Diveagar, a beach on your bucket list!

Though the sun was blazing down, the cool breeze didn't make it feel that like we were walking along a peaceful and beautiful on a hot sunny afternoon. To our left, all that could be seen was a blue expanse of water stretching miles into the horizon. Far away we could see a group of people negotiating hard with a watersport vendor. Once in a while, there was a huge whistling sound made by the trees adjoining the beach which swayed with the breeze. 

To cool off from the blazing sun, the ice sharbet / gola came to our rescue. With a dash of flavours ranging from sweet to sour, the crushed ice held on to a wooden stick tasted just delicious! 

Location:

Diveagar, is situated about 200 km's from Mumbai and almost similar distance from Pune. This is a small village alongside the beach and does not offer the best of resorts but lately, does offer a lot of home stays which are closer to the traditional way of a village stay. Couple of resorts like the Exotica and Happy days are some of the upcoming properties providing travelers some expensive options too. Our idea is to stay frugal and there's no dearth of home stays around. Food is prepared by these locals and have some 'Khanawalis' which offer the basic of local cuisine, including Fish, Chicken and yes vegetarian too. These are typically open only during the lunch/dinner times and satiating your taste buds during the mid-hours of the day is only possible on the beach with the temporary food stalls. 

Beach:

The beach is clean, beautiful with the waters safe as ever! The beach extends into a good long section during high tides and does not have a great descent which makes it the safest of beaches according to me. The distance you need to walk in to reach your shoulder level of water can be taxing during low tides!! The water stays cleaner than the beaches in Mumbai though can be muddy at times. Guess our Arabian sea isn't going to stay as clean as the waters in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman's! 

Bike Ride:

Taxing during the first 50-100 km's as you find your way through the city and then on the 'under up gradation' NH 17 Mumbai - Goa highway. The highway, given the four-laning process underway has turned itself in a road of potholes! The paver blocks do not do justice most of the places where they are put to maintain the road. Regular diversions make it safety-averse to ride uniformly on the highway. After taking a diversion from Mangaon, you head on the internal roads towards the village and this road is a two lane but winds its way through a small ghat, and a forest making the ride much pleasant if you reach here around mid-day.

To conclude this place is truly a beauty for a weekend 'drive and relax' session. This place is also closer to known places of the coastal Konkan like Srivardhan and Harihareshwar and is connected via a coastal road, along the sea coast - which I will cover in a separate post.

Till then check out the video compilation of the ride and the beach listed below: 

   
Do leave your comments. If you like it please do share and subscribe to the channel. Adios!!

Summary:
Location: Diveagar, Raigad District, Maharashtra
Distance: ~200 kms from Mumbai
Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/G1RFqFs8Hns
Time Required for Travel: 5-6 hours

Check out my Youtube Channel: bit.ly/atwander

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Chest Mount: http://amzn.to/2jSwZ8s

Nikon D3200: http://amzn.to/2jEQTH3

Travel along to Kaza: Spiti Valley Part 3

"Aur thoda rice doon bhai" (Shall I serve some more rice) was a voice that stood out quite clearly in a quite hut which was almost full with travelers but busy savoring the delicious rajma chawal on a hot afternoon. The only settlement in the radius in Batal called Chandra Dhaba, run a family who provide only the standard basic food to travelers on the Gramphu-Batal-Kaza road in Himachal Pradesh, India. People going along the route stop here as this is the place right at the mid-day meal time in the middle of nowhere and also given that the travelers have no other option on the route. The dhaba is quietly nestled besides the gushing Chenab river and is operational only in the summer's; winters can become unbearable as well as with the road closed it would not have any visitors. The rajma chawal was delicious and was served piping hot to the travelers along with other options like maggi and wai wai (the local ready to eat noodles)

Having started way early in the morning and making our way through the arduous state highway 505, we badly needed a break for our growling stomachs. As soon as one crosses over from the deadly 'Rohtang pass' which literally means 'pile of bodies' given to represent the people dying due to the bad weather trying to cross the pass, you would hit more barren lands stretching miles into the horizon. The Manali side of the pass is pretty green with ambient weather supporting its growth however once you cross over, it is completely opposite with hardly any vegetation around. Though beautiful passes make you forget the pain the journey elucidates, the roads can be a havoc for people averse to road travel!

We start again on our journey after the lunch and a good ginger tea towards the next hurdle on this highway which is the Kunzum La pass, another dangerous road prone to regular landslides and traffic snarls! Atop the Kunzum La pass is an adorable Gompa, blessing the travelers on their way through the pass. Accompanying peaks covered with snow year round is another bliss to watch, atop the mountain pass. After probably 8-9 hours of absolutely no road - just a pathway - one hits upon a tarmac road and the blessings are suddenly all answered!

Kaza is the main village base where we had to reach by end of the day counting on the endless views of the peaks and valleys along the way and a glorious sunset in the Himalayas - trust me it's a blessing to witness one. Kaza is a village with ample accommodation avenues including zostel - which is an economical place to stay for solo travelers and for those on a tight budget. Kaza situated along the Spiti river - we left the Chenab river when we started climbing the Kunzum La, is a quiet hamlet with a population of 3,000 people and most of the others being visitors to the place and is situated at an altitude of 3650 meters (11,980 feet) above sea level.

Kaza hotels for your booking: http://app.makemytrip.com/162tqy-d2
Homestays are also a good option: http://stayzilla.com

Gear for the travel:

• GoPro Hero http://amzn.to/2juGCL1
• Nikon D3200: http://amzn.to/2jEQTH3
• 35 mm Fixed lens http://amzn.to/2iQBr5U

A glimpse of the road can be found in this video, shot during the travel:

  

Schedule at the base camp: Spiti Part 2

"Sahab, jara utar jao" (Sir, can you get down) said the rickshaw driver as his vehicle chugged and knocked out on the steep roads of Old Manali. We had reached Manali just a few minutes ago after an overnight bus journey from Delhi. We were blessed as there were no major hiccups in the travel given the treacherous Himalayan roads and our air travel to Delhi shortening our overall travel time to half! After the rickshaw picked up on the steep road, we jumped back in to get on our way to the hotel we were supposed to check in - Dragon Inn situated in Old Manali.

Tip: If you are planning a trip to Manali, look for hotels in Old Manali. Tons of options including economical home stays are abundant. OYO rooms further help reduce the lodging costs.

Once we checked in the hotel, it was time for some good hot water bath and a relaxing sleeping time to cope with our backlogs. Evening is when all were back to their senses when our companion & guide for the trip joined us in the hotel - Motu Bhai, is what he is called. An introduction with him was also a good ice-breaker for all the others too as most of them didn't knew each other prior to this trip. I, of course, on the other hand knew a couple of them given the coincidental meetup on the flight to Delhi. There were a couple more solo travelers like me in the group and all were super enthusiastic about the trip and what we had to look forward to. This was very well explained by our guide, which is here for your reference:

Day 1: Reach Manali and relax
Post the 12-16 hours of journey from your home town including an overnight journey, this day will be to get you to acclimatize to high altitudes. The day is meant to relax and not overexert in any condition. Nearby points of interest can be Manu Temple hot springs, innumerable cafes and their delectable coffees by the river.

Day 2: Manali to Kaza
An early morning start to an entire day's journey through one of the most challenging routes in the country to reach Kaza by evening. This route is filled with scenic beauties changing from the green valley of Manali to the desert region of Spiti and Lahaul. This 220 kms route takes about 10-12 hours depending on the road conditions and comfort. On the way, one passes through Rohtang, Kunzum La pass - both one of the highest and dangerous roads in India.

Day 3: Kaza to Key to Kibber and back to Kaza
Visits to the Key monastery and one of the most beautiful villages nestled in the hills - Kibber are the highlights of the day. This day is pretty relaxed given good tarmac roads for most part of the journey and a scenic village to add to the memories

Day 4: Kaza to Dhankar, Tabo and back to Kaza
The spiritual trip continues with visits to the 1000-year-old monastery at Tabo, followed by a monastery situated atop of a hill in the Dhankar village. If time permits, this day also includes a short trek to the serene Dhankar lake. The day ends back in Kaza.

Day 5: Langza - Hikkim - Komic - Langza
We pack our bags from Kaza and move towards Langza - one of the highest villages at 14,000 feet, a hamlet nestled just below a peak always covered in snow called the Chau Chau Kang Nilda peak (21,000 feet). We move one to visit Hikkim which has the highest post office of the country, hosted by a hospitable family. We move on to the highest habited village of 114 people and visit the Komic monastery. This village is situated at 15,087 feet. The day ends in a comfy Langza home stay.

Day 6: Langza to Chandrataal
This day brings you to the most serene location of this trip - the Chandrataal lake. Traversing through the most difficult roads I have ever been to, one reaches the base camp with tents setup. This is because the area becomes inhabitable for humans in the winter and the setup is only done for summers from July - October, which can be still chilly!!

Day 7: Back to Manali
This day is just includes backing up all photographs and reminiscing all the wonderful memories captured on this trip, while on your way back to Manali. The evening is free for you to visit the amazing cafes. Cafes like 1947, Drifeters Inn and Dylan's are famous amongst others in Old Manali.

To be continued with more magic..  

Journey to the Himalayas - Spiti Valley Part 1

"We would like to offer you the job" said my current boss to me, post grilling me for more than an hour in the conference room of the office! Moving no further into the details, I was all happy to accept that job offer and make a move finally after 7 years from my earlier firm. Once the thrill and excitement settled down, it hit me as to why not take a break in between these two jobs and enjoy a life far away from this regular routine. It had been a long time of service, I deserved a break! Not that I was going to get a long holiday in between the jobs, and also giving a long break would mean a considerable break in the career making it look wild on the CV as well as loss of pay! Eh?

At first it seemed like I was going to be left with no holidays in between the two jobs but with the support of my now ex-bosses, I managed to get an early exit and planned for a complete 2 week holiday. I always wanted to do the Spiti Valley having heard about it from a long time ago, since I had done Ladakh a few years ago. Going to the same place didn't make sense and this was always going to be equally beautiful as the one I thought about when I said 'a break'. Though this time it was going to be different, I was going to do a solo trip with maybe a group of strangers! A google search led me to several travel groups organizing trips in Spiti and the dates that I was looking at were bang in the middle of the season for travel. Crossed fingers, I was worried if I would get a chance of doing this trip altogether.

All said and done, I finalized Incredible Spiti to go ahead with, through their curated group plans and the last one of the 3 group trips that they arrange annually. Though just 5 days to go for the trip, Vishesh, the organizer was nimble enough to accommodate me in the group at the last minute. I quickly managed to huddle up some air tickets and bus tickets to reach Manali, the base location for the trip. Though they were last minute, I was lucky to get space on both these modes.

I got to know that one of my co-travellers of the trip will be on the same plane as mine, but had never spoken to them or ever interacted or for that matter knew how they looked. With all the excitement of reaching a place so serene, I was early on my flight that day taking the aisle seat comfortably. Both the adjoining seats were empty for a while till a boy in his 20s came aboard with his trekking bag. At first it felt that he is on to an expedition with a huge trekking bag, almost on the brink of the cabin baggage size limits, but I wasn't sure. Coincidently, he took a seat right besides me and then what happened was history:
Me: Hey, you seem to be going on a trek?
Him: Oh yeah, to north in the Himalayas
Me: Himalayas? Like where in the Himalayas?
Him: There is some place called Spiti, I dunno, my friend suggested and he is taking me along in this trip with 7 other strangers!

Small world - two travelers from the same group landed together on adjoining seats and we ended up knowing each other very well even before we started the trip! Today, I am happy that I took that decision of going with this tour with strangers - they are no more strangers to me!

Spiti Valley - An Introduction

I am doing a lot of introductions today but it is well worth, ain't it? So let's talk about Spiti valley and how it all started:

Spiti Valley is a desert mountain valley situated in the Himalayan mountains in the north-eastern part of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name 'Spiti' means 'The Middle Land' i.e. the land between Tibet and India. This valley has small villages based all along the Spiti river which runs along the valley as its spine. It is surrounded by high mountain ranges with the Rohtang pass at 13,054 feet (3,979 mtrs) and the Kunzum pass at 15,059 feet (4,590 mtrs).  The sub-divisional headquarters is in Kaza, Himachal Pradesh and situated at 12,500 feet (3,800 mtrs) - and this was our first halt in the trip of the valley.

Reaching Spiti is not easy - You have to reach Delhi to Manali and then to Spiti valley. The last leg of the tour took us an entire day. In total it took us all the well 30 hours to reach Kaza, the base in Spiti - considering a flight time of 6 hours to Delhi! Within these 30 hours, one has to take care of the acclimatization with well-planned layovers in between these altitude's - especially if you are coming from a low-lying city like mine - Mumbai. I hope my best to accumulate all these experiences in a video for which a trailer is already up:

How and why Spiti Valley?
Having done Ladakh a few years ago I was always mesmerized with the culture and the people in these areas that line up with our neighbor. Also to the fact that Ladakh was now commercialized to such an extent that it feels to be another city, just with the difference of the altitude and weather. Not denying that the superb landscape and picturesque Pangong lake still leaves a mark! Spiti was different and it had come up a couple of times in my mind of picking my bags for this place. Spiti seemed beautiful and also gave me a chance to look at the other side of this valley! To sum up, I brought along tons of memories and an ever-expanding knowledge about his sparsely populated valley.

What do you look forward to?
More information on the travel plan, schedules, contacts to get in touch with and the entire experience of those 5 days in the valley.. Stay tuned and meanwhile enjoy the trailer..  Adios

Introduction

Hey, this is one of the first posts on this blog and would like to take this first post opportunity to introduce myself and the blog purpose. Frankly speaking, it does not take me or anyone for that matter to register a new blog address and punch in a few words for posting on it. It is work of the few who are either idle - like really nothing better to do - or the few who want to let the world know about their thoughts!!
I am writing this blog to support my new Youtube channel A Timeless Wander. Let me just talk a few sentences about me and the channel along with of course, the purpose.
About Me:
Well, my parents decided to call me by the name Chirag and then I also inherited the family surname of Murdeshwar. Yeah, it's a small hamlet in South India and I hope I will bring it to you one day through the channel. I started off using a camera, rather a DSLR, when a sales guy literally pushed his sales effort towards it. That day was a turnaround when I stepped outside to create wonderful memories. Memories that will last forever. Since then, I have a Nikon D5200 with a couple of lenses and a Gopro to support the videos.

About the Channel:
I happened to visit Spiti Valley and the serene picturesque place made me realise that this place is never going to be brushed from my memory - it will always be a reality. Of course, I dont stay there forever but I tend to take off that time dimension when I refer to this place. Time is relative, flexible and according to Einstein "the dividing line between past, present and future is an illusion". I hit upon an idea of a place where I can put whatever I got back from there in the memory cards in an easy and cool looking video for all of you out there! And none could beat Youtube in that.. It makes sure it reaches you in that corner of your world.. !

You are yet to probably visit this heaven on earth and realise that this place is for true.. Earth does have splendid places beyond our imagination. Having said that, the videos on this channel would be restricted to the places I visit and able to shoot for you, unless there are collaborators who are listening to me right now!!

You will find all the details about all the videos that are upcoming or already around on the Youtube channel, on this blog. We will talk, interact and open up the news on this blog. Travel schedules and plans are all going to be up here too..

Stay tuned on the blog and do enjoy the videos.. Adios !!

Channel: A Timeless Wander
Blog: atimelesswander.blogspot.com