[kavindra]

My wife and I recently returned from our trip to India and this is a trip report. Broadly speaking, it consisted of three distinct phases:
1. Stay in Haridwar, where my parents live
2. Travel and short hikes in Uttarakhand
3. Delhi

Stay in Haridwar:

Haridwar is a familiar and pleasant place to stay for both of us. Apart from the warmth, peace and wonderful foods, it is simply very beautiful. Neither of us is into religion, so the Har ki Pauri and aarti etc. that are staples of the visitors to Haridwar are things we look to avoid. We did take long walks there, and our favorite was a walk that starts from the Bhimgoda dam (called barrage locally) into Chilla. One can continue past Chilla on the Chilla – Rishikesh road, which has hardly any traffic. On the way, you cross a river bed – and we did (possibly illegally) walk into the forest along the river bed. These walks were the highlights of our stay – as not only did we see a number and variety of animals (various deer), colonies of peacocks, and footprints of elephants as well as leopards. Apart from this, the moti bazzar was kind of fun to walk through on our way back. The banks of Ganges (canal) were also a highlight, but as long as you were away from the Har ki Pauri area.

Travel and short hikes in Uttarakhand:

We traveled in Uttarakhand in my parents’ Zen, with me driving. That was an adventure in itself as I had not driven in India in many years, and never in the mountains. All the same, that part went better than we could imagine beforehand. I was slower than some (and to my mind a lot of hire-jeep driving I saw was crazy), but there was not a single moment of close shave on this 600 km trip. Anyway, I better provide the details of the trip:

Day 1: Haridwar to Rudrapryag, stay in GMVN overlooking the sangam:

Things worth mentioning about this day: beautiful and not too long a drive (164 km), awful road for the most part, and wonderful place to stay. Along the way, we stopped at Dev Pryag, which too has a beautiful sangam (confluence of rivers). The GMVN was quite good, and just the sight of the sangam at different times of the day from our balcony itself was great. We did not hike much, but did stretch our legs walking all over the place for several hours.

Day 2: Rudrapryag to Gwaldham, hike to Badhanghari peak:

This too is a beautiful drive. You move from driving along the Alaknanda to driving along the Pindar river, if I remember right.  We were looking to stay in the forest GH, but that was not possible as we needed to have reserved well in advance and required some permit from another place. The GMVN was not terribly attractive, so we stayed in a private hotel, Nature’s Treat Resort. It was recommended as the second choice option in the Outlook Traveler guide. Anyway, the high peaks of Trishul and others (Nandagunti, Mrigthuni and bunch of others, including Komet at a distance) are visible from the road and the views are close and excellent. But we got much better views from Bhanghari peak (7415 ft) nearby. The path is paved and a lot of stairs as there is a temple near the top which seemed to get a lot of traffic. It is really steep as you climb more than 1000 ft in 1 or 2 km, but really wonderful way to stretch your legs, lungs and get some beautiful views of the Northern peaks.

Day 3: Gwaldham to Binsar, via Baijnath and Bageshwar:

The original idea was to go to Chakori if not Munsiary, but my parents were suffering a bit and I did not have the heart to drag them there. So, with reduced expectations, we decided to move on to Binsar. On the way, we visited the temples in Baijnath – which date back to 10th century. I must admit the state of the temples was not the greatest, but some work was in progress to protect them. Other than that, the most remarkable thing was the superb Northern views from the Bageshwar – Almora road, including of Maiktoli, Nanda Devi, Panchchuli and some of the Nepalese peaks.  Binsar KMVN has the most beautiful locations in Uttarakhand that I have had the good fortune to see. It is simply wonderful – with little noise, pollution – traffic or even light, and a fabulous view all around, particularly the Northern view extending well past Annapurna range into Nepal on the (North) East to well to the West of Trishul to the (North) West. We did walk to the Zero point the same evening, and enjoyed the views from there as well. The KMVN has very limited solar power in the evening from 6 till 8:30 PM, and candle light outside of it. The night views of the Northern peaks as well as the sky are something to behold.

Day 4: Day hike around Binsar:

We took a day trip all around the mountain on which the KMVN is located, and visited a couple of local villages along the way. We were guided by the hotel cook, standing in for the regular guide. He seemed to be quite knowledgeable, an amateur botanist and had interesting experiences from his time as a staff on the Mansarovar Yatra. Apart from the beautiful setting for an easy hike, some wild animals (while we did not see the leopard, we did come across footprints, small digs that were fresh – and heard of a cow killed in one of the villages we visited). The people in the villages were very nice. Unlike the touristy setting we found on the Kerala backwaters trip, these folks were not looking for revenue from us. One place we had tea, I tried to give some money and the guy was embarrassed. Knowing that they were quite poor, I persisted but he only accepted after giving me a bag of fresh oranges from his garden.  Women seem to do more of the work in these areas (my wife thinks in our house too!) but it was fitting to see that a woman was the village chief in one of the villages we visited. Also, folks here did not have the weight problem I saw in some abundance in the middle class India. It was, in all, a wonderful day.  

One of village persons (Sunder Singh - +91 94 10 59 0980) we met was organizing home stays in the village / village groups for tourists as a way to make a living via ecotourism. KMVN Binsar personnel also facilitate this modest venture as his father works there, and you can contact them as well.

Day 5: Drive from Binsar to Jageshwar; hike to Vriddha Jageshwar and beyond:

Again, we opted for a short driving day to Jageshwar KMVN. Upon reaching there, I had a bout of diarrhea. There was no chemist available locally, but there was an Ayurvadic clinic. The Vyaida ji there made a mixture of what seemed like 17 different things – for a whopping sum of 2 Rupees. It tasted awful, but one does chase away the diarrhea. Anyway, although worried about the state of my stomach, we decided to move on to Vriddha Jageshwar. It was a short hike and since my stomach was cooperating, we continued on the trail part ways which led to a village. We did not go to the village, but enjoyed some rays on near a local peak.

Day 6: Drive to Ranikhet and trip to Chaubatia gardens:

We drove up to Ranikhet and stayed in the KMVN 6 km out of town in Chilianola. It was excellent.  After lunch, we went to Chaubaria gardens and spent the afternoon there. We really enjoyed our time there as the orchards are really well maintained and it was simply peaceful and pleasant to explore the different parts. Unfortunately, my wife developed a stomach ailment from the food that made it an anxious evening.

Day 7: Stay in Ranikhet:

With my wife recovering from the stomach problem, we decided to stay and rest.

Day 8: Return to Haridwar, with a short foray into the Lichi gardens of my childhood in Ramnagar.

Delhi:

The third part of our trip as focused on Delhi, where we spent 3 days.  We have always passed through Delhi, but this time – inspired by posts of esteemed Jyotirmoy on TIT – we invested a bit more interest into it. Apart from his posts, both of us read Dalrymple’s City of Djinns. Having already seen Kutub Minar and Red Fort, we spent fair bit of time around Chandni Chawk. Indeed some of the small side streets, remnants of the old building are fascinating. We enjoyed some good but not outstanding chat at Haldiram in Chandni Chawk, though both of us felt some nervous stomachs the next day.
We also spent multiple hours in Humaun’s Tomb – which was a very good investment.  It really is a ‘must see’ for the visitors and we were glad that we made it here.
We happy to ride the Metro and think that is one significant positive development in Delhi.

Acknowledgements and thanks:

Our plans for our Uttarakhand trip were greatly informed by the discussions on another forum. Many, including Dilliwala, Captain M, Piyush and many others have made this area come alive for me. The specific route was inspired by the posts (and now article) by Roshe on another forum. The time in Delhi (to which I do not do full justice above) was very much inspired by the writings of Jyotirmoy on The India Tree, whose passion for the city is something to behold. We walked around Chandni Chawk reading printouts of his posts, and found them matching to the location of an old post box on a tiny street corner!

[john.sw]

It sounds like you have an amazing trip!

We, too, have always passed through Delhi, but next time – we must follow Jyotirmoy's posts and explore the region!

[cyberhippie]

Thanks Kavindra, I'm planning roughly the same route come May so it was great to read your detailed trip report. I may have some more detailed questions nearer the time if that's ok with you.

[kavindra]

cyberhippie, on Jan 9 2008, 09:30 PM, said:

Thanks Kavindra, I'm planning roughly the same route come May so it was great to read your detailed trip report. I may have some more detailed questions nearer the time if that's ok with you.

Absolutely. I have even loaded up on the guide books to the region. I, of course, have the Outlook Traveler: Uttarakhand that you recommended some time ago. In addition, I aquired Driving Holidays: Uttaranchal and Nest & Wings Uttaranchal Guide. So, I might even have a half correct answer for you. If I were doing it in the summer, I'd add something like Chopta on the Garhwal side and definitely go up to Munsiary. Most importantly, I'd get something with large wheels to travel on - as the condition of the roads was quite bad.

[kavindra]

john.sw, on Jan 9 2008, 09:08 PM, said:

It sounds like you have an amazing trip!

We, too, have always passed through Delhi, but next time – we must follow Jyotirmoy's posts and explore the region!

Jyotirmoy's posts were a treasure and inspiration. In the first place, his writings inspired us to spend the time in Delhi in the first place. Secondly, I was literally stopping every block or so to read the printout of his tour of Chandni Chawk. Since his directions began with Red Fort and we got into CC in the middle at the subway stop - we ended up just going to the starting point of Jyoti da's tour just to keep things simple. A particularly serendipitous moment was when we were in this tiny narrow street with no shortage of traffic bearing down on us and we encountered a fork in the road. I took our lives in my hands to stand and read his directions and lo and behold - he had pointed out the way to go by sighting an old red post office box on the side. I read that line and raised my eyes to sight the lovely post office box, and said my one-thousand-th thank you to dear Jyotirmoy. I'll remember that moment - the pleasure, satisfaction it brought us. [I am sure we'd have been fine going the other way too, but this gave us the feeling that we knew what we were doing!]

So, indeed do follow his posts!

[jyotirmoy]

Dear Kavindra,
I am happy to know that you had enjoyed your Delhi trip. It is a fascinating city and is worth exploring. Come again.