Read about Leh - Manali Highway journey here.FAQs about Ladakh here.All posts on Ladakh here. Years come and Years pass but life goes on and memories remain!This was a great year and hoping 2010 would be just as exciting for me and you as well, I wish you a very Happy and Adventure-filled New Year! Image: Moore Plains of Ladakh on Leh-Manali Highway....

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From atrocious uphills to delirious downhills - we had it all! From mountain biking to highway cruising - we did it all! From sunkissed beaches to Sahyadri reaches - we witnessed it all! From Portuguese walls to Cascading falls - we saw it all! From singing birds to Konkani words - we heard it all! Destination Goa – 250 kms – 5 days...

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The best things in life are often right in front of our eyes. We just need to be observant enough! Shot last weekend on a day trip to Sivasamudram Falls near Bangalore. The sunlight filtering through the canopy above was creating beautiful sparkling patterns on the falls and it lasted only for a while before the magic was lost. Luckily it was staring...

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A Friday treat for you all –12 amazing images (according to me of course :) ) from my trips over the last two years. 1.Let’s ironically start with a sunset! Well sunset is the start of a beautiful night.  Here’s one memorizing one of the best evenings spent in the lap of Himalayas! Shot in September 2009 at Bedni Bugyal, Gharwal Himalayas as the...

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Didna to Bedni Bugyal through Ali Bugyal<<>> Summit Day : To Roopkund and Junargali Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains, Within the Sound of Silence!With Kali Dak rising just in front of me, I...

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Lohajung to Didna<<>>Bedni Bugyal to Bhaguabhasa through Ghora Lautani Statutory Warning – Prolonged exposure to the bugyals (high altitude grasslands) can lead to awe-inspired delirium. Traveler discretion is advised.Oh, if I forgot to mention, Ali Bugyal is known to be Asia’s most beautiful grasslands SEE WHAT I MEAN? - LONE HIKER TOWARDS BEDNI BUGYAL ...

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There is a definitive charm to the sparkling rivers and gurgling waters. Yes, Yes, I love Waterfalls. Considering I am a water sign, I just love it when I’m around any water body. And Western Ghats (mostly) feed my fascination to endless bounds. There is still a lot to cover but here are some of the waterfalls that I have seen and loved....

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It's been more than a year since i started this blog of mine in an attempt to record my travels and publish my thoughts too. But with the inspiration of many, this blog has become a travel blog and the love you all showed me motivated me to write more and write better (i hope! :)) I don't know why I had named...

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Kathgodam to Loharjung<< >>Didna to Bedni Bugyal Sitting in front of our tent, reminiscing the first day’s events, we were enchanted by the play of light put up for us by the conspiring sun and clouds. The spotlight was illuminating many objects of interest, once the ridges of the mountains, once the village and once just plain winding trails. Day 2 – Loharjung to...

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Reminiscing Roopkund - My First Himalayan Trek! << >>Loharjung to Didna People don’t matter.. only snow matters!Yes. I said that. But we’ll get to the details, sequences and consequences that led to this blunt declaration later. Having said that, today let’s meet the people who made this trek more enjoyable and then ride along to Loharjung.  16 of us registered for this trek with...

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Finally after 6 months I could finish my Chhattisgarh Travelogue. Here is a consolidated post with links to previous posts and some general information. Click on the images to go the corresponding posts. Chhattisgarh - Full of Surprises! The Journey to the Tribal HeartLand - Bastar. Chitrakote Falls and Kanger Ghati National Park. Bastar Crafts & Cultures. How was the experience?  - Wonderful How...

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I went on a trek to Roopkund in the Uttarakhand state of India along with 25 other trekkers to see the SKELETONS! :D Okay so now that I have your attention, Roopkund is a mysterious lake in the greater Himalayas where a park ranger found hundreds of skeletons and carcasses one uneventful day(for him). Since then, people have been fascinated and amused by...

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Now that we’ve seen the natural beauty of Bastar, let’s get to the cultural tourism that prevails here. Being home to the indigenous tribes, this district boasts of a varied style of craftwork. For instance, the bell metal handicraft called Dokra is famous all over the world. I am sure you must have seen those tribal artifacts with long hands and legs and...

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Actual Date of Travel - August 1-2nd 2009 Monsoon had cast its magic and we were spellbound for sure. Yet another eventful weekend in the diaries of the Wandering Soul. Read on to find out more. You see the thing with waterfalls is you won’t be fully delighted until you get up close and personal with it! Awesome feeling it is, experiencing the...

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Here's a view of the beautiful high altitude Lake. Pangong Tso, Ladakh. I wish to return to those azure waters soon! Soon again! The little black dots sort of thing on the extreme left is actually two jeeps on a small patch of land. Just so you get an idea of the scale. :) ...

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Mission: Kumara Parvatha Objective: Set foot upon the Peak Agents : Vinod, Imran, Rama and yours truly Strategy: Climb from Kukke, Reach Peak and get down to Girigadde the same evening. Attempt: second time for me after an unsuccessful attempt last December. Okay. Now that the plan is chalked out and we are all set, let’s begin the journey which turned out to...

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Jog Falls over the river Sharavathi in Shimoga District of Karnataka are India's highest plunge(untiered) waterfalls falling from a height of 830ft! ...

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The Journey to the Tribal HeartLand - Bastar <<  >> The Chhattisgarh Chronicles. It’s 5 O’clock in the evening and now we are at what they said was the Jagdalpur Main junction trying to negotiate with the Jeep Drivers to take us to our destination, a resort developed by the tourism board right in front of the Chitrakote falls, 40 kms from the city....

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Chhattisgarh - Full of Surprises! << >> Chitrakote Falls and Kanger Ghati National Park If you missed the introduction to the land of surprises, you can read it here. :) Else enjoy the ride! The nearest town where you can put up for stay is Jagdalpur which also is the district headquarters of Bastar. All the places of visit are at a distance of...

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>>Journey to the Tribal Heartland - Bastar What? – Vacation When? – May first week Who? – Mom, Dad, Sis, Bro and I Why? – Time for a break Where? – Chhattisgarh!! :D WHAT!!!! Well so now you know what the most common reaction was. There were also some others who must’ve thought why anyone in their sane mind would go to a...

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And all the roads that lead you there are winding... Taken on my way back from Kudremukh. Yet another after-effect of the rain! :) ...

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First view of the majestic Himalayas which seem to be totally dwarfed by the mighty clouds. Taken from the flight while going from Delhi to Srinagar. Lucky for me the window glass was pretty clean. :) ...

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The horse-shoe shaped Chitrakot Falls on Indravati river at a height of 100ft are a sight to behold Location: Bastar, Chattisgarh More Details and Pictures Here - http://ponderingmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/chitrakote-falls-and-kanger-ghati.html I see a sudden increase in search hits for "CHITRAKOT FALLS" since morning on my blog. If you are one of those persons who came here through yahoo SE.. would you mind telling me what...

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A rainy day @ SAP. Forgive me for the bad quality of the picture but the pattern was so lovely i couldn't resist! :) Handheld shot in office corridors at dusk. View from a distance of 50cms approx for best results. :D ...

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Actual Date of travel : 6-7 December 2008 Kumara Parvatha has been eluding me even before I set my foot in Bangalore. It took six months of wait, three failed plans and one almost ruined Friday night for us to set foot on Kumara Parvatha aka KP on an eventful Saturday. KP is the highest peak in the Pushpagiri Forest Range and third...

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KP was looming above the temple right in front of us and we couldn’t wait to start the journey to the peak. Spirits were soaring high and so the journey begins. We started walking towards KP. A right turn from the temple leads to the trail. After some 15-20 minutes walk on the road through the village, one can spot the official trail...

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We left our entire luggage and resumed the trek at 1.30 PM with just water to drink as there are no water sources till the top. There is one stream supposedly near Mantapa but who knows what flows there. It’s not a major stream. We had to stop at forest office to pay some charges to enter the forest and off we go...

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The descent starts and its time for one more realization. I always thought ascent was the toughest part of a trek but so was not the case. I never realized while descending down a mountain one needs to carefully place footing to avoid really serious injuries! All the while I was just feeling like “Juggernaut” from the X-Men series. It was really tough...

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Next morning we hit the trail again by around 8 AM. Now the task of getting down the hill was becoming more tedious as we also had our luggage to carry while we tried to balance ourselves. We slipped, we fell, but we made it to Kukke Subramanya in one piece by 12-1 PM! We met a couple of childern playing cricket at...

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I thought it'd be an interesting idea to post an image a week. Pictures from my surroundings, my sojourns or just out of my muses would be seen here from now on. Watch this space for more! :) An early morning view @ Ulsoor. ...

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And so it was a long weekend again! March 27th – 29th ’09. The scorching summer heat was totally getting on my nerves and all I could think was water..water..water.. which culminated in us taking a trip to the gorgeous Hogenakkal falls that weekend. As is turns out summer heat continued to wreak its havoc however the falls itself totally made up for...

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I have just finished reading “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer and I must say it is one of the profound books I have read. This is my first tryst with non-fiction and boy! It hits hard. The author recounts his disastrous experience about his journey to the roof of the world and back in 1996 in this book.During May 1996, five expeditions...

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One fine morning I decided to go on a photowalk around Ulsoor lake and the result was quite astonishing! That is when I realized beauty is all pervading and you just need to look carefully. :) The park along Ulsoor lake was looking especially pretty as the morning sunrays worked wonders with nature's color palette. I was kneeling, crawling and what not around...

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