Towards The Great Himalayan National Park

24 December, 2011

Parashar Lake was on my mind this time all the way till Mandi. Since I reached Mandi a bit late on Saturday, my friend Bali aka Vivek (he is fondly called so as he puts on a bali in his ear) recommended to visit The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) instead of Parashar which I was not at all sure to visit in half day's time. But as he suggested to go on bike, it was a nice opportunity for me to explore some other places on the way if not GHNP. Bali had been to Parashar Lake last year and suggested that I should go there in April when the lake is more beautiful and is surrounded by snow. 


Going by his advice, we set out on our unplanned expedition to GHNP. Three things that were already there in my mind where I personally wanted to stop to enjoy and stare at the nature's bounty. The first was Pandoh Dam (just 19 km from Mandi) where I had earlier not been able to stop as each time I passed this place I was in a bus. The dam is built on River Beas and it gives you two different flavours at the same time, one very wild and breathtaking (if you are lucky enough to witness the water flowing out of the dam, especially during monsoons) and other very calm, quiet and serene (on other side of the dam). This time I missed the wild part. The photography is prohibited on the dam site, so captured the serene river a few kilometers later. 

Serene Beas before the Pandoh dam 

Deoria Tal - Tungnath - Chandrashila

31 September, 2011

I was since very long itching to go to the mountains. So on a weekend I made up my mind to revisit Tungnath (one of the panch kedars in the Himalayas) including Deoria Tal (about 2400 mt) this time in my program. One of my friend Manjit was my companion on this trip. Both of us took a night bus from Anand Vihar Bus Terminal to Rishikesh, changed the bus at Rishikesh, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Ukhimath (about 8 km from Sari Village) to finally stay overnight at Deoria Tal. When we reached Sari Village (from where we trekked up for about 3 km to reach Deoria Tal), it was already 6:30 pm. The locals in the Sari village told us that the tented accommodation is available at Lake. So we started walking up and by the time we reached half the way, it was completely dark. Frankly speaking we were a bit afraid as we were passing through a dense forest land, however the way was open and not misleading. We took a sigh of relief when we saw a light coming from the shop nearby the lake. There were a couple of Israeli tourists who had arrived there that afternoon and were planning to a trek upto Tungnath the next day with the help of their guide. We took our especially prepared dinner by Hira Singh, the shop and the tent owner and slipped into our tents without even knowing where the lake was.

I was actually dying to see the Lake and could not sleep properly as I was waiting for the day to break. I set an alarm for 5 am but got up many a times to check how much time was left. Even before my mobile alarm could wake me up, I peeked out of my tent and what a stunning panoramic view!!! Our first encounter with the serene lake with a backdrop of enchanting snow capped Himalayan peaks, just like a picture postcard, so mesmerizing! I woke up Manjit to enjoy this treasure of Mother Nature. And as I had imagined the first word that came out of his mouth was 'WOW', he was so delighted to see this marvelous scenic beauty. We took our weapons out to capture this beautiful phenomenon and started clicking some pictures. We took a circumambulation of the lake and were fortunate to see some beautiful local hilly birds. Hira Singh told us that as Devas (deities) would bathe in this lake hence it took the name 'Deoria Tal'. Some believe that this is the same lake where the Pandavas (heroes of the epic Mahabharata) were offered to answer the mystical questions asked by Yaksha (in the form of a crane) to let them quench their thirst from the lake and only Yudhisthira (the eldest brother) could answer all the questions rightly and could revive his brothers.

Confluence of Holy Bhagirathi (on left) and Alaknanda (on right) at Devprayag, this is where onwards we call it Maa Ganga  

Jantar Mantar

10 September, 2011

I was always curious to know what was inside these strangely erected structures while passing through these lanes. As a child, we would always think that this is some kind of Bhul Bhulaiya. So today (9 June, 2011) was my chance to explore these mysterious structures and to know what all this Jantar Mantar was about.

It is one of the five astronomical observatories (at Jaipur, Delhi, Mathura, Ujjain, Varanasi) built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh (II), the ruler and founder of Jaipur who had a very keen interest in Astronomy. 

Unique structures

Janjehli - Shikari Devi - Karsog - Delhi

4 August, 2011

Today I got up early morning as I had to walk a lot to reach Shikari Devi Temple via Budha Kedar Cave and to get down towards Karsog. When I stepped out of the guest house and asked the locals about the way to Shikari via Budha Kedar, I got a feeling that the way was through jungle with multiple trails at certain places which could be misleading and could make me go astray. I was alone and I had only today's time to cover all this, so I decided to give the cave a miss this time and tried a convenient path which would go all along the roads. It is a 16 km trekking from Janjehli to Shikari Devi, one can also go by Bike/Jeep/Car (preferably by a 4x4) but the last few kilometers do give you a hard time as the road is in very bad condition (due to rains probably).

Apple orchards all across the road