Morni Hills (Haryana, India) - expect the Un-expected!

If you have only 24-48 hrs for a get out and looking for a place away from city and close to nature, you have to be here.. "the un-expected express weekend get away - Morni Hills". I remember when one of my friend Dr. Sameer Vyas asked for a weekend destination to hang out with friends but with absolute time constraint, I suggested him the Morni Hills. Although I had never been there, though I had this confindence about the hills, and I went true, he was amazed by the place. Having his words.. I had to be here....

just 4 and a half hours drive from Delhi and what else you expect!

Here we are.. friday 27th December 2013, me and my friend Harsh Kumar Chauhan (Chopta-Tehri-Massouri bike trip guy) were enjoying Tuborgs at Gurgaon after office hours. He suddenly said lets go somewhere away from the city and cheers in the hills. Morni was always in my Places to Travel list, hence we just filled the Gas in my Maruti Suzuki Esteem and pulled the gear heading straight to Chandigarh highway.

About the place:

Morni is a village and tourist attraction in the Morni Hills is the only hill station of the Indian state of Haryana and is known for its Himalayan views, flora, and lakes.
The Morni Hills are offshoots of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas, which run in two parallel ranges. Among the spurs of the hills lie two lakes, the larger of these being about 550 metres (1,800 ft) long and 460 metres (1,510 ft) broad, and the smaller around 365 metres (1,198 ft) either way. A hill divides the two lakes, but there is theorised to be a hidden channel linking them, as the water level of two lakes remains roughly the same. Morni locals look upon the lakes as sacred.

 Altitude from Sea level: 1,220 metres (4,000 ft)

How to Reach: It is located around 35 km from panchkula and nearest railway station is chandigarh. Take right from Dera Bassi on Delhi-Chandigarh Highway

Best time to visit: Throughout the year!

Brief Itinerary of the trip:

Budget: INR 1100/- per traveller.

leave Delhi (Saturday 28 December,2013 12:30 am) - Sukhdev Dhaba, Murthal (01:30 am)

05:30 am at Morni LakeSide Resort

08:30 pm Home(Delhi)

Back to Travelogue

Heading towards Morni and if you are driving on Delhi-Chandigarh highway, a break at Sukhdev Dhaba, Murthal is must. We had a tea break with delicious 'Gajar Ka Halwa'..

Since Delhi-Morni is an easy and quik drive, it doesn't need much words. All we need to remember is take right at Dera Bassi.

Motel LakeSide Resort is good to stay at..

So next time, whenever you want to leave Delhi on Saturday and back to home on Sunday evening with your family and, of course, girlfriend, Morni Hill is highly recommended.

Keep Travelling..... 

PalamPur - HP, invitation to an awsome Traditional Marriage!

In the Himalayas, I had only been to Uttanranchal and always dreamt of Himachal Pradesh. This was about to come true when I got an invitation from Rakesh Chauhan, one of my school friend, to his marriage at Palampur, Himachal Pradesh.

About the Place:

• Palampur is a green hill station and a municipal council in the Kangra Valley in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, surrounded on all sides by tea gardens and pine forests before they merge with the Dhauladhar ranges.
• Palampur is the tea capital of northwest India
• The paragliding site at Bir-Billing in Kangra district near Baijnath is regarded as among the best in the world for Paragliding. Billing (2290 m) is the take-off site and Bir (1400 m) is the village at the landing site.
• Himachal Pradesh is conducting International Paragliding competitions since 2002 at Bir-Billing every year.

Altitude from Sea level: 1,472 m (4,829 ft).

How to Reach: Palampur does not have railway station. Pathankot (PTK) is a nearby train station connected to Delhi.
Palampur is well connected by road to all major cities and towns in and around the state. Himachal Road Transport Corporation(HRTC) is the best way to travel plying Air conditioned, Deluxe and Semi Deluxe buses from major cities like Delhi and Chandigarh. Distances to the major cities are Delhi (530 km), Chandigarh (254 km), Dharamshala (35 km).

Best time to Visti: Round the year!!!

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Back to the travelogue:

Yessss! I was waiting for an opportunity to visit Himachal Pradesh. I called up my college friend Arun Kumar and he was ready!!.
Plan was simple.. catch the Haryana Roadways bus from ISBT Delhi at 7:30 pm and reach Palampur at 6 in the morning. The groom's village is 'Banoori' some 12 km from Palampur.

Arun Kumar, at 9:30 pm, our bus had a 30 minutes halt on a Dhaba for Dinner

When I arrived  at Palampur, first thought I had was.. I was missing this for so long! ...

on way to my friend's village..

Himachal - I love its serenity!

We reached his home at 7 am and we were late by few minutes:

The Groom wearing Traditional Ornament.

Mama Ji performing some Rituals.

Mr. Rakesh with his Father and Mom

Departure of Barat.

 

I haven't been and perhaps won't be a part of such a beautiful event  - a Himachali Traditional Marriage!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wowww!!!

Its been ages I had a meal in a thoroughly traditional manner!

Dadi jee and Nani jee.. a rare sight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it seems that age has much slower effects in Himalayas..

the NIITian Himalayan Raid.. !!

...... annnd the itching for riding in the Himalayas seems Contagious..!!!! 
On this ride we are a team of 5 NIITians (NIIT Technologies Gurgaon) with a friend of mine, it ought to be ""the NIITian Himalayan Raid..!!""        ;)

from extreme left - Sandeep Sharma, Praveen Jethani, Varun Kumar, Parvinder Mehra (Me), Prashant Jethani and Gupteshwar Mohanty is Capturing 'the Himalayan Raid!'

The team comprises the following Men and Machines:
1. Parvinder Mehra - an Amateur traveller
2. Varun Kumar (Kannu) - a Primary Teacher turned Himalayan Traveller
--- on lord of the streets Yamaha FZS with Canon 550D DSLR

3.Prashant Jethani - Floor Coach turned 'the Bullet Rider'
4.Praveen Jethani - Prashant and Praveen are twins, hence we have an other 'the Bullet Rider'
--- on the British Iron Roulette - Royal Enfield all time favourite with Sony CyberShot

5. Gupteshwar Mohanty - a Quality Analyst turned 'Curious Photographer' & 'the Himalayan Rider'
6. Sandeep Sharma - HR turned National Highway Rider
--- on Scarily fast Apache RTR - With Nikon Coolpix

Destination to be Raided: Agastyamuni (Rudraprayag, UK) and Tehri Dam (Tehri, UK)

About the place:

1. Agastyamuni:

• Enroute Kedarnath, On the bank of river Mandakini, this is the place were rishi Agastya meditated for years.


• A temple by the name of Agasteshwar mahadev is dedicated to sage Agastya and this temple is also of an archaeological significance; figures of Gods and Goddess have been carved out on stones.


• For food and accommodation,  Forest Rest House and private hotels are available. Other facilities include market, bank, hospitals etc.

Altitude from Sea level: 1100 m (3609 ft).

How to Reach: Regular buses are available from Delhi up to Rudraprayag, which is the nearest town to Agastyamuni. Regular bus or local transport connects Agastyamuni with Rudraprayag.

Best time to visit: Throughout the year.
Note - July to September is a bit risky due to higher landslide probability.

2. Tehri Dam:

• The Tehri Dam, a THDC India Ltd. project, is the highest dam in India, 2nd highest in Asia and 8th highest in world.
• The dam is a 260.5 metres (855 ft) high rock and earth-fill embankment dam. Its length is 575 metres (1,886 ft), crest width 20 metres (66 ft), and base width 1,128 metres (3,701 ft).

Altitude from Sea level: 1,550 m (5,085 ft)

How to Reach: Can easily be reached by Taxi, personal car, bus from Rishikesh via Chamba.

Best time to visit: Throughout the year
Note - July to September is a bit risky due to higher landslide probability.

A quick itinerary:
Budget: INR 2200/- per traveller
2300 hrs, Friday 8th March,2013: Leave from NIIT Technologies, Gurgaon at 2300 hrs.
Saturday,9th March: Rishikesh at 0800 hrs.
                                  Rishikesh - Devprayag - Rudraprayag - Agastyamuni at 0600 hrs.
Sunday, 10th March: Leave at 0930 hrs for Tehri
                                   Agastyamuni - Tehri at 1700 hrs.
                                   Tehri - Chamba - Rishiksh at 2000 hrs
Monday, 11th March: Reach Delhi at 0500 hrs and office (NIIT Gurgaon) at 1200 hrs :)

Back to the travelogue:

Day 1: We left NIIT Gurgaon at 11:00 pm (our shift ends at 10:30 pm):

 NIIT Technologies, Gurgaon

As I had to pick up my friend from Dwarka, We decided to join up at Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. Here is the 'Road Rage' just before 'the Himalayan Raid'..

From extreme left - Sandeep Sharma, Gupteshwar Mohanty, Praveen Jethani, Varun Kumar, Parvinder Mehra (Me) and Prashant Jethani shooting us.. 

  

Canon 550D at its full potential in amateur hands

Left at 11:00 pm, we plan to reach Rishikesh next morning at 6:30 am. I am sorry to the team, I did not expect and consider dense fog, which led us to reach Rishikesh at 8:15 am.. this takes us two hours short of schedule..
Anyways, we had breakfast at The Brunch - Rishikesh..

Sandeep Sharma (HR@NIIT)

We had had our bellies fueled for the ride.... next stop is DevPrayag. I have been to this place numerous times but I always find the Confluence (Prayag) equally exciting and overwhelming as it were for the first time !!

Gupteshwar Mohanty from Eastern Ghats (Orissa) at a Himalayan Ghat ;)

Prashant Jethani - Trying to capture the mighty flow of the mighty Ganges.

Now, refreshed from the refreshing streams of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi we left for Rudraprayag..

Sandeep Sharma (Rider) Gupteshwar Mohanty (Pillion Rider)

these curves just boosts the Thrill...

Riding along the sacred Ganges.. this is what I was craving for..

We chose RudraPrayag our next stop because after Roorkee, It is the only place where we could have Non-Veg meal. Being Delhiites, we guys inherit a craving for Butter Chicken/Kadhai Chicken/Chilli Chicken and above all.. tandoori chicken with Cheers!! little little pegs of Blenders Pride ;)

A small stream worth capture at Rudraprayag.

At around 6:00 pm , we were at the majestic Agastyamuni!... here is the beauty:

Praveen Jethani - happy to be toooo faaaaar from IBM

the team 'Exhausted but Refreshed' by the Beauty of Agastymuni

We did not find any problem to find a nice stay at Agastyamuni.. Thanks to the Yamaha Serivce station owner. We had been quite acquaintances due to my frequent visit to the place. He suggested us Anjali Hotel at the bank of Mandakini River - owned & taken care by a School Teacher.. 
Its time to stretch our "Right Angled fixed" Knees...    :D

Last click for the day.. till the day.....

Day 2: Agastyamuni - Tehri - Chamba - Delhi
Believe me.. once you turn right from Tilwar for Tehri.. the Ride is sheer pleasure.. with roads like black velvet carpet in the hills...... here is how I keep my words:

click on the pick (zoom in) and you can feel "the black velvet carpet in the hills"

Prashant Jethani (Rider) and Praveen Jethani (Pillion Rider) 

this is something I have learnt being a traveller.. give yourself an absolute silence .. whenever you find such place!

In between, there is a place called mini Japan of Garhwal - Ghansali. Mini Japan, because at least one person from almost each house from this town is working in Japan.. amazing and little known fact!
But, it has its own significance and beauty. Here you are:

may be this is why they call it DevBhoomi - Land of Gods!

A Landslide near Ghansali, enroute Tehri.

Varun Kumar - He might be planning to own a piece of land right at the bank of stream below..

We are just 1.5 hours of ride from the Tehri Dam..
Anyone who has seen any Dam can easily spot the commencement of the Dam Reservoir:

Tehri Dam Reservoir commences..

A wider Reservoir simply implies.. you are closer to the Dam.

picture perfect!!    ..  Almost there..... 

Here we are!!.. We were lucky to see that SUV.. it gave us a reference frame to comprehend .. How HUUUGgggeee the damn DAM is...!!!!!!

the Zig-Zag trace is Road to the base of the Dam for Heavy Vehicles! as well.

It is hard to believe that a whole valley can be carved into a man made structure.

Colour of the stream changes.. er.. refines beyond the great barrier - Tehri Dam

Tehri Dam from View Point. Zoomin and you can spot the turbines which are the key to generate electricity.

Time to head back to the Barren place and life of Delhi...    :(

2 days, 900 kms ...  exhausted We. ... but still ready for the next endeavor .. Delhi - Chitkul - Kinnaur - Spiti - Manali - Delhi on 3rd May,2013. Keep travelling!