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theskybluebubblegum

travel. explore. dream.

theskybluebubblegum

travel. explore. dream.

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Srinagar to Leh – A 9 day itinerary

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Things no one told you about Leh, Ladakh trip

Crawled in my Instagram yet?

theskybluebubblegum
(5/5) // He quickly got in the auto and shifted hi (5/5) // He quickly got in the auto and shifted his headlight's light from the road towards a stone below the tree on our left, he replied in his broken Hindi, "Arre madam, ye pathar humara devta hai". The stone had tilaks and garland all around it. We took a sigh of relief but were still frightened with our thoughts. Sensing our fear, Manjunath revved the engine and we headed towards Patadakkal.  Upon reaching Pataddakal in the next 15 minutes, we saw only a chai stall open and halted there. The three of us meanwhile spoke about the lives in Mumbai and Badami with our chattering teeth and shivering hands holding a cup of hot tea. We realized that Manjunath is really a gem of a person and we were unnecessarily worried!  The monuments' gate opened after another 30 minutes and we entered another time-travel machine at exactly 6 am.  Our entry was graced by a diffused saffron that ascended into the luminous azure sky. The disk of the sun rose over the group of stone monuments and trees, fluctuating with the dancing light. The monuments held themselves out for the sunbeams to touch it. All this glory filled me with a furnace-like vehemence of prayer.  All the silence and peace around in the monuments' maze was an experience only to be felt. While I prayed to touch the unutterable existence infinitely higher than a deity and thanked the universe for keeping me safe
(4/5) Manjunath got out of the auto and started w (4/5) Manjunath got out of the auto and started walking towards the fields. We squinted our eyes to see where he is heading but failed which our minds replayed all the Crime Patrol memories.  We jerked our heads in every position to figure out where we were and whether anyone was around - of course, no one was. This gave us a sigh of relief but also started getting our hearts thudding with a tonne of various unfortunate thoughts.  Divya and I started whispering about the speculations in our head about what was going on. Regretting not carrying chili powder or any equipment for our safety, we gathered some strength to ask him why did we halt since he was clearly not repairing his auto.  "Manjunathji, kya hua?" our hearts were fluttering with fear and we wondered if he could hear us over the loud noise of our heartbeats. The crouching position and the cold had made us not see anything but the road where the auto's headlight glistened.  He sprinted towards us while we prepared us to charged ourselves to attack him and then run away in another direction to nowhere!  tbc...
(3/5) I am an early bird and love to have the ent (3/5) I am an early bird and love to have the entire place to myself like any other person when I am traveling  This wish made us get up at 4 in the morning on our day two of the trip and ensuring our auto wallah was at our hotel at 4:30 am 🙈 It was pitch dark when we got in the auto. 🌑 While the auto revved and started galloping towards the destination, we saw there were no streetlights, no shop lights, just some faint dim lights sparkling from the rooms of some buildings. With not a soul around, just three of us left for Pattadakal (22 km from Badami) with our thoughts of how people live in these quaint and not crowded towns, trying to spot Sirius or Orion's Belt in the night sky. ✨🌛 A 30-minute ride seemed like an eternity especially with cold winds 💨and a sheer top I wore was doing no job of protecting me from the cold!! @ratherwrite shared her scarf also with me once we engulfed in her hoodie.  15 minutes down the trip, we wanted to change our crouching position into another. While the stars were still glistening in the night sky,💫 the darkness had no plans of shying away from the day which was to begin. There were fields around us and no houses or men around us within a 10 km radius. ☄️ When the auto came to a sudden halt out of nowhere 😥 Once the engine died, the eerie silence crept in our ears, tension gripped us, and the vast black hole in the surrounding seemed like an extremely horrible idea of leaving our place at 4:30 am before sunrise!  tbc... #optimismbias
(2/5) When we reached Badami, a swarm of autowalla (2/5) When we reached Badami, a swarm of autowallahs approached us and hesitantly we went ahead with Manjunath.  "Kidhar chaloge madam?" Manjunath, in his neat khakhi and neatly combed hair, led us towards his auto.  We did not want to confide in him about not having a stay booked and with a sir of confidence told him about the most common stay there. Upon reaching there we learned that there were no beds for the entire week!  With little worry, we informed Manjunath about not having booked any stay and we went ahead with hunting for a place to call in a night. We received the same response from place 2, and from place 3 along with a condescending look to Divya when she sayed "a room for two" while I was guarding our luggage in the auto she was the one bearing the brunt of people's reproaching looks. Place 4 did not have a room but also had another condescending look of us not being able to afford the room.  With tension now hovering on both our minds, and battling with our minds to calm us down, looking at the bus stops, local restaurants, and many 2 storied places, I cursed myself on why I did I choose only THIS trip to not book any place to stay?! Manjunath broke a 5 minute silence by saying there is a hotel opened a few days back but is not fully functional. With nothing to lose we requested him to take us there. We were lucky to get a room and basic amenities we finally and lucking got in a place to stay! But, the issues do not end here. We called in a night and asked Manjunath to pick us up at 4:30 in the morning the next day to go to Patadakkal and Aihole... 📸 Smiling away on top ~40 METERS on Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur.
(1/5) // @ratherwrite likes spontaneous plans whil (1/5) // @ratherwrite likes spontaneous plans while I love planned trips. Our likings serve us well, with her not knowing where are we headed, which monuments we are time-traveling to an epoch, or where are we calling in a night, with the uncertainty of seeing the best places and for me, no one interfering in my plans and my bucket-lists, ensuring us enjoying our trip!  With this quest, we left for Bijapur-Badami on a long weekend trip in December, 2017.   But this time, I thought of being spontaneous by embracing the uncertainty and not making any bookings whatsoever apart from Mumbai - Bijapur bus with a list of probable homestays/hostel accommodations.  After reaching #Bijapur the next day at 6 am, we realized Gol Gumbaz was just 100 meters away and decided to time-travel there before hunting for our accommodation.  We bumped into a guide and were extremely happy with the decision of hiring him. The number of stories, architectural significance, and its mindboggling glory baffled us by blowing our minds!  While leaving stupendous Gol Gumbaz after 3 hours, Rameshji asked us where are we staying. With sheer honesty, we replied saying we haven't booked any accommodation. With part relief and part tension floating on his face, he told us about a rally for a rape victim in Bijapur on the same day and advised agaisnt staying in Bijapur for at least 1-2 days.  With a change of plans, we got into an auto and reached Vijaypura Railway Station where we got a local's ticket for a boisterous 2-hour train journey to #Badami...  #optimismbias
...cont from previous post #optimismbias As soon ...cont from previous post #optimismbias As soon as he pulled over near me, I glued the phone on his ear and rushed into telling him to figure out where do I have to go.  To my relief he understood Hindi but to my utter disbelief, he knew no other south Indian language other than Kannada while the conductor of the bus was instructing him in Tamil!  I sat inside the auto and FORCED him to figure out where the bus was halted. I asked him to plead on behalf of me to keep the bus waiting for another 5-10 (not knowing where I was or where I was headed)  The auto guy cupped my phone on his ear and bolted his auto towards a destination I didn't know of.  We kept on driving for 5-10 minutes which felt like eons and I was dreading a feeling of the bus leaving without me.  While he was still on the call we reached the MIDDLE of a flyover where he asked me to get down.  Aghast and with almost tears welling up in my eyes (thinking that he's abandoning me) I was just about to start groveling when he pointed towards a bus which bore a number plate that I was frantically searching since 30 minutes!  I galloped like a horse who was just whiplashed towards the bus with my backpack and mobile held firmly between my cheek and shoulder, where I saw the conductor waiting patiently with a warm smile for me to alight the bus.  I got on the bus while ignoring the grumpy passengers and thanking him endlessly! I tried to hold back my urge to hug him while the wave of gratefulness soared in my heart! With another 5 minutes of thanking him, he told me about this was a one of a situation where a bus has waited for a passenger for over 30 minutes just because I was solo female traveler!  With another round of charades, I later learned that the driver and the conductor were trudging the bus in the name of traffic to avoid them from being trashed by the passengers!  I don't think I have ever felt this wave of overwhelming gratitude!
Resuming the #optimismbias series today with #koda Resuming the #optimismbias series today with #kodaikanal #tamilnadu Last year I ran away to Kodaikanal for a quick random solo weekend getaway while I was working in Bangalore. The bus stop was 20kms from my place and I knew of the area since I had taken a bus previously from the same stop while traveling to Kochi, Kerala just a few months back.  I waited patiently for 30 minutes for my bus to arrive at 8 pm. I spoke to the driver/conductor in broken Hindi/English since I can not speak any south Indian languages even a bit!  He said that he has arrived at the bus stop and I frantically started hunting for the bus' via its number plate amongst the sea of people, autos, cabs, private, and government buses!  and it turns out that I was at the wrong bus stop!  With panic, questions, and frustration flooding in my mind, I argued with him in flustered Hindi/English about how I am at the correct bus stop and that he is at the wrong place!  (In retrospect after remembering this incident, I rolled my eyes at myself) After coming back to my senses and realizing that I have to reach the bus at its location if I wanted to be in Kodaikanal the next morning, I started stopping autos to make the auto guy speak to the driver in any of the south Indian languages they know and make me reach the correct bus stop!  Agitation swell over me again as none of the auto wallahs were stopping and it was getting even more difficult since I was at a junction!  I finally managed to get hold of an auto guy after 4-5 minutes which trust me felt like an eternity!!!!!  ...cont in next post
Onam Ashamsakal to all the world citizens! I had Onam Ashamsakal to all the world citizens! I had never imagined that I would get a chance to wear a Kasavu since I have never celebrated Onam ever and did not see a chance in the near future! When @keralatourism emailed me that they are sending me an Onam Celebration package, I was expecting Aranmula Boat Race/Kathakali fridge magnets boasting of exuberant chaos and hidden backwaters of God's Own Country, but not a beautiful breathtaking kasavu!! Onam, a 10-day harvest festival of Kerala, India is celebrated to commemorate the legendary King Mahabali who is said to have given every Keralite - whether Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, or other- equal rights and prosperity. Thank you @keralatourism for helping me celebrate this K̶e̶r̶a̶l̶i̶t̶e̶ Indian festival (because here's a Gujarati celebrating a Mallu festival, so Indian hua ki nai?!), making it TRULY #onambeyondborders! I am praying to God that I get to witness and celebrate Onam in Kerala next year where maybe I can participate in Aranmula Boat Race (a 700-year-old contest that starts at the Aranmula temple on river Pamba), pose with the famous Mollywood backdrops consisting of impressive expanse and uncluttered shoreline ringed with coconut palms, and manage to gorge on sumptuous 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘺𝘢! #onamfestkerala Do you think the snake-boat oarsmen will make a part of their cult? On a scale of 1 to 10, how am I pulling off looking a Parita Krishnan/Pillai/Nambiar/Joseph?
...cont from the previous post.⁣ ⁣ While our h ...cont from the previous post.⁣ ⁣ While our hearts shattered at the sight of the leaving train, we had very little time to make our decision on how to reach Bhuj/Rann of Kutch. ⁣ Because boss, there's no way I'm going back home without a trip! ⁣ We spoke to a few taxi drivers while checking Google Maps about how soon can we reach Borivali but unfortunately we wouldn't have made it to this next stop thanks to the traffic. ⁣ ⁣ We took an auto to Bandra to check the offline booking of the next available train and simultaneously checked the seats available in a bus from @goibibo and the duration to reach Bhuj. ⁣ ⁣ All the tickets were sold out and we rushed towards Sion from Bandra to reach earlier than the departure time of the bus. ⁣ ⁣ With 3 hours to kill in Sion with our luggage, we finally managed to get in the bus and were praying desperately to reach Bhuj on time for the last bus which was to take us to ROK from Bhuj. ⁣ ⁣ As our luck would have has it, the Goibibo bus reached its destination 4hours later than the promised time thereby missing the bus that was to take us to ROK. ⁣ ⁣ We booked a cab from Bhuj (adding majorly to our already expenses of the missed train, late bus, and we hope to God this taxi was the last expense for this trip!)⁣ ⁣ I thought this was a horrible day because now the cab has to reach on time for us to catch the last bus leaving for the sunset from the tent city to the desert! ⁣ ⁣ Argghhhh x10!⁣ ⁣ We were a part of Kutch Drift's (ref: Tokyo Drift- Fast and Furious) action movie, keenly observing the driver's speed, the time ticking on the clock and were thankful that we could check in with 10 minutes to spare. We rushed towards our tent, freshened up, gobbled down some lip-smacking snacks, and ran like Usain Bolt towards the last bus for the day which revved its engine to reach the White Desert of India! ⁣ Phew! ⁣ Were you on your edge right now just like I was during those 2 days?
My friend and I were to leave at 2:30 to reach Dad My friend and I were to leave at 2:30 to reach Dadar by 3:30 pm to catch our train to Kutch. Our cab got a little late and we were running with no cushion time in hand and with loads of optimistic bias that nothing can go wrong with us! We reached Dadar station and ran towards the platform to see the train waiting for us. While trying to figure out the boogie and with 4 minutes in hand we were happy that we made it! Little did we know that we were searching the boogie in the wrong train and at the wrong platform!!!! With panic struck heart, we called a coolie for some help with our luggage and started running like Usain Bolt towards platform 7 from 1. With breaks in between (thanks to no workout) running, with minute or two to spare, and praying to all Gods to delay the train, we reached the platform! We were happy to see the train still waiting at the platform. While 100 meters away on the platform away from the train, our relief was short-lived because the train came alive as soon as we kept our foot on the platform! With still optimism bias in our head and unable to believe that we are missing our train, we stood there gaping in disbelief. My Rann of Kutch plans of more than 13 months were shattering in front of me and pacing as quickly as the train was moving towards it's destination. So close yet so far! Stay tuned to know what happened next? 😅
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