Destination Features

VALLEY OF FLOWERS - PART I

MUMBAI TO DELHI TO RISHIKESH

It was my long time ambition to visit the Valley of Flowers. There was a lot of hearsay too. Many said it is not meant for all, it is very hard, long and tiring. But as they say – Seeing is believing – I decided to give it a try and experience the beauty of nature.

So one fine day we decided to go – myself and my friend – just the two of us. Being photo enthusiasts, we first calculated our rough expenditure on the film. Processing was later. We had to work the details of the trip. So we contacted a person who had been to the Valley many times. He told us that the trip was not easy but not too tough. Preparations were necessary. We were made to walk around Shivaji Park umpteen number of times, at a brisk pace. The logic was, if you can walk 10 km around the park, you can climb about 2 km in the Valley. But we did do this exercise.

The first step was to book the tour from Rishikesh onwards to the Valley of Flowers and the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, is conducting these tours in the months of July – Sept/Oct. Being a State Govt. organization, we decided to give it a try.

Remember, GMVN organizes this tour ex – Rishikesh so it is up to us to reach Rishikesh as per the trip schedules.

The programme was:

Mumbai – Delhi   (by ourselves)

Delhi – Rishikesh   (by ourselves)

Rishikesh – Joshimath

Joshimath – Govindghat

Govindghat – Ghangria

Ghangria – Valley of Flowers and back

Ghangria – Hemkund Sahib and back

Ghangria to Govindghat

Govindghat to Badrinath

Badrinath to Joshimath

Joshimath to Rishikesh

Rishikesh to Delhi   (by ourselves)

Delhi to Mumbai  (by ourselves)

We took the night bus to Rishikesh and reached the next morning at 5.30 a.m. Rishikesh is located at a height of about 1360 feet above sea level. We had reached 2 days in advance so we stayed in the same hotel of the GMVN by paying extra. The stay is not so bad though not luxurious. Medium budget and good surroundings. Pure Vegetarian food. You will not get any non-veg food in either Rishikesh or Haridwar as these are holy places. Sanctity here is very revered.

Do not forget to explore the surrounding areas of Rishikesh and Haridwar. Rishikesh has history written all over. The Laxman Jhula, the Ganga Ghat, the temples, are a must see places. The evening aartis are very beautiful to witness. Scores of devotees stand on the steps of the ghat at this time. The priests perform the rituals, the golden flames come out of large pure ghee lamps (being rotated in set circular motions), vedic chants fill the air in praise of goddess of River Ganga and the conchs in the temples on the Ghat fill the air with their sound.  There are mechanical drums and aartis are performed to the rhythmic beats of these drums and cymbals. People float leaf boats into the river with flowers and lamps burning in them. This ghat is also known as the bathing ghat or the Triveni Ghat - so named because it is believed that this is the place of confluence of three holiest Hindu rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Sarswati.

Rishikesh, is the Mecca for peace seeker through Yoga & meditation has now many Yoga Centers and ashrams conducting yoga classes. There are many prominent temples in Rishikesh – The Neelkanth Mahadeo Temple, Bharat Temple, Kailash Niketan Temple, Gita Bhavan, Swarg Ashram, Shivanand Ashram.

The long hanging – suspension bridge – Laxman Jhula is a marvel of construction - a 450 feet long suspension bridge across the Ganga, was constructed in 1939. The view from the bridge itself is panoramic. The mountains covered in green belt, the waters flowing below, a cool breeze, all these together make Lakshman Jhula a great place to visit.

Rishikesh is also the gateway and the start-off point for journeys to important religious places like Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri.

HOW TO REACH RISHIKESH:

Mumbai - Delhi by Rajdhani is convenient as most of the travel is at night and there is minimal loss of time.

Delhi - Rishikesh is via ISBT - best to do at night so as to reach Rishikesh very early in the morning. Many luxury, semi luxury and ST buses are available throughout the day.

REMEMBER: PRIOR BOOKING OF ACCOMODATION AT ALL PLACES OF YOUR VISIT IS VERY IMPORTANT AS ALL THE HOTELS ARE FULL AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR.