greenish encounter

I am lazy to write another trekologue, but here are few pictures from my weekend trek at BR Hills.


This one is my favorite, the lonely tree.

Dew drops on web..

This is where we stayed.

Shot this from behind the window mesh of the house, i feel it's a cool picture.

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BR Hills is in the border of Karnataka-Tamilnadu, in Chamarajanagar district. This was Veerappan's core area when he was alive, so this particular trekking route is now called 'Veerappan trail' or 'mystery trail'. This forest has diverse wildlife. This region is famous for Soliga tribes, natives of BR Hills area, and Dr. Sudarshan, who worked for the welfare of Soliga tribes.

kailash manasarovar experiences: part 4

Back to Kathmandu

We started our journey back to Kathmandu on the same day after finishing parikrama. It was pretty much same as the onward journey, expect for the fact that we skipped one of the halts, thus reaching Kathmandu early, 2 days earlier than the schedule.

I had a strange health problem; my tongue went thick (like how it happens when you get fever). And because of that I felt puky, and couldn’t eat much. Prahlad was making fun of me saying it was a symptom of rabies.

Each and every one in the group kept telling me that the first thing I should do once we enter Kathmandu is to get rabies shot. As if I didn’t know! I know they were all well-meaning, but it gets to your nerves sometimes.

We took pictures with drivers and Tibetan guide when we almost reached Tibet border.

When we reached the border, we met Meetu. He looked happy to see us. May be he was about to take another group to Kailash-Manasarovar. Subha was wondering how exciting or boring that profession could be.

We crossed the border, got into the bus waiting for us on the Nepal side of the border, and after few hours we were in Kathmandu.

Of course... first thing I did in Kathmandu was getting rabies shot, after 5 days from the day I'd got bitten.

Destination: Mountain

That’s what was printed in the destination column of the boarding pass, which was handed to us by Pushkar, our travel agent. We were to go on Everest sightseeing flight! This is, and will be, the most memorable flight of my life.

This one-hour flight from Kathmandu is operated by Yeti Airlines. They have small, 20-seater aircraft for this flight. We were given handouts, which had information about the mountains we were going to see.

We took off, and in few minutes we were close to the range of mountains. It was sheer majestic view from our windows. Air hostesses were helping us to locate mountains, and we were even allowed to go in to the cockpit to get a better view.

Initially, they looked like small stones emerging from a soft layer of cotton. We were at 25000 ft and the view started becoming clearer. With the help of the information and map on the handout, we could locate mountains. We saw Annapurna, Makalu, Gaurishankar, Kanchenjunga, Ganesh, Mansalu, and few other peaks.

We were deeply satisfied with the wonderful view, but we knew there was something more to come. After few moments, air hostesses started pointing to a peak, which was behind the row of all those mountains I mentioned – it was Everest.

Posing with Everest in the picture is Mt. Lhotse, which stands adjacent to Everest.

Needless to say, it was an amazing experience.

In Kathmandu

We visited three historical places in and around Kathmandu – Bakthapur, Paattan, and old Kathmandu area. These places were capitals of three kingdoms earlier; later on they were merged in to one and was ruled by kings at Kathmandu.

These 3 places have similar looking Durbaar squares; the one in Bakthapur is better than the other two though.

These durbaar squares are typically complexes with temples and palaces.

In Bakthapur, there is a five-storied temple of goddess Kaali.

After spending long time in Bakthapur, we went to see Paattan and Kathmandu durbaar squares, and found that they were much similar to the one at Bakthapur. The square in Kathmandu is very large, with lots and lots of temples. I didn’t have patience to see all of them.

But I was interested in seeing Kumari, the living goddess. I had read a lot about Kumari, so wanted to see her. She lives in a building called 'Kumari Ghar' at Kathmandu durbaar square. We had to wait till 4 pm to see her. There were quite a lot of people waiting there, mostly foreigners, in the open space of the ground floor. She came out and gave a glimpse through windows at third floor.

Kumari is believed to be the form of goddess Taleju and also believed to have healing powers. Nepalis worship her. Though it may sound interesting to be worshipped as goddess, I had read that Kumaris’ life is tough, deprived of normal childhood and education. And also Kumari’s divinity stint ends once she gets menstruated; and after that leading normal life could be tough for them.

We also went to Dakshinkaali temple outside Kathmandu. It is small temple in the open space, many people were doing animal sacrifice there. I didn’t quite like the scene, but liked the drive to the temple from Kathmandu.

Next morning, it was time to leave. In spite of wishing it should have lasted longer, we landed at Bangalore after few hours. Thus… I’m over and out with my story.

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Logistics

Many people have been asking me about the trip logistics. So here are few points:

# There are many tour organisers in Kathmandu who operate Kailash-Manasarovar trips. Google for them. I know 3 such firms, I can give reference if you need.

# The trip costs quite a lot of money (at least by Indian standards), and you have to bear expenses of journey to-n-fro your town - Kathmandu. The fee includes your stay at Kathmandu 2 nights before the trip, one night after the trip, and pickup and drop to airport.

# You will have the option of flying from Kathmandu to Manasarovar area if you feel driving for 5 days is tough.

# Season for this trip is from May to October.

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ps: Photographs are from my camera, the ones that look better are from Subha :)

kailash manasarovar experiences: part 3

Wild encounter

After our stint at Manasarovar, we proceeded further that day early in the evening to Tarchen, the place considered as base camp for parikrama (parikrama is walking around Mt. Kailash in clockwise direction, like a pradakshiNa). This place looks decent, better than other places we had stayed - Subha and me exchanged thoughts once we reached Tarchen. We were supposed to go to a place called Ashtapad to get closer view of Mt. Kailash. We went halfway through and found out that the way is blocked. While returning we saw a nice-looking shrine, and we decided to go exploring in Tarchen.

Back in Tarchen we went on walk, trying to find that shrine we had seen from the top. Finally we found that it was small temple inside a Tibetan medical school. The guy who was around was kind enough to send someone to open the place up for us and we got to have a look.

I had tough time moving up and down, and it made me tired. I was getting worried how I would do parikrama. We started walking back to our campsite.

While we were almost close to the hotel, a big dog suddenly came barking towards me and attacked! Within a moment there was another dog attacking Subha, and we both were down on ground. I can’t tell how scary it was! Men standing close-by came and chased off the dogs; but there was a sharp burning in my left foot. I removed my shoe and checked if I’d got bitten, and I was. I was wearing my trekking shoes, they are very thick and hard; I wonder how the dog managed to plant a tooth in my flesh!

Back in the kitchen tent, sherpas attended to my wound while I suffered more burning because of the antiseptic lotion. Soon the news reached our guide Krishna, and he looked worried about it when he came to see me. Our Tibetan guide tried to find medical facility, but there was none available. By that time uncles and aunties had decided to return to Kathmandu, they didn’t want to do parikrama; Krishna suggested that I too return with them. He also added that generally nothing happens if one doesn’t take rabies shot immediately, and left the decision to me. I told him that I wanted to stay back and do parikrama.

I went thru a bit of mental agony for next few hours. I knew that I was not very fit physically to do parikrama, and now this dog bite thing had drained off my mental energy. Not that I was scared that I might fall sick, but the sudden scare the whole incident gave me was a little too much to bear. It kind of shattered me, I don’t know why. I had seen the dog attacking Subha, and felt very helpless that moment. Thankfully nothing happened to her though.

Pre-Parikrama

Other rooms were high on activity that evening. Krishna roped us with the other group, which was managed by Kailash Trek, another tour organizer. He was to return with uncles and aunties; he gave us last-minute instructions. Gambu sherpa was to stay back with us for the rest of the tour.

Meanwhile there were speculations about weather not being too good in the area. Opinion in large was that we might not be able to do parikrama. We had a brief talk with our new groupmates, and decided to try our luck. Later that night Meetu came to us to return my cam, which I’d forgotten in the vehicle that day. We realized that he’s going back with the group next morning, and gifted woolen cap to him. We tried to explain that we won’t be meeting him thereafter as we are going to stay back for the parikrama, and thus we wanted to give him a small gift; I don’t know how much he understood.

Next morning we were allowed to sleep a little longer. Weather was bad; it was raining, or I should call it snowing. Finally at around 9.30 am we left the campsite; vehicles were to take us to a place called Yamadhwaar, which is the starting point of the parikrama trek.

Parikrama

Here is the trek part of my trip, just before my friend Smitha concludes that I didn’t trek there.

Parikrama is walking around Mt. Kailash in clockwise direction; Hindus and Tibetans do it for religious purpose, it is supposed to be very holy. It takes almost two and a half days to complete parikrama.

On first day the distance to be covered was 18 kms; our destination was a place called Derapuk, which is located very close to Kailash. It was mostly plain, without any climbing. Our sherpa Gambu was our porter too. I was apprehensive about me being successful with parikrama; I asked Gambu what he thinks about my chances. He coolly said that I will surely be able to do it, and I should not at all worry about it. He kept on telling me to walk slowly so that I don’t hurt my wounded foot more. He brought back some confidence in me.

Subha and Gambu were walking quite fast; I was in my own pace. They waited for me in a teahouse for lunch. We had our packed lunch there, with lots of Tibetan tea.

I should share a couple of things about the tea served in these countryside teahouses. Tea is not served in the measure of cups here; a whole flask is given to the group. It’s black, not sweet, and sometimes salty. Even in Iran they would give a full teapot, served with sugar cubes and dates. And the practice is to not have one single cup of tea, you must keep on refilling your cup and drink it till you empty the whole pot. It’s fun.

Getting back on parikrama, we started walking after long lunch break. Now I was slower, and getting tired in spite of the path being almost plain. That was because of high altitude. I could see Kailash on my right; it looked beautiful. Finally after so many breaks and slow walking, I started seeing a building-like structure, which was our camp for the day. By that time, Gambu had made arrangements for our stay at Derapuk, and came back looking for me. I finally reached the camp; none of our groupmates had reached except for Subha.

At Derapuk, we got nice view of Kailash.

That night was the coldest; we had to use our sleeping bags. Next day was going to be long and toughest day of our trip, so we slept early.We left Derapuk camp by 5 in the morning, we had to climb up a pass, which was 5900 meters high, and cover 22 kms on whole that day (though I feel it was more than that). Many of our groupmates decided to go back to Tarchen, so we were only 5 girls who were about to finish parikrama. Climb to the pass was tough; the path was full of ice and fresh snow. I was very slow and was logging so much behind our group. Dorje sherpa kept me constant company; he kept offering tea, juice, and water all the time. Finally I reached the pass, which is called Dolma pass, after 5 hours of tough climbing. I was on cloud nine... literally! It was the highest altitude I’d ever been. After having a cup of tea there and resting a bit I was instructed to climb down, as it is not good to stay in high altitude for long time.

Near Dolma pass, there is a small lake called Gaurikund. But it was fully frozen that day.

Gambu sherpa was there with me while climbing down the pass, he said he was happy with my performance. He kept singing Nepali folk songs beautifully. While getting down I met and overtook Savitha Ben and Urvashi Ben, who were our groupmates. Later I got to know that Urvashi Ben wasn’t feeling well; in spite of her bad condition she managed to get up the pass. Soon, Gambu and me reached a teahouse, which was our lunch point.

After lunch we had to walk towards Zuthalpuk, our campsite for the day. It was plain, but boringly long. We were walking very slow as Urvashi Ben’s condition was not good. After quite long we managed to get a pony for her. Savitha Ben and Dorje sherpa started walking beside her pony, leaving me and Prahlad (guide) behind. We were very slow, but steady. This stretch of the day seemed very long, as if it would never end. Finally when we reached the campsite, Subha and others were already comfortably settled in the room. We were relieved, and happy. I just climbed up the bed, went inside the blanket, and wouldn’t budge. Subha wanted to see the cave where saint Milarepa(only one who is supposed have summited Kailash) was said to have meditated. She managed to pull Nimisha with her; they said there was a small Tibetan temple in that cave.

Agenda for next day was to reach Tarchen and finish parikrama. It took only 2 hours from Zuthalpuk; as usual Subha and Nimisha reached first, and I was with Prahlad at the back. When Prahlad showed me the vehicles waiting for us, I was immensely relieved. That was end of parikrama, and we had done it successfully.

We congratulated each other, happily posed for photographs flashing victorious smiles, and then reached our camp in Tarchen.

kailash manasarovar experiences: part 2

Lake Manasarovar

On the 5th day of drive, Meetu finally announced that we had reached Manasarovar area. The tough drive had taken its toll on us by that time; we were extremely quiet that day, trying to hide fatigue. But we returned to our normal selves once we had first glimpses of Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar. We waited for others in our group to arrive, and then moved on closer to Manasarovar area. We were to drive along the banks of Manasarovar, we learnt. After a while we got close to the lake, and Meetu stopped for a photography break. We eagerly jumped out from our gaadi, and we knew that it was the moment we waited for!

I wouldn’t even try to explain the feeling I got when I touched the ice-cold waters of the Lake. Handouts given to us by our tour organizers read, “Manasarovar is lake of tranquility, serenity, and bliss”. I couldn't explain it better! I only knew that I loved it and wanted to be there forever. Water was crystal clean, and shining in bluish green color. While Subha indulged in photography, I moved away from the crowds and got lost in the charm. That was one soul-filling experience. I must admit I got very emotional there!

At the background was Mt. Kailash, which looked awesome when combined with lake view.

After sometime we started driving again, but we were much close to the lake. I guess we stopped again to have another look. It was as if none of us wanted to move away from this center of attraction. Anyways, it was time to move towards our camp for the day. On the way we saw another lake called Raksha Sthal. It was sunset time when we reached there, and the whole picture looked very beautiful.

We drove upto the Lake next morning again. It was time to take holy dip and offer worship, if one felt like doing it. I was apprehensive about the idea of bath, it was very cold and water was freezing. But in a spur of the moment I decided on having a dip and did it, credit goes to Subha though for making me go for it. Water was bone-numbing cold! Thanks to our guide Krishna’s supply of hot water after the dip in the lake and the changing tent, it was bearable. But felt very good and fresh after the bath. Aunties and uncles started doing pooja after the bath; it took long time. Subha had good time for meditation there, while I wandered and watched the birds. We started feeling hungry as it was quite late in the morning, our sherpa Gambu had supplies of cup noodles but he didn't have hot water, so we had to use hot milk instead of water! Noodles in milk?! Hungry ho to kuch bhi chalta hai :)

kailash manasarovar experiences: part 1

Before leaving for the trip, I said it’s been one of my dreams. Actually it’s more of a friend’s dream, I was only happy to share it. I had read a lot about Mt. Kailash. Besides, visiting the ‘roof of the world’ was added attraction!

We decided to do this trip from Nepal side. One can also do it from India side; it takes 28 days if you do it from India side. I might try this sometime later when I manage to get rid of the sword called boss over my head!

Preparations done, things bought, payments made.. and we were set for the trip.

Reaching Kathmandu

Agenda for the day was just to land in Kathmandu. What could’ve been a boring flight day turned out to be extremely unforgettable, thanks to great Indian low budget airlines Air Deccan! We were supposed to take off at 5.50 am, and reach Delhi by 8.30 am. Our flight to Kathmandu from Delhi was at 11.30 am; we were scared that air deccan flight might get delayed (as it keeps happening with them). I had apprehensions about flying Air Deccan, but I was relieved when we got boarding pass in our hands and started moving towards the aircraft. But little did I know to expect the unexpected from air deccan! Then didn’t have APU (auxiliary power unit), which helps start the aircraft and powers air-conditioning the aircraft before it takes off. Captain Simran announced that they were waiting to get it from HAL… and the wait went on for 2 hrs. As there was no air conditioning in the aircraft they asked us to deplane, and all the passengers were waiting in the runway all that time! When the problem got resolved finally and the flight took off at 8.30 am, I was almost sure that we were going to miss our connecting flight from Delhi.

Before proceeding further with my story, I’d like to rant a bit about air deccan. That day, I overheard captain Simran who was saying ‘sometimes you should also understand ya... we take off at time 10 times, and then 11th time something like this happens’. But last three times I flew air deccan, every time flight was either delayed or cancelled. I wouldn't say don’t fly air deccan; but please don’t fly air deccan when you have something like catching an international connecting flight, or some important meeting. It’s always better to pay a bit high price in order to have your peace of mind.

We did miss the flight. Our Delhi-Kathmandu flight was booked with Jet airways (11.30 am), and we landed at domestic terminal by 11. Jet airways had no way of putting us in the flight, but their staff helped us find another flight, and also gave helpful pointers. Jet Airways is my favorite, they know a thing or two about customer care. Finally we managed to get Indian Airlines flight, and were in Kathmandu by 3.45 pm.

Initial impressions – Kathmandu

I liked Kathmandu airport very much, it projects the flavor of Nepal very well in its architecture. My first thought once I saw Kathmandu was, “Green”! The city is very rich culturally. There are many temples; in fact you see them everywhere. We visited quite a few of them – Pashupatinaath, Swayambhunath stupa, and others.



This picture is of Pashupatinath temple entrance, obviously cameras are not allowed inside the temple. One more thing about many temples of Nepal is only Hindus are allowed in. Don’t ask me how they find out what you are!

More about Kathmandu later. Let’s move on to Tibet.

On Tibet roads

We had to travel for 4 days to reach Manasarovar. On the first day we crossed the border, went thru many checks, and finally we were on the ‘roof of the world’! We had to wait a bit at Zangmu, the first Tibetan town we set foot on. We got bored, and went to a small restaurant to have tea. We had great tasting Tibetan tea. For some reason, the guy who was working at the place was very fascinated about us! He took our pictures in his mobile, and tried to explain something in Tibetan. He had fountain-style hairstyle... I don’t know how he manages to do his hair!

Finally the road-permits were done, and we started our drive to Nylam, our destination for the day. We met our driver Meetu, very sweet guy just like his name. You will hear more about him in the rest of the story.

The drive was very scenic, but you need a brave heart to drive there! All green, and lots of streams and falls.

We had a day in Nylam for acclimatization. That day went off very slowly. We spent most of it by looking at the street thru our window, and saw Tibetan way of life.

We were on drive again the next day. Now the terrain was much plainer. The highlights are reaching altitude of 5200+ meters, drove in the core zone of Mt. Shishapangma (8000+ meters high), and seeing the origin of river Brahmaputra. Meetu preferred to call it ‘Bamputai’, in Tibetan language. Our destination for the day was a place called Saaga. When we reached Saaga, I got bad headache, it was a symptom of altitude sickness. I was ok after a Crocine and a nap.

Next two days were also spent on Tibet roads; we were just enjoying the drive, and Meetu’s shortcuts.

More about Meetu

Not only did we find out that he’s good behind the wheels, but also an excellent mechanic - he was the troubleshooter whenever any vehicle in the row broke down. We spoke very little with him (cos of the language barrier), but we shared great rapport. We enjoyed the songs he played; and he enjoyed the fact that we enjoyed those songs! According to Subha, he is my kind of person, that means one who smiles a lot like I do. But making him smile for the camera wasn’t easy, and it’s the same with me too.

He got teased from his fellow driver friends that we were talking to him, but he was the lucky one to drive us where others had to put up with irritating uncles and aunties. He had abundant supplies of smile, songs, and red bull drinks; and he kept on sharing all those with us.
We had to sadly say goodbye to him before our trip ended, as majority of our group wanted to return, deviating from the fixed itinerary. Subha was fancying the idea of giving him a gift, we gave him a purple color woolen cap we had bought in Saaga. Subha kept on wondering if he liked the gift and going to use it; we had no way of finding it out though. She also kept on wondering whether we’ll get to see him again, and for our pleasant surprise we met him at the border while returning back to Nepal, and he said bye to us for one last time!

going to kailash

I am going to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar on a trek/trip. Leaving tomorrow, and will be back on 12th May. This has been one of my dreams for quite long; I'm happy it's getting fulfilled.

Wish me luck.

my picturesque journey

“I don’t understand what pleasure you get from climbing up mountains just to climb down!” that’s a usual piece of mind I get from many of my friends and acquaintances.

True.. why would you go somewhere when all you can do once you reach there is.. return!!

You might probably be agreeing with my friends. Even I was like you till I read this quote, which said, “The original traveler doesn’t have a destination and is not intent on arriving”.

Since that day, I started another kind of journey. This journey is to go back to where we came from. I mean, going back to nature!!!

And believe me, I have seen the “supreme divine energy”. Because what other people call God, I call it Nature. I have seen snowy mountains, densest forests, roaring shorelines, melodious-sounding stream, wildlife at their own homes, and more beautiful things.

I am talking about my trekking experiences. I have gone on many trekking expeditions.

I began trekking in our very own Karnataka, which offers a good range for trekkers. It has mountains and dense forests; its wildlife variety is ample too. I have encountered many elephant families from very close distance in Bandipur-Nagarahole region. I have trekked in Himachal Pradesh and Goa also; these states offer diverse geographical terrains.

I also had memorable opportunity of trekking in Iran. I must say Iran is a trekker’s paradise! I have camped at snowy regions, and also seen fantastic colors of the fall season.

Well, now you must have known why people go up a mountain just to climb down! Exploring nature makes you rich in your experiences, and at the same time makes you humble. You get to know that you are really small in front of nature’s enormous face. You will become tough, yet soft. While trekking you often get to learn soft skills that corporate world raves about - leadership skills, crisis management skills, inter-personal skills, resource management, planning, and things like that too!


For me, trekking is like life. I keep walking, and my slogan is ‘one step at a time’. The journey matters, not the destination.

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For those of you who are bothered about numbers, this is my 50th post.

lesson learnt: yellow isn’t dirty

I never used to like yellow, n always say ‘dirty yellow’; I don’t say that any more. Not after my trek on Friday. Fall colors were fantastic.

Eleven of us (including guide Mohammad n his wife Arezoo) started from Tehran early in the morning. After taking breakfast break on the way, we reached Taleghan village at around 9.30 am. That was the starting point for our trek. We had to cross the pass to reach the valley which was on the other side. Climb took some 3 hrs I guess, I did reasonably well this time. Descent to the other side was easy, but the funny thing was as the climate was rainy, wet mud was sticking to our boots. It made the shoes heavy, n few girls has bit of tough time there.

Soon we reached the valley n lo!! There was a stream flowing n on both side s of the stream were trees standing tall beautifully, as if someone had painted them with diverse colors! We took snack-n-photography break, n then started walking alongside the stream, feasting our eyes with lovely fall colors.

It was drizzling, cloudy; n there was background music of thunders for this lovely drama. The pro photographers in the group were waiting to catch the lightning in their cams. There was bit of snowfall too. On the way we saw many wild cherry trees & plucked cherries. There were walnut trees too. After reaching Hasanjoon village (our destination) we headed back to Tehran.

The group was very good. There were 2 or 3 pro photographers who’d come to capture fall pictures. There were students too. There was a journalist, who had done a linguistic course in Germany. We had nice chat about lots of things while the bus was moving in snail’s pace, thanks to the heavy traffic on the highway. We spoke about languages, Iran, India, n what not.

I got reminded of the song Veni mentioned in her blog recently - ಆ ಮೇರು ಈ ಮೇರು ಆಸೆಯ ಹೂ ತೇರು… ತುಂಬೈತೆ ಕಣ್ಣಾ ಎಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಬಣ್ಣಾ!!

Because of the hide-n-seek of rain n sun, we got to see rainbow for sometime. In Farsi, rainbow is ‘rangeen kamUn’ which means ‘colorful arch’. Isn’t it similar to our ‘kaamanabillu’?

It was a good trek. And yes, I like yellow now.

Fantastic photograghs by Oshin D. Zakarian. They really are photographs, not paintings.

a date with nature

Yet another weekend, yet another trek. For the first time I went in a group for trek in Iran; there were 9 of us including Mohammad and his wife, Arezoo. The team was good (read: the guys were good-looking ;-)). We were supposed to reach Mt. Kharsang (3900 m), but as usual I couldn’t summit it :-(

I have something else to say. After giving up the summit effort I came back & joined the ladies of the group to wait for the guys who had gone up the peak. We were sitting there for 3 hours, near a stream. This stream was flowing in the valley which was surrounded by mighty mountains. The place was beautiful. I walked down along the stream a bit and found a nice place to sit and relax. Serenity. That’s the word for what I felt there. All I was listening was the sound of stream flowing, all I was seeing was the mountains everywhere. The feeling was superb!! It’s beyond words (even now I feel I am insulting that very feeling by putting the boundary of words for it). I mean, I’ve been hearing these talks about meditation, how u bring your mind to one point, and think NOTHING. That was what I was doing there. I was so pleased, that I could sit there forever (well, not exactly forever, may be till they send me back to India). It was like sitting with a good friend for hours silently, and at the end of it feeling that you’ve had the best conversation. You should be really lucky to get such friends with that high comfort-level, but nature is always a good friend with open arms. The thing is you need to go back to the nature.

The mountains here aren’t eye-soothing green like our western ghats, but they got a kinda rustic beauty. The melodious sound of water flowing added just the effect needed. The whole picture looked so mighty, so supreme, and so divine. The whole idea of ‘summit assault’ sounded cheap, I enjoyed admiring the mountains more (grapes are too sour today, I know; but I mean what I said).

Few more things:

We saw this natural spring on the way. People, who think there is only oil in Iran, please change your opinion. This is quite a big spring; keeping in mind that it’s summer here now.

I saw a cow on the way in the village. For the first time I saw cow in Iran. I love cows, and was very happy to see this one.

I went around a bit in the village, and found vegetable garden near a house. They have grown pumpkins & beans. The pumpkins reminded me of home, in south canara most of the farmers used to grow pumpkins in summer, after the second crop (called suggi in tuLu). I guess this practice is vanishing now.

trek to mt. atashkouh

Went for another trek on Friday; it was good as usual. But couldn’t summit the peak; that’s very disappointing. But it was good climb anyways. Though the altitude wasn’t much, the trek was long, I guess I climbed for 7 hrs continuously. And my energy was exhausted after that.

The starting point of the trek was a village which is one-hour drive from Tehran. I saw cherry plantations in that village. It was a nice sight! While coming back to the village we saw people harvesting the fruits n packing them, so we thought we’ll buy some fresh fruits. Those people gave fruits, but refused to take money. nice of them.

Me & Mohammad were talking about mythology while trekking. We exchanged info about Hindu mythology & Islamic mythology. Of all people I was explaining Trimurtis n Bhagavadgita!! Anyways I am quite good at Hindu mythology, so I could take on the questions.

There was some plain land on the way, sheep were seen grazing there. There was also a nice lush-green plateau, which is called carrot plateau. It seems they grow carrots n potatoes there in spring.

I am bit concerned abt my confined ability to take on tough treks, need to do something about it. Get more fit shri…

ps: i love my new Bestard shoes. Super grip! I didn't even slip once while climbing down.