A hard day on the wheels

My earlier posts of Leh trip are here

Day 7: Nubra Valley – An odyssey

Day 8: Turtuk – The penultimate village!

The clouds on the mountains towards Khardung La Pass were quiet discouraging but we could not stay back & wait for the weather to clear up. Our host inspected the mountains and evinced possibility of snowfall on the peak. The group had finished a quick round of bread butter and jam for breakfast accompanied with Ravichandran hit songs on our phones. The bread went in smoothly but the news on weather outside was not so welcoming.

Without further delay we packed our bags. Manu, Manja & Pavan rode back to Hunder to enjoy a ride on the double-humped camels while the rest of us were set on our way to Leh. We hoped weather to improve as the day sets in while we knew it is difficult to predict weather in such altitudes. We hurried without too many stops and as expected with growing altitude the weather got colder and it started raining, by the time we reached North Pullu we were wet and shivering with cold. We threw our bikes as soon as the canteen appeared at our sight. Hot Maggie and some hot tea was a real life saver. The roads from here got bad making the ride slow and more difficult. Close to the peak it started snowing and on reaching Khardung La peak we were drenched again. We did not stop on the peak and continued in the snow.

The gloves we wore dint suffice to withstand the snow and cold. Our fingers were totally numb. It was the most difficult part of the roads after crossing the peak and we rode at almost 5kmph to avoid potholes which would otherwise kill my back. We covered ourselves completely which made it difficult to talk to each other. I had to show thumbs up to the rider every 15mins to indicate all is well and I haven’t fallen off :P

 

Ahead of us was a biker whom we followed as the visibility was really bad. We slowed as he did at the curves and for the first time I felt having someone ridding along is so much of a strength. It’s a force that keeps you going ahead just the way you need someone’s being in your life to keep you not just alive but also to make you feel you are living. There was a sudden rush of mixed emotions running through my body. It was an unknown fear running across my hands and limbs as it felt weak while at the same time there was a sense of amiable gaiety that just made me to carry on.

The ride was tiring and seemed endless. The weather gods though spared us after sometime, it was the reckless roads which made it all the more difficult. I preferred getting down from the bike and walked across few patches of really bad roads. The onward journey which seemed fun and exciting was now almost killing my back due to continuous journey on the bike.

It was early evening when we saw the city of Leh at a far distance. It was such a relief that I fail to word my feeling. I breathed some happy air into my lungs when the roads got better again. The traffic on the opposite side was stopped due to bad weather which left for us the entire road. After turning all the curves down to the hill we saw Kanthanna & Suma waiting for us. We stopped with them for a while and then rode towards the city. Back in our rooms, we all seemed as if we had made it back in one piece after going through a pleasurable trauma.

Turtuk – The penultimate village!

My earlier posts of Leh trip are here

Day 1 : Julley Leh journey begins

Day 2 : Manali, day to wallow in nature

Day 3, 4 : Riding on curves

Day 5, 6 : It was time to say JulLeh!

Day 7: Nubra Valley – An odyssey

“The real name of Turtuk in Balti language is, ‘Dhuk-Dhuk’. About 1,100 years ago, two men came to this land and camped by the spring. They fell in love with the land and decided to settle here. Thus the name ‘Dhuk-Dhuk’, which means ‘to settle’”. A story I read in one of the bcmtouring forums & loved to share.

Whenever it was about Turtuk, I wondered what would I write about this heavenly kingdom, is it the facts or history which is so fascinating or the beauty of the place, people, weather or the flora or the air which blows on your skin and reminds you that it carries the smell of the place on other side of the LoC which is less than a couple of kilometers from this village. I don’t have the answer while I continue to pen down the thoughts running in my mind at this moment.

Photo Courtesy : Vidya Sharma

As we followed Faizal on those clean & tiny paths between the houses the next morning, we saw men working, girls playing with little ones and women sitting on the house attics watching us. We walked behind Faizal asking him about their life style, routine and many such things and the answers we received were surprisingly the opposite of what we thought it could be. Life on that patch of land is way too peaceful than what it is back in cities. Tensions must have been there but they seemed to exist at a distant mountain tip not in their hearts. They were too lovable & hospitable.

Faizal is doing his pre-university in Leh and visits his town during holidays. I asked him what is that he wanted to study after completing his pre-university studies for which I got a quick reply that he would do masters in history. I was taken aback by the sheer clarity he had right at this age. I, even today look at stars for such questions :P

Photo Courtesy : Vidya Sharma

The understanding and the cooperation among them is another factor I noticed. The household water and drinking water is supplied to every house in open channels flowing adjacent to the pavement. A board is put up indicating a fine on misusing the water for other purposes. This I assumed must have been for outsiders like us ;). Pure water from the mountains runs down right to your house all the time. This was pure bliss for me to even imagine. I bow to their skills in planning their village so well.

Another fascinating thing we happened to see in this place is the natural refrigerators where they store cheese and other produces for a long time. They look like normal huts made of stones but at a low height. They are generally locked to maintain its temperature undisturbed but you can feel the chill right next to its walls. I read somewhere that this is possible because of the cold river flowing below this land.

Photo Courtesy : Vidya Sharma

There were Apricot trees in plenty which bore yellowish fruits. They needed some more time to ripe and turn red. We enjoyed biting some apricots and red cherries as we strolled with our guide. The cherry trees and the babies red cheek looked so much similar. No doubt that people here are bestowed with all the beauty.

We reached a small gompa on a small hill constructed by few Buddhist army personnel during their settlements in the past. From this place, Turtuk looked like a very small patch of land with houses and around their dens spread are their land where they grow wheat and other daily needs. Army regularly supplies the necessary ration. The villagers shared a great rapport with army men around this place. Faizal, pointing his hand behind the gompa mentioned that few of the villagers have their lands on those hills where they grow white onions.

Faizal used really authentic hindi words while he spoke. He said he had been near LoC and had seen through binoculars the villages across the border. He used the word “Durbin” here. I quickly recalled its meaning and was amused with his vocabulary. Skardu, he said, looked so much like any other village in Balti region. They must have been relatives of Faizal and it is just that Turtuk, Thyakshi remained with India while Skardu became Pakistan’s territory. For a common man like Faizal all these dint really matter as long as there is peace in his village. He was not born during the incident of Indo-Pak partition in 1971 but it seemed that every child in this village grew up hearing this story several times from his elders.

Photo Courtesy : Vidya Sharma

The superman on the left corner is charming Faizal Khan. It was lunch time when we bid bye to Turtuk and headed back towards Deskit.

What seemed beautiful in the dark last night was now the same with all the more richness of variant colors. The mountains had a plethora of shades to flaunt as we cut through them on those straight roads, crossing delicate bridges hanging over the same ferocious river, Shyok. She remained cold and her color indicated as if she is flooding.

We were passing by Bogdang village on the Diskit-Turtuk highway when we were surrounded by kids from this village trying to get hold of some chocolates from the passing bikes. They almost blocked us and snatched the energy bars and dint let go till some elder men stopped them. They were tiny monsters looking so pretty. We were giving high-five to kids passing by, several instances I also got pulled off which forced me to stop this cool looking game. The people were rough just like the terrain around. But waving bye at every army truck dint stop till the end of the trip.

We enjoyed the ride while the sun glistened & by late noon our bikes were parked outside a roadside hotel. We were tired and craved for a hot bath and some sleep. We looked around for rooms and found Deskit tourism office offering wonderful rooms at a nominal rate. After a relaxed round of freshening up and after enjoying a cup of hot tea with snacks we decided to visit the monastery. It was now evening and the breeze had just turned little violent as we reached the huge statue of Buddha. The sun was setting at a distance as we clicked pictures and sat chatting with the group for some time. The face of buddha was eternal. It forced me & Suhas to talk of some philosophy while others clicked pictures of the setting sun. The precision in making this statue is something every person will greatly appreciate. The richness of the colors and to enhancing this statue is the clear blue skies of Deskit is a blissful partnership. Its as if the statue was made to be in this beautiful place facing the far horizon.

We remembered the tea shop that we had visited day before and wanted to visit it again. A PCO near this tea shop consumed all of us in making calls back home. Back in our rooms we had a delicious dinner with palak sabzi which we served several rounds greedily. It was not too late we sat around listening to some Kannada songs and got into our beds.

Nubra Valley – An odyssey

My earlier posts of Leh trip are here

Day 1 : Julley Leh journey begins

Day 2 : Manali, day to wallow in nature

Day 3, 4 : Riding on curves

Day 5, 6 : It was time to say JulLeh!

Standing in a long queue in the only fuel station of Leh, we filled fuel to our bikes and to the extra cans we were carrying. It was a long journey and there are no fuel station anywhere in the route. The plan was to reach Turtuk as early as possible before it gets dark. And start back the next day to Leh. It was extremely ambitious with the fact that the distance from Leh to Turtuk is just 205 kms, covering this distance on roads built cutting the mountains are extremely tiring. Roads curve at every 100 or 200mts which needs to slow down to check the opposite traffic and then pick up some speed. With night’s dark covering up the skies it gets even dangerous and risky as there is hardly any human inhabitation anywhere after Hunder till Turtuk. Seldom army trucks pass by once it gets dark. Getting any help is too bleak on these roads.

We had breakfast at a hotel in Leh and started towards Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world. The road was smooth for a quite a distance. At almost 16000 feet the road was under repair with huge JCBs working on it and we were held up for close to 2 hours which further strained our plan. It was early noon when we reached the 18,379 ft elevation to reach Khardung La, it was very cold and windy at the top but all of us seemed to be in good shape. It was crowded at the top and I dint feel anything great to celebrate being there. We spent 5-10 mins and started our journey on the other side of the Pass. The road continues to be bad for another 20kms till we reach North Pullu where we stopped to get some warmth with a cup of tea and Maggie. After this you are on the best roads in whole of India.

For most part of the journey towards your left is the mountain and on your right is the beautiful valley. We followed each other on our bikes and when we encountered deviations we would wait for the rest of the group to join, open the map and take decisions or by then we would find an army truck passing by who would stop and guide us ahead. An extremely pleasant weather today helped us keep moving in spite of the lag in time. The curvy roads of course added to the delay but was more fun. The valley was deep and board on our right. Far on the other end of the valley there were villages with very few houses. We often wondered how one can reach those isolated villages and how do they survive such extreme weather conditions. With all that it looked so stunningly beautiful.

The road to Deskit is “the” thing which enters my mind when we talk of Nubra Valley. It’s mind blowing. Several stretches are like a straight line drawn across a white sheet of paper. You can blindly trust your guts and let your bike race with the wind. I am more than sure bikers enjoyed this part the most. As we take a sharp left almost nearing Deskit you will see at a far distance a structure resembling a face of Buddha. Peeping above the mountains as though he is watching the bikers race.  As you get close to this mountain we realize it is the tall structure of Maitreya Buddha of Deskit Gompa. 

It was early evening when we reached this beautiful village in Nubra Valley. This was the best village I have been so far. It gave an out of the world feeling as we rode our bikes on those narrow roads covered with tall bushes on both sides. We stopped for tea at a road side hotel. A gang of people were lazing here with friends. It was a nice big group seemed like they dint have anything else to do. I was naturally jealous of their lifestyle.

We ordered Maggie while we discussed whether to continue to Turtuk or to stay back for the night and reach there the next day morning. The zeal in the group was quite high and all of us agreed to continue further 77kms inspite of knowing the fact that it will get dark almost anytime now and also we dint have permit to this place (toufiq had missed to mention this place in our permits). It  was a huge chance we were taking.  

From here on the bikes picked up good speed as the roads were straight for long stretches. Hunder the very next village 7kms from Deskit. A place which is famous for its Sand dunes is filled with shifting sand endlessly. It makes one imagine stories on the existence of this high altitude desert. A cold desert on Karakoram range which back in history was the silk route from central asia to china. The Bactrian double humped camels which once carried people across continents even today exist here offering rides to travelers visiting Nubra Valley.

We planned to visit the sand dunes on our way back and for now stuck our butt to the seats. For most of us this ride was not just the best but truly a life time experience. Great roads throughout and you are gifted with the best sights as you ride between those tall mountains. River Shyok gushes with force as if she carries all the anger within her to the country which she flows into. After a while there are sand structures formed in valley far your right which resembles the coast line in Peru. As the sun went down behind the mountains towards Pakistan leaving the mountains opposite to it painted with orange red.

The beauty of the mountain seemed so violently beautiful with the moonlight spread over them and our eyes assumed several shapes coated with colors of dark green, mud red, few in silver and brown. The bliss you feel to just watch the nature at the calm of night with light of close-to- full moon thrown around liberally was breath-taking. We stared at those weird looking structures on the mountains as we continued to ride on this eternal path. It was only us and the river Shyok enjoying this ride over those bridges, curvy roads, and slippery sand. The noise she made sometimes gave us a feeling that we are dead close to her and would strain our eyes in that direction a little more to check her movements.

It was quiet troublesome to keep sync between riders during night. I constantly checked for the 3 lights behind our bike while the rider kept an eye on the 2 red break lights of the bikers ahead of us. While our senses enjoyed watching the view offered outside the body ached at every turn not being able to sit anymore. We could not afford breaks and had to reach before the city shuts for the day. The journey seemed endless with the dark setting in and nothing visible around. We finally reached the army post almost near Turtuk. The security personnel checked our permits and seemed not ok to continue without permits. We had to tell him long stories to convince while few of us relaxed our cramping joints. Another army post from here dint bother to stop us and we finally reached the last village in India accessible to public.

We stopped at a homestay to check the rooms availability. My body was so badly bent up that I threw myself on the ground till they came back to say the homestay was closed. A fellow strolling around showed us way to a nearby hotel where we happily checked in. They quickly prepared dinner for us and the discussions on tomorrow’s plan led to ask one of them if he could takes us around and Faizal Khan was more than happy to be our guide. This fellow is as interesting as the very place he belongs to.

We were in Turtuk :)

It was time to say JulLeh!!

My earlier posts of Leh trip are here

Day 1 : Julley Leh journey begins

Day 2 : Manali, day to wallow in nature

Day 3, 4: Riding on curves

Karu to Leh was an uneventful and quick 45mins journey. We browsed through the roads of the Leh looking for rooms good and economical. We finally found Rainbow home stay little interior on the Lord’s Road. Rooms were Rs700/- per day with 3 people in each rooms. Good for our pockets. Our host made us feel comfortable and left us to relax for the day but we had long to-do list. The permits were not ready and most important task was to look for 4 more bikes. Toufiq, who was to help us get the permits reached us by noon. The team sat around the table to make a list of places we wanted a permit for. Toufiq suggested few modifications in the route map and with several “let-us-see” decisions we agreed to let the time unfold all that was kept in store for us in Leh!

Post lunch we got into the job of bike hunting. Leh, a small city, a couple of main roads from one end of the city to the other and there you are, good to roam by yourself. The city is so laid-back and the evening gets even lovelier decorated with colored lamps outside the restaurants flaunting its hippie customers. We strolled in the markets peering at every shop looking for bikes and our heads would voluntarily turn back to the sound of a bullet passing by. There were good amount of tourist even though the general opinion of Ladakhi’s was there were very less tourists turning up this year due bad weather conditions in Haridwar and also due to the tensions prevailing on the china border. We had to answer umpteen phone calls regarding our safe being in this remote corner of the country while we enjoyed this blissful place. It looked as if it was an endless search for the bikes. We ended up not getting good bikes for the day. We decided to come back tomorrow. Monalisa restaurant seemed cozy with its posh crowd & decent lighting. We enjoyed a feast to celebrate our team reaching Leh.

Next day morning we visited stanzin’s garage. As promised he arranged for us, two bullets and two new desert storm. Without wasting much time we planned to visit places around Leh. We rode towards west of Leh to visit Hall of fame, Magnetic hill, Sangam of followed by Pathar Sahib Gurudwara.

We were riding on top class roads as we reached Magnetic Hill. The board reads “Magnetic Hill The Phenomenon that defies Gravity. Park your vehicle in the box marked with white paint on road”. The bikers enjoyed riding till a distance on hills on both the sides while few parked their bikes in white box to experience an effortless pull in the vehicle. The amazing roads never stopped us as we rode next towards Sangam. Rivers Indus and Zanskar confluence and further flows west into Pakistan to join Arabian Sea. The same Zanskar river when frozen offers us a beautiful chadar trek which I wish to do one day. I take the pride to mention that for the first time in my life I rode a 500cc desert storm from Magnetic hill to Sangam and next to Pathar Sahib. Raja’s just followed his instinct and sat behind me. I enjoyed every bit of it, every curve on the road and especially the one where the vehicle was on full clutch and the monster was left loose & I had least control. For our luck there were no trucks from the other side which could have been fatal if so. Even today when we both recollect that moment we’ll express our shock and thank our lucks for being alive.

   

Pathar Sahib Gurudwara is regularly visited by the visitors and more importantly the army troops passing by. We met couple of kannada speaking men in uniform. It’s always a proud moment to meet them away from home. For them too it’s a feeling of visiting their home towns just by meeting us. The story of this gurudwara being called pathar sahib is an interesting read. http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Gurdwara_Pathar_Sahib. We had lunch at the gurudwara lungar. Reminded me of my visit to Golden temple couple of years back. The same calm, clean and kind people one can find in these gurudwaras.

We reached post lunch at the Hall of fame. This museum is constructed and maintained by Indian army in the memory of those soldiers who lost their lives in Indo-Pak wars. The museum houses the picture gallery of those vast and diverse cultures found in Ladakh region over long time. A 3D model of Ladakh and the valleys surrounding it is the highlight. Beautiful pictures depicting the lifestyle and glory of this place are hung on the walls. Most interesting part of this monument are those walls on which tragic and few courageous stories of our heroes are displayed.

Tears roll down without your knowledge as you read them. Every hour or two, a documentary on Indo-Pak war both in Hindi & English is played which is worth watching. The equipments and necessary tools used by Indian army at very high altitude terrains like Siachen glaciers are displayed. The images of the training and details like how equipments are moved by choppers at those altitude are really amazing to know. The souvenir shop attracted us to its really unique things they sold. I was way to glad to find a Hip Flask and bought one for myself. Sadly I drink only water from it.

Day ended beautiful in a restaurant which server delicious dinner and we planned to start early the next morning towards a real odyssey.

Ermai Falls

During our trek to Dudhsagar, few of our friends suggested us to visit this falls near Ujire. It was one day plan and hence we thought it best suited for Nov 1^st holiday. 5 of us started by early morning 6 from Mysore. We were late to start but we had the best one handling the steering wheel. We stopped at Hassan for breakfast and another pit stop for tea at Sakleshpur. While here we saw the hotel served hot akki rotis but since we just had our breakfast we planned to visit the same hotel for dinner. Sumanth made a special note of this place.

We reached Ujire by lunch time and made calls to our friend to reach the falls which is not so easily reachable without someone guiding you. Our friend guided Raja so well that he actually saw the falls right over the phone call. He was more than confident to miss this place after hearing the so-very-detailed lefts and rights to be taken and the name of the places there gets easily volatile from your cache. Still we managed to get hold of bits and pieces of the names he uttered while speaking over phone and reached the destination. Locals too know of this falls, so it is not so difficult reaching this place. Around 15-20 kms from the Ujire town drive towards charmadi and take left on Didupe Road till you see Bhuvan stores towards your right. 

A small distance of walking you will take a right and enter the forest and after walking for a while there is a hanging bridge across a small stream, crossing this you will see clear path into the forest which will reach a small falls with water falling over sloped rocks and this was occupied by a set of human like monkeys. We decided to continue to the main falls which is not too far from here. I stopped every other step trying out some new acquired skills on macro shots while I spotted a leech which had just landed on my foot and was caught just before it could release an anesthetic. I warned the rest of the group to keep an eye on them. By then we were watching a small angle of this huge falls behind the trees and tall rocks.

We got down a little and hopped over a few rocks to reach the base of this falls and we stood stunned by the sheer beauty of this silent falls hidden in this place for so long. The water falls over in stages and there is a den like created at the base of the first stage. The water droplets raise above and forms a fog like layer just at the base. The next stage is a short and wider fall and drops into a wide pool. The water is clear with small fishes and beautiful stones very easily reached. Its knee deep water if you stand watching the falls at a distance. Fishes play around your legs sending tickles on your tender skin. Spend some time sitting and play with them.

We had packed rice for the 5 of us and puliogere gojju. It is suggested to take food along with you as you will not find any hotels close by. We got into water playing and clicking pictures. I tried playing with my prime lens capturing few close up while they enjoyed playing in the water. Every time you see the falls it looked so different and so much more beautiful. I went on capturing it. A Lovely formation of rainbow colors framed near the den was blissful to see. We easily spent more than an hour watching it and clicking some self timer shots with the group.

It was time to return. We reached the place where our car was parked. The lady at Bhuvan stores was busy packing tobacco leaves into roles and there were packs of them ready to puff. We drank tender coconut to compensate for the little water we drank so far and finally headed towards Mysore in the same route. Sakleshpur ghat was the most difficult stretch with horrible roads at this point of time. Few among us felt that this was not the route we took in the morning. May be tired bodies found it more difficult to dance with the tune of our car tumbling on those bad roads from one corner of the road to the other. Most of the stretches, we stopped to survey which part of the road was better and never found one and just followed a pothole. It was really tiring for the person driving. We tried hard to keep ourselves awake by singing songs till we reached a point when it became impossible to keep our eyes open.

It was 12:40 am reaching home and still had the energy left to watch the remaining 20 mins of Bigg Boss repeat telecast. I was excited to see the pics and without copying them to my laptop just saw them on the card to copy it later in the morning. This exercise took us almost half of the next day to install all possible recovery software and finally a friend of mine shared a paid version of the software to recover majority of the pictures.

Day 3 @ Doodhsagar

It was so cold the next morning, we preferred sleeping in our warm tents before taking a look at the falls. It looked so much more wonderful even without much light around. The chilled breeze dint let us stay near the falls for a long time. I made myself comfortable inside my sleeping bag again. We had to start as early as possible to cover a distance till Kullem by foot. Packing our tents & bags we started walking on the track. Most horrible part of walking on these rail tracks is you can’t see anywhere other than the track while walking. You try to see anywhere else even for a moment and there are all chances that you will walk on shit. So we dint really enjoy this part of the trek. We reached Sonalium station after trekking for almost 4kms. We stopped here to have our packed breakfast. Some bread, butter, jam, roti, chatni pudi and some milk all went in without complaining. Just when it was time to be back on track trekking, a goods train stopped by at the station and we dint want to miss an opportunity to experience a ride on it. The train master wasn’t very happy having us onboard, he strictly made us sit and monitored us through the journey just to make sure that we don’t bump over the train bogie joints when it gave a jerk. We enjoyed our ride till Kullem singing songs and taking pictures. The train master was now happy to get rid of us & then we suggested to take a pic with him and made a smalltalk for which he was more than just happy. After saying cheese with us he gave us free advice to wait there for Chennai Express to go to Madgoan. It was 9:30 in the morning and the train to Madgoan was scheduled at 11:05am. We decided to get out of the station and explore other means of transport available to reach Madgoan. There was a bus after half an hour, we roamed around and settled down at a tea shop to kill some time. One among us also found a handsome barber in his shop and realized that they need a haircut :P

When it was time for the bus to arrive we just surveyed the number of people waiting for that poor bus which dint arrive yet and felt it was better to walk back and wait for our super hit Chennai Express to do the honors. The train was delayed by close to an hour but we had all entertainment one the platform to deal with it. I got onto a train for a quick demonstration on the James bond style machines our trains still have. The train master was sweet enough to bear our “What is this….?”, “Why is this used….?” kind of questions. After this interesting session we got onto discussions about trekking with few guys who had missed their morning train to DS and hence had nothing to do till evening but wait for the train towards Madgoan.

Our train finally arrived and I happened to sit with a friend of Jyothi Sir. He went on sharing his experiences of his visit to Mt.Everest base camp and Manas Sarovar. When he realized that I too had similar interest in travelling and we read similar books he kept in front of me all his suggestions and advices. It was nice listening to him and getting to know someone so deep.

Picture taken from google images.

Back in Madgoan we dint have much time before catching our next train to Mangalore at 2pm. We rushed for the tickets and hogged something in the railway station restaurant and boarded the passenger train to Mangalore. The journey is fantastic and this time even better as we had a big group. We enjoyed sitting near the door watching the sun go down. Someone was really very happy being there.

I took a nice nap and a wonderful aroma woke my hungry tummy. I see everyone around me having something delicious. I could not resist and took a bite followed by several servings of the pulav. One of those guys whom we met in kullem platform had got this prepared from his relatives nearby. How nice of them. We got down at Udupi station at around 7:30pm and Murali anna was waiting for us to drive us home. It was raining heavily by this time. Another 15mins drive to reach Manipal where Murali anna is put up. He kept us guiding all the way with different landmarks. After a round of fresh up we were ready to go out for dinner.

Picture taken from google images.

Raja’s friends joined us over dinner. While we had some really nice ice creams at Manipal. Body was too tired to keep any more awake when we reached home. Within no time we heard people snoring at different intensities. Next day morning we met our old friend Raghu Ram who had just arrived from puttu. We leisurely packed our bags to start our journey to Mangalore. There are Volvo buses from Manipal every half an hour to Mangalore. It took us 1hr 30mins to reach Mangalore and the bus stopped for us right in front of Urva stores where our car was parked. Driving in Mangalore board roads is a nice experience. We next headed for some shopping in a mall and had lunch there itself before starting to Mysore.

Journey to Mysore took pretty long. We reached quite early at Madikeri from where the ghat started and it took really long reaching Mysore. We dropped Sumanth home. On reaching home, the volume at which dad was snoring indicated we were way too late. 

Day 2 @ Doodhsagar Falls

Mornings in Goa are generally lazy unlike margoan railway station which was crowded with passengers and trains. I & Sumant scanned all the shops on our way looking for bread but all we found was Pav which our taste buds often dismiss. Sumant had to venture lil more deeper into the city to fetch some sweet wheat bread while I headed towards the station to meet those men from Mangalore. Met Jyothi sir after a long time near the ticket counter with his 3 other young-at-heart friends.

There is only one train from Margoan to Doodhsagar in the morning. Howrah or Amaravathi Express at 7:40am. Miss this, you miss the falls for the rest of the day and don’t even try to waste your money and energy trying to reach there on a bike.

The rest of our group reached after us to the crowded platform where we waited for the train to arrive. The train is crowded with long distance passengers and hence you will find it difficult to fetch a seat in general compartment. We managed to make some place for few of us and our luggage. It is also fun to sit next to the door peeping outside the train and enjoy the dark rides inside the tunnels. We waited near the doorstep with our luggage for Doodhsagar Station as the train unofficially stops for very short time. When the mighty falls arrived on the scene everyone in the train roared with bedazed expressions. 

The train crossed the bridge across the falls with a dull pace and continued for almost a kilometer to stop at the station. We had to walk back to reach the falls. While walking on the track we found a vendor selling pav bhaji and each of us hogged a couple of them. Back on track with happy tummies. While trekking its quiet common to see several goods train passing by while you are trekking on the track, it is real fun to stand close and watch a train pass by.

We stood near the falls to click few pictures and fill the sight in our eyes. Falls was at its best. Just as the name suggests the falls is milky white and truly a mesmerizing sight. My previous visit to this falls was during December and there was very little water. Since then I waited to visit this place again when it is in its full grandeur.

After spending some time relaxing near the falls we trekked in the forest to reach the base of the waterfall. The recent rains had made the path very sludgy and slippery. Tricky part was crossing the streams. We struggled to balance ourselves and more importantly the gadgets from getting wet. We made a chain and started passing our stuffs from one bank to the other. Few of us still enjoyed a free fall into the chilling water. As we trekked deeper into the forest we realized we had entered the monkey kingdom. The trek seemed never to end and we started giving reasons not to continue but on reaching the spot where we could view the waterfall in full length we were more than glad for all the merry-go-round we did to reach here. Our hungry stomachs craved for some nourishment but those monsters covered us in all directions not letting us get even a single bite. We had to convince our tummies to wait for some more time. We tried to fool our ancestors by getting into the middle of the water and without flaunting our food reserve, we made small rolls of roti and gulped  them but no sooner we were caught.

 While the stream was so welcoming and tempting, each one of us enjoyed a relaxing swim and a kneading under a natural Jacuzzi. With evening getting closer it became cloudy and we felt right to reach back to our campsite. Back near the falls, we were trying to make friends with tea shop guy and during our conversation he mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan had visited his shop during the shooting of Chennai Express. Someone in our group was now super excited. Rumz could not miss a single step in that place, the chai, not even a single thing that the tea shop guy said SRK did during his visit.

We sat watching the falls sipping hot tea. A truly magical moment of the whole trip. And suddenly from nowhere it started pouring like a cloud burst. It rained so heavy that everything outside got mute except for the rain lashing. With the rains outside, we enjoyed several servings of hot Maggie and boiled eggs cooked at the tea shop, so thoughtful of Suhas for suggesting carrying Maggie packets. There was another batch of 10 people who were planning to tent there for the night. Rains flooded everywhere and it looked difficult to pitch the tent if it rained the same way whole night.

Once the rain stopped, it was a whole new world outside. The water quantity in the falls had doubled and all those small streams in the morning were now flooding. As it got darker, the sky got clear and what a wonderful scene it was to watch full moon on the backdrop of the falls. It was stunning with the moonlight spread over everywhere. We refused to get into our tents while it continued to rain lightly. The other group was struggling to bring up a campfire as we continued to hum on some old songs to make the night more soothing. We sat out as long as we enjoyed being out in the open air and then go into our warm tents.