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.

Serendipitous Siliguri!

The moment I landed in Bagdogra, the first thought that crossed my mind was

"Someday, I'll come here for my trek"

Siliguri for work was never on my mind to begin with!

Gosh, so much I love new places.. I find myself smiling every time I travel, most of the time, throughout, without any reason and it comes naturally! 

And I try to control it every time I find a curve on my lips, crazy happy kid! :)

My journey began with very weird incidences an evening before my travel, long long story which I would not like to discuss. :P

I landed in Siliguri on Thursday afternoon, in a super hot weather, coming from Delhi, I was wearing a sweater and a jacket and since, a friend told me it's cold in Siliguri, I was carrying a leather jacket too. 

Definition of cold for someone living in Delhi and in love with snow is a bit different. I landed here and was all in sweat instantly, like I was in Chennai.. Ah, my Chennai Love! :P

Soon after check-in, I left for work, my work here was to be a part of an event organized by my company, and just to tell you it was a 'food festival' and people in East are crazy about food. And I was traveling alone from our North office.

This place felt so much like Calcutta but without yellow taxis and Rosogullas, the day ends here by 5pm, you can see dark night sky and bright moon by 5pm.

It was a feeling like what  you feel between Delhi and Chandigarh, Chandigarh is organized though. :P

I met people from my Calcutta team here, luckily, the guy I met on day 1 was a half Delhiite, he lived in Gurgaon for almost 12 years, so we had quite a lot to talk about. From Rice Liquor in Gurgaon to Korean Coffee to the most happening places and the life, THE LIFE IN GURGAON! Crazy! 

Of course, who knows about life in Gurgaon better than me. :P

On day 1, I tried the famous Singada which is known as Samosa, and Puchka, our very own Golgappa in Delhi.

On coming back to our hotel, we tried local food for dinner, another different thing here was, everything you eat is made of refined flour, no wheat flour.. forget instant breads, even rotis, parathas, pooris were made of refined flour. Not trying to act pricey, ate whatever I got quietly. In Delhi, I avoid brown breads too, here I was eating white chapatis! And was loving it, thoroughly! :P

Next day, more people joined us from Calcutta and the group was now a big one. Too many people, too much to listen to.

One more thing I have noticed in Calcutta people is, they are too possessive about their city.

I was having breakfast with someone from the city, must be in his 50s, during a general discussion, I was telling him how similar I find Siliguri and Calcutta, on which he argued as if I said something very disrespectful. I mean, It's my experience and observation, indeed no two cities are same but they tend to resemble. He defended Calcutta by saying there is no other place like Calcutta in India. Ah! Right!  

I like Calcutta, It's slow, calm and relaxed like no other metropolitan. Best of both worlds, life in metro with a peace of small town, absolutely chilled out!

But then I love Bombay, so amazingly fast and happening and safe and what not! 

It was writing about Siliguri and I am roaming in India. :P

I seriously feel my Siliguri trip was Serendipity, I never expected it, nor looking for it but I am really happy it happened. :-) :-)

I enjoyed every bit of it with work, though, it was very hectic but I really cherished it all this while.

December is here and my history of Decembers is crazy, already started with a super exciting and mad one. :P

By the way, I finished few more books and already halfway through my next one, which makes it 8 in November and since my December is here let's see how many more I'll be able to finish! :P

For me December is Devil's month, all my demons are highly active, creating mess in my head and life.  

Dear God, I love you. Please take care of my people and please please help me sailing through December! :* :*

P.S.- Belated Happy Birthday Pearl :)

Rupin Pass- Everything Beautiful!

"Give your heart to the Mountains,

For they'll never Break it,

For they'll keep it Safe”

I have always believed I am more of a beach person and never had any doubt about it till the time I visited Rupin pass.

It’s been more than a month since I am back from Rupin pass and many times I tried to write about it but I couldn’t.

Rupin pass was my 5^th trek and it was different from last 4 for many reasons.. one reason was... in Rupin we had 2 days of village stay.

Initially, during our village stay, I was missing the isolation and serenity of camping, but now… when I look back… I realise that was one of the most beautiful part of my journey. Living among those amazing people, beautiful kids, wooden floors and that warm lifestyle was a brilliant experience in itself and I loved it. Especially, Day 2 of our village stay where I discovered an amazing place to sit and look at the majestic mountains and starry night sky!

Aah and I am back there already!

So much love I have for this trek, maybe that’s why I am unable to express it.

It was an 8 day long trek started from Dehradun, Uttrakhand and ended in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

The memory is still fresh in my head from day 1 till the end, except for the names of the sites, I am really bad with names.

Trek in brief-

Maximum Altitude- 15200 ft

Weather- Rainy/Hailstorms/Snowy/Sunny

Grade- Moderate- Difficult

Trek distance- Approx. 65kms in 7 days

This time my brother joined me for the trek, we reached Dehradun a day in advance and enjoyed the city and famous food.

Day 1

Road Journey from Dehradun to Dhaula-

Our pick-up was from Dehradun Railway station where our group assembled. We started our road trip around 7.30am for our first campsite at Dhaula. Around 5pm we reached Dhaula, roamed around, interacted with group. It was a closed campsite, very less to explore. We ate early and slept early.

Day 2

Dhaula (5500 ft) to Sewa (6300 ft)- 7-8 kms

This was our first day of trek, it was an easy walk and also, it was day of ICC Champion trophy’s final match between India and Pakistan. I don’t follow cricket that much but I never wanted to miss the final match.

Since, it was our village stay I was very hopeful to find TV and some connection to follow the match. In a hope we walked.

Around 1-2 pm we reached our campsite and had lunch followed by random games. It started raining heavily around 3pm. We waited for it to stop, around 5pm we managed to find a TV with match on. But, we were told not to bother the local people by out trek staff.

Match ended tragically. I am glad I didn’t watch it.

Day 3

Sewa (6,300 ft) to Jhaka (8,700 ft)- 9 kms

This was our day 1 of homestay and last day where we had an option of taking shower. And how can I miss this opportunity! :P

It was not a very difficult walk. We reached Jhaka around 2-3pm. I am having difficulty remembering exact timings but that feel is there in my head.

It was a beautiful wooden house, I loved it. We had a small dining room where we ate our meals and played random group games. I loved the food.

This evening we went for an acclimatization walk to an old temple. During our walk, we saw an isolated house in the mountains, I can’t explain that feel. It was calm, it was peace. It was a pull I can never forget. That magnetic pull I felt was very strong, I can still sense it with the same intensity.

The only miserable part of the day was night, I couldn’t sleep. And we had to walk 12kms next day.

Day 4

Jhaka (8,700 ft) to Saruwas thatch (11,150 ft)- 12 kms

I left my room at 4am, anyway I was up. Took a cold water bath, stretched myself and was ready for the trek.

It was again an easy day. Not very hectic. The homestay we stayed in Saruwas was just brilliant. I specifically loved people there. And the food was delicious.

We reached around 2pm, I saw a female standing alone, I started a conversation with her, she told me she was the resident of the home we were staying in. We talked about her family, marriage, kids, life and everything. She was telling me about her lifestyle where she told me she goes to the forest every evening to bring food for her cattle. I asked her if I could also join her and she gladly agreed.

We had lunch and soon after my lunch I discovered a beautiful place where I could sit and stare the mountains, oh it was so so amazing. I didn’t realise I was sitting there for 2 hours undisturbed, I heard my new friend’s voice where she was calling me for her jungle trip. Yayy, I was so excited to go. :)

I am really happy I went with her, it was a beautiful experience and we talked about the village, people, food, life, addictions, India-Pak final match and so many other things.

After coming back from my Jungle trip, we went for an acclimatization walk till waterfall.

Post dinner, I enjoyed star-gazing at my favorite spot with my favorite music plugged in. Pure bliss!

Day 5

Saruwas thatch (11,150 ft) to Dhanderas thatch (lower water fall (11,680 ft)- 12 kms

From here our proper trek started, where we stayed in camps on beautiful campsites.

This was an easy-moderate walk with 2 small snow patches, we reached our campsite around 4pm. It was astonishingly beautiful. And finally it was cold.

I share a strong love-hate relationship with cold. I love it but I can’t bear it. And since I left thermals at home I was shivering most of the time.

The night sky was perfect for star gazing and since this was our first proper campsite, I was craving for the starry sky. I was out for an hour looking at the sky but it was damn cold for me. I was forced to slip inside my sleeping bag.

Day 6

Dhanderas thatch (11,680 ft) to Upper Waterfall camp (13,120 ft)- 6 kms

It was an unexpectedly short walk. In just 3 hours we were at our next campsite which was very close to the upper waterfall.

Site was brilliant. Everything was brilliant. Except the cold.

In evening we went for a short acclimatization walk when it started raining cats and dogs. We spent most of our evening inside the tents.

Next day was a big day, the “Rupin pass day”, so we were supposed to get up at 3am to leave our campsite by 5am.

Okay, I forgot to mention in all this while I realised my waterproof shoes are not really waterproof, so that was again an adventure for me :P

We slept early this evening.

Day 7

Upper Waterfall (13,120 ft) to Rupin Pass (15,250 ft) to Ronti Gad (13,420 ft)- 16kms

The D-Day

We got up on time, ate breakfast, and left almost on time for our climb.

It was a snow walk day, I was scared of snow but after this trek, I am somehow in love with snow.

I loved this day, amazing views and beautiful walk.

Day was a bit hectic but our leaders were really good, we completed this day successfully and so called difficult day was easily managed by our entire group.

The evening was so peaceful and calm. And I was sad as this was our last day.

Day 8

Ronti Gad (13,420 ft) to Sangla (8,800 ft)- 12 kms

This day was difficult for me, I was feeling tired and realised I was down with fever.

That last 12km walk was really strenuous for me.

We reached Sangla around 2-3pm, had lunch and left for Shimla around 4.30pm.

We reached Shimla at 1am in night, took a cab till chandigarh and from there we got a Volvo till Delhi.

By 10am we were back home.

Rupin for me was more about facing my fears. My fear of AMS and snow.

I realized drinking water is really important, more water you drink less prone you are to AMS.

I loved every bit of my Rupin pass journey and I wish to go back to the house we saw on day 3. May be someday I’ll go back.

Dear God, I can’t tell you how thankful I am for this experience. Please take care of my people. I love you. :*

Some more clicks-