24th September 2009, 02:42
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| Chaukori - Pangot - Jim Corbett National Park trip in summer 09 Since I had this travelogue written & ready with me for months now I thought of uploading it here on TBHP along with relevant pictures for the benefit of the community Prologue: One of the first things I wanted to do after returning to India is to go on a long drive immediately in my sorely missed OHC. But then visiting my folks was up on priority & therefore, I headed off to Assam first to spend a few days. During this time Yash had made plans for our next odyssey. Day 1: 14 May 09 Having hardly slept the night I drove (270 Kms) to Guwahati early morning to catch flight to Delhi which I missed due to a misleading SMS but thankfully Jet accommodated me in their last flight that was delayed just enough (by a VIP) for me to jump in as the last boarding passenger - by the skin of my teeth! Yash picked me from the Delhi airport at 7:30 PM and would not let me have a "natural" break or dinner at any of my mate's places but insisted on hitting the highway right away which we did, not before stock piling cigarettes, pan masalas (one potential culprit to send me to hospital after the trip!), juices and colas. Yash drove through the night miserably assisted by the poor headlight beam alignment (high beam was as good as the low beam on bidirectional UP roads!!!). Day 2: 15 May 09 I took controls of the wheels in the wee hours of the dawn after a short nap on the car's rear seat & a sustained but unsuccessful effort to get more. Through bad roads and roads breathtakingly scenic we finally hit Chaukori at 1:10 PM with both of us almost on the verge of hallucinating due to acute sleep deprivation! We checked into a tent (camp) accommodation which was cheaper and sounded more adventurous compared to TRH. Out came the bottle of malted barley to warm ourselves up and soothe the frayed nerves. We could not care less when soon enough a rather violent storm struck the place. Thankfully, our tent stood in the same single piece! Yash thought it prudent to change our planned itinerary to ease up our tight driving schedule & let our bones, bums and backs rest adequately. As darkness engulfed heartfelt swigs of the same barley under the brilliance of stars united us with the place. Besides there was no power for a week in most of the Garhwal hills because of transmission failure down at the base! Day 3: 16 May 09 Checked out of the tent & headed to Bhuvaneswar Patal, an ASI heritage cave site within a temple. Next we proceeded to Pangot (Pangoot) recommended by one of Yash's office clients. Pangot is further up Nainital. We were welcomed by excellent roads from Almora all the way to Nainital which helped us cut our estimated driving time. In the evening we hit Nainital and spent no time to drive pass the town towards Pangot. As soon as we left Nainital, the hustle & the buzz of tourist commotion left us immediately as we entered blissfully deserted hills amidst thick forests. The drive of 15 kms took us about an hour due to shoddy state of the roads but was charmingly mystic and fulfilling. Checked into the only hotel available there. My first reaction was it looked a scarytale motel - where guests disappear!  The hotel had no proper entrace path nor did any guests live there despite its huge but weird architecture!Spent the evening enjoying the malted barley along with pakodas whilst soulful ghazals played on my laptop (Yash did not let me drop my laptop off at any of my mate's places in Delhi and here we found the appropriate value of lugging it with us!) Day 4: 17 May 09 In the quest to find streams we went trekking down about 5 kms thru forests eventually to find the stream but not before the local village hospitality greeted us with wild fruits, water and folk tales. Had less of the barley to drink in the evening as I found the chicken cooked by the hotel staff awful. Had an early day to call. Day 5: 18 May 09 Left Pangot for Corbett National Park riding our luck that it being a weekday we might find ourselves accommodation in Dhikala (heart of Corbett). We reached Ramnagar at 11:00 and luckily (?) found ourselves two beds in a dormitory in Gairal (Dhikala eluded me yet again!). In no time we drove into the wilderness sensing the overwhelming nature of Corbett. The experiences of Corbett call for their own dedicated space. However, should mention here that all we folks in the dormitory had a sleepless night in heat and sweat & scared by the animal that I stumbled on the moment i shone my flash light in the darkness. The animal was identified in the morning as a porcupine! No lights after 10 in Corbett is not a very comforting feeling. Day 6: 19 May 09 Left Corbett to reach Gurgaon in the evening, without anything eventful to write about. Of course, we were terribly low on cash but managed it alright till the end. All’s well that ends well. Amen!                      Last edited by abk : 24th September 2009 at 02:45. |
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24th September 2009, 12:36
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24th September 2009, 13:03
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24th September 2009, 18:39
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24th September 2009, 18:46
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24th September 2009, 22:55
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25th September 2009, 00:33
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 @hellstar & deky, the yellow thing is a wild fruit of the citrus family. We were offered that and other fruits by the local village farm owner when we trekked down to a village from Pangot in search of stream, which we did find eventually. We tasted the fruit much later - it was too tangy & sour in a unique way, unlike lemons / lime / Jambura (or batabi lebu - both are bengali names not sure what it is called in english) or similar fruits of this genre. But it was extremely juicy, good enough to quench a mild thirst!  Quote:
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25th September 2009, 08:54
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25th September 2009, 10:55
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25th September 2009, 12:00
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25th September 2009, 20:03
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