Mount Kailash & Manasarovar – a sacred place among all pilgrimages. We were actually planning to visit this place for last 2 years. As the routes were closed for Mount Kailash, we settled down to visit Adi Kailash & Om Parvat this September.
Adi Kailash also known as Shiva Kailash, Chota Kailash, Baba Kailash or Jonglingkong Peak, is a mountain located in the Himalayan mountain range in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. Adi Kailash is known as the replica of Mount Kailash which is in the Tibet region of China.
Om Parvat is considered sacred by Hindus and its snow deposition pattern resembles the sacred 'Om' (ॐ).
After analysing 2-3 packages, we finalised 1 package with the help of Anil, the Guide of our Spiti Valley Trip. A detailed research of the past weather reports helped us finally fix a 10-day window in mid-September and the flight tickets were booked 45 days in advance.
The team for the pilgrimage: me, my wife (Srilakshmi), my friend (Velumani) & his wife (Sareetha). We had to leave our daughter behind as she had to prepare for her term exams.
Any pilgrimage is not so easy that you just plan & execute. As everyone would have faced hurdles during their pilgrimage, we were not an exception.
Hurdle No 1: The rains. It was raining cats & dogs in Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand during July-August. There were floods & landslides everywhere. People started advising us not to go to that region in these rains. We were given confidence by our guide that by September everything will be fine.
Hurdle No 2: Just 3 weeks before our start, Our Company’s Expo was scheduled during our visit in Delhi. My friend & me was nominated in the organising team for the show. We were advised to cancel our trip & be part of the expo. As we sat in the first VC for the expo, our Delhi team informed us that the Expo have to be postponed because the dates clash with the G20 summit dates that is scheduled in the capital. A great relief for both of us. Velu said “God is on our side”.
Hurdle No 3: Just 2 days before the start, I got a message that our BLR-Jaipur- Pant Nagar (8:45AM) flight has been cancelled and our travel was rescheduled in BLR-DEL-Pant Nagar (5:30AM) flight. We had no other option but to accept the change and catch the early flight.
We all were set for the holy pilgrimage, with some more hurdles after the start.
Day 1: Bangalore - Delhi - Pant Nagar - Kathgodam
We bid goodbye to our daughter at 2:30 AM & took the pre-booked taxi to the airport. We met our friends at the airport who had arrived before us. The formalities took some time & we were ready for flight as scheduled. Witnessing a beautiful sunrise from above we reached the Delhi Airport Terminal 3 on time. As the onward flight was from Terminal 1, we need to go through Terminal 2. The shuttle service from T3 to T2 was missing, thanks to G20. We walked all the way to T2 to board the shuttle to T1.
As soon as we reached Terminal 1, I got a message that the connecting flight is delayed by an hour. We utilised this time to have some packed breakfast. Later when we finished the security checks & were ready for boarding, I got another message saying that our flight is cancelled. They started announcing to collect our luggage & do the cancellation formality. We then came to know that the early morning flight to Pant Nagar was also cancelled & they all were scheduled in our flight. The reason being told was harsh weather in Pant Nagar, which no one believed.
Initially a night’s stay & a next day’s flight was promised for connecting flight passengers but later that too was withdrawn by the airlines.
A group of 60+ passengers were arguing with the airline guys to arrange for some alternative and some insisted that they have to reach Pant Nagar the same day at any cost. Some local passengers cancelled the ticket & vanished. A few took help from their local friends in the capital. Another few including us were trying to book a taxi or train to reach Pant Nagar/ Kathgodam. We came to know that taxis were not allowed to enter/exit the city because of G20. My friend was searching for options by train too. After some 2-3 hours of argument, the airlines agreed to arrange a bus from Delhi airport to Pant Nagar.
On taking count, finally 20 odd people agreed to take the bus to Pant Nagar. A few were still playing cat-on-the-wall until the bus arrived. We boarded the bus around 1 PM and it took more than an hour to exit the city. One good thing that saved our time was, the airlines had arranged/packed a burger meal from KFC for all the passengers. In spite of that some irresponsible passengers wasted more than an hour for having their lunch when the bus halted in between for a tea break. Meanwhile it was raining heavily in Moradabad that traffic got stalled and we could see vehicles half submerged in water on the highway. As the driver was over cautious, we reached Pant Nagar Airport in 8 hours, the journey which was supposed to take just 1 hour by flight. Glad that our taxi was waiting at the airport to take us to Kathgodam. After a dinner break at Haldwani, we reached our pre-booked hotel by 10 PM.
Day 2: Kathgodam - Jageshwar (150 Kms)
We had a good night’s sleep after the long journey. The sound of water flow from the nearby Gaula river woke us up in the morning. The rains for the last couple of days gave a green look of our surroundings. The weather was pleasant with a bit of clouds but that’s not good news for us. We needed clear weather to get a great view of both Adi Kailash & Om Parvat. As we spent some time sipping tea on the river bank, our guide (Vipin) arrived along with the ride for our trip – Bolero Maxx. They assured us that the weather will change in the next 2 days but we were still in doubt.
We checked out of the hotel as scheduled and headed for the first meal of the trip. We had some delicious stuffed Parathas straight from the tawa at a small restaurant on the way.
Enroute, we visited a modern pilgrim centre named Shri Neem Karoli Baba Ashram at Kainchi Dham. At 4593 ft., it is on the Nainital - Almora Road, 9 Km from Bhowali and 17 Kms from Nainital. It seems Neem Karoli Baba have followers all over the India as well as in the world in millions, Mark Zukerberg, Steve Jobs, Virat Kohli are a few to name.
Later we crossed Almora & visited the unique Golu Devta temple in Chitai. It is famously known as the Temple of Justice and is believed to get justice to those who pray there. The temple was full of bells of all sizes that were tied by the devotees in order to get justice & also there were a countless numbers of hand written letters to Golu Devta in seek of justice. On a lighter note, I told my wife that this is the best place to complain about the injustice in our marriage, if any.
With a break for lunch in between, we reached that night’s place of stay in the evening. After tea we visited the nearby Painted Rock Shelter at Lakhudiyar that was on a small hill surrounded by some water bodies. The rocks had a few paintings on them.
We went down to the stream to have some fun time. Later we strolled into the town market to pass our time till dinner. The dinner had some tasty local grown vegetables cooked specially for us by one of the homestay guys who was pursuing Hotel Management in Hyderabad.
Day 3: Jageshwar - Dharchula (180 Kms)
We checked out early in the morning after a light breakfast & tea. We were heading to the Jageshwar Dham. The weather was pleasant with clouds all over the valleys. At one place, we could see the whole valley filled with clouds below us. It was a magnificent sight to watch.
In another few minutes we reached the Dandeshwar Mahadev Temple. The place was beautiful in its own with the temple standing tall amidst the pine trees. It is one of the biggest & tallest temple of the Kumayun region.
After finishing the darshan, we continued our journey further to the north. Till now we were getting the vibes of traveling through a typical hill stations. As we moved towards north, the scene changes into huge mountains. Of course they were lush green due to the recent rains.
The huge mountains had beautiful little streams flowing down that doubled as the source of drinking water. We filled our bottles at all possible places with that crystal clear & sweet water. We stopped at Gurna Devi Temple that had great view. We had a similar stream of water flowing/falling that was even used to wash the vehicles. Our driver was no exception.
On the way we halted on yet another scenic view of the mountains & the valley. Later continuing our journey, we reached Jauljibi & started following the Kali/Sharda river which was to our right. Our guide told us that the other side of the river is Nepal. True, the google maps too showed the India-Nepal border is drawn along the Kali river from that point and further north.
After lunch, following the river & the magnificent landscapes, we reached Dharchula after noon & checked into a hotel that was facing the river. On a distance, we were shown a hanging bridge & told that we can use that bridge to go to Nepal. We decided we will go ABROAD later in the evening. The only document needed was our AADHAR card.
We relaxed a bit after that exhaustive journey and we went to explore Dharchula city. We walked through the narrow roads and finally managed to reach to bridge connecting India & Nepal. It was already 7:10 PM. When we approached the security officials to cross the bridge, they said the bridge closes by 7:30 PM. We assured them that we will be back before time & we wanted to visit a foreign country.
The Indian part/city is called Dharchula & the Nepal part is called Darchula.
We crossed the 100-foot-long hanging bridge under which the Kali river was gushing in full force. We were instructed not to photograph the bridge or its surroundings. Our country looked good from the neighbouring one. We strolled through the streets of Nepal which was much narrower and had shops on both sides. They were selling Indian goods only but were costlier. We returned to our country in time & retired for the day after dinner. The actual trip starts tomorrow.
Day 4: Dharchula - Gunji (70 Kms)
As we were packing our things, our guide called up 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time to check on us. Later we realised that he was following Nepal (LOCAL) Time shown by his mobile which was 15 mins ahead of IST. After a cup of tea at a nearby stall, we headed to our next destination, Gunji. Our vehicle got changed to an even more rugged one & a new driver too for the rough ride ahead. We exited Dharchula yet following the Kali river with Nepal in sight on the other side of the river. We could see roads being made due to the rain/landslides from the past week. Memories from our Ladakh and Spiti trip were shared to our friends about the landscapes. This one was not so dry as both of them. As we move forward, we could see many army convoys passing by both the sides.
With a halt for breakfast at a village called Pangla, we crossed many bridges, army camps and finally reached the ITBP check post at Chiyalekh. This is the place where they check for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) for the Kailash Yatra, that has to be applied in advance online.
At one place the road was completely destroyed by a landslide & BRO was working to lay the path. We waited & watched the JCB working effortlessly in paving the way for us.
We even saw the trekking path used in old ages on the other side of the river.
Later at a place we stopped to have a view of Annapurna range of mountains. As it was getting colder we stopped near an army camp at Garbyang for a cup of tea. The army guys were so kind that they offered us hot water/tea as they do it for all the yatris. Of course, we were the only pack of tourists at that moment. They enquired about us & our trip and wished us all good for our pilgrimage.
Travelling through the valleys, alongside the rivers, crossing various beautiful waterfalls and bridges, we finally crossed one valley to reach our stay for the next 2 days. Gunji @10,500 ft, is one of the base to visit Adi Kailash & Om Parvat, situated west & east of Gunji respectively. The other base being Nabi.
We had our lunch at the homestay and relaxed a bit. The homestay was surrounded by mountains all around it with a valley in front that had the army base camp at the bottom of the valley. The army convoy vehicles that were accompanying us from Dharchula was looking awesome in that background. Also the weather was so clear that we could see the snow covered Annapurna range of mountains on one side.
In the evening, we had tea and our guide took us for a small hike to a hill behind our homestay. Late in the evening, we explored the Gunji village that had apple trees in each garden. Even though the apples were small in size, we found it to be juicy. We returned back to the homestay for dinner & star gazed for a while. The night sky was dark & full of stars which we do not get to see in our cities.
Day 5: Gunji - Adi Kailash - Gunji (80 Kms)
The day started early as 5AM & so did the light of the day. It was so bright at 5 AM itself that it looked like 7AM. The plan was to leave by 6 AM & reach Jonglingkong in 3-4 hours to have a better view. It was a bit cloudy when we started and we hoped to get better. The weather was getting better as we moved forward. There were hardly any vehicles on the road. Travelling through the mountains, we finally reached the last village called Kuti @12,300 ft.
We stopped there for a tea break and we now could see lot of vehicles lining up after us. By vehicles, it meant only jeeps and that too Mahindra Bolero variants. We didn’t see any other type of vehicles there and no white boards either.
By the time we finished our tea, a lot of vehicles piled up to visit THE destination. Wasting no time, we proceeded forward and reached the first view point of the Adi Kailash mountain. Of course it was covered by the clouds. We took some snaps & left the place.
Finally, we managed to reach Jyolingkong @ 14,400 ft. before 9 AM. It was a small place with an army camp & Yatra camp with facilities for stay. The weather was getting clearer for us as we started to trek to the best viewable location. We could feel the lack of oxygen as we walked and we were not able to walk continuously for more than 50 ft that too on a plain surface. Taking frequent rest, we reached the place where the Adi Kailash mountain was clearly visible. The easiest being done, now we had to climb up & down a small hill to reach the Parvati Sarovar(Lake) & the adjacent Adi Kailash temple. Now was even more difficult.
On the way we came across Bhim ki Kheti, meaning Field of Bhima (1 of the Pandava brother from Mahabharata). It is said that Bhima cultivated paddy here during his time & every year the paddy grows here automatically even now, which is technically impossible at this altitude.
From Bhim ki Kheti, we started walking up towards the temple & lake.
We could only take baby steps from there on due to the lack of oxygen & that altitude. Slowly we reached the peak & what a view of the Adi Kailash. On the other side we could see a huge lake & a small temple. It was close but looked so far with respect to our speed of walking. There was an option of hiring a horse for the trek, but most of the yatris walked instead. Climbing down also was a major task at that altitude. Resting frequently, we reached the other side/base of the hill to get a majestic view of the Parvati Sarovar. The still water with the reflection of the blue sky with clouds dotted over. Again we had to climb a little to enter into the temple. After darshan of Adi Kailash, we sat for a while enjoying the mesmerizing view of Adi Kailash & Parvati Sarovar.
We had walked not more than 3 Kms and needed to cover the same to reach the base but we were definitely exhausted. It was already noon and we were hungry as we had an early breakfast.
Also there is one Gauri Kund (lake) just below the Adi Kailash mountain. It looked close by but it was definitely another 4-5 Kms of walk/trek (one way) towards the mountain. Also the clouds started to appear beneath the mountain. We wanted to visit the place but due to the altitude & the situation, we didn’t take the risk. Slowly we climbed down to reach the base for lunch, fully exhausted.
Later we realised that we made a good decision by not attempting for Gauri Kund. We consoled ourselves saying that there must me some reason for our next visit.
As we finished our lunch by 1 PM, our guide told us that we will leave by 3:30PM as the road construction was going on. We lied down for a while but could not sleep due to other tourists talking so loud. By 3 PM our guide gave green signal to leave. The vehicle started & after moving a few metres, all the vehicles were stopped for the same old reason-road construction. We waited till 5 PM there for the road work to complete as all were cursing those construction people. The cursing was not because of the time, but because of the high altitude as people were getting sick. With a tea break in between at Gutti, we reached our Homestay by 7 PM. Struck with the altitude sickness (mainly head ache), I lied down for a while before dinner. We retired for the day early as we needed to be fit for the next day’s visit to Om Parvat.
Day 6: Gunji - Om Parvat - Kaali Mata Mandir - Narayan Ashram (150 Kms)
Feeling much better in the morning, we left the homestay by 7:30 AM after a light breakfast. We drove east from our homestay towards Nepal side to reach Nabidhang. The road/path was similar to that of Adi Kailash and the distance too was lesser than that.
In between our driver stopped the vehicle at to show few places of importance. As told by him, one was the natural painting of Shiva & Parvati at one face of a mountain. Other being the Ved Vyas gufa (cave). We crossed the famous Maa Mahakali mandir, that was scheduled for visit during our return journey as we wanted to reach our primary spot when the weather was clear. We were also shown the Shesh Naag Parvat that was still playing hide-and-seek with the clouds. We reached the first view of Om Parvat mountain. We clicked some pictures as the weather was clear.
Finally, we reached the destination Nabidang @ 14,000 ft. by 9 AM. We had to climb a little to reach the perfect spot for a clear view of Om Parvat & the surrounding beauty. To our luck, the weather was very clear, but the quantity of snow/ice forming ‘Om’ was less than usual. Never mind we got the darshan that we wanted. There was a Shiv Ling kept by the army guys for devotees to perform Pooja. My wife & friends prayed seriously, may be for their respective kid’s studies.
The 360 degree from that place was awesome that has to be experienced physically there. No pics or video will make you feel that. Standing at that place we were surrounded by some beautiful landscape. The driver also showed us the Kunti Parvat, Pandav Parvat, Brahma Parvat & Parvati Mukut at various places of the journey, many based on the epic Mahabharata.
We walked up a little, crossing the army camp to reach the temple on top of the hill. After spending some time in the temple, we walked back & drove to the Mahakali mandir at Kalapani Village. A small temple at an awesome location, had the stream flowing around it. It is said that the Kali river originates from this place.
While returning from the temple we could finally see the Shesh Naag Parvat. Having our target reached we drove back towards Gunji through our Homestay. We halted there for a while & thanked them for their hospitality. They all congratulated us for having a great & clear darshan of both the peaks.
Our return journey started from there and the Homestay guys were kind enough that they gave some juicy apples to avoid us starving until our next meal.
We traced back our route to reach the ITBP check post at Chiyalekh by 12:30 PM. The weather was clear and the route was scenic than the onward journey. We could see clearly the road were repaired freshly by the BRO. At one of the multiple hair pin bends, we got stuck because of the rocks falling from the top hairpin bend. It took almost 30 mins to clear the rocks and we stopped around Budhi village for lunch.
We enjoyed the homely food at a homestay and drove towards Dharchula. Some 20 Kms from Dharchula we took a deviation at the Tawaghat bridge & drove through the narrow roads, scenic valleys, crystal clear streams and some damaged roads.
Our driver was so happy to take us to the Ashram as his native was nearby. We crossed the Dhauli Ganga Dam & a tunnel to reach the Narayan Ashram (@ 8969 ft.) around 6 PM.
We were surprised to see such a place amidst the mountains. The Ashram complex is situated on a hill that is surrounded by huge mountains with a valley in between. It seems the old trekking path to Kailash Manasarovar passes through this Ashram. It was a small area with a kitchen cum dining hall. It had a separate building for the visitor’s stay. The highlight was the temple building that had a completely different architecture than what we have in our country. The temple was surrounded by a garden full of colourful flowers. We were served tea as we saw the weather change from sunny to cloudy. After washing our tea glasses, we headed back to the dormitory styled rooms and got ready for the 7 PM pooja. After pooja, they said we will be served prasad (read as dinner) in the dining hall.
We climbed up the 1st floor of the temple to see a beautiful decorated of idol Suryanarayan. After pooja, the caretakers (a couple) explained the history of the Ashram. The Ashram was the brain child of Narayana Swamiji who hails from Mysore and a civil engineer by profession. Now we understood the secret behind the temple architecture.
The tasty Prasad had 2 types of roti, dal, vegetables, Khichdi & the yummy sheera. We had stomach full as we were far from the altitude sickness. We washed our plates, spent some time in the garden, did a bit of star gazing before retiring back to our room.
Day 7: Narayan Ashram - Dharchula (50 Kms)
It had rained all through the night and was still raining at 6 AM. The temple looked beautiful even in the rains. Later as time passed the rain stopped & the sky was becoming visible. We got ready for the day and by the time we finished our breakfast, the sky was blue & the temple was even more beautiful with its surroundings.
We even had a chat with some of the fellow yatris and shared our experiences who were heading to Adi Kailash & Om Parvat. We thanked the care takers for their hospitality & assured them that we will visit again.
We traced back the same road till the deviation & headed to Dharchula. Again the same scenic route took is back to Dharchula by noon time. Luckily we checked into the hotel nearby the bridge connecting India & Nepal. We bid goodbye to our driver and praised him for his driving skills in that terrain.
Our hotel had an awesome view of the river & Nepal from our window. We decided to have lunch in Nepal and we crossed the bridge/border using our AADHAR card. After a long walk into the narrow streets, we sat at an empty restaurant. As we were half-way through our thali (meal), we saw a gang of (Nepali) ladies entering the restaurant all dressed in RED color. Finishing her lunch early, my wife started chatting with one of the ladies. They guessed our nationality & also asked whether we are from south India. When asked about their nationality, she said that there are both Nepalis & Indians. Some of the Nepali ladies were married to Indian males & few were Indian ladies who were married to Nepali males. Also they had gathered there for Theej festival celebration that was a couple of days ahead. After taking a pic with the ladies, we paid the Nepali Bill in Indian currency & borrowed some Nepali currency from the restaurant as souvenir.
Strolling down the streets, we did window shopping before crossing the border & had some rest in the room till evening. Later in the evening, we went to explore the remaining part of Dharchula that we left 4 days back. On the way we met the owner of the Homestay that we stayed in Gunji. He congratulated us for a safe & clear darshan and enquired about our remaining trip. We gave a brief of the ashram also & assured him that we will contact him for our Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.
Later when we were walking down the street, an old man in a bicycle stopped and asked us whether we had completed Adi Kailash yatra. When we said ‘yes’, he told us that there was a Shiva temple nearby & asked us to visit the temple explaining the directions and left the place.
We had enough of walking and as it was still 7 PM, we decided to visit the temple mentioned by that old man. When we reached the temple that was inside a small street, the old man had donned the avatar of the poojari. He was actually the poojari of the temple which we could guess since he was wearing a shorts when he met us in a bicycle.
We could sense his happiness to have us there as he explained about the history of the temple. He & his wife performed pooja patiently & told us that it is the last Shiva temple with Shiv Ling in the Adi Kailash Yatra route. We spent almost half an hour there chatting with them. He even gave some tips on our onward journey & told us to visit the Haat Kaalika Temple (one of the Shakti peet) along with Patal Bhuvaneshwar the next day.
We walked back to our room after dinner. Meanwhile, sometime back in the evening I got a message saying “Guest House Booking Rejected”, which means we have nowhere to go in Delhi.
Day 8: Dharchula - Patal Bhuvaneshwar - Haat Kalika Temple - Almora (270 Kms)
Our old driver (Akram Khan) was there in the morning to take us back to Kathgodam. We left Dharcula around 7 AM and had great difficulty in finding a place for breakfast on the way.
Finally, we could find a small hotel on the way & finished our breakfast. On the way we could see all vehicles washed & decorated with balloons. When enquired, we came to know that they were celebrating Vishwakarma pooja (something similar to our Ayudha pooja).
We crossed Askote, Didihat, Thal & Berinag to reach Patal Bhuvaneshwar by 13:30 PM. It was actually a limestone cave temple & we needed to go down 90 ft. first & walk through some 160 mtr. inside. As written over there, It is believed to be as old as the earth itself. Other parts of the caves were closed for public. Also there was a notice outside the temple warning the pilgrims not to enter if they suffer from some medical conditions.
We removed our footwear, deposited our mobiles in the counter & followed a local guide who took us inside/downside. As we entered inside we had chains on both sides of the walkway for support without which we cannot move. The so called steps were slippery and at the same time you needed to watch out for your head. Literally we could feel the lack of oxygen in the cave as we went down 90 ft. The whole cave was wet & moist that one wrong step will take you down and hurt badly. The guide took us further & neatly explained about the cave.
We came out of the cave to see some many people waiting and a few of them not able to go in because of their medical condition.
We had lunch at a restaurant near the entrance arch of the cave temple. We even met the same set of people at the restaurant who were in the Ashram and gave some tips on how to approach the cave temple.
While leaving from there, we insisted the driver to take us to Haat Kalika Temple that was just 7 Kms off-route. It is one of the Shaktipeeth situated at Gangolihat. The driver & the guide obliged to take us there. We reached there by 3 PM and we had to climb down a little to reach the temple. The location was nice with the temple in the middle of the pine trees. There was a statue of Adi Shankaracharya too. After spending some time there we resumed our journey back.
With a tea break in between, we travelled along the mountains witnessing a beautiful evening sky & sunset. We travelled a lot that day we managed to touch Almora at night. The Almora city was lit up like Diwali lights and it really is a very huge city spread across the hills.
After a wrong turn due to wrong location sent by the homestay guy, we again got in to right path. As we were nearing our destination, suddenly our guide shouted in hindi “baag, baag”. As soon I saw some animal crossed & went into the bushes and I managed only to see the tail. It was a leopard.
As it was getting late we finished our dinner at a nearby restaurant & then checked into the homestay. It was really a hectic day (& night) as we travelled around 270 kms.
Day 9: Almora – Nainital - Kathgodam (100 Kms)
We woke up early by 6 AM to see the sun already shining. We got a good view of the mountains and the valleys of Almora. The homestay guy said that the Himalayan ranges are clearly visible from the rear side of the homestay when the sky is fully clear. He told us that the world famous Kasar Devi Temple is at a walkable distance and we must visit that.
We didn’t want to miss that so we immediately got ourselves ready & walked to the temple. We climbed up to the Kasar Devi Temple and further on top there was a Shiva Temple. Kasar devi is one of the 3 places in the world that has a powerful electromagnetic field of immense positive energy created by cosmic rays and solar wind. Read the picture below for more details. Also Swami Vivekananda had meditated here in a cave here. Once again the view from the temple was awesome.
We then visited the nearby Buddhist Monastery/Ashram after breakfast. The monastery building was actually closed temporarily for visitors but we went inside the compound as they had a very good display of the colourful flags in various sizes.
We started our final lap of the trip and we wanted to visit Nainital on the way to Kathgodam. As it was not in the itinerary, we convinced the driver to take us there at some extra cost. We left Almora by around 10 AM and passing the Kainchi Dham we entered Nainital by 1 PM.
It had rained hours before & there was fog all over the lake. As outside taxis were not allowed inside the city, we were dropped at the entrance of the lake. We walked a little till a restaurant to have our lunch and later got a rickshaw for the ladies to reach the Naina Devi temple. We men enjoyed the cool weather & walked till the temple. The fog was clearing up & we got a great view of the lake & the boats floating with tourists. We thought there were a lot of tourists in Nainital when compared to in Adi Kailash & Om Parvat.
After darshan of Naina Devi, we were exploring the Tibetan market just in front of the temple. It started raining heavily and we were forced to buy a raincoat to reach to the rickshaw stand. It was already 4 PM and our driver came on time to pick us up. It was raining heavily & we were worried about coming across any road closure due to landslides. With a tea break in between, we managed to reach Kathgodam railway station by 6:30 PM. We deposited our luggage in the cloak room & went out of the station to pack our dinner.
Meanwhile I called up my company guest house but got no answer. We even tried contacting the Karnataka Bhavan & the Tamil Nadu House in Delhi. Both told us to wait until their office opens in the morning. We gave up and decided to try something new after reaching Delhi in the morning. The train started on-time & we finished our packed dinner to have a good night’s sleep so that we could wake up on time.
Day 10: Delhi – Bangalore
The pre-set alarm woke us up at 4:45 AM in order to get down at Delhi Cantt. Station. The train was on-time and we had nowhere to go at 5:15 AM from the station.
The last day too had some drama. As expected, there was no reply from both Karnataka Bhavan & Tamil Nadu House. We were trying to book a room for a day stay at that early time of the day. All were offering rooms that had a Check-in time of 11AM/12PM and they charged a bomb. To our bad luck there was no cloak room in that station so that we could leave the luggage there.
My wife advised me to call my company guest house one last time. Obeying that I called the guest house, where they asked me to call the care taker, the same guy whom I spoke to last night. On calling the care taker, he once again said the same thing. Disappointed with his reply, we again tried for alternate options. Meanwhile the care taker called me up and enquired about my details & my advance booking details. Luckily he told us to come to the guest house & he will make some arrangements. Hurray, we booked an OLA & arrived at the guest house, that was 16 Kms away. We got 1 room allotted. We ordered the much needed tea and the cook asked us whether we would like to have breakfast along with that. It was perfect timing & we said yes. We had some hot Aloo Parathas which we missed all these days. One task being completed, we got ready for the next task for the day. Shopping @ Sarojini Nagar Market – The unfinished business during our Spiti Valley Trip.
We reached the Market by 11 AM and shopped till 4 PM with a lunch & snacks break in between.
We returned back to the guest house with all the extra luggage in a taxi. While having tea, Sareetha realised that her mobile is missing. When Velu tried calling her number. Luckily the taxi driver picked up & told us we left the mobile in the taxi. The taxi driver returned the mobile back to the guest house and was appreciated.
Now packing the shopped items took more time than the shopping itself. Finally, we left for the airport by 6:30 PM & reached around 7:30 PM due to heavy traffic.
During baggage checks, we almost reached the allowed weight limits. After finishing our last meal of the trip at a food court there, we boarded the flight around 9 PM. That last 3-hour journey was the lengthiest of the entire trip as we were eager to reach home. Collecting our baggage, we waited for our turn for an OLA ride that had a long queue. As the roads were empty at that time, the taxi zoomed to our FINAL destination in no time. We reached our Home-Sweet-Home around 2 AM to see our princess in deep sleep.
Summary:
On the whole, our Adi Kailash Yatra was successful in spite of all the hurdles which made our trip interesting. Proper homework and planning helped us a lot to get the best darshan. The rain gods too were generous enough not to pour on those 2 days. Physical fitness is the main key to complete the yatra with ease. The experience of our Spiti Valley Trip helped us a lot.
Self-driving in this terrain will be more adventurous which will be considered for our next visit. The Narayan Ashram is one place that has to repeated for its location. A big thanks to the BRO & the Army people for making the pilgrims feel safe throughout the journey.
Yet our main destination - Kailash Manasovar - is pending which will be planned as soon as the roads open up, of course with our daughter.
Get ready for the next adventure…
