Beautiful Uttarakhand.. 10 days Itinerary for families

    Uttarakhand, aka. Devbhoomi is really amazing state of India. I travelled across this state recently and in this post I am covering my itinerary of Uttarakhand. Apart from places I am mentioning here, there are many more places to visit, which I will cover in another post.

  We traveled in Uttarakhand for 10 days as I could take only that much leave from office, but if you want to cover entire uttarakhand at leisure, I will suggest 2 weeks of vacation. So, here is a route I took.

Mumbai - Dehradun-mussoorie-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Nainital-Jim Corbett-Delhi-Mumbai

  Here is a day by day account along with notes:
DAY1:
   Traveled from Mumbai to Dehradun by flight and stayed at Dehradun. (If early morning flight is possible for you, then fly only till Delhi and book a taxi for round trip from Delhi to Delhi and reach Dehradun on first day. Delhi - Dehradun by road will take 6-7 hours max.)

DAY2:
   Did local sight seeing in Dehradun.
   Forest research institute building is must see for its beautiful architecture, magnificent lawns and there are 3 small museums as well. You will spend around 2 hours here.

   You can then head for Robber's Cave aka. Kachchu Paani. which is some 15 kms. away from Dehradun.

This is interesting 600 mts cave with water flowing out of it. Water is not very deep but its very cold. This is another point I liked in Dehradun. You have to walk through this water to see this cave from inside but its worth walking and then after coming out you can also enjoy hot maggi or pakoda's..

Again, at this place you can spend 2 hours max. You can either visit deer park in remaining time or opt for evening stroll in Bada bazar which is near Dehradun Clock Tower.

For eating in Dehradun, I tried Town table restaurant and level one restaurant. Town table food as well as ambiance is very good.

DAY3:
  We visited Musoorie on this day. Its only 24 kms away from Dehradun. Road from Dehradun to musoorie itself is very scenic and beautiful. As you climb up, temperature starts dropping. Views of the valley from mussoorie are amazing. We also visited company garden and kempsky falls which are 15 kms from Musoorie. There are other small places in Mussoorie, but I wont recommend spending a day in Mussoorie. We went straight to Haridwar after spending day in Mussoorie. Mussoorie to Haridwar takes around 3-4 hours of drive. So Start from Mussoorie latest by 5 pm. We checked into Hotel Ganga Lahri in Haridwar which is on the banks of Ganga river.

DAY4:
   This was long day for me which started very early at 5 am. I went to BrahmKund for morning Ganga Aarti. Aarti starts around 6:10 am. (but time changes as per sunrise and sunset so confirm with hotel staff). Morning Aarti is not as grand as evening one but the atmosphere is amazing.

Beautiful Ganga Ghat in Haidwar

   After enjoying Ganga Aarti and amazing breakfast of hot Suji Halwa, Chhole Bhature etc. we headed straight to Rishikesh. Rishikesh offers amazing adventure activities, but we had our small daughter with us so couldn't enjoy those. You can enjoy Rafting, River cossing, Kayaking or Bunjee Jumping. These activities take place 5 kms after Rishikesh. On the road to DevPrayag.

  In Rishikesh, you can cross Ram Jhula bridge and visit Temples, Baba Kaali Kamli Wale Ashram, Geeta Bhavan etc. and then come back by boat.

   We came back to Haridwar in the evening for evening Ganga Aarti. Evening Aarti is bigger and its really amazing. Dont miss this Aarti. For best view, be at Har ki Paudi, Brahmakund at 5:30 pm. Time changes as per sunset.

Evening Ganga Aarti at BrahmaKund, Har ki Paudi, Haridwar.

  Haridwar is great for foodies. I shall write separate post on this topic and present Haridwar in detailed manner. But dont miss amazing Haridwar food.

DAY5:
   We left Haridwar and headed for Naianital.We visited Patanjali Peeth in the morning and then went to Nainital. Haridwar to Nainital will take around 6 hours to travel.

   Reached Nainital at night and checked in to Hotel Vikram Vintage. Its really amazing hotel and charged us 4500 INR per day including BF & Dinner. There are many other good hotels in Nainital (Pavilion, Grand, Manu Maharani to name a few). Vikram vintage is amazing considering quality of food, service and room as well.

DAY6:
  Visited High altitude Zoo in Nainital. Its very close to city and must visit Zoo built on top of the hill. Tigers here are amazing. They also have Bear, Sambhar, Leopard, fox, Red Panda, and many birds as well.

Tiger in Nainital Zoo

 After Zoo, we took a boat ride in beautiful Naina Lake. This lake makes Nainital stand apart from other hill stations. There are many lakes in and around nainital which are really beautiful.

Beautiful Naina Lake.

  After lake we headed to Bada Bazaar which is main market of Nainital. Dont forget to buy amazing candles which is specialty of Nainital. There are scented, aromatic, magic or various shaped candles available in the market.

DAY7:
  It was another day in Nainital, we went for horse riding to peak. Its around 2 hrs. ride which covers around 8 kms of route. We paid 700 INR per horse. but this ride is must take. If you are big PETA supporter then you can go for trek on this route. but dont miss this one. View of Nainital from the top is amazing.

Beautiful Nainital from Peak

 After this we visited Bhimtal and saatataal. You can also choose to visit Mukteshwar which is around 40 kms from Nainital or almora or kausani.

DAY8:
  Travelled from Nainital to Jim Corbett National park. Its only 2 hours drive and very good road. Checked into hotel The Den Corbett. Its very good resort inside open forest zone. There are forest rest houses inside reserve forest as well but as we booked only for visit purpose, I booked it in open forest. Resort charged me 5500 INR per day including all meals. This resort is very good place to relax and views from open terrace is beautiful. If you are booking over the phone ask for DEER PARK room which is vey beautiful

  We just relaxed after reaching to corbett and spent evening on beautiful sundeck constructed near the valley.

DAY9:
  Went for early morning safari from Durga Devi Gate. Safari was from 6:30 am to 9:30 am. It was a open Jeep safari, but the choice of gate was wrong. This being a hilly area, citing animals is very difficult and rare. If you are visiting jim corbett with intention of watching animals or tiger. Please plan your trip after doing proper research. I will put few points in separate post.

 After early morning safari relaxed in the resort and then went on small elephant ride near resort.

DAY10:
  Started from Jim Corbett at 7:30 am in the morning for Delhi. We went to Delhi airport directly from Jim Corbett. If you are planning in same manner please keep at least 8 hours in hands for this travel. Many times you get heavy traffic between Gaziabad and Delhi. So keep buffer time.

 So on day 10th, We reached back with lot of beautiful memories from Uttarakhand. If you need any help planning your trip to uttaakhand, you can write to me at kaustubhkhare@gmail.com or call me at 9820031162.

  I will write few more options of itineary as well as budget soon.. till then bye bye.. and yes dont forget to write your feedback on the post.

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Srinagar for foodies

In my latest trip to Srinagar, I got great opportunity to spend time doing my most favorite activity.. EATING.. So, if you are foodie and love trying various delicacies.. this article is for you..

To start with, I enjoyed some sweets, chats and bakery stuff at Nathu sweets. Nathus sweets is opposite to Dal lake ghat no. 11.

Nathu sweets not only serves Kashmiri sweets but has amazing variety of bakery, bengali sweets and chaat items.

You can enjoy pastries, puffs and lots of cookies here. Hot veg puff was really amazing.

If you are craving for chaat.. Dahi bhalla, Dahi puri & the famous Aloo tikki will satisfy your taste buds. You can also get panipuri here, but pani puri and shev puri are no where near Mumbai.

You can also try some kashmiri sweets full of dry fruits like appricots, walnut, almonds etc.

For veg lunch / dinner, the road parallel to dal lake, between ghat 11 till dal gate provides lots of Vaishnav restaurants. All of them serving amazing parathas, chhole puri or some even serving south indian.
  
Now comes the part for real food explorer..

I had an opportunity to enjoy traditional kashmiri meal called wazhwan... Its a serving for multiple people and must be enjoyed in group, sitting on the ground (bhartiya baithak).. 
First course consists of platter of kebabs which include chops, seek kebab, chicken leaver, sweetish reshmi kebabs etc. This platter is served on top of base of rice.. this rice is enough to accompany all courses..

This is how Wazhwan enters the eating area ....

And then... the real beauty is revealed and presented to you....

Second course is a spicy red gravy called rista.. its close to apla marathi Rassa.. this rassa has 5-6 big meat balls prepared from minced mutton. 

Third course is of gostaba.. its a white curd based gravy again with meatballs. Tastes really fantastic.. not spicy, but sour gravy and made very rich probably by adding dryfruit paste..

Fourth serving is of roganjosh.. this is again brown spicy gravy with mutton, but this time not minced.. it has big pieces with bones. The gravy is spicy and tastes amazing.

Dont take your closest friend if he is foodie.. else that bone can break the friendship

Once you put all this in your tummy.. drink hot kawa to help digesting it..

This amazing drink is made up from cardemom, saffron, sugar and some local spices.. its real bliss

If you are in shrinagar, dont miss this lavish grand meal.. but dont forget to go in a group and enjoy this meal together.. the best place to get this meal is at mughal darbar restaurant which is 15 minutes walking from dal gate. There are two restaurants with similar name, the real one is on first floor..

They also serve portion for one person but then you will miss grandeur of this treat.. so go in a group and enjoy...
Apart from this, you can also try yakhni, kashmiri pulav, chicken kanti, Kabarghah (Mutton Chops)...

So.. when you are in srinagar.. apart from shikara ride dont miss on this SHIKAAR.. 
Bon Appetit 

Karnala - Best trek for beginners, Best patch for climbers

  Although I personally started trekking from Mahuli near Asangaon, I have taken few groups to Karnala as their first trek. If you are in Mumbai, this trek can be done in a single day. Very less travelling required, and you can club this trek with karnala forest resort or trip to Alibaug, Kihim etc.

  Karnala base is just 14 kms from Panvel as you can see in this map.

Panvel - Karnala Map

  I have mentioned it as best place to start trekking because, its comparatively easy and small trek. You can reach to the top in 1.5 to 2 hours easily. Apart from one small rock patch, I dont remember any tricky portion enroute.

  You can travel to base by your own car / bike, then park it in any of the restaurant and start climbing. Else you can also travel easily by state transport buses.

  You will easily get a bus from Panvel ST depot, as all buses going to Konkan pass through Karnala.

  Apart from Karnala fort its a bird sanctuary and if you are lucky and interested, you can spot few nice birds around.

  Once you reach at the top, there are around 50 stairs which take you to the entrance of the fort. The fort is not in very good conditions but you can see some bastions and protection wall which will give you glimpses of what it was in past. 

  If you are climbing enthusiast. Then the image shown below will surely attract you. A thumb shaped peak is a good challenge for climbers and many groups plan climbing expeditions at karnala.

 There are two water reservoirs, carved beneath this thumb. They have very sweet water and most importantly the water always remains cooler compared to the water you have carried with you. You can safely drink this water, provided groups before you have not thrown garbage in it.

  You can prepare, or unpack your meal at the top, enjoy it and then start your descend. You can come down to base in an hour or so.

  If you have additional day in hand, you can either enjoy at karnala forest resort, or travel to alibag / kihim for spending remaining time.

 

Kihim Beach

  So, if you reach karnala base by 8 am on saturday, you can easily come back to base by 4pm.

  If you have your own vehicle, you will reach Alibag, kihim by 5:30pm. Then enjoy sunset on alibaug beach. Spend night at Alibag / kihim. And come back on next day post lunch after enjoying your dip in the morning.

  So when are you planning your first trek? Its not too hot yet.

  but, Please dont leave any plastic behind when you come back.

  If you need any help, dont hesitate to write to me at kaustubhkhare@gmail.com or contact me @ 9820031162.

Unexplored Beaches of Kokan - Ratnagiri District 1

   In My first article I had written about some beaches of Kokan which are in Raigad district. This time I am taking you further south. Ratnagiri district has many beautiful beaches. Most famous being Ganpatipule, Velneshwar, Ratnagiri etc. but I am taking you to some lesser known beaches.

Anjarle:   

This village is famous for Kadyavarcha ganpati temple and also has a small but beautiful beach. You can reach Anjarle via Goregaon -> Mandangad -> Kelshi or Dapoli -> harnai.

You can also, enjoy very nice homely lunch / dinner here in small houses of locals.

If you are visiting konkan from Mumbai, I will suggest travelling from Mandangad -> Kelshi -> Anjarle and move southwards after enjoying anjarle beach.


Harne - Murud - Karde

    These three beaches are almost adjacent to each other. From Anjarle you have to head towards Dapoli and these beaches are on the way. On this road, dont miss one spot atop the hill where small gallery is constructed to observe beauty of this entire area. You can see beautiful view of Suvarnadurg & other forts near Harne.

  Suvarnadurg is sea fort which can be reached from Harne in a ferry. You will have to negotiate with local fisherman to reach this fort. But if you are fort architecture enthusiast then you should not miss this fort.

Harne offers another very very important thing for Fish lovers. The grand fish market near Harne port. If you are travelling in own car I will highly recommend purchasing fish here and then ask the cook at your destination to prepare it for you. Here is a small video of auction at harne beach which takes place every evening except heavily raining days.

After visiting harne, you can proceed to Murud and Karde beach and then head to Dapoli. Murud & Karde beaches has some good accommodation options if you want to call it a day alternately, you can proceed to Dapoli and stay in Aryavart.

Ladghar - Burondi - Kolthare

If you want to explore more, you can take a right turn for Ladghar just before entering Dapoli. This right turn will take you to two more less explored but scenic beaches, first is between Ladghar & Burondi. & another one is Kolthare. There are few more small beaches but I personally liked these two mentioned above. If you are planning to stay here, you have option of sai sawali at Ladghar.

In Kolthare you can check for homestay, or travel till Dabhol jetty for accommodation.

After visiting these two beaches, you can head straight to Dabhol & cross the Dabhol creek in a ferry to explore Ratnagiri further. This Dabhol Ferry carries your car / mini bus as well so take this ferry, else you will have to travel back all the way to Khed -> chiplun to reach our next destination.

So this was the first part of unexplored beaches in Ratnagiri, soon I shall put the second part where I will cover beaches near Guhagar to Ganpatipule and more.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaisalmer

This is not a desert... at least for food lover.. For me being in Jaisalmer was like being in Oasis & not in dessert.

When you are in Jaisalmer, along with beautiful Sand dunes & Haveli's & Fort , the most enjoyable thing is variety food served here.

Dont give miss to any of these as you wont find them in other part of country and more importantly they are very different.

Ker Sangri:
Ker sangri in its raw form looks like this. Its mostly found in desert and requires very less water to survive.

After preparation, the final dish looks something like this:

Apart from Ker sangri, you should also try Gatte ki sabzi, papad soup.

Ghotma Ladoo is another such delicacy from Jaisalmer, it is different type of Bundi laddu. You can enjoy this laddu  in a Bhatia Shop inside Jaisalmer fort. You can pack them with you as well as they will remain good for around 15 days even without refrigerator.

Rajasthani Kadhi is another interesting thing you can enjoy it across Rajasthan. and even in Jaisalmer most of restaurants serve Rajasthani Kadhi.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaipur

Travel and Food cannot be separated.
If you travel without trying local food and talking to local and taking a stroll in local market.. you better travel on google maps or google streetview. This is my belief please dont feel offended & at least dont stop reading.

I am starting this new segment in blog from Rajasthan as thats the place where I found dishes from different segments all together. So here I bring you step by step guide to eating in Rajasthan while you are travelling to Rajasthan.

Jaipur:
     Its a capital of Rajasthan and all famous cuisines here are really very very reach in all aspects. So if You are very cautious about calories, burn some extra fat before going on rajasthan trip.

    I will recommend Chokhi Dhani if you dont have much time to explore various places in Jaipur.
    Daal bati Churma is the must have when you are in jaipur .

  Bati is made in shuddh desi ghee and if that not enough, they pore some additional ghee when it is served. The real fun is, when you break the bati, then pour Daal & lots of ghee on it and enjoy.. Its amazing...

   Churma is sweet crushed form. You can enjoy it as a dessert after finishing your daal baati.
   If you have sufficient time, you can explore this dish in Dhabas near Sindhi Camp.

   and for those friends who think rajasthan is all veg... Laal Maans is must try. In Jaipur, On MI road, you can try Handi restaurant for amazing spicy laal maans.

You can enjoy this dish with Missi Roti. Missi roti is made of mixture of various flours and with added some ajwain.

If you are not visiting entire Rajasthan then you can try some Pyaaz kachori, Mirchi Pakoda, mawa kachori, ghevar, gajak, gatte ki sabji as well. but if you are visiting entire Rajasthan visit my individual city wise posts to know what to try wherever you go.
   

Aurangabad - Maharashtra

     Maharashtra has great history. Although Shivaji maharaj is the highest point of History of maharashtra there were many important events and places which belong to historical periods other than period of Shivaji maharaj. Aurangabad belongs to the historical period of Yadav's.
     Today's Daulatabad was capital of Yadav kingdom till 11th century. Yadav's ruled this part of India for many centuries and formed very stable rule in this region. As a result, this part became very rich culturally.
     This part was so well developed that Mohammed Bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.

     Today this place hosts many beautiful and historically important places, which makes aurangabad must visit. Here I am listing down some of the important places within or very close to Aurangabad city in details.

1> Deogiri (Daulatabad Fort): This is amazing fort and in very good condition still. Built by Yadav Kings back in 11th century. This fort is architectural marvel and those who are interested in Fort architecture cant afford to ignore visiting this Fort.

  The fort has very unique arrangement at entrance to fool the enemy attacking the fort, it has multiple levels for defence, it has maze to fool the attackers, it has pit dug from all the sides to protect the fort from enemy troops climbing the wall and it also had multi layer protection wall. Architecture of this fort is separate topic of discussion. but if you are planning Autrangabad keep at least 3-4 hours for this fort and see it with guide. It is very close to Aurangabad city, and you can visit by taxi or local public transport.

2> Ghrushneshwar:
      Maharashtra hosts 5 of the 12 jyotirlings of lord Shiva. Ghrushneshvar is one of those Jyotirlings. This temple is very close to Ellora caves. Its 30 Kms from Aurangabad city.

3> Ellora: Ajanta & ellora are one of the most famous caves in India. Ellora has 34 caves in total showcasing carving art of various beliefs. It has set of Hindu caves among which Kailas temple is most important as it is carved out of Single rock. It has buddhist caves as well as Jain caves.

4> Biwi Ka Makbara:
   This amazing place has a great resemblance with Taj Mahal in Agra. Constructed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 17th Century. This place though not as beautiful as Tajmahal, is a worth visiting when you are in Aurangabad.

Apart from the above mentioned things there are many interesting things around Aurangabad, which includes,
1> Ajanta Caves
2> Lonar crater
3> Paithan
4> Nathsagar lake
5> Panchakki
6> Sindkhedraja (Birthplace of Jijamata)

If you are planning a trip to Aurangabad from Mumbai or Pune, I will suggest 4 days trip. This place has really great attractions which are worth spending time. You can travel from Mumbai to Aurangabad by train or State transport run buses. Most of which run overnight. You start journey in the night and by morning 7 you reach Aurangabad.

It will take
1 day for local sightseeing including Ellora
1 day for Ajanta
1 day for paithan
1 day for Lonar

There are many hotels in Aurangabad including MTDC. You can also spend one night at Paithan.
Paithani saree is another attraction of Paithan and you can visit Paithani making factory and purchase a saree for yourself.

So visit Aurangabad, enjoy the places and write your experiences. Feel free to contact me if you need any help in planning this trip. you can reach me at 9820031162 or kaustubhkhare@gmail.com