London Travel Diaries

I got chance to visit London in September 2011 for 2 weeks as part of training tour from my office. I had only 1 weekend and evenings to explore its beauty.

I explored the streets and famous landmarks on weekday evenings :-

Central London

River Thames Bridge

To be Continued...

Rajastan :- Jaipur, Udaipur, Mount Abu

Rajastan Trip (March 2010)

I was in 3rd year of my college when my classmates planned this trip. It was very special for all of us as I know that it is hard that we will be all together ever.

DAY 1 (Kurukshetra, Haryana)

We took the train from Kurukshetra (12984 CDG AII G RATH) which started at around 10 PM and reached Jaipur the following day at around 7 AM.

DAY 2 (Jaipur, Rajastan)

We checked in to hotel which was nearby to railway station. Then , we started our day tour on a hired taxi. Here is the entry gate of lovely pink city :-

Pink City Entrance

We first saw the Jal Mahal from road only which is a palace located in the middle of the ManSagar Lake in Jaipur City

Jal Mahal

Out of 3 famous forts in Jaipur, we started with Jaigarh Fort which was built in 1726 by Raja Jai Singh II. It was a self sufficient in its time. It has a cannon named 'Jaivana' which was then the world's largest cannon on wheels.

Jaivana Cannon

Then, we went to see Nahargarh fort which was also built by Raja Jai Singh II. It offers a great view of the Pink City.

Nahargarh Fort Pic

At last, we saw one of the most famous forts i.e. Amer Fort which is a piece of great architecture of its time and was the residence of Rajput royals at one point of time.

Amer Fort

Inside Amer Fort (1)

So, here we are all 8 class mates together( me as standing 2nd from right)

Inside Amer Fort (2)

Splendid View from Amer Fort

Finally we visited the famous Birla Mandir in Jaipur which was built by Birla group of Industries.It is one of the major attractions of the city.

DAY 3 (Jaipur, Rajastan)

We went to see Albert Hall Museum first thing in the morning. It is named after Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales who visited Jaipur in 1876. It showcases the arts and handicrafts from all over the World

Albert Hall Museum

One can spend the entire day here but we left this museum after spending 2-3 hours and went to see movie at the famous Raj Mandir Cinema theatre. It is known for its spectacular interiors and beautiful lightning.

Inside Raj Mandir Cinema

Then after having dinner, we boarded a train by which we reached another great city of Rajasthan i.e. Udaipur .

DAY 4 (Udaipur, Rajastan)

We took a nearby hotel and then started our day tour of Udaipur which is also called Venice of the East. It was the capital  of the Kingdom of Mewar. Maharaja Udai Singh founded the city in 1553 and it remained as a Capital till 1818.

Near Cable Car Ride

Here is the spectacular view of Udaipur from the hill top of Cable Car Ride.

The, we went to see Udaipur City palace which was a great experience. Our guide gave such a tour that we felt the taste of  royal living of that time.Then, we visited city zoo which is one of its kind and home to various animals. It even has a rail ride in it.

Udaipur Zoo

As of now, this zoo is transferred to what is known as Sajjangarh Biological Park opened in 2015.

Finally, we ended the day by spending the evening at Fatehsagar lake.

Lake Fatehsagar

DAY 5 (Mount Abu Rajastan)

We took a bus from Udaipur to Abu Road , then we hired a Jeep for the Mount Abu day tour.

It seems that I have lost the pictures but we visited various places there :-

1. Dilwara temple

2. Nakki Lake

3. Guru Shikhar (highest peak)

4. Sunset Point etc.

In short, Rajasthan is a beautiful place to visit and explore. It was a great time and I would love to visit other places like Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in future.

Himachal Pradesh

Kangra-Dharamshala-Dalhousie Trip(3 - 8 March 2011)

It was a memorable trip of my college life. I was in 4th year when me and my 4 friends planned this trip. Himachal is really a paradise on earth.

Day 1 ( Kuruskshetra = > Jwala Ji Temple)

We started from college in evening and took a bus to Chandigarh which is a starting point for all Himachal travel from there. Then, we took a bus to Jwala Ji from Sec-43 Bus stand and reached there at around 2 AM, and rested in hotel for night.

Day 2( Jwala Ji - Chintpurni- Kangra- Dharamshala)

The morning was beautiful and very calm there as you can see in this picture.The famous Jwala Ji shrine is located in Jawalamukhi town of the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

Jwala Ji Town

We took a walk from hotel to Jwala Ji temple which is one of the most ancient temple in India. There is the natural cave where flames continue to burn from indefinite time.

Jwala Mata Temple

So , here we are 5 friends at the entrance of temple(myself in middle) 

Jwala Ji Temple Entrance

After visiting the temple, we left towards the Chintpurni Temple which was around 30 km from there but it took almost 1 hour and we reached there by noon. Then, we went to Kangra after offering our prayers here.

Chintpurni Temple

Kangra is 70 km from this temple but it took almost 2 hours and we reached by 5 PM there.
we visited ancient Mata Brajeshwari temple here as shown below. It is a white coloured temple and one of the 51 Shakti peeths in India. It is said that it used to contain tonnes of gold and silver in past and looted several times by the Invaders.

Mata Brajeshwari Temple

Then, we took a bus to Dharamshala which is around 30 km from there and it took almost an hour to reach there. Then we stayed there and rested in hotel at night.

Day 3 (Mcleodganj, Dharamshala)

Dharamshala has recently being declared as the winter capital of the state, It is a beautiful city and is the centre of Tibetan exile world in India. Mcleodganj is the suburb and known for the residence of his holyness Dalai Lama. The most famous site is Dalai Lama Temple also known as Tsuglag Khang.

Dalai Lama Temple

We walked to see the famous Bhagsunath Temple there which has a beautiful waterfall.

Water Fall near Bhagsunath Temple

Then we took an Auto to Naddi which is an adjoining village famous for panoramic views and is a famous sunset point there. It is around 3 km from Mcleodganj. It is at 2000 m above sea level in the upper reaches of Kangra valley.

Himalyan View, Naddi

Sunset Point, Naddi

Then, we headed back to Dharamshala and took an overnight bus to Dalhousie which is around 200 km from there. We reached Banikhet around 2 am and stayed there over night.

Day 4 (Dalhousie)

In the morning, we took a bus to Dalhousie which is around 7 km from Banikhet. The view of Chamba valley was mesmerizing from there.

Chanba Valley

Here, we took a Taxi to reach the snow point which costed around 1000 INR at that time. we were highly excited to see the snow at the very first time in life. It is recommended that you take local taxi only to see this as its difficult to drive in snow.

There, we all became small children and played with snow. We threw snow balls at each other till we got tired and started feeling hurt. :)

Snow Point, Dalhousie

Then, after coming back to town, we roamed the city and visited various landmarks :-

1. Ajit Singh Memorial : It is a place where Sardar Ajit Singh, a great freedom fighter, breathed his last on the day India gained independence

Ajit Singh Memorial

2. St John Church : It is the oldest church of the town established in 1863 during British rule in India

3. Panch pulla :- It is a beautiful spot which consists of natural springs of water and hence supplies water to the whole town. It is considered to have medicinal properties.

Panch Pulla

In the evening, we headed back to Banikhet and took a bus to Delhi and then reached Kurukshetra the following day. It was a great trip. I would love to visit Himachal in future.

Places to see in India

Master List :-

1.  Leh, Ladakh                                  

2. Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India            

3.Yumthang Valley - Sikkim

4. Nanda Devi National Park, Uttarakhand

5. Mizoram

6. Hoggenakal Falls, Tamil Nadu

7. Andaman Islands

8. Sundarbans, West Bengal

9. Hampi, Karnataka

10. Gokarna Beach, Karnataka

11. Taj Mahal, Agra

12. Kashi(Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh

13. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

14. Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

15. Cherrapunji, Meghalaya

16. Puri, Odisha

17. Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

18. Lakshadweep Islands

19. Coorg, Karnataka

20.  Jodhpur,Jasalmer Rajasthan

21. Kashmir

Places to see outside India

List prioriy wise

1. Bali, Indonesia
2. Europe Tour (Part 1)
3. Japan
4.  Dubai
5. Europe Tour (Part 2)
6. Brazil
6. USA (Part 1)
7. Vietnam
8. South Korea
9. Mexico
10. Egypt

Bhutan-Gangtok

Bhutan-Gangtok Trip(14 Sept 2015-22 Sept 2015)

I got chance to visit Bhutan in Sept 2015. There is a good story behind my decision to go there. One day, a guy(Sharad) joined our team in my previous firm. Its my habit to ask people of their last vacation and I did the same with him.
He shared an amazing story of his going on bike with his 3 friends to Bhutan from Delhi. At that time I thought that if he can go on bike, I can at-least go by Air and see the so-heard beauty of Bhutan.

Then I searched various travel blogs and came to know its some what expensive to land directly in Paro (Bhutan's sole international airport) and it's good to land in Bagdogra (in West Bengal) first and then go from there on road to Bhutan. So, I decided to do the same.

Day 1(Delhi to Jaigon)

I took an Air India flight from Delhi to Bagdogra. Then, I took a taxi from there to Jaigaon which is located on the border with Bhutan which costed me around Rs 2600. I got to know the cheaper alternative later on by Train from Siliguri(30 min drive from bagdogra) to Harsimara(15 km from Jaigon).

I stayed in a hotel Jaigon in night.

Day 2(Jaigaon to Thimphu)

The hotel staff helped in getting entry permit, it took around 2-3 hours as it involved the form filling, fingerprints, Id(Voter card or Passport for Indians). This is issued at the regional immigration office in Phuentsholing which is just adjacent to Jaigaon. You can roam there without any visa upto 5 km, nobody will ask you anything. We took a 3 days taxi from Jaigaon to see Bhutan and got the permit for taxi too. After getting required visas, we started our trip towards Thimpu which is the capital city and is around 170 km from Jaigon. we started at around 2 PM and reached there by 7 PM. Then we just stayed at hotel.

Day 3 (Thimphu City Tour)

We started our city tour with Thimpu Chorten, it's a stupa which was built to honor the 3rd King of Bhutan i.e. Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. It is very beautiful and surrounded by flowers and greenery.

Then we went to see the statue of Buddha (Buddha Dordenma) which was just about to get completed at that time and considered as the largest Buddha statue. It gives the impression like Christ in Rio, Brazil.

Thereafter, we went to see Motithang Takin Preserve which is a wildlife reserve area of Takin which is the national animal.

The day tour halted with the visit to royal textile academy of Bhutan which was founded to preserve the art of weaving.

Then, in the evening after taking lunch and rest in hotel, we went to see the flag retreat ceremony in Dzong which starts at around 5 pm.This is where king handles affairs of the country. Also there is a Buddhist temple and monastery. Thus ended our Day 3.

Dzong

                                                                   

DAY 4 (PARO)

In morning, we left towards Paro which is around 50 km from Thimphu .There was this beautiful river on the way at which we halted for some time.

The first thing that I tried post reaching there was the Archery and its traditional costume

Paro is the most beautiful place that I have ever seen in my life till now. Its a fairyland as can be shown in this picture. A river is crossing the city and there are houses on the both sides.

Paro View

We saw the National Museum of Bhutan which houses the masterpieces of its art and the Dzongdrakha temple thus concluded our first day in Paro

Dzongdrakha Temple

DAY 5 (Paro :Tiger Nest Monastery Trek)

We started trek in early morning. Our driver advised us to carry walking stick, water and light snacks with us as there is no food joint on the way and trek is steep in some places.

It took us around 3 hours to reach the top to see the beautiful view and feel the silence of the place.

it feels so refreshing and rejuvenating to be so close to nature.

Tiger Nest Monastery

Then we reached back in around 2 hours and then headed back towards Jaigaon where we reached at around 7-8 PM. Ganesh Chaturthi was getting celebrated there and whole city was full of pandals and lights,

View from my Hotel Terrace in Jaigaon

DAY 6 (Jaigaon to Gangtok)

Our Hotel arranged a drop to Harsimara railway station where we boarded the Mahananda express which started at around 10 AM. We reached Siliguri in just 3 hours. The train was almost empty and the journey was awesome with the view of tea gardens. Then we deposited our extra luggage at siliguri station and boarded the bus to Gangtok. It took around 5 hours an finally we reached and stayed at Hotel.

DAY 7 (Gangtok City Tour)

We took a local taxi for city tour which costed around 1200 INR. It has various sight-seeing points in & around. The beauty and cleanliness can make anyone fall in love with it.

Gangtok

we saw various places like Rumtek Monastery,Flower exhibition centre,mall road etc.

Below is one quote from Monastery which I liked so much that I captured it.

........... To be continued