Published by Shivam Singh
on 10th April, 2021
Visited 6-7th March, 2021
– You should avoid travel during Covid.
– Are you mad, it’s risky, why are you going?
– Wait for 4-5 months more before any travel.
These are the statements that every traveler must be hearing these days right from the planning phase until you start your journey. We were also experiencing the same behavior from others.
Working with an IT company in Noida and currently operating from home since last 1 year due to Covid, we were desperately looking for some breather. Our last trip was almost a year ago in Feb-2020 to Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve.
After much hustle-bustle and negotiations within the team, we finalized the dates 6-7th March (a weekend) to which 14 team members agreed. But as you all can relate, at the end only 8 people finally went to the trip, which was still above our expectations.
Mode of Travel
Rishikesh, 250 Km from New Delhi can be best reached via self-drive or a taxi (tempo-traveler is most preferred by teams) in 6-7 hours.
Other options are standard/luxury buses and flight (nearest airport is Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun).
Least preferred option is train, and interestingly we choose to go by train only. Reason being both to-n-fro journey was planned during night hours and tempo-traveler becomes hectic at times.
Rishikesh has a small railway station (not well connected by trains). So we had to choose between Haridwar (25 km) and Dehradun (45 km).
After much brain-storming, we finally booked 1AC tickets in Nanda-Devi Express from Delhi till Dehradun (1350/- per person) and return in 2AC (850/- per person) from Dehradun in the same train, as we wanted to explore Dehradun as well on 2nd day.
This train departs from Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi at 11:45 PM and reaches Dehradun at 4:50 AM via Haridwar (3:55 AM).
During return, train starts from Dehradun at 10:50 PM and reaches Delhi at 4:35 AM.
Benefits We Thought of Train Travel: Comfortable, Spacious, Able to sleep, Washroom availability, No Worries of Traffic, Safe During Night Travel
The Journey:
Our first meeting point was Delhi Railway Station. There were 3 new joiners accompanying us on the trip as well, the excitement level was so high that we all were at the station much before 11 PM for 11:45 Pm train.
Having our faces covered with mask, it was an identification parade for the new team members. Interestingly, next point of discussion was the huge difference between the size of our bags. I was carrying the biggest and another guy Deepak was having 1/10th of my bag’s size.
30-40 mins passed just like that.
Soon, train arrived before time and quickly we occupied our 1-AC cabins. The train was half empty due to Covid.
Knowing the new people is always fun. We spent next 2 hours eating, drinking, chatting and it looked like a never ending party but had to sleep as next day’s schedule was bit busy.
Our eyes opened to shouts (courtesy Deepak and Avishek) to get down from train as we reached Dehradun early morning right time at 4:45 AM. It was a comfortable 4 hours sleep for me at least. Outside, it was still dark, after spending 20-25 minutes at the station waiting room to freshen up, all of us had tea just outside station (except one who was worried of early morning pressure post tea).
From there, we booked two taxi till our resort (66 km) along with 2 hours stopover at Laxman Jhula for view and breakfast. Taxis were Swift Desire in Rs 1800 each.
Roads were empty during early morning and we were at Laxman Jhula within 50 mins at 8:00 AM.
Plan was to do breakfast at the famous Freedom Cafe which opens at 9:00 AM on the other side of the bridge.
Laxman Jhoola
Built-in 1929, this 450 feet long and 6 feet wide suspension bridge is soon to be closed permanently once the replacement bridge is built parallel to it. This is due to its deteriorating condition and two wheelers are already banned on the bridge.
Interestingly this bridge connects two villages of different districts on either side. One side is Tapovan which falls in Tehri Garhwal district and other side is Jonk falling in Pauri Garhwal district.
Almost everyone of us had visited this place atleast once but it never looses its charm and during morning hours with less crowd, it was icing on the cake. We spent the next 1 hour clicking photographs here and there to pass the time before the cafe opened.
Om Freedom Cafe
This was our pre-selected cafe for satisfying our tummies because of its exceptional reviews, view and food. The cafe’s setting gives you the perfect views of Ganga, Lakshman Jhoola and the mighty Himalayas.
Build like a treehouse cafe in a two-storey structure, allowing you to either sit indoors on the carpet floor or at outdoor sitting area.
Along with the super yummy food and polite staff, the location is famous for its interiors. If you are near Laxman Jhula, this place is worth a visit.
We were so lost at the cafe and the food that our taxi driver had to call 4 times to return back since we already crossed the agreed waiting time.
While going back towards taxi stand, one of our colleague (Vijay) couldn’t find his wallet carrying all his cards, license and money. After doing some back-tracing, luckily he found it safe and secure with a lady sitting near the river bank with his small stall, where my colleague (a photo-freak) kept it while getting his pictures clicked.
VNA Beach Resort
We finally reached our pre-booked resort at 10:30 AM. Our very first reaction looking at the view and location of the resort was WOW. After getting down on the road (at make-shift parking), you have to cross a suspension bridge to reach the resort on the other side of the river.
This resort is located 20 km from Rishikesh on the Badrinath Highway and has an option for accommodation in both tents and normal rooms.
Be very careful while booking your stay at any resort/hotel/camps, most of them advertise as a river side property but in actual you will find just a small stream flowing later into the river. The actual fun is staying at a proper river side resort with private beach.
VNA Beach Resort is a complete package in all terms.
There is no reception at this resort but you will find someone waiting for you at a canopy to do the entries and show you the rooms/tents.
We were greeted with “buransh juice” which is famous everywhere in Uttarakhand. Soon we settled in our rooms and within 30 minutes were ready for jumping into the river. We were given life-jackets, rope and lots of instructions. The water was icy cold but our josh was very high.
Last I went to Rishikesh 9 years back in 2012 and stayed at a river-side temporary camp site with similar beach. I along with others invented lots of jumps during that time which I recalled and gave a try to all of them this time as well.
It was a success in all terms with an added advantage of slow-motion video capability in our phones which we used to the fullest extent.
After fun-filled 90 minutes, we came back to our rooms, took bath followed by buffet lunch.
Another corporate team staying at the same resort challenged us for a cricket match with bet money of Rs 100. We thought, discussed and sensing a sure loss disagreed initially. But later agreed after their repeated requests, and interestingly won the match at the end easily.
Our intent and motivation was totally zero when we started playing but the turning point was the superb catch taken by our manager Sweta (the only female with us during the trip and also in the match) on the 5th ball of the first over fielding at the boundary. We were super charged after that and at the end won comfortably winning 100 rupees which was used to buy cold drinks later.
Other activities at the resort included Flying Disk, Rock Climbing, Monkey Bridge, Commando-Net, Rappeling, guided Jungle Walk and above all Rafting.
Bonfire was arranged in the evening with tea followed by snacks. Resort was full with guests and evening was nicely spent with open-air sitting arrangement with food and music.
Day 2
We got up and had early morning tea/biscuits followed by buffet breakfast. The river was too tempting and once again we decided to jump into the water before we leave.
Weather was amazingly awesome which was making the view more beautiful. Clicked lots of pictures and slow-motion videos.
After checkout, our plan was to visit “Neer Waterfall” on the way and “Beatles Ashram” in Rishikesh before heading to Dehradun for “Robbers Cave” followed by a drop at the railway station in the night.
Two colleagues decided to go back directly from here as Dehradun would have been opposite to their location. We were left with 6 people and booked Innova in Rs 4000 for rest of the day.
Neer Waterfall
We were on time and checked-out at 12:00 PM before moving towards Neer Waterfall which was on a 2 km uphill drive from main road while going towards Rishikesh. You can take bath in the fall, have maggi/juice at any of the make-shift stalls next to the fall and click photographs on the small scenic bridge across the fall.
If you are short on time, this place can be avoided. There is an entry fee of Rs 30 for this place.
Beatles Ashram (we skipped it)
Next in our list was Beatles Ashram near Janaki Setu but unfortunately we had to skip it. Being a Sunday, traffic was huge in Rishikesh and we thought to save time for Robber’s Cave in Dehradun. Our driver also suggested the same.
You should spare some time to visit this scenic place which was initially called as “International Academy of Meditation” in 1960s and 70s.
In 1968, the famous rock band “The Beatles” came here to learn meditation, post which this place gained popularity and later was nicknamed accordingly.
This place was abandoned in 1990s and since then acts as a tourist attraction.
We were on our way to Dehradun now, stopped at a random restaurant for some snacks only (as we decided for a gala dinner in night). But soon ended up eating everything & anything that came on our table and by the time we finished, we were aware that gala will be removed from our tonight’s dinner 🙂
We reached Robber’s Cave at around 5 PM.
Robber’s Cave
Locally known as Gucchupani, it is a 600 metres long natural cave formation inside which a river flows. We saw two waterfalls inside the cave, one can be seen from ground floor and for other bigger one you have to climb on a rocky path above (kind of first floor).
The entire area is scenic and you will end up filling your mobile with huge number of photographs. Wear waterproof sleepers/sandles or else you can rent one from there.
It was late evening now and our next stop was the railway station. We still had 2+ hours to pass, so we decided to sit at any of the good coffee shop in the market, found Barista soon. All of us were so tired that we were lying half-dead on the sofa holding our cold-coffee glasses.
Next we went to MacD on the opposite side of the road to get burgers packed for our dinner.
Taxi was booked till 11 PM and we took full advantage of it, got dropped at the station around 10 PM where once again half empty train was waiting for us. We took our seats, got ourselves comfortable, fooled each other in card game “bluffmaster”, had our burgers and slept peacefully.
Train reached Delhi on time in the morning, we bid goodbye to each other and left for our homes with our long lasting beautiful trip memories. and a promise for our next trip soon.
Keep Travelling…
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2 Comments
Abhishek · June 14, 2021 at 10:24 am
Nice trip
Inspired me again to pack bag post civid
I got to this page tracking you from raj comics page
Have a great day
Shivam Singh · June 16, 2021 at 12:50 am
Good to know..Raj Comics page is giving me publicity. 🙂
Thanks for the feedback. Plan and enjoy your’s post covid.