Sun Kissed

May the sun shine all day long, everything go right and nothing wrong.

May those you love bring love back to you, and may all the wishes you wish come true!

~ Irish Blessing

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Kapat Opening Shri Kedarnath Temple 2010

Kapat of Shri Kedarnath Temple will open on 18th May 2010.

So if any one who is planning to go to these places can start working on their route map.

Travellingrants wish you all a happy and safe journey.

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Shri Badrinath Kapat Opening 2010

For all who want to visit Badrinath in 2010.This is an information for all of them.

The kapat of Shri Badrinath Temple will open on 19th May 2010 at 8:05 AM
Planning to go to Barinath?
read our post about Badrinath Badrinath

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Sangla Valley - Where Nature Lives

Sunday, 25th April 2010

Since the journey from Sarahan to Sangla is around 4 hours, we started from Sarahan around 8 A.M. This was a beautiful morning and it really feels good when you are able to find a cool and peaceful morning just opposite to the one we are used to see.

Road Condition

Although the road up to Karcham is National Highway but this is not a very good road due to the hilly area but still it's managable. But if you are going to such place avoid in the month of July-August when monsoon is at its peak in these areas and these roads can become unoperable at any time.

 road pic

Tips

Try to avoid these areas in the month of July-August

when monsoon is at its peak.

Due to road conditions we were travelling in a slow pace and reached Sarahan around 12 PM and after reaching this place we were really happy and just forgot about our tiredness and all other things.

Places of Interests

If you want to see what a man can do with nature this is the perfect place to see, on way from Sarahan to Sangla one can find 3 major Hydro power projects built and running on a single river Satluj.

1) Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station

This is a 1500 MW state of art power project which is also largest underground hydro - electric power Project. The name is derived from  two villages in the Project vicinity - Nathpa in district Kinnaur and Jhakri in district Shimla.

One can get the permission to visit some places of this project, permission  of the dame can be obtained from the concerned authority.

Petrol Pump ans ATM's

As we have already mentioned in our previous post that on way to Sangla, one can find ATM of State Bank of India at Karcham in JP Hydro Power complex only.

At Tapri you can find only petrol pump before Reckong Peo, so make sure you are equipped with money and your machine is with petrol.

Route Map

Sarahan------------------- Jeori                 17KM

Jeori-------------------- Jhakri                   12KM

Jhakri------------------- Chora                  13KM

Chora------------------ Nigulsari                5KM

Nigulsari----------------Bhavanagar            9KM

Bhavanagar ------------Wangtoo                12KM

Wangtoo--------------- Karcham                7KM

Karcham--------------- Tapri                     17KM

Tapri--------------------Sangla                   26KM

Sangla------------------ Raksham               14KM

Raksham----------------Chitkul                  10KM

Sangla Valley

Sangla is a beautiful hill town at a height of 2680 Meters in Baspa Valley. This is a part of Kinnaur District in Himachal Pradesh.

This place is surrounded by thick forests on one side and snow bounded peaks on the other side. One more Hydro Project namely Baspa based on the name of valley is almost on working conditions This place is nominated as one of the five most beautiful valleys by a travel magazine.

This valley in near to Tibetan border and till 1989 was considred as restricted area by Govt of India and visitors was required to get Permission.

This is a place famous to get relieved from heat waves for its Royal red apples and cherry trees. These places of Kinnaur District are famous for their unique culture and traditions. This valley is a heaven for people who love trekking.

Communication

Communication is not a problem and all major service operators are providing serives e.g.

BSNL, Airtel

Medical Faciity

One can find first aid medical help but for other cases one need to go either to Reckong Peo or to Rampur.

Accomodations

There are number of Guests houses as well as hotels in Sangla Valley and they are very cost effective. In addition to these there is one guest of PWD (State Works deptt). These state owned guest houses are good places to stay at economical rates provided they have space available.

We found Sangla valley more beautiful than what we read and heard from people before our trip and we will highly going to recommend this valley not only for those who want some relief from heat but also for all who want to live in nature and want to see it from close.

This is also a place for all those who want to see how some places are still preserving their cultural heritage and their customs and traditions.

In next post we will cover remaining two most beautiful places of this trip Raksham and Chitkul, the last village on India-Tibet border. So stay tuned...

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Worldless Wednesday - Jal Mahal

Jal Mahal

A place located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city also known as pink city

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Sarahan - Gateway of Kinnaur

Saturday, 24th April 2010

Weather at Delhi was really on move and it was already touching 41-42C, we at Travellingrants were planning to take a break from this heat.

We called one of our team member at Chandigarh to pick up a destination and he came up immediately with the name of Sarahan and Sangla Valley.

We started our journey with our all time favourite machine Karizma on 24th April at 5.30 A.M in the morning.

This was really a cool morning, a very different from usual summer morning. After going around 30-40 km we realized that the sky was overclouded and there were more possiblities to rain and it came to the truth in next 20 minutes when it started raining a bit.

Out first target was Shimla famously known as "Queen of Hills" and was summer capital of British rulers. In this series we are not going to cover Shimla and its surrounding areas, we will only cover our target destinations Sarahan and Sangla Valley.

We reached Shimla around 8 AM and  were welcomed in to Shimla with rain. It was really a pleasant weather

Road

Chandigarh and Shimla are connected by National Highway No 21 and it's a well maintained and and a very good road for driving except a rough patch of around 6-7 km near Solan District around 45 km before Shimla.

After a short break at Shimla we started towards Sarahan due to the rains our speed was limited and we were crusing at around 50-60 KMPH.

In order to go from Shimla to Sarahan possible best route is

Shimla----------------	Theog	35KM
Theog-----------------	Narkanda	32KM
Narkanda-------------	KumarSain	19KM
Kumarsain------------	Sainj	17KM
Sainj-------------------	Nirath	12KM
Nirath-----------------	Dattnagar	6KM
Daatnagar------------	Rampur	10KM
Rampur---------------	Jhakri	11KM
Jhakri-----------------	Jeori	13KM
Jeori-------------------	Sarahan	17KM

Road Condition

Road from Shimla to Jeori is National Highway no 22 and it's in a good shape and condition, after Rampur due to the high altitude area the road conditions are not so good and before going to Sarahan and Sangla it's recommended that one should try to find the weather condition in this area in advance.

Petrol Pump

One can find petrol pump easily up to Rampur, after Rampur we found one petrol pump at Tapri and the other one was at Reckong Peo, the capital of Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh.

ATM Availability

On the way to Sarahan and Sangla Valley Rampur is the only last main town before Reckong Peo and one can easily find ATM here.

At Rampur one can find ATM's of the following banks

1)  State Bank of India

2)  Punjab National Bank

3)  HDFC

4)  ICICI

after Rampur there are only 2 ATM on way before Reckong Peo.

1) Near Jhakri

2) At JP Hydro Power Project Complex at Karcham

Tips

Before moving ahead from Rampur make sure

that you have sufficient amount of cash and

 your Vehicle have sufficient fuel

We reached Sarahan around 3.30PM after making our self to fight with rain on whole day. When we reached Sarahan conditions started to change and weather was heading towards a clear sky mode.

Sarahan

Sarahan is a small town in state of Himachal Pradesh. This small town is surrounded by Greater Himalaya Ranges. At an atlitude of 2165 Meters its a place surrounded by nature from all sides.

Sarahan was the summer capital of the Bushair state.This place is famous for Bhimakali temple dedicated to mother goddess Bhimakali. Bhimakali  is considered one of the 51 sacred Shakti Peethas. Temple in itself is a blend of Hindu and Buddhish architecture.

One can clearly see and feel the beauty of Srikhand peak which is heigh of 5227 Meters. Due to its self kind style of farmlands, ochards and slanting slates roof, Sarahan present a picture of perfect place to forget anything and just enjoy and feel the nature at its best. Sarahan is known as gateway of Kinnaur.

Accomodation

One can have quite a number of options to stay at Sarahan. Temple commitee has a  sufficient amount of accomodations, one can contact the Temple authority for this beside that other options are also available.

HP Tourism Development Corporation have there Hotel (Hotel Srikhand) at Sarahan. One can have advance booking from any of their counters throughout the country as well can avail their online booking facility: 

HPTDC Booking link

Hotel in itself is at a beautiful location and we were really happy with the service and hospitality and will surely recommend this one to all.

Beside its spirtiual importance Sarahan is a place rich in nature and one, once there, will surely manage to forget all their worries and tension in this location.

Weather

In Winters temperature drops below freezing point and one if planning to go shoud go with heavy woolens. Summers are pleasant and light woolens and cottons are recommended.

Tips

Due to the uncertain weather conditions it's

 highly recommended that one should pack some

ligh woolen clothes even if planning to go in Summers

Network Connection

There is no network connection problem in this area all major network provider Airtel, BSNL are opearting in these areas.

Medical Facility

These are some of the interior areas and one can only find first level medical facility, for other cases one needs to go to Rampur or Shimla. We highly recommend that one should carry some first level medical kits with themself to avoid any minor cases.

Other Attractions

Beside the nature and Bhimakali temple Sarahan has a few more interesting places. There is a Bird Park just a few minutes walk from temple one can see rare high attitude birds like Monal (State Bird of Himachal Pardesh) and Snow Cork.

A trekker can easily find many light and steep trekking routes in this area, one of them we came to know about is Bashal peak.

Bhaba Valley which is around 50km away from Sarahan is also a highy recommended.

We hope that you  liked this post.

So stay tuned for the next post of this Series about Sangla valley and we are sure you will like that place.

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Wordless Wednesday: Serenity

Picture of Sarahan village, Himachal Pradesh

It was snowing here when the temperature In Delhi, for example, was around 42C

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Escaping Delhi Heat in Himachal Pradesh

Once again Travellingrants is back with the details of yet another beautiful destination and we hope that you all are going to love this place.

Summer is slowly showing its full potential here in INDIA and it's already touching around 41-42 degree on regular basis, we at Travellingrants decided to explore yet another destination in the lap of mountains to get some relief from the hot weather of Delhi and to bring forward some exciting destination to all of you.

After checking out a long list of possible destinations, we decided to head towards Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh and this time our we were going to see:

Sarahn

a beautiful place surrounded by snow bounded hills and  known for Shri Bhima Kali 

              Temple, Sarahan is also known as gateway to Kinnaur.

Sangla Valley

a beautiful valley in district Kinnaur surrounded by snow bounded peaks and Baspa   

                         river, this valley is counted to be the most beautiful place in entire Kinnaur district.

Chitukal

Last village on Indo-Tibet border, the most beautiful place we found in the entire trip and

                  known world wide for its quality Potato.

So join us to explore some other beautiful places. We will start our Journey from Chandigarh and will cover Sarahan, Sangla valley, Chitukal and than Raksham. We are sure you all after reading and seeing the pictures will be eager to visit these places.

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