Yatra : Day 4, 5 - Two days Bus Travel to Dharchula from Delhi

Day 4 - Delhi to Almora by Bus - 01 July 2008

After spending first three days for preparation, it was time to move to next phase which was to travel by bus till Dharchula , a small Town at Border of India and Nepal besides River Kali which is accessible by bus only. We underwent initial Pooja and Aarti at Gujrati Samaj Sadan. Though Aarti etc. got performed early (atrating 4 a.m.) and all Yatris got ready in time, while loading on bus one gentleman's luggage got loaded but was not accounted for while loading (all luggage were numbered while packing and were being accounted for while loading by a group of volunteers responsible for luggage loading and unloading - Volunteers who formed Luggage Committee). That being the case gentleman and group of people had to search through luggage from all the buses, unload some luggage to look into every nook and corners of all luggage compartments. At the end it was located in one of buses luggage compartment. This whole process of loading, unloading for tracking a luggage and loading again delayed the start by about 1.5 hours. We ultimately left at 6:40 a.m (instead of leaving by 5 a.m.).

Bus journey on Day one was divided into two parts. In first part one set of Buses took Yatris to Kathgodam reaching Kathgodam at Lunch time. Lunch was served at Kathgodam as KMVN guest house. These Buses are typically big and comfortable. Buses move in plains during this time. In between we had a stopover at Gaziabad where Breakfast was served by a local felicitation committee followed grand breakfast. Ghaziabad DM was also present. Since we had started late, it was late by the time we reached Ghaziabad. After Ghaziabad stop over and lunch, we moved on to Kathgodam.

At Kathgodam another felicitation ceremony was held by a local group and KMVN

personnel.A group photo was taken for all the Yatris and gifts were presented. Photo is probably also published in local newspaper. It was followed by nice lunch by KMVN. Media persons were also there to cover the event, interview the Yatris etc. Journey till this place was uneventful. Fun starts from here as Hills start from here. To cater to that, we travel in smaller buses. SO at this place while we were having lunch and felicitation etc., Luggage committee was again busy in overseeing the shifting of luggage to new set of buses. During whole Kailash Yatra, (from day one) one gets to use the luggage in nights only. During daytime and journey time, luggage is handed over to various transporting personnel (porters or Bus folks). So one does not gets to see the luggage in the day time. It is a best to carry a small lightweight bag/backpack with oneself for carrying personal items like medicines, eatables, moneybag etc.

After lunch, we went and settled down on small size buses to carry our journey to next stop at Almora for night halt. We reached Almora quite late in night and could not really see and feel the city. Dinner arrangements and stay arrangements were at KMVN guest house at Almora. From Kathgodam to Almora, though it is hills, road still has reasonable amount of traffic. Some folks were having nausea especially there was not enough gap between Lunch and Bus travel in hilly region.

Almora being small town and town is asleep early with virtually no night life. Being late in night, it was time for rest especially when, next day, Buses were to leave before Sunrise.

Day 5 - Almora to Dharchula Bus - 02 July 2008

Left Almora very early morning. Could not see

the Surroundings around Almora as it was still dawn when left the town. Whatever little we could see was very beautiful and could not be captured in Camera. First stop was at Danyan for breakfast.

After Danyan, we continued on to Pithoragarh for lunch Stop. It is a beautiful journey with winding roads, lush green hills all round and occasional beautiful water falls.

Before Noon we reached at Pithoragarh where we had lunch at KMVN guest house. It is a beautiful guest house situated at very nice place with beautiful views..

From Pithoragarh, we left after lunch for Merthi. At Merthi we were given grand reception by ITBP (Indo Tibetian Border Police) team. They had arranged as welcome party consisting of local dance folks in colorful dresses. We were treated with tea, Aloo Pakoras made from a dried potato powder (which can be conserved for a long time at normal temperature - it was a present from the manufactureres as well) in nice environment. We were also presented Packed Potato Powder for us to carry with us for Yatra. We got to meet an Indian freedom fighter from the area (Only one I have met this century). Commander at Camp gave a nice presentation on the route we will take, do's and dont's of Yatra at high altitude, help ITBP will provide, how to safegaurd us etc.(ITBP personnel provide all the help, escort Yatris till China border, handover the Yatris to China military, Receive back from China Border, provide medical support and other logistics support). Overall this was the best reception and presentation before the Yatra. Conversation was crisp, to the point and pretty useful. Learned that while trekking if you inhale by mouth and exhale by nose, you would not get tired easily. Also synchronize walk with breath i.e. forward one step while inhaling and put forth another step while exhaling. When get tired, rest with legs at little height than rest of body. While resting, rest with your face towards the ongoing ourney (instead of facing backwards). To increase breath retention capacity, we played a game where one has to repeat "Bam Bam Bam" or "Guru Guru" as many times as one can say in single breath as loud as possible continuously. We learned that in this trek, one of the days trek is difficult with 700 mts of ascend in 3 Km (in terms of trek grading, most of the trek is smooth except for this stretch and another small stretch where it becomes little risky due to overhanging rocks, slippery stones and wetness present).
A nice group photo also taken at Merthi, which was embedded with names and presented to us by ITBP when we returned back from Yatra. This photo also reminded us how we looked before we started the Yatra and change in looks after Yatra. Due to high altitude trekking (Sun impacts the skin more at high altitudes), food availability, lack of sleep (at high altitude sleep is bit irregular) etc., looks of everyone changes.Merthi was the last place on Indian border side where mobile phone networks were available in 2008. So everyone was busy informing there near and dear ones about being out of reach for next few days. Though all throughout, there were paid telephonic facilities available (even in Tibet/China at base of Kailash Parvat).

After all the ceremonies at Merthi, we proceeded to Dharchula as the last stop by Bus for the day. Dharchula is also the last place where one can do any leftover shopping. We were given rooms at Dharchula in KMVN guest house, had nice bath (not knowing when we we will have nice shower bath next during Yatra). We had briefing from Liason Officer. We had to decide whether we want to hire a porter and Pony for travel till China border for next few days. A porter is not supposed to carry more than 5 Kgs of weight. A pony will not carry anything more than a person (not even person's backpack). So if one wants to travel on Pony, person should hire a porter as well. Porter and Pony owners are local people. Due to lack of any industries, offices etc., for many of them this is the only earning opportunity they have in the whole year. Due to high unemployment rate, there is large queue of people who want to render their services for Pony and Porter. Typically in 16 batches of KMY in a year, a probable porter/pony owner will have opportunity not more than once (or at most twice if lucky) if person in every group take up facilities of porter or Pony. Even though it was suggested for the sake of employment of poor people, that everyone must hire either a pony or porter even if they do not want to use it, not more than 50% folks ended up hiring a porter and/or Pony. One more reason for not taking Pony by many people were religious. Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is supposed to be very important "Teerth Yatra" (Religious joiurney, Some compare it with Haz). In such journey, there is a presumption that it must be covered on foot even if it is painful and uncomfortable. So many people did not Pony. I took up a porter and made arrangements to share a Pony with another fellow Yatri in case I have to use it. (Both of us did not use the Pony at all at the end of it). Rates for Pony and Porter are fixed by government. They are also given a license to be able to render their services based on their fitness, ability to render such service, behavior, economic condition etc.
Liason officer fixed up schedule for next day, briefed everyone about their duties (including various committees - luggage committee, finance committee, Kirthan committee etc.). This point on Liason Officer is the head of Yatris and Authority as well as responsible for safety of the group. He is like captain. ITBP, MEA, KMVN go by what Liason officer says. He also carries a satellite phone with him and provides a regular status update to Ministry of External Affairs. In case of emergency, he arranges for the safe pull-out of Yatris (In our batch one of the Ladies had suffered a fracture in Tibet/China during journey as she fell from Pony and hit a rock, she was air lifted from a ITBP base later to be brought to Delhi).
We were also asked to leave any extra stuff at Sharchula guest house which we could pick up on the way back. I left a bag with a clean pair of pants, shirt etc. to be worn on return journey. Took only as little as needed in a rucksack. Every person bag is weighed at this point and it should not cross a particular limit while going or coming (One should take care as while coming back, they would be carrying the water from Mansarovar which itself would weight anything between 2 Kgs to 10 Kgs depending on amount of water one brings on. Some people carry stones, soil and water from Kailash parvat also which also causes weight increase. Few also do some shopping in Tibet/China thus increasing the weight).
It is a good idea to check shoes and if necessary buy it at Dharchula. Another very useful item is M-seal which one should carry to seal the water container for carrying on the journey back. Dharchula is the place to buy if missed earlier. I also bought large (12 ft by 6 ft) strong trampoline/water proof canvas and big bundle of strong nylon rope from a nearby hardware store at Dharchula. I used that to pack my bag for journey with three four layers of canvas and tied from all sides with rope. That way it was ready for rough usage, highly water proof (to the extent that if you dip in water, inside belongings would not get wet). Bought M-Seal, extra torch batteries and few essentials at Dharchula.
Came to know that in 2008 year, route from Almora to Dharchula was changed to increase tourism and also to avoid possible landslides though route was longer and took more time than usual. In year 2008, out of 16 batches for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, batches no 1,2, 13,14,15,16 were canceled as China govt did not allow due to preparations for Beijing Olympics and Pro-Tibetian protests. One should take care not to carry any Pro-Tibetian material (like Dalai Lama photo or books) to avoid trouble at China side. After entering China, Chinese Custom officials ask and check luggage for the same.
Overall it was busy and hectic day. After dinner, had nice sleep. It was humid and quite cloudy when went to sleep. Later it rained whole night.