[laluks]

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

How can you be doing so many trips, sure many on this forum envy you for the same.

Dear Coooolcat21,

Most of these trips are done on holidays with very less impact on work, and some trips like the ones to Himalayas which needs many days from work in a stretch with more planning and advance notices to the tune of 3 to 6 months in most cases. Also once the holiday calendar is published for the year from our offices and kiddies schools, we immediately figure out the set of days which can be utilized for our trips with less impact on work and school. So everything is planned ahead for the year in advance. In most cases we execute these planned trips, but at times we might drop or add additional surprise ones based on our energy levels and Vitamin M situation. Probably the key here is planning holidays in advance for the year, and managing Vitamin M for them.

I can attribute that habit came from our stay for nearly two years in Europe, where everybody just did plan their holidays in advance. It worked out well and we carried forward that practice back home

To that extend being a purple member of Club Mahindra and RCI helps a lot in advance planning and resort booking in advance if in those exotic locales.

Most of my friends I have come across here, complains that they cannot plan their holidays until the last moment. Infact many of them have done more trips at the spur of the moments than me .

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

The silver lining being that we get to see so many places thru your travelogues. The best part of your Tls is that you capture the essence of the route and place by taking pictures of people and all various activities happening.
Rating 5*
Regards.

Our India is such a beautiful place that many places are hidden gems. After traveling quite extensively in Europe, when I started to find the beauty India has, I felt I must write about them. I wanted every one to know about our country. If I can share my experiences which help others, I really feel good. So travelling indeed is a passion, photography is just something I really can't figure out much. Whatever I click I try to present in my logs, some like them, some don't. But my intentions are just to share, just to let you know such places exist and their beauty.

So I log my travels, and I love TBHP for the enormous support that I get, and the readership.

I'll keep traveling and writing till one day some other passion takes over. I don't write great English literature, but I just manage to transfer my thoughts and experiences to you through my logs. It's such a great pleasure, other wise why in the whole world I should spend considerable amounts of my private quality time in to these activities.

And the amount of friends I have due to this hobby of mine is really really heartening.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Beautiful green travelogue, Lalu. Enjoyed reading it, and it's finally started raining in my part of the country after I finished! 5 stars.

Thank you SST.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

LOL. Provided the applicant hasn't thrown up all over HVK's car (or thrown out of it as a result) halfway into the first drive into the mountains!

Absolutely

1 . Should not throw up
2 . Should not get thrown out

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by laluks

Our India is such a beautiful place that many places are hidden gems. After traveling quite extensively in Europe, when I started to find the beauty India has, I felt I must write about them. I wanted every one to know about our country. If I can share my experiences which help others, I really feel good. So travelling indeed is a passion, photography is just something I really can't figure out much. Whatever I click I try to present in my logs, some like them, some don't. But my intentions are just to share, just to let you know such places exist and their beauty.

So I log my travels, and I love TBHP for the enormous support that I get, and the readership.

I'll keep traveling and writing till one day some other passion takes over. I don't write great English literature, but I just manage to transfer my thoughts and experiences to you through my logs. It's such a great pleasure, other wise why in the whole world I should spend considerable amounts of my private quality time in to these activities.

And the amount of friends I have due to this hobby of mine is really really heartening.

My thoughts exactly. Even I couldn't have put it in a better way. I share you passion to travel, though have just started traveling in the recent past. I love to travel by road and like to share my thoughts but can't seem to write travelogues . I simply loose the steam to write once the travel is done.
So can you share some pointers as you are so good at it. Do you take notes while traveling, how you sort out the pics (obviously you wouldn't be uploading all of them) anything else that you would like to share.
Thanks Lalu
Cheers

[laluks]

Originally Posted by harjeev

My thoughts exactly. Even I couldn't have put it in a better way. I share you passion to travel, though have just started traveling in the recent past. I love to travel by road and like to share my thoughts but can't seem to write travelogues . I simply loose the steam to write once the travel is done.

Traveling is a serious addiction once you start it!
Sharing the details is another one! Feels happy to be of help

Originally Posted by harjeev

So can you share some pointers as you are so good at it. Do you take notes while traveling, how you sort out the pics (obviously you wouldn't be uploading all of them) anything else that you would like to share.
Thanks Lalu
Cheers

Hey, you are asking my secrets
Infact it is simple.

1 . Photos any ways have the time stamps.
2 . Will click relevant information boards, distance boards, place names to give me a feel of where we were and what was there.
3 . Some research on the place to visit before hand, make a theme for the drive etc.
4 . Interesting activities, local routine life - be a part, understand and imbibe.
5 . Track the GPS trail of the routes taken, check where all you went, what all you did, what all was the inference, what all could have been done on return.

Process/sort/shortlist the pictures. Start writing a log. Depending on the number of days of the trip and the photos to share - check for your spare time at hand. Normally I take about 5 hours per 100 photos.

As an example - I took entire day on Aug 15th for this travelogue. Sorting pictures took around 6 hours and writing the log took about 6.5 hours as you could see. That said, it is a serious toll on time. Unless it is a passion for you to share - it'll end up as a boring job!!


Why I do this?
I love to share, I love to come back and relive the memories, etc..

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by laluks

...
I love to share, I love to come back and relive the memories, etc..

Ever since I first passed by this waterfall in a train in 1993, I have been wanting to get close to this place. However I never found a way to get close to the falls other than by train. Ever since we moved to Pune, we have been using the trains along this route to watch this waterfall and to travel through those forest areas. It is always beautiful whether it is summer or the rainy season. The only issue with the train journey is that you need to "book" a train door and station yourself there at least an hour before to get an uninterrupted view of the falls. Usually there is a crowd at the doors as you approach the falls.

During the last couple of years I did stumble upon travel accounts of people reaching the place by trekking along the railway tracks. You have now opened another way.

Now a question. Is it doable by bicycles by following the bike trail? The sleepers would not be a problem if you are going on bicycles. The issues I see are:

• Getting cycles to the starting point (need vehicles that can carry them or the ability to rent them at that place)
• Security of the cycles at the place where you parked the bikes until you return.
• And a person to guide through the path

Do you have the GPS log of the bike & trekking trail too?

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by laluks

Traveling is a serious addiction once you start it!
Sharing the details is another one! Feels happy to be of help

Hey, you are asking my secrets
Infact it is simple.

Why I do this?
I love to share, I love to come back and relive the memories, etc..

Lalu, Thanks for the wonderful tips.

Now when is the next log coming up? I'm sure that you would have made judicious use of the last extended weekend

[laluks]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Now a question. Is it doable by bicycles by following the bike trail? The sleepers would not be a problem if you are going on bicycles. The issues I see are:

• Getting cycles to the starting point (need vehicles that can carry them or the ability to rent them at that place)
• Security of the cycles at the place where you parked the bikes until you return.
• And a person to guide through the path

Do you have the GPS log of the bike & trekking trail too?

If motorcycles can do, mountain bikes definitely can for sure. Issue would be it is going to hurt the revenue stream of the motorcycles.

Trekking on the railway lines I guess amounts to trespassing railway property. So if the authorities are ignoring it, I guess you could anyways take your own mountain bikes alongside. Issue would be to know the train timings in that route, finding a safe place while the train passes through.

If doing besides the track, you need not enter the sanctuary and hence the parking of your mountain bikes are not a requirement. You can take it all the way near the falls most probably. I do not know about the bridge/tunnel to say for sure if it has enough place to stay safe with your bike if a train passes by.

Probably with full information of the train traffic on the route, you could plan a bike ride instead of a trek. If you are successful please post here


If following the track - no guide required. If through the sanctuary, you might need one. But I am not sure if the Jeepers in Summer and Motorbikers in Monsoon will allow you to ride your Cycles through. Probably they'll allow if you pay them the damages

No GPS log of the trek, since it was raining heavily left all electronics in the car, except camera protected with a plastic cover.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

Lalu, Thanks for the wonderful tips.

Now when is the next log coming up? I'm sure that you would have made judicious use of the last extended weekend

Next log is coming up shortly. Before that let me post a few details on my Cliffhanger thread, before HVK comes home in search for me

[sach.sri]

Amazing travelogue! The pictures are great and so is the narrative and your sense of adventure. I would have never taken this biking option and played safer

I must also say - Your apetite for long drives and trips is great - having just returned from a trip up north you went to Goa 800 kms oneway on a weekend! WoW!

Great! Keep them coming!

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by laluks

Traveling is a serious addiction once you start it!
Sharing the details is another one! Feels happy to be of help ..........................

........................

I love to share, I love to come back and relive the memories, etc..

Thanks a ton Lalu for sharing your secrets
They would surely come in very useful, would definitely try to make use of these pointers on my next trip. Thanks a lot again
Cheers

[carwatcher]

You can trek on any of the 365 days of an year.
AFAIK they don't allow overnight camping and stay, but it may be possible with the permission from the concerned dept (I may be wrong, pls check).
As far as security of the bikes is concerned, the place where you start the trekking, you can chain lock it to the tree etc. Be assured nothing will happen to your bikes as I am very sure that the they will remain untouched. This I can tell you after my experience after numerous trips to the falls in all kinds of weather.

Also you don't have to worry for loss of business of bikers, etc. people here are not at all money minded (I mean it). They are simple, content and extremely helpful contrary to other parts of Goa.
Also during summer, I have seen many Scorpios, Safaris and other 4x4s driven by the owners. This is the best place for 4x4 adventure lovers. I have also seen numerous private bikes, bullets, too. So there is absolutely nothing to worry about (other than potential risk of damage to vehicles on driving over these tracks).

If you are looking for renting the bikes, I am afraid I am not aware of the same in that area as I didn't inquire (but who knows, they may be available).

Biking/Tekking on the railway track is not that risky as there is always sufficient place everywhere (99.9%) where you can stand and let the train pass-by. Also there are not much of the trains that pass on that route. I guess 2-3 max per hour (which can be checked by you while beginning at the station. If you take this option the bikes will remain with you all the time till the waterfall, so no issues wrt safety.
Or if you go inside the sanctuary from the railway track (there is a small under bridge for that, which is used by bike-taxi drivers) you can take the cycle all the way to the parking (for jeeps during summer) or if the water flow is very high, you can tie it to any tree you wish. Bike taxi fellows too leave their bikes there unattended.

Most Imp.: Whatever option you take, carry a guide along with you so you won't experience any inconveniences/surprises. Believe me they are not at all money minded and go to any length to make your trip memorable. They will just "inform" you beforehand as to what are the pros and cons of any route, option, etc. but final call will be yours. Also if you go there early, then you can have more flexibility as to trekking, exploring other places, etc. and very importantly, please follow the rules/instructions as they are more experienced than us and the place is highly dangerous.

Originally Posted by pjbiju

The issues I see are:

• Getting cycles to the starting point (need vehicles that can carry them or the ability to rent them at that place)
• Security of the cycles at the place where you parked the bikes until you return.
• And a person to guide through the path

Do you have the GPS log of the bike & trekking trail too?

[kannan666]

As always, your travelogues are a treat to the eyes and lovely bit of narration to go with it ! Very detailed and full of information, look forward for more of them, and as always, Goa is truly paradise on earth !

[ku69rd]

Fantastic Thread Lalu, rated it 5 stars. How was the parking lot in Castle Rock Station? Also you have not mentioned anything about availability of food, was it packed and carried (doubt it as none of the photos show them).
Hats off for your fitness and adventurous nature of your family especially the youngest one. Hopefully i would be able to replicate it one of these weekends.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Fantastic Thread Lalu, rated it 5 stars. How was the parking lot in Castle Rock Station? Also you have not mentioned anything about availability of food, was it packed and carried (doubt it as none of the photos show them).
Hats off for your fitness and adventurous nature of your family especially the youngest one. Hopefully i would be able to replicate it one of these weekends.

Thanks It's really long time since we interacted.

Castle Rock Station is a peaceful place. You can park there safely as I inferred. I really did not check for the food availability at Castle Rock, so cannot tell for sure.

We carried biscuits and we emptied most of them before the trek in the car itself. Had some in the bag we carried, but no one asked for it as they were thrilled.

They all love to see new places. This keeps them going Further I must say the kiddies have not yet got spoilt with inhibition or perception.

[Thilak29]

Isn't that a Temp Reg'n. number that you are driving car with?