Beauté parfaite - Suisse

Zweilütschinen - Looks difficult to pronounce ? Yes it is.


But No matter how difficult the Vowel heavy words are to pronounce here, it doesn't prevent one from being equipollently ecstatic of the European heaven. Switzerland - a dream place to be in for many. Everywhere you look in Switzerland, beauty is all around you.  From towering mountain peaks that are snow-capped even in summer, to crystal clear lakes, well-preserved medieval cities, lush alpine pastures and charming villages, Switzerland has it all.

Cities in Switzerland

Lucerne - Famous for its medieval covered wooden bridge and the nearby peaks of Mt. Pilatus, Mt. Titlis and Mt. Rigi, Lucerne is a beautiful city which makes a perfect base for exploring further.

Bern - The Swiss capital is a friendly city built in a bend of the River Aare. A definite must-see is the Zytglogge.

Zurich - If you are flying into Switzerland, Zurich will probably be your gateway to the country.  Allow time to explore the Old Town, the twin towered cathedral and wander along the River Limmat which flows into Lake Zurich.

Geneva - Since Geneva was my base point during this tour I would write a bit more about this cosmopolitan city. This beautiful city which lies on the border with France is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva and within easy reach of some stunning alpine peaks. Its always in news for United Nations Meets or scientific forums. United Nations headquarters is surely a place to visit if international matters excite you. I heard Syed Akbaruddin speaking on UNSC closed door meet for India's abrogation of Article 370 in J&K and it influenced me to mention about UN office. Post world war II a hard effort was put in by countries to bring peace and oneness in the European region. One of the outcomes of this exercise has been the establishment of CERN.



The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire ), is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, the organization is based in a northwest suburb of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border and has 23 member states. Israel is the only non European country to be granted its full membership. CERN Museum is certainly worth a visit to the people having love for the science.

One could take out some time to Visit Jet d'Eau a large fountain in Geneva, Switzerland, and is one of the city's most famous landmarks. With water coming out of it at 200 Kmph in the lake away from shore and droplets of water landing on silent lake make the stay pleasant altogether.



If you are with kids then its worthwhile visiting The National History Museum.You will quickly realize that visiting Switzerland’s largest natural history exhibition is much like taking a trip down memory lane. A straight dive into 60's architecture and interior design while setting off on a journey that will take you through the evolution of mankind.On the ground floor, you will find the Natural History Museum's very first exhibit, regional fauna. Over 200 stuffed animals are exposed so if you don’t enjoy taxidermy, you can go straight to the top floors. An oddity not to be missed is Janus, the two-headed Turtle which has become the Museum’s landmark. My daughter enjoyed the interactive console which produced sounds of various animals/birds.


Then there is broken chair near UN office, a giant Chair which stands on three legs with fourth one broken.Broken Chair is an original project of Paul Vermeulen, co-founder and director of Handicap International Suisse.


Jonction is a place where rivers Rhône and Arve are joining each others, which creates a beautiful and unique natural phenomenon. Both rivers have different colors of water and when joining, their waters are mixing and shuffling and joining together into the one final river, Rhône. You can watch this scenario best from the bridge, situated conveniently just 40 meters after the jonction.



Peaks and Lakes

Nearest peak from Geneve is Auguille du midi in the Mont Blanc massif within the French Alps. It is a popular tourist destination and can be directly accessed by cable car from Chamonix that takes visitors close to Mont Blanc at en elevation of 3,842 m. One can reach Chamonix via Bus from Geneve Airport, its a 2 hour route to this french destination.


The most gripping thing about the places you visit in Switzerland/Europe is the way the natural beauty has been preserved despite being visited by a large number of tourists. One of such places is Rhine Falls- A beautiful water fall on the Swiss-German border, whose milky white mist and serenity doesn't let you leave this places early. Train journey to the place from Geneva is worth a ride.




Lac d’Annecy

One of France’s prettiest medieval towns is right on the shore of Europe’s cleanest lake. It just doesn’t get much better than this. Annecy is laced with canals and the historic streets have fun passageways darting off to the sides.
The lake is glorious, bordered on all sides by mountains and with crystalline waters that call your name on hot summer days.
Half the time you may lose yourself staring at scenery – Lac d’Annecy has a year-round gossamer haze.

Interlaken - The place between two lakes.

If you have at least 2 days of time and want to have an experience of life time, I would suggest to visit Interlaken via Train. Its beautiful train track where train travels along picturesque view of lake Geneva most of the time. One would feel like being in heaven sometimes. Some of the places to visit are:
Lauterbrunnen - One of my favourite places to go in Switzerland, this beautiful village also happens to be the starting point for some of the top things to do in Switzerland

Interlaken east - Perfectly located between two sparkling lakes and at the foot of the Swiss Alps. You can do paragliding here. My wife took her maiden paragliding ride here.


Grindelwald - This popular resort town offers a host of fun things to do all year round but particularly during the warmer months.

Mürren is a Swiss mountain village at the foot of the Schilthorn peak, which is accessible by cable car. It has been Featured in a James Bond film.


First is a minor summit on the slopes of the Schwarzhorn in the Bernese Oberland. It is mostly known as a cable car station above Grindelwald and as a popular hiking area with the Bachalpsee in proximity.


About the Culture and people:

People here are helpful and honest. One would find a mix of people from different ethnicity and culture living peacefully. Local transport is costly and it is difficult to order in a restaurant if you don't understand french.

I would like to share an interesting incident that happened with me :
It was my birthday when I lost my bag pack in tram at genev bel-air. I Tried to contact tpg(Transport Public Geneve) headquarters for help, where they told me to connect with lost and found office on next day at glacis de rive geneve. Next day I wen to the lost and found office. Lady there offered me to have a look at the heap of items received from tram . I could find my bag .Another country after japan which amazed me. Honesty is rewarded here. TPG charged me a few francs, part of which goes to the person returning the property.



Closing curiosity

By the way Zweilütschinen is a train station near Interlaken and is pronounced like Shwailootcheenun.

Japan: Fantastic Fuji to Splendid Shaghun

This story begins one year back in June 2012. While travelling for the first time to Japan, I was woken up by landing announcement  in the flight to view the picturesque summit of mount Fuji.

I was mesmerized by the cloudy view of it and decided that someday I would go to this peak and then only write an article about Japan.

My blog would have never been completed without a mount Fuji trip to it. And after 3  more travels and one year time span after this incident, I could go to mount Fuji. Life has evolved for me and the time has changed during this, on the lighter node I must mention that I am no longer a "bachelor" now .

This mesmerising beauty is at 3,776 meters (or 12,388 feet) above sea level.The last time it erupted was in 1708 (oh, and you had better believe I looked up all of these vital facts before going for this crazy visit!) For some educational history, I have pasted some paragraphs to better prepare readers with an unbiased opinion about Mt. Fuji. Unlike some sacred mountains, it is not considered blasphemous to climb Mt. Fuji - in fact, to ascend to the summit is an important pilgrimage.

 The mountain is home to many Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and torii gates. The official climbing season is only two months long (July and August), during which time most of the snow has melted and thousands of pilgrims and hikers make the climb to the top. For the rest of the year you need to take official permission from local police to climb. The climb is no walk in the park - it is very steep and takes about 8 hours - but for many it is an experience of a lifetime. Believe you me, there have been the cases where people were literally blown of the peak by heavy winds and died.It is estimated that up to a third of the climbers are foreign tourists, making for an atmosphere that is at once quintessentially Japanese and international.

As one would say that it is incomplete to visit Japan
if you don't see Mt. Fuji.Let me add to this from an Indian foodie's perspective, it is also incomplete without visiting the restaurant "Shaghun" owned by Mr. Bala Shetty @ Mizonokuchi when you pay visit to Japan. Taste buds feels a astonishing experience from the dishes Shaghun has to offer and the hospitality of Mr. Shetty and staff is just unparalleled.You would never feel away from India with the kind of ambience(also unique in a way) Shaghun imbibes. Eating the mirchi pakoda and aaloo chat with "suhana safar aur ye mausam..." being played in the background and Japanese TV shows on being telecast on LCD screen (muted though) makes it a unique experience.

Coming back to Mount Fuji Me and my friend Vikas planned it a week ago. We started our journey @ 6:15 AM and reached the bus stop at 7:25 AM. We booked tickets for 7:40 AM departure by Keio Bus service. It took around 3 hours and reached the mount Fuji 5th station at 10:30 AM. Mount Fuji 5th station is the last place where a bus can reach. After receiving the necessary information about the tracking route from information centre we started our tracking. Not to our surprise people were fully equipped for tracking with tracking sticks, shoes, gloves and winter wear. We were like amateurs in cotton summer wears and no equipment. But the adrenaline rush to climb up that beautiful volcano just can't let you feel any weakness whatsoever. Temperature starts dripping with every inch of ascending and weather keeps on changing. At one moment sun is shining at its full brilliance and the very next moment its all dark and cloudy accompanying some shower. If you stop more than 5 minutes anywhere you will feel the chill in the wind and your kneecap would start to pain. Rocks and land developed from volcano eruption has made the area pretty porous and fluffy. It makes the walking even more difficult.

The feeling we had at descending was zombie like. Our ears were ringing and head paining. We paid a visit to the shrine at the 5th station. As it is in India, everything you purchase at the high altitudes is expensive by many folds as compared to the main land. We just grabbed softy cones and moved back to the bus stand.

Gossiping... the ultimate sedative of IT industry

Sometimes i feel a few people in the office gel better with their colleagues as compared to others. More i try to analyze, interesting it becomes to know the reason.Unhappy people are not those who are unhappy with their own happiness but they are unhappy with others' happiness and have not yet found the suitable forum to vent out their frustration. They can for a change try a ultimate medicine for this "Gossiping"

Some fun facts about gossiping. I take no responsibility for its genuineness.

If you are a gossiper make sure to :
1. Create healthy ways of connecting with others that require fabricated talk about a third party.
2. When you are told about another person, don't ask for verification of the information. Trusting that what is said is true without challenging its veracity makes you a partner in perpetuating gossip.
3. If you hear negative talk — listen carefully and politely attempt to enjoy the speaker.
4. Ask the “gossipper” to tell you what hypothetical things he may relate about the individual he is criticizing.
5. When you are entrusted with a secret, feel honored and never try to keep it to yourself(:D) and ask others not to reveal it to third party.
6. Feel free to share gossip with others, emphasizing that your facts are correct.
7. The damage caused to other parties through gossip may be temporary but  to bond with someone temporarily through gossip may be immeasurable.

Carpe Diem Leh Ladakh "Heaven on earth"

Its 7:35 AM July 8, 2011 and we are witnessing the glimpse of paradise at 30 to 40 thousand feet from the window of the plane. 

 

Mountain peaks and clouds are at their competitive best to belittle each other for the height. I can see the valleys, the great Himalayan range, the Indus, the Leh all from the top.

 


Oh dear I just got carried away with the 7 days journey on the back of my mind. Let me relive the journey again and reiterate through the adventures, struggles and the efforts en route the journey to the mighty Himalayas.

I had never put in so much effort in managing a trip, Leh got to be unique. When the decision to go through a travel agent back fired, responsibility fell in my lap to organize the tour. Travel blogs and discussions on the forums helped me to great extent to frame an attractive itinerary.

July 1st ,2011 : Day 1

Four of us started the journey from Chandralok building, Connaught palace, New Delhi. Swagatam Holiday's Volvo departed for Manali with a delay of 15 minutes than its scheduled time i.e. 5:45.

July 2nd 2011 : Day 2

After an overnight journey (15 hours) we reached Manali. Except Tarun all three of us (Girish, Rahul and Anirudh) have already been there. 

 Hence we decided to do local sightseeing after getting an accommodation in Himalayan regency hotel.

Anirudh gave it a shot to his photography during the day, while in the evening we hired a 2D 1N cab for Leh.  We were supposed to leave early morning for Sarchu.

July 3rd 2011 : Day 3

clouds on the rocks

Qualis arrived @ 3:30 AM in the morning. Cab driver Mr. Roshan Lal being an experienced campaigner (30 years) was a great plus for the risky track. We kicked off the journey at 3:45 AM and reached Rohtang La @ 5:20 AM,
where clouds were giving illusion of snow in the sky.

Traffic can't get worse

Rohtang pass as expected turned out to be the showstopper. Landslide due to overnight rain had blocked the route.  People out there (including us) even pushed a truck to allow BRO machines to come down.

Preparing Glucose solution

It was for mere pose :P

It took us 2.5 hours to get a passage. BRO did a fantastic job to clear the track.It was around 10:15 AM when we reached the first restaurant of the highway and had some parathas with curd. 
We left the place at 11 AM .Our next stop was Tandi fuel station which was the only station for next 365 km where Tarun had his bit of medication(anti vomit tab).During this entire journey the picturesque view of the great Himalayan range and river Chandrabhaga were accompanying us.

Manali Leh highway has it, what all  one could expect .

Fall we fell in love with

picturesque load to Baralacha La

Water fall drenching the so called highway, snow peeks, lakes, snow clad peeks, deserted mountains, serene yet vivacious river. 
 Two beautiful lakes fell in our way to Sarchu i.e. Deepak Taal and Suraj/Vishal Taal. 

 It was a dare to stand in the freezing cold water of the lakes, but sometimes you do that for a mere snap. Around 3:00 PM we reached the ZingZing bar and opted for the "Peace Cafe" for lunch. By the time we reached Suraj Taal our Qualis had started making some knocking sound but driver found no fault in it. Anirudh's watch displayed 5:30PM when we first discovered the sign board of Adventure camp, Sarchu. Tarun and Anirudh retired to bed immediately while Rahul and I decided to do trekking to keep the body fluids moving. Camp guys served supper @ 8:30 PM, which we had in plenty, followed by an attempt to sleep. 

I think temperature and pressure played a deadly game in the night to make our throats dry and leaving our lungs a bit devoid of oxygen.

Morning sun rays kissed the mountain peaks to develop rare natural wallpaper and asked us a few question about the assaying night. That point in time we realized the terrain diversity the country called India possesses.

July 4th 2011 : Day 4

 









It is Monday morning but for a change no one has Monday blues. All four of us do heavy breakfast and get ready for a yet again day long journey. Barren elevations in the vicinity of camp are always inviting for the trekking. We as well didn't disappoint those and had a stretched trekking session before finally leaving for Leh.

It was always going to be a matter of few minutes before we could enter J&K with Sarchu being the last police check point of Himachal Pradesh. We were immediately welcomed by the zig zag paths and curvaceous turns of J&K roads. To our amusement, our driver told that, a place where a plenty of water bottles were accumulated, were actually piled up by the drivers passing by with the belief that some Mountain ghost drinks those at night. It’s exactly 15547 feet and we reach NakeeLa around 8:30 AM. La is the Tibet word which means pass. 

The urge of riding the bike in the Himalayan range soared when I borrowed the bike from a group (travelling all the way from Ranchi) for the photograph at Nakeela. Interestingly I could get the chance to ride the thunderbird on the penultimate day of the trip.

LachuLung La was our next stop @16616 feet. We had started feeling hungry by the time we crossed LachuLung La. We have had our lunch at Pang, which is the last restaurant before Leh. During this time cab problem of that ugly sound worsened and had its rear Tyre punctured. Some makeshift arrangements to the cab allowed us to continue with the journey. Pashmina sheep roaming in the deserted pastures of Ladakh was an incomparable scene that just added to the beauty of the track from Pang to Leh. 

But the destiny had something adventurous in the store for us as the journey was not destined to be so simple. Engine of our car got detached from one of the two supports, it was hanging freely in the compartment and it became impossible to change the gear. Driver successfully tried to tie it with the rope. This helped us to travel some 20 odd Km before that rope gave up again. Thus it became a routine to repair the support after every 20 km in rough and about 40 km in plane conditions. Last hurdle to Leh was traffic jam near Upshi where BRO had carried out a controlled blast to broaden the road. It would be a crime if I don't mention TagLangLa, world's second highest pass @ 17582 feet that fell a few kilometers before Upshi.

One is not suggested to stay there for long as prolonged exposure to the low pressure and high altitude might result in headache and nausea.

We reached Leh around 7:00 PM, where we already had 2 double occupancy rooms booked for us  in the Shanti Guest House. It’s always a pleasure to take shower in cold water when the mercury is not flowing towards 0 C. Hence we had cool bath and an early dinner before retiring to bed.

July 5th 2011 : Day 5

First day in Leh had seen its dawn and we moved toward a restaurant to have our breakfast, since we had woken up early that day, there was no hastiness for getting ready. 

Our plan for the day was to pay a visit to the local sights and monasteries.

Post breakfast we geared up for the trekking to the Shanti Stupa, located on the hilltop at Changspa, which was constructed in 1983 by the Japanese. Dalai Lama inaugurated the Shanti Stupa in the year 1985.A magnificent white-domed structure, the Shanti Stupa of Leh Ladakh offers spectacular views of the sunrise and sunset. The stupa looks best at night, when it is beautifully illuminated with glittering lights.

Our next destinations were Leh Palace , Namgyal Tsemo Gompa and Tsemo Castle. The palace was built by King Sengge Namgyal in the 17th century, but was later abandoned when Dogra forces took control of Ladakh in the mid-19th century. The royal family moved to Stok Palace. Leh Palace is nine storeys high; the upper floors accommodated the royal family, the stables and store rooms were in the lower floors. The palace, a ruin, is currently being restored by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The palace is open to the public and the roof provides panoramic views of Leh and the surrounding areas. The mountain of Stok Kangri in the Zangskar mountain range is visible across the Indus valley to the south, with the Ladakh mountain range rising behind the palace to the north. All of us successfully reached Leh palace but 

Rahul and Tarun virtually collapsed at the mere mention of steep trekking to the Tsemo Gompa. Anirudh and I managed to reach the top, completely exhausted and dehydrated. Once we reached down at Leh palace we drenched our throat with a lot of H2O. Rest of the time was spent in shopping and photography. I must say that Backyard of Shanti Guest house was as complete a place as it could be enriched with vegetation, apple orchid and pets we witnessed mini ecological system.

Dog clinging to our feet as if we were his long lost souls and cat transferring its kittens to the new shelter holding them in her mouth, surely we couldn't have asked for better first day of Leh.

July 6th 2011 : Day 6

Pangong Tso (Tso in Ladakhi means Lake) is almost 160 km from Leh and we had booked a Xylo for the purpose. We left the Shanti Guest house at 7:20 AM armed with SLR, GluconD + water and dry fruits. Our first halt was Karu and had our light breakfast there. Journey to Pangong was quite tiring as it had least of crowd and deserted peaks. 

Attraction of the route was the Changla Pass or Chang La Pass (el. 5,360 m (17,590 ft)) is world's third highest pass. It is named after the sadhu Changla Baba, to whom the Pass temple is dedicated. The small town of Tangste is the nearest settlement. The Changla Pass is the main gateway for the Changthang Plateau situated in the Himalayas. The nomadic tribes of the region are collectively known as the Changpa or Chang-pa.

11:46 AM we saw  the first view of the Pangong Tso. It is situated at a height of about 4,350 m (14,270 ft), is 153km long and extends from India to Tibet. 60% of the length of the lake lies in Tibet, which is today under China's rule. The lake is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its broadest point. During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.

Pangong Tso was featured in the last scene of the 2010 movie, 3 Idiots. After the success of the movie, this beautiful natural location has attracted more tourists from all over the world. We shot a few videos and captured a lot of clicks of this tranquil place. After a couple of hours we left the lake having its mystic charm sketched in our Hippocampus forever. We returned home (Hospitality and warmth of Shanti Guest house people forced me use this term) @ 7:00 PM.

July 7th 2011 : Day 7

Having no definite plan for the last day in Leh we decided to do it our individual ways. Tarun and Rahul decided to explore Buddhism at Leh Palace while I and Anirudh had something adventurous in our mind to do. We took a Royal En field Thunderbird on rent for one day.

At 9:00 AM in the morning we left for the Alchi village on our bike. Yes mate you read it right, there is no typo, just two of us with SLR in hands and 6.17 liter of petrol in fuel tank we were ready for the bike ride of our life. Somehow we missed the magnetic hill in the first half of the ride. We had our breakfast comprising momos at Nimmu, some 30 km from Leh. Around 11:32 AM we reached Alchi, which is 65 km from Leh on NH-1 and is also known as model village. A Dam is under construction there on the river Indus. After spending some time there we took U-turn towards our shelter. This time around we could spot Magnetic hill point well in time and stayed there for few minutes to admire the phenomenon which is mainly due to optical illusion.

For 3 days we had been trying meals in different restaurants, so on the last eve in Leh we had our supper in the Guest house only. It was time to pack up the things after dinner.

July 8th 2011 : Day 8

Early morning cab dropped us to the airport where we boarded our 7:35 flight to T3 Delhi. Interestingly it was raining when I had left for the Leh and when I returned situation was the same as heavy downpour welcomed us to the Capital, our home.

For complete snap collection

• https://picasaweb.google.com/girishydv/LehLadhak
• https://picasaweb.google.com/girishydv/LehLadhak2

Videos from the trip are available at following