Tag: life

  • Two cents for solo women travelers

    Two cents for solo women travelers

    Why am I picking up the cliché?? Aren’t there enough blog posts on this already?

    Well, the answer is, yes.

    There are countless similar posts out there but something which pinched me a little in all the trips I took was the hesitation we as women have in our heads. Hence I decided to write about this hoping that the female travellers would read my experiences and decide to take a trip of their own.

    Points I have decided to mention hereafter are the ones which slowly became the foundation of my travels.

    • Trust your instincts

    Even if mentioned countless times already, nothing is truer than this simple fact.

    When you are travelling alone, instinct is your best friend.

    If you think it is just for the sake of saying or it won’t be that easy to work upon your intuition; then let me tell you, it is not true. When you are alone; away from the safety zone provided by your friends, family and not in familiar surroundings, you learn to make decisions trusting your instinct along with the obvious logic.

    Note: One very handy tip is  “Try not to arrive at odd timing to the place of your visit.”

    Trail of Dzükou Valley trek , Nagaland ,India
    Dzükou Valley , Nagaland ,India (Taken November 2017 )
    • Never hesitate to take help*

    *trust your instinct while you do so.

    Since I took public transport most of the times during my travels I can’t stress enough on its importance.

    GPS and maps are all fine but both of them can and will fail more often than you can think of.

    I would ask for directions after every short distance from shopkeepers, traffic policemen, local chai walas and dhaba owners to ensure that I was heading to the right place. For it happened to me a couple of times that the directions I got were either wrong or were partially correct, hence make sure to ask the route multiple times for the first couple of kilometres till you start getting repetitive (and possibly )correct directions.

    The information I got most of the times was pretty authentic and in addition to this, locals were happy to tell about places to eat and things to see after having a little conversation with them. By all means, it worked as a great travel guide.

    You can get a lot of information from people and all you have to do is strike a conversation. And it’s really easy, just trust your common sense who to ask questions to and you are good to go.

    an old ladakhi woman spinning the handheld prayer wheel during her prayers on a winter day in mountains of ladakh
    An elderly member of a family  who offered me home stay in Man village ,Leh, India (Taken January 2017 )
    • You are never really alone if solo

    When you travel alone for the first time, especially if you are a woman, you can pick a place that’s not too far, or is a well-known travel destination so that your first experience turns out to be a great memory. I read a post on Tripoto which said that solo travelling puts back your faith in the goodness of people and honestly speaking that it is exactly how it is. Travelling solo is a great experience, especially for women. It is liberating!

    You get to see everything with a new perspective and it will overwhelm you to find what all of us are capable of doing at an individual level.

    spectacular view of monastery situated on mountain during trail to Paro Takshtang or Tiger's Nest , Paro ,Bhutan
    Paro Takshtang or Tiger’s Nest , Paro ,Bhutan ( Taken May 2017 )
    • Travel light as a solo girl traveler in India

    Frankly speaking, this is something you will learn on your own that you need only a handful of things for your trip.

    Lighter you pack, easier it will be for you to move from one place to another.

    kid rowing away in his boat in river ganga with migratory bird flowing across
    Ganga ,Varanasi  , India (Taken December 2016 )
    • Just do it 

    Yes, exactly. Like Nike says it!

    Do not overthink. Do not let hesitation fetter your faith.

    It’s a big beautiful world out there and travelling will make you live, breathe and imbibe the timelessness of our world and of our happiness.

    So before I finish my post I will again say that solo travelling, especially for women, is a great decision. You need to take one vacation of your own to realize the difference it can bring.

    Solo travelling lets you have time for yourself, which we barely get in all the chaos that surrounds us.

    I am not saying that vacation with your friends and family are any less than solo but it is different when you pack your bag and head alone to a place. You should not miss it for anything.

    If somewhere in your heart you want to take a solo trip, I hope you do it.

    Happy travelling!!

    Fishermen rowing his boat in clear water of Umngot river ,Shnongpdeng Village near Dawki, Meghalaya, India
    Umngot river, Shnongpdeng Village near Dawki, Meghalaya, India ( Taken November 2017 )

    Content Editing: Atul Saini  (Instagram page)

    Featured image: Picture credit – raosaaab (  Instagram page ) ( Taken at  Zuluk  , Sikkim ,India )

  • Kheerganga – From eyes of a first time trekker

    Kheerganga – From eyes of a first time trekker

    Note – This trip account is based on my visit during March,2016.

    Kheerganga is situated in Parvati Valley at a distance of 22 km from Manikaran. For Kheerganga, Barshaini is the last motor-able point and from there one has to go on foot. Its hot water springs make the trek all the more rewarding apart from the fact that it is an extremely beautiful path running parallel to Parvati river.

    handmade full detailed map of parvati valley ,himachal pradesh
    Handmade map of Parvati valley in a cafe ,Himachal pradesh , india

    Since many posts already cover details of the famous trail I will write about some of the points I found relevant:

    • I went to KheerGanga on Holi and it turned out to be terribly crowded due to extended weekend. I immediately realized that it’s better to skip visiting easily accessible locations during long holidays because you eventually end up tangled between fully booked guest houses, cafe’s with long waiting hours and lots of chaos .(I agree that getting holidays is a problem, but still !!)
    • The route is basically New Delhi -> Bhuntar -> Barsheni – > Kheerganga trek

    You can book all sorts of buses from Volvo to ordinary ; from HRTC or private travels which will take you to Bhuntar.

    I started at 6:40 pm in a semi deluxe HRTC bus from ISBT Kashmeri Gate, Delhi which dropped me next morning 8:00 am at Bhuntar. From Bhuntar you get local buses every half hour going to Barsheni via Kasol, Manikaran and Jari. It takes roughly 3 hours by bus because of stoppages .If you are taking a cab from Bhuntar to Barsheni it is probably 2 hours I guess.

    (A Tip: Try to book a seat on left of driver for Delhi to Bhuntar route to enjoy the early morning beauty of the valley. )

    • You can choose to stay in Kasol, Tosh or nearby villages of Kalga or Pulga. I chose Tosh which is 4 -5 km up hill from dam construction site at Barsheni . If you want to save energy to enjoy serenity of Tosh or are short on time, then  hire a taxi from barsheni to tosh because for some the walk till tosh does get tiring. Tosh starts as a typical village and as you move forward you will see its filled with guest houses which provide you all basic facilities along with sufficient food options(most guest houses have attached kitchens). Tosh like kasol is also wrapped in a hippie vibe and from here you will surely enjoy the picture perfect view of the snow capped mountains.
    View of snow covered mountains and huts from a village
    View from Tosh village

    (A Tip : If you are on a tight budget or bargaining is not your strong suit take local buses instead of cab to save money .For bhutar to barsheni fare is 75 Rs and cab asked me for 2000 INR though it could seat like 10 people which would make sense for bigger groups .Just keep tab on bus timings as they are at a frequency of one hour to barsheni and last bus from barsheni leaves at 5 pm)

    • If you want to trek the same day you reach bhunter you can simply leave your extra stuff at the last food stall which comes a couple of hundred meters before the hydroelectric dam .They keep your bag for a small amount of 50 INR and you can carry the stuff you need with you to kheerganga in a smaller back pack and collect your luggage the next day. The trail is easily doable and only at few places its slippery or tricky .You will find that majority of people are first time trekkers and complete the trek without much hassle .Its only from rudranag till kheerganga that slight care is required to ensure no slipping.
    March month- barren view of region from barsheni ,hydroelectric dam site,kheerganga trek ,parvati valley ,himachal pradesh , india
    March month- barren view of region from barsheni ,hydroelectric dam site
    • The trail to kheerganga starts from barsheni right where the construction of hydroelectric dam is going on at full fledged speed. I started the trek at 11:30 am and reached kheerganga around 4:00 pm with a very eased up speed but yeah I didn’t take any big breaks or didn’t stop for not more than 10 minutes at a time as it seemed impossible to start again after long breaks. To help with the balance you can buy a stick from nakthan village( local kids who sell these at 5 or 10 rupees per stick) .I found 2-3 small cafe’s from the start of the trail till rudranag apart from the two major stop of nakhthan village and rudranag. Both big stops are too crowded and hence I gave them a miss and instead stopped at the smaller cafe’s for Maggi or Omelet where the wait time was less.
    village kids playing and posing with tree branches which they sell as trekking sticks to hikers
    Kids of nakhtan village ,parvati valley ,himachal pradesh , india
    • The trail going via nakthan village and rudranag is very well marked and you wouldn’t need a guide if the weather is good, i.e. no snow or rain. Though taking a guide is totally up to an individual but is not required as such. I was little unfortunate to find the trek devoid of plush greenery from barsheni till rudranag and it was only occasional that I saw pretty yellow and white flowers but I am sure the beauty of the trail will be unimaginable in the right season. A good portion of the trek goes through the forest region covered in greenery and is very beautiful with number of waterfall along the way which are fun to hop across !! The constant sound of parvati river flowing makes the trek very lovely.
    waterfall of a small village serving as pitstop during the hike
    Rudranag stop point,kheerganga trek
    • Once you reach Kheerganga, it has a couple of guest houses and cafe’s. You can choose to stay in well built room, tin-wooden shacks or tents (rental/personal). The cafe’s provide you with a variety of food options and there is nothing you would want to complaint about at 2960 m!! There is a small Shiva temple up top, an ashram and the famous hot water spring .Taking a dip into the hot water will surely remove all the exhaustion from the trek. Again ,you will find the place to be a haven for hippies !!
    snow covered mountains overlooking the beautiful campsite
    Kheerganga
    • I did take pit stop at Manikaran and kasol but found them too crowded for my taste and gave both places a miss. I did find some amazing people while i was planning for the trip and during the trip as well. Facebook groups, Tripoto were really helpful to get me weather details and get me in contact with people who have been to kheerganga recently . I met few locals up top at kheerganga and during the trek who were overwhelmingly warm and helpful as well as some fellow hikers who made my trip extremely memorable . Its true to the core that people are best remembered and preserved in your memories when you don’t know for sure if you will ever meet them again !

    Water crossing before the dam site ,kheerganga trek, parvati valley ,himachal pradesh , india
    Water crossing before the dam site

    Kheerganga is wonderfully relaxing but unfortunately it is being swamped by travelers who are least bothered to keep its natural beauty intact and are littering it beyond redemption . Through out the way I saw people taking pictures of the numerous messages on stones which were written to remind us of no littering, no plastic but most people didn’t even flinch once while throwing things around making a mess of the beauty they had come to cherish.

    We are the ones who need to keep it clean, to keep it beautiful !