The Golden Triangle

Best things in life are random, unplanned. Sometimes the chaos is fun because the people with whom you are in chaos are fun to be with... That's how my trip to Golden triangle was made. My nephew and I decided to do Rajasthan trip on bikes but well as the destiny had it, the night before we were supposed to leave, my darling sister had these inhibitions surfacing which until that night came out only in the form of excitement :p...

Anyways the golden triangle in India is Delhi -Agra - Jaipur -Delhi in any order :). So we decided to do the trip from Delhi to Jaipur and then to Agra and back to Delhi.

The distance between Delhi and Jaipur is around 269 km but as we also wanted to cover Bhangarh, the most haunted place in Asia so we took a slight detour and then reached to Jaipur.

Bhangarh, Rajasthan

Bhangarh is a small village located North east of Jaipur. The place has a fort to offer which apparently is considered as most haunted fort in Asia. Due to some google maps issue, we went around in circles and finally reached Bhangarh. The sun was at its peak and we were already quite tired and covered in mud and smoke but all this didn't take away the excitement within us to go see the fort.

There is a Hanuman temple in front to keep the spirits away. The fort is open from 9 am till 5 pm in the evening. No one is allowed to stay in the fort in the night. The starting of the fort is all ruins and doesn't add to the whole wisdom of spirits that the place carries :p but finally once a door comes in you will actually start seeing the fort. We took a young kid to be our guide as it was interesting to see how much he had mugged up about the place and the stories that it carries along. The fort doesn't have any water and eating options inside though outside there is a water cooler and at the gate you will find a lady offering water for free.

What our guide told was that there are no spirits or ghosts there though there is a rock further from the fort where you can hike though its pretty steep and he told us a story about the queen becoming rock or something like that :). Well to be honest in my opinion it wasn't that great to visit Bhangarh considering Rajasthan has alot many forts to offer!

Finally we started from Bhangarh to Jaipur and reached around 7-8 in the evening.

Jaipur
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. It has many forts and stories to tell from past. The city has this historic, traditional feel to itself as even the buildings in the main market have historical essence to them.

#Food
Well if you are a foodie, Jaipur is the place to be. We were disappointed as we couldn't find good dal baati churma anywhere. Finally we went to LMB in main market. In my opinion it was not really traditional and everything was over priced there. Next day morning we went to Samrat restaurant on a parallel road to the main market and got some amazing poha, jalebi , dhokla, samosa, kachori. As I prefer tea with less milk which they couldn't make and it was without ginger so I didn't like it but everything else was top notch in this place and the prices were very reasonable.

You must definitely try lassi in any of the local shops as it's totally to die for. The kulfi and other sweets everywhere are really good as well

We also heard about choki Dhani which is located little further from the city but you can have an authentic experience of food and hospitality there as well.

#Stay
Well if you don't mind sharing rooms then in my opinion Zostel is the best option you have got out there. You can get a bed in AC room in mixed dorms for 500 INR.

There are many hotels available otherwise in the main MG road.

#Places to visit

As our aim was more of biking within 3 days hence we didn't go around much except Amer fort.

Amer fort: It's a massive fort and would require 2-3 hours if you want to explore it in detail. Though I am not sure that the stories which guides tell , are those really true or not but it definitely gives you a perspective to the place. You can find guides in different languages like french, Spanish etc.

You can take Elephant safari till the gate for 400 INR or shared jeep for 50 INR per person. Well as they only take you till the gate, hence if you are fit then you don't really need any safari though experience of walking on the trail of fort on elephant definitely might give you some royal feeling :).

The ticket to enter in the fort is 100 INR per person.

There are many other places to visit and MG road is full of traditional clothes, bags, shoes and earrings for shopping but in lieu of time we started for Agra immediately.

Other places to visit
Hawa Mahal: As its located in the heart of the city, we got a glimpse of it though we didn't really go inside

City Palace
Jantar Mantar
Jal Mahal : You can only look at Jal mahal from far as the boat service to take you to the fort is stopped now. This was an interesting fort to see as its submerged in water and still stands out there beautifully. It would be interesting to see how the floor and walls are carrying themselves with all the water around and I would consider it to be a master piece and an architectural delight if the walls and floor are not moist and wet due to the water under.
Nahargarh fort: This fort is located on the way to Amer fort but we chose not to visit this fort.

Agra

The distance between Jaipur and Agra is about 240 km. As Golden triangle is a very popular route, the roads are pretty good. We stopped multiple times on the way to have fruit, tea and such other things. I slept twice while riding as national highways in my opinion are always very boring to ride on.

50 km before Agra there is Fatehpur Sikri. This is a photographer's paradise as there are many places to see like Buland Darwaza, Jodha Bai's palace, Salim chisthi tomb etc.  As we were already late and most of us had already been to Fatehpur Sikri, we didn't detour to Fatehpur Sikri and instead continued to Agra.

Finally we reached Agra but due to festive season the market was full and busy. As my sister lives in Agra, we headed to Agra cantt. to surprise her.

#Food
Even though we ate at home. Agra has many eating joints available.

You can get very popular Panchi petha, Mathura's peda which are yum.
Also there are many popular shops which serves samosa, pani puri, kachori , tikki etc. We definitely didn't want to miss on this yummy treat and hence ordered all of this at home.

For the morning, we saved our appetite for the Sharma's burger :D...Those are the most popular burger of my family. After filling our stomach's to our brim we left for Delhi

#Places to Visit

Taj Mahal

Fateh Pur sikri
Main market

And then the plan for the day was to just ride and ride and ride and reach Delhi! Finally by evening 5 pm we reached Delhi and stopped over for a yum cup of tea in Gurgaon at my sister's place.

We reached Karol bagh, where we returned my rented bike and headed straight for home as our bum needed the softness of our mattresses after 3 days of hard seats of bullet! :)


Note:
1) Leave early and stop early. Avoid riding in night
2) Get enough sleep
3) If you plan to stay in Zostel then book online in advance
4) Generally its very hot so carry a caps, umbrellas, sun screen and drink lots of water.

New York City - The city that never sleeps

The city of skyscrapers where people are rushing in every direction almost all the time but definitely also a city where whenever I asked somebody a question they stopped  helped smiled back and left so it was an interesting crowd which was always running but still was human enough to stop by and smile.

I decided to spend my weekend at NYC before I head to Atlanta for work and I am glad that I chose to do so. I arrived at the airport and after all the immigration check when I came out , I realized I am not able to book Uber as my network had issues so I went to the information centre and booked a cab by dialing in a number for 57$ to Brooklyn that's where my hostel was located.

I had already informed my hostel that I will be arriving late so there were no hick ups around that. I checked into my room which was a small dingy room for 52$ per night but the hostel had many other amenities and I anyways knew that I am not gonna spend much of my time in the room so I was ok with the dinginess of the room.

After talking around with people, I kind of decided that I don't want to take hop on hop off buses which were available for as much as 29$ to 59$ and more based on the places covered etc. I instead bought a week pass for 10$ for metro and used it to go around.

Next day I woke up early in the morning, walked around, had my cup of coffee and started my Voyage of NYC. I generally like to do off beat stuff, go some local places and try some local stuff but for some reason I wanted to keep this trip very 'touristy'.

I downloaded the NYC train map, bought a 10$ for a week train pass and headed straight for Statue of liberty. I walked around and reached to the place to take Ferry to the statue. Now there are 2 options one is you take the free ferry to the statue and Ellis island which passes through the statue and island but don't stop there so you can't get down go around and take photos and then you have an option for private ferries for different prices.  You can get reserve, pedestal and crown. With crown you can walk all the way upto the crown of the statue but this one is booked at least 3 months in advance so I took pedestal where I could go inside the statue and to Ellis Island for 18$. In my opinion it was definitely worth it.

The Ferry to statue starts from 8:30 am till 3:00 pm. After enjoying the vastness of the status for an hour or so, I took the ferry to Ellis island. The Ellis island tells about the immigrants from all over the world to America and how different cultures have got imbibed in the heart of America. After walking around 3-4 floors of Ellis Island, I went back to the city to check out some Sky scrapers.

Practically everything is at a walk able distance so first I went to the NYC stock exchange to take the photo with the iconic bull but finally I chose to avoid it due to the mad rush of tourists around it to take photos.

I kept walking around at Wall Street, times square,  Rockefeller center building, Empire state building and kept admiring the super huge sky scrapers and then I took my tickets to the 'Broadway show'.

I would have liked to see something else but due to weekend at this time of the day only 'Aladdin' was available and because I wanted to experience the Broadway show I bought tickets for Aladdin. There are shows available at 2 pm and  7:30 pm for as much as 50$ and all the way up to 500-600$. I got mine in Mezzanine for 79$.

If the heights give you a thrill then you must experience either of Empire state building or Rockefeller center. The tickets for both of them can be bought at
https://www.rockefellercenter.com/
http://www.esbnyc.com/buy-tickets

I chose against them because I had already spent a huge amount to check out the Broadway show.

Next I headed to 9/11 memorial museum. The 9/11 memorial is free of charge and is open from 7:30 am to 9 pm.

My final destination in the touristy places was China town. Once you are in China town , you are literally in China. The place is full of Chinese food, people, language , temples and everything. There are many bakeries which serve very interesting and colorful Chinese pastries and yet again you can find exotic , colorful sea food also in the market and then continue walking further and in few minutes you are in Little Italy with restaurants serving Italian cuisine and the cafes which are very Italian.

After this I sat at a cafe in Times square and waited until my Broadway show began.  The show I must say was an out of world experience. I have seen people act and I have seen people dance but this was my first time into a musical and it was really beautiful, witty and perfect. Hats off to all those artists who put their heart and blood into it. It definitely was worth the experience.

Being a Salsera how could I not go dancing when I am in NYC! so finally I headed to Salsa mania on 34th street and well I am glad I went there. I also met a friend from India and did some on 2 and Cuban dancing. If you love salsa there are 2 places to be in NYC for salsa socials, one is salsa mania on Saturday and Candela on Friday's. For any information on salsa in NYC check out http://www.salsanewyork.com/calendar2.htm

After dancing till 1 am in the morning, I finally headed back to my hostel just to sleep for few hours because yet again I got up early and went to Central park for my morning run. What's interesting about Central park is definitely the greenery but more than that what was striking in my opinion was this mass of greenery in the middle of skyscrapers. I am sure when people look at central park from those closed windows in those tall buildings, they imagine fresh breath and a break in their daily hectic schedule. I totally loved running there also because there were so so many people running who were a motivation to me and also because, I generally run on a flat surface and Central park had many highs and lows to offer and that was a new experience for me in my running.

Next I straight headed to the Grand central station. Well being from India and knowing the condition of our railway stations, it definitely was amazing to see the central station like a five star hotel!

Finally after hogging all the veggies at Chipotle, I headed back to my hostel as I had to take a flight back Atlanta. As I had hardly slept, all through the flight I was sleeping and falling around but hopefully not snoring!

Jo bole so Nihal - Sat Sri Akal - Hemkund saheb/Valley of flowers

Even before I planned for Roopkund, I had already booked my tickets to witness Valley of flowers during monsoons when the flowers in the valley bloom to their most beautiful self!

With 15th August holiday in the mid of week, we planned for this trip for mainly 4 days to trek to valley of flowers and Hemkund saheb but as it takes 2 days to reach Govind ghat itself from Delhi so we had to make our trip to be 8 days long.

We followed the most common itinerary with a twist of adventurous fly from Ghangria to Govind ghat in helicopter which if you can afford , is  a must try though if it could be longer, it would have been more fun.


Trip Itinerary
Banglore - New Delhi - Haridwar - Joshimath - Govind dham - Ghangria - Valley of flowers - Ghangria - Hemkund Saheb - Ghangria - Govind dham - Badrinath - Mana village - Joshimath - Rishikesh - New Delhi - Bangalore

Just before the start of the trip, we got a late night flight cancellation SMS. As at the start of the year I had experienced Chadar trek cancelling with same set of friends, the sms got us all panicked. Finally by the late night, we all got our flights booked again though now we all were in different flights and reached at different times.

Our plan was to leave Delhi by 12 o'clock but as we all reached at different times so we finally left for Rishikesh in my car at 3 pm.

New Delhi - Haridwar

The roads are pretty decent. We took the route from Delhi - Meerut - Muzzafar nagar - Roorkee - Haridwar. As we started late so by the time we reached Haridwar, it was already 9 pm so we decided to stay in Haridwar itself

#Stay
Haridwar has many dharamshala where you can stay for very cheap price. We stayed in Hotel Heritage Sandesh as it was on the main road and had a big room with 4 beds for 1500 INR i.e. if you have good negotiation/bargaining skills otherwise this could be as much as 2200 INR.

#Food
At Har ki podi , you must definitely try the aloo poori, Maal pua and Gulab jamun. They are fresh, yummy and must try if you are a foodie.

Mostly the vegetarian food is available around Haridwar and is fresh and good to have. You can get a meal for 2 within 500 INR

Poori Chole at Haridwar

#Places to visit
Har ki podi: You can take a dip in the holy Ganga at Har ki podi.

There are many temples at Har ki podi where people will push you to pray for money.

Market at Har ki podi: There is a huge market lane where you can get random things to buy starting from jewellery to things for Pooja. This market lane also has many cheap dormitories available for stay.

Shiva statue: On the main street from Haridwar to Rishkiesh, there is a Vivekananda park where there is a big statue of Shiva. You can sit in the park and is a good spot for some photography.

If abstract photography interests you then Har ki podi would provide you many subjects for it.

Har ki podi

Shiva statue at Vivekanand park

Haridwar - Joshimath

Our initial plan was to go to Govind ghat but we wanted to fill petrol at Joshimath as the last petrol pump and the ATM is available at Joshimath. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Joshimath (8 pm), the petrol pump was closed. The guy at the petrol pump lied that he is not from petrol pump and that it's closed though there was a bike and a scooter waiting. Once we left he filled fuel for them and in the morning the same guy was there to fill petrol for us. So in case you want to fill petrol be there in Joshimath before 8 pm.

The petrol pump opened at 7 am in the morning. We filled our car tank fully and after breakfast left for Joshimath

#Places to Stay

Hotel Vivek for 1400 INR with 4 beds was a very good choice as it was clean and well ventilated

Hotel Parvati for 800 INR with 3 beds though it was not very clean partly because of the gloomy walls and dampness in the room.

#Food

We mostly ate in Food Plaza for every meal for almost 700-800 INR though when we had our last meal there, we found a fly in the masala of masala dosa.

Bridge enroute

#Joshimath-Govind Ghat

As the distance is just 18-20 km, we reached in 25-30 minutes. We parked our car, lightened our luggage as we knew we have to carry our luggage. As we didn't take our car till the bridge, our guy got ready to keep the car for 150 INR for 3 days.

Joshimath view from our room

#Stay

One can stay for nominal charges in the dormitories available in the Gurdwara.

There are many hotels available on top where you can get rooms for 1500-2000 INR as this is the peak season otherwise you might get rooms for little cheaper.

#Food

If you really want to have clean, simple and tasty food, head nowhere but the Gurudwara for langar. The food was very tasty and the wisdom with which they serve, it just increases your appetite by multiple folds. As it's langar hence the food was free but I personally believe, if you are financially capable then you must donate an equal amount which you must have spent in any hotel otherwise.

Next to the Helipad , there is a hotel which is clean and tidy and serves decent food. We paid around 700 INR for 4 people

Govind Ghat - Ghangria

Breakfast at Govindh ghat

Distance of Valley of flower and hemkund saheb from Govind ghat

View in the starting of trek from Govind ghat to Ghangria

The route

After breakfast we immediately left for Ghangria. Near the bridge a free registration is done for Hemkund Saheb. Also,from the bridge you can get Jeeps which takes you 4 km into the trek. These are shared jeeps and charges 100-200 INR per person.

As we didn't want to take Jeep, we began our trek right from Govind ghat from where the trek to Ghangria is 14 km.

There are many places available where you can have maggi, Aloo parantha, cold drinks and tea. We ate Maggi at one place where we got 3 hair in our maggi hence eating at these places at your own risk :)

We started from Govind ghat at 10 am and finally reached Ghangria at 7 pm in the evening. By the time we reached, it was already dark. 

#Stay

Ghangria is a small village on a lane with many hotels and restaurants.As we were there in a peak season, we couldn't find decent, clean room and had to take up just about any room that we got in first place.

My suggestion would be to online book Hotel Kuber as it seemed a bit decent. 

We stayed in Hotel for INR 1200 per night. For hot water bucket you have to pay 50 INR per bucket. The room was damp, unclean but as there was no other option we had to force ourselves in that room.

#Food

Hotel Deepak has good food but I personally feel it was expensive compared to some other hotels.

At the start of govind ghat 

A stretch of path from Govind ghat to Ghangria

We with our luggage for next few days

Ghangria - Valley of Flowers

Yet again even after our sincere try to leave early, we could finally leave the place after breakfast at 8 am. It would be a good idea to leave by 6:30 am as the check post for Valley of flowers opens by 7 am.

After 1/2 km you will see a check post from where you have to take left for Valley of flowers. The entry fee per person is 150 INR for Indians and 600 INR for foreigners.

As we started late so the sun was already at it's high which made walking a bit difficult.

#Place to visit in the valley

Don't just be satisfied with the beauty of the valley just at the start. If you want to have an out of the world experience then you must cross 2-3 bridges after you are in the valley and go deeper in the valley to be in the midst of vast expense of flowers

Beautiful stream on the way

Leggy's grave: There is a grave of lady Joan. You have to walk quite a bit to reach there but once you reach there, the view is worthwhile as now you are in the center of the valley and the view from here is breath taking and it's just 700 meters from the main road of valley

The grave

To go to the grave you have to take right but if you keep going straight you will reach Tipra Khark. As we were short on time, we couldn't go here but people mentioned that there is a glacier at about 3 km from the board where you take right to go to the Leggy's grave

Hanuman Chatti: From Valley of flowers you can also trek to Hanuman chatti which is on the way to Badrinath but for the same you need permission from Forest department and need a guide as it's an over night trek where you would be required to camp.

Hanuman temple - Hanuman Chatti

Its advisable to leave Valley by 3-4 pm as later than that the descend could be difficult in dark as there were some patches which are very steep and are slippery. We reached Valley of flowers in 4 hours and took 2.5 hours to come down.

I wonder who said VOF was easy! eh?

Finally after reaching Ghangria , we hogged onto food and slept in our beds like babies as we had to get up next day early again for Hemkund Saheb.

Flowers every where

The beautiful path in the midst of flowers

The valley with the view

Flowers species in VOF

Ghangria- Hemkund Saheb

I think its needless to say that even after all our tries, we still could not leave as early as 6 am but eventually after getting ready and eating breakfast we left for Hemkund saheb  by 8 am.

For this trek you don't have to take any permission from forest department which means you can leave as early as 5 am also as soon as it's dawn. Not many people would say this but for some reason everyone in my group found the Hemkund saheb trek "easier" than the Valley of flower's trek. May be because the sun was not on our head and may be also because everyone told us already that Hemkund saheb is difficult so we were mentally prepared for it.

The view during the trek is mesmerizing. After around 3 km of trek, we were actually walking in the clouds. This in a way was good because there was no sun but it was also bad because the clouds were blocking our view and possibility to take good pictures

We reached Hemkund saheb at around 1: 30 p.m. After some rest, we went into the Gurudwara which was going to close at 2 p.m. so we quickly did our darshan. Had very yummy langar! and then went to the lake from where the view is just amazing and with clouds coming and going away, it was just heavenly ( though not so much for the photographs).

Langar

#Places to see

The main Gurudwara temple

The lake

Laxman temple

We started back from Hemkund saheb at around 4 pm and reached back Ghangria by 8 pm. As the trek was steep, our knees and feet were killing us.

After we reached Ghangria, we got a foot massage done for 100 INR per person. Honestly, I don't know if it relieved my pain or gave me more but because of all the sound and madness it definitely was a crazy fun :)

The Gurudwara

Blue Laxman temple

The Kund

En route, the beautiful view with sun and the clouds

On the way to Hemkund saheb

Ghangria- Govind ghat

As we all were in an adventurous mood and wanted to try something different, we decided to take a helicopter from the Ghangria to Govind ghat. 

The booking office opens at 8 am but if you sure shot want to fly from helicopter, try to be there earlier , perhaps by 7:30 am.

When we reached the office, there were hoards of people wanting to fly. Some of them were senior citizen and definitely needed to use the service but for us it was only for fun and experience. 

The process is that you get your name written at the office and based on your weight you are allotted a slot ( if weather is fine and many other criteria's are satisfied). As we reached late, we were told, we might not get a chance but after waiting for an hour or so, we finally were given the last slot.

To get our chance to fly into the helicopter we waited for 4 hours. Only one of us could sit in front so I took the liberty of sitting in front being the eldest :p (Sorry Sowmya). One is not allowed to take videos or photographs from the helicopter for safety reasons.

And well with the adrenaline rush going high and low once or twice, we reached Govind ghat in a span of 8 minutes exactly for 3200 INR per person and with taxes etc. we paid 12920 INR for 4 people. It definitely was worth it but as I mentioned earlier it would be a good idea to choose your fly where you can fly for longer!

Wohooo! Our helicopter

:) the sun and the helicopter and the tan and Somi :)

Selfie with helicopter to banta hai!

Govind ghat - Badrinath - Mana

As we reached by 1 pm, we immediately left for Badrinath temple which is around 25 km from Govind ghat. On this route we found many dangerous patches of landslides and due to them it took us more than an hour to reach Badrinath.

Landslides on the way

The road which is feeble due to landslide

We straight went to the temple and after Darshan left for Mana Village. As my car was not in a position to handle the crazy roads, we parked the car a bit away from Mana village and walked up to the village. The walk and the view of the last village of India from Uttarakhand had breath taking view. At one point standing at a place we could see 17 mountains one behind the other.

The best itinerary would have been to stay at Badrinath and trek Vasudhara falls (which I had missed last time as well when I came to Uttarakhand for a solo trip) but as we had spent all our money in helicopter ride which was unplanned , it was important for us to reach back Joshimath where there were ATMs available. 

Mana village has lot of people who weave clothes at home and if I had money in my hand I would have definitely bought some, not so much because I need them but more so to support those people financially as I could clearly see that they were in the desperate need of money. 

As I love taking portraits, I could have spent a lot of time because there were people with such unique and striking features that for me it was a paradise.

Jai Badri vishal

Mana village

Mana village the river view

The ITPB office in far sight

Mesmerizing view 

The legendary board! Been there done that!

Joshimath - Rishikesh - New Delhi

Finally in the night we reached Joshimath, took out money from ATM stayed in hotel Vivek and ate at Food Plaza. In the morning, we left for Rishikesh.

Our plan was also to do bungee jumping but as Ganga was flooded , all adventure sports in Rishikesh were stopped. 

#Stay

You can stay at Zostel for a nominal charges in the dormitory but they didn't have dorm available

Hostel Bonfire : We checked in into this hostel for 450 per person but the rooms were dingy , damp and the flush was not working. Even after keeping ac on for 1/2 hour the smell didn't go away so finally we decided to leave the place and find some other place

M.S Guest house: This was a clean and tidy room with 4 beds for 1500 INR but only in the morning we realized that the loo gets clogged. :p

#Food

Choti wale: They server some good north Indian food. Except for rasmalai which was actually rasgulla in the milk, everything else was value for money there.

German bakery: On the market road you can find a German bakery which serves some interesting brownies, cinnamon rolls and strong coffee.

Yummy!

On the way to Delhi, you can also stop by at Jain shikanji for some refreshing lime juice with some authentic masala added which makes it really tasty. They also serve paneer pakkoda which is their specialty.

Cheetal Grand: When we started from Rishikesh , we decided to have our lunch at Cheetal grand as it is popular for clean and tidy food as after our adventurous trip in food with flies and hair and what not, we really were looking for some clean and tidy place. Unfortunately, though the food was tasty at Cheetal, we still found an insect in Chicken chilly. 

#Place to visit in Rishikesh

• Surprisingly at this last stretch we all were out on the streets at 5:45 am to see the sunrise but as it was a cloudy day. we couldn't get a good sunrise though I got some really beautiful abstract photos. 
• You can indulge yourself in Yoga, in any drop in class.
• Laxman Jhoola
• Ram Jhoola

Lakshman Jhoola

A temple next to clock tower

The clock tower

Mighty Ganga

Temple with multiple floors

And then on 18th  evening, we reached home sweet home! Next day, Sowmya and Subhashish left for Agra to see Taj Mahal. Well this monument of love deserves a separate blog post!

Note: 

At Joshimath

When I took out money from ATM, I had put 6000 INR as the amount but I only got 4500 INR at a canara bank ATM

At Govind ghat

One can take their car or bikes till the Govind ghat Gurudwara and park there. For 3 days the parking charges are 300 INR.

From Govind ghat to Ghangria

1) It's advisable to book a hotel in Ghangria online so that you can take a horse for your luggage till Ghangria otherwise you would be required to take 2 horses as the horse will reach earlier and there would be no place to keep your luggage but if you have already booked your hotel then you can take one horse for 2000 INR and send all your luggage.

2) The water on the way is available at far distances hence it would be a good idea to carry your own water bottle

3) I am not sure what are the standards to measure if a trek is easy, medium or difficult. In our opinion Govind Ghat to Ghangria was a medium to difficult trek may be because it was steep, we were carrying our luggage on our own and there was sun.

4) Its always a good idea to start early in the morning as you can cover major distance before the sun comes up

At Valley of Flowers

1) If you read all the blogs for valley of flower and the groups which take you for the trek will say that its an easy trek but I don't know why and how people say that because in my opinion it was definitely quite a steep trek and with sun it actually became quite difficult to trek

2) There is no water available on the way  though there is some water available at the start of the valley. Also, there is no food available on the way and in the valley hence pack your food and water as there are many picnic spots available in the valley

3) To reach to valley you have to hike for 4 km but to reach to beautiful points in the valley where you can actually see rare species of flowers, you will have to walk as much as 4-5 km within the valley. Hence plan your trip accordingly

4) Please please please carry back all the trash which you create and keep the valley clean

5) Even if its hot on the way, in the valley you might feel cold due to wind hence carry your jackets. 

6) If you are going in a rainy season then a rain coat or a poncho is a must have.

At Hemkund saheb

1) The Gurudwara closes by 2 pm and if there are predictions of bad weather, they ask you to leave early

2)In case you want to take bath in the lake, you must carry an extra pair of clothes

The langar is available in the Gurudwara and is given with so much dedication that I really bow to those people who are so impartial and dedicated for this cause.

3) You are not allowed to stay at Hemkund saheb

4) There are not many loo's available on the way. There is one at 3 km and then finally at the Gurudwara itself.

5) The Gurudwara is open on 15th August and is open only till October.