Visit To valley of Flowers

We set out to see a few flowers in the wild, Valley of Flowers was our choice destination, and it was a long 4 day trip to get to the valley, sounded interesting, it is in a flood prone zone, and most folks were of the opinion that we should can the trip, but then the flowers only bloom in the monsoon, so it had to be in the monsoon

 Sadly there was lots we did not know about the trip that we know now, and as I organize trip for a friend I will be in a position to trouble shoot for others, but I digress,   

water fall on the way 

The roads are amazing, it is a long 10 hour ride by car / bus from haridwar to Govindghat or joshimath,

It is a road that is prone to some landslides and is it any wonder if you check out the waterfall, it is just a matter of time before the earth swallows the road,,,

Bike riders to Badrinath ( me thinks ) 

We Indians have a new panache, we will not wear a helmet but dress up fancy with face covered, and look like dacoits , well so be it, as there were those on the way on bikes, headed to Badrinath I think, (a Lord Shiva temple )

Navigating past a landslide

We were indeed prepared for a landslide and it held us up for three hours as the roads were cleared out by the very efficient mountain people a big shout out to them for there effecianecy , thankfully this was the only landslide we faced on the whole trip that had us wait on the road

The first look at the Mandakini / Alaknanda was as gorgeous as it gets

Picture window

Smart that we are, we took the opportunity to grab some breakfast on the hillside Dhaba while the roads were being cleared, and we finally broke for Lunch approx at 1330 hours  and we were at a Dhaba again and we sure had a picture window if there was one I say,,,

Confluence of River 's

The site of the Prayag, - Mandakini and Alakananda river comes together as the road turns more steep

The climb home

ong the way as we stopped for tea, we came across these lovely old ladies,  who seemed to be doing fine in life at these age( they must be 70 plus) and walking up the slopes ,,,


to be cont ...