This post begins a series of posts that will appear over the next one week chronicling my Ladakh Journey. Each post will relate to one day of the trip.
But like all good things, this story would not be complete without first giving a little peek at the origins of this trip.
Well, my flirtation with the idea of going to Ladakh began about 3 years ago. At that time, Soumen and Jeevandeep, my colleagues at JP Morgan were toying with the idea of going to Ladakh. For some reason, their plans didnt work out. However, I was intrigued with the idea. Shortly after I got into one of the premier business schools in Mumbai and I had to shelve all plans till I finished my course. But I had planned on heading to either Sikkim or Ladakh when I finished the course, ideally in the time between the end of the course and the start of a new job. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
The Ladakh Journey: The Story behind the trip
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Off to Ladakh
Thursday, July 1st, 2010I’m headed to Ladakh at long last. This trip is finally happening after along wait of more than 3 years and many cancelled plans. Will blog all about this trip when I’m back. Ciao!!
Dapoli – Serene heaven by the coast
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Sometime last month, my good pal and former colleague from JP Morgan, Soumen asked me whether I wanted to accompany him and another pal of his on a trip to Dapoli. The description of the place seemed interesting and there were forts nearby (have a fascination for old forts), so I decided to tag along.
Dapoli, a small town in Ratnagiri, along the Konkan coastline is about a 5 hour drive from Mumbai. The place boasts of being a mini-hill station, as the elevation rises quickly to 800ft above sea level within just 7km from the sea shore. It has a number of beautiful beaches close by, some old forts, an excellent agricultural university, old temples, caves, hot water springs, parasailing, ATV rides on the beach, dolphin spotting, plenty of spots for birding and some fantastic local cuisine. In short, there is something for everyone at Dapoli. (more…)
The Bangalore Trip
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009Before I begin, a small warning, this is going to be a long post, so read at your own peril.
I’ve been stuck in the regular grind of getting to work and back (6 days a week!!) of late and desperately needed a short vacation. Since I could take a few days off, I toyed with the idea of taking an extended weekend to go visit Hampi, the fabulous ancient temple complex in Karnataka. At around the same time, Rohit, who organizes treks at Nisarga Bhraman, told me of his plans to head to Bangalore (or Bengaluru as it is now known) and cover some places near the city. His plan included covering some temple complexes as well doing a short hike to a hill fort called Madhugiri. The plan looked very appealing, and in no time leave was sanctioned, tickets bought and bags packed. We planned to leave Mumbai by train on the 2nd December. The train would reach Bengaluru on the 3rd evening, which would effectively give me two days in the city, before I flew back to Mumbai on the 6th. (more…)
Naneghat Trek
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
About a month ago, a couple of my friends suggested that we needed to get out of city and go trekking to someplace. After much thought, we decided on trekking to Naneghat, in the Malshej Ghat Region.
Naneghat is a mountain pass in the Western ghats near Junnar, in the Pune district. The trail is a popular one, with many trekking groups heading there on the weekends. The highlight of the trek is a set of caves with inscriptions dating back to about 180 BC and the mountain pass. Both are a legacy of the Satavahana kings, who ruled the region and came into prominence after the fall of the Mauryan Empire. The trail is generally considered to vary in difficulty from easy to medium and as such has no cliff exposure, which also makes it relatively safe. You can see the distinctive thumb shaped formation of Naneghat on the way to Malshej Ghat, and the trail begins from the same road.
Initially, we had decided to go on the trek on the 13th of September but postponed it for the following week. Next week, it so happened that a number of people happened to have last minute obligations and it was scrapped once again. After losing out on two weekends and not being sure if my friends would be really free on the next weekend, I decided to go on my own. However heavy rains lashed the city on that weekend and I had to cancel plans a third time. I then decided to postpone the trip to the Diwali weekend, hoping that my fourth attempt to get there would indeed be successful.
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Amboli
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
I just got back from a trip to Amboli near Sawantwadi. Amboli is a less well known hill station in Maharashtra. Situated at an altitude of 690 m, the hill station is cool all year round. I took the night Konkan Kanya Express to reach Sawantwadi the next day at around 11:00 in the morning. From Sawantwadi, it took about 45 minutes by a ST bus to reach Amboli. At Amboli, I stayed the MTDC Green Valley resort. The rooms were clean and airy.
On the evening of the first day we went on a little trip to the famous Amboli waterfalls which are about 3 Km from Amboli. The waterfalls were reduced to just a trickle, but must have been awesome during the peak season. In spite of the low flow, several picnickers were enjoying themselves under the waterfall. From the falls, we watched the sunset at the Sunset point. (more…)
Return to Bhandardara – Day 1
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
I’ve been wanting to return to Bhandardara and trek to Ratangad ever since I had been there earlier this year. Bhandardara is about 180 km by road from Mumbai. The easiest way to reach there is by taking a train to Igatpuri and then catching some alternative transportation from there. However, like the last time round, I decided that we would go there using only the local trains. We left at about 6:30 in the morning to catch the 7:30 (or was that 7:40) fast to Kasara from Ghatkopar. The train took about 2 odd hours to reach the station. From Kasara you can either catch an ST bus directly to Bhandardara (whose frequency is very low) or take the many taxis that ply towards Nashik and get off along the way at Igatpuri or Ghoti. (more…)
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
The Dr.Bhau Daji Lad Museum is a small quaint little structure just outside the entrance of the Jeejamata Udyan (Victoria Gardens as it was formerly known or Byculla Zoo as it’s popularly known). The museum is the oldest in the city and over 150 years old. It was started in 1855 and names as the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1872. Thereafter in 1975 the Bombay Municipal Corporation renamed the museum as the Dr.Bhau Daji Lad Museum in honor of Ramkrishna Vitthal Lad, one of the men instrumental in the creation of the museum. The museum was recently restored by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and reopened to the public in January this year.
Sunny Tarkarli Beach
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Just back from a trip to Tarkarli in Sindhudurg district. Tarkarli is situated 6 Kms south of Malvan and 546 kms away from Mumbai on the west coast of India. The major attraction here is the long and narrow stretch of beach, with its pristine waters. And of course, the clear waters also lend themselves to snorkeling, something that I was very keen on doing.
We reached Tarkarli via Kudal on the 7th of February in the morning. The journey had some surprises, since we unexpectedly got upgraded to the three tier AC compartment 
After checking into the Konkani style “huts” that the MTDC resort there provides we decided to check out the beach. The beach is one of the most pristine and deserted beaches that I have seen, and along with the hammocks along the beach front, this place makes for one lazy getaway. (more…)
The pleasant climes of Bhandardara
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
I went to Bhandardara on the 24th as planned. We caught a train to Kasara, early in the morning at about 7:30 from Ghatkopar. It took about 2 hours to reach Kasara. From there we took one of the local jeep / taxi services to the village, and in about another 2 hours we had reached Bhandardara.
Now the chief attraction of the place is it’s cool and pleasant climate (it’s slightly higher than Matheran) and the dam and lake present there. We were staying at the MTDC resort there. As with all MTDC properties, the rooms were clean and quite decent, unexpected though was the fabulous view of the lake from the balcony there.
On the first day there we went down to the garden at the base of the dam. The garden holds a spectacular view of the dam and in the rains when the water from the dam is let out, one can see what is called “the umbrella falls”. We also went to the Randha falls which are at about 10km from the dam.
On the next day I had planned to trek up to Ratangad or Kalsubai. However, transportation was a wee bit too expensive to arrange for just two people, so we dropped the idea. Hope to trek there post monsoons though, with a larger group. The rest of the day was spent hiking to the hills opposite the resort (on the other side of the lake).
Finally we left for Mumbai on the 26th on one long trip back home. Spent about 1 hour 30 minutes stuck in traffic on the ghats and another 1 odd hour waiting for the train (since I missed the one I was supposed to catch). Finally reached back about 8 hours after leaving Bhandardara. In retrospect, maybe going by train till Igatpuri would have been much better.
Technorati Tags: Trekking, MTDC, Bhandardara
I'm Elroy Serrao, a technologist, photographer, and part time blogger from India.
I love to design web sites, program in php and rails in my free time and of course go trekking and clicking pictures in the great outdoors.
I'm from Mumbai, and am an alumnus of Mumbai University and NMIMS. 
