The Snowfall Expedition #Lockdown

First of all.. What is "The Snowfall Expedition"? It is the combination of 1 Ola, 1 Metro, 2 Trains, 3 City Buses, 3 Intercity Buses, 3 Host Families, more than 5 Bucket List Items, 6 Cities, 6 Nights/7 Days & lots of lots of love from old & new friends & familes...

As the name suggests, it was an expedition to see snowfall ... So, let's go to the itinerary direct.

We took the train from our hometown, 'The Spiritual Capital of India : Varanasi' to 'The Capital of India : New Delhi'.

After a chilly overnight journey in Indian Railways, we reached New Delhi at around 07 am... The weather was good... And it looks like, It was just rained... After refreshing at the New Delhi Railway Station Platform, we set off our foot to the exit and then to the Kashmere Gate ISBT (Bus Station)...

But as soon as we got exit... It started raining again... So with all that weight on our backs (BTW, Our = me & my bestfriend Abhijeet aka my crime partner, my travel partner)... Ok, where were we? Oh yeah, weight on our backs... We already checked with the locals, from where we can get bus for ISBT, they said we have to cross the flyover to get the bus... We rushed and started running with the heavy bags in the heavy showers... It actually feels a little good at that time... We took the bus and reached ISBT... It was a little early, so, we took a little rest in the ISBT area... After some relaxation, we located the bus for Dehradun and took it and in on time (actually 6 hours), we were in Dehradun...

And what Dehradun welcomed us with? Rain.

It was like, becoming a habit on this trip, to welcome us in every new city with rain... It feels good again.. but we were kinda stuck under the flyover Just outside the DEHRADUN ISBT, waiting for the city bus to Badowala (where our host: friend of friend, a local resident of Dehradun : Saurabh, waiting for us).

When the rain got Little slow, we rushed and catch the city bus... by getting wet, again.

We reached Badowala, and in no time, our host also came, and took us into his 🏠...

That night had became one of the coldest night of our life till now... Because we were so wet, from all the rain from the day to evening, we were literally shivering, even after covering ourselves with blankets, provided by our host.

Overnight in Dehradun.

After a chilly & rainy night in Dehradun... We wake up to something magical... The fogg are gone and we can clearly see the snow capped mountains from the place we stayed (Saurabh's house) in Badowala, Dehradun.

We had a little late start, so, after packing and unpacking necessary & unnecessary things, we left for Chakrata... Our original plan was to visit Dhanaulti & Yamunotri, but it can't be possible due to heavy snowfall during previous days & road blockage. So, we choose Chakrata... Saurabh, then arranged a bike for the road trip. After filling petrol full tank, we departed to the destination...

"Drive Bike in Himalayas / Road Trip in Himalayas"
☝️ Bucket List Item crossed off. In this Expedition,

This was the first road trip & with that, we have experienced the most scenic roads of our life till now. Crossing the snow capped mountains, with dusty and curvy roads. I can say, it was one of the best experience of our life.

On about 5 kms from Chakrata, we were stopped by the road blockage due to  heavy snowfall ahead, on contacting a person in Chakrata, we came to know, that Chakrata is totally blocked and can't be reached.

Where we stopped, that's also covered in snow, but not that heavy... So, we safely parked our bikes on roadside, after skidding and slipping on the roads (it was fun, but scary too), we captured some shots, recorded some moments, smoked some weeds and crossed an item from bucket list (See Snow)

While on the urge of our adrenaline, standing there, we experienced, one of the coldest or i can say, literally the most coldest moments of our life... We were covered with snowy background, temperature were minimum... Our hands were shaking, fingers trying hard, the blood flow feels decreasing... we were trying hard to even click a photo... Battery drying fast... We were clicking photos and recording videos by plugging the powerbank... One of the thing that I like was: Jio was giving us full support, network strength were good on that height... we video called our parents, to show them snow (that they never got a chance to see in past)...

If i talk about the cold again, i mean, i had seen chilly weather on the triund top (with the wet clothes); Abhijeet had visited Kashmir...
But, this... This was literally a next level for us...
We both wore 3 Socks, for the first time in our life...
Abhijeet, even wore, 2 Sweaters and 1 Heavy Jacket for precautions.

We rode back to Dehradun, after spending coldest afternoon of our life...

We set off late, so, we rode back late. It got dark after half an hour of our departure from outskirts of Chakrata. We did dinner on the way back on some road side dhabas. When we reached home, we just dropped our body to the bed, and it got totally lost, we have no idea, when we slept.

After a good sleep, we woke early, we had no idea, where these bodies were setting off today, but because of the local friend 'Saurabh', we planned and just set off for another city, this time, for a famous one, 'The Queen Of Hills - Mussoorie', we had enough petrol, so we didn't needed a stop at petrol station, after some few kilometres, and gaining some height we stopped at a local cafe between Mussoorie & Dehradun... We ate 'Maggi -  the breakfast/lunch/dinner of mountains' & drink lemon tea... while reading some local news about Mussoorie... Abhijeet was more focused on the news rather than me... He found an article stating that the snow falling this year/season has broken a 10 year record... Most roads are blocked... Tourists are locked... It was kind of good news for us... Because the more snow, the more our hearts are fulfilled...

After some time, we started again...
While driving some kilometres and gaining some heights, we found a road going down to some fall, we unexpectedly followed that road... & next moment, what happened, we just crossed another item from our bucket list... 'Ziplining'...

We were totally unaware of that fall 'Bhutta Falls'... On arrival, we found that the falls had converted into a small amusement park... It has Cable Car Ride, Water Walking Ball, Ziplining, some cafes, etc etc... Water Walking Ball was something new to us... So, we tried it... it was really hard, one will need a lot of stamina for that... After that, we started planning for Ziplining (with some hesitation)... I mean if we look at that height, it kind of seems scary at that time... But after building some courage, we completed it & just wanted to try again...

Our friend Saurabh had visited the famous kempty falls too... but according to him, he recommends Bhutta Falls as comparison to Kempty Falls...

After the adventure, we were back on the Road...as we were entering into Mussoorie outskirts, we found that, just like us, many tourists-travellers were urging to complete their Snowfall expedition... Everyone wants to see the snow... We were welcomed by huge traffic jam of tourists going to & returning from Mussoorie. It's like some apocalypse movie scene, where everyone just wanted to move forward... They were stuck in those jams for hours, they started partying with music and cokes on the roadside. The roads were wet with previous night snowfall and the bikes & cars were skidding.

It's all happening just because It's the queen of hills, literally, what can u expect? & It's the ON season too.

We had bikes, so, we didn't face that much of problems in comparison to the cars & big vehicles. We just sliding, criss crossing from the jams... And, in no time, we were in Mussoorie.

First of all, if you're coming to Mussoorie by own vehicle, be ready to pay some road/environment tax on arrival at Mussoorie.

After paying the tax, and some research/exploration for parking location, we found one, and parked our bikes... Then we started exploring the city by foot...

Mussoorie amazed me a lot...

We captured some shots , recorded some moments, purchased some winter clothes, ate some expensive lunch, had coffee at CCD (yeah, u heard it, Cafe Coffee Day on that height, it surprised me).

It seemed like the shop owners were living the golden days... they were on their high peak with the arrival of good amount of tourists... They were selling things higher than usual (in terms of quantity and earning, both).

We explored the city for few hours, as this was the last snow city of our trip.

We drove back to Dehradun... We came down early, before even sunset... We had some Bhutta & Chicken Soup on the way back.

And at evening, we were at the house, relaxing & managing photos & videos of the journey.

It's kind of free day in Dehradun, until, unless...

The Original Plan: Varanasi - New Delhi - Dehradun - Dhanaulti - Yamunotri - Dehradun - New Delhi - Varanasi

What to do? Original Plan are made to be changed.

Modified Plan: Varanasi - New Delhi - Dehradun - Chakrata - Dehradun - Mussoorie - Dehradun - Agra - ? ? ?

Yeah, you got it, after finding that there was a bus available for Agra, we changed our original plan and took the overnight bus for Agra...

(Earlier in the afternoon, we explored Dehradun a little bit... FRI & Clock Tower etc.)

After a chilly overnight Non-AC Bus Ride, we reached Agra early morning...

Had a little rest in the Agra Bus Station, got a little refreshed, and started planning the day, after some discussion & research, we planned only Taj, Agra Fort & Akbar's Tomb; the main attractions.

We got Auto, without much effort, for the Wonder of the World.

When we reached the Taj, it was like a dream coming true, what we heard, what we saw, what the traveller's first moto in India.... We were soon gonna experience it....

We walked a long way, submitted our heavy bags in the chargeable cloak room, purchased the tickets, passed through security... and boom... we were in inside complex.

The important thing that i noticed is that... the more you go nearer to the Taj, the more it becomes magical and beautiful.

We spent atleast 2 hours in the complex, taking pictures, recording moments, researching the pages of history, talking about Mughals... And etc etc.

We then exited, had some nutritious breakfast (chanas... 😁) on the way back to cloak room.

Took our bags, and proceeded to Agra Fort.

In the Agra Fort, we faced the same entry method... Cloak room, tickets, security.... After the entrance, we were surrounded by the group of guides... wanted us to book one of them. After lots and lots of negative responses from our side... They kept coming at us... At last, we have to hire one of them & soon, started listening his knowledge about the fort... He took us from deep history to some romantic history to some brutal history... He also took us to some photo points where (according to him) the photos come good.

After looking history, we brought ourselves to the last stoppage and the last attraction of our halt in Agra... 'Tomb of Akbar'

When we reached, Akbar's Tomb, we were so tired, literally, so tired, that we were just hanging by a thread... We just needed a good sleep... Anyways, we explored the attraction... while thinking about the Akbar's Stories, we heard in our childhood...

He just lies there... the one who almost conquered the whole India... 😔

In between this whole Agra Trip, we were frequently looking for the trains availability, for our hometown, and the results were always coming negative. We found that there were seats from Lucknow, so we booked instantly with the fear that it too will be lost.

So, after Akbar's Tomb, we proceeded to Lucknow via State Intercity Bus...

We reached Lucknow around 11 PM, the metros were closed, the city buses were closed... and we still hadn't figured out our stay.

We looked our contacts, and try contacting a friend (our classmate Pushpendra... He's a local resident of Lucknow), in the hope that he's at home, and would pick up our call. And it works... he accepted to host us without a little hesitation, he even booked a taxi for us that seemed very expensive to us...

And next moment, we were having a home made dinner in a comfy bed... with warm blankets around...

It definitely became an emotional moment for both of us...

So, overnight in Pushpendra's house, in Lucknow.

After a cozy night, we woke up to a family breakfast, then, we get started what we usually do when we end up in a new city... Planning, making the itinerary... so, while making the itinerary, we got to know that, our friend-cum-host had to go to his job (winter Internship)... and he can't say no to them...

We were discussing on how we're gonna explore the city... Then we saw a Scooty in the friend's house, we asked Pushpendra about it. He said it's his. And, after that, we asked him one more favor, "can we borrow it for a day?" He said Yes, without a hesitation (another hospitality from his side)... He said, it's not in use for the day, so we can take it.

He left for his job, and we explored Lucknow like never before... We went to British Residency, Bada Imambara, Rumi Darwaza... etc...

Our last stoppage was Bada Imambara, and we were literally facing some very hard tiredness.
We were sitting on the roof of Bhool Bhulaiyaa... and thinking about the lovely and amazing moments in this backpacking trip...
And, we got so tired that, we had to cancel rest of the items on the list of attractions to visit in Lucknow.

We want some entertainment... so, after a thought, we booked a movie, nearest to Pushpendra's house... because we also had to catch the train on time...

We watched it... And on the way back, we got a call from Pushpendra, saying that he is back from his job and waiting for us at metro station near his home.

We reached and picked him up... and went to his home, had some rest, then started packing things for the final & last train journey of The Snowfall Expedition.

While getting ready, we got to know that, Pushpendra's mother was making us the dinner (it was like, a family away from home, we got a little emotional)... we ate the dinner, and left for the Charbagh railway station...

We took the train... And the journey ends with lots of lots of amazing and beautiful memories.

So, This is all... Tell us, do you like our story?