2014 ~ The Wandering Soul's Wander Tales..

To the far East, In the Land of Rising Sun - Arunachal Pradesh

Quick! What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think Arunachal?

Is it Tawang? It is Madhuri Lake/Jung Falls? Or is it Sela Pass? (Tell me in the comments)

My memory always served me exactly those places whenever I thought of Arunachal, thanks to the numerous & hackneyed lists that have inundated our virtual world. I knew there had to be more, much more to Arunachal, unexplored and exotic but I just didn't know what that might be. So when I saw images of long bamboo bridges spanning across clear green rivers, mountains covered in lush greenery instead of ugly gashes of development and small villages entirely comprised of thatched roofs houses set high on mountain slopes, I knew I was onto something exotic here.

Arunachal - Land of Rising Sun

And Arunachal didn't disappoint, not even a teensy bit! I traveled to this remote corner, mere 29kms from China border, where you'd hardly find any other travellers (notice how I didn't say tourists. Yep, a tourist would never find his way here). I traveled with a responsible tourism company called Kipepeo which places heavy emphasis on local and authentic travel experiences, on a 10 day trip called Magical Mechuka. Here's a glimpse of how Arunachal stole my heart and reinforced my belief that there's no place as exotic as Northeast in India!

Those exotic forests and the endless mountains!

My first foray into Northeast was Nagaland. Having heard so much about this area's natural beauty and indigenous people, I had imagined a land full of undisturbed forests and colorful people. The latter didn't disappoint, but the forests I had come to envision didn't exist. Instead of dense impenetrable forests, barren mountain slopes full of ravaged agricultural land welcomed me. Only a year later in Meghalaya, when I totally went off the beaten path, I found those hidden protected forests that I had dreamt of.

But here in Arunachal, the moment we crossed the Assam border at Likabali into West Siang District, it was clear this large state shelters untouched jungles full of creepers and giant trees. Over the next few days, we barely had mobile signal(even bsnl doesn't work fully) and it was nothing but a delight to be in the lap of pristine wilderness. The view like that of the image below was a common sight - lush greenery, winding rivers and endless mountains!

Endless mountains and dense forests of Arunachal

Then there are villages, tiny villages sitting pretty on the mountain slopes surrounded by this dense greenery. The entire villages would only have thatched roof houses built traditionally on stilts. There are no roads to reach these villages, you'd have to hike. The views surrounding them would be breathtaking, needless to say. The village boundaries would be marked by wooden fences complete with dreamcatchers sort of hoops to keep the evil out. In those pretty villages, live such naughty kids playing in the mud and running with the wind.

Children goofing around in an Adi Minyong Village

Arunachal, is blessed!

100 % Natural and Organic Living

In the heart of Arunachal Pradesh, we spent few days in and around a little town called Along situated on the banks of a meandering Siom River. Around this town were resplendent hills scattered with picturesque villages of the Adi Minyong Tribe. One afternoon, after hiking to several of their villages we arrived at a field for a traditional lunch of the Adi tribe. Seated on cane stools, we had fish and rice cooked in bamboo hollows, served on banana leaves. The chutney was a mix of ground red chilli and ginger. We drank the local rice wine, Apong, served in the bamboo hollows as seen in the picture below. All of this, while we sat around a the fire (yeah, it gets cold & dark soon in NE) in the middle of a field surrounded by a ring of mountains! This was by far, the most organic and sustainably sourced/cooked meal I ever had.

Apong, a local rice wine that tastes sweet and is delicious. Served in Bamboo hollows.

Oranges grow in abundance in West Siang district. There were orange orchards everywhere and we could practically pluck a fruit from the tree almost anywhere we wanted. Over the 10 days, we ODed on these all-natural, chemical-free, delicious citrus fruit. It's a different kind of high, eating a fruit straight from the orchard. And many of the bridges in remote Arunachal are still old school and incredibly fun! We found ourselves walking on a super shaky bamboo bridge spanning a quarter of a kilometer over Siang River near Along. The walk on this bridge was as adventurous as it was marvellous.

Orange orchards are everywhere in West Siang District. (Left) The 250m wide hanging bamboo bridge connecting Pangin village to Along side over Siang River.(Right)

At the end of it, I couldn't help but marvel at the Adi Minyong Tribe's resourceful and sustainable lifestyle that has evolved over centuries perhaps.

Gate-crashing a local wedding and getting drunk on local liquor

One of those travel situations that can happen only when your lucky stars perfectly align happened to us on this trip in Mechuka. We stalked a bride, gate crashed their wedding yet we were welcomed with open arms and warm smiles. They kept serving local Millet Beer and refused to let our cups go empty. The wedding itself was quite fascinating, and we were given full access to the intimate prayers and customs of their traditional wedding.

Welcome party, groom's side. That's Millet beer in the tray.

Earlier that day, while visiting a local village, few of us saw a group of women in traditional attire standing by the roadside to welcome a party. When we inquired, we were told they are the groom's side and are waiting for the bride to arrive. As soon as we heard this, we pestered our local guide to arrange for us to get invited to the wedding. After finding out the bride's location, we rushed towards her village only to encounter the wedding convoy on the way. We chased the wedding party, overtook them and reached the women standing on the roadside hoping to score an invitation. The trick worked, we were invited to be part of their celebrations!

Wedding ritual of the Memba Tribe of Mechuka

It was an unplanned event and took up most of our day but we were more than happy to be part of a stranger's wedding and get high on the millet beer, talk about authentic local experience!

Raging rivers and roaring cascades

When you have such dense forests and such deep valleys, raging rivers and roaring cascades are a given! We had the pleasure of following the Siom River from Along all the way up to its source in Mechuka, where it is called Yargyap Chu. The road always snaked along with the river because of which gorgeous views were abound, forcing me to stop several hundred times to take pictures. On the last day, here at Pangin, we sat at the edge of a cliff watching the Siom River(right) meet the mighty Siang River(left) that goes on to become the super mighty Brahmaputra downstream.

Where Siom meets Siang, at Pangin in West Siang District

The mountain sides along the entire route from Along to Mechuka were lined with several waterfalls, some falling gently in several steps from great heights into the valley below and some gushing through the rock faces only to half disappear into thin air. Either way, it was pleasurable company to have. But the biggest and baddest of all had to be this Siko Dido Falls, few kilometers before Mechuka. What you see in the picture was exactly half of the entire height of the falls, and the mist that rose from the forceful drop was so cold that it was hard for me to take a steady picture even; I was shivering!

Siko Dido Waterfalls!

Back again on the Bramhaputra
We started our journey into this wild land by crossing over the monster of a river, Bramhaputra. My excitement was hardly contained as I was about to set foot into yet another state of the unexplored Seven Sisters. Rarely do expectations which you have built up in your mind match reality, but that's the thing about Arunachal. It's not a regular place. It's a special place where nature gods still thrive and our only hope is it continues to be so. For such pristine wilderness is hard to come by! As we crossed over Brahmaputra after 10 days to return to reality, the skies turned pensive reflecting my own thoughts - marveling at how exotic northeast truly is yet sad that it would take me ages to explore this enchanted land.

Crossing the Brahmaputra on a stormy day

So why do I recommend Kipepeo?

Firstly, I support the company's ideology - sustainable tourism and community development by involvement. Plus, I like it that Kipepeo works in an ignored part of the country that has so much potential, northeast! Over the 10 days we spent in Arunachal, we always had a local guide with us which worked well for both of us. Especially in a place as remote as Arunachal, this was a game-changer. We gatecrashed local wedding, learnt about spies sent to Tibet and had our fill of Apong and warm Adi hospitality - none of this would've been possible without the local connections.

Secondly, Piran, the founder of Kipepeo has been working and traveling extensively in North East since his early volunteering experience here that gave birth to the idea of this company. He knows the place very well and if not, he has enough contacts who can help him with such offbeat/exploratory visits.

Note: This trip was sponsored by Kipepeo but as always, opinions are mine!

More Adventures from Northeast:
Meghalaya - Going Offbeat in Meghalaya & Learning Interesting Things
Nagaland - Konyaks - The tattooed Headhunters of Nagaland

20 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

AMA

Ask Neelima : How to pitch to get published in a newspaper/magazine?

Every Thursday, one question answered!

And you can find all answers here - Answers to Questions

Arshad asks: I want one of my article to get published in a newspaper/magazine but not sure how to approach them. Someone suggested I should pitch my article to editor but not sure what details to put in that.

Travel Writing, How to Pitch

Whoever that someone is, he/she pointed you in the right direction. Yes, you should always pitch the story idea to the editor. Unless the story/section you are targeting for is so small that with the effort to write the pitch, you might as well write the whole piece. In that case, you write the story on spec, i.e. you are sending the article for consideration and the editor may or may not use the story.

So what should you put in the pitch?

I'm sure most of us must've heard the phrase "Sales pitch" where you are selling your product/idea to the consumer. Same with writing, you are selling your story idea to the editor.

Getting to the details, a pitch should have these three things -

A concise story idea with a unique angle. It doesn't help to say I went to Rajasthan, I did this, I went to that place, I want to write a story for your magazine. You should think of an angle. Think about it, have you ever read a piece which talks about where all the writer went and what all he saw? No, right? Read the publication, target the section you want to write for and think of a story idea that matches that particular section. If it's a newspaper with no particular sections, think of a clear and unique angle to write the story.
You will need to prove your writing skills to a large extent through the pitch itself if you are just getting into publishing because you'll have no previously published stories to substantiate your claim that you can write a story well.
Lastly, you should end the pitch with your qualifications, where you say why you are the right person to do this story. You can tell what other publications you have written for. It is alright if you never written for any publication before. You can say I worked in so and so field, which makes me an expert to write this story or anything else that might work in your favor in convincing the editor to assign you the story.

Can you give me an example of a pitch that worked?

Sure, here you go. This was the pitch that was accepted and the story was out last month. I was targeting a particular section which talks about active holidays(I was pitching about mountain biking). My unique angle was exploring the other side of Goa(the story talks about the forests and hinterlands of Goa as opposed to the well known image of beaches and parties).

Dear [Editor's Name],

Rarely does Goa conjure images of pristine greenery, dense forests and hidden waterfalls. Goa has been always known for its beaches, parties and Portugese colonies. But my first foray into the beach paradise shattered this image as I cycled my way through the charming interiors of the tiny state. Over a week, we covered 250kms through the forests and hills discovering hidden gems along the way. Hidden gems such as Budbudetari Lake, a tiny temple pond where bubbles come from the bottom of the lake every time you clap, beautiful waterfalls such as the two tiered Savri Falls and the oldest temple in Goa, Tambdisurla of 12th Century. Being first timers on the geared mountain bikes, the rides used to be a struggle and took us a while to learn the tricks but a fun experience nonetheless. It was a delight to pass by quaint villages where there was neither a crowd of half naked tourists nor the loud chatter of the bustling party scene. Until this ride happened, I had never imagined that Goa sheltered such dense and abundant forests, just 40kms off the coast.

Of the many interesting things that happened on the ride, there were few things that left an indelible impression such as -

Hearing the song of a Whistling Thrush for the first time who's call is an eerily accurate rendition of a person whistling.
Offroading on jungle trails in Bhagwan Mahavir and Molem National Parks where we pushed cycles through knee deep waters and roughed it out on uneven mud paths full of stone and gravel.
Camping at a huge football field in a small village called Assolna, we learned about the ubiquity of soccer love in Goa.
Sneaking out of the camp to enjoy the local delicacies, to gorge on rice with fried fish and Kokum curry along with a gulp of the local liqour, feny.

I propose to do a story describing the above incidents, the mountain biking experience, the struggle and the completely new facet of Goa as we discovered along the way.

Regards,

Neelima Vallangi.

If I'm pitching the editor the first time, I would also add this -

I’m a freelance travel writer and photographer covering stories from India. My stories have appeared in several leading publications such as xxx, yyy, zzz and www. You can find a selection of my published stories here – [Link to my stories]. I am happy to send some samples of my recent work.

However, you should keep in mind that what works for me might not work for you. I keep tweaking the style and contents to suit the publication/Story I'm targeting for. And writer's being good at writing, have flooded the internet with the entire How-To of freelance journalism. A quick but dedicated search should tell you everything you need to know about pitching, having stories commissioned, working with editors and everything else under the sun. If you are really serious about getting into freelance writing, google is your best friend. Really! That's how I learned everything I know about freelance Travel writing.

I hope this answers your question, Arshad. For the rest of you, have a question? You know what to do. Ask Neelima!

9 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

adventure

A Unique way of Traveling - Overlanding (In Mongolia)

When I first entered the room full of fellow travellers in Mongolia, I didn't realise Overlanding was a thing. I think almost 95% of the group had done this sort of travel before as I found out during our introductions. They overlanded in Africa, Central Asia and even India! When I was looking for options to explore the real countryside of Mongolia without compromising on quality of the experience and safety, this trip from Intrepid Travel looked like a good option. Personally, what drew me to this trip was the truck! I imagined it must be great fun to drive around in this truck, stopping and camping anywhere we pleased. There were a lot of camping nights involved as you can see from the pictures below.

One of the many exquisite camping locations and the truck named Xara that took us around!

So what is Overlanding?

Overlanding is a well known thing in North America, Europe and Australia. Its basically where you travel in a modified truck or 4-wheel drive with everything you need to survive for a few days. You can carry food supplies, water, cooking/camping equipment with you which gives you the biggest advantage of freedom to go wherever you want to.

So how to book yourself on one of these trips?

Well, the good news is we(Indians) are a bit late in catching up but overlanding is all the rage outside. It's especially helpful for all those of us who want to go on adventures/hiking/camping but find it too costly/impractical to self-organize or find a group. Small group adventures, as they are called, are organized by many companies such as Intrepid Travel, G Adventures, Dragoman Overland Adventures, Exodus Travels etc. These are just the very famous ones that I've heard of but there should be many more who do these kind of trips in the remote places that you want to visit.

So what is the biggest advantage of Overlanding?

There are two.

First, it gives you a lot of freedom in terms of where to go and where to stop for the day. And because you are carrying everything you need to camp with you, you are not dependent on some town close by to shop for food or finding a stream for water. Stop anywhere you want to! That's just brilliant.

Second, no hotels? No problem! In remote areas where tourism infrastructure is absent, like it was in Mongolia, you will have not have decent hotels to rest for the night. Camping is much better option in the absence of hotels instead of staying in dingy lodges and motels. This way, you get to experience the wilderness and countryside yet still be comfortable.

When the driving distances are too long and driving time goes into days, nothing beats the freedom of having the option of covering as much distance as you want each day and camping when the clock strikes 6 in the evening. Overlanding brings this flexibility which is indispensable because we all know how travel plans can change in just few minutes.

Now moving on to the finer aspects of Overland travel, here are some pictures and their stories. Oh btw, our truck was called Xara!

Our trip was a mix of camping and staying Ger camps where available. The 10 nights we camped were this spectacular! Milkyway arched across the clear nightsky and all of huddled comfortably around a warm campfire.

The truck has been modified keeping every requirement in mind for a long overland trip. The seats are comfortable, the windows are big so that every person has a good view of outside, not just the person in the window seat. The truck even has roof seats where you can sit comfortably enjoying a 360 degree view! The truck has several compartments to store food, camping/cooking equipment, tools, garbage, luggage, a fridge and even a secret locker! Seen here is our cooking set up.

A typical evening in the Mongolian countryside on our 3 week trip. We were divided into 5 cook groups and we all would take turns cooking lunch, dinner and breakfast when we camped. At times, it felt tiring to actually cook instead of taking a walk around but it also kept us busy and gave us a good chance to socialize. And our campsites were always this pretty, every campsite beat the previous campsite's location.

Irrespective of whether we camp overnight or not, we would almost always stop for lunch in places like this. Herds of sheep would pass us by, horsemen in traditional Mongolian Deels would come see us, local men on motorbikes would stop by. It was always fun to stop in such gorgeous locations and have lunch.

But the most fun was definitely stopping somewhere in the middle of nowhere and calling it a day! Then going for a long walk and turn back to find this comforting view of a orange truck waiting to take you to a new place the next day.

So, how do you like Overlanding? Have I tempted you to book yourself on an Overlanding Trip yet? ;)

---{Many of the pictures seen here are shot using a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens I rented from Tapprs. }

25 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

AMA

Ask Neelima: How do you find people to travel with? How is it traveling Solo?

Few of you might have noticed there's a new #AskNeelima page I've added here on the blog. I know a lot of you have many questions on travel/ freelance lifestyle/photography etc and I keep getting similar questions time and again. To make things easier, for both you and me, I have started this new initiative. Since putting up the page 3 days ago, I already have 6 questions to answer. I'm hoping this would a be a good platform for us to interact more often. So if you have any questions on travel/photography/writing/blogging, shoot right away.

Every Thursday, one question answered!

And you can find all answers here - Answers to Questions

Let's get started with the first question of the series then.

Avinash asks: How do you find people to travel with? And if you are traveling alone, how is your experience?

It is very difficult to find someone to travel with you always. This is the reason I'm prepared to travel irrespective of whether I have company or not.

So how do I find people to travel with?

In the early days, I joined a lot of travel clubs to go on treks/trips where I made a lot of friends. I used to go with clubs like Bangalore Ascenders, Bangalore Mountaineering Club, Chennai Trekking Club, Indiahikes, Youth Hostels Association of India etc where I met a lot of like minded folks interested in travel and adventure. I formed some lasting friendships with whom I still travel regularly.

In the beginning, I was apprehensive of joining a bunch of total strangers on a trek into the forest. The first trek, I had to move heaven and earth to get a few friends join me on a trek because I didn't want to go alone with strangers. But as I found out, my fears were unfounded. I made friends easily and people were quite supportive. I would suggest going on day hikes before venturing out on longer trips with such groups just to get a feel of it. Also, please note I haven't traveled with any of the groups mentioned above in a very long time and things might have changed. Use your better judgement before you take a call. To find people to travel with, try to join travel clubs and companies active in your vicinity. Facebook is a great place to begin with, to look for such companies. See how the response is from previous participants and join a small trip to see if it works out for you.

I have also convinced my family to travel with me. As it turned out, they enjoy the adventurous, offbeat outings just as much as I do. So we take many vacations as and when possible. I've traveled to remote corners of Ladakh twice with them. We have traveled to Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and even Bhutan. Every time, we manage to squeeze in a hike or two in the itinerary.

And when I have to go some place where solo travel isn't quite possible or turns out to be very expensive, I travel with reliable companies to join a group. For instance, this year I'm traveling to North East again with a responsible travel company called Kipepeo which organises a lot of fixed departures. I traveled to Mongolia with Intrepid Travel which again is a nice company specializing in small group adventures. In case of Intrepid, I already knew their reputation and since many solo travelers join their expeditions, I had no qualms joining the trip.

How is my experience of traveling solo?

Everyone has different preferences and the resulting experiences vastly differ as well. My kind of travel takes me to super remote places where I'm shit scared half the time and the other half of the time, I'm marvelling at what I get to see. I stay in dingy rooms, wake up with spiders or snakes or insects next to me. Many times, I'm the only guest in the whole hotel and sometimes only visitor in the village. Despite the troubles, I love traveling solo because of the reasons mentioned here - Do I really love traveling solo?

But I have to tell you, traveling solo isn't for everyone. I like my solitude. Take away the creatures and the scares, I'd happily travel solo all the time without a worry in the world. It's not the case with everyone. I know many friends who want someone next to them to share a beautiful moment. But with solo travel, there are problems of budget and safety at times. I cannot afford to hire a vehicle for myself and will have to depend on haphazard public transport entirely. I might not be able to go on a multi day trek.

So, depending on whether I'm traveling with someone or not, I choose what to do and where to go. But irrespective of company, I always choose to travel. At the risk of sounding trite, let me just go ahead and say "where there's a will there's a way"!

I hope this answers your question, Avinash. For the rest of you, have a question? You know what to do. Ask Neelima!

1 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

Bhutan

Rain Soaked Beauty of Bhutan - In Pictures

Every year, between June and October, I've been dedicatedly returning to the Indian forests and mountains to experience the wonder that is Monsoon Magic! But earlier this year in June, I ended up chasing monsoons in Bhutan as well. Considering how pristine the countryside and wilderness is in Bhutan, it was a delightful time to be there. I think, only a snow-ridden winter visit can top what I've seen in those misty rain soaked days. Without further ado, here's a glimpse of my monsoon escapade in the Land of Thunder Dragon!

(Also read : 7 Interesting things about Bhutan you probably didn't know!)

This is why Bhutan is called the last Shangri-La! Look at the mist covered mountains and monasteries perched on impossible cliffs. Woke up to this view for 3 days and it will never cease to amaze me - a perfect memory from a beautiful country.

Beautiful Rhododendron bloom welcoming me in Bhutan as well. I had seen these flowers adorn the forests of Sikkim (Goecha La Trek) just the month before and couldn't get enough of it. Luckily, the season was still on and I got to see much more of these pretty flowers during my time in Bhutan.

This is where fairies must be living or probably this is the Shire! Clusters of pretty houses in a narrow valley between pine covered mountain slopes. I was impressed by how well the wilderness areas were protected in Bhutan. They have, after all, vowed to keep at least 60% of the country under forest cover.

Bhutan is primarily an Agrarian country and this is why you will find lush green fields everywhere you go. In the monsoons, it is a sight to behold as you can see.

My tryst with the forests of Bhutan was fleeting and nominal because trekking in Bhutan will burn a deep hole in my pocket. So I had to suffice with the roadside stops to peer into the lush greenery. But you can imagine how beautiful the country is, if I could get views like this just from the road!

Okay, you don't need me to tell you how pretty this scene is. Instead, tell me, so who wants to live here? ;)

Monsoon is my favorite season not just because of the mist and greenery but because of all the wild flowers it brings. I followed a trail going up a mountain and ended up in a sea of wild flowers of every shape and color! Also ended getting very lucky with sighting this super rare Blue Himalayan Poppy!

One of the several Rice Bowls of Bhutan, Paro and it's green fields shining despite a dark stormy sky!

Last rays of the day during the last few hours in Bhutan, just few kilometers from India. . See how the hills of Bhutan are reducing to plains of India?

See the narrow line in dark just before the houses start? That's the border wall, between India and Bhutan. Final goodbyes, from one green land to another. Days after returning from Bhutan, memories of it's pristine beauty and cheerful people will haunt you to go back. I know I want to and probably will! :)

So where have you been chasing monsoons this season? Tell me in the comments!

-- {All the pictures seen here are shot using a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens I rented from Tapprs. }

21 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

Amritsar

In Pictures: Amritsar's Exquisite Colors

Most of us here do share a fascination with Pakistan! I have always wanted to visit that side of the border but I mostly knew the closest I can ever get to Pakistan would be only to the Wagah-Attari Border. So when the folks at Microsoft Lumia invited me to go on a trip to Amritsar, I jumped at the opportunity.

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Wagah-Attari Border Ceremony

Situated 25kms from the city of Amritsar, Attari is a village 3kms before the India-Pakistan international border at Wagah. The pleasant surprise after reaching Attari was that Punjab Tourism had arranged for us to be seated right next to the Iron Gate on the Indian side. Across the gate was Pakistan! I looked that way more than I watched the Indian side- so tantalisingly close, yet so unreachable.

Since 1959, an elaborate border ceremony has been staged every evening and continues till date. Michael Palin called this ceremony "carefully choreographed contempt" and I think that's an apt description. Tall people from Border Security Force (India) and Pakistan Rangers (Pakistan) march, salute, stomp and enact aggression. Respective country folks are incited to cheer for their country and the audience is more than happy to indulge in the shoutfest. Just before sunset, the iron gates are opened. The flags are simultaneously lowered and folded. Then the soldiers retreat with the flags and the iron gates are shut. It's a strange ceremony between two countries that share so much history and animosity. It's interesting nonetheless and it's the closest I'll probably get to that side!

Flags being lowered at sunset at Wagah Border.

(With 41 Mega Pixels, the biggest advantage is you can shoot first and seriously compose later. In all that chaos, I managed to sneak up onto the road getting a clear view of Pakistan and quickly took some shots before I was chased back to the side. Later at home, I cropped the picture and it's still has an excellent resolution!)

Before the ceremony begins, visitors on the Indian side are allowed to run to the gates holding up the Indian Flag. Lots of kids seemed to be loving it. And if you're wondering, no, I did not run. ;)

Window to Pakistan, the other side! From where we were sitting, this was the view right next to us. The arena filled up eventually but compared to that side, there was a sea of humanity on this side of the gate, obviously.

Fawad Khan, Sonam Kappor, Kirron Kher, Movie Promotion

Do you recognize anyone here? Yep, that's the cast of Khoobsoorat promoting their movie. It was really funny to see Fawad Khan sitting on the Indian side listening to all the cheers of Indians against Pakistan. I wonder which PRs sick idea was it to get him to the border!

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Early Morning serenity at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple

I keep saying I'm not a temple person and I keep getting blown away by temple after temple! Getting up at 3.30AM is not exactly my idea of fun but hey, duty calls! We were on our way to witness the Palki Sahib ceremony where the holy book, Granth Sahib is moved to the sanctum in a palanquin. We did see the procession but what blew my away was the beauty and serenity of the Golden Temple. In the night, the temple glowed and reflected in the pool of nectar surrounding the structure. By morning, the red of the sun reflected in the holy waters. The temple itself, at the centre of the pool was extremely beautiful with intricate marblework with embedded gems quite similar to Taj Mahal. Inside, every inch of the wall and ceiling was covered in elaborate designs made of gold embossing and other bright colors. I was lost in the two floors of the sanctum marvelling at the intricacy of the fine Sikh craftsmanship.

Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar

When the sun rises, the first light falls on the temple and it's easily one of the best times to visit. In the pool of nectar, as it's called, there are huge fishes that add color to the scene. In the centre, however, is a devotee taking a holy dip before visiting the temple.

Early morning at Golden Temple, Amritsar

Thousands of pilgrims throng the temple everyday and they bring such a huge array of diversity and color with them that it is fascinating to just watch them go by.

Night Reflections at Golden Temple, Amritsar

This was the view that greeted us 4 in the morning! The reflections of the temple and the watch towers were so impressive that I kept staring at the view.
(I'm actually quite impressed with the low light capability of the Lumia, it captures the scene in great detail and I'm a bit sad to report that it looks like the Lumia handles low light better than my DSLR does at the moment)

Roti preparation at Langar, Golden Temple, Amritsar

Women adding final touches to the rotis in the community kitchen called Langar where free food is served to everyone visiting the Gurudwara irrespective of any distinctions. The whole of the roti making process is automated, just the last step of applying butter is done manually by the women.

Got a bit adventurous and took this people shot. Not my forte at all, but with such a small yet powerful camera, I could get used to taking portraits of people! ;)

Golden temple, seen through the foliage.

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The Old and The Colorful - Lanes of Amritsar

After the visiting the Wagah Border and Golden Temple, our group descended upon the old streets of Amritsar. I wasn't sure what I would photograph in the city but the old city turned out to be quite colorful and really really old. Every lane had interesting visuals and the colors were mindblowing. Add to that, I was shadowing the talented Sid - The Wanderer who specializes in street and portrait photography. So, with the help of an inconspicuous camera and an expert I actually quite enjoyed taking these street shots!

Show me blue and I'm already in love with the place. For some strange reasons, many of those old city lanes were bathed in generous blue.

We called him the Afghan Guy, he had the look.

This kid wanted a piece of the action, he was excited looking at all attention the Afghan guy was getting. If there's a willing model, I'm more than happy to shoot! I'm sure the kid must've been disappointed to see I wasn't shooting him with the big professional camera. ;)

An old abandoned temple right in the middle of the lane was painted all in blue. Blue, pretty and ruined - I can easily spend hours here photographing but we made it out in about 10 minutes.

Colorful, wasn't it?

But there was lot of food!
Apart from all the roaming around, we also ate a lot of food. Because, none other than MasterChef Vikas Khanna was showing us around and taking us to his favorite food joints in Amritsar. I could talk about it but I would be as lost as a blind man in a maze! So allow me to direct you to the expert's post - Kalyan Karmakar, better known as Finely Chopped has written about the food trail, go read - A food safari in Chef Vikas Khanna’s Amritsar

Note - My trip to Amritsar was hosted by Nokia India.

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, by Neelima Vallangi

adventure

3 Weeks in Mongolia - The Long Journey, In Pictures.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'd know I made a 30 Before 30 List few years ago. The first one on the list was "Go to Ulanbaatar". I don't when or how this fascination with Mongolia began but I was pretty awestruck by this country. I also (in)famously talked about Why I never traveled out of India so far. Apart from the reasons mentioned in the post, I also never thought of traveling out of India because visiting some country for a week or two didn't really sound exciting. So, as soon as I quit my job and had all the time in the world, the first thing I did was to book myself a ticket to Mongolia - The Land of Eternal Blue Skies!

Last month, after several hiccups in the initial planning, I finally landed in Chhinggis Khan International Airport and it felt surreal to finally realize a long pending dream. I spent a little over 3 weeks in Mongolia and covered a bit of Central and Northern parts. We traveled around in a super efficient truck, stayed in the traditional Mongolian Yurts/Gers for few nights and camped under the open skies many nights.

You should know 3 weeks is a long long time and I have accumulated 80GB worth of pictures and numerous stories. I'm still dazed, with the amount of memories from the trip, the work after coming back home and my insufferable laziness. So I haven't been able to process the images from DSLR yet but anticipating this, I took a lot of pictures from my mobile and this should give you a decent glimpse into the 3 weeks in this wild country while I get my bearings straight.

Ulaanbataar is the capital of Mongolia. More than 40% of the country's population lives in this city and the rest are spread across the vast country. Heavy soviet influences give the city a very strange and rather drab look. This is the centre of the city, Sukhbataar Square and the huge building is the Parliament House. It's an interesting place to spend an afternoon but after spending 4 days in the city, I was dying to get to the countryside.

This killer truck took us around for 21 days over non existent roads through incredible countryside. Overlanding, as it is called, is very popular in the western world apparently. I myself had never heard of this but found it to be a pretty cool way to get around in remote areas. It had almost everything you need to travel onboard. The name's Xara btw! ;)

Off we go, rolling on the Steppes under clear blues skies on bright sunny days! The criss crossing tracks that you see are the roads in Mongolia. How people navigate here is beyond me.

After initial few bright sunny days, storm clouds took over. Even on overcast days, the beauty of Mongolian countryside was hard to escape. Under the dark stormy skies, the green rolling grasslands looked spectacular still.

On the first night out of the city, we arrived at this huge lake called Ogii Lake. Legend has it that the lake was formed from the tear drops of a man whose wife was kidnapped by an evil king. After reaching this Lake, I walked around till 8 in the night. Yes, that's when sun begins to set. I was delighted in the beginning with the long daylight hours but it became a problem soon. It was impossible to catch the sunset colours because, one - it was too quick and two - it was dinner time when the sun set!

This is one view I never associated with Mongolia. We reached the town of Kharkhorin and stayed in the outskirts. We hiked up a small hill to find this brilliant green valley with a meandering river. This is Orkhon River, the longest in Mongolia. I stayed alone at the hilltop till 8 in the night again, I could afford to miss the late evening golden light. And good things come to those who wait! ;) The drab skies turned dramatic as rain clouds moved in from across the mountains.

Meandering Orkhon River and the smooth rolling hills. The best part of Mongolia is most of the hills are so eroded you can practically climb anything you set your eye upon. It makes for excellent walks, go wherever you want kind of walks.

Storm Clouds and Mongolian Highways where Xara took us on a ride, across green grasslands and over eroded mountains.

And scenes like this that I could never get used to. Horses are an integral part of the nomadic Mongolian lifestyle and every single time I saw the horse riders, it felt like I traveled back in time.

Camping in amazing locations was the most fun part of the trip. We would drive until 5.30 in the evening to arrive at the most stunning locations. And camping was so easy because it was all flat and soft ground. I remember camping in Himalayas where you keep sliding off in the tent due to the uneven ground or clear ground of rocks and insects in the dense forests of Western Ghats. Here in Mongolia, it hardly took more than 5 minutes to pitch the tent.

My tentmate and I, we always discussed what view we wanted from our tent. Of course, this took more time than pitching the tent.We always had excellent views to wake up to courtesy stunning Mongolian Countryside!

Towards the end, we were well accustomed to the cold and we slept under the starry skies with just sleeping bags. I've seen the milky way several times before but never saw it arch across the entire sky as my views in the Himalayas or Western Ghats were always blocked by some mountain. Here, it was almost like a planetarium. It was so much fun to spot shooting stars and falling asleep to a clear view of the galaxy!

This is how Mongolian towns look like - wooden houses with colorful tin roofs. We stopped at small towns like these to stock up on food supplies for the times when we camp.

Mongolians love their meat and milk products! These two form the staple food and a vegetarian or a lactose intolerant person would have a super tough time here.

Winding our way around central Mongolia, we reached north for the final leg of the journey. Northern Mongolia feels more like Russia or Siberia with the pine forests and mountains typical of the Siberian Taiga.

Lake Khovsgol is Mongolia's largest fresh water lake, is over 2 million years old and feels more like an ocean than a lake. It is that vast! On this lake, we went boating to see a little island full of cormorants and sea gulls. For the 3 days we were in this part of the country, felt like I was in Russia or Canada because of the landscape.

Firstly, I've never traveled for 21 days straight. And secondly, never in a truck. So, it was super interesting, this journey. At times, we got stuck like this and at other times, we sat on the roof of the truck(Yes, this truck has roof seats too!) shivering in the cold wind but also enjoying the 360 degree view. And then, we also camped and cooked under the starry skies. In the evenings, we wandered alone in the vast steppes, along the lake shores and over eroded mountains. That's the beauty of Mongolia, it's so vast and beautiful, you'll be hard-pressed to think of anything but the present.

And then, the night falls. When the morning comes, we pack up and leave - looking back at what we left behind at times and looking forward to what's in store the other times. But, as travellers we all know that, don't we? That it's all about the journey anyway. It's all good as long as we keep moving! :)

28 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

Pages

To the far East, In the Land of Rising Sun - Arunachal Pradesh

Those exotic forests and the endless mountains!

100 % Natural and Organic Living

Gate-crashing a local wedding and getting drunk on local liquor

Raging rivers and roaring cascades

Ask Neelima : How to pitch to get published in a newspaper/magazine?

A Unique way of Traveling - Overlanding (In Mongolia)

Ask Neelima: How do you find people to travel with? How is it traveling Solo?

Rain Soaked Beauty of Bhutan - In Pictures

In Pictures: Amritsar's Exquisite Colors

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Wagah-Attari Border Ceremony

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Early Morning serenity at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple

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The Old and The Colorful - Lanes of Amritsar

3 Weeks in Mongolia - The Long Journey, In Pictures.

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Pages

To the far East, In the Land of Rising Sun - Arunachal Pradesh

Those exotic forests and the endless mountains!

100 % Natural and Organic Living

Gate-crashing a local wedding and getting drunk on local liquor

Raging rivers and roaring cascades

Ask Neelima : How to pitch to get published in a newspaper/magazine?

A Unique way of Traveling - Overlanding (In Mongolia)

Ask Neelima: How do you find people to travel with? How is it traveling Solo?

Rain Soaked Beauty of Bhutan - In Pictures

In Pictures: Amritsar's Exquisite Colors

***

Wagah-Attari Border Ceremony

*** Early Morning serenity at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple

***

The Old and The Colorful - Lanes of Amritsar

3 Weeks in Mongolia - The Long Journey, In Pictures.

About me

Features

Published With

Labels

recent posts

Blog Archive

Popular Posts

Find me on Facebook

Find me on Twitter

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Early Morning serenity at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple

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