I started my journey at 6 PM from my office and headed in the direction of Kashmere Gate bus stand Delhi.
A little flash back...
[I inquired at the Uttrakhand State Transport office about any bus to Joshimath. The gentleman sitting on the other side replied, the bus leaves at 9 PM everyday for Joshimath.]
So to catch the bus, i left a bit early to keep some room for any last minute goof ups, as this was my first journey by state transport.
After reaching the UK bus stop i again inquired for the time, only to hear that there is no direct bus to Joshimath. I asked people there and concluded that i have to take the bus to Karnprayag and then take a shared taxi up to Joshimath.
As i was waiting for the bus, a guy named Vishnu came and sat next to me, we had a casual talk about where we were heading and luckily he was from Gopeshwar, a town near Chamoli. He suggested that instead of going to Karnprayag, go up to Chamoli in the bus and take a shared taxi for Joshimath, it would be much easier and time saving.
As he was the mountain guy accompanying me, so took his suggestion and boarded the bus for Chamoli.
We had a slow start because of the omnipresent traffic in Delhi and UP. Vishnu said, don't worry, its just a small stretch and then you will see the real heroism of UK drivers.
Road up to Meerut was good but as we crossed the Mujaffarnagar toll road, all hell broke loose. The road was in pathetic condition, with traffic going in all directions. If you love your car, don't take the hits on the shockers to your heart, or your heart will bleed to death.
And abruptly, the bus came to a halt, there was a long long traffic jam on the so called highway.
There was an inclined off road accompanying the main road. The inner stuntman of the driver woke up and he steered the bus left towards the slant. He drove the bus with furiously pumping the horn and he actually crossed about 2 kms long jam in just about 15 mins. God knows why everyone was waiting on the main road :P.
We touched Rishikesh at 2:45 in the morning and the driver loudly declared, so lo, kha lo, pi lo, bathroom ho aao, bus abhi 2 ghante yahi rukegi :D. This was because we cannot go further till the barricades are lifted for the traffic to flow beyond Rishikesh.
The journey beyond Rishikesh was good and beauty of UK was a bit too curvy. Roads up to Rudraprayag was good with some bad patches but after that the roads were in terrible condition with only a couple of acceptable patches.
I touched Chamoli at 11:30 AM and within a minute i found a shared taxi for Joshimath. It transported me to Joshimath in about 1.5 hrs. I said that i want to go to Auli via the Gondola or the cable car. The driver replied that the cable car is not functional because of some repair work, you have to take a taxi for Auli from the taxi stand.
I did a quick bargain with a driver at the taxi stand and without wasting any time, i began the lift uphill towards the Auli bugyal.
As i gained altitude, the snow covered gigantic peaks began showing up. I was so exited that i asked the driver, these all will be visible from Auli also, right? Because i could not afford to miss those peaks from my camera reel.
I Reached at the chair lift at 2:15PM, asked for the ticket, but the person said, we will not start the lift just for one person. There should be at least 2 tickets to start the lift. He suggested, wait for some time, maybe someone will join you, or if the lift starts for people coming down from the hill top, than you can climb up.
I waited for some time, thinking, if something doesn't happen in the next 10 minutes, than i will buy one more ticket and ask them to start the lift. Luckily the lift started to bring some tourists down and i hung up to the rolling chair.
This was one of the most wonderful rides of my life with nothing in between to obstruct the view of amazingly stunning Himalayan studs. Peaks like Trishul, Nanda Devi, Neelkanth, Dauna Giri etc. standing tall to welcome me after a long and tiring journey.
There was a man made lake at Auli, world's highest man made lake, as they say it, but its debatable though. The lake is fed by the melting ice and the lake water is used in turn to fed the snow guns mounted on the mountain slopes. If in case a ski season get lesser snow, than these snow guns are used to spray artificial snow on the bugyal slopes.
Time went past like a breeze in that intoxicating scenery. I was utterly excited, talking to myself, about the mountains, the beauty, the peace, the sparkle of the snow, the fragrance of the wind and thanking Allah, for blessing me with that visual treat.
I headed back to Joshimath and checked into a hotel room, kept my luggage there and ran to have some food. In that excitement, i even forgot that i had skipped my lunch.
In search of an omelette i entered in a restaurant, i asked an old lady at the counter, can i get an omelette and some chapatis? She said have a seat, i will make it. I was barely able to cope up with my hunger and was waiting for my delicacy to be served. Finally, after filling my tank up to the rim, i went to the bus stand to inquire about buses heading for Delhi or Rishikesh. After some inquiry with locals, i found the GMOU(Garhwal Motor Owners Union) office at the market. From there i booked a ticket for the bus leaving at 4 AM next morning up to Rishikesh.
Info:
- Distance Delhi to Auli - 492 kms
- Directions
- Road conditions:
- Delhi to Mujaffarnagar toll road - Good
- After Mujaffarnagar toll road - Pathetic
- Rishikesh to Rudraprayag - Good, with some bad patches
- Rudraprayag to Joshimath - Terrible, with some good patches
- Take the bus for Gopeshwar from Kashmere Gate ISBT - leaves at 8:30 PM
- UK State Transport Phone: 011 23860560
- Bus fare up to Chamoli - Rs. 530
- Bus arrives at Chamoli at ~11.30 AM
- Chamoli to Joshimath - shared taxi fare Rs. 80
- Return taxi fare for Joshimath to Auli - Rs. 800-1000
- Driver name: Jaideep
- Phone: 07895583884
- Stay options at Auli are quite expensive. Stay at Joshimath if doing a budgeted trip.
- For return, private buses leave in every half an hour for Rishikesh, staring 4 AM in the morning - fare Rs. 370
- Book the tickets in advance so that you can get the front seats.
- Tickets can be booked at the GMOU office (Ph: 01389 22102) in the Joshimath market near the Amar Ujala news paper outlet.
- Take a UK state transport bus from Rishikesh to Delhi - fare Rs. 245
- Arrives Delhi at ~8 PM
PS :- All fares and timings are based on 29th March 2014
