Find the Road challange... Kalpa..continued

Find the Road ... ???   Kalpa, Himachal

5-6 kilometers ahead from Kalpa, is the village Roghi. Can u find the road in the picture above ? find few white spots making a line .

See the white Spec on the mountain?

The might & the height of the mountain can be estimated from the size o a car coming behind us on the road. Can't find it... see the white spec at the end of a line in the upper right corner. The line is the road & the white spec is the car.... just imagine & keep wondering !!!

The Hindustan Tibet Road

National Highway No. 22, also known as the Hindustan Tibet Road, is undoubtedly one of the most difficult and toughest roads in this world. After Rampur, the road turns very rough & very tough. Below are some of the pics showing the beauty & the toughness of the road.

A Picturesque Bridge : The Hindustan Tibet Road, NH22, Incredible India

Road... find the road... see the line cutting through the himalayas ? It's the : The Hindustan Tibet Road, NH22, Incredible India

"The Line" as seen in above picture, this is how it looks from inside : The Hindustan Tibet Road, NH22, Incredible India

Kalpa .... continued...

The Kinner Kailash Peak -Abode of Lord Shiva

During our journey, many local people told us that only lucky people can have the glimpse of The Kinner Kailash Peak. Assumed to be one of the abodes of Lord Shiva, this peak is almost always hidden in clouds. Once we settled down in the Hotel at Kalpa, We had to target our cameras towards the Kinner Kailash Mountains for almost an hour & took almost 50 shots (that takes into account my amateur skills & my amateur camera)...  before we could capture these pictures, where the Shivalinga atop the mountain became clearly visible to us.
As the folklore goes, we definitely felt blessed & the lucky ones to get these pictures. So, will be all devotees of Hinduism if they happen to see these pictures. May Lord Shiva bless us all.

The Kinner Kailash:View from Kalpa, Kinnaur District, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

The Kinner Kailash - The Shivlinga on the peak of mountain

HPTDC Hotel Kinner Kailash - Kalpa, A Nature Lover's Paradise

HPTDC Hotel Kinner Kailash, Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

An Inside View of HPTDC Hotel Kinner Kailash, Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

Kalpa, Old Capital of Kinnaur District

After a night stay at Sarahan, next morning we resumed our journey on the Hindstan Tibet Road.  After a travel of 3-4 hours on one of the most toughest terrains, one of the most difficult roads not only in India, but in the world,  just when we thought our journey is about to close, came this signboard : Wecome to District Kinnour. It had actually just begun !!!

We'll share some of the pictures of the tough road in next post, I'm skipping some of the photos of Incredible India  to take you directly to the old capital of Kinnour district- Kalpa.

Breathtaking views of Kinnour Kailash Peak, a beautiful small town, an excellent place to stay- HPTDC's Hotel Kinnour Kailash , pure air, pure nature, pure beauty mark this place. Here are a few pics :  

 

View from HPTDC Kinnour Kailash Hotel, Kalpa, District Kinnour, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

Village Roghi, Kalpa, District Kinnour, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

Kalpa, District Kinnour, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

View of snow filled Kinner Kailash range from Kalpa, District Kinnour, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

Shrikhand Mahadev

Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan : Brass Carvings on the Gate

Lord Hanuman - Brass Carvings on Gates, Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal, Incredible India

Lord Shiva, Parvati & Bal Ganesh - Brass Carvings on Gates, Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal, Incredible India

Radha Krishna - Brass Carvings on Gates, Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal, Incredible India

Lord Ganesh - Brass Carvings on Gates, Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal, Incredible India

Magnificent View of Bhimakali temple, Sarahan

Incredible India - Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal Pradesh

Inside View of Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan, Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India

Another Temple inside the premises of Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan.

An Old Man Playing Nagada at Prayer Time, Bhimakali Temple, Sarahan.

Sarahan : Views of Shrikhand Mahadev

Sarahan is a bit off the main route. Almost 20 kilometers off from Jeori Town on the National highway-22. Sarahan is an exotic place famous for Bhimakali Temple & magnificent views of Shrikhand Mahadev peaks. 

Here are two pics of  Shrikhand Mahadev Peaks. In Next post, we'll publish photos of the magnificent Bhimakali Temple.

View of Shrikhand Mahadev from Sarahan

Another View of Shrikhand Mahadev from Sarahan

Random Image : A Rickshaw Puller

A Rikshaw Puller in front of a five dome temple, Sarahanpur

Sarahanpur is one of the major towns of Western UP. Earlier we referred to a village near this town during our Badrinath / Kedarnath trip.
The above picture was clicked by a seven year old kid.
Till date, I haven't thought of claiming a copyright on images clicked by me & posted on this blog, but I'm sorry I can't extend the same to this image. This is an exclusive property of Mr. Ansh Chawla, Age 7, studying in class II, resident of Gurgaon, India. Image clicked on 21 May 2011.All rights reserved. (C).

Rampur Bushair : Last major town on the Journey to Kinnaur Kailash

After Shimla, the most populous town in this journey  is Rampur Bushair.

This is the last place where you get a decent stay, an ample supply of fuel for the onward journey. You should also carry a bit of extra fuel for the route as there are no petrol pumps for further 300 odd kilometers and the road is quite arduous.  

A Glimpse of Rampur Bushair

A Temple in the Centre of Rampur

 To quote HPTDC site :

There are many places for sight-seeing. Its old Hindu and Buddhist shrines include the Ragunath Temple, the Ayodhya Temple, the Narsingh Temple and the Dumgir Budh Temple which has a large prayer wheel and holds important scriptures. In an interesting colonial and traditional styles, the Padam Palace is one of Rampur's major attractions.

HPTDC operates Hotel Bushehar Regency here. A nice place to stay. 

In our case, we had shortage of time and sun was still visible in western sky when we reached Rampur. So we decided to move on & possible make it to Sarahan for our night's stay, which eventually turned out to be an excellent place, esp. The Bhimakali Temple at that place. More about Sarahan & the temple in next post.

Unexplored India - Kinnaur Kailash / Sangla Valley

Now we start towards some unknown/unexplored corners of Incredible India.


Again, Himalayas...Himachal... hills... mountains...valleys... snow... nature... beauty... beauty... beauty... Incredible beauty of Incredible India !

The basepoint is again Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh.  In case you like pure nature, you would like to avoid this crowded city. But if you want to store essentials for your journey, this is the best place to get it all as chances for luxuries or even necessities get slimmer by every kilometer you cross from here. 
As we told in our earlier series of Giri Ganga Temple,  from Shimla, crossing Kufri, we reach Fagu, from where the road divereges. One goes toawards Kotkhai, Khara Pathar,  Hatkoti, Jubbal, Rohru,and further onwards to Chanshal Range. 

The other one goes towards Tibet and is also known as Hindustan Tibet road. This is the road we take this time for our journey towards Kinnaur Kailash & Sangla Valley. 


Here are a few pics on the way :

First View of River Satluj :

 An Artistic Rock in the River Satluj

 Mile Stone for the last point on Indian side. 246 kilometers from Ambala, 200 Kilometers from Chandigarh already and still 254 kilometers away....

Images of Incredible India : Chitkul

Sometimes, Images fail to explain... let me try words ... the immense, overwhelming beauty of Kedarnath

If you think that its only a myth or only false stories that Dev-lok or Shiv-lok exist above this Prithvi-lok(mrityu-lok).... its time you travelled to KEDAR NATH. Once you start scaling heights on track to Kedar Nath, you will forget you belong to a mortal earth.... I swear, I swear, I swear !!!

I only wish I could take capture it all in photos... but ... ... aperture of your lens betrays you pathetically,  panoramic views cannot be taken in spherical shape, batteries give up... u replace them with back-up & that too exhausts, the views change by every second, u have got only two eyes to see in only one direction... ... camera, battery, lens.. all give up... You end up saying - " OK.. Let me enjoy in alone & let me print it all in my memory, my brain... all I can do later is to tell the other mortal earthlings who have never been to this place..." ,  praying that words do not betray you this time.

 

...no camera in the world can capture what these two pair of eyes really see....The abode of Gods --Kedar Nath is ethereal...

.... its an out of the world experience... literally !!! its a 14 km trek along Alaknanda River (a branch of Ganga). You cross one huuuuuge mountain only to find a bigger one waiting to be crossed. Clouds remain kilometers beneath your feet.... the best feast for the sight comes in the end... when Sumeru Parvat in its full elegance reveals itself behind the majestic Kedar Nath Temple. The market near the temple does play a spoilsport, but u need to ignore it to savour the time of your life. 

... For a Hindu atleast, it's THE moment... a moment, for which he has waited for so many lives, so many reincarnations, so many births.  For others, it's hard for me to imagine, how others would feel it, because it is so enchanting for me that i cannot even imagine if even a non-hindu will not be touched by this so so immense & so so overwhelming beauty of this abode of Gods... 

KEDARNATH !!!!

Scenic Beauty of Kedar Nath Temple

Earlier we posted about the Waterfalls on the way to The Kedarnath Temple. Presenting some more pics of the endless scenic beauty of the place. The only pity is that there is a limit to which cameras can capture a scene. There is a limit to which the batteries can sustain. But there is no limit of the beauty, the scenes that you see on the 14 kms of trek towards the Kedarnath Temple.

See this photograph.
This is heaven.... indeed heaven...



This is how clouds play hide & seek with snow peaks of the Himalayas.

These peaks form the beautiful background of the main temple. The name of this peak is Meru Parvat. According to Hindu mythology, this mountain is the centre of the Srishti (The Creation, The Universe.)

A Small Village School in the Lap of the Himalayas

Seeing small children running towards school is anytime a delight to the eyes & refreshing to the mind as all of a sudden it reminds you of your own school days.

But seeing a school at such a beautiful place, a valley right in the lap of Himalayas, was quite an envious experience as we went down our own memory lane.

We just kept moving on praying to God for a bright future for all children having dreams in their eyes.



The village was near The Rudra Nath Temple. One of the Panch Kedars.

The Road to Nowhere : A view on way to Badrinath (from Kedarnath)

While moving from the Kedarnath Temple, towards shri Badrinath ji, we had our breakfast at Chopta , where the scenes were a delight for the human eye. Moving onwards, we passed through the Musk Deer Sanctuary. Though we could not see any musk deer over there, we stopped at one place to confirm that we were on the right track. Clicked a photograph as it looked like we were on - "The Road to Nowhere!!"

Triyugi Narayan Temple : Marriage place of Lord Shiva & Parvati

Triyuginarayan Temple is assumed to be a temple of "Treta-Yug", a Yug older than even the Kedarnath temple, which was built by Pandavas in Dwaapar Yug. Situated in a small vllage in dense, thick forests off a few kilometers from Sonprayag, on the way to The Kedarnath Shrine, this is the place where it is believed that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati.
The fire around which "Phere" were done, is still kept alight here. Unfortunatelly the photos of that pious fireplace were damaged during transfer from our camera to PC.

This is the place in the temple where Kanyadaan of Parvati took place.


Its a completely mesmerizing experiencing to attend Aarti in this temple, standing near the fireplace which is witness to one of the most sacred & auspicious ceremony of the God himself & is still alight since millions of years.
Truly Awe Inspiring to any one having a little of faith in Hindu Religion !!!



Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology

Pandukeshwar : on way to Badrinath

A Lion in the Police Chowki :


The Lonely Flower :