Day 6 - Vaishnodevi

---

Got up at 6:20am. I had a dream that it rained the whole night, even when I got up I was thinking hopefully they won’t cancel the helicopter since it is cloudy and raining heavily, but fortunately it was just a dream and it was actually sunny and pleasant outside.

After the morning routine went down met Mataji who had already arranged for a Taxi. The taxi came at 7:30am and we left immediately. She had also arranged for packed breakfast which we had on our way to Katra. Nice rotis, Aloo curry and a fantastic mixed pickle in which one of the veggies was raw jackfruit. It was simply irresistible.

We reached katra at about 8:30am and went to shrine board and collected the VIP darshan pass and a reco letter for Global helicorp/global vectra for the tickets. We then went to hotel white and bought the tickets and went straight to the helipad after having cool drinks.
Though we reached the helipad by 9:30am we were allowed inside only by 9:45am just 5 minutes before the time mentioned on our ticket. After we checked in and took the boarding passes we had to wait for about 30 minutes to board the chopper. The chopper dropped us off at Sanjit helipad and the flight time was just about 4-5 minutes. From there we had to walk for about 30 minutes to get the Vaishnodevi town.

There we got the entrance pass and then deposited all our belongings including all the leather items in the locker and went to the temple. Later we finished the darshan and returned to the helipad by about 1:30pm after having 2 ice creams each. This time we had to wait more than an hour and our turn came only at about 2:30pm.

Then took the taxi and left Katra. Had lunch at a dhaba on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway and reached ISKCON, Udhampur by about 5pm.

Then took the bikes out and got them serviced and washed. Got the chain tightened and got it lubricated as well. Then went to and filled petrol.

After filling petrol went to an SBI ATM to draw cash and got frustrated and came out. A major difference between Bangalore and these areas is that though the sign on the door says “only one is permitted inside at a time”, the entire janata get in together to avoid the heat outside. They keep peeping into the screen to see what you are doing and they also do not mind when others do the same. Later found another ICICI ATM which was crowd free and withdrew the cash from there.

Then returned to ISKCON by about 7:30pm had bath and went to Krishna temple for bhajan after doing a small shopping at the Gift’s shop at ISKCON.

Then had Prasad (dinner) and then slept at about 10:45pm after packing everything ready for the next day ride and finished day’s report.

Photos of Day 6

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=pottumarthi&target=ALBUM&id=5624361592574380817&authkey=Gv1sRgCNbt38mI6MK3CA&feat=email

---