Bike Ride to Kelva Beach

It was an Christmas Eve and we were confused about how should we spend this day to make it more special. Got a call from my friend last night to plan for a bike ride and there my search for the short ride begins.....

Having visited Lonavla and Alibagh multiple times,as they are the hottest destination for all the MumBiker's 😂 this time i planned to explore a new place. With that said, i approached to my folks with the desired destination and we all were in for the plan. Checked the route for the destination and got ready for the ride.

It was 06:00am early morning as i woke up, freshen up and got geared up. Ride was suppose to be started around 06:45am but got delayed for half an hour as we headed up to refuel and check air pressure of tyres. All chilled up we got started around 07:15am from Kurla, overall it was 118km ride from the source. We planned to take 2-3 short breaks after every 40-50km, as we weren't among the professional riders. So we were 3 of us on 2 bike's, where i was riding on Yamaha FZ-S version 2 and my friend Ankit was riding on his Bajaj Pulsar 200NS and our friend Lokesh was a pillion....

Our first halt was at Hotel Fountain, which is assumed to be the connectivity between Thane-Borivali-Virar. It was like a hub from where everything connects and believe me its really experiences hectic traffic during weekdays. Had few snacks and we were back on road, NH48 is such a treat to ride your bike on. Road's are smooth with no jerks in between and can reach your last resort without any hazzle. So after odd 40kms we reached a small junction Varai, if you ever travel to Kelva beach do remember this place name as its the only way to get there from Mumbai. A short tricky left turn and you are off road from NH48.

Driving through forest lane for 20km reached Saphale village/station which is the only crowded place in that region. Again i was amazed with the road which were build as i never saw a single potholes on the way. It's a thing that BMC should have learned from them. Surprisingly there were so many bridges on the way as the place is famous for its backwater.

And we reached our desired location after 3hs short and smooth ride. It was around 11am as far i remember and sun was in mood to give us a TAN. We were well under shades of the huge trees around the coast, few of the trees were all rooted out due to recent Ockhi cyclone which trashed mumbai recently. Spent couple of hours chit-chatting with friends and discussed plans for the next trip and its preparation. 

Hunted down an restro where we had Seer(Surmai) fish 🐟 plate which was so delicious to watch and taste. It was the best part of the trip to have such a amazing cooked #HomeMadeFood. After having our lunch with full stomach we took a round alongside of beach and as it was coastal region coconuts were been sold at such a cheap rates. They hardly charged like 20rs for a whole big size coconut which would have been easily sold for 50bucks or more in mumbai. We Geared up again around 02:00pm for the return journey and took some amazing pics/vids on the way back to home.....

Ride while heading back was as smooth as morning ride, but it was little bit more hot then what we experience at the dawn. Again at Hotel Fountain it was terrible traffic as all the mumbaiker's were heading back home as the long weekend was about to get over but we were lucky that bikes could easily dodge the traffic and keep moving. So we all were back home around 05:00pm in the evening and had a perfect day to remember.

Do remember Stay Safe. Ride Hard !!!!! and as always Carry Less.Travel More !!!!

Into The Woods

Gushing down the mighty Himalayan 🗻 mountains, i entered the astonishing Parvati Valley.....

A journey which started from Bir(blog) took me 4hrs to reach this place called as bhuntar, which is basically a hub of Himachal Pradesh as it has got connectivity to every place around the corner. Took a short break in the city and caught another bus for KASOL, adding up an hr to the journey with some breathtaking view made the bus ride more amazing then it was. While discussing my journey with co-passenger i asked him about the further route which would be helpful for my trek. Took a detour to Manikaran which was way too close from the starting point of the trek, i decided to take resort here for the night.

By the time i finalized my hotel to stay it was pitch dark outside. As you guys know Manikaran is famous for its Gurudwara and hot spring caves/pool. Got all freshen up and stepped outside of room, this was the moment when i realized how eventually the temperature drops here as soon as the sun sets for the day. It was chilling cold out there as i visited the Lord Shiva temple which was also having one of the hot water spring inside the temple itself and the smoke of the water was making the place worth visiting.Moving forward i visited in gurudwara and took a long nap in the holy hot cave. The best part about the place was it was so quiet and peacefull.

Waking up early, packed up my bag and left for the trek. Reached the starting point of the mesmerizing Kheerganga trek at around 9am, where i met this local person in barshaini who guided me to take the most comfortable path for the trek which was from village Kalga. It was basically a 14km trek which usually takes 5-6hrs of trek due to the steep slope. To accompany me in the trek there were 4dogs from the beginning of the trek which are too friendly and always will be with you until the end. 

No Doubt the beauty of the place is more than what you can capture in the camera. Few of the points were dangerous and had to be very attentive while crossing any lane in them.

Finally met another fellow companion who was also a solo traveler. While we chat and move ahead i found out he was an army man. He was on his holiday to explore the mountains. It was hardly a km remaining when i started feeling tired and waited at a place for a while and there comes another solo traveler 🙆  Eating up some stuff we reached the final destination of the trek. It was so pleasant up there and sight from our hotel was just stunning. With that said, we wrapped up few of our clothes and headed towards the peak of the mountain which is also a motivation for every trekker to reach here. Yes, we dived into the holy Parvati Kund i.e Hot Water Spring. All the dizziness from the trek was vanished within a minute as we stepped in the hot spring water pool.

Spent quality time in pool and left as it was going to get dark in no time. All of us were super tired but all were super glad to achieve the goal which we were here for. Everyone slept as soon as we had our dinner and around mid-night we heard some thundershower noise 😓 for a point we knew if it rains the way back home will be more terrifying then it was yesterday, but it wasn't raining ☔.....

It was Snowing all around the Parvati Valley..... It was season's first ever snowfall and we were lucky few of them who got to see it.....

Our Journey which we thought has been accomplished after a perfect day of trek, got a little icing on the cake when we wake up to witness the nature beauty of the place.

Now it was day to return back to the valley, it was really a difficult trek while we came down the hill as it was raining for a bit and whole valley was being covered up in the fog. Another 14km trek for the day as we reached the end point we took a tour to the village TOSH where we spent our night with all the mumbai gang present at one of the famous restro "Pink Floyd" !!!!

-15℃ thats what the temperature showing in phone at the Village Tosh, it was freezing cold out there and surviving that cold was a tough job for the night. Another morning and it was another day where we experience heavy snowfall in entire region. Running from tosh we came down to Manikaran for a quick Hot water spring bath as it was on the way back.

KASOL, an extraordinary place for the Israeli food lovers.It's also know as the Mini-Israel of the India, as you got many israeli's visiting this place and making this place more of energetic to roam around. The famous German bakery is must visit place in kasol, as well as for dinner you should try Evergreen cafe. Walking down the lanes in kasol in chilled night is something you will remember forever. Planned for another detour to Manali as i wake up but as i heard it was snowing heavily across the city which made road to be shutdown. That make my mind diverted back towards Chandigarh and i left from kasol.

Having reached late night at the ISBT Sector-43 bus stand, i resorted in nearby dorm for the night and later morning shifted to hotel where i made myself  freshen up for the rest of day. As the day was leisure i stray over the places in Chandigarh, took it from sukhna lake to the famous sector -17 market. It was such a lit market, as whole purpose of coming down to Chandigarh was successful, as i dint wanted to go all the way from -15℃ in tosh to 25℃ in Mumbai..... So i opted to balance up the body temperature by staying in Chandigarh for a while but damn it was also chilled in night.....!!!!!

It was a day to return back to mumbai, as flight was again delayed an hr or so. As i boarded the flight i later realized Ganesh Acharya was also travelling in the same flight sitting beside me 😁

And i was back in "Aamchi Mumbai" ..... !!!!!!

A journey which ended up on bright note as it was started the same, it taught me how to became a self-dependent and no matter whoever comes in between you have to keep pushing yourself up until you have reached the summit of the goal !!!!!!!

Do remember, Carry Less and Travel More !!!!!

Why Solo Trip?

It all started with "NO,We cant come this time"!!!!!

Imagine when you are all set with your plans for long tour with your friends and all you gotta hear from them is "No,We cant come this time." *Facepalm* 😠 All your hardwork in surfing the best place around your city and making all budget friendly trip goes in vain.

It does feel bad, yeah..... But this time i thought why to be dependent on anyone else when you are fully matured enough for a Solo trip 😇 Without giving it a second thought i booked my tickets for Chandigarh ✈ and waited for the D-Day to arrive.As this trip was going to include all the trekking and sporting activities i had to make sure that i am all set with the required accessories.

Gearing up with all my stuff i walked outside my house with a hope that whatever happens in the trip shall remain with me forever !!!! CSIA ⛳ It was 05:15am in morning and my flight was supposed to be depart around 05:50am. Somehow i rushed to take my boarding pass and caught my flight just before the boarding gate was about to close. Got a cozy seat near emergency exit door(Always prefer this seat as it is more spacious). After all that early morning warmup exercise was hungry as hell and super sleepy. It was so nice of air-hostesses that they started serving within no time when we almost hit the air.Took a nap and boom i was landed in Delhi ???? What ???? did i boarded wrong flight just like kevin from the movie Home alone 2 where he was suppose to go Florida and ended up going to New york? Woah woah woah.... Coming back to the topic, yes i was in delhi as the visibility level in chandigarh was too low and due to which flight got diverted to delhi. After 2hrs of delay we finally took off for chandigarh and when i reached there it was around 10am in morning and it was freezing cold mahn. All of sudden from Mumbai 24℃ to 14℃  is way too chilled climate for any mumbaikar.

Went to ISBT Sector 43 from airport as that is the place which is a hub to catch bus no matter wherever you wana go across North india, its hell alot bigger than you folks even imagine. So waited for 10-15mins and there was this Dharamshala bus standing right in front of me, as it was local bus i wasnt sure if i should board it or not as my destination was far away from Dharamshala but still i gave it a shot. Boarded the bus and started looking out for route's to reach my resort 😉 After almost 220km i got down at kangra and with help of my fellow passenger i caught another bus to Baijnath depot. Another 50km bumpy bus ride, i was tired but was feeling super fresh watching all the scenic beauty of the place. Going through the valleys with all fresh air and greenery around you. So from here i was suppose to take a cab which took around 100bucks for the 12km ride.

I am in Bir-Billing !!!!! It was hardly 06:00pm and sun was all set and it was pitch dark. Finding up my hotel i quickly got freshen up and had my dinner. The place where i stayed was basically a dorm and to my luck on the first day itself  got to meet mumbai bikers group which apparently were sharing room with me. We requested for bonfire and there it was, chit-chatting for almost couple of hours off we went to sleep. Though being super tired of travelling for 400km in local bus i was wide awake to hangaround with those guys for hours.

We all know Bir-Billing is famous for Paragliding and i was the first one to run around the mountain on that day.

Woah !!!! Whattay scene was that, all i had to do was run down the hill until the chute wings expands and flew me up in the air. Within no seconds i was up in the air at around 4500ft. Damn, this was the very first time where i was doing such crazy thing in my life. It was slight warm up in the air with cool breeze passing by. All i knew was too live that moment which god knows when it will come again.....

Landing was so neat and clean that i never felt jerk before i stood up on my legs. It was the most smooth dock ever. Sat on ground for like 5mins just to relive that amazing experience. After taking all the pics and video from the paragliding team, i went back to hotel and had my own time. After having lunch it was time to explore places around Bir, believe me camera wont do the justice for the beauty of this place. So many monasteries and Tibetian culture being lived up in this region with such a peace in life.

A day spent well in Bir.....then how about night? with all good memories captured i headed to hotel and having up my dinner was waiting in common room just going through few of the social media updates....

Then there comes this group of TV actors and actresses which were unknown to me, they started the convo with how the solo trip is going and all. On knowing them i realised how there life goes around the camera and paparazzi....way too much talks for the day !!!!

Time to leave Bir and head towards another destination in my trip.......which will be covered up in my next Blog !!!!!

Stay Tuned for my another Blog to know what happens in my next destination, hell yeah it was 9days trip wont be able to merge all of the activity in one blog 😎 Just a glance of my next destination which i will be writing in my next blogs, dont forget to follow me for the updates.....
Until then Carry less and Travel More !!!!

Here is something you should know............

Now you guys might be wondering why i am sharing this with you but trust me there is always a solo traveller inside everyone of us who is always keen to travel all around the places but is always been pushed back just because your friends are not ready to travel as they are busy all the time or you are confused to hangaround places where you can't take your family with you. But remember you have to go for it no matter how much society tries to push you back, just do it !!!!!

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