A walk in the Spice Garden

Kerala is know as The Land of God and The Land of Spices. In this post I am going to share my experience I had when I went to Thekkady, Kerala. Thekkady is considered a heaven for natural spices such as black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and clove. I visited two spice gardens and I would share the combined experiences of both. When I was coming from Munnar to Thekkady I was huge plantation of black pepper and cardamom by the road sides.

Black Pepper

 

 

 

 

 Black pepper grows on the vine which takes support from the nearing tree and climbs on it. When the seeds are unripe they are green in colour, when riped the colour changes to red and when dried they turn black. The different stages of the pepper describes its color like green ,black, red ,white, organge and use.The green pepper is dried unripe fruit, black pepper is cooked and dried unripe seed, white pepper is dries ripe seed and the red pepper is ripe seed.

Perrermint Grass

 Peppermint grass is widely used in chewing gums and as mouth freshner.

A kind of potato that grows above ground

Jackfruit

Coco Tree with unripe fruits

 Coco seed are separated from the ripe fruit to make coco powder. It is favorite fruit of rats also. Once the fruit ripe rats climb up the tree to eat fruit.

Vanilla Stick

The mouthwatering vanilla essence is made from these vanilla sticks. These are processed at different temperature and go through a lot of processing before becoming vanilla flavor we eat.

Cinnamon tree with fruit

The fruits are used once dried. The bark of the tree trunk is peeled of and dried, it is the cinnamon stick.

Flowering tree

This flowering tree in common language is know as "yesterday,today,tomorrow" as the flowers on the tree changes their colour everyday.

Rose Apple

 Rose Apple is the common name of the fruit. It got its name from its appearance.

Flowering tree

The various shapes and sizes of green chillies-

Chilli round in shape

Chilli

 

Chilli

A big size Okra

Green Brinjal

Green Pineapple

Red Pineapple

Coffee beans

Cardamom plantation

Cardamom

Cardamon plantation requires humid weather and lot of water for its irrigation. Farmers usually have wells or water body near to their cardamom plantation so that it don't get spoiled due to lack of water. The green cardamom from the plant is dried up at high temperature before being used.
 

Season's First Snowfall

Winters are gone and this season of December 2012 whole North India had intense cold weather but even after that snowfall is something that one enjoys with full enthusiasm . In December 2012 on 9th I started my journey to the beautiful hill station Manali, Himachal Pradesh via road in our car from Gurgaon. This was the first me and my family decided to go to Manali by driving ourselves. The experience was unique as we haven't had such experience till date. The distance between Gurgaon to Manali is 419 km and takes around 10-12 hours driving on your own. The best route is NH-8 followed by NH-1 followed by NH-21. Here the twist came, as we were following the GPS system on the tablet we got confused with the route and after NH-1 we headed to NH-22 and than NH-21A instead of NH-21. The route which we followed was Gurgaon-Delhi-Panipat-Ambala-Chandighar-Baddi-Nalaghar-Swarghat-Bilaspur-Mandi-Kullu-Manali. On the way to Delhi To Ambala there are many rice factories, almost all big brand names of Basmati rice, and also one can see the quick developments that are taking place in Haryana. The road is good and journey becomes comfortable with basic necessities like good Dhabas and hotels available on the road side.Till Chandighar the route was ok and the road was also. Here we took the wrong turn following the GPS instead of going on NH-21 we directed our route to NH-22 than NH-21A. From Chandighar we headed to Baddi than to Nalaghar, the road between the two was in ok condition but after Nalaghar till Swarghat i.e. NH-21A the journey was terrible. The road condition was very bad or I should say there was not proper road at all. From Baddi hills had started, so it was hilly road, one side big hill and the other side steep valley. There was a patch of about approx. 20 km which had no road , it was full of mud, big stones and sharp curves. The car was moving at 5-10 km per hour. We started off the bad patch at 4:30 pm and it took more than 3 hours to cover the distance of approx. 20 km to reach Swarghat NH-21. Soon it became dark and driving on a unreconstructed road on a hill, with hardly any traffic, was really scary at that time. When we reached Swarghat ,our terrible journey came to an end. Swarghat can be considerded the middle point between Delhi and Manali, so we had reached only half the way. From Swarghat we continued on NH-21 to Bilaspur. As it was already dark by the time we reached Bilaspur and we were tired of our journey, we decided to stay overnight in The Lake View Bilaspur Hotel. It was situated on the main road and on the banks of the famous Bilaspur Lake. We had our quick dinner and went to sleep.


The best Route I found out was

Delhi NH-1(Grand Trunk Road)-97 km, time take approx. 1 hr 50 min, NH-1-Panipat-117 km time taken approx. 2 hr-Ambala-Continue on NH 1 after Ambala - Check for the right turn before Chandighar-Take right turn -26.4 km, time taken approx. 28 min- Banur - continue on Kharar Banur highway SH4 -21.4 km time taken approx. 24 min- Kharar - 12.2 km, time taken approx. 15 min, NH-21 - Kurali - 18.2 km time taken approx. 22 min, NH-21-Rupnagar - 10 km, time taken approx.13 min, NH-21-take right towards Ghanauli - 9 km, time taken approx. 9 min, NH-21-Bharatgarh -33 km, time taken approx. 33 min, NH-21- Swarghat -40 km, time taken approx. 37 min, NH-21 -Bilaspur-69 km, time taken approx. 3 hr, NH-21- Mandi-63 km, time taken approx.3 hr NH-21 -Kullu- 40 km, time taken approx. 1.2 hr, NH-21 -Manali.

Next morning on 10th December we started off from Bilaspur to Manali. In the day light The Bilaspur Lake looks very beautiful. Its a very big lake in the heart of big hill. Even there are ferries as transportation for the locals of the area.

Bilaspur Lake

 From Bilaspur journey becomes quite adventurous on the hills. We moved ahead having beautiful view of the mountains and valley along the side of river Beas. Moving through Mandi, Bhantur(the airport on the hills, most near to Kullu and Manali) ,Kullu, we reached Manali after 5-6 hours of journey.

 There are many hotels in Manali, initially we wish to stay at a hotel which is at the Mall Road so that we can enjoy the street life of the Mall road from morning till night. But since we had our car so we decided to stay in a hotel which has car parking space. We stayed at Sagar Resorts at Hidimba Road. The Hotel was spacious, the rooms were good and it has got a beautiful garden also. We had beautiful view of the mountains through our room's big window. Since it was late afternoon and we were bit tired of the journey, we had late lunch and took rest. In the evening we went to the Mall Road by auto. We had been to Manali before also, we found that there was nothing much changed except the renovation of the Mall Road was going on. I don't know the present condition but I guess it would have been completed by now. Roaming till late we had dinner at Sher-e-Punjab, Mall Road. We got the auto to get back to our hotel. We got to bed and got ready to explore Manali from tomorrow.

In the morning on 11th December when I got up I was a bit disappointed as the rain which started in the night took a bad form of heavy rainfall and we were forced to stay in our room due to heavy showers. But I was happy also because rains in winters are the invitation of snowfall so I was expecting something good out of it but when I had no clue.

Early Morning

 
 It was around 11 am , the rain had not stopped but heavy showers had. So we decided to go out. Initially we thought  we could manage the weather but once we stepped out of the hotel ,rain was difficult to wear and we didn't have any raincoat or umbrella. So the first thing we did as soon as we stepped out of hotel compound was we bought an umbrella from the shop just outside the hotel compound. The first thing we decided to visit was Hidimba Temple, the auto was not available at that time, so we had two options for that, one either we walk to the Temple or we can take stairs to the Temple which were a few steps ahead. We opted for the second option and took stairs. I don't exactly remember the number of stairs but I guess they would be around hundred or more. One thing I noticed when I started from stairs was that the locals who pass by those stairs touch those stairs and pray and than they move ahead on their way. This shows how much faith locals have in the Hidimba Temple. Since the stairs were on the mountain they were big and we had no initial practice to counter them, so after every ten steps we had to stop for breath and than move forward. It was so tiring and we were exhausted badly. There was around 20 steps left when we saw a local coming down the stairs, the first question we asked was how many steps still left to climb, he laughed a us and informed about 20. The second question we asked was when will snowfall take place. He said it is already snow falling and than we realized, in climbing the steps we forget to notice that the rain drops had thicken and were converted to snow. We were exhausted but all our exhaustion was overcome by some sort of new energy we got as we saw the Season's First Snowfall exactly happening in front of our eyes, rain drops thickening and changing to snow. It acted as glucose for our exhausted bodies. I had seen snow many times but this was a unique experience. By the time we reached the Temple by climbing those 20 so stairs it was already snow falling in full swing and we were really very happy about it. 

Hidimba Temple

 We visited the Hidimba Temple and than Ghatotkacha Temple and spend few hours in the Temple compound enjoying the snowfall of course with regular intake of tea from local vendors. We decided to see the snowfall on the Mall Road so we an auto to Mall Road. Down on the Hidimba Road we met heavy traffic and the road was blocked with vehicles, we came to know reason was continuous rain from night. So we left the auto and walk towards Mall Road. Today we did some shopping which included lather gloves, yak wool caps, yak wool socks and snow shoes to counter the weather. We had late lunch on the Mall Road, after that we returned back to hotel just to notice that our red car was beautifully covered with white snow. By the time we reached hotel snow had stopped and the trees, mountains, houses were covered with snow.We spent the late afternoon time in the hotel garden and compound enjoying the snow. 

The day was fantastic and we enjoyed every bit of it. After sunset, well we didn't see sun on that day, so after dark we went to the Mall Road for the regular stroll. Had dinner at the same place as yesterday and returned around 10 pm in the night.
 The night was over and it was a new morning of 12th December and the golden sun greeted the valley. 

The weather was good with white snow all around and bright sun in the sky. Today was our adventure day so we decided to go to Solang Valley. We hired a cab for the purpose as it was difficult for us to drive in such conditions. I would recommended that even if you go to a hill station by your car , use or hire a local taxi or cab with local driver for the local sightseeing. Its really very difficult to drive on ice cl-added road, the vehicle has a tendency to skid on the road, the ice on the road through s the vehicle back.So for a safer and enjoyable trip hire a local driver. Having breakfast at the hotel we started around 10 am in the morning. on the way to Solang Valley there are hundreds of shops which offers snow suits,snow shoes ,snow gloves, skiing kit and also guide. The hiring prices are very high so you need to be a good bargainer otherwise you might end up paying high price for the things, you might feel end of the day are not that worth. But you definitely need these things to enjoy so go for the best offer you get as there are hundreds of shops.From one of the shops we took these and moved towards the Solang Valley. On the way we came across few places where shootings of various films had been done. The view all around was fantastic. In the Solang Valley there is a big flat ground where all the activities takes place and that is the center of attraction there, visitors come to enjoy theirs time at that ground. 

Solang Valley Ground

 We were also heading to that only. About 1 km before the Valley we met heavy traffic ,the reason was road was covered with yesterday's snow and the vehicles were not able to move forward as the was skidding. We spent about half an hour there in the car or say wasted half an hour. There I came to know that 4 by 4 vehicles are recommended on snow land as they dont skid and move safely. Locals use that 4 by 4 scooter. There were few locals who were offering their scooters for hire to reach the Valley but of course at high price. If you want to enjoy in limited budget you really need to negotiate well. We hired a scooter to the Valley, for about less than a kilometer it cost us 500 rupees. But I must admit it paid off as the drive was fantastic and I enjoyed every bit of. on reaching the Solang Valley ground I took the ride of the scooter myself. 

After the ride it was the time for Skiing class. Never done before so it was totally a new experience for us. Our guide was there to help us, he helped us with putting the shoes and giving basic skiing lessons. Initially it was even difficult to stand and move a step without the guide holding us but after a little practice I was able to ski myself alone for few distance. I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Me learning Skiing

 There were other activities also like paragliding, horse riding, yak riding, tube sliding etc. But the thing which exited me the most way the rope way, so I decided to go to the top of the mountain on the rope way. 

Ropeway Station

 The rope way experience was also very good, on the route it appears that we were moving vertically up, it was fantastic. On reaching the top we found there was just one restaurant that that too had limited menu. We were a bit hungry so we ordered maggie, veg pakoras, tea and a water bottle, of course at high price. After our little lunch we spent a couple of hours there enjoying the snow ground. 

By the early evening sun went behind the big mountain and we decided to come down as I wanted to do Skiing once more before its sunset. Coming down the rope way experience was equally good as going up. When we reached down I found that the snow had gone, well the snow had melted ,reasons: the bright sun, different sports activities, hundreds of people moving on it. Snow melted and the ground had turned into the muddy ground at many places. I had to drop the idea of skiing again and I was bit disappointed with that. 

The next thing I did was horse riding ,not on the ground but in the mountain area of the Solang Valley. The sun was so quick in hiding that by the time I reach the half way there was no trace of sun in the sky. I enjoyed the horse ride. On the ride I saw the last village on the mountain, the power station, the deep valley and the Rohtang Pass.

The Valley

The Village

Paragliding in action

  The Rohtang Pass is covered with snow throughout the year.The Rohtang Pass is closed in winters due to heavy snow and it is open for the visitors in the summers. Since the sun had disappeared it was dark in the Valley and also the snow had turned into the mud so we decided to come back from the Valley. Once left the Valley and coming down for a few kilometers we could see sun playing hide and seek with the clouds and the mountains. 

On our way back to Manali we visited the famous Vasistha Temple, famous for its natural hot springs. Photography was not allowed there. By the time we visited the Temple it was dark and we headed to our hotel. Tried of the day's activities we spent the evening in the hotel and had dinner in the hotel itself and our one more fantastic day ended in Manali.

The next i.e. 13th December we decided to give up for shopping for our family and friends because without shopping no trip is complete. So we visited the interiors of the city in order to get good stuff at reasonable prices. After a good window shopping at various places, we ended up buying yak wool socks, yak wool caps, couple of half coats, woolen caps and shawls. While we were shopping on the Mall Road we came across a group of local people performing some religious rituals. Some sort of Yatra been carried out, the God idol was been taken in the palki and people were playing local instruments and drums in front of it. Me along with other visitors to the place was keenly watching it and the locals who were not moving with the Yatra were coming forward and pray to the idol.

It was good. After shopping we came back to hotel to take some rest and decided to go for our regular stroll to Mall Road after dark. It was dark early as the sky was already covered with the dark clouds. While we were roaming it started raining and could notice the less number of autos available. So we hurried up and moved back to the hotel. Soon the rainfall had turned into snowfall. We need to move our car from the open parking to the porch of the hotel. On the same day we encountered power cut problem, being an Indian that is not new to me but the reason was definitely new. We were informed that it was due to heavy snowfall and if the weather continues like this it will last long, how long no one knows. We had quick dinner and went early to bed to avoid any consequences. The valley had heavy snowfall all the night.

Next morning 14th December snowfall had stopped, it was a feet snow on the ground and everything was covered in the snow.

The views all around were amazing.We stepped out the hotel to weather, it was superb, excellent views wherever you see. We had not gone anywhere but just in the hotel compound. There were a few tourists who came to Manali like us in their own cars who were returning. They were facing huge problem in revesing the car, getting it started and moving on the snow covered road. Watching them, we got tensed because next we had to go back to Gurgaon. The locals informed us that if it snowfall today also than more snow would been on the road and it would be more difficult to move out the next day. We were very worried but later decided to enjoy the day. We figured out every possibility like hiring a driver till Kullu, taking help of crane, etc. so that we don't face any issues next day. Since snow was all around we had no other option but to stay in the hotel premises. After midday the sun was seen escaping through the dark clouds but it didn't succeed much and after some time the sky was again covered with dark clouds. The thing was it didn't snowfall. When the sun came for sometime and the snow on the road melted a little we went to the Mall Road. Everywhere it was snow or melting snow water. People were enjoying the snow ,playing with the snow and making snowman. 

After having lunch on the Mall Road we returned back to hotel. It was cloudy throughout the day so for the rest of the day we stayed in hotel premises and made our different forms of snowman and different structures in the garden. Thats how the day ended.
I was very happy when I woke up the next morning on 15th December as the bright sun had greeted the valley and snow had also melted, of course not till the extent we were expecting.

The Sun Rising

The Beas Dam

River Beas

 We had breakfast it was the time for us to leave Manali but there was still some snow left on the road. So the hotel staff helped us and provided with a driver till the Mall Road so that we didn't face much problem. It was a good trip. We started at 10 am. Returning back we followed the right route and reached Gurgaon the same day. On the way we stopped at the Beas Dam ,Swarghat for lunch and at a restaurant between Ambala and Panipat. The journey was comfortable till the point we reached Delhi and met heavy Delhi traffic.