From December 26th 2018 to January 4th 2019 we were traveling and the general destination was Himachal Pradesh. The Northern, mountainous state of India. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUudGrSQYMmZdissJ9wuuoWuV4X1PZEkxYugByqX1nBZ8/image.png
Due to certain training my cousin had to attend, 4 of us travelled to New Delhi First and from there to a small city in Himachal Pradesh called Mandi. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdUscEaoT4QfTcATXRDkRT8dsGzYCZKoLFJDKHXQbe6n8/image.png

Mandi is 850 m (2,790 ft) above Mean Sea Level and for us who are traveling from “the sea Level” itself, this provided a good 1 day halt for acclimatization and rest.

(Beas River, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India)

Our original plan was to travel to Tirthan Valley from Mandi. But my cousin and family wanted to see snow and @firepower suggested Solang Valley as the right place. Myself was not very particular about the location and @firepower’s suggestion turned out to be very good as everyone seemed to be heading there and every weather prediction service showed snow during the time we were there.

Solang Valley


The Solang village which near Manali is where the Beas River flowing through a valley forms the valley of adventure sports – The Solang Valley. Its unbelieving crowded for a small village. One can find few hundred shops renting snow equipment, mountain bikes (ATB), couple of hundred ponys and a charade of vehicles.

As we neared Manali endless traffic block started appearing and we crawled and crossed Manali in few hours. The temperature had dropped to probably 3 or 4 degree Celcius. We had hotel booked in advance through an online service called MakeMyTrip.com & I had tried to confirm our arrival delay via SMS. There was no response from the hotel and considering it as a bad sign and seeing the unprecedented traffic I finally called the hotel. The person at the hotel was somewhere with loud music and all I could comprehend was the rooms are ready.

The adventure begins

Few minutes later, I got a call back from the hotel. The call was not audible but I felt something wrong. Tried again and after many tries the call was audible and the hotel person lazily explained that the rooms are sold out. I tried to explain I had updated them in the morning and I have a receipt from MakeMyTrip. At this point the hotel proprietor said, if we had booked the ticket through MakeMyTrip, talk to them and not to the hotel. I politely asked him to please try to talk to MakeMytrip – the hotel person wanted us to stop or go-back to Manali & take accommodation in a stay in Manali.

So, everything was crystal clear. We had booked at the hotel quite early at a nominal (yes, very nominal rate). And here we were on the Christmas – New Year season where the rates can be anything. People were probably trying to optimize their occupancy.

We never found out whose mistake it was. We only knew that we had not done anything wrong.

Sensing trouble, I asked my wife who was not traveling with me to call MakeMyTrip & arrange a call back. Simultaneously I called MakeMyTrip.com from another phone. So, after few minutes, I managed to explain the MakeMytrip representative what is going on. He agreed to check with the hotel and call back. He took the booking ID and other relevant details. So, I waited for the call back. Few minutes later the first call back arrived from MakeMyTrip & they explained, there is nothing to worry and I just have to go there and check-in the hotel. Few minutes into the conversation, the second call back arrived. The representative bluntly explained that the hotel is sold out ! So I asked him what happened to the booking we did – to which again he said, the hotel is sold out. All this while, I had the other MakeMyTrip executive on the different phone explaining that everything is in order.


Travels are one of the best teachers who gives us lessons which no one else can give


I must say, it was fun to put the executives on speaker and tell them that the calls are on recording and they are contradicting each other. This was my turn to wear the cold and bruteless hat, thus I said, “MakeMyTrip.com has offered us the hotel booking and we are now standing in near zero temperatures. We don’t have the rooms and 4 lives are in the hands of MakeMyTrip”. The representatives both agreed to help out.

Rest of the few kilometers we sat down and relaxed.

The hotel




We reached Solang Valley and entered the hotel where we had our rooms booked. The person at the reception promptly received us and he was looking into the booking details. Few moments later the owner of the hotel came and he was looking at the details as well as if nothing happened. Then, he asked in whose name the booking is – this time, I had to give the booking details. We looked at each other & with after considerable delay the hotel owner said, we spoke little while ago. I said, Yes we did. After he explaining that the rooms are sold out, I told them to talk to the online portal whose booking software had auto-magically sent me booking confirmation.

## Failed Startups helps Entrepreneurs!

This is something I realized just now while I was writing this. It so happned that I was fortunate or unfortunate to start mybusticket.com few years before a popular Indian bus ticketing service called RedBus.in and then loosing out to them. I also had adventures into travel by the name of Routez.Travel. While we waited for the call back, I was thinking about how travel industry worked, about those APIs and services which makes hotel bookings, flight bookings etc possible. Thanks to RECCAA.Club, I knew about hospitality management software as well.

The much awaited call back from MakeMytrip arrived and I must mention that the executive was professional and one of the most proactive customer care executives I have ever came across.

So, we talked about travel industry, travel booking software, acquisitions done by GoIbibo, acquisitions done by MakeMyTrip and pretty much everything about travel industry other than flight bookings!

The executive explained to me that he will try his level best to arrange a hotel either at this one or elsewhere. I handed over the phone to the the hotel owner and this time the discussions were about GoIbibo-MMT panel and “Nancy” & many other irrelevant things. The phone was back to me and I clearly said, the life of 4 of us is with MakeMyTrip. Both the hotel and the MakeMyTrip representative requested to wait for 15 minutes.

The hotel owner offered us tea & showed us 2 rooms which by then got “cancelled”. The tea was a life saver as the cold and walking on crystallized snow had started impacting me. The MakeMyTrip representative had kept his word and called back and explained a nearby hotel which was perhaps the best in the Valley. He explained even the minute details and left the decision to me. I asked him to talk to my hotel owner once again and see whether the newly appeared rooms can be arranged. As this is normal incident in touristy areas, I just wanted to play along than make a scene. The hotel owner wanted 3 times the normal price from MakeMyTrip. To my surprise, the MakeMyTrip owned the situation and offered to do anything as per my wish. I asked for the MakeMyTrip’s representative & decided to go with the hotel he suggested. He went ahead and make all the required arrangements.

When we finally walked in to the hotel that MakeMyTrip had arranged, we were surprised to find a Swiss cottage which costed 5 times our original room. The manager at “Sky one Ski” Mr Hemanth welcomed us as if to his own home & made us comfortable.

The adventure was not over!

The online Portal MakeMyTrip and its executives had done and excellent job to serve us. But our dear friend at the hotel directed to the wrong location when asked about the new location. My physical state due to the extreme weather had clouded my thinking and instead of cross checking the new hotel location we decided to walk there. Due to the confusions, we walked close to 1 km in the chilling cold over the slippery ice and reached the hotel. There was no power anywhere and after a while we realized that our “hotel” guy had sent us to a different hotel with similar name. Helpless, we walked back and found “Sky one Ski” with the help of helpful localities. Our driver was very helpful as sympathetic as well.

The Swiss Tent

Sky one Ski has marvelous facilities and well equipped Swiss Tents. The property is tucked inside an apple orchard.

(Inside the Beautiful Tent)

(The Apple Orchad)

While we had the most luxurious hotel – thanks to the travel operator – power and the climate was not the best. Unfortunately there was no power and we had only 1 tent instead of 2 rooms. We had a bunch of candles which we used to heat the tent and tucked inside the blankets (Duet) with our 3 layer clothing, jackets and gloves. The altitude though it was only 10,000 feet (3000 meters), was acting on us, the weather by then – 10 degrees presented us with a chilling experience. Thanks to the hotel guy who gave priority to few pennies over the well being of guests, there we were sleeping under the sky, in a luxurious Swiss Tent, separated from the freezing weather by 2 layers of cloth and 3 Candles.

Thanks to MakeMyTrip and the extremely helpful staff at “Sky one Ski” we woke up to another morning alive and tell this story.


(inside the swiss tent – Sky one Ski)


(The beautiful view at the morning – thanks to Mr Sivankar of MakeMyTrip.com, Mr Hemanth of Sky one Ski & Our Driver, Mr Vinod. You guys are one of the best professionals I have met & wishing you all the very best)

From Sun's makeup box | സൂര്യ ദേവന്റെ കണ്ണാടി.
House Boats, Aleppey, Kerala

 

Needless to say, the house boats of Kerala, to be precise in Alleppey is quite popular and attracts lots of tourists. I was curious about the the engine and other finer details, I could find in a trip and here it is:

 

The hidden engine room door in the kitchen

The hidden engine room door in the kitchen of the house boat

Engine
Engine

 

from the engine room

turning the engine - kerala house boat
turning the engine – kerala house boat

electrical wiring, plumbing and septic tank

electrical wiring, plumbing and septic tank

 

 

 

Due to issues ranging from global warming & Mallan yet again finding a Kallana ( a pigmi elephant found in Agastyakoodam area) I couldn’t post the second part for so long ! well well. This is yet another March and this year also it seems I am not in a position to complain about a bad hike. I have no hike. The world is still flat and the life is going on. Oh, yea we made sure that 33% of the seats in our democratic temples are reserved for woman, we are about to make sure that the radio active rays from nuclear reactors exploding due to manufacturing defects etc by the companies who provides the equipment will not cause damage more than 500 crores, we had something called budget and as usual opposition were unhappy and in my little state – Keralam – certain political parties took all possible measure to make sure that in the next elections they don’t stand a chance to ‘serve’ us.

Ok, The trip to Agastyakoodam happened long ago, before  any of this happened. The world was still flat then and the date was 29th Jan 2010. We were at the base camp and made plans to start bit early the next day. I was was sure that not going to work and slept peacefully inside my sleeping bag. We woke up around 6:30 AM, got our breakfast packed and after few cups of tea started our trek to the peak nearly 8 O’ clock.

to be or not be ?
to be or not be ? (photo removed )

From the base camp the peak looked challenging and we were aware that the climate dramatically changes at the top. But today it seems its a pleasant day and we will not face much difficulty. I had all geared up and assortment of stuff including lenses, additional battery and first aid kit packed inside a photographer’s jacket and a wind sheeter to protect all this from rain and few plastic covers.

sun rays playing hide and seek
sun rays playing hide and seek

The initial trek was easy but seemed to be a terrain where we find elephants a lot which was bit scary. But the possibility of seeing a pigmy elephant was nice too 😉

dare to conquer – swami thiruvadikal enjoying the view

Once we were out of thick forest the steep climbs started and mist started arriving from nowhere. Four of us had visited the peak earlier and they started explaining about their earlier journey and how they crossed a dangerous stream which is just ahead of us.

mist starts appearing
mist starts appearing

The atmosphere started getting colder and windy. Mist was coming with the wind and the wind was strong enough that we started feeling it agiainst us. I found it was a good decision to leave the camera bag behind.

mist starts flooding with the wind. We can see it spreading in this photo. In ten minutes we were immersed in it.

the stream which 3 of our team had crossed with much difficulty during their previous expedition. I must It was a real dangerous attempt from their side. Something too far from adventure ..
the stream which 3 of our team had crossed with much difficulty during their previous expedition. I must It was a real dangerous attempt from their side. Something which others should not try at home.

edge
edge

its a good idea to be careful here.
its a good idea to be careful here. Travels give us a time to contemplate about life. It sometimes leaves us with nothing to hold on to. All that can take us forward is how carefully we plan our next step.

Last 5 photos were taken in 10 minutes and the place was suddenly misty and we couldn’t see anything beyond 5 meters or so now. We started climbing up decided to have our break fast near Ponkalappara.

mist everywhere
mist everywhere

After the steep climb we reached a clearing. The place had suddenly became extremely cold and wet. If the same climate is going to continue it is going to difficult to climb the remaining path and that was not a pleasant thought at all.

mist, windchill
mist, windchill

We sat down near a small stream for breakfast. I had poori with me and some had uppumaavu. By the time the whole place was covered with mist and all that was remaining now was rain. It looked like we must expect heavy rain any moment now. The sudden change in climate was very strange and quite unexpected.

break fast time.
breakfast time.

The climate soon started getting better. Yea, as I was told a 100 times this place is different !

One life. We all have a life to leave marks behind. Here is how someone to choose to leave a mark behind. This was created by someone so that whoever climbs the mighty mountain remembers him. (there is no myth behind this. its very recent - modern)
One life. We all have a life to leave marks behind. Here is how someone to choose to leave a mark behind. This was created by someone so that whoever climbs the mighty mountain remembers him. (there is no myth behind this. its very recent – modern)

Man is always keen to worship what he doesn’t understand. It seems a recent example will be film stars whom we don’t understand. We build temples for them when we find it difficult to understand how a feeble man can fight hundreds and cause “Neo Effect” on bullets. The earthly mark in the previous photo may became a similar one in next 100 years.

if we dont understand, we will worship. If we understand we will destroy. We are humans.
if we don’t understand, we will worship. If we understand we will destroy. We are humans.

where the mystery forest starts
where the mystery forest starts

The climate had become normal again and the visibility was good too. We started climbing up through a narrow slippery stream. The terrain again looked promising but I never expected it will make me realize that being alive is such a great thing and life is so beautiful.

Part1 is here: Trekking to Agasthyakoodam day one

Note: Agasthyakoodam is also called as Agasthyarkoodam

On 27th I got a call from a friend asking are you ready for the trip ? Oh, I had completely forgotten about the whole thing and had a most productive day ahead with numerous calls and emails and finally packed up and reached the Cochin KSRTC bus stand by midnight. Had a packet of biscuit and cashew nuts as dinner and me and Rejish started our  5 hour bus journey to Trivandrum from where have to start by 6 AM. Surprisingly the bus managed to reach the destination in less than 5 hours and we could sleep for  another 1 hour at friend’s place. Finally we managed to start at 7 AM and reached Banacaud by 9:30 AM. Completed the formalities with the forest officials, packed our lunch and yes we are ready for 3 day wanderlust.

The area is kept clean and well preserved by the forest department and the EDC – In  a land where government departments functioning the way it is supposed to be is quite unheard of, this is something we must appreciate. The officials were friendly and I could drag them to a small talk about my sleeping bag which is quite small compared to the ones they use.

As per our plan the journey ends at Athirumala which is 17 kms from the base camp at Bonacud. And most of it is through dense forest and atleast 5 kms of the path is difficult terrain. And with a bag weighing too much with equipments it was not fun. From the camp at Athirumala its 6 kms to the Agastyakoodam peak. And we plan to climb the peak on the second day. I must say that splitting the journey to 3 days was an excellent idea as we got ample time to enjoy the wilderness.

enroute Agastyakoodam
en-route Agastyakoodam

swami thirivadikal enroute Agastyakoodam
swami ‘thirivadikal’ enroute Agastyakoodam

This part of western ghats is called the “abode of biodiversity”. The green virgin forest filled with herbal plants gives one the impression that we are in a huge herbal  garden. The Agastyakoodam is related with Buddhism and to the wise man Agastya who formulated grammar  to Tamil and he is believed to be an Ayurvedic expert too.

cauliflorous tree enroute Agastyakoodam
cauliflorous tree enroute Agastyakoodam

cauliflorous tree - closeup
cauliflorous tree – closeup

strong winds are a peculiarity of the area. Here we can see the grass dancing in the wind. But this is nothing compared to the wind at the peak.
strong winds are a peculiarity of the area. Here we can see the grass dancing in the wind. But this is nothing compared to the wind at the peak.

Oh yea, we were a team of seven backpackers. see them below:

backpackers
backpackers

in harmony with nature ?
in harmony with nature ?

we had our lunch here. Under a sky that looked like this !
we had our lunch here. Under a sky that looked like this.

the camp at attayaar. The difficult terrain starts here. The board that says Athirumala was kept here and in one of the next photos we can see it being carried to the final camp.
the camp at attayaar. The difficult terrain starts here. The board that says Athirumala was kept here and in one of the next photos we can see it being carried to the final camp.

The terrain that followed Attayar was bit difficult but compensated by breath taking landscape.

the path ahead - less traveled, difficult and beautiful
the path ahead – less traveled, difficult and beautiful

the Athirumala board which traveled with us :-)
the Athirumala board which traveled with us 🙂

landscape between attayar and athirumala - one can even see the historic dust on my lens. Well, I am goving to clean every piece of equipment this time. All has years of dust on them and water. Yea, my D80 still works fine with all the water and dust. My next cameras will be Nikon too. I dont need reviews anymore on brand wars.
landscape between attayar and athirumala – one can even see the historic dust on my lens. Well, I am going to clean every piece of equipment this time. All has years of dust on them and water inside. Yea, my D80 still works fine with all the water and dust. My next cameras will be Nikon too. I don’t need reviews anymore on brand wars.

a variety of Thulasi found in the area. This is just a sample from the mysterious collection of herbs starting from Arogyapacha, Vathamparathi etc
a variety of Thulasi found in the area. This is just a sample from the mysterious collection of herbs starting from Arogyapacha, Vathamparathi etc

The above photo is taken from an area of where the forest is thick and dark. We can find small holes in the rocks along the path which was used to grind herbs. The area also has peculiar stones which looks like remains of some ancient life forms.

fossil ?
fossils ?

a stone resembling bone. Passerby has left turmeric powder on it and it turned yellow now.
Passerby has left turmeric powder on it and it turned yellow now.

The final camp at the bottom of the peak follows this dense forest area and we got the majestic view of the peak from here.

the first glance of Agastyakoodam
the first glance of Agastyakoodam

We reached the final camp around 4 PM. We were tired but not really exhausted because we were walking at an average speed. Soon after tea and a leisurely bath at the nearby stream we came back and settled at the camp. And we were all set for the climb early morning next day. And the destination was a 1886 meter, heritage mountain with its lush  green herbal garden and myths.

Agastyakoodam aka Agastyarkoodam - the majestic peak with its lores, herbs and wonders of mother nature which makes us understand how silly we humans are.
Agastyakoodam aka Agastyarkoodam – the majestic peak with its lores, herbs and wonders of mother nature which makes us understand how silly we humans are.

break away ....

.അവിനാശം.

അച്ഛന്റെ ശാപവാക്കുകളും കേട്ട് തറവാടിന്റെ പടിയിറങ്ങുമ്പോള്‍ അവന്റെ മനസില്‍ തികച്ചും നിസംഗതയായിരുന്നു. പണ്ട് ഏഴാം ക്ലാസിലെ പരീക്ഷത്തലേന്ന് അമ്മയോട് ഉറഞ്ഞുതുള്ളിയ അച്ഛനെ തടയാന്‍ തുനിഞ്ഞതും അവസാനം പഠിയ്ക്കാമെന്നു കരുതിയിരുന്ന പാഠത്തിന്റെ താളുകള്‍ അച്ഛന്‍ കീറിയെറിഞ്ഞതും അവനോര്‍ത്തു. ആ പാഠത്തില് നിന്നും ഒരു ചോദ്യം പോലും പരീക്ഷകള്‍ക്കുണ്ടാവില്ല എന്ന ആത്മവിശ്വാസം മാത്രമായിരുന്നു അന്ന് മനസില്‍. എന്നും ആത്മവിശ്വാസം മാത്രമായിരുന്നു അവന്റെ മുതല്‍ക്കൂട്ട്. ഇന്നിപ്പോള്‍ അവസാനത്തെ പ്രതീക്ഷയേയും അച്ഛന് അരിഞ്ഞെറിഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്നു.

തറവാടിന്റെ വടക്കുഭാഗത്തുനിന്നും ആ വര്‍ഷം ആദ്യമായിക്കായിച്ച മാവില്‍ നിന്നും ഒരു പഴുത്തയില കൊഴിഞ്ഞുവീണു. പാലക്കാടുള്ള സുഹ്രുത്തിന്റെ വീട്ടില്‍ നിന്നും അവന്‍ കൊണ്ടു വന്ന മാമ്പഴവിത്തുകളില്‍ ഒന്നിന്റെ സന്തതിയായ മാവ്.

.തുടക്കം.

കാലം തെറ്റിയെത്തിയ മഴ പെയ്തു തിമിര്‍ക്കുമ്പോഴും അച്ഛന്റെ ശവദാഹത്തിന്‍ വടക്കുമ്പുറത്തെ കൊച്ചുമാവ് തന്നെ വെട്ടണമെന്ന് അവന്റെ അമ്മ ശാഠ്യം പിടിച്ചു. ആര്‍ത്തലച്ച് ആ മാവ് നിലം പതിച്ചപ്പൊഴും അച്ഛന്റെ ചിതക്ക് തീ കൊടുക്കാന്‍ അവനൊരിക്കലുമിനി വരില്ലെന്ന് പറഞ്ഞപ്പോഴും അമ്മയുടെ മുഖത്ത് ശാന്തതയായിരുന്നു. ബന്ധങ്ങളുടെ കെട്ടുപാടുകള്‍ തകര്‍ത്ത് കാറ്റിനോടൊത്ത് യാത്രയാരംഭിക്കുന്ന പട്ടത്തിന്റെ ശാന്തത.

.ശുഭം.

( മറ്റുള്ളവ: 1. നോക്കുകുത്തി 2. ഓര്‍മകള്‍ )

I signed into my wordpress account after a long time & the greeting message said “It’s so nice to have you back where you belong“. Well yea I was away for a long time. But I was busy traveling. I will be back my dear blog.

A Theyyam photo I took recently & named the one who loves, the one who protects.

(The expression on this theyyam’s face & the way she is holding the sword forced me to give the caption.) Its thaypparadevatha theyyam @ naduvilathu kottam, pilathara, payyannoor, kannur. Kottam is a collection of 2 – 3 temples which is normally called in other parts of kerala. തായ്പ്പരദേവത തെയ്യം. കണ്ണൂരില് പയ്യന്നൂരിനടുത്തുള്ള പിലാത്തറയിലെ നടുവിലത്ത് കോട്ടത്തില് നിന്നും. Info: This photo is taken while the theyyam was making rounds around the temple. I had split of a second to click.

Its been sometime since I posted. I have been posting stuff at my flickr page. Today I got few wonderful comments on my blog and that forced me to restart posting.

This shot is from Z point, the sunset point at kemmanagundi. Its from last team outing. oh yea, I work with a wonderful group of people. 🙂

I was writing and uploading photos of our pythal mala (hill) trip. Finally I ended up uploading too many photos of the leeches from that area and thought of posting them in a seperate thread. 🙂

This guy managed to suck some blood. (you can see pythal mala in the background.)

Leech bite: Thats Divakarettan. Our jeep driver. The poor chap was never bitten by a leech before.

They love posing for photos

My friend and divakarettan was complaing about me not getting ‘attacked’ by the leeches. They were of the opinion that I have “vatham” and thats why the leeches are not biting me. To speak the truth, I have been bitten on a daily basis during my lower primary school days. Anyway finally one tiny monster managed to bite me. Wikipedia tells me that leeches injects an anti-cogulant agent called hirudin and thats why its bleeds so annoyingly. oh yea, the bleeding is enough to scare the shit out of an ‘inexpericed’ person. So next time, when you are bitten by a leech don’t worry, get a small piece of paper and put it in the wound. It will stop bleeding immedeatly.

bleed.