[planet_rocker]

bindaas ADC - awesome pics - keep them coming

Rated 5 Stars

[HappyWheels]

Good one ADC!

Beautiful travelogue.

Watched the video's posted. May I suggest that, next time you decide to shoot a video, please let it be done by your co-passenger. Just that it is better to be safe than sorry!

[akroy]

ADC boss, fatafati travelogue.
It took me full 45min to read and see it and not to mention experiencing it.

You are the only one who have utilized the 2.2VTT to its full deserved treatment. Keep the travelogue flowing.

I was amazed to see the Bihar GQ which was excellent.

A 5 star from me too.

Abhi

[BlackPearl]

Great travelogue, waiting for the rest. It is great news that the Bihar portion of GQ has been completed.

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by adc

Himachal witnessed some of the worst weathers in 45 years just 10 days before our journey, with 48 hours of non-stop rain and snow. People had to be evacuated by helicopters and blankets were air dropped.

.

Absolutely right, during the same period I was struck-up in Pooh due to several road blockages.
A portion of road & a bridge were completely washed away near Jhakri & traffic was diverted to a kutcha road on the right bank of Sutlej through NJPC hydro project campus for several days.

Many congrats for successfully completing such a tough trip.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by akroy

ADC boss, fatafati travelogue.

You mean 'jaa taa bapaar'?

ADC nice travelogue and beautiful pics. However slow it down a little more buddy. Its almost like you are in a hurry to reach somewhere. You already covered a huge distance from Kolkata. It would have been lovely if you could have posted the pics of the local towns and given us the flavor of the place and some lowdowns. Eitai jaa ektu chaap hoye gelo aarki.

But still a great experience for sure.

[jazzy_2cool]

I must admit Beautiful travelogue
Good to see the Bihar GQ is also completed,I am sure many to follow your path.

[adc]

Thanks to all and I am really reliving the experience as I write this. And also for following this thread with patience.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Watched the video's posted. May I suggest that, next time you decide to shoot a video, please let it be done by your co-passenger. Just that it is better to be safe than sorry!

All the videos that were shot are from the Canon S3 IS camera in movie mode. I shot majority of them myself as I wanted the driver's perspective. The camera is suspended via the neck strap and whenever I see any situation whereby I got to have two hands on the wheel, I just leave the camera. And also I am not looking into the camera, i.e., I am looking straight as normally a driver does.

Whatever it be, it sure is not a desirable thing and should not be done.

Originally Posted by breezydrive

Absolutely right, during the same period I was struck-up in Pooh due to several road blockages. A portion of road & a bridge were completely washed away near Jhakri & traffic was diverted to a kutcha road on the right bank of Sutlej through NJPC hydro project campus for several days.

Many congrats for successfully completing such a tough trip.

Yes sure we saw much evidence of landslide everywhere and it being still cleared. In fact that kuccha road now was totally blocked with rocks.

Originally Posted by Zappo

You mean 'jaa taa bapaar'?

ADC nice travelogue and beautiful pics. However slow it down a little more buddy. Its almost like you are in a hurry to reach somewhere. You already covered a huge distance from Kolkata. It would have been lovely if you could have posted the pics of the local towns and given us the flavor of the place and some lowdowns. Eitai jaa ektu chaap hoye gelo aarki.

But still a great experience for sure.

Definitely would have liked more photos of people but then most of the journeys were done at night. As I had observed, I found UP and Jharkhand more depressing than Bihar.

Anyone making this journey, NH1, GQ, Delhi to Kolkata or vice versa, the vital advice would be plan it in such a way so that you cross Allahabad in between 11 pm to 7 am. That exactly how I planned while coming back to Kolkata.

[adc]

Narkanda-Hatu Peak-Baghi-Thanedar-Rampur-Sarahan

We left Narkanda around 930 am after a heavy breakfast for Hatu Peak. The road narrow and but again the jouney fascinating.

YouTube - Up to the Hatu Peak, Kinnaur - just wide enough for a Safari

On top where the road ends, a circuit house is there and the view from there was magnificient. Surely, if and when I go next, will be staying once over in this circuit house.

Circuit house, Hatu Peak


We left Hatu Peak in direction of Baghi, all through we were now going through forest of pine trees, very similar to our North Bengal forest journeys of Lava and Lepchajagat. We wanted to take the less travelled route of Baghi to Khadrala to Sungri to Taklech and then joining the
NH22 at Nogli. But the route after Baghi was closed due to landslides and thus from Baghi we went in the direction of Thanedar and Kotagarh.

Here we first came to see the apple gardens, some gardens still full of apples as the plucking season is coming to an end. Well the unwritten law being that one cannot pick any apples from the trees but those lying on the ground. We found a person in the garden and he gave us 5 fresh juicy apples.

Apples galore




As we get on the NH22, we have Sutlej river now by our side. The road is wide but due to rains and landslide suddenly some portions have a width of a single lane. We cross Rampur and get stuck as a landslide is being cleared. That was done in half an hour and we now go off to
Sarahan, famous for the Bheemakali temple and Shrikand peak.

Near Rampur


Landslids galore






On reaching Sarahan, we found rooms at Bheemakali Temple guest house and also at a small hotel but beatifully located with the temple at one side and Shrikand peak and the mountain ranges on the other side. Again off season rates, and we checked into the hotel rather than Bheemkali temple guest house as the mountain range view was better from the hotel than the guest house.

The small child of the hotel owner




Evening went to the temple complex and other than that just sat on the hotel verandah having tea and watching sunset over the shrikand mountain.

As sun sets over the Shrikand



So, there ended our that day's travel, Sept 30, tuesday, Sarahan.

[Saurabh M]

ADC, this is an outstanding travelogue. Bravo!!

I was almost travelling with you, very well written and excellent pics. Nothing beats a good road trip. You did make it pretty fast to Varanasi, leaving Asansol at 9am and crossing Varanasi by 4pm is no joke. The harassment at Allahabad was really unfortunate.

Its almost out of the world experience seeing day break in the hills while you are at the wheels. It reminds me of our journey from Chandigarh to Manali on an August morning. It was raining like anything when we started at 4am and as we crossed into HP, the rain stops and the entire area was covered in a thick veil of fog. We stopped at a roadside dhaba, along the winding roads, which has just opened and the chulha was just being fired up. The taste of the aloo parathas we had there still lingers.

Carry on with the travelogue and do post some pics of the exquisite wood carvings of the Bheemakali temple.

[adc]

Sarahan-Sangla-Chitkul

Oct 1, Early morning we all get up to see the sunrise over the mountain range and also after that visit the Bheemakli Temple. One cannot take photos of the temple inside, so pics of the temple are that of the courtyard.

YouTube - Early Morning Bheemakali temple and the Shrikand

Bheemakali Temple complex






Morning over Srikhand


After a filling breakfast at the temple canteen, we set out for Sangla-Chitkul [Baspa valley region].







Chitkul is the more remote part and the motorable road ends there. With our plan to stay at Chitkul, we set forth. It is at Karcham where one leaves the NH22 for Sangla and Chitkul.

SARAHAN – SANGLA – CHITKUL........(121 km)
Sarahan – Jeori (1250m) ………..18 km
Jeori – Chora (1260m) ………..11 km
Chora – Bhawa Nagar (1450m) ……..20 km
Bhawa Nagar – Wangtu (1830m) ... 09 km
Wangtu – Tapri (1683m) ………..10 km
Tapri – Karchham (1899m) ……….. 09 km
Karchham – Sangla (2680m) ………..18 km
Sangla – Chitkul (3480m) ………..26 km

[adc]

The road to Sangla and Chitkul is narrow with huge drops. It is mostly metalled till Sangla after which it does become a gravel road in most of the places.

YouTube - Towards Chitkul, metalled road portion

On road towards Chitkul






Chitkul is basically the last village that can reached by road and has barracks of the ITBP, from here the soldiers march on towards the border areas of Tibet.

View from our hotel room


Dusk at Chitkul on Oct 1

We take the last hotel that is there, at the end of a gravel road, still further from where the motorable road ends. The view from the hotel was fantastic. Chitkul is a must visit place, both for the remoteness and tranquility but also for the absolutely stunning mountains that seemed to start up right in front of us. Again, great off season rates and we decided to spend 2 days in Chitkul, i.e, Oct 1 and Oct 2.

Next day, Oct 2, we plan to get up early, go for a walk along the river and see the sunrise. Also we planned next day to explore the wilderness on either side of the Sangla-Chitkul road.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Nice travelogue ADC with good pics. Making me want to set off again. I had gone trekking with Youth Hostel around 25 years ago in this region. We started from Karchham, crossed a small pass and came down across the river near Sangla town (had to cross a nightmarish bridge that was nothing but three wooden planks kept in a zig zag way over boulders). 3/4 days trek. I don't remember any of the names of the villages but it remains one of my most fabulous experiences in life. We used to need inner line permits in those days that used to be checked near a place called Wangtu (had a nice wooden bridge). Another thing I remeber is a beautiful old wooden fort near Sangla. I hope it's still there because I don't find anyone mention that in any of the travelogues.
This entire region used to be very hyper sensitive from a security point of view in the mid-80s. We were told that all letters posted from there would be opened by the army and we should not give any description of the area and should stick to post cards only !!! That kind of paranoia about an impending Chinese attack seems to be totally gone now.
Can you believe we used to post letters for home from our travels !!!

[Saurabh M]

Great going ADC. Great pics, specially the one of the herd of goats. Very well composed.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by adc

...All the videos that were shot are from the Canon S3 IS camera in movie mode. I shot majority of them myself as I wanted the driver's perspective. The camera is suspended via the neck strap and whenever I see any situation whereby I got to have two hands on the wheel, I just leave the camera. And also I am not looking into the camera, i.e., I am looking straight as normally a driver does.

Whatever it be, it sure is not a desirable thing and should not be done...

ADC,
Good that you took it in the right sense.

But this is indeed a good idea, letting the camera in movie mode with it hanging over ones neck.

My concerns was exactly what you had addressed, division of your concentration between the road and the camera screen, which did not happen. Wonderful.

And the video's - man, what a place. The drops on the sides are really scary!!! I was expecting some other vehicle from the other side and see what will happen in that narrow path. Did anything like this happen?

Apart from all these, I see couple of photos which I can use as my desktop background image!

Great travelogue mate! Keep 'em flowing... hooked on to this...

(PS: Taking your family, with a baby, on such remote locations - you do have a lot of confidence on your ride, don't you? )

EDIT: ADC, one of you photos has been set as my desktop wallpaper! Ah... so beautiful! *** a very happy smiley here *** The color scheme is a wonderful match!