Tarun and Yogita's Travel Blog

Naukuchiatal

2007-07-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

Where footprints of indiscriminate development are still dim, chirping of the birds louder than noise of cars and peace mightier than bustle, Naukuchiatal is such a pearl preserved in the shell of nature. Actually no words can do justice to explain the heavenly beauty of Naukuchiatal, or the lake with nine corners that no one has counted nine so far. It is for experiencing in real the many breathtaking hues of the lake in one single day. We (we both with parents) stayed right by the lake in an ideal holiday resort, Lake Resort. To be back in the hills after Simla was a respite for our souls parched from the heat of the city. The resort was surrounded by lush green forest and our natural instincts (well, instincts that were developed in the US) took us into the forest and we measured many inches observing big trees, many birds and yes! insects.
End of June may be the best time to visit as we saw plenty of varieties of birds around. Sadly they are anonymous as none of us was a bird specialist, though we all enjoyed the magical symphony created by them. Occasionally one may also see a crab and we saw one with its younger one. Temperatures are naturally cool and the drizzle pleasing and yummmm what goes best with it :). Earth is no less than heaven when you are served chai and sumptuous pakoras on a rainy day.
Boating in the lake was fun as well. We got to see a couple of kingfishers (I think they were kingfishers) up close. Of course seeing the hills around is another delight. We also did a side trip to Bhimtal and were glad that people do not venture to come slightly further and have not yet polluted Naukuchiatal similar to Bhimtal.

By the way, one must try avoiding NH 24 when traveling from Delhi. It is under construction and that stole precious 4 hours each side from us that could have been better spent relaxing at Naukuchiatal.

A trip to real paradise on earth

2006-12-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

... Himachal Pradesh (HP).
We might have been a little late to visit Himachal, late November, yet we liked the biting cold after scorching heat of Rajasthan. The mersmerising beauty of the formidable Himalayas and small colorful homes built anywhere amongst those is a surely a tempting invitation for anyone.

Shimla: There is something really attractive about Shimla. Either it is the immaculate Mall and the Ridge or numerous people just sitting on the ridge enjoying the day's sunshine before taking off for work or the bright houses of Shimla or even the very steep uphill climb from the main road up to the Mall. Shimla has its charm and we were bought by it.

Tattapani: the place where hot sulphurous springs emerge from the river Sutlej. We stayed at Hotel Spring View that is right besides the beautiful river and offers some amazing Italian food. The hotel will be soon uprooted in the wake of a dam construction on the river. But we hope that the hot springs still remain. Worth a visit is a cave of Lord Shiva, about 5 kms from Tattapani. We just walked to it as we never wanted to miss even a single glimpse of this heavenly place.

Kinnaur: No words can describe this place's beauty, it is just breathtaking. Right in the middle of the Great Himalayas, whose majesty humbles you down, we were at about 2700m above sea level. Even though the cold was nerve chilling and a drive to kinnaur bone-rattling, we truly enjoyed our trip to this gem of the tribal circuit of HP. We were in Kalpa, 7 km from Reckong Peo, a small village where life is slow and fulfilling and people revere Dalai Lama a lot. The small stone roofed huts of Kalpa do stand well against the mighty Kinner Kailash. Mount Kinner Kailash is said to change 7 colors in a day and we also got our share of some wonderful glimpses. We stayed at the HPTDC Hotel Kinner Kailash that offered the best view of the Kinner Kailash and some great service.

We would like to complete our trip of the tribal circuit, especially the Spiti Valley for which Rudyard Kipling said "where gods live".

What else in Rajasthan?

2006-12-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

certainly not to be missed, Udaipur, the Venice of India. And try staying at a modest guest house and you may never know you might be taking care of the baby in the host family or become friends with the friends of your host family. And while you are in Udaipur and have done whatever many guide books say don't miss the 7 pm dance show at the Bagore ki Haveli.

In a small program they introduce you to the exuberance and the joy for life every Rajasthani female has in abundance. The hardships of a life in desert are a nonentity when they sway with the tunes of the vibrant Rajasthani folk music. And watch the program till the end as it ends in an exotic, courageous and a tremendously poised dance by a female who can sway her whole body in motions, even when she's on top of broken glass and not drops even one of the nine pots she is balancing on her head.

Jaisalmer

2006-12-14T00:03:00.000-08:00

A dream fort, an 850 years old legacy, a little world inside the fort, exquisite golden sandstone carvings and jaisalmeri natives who speak french , the golden city of Jaisalmer is there to spellbind you. Inside the fort it is an entire city that sees all of its days and nights inside the fort when the tourist season is in. The fort has truly discovered tourism where musicians and folk artists display their talents and the main cuisine available apart from Indian is Italian. Services are not expensive due to competition and there are plenty of options. Persuasive sellers are still there but we found our experience there to be pleasant.

The temples and palaces of the fort are charming while the narrow lanes passing through are a riot of colors and the traditional art on display quintessential (at least at the face of it :)). I find Rajasthani art to be delicate and attractive and all of it is there for us to make our own. We particularly like the Jain temple inside the fort for its breathtaking art.

Beauty of this city is the golden sandstone that is used to make havelis and modest house alike and is left unpainted by the residents understanding the charm of its majestic color. Some may and will always differ but Jaisalmer is relatively cleaner and less noisy than all the cities of Rajasthan.

Worth a visit is the Desert Cultural Center, next to tourist reception center, a single man's effort to preserve the traditional art of puppeteering. The uppet show in the evening brings you face-to-face with this dexterous work of hands and a melange of folk music and songs.

The lack of water and so the vegetation can certainly not be mistaken for the lack of life. The vibrant colors of turbans and chunris contrasting again the desert gold (the sand) is a sheer joy to watch.

Desert Safari

2006-11-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

This was our first desert safari and our first camel ride and while we are at it let's state the conclusion first "It was a lot of fun, but it hurts one's a*s a lot".

Our desert safari was organized by Vino desert safari and our travel partners were a very lively couple Robert and Nekane from Spain. We started with four camels, three for riding and one for pulling the cart that was loaded with supplies for two days. We were really impressed by the punctuality and the completeness of their services. Our guide was Mr. Harphul Singh and others like Mr. Sampat (the sensible), Mr. Annaram (the joker) and Mr. Rameshwar (the serious one).

Mr. Harphul and Anna ram ji had some sense of humor (good or bad is debatable) that kept us laughing. They made good food (but very spicy) and chai for us right in the middle of the desert.

It was a chance for us to see the desert up close, scanty vegetation, antelopes, vultures, sand dunes and desert life. Once in a while our camel seemed to be interested in getting a back scratch so we had to protect ourselves from the thorny trees that they would brush against. But, desert does not have only thorns to offer, one can enjoy tangy desert apples, small berries, that can be found pretty much everywhere.

Bikaner

2006-11-21T06:51:00.000-08:00

Yet another Rajasthani town, Bikaner, may not be any special in terms of administration, roads and cleanliness (meaning nowhere near good and the reason -- Dharmendar is the MP from this area and has not visited the city since his elections). But, Junagarh fort, bhujia and rasgulla from Chotu motu joshi and typical desert landscape makes it worth a visit.

Junagarh fort was one of the few forts in India that was never conquered. It is huge and very delicately decorated. One of the interesting aspects of the forts of Rajasthan is that the work on the windows is never the same. The king of Bikaner, Sri Ganga Singh ji, was a very progressive and diplomatic leader who worked for the welfare of the people. Most notable is the canal built by him that brought water and so life to Bikaner. A rare quality of the Indian kings of his time was his shrewd diplomacy, for instance he was adept at making the Raj bend to please him by offering concessions to his state and at the same time supported the freedom fighters of his kingdom. So much was his influence with the Britishers that he was the only Indian present in the signing of treaty of Versailles that ended world war I.

We also visited a unique research center for camels and a camel farm. A museum inside the farm displays a variety of artifacts about camels. In the farm there were so many camels that we have seen together in our respective lives. There was also a camel milk parlour that serves tea, coffee, kulfi (indian ice cream) and flavored milk -- all made of pure camel milk. Camel milk is supposed to be the best of the different kinds of milk. It has various medicinal properties especially its efficacy in treating type II diabetes.

Our day ended in the dusk of the old city where evening dawns on the abundant havelis and traffic grows out of control while you cannot count the number of mithai shops in the area.

The painted towns of Shekhawati

2006-11-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

Along side the dusty streets of Shekhawati region, the treasure of Rajasthan is struggling to keep its identity against the perils of over population and misadministration (that one can see in abundance in India).

Shekhawati region has its true heritage in beautifully painted exquisite Havelis, with ignorance and growing needs of the villagers taking a toll on them. We visited Bissau, Mehansar, Fatehpur and Nawalgarh villages of the Shekhawati region. We were still objects of wonder in those remote villages but our language helped us through. A fort sold to a family for a mere 1.60 lakh rupees has dilapidated to dirty and unattractive ruins. But, the families in Bissau are nevertheless welcoming allowing us to take a look at more than a 100 years old art.

Mehansar is another gem of a place, but here we found that people are slowly becoming aware of their priceless heritage. Narayan Niwas Castle, a heritage hotel, is one such attempt. Although a fort turned into a hotel bereaves tourists from just viewing the art, it is still an attempt preserve the art. This ofcourse assumes that the guests of the hotels are sensitive to the heritage. A gold room in Mehansar is a relatively well kept exquisite piece of art where every inch of the wall is painted delicately with fruit colors and real gold. The toll of time is visible here too, but the fact that the room is kept locked is reassuring.

Meandering into the narrow, dusty and filthy streets we found about a haveli in Fatehpur that is an exemplary effort by a French artist, Nadine Le prince to protect Shekhawati. She bought a dying haveli and with amazing dedication and tireless efforts restored it and added an art gallery to the same. After a long day experiencing a dismal state of affairs and disappearing art it was quite a relief to see some activism even though by a foreigner to preserve our heritage. And, all those who know the psyche of common Indians, we are sure that the copy cat attitude would ensure that many other havelis would be restored and turned into museums :). And a testament to this is that another haveli in Fatehpur is on sale for restoration and museum if interested please let us know we will put you in touch with the right people.

Jhujhunu and Sati

2006-11-21T06:22:00.000-08:00

Today, we are in Jhujhunu, the land of Sati practice where the wife of a dead man burns herself on the husband’s funeral pyre. Sati is banned in India by the activism of Raja Ram Mohun Roy. But, people pray Sati Mata very religiously in the biggest Sati Mandir in India (in jhujhunu).

The temple is huge and a work of art. Ceiling of Rajasthani fabric, main temple compound and pillars of carved silver and painted walls with the story of Sati are a joy to watch. There are small temples for some women, who were Sati and people worship those as well. The temple administration has put up boards that they are against sati practice and we too have not heard any news of practicing of Sati (though Mark Tully writes about that in one of his books about India) of late.

It takes long in India to get rid of bad practices and superstitions, but eventually the cause is just and well championed, things do change for better.

Old city of Jaipur, the real Pink City

2006-11-17T01:00:00.000-08:00

Today we had a rendezvous with the Jaipur that is a heaven for tourists both domestic and foreign. Yes! You would have to negotiate with one of the craziest traffic in the world, but Jaipur, the old city, is a true treat beyond that. This is the Pink city, the city of royal heritage.

We visited the Hawa Mahal, a foundation less palace, which stands strong based on the air passing through its hundreds of windows. Onto from there, we visited an eye opener to the highly advanced 18th century observatory, Jantar Mantar of Jaipur built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Our guide was very helpful who explained the visionary observatory that is still used as a laboratory for current astronomers. It is impressive to know how scholarly was Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The laboratory showcases some of the most advanced instruments to measure time and the activities of the celestial bodies.

City Palace may be one of the best kept palaces. The current king of Jaipur is one of the progressive kings. He took care to decorate and display their heritage for the tourists. A workshop for upcoming artists at the palace is another unique initiative for not letting the traditional art to die. While in the palace one comes across the life and times of one of the most progressive kings of Jaipur Raja Man Singh II and one admires him for his vision to make Jaipur a cherished place to visit.

We then visited the Jaigarh fort, the home of world’s largest cannon on wheel, Jaivan. Jaigarh fort is maintained by the current Raja of Jaipur (mentioned above). Tarun is probably scanning any administration in India for good management and he found that of Jaigarh fort at par. We used a local guide book sold for INR 30 at the ticket windows to navigate around and were spell bound by the magnanimity of this fort. Here, we were served Royal Veg Biryani by the cheif cook of Maharaja Man Singh II. It was quite an experience to talk to a person who is the real connoisseur od food and has really made his cookking available to common people. At 96, he still cooks for the royal family and surprisingly looks not older than 60.

Jaipur, the pink city

2006-11-17T00:40:00.000-08:00

The pink city is no more a pink city, yet the effort to retain the art is still there. The new buildings and walls are neatly decorated. This is a developing city and the problems of a developing city exist here too. We were already tired from our 4 hour journey from Bharatpur to Jaipur through poor villages, dirty streets and ponds and sites of tirelessly working laborers (India shining my foot). We walked from our bus station on the busy streets of Jaipur and pondered on the dismal traffic situation. It seemed like a Herculean task to change the mentality of people to start adhering to the rules.

After having lunch, we were picked up by our guest housekeepers. From then until we woke up after a short siesta, I do not remember anything. Travel in India can be tiring but we wonder the plight of all the rickshaw pullers and other laborers who work long hours in heat and still are barely able to manage two meals a day.
Anyway in evening we decided to watch a movie in the world famous cinema hall, Rajmandir. I may not have words to express the sheer delight of watching a movie there. This cinema hall is an artistic creation and is definitely unparalleled. The cinema screen slowly rolls up as the ambient green light from behind the beautiful patterns on the walls dims. We watched a crappy Shahrukh Khan film Don (this guy has been doing a same role from day one) and were thoroughly bored by the movie. But, we made it a point to stick around until the intermission when the reception or the common area lights up to conjure a magnificent display. The very creative inlay of the mirrors and strategically placed lights gives it a look no lesser than a palace. This surely is one great initiative for promoting tourism.

Chanda Vyas: The lady who never gave up

2006-11-17T00:17:00.000-08:00

Chanda Vyas, an old lady aged above 60 years, runs Vyas Meal Service single handedly in the interiors of Jaisalmer Fort. Her modest restaurant runs solely on the integrity of the guests as Chanda cannot read and write and cannot prepare a bill for her guests.

But, she cooks with true love and devotion and it reflects in her divinely delicious food and special ‘masala’ tea that has a distinct aroma of freshly ground spices. After the death of her husband, Chanda is still fighting, all alone, against the rigor of life. Her son has abandoned her but she is still holding on to the meal service, which was her initiation. Had it been someone else, she would have given it up a long time back and become a burden on the society. Rather, her one-woman army meal service gives employment (both direct and indirect) to a few. She can manage to understand the needs of her guests and provides such great food that she finds a mention in the highly regarded Lonely Planet ‘India’ guide book. One look at her drooping back evokes pity that she needs to work so hard at such an age for a living, but once you know her enterprising spirit and her self-confidence you are completely awe inspired. She does it not for money but for the joy of serving people with food and spending her time.

At dinner time, the restaurant is usually full of guest having varied needs, which in any way is Herculean task, but for a woman of her caliber it is merely an everyday chore. People return to their work with their tummy full, satiated soul, a pair of loving eyes to remember and an immense lesson of courage.

Bharatpur, Rajasthan

2006-11-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

We are in bird paradise!

This year there was no rain and the Keoladeo National Park (KNP) was dry not suited for its typical migratory birds. Still with the help our guide (Mr. Sharma, +91 9414026396), we were able to spot many beautiful birds and understand KNP's importance as a world heritage site. This was our first national park visit in India and we were truly impressed by the Indian forest services work there.

Swarovski invested some money in the park to build a visitor's center. At this center, they make you take the enviornmental oath, which made us realize that we (human beings) supposedly the most intelligent species on the planet have a responsibility towards our mother nature. And, we need to fulfill that through all the everyday choices that we make.

Bharatpur, the home of KNP, is a small town. The local transport (rickshaw and autos) are no different than Agra here. I don't know what it was, but we received treatment of a foreigner here as well. On our way to Deeg (a small town about 35 Kms from Bharatpur) in the evening, we met a curious man, who was really excited to see foreigners (non Rajasthanis). He offered us to visit his home and have dinner with his family. We were again in the Rajasthan roadways bus and it was a joyride again (cheap and a lot of fun). The bus would even stop to pick up a man hurt on the road in an accident to take him to a hospital.

The gentleman we met on the bus was our guide to the Deeg. It was dark and we regret we could not enjoy the Deeg Palace, but our guide had interesting stories for us (not sure about their genuiness). He even treated us to some tea and help us catch our bus back to Bharatpur. We came to our neat little guest house (Kiran guest house) hungry and tired to some great home cooked meal and great service.

Trip to North India

2006-11-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

On our way to explore the still traditional Northern India, our first stop was the pride of India, the TajMahal. On our first travel in India, after a long hiatus, we both were pleasantly surprised by the commencement of our journey through the Indian railways. An AC chair car ticket not only buys you a comfortable seat for the journey, but also a water bottle, a newspaper, some tea and a sumptuous meals. The trains are no less in comparison to any European train (atleast the first class).

We got down at the Agra Cantt station. May be it was our backpacks that introduced us to changed group of rickshaw wallas. They talked to us in good English as if we were foreigners. However, due to our stay abroad we were not expecting their persistent pestering on picking up their services. We settled on one of them for the travel to Taj Mahal. It is interesting for a hindi speaker to note the differences in dialect and rhythm of language as one moves between places in the North India. The rickshaw wallah dropped us at the Taj while entertained us with his stories along the way. It was heartening to hear his daughter going to school for a better future.

Just a side note, the pestering of many Indian rickshaw pullers though really annoying has a reason behind it. It's the failure of the state to provide safety net or opportunities to those who need it the most. This is not a problem that could be solved in days, however, would be solved in our lifetime, but in any case having a perspective that these guys are forced to pester us to ensure their family eats may subside this annoyance.

At the Taj, we found great security measures being followed which was good. Nothing apart from our wallet, a bottle of water and a camera were allowed inside. After depositing our bags here we were at the beautiful monument of true love. Taj's eternal beauty is awe inspiring, gaping at the monument, we enjoyed the beauty of its perfect symmetry, the gardens (char bagh) and the reflection of the Taj in fountain waters. As we got closer the enormity of the tomb dawned on us. Shoes were not allowed inside the Taj, however, it was neat to walk on the cold marble bare feet. Frankly, the beauty of Taj up close may not be unparalleled, but the monument is an architectural master piece. We ate at Zorba the Buddha, a very nice pure vegeterian restaurant in Sadar Bazar, Agra.

Our next destination is Bharatpur, Rajasthan and we decided to take the state roadways bus. This may not be a great idea if one wants a hassle free journey, but a great way to get acquainted with the real people who have a great sense of acceptance for everybody (unfortunately the status quo dismal transport system as well).

Detour to India

2006-11-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Details to come later, however, a quick summary -- due to an emergency (a good one ;)) we had to come to India before plan i.e. on Oct 31st. We now are continuing our trip in India travelling through Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttranchal.

We will write more details about the reasons for the detour and a big Indian wedding soon.

Tarun

Venice, Oct. 27 – 29, 2006

2006-11-02T04:38:00.000-08:00

Venice is an elegant decay as Rick Steves points it out. The moment we stepped in Venice we realized why it is the city of Romance. The beautiful Grand Canal, the decaying buildings soaking their feet in the canal, the beautiful gondolas and striped shirted gondoliers and small channels of water for the streets, Venice is certainly one-of-its-kind city. For every car, bus, bike, motorcycle and even a chauffer-driven car, there is boat (vaporetto) in Venice, its primary mode of transportation. A single ride is costly but a 24 hour pass is cheap as we planned on traveling all around Venice in one day.

Venice was crowded another touristy city but its narrow streets, the glass art and it masks make it unique. Piazza San Marco may be the biggest square in Venice and it was flocked with tourists and pigeons. Rick Steves had warned us enough for pigeon dropping. However, we saw pigeons charging tourists who had bird feed in their hand. Pigeons are harmless so it was neat. I tried the same and somehow so many pigeons wanted to sit on me. It was scary but now I have many pictures with pigeons all around me.

Next we decided so sit in the front seat of a vaporetto and just tour Venice. We realized how Venice is slowly sinking. The city is very costly and so the population is slowing dwindling. In the evening we toured the Rialto bridge area, a typical tourist market. I was totally awestruck by the artistic Venetian masks. Anyway, after that Tarun had planned for us a pub crawl, not for the drinks but for “cinchettes” (special fried snacks). We visited two places and tried 6 different cinchettes. After countless days of pizzas and pastas, the cinchettes were blessing and that too the tasty one.

In the night Venice is even more romantic and so are the gondola rides and the occasional gondola with music on them. This surely one place every one must visit.

Cinque Terre, Oct. 24-27, 2006

2006-11-02T04:36:00.000-08:00

Cinque Terre, five villages (English translation), is a National Park in Italy. We wanted to visit a non-touristy lesser known place after visiting the busy favorite tourist destinations. Rick Steves ranks Cinque Terre just after Venice and Florence and even before Rome. We decided to skip Florence and visit Cinque Terre instead. It was truly a pleasant surprise in a cute little village with friendly people and nice Italian Riviera. We reached there in the night at a very small train station at Monterosso (one of the five) and as soon as we started walking into the town we knew we were along side the sea. With the sound of the tides we got to see people fishing in the night with big nets, probably they were professional fishermen. A couple came along and saw us with backpacks and offered room to stay. The price was good and the room surprisingly came along in an apartment all to us. We grabbed the room and crashed into our beds.

Strolling into the town we realized the beauty of this town. Everyone seem to know each other and stopped for a little chat along the way, anybody could walk in to a restaurant even if they don’t want to eat and a nice elderly gentleman stands on the street to just chat whole day. However, this place was also full of tourists. We saw many Rick Steves’ and knew why. We even hiked into another town called Vernazza through the park. It was a tough hike with mostly stairs but the place that it leaded into was all worth it. Vernazza is even smaller than Monterosso and has no cars and is probably touristier. Due to lack of time we could not visit the other three which are equally or even more beautiful.

We both loved Cinque Terre and even though people drool over Florence (as the best place in Italy) we were glad we chose Cinque Terre.

Pisa, Oct 24, 2006

2006-11-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

Pisa is probably a small little town and only the field of miracles to boast about. But, the leaning tower is worth the visit. Somewhere someone had named it one of the wonders and truly so. The first look at it evokes a feeling of how cute it is. The tower is not very tall but is appreciably leaning. It was good to see fewer crowds after Rome. Every one tried to stop the tower from leaning and some even tried to push it further to make it fall, all so for the pictures. We both decided not to climb up. We had met some Indian people in the hostel in Rome we kept meeting them every now and then in Pisa between train station and to the tower site. They were students with IIM Bangalore doing an exchange program in a business school in

France

. The field of miracles has a few more buildings and all of them were neat although they seemed to leaning as well. Even the trees seemed to be slanting a little. This was our little stop over for a lesser known place in Italy called Cinque Terre.

A.S. Roma Vs Chievo, Oct. 22, 2006

2006-11-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

And then we decided to take a bite into the slice of

Italy

, the national obsession, football. The Olympic stadium in Rome was full and energy was high. The game started with A.S. Roma team’s anthem (I think). We secured good seats behind one of the goal posts high enough to see all the players. And, just a minute into the game we realized the passion of Romans for their team. People were so charged up that the already crisp Italian sounded even more passionate and harsh. We liked the atmosphere there and enjoyed comments by the Italians even if we did not understand them. Someone said the scene is deadly when two teams from Rome compete and fans stand at loggerheads against each other ready to even kill each other. May be the scene was dull due to the even game that day.

The Vatican, Oct. 21, 2006

2006-11-02T04:28:00.001-08:00

It was Saturday and we decided to go to the Vatican Museum and Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. It was neat to visit another country out of Rome itself. Rome had been a hubbub till now and there was never an inch to set a foot in the Metro and station but on Saturday we were wondering where all the people went. We reached the Vatican Museum at around 10 and we knew that all the people were here J. That was the longest line for tickets we ever saw starting at the museum to the Saint Peter’s Basilica, well more than 700 people. We dropped the idea to visit the museum that day instead went to the Basilica, the greatest church on earth. It was truly a great church but not very impressive. The pieta by Michaelangelo at the start of the church was one of the best sculptures we had ever seen. One could also climb up the Basilica and get to the top. So we decided on that. There were warnings every where about the 390 steps to the top and about the claustrophobic feeling that people may get. It was not until we were inside climbing up that we realized how hard it was. I was short of air and had to take a few stops to catch some breath. The steps were very small and the passage very narrow and tilted as well. But the view of the Vatican City at the top makes it all worthwhile.

On Monday, we made another failed attempt at the Vatican Museum. That place seems really popular.

Remains of the Roman Empire, Oct. 20, 2006

2006-11-02T04:28:00.000-08:00

This was the day of our rendezvous with the glorious past of Rome, of the Roman heroes, Julius Ceasar, Constantine, and gladiators. We started with the walk around Roman forum in the shadows of the Colosseum and the Arc de Triumph (Arch of Constantine). We took an audio guide which was more confusing than guiding us. Nevertheless, we were at the place where once the greatest of the kings and warriors lived. Next on our list was Palatine Hill, a not so glorious place but required to beat the line at the Colosseum. A ticket to Palatine Hill would take you into the Colosseum as well. From the top of the hill, actually some palace, we could clearly see our Roman Forum and by that time we even found out Rick Steves guided tour of the Forum. We read the history of it again while placing the monuments in the forum.

Compo Di Fiori Walk

2006-11-02T04:15:00.000-08:00

This walk starts at heart of Rome’s morning time produce market and evening time get together place. A café “La Carbonara” had been there since last 100 years. Following Rick Steves, we visited many famous Piazzas (a square), Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, all in rain. We bought an umbrella from a street seller who seemed to be really cashing on the rain. Pantheon is apparently called the “Umbrella of Rome” and for all the valid reasons. Many people were just waiting inside the Pantheon for the rain to stop. We too stopped there for some time. For dinner we stopped at one of the “Tavola Caldas” (hot table in Italian). You get real authentic Italian pizzas, sold by weight. There are lots of vegetarian options but Margherita (simple tomato and mozzarella) is the best and really cheap as well. We even tried a fried rice, peas and mozzarella balls.

Rome, October 19, 2006

2006-11-02T04:01:00.000-08:00

After a night journey, we reached Rome early morning and took really antiquated metro to our hostel. Rome gives a feeling of Delhi. No artsy buildings, hidden mom and pop stores and no rules on the road. Our hostel was also very ordinary and the hostel keeper very uninterested. We managed to ask him where to go for breakfast while we waited for the check in time. Later, we ventured into a small café run by a family. Struggling in Italian we managed to ask some pasta for lunch. What we got instead was some bread, mushrooms, artichokes, tomato and mozzarella. While this was a surprisingly very tasty entrée there was no pasta anywhere. Few minutes later the café owner comes and tells us that your pasta is on the way. That was the time we were introduced for real with the many course Italian dining. This was antipasti, a pre main course entrée. Pasta is the first course usually followed by a second course of a meat dish followed finally by dolci (dessert). Phew, Italians do spend a lot of time eating and the bill comes only when you ask for it.

Nice, October 16-18, 2006

2006-11-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

Out of the station on our way to our hostel on the night of 16^th, we pass the under construction yet very busy avenue with all the big stores, Jean Medecin. Our hostel was not very far off from the train station and we even picked up groceries for dinner. We come to our hostel “Les Camelias” to find it to be the best one so far, jazzy and invigorating paint, bar at the reception, nice shower in the dorm room, beautiful kitchen, (so expensive) laundry inside and wi-fi. We were in no doubt that we will spend most of our vacation in Nice relaxing indoors. Anyway, we need to whet our appetite after Paris for all that Italy has to offer.

Our dorm mates this time were, Tanya and Harout, a very beautiful and nice couple from Canada. They were on an all France trip this time. The beach was also 15 minutes a walk away. So in the morning we woke up early, 7 am (early??? Well it is a vacation and we have no alarm), took a shower and headed for the beach. It was almost deserted but that only enhanced the beauty of this Mediterranean beach. The azure blue waters are always pleasing to the eye. We sat down for a short Sudarshan Kriya (which we were not able to do for a long while). Wow, that was really invigorating.

The beach was so inviting that in the afternoon we headed again for the beach. The next moment to when we were there Tarun was in the sea and was calling me as well. With some hesitation I also went inside and in some time I was also enjoying only because my hand was in safe hands. But the waves seemed to not like us and were throwing us away on to the coast.

On the last day in Nice we decided to just stroll around a while. We tried an Indian restaurant close to our hostel succumbing to the desires of our taste buds for desi food. The food was good but the desire still remains. We walked back again to the beach and this time to find a French woman, Maryse, along the way who stopped to chat with us on the street to tell us here experience from her India trip. We chatted quite a while on the street and then over a cup of coffee, with my minimal French knowledge and pictionary style communication, about India, French people and Italy.

There might be many things to do in Nice but this was our vacation idea for Nice and it was nice.

Barcelona to Nice, Oct. 16, 2006 from Tarun

2006-10-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

We have to undertake a train travel of whole day to reach Nice from Barcelona. The total train travel time will be nine hours (4.5 hours from Barcelona to Montpellier and another 4.5 hours from Montpellier to Nice Ville) with two hours waiting for the transfer. We had to wake up early in the morning to get to the station on time and this caused a lot of trouble to all our dorm-mates, however, as another sign of accommodation from the residents of Sweden, Brazil, Germany, Italy and England, they never demonstrated any inconveniences.

In the train, we met a very kind lady of Spanish origin living in Switzerland, traveling with her son to France. The sign language was in work again and we came to know about their names Mariana and Ravi (I am sure I heard it wrong) . Ravi likes to play soccer in the school and roots for RC Madrid.

Sagrada Dances and Krishna Consciousness in Barcelona, Oct. 15, 2006

2006-10-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

We had to leave for Nice, France on Sunday but visting Sagrada Familia, participating in Sardana Dances and attending the Sunday gathering at the ISKCON temple in Barcelona were planned for Sunday so we cancelled one day from Nice and spent in Barcelona. Sagrada Familia is a huge cathedral which was started by Gaudi but has not been finished till date and the work is still on. We visited this on our way to Sardana Dances. Frankly, I was expecting some fast paced tap dances by people in nice costumes but it was more a slow dance in a circle holding hands as symbol of solidarity between the Catalans. We entered the circle and made a failed attempt at the dance and actually got a scornful look from a Catalan lady, while another nice lady showed how we should have done it.

All this while we had come across a Western couple dressed in Indian clothes and seemed to be the followers of Krishna. Little did we realize then that they were in Barcelona to address a gathering at the ISKCON temple. We were lucky to have them give the address in English. Many Spanish people have come to believe in Krishna and have become devout followers of Krishna’s teachings. It was very humbling to see them come at the temple and sing along Krishna’s name with full devotion. We sang many bhajans and had some really nice food there.

At the end of our tenth day, we both realized that our trip has been really enlightening and enjoyable so far. Living in hostels, meeting and interacting with people with only the sign language as a means to communicate and of course, my favorite, trying different food, we have realized that despite the diversity it is one world family and people accept other people from different part of the world with love.

Day trip to Montserrat by Tarun

2006-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

We also took a day trip to Montserrat, which has the holiest Catalan pilgrimage of (Black) Virgin Mary. It’s a very beautiful place with a magnificent church on top of a hill. The church seemed to be quite a hit with couples trying to get married. We must have seen atleast 3 weddings within a span of couple of hours hosted in the church. A real interesting thing happened when we were waiting in the queue to visit the sacred statue of black virgin, we ended up a meeting a guy who copy writes Rick Steves guide books. Tarun was so happy to meet this guy that he decided to ask for a picture with him. Matthew was generous enough to oblige.

In addition to going to the church and visiting the holy pilgrimage, we decided to hike down to Santa Cova (the statue of the black virgin was originally kept at this small cave). The hike was short and sweet, we ended up meeting another Indian family on our hike, (Arvind, Arti were on a week’s trip to Spain along with their daughter Anjali). They were settled in the Netherlands and were kind enough to extend an invitation to us when we are there. Let’s see if we get a chance to trouble them with our visit :).

Barcelona, October 12 - 15th, 2006

2006-10-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

The tourists’ city…

Our hostel was little off the La Rambla, the most popular street in Barcelona. From top to bottom the Ramblas decreases in affluence and class. We both were amazed by the number of tourists in Barcelona by the density of people strolling up and down on the La Rambla. But again we realized that all the tourist flock to the La Rambla the moment we stepped out of it and found not as many people elsewhere. We had landed up in Barcelona on the Spanish Day which was a holiday so we were pleasantly surprised the next day to see several excellent mime artists dressed in different personas, small bird shops and several artists performing there.

In one café our host was a nice Catalan (btw, Barcelona is not in Spain it is Catalunya, acquired by Spain) guy. He spoke English and we used him as our guide to Barcelona and so for a South African girl. He suggested we should go to a dance and music club, Jamboree and we did. There enjoyed some Tango music, met a Swiss guy who had come there to participate in the ultimate Frisbee championship and shook our legs and hand a bit to the music. It was good fun.

The food in Barcelona was great and distinct. Sitting on tapas bar you could enjoy different tapas (usually standard set of items, we tried the indulgingly delicious patatas bravas) or have the (so costly L) paella, or savor the oh-so-sinful Spanish chocolate with whipped cream with churros (chocolat con churros). One note for the vegetarians of the world, Barcelona has many options for the vegetarians and vegans of this world.

We decided for our trip to be for mostly exploring the nooks and crannies of Barcelona rather than visiting museums but we did see the block of discord and Casa Mila, La Padrera. This extraordinary architecture by Gaudi seemingly did not have straight lines, interestingly described in a guide book as giving the effect of melting ice cream.

Port Bou to Barcelona Train by Tarun

2006-10-17T02:58:00.000-07:00

A strange incident happened in the train. There were few Chinese folks who were playing cards in the train; it seems as if it’s not allowed to do that in the train so the ticket checker asked the Chinese folks to stop doing that. The scenery visible from the train window is very pleasing. Port Bou is supposedly the North Eastern tip of Spain and this allowed us some really beautiful scenery from our train window. The view of Mediterranean Sea was amazing. The weather was overcast and cloudy reminding me of the typical Seattle winter weather.

Our station is three stops from Port Bou and around 1:45 minutes train ride.

Wait at the Port Bou train station by Tarun

2006-10-17T02:57:00.001-07:00

Following of the teachings of our travel guide Rick Steves, I do not hesitate to interject (alright! Overinterject) into the local conversations or banters. And, if turns out to be desi, it’s very hard for me to stop. A digression -- I am convinced of one fact now that there is desi presence in every part of the world. I have met the desi settlers in all the varied and remotest places I have been to (US, China, Korea, Paris, Singapore to name a few).

Coming back to interjection during the local banter, I ended up talking to a French National of Pakistani origin Syed Mujahideen. He was settled in France for last twenty years and still had the thoughts and ideas of Pakistan in his heart and mind. He hailed from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. My grand father’s hometown in Pakistan before they were forced to move to India in 1947 after the partition.

The interaction made it easier for the time to pass. It was 9.52 am the time when our train was expected. We reached the platform 1 and waited for the train for 10 minutes, it was really chilly contrasting to the weather in Paris. BTW, the delay in trains is not a common phenomenon to India, it happens in Spain as well ;).

What’s more to Paris?

2006-10-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

We visited the Palace of Versailles, Napolean’s tomb, Rodin Museum and Orsay Museum. The second name to Paris is art. To be tete-a-tete with works of Vincent Van Gaugh, Claude Monet, Rodin (oh the “kiss”) and other well known figures was quite humbling. At many moments we ran into people who would help us get around in France and helping us coordinate with people who could not speak French.

Youth Hostel in Paris

2006-10-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

It was a nice experience to live in a hostel. Our fellow dorm mates, Brian and Barney, were a nice newly wed couple and gave us good tips from their experience in Paris. Barney was a big time traveler and had traveled to many different parts. We met quite a few people in the hostel and the best part was these people’s effort to communicate in English and our communicating with them by showing them phrases in our book of French. We met a person from ArgentinaUS. Also we met a French person born and brought up in India. It was quite a revelation for us as he was from Pondicherry and his family had accepted French citizenship when French gave up Pondicherry as their colony. and another one from the

The hostel was clean and had a nicely equipped kitchen and we made dinner at the hostel 3 times. Living in a hostel is hard though. I am sure we will feel in heaven when we reach home.

Saint Michel and the Champs-Elysees in Paris

2006-10-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

This is real Paris. A small drift from Saint Michel and you would end up into streets with seemingly endless restaurants, cafés and brasseries. We roamed about there quite a bit and found the neighborhood to be an interesting mix of cuisines from many places in the world, including Indian. Although when we wanted to eat the Indian food there, the restaurant was closed. The usual seating facing the streets was true for all the restaurants there. This place is popular and we seemed to be at somewhat ease to start a conversation for asking for directions. Tarun seemed to have mastered this art and this has led us to meet some nice friendly French people. People eat here all the time. There is no standard time to have food. Anyway a snack with a coffee never hurts.

Champs-Elysees is the Paris’ grand boulevard. We walked over this area a little bit and were instantly made aware of the stature of Paris in the world of fashion. All the big classy stores are here and so are the classy people. I would not hesitate to say that we watched a lot of people and the different styles of dresses they donned such styles not yet out in the world. Fashion sees dawn here, I guess.

Saint Chapelle, Paris, Sunday Oct. 08, 2006

2006-10-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

By this time I have started taking for granted the exclusive art in anything Parisian especially the buildings. Saint Chapelle is yet another one, still distinctly beautiful. The embellished dark blue ceilings and 15 huge windows decorating the chapel instantly please the eye with their stunning beauty. These huge windows depict stories from the bible and are painted on glass. The interplay of light in the chapel is also awe-inspiring. There was a guide to the paintings on these windows but to me these were not so clearly discernible. Nevertheless this did not stop me from admiring the sheer beauty.

Notre Dame, Sunday Oct. 08, 2006

2006-10-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

It was nice to be there on a Sunday and catch a fleeting glimpse of the Sunday Mass. Notre Dame Cathderal is not only a place of worship but a incredibly beautiful work of art. The Cathedral facade is worth a look. The glimmering candles everywhere in the cathedral creates an aura of serenity. Several altars around the cathedral place idols from the bible and the walls depicts scenes from the bible.

In the center stage is the statue of Notre Dame and the priests are conducting the mass, in french of course :(. We both studied the cathedral facade a bit following "Rick Steves". This was probably my first rendezvous with christianity and the bible and all was very intriguing. We decided against doing the 400 steps climb into the Cathedral just watching the enormous line for the tickets. Instead we went on one of the many bridges of Seine river to enjoy some good street music and a street show.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, Saturday Oct. 07, 2006

2006-10-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

This was one popular tourist destination. The crowd there reflected that. It was a long line for the tickets and there are no crowd beating tips in Rick Steves for a weekend visit. While we waited in the line pondering about the 2 of the 3 floors we will be able to visit (3^rd one was closed), we saw quite a few Indians around and met a few Americans. Paris is really full of tourists. The long wait for the entry was worthwhile and only a few steps away from the tickets counter the entry to the 3^rd floor opened up. Inside the tower it is inexplicable crowd not an inch to set a foot, but the view was all worth it. From up the tower, dazzling Paris night beauty and the full moon completes to a breathtaking view.

We decided to take the stairs down the tower. As we were descending we read a few interesting facts about the Eiffel tower. It dawned on me gradually that the lighting was somewhat different than before. So, as we came and looked at the tower from the outside at a distance it was a rare spectacle that I had never contemplated about. The whole tower bedazzled with sparkling lights and was a really beauty.

We ended our day with enjoying a nutella crepe sitting by the side of the Seine river.

Rue Cler, Paris, Saturday Oct. 07, 2006

2006-10-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

We are following our Rick Steves religiously and traveling cheaply. The Eurail pass was a great idea; it works here in the Subway (but not unfortunately on the metro). On our second day, we got ready for the day quite late and missed our hostel breakfast. But, we roamed around a bit in local marché (market) and bought a croissant and a pain au chocolat for breakfast. If you ask for caffé au lait (café latte), go for a big cup if you like light (relatively) coffee. It is the same amount of coffee in a big and small cup but more milk.

We then went to Rue cler neighborhood for lunch. In Paris many roads are named as “rue”. Step by step the Parisian culture unfolds. The cafés do not have front doors (symbolically). People sit on the outside alongside the roads and enjoy their food and coffee as they watch people go by. The bricked streets give the streets antique look. We finished our lunch and walked around a little more. This was our rendezvous with Paris. People here dress up very well, especially females. In a few minutes I saw some never-seen-before dress styles. Next to Saint-Pierre, around the corner church, we saw another rare activity, a fashion show or dress display from a clothing store.

Then we stopped for another coffee since our morning coffee was a disaster and we met at a café close by a fine lady who could speak English and a very friendly tour guide who would be upset if we did not visit places he recommended. We really had a good time there chatting for quite a while. The bar owner was from Normandy and recommended places to visit there. The lady, Frederique, insisted on paying for our coffee but we decided against it. Nevertheless, she gave us her e-mail address and asked us to call her in case we would need any help.

Next on our roster was the Eiffel tower.

Arrived in Paris

2006-10-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here in Paris “aeroporte” things are not as chic as in the

. The airport looks ordinary (at least the arrival terminal). I struggled with French and was wondering what I learned all these days. Well French is hard so I consoled myself. With much hard work and plenty of “bonjour”, “parlez vous anglais?” and “merci” we were able to find the right train to our hostel. It was Friday night and Paris was alive. It was almost midnight when we reached our destination (but not the hostel itself), but Paris was still alive. A minuit (at midnight) we had a pizza for dinner. Here, pizza is not sliced into pieces and it is automatically the thinnest crust possible. We had still long way to go after that and pizza was the much needed energy for us. Anyway after much walking and finally ending up in a taxi we managed to reach our hostel. We were late and we disturbed our fellow dorm mates (Barney and Brian) so slept in the clothes we arrived in.

At the Copenhagen Airport

2006-10-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Thought would be a good idea to publish our complete itinerary for the trip. Since, we are talking about fixed itinerary or planning, I guess it’s important to mention about our continued inability to etch our plans in stone. Based on last five to six years of our travel experience, we definitely cannot be bound to traveling on a fixed schedule or an exact itinerary. In addition to all the logistical issues that can crop up, there is so much fun and excitement in the ability to modify the plans at the last minute. Doing the two day uphill hike in one day instead of two at Grand Canyon, getting hooked into the local music scene in San Francisco are few examples of many random plans that we have done.

In any case, we did need to have a fixed itinerary to get our VISA from the French consulate and it was as:

October 6^th to October 13^th: Paris, France

October 14^th to October 17^th: Barcelona, Spain

October 18^th to October 21^st: Nice, France

October 22^nd to October 26^th: Rome, Italy

October 27^th to October 30^th: Florence, Italy

October 31^st to November 2^nd: Venice, Italy

November 3^rd to November 5^th: Salzburg, Austria

November 6^th to November 8^th: Vienna, Austria

November 9^th to November 12^th: Munich, Germany

November 13^th to November 15^th: Dresden, Germany

November 16^th to November 18^th: Berlin, Germany

November 18^th to November 21^st: Amsterdam, Netherlands

November 21^st to November 23^rd: Brussels, Belgium

November 23^{rd to}November 24^th: Flight to India.

November 24^th to December 15^th: Travel in Northern India.

BTW, Yogita always used to tell me that Scandinavian countries are very expensive and I always used to brush this aside. However, buying couple lattes and garlic bread totally made me aware how expensive Scandinavian countries are. May be we will have to rely on the motorcycle diaries philosophy of traveling once we are done with cash in our pocket.

Last Day in Seattle, Washington

2006-10-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Mausam hosted us the last day (it was quite a coincidence that Mausam was Tarun’s host when he came to Seattle the first time and also the last time). We opened up one of the movies in his collection of movie masterpieces, Anupama. He was generous enough to make two dishes for the lunch. It was a strange feeling to be leaving Seattle, similar to that when leaving Delhi in 2003 for the US. Nevertheless, we left for the airport one last time on the Seattle Metro (transit bus system). With a few hiccups of a small fight between a Mexican and an American and a protest march against Bush and Iraq war on the way we reached fine and on time for our flight to Paris.

The Half Marathon at Lake Chelan

2006-09-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

I finished my second half marathon at Lake Chelan this Saturday on September 16th, 2006. This time I did it with Tarun and that was the only motivating factor for me to keep running after 8 miles or so. I am not sure what it was that kept me from going after I finished my 11th mile but Tarun kept me going. I am very sure that if he was not around I would have walked the last 2 miles.

Nevertheless, Lake Chelan is pretty not unlike most places in Washington. But unlike any other place I have seen before driving to Lake Chelan and around it we can see lots of lush orchards of Red (the famous) Washington apples, pears, peaches and even the pretty vineyards. This was quite a beautiful site for me I had never seen fruit laden trees in a plantation before. We went camping at the Lake Chelan State Park with another couple, Vishal and Neha. It was quite some fun. We pitched a single tent for the four of us and spent two freezing cold nights there. Vishal and Neha did quite well in their races winning them in their age groups. I tried for the first time in my life driving a motor boat in the Lake Chelan. Though at a snail pace, I had a lot of fun. We all had lots of high calorie food and made up for more than what we lost in the half marathon.

Chelan is a very small town which can be covered on foot (or at least it appeared so). I will remember it forever as a place where I ran the last half marathon before leaving the US for good. After all for me a half marathon is quite some distance to run ...

93.1 Red FM Vancouver

2006-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yes this Indian Radio Channel (at least the name and frequency is the same) is on FM in Vancouver and it plays punjabi and bollywood music. We tuned into it by accident as soon as we entered Canada.

I am not sure if I can strike a good contrast of Vancouver with Seattle or even compare it but I felt Vancouver to be a bigger Seattle. It is closer to the Pacific, has bigger waterfront, taller buildings, bigger Lookout Tower (than Space Needle) more diversity and night life.(beats Seattle hands down) and a decent punjabi community.

This is Vancouver during evening time.

Not a great picture but just an idea.

First night, spent time in the lookout tower (the above pic is from that), roamed around downtown, ate Ethiopian food with a nice aromatic tea, saw a stage show of improvisors (which was really funny and superb) at the Vancouver Fringe Festival at Granville Island and then took a walk at probably one of most happening streets in Vancouver, the Granville Street. The whole street was packed with people who were enjoying the night life of Vancouver. At a theater on Granville Street we saw this ...

Nice isn't it...

That day was long and next day we had to wake up early to visit Stanley Park, most famous Park in Vancouver. The motivation for getting up early and run around Stanley Park was not to enjoy an amazing weather and view at the Vancouver waterfront (a bit more than 8 km) that Stanley Park offered but was Chholey Bhature that we had planned to enjoy at the Punjabi Market in Vancouver.

Some pictures from Stanley Park...

the black squirrel ...

and the lady in the water... I thought this was a nice sculptureAfter this run it took us a long time to get ready for another long day and it was already 11 when we reached punjabi market. This was really a let down. We were hoping for a huge market but it was not more than 2 blocks and really small shops. But someone told us that a bigger punjabi community was in Surrey, B.C. By 11:45, we were inexplicably hungry but were sitting in a little punjabi restaurant and waiting to enjoy our Chhole Bhature ... yummy and parantha and pakore and chai.

We then visited two nice Gurudwara and walked quite a lot and finally before leaving we checked out a Science Center (also saw an awesome IMAX movie, Bugs!) and a brief walk to the waterfront again for a quick pasta. Drive between Vancouver and Seattle is sweet but on the way back we were tired.

That was a trip to the fourth country apart from South Korea, US and India of course.

...and a brief stop at the Sin City

2006-09-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

As you step in you realize why its called the Sin City. Las Vegas could not evoke much of our interest. Gambling, artificiality, alcohol, mindless shopping and spending and all the other vices which are the second name for Las Vegas, we cannot relate to those.

I would still like to appreciate this man made wonder, however negative, amidst a scorching desert. Desert and many canyons of Nevada do appealed more aesthetically to us, but to thousands (or more) of other tourists the Sin City was the place to be. About hundred metres away from LV, it seems as if there is no life on this part of the earth but in the city it is pandemonium. Another feather in the cap of Las Vegas is the cultural promotion of exhibitions, stage shows, art and performances. You can find world's biggest names in art performing there. Each night there is a show at every casino and every hotel.

Alas, the naturality and innocence is lost somewhere in the colossus.

The wonder city called San Francisco

2006-08-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Alcatraz Island, the TransAmerica Pyramid, the Golden Gate bridge, Coit Tower, many bridges of the bay reflect the history of this city that was a host to many immigrants. These are nice to know, nice to see places in San Francisco. But so are places in other cities in the US.

The magic of San Francisco lies in the the China Town, the Little Italy and the little latino street called the Mission Street and other places around it. It was amazing to see small shops with items that did not have that irritatingly ubiquitous bar code which is somewhat reminiscent of the shops in India. The strong culture of these places and occasionally running into people who could not speak English left a strong impression of this truly global city called San Francisco.

Some things that will always be fresh in my mind were our little rendezvous with the Buddhist Monastery and chanting the name of Buddha with the monks, the graffiti in the Mission district and the painters still finishing some of their art work and the experience of the night time communion of various artists. We spent our final night in San Francisco attending a few programs by the members of Mission Arts & Performance Project. These people come together anywhere they find a small place (even in a garage) to express their thoughts and feelings through their art.

Oh wait, did I forget the crookdest street in the world? Tarun's friend, Brandon, who had shown us around San Francisco the day we landed there, drove us along this street paved with bricks that has sharp switchbacks. Oh and the popular steep hilly streets of San Francisco and houses sharing a wall with each other ... this city sure has its own charm.

The Desert Sun and ...

2006-08-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

...the most difficult terrain in the world for hikers. The Grand Canyon, the abyss that is a mile deep and about 277 miles wide, is truly the natural wonder of the world. It is reverred by all the hikers as well as non-hikers. This was apparent by the number of tourists we saw at the Grand Canyon. Well we were fortunate to be one of the 1% of 5 million tourists that visit Grand Canyon. Why?

We decided to hike from the North Rim to South Rim via Phantom Ranch. A total of about 24 miles of hiking across the rugged terrain and steepest of the trails, presents with an unimaginable views of the canyon. The hike from North Rim to Phanton Ranch was about 13.8 miles (via North Kaibab Trail) and Phantom Ranch to South Rim is 9.5 miles (via Bright Angel Trail). We did it in 3 days 2 nights but some people did it in 2 days and even 1 day. Well doing it in 1 day in Summer is strictly not recommended by the Park Rangers. We are not that experienced (may be now we are...) so we decided to take it easier (not easy :)). Phantom Ranch was a nice surprise as there was a canteen that was air-conditioned and had food to buy and the aab-e-hayaat (nectar of immortality :)), lemonade. This was heaven for us who had been in temperatures well in 40s (deg celsius) for the past day and half.

Hiking in the Grand Canyon is a lot of fun, only if one wants to make it so. It requires a lot of preparation to come to terms with this humbling desert gorge. Along the way, as rangers suggest, we soaked ourselves with water which cools the body as water evaporates in the heat. We ate twice as much and lots of salty snacks to replace the salt lost. One ranger mentioned that we loose on an average 500 calories in 1 hour while hiking in the Canyon. Along the way we met a lot of people from around the world. In fact as one gentleman pointed English was not the primary language on the trails. We met a very nice couple, Joe and Nicole, along the way and they helped us quite a lot by attending to my blisters and adjusting our backpacks and really became friends in the few hours we spent with them. Lots of lizards (during the day) and scorpions (during the night) just stroll across the canyon. We used to start really early in the day waking up at 4 am so we got a change to see the canyon during the sunrise and the sunset. There are many things that amazed me about Grand Canyon. One of the most notable ones was the history of human establishments inside the canyon and the names of certain peaks. Yes, some of them were named after Hindu Gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna etc. The trail map we bought shows it all.

I am glad I did this, not as much for accomplishing a daring physical act but more to know closely the power of nature and experience a landscape that I have never experienced before. The colors of the Grand Canyon changing with the depth, the force of the Colorado, the muddy, River and the different minerals (mica is the only one I could recognize) we saw. We were just awestruck by the beauty of the God's most amazing sculpture.

In Preparation to the Grand Canyon

2006-07-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

It just occured to me that I have been writing never-ending essays in the blog posts on my experiences. While it was just a good practice at writing, I would from now try to be very concise.

Granite Mountain, The Alpine Lakes Region, 8 r/t, 3800 ft (gain), Most Difficult

In preparation to the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike in August, we decided to do the hike to top of the Granite Mountain. We (Amol, Tarun and me) started in the heat and sun of midday equipped with food, Gatorade and Propel. There were quite a few other people who were there. The hike was really very hard as we can determine from the elevation gain of 3800 ft in about 4 miles.

This hike is rated as the most difficult and along with that it dodges you at certain places where the trail forks out and you have to figure out which one of the two to take. I was much slower than Amol and Tarun and probably they both were also at different paces. So we ended up losing each other. For quite a distance closer to the summit we all walked alone. I was worried and so was Tarun and for the first time I realized the use of the walky talky Tarun was so ardent on buying (we did not have it that day). Nevertheless, we all met at the summit, the Granite Mountain Lookout, which offered an spectacular view of Mount Rainier.

By the time we returned we were all sweaty, muddy and salty but it was a good preparation for our Rim to Rim hike next month.

Glacier National Park

2006-07-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

One more addition to our collection of souvenir cups from National Parks in US. Tarun, me, Srijan and Amol went to Montana this July 4th weekend (2006). It was an amazingly great weather weekend, lots of sun and cool breeze. We camped for three nights over there. Camping with more people is a lot more fun when we enjoy cooking, eating and playing games together.
In the Glacier National Park we did not see any glaciers ... Oh well! But almost at every bend there was a fall (glaciers melting) and it made for quite a sight. The mountains of the park were unique. It seemed to me like God is the greatest sculptor, who has carved these huge mountains into a beautiful pieces of art. And these mountains are embellished with falls from melting glaciers.

Day 1 was at the Logan Pass, followed by our small hike to Avalanche Lake. It was a bright sunny day, a perfect weather to enjoy. On the way to Logan Pass, we passed by the Weeping Wall. The wall weeped but it pleased every passer by. It was long stretch of rocks and water flowing through the stretch. Logan Pass was crowded, really crowded. Every one wanted their share of the sun and enjoy the holiday weekend. We all went to the park information office and figured out that the "Highline Trail" is the one we would be doing next.

Mummy papa are always looking for our (mine and Tarun's) pictures but I couldn't resist the temptation to become a photographer, called on by the beauty of the place. I never knew that the trail we were about to take would be the most memorable one for me so far. We were greeted by 3 mountain goats as we entered the trail head. A fascinating and very docile wild animal. One of them was a baby. We were still wary of going close to them. This single person trail was on the edge in the middle of a mountain wall, called the Garden Wall (I hope). On the way, we even saw a marmot sitting peacefully and authoritatively like I would sit on a couch in my home. This half gray half orange creature had the most beautiful orange hue I have ever seen. On the left while going out was the "Going-to-the-sun road" and across the magestic mountains and great falls.

We all stopped for a while on the way for some snacks and water and to catch a breath. And it was not until then that I realized that the sun was burning my skin. Fortunately I had the sunscreen on. It is an indispensible commodity on the Independence Day weekend at the Glacier National Park (and any high altitude place in summers ;)). While Amol was keeping Tarun and Srijan busy with his ("highly stupid"...oops) jokes I watched a couple of chipmunks play around. These little creatures are so agile the novice photographer in me had to work really hard to capture them in a picture. So, next in line was a little bit of rock climbing. All the crazy ideas originate in the head of Amol Shukla and he takes it far ahead as well. Me, Srijan and Tarun climbed only a little further up while Amol quickly disappeared from sight. We all decided to just sit on the rocks and wait for Amol to return while we enjoyed the vista from way up. As Amol got back, we climbed down and headed back to the parking lot. We had our lunch by the beautiful green St. Mary's Lake. We decided to spend some time there and then headed back to our campground picking some firewood on the way back. That night for dinner was Mac and Cheese and BBQed vegetables (right from our campfire)...yummy. I was enjoying the food we were having on the trip. We closed the day by playing Judgement (a card game), Amol being the most spectacular player amongst us (won no game :)).

Day 2 was fun as well where we hiked on the snow with all summer clothes down to the hidden lake which was past Mt. Clements. I will not try to explain the inexplicable beauty of the lake as whatever I write will not do the justice. We then drove down to Many Glacier and did some kayaking. Tarun and me were on a two person kayak and Srijan and Amol were on a canoe. It was amazing fun. We all had enjoyed the BBQ veggies the day before and the plan for today was the same. So we picked up some groceries on the way and headed back to our campground. That day we were already so late that most people were snoring in their tents. Nevertheless we enjoyed another great dinner followed by Judgement. Amol won 1 game this time, but by that time he had surpassed all the limits of passing poorest of poor jokes and occasionally putting us through convulsions.

Day 3, we headed back deciding to stop for breakfast on our way. The place where we stopped, Symes Hotel, Hot Springs, MT, was another treat to end this wonderful trip. The hotel had a swimming pool of hot water, straight from the hot springs loaded with curative minerals and lots of sulphur that smelled bad. Tarun and Amol decided to swim while me and Srijan were content with dipping our feet into it. Following this was the best American breakfast (pancakes and waffles) I had ever had here in the US.

Overall, 4 days well spent.

Yellowstone...

2006-05-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

... world's first national park and one of its kind. Rivers, lakes, water falls, canyons, geysers, hot springs, wild life and fickle weather, its all here. We met people on the way that differed from what me and Tarun think of Yellowstone but in my opinion Yellowstone is a truly amazing place. Here's why ...

About 2 million acres of forest land where you can find lush green thick forest, vast open land and almost burnt trees (probably from a jungle fire that struck Yellowstone few years ago). So many lakes, creeks and rivers meandering across the park that you forget the count of. Bisons, the huge wild buffalos, walking merrily about the park with their calves and block your way at almost all junctions. Once a while meeting with a "the grizzly bear", the monsterous beast that everyone fears and is warned about yet that which left by itself is the most dear animal. And then a moose, that has the most beautiful horns I have every seen. The grand canyon of the Yellowstone which tells you the meaning of word "Grand" in its true sense. The mersmerizing shades of yellow in the Grand Canyon that probably gave this name "Yellowstone" to the whole area. All this beauty resides peacefully by the land where hell bubbles up, "the chemistry lab of nature", the geyser basins of Yellowstone.

2 days is not enough for Yellowstone, everyone said that. But we managed get a glimpse of all the major attractions of Yellowstone National Park in 2 days. Hiking was on Tarun's mind throughout the trip and so our first trip was to the Grand Canyon on Yellowstone. The canyon extends fron the Canyon Village to Tower Falls and we decided to hike up from Tower Falls. It turned out that was a bad decision and the true glimpses of the Grand Canyon could be enjoyed better from the Canyon Village end. But we still found a trail around Tower Falls to hike which did not last very long as we realized the area was too lonely and we never had adequate preparation for "the grizzly". We turned back and decided to check out the Canyon Village end and indeed while returning just a few yards from that place we saw a grizzly bear grazing around. I could never imagine that a grizzly bear would be that huge.

I was awestruck to see the beautifully sculpted Canyon of the Yellowstone river whose majestic aura was makes you actually praise the God for his creations. It may seem funny but the yellowstone river also appeared yellow in color to me. We hiked a little bit until it started raining and got dark. Then was the time to visit a geyser basin and we picked up Norris which was midway between the Canyon and our camp. This was the chemistry lab I was talking about. Steam, boiling hot water and those colorful formations around a hot spring formed by the elements from the earth were truly nature's wonder, something that I had never contemplated. By this time rain turned into snow and we had not eaten anything since morning and it was now late evening so we decided to take off and go back to the camp. One the way back we saw the roaring
mountain laden with geysers all around, roaring the steam off.

We woke up next day to a very beautiful day. The sunshine cheered the whole ambience and the mildly cold weather just great for another day out in the Yellowstone. We went back to finish the Norris Geyser Basin. In that beautiful sunny day, it is inexplicable how manifold the beauty of those hot springs and geysers was enhanced. I had been looking for the chocolate pots all through and there I found a small one (looked like not really chocolate but cement pot) bubbling up making funny noises. Next stop was the Mammoth Hot Springs and wow they were really mammoth. Mammoth Hot Springs were actually formed by the deposit of limestone by the hot springs over the course many years and I had never seen anything whiter than that on the main terrace of Mammoth. There was an interesting sculpture probably of stone called the liberty cap but I haven't got a chance to explore about it yet. We were just loving the sunshine but as we took of from Mammoth to drive by the Yellowstone Lake it started snowing, then turned sunny again, then rained a little bit and then snowed really heavily and that's what I would call a fickle weather. I read online that one needs to be prepared for any kind of weather in Yellowstone any time of the year and that was an example of it. While it was snowing heavily I got a chance to see the Mud Volcano (probably that was the chocolate pot or may be I never found those chocolate pots) and the churning cauldron which was actually churning at a scary speed. It's said that there had been 500 earthquakes in the past 10 years.

Our trip was coming to an end, just one day left which was most of the time to be spent in the car driving back to Seattle. One last attraction of Yellowstone, the Old Faithful, was the one on our list. This really faithful geryser erupted just a few minutes after we reached there. It did shoot up really tall. What an amazing sight.

"Rangers tell people to keep their distance from bison and steaming geysers. But there are no signs, aside from nature's own bubbling mud pots and geysers, that visitors are wandering through the caldera of one of the largest active volcanoes in the world." - National Geographic.

And that leaves me truly amazed.

माँऊट साई - 7 मई 2006

2006-05-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

आज एक नई सेवा, हिंदी कीबोर्रड, औनलाइन मिली। मैने सोचा इसका उपयोग किया जाए। हिंदी में लिखने का अवसर कई वर्षो के बाद मिला है। इस रविवार हम, तरुन, मैं और ब्रायन, माँऊट साइ चढ़ने गए थे। दिन थोड़ा खराब था बारिश होगी ऐसा लगता था। हमने सब सामान बाँधा और ब्रायन के घर के लिए निकले। वहाँ पहुँच कर हमने कुछ नाशता किया और I-90 पर निकल पड़े। वैसे हम निकले कहीं और जाने के लिए थे पर रासते में ब्रायन ने माँऊट साइ का सुझाव दिया।

लिटल साइ मेरी पहली हाइक थी और माँऊट साइ आने का मेरा बहुत मन था। जैसे जैसे हम अपनी मंज़िल की ओर बढ़ रहे थे, वैसे वैसे बारिश भी तेज़ हो रही थी। लेकिन अब तो हम बारिश में हाइक करने में कुशल हो गए हैं। फिर जब हम पहाड़ के पास पहुँचे, बारिश ने कृपा की और हमें हलकी बारिश में हाइक करने का आनन्द मिला। 8 मील ऊपर से नीचे तक, ये मेरे लिये अब आसान सी बात है। ऐसा सोच कर मैने चढ़ना शुरू किया, लेकिन ये चढ़ाई इससे और कठिन निकली। 4 मील मे 3500 फीट में नाप सकते हैं इस चढ़ाई को। और हमारा साथ देने के लिए कई और लोग भी थे। मुझे ये हाइक थोड़ी नीरस लगी, उस पर बारिश में कोई सुंदर दृष्य भी देखने को नहीं मिला। लेकिन कठिन हाइक करने का आनन्द अवष्य मिला। हम जब माँऊट साइ के शिखर पर पहुँचे तो बारिश भी तेज़ हो गई। बारिश की बूंदे मुझे सुई की तरह लगने लगी। और शिखर पर तेज़ हवा भी चल रही थी। हम पथरीले रास्ते से फिर थोड़ा और ऊपर की ओर बढे़। ब्रायन हम दोनो से आगे निकल गया पर हमने कुछ समय वहीं बिताया।

फिर ब्रायन भी लौट आया और अब भूख भी लग आई थी। हम कोई कम बारिश वाली जगह की खोज में वापस अपनी गाड़ी की ओर चल पड़े। फिर हमने एक पेड़ों के झुण्ड क नीचे कुछ खाया और चल दिये। इस समय तक हम कुछ भीग भी चुके थे। फिर हम फटाफट नीचे उतरे, गाड़ी में बैठे, और फिर मेरी आँख तो बैलव्यू आकर ही खुली। मैं थक तो गई थी पर एक बढ़िया हाइक के बाद।

आज एक बार फिर हिंदी में लिख कर अच्छा लगा।

A day with Jara...

2006-05-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

...that's what I may call the hike to Wallace Falls. Jara is the dog of a new friend, Claudio (I hope I got the name right), that we met the same day (April 23, 2006). I am generally afraid of dogs but I have realized after coming to the US and meeting so many pets of my friends that after some time I feel fine with them. But, Jara was an exceptionally friendly and well behaved dog and he almost became a good friend of Tarun. Jara is an Australian name for a particular type of exquisite wood.

That Sunday was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. Srijan, Amol, Arindam, Claudio, Tarun and me, we all met at the University of Washington Ave and headed towards the Wallace Falls State Park. It was a short drive of about an hour but that day we wounld't have minded driving a little bit more. As well expected, we arrived at the Wallace Falls State Park and found the parking lot to be nearly full. So there will be many more fellow hikers today... we thought. The sign board at the entry showed that there are three levels to the Wallace Falls hike: lower, middle and upper falls. Upper Falls was obviously what we were looking for, 6.5 miles roundtrip. We started on the Woody trail. A well built path makes its way upward and onward, climbing 1,200-feet to the falls. One can see evolved(?) trees along the way. I found it strange to see how trees have grown again from where they were cut or broken. True to what we had expected before, we met lots of people along the way, even small children. The hike up can be considered to be steep but a lot of fun under the shade of trees. Leading our way, however, was Jara and the poor thing had to always come back to check on whether all of us were still together.

About a mile or so up we reached the Lower Falls and crossed over a bridge along the way. The roar of the Wallace and its crystal clear water is beauty of the whole hike. Lower Falls makes quite a view and very approriately leaves people longing for more. We stopped to watch the Lower Falls for a bit and then moved on. After about 2.0 miles we reached the Middle Falls. Well, actually after watching Middle Falls I realized Lower Falls were hardly a fall. We stopped to rest there for some time and just to enjoy the beauty of the falls and the scenic skykomish valley around it. Tarun sat on the bench and within no time Jara was sitting next to him. They two made quite an awesome picture to click and all of us did just that. Jara seemed to have learned about posing for camera :). Suddenly Jara put his paw on Tarun's lap as if they were friends forever, that was a "kodak moment". I thought that was really cute.

After some time we moved on and hiked until the Upper Falls. I personally think that Middle falls, with landing of the falls in a big splash on to the rocks and the mersmerizing mist, was far more beautiful than the Upper Falls. At the Upper Falls we saw a notice prohibiting people to go into the woods not maintained by the state park on account of getting lost. We all thought instead. That notice was probably for people getting up there in the dark and not able to make out the few signs posted on the trees. The map showed there was a loop further from that point into the woods to the parking area. So we decided to venture into the forbidden zone. After only a few steps we came up to a trail which would actually lead us to the parking area. There we decided to halt for a bit for a quick lunch and Amol found a perfect place, right by a stream. There was hardly a place for everyone to sit but we all managed. Jara enjoyed the most in the water. We all finished our lunch and Jara his fun with water. Claudio pulled him back up to the ground and then as we all expected Jara gave a huge shrug off and we all were showered with water.

We then continued on our long walk to the Wallace Lake, which was almost flat. I can't remember how long it was but it seemed long and along the way I had to bear some poor jokes from Arindam, Srijan and Amol. So much so that calling that poor would be a euphemism. Anyway, strolling across we reached the Wallace Lake. The trail down to the beach is rocky and we had to go through drooping trees and a puddle of water, but the vista from the beach is inexplicable. It seems there cannot be a better heaven anywhere else, our earth right here has so much to offer. I can't help but remember Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" ... and miles to go before I sleep. The peaceful lake infused some kind of serenity in me as I sat on a log of wood just watching the lake and Mount Pilchuck beyond.

But the calm was almost broken by Jara who had a blast in the lake chasing the stick Claudio was throwing for him. He would swim across the lake bring back the stick, go in a corner to shrug off and back into the lake again. After spending quite some time there throwing stones in the lake, we headed back to the parking area which seemed more difficult to find than we had initially thought. One trail said that it would be 6.5 miles and the other 4.5 miles. The errors by the state park in calculating the miles and coverting them to km made it difficult even further. We picked up a trail into the forest rather than around it just because it was shorter. It turned out to be a steep downhill and so we all ran down making our way through the soggy and muddy trail. There down the hill we found signs for parking area. We completed the hike in a good time and it was before 6:30 pm that we reached back in Seattle. It was another great hike we struck off from our list. I seem to now be at ease with 9-10 miles hikes...just waiting to know which would be the next one...

In Rain and More Rain ...

2006-04-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

...and still more rain we did our trip to Orcas Island. I am still in awe of the pristine beauty of that island (well, at least for the most part of it) that was to be enjoyed even in the heavy rains.

It was our camping trip and we both were very excited. I think we both love camping and this time we had our new camping lantern, new camping cooking vessels and a working stove :), so surely it was going to be fun. On Saturday, April 8th 2006, late morning around 10 we left home with hopefully prepared for everything. And soon, we reached the Anacortes Ferry terminal. It seemed like a short drive although the weather was starting to get nasty. We did not want rain that weekend and that was all we got. But it was fairly dry in Anacortes. We stopped for a little lunch at Little Calcutta, a small unassuming restaurant serving decent food with only two of us as guests. We then bought some fire woods, a lighter and some paper towels while we waited for our ferry to set off. It was when we were closing down to Orcas Island, it started raining handsomely. But the drive down to the Moran State Park was breathtaking. Orcas is a very small island where people may seem to have been trapped but the beauty of it all makes up for that. We reached the park and looked for a campground with an empty camping spot. It was getting dark and we were feeling hungry so we decided to pitch the tent right away and start cooking. As we were coming a family was leaving the campsite giving up because of the rain. Both of our jackets only appeared to be water proof and we quickly realized they were not really that. So, Tarun started to do the tent and I, well ..., was covering him on camera :) I did help in the end though and I set up the interior of the tent with sleeping bags.

The rain refused to stop and we were getting soaked and I was getting a little irritated with that. Tarun told me to not worry as we cannot do anything abut it except having fun in the rain. We both then meditated for while on the wood log next to the Cascade Lake right by our tent. And this was really helpful for me. The family that left when we arrived had left behind them a generous fire burning in the fireplace and we obviously made good use of it. It was time now to cook so we held our umbrellas over our little stove lit the fire on it and I started to make Maggi. While Tarun on the fire toasted breads. So there was our food, we took it inside the tent and crept inside our tent with our shoes on. We just no more bothered about the mud on them, it was so wet. But now I was enjoying. We enjoyed the dinner too and soon after we decided to sleep. Well there was nothing else to do in that weather. We got inside the sleeping bags telling each other to wake up one another in case of any trouble. We had already thought that if it grows worse we will move into an Inn. It was somewhat eerie to sleep in the tent with rain drop tapping so hard on the outside and the sleeping bad below seeming almost wet and we didn't have a tarp. We spent quite some time like that silently trying to enjoy. There I was wondering what happens if we get sick when suddenly Tarun asked do you want to go for the Inn. It was what I just wanted him to ask. I was scared but not that much, I was more uncomfortable and just too cold too enjoy.

We spent a comfortable night in a European style lodge. Next morning the story was the same. Rain was pouring but we had slept well. We came back to our tent and decided to go on a little hike around Cascade Lake. This hike kept up to its promise of being very picturesque. We even saw some mongoose swimming in the lake. When we came back we again sat to meditate after which the only thing we could think of was food. We moved our stove to a shed where restrooms and showers were. Tarun made some veggie burgers for the breakfast and I made tea. This was really fun. As we enjoyed these burgers and tea, another family in the same campsite told us about another shed literally two steps away. We both looked at each other and wondered why did we not spot it before. It would have been perfect for cooking and even spending the night if we wanted to. Nevertheless, we used it to light our own fire, basked in the heat till it was burnt off. Then we packed up our tent, washed all the vessels and headed for our hike.

In all the fun of camping we had left for ourselves very little time for hiking. Although it was almost 4 hours, it was less as compared to the distance we had to climb. More than 4 miles up to Mount Constitution. When we started we assumed it would be round trip and were happy about that. The climb up was very steep, although we did not realize it until the next day (when our legs spoke to us) :). But the weather then was a charm, we liked hiking in the rain. As we were climbing both of us had moments when we thought that this was it. We also met a mountain biker who told the top was only about 15 minutes from there only to realize later that he must have told us the biking time. We walked for 30 minutes after that and found a sign which said that the top was still more than 2 miles out. There we decided we would probably need another trip here to finish the hike and we turned back. The hike down was steep as well and almost completed it running. We made it to the car and JIT (just-in-time) made it for the Ferry back to Anacortes.

Orcas Island was a small town that deserves another visit in a better weather, just to appreciate the real beauty of nature. And of course we didn't make it to the top of Mount Constitution leaving us longing for more.

Yakima Skyline Trail

2006-03-27T10:02:00.000-08:00

Where: Yakima, Washington

Who: Amol, Srijan, Eera, Tarun and Yogita

When: Sunday March 26, 2006

What: An unparalleled hike on Yakima Skyline Trail ( so far... :) )

This was an experience like never before. I have hiked along the Olympic peninsula, Little Si and RattleSnake ridge. This compares to none. I would consider myself a novice on this hike which seemed slightly higher in difficulty level than moderate. But in all it was the most interesting and rewarding hike.

This time it was not just the two of us, me and Tarun. We had three more friends and that added to the fun. We started from Bellevue at around 7:45 am. I had packed in stuff in my and tarun's bag based on last hike's experience. More water, already prepared sandwiches, some hand sanitizer and tissue papers. We had our new hiking shoes on. We started off in what didn't seem like a nice weather. A few miles down and it started drizzling. Well that didn't look very inviting and everyone was blaming Tarun for that... I don't know why. After some time (at 8:14:53) :) we stopped for a sad breakfast at Burger King, though Srijan's banana bread was awesome.

After breakfast we headed out again and as we crossed the Snoqualmie area, we saw loads of snow and it was pouring on us. There was no sign of the sun until we were close to Yakima, where a beautiful weather greeted us. Tarun knew an alternative route to Yakima which went through the Yakima canyon along the Yakima river. Only one word can describe our journey through that, breathtaking. The river was embellished with eddies and small boulders. The mountains together looked to me a like a sheet of green silk where the sunlight was giving it a new texture. Well that's as much geography knowledge I have that I am not sure if you would call those mountains or peaks. I'll keep mountains. However give any word, they stood together to form a majestic skyline.

I was so much in awe of the view that I didn't realize that none of us knew where we were headed to. Me and Tarun had both forgotten to take the directions :) (is it a usual thing? ...oh well!). We had the WA state map and following that we landed into what seemed like downtown Yakima. We stopped by Red Lion Hotel for some information. At the lobby we found a computer with internet and a printer. This was all we wanted. We took the print outs and headed back to the same place where we came from, the Yakima canyon. So we would be hiking in that picturesque terrain. The trail guide had mentioned that it would be difficult to find the trailhead and so it was but not very much. After asking a few people on the way and driving on to a fun filled bumpy ride on stones and boulders we reached the trailhead. Oh and how could I forget the confusion that everyone had about which was the actual trailhead. Srijan asked Tarun to go beyond the area which looked like a parking place. Rest of us had different opinions. Agreeing to Srijan we went ahead and that certainly was not good for the health of our city car. Road was extremely rocky and we decided that we will take the trailhead that we had seen before. So came back and parked the car over there.

We started off carrying our bags and clicking some pictures. The trailguide mentioned that you would see signs at the trailhead but what we saw was a metal plate with loads bullet shots in it. It was difficult to read it, nevertheless we started walking up the mountain. Tarun said that we would meet a couple of false peaks before we see the actual peak so I knew that this seemingly easy hike to the top of the first mountain was not all that was there. Well, at least for me this hike was not one of those easy ones. The elevation gain was higher than I have ever experienced before. The trail has small rocks and boulders and then my new shoes. I didn't know until after I had finished the hike that you have to wear them for some time before an actual hike. My new shoes were biting my feet and I ended up with blisters. And later I realized that so did Tarun.

Anyway I enjoyed the hike to the peak. I had dropped the case of my camera somewhere along the trail. But, a nice bunch of horse riders actually came out of their way to give us the case back. They had two scary dogs along with them as well. But they didn't bite me just like all other dogs that I am scared of :). As we ascended, the wind was blowing harder and it was getting chillier. But none of this could hold us back from enjoying the vista of the canyon from the top of the first peak. There was a ranch, a dam, a river and a tunnel far away. So then we set off to hike to next peak in view. Amol was leading the way. He probably was more adventurous than any of us taking risky cut acrosses and going right till the edge of the cliffs. I was clicking pictures along the way... so was Srijan. Tarun kept coming back to check on me. Following Amol, we made our way to the summit of another peak only to find that there is yet another one that is higher than the current one. We all were determined to find the highest peak so we climbed up yet again. This time as well same story repeated and we started taking turns in guessing if this was it or not...

This last one was, but only among those bunch of peaks. There was yet another higher peak somewhat distant that looked inviting. We all sat down for some time and had lunch. As we reached up here in about 1.5 hours, we all decided we could go for that higher peak. So we set off again in quest of the highest point in Yakima Skyline Trail. This lap was probably the hardest and most adventurous for me at least. Our leader only made it harder by not taking up the trails but cutting across mountains. We even had to walk through a near vertical ( okay this is exaggeration but probably at an angle of 30-40 degrees) mountain negotiating with heavy wind. But the hiking shoes worked wonders. They gave me the confidence that I can do it and at least I was not scared :). Amol had come back to make sure we make it through safely and Tarun was already watching me and Eera cross through. Then finally we reached the bottom of that highest peak. This was another gem of a hill, very steep and very rocky. But we climbed that up as well and wow we were on what seemed like one of the highest peak. There were a few other just across the rivers that looked somewhat of the same height or a bit higher. We sat there for a while enjoying the cold wind and the aura of the Yakima canyon.

Then we headed back but climbing down the peak again through those rocks was another challenge, but that makes it more fun. Other than this the hike back was very uneventful and full of longing for the car which was way down somewhere. But we did see some arrows made of stones on the way back. We had mixed reactions on this one. Best one was of Amol though. He said what if this arrow is leading us to a deadly maniac who is ready to kill us. Well, no one believed him :) and we followed the arrow. But the next one was actually leading us the wrong way so we decided to head into the direction we thought our car was. And then after some treading along the path we reached our car. Phew ... it was a memorable hike I must say. Makes me look forward to the Grand Canyon Hike.

Hike to Cape Alava, March 12, 2006

2006-03-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

14 hours outdoors on Sunday March 12th 2006...

This hike in the Olympic peninsula is listed as one of the great 100 hikes in Washington, 9.3 miles of Olympic wilderness. It takes about 5 hours drive from Seattle to the Cape. Adding 6 hours suggested hike time and 5 hours return journey to that made us feel that we need to start at 4 AM. And as it always happens, we left home at only 7:30 AM packed with grub for the way, some music, the map and our cameras. The weather was spectacular, bright sun and little chill. We hit the road, eating bananas and cheese curls and listening to NPR and 'Bunty aur Babli' alternatingly. The road was familiar to us from our last trip to the Olympic peninsula in 2005 and next in turn was the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry. We queued up for the ferry about 30 minutes before its departure and that was the ideal time for us to catch up a coffee and some croissants that we had picked up on the way. We were enjoying our coffee and mini breakfast at the "Waterfront Coffee House", when Tarun asked us to leave for the car. We came outside only to realize that he was very close and lines had started moving and we ran for the car. I was clumsy keeping my coffee while trying to make it to the car as soon as I could.

Next we were on the deck of the ferry enjoying the water and clicking pictures and suddenly, the camera's batteries died completely. We were feeling cold on the deck, and I think Tarun was feeling it more because he would refuse to wear any sweater and a plain rain jacket stood no chance there. So, we decided get back to the car and load new batteries in the camera. In the car I found my handbag missing and then it struck me that in haste to get to the car I had left my handbag in the coffee shop. This is not new to me, I am very forgetful. But fortunately, I had my money purse and all my card in it. I also had the bill from the coffee shop which had its phone no. So we called up the coffee shop to make sure the bag was still there and fix up a time to pick it up. I was feeling really stupid at that time but it was okay. There was a lesson for us: Never take the hand bag on a hike. Sure this can happen anywhere anytime but not at least on our hikes :)

We got down from the ferry and continued on 104 West and then 101 West to Cape Alava. This time along with music and food it was Tarun's inexplicable (can't say it is good :)) humor keeping both of us entertained. These highways are not typical straight roads but have a lot of twists and turns and they don't really suit me very well. I started feeling dizzy so I decided to doze off. When I opened my eyes were at the Lake Ozette Ranger Station, our destination. We packed the bag that tarun would carry with food and set off for way. Well, I just carried myself. :) We took the Cape Alava trail first. It was 1:20 and we decided that we would be fast in order to finish the hike in less than 6 hours. The Cape Alava trail is an easy hike of 3.3 miles. I was always on my toes to catch up Tarun, but I was more cautious in order to not slip along the way. All along the way Tarun would keep telling me we need a walky talky and my reply would be NO :). Pretty soon, we started hearing the sound of the ocean and before an hour was up we were there at the Olympic peninsula. We sat down for a little sandwich but what bothered me was making that little sandwich over there as we sat on small wobbling piece of wood. But we enjoyed the sandwich while watching the melting gold of sunlight in the ocean and the humbling vastness of the Pacific. Another lesson: Make the sandwiches at home, it reduces the payload as well.

We need to finish the hike and so we need to rush, thinking this we head out for our next trail, Cape Alava to Sandpoint trailway. This was the most fun of all. Seaweeds, unstable sand and gravel, rocks and fallen trees blocking the trailway. We had to negotiate through them all. Most interesting of all was that we were not sure how far and where the destination, Sandpoint trail, was. Someone we met on the way said its still 2 miles further. We set off on our way and somehow walking on the gravel and sand was the most difficult even more than that on the rocks. Tarun had seemed to create a funny name for me and he kept calling me from that name and he even wrote it on the sand. :) That was cute. We met two more people on the way who told that Sandpoint is 0.9 miles from there right by a tapering rock which we could see from there. We looked at our watches and we were right on track for beating the 6 hours time. We walked faster and those two gentlemen were left behind. We came to the tapering rock but we could see no trail. So we decided to walk aroud that rock. That meant again negotiating through the rocks. We saw bald eagles but no trail. All the area was surrounded by huge logs of wood. Tarun told me that we should follow the footsteps and they led us to a sign which was haunting us from the end of Cape Alava trail. We went up to that and thankfully we saw signs to Ozette Ranger Station, ahead 2.8 miles and we were still tracking good time.

We head back on that trail and Tarun was faster than before. I was somewhat tired and was not getting a good grip on the trail. Result: I slipped 3-4 times while Tarun was still trying to cheer me up calling me my funny name. But we made to the Ranger Station holding onto our sticks that we had picked up on the way in about 4 hours and a few minutes. It was the longest we have ever hiked, captured some of the most amazing views in our eyes and our cameras and stuck off one hike from our goal list of hikes.