[ashthedivx]

Originally Posted by harishnayak

Halfway Adhkuwari just 750 mts..yipee...
Attachment 331656

We reached this spot at around 3:00 pm and the were surprised to see that the next electric auto would start at 6:00 pm and it was primarily for the older guys , patients and people not well etc..
Attachment 331657

To add up the information, the autos run on new way which is more smoother and easier then that of old way, Old way is one which is more tougher as it was been into usage from the Day 1 of creation of the path.

Originally Posted by harishnayak

Contd... So we continued our journey ahead from ADH Kuwari on our feet as the ricks were available only after 3 hours.

We decided to more or less walk closely so as to enjoy the yatra and have some fun too. BTW a very interesting incident happened when we were waiting for the rest of the team to reach Adh Kuwari..there was a kid who was kicking some stones and his shoe fell down to a platform about 25 feet below and his mom came requesting us to get the shoe..it was risky as there were no stairs and the only way was to go down with the helpof the construction rods.

So my wifes frieds bro decided to go and get it ( pics attached )..bravo dude.

Though done with a good intenstion but still a very wrong move dude, you may had helped her to get in touch with local staff wandering over there at every 200-300 mtr, tipped him up and helped her out. In the yatra, your body is usually tired and a little mistake can be turned into disaster which might spoil whole mood.

Originally Posted by harishnayak

Few additional info -

Helicopter rides start becoming active at about 3 pm with 2 copters doing up down almost every 2-3 mins

Distance from Ad Kuawri via Himkoti is 5.5 kms and is very flat thus easy to walk

Toilets , drinks stalls , food joints , clinics available in plenty thus causing very little inconveninence.

Nice view of Katra for FREE

Here are few more pics of us having fun on the way..Do feel free to ask for any additional info about the visit to VD as i may be missing on some things obvious to me

Nice info, some more additions

-Helicopters are been operated by two different companies, each one of which fly a helicopter every 15 mins depending upon the rush.

-Other mode of transport if "Palki" as well, which is for elder people.

-Do not fall into prey of paying a penny more for any mode of transport then that of govt. regulated rates published at many places all over katra.

-One can take "Yatra Parchi" via "Vaishno Devi Shrine Board" Website as well with a payment of 50 Rs for avoiding any sort of delay and missing any chances.

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by aargee

I'm unable to see any pictures; Attached picture is what I see on this screen Attachment 332637
Am I the only one to experience this or some issues with posting pictures?

Oops this is what even i see. I did see the preview before posting but don't know how it happened..let me try uploading the pics again. To be honest it's a pain uploading the pics again

[nick17s]

same here, even tried refreshing this page.
finally worked on its own.
Mods please delete my post if possible.

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by aargee

Sorry; was busy gazing pics than reading


Yes, pics becomes very bad in moving car. No issues.

Could you give some more info on the copter rides? Charges I mean & the time in air & the safety measures? Is that ride carried out by a private player or govt or govt authorized? How many ppl can be boarded on a single trip?

There are 2 operators pawan hans and one more ( don't remember ). Bot seem to be private operators. I had mentioned the charges earlier too but i guess you missed. It's Rs 1250 one way and Rs 2500 for return journey. It hardly takes 10 mins to reach the helipad from the foot of the hill and i'm really not sure about the safety measures cos many a times in past ive seen the copters swinging in the air due to fast air currents.

Originally Posted by ashthedivx

To add up the information, the autos run on new way which is more smoother and easier then that of old way, Old way is one which is more tougher as it was been into usage from the Day 1 of creation of the path.


Though done with a good intenstion but still a very wrong move dude, you may had helped her to get in touch with local staff wandering over there at every 200-300 mtr, tipped him up and helped her out. In the yatra, your body is usually tired and a little mistake can be turned into disaster which might spoil whole mood.




Nice info, some more additions

-Helicopters are been operated by two different companies, each one of which fly a helicopter every 15 mins depending upon the rush.

-Other mode of transport if "Palki" as well, which is for elder people.

-Do not fall into prey of paying a penny more for any mode of transport then that of govt. regulated rates published at many places all over katra.

-One can take "Yatra Parchi" via "Vaishno Devi Shrine Board" Website as well with a payment of 50 Rs for avoiding any sort of delay and missing any chances.

Well you're right and that's exactly what we suggested her and after calling few jawans and officials nearby all they did was to ask her to forget the shoe ( can you beat that ) and that is when this dude decided to be the good samaritan. Honestly it was not a tough task but yes a wrong move could have been disastrous.

Thanks for the additional info..i did not know about the online booking of the yatra parchi.

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by nick17s

same here, even tried refreshing this page.
finally worked on its own.
Mods please delete my post if possible.

I reposted the pictures..hope you can see them now.

Oops reposted within a minute..please delete if applicable.

[harishnayak]

So after a short break it was time again to move on and were nearing the first sighting of the HOLY PLACE.

I'm trying my best to post the pics of the entire route so that it may help the first time visitors to visualize what to expect when they visit VD.

The temple is hardly a KM away once you spot the white buildings ( as can be seen in few of the pictures )

Me Posing


Trying the Zoom feature of the cam..failure


One more failure


Finally got it right




First view of the Temple


AMAZING VIEW..isn't it



















Monkey enjoying the coke




Lack of education leads to this..i did ask them to move from there but no luck

[ashthedivx]

Originally Posted by harishnayak

There are 2 operators pawan hans and one more (don't remember). Bot seem to be private operators. I had mentioned the charges earlier too but i guess you missed. It's Rs 1250 one way and Rs 2500 for return journey. It hardly takes 10 mins to reach the helipad from the foot of the hill and i'm really not sure about the safety measures cos many a times in past ive seen the copters swinging in the air due to fast air currents.


Well you're right and that's exactly what we suggested her and after calling few jawans and officials nearby all they did was to ask her to forget the shoe ( can you beat that ) and that is when this dude decided to be the good samaritan. Honestly it was not a tough task but yes a wrong move could have been disastrous.


Thanks for the additional info..i did not know about the online booking of the yatra parchi.

Helicopter Info, Extracted from Shrine board website

For any query/cancellation please contact at:
Deccan Aviation. 01991-234378, 234379 email: katraticketing@deccanair.com
[COLOR=#bb0803]Pawan Hans. 01991-233637, 234658 email: pawanhans.vd@gmail.com

I usually get ticket booked from Delhi Office, Nehru Place whenever I went there with parents.

OT: You and your brother resemble too much Off-course !!

[harishnayak]

Finally we reached the Shrine at around 6:15 pm after little over 5 hours of walking. The moment you reach there you have to get your baggage scanned by a x-ray machine and then proceed towards the registration counter where they would give you the waiting number.

There is generally a electronic display of the current running number..in our case the running number is 77 and ours was 79. There are about 200 people registered under each number so our turn was about to come soon. We thought that we couldn't get luckier as our turn was going to come in less than an hour.

There is generally a ritual of taking a bath before going into the shrine ( optional depending from individual to individual ). It's a nice refreshing cold water spring which flows 24 hours from the spring. However, we skipped that and kept our shoes , belts etc in the cloak room

Few important details

Carry new clothes along if you want to have the spring water bath

Cloak rooms are available to keep all your valuables , shoes , etc free of cost.

Don't wear leather strap watches or any other leather items inside the temple.

Nights are generally cold so do carry warm clothes even in summers as you might need them atleast for a while

Razai and Kambals are available at a deposit charge of Rs 100 in case if you want to relax before standing in the queue. There are also some rooms available generally procured thru contacts.

Presenting Pawan hans office with contact numbers



It's a huge cloak room with hundreds of lockers. 1 locker was enough to accomodate the bags , shoes and other things that were carrying ( 6 people ).



A closer view of the Structure where the shrine is located

[vinukm]

Wonderful Thread -- Noticed the thread a bit late .

Well I have been to vaisnodevi last winter in my christmas vacation. Excellent place. Refreshed the sweet moments i had last winter

Just an information -- any one ineterested to visit vaishnodevi i have a suggestion. There is s trust in Mumbai called Jai Matadi Charitable trust in Malad Mumbai. which conducts a yearly charter to Vaishnodevi for 12 days. its a wonderful experience going with them. They charge a nominal amount and the trip includes 3 day stay in Katra in one of the best Hotels there and after Mata darshan they take you to some other picnic spot and stay for 3 days there.

Last winter we had been to Vaisnodevi and nainital. They charter a seperate train from mumbai. The package includes everything accomedation, food, sightseeing (best efforts Basis), etc...etc etc....

Will try to start a thread once i am free.

Mods please delete the post if not relevent

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by vinukm

Wonderful Thread -- Noticed the thread a bit late .

Well I have been to vaisnodevi last winter in my christmas vacation. Excellent place. Refreshed the sweet moments i had last winter

Just an information -- any one ineterested to visit vaishnodevi i have a suggestion. There is s trust in Mumbai called Jai Matadi Charitable trust in Malad Mumbai. which conducts a yearly charter to Vaishnodevi for 12 days. its a wonderful experience going with them. They charge a nominal amount and the trip includes 3 day stay in Katra in one of the best Hotels there and after Mata darshan they take you to some other picnic spot and stay for 3 days there.

Last winter we had been to Vaisnodevi and nainital. They charter a seperate train from mumbai. The package includes everything accomedation, food, sightseeing (best efforts Basis), etc...etc etc....

Will try to start a thread once i am free.

Mods please delete the post if not relevent

That's a useful piece of information. I'm sure it will help a lot of people , looking forward for our thread. In fact i'm trying to wrap up the TL today if possible.

[harishnayak]

Soon after we entered the line which is about a km or 1.5 kms away from the shrine we were very sure that we would get the DARSHAN within an hour or so. All of us were hungry and had entered the line w/o eating or relieving ourserlves.

As this was my first time in the evening in the line i realised that the SHRINE would be closed from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm with LOT of BHAJANS played during that time.

The situation was such that we could not eat anything , could not relieve ourselves and no pictures too for about an hour and a half. After going thru that huge wait we got thru and finally visited the HOLY SHRINE OF VAISHNO DEVI.

Generally one can only carry some cash/coins to donate and nothing else. Soon we had the DARSHAN of the HOLY SHRINE OF VAISHNO DEVI ( for not more than a sec) and bowed our heads in front of her.

It is believed that she fulfills all your wishes.

[aargee]

Good. So finally you got the blessings; waiting to hear your return journey.

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by aargee

Good. So finally you got the blessings; waiting to hear your return journey.

Yes we did finally. We were all tired by the end of it.

It is believed that one should visit BHAIRAV MANDIR after visitng MATA however it is optional depending upon the time and dedication. The total journey is about 1000 steps away or about an hous walk to the MANDIR,

We decided to walk back as we did not have the time and were too tired to do the stretch.

[MX6]

dscn0329 is the snap that I liked the most in this travelogue. Good one.

[harishnayak]

Originally Posted by MX6

dscn0329 is the snap that I liked the most in this travelogue. Good one.

He He..why do you say that? That's me taking rest .