and reached railway station half wet on a cold rainy morning, what a start. They say everything auspicious starts with a rain. :)

We assembled on time but 2 people were running late so we waited till 9am and in the meanwhile we tried another amazing place for breakfast “Mohanji Poori wale”, famous for their breakfast of Poori and Sabzi.

We started for Joshimath which was almost 280 kms and was the starting point of our trek. Reached Joshimath by 6pm had dinner and slept in guesthouse.

Day2- (Dhak village to gulling top)

   CAMPSITE DAY-1

We left around 9am for starting point of our trek which was Dhak Village, first day climb was easy and in just 3-4 hours we reached our first campsite at Gulling top. At our site, we were welcomed by a crazy hailstorm...

We spent our day chilling and chit chatting and the best part of mountains- phones were not working. :D

We roamed around clicked pictures, went for acclimatization walk and talked talked talked followed by star gazing at night... Oh! What a beautiful sky it was...  

Day 3- (Gulling Top to Khulara)

CAMPSITE DAY 2

Again an easy day, we started our day around 9 am and walked for 3-4 hours, covered 6 kms and reached our second campsite.

Again it was very beautiful, clear sky... mesmerizing mountains and an amazing group.. We had great time along with rains.

Day was rainy so most of the time we were sitting inside our dining tent talking and playing random games..

Next day was our Summit day and we were supposed to start by 4.30am for the climb. 

Day 4- (Pangarchulla Summit Day)

    ON THE WAY TO PEAK

Crazy morning, in dark we got up and left our campsite a little late than our scheduled time.

My only mistake of the day was skipping my breakfast, I had no clue this was going to be a really hectic day, we had to cover 12kms, (6kms uphill climb and 6kms descend)

First few kms were very easy but as soon as I was moving up, I was finding difficulty adjusting with altitude and my body started giving up. Since it was all snow and climb was steep..  I was slipping even with my crampons..

When it was just 1 km left I thought of giving up, I was feeling sick because of the poor acclimatization... Plus I realized the importance of proper breakfast and water. I was cutting on to both of these.

I could see the peak close but I was finding it impossible to walk, I was feverish and was shivering because of altitude sickness.

I decided to sit on a rock and to give my body some rest, then again I pushed myself and started walking like a bear on the snow with my hands and feet together but that 1 km was looking next to impossible for me... Every step I took was like climbing a whole big mountain...

That was the moment when my group really motivated me to carry on.

I took one step at a time and felt more powerful seeing the mountain top getting closer... And Yes, I was on the top of the peak despite of all the AMS and poor acclimatization.

Well, going down was a task again, I decided to eat my lunch for strength and again my group really helped me in descending the mountain till the time I was at bearable height where I was acclimatized.

Pheww!! I did it or would rather say WE did it!

We came back all dead, looking like a skeleton but we were really happy.

I just lied down for few minutes in my tent, what a crazy day it was.

We had good conversation that day and I slept like a baby in my cozy sleeping bag.

Day 5 (Back to Dhak Village from Khulara)

It was the last day of our trek, we quickly covered 12 kms in 4 hours.

By 2 pm we were in our guesthouse at Joshimath and had a good long evening to chill.

Around 4 pm, 5 of us decided to go for momos hunt, we were hungry so we boarded a local bus for the nearby market searched for momos and ate tummy full of momos.

Now, since the bus service was not very good in Joshimath, the challenge was to go back, we took a lift from a truck wala and came back standing in a truck.

Of course I loved it. :)

Evening was calm, people decided to play cards and celebrate with drinks.

Day 6 (Back to Haridwar)

    NIGHT WALK BY THE BANKS OF GANGES

We came back to Haridwar at around 6 pm, I quickly checked for my ticket which was in waiting and it didn’t get clear. I tried my best to find some other train but all in vain.

I felt crazily upset for a moment then I realized there were more people in Haridwar without any return ticket and who still had to book their bus for Delhi, I called them and asked them if they would like to go for rafting, crazy we! they all agreed and from there we left for Rishikesh, looking for a hotel till 9pm.

This time I stayed in a hotel which was on the other side of Rishikesh, Near ram jhula, the place itself was amazing, calm banks of Ganges, less noise, better food options. PEACE.

I loved my dinner at Chotiwala which is a famous restaurant there.

Last Day-

WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING LATE, ANYTHING ON TIME IS A LUXURY!

I enjoyed rafting for 3rd time in Rishikesh and loved it like my first time, me and my water love... I can’t get over it. This time I opted for 26kms of stretch for rafting which started from Marine Drive.

 Again, I was too scared to try cliff jumping, may be next time.

In the meanwhile, got my ticket confirmed for the evening and yayy I was going back home.

I was glad I didn’t get a ticket day before.  I really loved this side of Rishikesh and my one more time with Rafting.

And journey didn’t end here, catching my train 2 mins before the departure was another long crazy story, how I got a shared auto and a local roadways bus till railway station and then running with my heavy rucksack towards the platform was no less than a filmy scene :P

In train I was calm. Thanks to my power bank I plugged in the earphones and enjoyed my meals. Reached back Delhi where my brother was waiting for me at 11pm.

It was one crazy journey and I loved every bit if it.

And since the time I am back I am craving for another trip to mountains....

I hope the love story will continue... 

Dear God, thank you for everything and absolutely EVERY THING, just take care of my people and give me strength to have control over my thoughts and emotions. I Love You. Muuaaah :*

P.S.- I didn't carry my camera this time, sharing some more phone clicks-

     EN-ROUTE PANGARCHULLA

    THAT DESCEND

 VIEW FROM MY TENT

 SUNRISE AND BIRDS

 NO ROSES, NO LILIES BUT THIS

 :)

 AND THIS

 WE FIND WHAT WE LOOK FOR!

 SKY

 HAILSTONES

THAT AARTI! :)