Pindari Glacier Himalayas - Better and Better

By the time we reached Song it was around 12.30 and it was time for trek.


But first, there was something to be dealt with. We already had had over lunch, so it was the Forrest Officials. Well Indian govt has something big for hidden or indirect income. So, in my own country to enter a govt owned place and just to trek it they took 60 Bucks per head.

Well if u missed the start of this trip here is it. the prior entry to this is here.
In Uttranchal to trek the govt levies 60 INR per head for trekking and 50 INR per night if you have tents. I have heard that in Kumaon region its 50 INR and in Gharwal its 100 INR.

Yes, the govt takes money from you for the tent you carried all the way from home and that to on a per nigh basis. But we didn't know this. We let Balwant do the talking and then we started the hike. That's when Balwant told me this. My Cousin was trying to keep pace with me and i was trying to keep pace with Balwant forgetting that he was a local guy. In 15 mins Jana (my cousin) made the first halt. For the next 20-25 mins we were halting ever now and then. I was also stopping here and there, bitching myself for not being able get into the groove. Balwant was telling us not to push ourselves. I was asking my cousin not to drink too much water.

Generally, its is perceived that having too much food or water while on the move weighs u down.

Well Day 1 of trek ended without much more events, except that i had an over ambitious target of covering 14 kms on but could do only 3 kms. We ended the trek very early (around 3 o clock) and that was a good decision. We got some time to acclimatize also as Balwant predicted, it rained that day around 5 and it was damn heavy. We had just put up our tent for the night and rain came with strong winds. Strong winds at that heights(Loharket is at around 1600 mts height) i did not think my Alaska all wheather tent of Rs. 8000 /- would last. But to my pleasant surprise it did. We had dinner delivered from Balwant's brother Pyarelal's house which was right next to the tent. We met his cute little daughter Laxmi. She must be 12 or smtng. She was our delivery girl. Anything we want, Laxmi was here. lol.


Actually its possible to skip Song- Loharket trek by taking a jeep, its quite costly, time wasting and most importantly, this distance is a very good primer for the trek. Its better to take this part than skip

Day 2 of trek was planned to start very early, around 6' in the morning. It started a little late but with some shock. We paid the heftiest bill of something close to 200 bucks for the dinner, and breakfast to Pyarelal. Balwant had promised to carry jana's bag till after noon as he was heading for Dhakuri to meet some friend. Dhakuri was the next halt point. Some where around 11 Kms. The PWD (govt body) had done its part of making the trek difficult by spoiling the route in the name of making it better. Then my shoes, that had served me for last 4 years gave way as their soles started coming off. The trek was too tough but the small waterfalls, great scenery and Balwant's pep talk kept us moving. I can't put pics or words to define the beauty of this place. No man made monument, palace or bridge could compete with this. Still, we didn't know it was gonna get better.

Just before reaching Dhakuri, we came to a tomb. It was of german Peter Korst. He was there trekking with his family when he got a heart attack. We stopped for moment to pay our respects to him, then had a tea in the nearby tea shop and started for the last 1 km to Dhakuri. We had our lunch there, Balwant introduced us to his friends, gave us info on further route, we said goodbyes to him a big hug and Rs 1500 (which he did not ask for). The lunch Balwant got us at the PWD guest house at Dhakuri also i felt was costly. We were now all alone and started for Khati. I was happy and sad. Happy because now there was no guide so we were our masters, could bargain with anybody(in India bargaining should be an Undergraduate Program). Sad because my shoe was dead meat, now i was trekking in sandals. We also dumped Jana's bag, we put all those cant avoid things into my bag and Balwant took Jana's bag with him back. The agreement with Jana was that i would carry the bag uphill and he when ever we go down hill.

actually in this trek, Song to Dhakuri is the toughest, so u get here u should be out of your mind to stop. Dhakuri is at a height of 2680 mts, but on the way from Loharkhet to Dhakuri u gain a lot of height in the first 10 kms and drop a lot of height in hte last 1 km. The last 1 km is smtng like u can just roll down.

Trek to khati was quite simple, mostly downhill, around an hour before reaching Khati we met a little girl standing on the trek route. She said "Namsate , Mitayi". [Hello, chocolate]. I didn't have any chocolates, so i said sorry, she kept repeating and i felt too sad. I gave her some glucose and then i heard smtng like a war cry. I turned to find, some 10-15 kids running in for glucose. hahaha! Poor things they had to eat glucose instead of Choclates and were still happy. We reached kahti and there in a open space near Tara Hotel we set our tent up. There were some foreigners and a Indian family there for the night. I did my round of bargain with Tara, the hotel owner for food and we fixed the price at 30 bugs for a plate of Roti, 2 side dishes , rice and dal.

As we were setting up the tent a big gang of kids were there to see us as if we were some circus touring the country. All wanted sweets, we taught them to shake hands and say hello . They saw the camera in Jana's hand and wanted their pics to be taken. There was this little girl Meena, with a head load of grass. She was looking just beautiful for a solo pic. We obliged and the kids were happy. Still everybody was hanging around to see us set the tent up. I was feeling as if i was writing an exam with 10-15 invigilators just to watch on me. We set the tent up and then the Indian guy joined us for a chat, pretty talkative, a Bengali doctor, he virtually didn't give much time for the Italian to speak. Still we obliged both and it was fun. Night at Tara's kitchen , where food was being cooked with forest wood and twigs we met a German. Some software related guy. These days, software guys are everywhere , lol. Our conversation went from software, labor laws, cricket to Bundisliga.



The next day morning as soon as i got up and opened the tent, i got a shock of my life, right ahead of me, there was this snow capped mountain. Damn, yesterday the clouds had covered it and we knew that there was mountain to the left of out tent and small hill right ahead, but such a clear view, damn! I was jumping up and down as if Bugs Bunny got the last carrot on earth. It was 5.45 in the morning and i thought i woke up the whole of the neighborhood.

One thing for ppl trekking to Pindari, the local ppl are really good irrespective of what the ppl on the bus and Bageshwar tell you. If a local is involved in tourism he/she will be trying to make some money out of ya. So better not encourage such people . While trekking carry some biscuits or bread as halt points are too far from each other for a beginner. Also don't worry about water, there a lot of these small water falls across the route. Every local related to tourism will ask you if he can guide you. This trek to Pindari glacier is one i believe you can easily do without a guide

and then...

Pindari Glacier Himalayas - Getting to the starting point

Well 3 hours of wait at Moradabad was like a life time . But was good entertainment too. We got to see some pretty characters too.

If you are wondering what this is , u need to read from beginning

Coming back to the characters, first was a young guy running after every car and bus for a lift.. It seemed like he was desperate to get home. Then we met a drunkard, he came to us and started blabering that he was christian man and we have to file a fair report on the atrocities of majority community towards him (He was thinking we were some kinda govt officials). My cousin shooed him away. It was quite funny. He would take a few steps and then come back again. He, dunno why, took a fancy to me and used to come back to me. My cousin at last grumbled him away. Then there were all these ppl returning from the festival fair staring at us as if were some wild animal in the zoo. Later, an old man joined us. I was initially not in mood for conversation, but the kinda local information he started giving i got back to my self.


Well, for those interested in local information, Moradabad is said to be the brass capital of India. It was established by Murad the son of the Mughal emperor Shahjahan. Shahi Masjid is a place of interest in Moradabad.


The old man introduced himself as a grandson of some guy who had written a song for some bollywood movie some decades back and the song goes like "nainital se mangwaya". Also there wer all these people around us were discussing abt going to Rampur by local transport and from where they could find a bus to places like Nainital, Almora Jim Corbett Park etc. Rampur is supposedly the place where every vehicle that needs to go to haldwani, Nainital or anywhere in that direction has to touch.[ This guy with us went on to the history of Rampur and it turned out to be pretty interesting.

He said Rampur was the first princely state to join the Indian Union when the British left. Well it did not end there, when the floods came to end dwapara yuga lord Vishnu took Matsya Avatar and he kept the 60 km of land, now known as Rampur between his teeth so as to resurrect life in the beginning of Kaliyuga (For those who have not much idea of Hinduism- Lord Vishnu is one of the Holy Triumvirate of gods. Krishna, well know Hindu god is an avatar of Vishnu. Matsya Avatar is one of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu. And the existence of world is split into 4 yugas of which Kaliyuga is the last and dwapara is penultimate.)

Anyway, this guy turned out to be good entertainment. Then around 9.30 pm a bus came in and luckily for us it was going to Haldwani. It turned out to be an A/C bus with good seating and room. I stopped bitching about getting off that train, we traded the cramped seats of that train for some pretty good seating. The old man was missing. He provided the entertainment but when the bus came he was gone.

Anyway the rest of the journey to Haldwani was uneventful. We reached Haldwani at around 12.30 in the night. I thought as in many parts of India we won't find a bus at such an unearthly hour and would have to call it a day. But to my pleasant surprise the bus stand in that small town that is smaller than the bazaar outside my house was bustling with activity. We found a bus to Bageshwar(its all minibuses out there). We took the second last row as all ahead of it was unoccupied. The three seats where just enough for two of us and our backpacks. We took the ticket of about 100 bucks per head and were waiting for bus start when three men boarded the bus. Well, one of them was drunk. So drunk that he would have not recognized his mom. There was this young lady sitting ahead of us. He went straight to her and asked if the seat next to her (where her kid was sitting) was available. She just shook her head No and closed her nose. One of his friends at last exclaimed the bus was full and got off. I was pretty much relieved. The bus conductor a few minutes later brought three ppl to fill the last seats and guess wat, it turned out to be the same guys.

This drunkard, first thing he said was "Seems like this is the same bus" (in Hindi, of course). The lady had just stood up to adjust her bag on the holder above the seats then and this guy who was moving towards the back row kept this hand on her back (Not on the ass but on the back). She got a shock and moved off quickly). I virtually sprang to hit him. I was just praying for the lady to shriek so that i could hit him. My cousin later told me he too wanted to have a go. But this guy settled on the seat right behind my cousin. Now we had a constant fear of this guy throwing up as the bus moved. If he did that my cousin was in the firing line and i was ready for the brawl that would follow. I kept preparing the whole night , how and what angles i wanted to hit him . ;). Fortunately, he spared us the pain and never threw up.

Well, something more interesting and pleasant happened early in the morning. When around 2 am in the morning, when most ppl in the bus was asleep the driver jammed onto his brakes and started shouting "Bhag, Bhag" (In Hindi Bhag means leopard). I was not asleep(I have this problem of not being able to sleep on the road), I sprang up immediately and caught a glimpse of it crossing the road. Then, as we moved on the leopard stood on the bush by the side of the road, blessing everybody with a good view.

The rest of the early morning was uneventful except for me hopping seats to catch a good glimpse of the misty hills as the bus twisted and turned up and down the hills. I moved next to the conductor in the front seat to get a good view allowing my cousin to lie over our back packs and have a good sleep. I could not wait anymore, and at around 6.30 woke up my cousin and had a good go at him for sleeping and missing the scenery.

We reached Bagheshwar at around 10.30 in the morning. I bought a new bandanna from one of the local shops and tried to find out where i could find a bus for Song. There we met Balwant Johari. The next two days Balwant turned out to be god sent for us. Balwant is tourist guide and first thing i told Balwant was that i won't hire him since i love to travel without guides. He told me that we could rather wait for a bus or take jeep to Song.

Bageshwar is the last town, the famous Baijnath Temple lies here. Most trekkers have to touch this town while onway/return their trek. We can find pretty cheap accommodation here. Also after 6 or 7 pm in the evening buses stop plying out of here. Also Bageshwar is famous for a special sweet. From Bageshwar to Song a jeep can be hired which could be pretty costly(atleast 400 bucks) or can find share jeeps from near the Bageshwar bridge. The share jeeps cost around 30 bucks for a seat to take you to an intermediate point from where you will have to get on to another to get to Song. That will cost ya another 20 bucks.

Once inside the jeep, we got lot of information on Pindari and the surrounding peaks, and on how to get there. The jeep ride was more like a cross country with the kinda speed these guys were driving at. Indian Army also made its presence felt with the bridges they had built. In an hour we were at Song and it was time to trek.


What happened next ?

Pindari Glacier, Himalayas - Thus it began

My first Trek to the Himalayas and my cousin's first ever trek. Pindari Glacier is in the state of Uttranchal in India. Its supposedly the most accessible glacier. Take ma word, if the guy who writes dictionary travels to this place he will change the meaning of accessible. Lol.

Jokes apart, it was not just good it was gooddddddddddd!! Also i never thought my NCC skills will be put for good test! Especially just two of us(me and My cousin bro). For the first time i was the more experienced guy and the Himalayas was a whole new place for me. This being ma first blog, am gonna just write ma experience and give some tips to the ppl who wanna get there in the end.


So, I working in Mumbai(Bombay) as a software guy decided to bring change to ma life (Obama got idea of change from me ;) ). It was 1.5 years since ma last outing and quite some time since ma last trek. But the kinda guy i am, am into low budget traveling, hate markets, would give anything to be in the cradle of nature when am on holiday. Most importantly i ddn't want mobile network and internet! lol.

The trip started on october 8, 2008 from mumbai at evening 2 o'clock and the first thing that happened, well i forgot my jacket at home, cam back on the great India three wheeler (auto rickshaw) picked the jacket and as soon as we reached the Bandra terminus for sampark kranti express and were on a sprint as train was to leave in next 10 mins i was surrounded by cops. Well, i hadn't shaved for 2 weeks, had a bandanna on ma head and backpack. My cousin caught up with me and cops started their flurry of questions. They asked for name and my cousin luckily said his full name (rare in India). Well the surname "IYER" saved us. South Indians, and a community rarely associated with violence and were off the hook. We got the train. It's a 1 day journey to Delhi and me a low cost traveler took the second class (around400 bucks from Mumbai to Delhi), as some foreign travelers say " taking in the feel of real India ", lol.

Well, we got more than we asked for. First we met a guy, Raghav, working with an insurance company of about our age who was kinda averse to belief of god. An elder group of men in the coupe opposite to us (we had booked side seats for some privacy) and an orthodox christian family in the coupe right behind us. First evening just passed off with my cousin and me chatting, the real show started next day morning. I wanted to get a use and throw shaving set and take of ma little beard. Delhi is a crazy place when it comes to security. After all its national capital and day 2 was Dusseara festival. But we had a surprise visitor, the orthodox christian guy from the next coupe. He started lecturing on god, bible and christian values. I was in mood for some fun and started debating him with the little knowledge i have acquired over years by reading, hindu religious texts, bible, Quran and few other texts plus the great Wiki and some websites.

He was debating that Christianity is the best religion and all and that salvation can happen only via Jesus Christ. I was debating him, why i should convert to Christianity when my religion allows me to accept christ as lord while i stay a Hindu. Suddenly, to add masala to all this the insurance guy jumped down from the top berth and poured out his atheist views. My cousin started chipping in with a few points and thus began a saga of 4 hours of debate. I wanted the middle path (accept Christ(and my gods) and hold my religion.), the pastor that Christ is the only solution and the insurance guy... there is no frekn God. The debate moved on to everything from security to incest. hahahaha!

At last one of the elder guys came in and gave a good mouthing to the ex Indian Home Minister Sivraj Patil(for security lapses in India) and we all had a hearty laugh and thus ended the debate. But this is one reason i love India. The variety of people you come across and the insights are so great, some times it corrects you and sometimes it helps you strengthen ur thoughts.

Then, the insurer friend dropped a bomb on us.His girlfriend was a kumaoni. Damn! I wanted to kick his ass. Why? Nanda Devi, Pindari and other nearby mountains and valleys fall under the kumaon region. The ethnic people are kumaonis and lemme just put this categorically. The chics are beautiful. Not hot or sexy or smtng that the city girls are. They are beautiful. Anyway, we started scratching him and he started pouring his love story. Damn! I would love a kumaoni girlfriend. heehaw!

In the meanwhile, i got a use and throw shaving blade. We reached Delhi by that day afternoon at Nizammuddin station and as we were exiting the station there was this security cordon. I straight went to the officer and asked him where to find a rickshaw for Old Delhi railway station. We were supposed to take a train to kathgodam from there. Going straight to the cops i thought removed the little bit of suspicion they would have had on me i thought(though i was clean).

Anyway, a small tip for ppl traveling to Delhi. Beware of the ricksaw and taxi guys. They overcharge (mostly would say meter aint working)... Also women be careful. Delhi is not just the national capital but also the crime against women capital of India. Statistics may be able to prove my claim , i am not sure. But its always better to take precaution. Also if you are to take a taxi or rickshaw from a major point there are these prepaid service run by govt. Take them.



Then at Old Delhi railway station, we got on to the Delhi-Kathgodam express train. Kathgodam is the last rail head for Nainital, Almora, Bageshwar, Nanda Devi, Kausani, Munsiyari or any place in that direction. There was a Sindhi family, typically fat not just fat but ultra fat. They wanted to exchange seat and we were more that happy to give ours. Then we committed a big mistake. We got down at a place called Moradabad. In my internet search i had found that Moradabad was the big town on the way to Nainital or any place in that direction. Well that was our lucky day and one of the roads had been closed down for the dussera procession and the other entry to the city was closed because of a broken bridge.

Coming from Mumbai, with a very fast life it was quite frustrating. Then we had to run(we took a cycle rickshaw) from one bus stand to another to find a bus. I wanted to take the route via kaladungi to Nainital and from there to Bageshwar. There we waited for almost three hours, that day because of the broken bridge no bus was entering into the town.

So if u wanna know what happend then. you gotta come back for my next entry. Seya