Uttarakhand Diaries

Uttarakhand Trip on mind?

Here's the itinerary which we followed, thank me later for this :)

Co- travelers:

Photographer - Brajesh Verma

Caretakers - Mr.&Mrs.Niranjan Malode (The coolest caretakers one can ask for in life ❤️)

Day 0 - Reached Delhi by Flight. It is your discretion how to reach Delhi- by train or flight or bus or walk. 

We boarded the bus to Mussorie reaching the next day by 5 am.

Day 1 - Witnessed the shivering cold temperature of 3 degrees early morning, we got to see the sunrise at the mall road! Never miss beating the cold by having omelets, boiled eggs, etc.

Checked into Hotel Devlok Primal where we could see the snow-filled Himalayan ranges 😅

We hired the scooty at Mall Road (you can get them at a rent of around 500 bucks per day)  . As soon as we hired the scooty , the photographer in Brajesh woke up and he started pushing me to travel on some unknown roads in Mussorie where we could get a mesmerizing view of Himalayan ranges. We jumped onto the terrace of one of the houses, the people were so kind they didn’t even complain and let us enjoy the scenic view.

We then traveled to Kempty falls, we later renamed this to Empty falls as it was so empty (If you have been to some other big waterfall then you will feel why we have been calling this an empty fall)

But as they say "Safar Khubsurat hai Manzil se bhi " the journey to Kempty falls on the bike from Mussorie was so amazing, driving in the hills with roads covered with clouds/fog was damn thrilling (Mini Leh Ladakh literally)

Feel free to have chow mein, momos, Maggi, etc. on the way.

After Kempty falls, we headed back to Lal Teeba, the roads to this place are so narrow but they are worth it because the sunset you get to experience at the Lal Teeba is just phenomenal.  ❤️

It is a 30km ride from Mussorie but takes approx 1.5 hours

 

Day 2:

 Continued with the same scooty to reach Dhanaulti, again the roads were packed up with clouds. There were a lot of scenic points to stop and capture the beauty which will not fail to invoke the cameraman within you. 

We reached Dhanaulti Eco Park which is a very heavenly garden of Devdaar trees located at the hilltop, the view from this place is also kickass!

After spending our valuable hours at Eco Park, we headed back to Mussorie, had some mouth-watering butter chicken at the mall road, and took a local taxi to Rishikesh.

We had bookings made for camping at Rishikesh (One can get it on the spot at Tapovan, no pre-booking mandatory), had an awesome time at the camping site with strangers of 3 generations. The thing to be noted, you get everything in Rishikesh, when I say everything, hope you understand whats  everything :) (DM me if you want further clarifications 😂)

 

Day 3 :

When in Rishikesh, one would never avoid the world-class rafting experience irrespective of whether you know swimming or not. This 16kms of river rafting filled with 8-9 rapid flows in between is an experience to cherish forever. The rafting boat halts at a place and the guide asks you to jump into the chilling cold water of the Ganges, can't express that experience in words! The boat again halts at a place for cliff-jump wherein you get to jump from around 50ft. height into the water. (This mini-adventure takes a toll on you)

Post rafting we could collect the high-quality videos and head back for Haridwar to attend an important function.

We were fortunate enough to have reached before sunset at Har ki Paudi in  Haridwar to witness the holy Ganga Aarti. Oh my Ganga, what an experience it was ❤️. We have always seen this Aarti in movies,  the sounds of bells, the burning diyas at the ghats of Ganga were so heavenly that you realize why this place is called the  Holy City Haridwar

 

Day 4 & 5 :

Reserved for the sangeet and wedding of our beloved Ankita and Ankit Kansal, I will surely need to write another post for these 2 amazing days. But must say, this wedding was the reason we could experience the heavenly Uttrakhand. So, big thanks to Mr.&Mrs.Ankit Kansal for getting married😂

 

Day 6 :

North Indian marriages last till early morning, so with sleepy eyes, we headed again to Rishikesh!

'Milke bichadna to dastur ho gaya ' moment came when our beloved friend Brajesh wanted to feel the snow & the rest 3 of us wanted to experience more adventurous Rishikesh!  Hence our paths separated here and here on we had a different itinerary - let us call it A 

& Brajesh had a different- let us call that B . Brajesh headed to Chopta and the rest stayed back in Rishikesh.

 

A- As Rishikesh is the hub of adventures, how could we miss the most famous adventure attraction of it? Yes, the Bunjee-Jump. There were a lot of rumors around pre-bookings of the Bunjee Jumping but as they say " Agar kisi cheez ko shiddat se chaho to puri kayanat tumhe usse milane ki koshish me lag jati hai", something similar happened and by our luck, we could get the slots for Giant Swing which is as scary as Bunjee Jumping for sure! ( Piece of advice would be to book the slots ahead of your visit in peak seasons ) .

 

You stand at the biggest of confusions in your life when you are at the tip of the Bunjee platform.  ( to jump or not to jump ) Nobody pushes you here! Once in the air, you start loving the swings, you feel like the real free bird taking jerks in the air, you cry your heart loud and get a sense of achievement...yes I did it!

Rishikesh has got some sexy cafes on the banks of Ganga, one such is Om Freedom Cafe. Take a moment and visit these cafes to experience the fusion of Indian and Western culture at the banks of the holy Ganga river.

We spent the night roaming at Ram Jhula,  Lakshman Jhula.

 

B - Brajesh headed to Okhimat via Devprayag where the two rivers (Bhagirathi and Alaknanda) meet each other and there on Ganga gets its real name, till this point these two rivers are called Bhagirathi and Alaknanda.  

This is a scenic view any photographer would die to click!

Brajesh reached Okhimat which was like the base for his trek to Tungnath Temple!

 

Day 7 :

A- We headed back to Delhi from Rishikesh through the UKRTC bus (Either book it or you can get it last moment also )

We reached back to Delhi from the heavenly Uttarakhand and here on our food expedition began!

Once in Delhi we first went to Chandni Chowk and had some mouth-watering Parathas at the Parathe wali Gali. I should not miss mentioning the very famous "Kake di Hatti " where you get giant stuffed Nan of approximately 1.5 ft. diameter with the very delicious Dal Makhani. (Never have I ever had this tasty Dal Makhani in my lifetime)

We then went on to explore the nightlife at the most happening Connaught Place. That was truly an amazing club night with Delhi ka flavor to it.

 

B- Brajesh started off his trek to Tungnath from Chopta which is the real base for the trek. He got to meet a lot of solo travelers while on this trek. His wish to feel the snow was fulfilled as the route was filled heavily with snow. He could click some freaking awesome pictures on his way in Chandrashilla. Don't forget to get a glimpse of them @vijay.verma_o1 on Instagram. He slowly returned as the snow was melting and the road was turning slippery.

 

Day 8 -

A - We went on to explore a few more food places at the Jama Masjid. Went to 1940 established Al Jawahar restaurant where we tried Chicken Burra and Chicken Tangdi which were quite unique in tastes.

Since Mr. & Mrs.Malode had a flight to catch, they headed to the airport leaving me to my destiny in Delhi.

I headed to historic Qutub Minar in the evening posted the pic with 'Tauba Tumhare ye ishare ' music in the background, hope Shahrukh Khan fans will click why I chose that song. 

By now I was quite habituated with the blue, yellow, orange, and violet lines of Metro, and thus the journey once looked so confusing became flawless.

To get a feel of how UPSC aspirants struggle in Delhi, I headed to Rajinder Nagar where lakhs of Indian youngsters put in their blood and sweat preparing for this most competitive and difficult exam. I could interact with a few aspirants, never know might have crossed paths with a few future IAS/IPS officers.

I could overhear a few conversations like "Iska pre nikla hai " , " Last year ka GSAT ganda tha " etc.

I then boarded the metro back to Jama Masjid to taste the delicious butter chicken at Aslam’s Chicken. This butter chicken is quite unconventional, here they serve the chicken Kebabs dipped in butter (The Real Butter Chicken). They serve you Rumali roti to eat along, the taste is very delicious, I wish we could get this tasty chicken in every part of India.  The place is highly crowded and you got to wait too long to grab a seat.

 

B- Brajesh started his journey back to Rishikesh, reached and tried to spend some time at Ram Jhula & Lakshman Jhula. Because of the heavy trek, he was drained and hence could not spend much time exploring Rishikesh.

 

Day 9 :

A- I headed to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah changing a couple of metros, was skeptical if I would be able to reach the airport on time due to a traffic jam near Nizamuddin station.

B- Brajesh headed to Delhi from Rishikesh early morning.

Now A & B again met at Nizamuddin metro station and flew back to the destination where this journey began, Pune!

All in all, a very fun-filled, thrilling, and most cherishing trip to the heavenly Uttarakhand!

People of Uttarakhand are Godly (Devi aur sajjan) , no one tried to fool us throughout the trip.The way they used to talk " Haanji Bhaiyyyaji " " Bolo bhaiyyaji " , " Karwa denge Bhaiyyaji " was damn damn sweet ❤️

May Ganga maiyya bless these people always ❤️

Ganga maiyya ki Jai !!!!