Destinations

You should buy the following gear if you plan to do a Road Trip to Ladakh. 1. Helmets: Buy good quality helmets, you will be in a very tough terrain. If you have a good helmet, then get the visor that will save you from the TAN. Rest of your body will be covered, but unknowingly a lot end up tanning their faces. 2. Body Suits: We spent 25,000 INR for these suits and got worth of every penny. They will protect you from heat, sun, rain, wind, cold, and dust along with guarding you against any injuries. Can be purchased in Karol Bagh. Make sure you bargain after choosing the one that you like. 3. Gum Boots: All other shoes will fail in this trip as some of the water crossings are really high. The rubber boots are the best option for this journey, they tend to get very hot during the day but are a blessing when there is a water crossing and trust me there are plenty of them.  These can be purchased in Manali for about INR 500 in the main Market near the bus stand. 4. Ropes: You luggage will sway here and there, get good quality ropes and get extra ones. Somehow these ropes have a tendency to get lost. A pack of 12 ropes costs about INR 150 and can be purchased in Karol Bagh or Gopinath Market. 5. Plastic Sheet: Your bags, rucksacks may be water proof but they will get dirty, really dirty and a plastic sheep will keep them in great condition. We were unlucky as there was nonstop rain on the way back from Patnitop to Delhi. The plastic sheets kept all our things dry. Easily available at any hardware store 6. Gloves: Get very good quality gloves to …

Here are seven reasons why you must visit a naturopathy center 1. Chronic / Severe Illnesses: There are so many diseases whose names we hadn’t heard till about 3months ago. Now we talk about like folk from the medical line. People in India above the age 50 seem to have gotten used to eating lots of medicines. It has become a part of the daily life, by the time you turn 50 – 55 years of age, you will be eating 2-3 tablets on a daily basis for diseases like Diabetes, blood pressure, cervical, varicose etc. Naturopathy is your hope to stop these medicines completely and if not stop then drastically reduce them.   2. Thyroid: It has become an accepted trend for women in their late 20’s and early 30’s to be diagnosed with thyroid. The doctors scare their female patients saying that any more troubled with the thyroid gland and you will have trouble conceiving and that thyroid cannot be cured, but can be controlled if you start eating a medicine. They don’t call it a medicine but a supplement claiming that the cause of thyroid is deficiency and excess weight. We saw people curing their thyroid imbalances by simple yoga exercises and some control in the diet. Ishwinder is one such person. The doctor got her tested and she was diagnosed with hypothyroid in January this year. 3 months of sensible eating, staying in naturopathy centers, along with regular yoga and her latest test report from 2 days ago, she has no thyroid problems anymore.   3.   Weight Loss:  Excess body weight is the root cause of 90% diseases faced by us today. A 2 week stint at a naturopathy center will easily help you lose about 6 – 7 kilos. Such a drastic change in weight is all …

Renting a bike for your Ladakh Road Trip You have three options for arranging  a motorbike for your Ladakh Road Trip. 1. Market in Delhi – There are two markets that are of interest to you if you plan to rent your motor bike from Delhi, they are Karol Bagh and Capt. Gopinath Market. Karol Bagh for the bike, body suits, helmets and Gopinath Market for everything else. Take the metro till Karol Bagh, and ask the cycle rickshaw puller to take you to NaiWala. You will see a huge line of motor bikes outside a lot of Automobile Shops. You can rent, purchase or sell your motorbike. 2. Somewhere in Rishikesh – If you a long term traveler and plan to be in the north of India for a few months, or even a month, then the option of buying a Bullet and selling it off later on should be the thing you should do. This will save you a lot of money, frees you of any time constraints. However it comes with two drawbacks. One is that you need to know someone reliable who understands how to inspect a motorbike, and can guide you about the price that should be paid for the motorbike. Secondly you may have to wait while trying to sell off the vehicle. There is an option which is available in some garages in Rishikesh where they sell you the bike in an excellent condition and then also buy it back from you at about 60 – 70% of the price you paid. Buying and selling in Delhi is a little risky as you are likely to get cheated. 3. Rent Bikes – If the duration of your road trip will be a few weeks, then renting the bike is the easiest option. There are …

The three most popular naturopathy centers in India 1. Nisargopchar – Urli Kanchan – Pune 2. Baba Ramdev’s Yog Gram – Haridwar 3. Jindal’s Naturopathy Center – Banglore We have stayed in Urli Kanchan (3 weeks) and Yog Gram (10 days) 1. Nisargopchar, Urli Kanchan Website – http://nisargopcharashram.org/ Nearest City – Pune Minimum Stay – 1 week Maximum Stay – 1 month (21 days in busy period i.e. summer holidays) Accommodation – Starts at about INR 100 a day in dorm room for one person to INR 900 a day in the luxurious rooms. Food – Based on the prescribed diet. All items served as charged at cost price, so expect to spend about 100 – 200 a day. Treatments – All treatments are included in the room price except massage and physiotherapy. Massage costs about 80 – 100 a day depending on weight.Physiotherapy at INR 50 a session Yoga – 1 Hr of Yoga every morning Meditation – 3 days a week in the evening. Prayer – 30mins every evening Lecture –  1 – 2 lectures a day Initial Check and Registration – INR 300 Booking Method – By Phone or Fax, then deposit INR 500 per patient. Remaining amount to be paid on arrival. Waiting Times – Usually a month. 2. Baba Ramdev’s Yog Gram , Haridwar Website  – http://www.yoggram.divyayoga.com Nearest City – Haridwar Minimum Stay – 1 Week Maximum Stay – 50 days Accommodation – Four Options ranging from INR 1500 a day for two to about INR a day 3000. Food – Included in the accommodation price Treatments – Included in the price Yoga – 1 hr morning , 1 hr evening Prayer – 1-2 times daily Lecture – 2 times daily Initial Check up and registration – INR 300 Booking Method – Website. There is an …

Inner Line Permit Explained. Once you get to Leh, You think you have done all the hard work and now its time to see all those places you had been hearing about all these years. Places like Nubra Valley, Hundar, Turtuk, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri, Khardungla Pass is on every person’s wish list. After reaching  Leh, you were told you need to get Inner Line Permits, which sounded a little bureaucratic, and in India the easy way out of all bureaucracy is to find an agent and get your work done. NOW THE GOOD NEWS The DM office in Leh has issued a circular which mentions that starting 1 May 2014 Indian Nationals DO NOT need any inner line permits for more popular spots in Leh – Ladakh. The following restricted places have been exempted: Dah, Hanu Villages Pangong Tso Man, Merak Tso Moriri Nyoma Loma Bend Khardung La Nubra Valley (up to Panamik), Turtuk Tyakshi, Digger La, Tangyar (for trekking only) Any form of identification like driver’s license, Passport, Aadhar card, Voter Id Card will suffice now at the Army Checkposts. This permit used to be a trouble at times when the DM office would be closed at short notice and people would be stuck in Leh for 2- 3 days.   However if you have more time and wish to venture into the not so popular tourist destinations, you will still need an Inner Line Permit and the procedure to get it is simple. 1. Head to the DM Office – On your way to the DM office, get a copy of the Inner Line Permit from any of the Xerox shops, there are a few behind the office which have the forms. 2. Fill in the details:  They expect you to provide a detailed itinerary along with …

Now that we have given you lots of reasons to visit Ladakh, here are some itineraries that you could follow. The main constraint most people seem to have is time.  We are listing the two most feasible 1 week itineraries that you could follow. One Week (9 days Saturday – Sunday) : Can’t take lot of time off from work, worry not, You can still see Ladakh, at least the top spots. Since you cannot take more than a week, we are assuming the following. You must be an important person at work (we read this as someone with a, fat paycheck). So you wouldn’t mind taking the expensive flights. There are flights from Delhi to Leh and if you book in advance you can get some nice deals. When we say plan ahead, In terms of Ladakh it means at least 2 – 3 months. We are not big fans of tour packages, but the ones for Ladakh left us thinking. Some friends of ours booked a tour package for Ladakh for 28,000 – 30,000/- each. You leave Delhi on a Saturday and come back next Sunday. The package includes your flights, accommodation,  food, sight seeing for the 8 days you are in Ladakh. The flights itself can cost you upto 20,000 return, so this package is a great deal for those who are short on time. If you are doing this trip on your own, you follow the below itinerary. Itinerary Number One Day 1. Delhi – Leh Flight Day 2. Acclimatize Day 3.  Acclimatize ( Get your permits ready) Day 4. Trip to Pangong Tso Day 5. Pangong Tso to Leh Day 6. Local Sight Seeing ( Shey Palace, Thiksey Monastery) Day 7. Trip to Khardungla Pass ( Highest Motorable Road in the world) – We all Love bragging, don’t …

We believe anyone who has done a road trip in Ladakh has done everything, now most things in life don’t hold any meaning. We salute everyone who has taken time out, spent the effort in planning, reading forums, convincing friends, bosses, family. Once you hit the road, you realize everything, every effort was completely worth it, you were rewarded more than what you came for. Now the ones who are still planning, think no more and make sure you are in Ladakh this summer, Take a bus, take a tour package or if you are ambitious enough get a ‘BULLET’ and ride through heaven on Earth. We did the same last year in our lazy style spending about a month. So feel free to ask all the questions that may arise in your mind. For starters, below is a break up of the money we spent in this road trip. Category Expenses for 2 people  INR USD Fuel 11500 186 Accomodation 18750 303 Breakfast 3760 61 Lunch 4210 68 Dinner 7110 115 Bike Rent 18200 294 Miscellaneous 3400 55 Total 66930 1082 For those who love to see pie-charts The route we followed was Delhi – Manali – Leh – Nubra Valley – Kargil – Zanskar Valley – Kargil  – Srinagar – Jammu – Delhi Summary of where we spent our money. 1. Bike Rental : We have a BULLET, but did not take it for this trip and had to rent one out. It cost us INR 650/- a day and was a major chunk of our daily budget.  They are easy to rent in Karol Bagh in New Delhi. All you need to know about renting motorbikes is here 2. Food :  Once you are in the mountains, food tends to get simpler, tastier and international at the …

Getting to Laos may sounds more complicated than it is because there are no direct cheap flights from India to Laos. To save money, you could fly in and out of Bangkok. Laos has a land border with Thailand, which several travelers cross on a daily basis, however, Indians do not get a visa on arrival for Thailand if you do not have a flight ticket for your onward journey and the VOA issued is valid for a single entry. However, all the complications can be put to rest if you get a prearranged multi entry Thai visa that covers the length of your stay in Laos so that you can leave Thailand and return via the land border, saving you lots of money. The visa for Laos is available on arrival for Indians. All you need to know about Visas for Laos is here. You could fly into Vientiane from Bangkok. Most flights offer packages which means you get flown to the Thai border town of Udon Thani from where you board a bus or car that brings you into Vientiane. There are several flights everyday and is a good options in terms of saving you money and time. You could also take a train or bus from Bangkok. The bus takes around 14 hours and costs about THB 700 from Khao San Road. The train takes about 1000 THB. If you want to add adventure to your trip you could head to the North Thailand and take a boat out to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai. The boat could take multiple days and takes you through Laos country side on the mighty Mekong. This way you get to Luang Prabang first and can make your way down to exit out of Vientiane to Bangkok.

Here are the 11 joys, the eleven pleasures that will entice you to mountains every time. 1. Drinking straight from the waterfall – You carried two bottles of water but they are both empty now. You can’t buy Bisleri along the way. But you are thirsty? Look for the next stream of water that falls on your way(…Make sure it doesn’t fall on the walking path for you don’t want to be drinking another man’s elixir). Ah! the sweet taste of mountain water, from snow melting at the top somewhere. Why has the water never tasted this great before? Because you hardly came to the mountains before. 2. The patchy mobile signals – You are on first leg of your trekking trip and already the mobile signals are weak. Nobody can reach you, not the boss, not the family, not the job, not your relationships, failed or successful, nothing can contact you. It worries you, bothers you and irritates you. But when the moment here and now absorbs you, you feel grateful that there is one place where facebook notifications don’t chase you. 3. The God sent noodles – Just when you are getting hungry, there appears a tent on the horizon and from within it appears a man with a pan in his hand and you ask him, “can I get something to eat” and he asks in return “will maggi do?” and you say with a desperate relief, “Yes!” And then you enjoy the noodles with oodles of greenery and a view to behold for a lifetime.     4. The wonderful smiles of the villagers – You pass by the villagers walking on the trekking path and wonder how come they are so much more energetic. They are not even wearing your fancy branded shoes. They are running …