While Bali is a popular destination, there’s a lot which vacationers do not get to know before it’s too late. Here we have covered the essentials, suggested an itinerary which you may mix-n-match and use our #ProTips to have a super vacation! Go On…
Continue reading Bali, Indonesia – The Why, What, When, Where and How
December is the time of the year when everyone wants to break the monotony and travel to a new place. But most tourist places are so crowded in this season that even travel leads to no respite. If you are looking for a new experience this December, the second edition of orange festival should definitely be a high contender.
The Orange Festival Dambuk is all about four days of live music and adventure in a faraway land of Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh.
Reaching Dambuk is an adventure itself. Located at Lower Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh, this place is accessible by road only during the winter season when the rivers get dry. During monsoon, Elephant across the rivers and Helicopters are the only means.
Dates : December 15-18, 2016
Attractions : Camping | Music | Elephant Rides | ATV Rides | Burma Bridge| White Water Rafting & much more!
How to Reach: Dambuk is 50 Kms (around 90 minutes drive) from Pasighat (off-road) and around 40 minutes drive from Roing. Vehicles with good ground clearance are recommended.
By Air: Nearest airport is Mohanbari in Dibrugarh. From there, one needs to ferry across the Brahmaputra river and drive towards Pasighat (100 km) and then Dambuk through the dry river beds. Another option is to land into Guwahati Airport as it has better connectivity with all the major cities of India. From Guwahati, drive to Pasighat via Lakhimpur and from there to Dambuk.
By Train: Guwahati to Mokokngselek by Intercity Train and take the special shuttle service (Arunachal State Transport Bus) to Dambuk at Rs. 250 per person per way. Otherwise, major railway station is Dibrugarh.
By Road:
From Guwahati, the route is Guwahati-Lakhimpur-Pasighat-Dambuk (around 650 kms).
From Dibrugarh , Station – Port – Ferry to Pasighat – Drive to Dambuk.
From Tinsukia, the route is: Tinsukia-Doomdooma-Namsai-Roing-Dambuk. From Pasighat, Rs. 150 per person one way (Arunachal State Transport Bus) to Dambuk.
Where to Stay
The best way to enjoy the festival would be to camp around the festival site. To book your travel, stay and Event passes just holler our to Traveller’s Appetite. You could either ping us at 8826454643 or write to us on travellersappetite@gmail.com. You could also drop in a comment here or on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/travellersappetite/
You can also buy your event passes at https://www.instamojo.com/orangefestival/
Cost :
Important Information before you plan you travel
1. You will experience very poor phone network and internet connectivity here so don’t bring any work along and be prepared to be cut off from the rest of the world for these 4 days.
2. Roads are across the dry river beds and sometime you have to drive through knee-deep water or boat across the rivers so be prepared for some adventure filled ride up to Dambuk
3. Indian nationals require Inner Line Permits and foreign nationals require Protected Area Permits. These permits can be made at the Arunachal Govt. office in all cities. For more details check the below links:
http://arunachalipr.gov.in/ILPEntry.htm
http://www.arunachalilp.com/
If you want to take a printout/PDF version of this post to refer on your trip, you may request the same in the comments below. We will be glad to mail you the same in an attempt to make the planning process easier for you.
If you have already been here or to other similar places, share your experiences or engage in a conversation below. (Alternatively, here’s a link to the discussion on our facebook page)
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Travellers’Appetite is on a roll !
After the fun filled Ziro Festival of Music We are all set to rock the NH7 Weekender. Anyone who’d like to join us on the journey just holler out to us 🙂
Please consider this as a personal invitation and drop us a message, mail or connect on 8826454643 if you’d like to travel along with us. The itineray and the line up is as mentioned below and that’s a link to the event page
Hope to see you guys there 🙂
Itinerary
21st october : Flight to Guwahati (Early Morning) , Road transfer to Shillong
First day of the festival.
Over night in Tents. Camp site walking distance from the Festival Venue.
22nd October : Second Day of the festval.
Over night in Tents. Camp site walking distance from the Festival Venue.
23rd October : Time to explore Shillong in the day. Afternoon transfer from Shillong to Guwahati. Late evenig flight from Guwahati.
Vertical Horizon
Papon
Farhan Live
Dualist Inquiry
Mr. Woodnote & Lil Rhys
Vir Das’ Alien Chutney
Natty
Tough on Tobacco
Alobo Naga & Band
Bipul Chettri
Blue Temptation
Dossers Urge
Elephant In The Elevator
Kumail
Parekh & Singh
River
Sickflip
Su Real
Tejas
The Ritornellos
Steven Wilson
Nucleya
Soulmate: History of the Blues
Fossils
Dhruv Voyage
Wild Palms
Aberrant
Aswekeepsearching
Dhruv Visvanath
Imphal Talkies
Lucid Recess
Madboy/Mink
Mali
Nanok
Prateek Kuhad
Rhythm Shaw
Sapta
Underground Authority
Undying Inc
What Escapes Me
Another month, another weekend and again a new quest to head to the mountains. Blessed are the people who live in Delhi as we literally can never run out of options when the wanderlust bug bites us. All we need to do is pack our bags, get into a cab and hit the road.
September weekend, another monsoon weekend made me do the same and the roads just led me to Mussoorie.
Another Solo trip and if you ask me I wouldn’t recommend this place for a solo trip exactly, it’s more of a family / couple / group destination. But if you are tired of being in the city and need an out in the mountains, well, this place isn’t half bad.
Dhanaulti is a lesser known hill station 22 Kms ahead of Mussoorie and I decided to check it out first thing in the morning. The drive was quite a scenic one since it was one of those cloudy days in Mussoorie. Dhanaulti is around 50 – 60 minutes from the Mall road at Mussoorie and has quite a few options of adventure sports there. If you are travelling with a group of friends, Dhanaulti is a better place to stay in than Mussoorie. It offers the options of tented camps , camp fire and adventure sports.
When it comes to things to do in Dhanaulti they would mainly boil down to the following.
1) Dhanaulti Eco Park
2) Dhanaulti Adventure Park
3) Adventure sports in and around Dhanaulti
4) Surkanda Devi Temple
5) Terhi Dam & Lake (25 kms from Dhanaulti)
6) Kanatal (Forest area, 15 kms from Dhanaulti)
Since in the mountains, I was craving for a trek and wasn’t very sure of the trail I should pick specially since I was travelling solo. And, well, God came to my rescue. I was told that Surkanda Devi temple is a 3 km steep trek up to the highest point in Dhanaulti and that made it easy for to pick the first thing I wanted to do in Dhanaulti.
The temple is 8 Kms ahead of Dhanaulti and the trek starts up from Kaddukhal where the vehicles are parked. This temple has a great mythological story attached to it.
It was built for the worship of Lord Shiva’s first wife, Sati. Sati’s Father Daksh once organized a grand Vedic sacrifice for all Deities and did not invite Sati and Shiva. This enraged the goddess and she sacrificed herself in the vedic fire at her father’s place. On hearing this Lord Shiva came to get her corpse and in the anger began his Tandava (dance of cosmic destruction) and decided to continue till Sati’s body fell apart and there was nothing left of it. In this situation, Vishnu was sent to pacify Lord Shiva and he used his Sudarshan Chakra to cut off the goddesses head. The head fell on this mountain and hence the temple was built and called Surkanda devi. Lord Shiva finally stopped when there was nothing left of Sati’s body and her body parts fell in 52 different places on earth. All these places were declared Shakti Peeth and have a temple of Goddess Sati.
Not only is the path up to the temple extremely beautiful, it takes you up to a place with great views where in the North you can see the Himalayas and in the south you can spot Dehradun and Mussoorie.
After the temple I decided to pay a brief visit to the Eco Park at Dhanaulti and check out the adventure camps nearby. There are options of rappelling, Burma Bridge, sky walking, flying fox, zip lining and ATV adventure. And well, it isn’t exactly a hi tech adventure zone but these activities do account for a fun-filled couple of hours.
There were a couple of nice hotels and road side restaurants on the way back to Mussoorie and I decided to stop there for a typical meal of Aloo Zeera and Pahadi Tadka dal.
Another hour later, I was back in Mussoorie and decided to stop by at the Mussoorie lake before heading to the Mall road. The lake is around 80 odd steps down from the road and well, it’s actually not much of a lake. Just a small pond with a couple of paddle boats and few eateries around it. I had a nice time there since the weather was brilliant and I got some great ginger tea there, they were playing good music and it started raining after a while. So all in all, my visit wasn’t exactly a letdown but if you are short on time, visit to this place can totally be avoided.
It was time to head back to the Mall, and the two things this place is famous for is food and shopping.
I found this really nice shop there, must go for girls, as it had a lot of pretty handmade stuff from Tibet and Nepal. For food, well there are ample options here and I had heard a lot about the Lovely omelets stall here but I wanted to try the Tibetan cuisine here.
A couple of restaurants that serve Tibetan food, there is the Little lama café, the rice bowl and a couple more. And well, the food and ambience, both at the rice bowl was quite nice. Post dinner I was in mood for some dessert and well, only one place came to my mind, Chic Chocolate. The only thing to be noted here is that this place shuts down by 9, so have your dessert before dinner if need be but do remember to try this place when on the mall.
Their desserts, shakes and smoothies are quite popular in Mussoorie and rightly so. A coffee, one hot chocolate fudge and a gazillion calories later I decided to head back to my room and catch some sleep.
The next Day, after a hearty breakfast at lovely Omelet station I headed up to Kempty falls. Though there are a couple of more fall in the Mussoorie region, Bhatta falls and Jharipani falls, Kempty is the most famous of them all and around 14 kms ahead of Mussoorie.
The drive up to the falls isn’t half bad and the first view of the falls is breath-taking as you can see the origin up ahead in the mountains and how the water is trickling down to Kempty.
The base point of the fall, however, is kind of a let down again. There are 2 ways of reaching it, either a cable car or walking down 200 odd steps. The good thing is that I took the steps and had a nice time browsing through the shops in the market. Very pretty handicrafts & woolens and all priced at half of what you would get them at the mall. Must visit if you want to shop for woolens, cute caps or wooden show pieces but the main attraction , the fall not that great at all.
The base point is very crowded, too many people in the base pool and the water didn’t seem clean enough for me to jump in. There is another small lake and a pool made right next to the fall base point but that too looked more like an attraction for kids to me.
All in all, the falls are quite pretty but way too much crowd to really be able to enjoy the beauty. You can take a nice aerial view and avoid going all the way down to the base point if you are not in the mood to shop.
There is a municipal garden on the way to kempty and is marked in the top 10 things to do in Mussoorie. But I decided to skip the visit to the garden and head to Lal tibba for a Mussoorie view.
Lal tibba is the highest point in Mussoorie and on a clear day you can see the tip of the Himalayas from here. It is a very steep climb even for a car and it’s best that you take a local taxi / driver there as the roads are very narrow and steep and only a seasoned driver can drive through without complications.
There are two restaurants at the end point of Lal Tibba and I decided to go in the one of the left as it seemed like the view would be better from there.
Though the view wasn’t much since it was a cloudy day and I wasn’t able to see anything at all, let alone the Himalayas but the food at this place turned out to be great. Their signature cold coffee and the Momo’s were quite amazing. They have also stationed a telescope up on the roof and well, I was able to spot a temple and a nearby village.
I liked this place the most in Mussoorie, mainly because there was peace and very little crowd and good food all in one place.
I got talking to the restaurant manager, Shubham, and he told me they run treks here as well in season time where they will take you all the way down to the river and camp there for the night. They do some biking tours here as well and though it was time for me to head back to the city life then I kind of got a clue of what my next weekend get away from Delhi was going to be. 🙂
By Road : Distance is 280 Kms and around 8 hours with couple of pit stops. Best way to travel as the places to visit are all scattered around Mussoorie and it’s best if you have a vehicle with you.
There are both government & private busses that ply for Dehradun and Mussoorie. You could take a post 10 PM bust to reach at a good time in the morning.
By Train & Flight : The nearest railway station and airport is in Dehradun which is 34 kms from Mussorie. You can easily get a shared / private taxi from there to take you to Mussorie.
Local Travel : There are a lot of local tour operators available who will provide cab and guide for a variety of nearby tours or you could just rent a car on daily usage basis. The rates for these tours are from INR 800/- to INR 5000/- depending on the places / spots you want to cover.
Mussoorie : Stay on the mall road, that’s the most fun area of Mussoorie and is open till 10:30 – 11:00 which is very late by hill station standards
Hotel Shiva Continental is a good option is you are travelling with family, YMCA hostel or Bunkotel if you are travelling solo
Dhanaulti : If you are travelling with friends you are better off staying in Dhanaulti. Dhanaulti adventure camps is one good option here.
Mussoorie : The Mall , Lal tibba , Camel back road, Gun Hill, Bhatta falls, Company Garden , Kempty falls, Jahripani Falls, Mussoorie lake
Places around Mussoorie : Dhanaulti , Kanatal, Tehri , Surkanda devi, Dehradun
Adventure sports in Dhanaulti, shopping at the Mall road, Gaming (Arcade games) at the Mall road , boating at the Tehri lake, trekking at Lal Tibba
1) Lovely Omelet corner
2) Chic Chocolate for Desserts
3) Madras Café for south Indian
4) Little Lama for Tibetan
5) The rice bowl for Chinese , Tibetan
6) Around the Banyan tree , Dehradun Mussoorie highway on the way to Mussorie
In an attempt to make the planning process easier for you, we have made a super-handy cheat sheet which you can use as a PDF reference or take a printout for your journey. Download it here.
If you have already been here or to other similar places, share your experiences or engage in a conversation below. (Alternatively, here’s a link to the discussion on our facebook page)
Stay updated, Stay Inspired, Keep Travelling 🙂
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During an ASM stint you are just thrown away in all directions in the country and catching up with people you care for becomes quite a task. Our entire first year of Job was a series of weekends sandwiched with some working week days. And those weekends were either spent travelling to a middle ground place to meet people or planning a future trip to make it happen.
But this one weekend trip was absolutely impulsive, took us one day to decide that we just needed to travel to the mountains and had to find a middle ground between Delhi & Lucknow.
We decided to travel to Bhimtal merely because of the convenience of its location. Along with Abhinaya, Meetu and Gravity, friends who have always been my partners in all crimes and adventures, I left for Bhimtal by road early in the morning around five.
Prakhar and Jaydev took the train at night from Lucknow and reached Kathgodam around 10 in the morning.
Day 1 :
Bhimtal
After a 40 minute cab ride from Kathgodam station we reached the hotel we had booked in Bhimtal. The hotel that we stayed in is located right on the edge of the lake, basic budget property but the location of the place was amazing.
We spent the next one hour on the terrace of the hotel overlooking the lake and having breakfast. Royal Rosette, the place where we stayed serves basic breakfast – bread, eggs, Parantha and tea and coffee. And five minutes walking from the hotel there are ample options of street food right next to the lake side.
Naukuchiatal
After exploring the lake area we decided to go ahead and explore the Naukuchiatal area. This is another one of the nine lakes in the Nainital region and is the most secluded of all. This lake is situated, almost hidden between the mountains and has nine distinct corners, pointed edges hidden in between the mountains. This is the largest one of all the lakes but is not as well-kept as Nainital or even Bhimtal.
Though there is a stay option available right at the edge of the lake, If one is looking for a completely secluded area to stay in this is the perfect place.
There are options of Shikara boats here but paddle boats are not present in this lake. We went for an hour-long boat ride here, and this is genuinely quite a romantic place to be, amidst the mountains and away from the crowd. Oh, don’t forget to bring your Bluetooth speakers for this journey. The beautiful landscape, the lake, some random conversations about money managing app with friends and music on the background – A memory you would want to be haunted by for the rest of your life.
Nainital
After spending a Couple of hours at Naukuchiatal and we decided to head to a more populated area in this region for Dinner. Nainital and the mall road there was an obvious choice. The mall road at Nainital has the usual hustle bustle of any hill station. Some very good Indian and Chinese eating options are available here.
But if you come to Nainitaal, a boat ride in one of the most beautiful lakes in the country is a must. And this is the only lake where there is an option of paddle boats as well so that is definitely not be missed. The one hour boat ride here, with Jaydev entertaining us with his songs and the rain gods showering their love on us, this experience easily turned out to be an indelible experience and romantic in that. That boat ride and its memory is something that will stay with us till the end.
There is a Tibetan market right next to the lake and some great bargains, especially for woolens can be found here.
There are a couple of gaming arcades next to the lake too, where you can find the video games from the simpler times.
And another view not to be missed is from the top point of the trolley car ride. The cable car ride starting point is right across the entry of the lake and on a good day, if there aren’t any clouds in the sky you can see the entire lake and the hills around. One of the best view-point in Nainital.
There is a fully guided tour available right on the mall road where they will provide you the car and driver and take you around to show the 8 – 9 great viewpoints around Nainital, but we decided that we were content with spending some time on the lake and cable car ride instead of hustling around the numerous viewpoints.
After a great Chinese dinner at Machaan we headed back to the hotel and decided to continue our saga on the terrace with some snacks and drinks.
When we were sitting on the terrace, the hotel staff warned us that we should be a little careful as there is a panther which stays in the vicinity and keeps visiting that area but we ended making fun of the whole incident, named the panther Mr. Brown and tripped over his name all night.
Funny thing, a couple of months later we read a report in the newspaper about another hotel in the same area, where one of the big mountain cats had decided to camp in the room while the tourists had stepped out. And when the tourists came back, they found him crouching under the basin in the washroom.
So, in retrospect, we just got really lucky that Night. 🙂
Day 2 : Adventure and Explorations
Paragliding
Another thing we didn’t know of this place is that there is para gliding possible from a point which is a little above Bhimtal. 4 -5 different companies offer the same, they will pick you from your hotel in their vehicle, you can do Para Gliding up there and they will drop you back to the hotel.
Only this activity is dependent on the weather on that day, doesn’t happen in case of rains and stormy weather. Also there are two different kind of gliders, depending on the weight and the maximum weight they can carry here is 90 kg.
Boating at Bhimtal
Post this activity we decided to go back to Bhimtal, enjoy some boating and get something to eat there.
The boating experience in Bhimtal is fine, but if you are covering Nainital and Naukuchiatal, this one could comfortably be missed. Again, no paddle boats available here and somehow the surroundings are also not as pretty as in Nainital or as secluded as Naukuchiatal.
There is an aquarium in the middle of the lake on an Island and though we didn’t have the time to visit, I reckon it might be fun to visit an aquarium on an Island in the middle of a lake. After all, how many such aquariums could India boast of?
Pangot
Post lunch we decided to head to the village of Pangot. To reach to Pangot, we have to cross Nainital and head straight up. Around 45 – 60 mins of travelling from Bhimtal, but this place was worth it. Small sleepy hill station nestled in the heady Kumaon range. Here we felt like we were standing amidst the clouds, with the mist and the amorous fog blurring our slightly tired albeit dreamy eyes, a scenery both beautiful and compelling enough to foist a sense of enchantment with the place and people around you.
Pangot is a haven for Birdwatchers and for those who prefer nature walks and nature centric experiences away from the touristy life of Nainital. It is surrounded by the forest area of Kilbury National Park.
Couple of hours of exploring this town and having over sweetened tea here, it was time for us to head back. We descended from the mountains and headed to the Kathgodam station where we dropped our friends and bid good-bye, not knowing when we would all be able to plan another such amazing weekend.
Around 9, we headed back for Delhi and reached home around 3 in the morning. Couple of hours of sleep and well, the corporate world was ready to enslave us again.
Bhimtal : Fairly away from the Crowd, yet has a small market and places to eat. Royal Rosette, a budget hotel right at the edge of the lake
Naukuchiatal : Very Secluded, away from the city. There is a KMVN guest house right on the lake, budget property but great place to stay in if you are looking for serenity and peace.
Pangot : If you are interested in Bird watching and nature walks, Jungle Lore Birding lodge is a great option. There are a few more home stays and B&B’s available here.
Nainital : This place is the hub in this area, more than hundred hotels here from home stays to B& B’s to resorts, the whole wide variety is present in this region. The best market and eating joints and the hustle bustle is in Nainital.
If you want to take a printout/PDF version of this post to refer on your trip, you may request the same in the comments below. We will be glad to mail you the same in an attempt to make the planning process easier for you.
If you have already been here or to other similar places, share your experiences or engage in a conversation below. (Alternatively, here’s a link to the discussion on our Facebook page)
Stay updated, Stay Inspired, Keep Travelling 🙂
Travellers' Appetite 