Hello everyone,
Hope allz well. Its been some time that I traveled and finally this September I managed to take few days off to go to North India. This time it was a short group, with just my wife, kiddo and myself. Coming to the tour, we went part by package and part by own to make it easy for my kid. Following are the places that we covered in this tour.
Mathura
Amritsar
Delhi
Agra
Jaipur
Mussorie
Haridwar
Hrishikesh
Day 1
So we started by AP express, may be for the first and last time as it may be renamed quite soon as T express or whatever :) . We initially bought tickets till Delhi, but in last minute changed our minds and got down at Mathura, the birth place of Sri Krishna.
Day 2
As per my itearnary i had another day for mathura as it is being covered in 'jaipur-agra-mathura' trip(during later days of this trip). So I thought of covering Vrindavan ,which is some 20 min Drive from Mathura. We got down at Mathura Railway station,used waiting rooms to freshen up and put our luggage in cloak room. We then hired an auto to go to Vrindavan. He charged 200rs as we hired it independently. There are share autos that go there(which i came to know late and utilized them in my return) which charge 20rs per person. Here I should thank Aditi from my company who is a walking encyclopedia w.r.t Vrindavan. She gave me the list of P1 temples, which made my job easier. The moment our Auto stopped at Vrindavan, a monkey climbed into our auto and almost pulled my lenses, thanks to auto walah who scared it out. I learned my first lesson there, that in Vrindavan, no one should used spects. If they do, monkeys will simply pull them out. So I put my spects inside my pocket and became half blind :( . Our first target is to make sure our kid, HariPriya is fed well. Since she is just 2, we didnt want to take any risk w.r.t. However, for a southie, Vrindavan hotels or tiffins are a big disappointment.We at max will get poori or kachori but nothing else. Unwillingly we consumed one plate of Poori each and then went to 'Ban ke Bihari' temple. I presume its 'Van ke Vihari' which means the one who goes around in the garden. But people didn't accept my translation :). The temples there are a bit different compared to south. Here there is lot of freedom to move around inside the temple and in 9 out of 10 cases, idols are made up of Marble stones. However Ban ke bihari idols is in blackstone. We had a good Darshan and then went outside the temple where they were distributing prasad. We eagerly went there to see if we can get anything special. But its again Poori and alu curry :(). Since its prasad, we had it a little and then came out of the temple. We then went to a temple called 'Prem Mandir' , Its a huge huge temple with very good architecture.In the temple premises there are few settings that depict the life of lord krishna. There were few statues setup with some mechanical motion and its a treat to eyes.
Prem Mandir
From there we went to ISKON temple and then to 'Vaishno Devi' temple . This vaishno devi temple is a replica of the original vaishno devi temple. This is a bit far , about 5 to 6 kms from Vrindavan. We covered it and then came back to Vrindavan and had our lunch(again a disappointment as we couldn't get rice for our daughter) . We did some restricted shopping as it was the first day of our 10 day tour and I didn't want to carry too much luggage from Day 1. After that we took a share auto to Mathura station and Took a train to our next destination, Amritsar
Day3
We got down at Amritsar, again used the facilities to freshup at station and put our luggage in cloak room. I engaged a cab, which i booked before I started from Hyderabad., The guy came on time and he picked us up well. Its a different world altogether, Punjab., Its just that its India,other than that,its a different culture,different language and different peopleWe directly headed for Golden Temple,but before that I asked the cab guy to take us to some hotel for breakfast. He took us to some restaurent, which was quite good w.r.t quality. The rotis were damn good. Later we found out that , thats the oldest hotel in Amritsar, established in 1920s. So that way we covered another historic place. :)
From there we went to 'Golden Temple'. Its a big complex. All men,women,children are needed to cover their heads inside the complex. They give it free of cost. one should wear it, then put it back while returning. People do sell these outside the complex, but they are also available free inside. We went into the temple in a line which is quite calm. Some punjabi devotional songs were played in the backdrop of the temple. So we had darshan of 'Guru Granth Saheb' , had prasad and then came out of temple.
Golden Temple
From there we went to 'Jalian Wala Bag' a place where many indians were ambushed in a single night by general dyer. Felt bad after going through the stories there but good that the evil days are all gone.It was 12noon and then we visited another temple in amritsar,which is a durga temple. This temple is also in the middle of a pond. After that we visited another vaishno devi temple. It was 2PM by that time. We then dashed to Indo-Pak border and just 2kms before border, we had our lunch at a restaurant called 'Sarhad'(border). After lunch we went to Indo Pak border for the daily flag ceremony. It was a good show cheered by people from both the sides. Only that there are no shelters there. It was damn hot day till 5pm and then it started to rain heavily. The only glitch there is, men and women are put in seperate stands. So my wife and myself had to go into different sections of the stadium. The ceremony was over by 6PM and we started back to Amritsar, had our dinner and then took our train to New Delhi
Day 4
I booked hotel room in Southern Hotel and they have pickup facility(which is awesome). So I got down at Nizamuddin station and the driver from Southern Hotel came and picked us up. Initially i thought this day I would take a break, but it didnt turnout that way. Southern hotel has a good South Indian restaurant and we had a good breakfast for the first time in 4 days. Runtime,we thought of going to Akshardham and then we were joined by another elderly couple. We four went to Akshardham by delhi Metro. It was a good experience. Akshardham is a very big temple . There we have shows that depict the story of swami narayana and also some boat ride through the history of India. Its an amazing place and must go place for every Indian. By the time we came out its already 5. I'd booked a package for Mussorie,Haridwar,Hrishikesh on that night,so we returned home, had our dinner and started off in the tempo traveller arranged by the Southern Travels. It was an overnight journey to Mussorie. We were joined by 2 more couples. One a newly married and one elderly.
Day 5
By the time we woke up,we were in uttharakand . It was 4.30AM. We were given room to refresh and we resumed our journey at 7.30AM. By the time we reached mussorie it wa 11AM. Mussorie is called 'Queen of Himalaya's' . It was a cool place(ofcourse its bound to be as its a hill station). We went to a place called 'Kempty Water falls' and then checked in at our hotel. In the evening, we went out for a small walk and then there was a rope way that will take to a hill top where few shops are placed. We did enjoy that hill top as there were few rides which my daughter enjoyed.
My Daughter,at kempty falls @mussorie
We came back and were already too tired for any thing else than sleep. So we slept quickly as we were to start at 3.30AM next day,which means, we have to get up by 2.30AM
Day 6
We woke up at 2.30AM and got ready by 3.30AM to start to Hrishikesh. We reached Hrishikesh around 7AM . Hrishikesh is a town on the bank of river ganga. Its full of Ashrams. We visited 'Ram Jhoola', Lakshman Jhoola, . They are 2 suspension bridges across river ganga. Then we travelled by Boat to the other side of ganga. It was a good experience. We visited few ashrams. Then we started off to Haridwar. We reached haridwar around 11AM. There is a facility to give 'Tarpanam' to our ancestors. So I did to my father and other relatives who attained the moksha. After that we visted Manasa devi temple by Rope way. Its quite crowded ,but the waiting time is very less. So around 1.30 We came down from manasa devi temple, had our lunch and then started off to New Delhi. We reached New Delhi around 9PM and then retired for the day. I booked Hotel Southern for this time as well.
Ram Jhoola@Hrishikesh
Day 7
Day 7 was monday and all the monuments are closed on Monday. But we thought of going out hence went out to see red fort(from outisde). Here my wife lost her phone :( . In the evening we did shopping at karol bagh. Bought lot of dresses for my kiddo.
Day 8
We hired a cab for day tour on this day and started off. We first visited QutubMinar. For those of you who dont know , let me tell you, this structure was built to signal the fall of last Hindu Empire and as a sign of Muslim Victory. You can see the inscriptions there saying, 'This temple is built using material brought by destroying 27 Hindu Temples'. It may be provocative, but fact. There is nothing much there other than that long pillar. From there we went to Lotus temple. This is a temple built by 'Bahian' faith people . The temple is built in the form of a Lotus. Inside the temple we are not supposed to speak nor do any sound.
@lotus Temple
Frankly, whatever is there, its from outside. Inside there is nothing but a wall. From there we went on to visit "India Gate' (from outside), Nehru Museum, Indira Gandhi Museum etc. These Museums contain the remains of the family of Nehrus. Came back to hotel by 6pm and retired for the day
Day 9
Booked a package tour for jaipur-agra-mathura and so, started at 6AM in the morning for Jaipur in the bus provided by Southern Travels. By the time we went to jaipur it was 12.30 in the afternoon and sun was beating down. First we went to Jantar-Mantar. It was built by Man singh and its just awesome. The calculations are perfect and its a great place to improve our astro physics. Then we visited Town Palace , Hawa Mahal(from outside) and headed for Lunch. Post lunch we visited the major attraction of Jaipur, 'Amber Fort'.
View from amber fort
By this time we got news that My maternal grandmom has died and I am in no mans land , to return back to hyderabad. In the evening the entire tour party went to Birla Mandir,but myself and my wife stayed back as we are prohibited to go inside any temple for 3 days,due to demise of my grand mom.By the time we retired , it was 11PM
Day 10
Started at 3AM from Jaipur towards agra and visited 'Fathepur sikri'. There is a big door called 'Buland Darwaaza' which is quite big(biggest in Asia) . After that we visited 'Akbars palace' , jodha bhais palace etc. We then started to Agra and reached Agra around 11AM. We first went to Agra fort. Agra fort is a very big fort and inside agra fort, as in all forts, different palaces are there. We were accomponied by a guide and he was quite helpful. From there we went for lunch and then visited 'The Taj Mahal'. Taj is an architectural beauty of yester years. Personally I didnt feel that great at the structure as its just plain. There are no curvatures as we see in many southern structures . But again, majority of these are hyped due to their foreign visitors, so cant help much and cant convince others :) . Here we have to go with bare foot, but good thing is they sell some socks kind of things, which can be worn over your shoe. So we purchased one set(each set cost 10rs) . Both me and my wife didnt feel great inside Taj mahal.May be due to the fact that its a grave. We came out, took a tonga(cart driven by horse) and returned to Bus. From there we went to Mathura. Again we didnt go inside the temple. By the time we reached Delhi hotel it was 11PM. We retired for the day
Day 11
We again engaged a cab and went to Raj Ghat, the Tomb of 'Father of our Nation' Mahatma Gandhi. From there we went to Humayuns Tomb . Its built in a vast place. There was some restoring work which just happened for that and all the things looked fresh(not the grave though ;) ) From there we went to 'Andhra Pradesh Bhavan' had our lunch, did some shopping for my kid and then took the 'AP express(again may be for the last time) and headed home.
Mixed memories but definitely a good trip .Thanks for reading this patiently. Hope you have a great time :).
Regards,
Karthik
Hope allz well. Its been some time that I traveled and finally this September I managed to take few days off to go to North India. This time it was a short group, with just my wife, kiddo and myself. Coming to the tour, we went part by package and part by own to make it easy for my kid. Following are the places that we covered in this tour.
Mathura
Amritsar
Delhi
Agra
Jaipur
Mussorie
Haridwar
Hrishikesh
Day 1
So we started by AP express, may be for the first and last time as it may be renamed quite soon as T express or whatever :) . We initially bought tickets till Delhi, but in last minute changed our minds and got down at Mathura, the birth place of Sri Krishna.
Day 2
As per my itearnary i had another day for mathura as it is being covered in 'jaipur-agra-mathura' trip(during later days of this trip). So I thought of covering Vrindavan ,which is some 20 min Drive from Mathura. We got down at Mathura Railway station,used waiting rooms to freshen up and put our luggage in cloak room. We then hired an auto to go to Vrindavan. He charged 200rs as we hired it independently. There are share autos that go there(which i came to know late and utilized them in my return) which charge 20rs per person. Here I should thank Aditi from my company who is a walking encyclopedia w.r.t Vrindavan. She gave me the list of P1 temples, which made my job easier. The moment our Auto stopped at Vrindavan, a monkey climbed into our auto and almost pulled my lenses, thanks to auto walah who scared it out. I learned my first lesson there, that in Vrindavan, no one should used spects. If they do, monkeys will simply pull them out. So I put my spects inside my pocket and became half blind :( . Our first target is to make sure our kid, HariPriya is fed well. Since she is just 2, we didnt want to take any risk w.r.t. However, for a southie, Vrindavan hotels or tiffins are a big disappointment.We at max will get poori or kachori but nothing else. Unwillingly we consumed one plate of Poori each and then went to 'Ban ke Bihari' temple. I presume its 'Van ke Vihari' which means the one who goes around in the garden. But people didn't accept my translation :). The temples there are a bit different compared to south. Here there is lot of freedom to move around inside the temple and in 9 out of 10 cases, idols are made up of Marble stones. However Ban ke bihari idols is in blackstone. We had a good Darshan and then went outside the temple where they were distributing prasad. We eagerly went there to see if we can get anything special. But its again Poori and alu curry :(). Since its prasad, we had it a little and then came out of the temple. We then went to a temple called 'Prem Mandir' , Its a huge huge temple with very good architecture.In the temple premises there are few settings that depict the life of lord krishna. There were few statues setup with some mechanical motion and its a treat to eyes.
From there we went to ISKON temple and then to 'Vaishno Devi' temple . This vaishno devi temple is a replica of the original vaishno devi temple. This is a bit far , about 5 to 6 kms from Vrindavan. We covered it and then came back to Vrindavan and had our lunch(again a disappointment as we couldn't get rice for our daughter) . We did some restricted shopping as it was the first day of our 10 day tour and I didn't want to carry too much luggage from Day 1. After that we took a share auto to Mathura station and Took a train to our next destination, Amritsar
Day3
We got down at Amritsar, again used the facilities to freshup at station and put our luggage in cloak room. I engaged a cab, which i booked before I started from Hyderabad., The guy came on time and he picked us up well. Its a different world altogether, Punjab., Its just that its India,other than that,its a different culture,different language and different peopleWe directly headed for Golden Temple,but before that I asked the cab guy to take us to some hotel for breakfast. He took us to some restaurent, which was quite good w.r.t quality. The rotis were damn good. Later we found out that , thats the oldest hotel in Amritsar, established in 1920s. So that way we covered another historic place. :)
From there we went to 'Golden Temple'. Its a big complex. All men,women,children are needed to cover their heads inside the complex. They give it free of cost. one should wear it, then put it back while returning. People do sell these outside the complex, but they are also available free inside. We went into the temple in a line which is quite calm. Some punjabi devotional songs were played in the backdrop of the temple. So we had darshan of 'Guru Granth Saheb' , had prasad and then came out of temple.
From there we went to 'Jalian Wala Bag' a place where many indians were ambushed in a single night by general dyer. Felt bad after going through the stories there but good that the evil days are all gone.It was 12noon and then we visited another temple in amritsar,which is a durga temple. This temple is also in the middle of a pond. After that we visited another vaishno devi temple. It was 2PM by that time. We then dashed to Indo-Pak border and just 2kms before border, we had our lunch at a restaurant called 'Sarhad'(border). After lunch we went to Indo Pak border for the daily flag ceremony. It was a good show cheered by people from both the sides. Only that there are no shelters there. It was damn hot day till 5pm and then it started to rain heavily. The only glitch there is, men and women are put in seperate stands. So my wife and myself had to go into different sections of the stadium. The ceremony was over by 6PM and we started back to Amritsar, had our dinner and then took our train to New Delhi
Day 4
I booked hotel room in Southern Hotel and they have pickup facility(which is awesome). So I got down at Nizamuddin station and the driver from Southern Hotel came and picked us up. Initially i thought this day I would take a break, but it didnt turnout that way. Southern hotel has a good South Indian restaurant and we had a good breakfast for the first time in 4 days. Runtime,we thought of going to Akshardham and then we were joined by another elderly couple. We four went to Akshardham by delhi Metro. It was a good experience. Akshardham is a very big temple . There we have shows that depict the story of swami narayana and also some boat ride through the history of India. Its an amazing place and must go place for every Indian. By the time we came out its already 5. I'd booked a package for Mussorie,Haridwar,Hrishikesh on that night,so we returned home, had our dinner and started off in the tempo traveller arranged by the Southern Travels. It was an overnight journey to Mussorie. We were joined by 2 more couples. One a newly married and one elderly.
Day 5
By the time we woke up,we were in uttharakand . It was 4.30AM. We were given room to refresh and we resumed our journey at 7.30AM. By the time we reached mussorie it wa 11AM. Mussorie is called 'Queen of Himalaya's' . It was a cool place(ofcourse its bound to be as its a hill station). We went to a place called 'Kempty Water falls' and then checked in at our hotel. In the evening, we went out for a small walk and then there was a rope way that will take to a hill top where few shops are placed. We did enjoy that hill top as there were few rides which my daughter enjoyed.
We came back and were already too tired for any thing else than sleep. So we slept quickly as we were to start at 3.30AM next day,which means, we have to get up by 2.30AM
Day 6
We woke up at 2.30AM and got ready by 3.30AM to start to Hrishikesh. We reached Hrishikesh around 7AM . Hrishikesh is a town on the bank of river ganga. Its full of Ashrams. We visited 'Ram Jhoola', Lakshman Jhoola, . They are 2 suspension bridges across river ganga. Then we travelled by Boat to the other side of ganga. It was a good experience. We visited few ashrams. Then we started off to Haridwar. We reached haridwar around 11AM. There is a facility to give 'Tarpanam' to our ancestors. So I did to my father and other relatives who attained the moksha. After that we visted Manasa devi temple by Rope way. Its quite crowded ,but the waiting time is very less. So around 1.30 We came down from manasa devi temple, had our lunch and then started off to New Delhi. We reached New Delhi around 9PM and then retired for the day. I booked Hotel Southern for this time as well.
Ram Jhoola@Hrishikesh
Day 7
Day 7 was monday and all the monuments are closed on Monday. But we thought of going out hence went out to see red fort(from outisde). Here my wife lost her phone :( . In the evening we did shopping at karol bagh. Bought lot of dresses for my kiddo.
Day 8
We hired a cab for day tour on this day and started off. We first visited QutubMinar. For those of you who dont know , let me tell you, this structure was built to signal the fall of last Hindu Empire and as a sign of Muslim Victory. You can see the inscriptions there saying, 'This temple is built using material brought by destroying 27 Hindu Temples'. It may be provocative, but fact. There is nothing much there other than that long pillar. From there we went to Lotus temple. This is a temple built by 'Bahian' faith people . The temple is built in the form of a Lotus. Inside the temple we are not supposed to speak nor do any sound.
@lotus Temple
Frankly, whatever is there, its from outside. Inside there is nothing but a wall. From there we went on to visit "India Gate' (from outside), Nehru Museum, Indira Gandhi Museum etc. These Museums contain the remains of the family of Nehrus. Came back to hotel by 6pm and retired for the day
Day 9
Booked a package tour for jaipur-agra-mathura and so, started at 6AM in the morning for Jaipur in the bus provided by Southern Travels. By the time we went to jaipur it was 12.30 in the afternoon and sun was beating down. First we went to Jantar-Mantar. It was built by Man singh and its just awesome. The calculations are perfect and its a great place to improve our astro physics. Then we visited Town Palace , Hawa Mahal(from outside) and headed for Lunch. Post lunch we visited the major attraction of Jaipur, 'Amber Fort'.
By this time we got news that My maternal grandmom has died and I am in no mans land , to return back to hyderabad. In the evening the entire tour party went to Birla Mandir,but myself and my wife stayed back as we are prohibited to go inside any temple for 3 days,due to demise of my grand mom.By the time we retired , it was 11PM
Day 10
Started at 3AM from Jaipur towards agra and visited 'Fathepur sikri'. There is a big door called 'Buland Darwaaza' which is quite big(biggest in Asia) . After that we visited 'Akbars palace' , jodha bhais palace etc. We then started to Agra and reached Agra around 11AM. We first went to Agra fort. Agra fort is a very big fort and inside agra fort, as in all forts, different palaces are there. We were accomponied by a guide and he was quite helpful. From there we went for lunch and then visited 'The Taj Mahal'. Taj is an architectural beauty of yester years. Personally I didnt feel that great at the structure as its just plain. There are no curvatures as we see in many southern structures . But again, majority of these are hyped due to their foreign visitors, so cant help much and cant convince others :) . Here we have to go with bare foot, but good thing is they sell some socks kind of things, which can be worn over your shoe. So we purchased one set(each set cost 10rs) . Both me and my wife didnt feel great inside Taj mahal.May be due to the fact that its a grave. We came out, took a tonga(cart driven by horse) and returned to Bus. From there we went to Mathura. Again we didnt go inside the temple. By the time we reached Delhi hotel it was 11PM. We retired for the day
Day 11
We again engaged a cab and went to Raj Ghat, the Tomb of 'Father of our Nation' Mahatma Gandhi. From there we went to Humayuns Tomb . Its built in a vast place. There was some restoring work which just happened for that and all the things looked fresh(not the grave though ;) ) From there we went to 'Andhra Pradesh Bhavan' had our lunch, did some shopping for my kid and then took the 'AP express(again may be for the last time) and headed home.
Mixed memories but definitely a good trip .Thanks for reading this patiently. Hope you have a great time :).
Regards,
Karthik
Rush was not there. However, we have to see the Amma Idol from far, and the priests over there applied some sort of decorative stuff on her face,making it unclear. However, we were happy at least we could get a glimpse of her. Then I inquired about the Divya Desam that is inside Kanchi Kamakshi temple, "
We were mesmerized by the structures over there. simply amazing. We hurried out to 
Train was a bit late and we landed in kumbakonam at 6am instead of 4.30 am. We hired a taxi and took a room in hotel ARK. They also have a transport section luckily and I engaged a cab(sumo) for the day tour. Firstly we went to
Then we entered the famous 
Bruhadeeswara and Bruhannayaki
He identified us as telugu people(as amma sang a song) and he made us stand there for some time and we had a great darshan.
We bought a ticket for that ferry ride(20 rupees only,both sides). We boarded the ferry and landed at the