Travel & Photography
You may not reproduce, upload, post, transmit, download or distribute any of the images from this website
All photos on this website are copyrighted and exclusive property of Kiran Chakravadhanula
 | Bheemeshwari We head out for a little trek in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. We start at the Cauvery Fishing Camp at Bheemeshwari, climb a hill to get to the watchtower and climb down to walk along the river back to camp. |
 | Murudeshwar Home to the worlds largest Shiva statue that sits on a hilltop sarrounded by the sea on three sides and a 20 floor modern gopura, Murudeshwar draws devout temple and beach-hopping crowds by the thousands. This is "Janata Beach" after 9am. We check into the RNS seaside hotel and are presented with splendid views of the ocean and the shoreline. The Shiva statue is amazingly beautiful and dominates the view wherever you are. |
 | Kodachadri We check into the temple town of Kollur after driving through some thick forests of the Mookambika National Park.
After a 90 minute bone jarring jeep ride to the mountain top, we catch the first sunrise of 2009 on Kodachadri Peak.
Kodachadri is also where Adi Sankaracharya did meditation. |
 | Maravanthe We pass by Maravanthe beach enroute Kollur from Udupi.
A nice tranquil beach with one resort and a fisherman village.
This famous stretch of NH-17 (National Highway) has the Arabian Sea on one side and the Sauparnika River on the other side. |
 | St Marys Island We take a ferry to the island which is geologically unique with its basalt rocks which have crystallized into whole columns and split into a horizontal mosaic.
A nice tranquil uninhabited island off Malpe beach very close to udupi town.
Spectacular views in all directions. |
 | Udupi We vist the temple town of Udupi famous for its Krishna temple founded by Saint Shri Madhvacharya.
A lovely old temple where the story of kanakana Kindi took place.
Udupi is also very famous for its cusine. |
 | Delhi to Leh Spectacular views of the Himalaya from high above.
This is one flight where inflight service can at times be distracting when you are so occupied taking in the view. |
 | Hemis The Hemis Monastery is undergoing some major renovation.
After spending little time inside the Monastery, we explore the area around Hemis.
We find a Kala Mata temple hidden amidst the trees.
We also find a large field of Mani stones. |
 | Wari la This is the new road to Nubra Valley.
Not as high perhaps as the Khardung La but very high none the less.
We drive through the picturesque villages of Chemrey and TakTok and climb the high road.
This is still a new road and since we had no plans on visiting Nubra valley we climb as high as there is good tarmac to 4450 metres.
On the way down we stroll a bit and spend time by a trickling little stream of melt water that would eventually feed the villages below.
|
 | Stakna Stakna may not be as famous as the Monasteries of Thicksey or Hemis.
But this monastery is right in the middle of the Indus valley along the Indus River.
From its balconies you get sweeping views of the Indus River, the valley and the mountains on both sides of the river.
At dusk, you can see the long shadow its casts on the neighbouring landscape stretching up to more than a kilometer.
Inside the monastery, things are very quiet with few visitors.
A place of great quiteness in the middle of all things yet above.
|
 | Matho Matho Monastery is undergoing renovation.
When we visited it we could see all the effort and material that goes into making a Monastery.
Perched much higher than Thicksey or Hemis it offers fantastic views of Matho village and sarrounding landscape.
Matho village is a very pretty little place. We got to stay at a lamas parents home. The lama himself was not allowed to stay there as he had to get back to Matho monastery. We got a firsthand experience of living with a Ladakhi family in a Ladhaki village.
|
 | Stok After visiting the Stok Palace we trek right into the Stok Kangri base camp trail.
Stok Kangri is a gentle three day climb to the mountain top and back. The season was out, the food tent at base camp closed. We pass by the owner of the food tent who was coming back down.
|
 | Along the Indus Pictures taken over multiple days as we drove along the river.
This is the Indus river or the Sindhu as it flows gently or in rapids between the mountains.
We find some beaches along the river. White sand and smoothly rounded rock.
We get off the road and climb down to a beach or two to get a closer view of the river.
|
 | Chilling This is the foot road to Lamayuru which would take a week for a local if they walked it up.
And they have been doing just that since ages on much narrower goat paths hanging precariously over the mountain surface.
The road we explored is a much wider road being newly built that runs parallel to the old goat path.
We also hear that many of these goat paths go a lot higher than the more popular high motorable roads.
Many of the paths are not on the tourist trail so not much is known about them to the civilised world.
But they exist all over the Himalaya which the locals have always been using to carry out their affairs even before tarmac first came to Ladakh in the 90's.
|
 | Mangyu We explore the 11th century aging Monastery of Mangyu after which we trek up to a neighbouring village.
We spend time by a stream after which we return along a water diversion which the villagers have created to channel water to the village of Mangyu.
Meera loved this walk absolutely and it was wonderful to notice the various moods in which the water flowed as we walked along.
|
 | Aang Aang is probably the prettiest village I have visited.
There is nothing much to do here except take in the wonderful views.
It is also the starting point of the Hemisthiksopan route.
A delightful diversion indeed.
|
 | Taklang la Taklang la is a high mountain pass reaching an elevation of 5359 metres or 17582 feet.
We spend some time at the highest point getting high on the rarefied air feeling so very elated with the elevation and all.
We are also driven to such ecstatic heights by a driver whose knowledge of Buddhism surpassed that of some of the lamas we have conversed with.
He would tell us several stories from Buddhist folklore sometimes looking all the way back from the wheel as we were driving up the high twisties just to know that we understood.
But we werent afraid as this mans faith was so unshakable that we knew we were in good hands.
|
 | Single Photos Single Photos from the trip.
|
 | Manhattan A whirlwind tour of all the things you gotta see and do. Times Square, Broadway, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Wall Street, NYSE, Adorama, Sarvana's Cafe |
 | Pangong Tso A spectacularly colourful high altitude brackish lake on the Indo China border. |
 | Khardung La Supposedly the highest motorable road in the world. We set out from Leh to cross the Khardung La pass reaching an altitude of 5359 metres to reach Nubra Valley. The highest point on the pass is called KTOP. A signboard warns us not to stay more than 30 minutes high up on the pass but we are stranded on the pass for more than hour and a half thanks to a high altitude traffic jam. But we are cool and dont feel any symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). We felt a little light headed though. The drive through Khardung La gives you splendid high elevation views of the Indus valley and Nubra Valley. Dont forget to have hot Maggi and Tea at South or North Pullu. |
 | Jomsom Muktinath Trek A scenic trek on the river bed of the Kali Gandaki in the upper Himalaya quite into the rain shadow region of Mustang and finally the holy piligrimage site of Muktinath. |