Egypt - Part 1

So the year 2018 was pretty amazing for the Addys, primarily because two of us were going on our first international trip (and one on her second)..to Egypt!!

Now "Addy Junior" and "Addy Senior" decided that they will sponsor this one for "Addy Mother" and they did. To some of their closest friends what never made sense was taking a loan and going on a trip but to them it did. And am glad we (oops THEY) did it. 

I will tell you about the moment it all made sense to me. We were on the Nile cruise and we were about to cross the Esna Lock Gates. Now this place itself is a work of art. 

This is a lock gate where water is limited so that it is saved and used in future crisis. 

At the lock gates they prepare the cruise to deal with the difference in water level. They bring your cruise down with machines and you can literally feel the cruise going down. We all ran upstairs to see this from the deck and "Addy Mother" preferred to enjoy this from our cabin. When I came back quickly once it was over I caught her taking a selfie against the big glass windows and I couldn’t help but smile. That was probably the first time I saw addy mother taking a selfie. 

I will probably be scolded for posting this picture because she might not be into selfies but she is definitely into posing right for the camera.

And I joined in to celebrate the fact that the loan was worth it.

*Excuse me for my shitty photography/editing skills, you see everyone of us is not Sid from "Wake Up Sid" (damn that movie for ruining expectations)*

To Srijita, I have 16 instalments left. 😊

Making it back to Sandakphu from Phalut (in almost a single piece)

Let me tell you a story, a story of an extremely long, long-drive, on a road which will suck out romance from the most romantic souls. This story is about our drive from Sandakphu to Phalut and back to Sandakphu again. Yes, back in 9 hours!

We had a delayed start with not so favourable weather conditions, but we were decided to try our luck and set foot on the second highest peak of West Bengal. Now little did we know that the road that lay ahead wont let us sit straight in the car even for 30 seconds. Countless head bumps later we reached a point where I could not see any road in front of us, but guess what, the driver did. 

No matter how much I wanted to walk the rest of the road and LIVE, the driver insisted that it’s selfish on our part to let him die on the road alone. So there we were grasping for breath at each and every turn which looked like a direct gateway to heaven (considering you cant make the sharp turn) and finally reached Phalut only to come back the same day. The driver let us know that the part that enables the car to drive in 4-wheeled mode has fallen off and with that piece of information we go order our maggie-s because my sister has to have maggi milestones all over the world!

Now for the return journey, I would say I had started trusting our driver a lot more than the first journey and decided to be in the car itself and just go with the flow (sorry headbumps!) It was as if to make up for the Kanchenjunga view that we missed we were showered with hailstorms that made the roads so picturesque (and a little more dangerous). We had to stop for few minutes to take it all in, what we were feeling at that very moment! 

A little help from a certain “Monk” and drags of some not so healthy stuff that killed Mukesh, it started to feel real. We made it back and how! Next day we even found our lost backpack (people here are the best) and to celebrate that there was of-course a sponsored full meal lunch at Darjeeling.

Special thanks to PandimJi, I really doubt we could make it to Phalut and back without him on the steering wheel.

The One with The Sleeping Buddha

There were infinite failed plans of mine to this particular place, and finally there was the determination of my sister that we will make it happen in 2018, even if that includes just the two of us and there was one SMS from AB (the one who almost died in Gurudongmar, also the one who claims to get better with every completed trip) that said, "Let's do Sandakphu!".

The gang included the usual ones, PA Senior, AG, AB, SD and of-course PA Junior :)! Except for our train journey to NJP that included a certain MRR, as I, being myself was sure that we will make it to the confirmed list (C'mon I booked the tickets for April 27 on the 9th of Jan and still got listed under RAC) Now thanks to the forever ready Bangali, and their love for Di-Pu-Da (If you are a Bengali, you should know this, and if you are not a Bengali, get hold of that fish-loving, "ami-tomake-bhalobashi" friend of yours) that our tickets got stuck at RAC 3 and now we were now 6 people with 2 and a half seats. Imagine the night we had!

Fast forwarding to the morning we were waiting for our Driver #3 to take us from Tumgling and drop us to Sandakphu. Did I mention how many times we were being judged for the enormous trolleys we carried instead of the usual backpacks, oh, and this time 6*5 litres of mineral water only (we do learn from our mistakes) On the way to Sandakphu, we cried at the bumpy roads, we laughed, we lost a backpack, we had a heated argument with the driver, followed by him getting all sentimental, followed by us getting accommodated in a so called room that even lacked an attached washroom, followed by us relocating the beds just because we did not want enough space left between the beds for a ghost to catch hold of us, followed by "Warden Master" who switches off the only supply of electricity, the generator at 8 o'clock and shushed us to sleep, followed by a failed attempt to see sunrise on a morning that lacked visibility even 500 metres ahead, followed by a ride to Phalut on a road that made us fall in love with the roads we have at our very own Behala (Yes we love KMC now!), followed by sudden snowfall and the "Buro Dadu" that was always there, and that we took big gulps of just to celebrate the fact that we made it to Phalut and back!

You know, Sandakphu in April, you get the best of the views and you never really hear that it's raining in the hills in April/May, but as luck would have it, it did! Thanks to us, yes thanks to us and Global Warming! We could not have a "view" of THE SLEEPING BUDDHA from Phalut! But the morning after, the little glimpse of Sun, and yes The Sleeping Buddha from Sandakphu made me realise that we really take life for granted and do not appreciate the little things that we have. I do not have a great sunrise/sunset picture but I do have these...

And now that we understood the value of little things in life, we were in Darjeeling, grateful to the Dominos that's there, so grateful to the offers that they offer, grateful to the treat at Kunga from AG to have her lost backpack back, grateful to Glenarys, grateful to bacon sandwich at Kevinters, most importantly grateful to 4G network! We promised never to take food lightly the day we were refused Dinner if we do not have it by 7PM.

Special mention to:

1. The one-bed-and-five-people situation in "CHIDIYA"

2. The dance party that we never made it to from "TIMLING",

3. SD, for never really understanding that it's not "PHULUT",

4. Our very own Pandim driver from Abu Dhabi,

5. To Boudi's hotel and Boudi's momo :D

The one with the Zanskar.

So there we were, three ladies on a trip to Leh-Ladakh…little concerned about whether Mom’s health would permit her to travel through the landscapes of this rightfully place. But I guess when she insisted on clicking a picture at the “World’s Highest Motor-able Road”, I realised "all izz well". And thus we were done with our Leh-Ladakh journey. The only thing left was our Kargil visit and Srinagar transfer via Sonmarg (thanks to the curfew) and we had one day in hand, you know for shopping, etc. But one dear friend of Bhai’s had suggested not to miss the Rafting experience when you are in Leh. So we checked with the hotel and they did arrange an operator who is basically someway related to the Hotel owner. Nevertheless we (of-course not my mom) two sisters had also managed the company of two other girls in our first time rafting experience and sooner than we realised, we were off on our journey towards the start point.

Fast forward through the events of changing out of nowhere on the middle of the mountains into bodysuits and fighting for the best head gear with the captain himself we set our foot on the rafting boat and the rafting boat in turn set its foot on the chilly waters. The best whirlpool was right at the beginning and we managed our way through it somehow but the captain decided that one of us was faking with the oars and decided to change our positions (remember those times in school when the talkative boy was made to sit with the girls!) Few more whirlpools later we were pros (or so we thought) and the view. It was as if God was handcrafting the landscapes with a cold coffee in hand (I do love cold coffees).

Now that very friend of Bhai’s had also mentioned about taking a dip in the water whenever you get an opportunity. So when we were done with the whirlpools and the Captain asked who’s up for a dip we made sure we are the first ones to raise our hands and whoosh, there was one huge hoo-man in the water (btw, did I mention my sister lost approximately 8KGs, thanks to yoga, yes NAMASTE!). Following the footsteps of my sister, of-course I was the next one to jump and the chilly waters of the Zanskar river, the landscape all added to my adrenaline rush as I was mentally crossing out one of the To-Do list’s of mine. Should I embarrass my sister a wee bit more and mention the event of our Captain almost falling off the boat when he tried to pick my sister up or may be not, nothing of that sort happened guys! All the events mentioned here are just a work of creativity and nothing else. Then soon enough we were done with the rafting and let’s not go into details about the later on wait of close to 1 hour for our operator to arrive and pick us up and the huge Fight. Nevertheless, all throughout our Leh trip it was (just the way our captain said),

Girl Power,

24 Hour! \m/

The one with Madhuri.

When my sister decided on the next family vacation’s location, I agreed on one go as we have not set out foot in Arunachal before... and as our journey date came closer I tried to google a bit about the locations our tour agency was taking us to..and there it was mentioned Madhuri lake..and you are correct, it is named after Madhuri Dixit after the movie "Koyla" was shot in here. The previously called Tsungestwar lake was formed as a result of earthquake activity and you see dead trees in between of a lake (which trust me is a pretty uncommon and at the same time, a very beautiful sight)

So there we were 42 people, who reached Tawang at 2 A.M. (following a chain of events starting from landslide, witnessing dynamite bursting, then eventually running out of petrol and then pursuing fellow "Kakimas" to lend us some, then losing our way and what not), trying to wake up the hotel authorities to provide us with rooms. And guess what we being the Bengalis that we are, no matter how tired we are, when it comes to selecting hotel rooms and comparing it with the fellow travellers, we can fight with the tour managers in the middle of the night for the same. So the next day we go for local side seeing and the following day we start our journey for the Madhuri Lake.

I must say, please be prepared for the painfully funny bumpy ride of about 27kms. 

A glimpse of the same :v

Nevertheless you will be amazed with the view of what i assume red moss/flowers covering most of the mountains and then the other lakes like PT. Tso, heart shaped lake, Bumla pass (if you are lucky enough with the road condition) and finally you will reach your destination. 

The Madhuri lake has a beautiful mountain in the backdrop that makes the view even more beautiful and the bumpy rides worthy. 

And guess what, they have a small canteen in there where the only options are maggi, "puri-sabji", tea and coffee but trust me on this even two plates of maggi at such a location is a beautiful experience. 

There was something about this place, the prayer flags, the dead trees, the wooden structure on the lake (primarily the selfie arena), the Madhuri point, the forever changing weather, all these things adds a mysterious notion to the place and I bet that you go back into your car with freshly restored energy for the bumpy ride back to Tawang.

Special mention to the army cafe that is present there at approximately 14000ft and serves hot coffee and maggi that somehow tastes far more delicious compared to the one that I otherwise get at Gate 2, Unitech (read office "para"), hard to understand what adds to the taste, the view, the weather, the courteous army people or just the fact that I am on leave and no mobile testing for the time being ! :D

Remember to try out the Butter Tea that they serve in Tawang. Just like KRK, you can like it, you can hate it but you cannot ignore it! For me, i liked it (not KRK, god No, the butter tea)!

Also as much as I hate to travel with a tour company, and other than my mom, there is no other reason for us to do this, but I must admit out of all such trips you do come back with new friends added to your friend-list and with a promise to meet some of them at a reunion may be, and on some times when you sit at your office desk doing the boring job that you are paid for, you do miss some of these people too (and of-course the memories) :)


To the Force Traveller without a carrier (inside joke) :D

The Half Frozen One...

Gorudongmar Lake: Gurudongmar Lake, is one of the highest lakes in the world and highest lakes in India , located at an altitude of 17,800 ft (5,430 m) in the Indian state of Sikkim.
-Yes correct, that's straight from wikipedia.
So I have been to Sikkim twice earlier and never heard about this one... It was only recently that people started suggesting this one and it got added to my "bucket list". So when at Hatari (an almost famous south Kolkata-n restaurant) the girl gang (meet PA1, PA2, AB, SD and AG) was celebrating my birthday, no actually let's put it this way, I was throwing a birthday treat (almost willingly :P), and somebody suddenly said in the midst of our main course, let's do a trip, I immediately came up with one of the google images for Gurudongmar Lake, and everyone seemed to agree. So there were 5 girls agreeing (yes, big deal it is!) on the location for our first Girl Vacation!

Now followed by months of planning, short-listing the packages provided and let's not forget the several meet-ups to discuss the multiple issues revolving primarily around application and rejection of leaves, we finally were waiting and Sealdah station, and waiting for our very own Darjeeling Mail to arrive. Now, I have a policy, whenever I think something to be too good to be true, I actually wait for the day when all of us are present at the boarding point, to be that this is actually happening (do refer to all the Goa plans' memes and you will understand my point). So it was actually happening for US!

Skipping the episode where we reached Gangtok and bought 5 litres multiplied by 10 crates of mineral water, yes, because we are fussy Bengali girls! And were made fun of at multiple occasions in all sorts of languages regionally possible..but guess what, we never ran out of water for the entire trip, so that's the point :D, and now fast-forwarding to us reaching Lachen, and realising that it's going to be a cold night! Nevertheless, I had my pseudo mommy (PA1) with me who carries her electric kettle everywhere so that she can instantly prepare maggi/soup to keep her baby (me) and herself warm, oh, and by the way, that's my sister! So there we were having soup and then out for a walk to try local beer/momo (Don't judge, food and vacation drives us primarily) And what do we do when we go too far to get momo and beer? Simple: we call our driver and ask him to pick us up, because again we are Bengali girls!

So next morning we are ready with our 5 layers of clothing including thermal and a coat of vaseline for the exposed areas, we start our journey to Gurudongmar. The roads don't really welcome us and it is a bumpy ride till we reach the last 5 KMS where the landscape is very similar to Ladakh and boom, out of nowhere there is this half frozen view and we cant believe that there we are!

Now multiple selfies, failed polaroid shots, me and one other friend decide that we are going down to touch the water. Let's just say we are the 'paka' ones of the lot and we go down the stairs and touch the freezing water and take multiple photos (coz, we are what?)of the prayer stones. Now after ascending the stair and almost feeling my heart in my mouth (take it slow, while attempting this one) just when we took a sit, AG came running to inform AB is almost dead... Nothing much to worry as that's typical AB, she gets sick in everything but we were at such high altitude that we did not want to take any risk, and so we started our journey back to Lachen with 4 girls and an almost dead-body whom we had put under the seat belt and who found comfort on the driver's shoulder!

The next day we moved to Lachung and then back to Gangtok to continue with the rest of the trip.

Now, while writing this, and while deciding on the next location for our Girl vacation number 2, do we realise what we (four girls and one almost dead-body) had achieved that morning! And we proudly flaunt that on our next FB/Whatsapp DeePees :v