Memorable moments at Kedarnath

Memorable moments at Kedarnath 

Kedarnath and BAdrinath are temples located on mountains and even in the month of May and June you can see snow covered on mountains close to Kedarnath and Badrintah. The beautiful scenario of the mountains and river flowing downhill is most amazing. The religious aspect of the journey is one part – but when you go there you really feel rejuvenated.

Memorable moments at Kedarnath -

• Firstly the scenarios of mountains -you cannot forget- they are colorful, huge and rocky, having water flows all around at various places, which merges into the main river.
• 
  Eating at small dhabas and having tea / snacks and food is great experience.
• 
  If you get chance to witness rains at mountains –you just can’t forget it although rains may also result in landslides or stones- falling off the mountains on the vehicles going on the roads.
• 
  When you stand in line to enter the temple on the backside of the kedarnath temple you see the mountains - -which is amazing view of the place.
• 
  The river water is very cold – almost freezing and you cannot forget if you have taken a dip in the river water. It is cold but refreshing and current of river water is very strong – you have to careful.
• 
  The pony trip downhill to gaurikund can be good for some travelers, but sometimes – the pony falls on slopes on return journey and sometimes, the passenger on the back of pony may fall. You may even get a hungry pony trying to eat leaves on the way back to gaurikund.
•  

What you wish to change at kedarnath?

•  
  Poor management of incoming crowd at Gaurikund – People in hundreds reach Gaurikund in minutes and the arrangement of Uttarakhand government at the place is inadequate to accommodate so many travelers properly. People are spending in thousands to come to place but the government (which owns the money of temples) fails to provide visitors with the facilities to have a great stay at Gaurikund. You may have to struggle to park your vehicle or get a proper room.
• 
  Secondly, on the way up from Gauroikund to Kedarnath temple the government has not made provision for medical aid or constructed enough refreshment rooms. Many travelers coming to Kedarnath are old and some from distance places who are not aware of the extreme temperature changes suffer from medical problems. 
• 
  The Panda—Pandits at Kedarnath keep injecting people in the line to temple after taking dakshina from the people. One should try to prevent this.
  
  
  
  

How to plan your trip to Kullu Manali

Kullu Manali is one of the most visited tourist place of northern India in summers because of the low temperature and the beautiful scenarios. It is one of the favourite destinations of newly married couples. If you are planning a trip to Kullu Manali – you can follow the given plan - which we followed in December 2010

We started journey from Chandigarh - Kullu- Manikaran-Manali and back.

Day 1 -Started early in the morning 6 am from Chandigarh to reach Kullu by 4 pm stay at Kullu .

Day 2 - Started from Kullu to reach Manikaran and stayed there for 2 - 3 hours to reach Manali by 1pm.Had amazing evening in the Manali , spent some time at Hidimba temple and visited the Manali Park. There are many amazing entertainment at the Manali Park - water boats and cross the river on rope etc. We did some shopping at Manali market in the evening, had dinner and made the next day plan.

Day 3 - Started from Manali to reach Solang Valley and Rohtang Pass. Did some Skiing at Rohtang .Came back to spend some time at Vashist Ashram and visited some local attractions and temples. By evening reached hotel and started for Kullu in the evening. Reached Kullu by night and spent the night at Kullu.

Day 4 - Started from Kullu to reach Chandigarh at 5 pm in the evening.

Which months are best to plan the trip to Manali ?

December is just not the month when you should plan your trip to Kullu - because it is the time when you may not get snow and the climate is chilling - with the strong winds -- which can make it difficult for people who stay in the plains to stay long in the place. In January you mostly get to see the snow and in May you can go to Kullu Manali to stay away from the heat of the plains.

The rainy season is never suitable for a journey to mountains because of dangers of landslide and post September – you can plan anytime till December first week- to get amazing climatic condition and beautiful look.
The path to Rohtang Pass is closed for some weeks in Dec- Jan( after the snowfall ) and you may not be allowed to go beyond Solang Valley. But you should prefer to go at this time because you get to see the valley cover with snow and you can choose to go for skiing during this time at lower altitude.

How to reduce cost of adventures at Kullu Manali?

How to reduce cost of adventures at Kullu Manali?

Kullu Manali is mostly about Manali as all the tourist places to visit and adventures in the region are close to Manali. There are numerous adventures and things to do in Manali but at the same time you need to be cautious while spending because Manali has many unexpected expenses which you may regret post travel. If you are planning a trip to Manali , you need to be very careful to plan your trip in advance because a poor planning may cost you more and you may not enjoy the adventurous properly .

There are many places close to Manali mostly visited by tourists and there are numerous adventures offered at the place such as sulphur bath in manikaran , hot air balloon trip (cost Rs 500) close to Vashist temple , skiing (at Rohtang pass ), rafting (on the way to Manali from kullu) , paragliding (on the hills) , etc. The cost of rafting is Rs 2500 per couple (approx); cost of skiing can be Rs 600 + charge of clothes which can be over Rs 1000 for a person.

How to avoid spending heavily on skiing at Manali

The locals charge differently from differently people and you need to bargain for clothes and skiing. They can charge Rs 3500 for a group of six and Rs 2500 for a couple. The basic concept is Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for clothes of all the people in the group plus Rs 500 for the guide plus the cost of the skiing equipment per person. You should avoid buying the equipment at the base of mountains and take it at the place where the skiing is done.

There is another issue with skiing at Rohtang– if you are planning to go to Rohtang pass on a rental vehicle from nearby cities (Delhi or Chandigarh or Shimla) – the vehicle driver may or may not go beyond Solang, and you may have to hire a local vehicle which will charge upto Rs 500 per person to take you to Rohtang.It is due to the tricks applied by locals at the high altitude which forces the travellers to spend additonally on these things -- that most of the travellers can avoid. This adds to the total expense of clothes and guide and the skiing equipment to make it more than Rs 1500 per person. Since it is too much for skiing (which you may or may not enjoy at all at the high altitude) – you can even avoid the complete adventure and spend on something else.

There are many adventures other than skiing at Manali

Since there are many things which you can see and explore at Manali – you need to be cautious to wisely select the activities which you will enjoy the most and ensure you devote most of your time for one or two activities at one time while you are planning your trip. People who are not from the region tend to get tired easily and you cannot plan a trip to involve all the activities. If you are planning to go to Kullu Manali -- take a room in Manali (room at a hotel can cost around Rs 400 to Rs 800) and do not waste your time in Kullu. Secondly you need to bargain and be cautious not to overspend on any adventure.

The cost of moving across the river on rope at Manali park- Rs 100

Cost of clothes and skiing equipment + a guide – not more than Rs 2000 per couple (you can bargain the cost .Even in extreme season you get shoes and equipments for skiing at Rohtang Pass and the cost person to hire the ski equipment is Rs 600 at Rohtang Pass. Most of the locals will tell you to buy the clothes and hire the equipments at the start of journey up to the mountains but you should avoid it as it can be expensive).

Rafting (for a couple) on the way from Kullu to Manali - Rs 2500

Hot air balloon (close to Vashist temple) – Rs 500 per person

Para gliding (at Naggar road) – Rs 1500 per person

If you are planning to go from Manali you will have to follow different ways for Rohang Pass and Manikaran. So plan one place at one time. You can plan a trip of two to three days and select one or two adventures at one time to enjoy it at Manali.

Even trip to temples and Manali Park is worth spending money. Manali Park and Hidibma temple are two places where you can go for free of cost and enjoy great evening. There are many attractions at these two places.

You can plan to go to Manikaran – the place famous for hot sulphur bath and spend half of your day at Manikaran. From Manali it takes more than three to four hour to reach manikaran and if you planning to bath – you may enjoy sitting in the sulphur water for more than 30 minutes.

Travelling to Badrinath

Travel to Badrinath

Visit Badrinath (Travel to Badrinath from Chandigarh)

Badrinath is located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and it is considered to be a place of lord Vishnu in the Nar and Narayan form. There are two mountains Nar and Narayan, and between the mountains the town of Badrinath is located. It is at a distance of 301 km from Rishikesh and if you plan to go from Gaurikud to Badrinath – it may take 9 to 11 hours.

How to plan your travel to Badrinath

If you are planning to travel to Badrinath,it is advised to go first to Badrinath then to Kedarnath (first visit lord Vishnu and then lord Shiva) as per religious texts, but depending on number of days of travel and convenience you can plan opposite way.

We had started with a plan to travel to Kedarnath because Kedarnath temple opens in mid-May and closes by September or October. We travelled from Chandigarh to Kedarnath on rental car (which took around Rs 13,000(in 2010)) for the whole journey from Chandigarh - Rishikesh - Kedarnath - GuptKashi- Badrinath - Rishikesh - Chandigarh.

Day 1 - We started journey from Chandigarh (in the afternoon) to reach Rishikesh by evening.

Day 2 - From Hrishikesh we started early morning to Kedarnath (and on the mid way we could see the road to Badrinath) to reach Gaurikund by 9 pm.

Day 3 – We started early morning to Kedarnath temple (on horseback) and completed Darshan by 1.30 pm. The temple remains closed for 2 hours in the afternoon. We started back to Gaurikund to reach Gaurikund by 8 pm. On coming back from Kedarnath we took room at Guptakashi(there are many other small towns where you can search for rooms at a low cost.).

Day 4 - From Guptakashi early in the morning (7 am) we proceeded to Badrinath and reached Badrinath by 4 pm. We got ready and went to join the queue to temple at 6 pm and around 10 pm we could get the darshan. Badrinath was overcrowded and people were regulated by local police which makes the process of darshan easy. The temple closes by 11 pm to open next day at 4 am.

Day 5 - Back from Badrinath to  Rishikesh

Day 6 - Rishikesh to Chandigarh 

Travelers need to plan their travel to Badrinath according to opening - closing time of temple to be able to get darshan. While on the way to Kedarnath you can see two rivers (Alaknanda and

Bhagirathi) joining at Devprayag.

You can see AdiGanga – the purest form of Ganga which flows before Devprayag and at Kedarnath you can take a dip at Mandakini. The water of Mandakini river is at freezing temperature in the month of June.

Know everything about Kedarnath to plan your journey to Kedarnath

How to plan trip to Badrinath – Kedarnath ?

How to plan a trip to Badrinath – Kedarnath ?

Travelling to Kedarnath
Kedarnath and Badrinath are two destinations which are located on the Garhwal Himalayan range and these are most auspicious and holiest temples of Hindus. Kedarnath doors open in the month of May and it closes before karthik poornima . The mountains surrounding the temples are some of the steepest and dangerous mountains.
Kedarnath is devoted to lord shiva and it is one of the 12 jyotirlinga of the Shiva shrines . It is believed that during Mahabharata, Pandavas came to this place and there are many symbols of Pandavas in kedarnath.

The story of Kedarnath 
It is believed that Pandavas left Kashi and reached Himalayas where lord Shankar saw them and hid himself .The place where Shiva hide is called GuptKashi or Rudraprayag, and from here Pandavas went to Gaurikund where Nakul found a unique he – buffalo .Bheema pulled the tail of the Buffalo and the face of the buffalo is called Pashupatinath - -which is found in Nepal. The hind part of the buffalo formed the jyotirlanga at kedarnath as lord Shankar appeared there.
The hills close to badrinath and kedarnath are very steep and it is very risky to drive on these roads. If you have planned the trip to badrinath or kedarnath – prefer to take a driver who is expert on mountains because the roads are very dangerous at places.
From Chandigarh or New Delhi or Haridwar or Rishikesh, you can get a vehicle on rent to Badrinath – Kedarnath which can cost you more than Rs 10 per kilometer (10 seater).

How to reach Kedarnath 
First you will have to find out if the door of Kedarnath temple are opened or not for people.
The railway stations close to Kedarnath is Rishikesh .You can get state buses or rent a car to Gaurikund(that is the last stop) from Hrishikesh .From Gaurikund you have to walk uphill 14 km (walking is very difficult on the steep mountains to Kedarnath. You can see people in midway searching for pony and on the mid way pony charge very high) or you can hire a pony.
You can go by helicopter from Phata (Rudrapyarag) to the Kedaranth temple (which is uphill) which can cost Rs 6990 for the return journey for one person.
You can get car rentals and tourist buses to Kedarnath, from where you go either walking or on pony to the temple.
From Hrishikesh to Kedarnath it is 189 km .A tour package to Kedarnath and Badrinath can cost up to Rs 8000.

Expenses in Kedarnath
You will have to spend on pony and room at Gaurikund. Room rent is very high during May and June .You should be ready to pay around Rs 1000 for room. (The owner of the room said “the rent should not go above Rs200 but only for these tourist seasons it is high.” Many travelers to Kedarnath sleep in the open areas of the hotel in Gaurikund and even they have to pay a huge room rent.

Important tips

1. The buses do not go to Kedarnath temple, it goes to Gaurikund from where you have to travel uphill on your own or hire a pony .You can even take helicopter from Phata.

2. Traffic jam can be a big problem on the way as the roads are very narrow. Traffic jams can happen anytime which cannot be predicted .The local government keeps the road passage switching – one time one way traffic is allowed to pass for an hour, and your car or bus will be stopped for an hour one or two times on the way from Hrishikesh to Kedarnath or Nadritnath.

3. After 8pm the roads are closed from Hrishikesh.

4. Even parking is a big problem in Gaurikund and you should be careful. You cannot start the journey above the hill in evening from Gaurikund and it is very difficult (impossible) to reach uphill to the temple on foot therefore ,you should take the pony at the start because if you do not hire the pony at the bottom of the hill , the price asked for pony increases as you go up. Generally, you pay Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for the pony.

5. In Kedarnath and Badrinath the temperature is very low even during the month of May and June, and you can see icebergs in surrounding mountains close to the temple, therefore, you need to carry woolen clothes to protect from cold.

6. The Kedarnath temple closes at 2 pm and reopens at 4 pm and similar timings are seen in Badrinath (where temple closes at 11 pm and reopens in the morning).

How to plan your journey to Kedarnath and Badrinath?

How to travel to Tirupati from New Delhi?

How to go to Tirupati from New Delhi?

Here you can see the generalized information about the religious place Tirupati.(The information is  helpful if you are planning to travel to Tipupati for the first time and you are not aware of the local language.)

The temple of lord Venkateswara located on one of the hills of Tirumala of Andra Pradesh India receives one of the highest donations from its devotees and therefore people call lord Venkateswara, one of the richest Gods of the world!

There are many other names of lord such as Srinivas, Balaji and Perumal but most of the devotees who are unaware of the local names, pay a visit to the temple to get a glimpse of lord Vishnu, who is said to have lived here in Kali Yuga. It is said that the idol of lord was formed without human effort.

(Lord Vishnu is a Hindu god responsible for the prosperity and happiness of living creatures on earth.)

How the temple is one of the richest of the world?

Some of the devotees travel to Tipupati to give huge donations in the form of gold jewelries and money. The donation is sometimes given on fulfillment of a vow. For instance : A Bangalore based businessman gave Rs 1 crore in 2007 and in 2009, a local minister donated diamond studded crown to lord Venkateswara of worth Rs 45 crore. There are many popular businessman and movie actors of India who frequently pay a visit to lord Venkateswara‘s temple and give huge donations.

What is written in Vedas about the place?

As per the Rig Vedas’ verse, “people who are devoid of money and thought should pay a visit to the god(travel to Tipupati) on the hills to get rid of their sins and to develop a vision in life.”

How can you reach Tirupati?

Travel to Tipupati from New Delhi

If you are in New Delhi, you can either take a flight from New Delhi to Tirupati or book a ticket in train to go to Tirupati. There are some direct trains operating from New Delhi to Tirupati and trains from New Delhi can take about one and a half day to reach Tirupati. A train journey to Tirupati from New Delhi may cost you not more than $100.

If you take a flight, the lowest price to go to Tirupati from New Delhi can be around $200.

Travel to Tipupati From Bangalore

You can get deluxe AC / Non AC bus service from Bangalore or you can even take the services of a tour package from Bangalore which arranges for visit (darshan) and other requirements.

There are some direct trains operating from Bangalore and nearby cities, you can even take it.

Although Chennai is a close metro city, you don’t have as many conveyances from Chennai as you can find from Bangalore to Tirupati.

What is TTD?

If you are new to Tirupati ,you should first search for information about TTD which provides tickets and room reservations close to temple premises.TTD is a government operated organization and when you reach Tirupati you will have to buy tickets to pay a visit to lord Venkateshwara’s Temple. You sometimes get the tickets at offices below the hills and sometimes you have to take your vehicle up the hills to get the tickets.

There are many different types of tickets available at Tirpuati. The cost of tickets for visit varies depending in different seasons and months of visits. The cost may vary from $1 to $20.(For example : for Rs 1000 ,five people may get darshan ticket , which comes with additional prayers and you get a shorter darshan queue as compared to the devotee with a low cost ticket.)

TTD is responsible for the security of the temple and it provides rooms to the devotees coming to the temple. Generally you can get residence on the hills at a cost of Rs 50($1 -2) through TTD and you can even get high priced large homes.

You can stay at any of the resorts which are mostly clean and maintained properly by TTD but these are not hotels as you don’t get meals at these places. To get meals, you will have to search for a restaurant and there are many small restaurants which offer mostly south Indian food for less than $1 a plate.

What is a Darshan and how can you get a darshan?

Darshan tickets can be bought at counters operated by TTD. Sometimes the tickets are available at counter downhill. You should make sure of the availability of the tickets and then you will have to line up in the queue to get the tickets. Sometimes the queues are very long and it is tiring to wait for your turn. Sometimes all the family members have to join the ticket line to get the ticket for darshan and later again a queue has to be formed for the visit at temple.

Checklist for people who travel to Tipupati  from other parts of India -

1. At Tirupati, you may find that North Indian food or other type of food is rather expensive and even difficult to get. If you are ready to eat south Indian food, you may get it easily.If you don’t want to eat south Indian dishes, you should take something of your choice with you. You get tea and coffee easily and you may even get freshly prepared health drinks (Bornvita, Horlicks etc) for kids.
2. You may face language problem with locals. You should try to understand what the hoteliers or the taxi wallas are saying. Sometimes miscommunication increases expenses. You can gain correct information from railway counters or airport information counter .Even TTD employees may not be aware of your language.
3. You can get ticket downhill or uphill, you should enquire about the availability of the tickets on arrival.
4. You can buy tickets for various different darshan types. For example: a quick darshan facility takes less than two hours to get darshan. You can get paid service which is called Arjitha Seva and pilgrims get clothes, extra Prasadam (laddus) and other items in these sevas. You can even book tickets for seva from internet.
5. 
   

What is the prasadam?

Prasadam is the food item (laddu and rice items) given to the pilgrims. It is generally given for your ticket type. If you have a Sudarshan ticket you get one laddu and if you have ticket for other darshans or seva, you can get more. So when you enter the temple and get your darshan, you should keep the ticket safe for getting the prasadam after the darshan.

What is Hundi?

Hundi is the huge pot wherein you drop your donations.