Travel With Sachin Zanz

I started this blog as a platform to share my experiences that I have gained travelling to various places. The idea is to bring forth my interactions with people, learning’s from different cultures & traditions and help fellow travelers like me leverage on whatever little that I have to share. Basic thought behind these posts are that “Travel teaches you a lot more than any university can ever teach you and it is even more satisfying to pass on this learning for others to leverage”

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Wandoor Beach: Port Blair - Andaman

Wandoor Beach: Port Blair - Andaman

Sometimes one is destined to visit some places. Wandoor beach is one such place for me. On my maiden tour to Andaman; Wandoor was not on my itinerary but I was more than glad that it made its way into my plans. We were actually scheduled to visit the North Bay Island but the weather played spoil sport and none of the boats were allowed to sail. So, we were forced to change plans and our guide was more than welcoming to accommodate Wandoor beach as an alternate.

Towards Wandoor beach

We also went along since it would be better to make most of the time in the Andamans rather than letting one day go by. He arranged for a car & we were off to Wandoor beach. It is located on the southern tip of Andaman and is about 30 km from Port Blair. It would take about 45 mins. We took a pit stop at an agricultural garden on the way towards Wandoor. The garden had a wide variety of trees and plants. The plants were ranging more flowers, medicinal and decorative ones. We spent around 30 minutes here and then left for Wandoor.

Agriculture Garden towards Wandoor beach

The route going towards Wandoor passed through small towns and dense forests. The final stretch close to Wandoor gave glimpses of the sea with the backwaters. We finally reached Wandoor beach and got to see the pristine bluish green waters that Andaman is known for. The sea was calm and serene. Crystal clear waters just looked so soothing.

Backwaters towards Wandoor beach

Wandoor beach

Fallen tree trunk @ Wandoor beach

The beach stretched for about 2-3 km with golden sands, fallen tree trunks and small islands visible in the distant horizon. The Jolly Buoy Island and Red Skin Island are visible from Wandoor beach. The Jolly Buoy Island is known for clear waters with glass bottom boat rides being conducted to see the corals. The boats leave very early from here and since we reached by noon we couldn’t visit these islands.

Jolly Buoy & Red Skin Islands from Wandoor beach

Jolly Buoy Island

We clicked a lot of photographs and then had some snacks. We purchased sea shell curtains as souvenirs from here. We left from here and this time we took a different route. On the way back we visited the rubber making factory. The visit was very informative on the process of rubber extraction and manufacturing.

@ Rubber Factory

Many more memoirs to share .... Sachin

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Day 7 : YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh

YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh

Day 7 - Ride from Haniskot to Lamayuru via Fotu La pass & back to Leh base camp

We woke up to a chilled morning. There was dew all around. And now we had the dreadful task of pumping water from the famous hand pump. This pump would probably be second most popular behind the one uprooted by Sunny Deol in Gadar :)

Ready to leave from Haniskot

We had breakfast and got ready to leave. As mentioned earlier since ours was the last batch means we got some benefits. Since YHAI volunteers were packing up the camp and they had a pick up to take their belongings to Lamayuru; we also got the privilege of sending our ruck sacks with them. We didn’t need to load them on our bikes. We packed up our ruck sacks and handed them over the YHAI volunteers. Posed for some group photographs and off we were.

From Haniskot

The plan for the first half of the day was pretty much set. Scale Fotu La pass and then cycle downhill till Lamayuru for lunch and leave for Leh by 3 PM. We left from Haniskot and started cycling towards Fotu La pass. The uphill soon started taking its toll on us. The ride was pretty much punctuated by small breaks which seem to be getting very frequent as we move ahead closer to Fotu La pass.

From Haniskot towards Fotu La Pass

We left from here and our next target was to reach Rakesh tea stall. This was Sumit’s regular halt while he keeps cycling on this route. We cycled for about 30 minutes and reached the tea stall. We parked our bikes and sat down to have tea. We made the most of time we spent here since our stop would be directly at Fotu La. As usual the break was full of jokes and laughter. We finally left from there we had to catch on time.

Tea break from Haniskot towards Fotu La Pass

From Haniskot towards Fotu La Pass

Rest time from Haniskot towards Fotu La Pass

The frequent breaks were obviously used as an opportunity for group photographs. Since this was pretty much the last day we would be cycling along as a group we tried to make the most of it. There was one particular patch on the highway where we could see the moon even at 9:30 am.

We stand united :)

From Haniskot towards Fotu La Pass

We cycled and fought the altitude to finally see Fotu La in sight. The final stretch gave us glimpses of snow clad mountains and the icing on the cake was a milestone clearly mentioning “BRO: Fotu La Top HT-13479 Ft Highest Point The Srinagar Leh Road”. This is what we were cycling all this while for the last 5 days. We had finally made it. Akhilesh & I hugged each other in joy of having accomplished the mountain biking expedition. All the things that happened prior to us coming here and all the obstacles that we had to cross just seemed insignificant. This was it; we have completed our second mountain biking expedition in 2 straight years; something that we didn’t envisage at the start of 2013 when we hardly had any outings.

Akhilesh @ Fotu La Pass

Near Fotu La Pass

Akhilesh & Me @ Fotu La Pass

Me @ Fotu La Pass

Akhilesh celebrating @ Fotu La Pass

Our camp leader at Leh had challenged us to get a group photograph at Fotu La ensuring that all members were present at the same time. This seems a challenge since it is not recommended to spend more than 30 minutes at Fotu La (and frankly it becomes difficult to spend more time here because of the strong winds). Since some of our fellow participants had already crossed Fotu La and made their way towards Lamayuru; we at least made it a point to have the group photograph with all the available group members.

LMB16 @ Fotu La Pass

Fotu La Pass conquered

It was a joyous moment for all of us since none were regular cyclists but we all made the efforts to accomplish something outside our comfort zones. We clicked as many photographs as we could and since it was getting late we decided to leave and descend towards Lamayuru.

LMB16 @ Fotu La Pass

Akhilesh & Me @ Fotu La Pass

From Fotu La Pass towards Lamayuru

We soaked in all the memories and with a heavy heart started pedaling towards Lamayuru. Frankly pedalling was really an exaggeration since the entire route from here till Lamayuru was total downhill. We zoomed past the next 10 km in no time and crossed the same route that we had our trial bike ride on the first day. The locals here were busy in their daily chores and one just activity we saw was milling of wheat.

From Fotu La Pass towards Lamayuru

@ Lamayuru

We finally reached the base camp at Lamayuru. We returned our bikes with Mr. Tiwari and proceeded to have lunch. After lunch we bid adieu to Chetan & all the volunteers at Lamayuru. Our bus was ready and we being the last ones to board the bus were again on the staircase :)

Akhilesh with Chetan Joshi (Ext L) & Tiwar Ji (Ext R) @ Lamayuru

After about 3 hours we finally reached Leh and as per the schedule the next day was supposed to be a rest day while we had to check out on the day after tomorrow. But since we were already done with the cycling expedition and we wanted to make the most of the time we had in Ladakh; we decided to check out as soon as we reached the camp at Leh. We checked out from YHAI and collected our certificates. We booked a room in the nearby Tara guest house and went to the Leh market for dinner. We closed the trip with joint dinner; it was me, Akhilesh, Hamza, Meet, Vinod and Yogesh. While returning back we booked the cab for our Pangong trip the next day.

This finally bought the curtains down on the best trip that I had till date. Ladakh will always have a special place in my heart. Signing off ; “Juley”

Many more memoirs to share .... Sachin

Other escapades in Ladakh:

Pangong Lake
Khardungla Pass
Nubra Valley
Places to visit in Leh
BRO signboards in Ladakh

Day 6 : YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh

YHAI National Himalayan Mountain Biking Leh

Day 6 - Ride from Sakhar-2 to Haniskot

View on Leh Srinagar highway

The morning started off really early and it was all misty and chilled outside. And to make life more adventurous since there was shortage of water we had to go down to the stream to get fresh. The water was really chilled. A simple task as brushing our teeth & washing our face became a challenge. Our hands were really numb because of the chilled waters. Luckily tea was ready and we used it as a heater to get feeling back into our hands. In all YHAI expeditions it is well known that they only serve vegetarian meals. The only exception to this rule is eggs for breakfast. Sakhar-2 was that camp where we had eggs for breakfast. Well Akhilesh being a vegetarian meant and extra egg for me :)

Camp @ Sakhar - 2

Getting set to leave from Sakhar - 2

We got ready and loaded our bikes. Mithun briefed us about the route. We were supposed to cycle till Khangral & then connect to the Srinagar Leh highway and reach our next camp at Haniskot. And as promised Sumit would be joining us at Khangral to accompany us till Haniskot & complete the expedition with us the day after till Lamayuru via Fotu La pass. The route from Sakhar-2 till Khangral passed through many villages and thus we got to interact with a lot of locals and especially children.

Akhilesh with the local kids

Cute :)

Fortunately for us it was Sunday and thus all the kids were at home so we got the most their attention. They were more than excited to play with us and wanted to ride with us. We took some of the smaller kids for a ride while let the slightly older kids to take our bikes for a spin. Hopefully that made their Sunday enjoyable and it definitely made our trip more exciting. One very distinctly features in all the kids were milky white skin with rosy pink cheeks. All the kids here are blessed with cuteness and the climate certainly helps them maintain the freshness and glow on their face :)

Local kids

Just as we moved ahead we saw a structure atop a hillock resembling a palace. The structure however was in ruins. We didn’t know what it exactly was but it resembled some historical structure.

Between Sakhar - 2 & Khangral

Riding another km and we hit another local village. Here too we were surrounded by local kids. They had similar demands and we didn’t want to disappoint them so we obliged them and took them for a ride. The kids were also more than happy to pose for photographs with us. One piece of suggestion I would like to give to future participants is to try & select a batch wherein your journey from Sakhar-2 to Haniskot happens on a Sunday. Though we didn’t plan for it but we were more than happy with the co-incidence. You don’t want to miss interacting with these kids. This is the only route wherein you will get to interact with the locals.

With local kids :)

Rasta roko for chocolates :)

Sunflower against the clear blue skies

Cutie :) between Sakhar - 2 & Khangral

Just as we were about to leave from there; the local kids created a human barricade and demanded for chocolates. It was so cute. We left from here (though we didn’t want to) and made our way through another village wherein we saw one of the local using the handloom. It was really nice to see him intricately weave the threads into a beautiful cloth. By now we were very close to Khangral & there was a small army check post here. I stopped by to take some rest and the army jawans were more than happy to invite us over.

Between Sakhar - 2 & Khangral

Rest time between Sakhar - 2 & Khangral

The last patch of uphill cycling finally leads us to Khangral. Some of our fellow participants were already here along with Sumit & Mithun and as usual we were the last ones :)

Last stretch towards Khangral

Akhilesh with Sumit @ Khangral

We parked our bikes and opened our lunch boxes. Lunch as usual for us was a session of jokes and laughter. This time we had Sumit & Mithun for company. These guys are really awesome. They get along so well with us that it’s hard to fathom the reality that we are in company of the 2 best cyclists in India.

Between Khangral & Haniskot

After an extended lunch break we finally left from Khangral & now we were back on the Srinagar Leh highway. The views were really mesmerizing and the journey was even more exciting since we got to cycle alongside Sumit. We would have cycled for about 2-3 km but the view doesn’t change one bit. Such is the magnitude of the surrounding. We are at such an altitude that the small villages and fields in the valley such appear to be the same even after cycling for 2-3 km.

Between Khangral & Haniskot

Just as we were cruising along the Srinagar Leh highway we happened to meet a foreign couple who were cycling towards Srinagar. They had a 2-seater bicycle with their entire luggage loaded on the bike. It’s amazing to see foreigners on a soulful trip to India to explore these lovely destinations. We had a chat with them which is when they informed us that they were looking out for a place to halt for the night while their friend was also on his way & was left behind. They requested us to pass a message to him since we would most likely meet him while we were cycling towards Haniskot.

Akhilesh with a foreigners bike between Khangral & Haniskot

Between Khangral & Haniskot

We stopped at a tea stall for a break. By now since it was 4 PM and we had a comfortable couple of hours till sunset’ we made the most of the time here. While we were having tea the foreigner couple’s friend came along. Sumit guided him about his friend’s whereabouts.

Sumit giving directions to friend of the couple we meet

Just before Haniskot

We finally left from there and our next target was to reach Haniskot. The Haniskot camp was located on a hillock and the last 1 km really tested us. But we finally made it to the camp and as usual we were the last one’s to reach. The Haniskot camp was actually a property owned by J&K tourism but not in use. This was rented out by YHAI for this expedition.

Just before Haniskot

Just on the entrance of Haniskot

We parked our bikes and the next task was to get fresh. Here too we had a different variant of water problems. The restrooms didn’t have direct water connection since the location was not in use for sometime. We had to get water from the hand pump outside. The walk to the hand pump and the actual task of pumping water would become a challenge because of the chilled climate. This was easily the coldest camp. Touching the hand pump sent a feeling of shock in the body :)

Behind the Haniskot camp

Haniskot camp

The famous hand pump @ Haniskot

My bike @ Haniskot

By now it was time for soup followed by dinner. The task of having dinner was also a task since it was really cold outside. But the food provided the much needed body heat. Speciality of the camp was “Gulab Jamun” for dessert. We certainly made the most of it. It was time to call it quits with mixed feelings. Tomorrow would be the last day of cycling but it would also mean we attempt to scale the highest point on the Srinagar Leh highway; Fotu La pass :)

Many more memoirs to share .... Sachin

<----- Day 5 - Skrubuchan to Sakhar-2

Day 7 - Haniskot to Lamayuru via Fotu La----->