Delhi – Kathgodam – Almora - Kausani – Ranikhet – Delhi (Part 2)

Things that were missed in Part 1:

The trip put of Kathgodam started early in the morning so we were starved, our first foody pit-stop was @ Kanchi Temple where at a local road side dhaba we had delicious Aloo Parathas, Sabji, Tea, Pakodas and finally some biscuits. Total cost of the breakfast – Rs 120/-

Detailed story about the Kakri alias Cucumber:

The Pahadi Kheera (cucumber) is pretty big in size as compared to the normal cucumber, its big its juicy and its pretty sweet .. almost always. Our first encounter with the cucumber was @ the Jageshwar temple, where we had the cucumber with our meal. It was big and tasty. Our driver refrained from having the cucumber all this time cause t was raining and he mentioned that it has a cooling effect and he does not want that as the night will be cold and rainy. We did not care much for that and had the cucumber as we were excited and also had Old Monk to your rescue :D

Afternoon/Evening (1^st September - Friday):

I got almost 6 missed calls from office, God knows why the office always manages to call in such low connectivity :P

We drove 13 Kms out Jageshwar and took a small unplanned detour towards Katarmal, the Sun Temple. Little known and quite often visited this is a 2 Km drive from the main road (which connects the area with Almora) and also involves a steep trek for almost 2 kms. My temp was rising steadily and I was fearing that I would be down with fever by the end of the day. I had not fulluy recovered from the viral attack which left me with mild fever on Tuesday, two days prior to the trip.

I decided to stay out of the trek and also as it was very close to 5:00 PM and getting dark and cold I decided to make myself comfortable in the car. I also stood guard and took care of our stuff during this time.

RC, Tyagi and Puttar completed the trek in an hour and a half. They were exhausted but rearing to go on! They came back with a few pictures but a lot of stories. Quite a few interesting ones indeed.

5:25 PM:

Very much behind schedule we decided to go non stop to Kausani this time on but not before visiting the Leopard cage. This cage situated close to Katarmal and houses approximately 5 leopards. There were a number of cages within a cage and capturing these animals on a camera was not a good idea. They were only distinctively visible thru the naked eye.

This was a quick 10 minute halt and way behind schedule. We had to rush to Kausani now without any stops else we would have had to travel during the night.

Luck be it the hilly region and the fading daylight, it was dark as soon as 6:00 PM The driver informed us that 2 more hours to get to Kausani. We were already thinking about the bed and the sleep and the place…

6:20 PM:

Dark and no lights. Just a few odd houses on the way. The road was BAD and bumpy, lucky for us it was not our car. I was sitting at the front seat, wanted to drive on these roads.

6:25 PM

Crossed Kosi village, here the Kosi river can be seen at its full strength. This is the same river which goes all the way to Ramnagar Uttranchal, which is on route to the Corbett National Park. On our last trip we had our camp right next to the river, it was a very pleasurable trip.

Then traveling on the road we saw a group of village men standing in the middle of the road, we thought that there was an accident. We got out enquiring, a truck was lying stranded on one side of the road, the other side of the road was completely sunk in. The rain had caused the road to cave in big time and there was no more than 1 meter of motor able road width.

We had already traversed through 15 + kms on a safe track then we found this piece of road. We could not turn back and head an alternative way as that was worse than this. If we decided to stay put then we would have reached Kausani the day after. It was a very exciting situation (sorry I used exciting)

We saw an opportunity, we picked up a few boulders and logs of wood and filled up the big hole, then pushed one car after another and finally got away through this piece of road. It was truly a good adventure J Me was already getting a bit sick with the virus acting up (damn this virus, has been affecting me quite some time now)

It was 6:50 already. Late and dark and also way behind our planned schedule.

8:30 PM:

Kasauni here we are

Reached the tourist guest house, where we had already booked the place and now it was time to rest. The owners greeted us, we were the first tourists of the season. Every one was excited to see us as they thought that the season was now ready to begin!

Food @ the guest house itself. Dal, Roti, Egg Curry and salad.

Slept early, after a few energy drinks. Next morning was promising to be exciting! We were roaring to go on and have a good time.

2^nd September – Saturday:

Wakey call from RC and Tyagi @ 4:50 AM They were awake even before that time.

Alarm rings at 04:05 AM and it is pitch dark outside, we hope that we the sky will clear up to give us a view of the Himalayas. 05:15 AM yes it is starting to be visible. Although the entire night it was raining and so was in the early morning hours but this time the sky was clearing up…only a bit but still. The first rays of the sun are starting to shine the back of the mountains (Panchkuli) The view was awesome!

We waited in awe, just clicking photograph after photograph and looking through the binocs (good army binocs RC had gotten) to see the Himalayas come to life with the pink glow. It was such a beautiful experience even with the overcast sky we imagine how it would have looked had it been a clear sky. Slowly and steadily we waited to see and we got a few peak a boo shots but not everything in the entirety.

Finally the day breaks and the sun is up, we see distinct peaks playing hide and seek from behind the mountains. The sun rays illuminated the valley and also the clouds were there to filter the ray before the hit the ground and reflect out into the open.

We were welcomed by the Surya dev and the mountains J Probably it was their way of welcoming the first tourists of the season. We stood for sometime to click a few panoramic shots and then head back to the room to get ready for the day ahead.

I got the first leech attack here, one tiny little leech clinging on to my feet sucking the blood! Damn…had to pull it off. BTW this is just the start of the blood sucking menace, read on.

09:30 AM -

Quick breakfast at the dhaba, eggs and more eggs.

All set we decide to trek half the way down to Baijnath (approx 12/15 Kms from Kausani).

Trek through Baijnath goes through the Tea Gardens and up and down a small hills. We even named a hill “P top” after a small incident J that happened there.

It was surely a steep hill with a sharp incline and also very sharp drops. Reaching the summit w could see our guest house far far away, we realized that we would have already traveled around 6/7 Kms down from our guest house.

A local lady we met on our way down washing clothes next to her house tells us that we’ll reach only in the evening if we walk down this way. We still continued and this time shifting up a gear.

After trekking for an hour and clicking some awesome scenic shots we reach a road to catch the public transport with the locals. This was the time we decided to use the public transport instead and head down with the locals in their common transport vehicle….the jeep.

The locals quite helpful discussed how the other side of the border had better roads and it was only during elections that the roads are built. The driver of the Mahindra meanwhile drove whole way in neutral and still at an amazing speed at turns though it seemed it would topple over, the vehicle never needed to be started! He had turned the ignition off and then moved on! Wow :D

We are dropped at the gate of the Baijnath temple. Rs 15 per person for the ride, the taxi guy was asking for 600 bucks!!

The temple is a complex of ancient temples built along the river and is well maintained. It’s the abode of Parvati. We spent sometime looking at the architectural beauty of the temple and offered prayers. The pujari ji tells us about the history of the temple. A stream flows behind the temple with a lot of fish. One guy sells chana (chick peas) for the fish. We play with the fish and try to click photographs while feeding the channa worth Rs 20/- (10 packets) J

I got some classis shots of Mr. Bhardwaj (yes read Bhardwaj) jumping into the river. It was a good outing. He himself was quite excited to jump again and again.

The Baijnath temple complex has a stone which is said cannot be lifted by one person. We four lifted the stone. For the second time we lifted for the photograph only to find to heavier. (Later in the photograph we saw that parveen was posing for the shot while we were blowing our lungs out) Thanks to the poser Mr Puttar!

We walked down the bridge next to the temple and caught another public transport to the center of Kausani town… it’s arnd 4 pm that we reach there and realize that we had just 2 hrs to do a round trip to Rudra dhari. As the army closes the gates at 6:00 PM. We bought bread and butter and chips and coke, just to grub something atleast on our way.

I used my trusted swiss knife to butter the break and feed the hungry bunch :D

A deal was finalized with the local driver for Rs 350 for a round trip to Katli village (the place where the trek begins) and boy oh boy, it sure was a tricky and difficult drive! How do these guys manage?

We reached the Rudra dhari is a difficult place to trek and even more difficult when it is raining. This on top of the face that we had to be back in an hour with the trek of 4 KM both ways included. You have to cross a stream 6-7 times if you go through the short cut. It was a speed trek in all sorts, no stop overs, no rest just trek in and trek out!

We reached and searched for the guide, all the locals were asking for 100 bucks! We were amused to note that. Finally the driver’s companion agreed to help and he said what ever you feel like, give it to me. That was very kind of him.

The trek was difficult and we all slipped at least once while crossing the river. But the adventure was once in a lifetime. We all felt some tickling sensation in our feet all the way but we least cared.

The caretaker of the temple washed our socks and shoes and I feel so sorry now to have forgotten to give him nothing while we left. This is also the time when we removed our soaking wet shoes to find out scores of leeches feasting on out blood. Slowly we pulled out each and every one. RT was amused and phobic about this, he was stopping all the time to pull the leeches off!

The trek back become easier as now we were fully drenched and knew we were going to be blood sucked anyways.

I lead the way with the ‘guide’ and he mentioned to me about my ability to trek down fast, I told him that I have trekked before and he was amused. RC and Puttar were way behind so we waited almost 3 to 4 times to let them catch up.

We reached down, fully drenched and ready! The blood suckers were in plenty this time as well but we did not care. We paid the guide and then let out to return back. At approximately 05:59 PM we reached the gate!! Eureka! A speed trek was complete.

We reached the Kausani main market where I gave customary calls back home and to Mumbai about my well being. It was a fun filled affair! Picked up the Kausani tea (oops Uttranchal tea) from that place and also had coffee etc. Now it was late and dark and we had to trek on route to our tourist house. This was alteast 2 Kms from the market area. We used our cell phones for the light and trekked, listening to music and also singing. I had a polythene bag with me which I used to cover my head! Was a good feeling :D

It rained continuously that day and night.

We reached the hotel, had our dinner (the chicken was worth 300 bucks!! :X) Ate dinner and cracked jokes at each other. Had the tonics and clicked pictures of the leeches and then slept off!

Morning (3^rd September - Sunday):

Next morning was even cloudier with no views …

Lazed and a bit tierd we took a good amount of time to wake up and get ready. But we finally did set off, fixed up a ride with the same taxi guy and bargained till he dropped :D

Had our customary breakfast at the same dhaba after settling the bill at the tourist house and set out at 11:00 AM

This time we took the Ranikhet route, to visit Ranikhet was an absolute necessity! I had to brag about it to Thapa :D

The breakfast was spicy and nice, it kept us awake all this time on our journey down hill.

Afternoon 3^rd September:

Stopped at a road side dhaba to get our food. It was nice and warm. Loved the food and enjoyed the meal.

The ride was nice and smooth, with a lot of pictures being cliecked and also lots n lots of enjoyment. Stop overs were limited but good and we had a good time on our way down as well.

Reached Kathgodam around 6:00 PM 2.5 hours before the train departure. Spend some time at the station helping out and buying books. Lazying around.

08:20 PM:

Boarded train only to find out that the bogey numbers were displaced, so got out and sprinted to our correct bogey! :D

08:30 PM:

Hungry but no food!

09:45 PM:

Finally, puri aaloo @ the station. Our tummies are full and we are ready now :D eating and now sleeping all the way to Delhi.

Early morning (4^th September - Monday):

I woke up and waited for the station, Delhi door nahi. 06:00 AM we reached the station, got into the taxi, reached my place, RT and RC headed home. Me and Puttar got ready and reached office @ 7:45 AM (talk about being loyal) :P

Finally, it was a getaway with a difference, it was swift, planned but executed with ease. At the end it was surely a memorable experience.

Total cost of the trip Rs 2000 per person (overall) fun - ulimited, experience - lifetime