Travelogue

We got a little late by 7am and were ready to depart to Gaurikund. We started our descend at 8.30am and the journey down was uneventful. We reached Gaurikund by 1pm. We had the entire half day and we decided that we should start our onward journey. So we had our lunch picked our bag and thought that if we can reach till Gopeshwar it will be nice. There was lots and lots of rush and not a single vehicle was empty. We somehow crammed ourselves in a bus which was heading for parking at Sitapur and got down at Sonprayag. We waited and waited that we would get some transport to go beyong but to no avail. It was almost 5pm and was starting to get dark. After looking at the distress situation I called Mr Ashish at book the bus   ticket from Kedarnath to Badrinath for all of us. He was fortunately still at Kedarnath and was courteous enough to book the ticket. We took a vehicle heading to Gaurikund and after getting down there headed to the bus booking place. Our tickets were booke...

Having got up at 6am, we were ready to start our climb to Kedarnath. We kept all the extra luggage in the Cloak Room at Baba Kalikamaliwala Ashram had our light breakfast and were ready with the essentials that needed to be carried most notably the warm clothing for the extreme cold at Kedarnath. So refreshed and reenergized we started our climb at 7.30am. This time we had kept our speed to very low and reached Rambada which is 7kms from Gaurikund by around 11am. There are so many Mules that walking is difficult, but looking at the condition of the people on Mules we felt walking was better. A kid had fallen down from a mule at Rambada and had severe wounds on his head. After a light food we departed from Rambada and just 15 mins after we saw a man falling from the Mule and getting unconscious. This is perhaps of the steep incline and stony pavement which get wet because of the drizzle and the mules are not able to get a grip. This was a frequent observation throughout our char...

I got up early and went straight to the Bus stand to get the ticket. But alas, there was a huge line, and only a few could get the ticket. Now I had to plan something alternate. The earlier night I had enquired that there are many Max that go to Srinagar, and from there we can get another Max to Kedarnath. There were 3 more boys from Calcutta, who were also like me didn’t get the ticket. So I told them that we should go to the Max Stand. On reaching we reached the office and enquired for a max till Kedarnath. After consulting amongst themselves, one of them said “I will charge Rs 7000.” We consulted amongst ourselves and said “ok, we will be in an hour, after freshening ourselves and having breakfast”. So I rushed to my room. Meanwhile my family were ready. I too got ready quickly and then we all went for breakfast. After quickly gulping on it, we had our Rucksacks on our back. I instructed my wife to wait with the kids near the bus stand and I would go and get the Max here. So...

4 th June 2013 After spending night at Bhojbasa, at Rambaba's Ashram, got up at 6am. After finishing our morning chores, we had a wonderful Suji at the Ashram. We departed from the Ashram at 7am. Again we treaded carefully between Bhojbasa and Chirbasa, as there are few land slide areas. We reached Chirbasa at 9am. After resting for an hour and having some breakfast we back on the track.   We were enjoying the stupendous surrounding with huge snow capped Himalayas on both sides. We reached the first check post by 12.45 in the noon, at were at Gangotri at 1330hrs (1.30PM). On reaching Gangotri we paid our guide/Porter Rs 1200. We also collected our baggage from the cloak room managed by the hotel where we were residing. I instructed my family to have lunch and I went to enquire for a bus to Uttarkashi. I was told that there is a bus to Uttarkashi at 2.30pm. So I came back quickly and had my food. We collected our Rucksacks and were at the bus stand which is just a few meter...