harpreetsinghkh
About harpreetsinghkh
Posts by :
Top 5 Tourist Attractions in Haridwar
Haridwar was once under the reign of the old dynasties like the Mauryas and the Kushana. It has also been mentioned in the texts of the Chinese traveler Hieun Tsang. Being located 314 meters higher than the sea level it is a very popular tourist destination.
Here’s a list of the best 5 places to visit in Haridwar, The Gateway to the Gods.
1. Har ki Pauri
One of the most important places to visit in Haridwar is the Har ki Pauri literally meaning the Lord’s Footsteps. The most renowned landmark at the Ghats is the footstep print of Lord Vishnu himself. It is said to be at the exact location where the River Ganga enters the plains from mountains. The place is popular worldwide because of Kumbha Mela and the Ardha Kumbha Mela carried out here.
2. Chandi Devi Temple
The temple is built in dedication to Chandi Devi, which is a form of the Goddess Durga. The Chandi Devi Temple is a very ancient temple in India and is visited by many of pilgrims during the Navratri and the Kumbha Mela festival. It was founded by Adi Shankaracharya, a Hindu Philosopher who lived between 700 to 820 AD.
3. Pavan Dham
Pavan Dham is well known for its rare temple architecture along with its craftsmanship. The temple is popular for the detail oriented and adorned idols. The unique and beautifully crafted mirror with glass work is a spectacular sight to behold. The temple was made in the year 1970 by Swami Vedantanand ji Maharaj.
4. Mansa Devi Temple
Built to pay homage to the Hindu deity Mansa Devi, Mansa Devi Temple is situated atop a hillock called as the Bilwa Parvat of the Shiwalik Range of the Himalayas. The Goddess of this temple is said to fulfil all the wishes. Her devotees ask their wishes by tying a piece of thread on the branches of the tree situated within the temple complex. Then they come back to the temple to untie it once their wish is granted.
5. Daksha Mahadev Temple
Famous among Shiv devotees, Daksha Mahadev Temple was constructed by Queen Dhankaur in 1810 and reconstructed in 1962. The temple’s location is where Goddess Sati’s father Daksha Prajapati performed a yagna, culminating to a chain of events. The Maha Shivratri performed here is filled with festivity and sheer devotion with tonnes of devotees visiting here during this time. A very famous temple in Haridwar, this place should not be missed for all devotees coming to Haridwar.
Known as one of the 7 holiest places in India, Haridwar is a very popular pilgrim spot located in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand. The origins of the city can be traced back to the ancient Hindu texts too. Being one of the 7 places where the precious droplets of the elixir of life erupted from the Samundra Manthan also called the Churning of the Seas Haridwar is truly a holy place to visit for your soul.
Triund, Mcleodganj, Masroor – A Travelogue
To Triund – Mountains were calling.
December 2015, last few days of the year and my birthday was near. Birthdays are special to everyone and just like most of the people I’ve been celebrating it the same monotonous way so far. Going out for treats, taking a day off from work and pampering myself. Off course, Birthdays are to be celebrated and why not? Its the day, we become part of this huge and marvelous world of ours but isn’t it boring to do similar things every year, again and again? Indeed, It is.
I wanted my birthday in 2016 to be out of the ordinary, far from the world and different from all the previous birthdays, being as close as I can get to nature and peace, hence my trek to Triund became a reality.
After a week of discussion & research, I and my roommates finalized The Triund Trek for our 2016 New year and my birthday celebrations.
What Research? Here you go:
- We checked Youtube videos to see if the place is really worth.
- Read a couple of blogs and travel websites, to get an idea about the place, routes, and any possible challenges.
- Researched about nearby places, hotel prices, and their availability on several websites like Tripadvisor, Makemytrip, and what got us gripped was the amazing pictures from Inderjit Singh.
- Discussed with colleagues and friends. “You never know, someone might suggest you a good place around. I got to know about Masroor Temple near Dharamshala from one of my colleagues.”
And the Adventure Begins…..
31st December 2015 around 11:00 PM, just an hour before New Year, we started off to Dharamshala from Chandigarh taking our seats in a Himachal Roadways bus (Tickets – Not more than ₹600/person). The bus wasn’t a luxury one but with reclining seats it was comfortable enough to fall asleep during the night. We started our New Year in the bus few kilometers outside Chandigarh, heading towards a great adventure.
DAY 1
At around 5:30 AM the bus reached Dharamshala, it was still dark and quite. We witnessed lights uphill and all around, coming from several houses. After inquiring from people present at the bus stand, we moved toward The Masroor Temple. The first local bus which started at 7 AM from Dharamshala dropped us at Ranital, followed by a walk of about 2 km and we were at our first destination.
Rock Cut Masroor Temple
Located around 40km on the outskirts of Dharamshala, Masroor Temple is one of its kind in Northern India. It is probably the only rock cut temple found in this region of Indian. The temple has a unique architecture and its carved out of one single rock. Locals mention this place to be as old as from the time of Pandavas. The temple is extremely out of the city buzz and gets very few visitors.
The Masroor temple has a gorgeous viewpoint and we were able to observe bright blue sky covering the mighty Dhauladhar range of mountains, a pure delight to the eyes. The atmosphere too quiet and peaceful was almost like a cherry topping on an ice cream. After staying for about an hour at Masroor Temple we started back. We took another bus towards our next destination Tatwani. “It wasn’t on our list but our interaction with locals made us aware of it and we planned to check it out.”
Tatwani- Hot Water Spring and Temple
Introduced by locals and bus conductor on the way to Ranital, Tatwani seemed a place that we didn’t want to miss. After getting back to Ranital from Masroor Temple we took another bus and asked the driver to drop us at Tatwani.
Our last night journey followed by all the physical workout so far made our bodies tired and sleep was gripping us everytime we found a comfy seat and that’s what happened next. After asking the driver to drop us at Tatwani, all of us fell asleep at our seats. We woke up hearing a loud noise and it was our conductor telling us that we need to get down from the bus and we have reached. The conductor told us that Tatwani was right down the hill. “Which was literally true but not that simple as it sounds!“
As we rushed out of the Bus getting ourselves back to full consciousness, we realized it wasn’t that easy and I had a voice in my head saying ”This is going to be fun !”. Turned out that we had to cross a stream of a river to reach there. Tatwani was down the hill but on the other side.
It wasn’t a conventional way to Tatwani and we were the only humans up on this side of the hill. However, from the top, we saw few people near the river and that was comforting. We made our way down the hill through bushes and rocks and looked for the place where banks were closest and not deep, tied our shoes to our bags, pulled up our pants and crossed the river.
5 minutes walk and we were there. Tatwani has an ancient Hindu temple with a hot water spring, it also has a small canteen to settle some hunger. We dipped our feets in water spring and it was soothing. All this took almost half of our day and we decided to move back to Dharamshala and further to Mcleodganj. “This included walking 7-8 Km and then boarding a van to MCleodganj”
We reached MCleodganj around 6:30 PM and started looking for a place to stay. It wasn’t a tourist season and many options were there. We selected ‘Yellow Guesthouse’ which was closer to market and charged us around 700 in total for 2 rooms which were decent enough to stay. We explored the market, had dinner and came back to our rooms to sleep.
Day 2
At around 10:00 AM we were on our feets after having breakfast. Hiring a cab from Mcleodganj Bus stand (which charged ₹400) to cross Dharamkot and to drop us at Gallu Devi Temple, the place from where the trek begins.
Starting the Trek – Towards Triund
Gallu Devi Temple is about 12 km’s from Mcleodganj and from there it’s easy to notice several groups of people going up and returning back. The trek is about 8 Kms and seemed to be a moderate one (depends on your company, though it was easy for me and most of my friends). Which can be covered in 3-4 hours if you have an average paced and take fewer breaks. It can take around 6 hours if you are not habitual to long walks and would be taking many breaks.
We reached to the top in around 3 hours and 15 minutes even after making few stops for tea breaks. The entire trek has a rocky terrain with rocks pointed upwards and going there with flat shoes, formals or sneaker is not a good choice. There are few steep curves and at times we encountered slant heights to climb up, which gets tougher once you are about to reach the end point.
On reaching the top we stood mesmerized with the view around us. There were a clear sky and a huge mountain range covered with snow in front of us. It was sunny and bright but we could still feel the chill in the air. Triund is vast and it’s easy to see a lot of camps up there.
Right after we reached the top, we spoke to people at the shops up there and got ourselves a Tent for 4 along with sleeping bags (cost – ₹1500). We kept our bags in the tent and came out to explore more about the site. At around 6 we viewed the sunset. “it was a genuine pleasure for our eyes, mind and what not. “Watching Sun getting lost somewhere between two horizons is a precious experience.
The night was supported by a sky full of stars and it was the best sky I have ever seen in my life. Beautifully lit with stars scattered all around, it felt like a sheet of shiny sparkles covering our head in the dark. We had our dinner at one of the tent shops, gathered together were other fellow travelers we spoke to few of them, heard some of their stories, danced with some of them and enjoyed the gathering of known strangers. In the night it got very cold and our sleeping bags did come to our rescue.
The morning was beautiful and more pleasant. It was quite, cool and had a beauty that’s hard to put into words. After having our morning tea and enjoying the Sunrise I tried to capture and gulp down the beauty into my eyes as much as I could before we started back to Mcleodganj. That view and feelings are tough to describe. It was one of those moments which you re-live every time you of thing of it. Something that you keep in your memories and cherish throughout your life.
Started back early morning around 7 AM, we were able to reach down in about 4 hours and took many breaks in between to enjoyed the view wherever we can. We spend some decent time at Mcleod ganj, checking out the market and eating street food. In the evening we boarded the bus, back to Chandigarh.
Here are some important tips which I feel one should always consider whenever planning for a Trek.
What should you be carrying?
Since its trekking no matter how much fun it is, one should always have some primary commodities which might come handy in case of any emergency or mishappening. “I would recommend taking along below mentioned few things always when you are heading for mountains.
- Warm hoodies and sweaters (Because it will be cold and chilling during nights.
- Pair or warm socks (cold feets makes people fell sick faster than cold upper body, so avoid it)
- Good n strong Boots (Treks can be a ruthless strain if your shoes don’t fight the terrain).“Make sure you go with Boots, probably of Brands like Redchief, woodland, Lee Cooper which are really good to trek up such a terrain.”
- Raincoats (Because it rains frequently on mountains)
- Torch (You won’t get street light up on trek and hills)
- Chocolates/Snickers (Emergency diet and energy supplement or just for taste 😉 )
- Small Knife (Multipurpose)
These things cover almost all that you will need to safely do the trek.
Things to do and what to avoid?
- Make sure to check the connectivity and timings of buses to your destinations. “You would like if you get stuck for a night at one place.”
- Speak to 3-4 locals about places to make sure you are going right.
- Avoid over eating and oily food (some people might have issues while breathing and some might feel like throwing up).
- Try to start early in morning, a trek is safer be done in daylight.
- Be careful and don’t try risky things like shortcuts and following new trails.
- Keep cash with you, don’t trust ATMs up in mountains.“You won’t get much, anyway”
- Make sure you tag your bags and they are easily identifiable.
- Don’t litter, keep your garbage with you and maintain the beauty of nature as it is supposed to be.
Treks are fun and adventurous, they make you realize your strength, nature’s beauty, and supremacy. Going out and traveling is exciting and a great learning experience. Go ahead and take your time off from tiresome office cubicles and computers. Life is much more, makes sure that you are careful, responsible, smart and courageous for new adventures…..
Stay curious and it will take you places!
Kheer Ganga(Himachal Pradesh)– Trekking in Parvati Valley
As I reached the top of Kheer Ganga trek, tired and heavily breathing. I sat down looking at the sky which had already begun to show off its sparkling inventory of stars and when I looked towards the mountains and forest in front of me I could see the place I came walking from. Covered with green dense trees, making an illusion, of a huge dark forest dangerous enough for a human to walk around.
On the other hand, reality is exactly opposite to it. The silence and beauty preserved within these mountains can barely do any harm. The enormously big trees seen from the top of this mountain adds charm to the memorable dusk and makes me realize the difference between actually breathing that we rarely experience and biological respiration that we always do.
After about 3 hours and 30 minutes of non stop trekking we were finally able to reach the top of Kheer Ganga trek. Was it worth the time and run we did to reach ? Well, At first while we were still heavily breathing. It didn’t seem that marvelous but when we were able calm ourselves down, we realized “Yes, it is worth.”
Where is Kheer Ganga ?
Kheer Ganga is situated in Parvati Valley of Himachal Pradesh, a state located in Northern region of India and commonly called as ‘Himachal’ by Indians. For us (Indians) Himachal stands as synonym for mountains because of its completely mountain terrain. The panoramic beauty of Dhauladhar range and enchanting biodiversity of Himalyan range of mountains makes Himachal a state full of life and nature. There are well known tourist places like Shimla, Mcleodganj, Dharmshala, Kufri and Dalhousie which I would highly recommend to anytime willing to explore Himachal and its beauty. Himachal is also a beloved place for Hippies and adventure lovers too and places like Triund, Kasol, Bir and Kheer Ganga are famous among youngsters and travellers for natural beauty, adventure sports and offbeat experience that these places offer.
How to reach Kheer Ganga ?
The trek to Kheer Ganga starts from Barsheni, Its a small village ahead of Kasol and very near to Sikh Temple Gurudwara Manikaran Sahib. From Barsheni leads two different paths towards totally opposite directions.
- One goes uphill towards Tosh (Another place to cherish beauty of mountians)
- Other goes downhill towards a small crossover bridge and after which the trek to Kheer Ganga begins.
*This can be very misleading if someone hesitates to ask locals as they might end up walking the wrong way.
I learned from my mistake and so I warn you. We walked straight uphill for around 45 minutes and got to know that we were on a wrong track that actually leads to Tosh. We then spent our next 30 minutes walking back to starting point and to begin on the right path. (A wastage of time and energy that could have covered 30% of our trek to Kheer Ganga.)
How tough or worthy is trekking to Kheer Ganga ?
The Kheer Ganga trek is a moderate one, I’d rather say its easy but long. It Passes through couple of villages, some water streams, number of cafes and ineffaceable views. The trek might make you tired but its not extremely challenging. It’s in fact a lot easy as compared to the Triund Trek. Apart from many nice views and well placed small cafes the most noteworthy part of trek is the route itself. The trek has several naturally astounding spots, small water falls and quite jungle spots. Making it an immersive and blissful experience to walk through. In the jungle its easy to spot birds chirping and at times even loud noises of running water streams.
The trek stretches through different variety of terrains that break the monotony and never seems same. Looking at Locals from villages, walking between tall trees and witnessing powerful gush of waterfalls makes you feel a delusion of reality verses places you would have only see in pictures. No doubt the destination is beautiful but journey in itself is wonderful enough to keep you moving.
What’s there at the top?
Up-top, it was all crowded with people, which I guess, was because of the peak season timing. After about 10-15 minutes of rest we pulled up our strength and started searching a place our night stay. We got ourselves a common hall with chimney in center and good amount of space and bedding for better sleep. The cost was merely ₹ 150/person.
For stay, there are common halls or you can also rent a tent, if available (tough to get tents during tourist season). For food, this place also has a lot decently priced cafes that offer variety of Israeli, Indian, Chinese and Continental dishes to try on. There is also a bakery here at top and we tried their delicious puddings and sweet to the core cupcakes. It was like a bolt from the blue to see a bakery up hill at a camping sites like this.
A huge number of foreigners come to Kheer Ganga every year and attend Rainbow Group Festival. Where hippies from all around the world gather and live like community for around a month or two. These foreigners are usually here to either observe nature or to enjoy the weed culture of these mountains. I observed, that foreigners who come to Kheer Ganga usually have different interest if we compare them to those who are in Rishikesh. Here they are not much interested in spiritual or yoga practices and instead their purpose is to relax in nature or enjoy the smoke.
The Story behind Kheer Ganga and its name
For anyone who visits Kheer Ganga, He/She must know the history behind its name and to my surprise, I saw a temple there which helped me with this.
“Who would have expected a temple at the end of a trekking spot ? I didn’t.”
One of the walls of this temple explained me the story behind the name of Kheer Ganga. Right in front of the temple is the famous hot water spring. A great relaxation for any tired body and can energize anybody who feels tired or low on energy. Its a perfect spot to relaxing tired feet after completing the trek.
After reaching up top there are 3 note worthy attractions that an explorer must checkout:
- The Temple and the story associated with Kheer Ganga.
- The Hot water spring
- Temple of Karthik Swami (little more uphill).
Karthik Swami Temple has a story associated with it and I would keep it for you to find out. 😉
If places and stories associated with them has always been a food for your curiousity buds then these temple are for sure places to see. I’ll leave the story for you to find out as to why it’s called Kheer Ganga, and whats the story of other temple uphill. Let’s keep the curiosity alive. 😉
Maggi Baba – Years of hardwork and dedication
How I Met Maggi Baba
Traveling is what I have been doing as hobby and passion but on professional front my major experience has been into HR. The last few months of 2015 gave me an opportunities to go for campus placements in couple of reputed colleges of North India. One of such Placement drive was in DTU (Delhi Technical University) and that’s where I met Maggi Baba
Well ! Placement Drives are hectic and tiring, still its fun to interact with college students. Sometimes students are soo bright, enthusiastic and lively that they make you live your college days again. So were Siddharth and Saim.
Sharing one Memorable experience
After final shortlisting of candidates from DTU campus (Formerly called “DCE” Delhi College of Engineering ) while moving back to guest house Placement Coordinator Siddharth and Saim suggested me to go through the campus and also to visit “Maggi Baba“. I was already excited about the new place, great campus and bitten by the Explorer bug in me…i anyway wanted to take a round around the whole campus and we did took a round around it.
A trio of two students in front and an HR representative in back, riding an Activa. This sounds more crazy than it actually feels. Indeed, it was a great experience I never thought I would be doing such stuff being an HR guy. That said, visiting Maggi Baba was a whole different kind of experience that I had.
Who is Maggi Baba ?
A Man who has been in DCE for more than 40 years, aged around 80 and always smiling. He is the only source to treat your hunger during night. Serving Maggi and Tea from 10:00 PM to 4:00 AM, This man is a regular lifeline at nights for DTU. The most astonishing part about this man which I got to know from students and probably the solid single reason why i am writing about him is. He is a father to 2 sons (both IAS Officers) and he is still at his roots. On ground making Maggi and tea every single night, while he can easily sit back and relax at this age. He refuses to do so.
After making his kids future by selling Maggi and tea, this man still loves being at DTU. Honored by college during Fests and called as Baba by kids with utmost respect. This old aged, young hearted, humble person has his setup at ground. Also, he refuses to accept any assistance from kids or university. I even came to know that the Delhi Technical University has offered him to establish a small cafe for his ease without any cost, yet the man refused it and feels good being at his roots….. Baba truly is ‘one in a million’.
Rishikesh – Don’t Rush, Stay calm and soak in the city !
If you belong to North India or if you ever stayed in Delhi or above it, you definitely would have heard about Rishikesh, Uttrakhand. It is the long weekend destination of every other group. During my one year of stay in NCR, I have heard almost every group of friends, colleagues and even my boss planning a trip to Rishikesh for upcoming weekends. Though I had been to Rishikesh earlier as well but it was a very short, half a day stay. At that point, I just visited few places in the evening and yes it seemed nice but not much exciting. I wondered what people find so special to visit Rishikesh again and again. The answer to all of these queries came to me when I visited Rishikesh this year in May.
Why should you definitely visit Rishikesh?
Resting at foothills of Himalayas and drenched with holy water of River Ganga aka the Ganges (The Most sacred river in Hindu Mythology) Rishikesh is one of the popular tourist destinations in India. Attracting youngster with opportunities like Camping, Rafting, Bungee Jumping and other adventure sports. It has been equally interesting to foreigners from all across the globe offering spirituality, yoga and meditation classes.
The city has a number of cafes offering delicious food and those situated at river bank provides great view too. We tried Freedom Café near Laxman Jhulla and they had awesome Ice cream Pancake. For people who love adventure, Rafting at Rishikesh is a pure thrill, even the longest stretch on raft seems to be too short. Your heart will be thumping once you get on a raft but it never says to stop doing it. There are too many shops offering rafting packages and deeper your explore in the markets less costly it will be.
The best way to enjoy your visit will be to have a seat at a café facing waters. It’s good all the time but in the evening when you look uphill sitting at the river bank, having a view of mountains with lights spread all over it and sound of city hustle, it is more than what you call “Awesome !” Take a stop at Yoga and meditation classes and it for sure will make you relaxed. Sit on the bank of river dipping your feet in the water and you can understand how life in nature is a luxury itself.
Best time to Visit, Finding a Stay and Budget
Rishikesh can be visited anytime in the year. As it is not situated at much height and gets hot in summer it won’t be a good idea to visit for Just sightseeing in summers. However, the river remains cool with chilling water and offers a perfect rafting experience in summers. For sightseeing purpose its good to visit between September – April.
Finding a place to Stay should never be a problem as there are a number of Hotels and Guest Houses. However looking for a place with a good value for money and decent facilities might get tough during tourist season. Although there are a number of websites that offers prior booking and covers most of the hotels but for solo travels and people who love to be in a more natural environment, I would recommend using Airbnb. We booked Neelkanth Apartments through Airbnb for our stay and it was the best stay I have ever had so far. For Hotels, I feel Goibibo offers the best deals on Hotels.
If you manage money wisely and don’t go for much luxuries and expensive hotels, a trip to Rishikesh will hardly cost you around 3000 bucks. With Decent hotels at around INR 600, Visiting places at walking distance and elegantly priced Cafes, a trip to Rishikesh with moderate facilities is easy in the pocket and doesn’t dig a hole.
So, if you want to beat the summer with a thrilling rafting experience or want to just chill out in a cool café with awesome music or as it happened with me and the travel bug in you is biting you continuously and making you restless. Then pack your bags and check out Rishikesh. I am Sure you will find something worth coming again for.
Keep feeding your soul, Keep Travelling!