Uttaranchal

(Uttaranchal, a brief write up, November 2005)

Uttaranchal or Uttarakhand as it is now known (what’s with the changing names that the government is obsessed with these days?). We had this 15 day vacation all neatly planned out. We flew to Delhi, took a train from there to Kathgodam, took a bus to to Nainital, then took a taxi to Naukuchiyatal. Yes, 90% of the tourists go to Nainital, but well we are not tourists, are we? So, Naukuchiyatal is this beautifully laid back place, very picturesque. We (hubby dear and yours truly) were staying at a resort that dierctly over looked the lake. (“-tal” in Hindi means lake, there are about 7 lakes in this area. Some are Nainital, Naukuchiyatal, Bhimtal, Sattal (I donn’t remember all of them now). We didn’t do anything much for 3 days apart from eating some delicious food, taking long walks, a bit of horseriding, a bit of boating in the lake, and reading. It’s the perfect place for a quiet vacation. 

We then headed towards Kasuani.

River Rafting

(I wrote this sometime last year about the rafting experience I had in November 2005)

I wonder how I missed out on writing about this before! I went white-water rafting last year for the first time in my life. I’d never been so scared. Being a Piscean, well, I shouldn’t have been, but not knowing swimming seemed to be a huge drawback at that time. I still don’t know how to swim. Yes yes, it’s a shame, I will learn some time soon. But something about water draws me, completely. My favourite colours are the colours of water (blue, white, gray, green and their associated shades). Water soothes me, I can’t imagine any travel of mine that doesn’t involve water in some way (I’m not counting big city travel here).

So, with heart palpitating, I got into the rafting gear (life jacket, helmet et al), looked like some deranged school kid in that outfit…Then looked into the river and my heart sank. I was not looking at any ordinary river here, it was the Ganges in Rishikesh, the glorious and the mighty, the most sacred and holy of all rivers in India and the most dangerous.