Through Traveler's Eyes

Paddle Sajeel Paddle

2012-01-08T22:01:00.005+04:00

Collecting stuff after the flip

Well deserved rest

Place: Khasab - Oman (Musandam)
When: Jan 2011
What for: Kayaking and Fishing
How many: 3 people on 2 kayaks
Days: 2 nights 3 days

Briefs:
First open sea kayak and fishing in the most pristine waters of the Arabian Gulf. It was our friend John who pushed us for this trip and let us test our limits in the very rough sea on our first day, all credit goes to you John. The night out on a secluded beach a few miles from the city was an experience in itself, not to forget the fresh catch of Sherry that we ate in the moonlight out there was a totally out of the world experience.
After the first day of rough sea we found the sea totally calm at sunset and continued like that the next day to give us some piece of mind and we paddled the area, saw the corals, fished around the fjords and had loads of fun.
Wild life we saw included fish, birds and foxes. Overall a great weekend outing and an overnighter to a beautiful location.

Highlights:

Slept at Khasab beach after reaching there midnight.
Launched our boats at Khasab Harbour in the morning in very unsettled sea. Waves were giant and it was very windy. Slowly made progress as the boats created even fierce waves to topple us, they just wanted to go by close to us to see us I guess. John line caught with one such boat and that spun him around and that became the only flip of the tour. It took us a long time to collect everything and settle on the boats in high winds and waves.
We reached an island after some time and settle there although we had a plan to go further out.
We left our luggage for drying on the island and left with lighter kayaks for more fishing. We had no luck, may be owing to the unsettled rough sea so we came back to the island and erected our tent for the night.
We had company of 3 french women and 2 men briefly as they stopped on the beach for lunch on their way back to Khasab.
Evening fell in and we collected some wood from the dirty island for bonfire, John took a round in the bay to try his luck for fish. He came back successful with small size Sherry fish good enough for our dinner.
After dinner we started fishing from the shore and started to catch fish on regular basis. So we continued doing this until midnight.
Night was very nice except my friends snoring that kept me up for the whole night :-)
We packed in the morning and after fishing for some time in the bay we paddled back to the harbor in calm sea.
After unloading extra stuff at the harbor we paddled in the harbor to catch more fish for about an hour.
We packed everything and drove back to UAE.

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Fishing and Kayaking in Abu Dhabi

2012-01-02T14:51:00.002+04:00

Location: Abu Dhabi

Launch site: Shaham Harbour

Boats: 2 with three people

Participants: Adeel (me), Sajeel (my son) and John (my friend)

Duration: Full day trip around the Ferrari World

WHERE'S THE BEAUTY HIDING?

2011-11-14T19:20:00.004+04:00

Where’s the Beauty hiding?

Area:
Everest Region - Nepal

Travel Month:

October 2011

Country:

Nepal

Total Days:

13 days

Attractions:

Everest, Other Mountains, Waterfalls, scenery

Total Distance Covered:

120 kms hike, plus four hours flight from Sharjah to Kathmandu and 30 minutes flight from Kathmandu to Lukla and back.

Document:

Original writing unedited.

Travelogue:

DAY1

Our adventure has started as the check-in counter at the airport just told us that my friend who is traveling on a Pakistani passport cannot board a flight to Kathmandu without a visa. My research clearly stated that it is possible and all the more there won’t be any visa fee for SAARC countries residents. We are being sent to the manager’s room, we enter there and see a young man sitting behind the counter I started to talk to him in general and created some connection with him before telling him the problem, it always helps. Then was the time to tell him the problem and that’s exactly what I did. Once told he promised to help us out. He came out with us to the counter and spoke to many people and finally checked us in provisionally, and told us to wait for one hour for clearance. Now we are roaming around at the airport confused. However the wait was not long as someone came and told us to come and collect our boarding pass and go through the check in. We are sitting at Caribou coffee now and are enjoying our cappuccino, excited about our trip. After that we walked through the duty free shops and just bought a chocolate box for our guide in Nepal. Since we are traveling on a low cost career, there are no meals on the flight. Therefore we have bought the biggest burger McDonald’s offers and that is in our day pack to enjoy it onboard.

Flight announcement came and now we are sitting in the plane waiting for it to fly. Flight is on time and has left without any hiccups. It is going to be a four hour flight to Kathmandu. We will reach there by 1:30pm to have the rest of the day for us to shop for some essential items that we couldn’t buy in Dubai. It’s been two hours on the flight so we are having our delicious burger with coke. Everyone seems to be envious of us as they are either not having anything or are stuck with ordering the Pokka readymade noodles from the flight attendants. We have finished eating and are waiting for the flight to reach KTH. After some time we noticed some beautiful scenery on the left hand side, luckily we are sitting on the left hand side of the plane and will be enjoying this Himalayan scenery till we reach KTH. Clicking loads of photos after changing the regular lens to the 300mm lens on my SLR. I’m sure that the mountains visible are very high probably all the 8000ers Nepal has but am unable to name them in my pictures. I’ll have to ask some expert for that.

A smooth landing and here we are in the terminal welcomed by a very nice and graceful lady. She just took our passports and is guiding us everywhere, from filling forms to taking us to the right counters. I was right as they are not charging any fee for SAARC passport but are charging $25 on my Canadian passport. Smooth exit to the luggage room which is totally jam packed and is quite chaotic. After waiting for 2 hours we just discovered that the luggage on the belts is from yesterday’s flight due to some hiccup it didn’t come with the flight. So we are in line for the receipt of not receiving our luggage. The guy is telling us to check at 10:30pm on the next flight and hopefully our luggage would be there. This is not a good start for us as we are flying to Lukla tomorrow morning to start our hike. Just got the file number and left the terminal where we are welcomed by Thakur our guide.

He took us to their old Toyota Corolla 1998 model. We are going towards the hotel now. It is a bad traffic time as all the streets are crowded and traffic is jammed. After an hour we are finally in our room at Thamel Eco Resort. Thamel is the set of streets and bazaars where most of the tourists stay. All the shops try to rip off the poor travelers and everyone knows it. It all depends on how good a bargainer you are to get the best possible price for anything. There are statues of Goddesses and other holly stuff for Hindus and Buddhists. Other than that we noticed the most prominent statues every shop carrying are the Kama Sutra. I don’t feel right about it though and consider that vulgar to be openly sold and displayed at almost all the shops.

Anyhow the hotel is nice and has a small garden in the middle of the rooms. That is the only Eco thing about this hotel but the rest is just like any other hotel. We were happy to come to this one to support the Green concept; at least we did our bit.

Here Thakur revealed that his company has not been registered and he just has a website, however we needed to register our Emergency Travel Insurance with some company as that is the requirement of Columbus Insurance (UK) in case they have to arrange our pickup from the high altitude if need be. So we asked him to take us to his other company (through which he usually works) so that this problem could be sorted out. He seems to be reluctant but agrees to do that finally. We are sitting in his company office filling in the details etc. We requested them to arrange the local SIMs and credit for us to be used in our stay in Nepal. This is done and the insurance is registered as well. We are in the streets looking for the required stuff going from one shop to another. Everyone is a rip off and give highly inflated prices. Shopping is done and we are having our first meal with Chana Masala and Daal Bhat (famous Nepali food that they have every day for lunch and dinner) in a restaurant named as Mac Donald.

Thakur was renting some dirty sleeping bags for us but we just told him to get better ones. We shopped around and have found brand new sleeping bags on rent less than the price he was paying at the previous shop. So both the parties are happy with this arrangement.

We are sitting in the hotel and trying to sort out the misunderstanding Thakur has create about the total payment. Luckily I brought the emails conversation print outs with me and that has cleared the air. Thakur is doing some drama of “Oh I gave you the wrong price etc.”, this is making us really confused and unhappy.

But we have limited numbers of days and we can’t afford to lose even one day. Hence we are sticking with Thakur even if we don’t want that any more; otherwise we could have gone to find some other company and guide. We have just paid him so that he could get the dollars converted into rupees.

Now it is time to go to the airport to try our luck for our luggage, Thakur left for his home. Taxi is arranged by the hotel staff, they are really nice and smiling people. Normally it is Rs300 one way but it is night time and it is ‘Thamel’ so we are paying Rs 1200 for the return trip. We found our luggage at the airport right away. We are very happy and are all set to go to Lukla next morning. We called Thakur who told us that he has cancelled our flight; I’m very upset as he didn’t ask us about it and I explicitly prompted him not to make any changes in the plan until we call him at night. He promised to get back after reinstating the tickets. We are very confused and angry right now, and are getting obstacles one after another. We received his call to get ready 6am as everything is in order after 30 minutes.

We are back in the hotel and are charging our cameras etc. and are excited about our flight to Lukla.

By the way Kathmandu and Lukla are considered to be the most dangerous airports in the world due to their difficult locations and track record of failed flights. Many people have lost their lives at these places and this thing was making our families nervous when we started our journey.

DAY2

I couldn’t sleep the whole night, may be out of excitement or whatever. But we are ready after taking bath in another room as the hot water didn’t work in our room, not that it worked in the other room J either. But we are having our breakfast as the other trekkers are. Everyone is with bright eyes and excited about their trekking plans as everyone who is awake right now is going to some trek in Nepal. Some are going to EBC (Everest base camp), some are going to Annapurna Circuit etc. Thakur is here and is also having breakfast with us.

We left towards airport in a taxi at 7am. The local terminal is really busy and filled with mostly westerners and some tourists like us and some local people. We are going to fly in a small twin otter plane that seats 18 people. What an experience that is going to be. Our flight is delayed due to something but we are sitting in the terminal to fly as we hear the call for our flight.

On the way to the airport Thakur made some drama and said my mother is very sick and I just received the message. He opted to stay back and would join us once we’ll be in Namche Bazar, in the meantime he put us through to another guide. Later we got to know that we were actually sold out to a cheaper guide, and that fellow knew already that we are coming to Lukla. We were no expecting this from Thakur but we never wanted not to believe him when he told us about his mother. We had a doubt but shrug it off.

We are flying in this small and old plane and it sometimes bounces in the air pockets. The plane seems to be very old, the seats are cloth seats as if these are from World War 2, the equipment is broken or about to break, and even pilots seats are all ripped off as I could see them from behind. It does have a GPS though that I think is an enhancement in the plane. We are sitting just behind the pilots and there is no door between them and us, there is a big opening and I could see all the controls and their usage. The views outside are amazing right from when the flight started. There are step fields and the area is really green and mountainous.

We are really enjoying our mountain flight and are able to see some really tall mountains and stunning views. There are no announcements in the plane otherwise they would have told us the names of the mountains around and that would have been very nice. The only offering during the flight was some mint candy that tasted awful.

Landing in Lukla is an experience in itself, as this is a small strip in incline where the plane lands and barely stops before hitting the wall on the far end. The strip may not be more that 800 meters long and the slanting angel may not be less than 12 degrees. We are in a bit cold weather already in Lukla. We just met our new guide to whom we are sold out by our original guide and our porter also who is always smiling. They are both young men. Our guide is Bhimsen Rijal and I don’t remember our porters difficult name as our guide who is Nepali couldn’t remember that either.

Our luggage is collected and we are sitting in a hotel/tea house having some tea and nice vegetable soup. After this we started our trek and we are obviously very happy and excited to make it this far in time after all the hiccups we faced since our journey started from UAE. The trek is not hard as the first day we are only going to climb down 200 meters to Phakding for our first night. That doesn’t mean that there is no climb up, the mountains are never going up and down only, it is always a mixture of up and down and the resultant is the gain or loss of altitude at the end. So today we would be losing 200 meter altitude as a whole after all the climb up and down. We did buy water bottles before leaving Lukla and are now carrying two liters of water each. Lukla is 2800meters (9240 ft) above sea level and we plan to go over 5545 meters (18000 ft) above sea level in our hike.

We have reached a check-post where they check the trekking permits and to our surprise Thakur forgot to give us the permits and now we’ll have to make them again. There are nice 3d models of the Himalayan range at this center/check-post. It took half an hour to complete the formalities and we are back on the trek. The scenery has a lot of greenery, trees, vegetation that includes Chinese spinach, carrots, cabbage and potatoes. This is what these people eat every day along with lentils and rice, in the shape of daal bhaath.

There is a bridge broken by the earth quake that came a few days earlier and that has made the whole hill fall down. Therefore there is an extra hour of hike around that hill. This is quite rough and tough as we have to go high up to cross this broken part. After about four hours of hike we have reached our Tea House (as these small guest houses are called in this area). The room (so called) is upstairs, the stairs are really steep and the room is wood walls with wooden bed and that’s it, it is really small. The bathroom is bad and there is no water coming in the only tap. Though, the view of the river from the dining is great. We are really tired of our first day hike and are sure it will be getting extremely tough in the coming days. We rested for some time and then went out to see the village. Bhim took advantage and put us in the cheapest possible Tea House in the area, had we known earlier we would have protested but it’s too late for today, will talk tomorrow. We took a lot of photos on the way and are taking some while walking through the village. There are quite a few Tea Houses in this village and there is a small river bisecting the village, the water is rushing down the steep slopes through the village falling way down into the bigger river. We are back in our Tea House and have ordered our diner. The old Sherpa lady is the owner of this place and is really polite. We sat outside for a while but then came inside as it is getting chilly now. Enjoying the landscape and river view from dining room windows. There is a platform to sit all around the room and then tables and then chairs on the other side. This is a regular set up in most of the dining rooms on the trek. There are guides and porters sitting in one side of the room and they eat after the guests have been served their food. Food is alright and we are satisfied with it today. Now the night is falling in. The night in the mountains is always very mysterious and falls quite early. It comes early in the valleys as the sun is blocked by the high mountains and you do see light in the sky but where you are it is dark. We are in our room telling each other stories in a bid to sleep. I’m not getting any sleep and this is creating problems for me during the day.

DAY3

ME AND MY SMALL STEPS

We are having our breakfast of scrambled eggs and toasts; of course we are also sipping some milk coffee. Today is going to be one of the difficult days of the trip as we are going to climb more than 600 meters in the day in about 9-10 kms of hike. Phakding to Namche Bazar, at Namche Bazar we’ll stay two nights one for today and one for the mandatory acclimatization process before we go too high in the mountains. The trek is alright in the beginning, it is going through some small villages with vegetation around them. We just crossed a couple of nice and high waterfalls. The valley has opened up now and the trek is going along the river, we did cross the river to the left via hanging bridge earlier. The incline is not much yet, we are crossing another bridge to go to the right side of the river. Track still remains next to the river with its ups and downs. Sometimes the river flows far down and looks like a small stream from distance and sometimes it is very close to the trek and is roaring and creating a lot of noise due to the rapids. This sound doesn’t bother us though as we are kind of liking this sound now. Ok we can see one hanging bridge high in the mountains and we are going to climb up to cross the river to the left and then there is a very steep trek disappearing into the green mountain. I think the real steep trek is nearing now.

As soon as we crossed the hanging bridge full of prayer Buddhist flags, the trek is just going at more than 45 degrees. So it is starting to get tougher now. With our fitness level, we are moving very slowly. This is where I devised my motto of today’s trek “Me and my tiny steps”. This slogan is going to help us all the way and this is the only formula to hike in the mountains. So here we are with our small steps, the idea is to put one step after another without thinking how far we are going and how steep are we climbing. We have been on the trek for several hours and it does not seem to end any time soon. The trek passed through some dense trees and the views behind them are mesmerizing. Sound of the river comes all the way up here although the river is a good few hundred meters below by now. We hear some birds chirping sometimes through the trees but it’s hard to see them. We continue slowly and pass through couple of very small villages which are not much of commercial nature. The commercial nature villages have Tea Houses and some places to stay all along the trek and then there are some which are very less in number but they don’t have much to offer for the tourists. Sherpa kids are really beautiful up here though they are very dirty due to the harshness of the weather and less opportunities of getting a bath.

A small village came and we are sitting in its open dining area where there are some other older trekkers ordering their lunch. The sun is out and the heat it is producing is very soothing for our bodies. We have taken our shoes and socks off and those are sitting in the direct sunlight to get rid of any moisture and smellJ. The food is good and is served with love; the guy came to us to ask if we needed more food with a smiling face. We extended our break to lie down in our chairs under the sun for some extra time before we continue our treacherous trek still going up.

We are just going and going and going up without any end in sight. After hiking for about 9 hours with our numerous number of breaks for photographs and rest and lunch we are now nearing Namche Bazar. It is getting dark also making hour hike a complete days hike today. Usually fit people could do this trek in 5-6 hours but then again it depends on you as how fast you go and how many breaks you take along the way. Entrance to Namche is not at all impressive with a small dirty street having some tea houses on one side still going up. Good thing is that our hotel (The Nest) is in the very beginning of Namche. We are in our room now which is a 3 bedroom basic facility room with shared bathroom for the whole floor. It’s quite chilly at this time of the evening. Our porter has already put our stuff in the room as he made it well before us. The Tea House is the biggest that we’ve seen so far. And I think it is sort a compensation for us as yesterday we stayed in quite a lousy place and we spoke to our guide about it. But we are happy with this place. There are two very small energy saver bulbs in the room and these produce good enough light to see our stuff. We have two windows, one is blocked and the other one has an open view of Namche.

After taking rest for several minutes now we are sitting in the dining room where there are a lot of other hikers making their plans, reading books and discussing different matters mostly about this trip with their guides. Guides are taking orders for the dinner from their customers. There are quite a few very interesting characters also doing their own stuff. No one is bothered about what others are doing really; everyone is in a different state of mind and tired. Most of the people are going up but some are staying here on the way down. We met a few to check what are the conditions up there. There has been snow and some storm on high mountains a couple of days back and for that reason Cho La Pass was closed for a few days and people did trek in the snow for a day or so but the conditions seem to be normal now as the weather is getting better. We are hoping for clear skies and less cold when we reach up there and we are not the only ones praying for this.

Namche Bazar is located at 3440m (11352 ft) and is the business hub of the Everest Region. However I think this is the most difficult place to become a business hub because the approach to Namche from either side is extremely difficult due to the climb from any other side. From any side one has to climb a good few hundred meters to reach this business hub. This is a difficult place to reach while you are going up in the mountains and even when you are coming down from the mountains. I couldn’t find any bypass either therefore it’s a must stop. Namche is also first of the two mandatory acclimatization points in this area. We’ll be staying here two nights to acclimatize before moving up to 13000 ft above sea level. Many people start having breathing or high altitude problems from here. But we are all fine and have not noticed any signs of breathing or other issues so far.

The dinner is Daal Bhaat and some other stuff. The environment in the dining room is very mountainous as I would call it. Anybody staying here has something to do with hiking in this particular trip, therefore everyone has something in common and that is the love for the mountains and the wish to see Mount Everest with their own eyes before these will close permanently. I’m here for the very dream that I kept having since my childhood. Since I fell in love with the mountains and got a chance to see them in Pakistan Northern Areas, Mt. Everest has been a must do in my to do list. Here I am to fulfill that dream making progress towards the Beauty slowly but surely.

After the dinner we are out in the open to see views around our tea house. It is very cold at this moment and windy too, it is difficult to stand outside for longer period without being packed in layers. We enjoyed the cold for some time and are in the dining room again to have some tea as the clouds have covered most of the mountains around here at this time. Dining room is a busy place filled with trekkers, their guides and porters. One could pay Rs100/hour for charging electronic equipment, though the charging here is very slow as it is from solar power through batteries. One could also pay Rs300 to take a bath with one bucket of warm water, again heated with solar power. We ask for extra blankets as it’s hard to trust rented sleeping bags especially at this altitude.

It is time to go to bed and tell each other some stories yet again. Third night and I’m not getting any sleep…so far.

DAY4

Hardly an hour’s sleep in the whole night and a lot of moving around and roaming about, in the room and outside. No choice but to continue the program to meet our schedule. Breakfast is ok but not tasty so just a few bites are ok. We are crossing Namche to go to a view point next to Everest view hotel some 200meters above Namche. As we stayed in the beginning of Namche, it is taking forever to go through the steep streets of Namche Bazar. It seems that we’ll get tired only in Namche itself. The climb continued and the trek will only go up rather than up and down today so we will ascent the required height in shorter distance. We just crossed the last few shops of Namche and now we are above Namche and could have an aerial view of the small town. It is in U shape valley with some tall mountains in front of the U. We are continuing towards the sky as that’s where the trek seems to be going, slowly.

Today was suppose to be a rest day but at dinner time yesterday our guide told us that we’ll leave by 7am to have a good acclimatization day. We are going to climb 200-300 meters and will come back to Namche. This way the bodies are adjusted for high altitude. The trek is going through some lush greenery and a beautiful landscape though there are not much trees at the place. We just crossed a dirt path what is an airport strip for small twin otter planes. They bring in the elite climbers or the luggage to this small one room airport. When we crossed the small airport, right after a few minutes a small plane landed there and took off after unloading some people. We were able to capture it in cameras. It was a pleasant sight though very noisy for such a place. Now we are very close to the top but clouds have increased and our chances of seeing Everest have decreased. We reached the top and stayed there for some time and very cold weather and winds.

There are numerous types of weeds and flowers spread all over the land, whose colors are so beautiful. As there is no pollution up here and the colors are as natural as these could be. We are crossing another hotel on the way that is secluded and is just a one stand alone hotel. The trek is going along the mountain on the left side now and we have open view of deep gorge and mountains in the back drop. Some of the peaks are above 7000 ft right in front. These ones are all snow covered. There is a river flowing very deep in the gorge and we could hardly see it, there is a thin white line as we see in the pictures. We don’t feel tired today as the morning is very fresh and dazzling. We feel very fresh with the pollution free environment. Most of the mountains are cloud covered now and there is a very little chance for us to see the Mount Everest today. But we still want to reach the top and take a chance. As the clouds cover the mountains we are trekking on, it suddenly became very chilly. So now our jackets are on and we are slowly marching.

We are disappointed not to see the Beauty but we know that there will be many more chances coming in the next few days to see it. It’s time to go down; the cameras are packed back into the bags as it has started to drizzle a bit. Going down is much faster than coming up, although it takes more toll on the knees. We progressed fast and by 1pm we are already in Namche and have half a day at our disposal. A well deserved lunch is in front of us and our guide is quite pleased with our today’s performance. He must’ve had doubts about our abilities from yesterday tiresome hike to Namche and the amount of time we took to make it. Today we feel more confident of going all the way and are keeping our fingers crossed.

We are out in Namche Bazar to buy some stuff including some extra Diamox (medicine for High Altitude Sickness), extra cap for my friend etc. There are a number of shops selling replicas of branded outdoor and hiking equipments. Majority are knock offs but there are some items which are original. The prices seem to be high as it’s hard to bring products up here. There are Sherpa and couple of other branded outlets selling some really nice but very expensive stuff. There hiking shirts are about 3-4 thousand rupees minimum, headlamps start at 2000 rupees. We don’t find anything interesting enough and priced right to pick up. Apart from the necessary things we required, we are just doing window shopping. Bargaining seems to be the name of the game in the whole of Nepal or else there are pretty good chances that one would be ripped off. Most of the people visiting these areas are from the West hence they pay extra to buy stuff anyhow because they compare the prices with Euro or Dollars etc., however I see there are so many varieties in even the knock offs. Therefore you can find the replicas of various types and brands and qualities of number one, two, three and onwards.

We are back in the hotel and just chilling out, taking some photos and enjoying the amazing views around here. Diner has been ordered as they take orders around 5-6pm and then last dinner is served around 7:30pm because most of the people go to their rooms afterwards for rest and preparations for the next day. We are having difficulty in eating and have been trying to stuff ourselves to keep going, though there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the food but our appetite is as such. Or maybe the oil these kitchens are using is causing us some sort of acidity. Anyhow we just had few bites and are in our room packing for tomorrow. It is pretty chilly outside. Here, for going to the washroom at night is quite a challenge as we need to cover ourselves before going otherwise we can catch cold or get sick. All precautions are taken as we don’t want to get sick and would like to continue and reach our destination. It’s time to tell each other stories that might help getting some sleep. Night is passing with open eyes sometimes and with closed at other. Another night without sleep and I’m having severe headache.

DAY5

We are ready by 6 and are waiting for our breakfast and coffee in the dining. I think we are ready even before the kitchen staff that is still getting ready to prepare breakfast. A few more tourists joined us in the dining hall. They have to wait for the breakfast just like us. Suddenly the clouds are giving way to the marvelous views around this place and we could see some snow covered mountains. Its amazing scenery early in the morning as the sunlight is making the peaks shine like a gold. After the breakfast we are again on the treacherous climb to come out of Namche somehow. Namche is quite a tiring place in itself. After we came out, the trek is slowly going up but so far it is not posing challenge. The trek is going around the same mountains that we climbed yesterday for our acclimatization hike. After an hour or so it has started to descend sharply. Descend is pretty long causing fears in our hearts that we would be climbing this back to reach Namche on the way back. Another worry in the mountains is that the more you descend then the more you would climb to reach the next stage. The altitude gain for today is going to be about 400 meters. But with the descend of more than 200 meters we have already guessed that the ascend is going to be quite challenging. Finally we have reached very close to the river to cross it that was the reason for all this downhill. Mountains are amazing and the humans are even more amazing as they find ways to travel through them and conquer them somehow. We crossed a couple of very small villages today as one would imagine what are these people doing out here. But they live there and that’s their homeland and that’s their livelihood.

We are offered lunch here but we are not hungry as expected and would like to continue. After a short break we start to climb the trek. It’s very steep and tiring rather killing for the tired bodies, but we know every day there are different challenges that we need to come across until we finish our trek or ourselves. We continue at a slow pace as I always say “Me and my tiny steps” and it seems to be true formula in the mountains. We are extremely tired and sick of this trek by now, but that’s the way it is going to be. We feel the same way every day when we are tired but then the views are the rewards and the Beauty Calls is our destiny. Seeing Everest with our own eyes has been the motivation and that is making us keep going.

Thangboche is our destination for today. We are making slow progress on the hike but are covering distance slowly to reach our destination. The trek is going through some dense forest and tall trees at times. Finally we entered a gate and that’s the entrance to Thangboche which is sitting at 3867 meters (12761 ft) above sea level. It is located at a Pass and because of that it is quite windy. It is a small place or a transit place as I would call it because there are only a few tea houses and hardly any village around here. But there is a big Buddhist monastery at the top. This is the place from we could to see Everest also if the skies are clear. To our luck at this time it is not clear so not much open sky for views. There are a few tea houses with a big open space in the middle. We are put in a small wooden room where there are two small size wooden beds for the night. We ordered mushroom pizza to eat something different and that might suite us. I sat down in the sun and my friend took some rest in the room. Sunlight was coming through some clouds and was not really warm enough but still it was sunlight. It gave me a little strength as I started to feel a bit fresh and the tiredness was reduced to some extent. I just took a round of the area and the monastery after I was feeling better. This place is at the top of one cliff exposing it to the wild winds and despite being at about 12000 ft it seems higher in altitude. There are a few ponies in the open fields and a couple of British young boys are trying to tame them by offering them grass. I came back to the open sitting area to enjoy the rest of the day while sitting here. It is becoming chilly now so I put on my jackets on top of a couple of layers I am already wearing. Our shoes have been put in the sun for some refreshmentsJ. Sandals are not good enough to stop the cold so we are using our spare shoes now. It’s time to order dinner, we find a few more tourists in our dining area. There are two couples from France, one family from Israel and they have a young boy whose age may not be more than 13 years, they are a happy family, there is on German boy that we have seen all along the trek running up and down but have not seen him talking to anyone so far except with his guide and there is another pair from France.

Dining areas in this region are the social networking places as you make friends here and share your stories. These are the same people who have started their trek the same day you have and will be seeing each other almost every day. We had a good company with the French girls and notes were exchanged. They were very interested in the monks praying in the monastery for the last 3 hours. In every dining room there is a metal drum kind of a heater that has the exhaust going straight up and out of the roof. These heaters are operated by Cow/Yak dung. It is on now and the dining area is getting warm and cozy. Everyone brings their board/card games or their notebooks/books for day’s notes or some reading books to spend their time while sitting in the dining room. It’s a great experience interacting with so many nationalities at one place. This is the best time of the day everyday when people talk to each other and share travel stories or discuss other matters. It helps in getting fresh and reduces tiredness. We are not climbing at this time and are happy to get some rest and get ready for the next day.

Night is quite cold as it is blowing, we are out in the middle of the field, and as soon as we came out of the dining room we saw the clear skies and some mountains glowing in the moonlight. Therefore we are trying to click some nice shots, the SLR is mounted on the stand and the pictures are taken. There are some great shots already in today’s photo collection. The major shots taken are of Amadablam with a slight hint of Everest behind it. The night is really crisp with the clear skies and today is the first day we are having a cloud free night. But now I could see some clouds coming in to cover the beautiful mountains. Hopefully the morning will be clear and Beauty will show herself to us for the first time. After taking the photos we are in our little room if you would like to call it that and are trying to get some warmth in our three layers of sleeping stuff, including the down sleeping bag, one blanket and a thin fleece liner. These things have kept us warm so far and hopefully will continue to do that. The bathroom experience here is also different as the bathroom is away from the rooms towards the edge of one hill and it is the sitting commode one, the waste is going straight into the valley so if one would lose some ring or drop something in the hole, you could imagine about the search….

DAY6

It’s a beautiful morning, the sun is out and more importantly the views are clear. What that means is that we are looking at the Amadablam range behind which the Beauty is hiding. This is our first glimpse of the Everest but the thing about Everest is that it never looks Grand as it is always hiding behind other mountains and one could only see the tip of it. The scene is beautiful but not as impressive as it would have been with a bigger view. But here we are with Everest just behind us in several pictures we took. It’s sort of the dream come true view cause it has been in the To Do List for a long time and now finally it has become a reality.

After the breakfast we are already on the trek that is going down for the last some time. Again the formula is to descend to cross the river and ascend to gain the lost altitude plus the one for the day. Today’s target is to reach Dengboche which is another mandatory two night stop for acclimatization. It’s another long way today. We can hear the river roaring down on our left hand side and are nearing it to cross the hanging bridge. We just crossed the river and the trek has started to ascend as expected, we are as slow as we are everyday but making progress for sure. Now the river is on our right hand side and the trek is leaving it way down. The steep is not great but a steady gain at a smaller angle but going up takes toll anyhow and the body machinery is used to its potential. Muscles are really used here, strength is tested here and all the more the will power is being tested the most. Hence we have been tested in everything possible, but our will power has been the strongest of all other attributes and has been pushing us so far. After crossing this small village the trek has started to go up steeply. It goes on and on and one and so do us slowly but surely. Dengboche is not even in sight after hours of hike but our guide tells us it is near now. The hike is killing us now as the continuous steep is not finishing, any hiker that we see on the way, is exhausted and is moving very slowly to reach today’s destination. We met a few who were coming down after finishing their trek; they had sun burns on their faces but were smiling as they were going down. The trek is going through some green fields, some rough tracks, and some extremely beautiful scenery. But one could feel the gradual gain in altitude with the cold increasing and breathlessness. When we started our trek we were in four layers and then when the sun came out we started to take off our layers and were barely left with one or two layers. But as soon as the shade comes it becomes chilly, a sign of high altitude because when we are walking in the sun our bodies heat up and we sweat and that causes us to remove layers and when we sit down for a while it becomes very cold, our bodies cool off quickly and start to absorb the cold. This is the time to be careful and do not remove layers unnecessarily.

We had views of the Everest when we crossed the river last time and after that Amadablam’s has been dominant in the Eastern skies and we are moving around it so it is changing faces. There are other pretty mountains around us also but they keep changing as we keep moving towards Everest. Our energies are really depleting now as its been several hours since we left our last hide out and there are no signs of ending our misery for today at least.

Mountains are such amazing places because when you are hiking there, there are many instances when one would think that this is going to be my last hike but when you come out of the mountains and cherish the memories collected out there you would plan for another trip. So we are going through the first phase of it as we are very tired and hungry. The lunch that we ordered earlier in the afternoon was totally pathetic and we couldn’t eat it. This has been a problem with us, we have not been able to eat properly and that has really dented out energy levels. The amount of hard work being put during this trek definitely needs food to build up the lost energy levels to some extent, however we are not keeping up with our required in-take. We do not feel hungry even after a day’s hike and this has been a big problem for us. We’ve not been able to find a solution to this issue as we keep going on the trek burning our fat and muscle. We have tried different dishes just to see if something would suite us but it has been a vein effort. Anyhow we are keeping our target in mind and keep going even with depleted energies because the morale is still high.

Finally we are entering an open valley where we could see some dwelling on the far side. Though the trek is still going up and even after we have seen the village it’s taking forever to reach our tea house. Our guide and porter are way ahead of us. We have been too slow for them and they usually have been at a distance unlike other porters and guides who remain with their group all the time. This is kind of good for us as we keep going towards them.

Finally reached our place to stay at Dengboche, which is a basic hotel with small rooms those can barely fit in our wooden beds. There is a shared bath room in the out, the seat is broken and it’s very difficult to use it. The dining room is big enough to accommodate 15 – 20 tourists. The view is great on either side of it. We are given a room whose door is broken and we cannot close it, means we’ll have to carry our valuables all the time. We took out our shoes and have put them under the sun and are also trying to get some heat from the sun as we remain in 3-4 layers. It seems that the night is going to be very cold. No wonder we are at 4360 m (14388 ft) above sea level. This is going to be my highest night stay. Though we have not experienced any breathing issues or any sign of high altitude so far and are keeping our fingers crossed. After taking some rest we are sitting in the dining room just chatting with other hikers. The Canadian group that stayed with us in Namche Bazar is also staying here along with the 3 British girls, one of them does not feel cold and is sitting in the dining room in a sleeveless top and shot shorts. On the other hand we are in few layers. The Spanish couple who hardly talks to anybody is also here. So our place is quite busy for today. This whole group has been staying with us off and on and has given good company so far. I just made another friend; he is from Holland and a fun guy - Ray.

Tomorrow is a rest and acclimatization day at Dengboche and we know what that means by now. Rest day is going to be another hike to higher altitude and then would have to come back down to stay the night. In this way the bodies get used to the high altitude and that’s what the climbers do, as they take a number of runs to high altitude and then come back to their base camps to adjust their bodies to the altitude and environment. This is the second of the mandatory stops along Everest trek, though it is recommended to take more. We gained about 500 meters today and now over 4300m and the altitude thingy starts to catch up here. There was a free presentation by a doctor here but we missed that somehow. Basically the talk is about the high altitude and its effects and how to protect ourselves from such diseases. The Canadians just told us about it a bit, one of them is under the sickness attack already and he has started to take Diamox which is the most common medicine for Acute Mountain Sickness. The proper fix is to come down in altitude to adjust your bodies. One could lose life if not complied, so it is a serious matter when you start getting headaches, start to throw up etc. and it should be taken very seriously. We are doing alright so far and do not plan to take medicine unnecessarily, however many start to take medicine as a precaution at this stage of the trek.

Evening is falling in and it’s really cool to see the mountains changing colors because of the sun going down. They produce beautiful shadows sometimes and at other times horrible ones. Mountains become more magnetic during these times and the evening falls-in quickly up here. The sun hides behind the mountains causing the night to come early. It has become very cold now and we have to add a layer of jacket on top of our other layers if we are outside. The cow dung powered heater has been switched on and all the guides are sitting around it, the dining room has warmed up so we need to remove a few layers and need to put them on while going outside or to our sleeping areas which are not heated. There are small energy saver bulbs hanging in the dining room and these are lighted up by the batteries charged during the day by solar power. These are producing very dim light and are creating a dramatic effect in the dining room. The Canadians are playing some board game and are enjoying themselves. The whole group has been traveling together for the last several years and they are mostly from Montreal and Ottawa Valley areas. They are all retired but physically very fit. One of the old guys has brought his son along who is not too happy as he is missing his TV, couch and what not. They started their trek 9 days earlier than us as we flew to Lukla from Kathmandu but they trekked from where the road finishes, and it took them 9 days to reach Lukla from Jiri. However we just spent 40 minutes in the plain to reach Lukla. They crossed some dense forests and faced rains and leaches all those days. No wonder the young man is not too happy with his Dad.

Dinner has been served around 6:30 and everyone is eating it properly except us due to our own issues. We are not too hungry again but just trying to take a few bites to gain some energy.

Everyone has started to leave the dining room as they finish their food to go to bed. It is very cold in the room and we just made our beds with three layers and are trying to warm it up. I’m going to try to get some sleep. I took some notes for the day while in the bed and now I’m trying to sleep.

DAY 7

Same routine, ready at 6:30 waiting for our breakfast of boiled eggs as we have to eat something to survive and that’s the safest thing I could think of. Coffee and eggs are in front and am trying to finish them somehow, though don’t feel like it. This could be a sign of altitude sickness but for me it started from the beginning therefore I know it is not the altitude sickness but some other sickness. My friend is having the same problems, may be on the way we ate something that has caused it. Anyhow the day has started.

We are climbing a mountain that could go as high as 5500m but our target is to beyond 200m from where we are and then return to Dengboche. I think this much should be enough for acclimatization for today. The trek is quite rough and the climbing angle is quite steep. Formula remains one step after another one, slowly but surely. We keep going on this endless trek and I keep an eye on the altimeter so that I call to go down when we are beyond 200 meters. We are meeting a lot of other hikers on the way, some in bad shape and some in a better shape. We made friends with two British ladies here; their guide did the Everest summit in 2009. It is very interesting to meet this guy who climbed Everest, he is a very good guide and he really encouraged us for the next few days trek. We are quite motivated after talking to him and he has promised to come see us at our place after our return from today’s hike. We are over 200m now and are continuing our hike for some more time before we would return. The views are splendid from here and that is what keeps us going for some more time. We are feeling much better on our physical front as compared to yesterday. Yesterday towards the end of the trek we really became desperate to finish it; it was too long and too tiring all the more without any lunch and food. We did take one Snickers each thoughJ.

The way down is not difficult for our energy levels but it is tough for the knees and one has to be really careful coming down. One slip or a wrong foot in hurry and that’s it. This is the third time on the trek as I meet this Nepali lady who is very friendly and has married a Swiss old guy, probably double her age and they come to Nepal for mountains every year. Not that they don’t have any mountains in Switzerland but they don’t have the high mountains there. Tomorrow we will probably go over the highest point in the whole of Europe. This lady is very friendly and is listening to Indian music whenever we meet up.

We are already down and sitting in our dining room, I ordered a club sandwich today to try. I turned out to be a good decision as it is not bad and I’m eating it somehow.

The Canadians suggested visiting the French bakery some 500 meter away. And we are having a walk now, just bought some glue on the way to fix my friends glasses. We are heading to the French bakery to try some brownies and coffee. It is a small bakery but a busy place as there are other travelers already sitting there. Some are enjoying their coffee and some their pies. We just came to know that for brownies we’ll have to wait another 1.5 hours as those are over. So we are sipping coffee to kill that time. We are having chat with some new faces now. Couple of Americans, Dutch, Germans etc. There are more Europeans on this trek, may be they love mountains more than others or may be Nepal is marketed in EU better than elsewhereJ. We are done with our coffee and don’t feel like waiting for more for the brownies so we left. We are back in our tea house and just changed our room to the one with a lock. It’s a small wooden mobile home kind of a place having small rooms on both sides. Anyone would walk or move around in these ten rooms the rest of the people will immediately get to know due to the construction of it. Lima Sherpa (British ladies guide) has come to meet us as he promised and we are clicking pictures with him. He is really a nice guy and knows about the area very thoroughly, he is a smiling Sherpa J, he smiles all the time.

It is getting cold again because the evening is approaching. We are spending most of the time in the dining room today. We have good company of Ray (the Dutch), the Canadian group, three British girls and a few more tourists. Discussions, chit chat, jokes and that’s about it for the rest of the day. After enjoying our time in the dining room we are retiring early today so that we could take some rest and enjoy stories that we tell each other every day. Head lamps are on as we approach our room which is in the backyard really with a garden front and marvelous views on either side. It is too cold so we came straight to our room. Warm and cozy in the beds telling stories to spend the night. Tomorrow is another very long day. Good night!

DAY 8

Happy Birthday to “Myself”

6:30 breakfast and 7am on the trek. The day is quite fresh and bright but chilly. We will go through the same trek that we did yesterday for some time and then it is divided into two. We are making slow but good progress as the first couple of hours trek is not two difficult and it is gentle climb, nothing crazy so far. When the angle becomes steep, we die. The trek is going through green fields of grass and we go through some muddy trails at times. All the people that we see everyday are on the trek and everyone starts their trek almost around the same time to reach the next stop early. The tea houses get crowded later in the day and it’s hard to find a better place to stay.

After a couple of hour of trek we could hear some river flowing and we immediately knew that there is going to be quite an uphill coming. The trek is already going down to meet the river and to cross it. The river is not big but it is gushing down through rocks at enormous speed. We are crossing to bridge to see a small settlement of may be a couple of tea houses. It is cold but sunny here so we are taking a good earned break and are having black tea that has been our hot drink most of the times. Our guide and porter are also sitting with us and are also having the same black tea. There are quite a few other people some are going up and some are going down. There are colorful backpacks all around here and there are more women than men. I have seen many girls traveling alone here or in groups of girls but there are hardly any group like us with two males; yes there are bigger groups of men though. This place is called as Dughla (Tukla), we have already climbed about 300meters today and about the same is left now.

But from this point onwards I could only see up and up and up the rough mountain goes without a particular trek. It is very steep and we are just getting started on it. This is a very tough hike and is killing us as we make slow progress. It’s a mountain that we are climbing and there are several treks to follow and is hard to choose one because all are going through rocks and boulders. We are forced to take several breaks to rest and regain some energy before continuing again as that is the only choice we have because we want to complete what we came for. Another moment, another place many would’ve given up already and we met a lot of people on the way who could not make it and returned from one stage or the other. Everyone is moving slowly and not just us, but some better than the others. I can see some old folks climbing up also and really appreciate their efforts and the love for the mountains, they have come a long way already and are doing great. It has become possible because of their healthy lifestyle that we all should follow but we hardly do.

We are at the top of the hill now and find out several memorials build up here. These memorials are in the memories of climbers who perished while climbing Mount Everest. Some 150 people have been perished on this mountain since people started to climb and conquer it. I can see the memorial of the famous Sherpa who disappeared in a crevasse while trying to conquer Everest for the 11^th time, he is known as Super Sherpa. I can see memorials of climbers died in the 1995 disaster. Into-thin-air was written after that and several movies tried to portray the same. I can see the memorial of Scott Fischer and several other renowned climbers who died while doing what they loved to do. This is a place to pay respect and there were many who were doing that. We are also spending some time of silence and at the same time taking some rest in the sun. I’m lying down on the rocky floor that has grass at some places, it is quite cold and I am still in four layers. The sun is shining bright but it’s not that warm, my cap is on my face and my head is on a flat rock and I am enjoying the rocky bed at the moment. In another few moments we’ll be on the track once more.

We are almost at 4800 meters above sea level now. Our tired bodies are being dragged again by our will power and we are heading towards Luboche which is our final destination for today sitting at 4930m (16269 ft). Still long way to go before we finish our hike today. We have to just keep on going; the river has come on the left hand side now. The view has opened up due to the vastness of the valley. Once we reached the top we thought we might have been done for the day but there is still a few kilometers and 150m gain left in our today’s hike. Though it is on a gradual hike, we are crossing to river to the left by a small bridge. We are long way above the tree-line and there are only some small shrubs/grass and the rest are all rocks, water, dirt etc.

We are covering distance at a better pace now as obviously it is not too steep. We are sure that Luboche is not to far now, the time is late afternoon now and we are hoping to make it before the early evening. Now we could see cloud covered and snow covered peaks around us from close. We are trekking at around 16000ft above sea level and today is going to be our first night at this height. Finally we could see some place at a distance and that is for sure Luboche. A settlement of a few tea houses and that is about it for this place. I can see some glaciers not melted yet in the village. Everyday I’ve to explain that it is colder than yesterday because we are gaining altitude every day. Today we gained about 650 meters in altitude that is one of the maximum we gained so far. The allowable is 350 to 400m for the day. We are again stationed in very small room and are taking some rest before we go and take our seats for the rest of the day in the dining room. Going to the bathroom is quite a task here as it is very cold even in the early hours of evening. Air is really thin up here and one could feel the effects of altitude. This place is a small village with only a few tea houses for tourists to stay. There is a small stream passing alongside the village and there are frozen puddles all around other that some glacial ice we see on the track. There are beautiful mountains around this place and less vegetation in the shape of some mountain grass or weeds. Boulders and rocks are what we see mostly. But we are happy that we are just one stage behind very our target now.

“Happy Birthday to Myself” as I just turned 42 today and this trip is a gift to me from my family. What a way to celebrate my 42^nd birthday. I’ve tried to get signals on my cell phone but am not able to get any and I do not have the energy to go on higher grounds where I might get some signals, therefore I just said hello to my family in my imagination. I’m sure all of them would have been trying to call me from all parts of the world.

I’m sitting with the young German boy that I see every day running on the trek and this is the first time we interacted. I haven’t seen him talking to anyone whilst on the trek or even while on the same tea houses as ours. I think he has been shy or something, because one we have started to talk he opened up and is quite an interesting boy. He is doing volunteering in Nepal and is teaching English at a small village and now as there are holidays in Nepal he got a chance to explore the mountains with one of his students who is his guide for the trip. He practiced climbing 900 stairs to one of the temples in the village every day. No wonder he was running on the trek and moreover he is just 18 and kids do not get tired anyhow. I remained in the good company till the evening and then couple of more acquaintances from the trek also joined us including the Irish couple. We’ve have crossing each other numerous number of times, they are very nice people. Both of them left their jobs and are on a one year world tour – interesting. Many of the tourists are using their headlamps to take notes or read books as the light in the tea house is not adequate. As the night falling very fast we retired for the day to get ready for another tiresome day tomorrow.

DAY 9

7am start as usual, as we are used to it by now. The only difference is that today is colder than before. We are all packed up for the trek as we are crossing some icy cold water streams and some ice covered still water in the puddles. The climb remains gradual initially but it is all rocky and uneven terrain. The trek if we call it is quite beaten up by the trekkers and more by the Yaks. It is very cold in the early morning hours and then when the sun comes out it becomes a little better. We feel lethargic as it might have been the effect of the altitude.

We started taking half a pill of Diamox as the doctor suggested the British ladies and their Sherpa suggested the same to us. We are facing the after effects by having any part of our body just going numb for several minutes. Before it becomes normal another one goes numb. This is what we have to face for another day or so, we plan to take this pill only until we start going down. It is done as a precaution to avoid any altitude sickness.

The sun is out but the sunlight is producing not enough warmth to warm our cold bodies and we keep on dragging them towards Gorekshep which is today’s final destination after a stint at the base camp. Although I am not too keen about the base camp but am very interested in climbing the Kala Pathar Mountain. Basecamp is a collection of rocks and nothing else and the climbers staying there for acclimatization do not like the trekkers to visit that area essentially as they trekkers bring in diseases that become the biggest challenge for the climbers. They do not want to fall sick after all the preparations and expenses paid. Secondly you cannot see much from the basecamp, not even Everest itself and it hides behind the other mountains.

The trek is going through some wide valley but the path is totally beaten. The animals carry heavy loads further up through the same trek the hikers go up; therefore the path is in a bad shape. As it is, this area is quite rocky and the trek hardly exists here. It is going through some small streams, because as we go up the water streams shrink in size. We have reached a huge rock and are taking rest here, this is not the only big rock here as there are many others scattered around as if we are in some kind of star wars planet. I’m eating a snickers bar to gain some energy as from here; the path is at a steep angle. Energies are low and the air is thin, the combination is not in human favor. However the morale is high and the bodies can still move definitely goes in our favor. The part of hike started and it going through some huge and some small rocks. I already know that this is not the last one for today because Gorekshep is still long way and my watch still tell me that there is still a lot of altitude to gain for today. Head down and one step after another the old school formula to survive and walk in the mountains prevail. And I fall back upon this one time and again. I can see some brilliant scenery around me as soon as reached the top. The cloud covered high mountains on all sides. The clouds move away to give me glimpses of all the beautiful mountains in sight. I’ll have to dig my videos to post the names of all of them as I did commentary in the videos and said names of all the mountains with the help of my guide. I could see some small glaciers also and already can figure out that the great Khumbu glaciers is not far now. The terrain remains very rough, very tough and we remain determined but extremely tired.

Now we are going along the Khumbu and it is just like a laid down mountain of rock and mud that shows off the white colors of snow only at a few locations. The trek has become even tougher as we are negotiating with the glacier and on the glaciers no trek can remain for longer period. Because the glaciers keep on changing their shape and form due to the seasons, weather and Global Warming. Therefore no trek can remain a trek here. We are very close to our today’s altitude gain now and hope that the distance is finishing also. Mountain treks always go up and down and you never know how far you are from the destination even if the altitude gain has been achieved, that’s the irony. But once you reach the destination the rewards are great for nature and mountain lovers.

We have to go over a couple of streams; the water is extremely cold as it is coming from the glaciers just a few feet away from us. The trek or it would be better to say the rocks we are going on are loose and there is not much of a defined trek. This exercise has made us exhausted and we are hoping to reach our destination as soon as possible. There is a dead lock on a very steep turn as there are a lot of animals carrying weight to the Everest base camp. There are hikers stuck on both sides of the trek and this is not the first time it has happened since we started. Where ever there was small/thin trek, there was a traffic jam because of the animals who were carrying enormous amounts of loads up the mountain. This is part of the package if one is trekking the world’s busiest trek. There have been a very few times when we had privacy or the trek or mountains to ourselves otherwise there has been some trekkers in sight always. I did trek at distance from even my guide and my partner to have some private time; sometimes I was left quite behind everyone else and I enjoyed the nature to the full. I felt so close to the creation as well as the Creator. I appreciated the magnificence, the mightiness, the beauty, and felt so tiny in front of this face of nature. I felt even more humble here. Despite the hardships I was very well placed now very close to my destination.

Things have been tough but now we were very close to our final destination and then we would be going back to Lukla. We remained on Khumbu for some time and now it is on our right hand side going in parallel to us and our direction has changed a bit towards Gorekshep as we are climbing our final ascent as per our guide. This has been one hell of a day in terms of physical exertion but with marvelous views and despite being extremely drained out of energy the views kept us going.

Now we could even see Luptse, Lahotse, Pamuri, and many other famous peaks standing magnificently in front of the mighty Everest. This is the irony with Everest views, it is always behind other tall mountains and even from Kala Pathar it is barely visible. So far we have been able to see Everest tip and are hoping to get bigger and better views. As we are approaching Gorekshep we could see the weather extremely clear and the views are maximum. Our guide suggested we could try Kala Pathar even today because the weather is so clear and we are very close to Gorekshep in early hours of the afternoon. As soon as he told us this and we started to evaluate our energy level on whether we are able to attempt it or not, we saw some clouds suddenly coming in front of the Everest side. This has happened as magic and in no time these big mountains are behind thick clouds. So the attempt to Kala Pathar is put off until tomorrow morning. Early morning is considered to be the best time to go up Kala Pathar as that time of the day carries maximum chances of seeing the mountains. Now we can see a few tea houses and that is Gorekshep. If I be precise there are only 4 tea houses that I can see. Now we rushed to our tea house to get some rest. Today, the day has been the coldest so far as we have been wearing our warm caps or snoods with 3 to 4 layers on, all the time. Our hiking sticks have been our faithful friends and I highly recommend everyone to carry these while going for any trek. We are given a small a very small room/box which is a make shift room created out of some hall or something. It has half the roof and half wide open shared with other 5-6 rooms/boxes. We could hear our neighbors and they could hear us even if we yawn.

Our appetite lost problem still persisted so we only had some tea and are just chilling in our little beds. It’s chill up here, so we’ve put on another layer to keep us warm. Although it is afternoon but its cold, we are going towards basecamp and we do not intend to go all the way on these rock formations. It is all about Khumbu glacier on the right side or under you and that’s about it. The trek is treacherous and barren. We didn’t enjoy this too much and just had the great feeling of reaching up here. Basecamp is a ritual I would say that people would like to do otherwise anyone could or should skip it. There is another thing that has bothered me all along the way and I’m saying to offend anyone while I’m writing this. There are colorful prayer flags everywhere including the suspension bridges and other places including monasteries and top of the trees. I understand that this is done out of Buddhist faith and do respect that as a person but at the same time for a photographer these flags are alright for a day or so but after that one really need to find a place to click the best shots. Because wherever there is great scenery there is long string of flags hanging from the top of one tree to another one far off. I would like to reemphasize on not posing any disrespect to anybody and if it is causing any offense to anyone, please do accept my apologies. Well that’s enough for the basecamp and now I’m back lying down on a very cold big rock just under the Kala Pathar and at the edge of dried lake to have a glimpse of Mount Everest as the clouds play hide and seek with me. It is really cold and my partner & I are in 5 layers with our snoods on because we are not walking or moving at the moment therefore it feels even colder. Cameras are ready to click and we are using them cautiously to save batteries for tomorrow The Big Day. It is a wonderful time; despite being cold I love it, the excitement of reaching here is tremendous. The clouds keep on moving and teasing us but finally gave way to give us the so far closest view of the Beauty. It is again a very little view of the top but still we have seen it at the least, once more. I must say the other mountains around here are equally glorious; Everest being the tallest in the world steals their glory but looses in beauty to them as it is hidden. But as a nature and mountain lover I love to see all of them and carry equal respect for them. Here the Irish couple who became our friends during the trekking came and we are having a good chat. It was a place to spend time with friends as these mountains carry huge impact on oneself and our chat reduces that challenge.

They have gone back to the tea house to take some rest. I continue to use this big rock as my bed. My back is definitely cold but the view is so captivating that I stick here. I like to see the mountains like this and create this unique connection between the glory and myself. I could feel how small I am and how small a role I have in this universe. It is early evening now and the temperature has really dipped further down. It is a time to go to the tea house to have some tea; our tea house is located just across the dry lake. Here I see the Dutch friend sitting in the dining room, good to have him here and now we are having tea together and will be going to see the old British ladies in the other tea house after our diner. This place is packed tonight and anyone coming late will be sleeping in the dining room. Good for them as this is the only place having cow dung powered heater and the warmest in Gorekshep. The tiny rooms are extremely cold and have turned into bear dens. We are going to stay in the dining room until late to absorb maximum heat.

We are looking for the two good ladies but don’t know which tea house they are staying in so we are going through all the four places available out here. In the first one we found our Canadian and British friends having fun. Finally in the last one we are able to find our desired ladies and are having a good and long chat with them over a cup of black tea. This is a great evening spent with friends. We are back and I am in my bed trying to warm up my feet. I did bring my warm water bottle but didn’t use it so far, tonight could’ve been the best time for its use but I forgot to get hot water in it. So my three layers are on and I am trying to warm up and sleep for an early morning start tomorrow. Fingers crossedJ.

DAY10

The Big Day…..

Its 4’o clock and our guide has already knocked at our door. There is sound coming from other rooms also as many hikers are getting ready for an early start to climb Kala Pathar. I could already imagine how excited everyone is because of not only going up but also start to go down from today. It’s extremely cold at this time. We are getting ready and packing ourselves in layers to survive in this intense cold. Backpack, cameras, headlamp, hiking pole, gloves, double socks, snood, liner, jackets and what not, everything is checked thoroughly before we started our climb. It is dark and the mountains are still as magnificent as these were during the day. We remain as small in front of them as we were during the day and that’s the reality. We tend to conquer the nature as humans but can’t really win and nature’s power always prevails.

The trek starts just a few yards behind the tea house on the other side of the dry lake. It’s quite dark at this time and all I can see is, a few headlamps shining far on the horizon. My feet are cold, my hands are breaking off and my eyes are watery. We make progress very slowly and could see down some more hikers crossing the dry lake to start their hike. This moment is difficult to explain as there was only one feeling and that was to climb up and see the wonderful views of the Beauty and that’s it.

The ascent is really killing us, it is a difficult trek not because we are going up but also because we are above 17000 ft above sea level already. The air is getting thinner and thinner, our breathing is becoming heavier and heavier, as we go higher and higher. The day is breaking in and the mountains are more visible than ever, it is a crisp morning without any clouds. The only obstacle this morning is the extreme cold and the wind chill. By now my fingers and toes are completely numb and are breaking off due to cold and pain and I fear frostbite. I met a few hikers who gave up and returned from mid way due to cold or exertion or breathing.

I’ve 6 layers on my upper body, there are two pair of socks (one cotton and one woolen) and my timberland hiking shoes, firefly gloves, hiking poles, fine-fleece liner cap with my snood on, on top there is a head lamp. On my legs I’ve the thermal and my hiking trousers. My backpack carries my SLR along with 300mm lens, an extra point-n-shoot camera, a few chocolates, my trademark orange color metal bottle carrying one liter of water. This was quite a packing but I think I was missing my gloves liner and instead of the cotton socks I should’ve used the woolen socks. There is nothing that could be done at this stage. Everybody was cold but may not be as cold as I was. I still continued slowly in the love of nature and mountains. I even got a flash of having this trip as my last one to the high mountains but I’m sure that’s a temporary feeling that many hikers get while on the trek but as soon as they come back they start planning their next adventure. The going is getting tougher and tougher and more so because of the breaking fingers. I have reached the third ridge while going up and my watch shows about 17500 already, anything beyond 16000 ft has been my best. So I’ve been breaking my own record as I go higher. I decided here that I would go to the next ridge and then will start my descend. So this will be another few hundred feet before I start to go down. I met so many of the hikers, who we had been coming across on the trek every day, some have become friends and some remained acquaintances. The Spanish couple has just started the descend, the lady was crying because of the pain in fingers and toes. If not taken seriously one could get frost bites on the numb areas and could lose a finger or a hand or a limb. The day light has already broken in to open up the wonderful views for us. The mountains look glorious and majestic from here; we are above some of them already. I clicked several photographs of Everest and other mountains around here. The view from Kala Pathar is spectacular and one could see the whole world from here or at least that is how it seems. The day light has brought the wonderful views and the glory of Everest is evident though the views of Everest are not all that mighty even from KalaPathar. It remains hiding most of herself behind Lhotse and Nuptse. Some hikers are already descending and some are still coming up. There are all age groups amongst the hikers and the oldest being 79 years old. Hats off to this young old man.

We've reached our limits and are going down now. I’m coming down slowly to reduce pressure on my knees where I’ve one cartilage removed and pain in the other. There is a long way down to Lukla from where we would take a plain so I need to be really careful. I could see so many mountain peaks far on the horizon. I can’t forget these moments when I’m going down and having my last look at these giants from this height. I’ve collected enough memories of this magnificent area for the rest of my life. I keep going downwards and keep taking pictures wherever I feel like, though I would admit I couldn’t take pictures at many places where I should have taken and that is entirely due to the cold hands. I couldn’t move my fingers at times even to click pictures so I kept absorbing the views instead. It was more about me seeing these views primarily. I’m extremely cold and am finally down. As I enter the tea house; there is frost on my face, head lamp, camera and my jacket. I’m sitting and can’t feel my hands and toes. It’ll take some time before I start feeling them. Eggs would help in breakfast, and then we’ve an extremely long day ahead of us. We have to reach Pheriche which is two stages from Gorekshep. We came via Dingboche but will go back via another trek that goes through Pheriche. Dingboche and Pheriche are just half an hour from each other but Pheriche is 130 meters lower in altitude as come to the other.

Right after our breakfast we started our trek back. We are back tracking our footsteps through the Khumbu glacier. It is a tiring journey and an extremely tiring one. The trek first goes up and then goes down and then again it goes up and again goes down….that is the name of the game in the mountains and our perseverance is the only thing that will carry us down. We’ve been seeing rescue helicopters picking up injured or sick hikers every day the whole day and today the number of rescue flights has been more than usual. I clicked heli pictures with mountain back grounds due to their low flights. It’s difficult for even these machines to fly in these conditions as it is high altitude.

We are making progress towards Lobuche through this area of snow, ice, icy waters, rocks, boulders and high mountains.

At Lobuche I got a chance to click a complete rescue from close range. I didn’t know that I was walking on a flat surface where the heli was landing and only noticed one guide waving and shouting at me to move to the side. There was limited time so I just ran a few feet to the right and the heli landed right in front of me just a few feet away where I was a few seconds ago. A young girl was taken away, as it seemed that she injured her leg somehow. Great despair!

We filled our water bottles from the spring water again and continued. The trek is going along the water stream here and is not much steep either. It is gently going up but more down. We are crossing the stream to go to the left of the water and then climb up to the memorial area and from there is a steep downhill through some rocky and rough terrain to reach Dukhla. We skipped a stop at the memorials this time as other trekkers are and have continued to go down. We are still far from our today’s destination. We are having a well deserved break at the only restaurant at Dukhla.

From Dukhla the trek is going down sharply after crossing a fast flowing river. It is an open crack between two mountains and the rocky path is going down in a dramatic way. It could be compared as the old paths build for elephants in the castles built by The Mughals in the Indo-Pak. This is the first of its kind area that we have seen during our whole trip. Our guide disappeared into the turning trek and we are just by ourselves. The crack is turning to its right and then further to the left. I can see that it is opening up into a valley and the flowing water sound is reaching us now. We are down now and from this height we could see a village far away, I guessed as if it was a couple of kilometers away. However the reality turned out to be 5-6 kms. This walk is not hard as it is a gentle incline downwards going through some mushy land sometimes and rocks on another time. The river that is coming from a lake that we saw from the top. There are high mountains on our right hand side beyond the river and on the left there are weeds and small plants in abundance. We could hear the black bird with yellow beak and yellow feet. Somehow I could not click a single photograph of this bird. Many a time these came closer to me but at that time either I was too tired or too cold to use my camera. So I just enjoyed their flight around me, this is a really pretty bird. After the bushes and plants the slope is steep and it reaches the mountain from where we went earlier while going from Dengboche to Lobuche. Now we are passing through some plots with small old walls around and there are few Yaks roaming around on the grassy fields. Evening is approaching and despite the village is in sight and we could see it far we are not reaching it somehow. Of course the distance we anticipated was less than the actual one. We are into our 10^th hours of hiking today.

Finally we have entered the village and have to climb some 50 steps to enter our tea house. It is the best tea house so far wherever we have stayed. The room is nice and is bigger than any other rooms we have seen, and the view is great also. It has become very cold at this time and dining room is the best place to sit, enjoy and chat when it is cold. Now we are sitting with different people today as all others who have been staying with us for the last few days are staying in a different tea house. There is a group of mixed nationalities with a British women guide, many of them got sick so they returned from Lobuche and couldn’t continue further. They are eight ladies group from South Africa, New Zealand, UK, and Australia. They are resting here and are planning to go back to Namche Bazar via another way. There is a man and a woman from India and they were part of a bigger group also, the women got sick and the man accompanied him to retreat and come down in altitude. There is another couple from Australia also and they are the one we met a few times in our trip. The dining room is warm and cozy due to the heater. We had some good chat with all of them while sitting around the heater.

Since our trip started we have been having trouble with our appetite so I decided to cook myself today and that might help us in eating some food. We asked the young girl who seems to be the owner of the tea house about it and she happily allowed me to use their kitchen to cook whatever we wanted. Now I’m cooking some potatoes and eggs with lots of chilies and other stuff. The cook is watching me carefully and the other one is making Roti (bread) for us. We are having our food with soda and are really enjoying the food tonight. This meal is going to help us regaining some energy now. We know that there are still some good hiking days left in our trip. We are leaving the dining room at around 8 pm which is later than usual. Its story time in the hope of getting some good sleep tonight.

DAY 11

We are having breakfast at 6:30 am to leave by 7am. It is again going to be a very long day, as we are doing double stages on the way down. We will reach Namche Bazaar today which is about 20 km away with a lot of up and down during the trek. It is going to be a tough one we know. The sun is shining bright but there is no heat in its light and it is very cold even in the sun. The water outside is totally frozen due to night temperatures dipping down below zero I guess. We are going down to cross the river and then it is quite an uphill early in the morning. The water is white as anything and is flowing at enormous speed through the rocks producing thundering sound and great rapids. We are done with the steep climb and are on an open space with some more memorials. The trek goes through some villages here and the up and down continues as usual. We have seen a lot of trekkers going up today and faced a few road blocks due to Yaks and Buffalos. Now we are crossing the river yet another time to start our ascent to Tengboche and it is really killing us. I let all the groups go further to have the trek to myself and to enjoy the greenery and trees and we have come below the Tree line again and the vegetation and trees are bigger in size now.

I’m clicking some last photos of Everest from Tengboche and are going to descend sharply to the river far below as the trek goes all the way down for about 200-300 meters and then climbs that much to reach Namche Bazar. We are having a break next to the river and are having some food also to gain some energy before starting the steep uphill visible behind the trees from where we are sitting. It is scary but there is no other choice and we have to take this trek anyhow. It has started to climb immediately after crossing the river. This part of the trek has too many stairs kind of rocks and those really take toll on our legs and stamina. It is taking forever to go up. Finally we have completed most of the difficult climb and now it’s much gentler. Here we see a Pheasant (the national bird of Nepal) not too far on the hill on our right hand side. This is going to make my day and I’m able to click some nice photos of this pretty bird. Then a little further down we see another one with different colors and I’m able to go so close to this bird, the distance remained between me and the bird could not be more than 5 feet when the bird realized and flew away.

It is almost evening now we have still not reached Namche though we could recall from our going up that it was not too far now. We are entering our tea house and it has already become dark, it was a grueling 11 hours hike for today and we covered some 22 kilometers in the mountains. Overall we lost about 3000 feet in altitude. It was quite a task.

Our tea house is fully booked and that’s where a senior guide would have made a difference. Ours is young chap and now we in a limbo without any room to sleep. So much tired that could not move around and now we need to go out and find another tea house for the night. No choice but this, so we are in the bazaar again looking for a shelter to stay.

We are sitting in the dining room of this place that we found and there is a club right across the small street and there is very loud music going on there. I’ve no idea what time they’ll shut it off as it is quite loud and annoying. I don’t feel hungry so I opted coming back to the room to refresh myself. This was the closest we could find another accommodation so we didn’t give much thought on the downsides of it.

DAY 12

My sun glasses broke yesterday so I’m buying new goggles before we start our trek from Namche to Phakding. First couple of hours is all downhill and then it is up and down as usual. We also said good bye to Everest from the last view point and clicked a few more pictures of the Beauty. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to see it with my own eyes again.

We are coming across so many trekkers and Yaks today. I could imagine how busy the tea houses will be as the season is really heating up. I think the majority remained the non English speaking Europeans in these groups. Once we are down from the very steep trek we are crossing the river through the long hanging bridge. The trek is quite rough from here for some time. The river has become quite big now as many small streams have already joined this water body. It remains very white like milk. The trek crosses this river a few times before we reach Phakding. There are a few pretty villages on the way and the vegetation consists of the usual crops of cauliflowers, potatoes, Chinese spinach etc.

We are crossing the first of the two waterfalls that we saw on the way up. Water is flowing fast through these waterfalls and it creates a pond where these fall before joining the river flowing way down. The trek continues with a few road blocks and finally we make it to Phakding which is supposed to be our stop for today. However it is 2pm and we could continue to Lukla after our lunch. It is a gain of 200 meters ascent from here so it is going to be a long and tiring hike yet again. However we decided to take this option to have a couple of days spared and we could go to Chitwan National Park to see some animals and to enjoy the warm weather before we fly out of Nepal. Therefore after our lunch we continue to hike towards Lukla for the night stay. We already called and requested for our tickets to be adjusted for one day in advance.

This is the last leg of our trek and the last eight kilometers that we are going to hike to gain 200m. We are coming across a number of bulls and yaks carrying weight. There was a big land slide in the last earth quake in Nepal and that swept away a big part of one mountain damaging a big suspension bridge. We had to hike an extra hour on the way up but it is being temporarily fixed and we’ll be saved from an extra hike.

This broken bridge is quite long and is offering to see the real damage caused and to realize the power of nature. We are crossing a number of small villages while going to Lukla. The walk remains very slow as it’s been a number of hours since we started this morning and now it’s towards evening. We are hoping to make it before the dark as we are not carrying our head lamps in our day packs today. There are a lot of stairs to climb in today’s hike and I hate to climb the stairs and feel more comfortable on the hiking trails rather than stairs. We are passing a lot of streams, greenery and fields. Weather is not as cold either and a shirt with a liner is good enough on the trek. I decided not to use the hiking stick either for today and am just walking without them. Those had become part of my body and I feel something’s missing today. I don’t forget to fill in my water bottle whenever I get a chance followed by two chlorine based drops to purify that, because every time I put these drops I have to wait for half an hour before I could drink my water. Water has been the most essential thing for us during the whole trip and this is the only thing that we kept having despite having problems eating or drinking anything. First few days we were extra careful and bought bottled water but then decided against it. The plastic bottles have a very heavy footprint on the environment and these are difficult to dispose off. I’ve been using my metal one liter bottle that I’ve been using the whole trip with the purifying drops with a slight compromise on taste.

As we are trying to get closer to Lukla it seems to be moving further away, as it has been 7 hours since we started this morning. The trek is going through lush valleys one after another. The streams are carrying crystal clear water down to the larger river snaking through the mountains. We are tired but making good progress to finish our hike and are excited to start the next adventure. It is getting dark now and we are in closer proximity of Lukla. But the remaining distance is all uphill therefore taking time to finish. The trek is not visible from far as it is totally covered with trees. The air is extremely fresh and we are breathing full to have as much as possible because tomorrow we’ll be back in the polluted city life.

Finally I could see the arch entrance to the village and am happy that we made it not too late in the dark. Our tea house is just next to the interesting airport of Lukla. It is just a slope that is called as runway and there a place to park four small twin otters. These plains carry 18 passengers, two pilots one hostess. From our room’s window we could see the planes landing and taking off.

Tonight is the night everyone coming back from the trek celebrates and gives tips to their staff including guides and porters. We are taking some rest in our room and our guide is arranging for our tickets for tomorrow morning flight. The room has three beds and it is completely wooden room with basic stuff in it. The window is the most prominent item as it is opening towards the airport. There is no flight at this time and we will be able to see landings and take offs starting early morning. That is the best time for the flights to come and go as weather gives better window starting early morning and all the flights come and go before 11am.

We've just finished paying to our porter and guide and they are extremely happy about it. Our porter just left after meeting us and our guide is efficiently taking order for the diner. There are other groups involved in similar sort of business. There are two big groups in our dining room and they are having a dance party with their staff with loud music. The dining room has a magical feeling and environment at this time. All the people going up have already gone to their rooms and the remaining are celebrating as they are done with their hike. Lukla is a place where most people stay on the way back there are hardly any people who stay while going up though. It is quite a vibrant small village with a row of shops selling everything trekkers need from water to jacket replicas, from groceries to hiking bags etc. Food is just ok and I could only eat a few bites but the Marinda has done the magic and I feel energetic. After we are done with tipping and our diner we are out in the bazaar that has only a couple of shops open now. It seems to be fairytale bazaar in a thin street on either side. It is full moon so there is a lot of moon light and everything is bright. There are a few snow capped mountains visible and the clouds are about to cover them. We are hoping that tomorrow morning there is no hiccup for our flight and the weather remains clear cause only then we’ll be able to go to Kathmandu to start the other leg of our trip. After a short walk we are going back and would like to have the last story telling session before we sleep. It’s chilly so we got into our cozy beds.

DAY 13

As usual early start and the planes have already started to come and the landings are so amazing, the take offs are even better on this small strip leaving no room of error for the pilots. This is a small sloped down runway falling into the valley. The planes start with full throttle and just take off as they are hitting the last few feet of the strip. The valley depression help them to fly but then there is a bigger challenge to go steep to cross the mountain range not from there this point and the planes roar and climb to the left to cross the mountains and get into a mountain crack that is the lowest place to do so. After our breakfast we came to the airport and now we are making videos and taking pictures of the airport and the planes coming in and going out. This is very interesting to watch. Our luggage is already at the airport and we are standing there with a number of other tourists going to Kathmandu. Many flights have come and gone but we’ll be going in the last few flights as we have changed our flight and are taking a chance to go back today. Finally we make it to the plane door but are stopped there in a queue, and upon inquiry we got to know that the pilot has gone for breakfast. He is coming while using a toothpick I think straight towards the aeroplane and then we are also allowed to get in. This flight is amazing as we could see some amazing mountain views during flight. I’m making a video of the complete flight and now we are landing in Kathmandu.

For photographic travel throught the Everest region see the links below:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150348293622956.356602.674877955&type=1&l=e9ff2c5ec8

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342140877956.355314.674877955&type=1&l=cc480d7f04

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150336342427956.354158.674877955&type=1&l=f7c9c6a701

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150334965832956.353911.674877955&type=1&l=1a0bb8e335

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150334574447956.353825.674877955&type=1&l=286013275f

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333988657956.353662.674877955&type=1&l=ac6dda0fe2

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333917087956.353641.674877955&type=1&l=7256e075a8

Eid Holidays -Hatta

2010-11-24T14:59:00.017+04:00

This was the second day of Eid and we had scrapped our 5 days camping trip due to kids not feeling well. Instead what we decided was to take day trips and drive back each day after some adventure. In this way we could see how children were doing and could skip a day if they were not feeling better. However kids felt better as each day passed and they enjoyed every day to the max.

Today was the day to go canyoning in Oman. First of all the fourth car in our convoy didnt have the passports so we planned to talk them through to the other side with our negotiations with the check-post authorities.

We started at about 5:30am and before leaving we checked if we loaded everything needed for the day, including the camp chairs, table, life jackets to cross the deep pools, food, etc etc. Everything was in order and then after having a grocery stop at the coop we left for Hatta through which we planned to reach Oman for our starting point for canyoning . The day was very nice, the weather was good and the max it was suppose to reach was about 30 degrees - perfect for a hot country like UAE. Our first stop was a Malbari restaurant to have some breakfast and he really ripped us off with the pathetic food and eid prices. The other two stops were the check-posts through which we all passed without any hassle. We crossed Hatta towards Hatta Pools to cross into Oman when we were stopped at yet another check-post just before the Hatta Pools dirt track starts. We were asked for the Omani visa which we didnt have obviously as we never needed visa for this part of Oman before. On negative answer we were turned back from the post. Rules change in these countries overnight without any notification, this was really frustrating for us. All the day plan seemed to be going down the drain.

Anyhow we had no choice but to turn around and drive in the mountain's dirt tracks for some time in frustration. We stopped at one point so that the kids can climb for some time and thats when our mood changed to the better side by hiking for an hour. Everyone was in a better mood now and we changed our plan to find some nice farm in the area for the day picnic. After driving for another 30 minutes we were able to find a very good spot little off of the road but very green and peaceful.

We setup our camp there and explored the area that was full of date palm trees, mango trees and some other fruits. There were 7 wells in this farm house and over all it was a very nice place. We got permission from the watchman there to spend the day there which he happily accepted and even agreed to allow us to camp there in future overnight.

We had a nice walk around and then made some nice Doodh Soda to refresh ourselves. Kids played hide n seek in the big farm and the elders had a gossip session ;-) for hours. This was followed by some nice BBQ made on site. The kebabs were really yummy and finished our eating evening with freshly made Halwa on the spot.

It was already dark when we packed up to start our drive back. It was quite crowded on the check-posts as we head back home. We made it safely home at around 10pm to finish this awesome day.

Kayaking in the Kalba Khor

2010-11-11T22:50:00.001+04:00

Lets do some kayaking...

Area:

Kalba
Travel Month:

November 2010

Country:

UAE

Total Days:

Day trip

Attractions:

Mangroves, Creek (Khor), Sea

Salalah Once More!

2010-08-27T11:27:00.011+04:00

The Far Away Town

Area:
Salalah is the capital of Dhofar region in Oman. This is in closer proximity to Yemen and once said to be part of Yemen and given to Oman’s Amir as Dowry a long time back.

Here is what Wiki says about it.

“Salalah is the capital city of Oman's southern Zufar and Dhofar region. It is often considered to be the "second city" of the Sultanate, although some of this designation is probably due to its distinction as Sultan Qaboos' birthplace.

The region is famous for its khareef (monsoon), and the Khareef Festival is an annual event here. Many locals will in fact be quite surprised to see non-Arab visitors at other times of year. “

“Salalah and Dhofar are historically famous for the frankincense trade. The region has tended to be rather independent over history, although this has changed since Qaboos' ascention to the throne. The Jibbali (Arabic: those of the mountains) tribes maintain a slightly distrustful stance to the government in Muscat, although this is more a stance of custom than anything else. Interestingly, the tribes speak a different language to the Arabic spoken throughout the Peninsula, although visitors are unlikely to encounter it.”

Travel Month:

July 2010

Country:

Oman

Total Days:

6 days

Attractions:

Mountains, Gyzers, Fog, Ocean

Total Distance Covered:

3200 Kilometers

Travelogue:

DAY1

This trip was planned and executed in a rush as this summer there have been no fixed plans for visiting any particular areas or countries. We all, the three brothers just happened to talk about going somewhere and in no time a plan was made to visit Salalah yet another time.

This place is a far away town as per the UAE standards and the road leading there is not that great either. One could imagine the single lane two-way road for about 800kms having just 2-3 patrol stations. The road has been under tremendous reconstruction and there is small single-lane detours built along the main road at a number of places, which also remains single lane even after the rebuild. Salalah is about 1250 kms away from our place but we booked our hotel at Marriot Salalah Resort, which was another 80 kms south of Salalah making our drive from home to hotel 1350 appr.

Owing to the remoteness of our destination and the quality of roads to be driven at, we left at 3 am to finish our drive in the day-light. We were three 4x4s with all three families including our parents and us three brothers. The drive to the border was quick and we found out at the border that the Al Ain border has also started to charge for exit visa stamping. That is AED 35 per passport, one would hardly experience border posts charging while you exit from a country. Though Omani side of the border were nice to take only AED 60 to stamp visas for our family. I did not bother to ask what was the calculation for that neither did the guy told us about any break up. We kept refilling our patrol tanks as soon as those were at the half level and we found any gas station.

The first turn off from the main highway was at the city named Ibri and after that we did not find any city until we reached Salalah some 1000 kms away from Ibri. There are a few small sized villages on the way though. The heat was intense and the temperature kept soaring up to 49 degrees Celsius despite being so lucky to have overcast skies half of the day. The sun broke out after 3 pm and that made it really easier for us to continue at high speed until that time. The breakfast brake was taken at 11ish to bundle it up with lunch to save time. The brunch was good and filling with a cup of tea to end with.

The next couple of hundred kilometers were interesting as I started to get an indication of ‘A/T over heating’ and I had no clue about it. We immediately stopped and inspected our land cruiser, which are made for such rough conditions. I found out some oil spilled but could not make out what kind it was. Next gas station was about a 100 kms away so we thought to rest the truck for some time and then drive it to the closest gas station. The gauges became normal after some time and we drove to a shady area 100 kms away. I read the service manual of LC in the mean time to find out that it was the Auto Transmission Oil that was over heating, probably due to the continuous high speed that we maintained for a couple of hours. The oil spill was found out to be the same but not from any seal rather from where the top was. I was certain about it and decided to continue driving but at a lower speed this time. I maintained less than 140kms/hour from there onwards and everything worked like a charm.

We entered the Salalah Mountains after this treacherous drive, towards the evening and found not much fog as compared to our last visit. But it was still good weather. Cool breeze brushed our faces and it really felt good after a tiring drive of 1250 kms through a very rough terrain.

We were stopped at an army check post as soon as we entered the green mountains to produce our driving license. Everybody entering Salalah has to go through this process of recording his or her name. After we were done there, we drove off and took a break in the mountains. Everybody loved the weather and children got the well-deserved break to run around and stretch them. This was a very nicely built rest area but we discovered that it was an abandoned one and extremely filthy but had priceless views.

The next stop was in Salalah for the early dinner. We found a Mandi place as per majority’s choice and settled in the small family room. All these Arab restaurants have small rooms/cabins for the families in which you sit on the floor. The spread plastic sheets in the middle on which you eat. They wrap up the plastic and throw it away after everyone is done. Everyone was full and happy. Now we had to find a medical store/pharmacy to buy some medicine for me as my throat had really gone from bad to worst during the journey. It took us more then half an hour to find one and now we were heading towards our hotel after buying the medicines.

It was already dark and we were going south of the city and our destination was about 80kms away in a small town of Mirbat at the Marriott Salalah Resort that we had already booked via Internet. Once we reached our hotel we were served with a welcome drink and then were told that one room was not yet ready. It was quite surprising for a five star hotel to provide a room by 10 pm without even an apology from the front desk. The service we experienced at our arrival was not the best and had indicated how we would be treated in the next four nights in our stay. However the hotel property was grand and the poolside was really good with the views of the sea. They claim that their pool is the largest in the whole of Oman. The rooms were also spacious. We settled down first and then as kids insisted going to the pool we headed down and were welcomed by high winds. First we thought not to jump in the water but then had to dip in. It was quite chilly and once we were done we came in freezing due to the cold wind coming from the sea. The temperature remained between 17 and 25 degree Celsius during our whole stay, which was a great welcome for us as we came from 50 degrees.

DAY 2

The night was very comfortable after all. Everyone got up fresh the next morning. We got ready as we were getting impatient to see the mountains and the fog. After getting ready and heavy breakfast we drove towards the Wadi Darbat. This was not far from our place and this wadi snakes through some low altitude moutains. It was lush green with a number of trees showing strange formations. We had a break here and kids climbed the trees, as this has become a trademark activity for them in each trip. Then we headed further up in the mountains but our disappointment was not to find enough fog although it remains overcast. The place was not yet totally green as the rains started late this time around.

We faced a strange event here when we took a short break to discuss where to go next. A police car came and asked us to hand them over our driving license, which we did. We were then asked to follow them to the Police station that was not far from that place. At the PS we were asked if we could speak Arabic for which the answer was obvious as negative. The major at duty was not amused with our answer and told us if “No Arabic then Mukhalifa(ticket)”. This was really an upsetting moment for us that we had not faced in Oman before. There was nobody who could listen to us or tell us why the ticket was given. They asked us to get the car registration for further action. I came out for that but instead of getting the registration I ran to the road to find someone who could act as a translator for us. To my luck the first car I stopped knew English and they agreed to help us out. The reason we found out was strange as we were told that we were blocking a dirt road and that was a traffic violation. However only the major himself was of this opinion and the rest of the staff that tried to convince him also were not in this favor. But he was the boss and they didn’t have much choice there. With our translator’s help we were able to convince the major that this is not the way to treat your guests who are frequent travelers to Oman. He finally took our signature on a warning note that we will not do any traffic violation again and let us go after wasting one hour.

This left bad taste in everyone mouth in the first day of our outing. Everyone was in a bad mood and we had to make an effort to lift the mood and morale finally. The next stop was going to be the Anti Gravity Point. Kids were especially excited about it. I started to stop in each uphill where I thought the Anti Gravity Point should have been and the struggle paid off and we found the right spot that is not far from the sea. The car goes uphill with any accelerator when you put that into Neutral. We did it time and again to make sure that we were at the correct spot and yes that was the point that was stored into our GPS for future usage.

Once we were done here we drove down to the beach side and the other two cars took the kids to the mountains just rising up not too far from there. They wanted to do some hiking and Iman and Hassan wanted to go to the pool as they couldn’t go last night. So we headed back to the hotel for the others to join us later. We changed and had a nice swim in the water. The wind was still cold and intense so the best way was to remain in the water that we did until we remain at the pool. It was really refreshing and we all really enjoyed it.

For the dinner we planned to buy fresh fish from the dock and then cook it at a seaside café owned by a Bengali. We had already spoken to him about it. He had a very clean little restaurant with great views of the Arabian Sea. The fish was bought as fresh as it could be and then the Bengali was told to make Shorba out of one, fry the other one and make BBQ from the third type. It was a big dinner planned and all the arrangements were accordingly. Night fell and the restaurant looked like a fairytale place with long tables in the veranda and our whole family siting around it. The dinner was served and without any doubt this was one of the best meals we had. All types of fish were excellent and made to perfection. We sat there for long and finished with tea at the end. We drove back to the hotel and the kids had a session of hide and seek before going to sleep.

DAY 3

We had a relaxed start for the day. Sohail and myself had a long walk on the beach and we explored the area before everyone was up and ready. We had arranged breakfast at the Café and surely that was awesome. After the sumptuous breakfast we left for Salalah as we had planned to visit the Tombs of Prophet Omran and Prophet Ayub, drove through the foggy mountains, visit Mughsail and the blow whole on the Arabian Sea. First we visited the Tomb of Prophet Omran that is some 20 kms from Salalah into the mountains. The mountains were extremely foggy and the visibility was not more then a few meters hence the drive was very slow. This was a very enjoyable ride up in the mountains and everyone enjoyed every bit of it. I being the lead driver had hard time finding my way in the dense fog. The weather remained extremely pleasant and this was a wonderful change for Dubai people. This tomb has so many trees around it; many were with hanging fruits and with so many birds chirping around. The birds were of various colors and we spent quite some time here to enjoy the nice foggy weather and the beautiful nature.

It was time to go down to the plains and to drive towards Mughsail. Though on the way down from the mountains we took another stop and had a walk through the fog and slushy place. The next stop was the blowholes at Mughsail. There are a number holes on the hanging caves over the sea through which the water is pushed through the waves and they create a fountain environment. They go high as few meters and created amazing scenes. We stayed there for over an hour before returning back to the city for a well-deserved KFC.

After the late lunch everyone was again ready for more fun, therefore we drove to the fruit market surrounded by orchards of coconut and banana trees to have fresh coconut juice. After seeing the sugarcane we couldn't stop ourselves from getting some for the way. It was already evening when we left Salalah and reached back our hotel well into the dark. The day was still not over as the kids wanted to go to the pool for a dip in a very windy conditions. After the pool and long session of chit chat the day was called off.

DAY 4

This was our last day at the hotel and we were to check-out the next early morning. We decided to have a relaxed day by staying the area after the breakfast, enjoy the pool, drive on the beach and fly kites. It turned out to be the right decision as everyone loved the relaxed day and we got to explore the local area as well. We drove on the beach to see the area and the ruins there, ran after the seagulls, clicked a lot of pictures. The scenery was awesome and most of it was untouched as we didn’t see too many tourists there as it was away from the city. We relaxed and swam for hours in the beautifully situated pool.

Then we took out the kites and the colorful kites were flying in the sky in no time. The wind was perfect for this activity. All the kids participated in this fun. When our kites flew, a few other people joined us with their kites, on the beach. This was fun and a quite relaxing time. In a short time we had kites of different designs in the sky.

At night we went to the harbor to buy fresh fish. This fish was the freshest catch and ended up in our tummies after being cooked there and then at the café overlooking the ocean. It was a very delicious meal indeed. The environment was amazing, the sea was rough and noisy and so were our kids. Fresh roti (bread) was prepared by our Bangali friend and we chose to cook the fish ourselves this night. The food was served close to 9pm when everyone was really hungry. We ate the delicious delicacies with extreme interest and that was really finger licking. A round of tea followed the dinner and then we drove back to the hotel.

Once we were back and took some rest, we loaded up our trucks for the early morning drive back home. It was going to be again a long drive of 1400 kms in a stretch.

DAY 5

We started our drive a little late as compared to what we used to do, just to have a relaxed start. A couple of years back when we drove back from Salalah we started at 4am and that turned out to be a bad idea. It was because we were all sleepy on the way and driving became a nightmare. We drove back home with great difficulty finally. This time we chose to have a good night sleep before the drive and that exactly what we did and that helped us drive back comfortably. Once we passed the Salalah Mountains the rugged endless road started and this became a very tiring drive. For some time the drive remained uneventful but after a couple of hundred kilometers I experienced a tire burst. This was the back tire on the passenger side. For a second it seemed that the car is just going to go out of control but eventually I was able to take control. We were lucky to avoid any accident cause this road a single lane two-way traffic road with a small shoulder. On top of that the road is bit elevated and if you come down on the dirt from the road on a high speed there was a big chance of playing rolly polly. Anyhow all was well for us as we safely stopped on the little shoulder. Upon inspection we found out that the new tire just give in and was totally ripped.

It was changed with the spare tire that had never been used before and although it was a new tire but I had my reservation about it. For the same reason we drove at a lower speeds all the way to home adding a few extra hours to our drive, but better safe than sorry.

We took a few breaks on the way for refueling the cars as well as ourselves. The highlight was the Mandi diner at Ibri. We reached the Al Ain border once it was dark. We made it home safe and sound after midnight to finish yet another amazing journey.

Desert X Um Al Quwain UAE

2010-05-05T16:04:00.003+04:00

Zigi Beach and East Coast

2010-04-14T07:08:00.011+04:00

Travel Month:

April 2010

Country:

Oman and UAE

Area:

Zigi Beach, Wadi Khab Al Shamis, Dibba, Dibba Al Hisn, Dibba Al Fujairah, Fujairah, Khor Fakhan, Kalba, Wadi Warrayha

Attractions:

Wadi and Sea

Total Distance Covered:

500

Total Days

Travelogue:

We had an exploration trip of the east coast of UAE that was long over due. In these four days we explored quite a few areas. Usually anybody going to the east coast takes a loop driving trip covering Kalba, Fujeirah, Khor Fakhan, Dibba and Dabba, however we in addition to this loop explored a few wadis and hiked up to reach Zigi Beach. Zigi beach is a small hide away and one has to climb a mountain trek to reach there. The public access to this beach has been closed since the opening of Six Senses resort a couple of years back. Due to this reason we planned a boys trip to hike to the beach, spend the night and then come back the next day.

We including myself, my brother Sohail, my son Sajeel and my nephews Rohail, Raheel and Fazeel left a day earlier than our families to explore and complete the Zigi Beach adventure and they joined us a day later at the hotel.

We left in the morning and reached Dibba in time to catch the Friday prayer. After the prayer we explored a few hotels and drove on the shore to see the areas that we never saw before. The east coast must have been a wonderful place but due to excessive construction on the whole of coast most of the areas have become filthy trucks. We were not at all impressed with it. Interestingly we found out that there are a number of Sheikhs houses (big farm like places) right on the sea and they have planted a number of fruits on the sea side which are usually not grown on the shores. It was amazing to see mangoes being grown there. We also used those small paths behind these big villas to reach closer to the sea and these streets were very dirty and not maintained at all.

Another interested thing we found out was the distribution of the city named Dibba. It has three parts, one is Dibba Fujeirah that falls in the Emirate of Fujeirah, second part is Dibba Al Hisn that falls in the Emirate of Sharjah and the thrid one is Dabba which falls in Sultanate of Oman. Despite three names they remain one city with adjacent parts, surprising these all look different due to the maintenance level and construction done in each one of them.

Here we had lunch with a nice biryani and moved further towards Wadi Bih and Wadi Khab Al Shamis. Not to forget we got our dinner in doggy bags as we planned to sleep at the Zigi.

The paved road ended and the dirt track started for the next few kilometers. We stopped at the barrier setup by the Six Senses Resort to block any traffic going up the mountains to reach Zigi. We packed our small back packs and started our hike just before the evening. There are two tracks going to Zigi, one is old and the broken one and the other is the new and maintained one. We took the old one as the distance is less through this one, about 6 kms to be precise. Our decision for taking the shortest route didnt turn out to be be best as the track was totally broken that really took toll from our lazy and unexercised bodies.We thought going up would be difficult and the remaining would be easier which turned out to be even harder due to its steepness and no maintenance. We made it to the beach after the sunset and we headed straight to the Masjid to freshen up and to say our prayer.

It was dark already and we couldnt see much on the beach side, the sound of water hitting the shore was heard from very close though. We were right on the beach and there were about 21 houses being built right there. The local people seem to have given up their main trade i.e. fishing as we could make it from their broken boats etc. It all looked like due to the prosperity the resort had brought there. This place is like a hidden beach from the world as there are mountains between the beach and the main track. Therefore it is secluded and was picked up as a spot for Six Senses resort.

We picked up a spot on the beach for the night but then came back closer to the Masjid for diner. We opened up the biryani we took with us and everyone ate in the dim light coming from a light pole not too far from where we were sitting. A couple of cats just appeared from somewhere and had a treat from us in the shape of bones and leftover chicken. Once we were done with our food we came back to the beach and everyone spread their sleeping bags to take some rest. The weather suddenly became hot and we kept getting breeze with mixed temperatures but it was more inclined towards warmer air. The boys listened to some music before sleeping and we enjoyed a bit of the beach as well. There was moon out in the sky and that made the place romantic. However this romantic feeling didnt last for long cause we noticed too many bugs started to bug us and made our life miserable for the rest of the night. I was bitten more than anyone else and am still recovering from those bites.

The night got passed somehow and we got up early morning, we didnt sleep most of the night anyways. The weather condition was telling us that the day is going to be a real hot one, so we decided to quickly wrap up our sleeping bags and start our walk back to the other side of the mountains where our car was parked. The beach really did not look cool to us and we left this place even without having a dip. The walk became difficult in no time due to sun already looking into our eyes. We made slow progress but this time through the track with an intention of getting a lift if need be. We were not too far from the top when we saw an open truck approaching us, the driver gave us lift without any reluctance. This made our hike back easier and with in no time we were standing next to our car.

We drove back to Dibba and crossed into UAE . We had a hearty meal on the way to Kalba near Fujeirah and joined our families in Kalba where we had booked a hotel for the next few days.

We spent next few days by visiting Fujeirah, Khor Fakhan, Kalba, and other smaller towns on the East Coast. We saw fishing done in its traditional manner and also got fish as a gift from the local fisherman. The highlight of the trip was our cooking as we cooked a number of things and had a lot of fun and relaxed ourselves. We also visited Wadi Warayha and saw a nice waterfall there. But the place has become so filthy due to irresponsible behavior by the visitors and lack of municipality interest. There is a lot of trash in this area although this area has been declared protected area by the state. We drove in the wadi bed for a few kilometers to reach the falls and later discovered that there is a road that ends not far from the falls if someone wants to visit this place by a saloon car. Indeed there will be a bit of walk to reach the falls after parking your vehicle.

Wadi Warrayha despite being declared as a protected area is not really respected by the visitors and they keep throwing their garbage out there. The walls next to the falls are all painted with spray paint with visitors names and the dates. I would not visit the falls again rather will hike further to reach a couple of pools which are not visited by many. Though the drive was exciting on the rocky wadi bed, and we had to drive on a very slow pace to avoid any damage to the vehicles. On the way back we stopped at the famous Mandi place in Khor Fakhan to have dinner before setting off for home.

Over all it was a relaxing trip except the first day. We reached home around 9ish to have a long night sleep. Until next time.....

Marshalling - Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2010

2010-04-01T13:50:00.008+04:00

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge:

This is an international race that takes place in the UAE. This year it took place in the Empty Quarter (Rab Al Khali) in the state of Abu Dhabi. Here is the website for further information.

http://www.abudhabidesertchallenge.com/jart/prj3/desertchallenge/main.jart

Marshalling:

We manned a checkpost in this race through which all the participants including bikes, trucks, 4x4s had to pass while on the track. It was a life time experience interacting with all these awesome drivers and lovers of the motor sport

Area: Liwa also called as Rab Al Khali or The Empty Quarter

Distance Covered: 1200 km

Offroad : 100

In our Vehicle: Just myself

Vehicle used: Nissan Patrol

When: March 2010

Short Story:

I started off in the afternoon for a 450 km of tarmac drive. Until Abu Dhabi the road is excellent and after that it is a single road leading to one of the remote areas of the country. One would wonder that after covering this distance into the Empty Quarter one would be in the desert with no one in sight, however there are small villages dotted all along the road and a lot of development can be seen. I'm especially impressed by the amount of greenery planted close to the town of Mezaira.

We passed through the famous car museum owned by the more famous Rainbow Sheikh. This has a big house on wheels and giant Mercedes on 5 ft tall tires and some other amazing items. However in my third try I have not been able to see it from inside as it was closed. It seems that they tried to make a resort next to the museum but that never took off and is in shambles these days. However there are a couple of big cages filled with lots of bird species in them. A good stop over to Liwa with a small filling station selling petrol at much higher price than on the road, so I wont recommend filling your tank from here. The next petrol station is about 130 kms ahead at Hamaim. The desert really takes shape at Hamaim and from there on the dunes are massive like small hills/mountains growing out of the soil and showing the majesty. We reached Hamaim at the sun set and took a short break. From there the road climbs up and down until you reach Mezaira, that was our destination to meet up the team already deployed.

We called them and a meeting point was agreed, as soon as they reach we started our journey to the Moreb Camp where we were staying for the night. This was about 28 kms but the road goes through some very high dunes and the road at night was just like driving in the mountains as we could not see much otherwise due to dark. After reaching the camp we filled up our fuel tanks from the temporary filly stations setup by ADNOC. The camp was just under the steep slopes of Moreb where there are climbing competitions every year. All the locals with the highly modified vehicles compete in a famous competition every year. The participants, the support teams, the marshals were are staying at this site. It was amazing and thrilling to see all the drivers and their teams working on their respective vehicles/bikes for the next leg of the race. The next day was the last day of the race with 4 stages in it. It was a long day for the competitors.

We sat out on the chairs until late night after having a pathetic diner served in the dining area. Our snacks were better than the food honestly. We were supposed to be reaching our post by 8pm so we dismissed before mid night to get up early in the morning. We were provided with a Arabian camp to sleep in, that we setup with our bedding and slept for few ours.

Early morning way before the sun would rise we were taking shower and were ready in no time. Our post was about 22 kms from the road, therefore there was bit of offroad before we would reach and setup our post. And today our post was the first one so the bikes will be reaching us in no time. We drove for about 100 km to reach Ghost Town with abundant houses and broken patrol pump. This was the point from where we deflated our tires to enter the desert. It was a good ride and we made it to our post right in time. The post was setup and we were ready to receive the competitors. And here they come...one by one...all of them passed by 12pm. A media heli landed just next to us so we got great opportunity to click snaps of heli with a desert back ground.

Once all the participants passed our stage and we got a go ahead from the head quarter we drove off to Moreb Camp but through the desert. It was a great drive, 4 cars following each other on these majestic mountains of sand. We made it to the camp with a few stucks on the way. It was really hot by then. We freshened up and everyone decided to leave for Dubai rather than staying the approaching hot night in the camp.

It was a wonderful experience of driving in Liwa yet another time and Marshaling in an international event.

Dolphins jumping along

2010-03-21T16:40:00.000+04:00

Musandam

Coming soon

Jeep Jamboree 2010

2010-03-20T07:14:00.000+04:00

Travel Month:

March 2010

Country:

UAE

Area:

Northern Emirates

Attractions:

Desert and Track Drive Rally

Total Distance Covered:

200

Total Days

1

Travelogue:

Gulf News Track 1 and 2

2010-03-01T13:50:00.001+04:00

Coming soon!

Mubazara Camping

2010-02-21T16:40:00.002+04:00

Desert Outing

2010-02-13T13:21:00.000+04:00

A full day fun-filled desert outing.

First half of the day we did some good desert driving in Area 53 opposite The Big Red on Hatta road. It was a nice drive with a new group of people. We came out of desert and hardly made it for Jumma prayer.

Then we loaded up our quad bikes and invited extended family as well to have a BBQ at the Falls close to the Saddle Point area. We stayed there till night and had an excellent bbq of chicken pieces and salmon. Kids enjoyed riding their bikes and before leaving we switched off the lanterns to enjoy the sky with countless stars. As we were away from the city and the sky was clear, we got to see the sky that we never see when we are in the city.

Hajjar Mountains

2009-12-15T13:02:00.013+04:00

Area:

Hajjar Mountains around and on Jebel Shams - The highest mountains in Oman and this region standing tall at just over 3000 meters above sea level. Wadis covered are Bani Awf and Sahtan.

Travel Month:

Dec 2009

Country:

Sultanate of Oman

Total Days:

5 Days

Attractions:

Complete Offroad Experience!! Far off villages, very steep dirt track driving, and mountains.

Total Distance Covered:

1200 Kilometers

Total No. of Vehicles:

5 with five families

Travelogue:

DAY 1

Wadis in Hajjar Mountains were on the list this time around. Due to Eid holidays we were able to make a 5 days trip to cover. We planned to enter into Oman from the Hatta border and early in the morning to avoid the holiday rush that will be nasty to spend a few hours at the border checkpost, however God had other plans for us. We got to know that John forgot to bring passports when we where 40 minutes away from the border. After a long discussion we convinced him to go back to Abu Dhabi and bring the passports. We also fixed two meeting points just in case the cell phones wont work which turned out to be the best idea as the phone connections really played hide n seek with us and there were hardly any good stretch of time when the phones continuously worked.

It was not crowded at the border when we reached but right after we formed a queue the number of people flocked to the windows and we could see a long line behind us but we were lucky to be in the first five in the line. Visas were arranged without any hassle and the custom people just let us go without check as always.

After leaving our house at 5:30am to pickup some nice Aalu Naan for the afternoon and a few stops on the way, we were on the Muscat road at around 10am. We drove slowly to give ample time to John for a catch up. About a 100km away from Muscat and just before we had to turn towards the Hajjar Mountains we made a stop for John to reach and join us. Phones were not connecting after numerous numbers of tries so we had no choice but to enjoy the time. We played cricket by splitting all the members into two teams including all the women and children and really had a good time. Eventually we were also connected to John who was driving towards Al Ain to cross the border from there. As he was coming from another side so we decided to move on to reach our second agreed spot.

We took a turn towards Rustaq and small town at the foothills of Hajjar. It was about 60kms from the main highway, which was covered in no time. This town reminded us of our trip earlier in the year when we visited the area right after the floods and people didn’t suggest us entering the mountains due to the tracks been blown away with the floods and all the more we were just us – one family and they advised not to venture our alone. This time we were there to conquer the area, as we were five 4x4s equipped to do so. At Rustaq refueling was done and we drove towards Ibri road, we took off towards Wadi Sahtan after 9 kms on Ibri road. I was still worried for John and when the phone connected last time I gave him this location to stop and wait for us but there was no sign of him reaching here. Therefore we decided to go into Hajjar and find a spot to camp and then one car could come back and wait for John to join.

The road ended soon and became a rough dirt track. It went through a closed wadi right in the beginning and we missed the track only to back track and take the right path. It was an interesting track that was going up and down and through some water etc. We drove for 10 kms in the wadi and found a flat surface closer to one small village to camp. I quickly dropped everone with the tents to be erected and drove back to the road. Nabeel came along with me and we drove to Rustaq and asked around if someone has seen and weird looking Ford Sportrac but the answer was negative. Hence we stopped at the 9km mark to wait for John. The clouds were rising from Hajjar side and made us really nervous. The wait was very tiring and we had to sit patiently as there was nothing else we could do when the phones were not working either. It was quite dark already and we decided to call off our wait / search at about 8pm and will try to find him next morning. As we decided this we heard a sound stopped next to us and to our amazement that was he. One could imagine, in this world of technology and gadgets it is still possible to find each other without the phone, it also tells us how dependent we have become upon technology. We were very happy, as the whole day effort had paid off finally. We drove back to camp in no time and had a quick diner; the tents were already up so no further work but the enjoyment of campfire. It was very windy and chilly earlier but as we moved into 10ist and later the wind diminished and the weather settled down. The fire was on and everyone especially the kids loved it and enjoyed the first night in the bush.

DAY 2

Morning was crisp with sun peeking through the edges of the mountains. Some boys from the village came to visit us. A soccer match was arranged with them and our kids went to play a match with the local boys. Breakfast was good and tasty, tea was hot and soothing. After the match we packed up to move on. We had a target to visit two villages today, which are high up in the mountains only accessible by 4x4 vehicles through a very thin dirt track climbing high in the mountains.

Wijmah was the first to be visited. The track went through a couple of other villages which were on the flat track and after that the track starting going up and up. The vehicles were roaring at first gear with 4x4 engaged. The steep track was about 10 kms and finally we reached a small kind of parking outside the village. This village is in a small wadi way up in the mountains and is tucked in some kind of huge cave just beside the cliff. The walk through the village was a walk through time. The houses are just like old blocks stacked up, the small street through the village takes you to the small pond where the villagers gather their water supply and they were out of water from august this time as there have been fewer rains and less water coming from the spring. But despite their hardships the people were very happy and offered us tea. The village left and impression on us, and one must wonder how this village came in to being and why people live here, go wonder…

After spending some time in the village and a short walk we came back to the cars and drove off. We took a loop to join the main track below in the valley but after a mile or so the track got closed near the football ground. We turned around and joined the main track again to reach the base from where we started. We reached a village to take bathroom break and then decided to attempt for another village named as Yaseb. A person at the masjid told us that the track is really rough and a caution required while driving on it. He was absolutely right as when we saw the track from far it looked like a hike trail just going to the top of the mountain. We not only stopped here rather discussed whether to continue or to call it off for this village.

Eventually we decided we are going to do it no matter what. We drove up into the real difficult track and the track tool full toll on our vehicles and we remained in first gear for the rest of the journey that was about 17 kms. It was a difficult track for any vehicle and major part of it was repaired after a landslide and it was not very firm either. There was only room for one vehicle to go through and one would have to really careful on the switchbacks. The turns were very tight and at times I thought that the vehicle was giving up despite having a 4500cc engine in a Nissan Patrol, but still kept going. We stopped at a very high point to have a snack break and to provide rest to the vehicles.

By the way the vehicles in this trip were Nissan Patrol, Toyota Landcruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero, Toyota Landcruiser Prado and Ford Sportrac Truck.

We had some sandwitches and made fresh tea, courtesy Nabeel bhai’s wife. It was a quick but interesting lunch and a good break with spectacular views of the pass leading in the Wadi Bani Awf (a similar difficult track with several hairpin turns). We enjoyed the lunch and the view and continued our drive to find the lost village. After tiring several miles we saw some greenery far into the valley as we were just sliding down on a steep dirt surface newly surfaced after a landslide. We entered into Yaseb and stopped at an open place at the far end of the village. Some locals boys were playing some music, so we enjoyed with them for some time. We decided to find a good place here to camp rather than going back to the flat area through the same track in the evening. The road to Yaseb was a dramatic one with such steep track and so many curves in it that not all the vehicles or the drivers could make it. We only saw Toyota trucks carrying local people to and from here. However we were surprised to see the development being done here by the government, as there were a few buildings under construction including one for a school and one for a health centre. It was amazing to see such commitment.

I drove around with two local young fellows for find a place to camp for the night. Both of them volunteered to help us finding one. Though the spots they took me were either not flat or these were in the wadi, and we were not comfortable to camp in the wadi due to the flash floods hitting those places first if rains comes. So after a considerable amount of search, we decided to drive back down 20kms to find some suitable place. Although it was evening but we had to do that to find good place for the camp. This helped us eventually to avoid a cold night also as Yaseb was at quite a height and we could feel the cold going through our spines even in the early evening.

Driving back was dangerous as the as it was a very steep surface and we had to engage the vehicles in low 4x4 for engine braking and to reduce pressure on the brakes. Once we were down on the flat track and looked back on the track climbing high, it was hard to believe that we just came through that one. It was a real thrill and adrenaline had really kicked in for this drive.

While driving we saw a field where a few people were working so we stopped and found a nice gentleman named Khalik who could speak nice English as well. He drove us to a nice location for camp and also offered to bring a musician at night to have fun. We accepted the offer and 8’o clock was agreed to have a party.

We pitched our tent quickly and cooking started in two different groups. Sohail, Nabeel and fmly started cooking the meal and John and us started the fire for bbq. There was a lot on the menu tonight including the chicken bbq and steaks. Suddenly we saw clouds rising from the south and we were under heavy clouds in minutes and it started to rain heavily right after. The meat was on the tripod grill and the fire was going good and we were not ready to give up any one of those, except John and myself and the young boys everyone rushed either to their cars or to the tent. It was very windy and the rain was coming down hard but I was sure due to the wind and all the more as a mountain passing shower its gonna go away in some time. That’s exactly what happened the showers stopped after 40 minutes or so but had soaked us completely as we were giving shelter to our bbq. The fire was still on and the bbq on the track to cook in the next few minutes. The other dish was also ready in 15 minutes and the diner was served with sausages as a side dish. It was an incredible evening and a scrumptious dinner. Winds still continued and helped our cloths to dry quickly.

By the time we finished eating the music party joined in with one flute guys and one with a small Arabian kind of drum and a couple of people to give them company. The music started right after. It was good fun that continued for the next hour and a half. We enjoyed the music had a good dance around the fire and this really added colors to the outing and night became ordinary to glorious. We tried our best to give some money to the musicians but those guys were so nice and turned our offer down by saying that we were their guests. We had hugs and said good buy to our hosts for the night. Everyone settled either into their tents or into their cars as a few decided to sleep in their cars from this night. We few nuts sat out in the cold late into the night before crashing into our beds.

DAY 3

Day 3 started with a first look as Sohails punctured tire which had a sharp stone hit into it and it had become totally flat over night. I refilled air in it using the compressor and asked them to run back to the town some 25 kms away to get that fixed as we still had a few more days on the rough track. We would follow them and would meet up at the gas station. Two cars left along with the compressor just in case, but this only happened after a stomach full of good breakfast.

We wrapped up the stuff picked up all the garbage and drove back to one village where we had a break yesterday and there was a pump pulling water from the falaj. All the boys took nice and healthy shower here, the water was not cold and this bath was very energizing. Then we made a bathroom shelter out of tarp for the women to have shower. After an hour or so everyone in the group was nice and clean. We reached the town in the next 30-40 minutes and joined the rest.

We bought some more supplies from the super market and headed towards Wadi Bani Awf as that was the target today. We crossed Rustaq and on the Rustaq loop road and joined the track to wadi Bani Awf after 14 kms. We were heading towards a village named as Bald Sayt, passing through some other small villages. The first 10-15 kms were not hard and were on the plain dirt track and then it climbed into the mountains with endless loops and turns. We met a couple on VW toureg who stopped as they got scarred of the dangerous road and were turned back from here as they were not comfortable driving on such a track. Today we passed some other tourist vehicles also, most of them western travelers. The scenery kept changing from pretty ordinary to amazing to spectacular. We enjoyed every bit of it. I stopped where I wanted to and gave children a thrilling experience for the day.

On the way to the village we stopped at the Snake Canyons and despite opposition I decided to take all the kids for a well-deserved hike into the canyons. It started to payoff right away when we found the first little pool right at the mouth of the track. Once we started everyone followed us reluctantly initially and then had loads of fun and appreciated the decision. This was outstanding scenery and the track was between two walls of rock and going like a snake hence names as Snake Canyons. We passed through huge pools and we had to climb on the sidewalls to pass them. The track was really not a track rather was a hike through boulders and rocks and had to make our own way. The hike pumped up everyone’s energies and adrenaline rushed through everyone’s spine. By the time we were back, everyone was extremely happy with this break.

The drive continued through some rough terrain and rocky surface. I forgot to mention the pick of the day was dust, dust and just dust everywhere, in our nostrils, in the boot, on the vehicles, in our ears and I mean every where. But the journey goes on.

There are two ways to reach Bald Sayt, one is to drive into the village and the other is to keep driving on the track and park cars in a valley like canyon and then walk for 20 minutes to reach the village through a canyon like the mountains gave way by some earth quake or something. We picked the later. The hike was ordinary mostly with some places to be careful at. We saw a group practicing rock climbing in the gorge.

Once we reached the village we couldn’t resist admiring the beauty of the place. It was a bowl shaped valley with vegetation done in the middle of the valley and the village spread around it. There was one old fort remains in the center on a hill also. What a fairytale village that was. I teamed up with the boys to stay here tonight rather than driving to Jebel Shams which we succeeded to achieve with the show of hands from all the children and 9 kids to be more precise. Therefore the drivers of the vehicle walked back through the canyons to the cars and drove for 4-5kms to come back to the village through some scenic dirt track. Here people work for the army as we found few people sitting and using their 3o3s and firing in the air just for fun, the sound was echoing in the valley for long after each round was fired. I also tried one of their .22 just for fun.

Nabeel bhai’s car had a flat as soon as we reached here and looked like not a repairable one as the rock had cut through the wall of the tire. The tire was changed in no time and we picked up a spot for the camp in the valley. The camps were setup and the food was being cooked. Weather was nice and so far we didn’t meat the extreme cold, which we were warned for, temperatures remained nice and cool but not cold. There was a Masjid near by with two bathrooms also and that helped us picking up a spot to camp. Kids were playing around and enjoying themselves. This was a comfortable place to camp and the village was definitely pretty, the people were nice and humble. After a filling dinner we sat around for some time before majority retiring to beds and we got some time to have a stroll under the stars. My wife and myself had a chat and a walk and finally gave up against our wish to stay awake for longer. The night was full of songs coming from the other side of the village where a wedding was in progress.

We also witnessed the arrival of the boy’s family for the wedding in the morning and they came with music and firing from guns. A party became visible far on the track leading into the village honking their horns to notify their arrival and a group of people walking behind the cars with their guns high in the air firing towards the sky. It was a scene to watch.

DAY 4

We prepared our breakfast and wrapped for our next destination that was Jebel Shams the highest mountain in the region over 3000 ft high. The drive started with a warning on the roadside to engage your low 4x4s and be careful on the very steep track filled with dust and rock. The clouds could be seen on the top of the mountains and slowly we drove towards it and finally almost reached into the clouds. It was a high point and was very chilly; we had a break to enjoy the views mile down into the valleys. This drive was one hell of it and definitely not the easier one. The clouds were just over our heads and we could feel the moisture in our nostrils. The scenery was great and this was the place to spend hours watching far down. But the journey goes on and we had to reach our next stop so we drove off and soon to find that the road from the Al Hamra city has been extended to this side and the road going down to Al Hamra some 20 kms away was all tarmac well carpeted. This was a next break where we had a little hike to the top in the middle, the boys climbed up and the women stayed down for a chat. Clouds were gone and now it was sunny but due to the height it was still no hot.

Driving to Al Hamra was uneventful with driving on the tarmac after three days without any dust flying around and shocking us. We bought some fruits at Al Hamra and continued towards Jebel Shams camp village that was about 40 kms from here. We reached the camping place just to know that they have become so expensive in just over a years time. When we visited them last time they charged us 5 Riyals for the camp and now they asked for 7 Riyals per person and ridiculously high price just to use their bathrooms. We drove to have a look down from the canyons before deciding where to camp as Nabeel and family were driving back this evening so we had to show them around the area first. A day back we were on the other side of Jebel Shams but there is no road that connects these two places so one has to drive around to reach where you could see from the other side just 7 kms of aerial distance. This part is known as the Grand Canyons of Oman and the Gulf. The sheer wall must be a 1000-meter high from the base. Jebel Shams top with an observatory on the top is visible from all around. After a short trip around the area we said goodbye to the leaving party and then drove to a nice location for the camp. It was a nice secluded place with some treed around. It was quite windy in the late afternoon early evening time and seemed to be a cold night ahead. We started the fire to warm up a bit. It was the 13 night of the moon and it was almost a full moon in full glory, but there were clouds trying to cover it again and again just before being pushed by the strong winds from the north, kind of helping us for a peaceful night. Winds were on our side this evening, though we had a very cold evening because of that but no rain at least. Everyone collected more and more wood from around and we were done with the wood we brought the day before. But we collected enough for the night and also for early morning. The sky was looking glorious with the backdrop of dry and rugged mountains. The wind gave up after couples of hours but by that time it had pushed the clouds far away from this path.

Dinner was being cooked on the stove and burgers were made on the grill. Everyone had a fun day with a magnificent end to the day at the base of Jebel Shams. Excellent views, company, surroundings, food, coffee, tea, hot chocolate and every bit of a thing. This was the best night of the travel.

We were sleeping when I heard some noise from outside as if someone was browsing through our stuff. I thought, might be one of us was out but called for who was there when the sound didn’t go away. There was no answer from outside. Called again but the sound only remained there but no answer. I got out of my warm sleeping bag and looked out through the window. It was a bright night due to almost full moon and I saw an animal going through our garbage that we forgot to put on top of the roof, and to my amazement that was Mr. donkey. No idea where this donkey came from, but with a lot of tries by me and Nabeel bhai to scare him away, nothing worked, therefore we both came out after putting on our jumpers. The night was not very cold but was cold enough to wear something. We had to chase him and throw some rocks before it finally ran away. We collected the garbage and stuffed it back into the garbage bag and hung it high on one of the trees. We were expecting more visitors in the shape of goats in the morning. And by the way it was around 1am when this episode took place.

The rest of the night passed without any worth mentioning thing.

DAY 5

We got up very early and it was still dark and the time of dawn. Mountains were looking like shadows but in a pretty manner. This campsite was for sure a scenic pick and the best of the nights. A big fire was put on for the cold morning and we all freshened up in the mean time. Morning was cool and crisp and was very enjoyable. The breakfast was served and everyone got ready to go for the W6 hiking trail that starts not too far from where we were. We parked our cars close to an old village and started the trail. It was a thin trail going at the centre of a vertical wall. We could see people standing at the top of the canyon having the grand canyons view. There were some eagles and vulture flying high in the canyons. This was a very scenic canyon trail; we were walking in different groups and were enjoying the day. After a few hours everyone was back at the campsite and we wrapped up and started our journey back at early afternoon.

First we reached Al Hamra then Ibri and then by sunset we entered into UAE at the Al Ain border. From here we were just two hours away from home which we made comfortably by 7:30 pm to finish our 5 days trip to Hajjar Mountains.

Camp at East Coast

2009-11-16T16:36:00.003+04:00

Camp at Sandy Beach

Canyoning in Oman

2009-09-25T10:25:00.000+04:00

Area: This is one of the few hidden places that no other tourists probably know about. We discovered it last year in an exploration trip. The area is in Sultanate of Oman closer to Mahda city. It is some 200km away from Dubai, and the tarmac almost goes to the end.

Distance Covered: 450km

Offroad : Negligible

In our Vehicle: The whole family

Vehicle used: Honda MRV / Pilot

When: Eid's second day in Sep 2009

Travelogue:

This is a hike up the stream through some very rugged terrain. It goes through few very narrow gorges full of water. Last time when we did there was a lot of water on this 5 hours hike but this time there were hardly any pools left due to a very hot summer and no rains. The hike consists of starting from a small abandoned village, and first we had to hike down into the gorge / dried river bed to climb upwards in the canyons, swimming through the pools, climbing the dried and some sticky water falls. This time we made sure that we had rope to pull people out of some tough pools from where there is only one way to climb up the water fall and the rope proved to be very handy. The other thing what we did was, took our camera to click some pictures. It was wrapped in two zip locks before going into my hunting jacket. Though it only survived half way and while climbing one water fall (as I had to climb these first to pull others) the zip lock gave way to water and the camera was toasted. I pulled out the batteries immediately to save the memory car, and I'm glad there are some pictures saved and I'll able to post them.

Overall it was a great day. We were 7 adults and 6 children. The oldest was my father who really did well to achieve this goal (I assure you that this is not for unfit people, especially where its not only a hike rather it has hiking, swimming, climbing, crawling and what not in this short hike), there was only one woman this time and that was my wife, and the youngest was my daughter Iman (7 yrs) who did it better than any one else in terms of stamina and enthusiasm. We had left one party at the camp to prepare the chicken and other cooking stuff at our return.

We completed the hike in about 5 hours or so and then we prepared the stove by the rocks collected from the area and then collected wood to burn as a fuel. So this time we didnt carry any stove or anything and used the natural stuff to cool our lunch. Trust me it was one of the best meals to kick off the camping season.

Here are some pictures from the trip........

EU trip (Scotland), Days 24-31

2009-08-08T16:51:00.007+04:00

Touch the Northern Tip of UK

DAY 24

It was a relaxing day, as the visit to the Peak District does not require a long drive. We contemplated where to go and the choices discussed were Liverpool, Blackpool, North Wales etc. but we settled with the closest option to Manchester and that was The Peak District.

With a fascinating historical and cultural heritage, this unique and diverse region is home to some of the country's finest stately homes, enchanting market towns and picturesque villages. (Courtesy http://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/)

Early morning Atif and myself went to drop off the rented car at the airport and as we would be driving Mrs. Atif’s car for the next few days and that was very generous of her. We dropped off the car at Manchester International Airport and then came back to have a breakfast before leaving for our day trip.

We were following Atif’s car so now in his shape we had a running gps and a guide with us. We drove through some nice scenic lush green areas and passed some water streams. Then had a stop at a hiking trail to give children some fun and enjoyment. Weather was really good and the track was covered with forest trees. This was an old train track filled up and converted into a trail. We reached a picturesque stream with a road crossing through a very high bridge over the stream, and to our amazement there was a group practicing rope-climbing up/down from this bridge. It was a good experience to see for the kids. This place was quite damp as it was in the middle of forest with a flowing stream gushing through the rocks. The whole of UK has some medieval kind of a feeling; there are old bridges, old buildings, and thin roads as the horse carriages used them several years ago. A ghostly place, we also saw a mine that has now been closed and is hiding behind the trees and vegetation making it more mysterious. The trek back was quite interesting with a passing quick shower sprinkled us. We reached our car and started towards another direction.

Now our destination was another dam and a lake full of ducks. It was another 30 minutes away and we didn’t even notice the time passing as the road was through nice scenery. It was a small park with a stream passing by deep through the gorge. There were several types of ducks here and great entertainment for the kids as they had been missing their own ducks back home for the last so many days. They fed them and played around with them. Then we walked across the park on a trail that led us to an old dam. It was a serene place and quite open and wide greenery filled landscape. Atif and myself continued for some hike further up in the hills before returning back where everyone else was just enjoying the environment and the fresh air.

Driving back to Manchester took us and hour or so and our chat session started again that continued later into the night before we crashed. Another exciting day was over with loads of memories left with us.

I didn’t mention any names of the places in Peak District as I don’t remember the names of the villages and the places we stopped at.

DAY 25

Atif excused for this day and we were at our own for the whole day. We decided to visit the historic town of Chester close to the North Wales. We reached Chester before noon and visited the whole town on foot. We walked on the walls around the city and through the old market place.

While we were on the wall of the city we saw a number of people going towards one side. Upon inquiry we got to know that there was a famous horse race taking place at Chester that day. So we also followed the crowd and saw some interesting races there. It was a carnival there and so many people visiting from all different areas. It was very lively environment. It was evening when we left Chester after doing some shopping there to reach Manchester in the dark.

DAY 26

The next few days were planned in Scotland and we left Manchester as per our plan early in the morning. The road went through the same hills closer to Lake District before entering into UK’s Switzerland (Scotland) as I would call it. The prettiness mesmerizes in Scotland. We were two vehicles. In one, it was our family and in the other one Atif and his wife. We passed very close to the Windermere Lake and Grasmeere where we were a couple of days back and continued our journey towards Scotland through the green hills. There was a forecast of rain but so far the skies were fine. We entered Scotland and a different feeling hit us as the scenery was hilly but there was some sort of difference that one would be able to experience only once you cross the border into Scotland. We had to cross through Glasgow but as soon as we headed towards the jungles of Scotland the rain started very heavily. It was raining cats and dogs though we continued our journey on a slower pace now. We had left the main highway and were going through the smaller roads to enjoy the trip and the rain even reduced our pace. But as we all love rain and unlike the UK people we were enjoying the rain and the drive.

Atif had a cottage booked in a small village called Cannich, close to Inverness, and that was still far. The drive continued and we crossed through Glasgow, it was a nice city. We drove across and clicked some pictures. The drive continued in a heavy rain on a very small road with Lockness on one side of the road and hills and jungle on the other side. The progress remained slow owing to the bad weather but it was fun. We had passed Fort Augustus where we planned to come in the next day or so to climb Ben Nevis – The tallest mountain in the UK. The weather started to open up soon and gave us a window to click some nice snaps with outstanding scenery of Scotland. It was towards the evening when we reached our last turn towards Cannich about 18 miles away. The cottages were right on the riverbank and these were just like mobile homes in the States but finished with wood from the outside. The three-bedroom cottage with one sitting and dining and a spacious and equipped kitchen was a real treat in this area. There was still moisture in the air and the evening brought a bit of chill with it. We off-loaded the cars and placed the cooking stuff in the refrigerator. We brought food to cook for the next 4 days as in remote areas it was difficult to find Halal meat and then we would have to live on Veges so we stocked enough for these few days. The dinner was served and it was a real treat followed by some excellent Pakistani mangos. We had an evening walk along the river before we sat in the sitting area inside our cottage for a long chat. We slept late to finish the lovely day.

DAY 27

The morning was a bit chilly but the sun was out so it looked like it was going to be a good day. We were going to climb Ben Nevis – the highest peak in the whole of UK. For reaching the base camp we had to drive back to Fort Augustus and then we reached a spot from where there were flying chairs going up and many cyclists were taking their bikes for mountain biking. We soon found out that this was not the Ben Nevis base camp rather it was further up a few kilometers, so we drove off to reach the Ben Nevis base camp in the next 10 minutes. We parked our cars in the big parking lot and set off to climb Ben Nevis. It was a fairly simple trek through the fields for the first 20 minutes and then it really started to climb high. At one stage half of the party returned back and myself, Atif, Sajeel and Iman continued our trek up the mountain. As we progressed we really got tired and cold as the temperature kept dropping and we were not properly equipped for the hike. We forgot to carry enough water and supplies to finish the hike. But we still continued our hike for a couple of hours before stopping and heading back, by then we had climbed well over half the distance and there was not much distance left to complete but due to short of supplies we returned. Before we headed back we clicked some nice shots of the surrounding landscape. It was a beautiful view, but the weather changed so rapidly and it started to rain making it more difficult for us to trek.

The drizzle continued for a while but we still pushed on to reach lower altitude to avoid freezing. By now there were a number of hikers on the trek and we passed all sorts of people, some hiking, some running, some tired and taking rest etc. It was a very nice hike and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. It took us a while to reach back the parking lot, where we laid down our lunch on a table and had a well deserved meal. It was already late afternoon; so after the lunch we visited the tourist shop and left for Fort Augustus high street.

We had a walk through the high street and did some window-shopping, clicked some pictures and drove off. The drive back was fun but we arrived back at our destination at night. We had planned a BBQ for that night so as soon as we arrived we started to prepare for the BBQ. The portable grills that we bought, back at Chester, didn’t work well so we had to half cook the meat before we used the gas oven inside the cottage to cook our meal properly. It definitely took a while for us to cook the meal that day but it was worth the effort as it turned out to be a very delicious meal. Of course, sweat mangoes followed it as a desert. It was a long day after that tiring hike so we hit the hay early as we had another long day ahead of us.

DAY 28

This was the day that we would be touching the northern most tip of the UK i.e. John O’Groats. We got up very early to get ready for the long drive to John O’Groats and loop around the northern tip to come back from the other side. We drove through some nice forested roads and bypassed Inverness to cross a long bridge to reach the northern country. Here the far away feeling was getting prominent as we continued our drive. The waterways came closer to the roads at times and at other times we drove far from the water. We made it to the last house on John O’Groats by afternoon; this was a small hut that has been converted into a pretty little souvenir shop. We had a small walk along the sea and just got to know in time that there was a cruise ride that was leaving in the next one minute. We had such frenzy at this stage requesting the counter to radio the cruise, not to leave us behind. The old lady really helped us and did a lot just to get us on this ride. Finally we managed to get on to the ship. Atif and his wife opted to stay behind, as they were not too keen for this cruise ride.

As soon as we stepped on the ship it left the dock, as it was already a few minutes late for its trip. We climbed up to the deck where soon a gentleman came to us for the tickets, since we didn’t have the tickets we bought them while on the ship. This ride goes around a large and abandoned, old island. This was an amazing ride as it went through many fascinating whirlpools that we had never seen before. In these two hours on the ship we saw some really nice sceneries and wild life including several types of birds, seals, fish etc. Before, whenever we have done some short cruise trips we always got bored after an hour but this one was the first one in which we enjoyed the whole time. The kids loved it because of the nature and sceneries. We even saw some baby seagulls. It remained a very windy day.

Once we were back, we had a nice little lunch of the chicken tikkas, which we brought with us, on a picnic table right by the sea, but the winds kept blowing at high speeds and making it difficult for us to eat.

After lunch we headed to the Castle of Mey for the loop drive back to Inverness. It was already late afternoon and we still had a long drive back to our cottage beyond Inverness.

We were on the road back to Inverness by early evening. The road was long and the drive was tiring and boring on the way back. We made progress slowly and at night we reached back to our cottage. On the way we also saw a bag piper’s band while driving through Inverness, kids really liked it live. This was our last night in Scotland and we were heading back to Manchester and eventually to Milton Keynes the next morning. So we had a very long drive followed by a train ride the next day. We enjoyed our last evening in Scotland to the max before we slept that night. We had another walk along the river just behind our cottage. This was our way to say goodbye to this beautiful area. We slept tight to get up fresh for the drive back to Manchester the next day.

DAY 29

The drive was a pleasure for the first phase of 200 kms but then it turned back into a regular drive on the highway. We stopped at a few places on the way to click pictures but continued our journey, as we had to catch an evening train back to Milton Keynes. Atif booked tickets for us before we left for Scotland and he didn’t even took the payment from us. His hospitality definitely needs appreciation.

We made it back to Manchester well in time and still had a couple of hours to kill so we took this advantage and had a nice late lunch. This was a very hearty meal and then we went out to a park to kill the rest of the time. Kids got another chance for chasing ducks and birds, they don’t get tired do they?

Mr. and Mrs. Atif had been wonderful hosts and we could not thank them enough for their time and love they extended to us and our children in those few days we stayed with them. Hats off to this wonderful couple, you remain in our prayers.

We reached the train station in time to collect our tickets that were booked online. While Atif collected the tickets we tried figuring out which platform was our train coming at. This was our first intercity travel on train in the UK therefore the kids were really excited despite that they were very tired from the long journey. We were into the 29^th day of our trip already. The train journey was fun and it just took us a couple of hours before we reached our destinations where Waseem was already there to pick us up from the station.

DAY 30 -31

We spent most of the time during our last two days in the UK shopping as we were traveling on the 31st back to the U.A.E. We visited a number of malls and areas. The packing was really crucial as 3 of our main suitcases were filled with the camping stuff that we brought with us. And now we had a number of things to fit in the other three bags. We spent hours packing our stuff and finally the time came to go to the airport that was Gatwick this time around. We left very early in the morning but still couldn’t beat the traffic and got stuck on the famous London highways. We hardly made it to the airport in time for us to catch the plane. We all came into the terminal running with our entire luggage in the fear of missing our flight but finally made it to the plane just in time. The flight back home was all right despite the airhostess made Hassan angry by not giving him the kiddy pack despite several requests. I had to complain with Emirates Air after reaching back and they sent us a cheap teddy bear by post without any apology. This was unlike Emirates Air, which is generally good at service during the flight. Otherwise the flight was on time and we made it home by evening not without a traffic ticket while my cousine driving us home from the airport and did speeding in excitement so add another 100 dollars to the expense. Cheers!

EU trip (Milton Keynes - Manchester), Days 23

2009-08-03T16:50:00.005+04:00

DAY – 23 Heading North

We had to reach Manchester by the night; a rental car was booked last night for the travel today. It was 7:30am when we all packed our luggage in Wasim’s van to get dropped off at the car rental office. When we reached the rental company and found out that the car we booked was not available and they finally gave us a smaller car with a difference of two pounds only. It could hardly take the entire luggage we had for the next one-week. I was driving a manual transmission vehicle after several years. It took me a few minutes to get used to the car but we were already on the highway by then.

We left early to have a visit to the Lake District area before heading back to Manchester. M1 was not that crowded as we expected so we covered a good distance quickly. At Birmingham we took the toll road to save some more time. When we bypassed Manchester the scenery became hillier with green pastures and sheep dotted all over grazing over the grass.

Our first stop was Lake Windermere and we were already on M6 going towards it. We reached Windermere after a pleasure drive of 3-4 hours and visited the tourist information center for some brochures. I love the Lake District not only for its greenery and mountains but also for the outdoor shops it has in abundance. You would find a number of hiking, camping things that you don’t find otherwise at other outdoor stores. We had a drive along the lake and parked at one point to have a good walk in the town. Due to summer vacations it was quite busy and we found parking with great difficulty. This lake had several types of birds including the great Swans, Geese, and Ducks etc. Our kids went crazy after these animals especially as these birds are quite domesticated because of so many tourists visiting this place and feeding them with all sorts of stuff. Kids were able to touch the birds and this was the most fun for them and they were not ready to go anywhere else now. Finally they were convinced to have a walk in the town with a promise of stopping here on the way back. This was a very nice little town with streets going up and down with tourist related and other shops. We found some nice things, which are hard to find otherwise so we picked them up immediately. This shopping took a long time to finish and then we came back to the lake. It’s a very nice lake having a cruise service that goes to Amble side and to another stop as well. Lake is about 10 km long and deep enough to transport heavy stuff via small ships. There are mansions of wealthy people of one side and small towns on the other.

We bought fish n chips as snacks and came back to the lake. However children could not eat their fish n chips as a swan attached their food and then all those birds just ate the stuff with pleasure, we all watched them from around. After the fish n chips break, we hopped into our car and started our drive towards Ambleside, which is another small town on the lake with a number of outdoor shops. The drive was on a small road along the lake. It didn’t take us long to reach there and after parking we peeped into different shops and enjoyed the town.

“Although there has been a settlement since pre-Roman times, Ambleside is largely Victorian. A fort beside Borrans Park - named Galava - was built in Ambleside by the Romans, housing some 500 soldiers. It was built to defend the lower fells of South Lakeland from invasion by the Picts and Scots, and to guard the road to the Roman Port at Ravenglass via Hard Knott Pass.”

Coutesy http://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/amble.htm

In England all the towns seem to look alike due to their similar architecture. I don’t think so that there were any great architects born in this part of the world. But despite this all the towns look pretty and the old buildings are really preserved well. Another interesting thing we noticed was the parking ticket. One had to get a parking card from any of the shops and set it at the arrival time on it before putting it on the dashboard. The parking’s are usually for half an hour so the policeman may give you a parking ticket, had he found the time of arrival been more than 30 minutes earlier. It was interesting way of putting parking tickets. The tickets were just like the clocks that we usually use to teach children read time.

By the time we were done roaming around here it was late afternoon and we had one more place to visit in our today’s agenda and that was Grasmere. Its small town on one of the lakes but lush green and very pretty. It was 30 minutes drive away and we enjoyed this drive more than the town itself. It was a short stop in the town before we drove back towards Manchester and had to go through the same route to Ambleside and Windermere to catch the highway. The return drive to Manchester was boring comparatively as it was always on return journeys. We were sleepy and tired.

We had put Atif’s address in the GPS, which was very close to the Manchester Airport so we were cruising towards their place. We reached there without any glitch and knocked at the door to find our friends waiting for us, they couldn’t reach us earlier as our cell phone battery died in the afternoon. After we settled down an amazing dinner was ready and it was the best end to a long day. The night was long with chatting between old friends; there was so much to catch up.

EU trip (England), Days 19-22

2009-07-30T12:32:00.001+04:00

DAYS 19 – 22

We did not plan much during these few days and just relaxed and enjoyed around the area. First of all we called our friends Rehman and Samha who happily came to Milton Keynes to spend a couple of days with us. We had a seekh kababs session one evening and ate as much as our stomachs could fill up. Kababs were really delicious specially when we had such kababs after so many days and made them ourselves to our liking.

We visited the malls close by to do some shopping. We also visited the outlet mall Bister Village that offers nice outlet stores selling things at a bit cheaper prices than the regular mall stores.

One day we planned the whole day out to the Woburn Animal Safari. Our kids have grown a tremendous love for animals specially since they started keeping several pets at home therefore this safari tour was a real treat for them. We left early with Waseem to drop him off at his office. After leaving his office we went to the super market to get some stuff for children and some picnic for the day. The day was cloudy and rain was expected today but we had only this day before leaving for Manchester tomorrow so we just went ahead to Woburn and got in the line before its opening. There were about 15 cars ahead of us at the opening of the safari park.

We drove in at the opening time and started our car safari right away. We saw some nice and healthy animals. Giraffes, Zebras, Lions, Tigers, Monkeys to name some. We did the safari really slow as the kids wanted to spend time at each animal enclosure. The beauty of safari is that you are face to face with the animals without having any barrier or cage between you and the nature. The animals really got closer to our car and we all had good time here. Once we completed this round on the car in about 1.5 hours we parked our car to have the foot safari in which we went through tracks going through lush gardens with different kind of animals. As close to the natural habitat has been provided to the White Kangaroos, Squirrel Monkeys and many more. It was real fun when the kids found three squirrel monkeys outside sitting next to the track and they were able to touch them. These were tiny monkey of the size of a hand – very pretty.

After finishing the foot safari we saw a bird show followed by a paddleboat ride in the small lake with ducks and swans around us. There were few very small ducklings with their moms. Rain had started by now; we were lucky to have lunch break during the bird show without rain. After the boat we got in line for the train ride around the park and that’s when the real showers started and lasted until evening. We got off at a station closer to the parking and drove off for another round of the safari to enjoy and see the animals in rain. After completing the circuit we stopped at the big birds show. Although it was raining and we were the only spectators, the lady was nice to display some birds including a falcon and a big owl. As we were the only ones there she let the kids to hold the animals on their hands. One could imagine their joy at this point. It was 5pm and that was the time to pick up Waseem from his office so we said bye to the animals and drove off. One more fun filled exciting day was over once we reached home after picking up Waseem. This day ended with the famous fish n chips from Milton Keynes.

EU trip (Holland & Belgium), Days 18

2009-07-26T16:57:00.003+04:00

DAY 18

By today evening we would be in Milton Keynes England from where we started our first leg of the trip. The car was loaded up with all the stuff including our sleeping mats and sleeping bags those we used in our stay in Holland. It was around 8’o clock when we left from our host’s place after very warm good byes.

We came out of the city in no time as it was Saturday and most people were still sleeping. And it was hard to distinguish when we entered Belgium from Holland. Our next stop was Brussels that we planned to stop only for a few hours. Drive to Brussels was about two hours and that we completed without anything important and just watched the scenery around the highways.

First of all after reaching Brussels we stopped at the Mini Europe, which is a major attraction in this city. Mini Europe and Atomium are the two attractions next to each other. Mini EU consisted of all-important buildings of Europe build at miniature size. There was a fee to enter this park. I would rate it as an ordinary place to see, may be I was so tired of this EU trip that I didn’t really got excited about this place and all the more this trip of ours had been more of outdoors and nature dominant and this place was definitely not one fitting into the trip discription.

The Atomium was a large metallic structure that was built for the World Fair in the 1950's. This was made to celebrate the discovery of a certain atom by scientists. These were huge nine metallic balls joined with each other in the shape of an Atom. It was accessible via lifts for viewing of the city from inside the balls.

We spent a couple of hours at these two attractions and then rode towards the main squares of the city. I didn’t hear or read much about this city until I saw it but found this to be very impressive city indeed. The roads were not crowded due to weekend so we found parking very close to the main area in the city. Then off course it was all walk if you would like to see the city including the Grand Place (the main square). There were many small streets leading to the Grand Place. All these streets were full of small shops full of tourist items, eatables, clothing etc. This area was really busy with tourists from all over. We enjoyed this part of the city. In the main square there were several ancient buildings attached to each other. We also had a walk in other areas of the main city.

We had to catch a 6’o clock ferry to Dover from Calais so had to leave early as we were still 1.5 hours from Calais. So we came back to the car and drove in few more areas of the city before catching the highway towards France. The drive was straightforward and we were parked in the line to enter the Ferry with in 1.5 hours. But the Ferry was late and we had to wait for an extra hour for that.

After parking our car in the ship we went up to the deck to enjoy and then settled at one place where they had some children activities. Therefore this time was passed quite nicely as kids got their faces painted with their favorite characters and remained busy with their painting and stuff. We came out at Dover in the evening but still had a good couple of hours drive to Wasim’s place. Roads were familiar so Wasim drove happily and reached his place fairly quickly. We picked up a food order that he placed over the phone on the way. Unloading the car was done after dinner and everyone relaxed after that and was happy to finish the first leg of the trip successfully and collected memories for life.

EU trip (Holland), Days 16-17

2009-07-24T16:29:00.004+04:00

DAY 16 and 17 - A Country of Windmills and Canals

Despite we slept almost closer to the morning light, we got up fairly early to explore Amsterdam and around. We were staying in Zaandam area and had no idea at nighttime where it was. Later we found out that it was the main place to see the famous windmills.

Once ready we drove to the city center of Zaandam, which was on the river. It was a nice walk there however we couldn’t find any information center to get some maps and stuff. One travel agent gave us some information but also sent us to the main station Amsterdam for further info. The drive was about 15 minutes through some under construction roads and a lot of zig zags. When we reached our destination it was hard to find the parking but finally we managed to find one but it was quite an expensive one.

We walked to the station for info and received all necessary advise from the young lady along with the direction maps. We decided to go to the fishing and picturesque villages before exploring the main city. Therefore after walking back to the car we drove off to the first place right on the shores of Sea named as Volendam. This was a very beautiful old village sitting right on the shores; the walk in the tourist village was very interesting. There were several shops and restaurants dotted on the Oceanside some having the sea view, selling either eateries or things for the tourists. The arrangements in the stores were very pretty and village like. The stuff that they sell were mostly different types of windmills, famous Dutch shoes models, models of cows etc. The birds here were very friendly and we all played with the little sparrows, seagulls etc. for a long time. There were small houses in the whole village joined together like artificial Lego houses. The designs did not look different from each other but pretty colors used for the finish gave them a unique look. There were canals everywhere in Holland including these small villages on the sea. Boats looked like a major mean of transport here or at least was one of the major means of transport earlier. We really like Volendam and this few hour’s trips was a memorable one.

We left Volendam and drove towards Edam another beautiful village through the smaller roads. It was a green country but in another manner. I couldn’t really compare Switzerland with Holland, as these are two distinct countries with two entirely different landscapes. The roads other than the highways were really small but maintained.

Most of the area in this country is well below the sea level and how it has survived centuries is because of the system that they have developed to channelize the water.

Edam was also a wonderful village but different from Volendam as it had the big canal dissecting the town and then smaller canals in few streets. It seemed like a village of medieval time. Very quite and elegant but still people living in it. A few shops here and there but with a great décor. We first drove through the streets wherever we could go and then parked our car to have a walking tour that was worth the effort from tired bodies. We saw the old buildings and streets, stroll on the canal banks and enjoyed the fresh air. Luckily today was the sunny day and we could really enjoy the walks, as when we started the day in the morning it was raining but it stopped by noon since when we started walking.

The first infamous round cheeses were exported from Edam to all corners of the world many centuries ago. Traditional cheese markets take place every week during the high season, and the few remaining cheese warehouses keep the memory of this colorful past alive. Edam is a town rich with history, monumental buildings, beautiful squares, shopping streets and outdoor cafés.

It was 5pm and the shops were closing already like rest of the EU. So we drove off to go to Merken another fishing village.

Let me briefly put some more info about these villages. The historic fishing villages of Volendam and Marken are best known for their characteristic wooden houses, water sports, traditional costumes and fresh fish. Tucked away on the coast of the former Zuiderzee (a North Sea inlet), now the IJsselmeer (Lake IJssel), these villages have preserved their character for many centuries. The quaint houses, winding canals and drawbridges create a truly romantic, winsome atmosphere.

These old villages still have life in them and a very well preserved one. These people really respect their assets and in this case their history and the buildings. You could still see centuries old houses in good shape and livable condition. I found people quite simple here.

After Merken we continued driving to another village, which is on the island joined via road. Here we had to park outside the village in designated parking lots for 10 Euros as there were no visitor cars allowed in the village. The gardens here were one the most beautiful ones as we saw in Swiss but here the difference was that they have converted their small gardens into pieces of art by putting so many different kind of plants in a very artistic manner. It was one amazing sight for us. We walked around and enjoyed the village tour thoroughly. Evening was falling in so we started walking back to the car although we wanted to stay here for more time.

We were staying at one of Waseem’s friends from today for the next two nights. So we drove back to their place that was about 45 minutes from here. GPS took us straight to their location and found that they were out for groceries, usually people don’t come in time when they give a particular time but that’s not us, we are always in time, so we had to wait for 30-40 minutes for them to reach back. They were a very nice family of husband and wife with their three children. I sincerely thank them for their hospitality and for having us at their place.

The evening was spent chatting with our hosts and late at night we crashed into our beds. It was a semi camping kind of a thing as we were using our camping mats and sleeping bags on the floor.

We got up in the morning, got ready, had breakfast and left for Amsterdam on a train for which we had bought tickets the day before when we visited the station information center. Today we were planning to cover Amsterdam as much as we could despite being the rainy day. It started to rain early morning and even when we left for the station that was not too far it was still raining. We used our raincoats and continued. Train took 40 minutes to reach the main station right in the heart of the city. We had bought the full day tickets for the buses or trains for today. Rain didn’t stop at all so we came out and started our walk according to the city walking tour guide from one place to another and from one square to another.

Amsterdam was built several years ago as a fishing village and then rose to the level of one of the modern and important cities of the world. Today I see it as a run down city. This city has big networks of canals in a grid system. Must be an elegantly lay out once but now with time and age it is all getting dirty and is breaking down. There was lot of maintenance and construction going on but my views are according to what I saw and felt about the city. It’s a youngster’s city as smoking of even pot and other stuff is allowed here. So it’s a heaven for drinkers and smokers, as I would call it. Another business is thriving in this town is the sex business, as this business is rated as a trade here. We walked quite a bit in rain when we decided to have a break and for that the best thing to do was to hop on to a bus and enjoy the city while drying the cloths, so we did the same. The bus conductor suggested us a couple of places to see and dropped us off at one point where there was a flea market going on. It was pathetic by the way so we had a coffee break instead and used their bathrooms instead of paying euro a person elsewhere, we used this Euro per person towards our cofee.

We came out and started walking when the rain started off again at great pace. We kept walking in different streets, along the canals and crossed several monuments and squares. It was by afternoon when we decided to go back and get the car for further exploration. We had yet to see the famous windmills. The train came right after we entered the station so after 45 minutes we were driving our car and going towards Zaandam where the famous old-fashioned windmills were located.

We stopped just before a bridge where construction was going on and parked our car on the road and walked across. There were several windmills here making beautiful scenery. The houses were along the water and on the other side few more houses and many wind mills. We took a walk in the pretty village along the water and then through the village. There were a couple of small windmills with in the village as well. And no need to mention that there are smaller sized canals everywhere and the birds of so many kinds were in abundance all over Holland. Rain stopped and gave us a chance to explore this village and enjoy the nature. Green pastures looked absolutely amazing with cows grazing in them. On our return we saw the bridge opened up fully to let one ship go under it and that made kids very excited as well because they had not seen this before. Walk to the car took us 10 minutes and then we headed home.

EU trip (Switzerland), Day 15

2009-07-23T13:29:00.002+04:00

DAY 15

It was going to be a long day for us. We packed up everything into the van and I went 10 minutes ahead of the car to return the bicycle that Sajeel brought last night. This was the same bike troubling us last night and I had to stop several times to fix its tire before reaching the shop for return. It was 8’o clock at the return time. We said bye to Sohail and family and drove towards Luzern.

Luzern is a nice city with big lake as one attraction. We spent some time there to walk around and as I mentioned earlier it was just like another EU city if you are not staying there for longer time. This much time gave us a good glimpse of the city and we were able to pick a few souvenirs from there. Luzern’s main attraction was Mt. Titlis that we had explored in the last two days. We also walked around the river and saw the two very old bridges over it. Flowers were the keynote for this city as well and they had plenty of those to massage your eyes with soothing colors.

We left Luzern for Zurich. We planned to spend a few hours in Zurich before driving towards Amsterdam and would make a stop by evening somewhere for the night. The probable stop was after the Black Forest in Germany. But when we reached Zurich we had a lot of trouble finding the appropriate parking and all the more it looked to us a big city and not to be covered in a couple of hours. So we contemplated and decided against staying here. We would leave it for another visit of Switzerland and may land here to start our trip. But still we managed to drive around to have a good feel to take along from Zurich, also paid a Euro each to use the bathroom at the main station.

The next stop in mind was Black Forest, which is the birthplace of the famous Cuckoo Clocks a couple of centuries ago. The GPS was not giving us a proper stop for that so we used the wifi to find some town with in the Black Forest region and started driving towards that place. We crossed into Germany with in the next two hours of driving. The terrain, scenery and architecture changed a bit to give us a German feeling. We took a break at one service center for lunch and continued driving, as the stop was still a couple hours away. We noticed that the traffic had increased on the highways in Germany, roads were very busy by this time and it was already afternoon. We reached the town in BlackForest (Another mountainous region to be covered in another trip to EU) by 5pm. It was to our disappointment that everything was about to close there and this particular town was not the one we intended to reach. And the other town was another 90 miles away into the mountains, and we were not ready to go in an opposite direction at this stage. So we had no choice but either to continue driving or have a stop over for the night, our dream of buying Cuckoo clocks was shattered. If we had stopped then we would be wasting half a day next day while driving to Amsterdam so we decided to reach as close to Holland as possible and then stay somewhere. Our GPS was still showing a good 7 hours drive from where we were.

Anyhow we enjoyed the German highways having no speed limit and we drove really fast on some areas but could not do justice due to busy roads. And then we got stuck in the traffic for about 2 hours; this break was always a tough one for the driver as well as for the passengers. We found the road opened after a good two hours of crawling on the road. But we had some more surprises on the way, the dark clouds started gathering as far as we could see the sky. And it was not far when it started to rain cats and dogs. The rain was very heavy at times and thunderstorm was just half an hour away. It started to get very dark and the thunderstorms really got worst. But with all the obstacles we continued our journey slowly. It was quite late in the evening but now we were not in the mood to stop on the way. We called ahead to Formula 1 hotel in Amsterdam and got the necessary booking of two rooms already. The weather got worst and worst and we had to make couple of unnecessary stops to wait for the better weather conditions as the visibility reduced to zero at times. The drive was treacherous and tiring, it was already more then 12 hours since we started our journey in the morning. The weather remained like that until we finally made it to Amsterdam at about 2am and 18 hours of journey. We just crashed in our beds as soon as we reached our hotel in the Zaandam area.

EU trip (Switzerland), Day 13

2009-07-22T23:00:00.005+04:00

DAY 13

Morning was quite clear with some sunny start. We bought some supplies from the super market and then started off to visit Bern the Swiss capital. It is about an hour drive from Interlaken. We had left Interlaken with some very good memories and given a chance would definitely visit this place again.

The drive was alongside the lake for some time and then on a highway through the mountains towards the capital. We would be finishing our drive at Engelberg just at the base of Mt. Titlis and in the Luzern area. Mount Titlis is another famous mountain of Swiss.

We had another task in Bern to find some Halal meat for the feast tonight as my bro and his family was going to the same place via rail and would join us for the dinner. They were on the run for about a month and desperately wanted to eat something like that. After reaching Bern we parked in the main parking in the center of the city just above the main station and went to the info center for some help. Then we started our city walk to cover the major places on foot. It didn’t take us long to complete our tour, hence we started to find some Asian store for the meat. It wasn’t long when we found the appropriate store and bought some good chicken from there, and some more spices those were running out from our kitchen.

Bern is a nice little town with some great tram system in place. It has a lot of historic buildings in the city like most of the other EU cities. All EU cities are trying to sell their Art and Culture that they’ve preserved pretty well. The city tours are usually consisted of few churches, some govt. buildings, a few museums and a few parks. The architecture is very much similar to each other, to be very honest. The other thing they sell is the liberty they provide to the youngsters in terms of drinking and smoking. Switzerland in this sense is very lucky that it has something extra and that is the natural beauty but very well maintained. Bern was just another city in Swiss and I didn’t find anything really special about it. So we moved on to pass Luzern and reach Engelberg, it was another couple of hours from there.

Drive was through some highways with fairly nice views and we made it to Engelberg without anything special but we knew that tonight’s dinner was going to be a good one. Excitement ran through my spine and I couldn’t wait to eat that. We were camping tonight and tomorrow. This was a very pretty little town with a few streams and rivers going through the town. Mountains on both sides, trees and plantation everywhere, flowers filled windows of each and every house. Despite being a tiny town it had a vibrant feeling and the little main street was busy enough. The station was small but it gets busy for a couple of minutes as soon as a train arrives. We were just about the finish using the bathroom facilities at the station when we received a call from my bro that they were just about to arrive in town. What a perfect timing for us to be at the right place at the right time. So just after a couple of minutes here they were. Small World!!

We left the kids at a park to play and burn their excessive energies and went out to find a hotel for them and a campsite for us. Sohail had stayed here before and he wanted to find the same place for themselves so it took us some time to find the same hotel but finally we found it and also got the booking in it. Then we went to find the campsite and that wasn’t difficult to find either. There is only one campsite here and it is next to a hotel and a trailer park. So this facility has all sorts of flavors having all types of accommodation available. They gave us a site in no time and we were quite happy to find this one as we had a full view of a waterfall from the place we selected for us to pitch our tent.

Let me approve of this campsite being the best of all I’ve stayed at and I’ve been to several other campsites. This was best in terms of the bathroom, laundry and other facilities not from the site perspective. The sites were not bad as well but these are in EU and I explained earlier how are the campsites in EU. There was a big laundry room with drying fans in the basement. Bathrooms were excellent having all five star facilities, but for showers we had to pay 2 euro and the showers worked for 4 minutes. The place was extremely clean and they had some nice play areas for children including a small pond with wooden logs for kids to experience with bamboos to float around. Overall I’ll give full marks to this place, a very well organized and managed place.

After finding a good pitch we erected our tent and set up our beds. The evening was quite chilly and we were using our wind blockers or jumpers to protect ourselves. It was late but for us to start cooking the best dinner of our trip. Sohail and family arrived after setting them up at the hotel. We only had a small utensil to cook so we had to make two or three rounds of cooking to cook for everybody. We had all the necessary stuff to cook the meal as we cooked at home but the environment and the place added some extra taste in our food and without doubt this was our best meal in 15 days. We got fresh bread from the camp store to eat with it. An awesome evening and what a finish to a days excursion. We wrapped up and as usual Wasim did the dishes. We had a nice walk in the area to explore it further and after that came back to the tent to call it a day. Another beautiful night and another wonderful day finished. A lot of memories collected to cherish in the years to come. Good Night!!

EU trip (Switzerland), Day 14

2009-07-22T11:20:00.004+04:00

DAY 14 – Lets Conquer Mount Titlis

We had a good few hours’ sleep as we slept late last night but still the night was quite comfortable and was not very cold either. Morning was very nice and bright. An opportunity for us to use the best bathrooms once again and we did justice to that. Breakfast was simple with some eggs and bread. Today we would go up to Mt. Titlis via three different cable cars while Sohail and family would go to another ski place on the opposite side via cable cars.

After we were ready we went to the information centre to purchase tickets to Titlis. We got a deal for three adults and three kids for 200 franks and headed to the cable car station that was just half a mile away to catch the cable car. As soon as we got in line a couple of buses came in a lot of rush accumulated behind us. To reach the top there were three stages and at each stage we had to change the cable car. First of all there is a small size cabin that took us to the first stage, it could only accommodate 6 people. The second stage was a big bus kind of cable car that could accommodate 81 standing people. And the third stage was a circular cable car that revolved around while going up and it could also accommodate about 80 standing people. There were stunning views from the cable cars at each stage, but the side windows and glass in all sides of the cable cars were badly scratched as these were used for people going up for skiing in the winters and they carry their gear and skis, which scratched the sides. On the smaller sized cable cars, there were flags of all the countries or may be flags of those countries where there are mountains and glaciers…I’m not sure about that. Anyhow we enjoyed the ride specially the kids. It took about 45 minutes to complete one side but it took us longer to finish one side as due to some problem we were hung in the air for more than 15 minutes in the third stage.

On the last stop we saw a lot of snow. It was very cold up here. There were indoor viewing rooms for people who did not want to go out. But we had purchased the ticket to the Glacier Park as well to have some fun, therefore we had to walk on the snow for some time to catch an open flying chair which took us down for 10 minutes to reach the Glacier Park on one side of the Mount Titlis. These are the similar kind of chairs used by the skiers to go up or down for shorter distances. There were six seats on one flat surface and we were six people so we all sat on one long chair. The flying chair went over glacial surfaces and crevasses; it was terrible to see those holes in the glaciers. There were snow-capped mountains all around; one would feel like at the top of the world here. This 10 minutes flying over the glaciers was very nice, and once we were dropped at the glacier park kids started to get the two rides available there. Both these rides were not like electric rides but in natural settings, one was a tubing over the glacial surface and nice carved slide that took the tube to high speed and then stopped at a place a couple of hundred meters away down in the valley, and the other one was different types of sledges and a sliding area. Both of them were very interesting. Despite being so cold children didn’t want to go back from here. Running in the snow made our feet wet and some parts of cloths were wet too, but the adrenaline rush kept us going in the cold temperatures. We moved back before getting sick because of the cold after a couple of hours of fun in the snow. This reminded us of snowing in Canada when we used to run to the slopes in a park near by, with our sledges. It was an amazing experience. We came back to the main building/station of Titlis and got some snaps outside. Then had a lunch break in the viewing room on the 4^th floor. Day was absolutely clear today and all the mountains in the region were visible with naked eye or with the binocular.

We also visited the Glacier caves here that are nicely carved caves within the glaciers. There was very good lighting arrangement in the ice walls. It was a short walk but worth it.

On the way back we got down on the second stage, as there was a nice lake just 10 minutes walk from the stop. We enjoyed the lake view with stunning surroundings and took a lot of pictures in this area. This hour’s break was very soothing for the eyes due to the fresh green color around and the lake giving us reflection of the mountains. There was abundance of fish in the lake and one could see schools of fish very close to the edges also.

The next stop was on the Engelberg station from where we started this morning. This was the end of a thrilling ride to Mt. Titlis. We walked for half a mile to reach the main street where Sohail joined us and the kids got company. They all rented bicycles to enjoy on the small streets of the town and we headed back to the campsite. Iman and Hassan stayed with us, as they were not big enough to ride bikes on the hilly surface.

The site was full of life with a lot of kids playing in the play areas and running around. Our kids joined them for the fun too. The evening was very pleasant and not cold at all. We enjoyed sitting in the sun for a while, walked on the green pastures and enjoyed the clear view of waterfall just above our camp. A river was passing just behind our tent and was producing rapids and a noise that we didn’t mind rather enjoyed as the music of the environment.

Night was approaching and the rest of the gang also joined us after some time. Tonight we would be cooking Daal Chaawal for all of us. Kids went to play area while we started our cooking. Another delicious meal was served after an hour or so. The environment added a lot of tasted to it without doubt.

After the dinner we all went for bicycle ride / walked further north from our site and crossed some nice fields and golf course. We returned back when it started to get darker. One bike also started to give trouble and its wheel was jamming again and again so it was time to quite cycling for tonight. We all came back to the site and Sohail and family said good-bye and returned to their hotel. We wrapped up as much as we could, as we would be leaving this place the next morning. The night was as interesting as the previous one and we really enjoyed the bedtime talk. Another day and another amazing finish to it.