Our Travelogue

We have traveled mostly in the Northern India till now. To be precise places around Delhi :). We've been to Bharatpur, Jaipur, Braj Ghats, Haridwar, and Rishikesh. Yes very few places however we did not travel for last year due to certain complexities. So we plan to take this journey forward now. This will be re-initiate the traveler in us. I specifically remember the Rishikesh trip very vividly. Its was last may that we went there. it was basically a trip planned for Rafting and coming back however it turned out to be much more fun. We also made impromptu plans to go for trekking upto a stream and then after reaching had a short mountain climbing session as well. It started on a Thursday afternoon at office. A few of us got together and made a plan for the weekend. Initially we were just 5 however by the time we left on Friday night we turned out to be 15 enthusiasts ready for some weekend fun. Plan was made to visit Rishikesh using a chartered bus and then go for the usual rafting session. the journey was upbeat and we reached Rishikesh early morning. We went straight to the GVMC guest house. After a decent breakfast we were ready to take on the challenges of the day. The first activity planned was Rafting and we were all very excited about it. The bus took us up to the starting point of rafting. We went there and had fun while putting on the safety gear, which we initially felt too much however later realized its importance. The start was great and we felt the rush, which was calmed down by the raft captain or so I call him. He told us the basics of rafting and instructed us about the way to use the chappu (I cant get the english word for it). Initial stretch was not exciting but the first rapid had us all engaged in rapid activity and feeling the actual fun in rafting. After a while where the water was a little more calm than the rapids we were allowed a jump in the water and enjoy floating in the river Ganga. It was devine pleasure inexplicable in words. It was a 3 hours fun pure unadultrated. We went for lunch at the very famous Chotiwala restaurant. Its a must visit if you go to Rishikesh. Its near the Lakshman Jhula. We were tired and definitely needed rest. We moved to the camp site near the great wall rapid. It was 15 mins trek down fro m the point our bus could travel. Already tired we just pushed ourselves down to the camp site. Just the sight at the camp site near the river was soothing enough to take away our pain. We sat on the big stones in the river and enjoyed the coll breeze. later in the night there was a provision for the campfire. This was a showdown compared to everything. It could be due to the fact that everyone of us was tired and just wanted to laze around. We went to our tents and had a great night sleep. Morning was another marvel looking at the river from the tent, Morning sun peeping behind the surrounding mountains. Heavenly view of sorts. we had another round river fun and then went on for return. The trek back up to the bus was again hard on our poor bodies. We started off towards Delhi. Did we plan to go so early. not just yet. Someone spotted a trek path and we stopped to do that. It was just 1.5 kms to walk. however with weaker bodies due to previous days activities they seemed like 150 kms to walk. we managed to reach upto the stream that was the destination of our trek. again splash in the water. FUN. Suddenly the idea of climing the rock from which the stream seemed to originate caught our attention and we decided to reach there. It was a little tricky however we did manage without any help or guide. It was great feeling. We came back to the bus started back for home. Well the adventure did not end with this. We had stopped at Haridwar fr lunch and by the time we reached Roorkee our bus has some trouble with the motor belts and we could not find a damn mechanic. All of our computer engineering skills were fail and then we hit the Jugaad technology button and somehow resolved the issue. We could finally move forward after 1.5 hours of work on the Bus to fix the bus. It was not all that we had to overcome. We hit a major Road Jam. We waited patiently for about 30 mins and then decided to take the bull by the horns. Couple of us stepped out and started managing the traffic. It was good 30 mins of traffic management that saw us through. So we learnt a lot and those skills were put to great use when our office buses were stuck in Jams in Gurgaon. All in all it was a great trip for us. hope you had fun reading about it too. If not let us know so that we can write it better :)