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Tso Moriri and Tso Kar

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Day 6 & 7 - Pangong Tso Day 8 - Leh - Tso Moriri Well, today was the day to start for another expedition..Tso Moriri, (official name Tso Moriri Wetland Conservation Reserve), a lake at an altitude of 15000 + feet at a distance of 240 Kms from Leh towards south east. It is considered to be one of the best lakes in India and there is lot of discussion on net amongst tourist making comparison of Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri. We were waiting for our own judgment. We planned our journey as Leh-Karu-Upshi-Chumthang-Mahe-Korzok. Korzok is the small hamlet on the banks of Tso Moriri. Estimated travel time was 6 hours without break, so we started early at 8.00 AM. Indus . First 36 Kms leg of travel is same as that goes to Pangong Tso. 13 Kms ahead and you are at Upshi from where you can drive straight to Manali or take left turn for Chumthang/Mahe. And from here the totally different landscape starts. While the journeys to Nubra Valley and Pangong Tso were marked by uphill dr...

Singpore - the Lion Country

" SINGAPORE " OR " Sin-ga-pura " in Sanskrit meaning the Lion City and so the Lion head symbol "MERLION" Had planned to visit this beautiful Country in 2006 October but probably was not destined then ...After 6 years we chose the best time of the year to visit this LION COUNTRY ... The December of 2012 ..just before the Christmas Eve This is the peak season but I chose as it is also the season of deals My 4 year daughter was so excited with just the thought of sitting in the plane ... but we were curious as she had traveled on a plane as a baby but not as a kid so was unsure if she would get motion sickness or something similar..but all went superb .. kids have there way of adjusting she just avoided eating anything and we did not force.. :) Guys this writing is for those with family  and not for honeymooner or couple as they might want choose more interesting attractions in Singapore like the Clarke Quay, a romantic candle lit dinner in the cabl...

Andaman Travel Guide...

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Hotel : SeaShell Portblair.. I booked a total tour package 9 days at seashell .. both PB and Havelock.. The hotel in PB is at a good location provided you are taking the Deluxe Sea View rooms.. I suppose those are the only rooms from where you can get the awesome view of the ocean.. The staff over there is courteous but but but they are very very slow.. If you order something to the room, they might take an hour or even "forget" to send it up..                    Check if you are going in the offseason.. if thats the case then you can always ask for discounts.. I was not offered a single penny discount as I was there during the peak season 25th dec to 1st jan.. The only complimentary stuff that they offer to a couple is a "candle light dinner" at havelock.. Are you going to Havelock also? Havelock is great place to be.. Seashell Havelock is also an amazing place to stay at.. The view from ...

Vrindavan, Mathura & Govardhan

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We started our tour with a visit to one of the most important religious places for Hindus - Krishna Janmasthan. Mathura, Vrindavan & Govardhan are places where Krishna spent his childhood and these places find mention in various stories related to his childhood and youth. Mathura is around 150 km from Delhi. It took us around 3 hours by road to reach Vrindavan (which is around 7 kms from Mathura).  Vrindavan was the site of a forest where lord Krishna is believed to have performed his Ras Lila with Radha and the other gopis. The forest cover not longer exists. Sewa Kunj still has a patch of forest where Krishna and Radha still perform the Ras Lila. A temple room is prepared daily for the divine couple to rest. The Banke Bihari temple is the most popular temple in Vrindavan. The idol in the temple was found by Swami Haridas (who was the guru of the famous 'navratna', Tansen). During the reign of Akbar, the ban on building new temples or reconstruction of temples des...

Tel Baila

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Tel Baila is an old watch tower which makes for a good 1-day trekking option. It consists of 2 sheer walls of rock separated by a column in the center. Climbing the walls would require a technical climb, but the climb to the column in the center also makes for a great experience.  We took the Lonavala exit from the Mumbai-Pune Express way and proceeded along the road towards INS Shivaji. Because of earlier trek to Korigad, we were familiar with road. We stopped at the Lion's point for some photos and refreshments and made our way ahead. Telbaila is very well covered by GPS. We had enabled Google Navigation at the start of our journey to guide us to the fort. From Telbaila phata, the road started to worsen gradually. By the time we reached the Telbaila village we were worried if the i10 would be able to make its way back.  We parked the car under the shade of a tree in the farm and started on our way up. We had some difficulty finding the way and almost gave up. ...

Birding @ Bhandup Pumping Station

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Just discovered another birding spot in Mumbai. Got my first spoonbill sighting in Mumbai here. It has a vast area through which you can walk around. Saw a number of birds and butterflies here.

Pangong Tso

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Day 3,4,5 - Nubra Valley Day 6: Leh - Pangong Tso And here we were ready at 8 AM for the 170 km drive to Spangmik, a village on the banks of Pangong Tso. Apart from the final destination, crossing of Chang La, second highest motorable road, was another attraction which kept us excited. First 50 kms of journey towards south east of Leh is fast paced but then a steep ascent for Chang La starts. Road to Chang La Unlike the journey of Khardung La, the ascent is more steep and road is zig-zag crossing one mountain by another. At the top of Chang La, there are couple of army posts and a restaurant and you can take a comfortable break. May be we were well acclimatized to high altitude by now, we didn’t face any trouble due to oxygen deficiency. After Chang La, a descent starts crossing beautiful sceneries around till you reach the village of Tangste, a comparatively big town having shops and hotels. One can stop here for short tea break. First Glimpse of Pangong Tso From...