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abhijit kshirsagar
@shatabdi

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shatabdi's Timeline

Commented on pravin.pattewar's review

Feb 08, 2010 11:32 AM

Can you recommend any local phone company ? I will be australia for a fortnight .

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:36 AM

The final leg of the journey however was a memorable experience in itself. After Khaltse village, the Indus River which was religiously following the Highway turns away, but another small river gives the company. The road suddenly turns into a gorge which gets narrower and narrower as we go ahead. T...he climb onto the gorge is also very risky. To our utmost surprise we saw a big herd of deer in the gorge climbing up a slippery and literally vertical mountain. At one particular place the gorge widens marginally – but someone has built a small Gompa here. The ascent reveals stranger rock formations of golden yellow soft rocks in wide contrast to the black mountains. And then with utter disbelief you enter the Lamayuru moonland a very ‘out of this world’ place. The legend goes that this place was once an enormous lake; the water of which miraculously disappeared giving this strange topography .The geologists have found evidence to this. This place is dusty and golden in color and there are many caves. The rocks look quite similar to what appear under the water. The Gompa here is ancient and beautiful. I don’t know how moon’s surface looks like exactly , will never visit moon in this lifetime , but this place looks very different for sure and is definitely worth a visit . My visit to Ladakh region was enriching in several ways. I could experience life at a very high altitude .I saw many beautiful and unique places like Pangong Tso, Hundar and Lamayuru. My ideas of religious places, Buddhism and Spirituality found a new and prolific dimension. Ladakhi people taught me that the human touch has not become extinct but is a quintessential element of there life which faces so many hardships with a smile. I sincerely pray that the Little Tibet in India remains protected from foreign incursions, the innocence of people and blithe spirit remains untarnished by modernism and the beauty of this place sanctified by the Gompas and monks remain eternal Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:36 AM

Our first stop was at the Likir Gompa which has a beautiful location and can be a perfect picnic spot. It has streams of clean water bustling down the hill with nice small trees, flowers and wheat fields dotting the stream. The Gompa has a huge golden statue of Buddha. The Basgo Gompa on the way is ...a rocky place. Alchi Gompa is the oldest Gompa in the region and is simply fabulous for its frescoes which have been preserved over fifteen centuries. There are three main temples and a few smaller ones in the premises .The biggest temple is three storeys tall, but you are allowed on the ground floor only, however you can see the frescoes on the upper two floors. The frescoes are very intricate, delicate and fantastic. It is indeed marvelous that they have been so meticulously preserved over years .They have also preserved a very beautifully drawn Rangoli for the last two years. There are a few good eateries and expensive trinket shops around. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:35 AM

NORTH WESTERN TOUR While I was collecting information on Ladakh as my probable travel destination, I became skeptical about this place as it offered monasteries as travel destination. Visiting places of worship is not my cup of tea .However, after seeing Ladakh I realized how very wrong I was! Al...l the monasteries are at exotic locations, they are indeed very good and are very clean. They unknowingly transcend in to your soul a spiritual satisfaction and peace. The north western tour – commonly referred as Alchi Lamayuru trail came as an unexpected surprise to us. It turned out to be much better than I had thought of .Although, it entailed visiting a few gompas, I had a conviction that it is going to be worth it. The entire tour is along the Leh Srinagar Highway which essentially runs parallel to the Indus River with its muddy water and terrific force .Why don’t we generate hydroelectric power from it? The tour starts with a visit to Gurudwara, which we skipped. We later saw the magnetic hill – a place where the gravity principle does not hold true .Perhaps a heavy magnet in the adjacent mountain pulls the car, with engine turned off, upslope along the road. Along the road there is a village of Nimmo. Just before it there is the confluence of Indus and Zanskar rivers. The Indus looks green while the Zanskar looks muddy. The river continues as Indus with muddy water. This place is very popular among those who go for white water rafting in the Zanskar River. We are less adventurous people and hence opted out and proceeded further .The Indus basin is very amusing. The water runs at tremendous speed and there are natural walls along it. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:34 AM

In the morning I had a close glimpse of rural Ladakh life. The people lead a very peaceful and happy life in spite of hardships but keep on smiling and are content. In the scarce tourist season they are geared up for the tourists, and in the harsh and prolonged winter, they are happier serving the I...ndian army, making trips to Siachen carrying the goods up. Each household has a small farm which grows fruits, vegetables and flowers. While returning we went to Diskit Gompa, again at a nice location. It has many steps to climb but offers good views of the valley which are exotic . The biodiversity at Nubra Valley is an unforgettable experience. Although quite far away from Leh and in the border territory with Pakistan and China – this is a place which is not to be missed. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:34 AM

We returned to Khalsar and took the left road to Diskit and Hundar. Sangam Restaurant at Diskit served us a delicious lunch although it was late .We preceded straight to the star attraction of the trip – Hundar desert. The desert at Hundar may not be big like anywhere else but it is remarkable for i...ts location and topography. This is a place where on finds sand dunes, abundant gurgling streams, snow capped mountains, oasis and green pastures, many colorful flowers, apples and apricots all at the same place and that too at a higher altitude. As you leave Diskit, the road winds along the desert near the mountains. There are many sand dunes of absolutely white sand intersected by streams with greenery along the banks. The most fascinating aspect was collection of water at several places, not even ankle deep, with placid surface offering reflections of the snow capped mountains around. These water bodies are a photographer’s delight. I have posted a few photos of reflections at Hundar. This place is also famous for the Bactrian Camels which are rare and on the verge of extinction. These camels are shorter and have two humps on their back. They are much hairy than the regular camels as they have to protect themselves from the cold and snow in winter. We had a camel ride in the desert. Our sojourn for the day was at the Snow Leopard Inn which is extremely beautiful. Actually we were staying in the middle of an orchard with apricot and apple trees around. They have a very well maintained flower garden with a huge collection of variety of flowers. They offered us to eat as many apples and apricots that fell down with each breeze and we had a hearty time. The overpriced but hygienic meals were coming straight out of the farm. They grew cauliflowers, carrots, radish etc in there farm. Even for breakfast they offered us fresh made apricot jam with traditional Ladakhi bread Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:33 AM

Further descent affronts you with the strange rock formations along the mountains – appearance like minarets. The strangest thing about this place is that although devoid of even shrubs this place is extremely colorful because of rocks. The stones are green, electric blue, blood red, and purple, whi...te, brown, violet, brick color etc and all at the same place. We saw a complete purple mountain the shape of closed lotus bud with petals and all .While still fascinating about the colorful rocks, you realize that the place is turning into white sand as you reach the nadir. This place is Khalsar where the road splits into two. And the two rivers Nubra and Shyok have a confluence. As you go further in Khalsar a reddish mountain flanges the two mighty river beds which have little water. The road to the right took us to Sumoor and Tegar villages along the Nubra River. The road is very scenic. There are vast expanses of white sand lined by barren beige mountains and dark green shrubs of sea buck thorn amply laden with the orange fruit. The village of Sumoor is impeccably beautiful. It has numerous gurgling streams of crystal clear water running through it .The music of streams, the apricot and apple orchards and white sand blend into an ethereal chemistry. The Samstemling Gompa has a lovely location and what one sees and experiences in the Gompa is beyond words to describe. I wished to stay here but we had little time. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:33 AM

KHARDUNG LA AND NUBRA VALLEY Khardung La boasts to be the world’s highest motorable road built at a height of 5606 meters ( 18380 feet ) which is on the way to Nubra valley at the base of Siachen Glacier .We met many people who gave Nubra valley a miss and only went up to Khardung La which I thin...k is a very big mistake . Nubra valley is extremely pretty and takes at least two days to cover hurriedly. It is at an altitude lower than Leh and has a very ambient temperature. The road to Khardung La starts abruptly from Leh city and it is a quick climb up as witnessed by the site of Shanti Stupa becoming smaller and distant during the steep ascent. The road condition is excellent but deteriorates near the actual pass and improves with the descent. Khardung La has very decent and nice views of snow capped mountains around. In particular the mountain to the southern side looks almost vertical .It had snowed during our return journey and this mountain looked gorgeous then. Khardung La has army check post which serves complimentary tea. We met a patriotic chaiwalla at the top who had left his good job down south to help the army and fight the enemy .The drive down to South Pullu was scenic with streams of melted water from the glaciers and grazing yaks and plenty of marmot’s .The Khardung village looks beautiful from a distance. On the decent down from south Pullu there is a fascinating Shyok river valley. I found this place very beautiful. The Shyok River flows in a valley which is barren and dotted by light beige color mountains. The reflections of the blue sky here are magnificent. A tiny rivulet joins the main stream and there is a tiny green village the only green spot in a vast expanse of beige. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:32 AM

We covered the monasteries while we returned back. The Hemis monastery is the richest and a revered monastery. It is also the biggest. It is hidden behind a few strange mountains which have oblique cuts on them. It has a good museum with a huge collection of old utensils, warheads and Thangka painti...ngs. I however liked the Thiksey monastery mainly because of the beautiful two storey tall statue of Maitreya Buddha., the future Buddha. There is something so serene and peaceful about the expressions on the face of Buddha here, it gives you a strange peace of mind. The Shey Monastery has a small lake around with ducks in it. Pangong tso is a star attraction of all the tourists coming to Ladakh and is incredibly beautiful. Many tourists , like me, do not have Tso Moriri or Tso Kar in their itinerary, but I guess Pangong Tso sums up the beauty of the three very well. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:31 AM

Pangong Tso is a brackish water lake at a very high altitude. It is 135 km long but not more than 5 km wide along its entire length. One third of the lake is in India and the remaining in China. The lake is dotted by thousands of snow capped absolutely barren mountains of different shades of beige. ...It looks heavenly and is indescribably beautiful. The color combinations are surreal – dark blue ink like water, beige mountains with white snow on top and bright blue sky with white sailing clouds together make a stunning sight. We were also greeted by the rare Brahminy ducks family swimming in the lake. One can go up to Spangmik village in India but not beyond it. High altitude symptoms and absolutely treacherous weather prevented us from going to Spangmik. Accommodation at Lukung, the place where the lake begins on Indian side is very basic. You can either rent the eco friendly hut or a tent. Extremely cold winds can make the stay in tents uncomfortable – but many adventurous people preferred to stay in a tent. The tents were very cheap and looked very romantic particularly in the night with the lights on inside. The rooms did not have an attached bathroom. There is no electricity at Lukung but the owner of the huts starts the generator for 2 hours in the night. The family who owns the place also have a restaurant which offers an amazing variety of foodstuffs – it is indeed a treat at such a remote location to get good and proper food. Unfortunately we could barely eat anything due to acute mountain sickness. Not many people stay overnight at Pangong – they make it a day trip. But coming so far only for a few hours made no sense to us, besides a day trip is too hectic .The sunrise at Pangong is also a memorable experience .It dawns early here. The water changes the color in the morning .The glaciers shine bright with the early morning light .It felt bad to leave this place so soon.Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:31 AM

The next stop was at the village of Tangtse, 32 kms from the Pangong Tso. The ILP had to be shown here again. Tantgse is at a lower altitude than Pangong and hence a few people prefer to stay here and visit Pangong . Tangtse has a Primary Health Centre which also helps people suffering from acute mo...untain sickness. The scenery changes drastically after one leaves Tangtse and starts the upward journey to Pangong Lake at 4200 meters (14500 feet). The road runs between numerous beige colored mountains with a valley of some small river in between with greenery around it. We see many Yaks and wild horses as we ascend up. The river gradually disappears and the valley becomes totally barren and looks more or less like desert. We saw strange creatures here. A mammal called as marmot which hibernates for six months but was awake and hungry when we were there . . It looks like a giant squirrel of golden brown color .Apparently timid, but here they were not shy of human touch, probably the greed and food with humans made them shed away the timidity. However, the instructions written along the road strongly urged tourist not to feed them. We saw a few herons also .As we ascended higher, the mountains started changing colors .The Mountains had several shades of beige to brown all at the same time and looked picturesque. Besides a few mountains had snow on the top to prove that we had started going higher. The dreaded Pagla Nala, a stream where many vehicles get stuck up or flown away did not look scary on that day at least. All the efforts to build a bridge over it had been unsuccessful as the legend goes and the crossing was not pleasant. But immediately after crossing the Nala the first view of Pangong Tso was breathtakingly beautiful. It appeared dark blue in contrast to the beige colored mountains. We stayed overnight along the banks of the lake. Read More

Commented on own review

Sep 15, 2009 11:30 AM

PANGONG TSO AND THE SOUTHERN MONASTERIES. The Pangong Tso Lake is off the Leh Manali Highway and so are the important monasteries of Hemis, Thiksey and Shey. We had booked a tour of Pangong tso and requested our driver to show us the monasteries on our way back for an additional cost. T...he Pangong tso is at a distance of 5 hours from Leh with occasional halts. We had breakfast at a place called Karu, the village where the road to Pangong Tso separates from Leh Manali Highway. The ILP had to be submitted here .All the roads in Ladakh region are in excellent conditions except for a few kilometers near the mighty passes. After Karu the road suddenly starts winding up a mountain. The mountains are bereft of any flora except for a few flowering shrubs. This is in contrast to the scenery in Karu where there were wheat fields along the Indus basin .The small shrubs have yellow flowers at lower levels , pink flowers as you go up and bluish purple at the summit of the Chang La pass . The Chang La Pass is 5360 meters (17586 feet) above sea level .There had been snowfall at Chang La pass the night before and the surroundings appeared nice. There is a big Glacier at Chang La pass . There is a Chang La Baba temple at the top .Indian Army offers a complimentary tea here. The Indian Army has also a first aid center manned by a male nurse. They have a pulsoximeter and oxygen inhalation facility, and a few medicines for those suffering from hypoxic symptoms, provided free of cost. We saw a huge herd of yaks and Pashmina goats as we climbed down the pass .The road down the Changla Pass had many tiny streams bordered by grass and tiny flowering shrubs which stood out in sharp contrast to the barren mountains.Read More

Reviewed Ladakh

Sep 07, 2009 08:36 PM 23273 Views

(Updated Sep 15, 2009 08:37 PM)

Ladakh is a wonderful land of contrasts .It has an overt desert with sand dunes which have abundant bubbling rivulets flowing through them. It has bone chilling temperature but the sun burns you down during the day. It has people living in very inclement conditions but they are warm hearted ....Read more

Reviewed Matheran

Jun 13, 2009 09:26 PM 5830 Views

(Updated Jun 13, 2009 09:28 PM)

Matheran is an ideal weekend trip for many nature lovers . It is a lovely sylvan retreat pretty close to both Mumbai and Pune .No motor driven vehicles are allowed in Matheran – hence it allows a fresh breath of air to all metro dwellers Matheran is accessible by road as well as by train . By...Read more

Reviewed Gokarna

Nov 24, 2008 08:43 PM 15642 Views

This place will have everlasting memories for everyone who visits it . A very sincere request though – guys , you have to change your mindset drastically before reaching this place .Do not go to Om beach with a typical beach goer attitude expecting huge sandy shores , soft soothing waves , skimp...Read more

Reviewed Colva Beach

Nov 23, 2008 09:18 PM 13721 Views

Colva happened to us as an accident , but we do not repent for going to Colva . Colva is the longest beach in Goa . It is very close to Madgaon . It is known by various names at different places like Sernabatim , Benaulim etc . The beach is simply fabulous . It has almost white soft sand stre...Read more

Reviewed Palolem Beach

Nov 23, 2008 09:05 PM 16040 Views

Palolem is a beautiful crescent shaped beach in distant south Goa . It cannot be called as a very peaceful place , but definitely more relaxed , less commercialized and less tourist exploited than most of the North Goa beaches . Palolem can be reached by road from Madgaon bus terminus or by K...Read more

Reviewed Paulo Travels - Bangalore

Nov 04, 2008 08:00 PM 2379 Views

I travelled with Paulo from Pune to Goa and back this month. I am narrating my horrid experience . *Pune to Goa *I had the following problems : I had booked a ticket for 18th ; I was issued a ticket for 11th . I got it rectified  . I had booked 3 tickets - my ticket also showed 3 sea...Read more

Reviewed Phuket

Nov 28, 2007 11:12 AM 6007 Views

Phuket is a lovely place . The very reason why we visited Phuket was the Phang nga province which has a very strange and different topography . We reached Phuket through Singapore . Phuket International Airport was far better than my expectations . Phuket is basically a big island in the sout...Read more

Reviewed Singapore - General

Nov 24, 2007 12:11 PM 5739 Views

We had been to Singapore in the first week of November .The flight thru jet airways saves lot of valuable time but can be physically tiring unless you plan nothing to do on the first day at Singapore . Changi Airport is fabulous! It has obtained the best airport in the world award every year for...Read more

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