The plan today was to just wander around Thimpu and get necessary permits to visit Punakha, Thangu-Cherry and Takstang. Thangu-Cherry are hill monasteries accessible by half an hour treks from the Dodeyna village about 20 kms from Thimpu. The special permit to Punakha can be easily obtained at the immigration bureau, Thimpu (submit in the morning and collect it in evening). However a trek to Thangu/Cherry and Takstang requires some trekking at Thimpu itself for the permits. One has to trek up to department of culture with the photocopies of your Bhutan travel permit. You have to fill up an application form in Dzongkha, the official Bhutanese language ! Request the officer to fill it up for you and mostly he will oblige. Then walk all the way back to the market to take a photocopy ... read more

After 28 days in mountains, it was time to head for plains, to Jaigaon, the border town in India where one can enter Bhutan, the land of the Thunder dragon. I boarded the only direct state transport bus to Jaigaon from Darjeeling at 7.30 am (ticket Rs.135/-). A less time consumping option would be to take a shared jeep to Siliguri and then another one to Jaigaon. The bus seats were quite comfortable and an advance booking got me a single seat right next to the driver. The driver was a jolly person having been perfected the art of multi-tasking. He knew almost every other person on the way and waved to each of them as his other hand negotiated the narrow hair pin bends. When not waving, he talked on his swanky Moto razr phone ... read more

This entry is about buying trekking shoes in Mumbai. After I had to dump my hiking shoes at SFO airport due to weight problems, I was looking out for good hiking shoes. After searching on google, I found three stores that may sell hiking shoes. I wasnt keen on buying Woodland shoes because (a) They are bulky and weighty (b) and a couple of guys on my last hike complained about the grip in monsoon. It was confirmed by few reviews on some websites. Whatever little I can find on net, most of them recommended Action trekking shoes. At Rs. 650/- they are cheap and according to reviews very durable. I found there are three shops thats specialize in Hiking Materials in Mumbai. 1. Avi Industries 13, Shirji Sadan, 352, Chandvarkar road, Matunga(E), Mumbai 022 24143810 ... read more

We started around 8 am to hike to aloo darwaja. It was cold and foggy with a visibility of 100 ft. Vivek took a quick dip in Padmavati lake. This guy loves torturing his body and does some wierd things to himself. He slept in a wet T-shirt, shivered all the night, took a dip in the cold lake, did some kind of yoga (dhauti or sth) and was ready to hike with us. After walking for about 30 min, on what we thought would be a machi, we took parting snaps and went different ways. We continued on the trail and completely missed the Alloo darwaza on our left. The trail came to the dead end on a buruz. We climbed on the buruz and spotted a trail on our right which we thought might ... read more

Itinerary: Mumbai(Dadar)-Swargate - 3 hours- ST Bus : (Rs.116) Swargate-Chilladi - 1 hour - ST Bus : (Rs. 18) Chilladi-Gunjavane - 1 hour - Private Jeep: (Rs. 250 for a group of 5) Gunjavane-Rajgad - 2-3 hours - Trek Rajgad- Torana - 4-5 hours (Ideally) Rajgad - Torana - 2 days (Due to fog, rains and confusion. Details in the blog). Torana-Velhe - 2 hours (Ideally) Torana-Velhe - 7 hours (Due to rescue mission !! Details in the blog) Velhe-Pune - 2 hours (Last bus at 6.30 pm) Photos: Here Logistics Food: Rajgad - * A couple of hotels at Gunjavane. * A hotel on the way to Rajgad owned by a guy named Rasal (Number:) * He charges Rs.30 for bhakri, zunka, thecha, aachar and batata bhaji. * Another Rs. 200 if you want him ... read more