Mountains are Calling - Part9
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Mountains are Calling - Part9
It had been more than 2 years since we had gone on a trip to the mountains. Hence we planned this trip to the mountains. Read about how we planned the Trip here.
Reaching Noida, from where we had to start our journey to the hills, became an ordeal in. itself. Later on 30th October we started our journey and reached Haldwani. We enjoyed our journey to Haldwani. Enjoying the way and various stoppages in between was really fun. Read here.
On 31st we started our journey to Pithoragarh, it being my maiden driving experience in the hills we travelled via Hills and Valleys and enjoyed every bit of it. We travelled via Bhimtal, Padampuri, Paharpani, Saharphatak, Lamgara (Read here), Suakhan, Danya, Panar Bridge, Ghat, Gurna Mata Temple, Igyar Devi, Pithoragarh to finally reach Wadda (Read here). As we reached Wadda saw Ramayan being enacted even after Dussehra, read more about this tradition and more about people in the hills here. As we started living the Mountain Village Life at Wadda, we started living the ways the locals lived, hence started going on Morning Walks. During our Morning Walks we explored Hudkana. We also explored Bhavani Dhana during one of our evening hikes, Read here. During our stay we started to know about the local traditions and religious beliefs. We were apprised that there is a village Deity, family or clan Deity, Deity worshipped in a region and Deities worshipped by everyone beyond boundaries. We explored Chaumu Devta Temple and Kailash Ashram which respectively affirmed the concept of village/family Deity and general Temple complexes, Read here. It was festive time at Wadda, we witnessed and celebrated the festival of Diwali, it was so much fun to celebrate the festivities during Diwali. We also visited our relative's Kuladevata and Gramadevata Temples. We also relished the food cooked over fire in the traditional way, Read here.
Wadda - Living the Mountain Village Life Contd...:
During our stay at Wadda, we got a chance to see various places in and around Wadda, described below are the places we visited.
Chandak:
Chandak is a hill, which is around 8kms from Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand). This place provides an exhilarating & panoramic view of the Saur/Sour Valley and the snow capped mountain ranges. The place is famous among the tourists and the locals for its sublime beauty. People come over to this place to capture the beauty of the Sour Valley and the mountain ranges in their memory and camera lenses. The place is also famous for hang gliding.
Places to visit in and around Chandak include Mostamanu Temple, Chandak View Point, Meghna Restaurant/ Café on the rocks, Magnesite Factory, Vardani Mata View Point etc. Read more about Chandak here.
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| Chandak |
Kamakhya Devi Temple:
Kamakhya Devi Temple is a Temple dedicated to Devi Kamakhya "The Goddess of Desire", who fulfills all your desires and saves you from all sorts of ailments & troubles. Situated on a hill the Temple is around 7 km from Pithoragarh. It is the only temple in Uttarakhand dedicated to Goddess Kamakhya. Locals told us that the Temple was built by Madan Sharma ji on 22nd March 1972.
Read more about the history of the Temple and other facts here.
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| Kamakhya Devi Temple |
Village Temple at Wadda:
We also visited the local Temple at Wadda. This is temple which had various Deities. People collectively come together and manage the Temple. Our relative's actively participated in management of the Temple and took care of it. People gather at the Temple on various religious occasions and celebrate festivities.
Returning from Wadda:
After spending almost 2 weeks at Wadda, it was time to return to Delhi/Gurgaon. We travelled via Pithoragarh, Igyar Devi, Gurna Mata Temple, Ghat , Panar Bridge, Danya, Suakhan, Lamgara,
Saharphatak, Paharpani, Padampuri, Bhimtal to finally reach Haldwani. During our return journey we had halted at Danya for lunch, there are couple of restaurants that serve Chicken prepared the Pahadi way. We enjoyed this delicacy as well. Although I just took ample food as I had to drive and not fall asleep after meals. We had also halted at Paharpani for tea, before moving back towards Haldwani. The road condition around Padampuri was bad. But as we progressed towards Bhimtal the road condition improved and it was fun to drive. We had to drive through Bhimtal via the bypass, it was bit of a de-route and was crowded as well. By the time we left Bhimtal it was dark. We had to drive to Haldwani from Bhimtal in darkness, but the disciplined driving of drivers in the mountain helped a lot in cruising through the journey in darkness.
As we reached Haldwani, we were invited on a Birthday party at a relative's home followed by a dinner at a one of the best restaurants of Haldwani. The fun and the food refreshed us and we just forgot the tiredness of a long journey.
We spend the night at another relative's place. Their house had a big garden with lush green grass. The garden also had fruit trees. It reminded us of good old days houses when there used to have ample spaces and lavish gardens. We stayed a day at their place before heading back towards Delhi/Gurgaon.
For our return journey we backtracked the path that we came on while coming to Wadda via the Tanda Forest Range, Moradabad, Garh Mukteshwar. Gurgaon was still around 50-60 km when it turned dark. Somehow we again took a route that was a long de-route. We had to enquire with people stopping at various points before finally moving on to the correct path towards Gurgaon. By 8-9pm we finally reached Gurgaon.
The trip was so relaxing that we get rejuvenated again and again whenever we thing of the trip. With a wish to do such trips frequently, we slowly and gradually again adapted to our daily routines. But we still always feel Mountains are Calling...
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