New Shimla

From Himalayas to Arabian Sea.... Chandigarh to Goa

As already mentioned in description of our blog :
One life is only too short to see India in its entirety. Hundreds of incredible places to visit in India... Mountains, Plains, Deserts, Lakes, Rivers, Sea Beaches, Religious Places, Adventure Sports... You name it & India has it.

till date we have talked almost only about Northern India & mostly Himalayas..... 
On 15th August 2012, Independence day of India, I started my journey from Chandigarh to Goa... one of the most happening places in India, situated on the banks of Arabian Sea ... in South-West India.

Indian Railways is a phenomena in itself... an incredible world of its own within Incredible India.

This journey took almost 40 hours to complete... and I clicked almost 700 photos in between. (I'll be sharing only a few of them...20 or 30). Photos contain different colors of India... Himalayan mountains-Chandigarh region, Indo-Gangetic plains - Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Aravali Hllls- Rajasthan, Western Ghats-Maharashtra. Apart from Natural Scenes I could catch many aspects of Life in India - The enthusiasm of Independence Day while passing though Delhi-the Capital of India, The Tricolour Flag flying on many buildings, in many moods, in many villages....Delhi sky filled with kites , enthusiasm of children for Kites, Life of the sidelines of Railways-mostly slums, The world o Indian Railways.....I missed the areas of Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat in the night falling in between.

Will share the photos of my journey in the new series.
stay tuned.

Untouched, Virgin Beauty of Himalayas.... Chitkul, Sangla Valley

Himalayan peaks, Snow, Glacier, River Baspa...... what else do you want ???

one of THE BEST moments of my life... enjoying the beauty of Chitkul ...stretching myself atop a big rock

Snow Clad Himalayas..... Chitkul, Incredible India

Chitkul.....

Incredicle Beauty-Incredible India- Chitkul, Sangla Valley

Photos say it all. Incredible Beauty.... more than justifies the slogan... Incredible India !!!
Chitkul &  Sangla Valley are the last points in this voyage. Photos are many, will keep posting in next this one & few more coming posts. With these we come to end of this journey.

If there is something called heaven anywhere, it must look like Chitkul.

Chitkul is a very small village in the lap of Himalayas, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, Incredible India.

This is in fact the last inhabited Indian village towards Tibet.  The place is so beautiful, so beautiful that one starts having doubt whether he is still on earth or has come to heaven. In fact, 4550 meters above the sea level, if you call it Cloud Nine, or even heaven, I don’t think it would be wrong.

The peaks are full of snow, not just peaks, the snow comes all the down to the bottom as you can very well see in these pics.

What touches one most about this place is the sheer virginity of this place. Very very few tourists, no agents clogging your path, no fancy hotels, no heaps of polythene, no rush, no nothing.  Pure serenity, pure peace, pure beauty…. No doubt you start feeling like whether you have come to a place other than this earth.  Some credit does go to the long, arduous path and the ignorance/avoidance of the local government to develop this place as a tourist hub.

The nearest well known place is Shimla – which is almost 250 kilometers i.e. almost 10 hours travel on a hilly road, and that too a quite undeveloped and tough road. Nearest major plain location with airport facility & good railway connectivity  is Chandigarh & that’s 350 Kilometers. That makes it a 14-15 hours of non stop  journey. 

Entering Chitkul

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