Conquering Bukhansan - Full Info, an easy way

This happens to be my first trek in Seoul, Capital of South Korea.
Bukhansan made it to my list as the first choice to  trek, and that  i should be going there, for 2 reasons:
1) Its the tallest peak in Seoul
2) Its very famous, as it has its place in Guinness Book of world records for highest number of visitors per square foot.

I will cover every details, from how to reach, to what to expect.
The place to reach is Bukhansan National Park, and the peak lies within the park.
Among the massive subway network of Seoul, reach out for Line number 3, and get down at Gupabal Station.
At Gupabal, take exit number 1, and come out of the gate. You don't need to cross the road, there itself the bus stop is located, catch any of the 34/704/8772 bus, and get down at Bukhasan National Park stop.

Well that's about it. Walk straight, and you're at the entrance of the Bukhansan National Park.

The Entrance of the Park

In fact to much of the distance to Baegundae Peak(The actual name of the Bukhansan Peak) the road is paved, something like this:

En-route a place to Sit and Relax

After some time, you would be walking through stones, and normal wooden ladders.

Keep an Eye, for boards such as these while going towards Baegundae Peak

En-route some of the interesting views which I happened to capture

After you're close to the top, thats when things start to get a little interesting.
The climb is steep, sometimes very steep. There are iron ropes to hold, and pull your self up

And now, that you've made it to the top, what you get is a breath taking view of SEOUL

Then at the base, there is North Face, and Red Face.... thought it was funny :)

Well that's about it... let me know how was you're experience.
If you are in Seoul, I think its a place which should be in you're list of things to do, you won't be dissapointed.

My Bungee Jump - My Moment of Freedom

Landed up in Rishikesh at around 7am, armed with my to-do list of things in this holy city, and most of the information obtained from Internet i started planning to get started. But cheez, the list begins with the dreaded Bungee jump, which also happens to be the tallest in India :0
A friend told me that, he had in the past tried twice, but couldn't get through, because of over-booking. So i called them up at 7:30am, and asked them to book a seat for me, their office would open up at 8AM.
Had a cold coffee, don't know why, but it was ridiculously hot and humid in Rishikesh. Way more than Mumbai I'd say.
On reaching office, i made some enquiry regarding the Jump, safety, and most important, what if i don't jump. A lady in their office told, its all non-refundable if you get onto the platform, however if you just see and decide not to do, then you can have you're money back.
Till that time, i hadn't thought about quitting, so i made the payment, and waited for their 9AM shuttle to the site.
With some Nervousness i boarded the Bus. We reached the site in some time.
Got all the formalities done, as in signed the document, that i am solely responsible for this stupid act, and I didn't listen to people who tried putting some sense into me, before going in for this free fall jump from 83 Meters height.
He wrote the color code of the bungee cord on my left hand based upon my weight.
Waited for few other folks to finish there, and there on we started to go towards the jump location.
Hold on, Hold on, lets just go a little slow from here on, you know like each and every information or thought i had in minute details, so that you can have the feeling i had over there :)
After a 5 mins walk, we reached the cantilever bridge, and guess what our's is the first batch of brave hearts going for the jump, Bingo :)
So how am i feeling ??, well Blank to be Honest.
Now, they have different weight category, i.e. they use different bungee cords for people having weight in different range.  So the first one to be used is 60-80kgs, and i belong to that range.
He wrote the jump number on my right hand, which is 3, that means I'd jump at number 3.
Now its my turn to go to the platform.
We walked to the platform. The crew asked me to Sit, and he fastened all the necessary belts on me.
They make you practice the lean act that you're supposed to do during the jump.
One is free you're hand, and just lean out, and the other is hold you're belts near chest, and lean out. I liked the free you're hand and leaning out one.

Matthew: The platform is so silent today, play some music.

And they started playing some English music, which at best was irritating me at that moment.

Crew1: How are you feeling Ashutosh ?
Me: I am nervous
Crew 1: Hey no need to be nervous, it happens with everyone since its you're first jump
Me: Is this Safe ??
Crew 1: Absolutely buddy, i myself have done this more than a 100 times.

Now Matthew calls me over to the platform for the jump.

Matthew: Whats you're name buddy
Me: Ashutosh
Matthew: And how are you feeling today Ashutosh ?
Me: Well I am very nervous
Matthew: Oh yes it happens, but trust me there is nothing to be nervous about

He checks all my cables and belts, asks me to put my spectacles in a case which he gave me.

Matthew: Please move you're toe ahead
Me: No No No No ..........
Matthew: Ashutosh Ashutosh its perfectly fine, just spread you're hands
Me: No i don't want to jump, its too high, and there is no water down there
Matthew: Its perfectly safe Ashutosh, you don't really have to worry, just don't look down
Me: I am trembling Matthew, I don't want to do this (Fuck the Money, I can't put myself for this its what i thought)
Matthew: Ashutosh, look at the yellow board over there, do not look down.
Me: I can't see it without my glasses
Matthew: Ok, then look straight but not down. Just remember when you had put you're hard earned money on the table for doing this dare act, you really wanted to do this.

I thought of asking him for some water, but then decided against it.
I moved my toe a few mm ahead

Me: I am scared Matthew, i don't want to do this.
Matthew: The more time you give to yourself, the more negative thought stops
                 you from doing it. Looking at you i can say, you're heart wants to
                 take the jump, but you're mind is stopping you.
Me: Ok, can you give me a push
Matthew: No Ashutosh, this is you're leap of faith moment, you're freedom,
                have the trust, and make the jump, i really cannot push you.
                No, don't bend you're knees, just lean out.
Me: Ok, start the countdown
Matthew:One, Two, Three, Bungee !!!!
And I Jumped !!!
I was airborne after it.
I didn't close my eyes. It hardly takes 1 or 2 seconds for you to feel the pull by the cord.
Once you get the pull, all the fear vanishes away.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaa............ I am not going to Die, it's working !!!!!, WoooooooooHooooooooooooo..............

I just did my first Bungee, yahoooooooooooo...............!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crew at the ground offered me a pole to hold, so that they can control my swinging.
They gave me a bottle of water, and damn i was so thirsty, i drank it all.

I walked from there to the office. It was crazy hot.
Collected my baggage, collected the Video from their office, and Sat for some time, as my return bus would start after 30mins.
Asked one the employee to click a picture of mine with the certificate.

I was feeling so pumped up, damn i did this suicide act.

I sat in the bus, and doozed off.

So what was the most difficult part in it, well definitely it has to be leaning out. Rest everything is manageable.

Now if anyone says oh i wasn't scared at all, its just a simple Jump, is lying.
Only people who aren't scared are the one's whose job is to do this.
It's not some everyday act, so please be brave to accept, yes you were scared.

Did i win over fear or anything like that, Naah, at that moment I just jumped. I don't really know if I will do this act comfortably next time. But yes, next time, I will do it AGAIN !!!!

So this is it from my end, Happy Bungee people, it's one heck of an experience worth having.
Here's My Bungee Video

K2S - The famous Katraj to Sinhagad Night Trek

If you're in Pune, and have a keen interest in trekking, then there is a high possibility that you must have heard about the famous K2S.

I am felling proud of myself, and for my group of 8 friends for having successfully nailed this - why so, hmm, to be frank it is not an easily doable kind of an outing, as in you don't need any special equipments for doing this, but it kind of tests you're patience to the core.

I was toying with the idea of experiencing the night trek, and what better than K2S. So during a lunch, i explained about this to a bunch of people in office, and as expected, almost instantly without even asking for details, my friends were more than willing to do it.
Gosh, don't know why, but we vella's are always so very ready to go anywhere without even knowing any detail. A senile person would have done atleast some research regarding the place, and required paraphernalia, but nope, we're invincible - bring it on baby, we're ready for any shit.
So the draft was set - start friday night from office itself, and go to respective homes on saturday morning.

Things needed:
1)Torches : compulsory, no torch no trek as simple as that.
2)Water : please don't expect that you will get water en-route the jungle that
   we will be trespassing.
3)Food : Same reason as above.
4)Gatorade: Not exactly required, but a blessing to have, you will find out why :-)

8 of us assembled at Katraj, well past 9PM. However if you're serious about finishing this trek by early morning, plan to start you're trek by 8:30-9PM.
From Katraj, we boarded a milk van to reach the starting point of the old tunnel :-)
However the driver suggested to start after crossing the tunnel. The route is pretty simple, get on top of the tunnel, search for a bunch of lights on top of the mountain - Ahh!!! that's my target, rightly put in as simple words as possible. There is no route, plan, map needed. 
However there is one catch, the target appears far, and by all means yes it is.
You will be passing around 15 hills, and for each of them, there is only one rule, peak to peak.
When we started ascending our first mountain over katraj old tunnel, we asked for Waghjai temple, located at top of the first hill.
We couldn't locate it, but as i said, all you need to locate from that hill is a bunch of lights on top of a mountain, so there is no chance of getting lost.

The view from our first mountain top was mesmerizing. It's such, on right hand side you have old tunnel, and on left hand side, its the new one.We will be crossing over the new one.
The city lights look beautiful. One side is Pune, looks like a sea of lights, and the other side is Shirwal, connecting them is NH4, looks like flowing lava.

Pune in Night

Thankfully to our good luck, the moon was very bright, in fact at many places, while walking over plateau, we even used to switch our torches off.
Now the first hill itself gave us a fair idea of what to expect. Firstly its not all rocky, so a little tricky. None of us were aware about what to expect, or how the route will be. 
When we reached the mountain top, i couldn't locate a proper route for descend, and the one which was available was very steep, almost like a fall. I was not sure if this is the route that we need to follow, so we started searching for help on maps, but alas, you don't get signal on mountain top - a good lesson to learn, do your homework first.

To our luck, we saw a group of people at the bottom of that same hill, it appeared to be around 40-50 people group. Which means, even they are here doing K2S, but in a group of this size.
Seeing no other route, we started our descend, and managed to reach the bottom of the first hill.
Ok, so the first one itself was this difficult, what do i expect from the other 14 left.
Meanwhile the group which was ahead of us, started ascending the other hill, and was almost disappearing behind the second hill.
So we raced to be with them.
Passing a few of the other hills was not as demanding as the first one, infact very easy.
Soon, we reached the group which was ahead of us.
Now these are 47 people big group from Alfa Laval. Having participant from all age group, it was but natural for them to go easy. We bid them good bye, and left them, while they were having food.

Now most of the hills were tricky, skidding is inevitable. You will skid no matter how cautious you are, everyone among us had bruised palms at the end of the trek.

Having done the first hill in top to bottom way, we were mentally a lot prepared to repeat this on other hills too, and this is exactly what is need top-bottom-top.

At 3AM we took our first official break. Took a nap, ate lots of food, drank lots of water, and started from there on.

Lack of sleep started to show its effect on everyone, and it manifested in our speed, and the number of breaks that we were taking.

Our destination Sinhagad Fort in morning, still a lot to cover

The sun started to show up, and we are still far from our destiny. My concern was, being summer we have to manage to reach Sinhagad by 8AM, otherwise it will be very difficult to even walk, the sun will be very harsh on us. I started pushing others to hurry up, atleast lets make it to the road by 6AM, but nope, the destination is still far away, and their are atleast a couple of more hills, even to make it to the road which goes towards Sinhagad.

  

So finally at 8AM, we reached the road junction.
Here Ashish gave up, and decided to hop on a vehicle and will meet us at Sinhagad.
The other 7 started walking albeit at an excruciatingly slow pace. The terrain had taken a toll over us.
Every muscle was aching.
We were strolling on the roads like drunkards. We took 1 hour, 15 mins, to cover 4 kms :-)  and we made it to the Sinhagad only at 9AM. So the trek took us 10 hours, 30 minutes to complete.
Ideally it should not take such long, but we are here for leisure trek, not competitive.

Had a heart full breakfast, enjoyed the moment, which felt as an achievement.
Started our return journey. 
But someday i will do this again, but to get the timings under 8 hours, anyone interested ???

Khadakwasla Dam Back Waters

Images - Special thanks to my budding photographer friend Manoj for some really amazing pics, more can be found at http://500px.com/manojhukeri
And for the other good pics courtesy my nexus4, i am a no good photographer, i seriously lack the patience required for taking nice pics :-)

A cute love story ...

I never believed in love stories, so bollywood movies were definitely not my taste. Arrange marriages never made sense to me, however love onces did made some, for a very obvious reason you at least know the person well enough to decide to spend your entire life with her.

Being single means freedom, carelessness, and so i made up my mind, never will i ever fall for anyone.

Other reason why i kept myself distant from the love bug - i felt its more of satiating your hormones, more of a duty, than it has anything to do with heart.

So there was I, just like most of you, living in my own world.

This incident happened a long time ago, then why have i decided to write about it now ???

Well i never had a thought about penning it down till just a few hours ago, and now i am going all crazy to finish this off, and share it with everyone.

This is a real incident, 100% true, i might have forgotten all the details but still, will attempt to be as close as possible to the one told to me. Names used are also fictitious.

I was on my regular Bangalore-Mumbai train journey, which is generally boring and uneventful.
I had upper berth, below mine there was this cute Gujrati couple - husband, wife and their cute little naughty daughter must have been 3-4 years then.
Gujratis are arguably the most friendly people, just strike a conversation with them, and they'll open up in no time, chatting with you just like a long lost friend.
I was playing with the little girl, her dad was trying to teach her something, but she wasn't interested.

There was something striking about this couple, i mean generally what i have seen, a married couple, after 5-6 years of marriage, they don't have the charm left in their relation, but here was this couple, they both were talking continuously with each other, the guy helping her with food and all, in short i was able to notice the affection still alive.

After talking with them for a couple of hours, the guy said, they are heading for a marriage somewhere in Gujrat, he couldn't get the direct train, so now they are travelling via Mumbai.
He told me, their marriage is 8 year old !!! and was literally called of, but somehow it went through, and now they're together.
Here's his version:

Previously we were living in Nagpur, there my family has our own business. We're into carpentering business. My marriage was fixed with Rani,
it was an arrange marriage.
But just 1 week before my marriage, Rani was doing something on 4th floor of their building, and suddenly, the stool on which she was standing tilted.
  -- She slipped from it, and fell from the 4th floor on her back.
Didn't damage her skull, but below her neck, many of her bones were fractured.
A completely shattered backbone, her chances of survival where very slim.
They rushed to the doctor, but he said, treatment cost would be very high, moreover chances of survival is very slim.
My father in law said, she had this in her fate, it's better if you move on and cancel the marriage.
I asked my FIL, had this incident happened after marriage, would he recommend the same ?
He went blank, i said my marriage is fixed with Rani, i have decided to spend my life with her, now no matter what happens, i am not going to loose her like this.
He asked the docs to go ahead, and start the treatment.
To his luck, a very senior spine specialist was visiting the Nagpur city for some ceremony. The moment he figured the news, he rushed to him.
Pleaded, told him his entire story, and asked for help.
The doctor decided to help.
An operation was scheduled.(i don't remember how many hours it went)
I used to visit her daily, when she was in hospital.
Helped her to walk again.
It took more than a year for her to recover.
Our marriage was conducted with hardly any glitz what it had at first instance.
My family accepted her readily, we were very happy.
But due to her medicines, she was not keeping very good health.
Doctors said, she needs to stay in some cooler place, so i decided to move down to Bangalore, here my cousin has his own business.
I joined with him, but now i have my own.

I was stunned, it sounded filmy, but then why would this guy bluff and make a story when i am a total stranger and have absolutely no business with him. I might in fact never even see him again.
I had to believe his story. And their chemistry, it manifested how much they cherished each others company, not just the guy, but the lady too.

Our journey came to and end, we all got down at Dadar, i bid  them a good bye, have to confess they left an impression on me.
After meeting them i wonder why is it that couples treat each other more as a burden rather than complementing and completing each other.
Why don't they cherish the same affection which they had when their relation was new.
People might argue, as relation gets old, people loose the interest, but if that is so, then why does a mother don't stop loving her kids after they get old ???
Why do people cling to their belongings even when they get old.
Why hobbies continue right from childhood to old age.
Many questions no answers, but one thing is for sure, they forced me to change the way i see.

TORNA FORT - Combination of Heavy rains, windy, shivering cold, aching thighs = Super awesome experience

A good trek on a long weekend, is kind of a perfect combination, which doesn't happen quite frequently in reality.
So when this EID, when we had a day leave on Friday, 6 of us decided, to put it to some good use - Lets go to Torna Fort.

The news that we're going for trek, came as a shocker to me, i already had plans to visit my home. Ahh.. but these mountains and rains, got over the better part of me, and I ended up skipping my home visit, and opting to spend the night on top of the mountains in freezing cold, wet in rains, putting every muscle to work, leaving my warm bed, lots of coffee, and my ebook at home.

So the crooked plan goes like this:
1) Start very late from pune.
2) Start climbing mountain, reach the fort by evening
3) Spend the night in a temple
4) Start early morning from there.

Although a word of wisdom - this is practically a one day trip.
Reach the village early morning, go up, come back, catch the bus and reach Pune.

So 7 of us assembled at Swargate bus station, to board the bus to Velha, scheduled for 12PM.
But our friend was running behind schedule, and reached station on 12:30PM
Luckily the bus got late, and we didn't have to wait much, and we got the 12PM bus.
The road is good till Nasrapur, but after that till Velha, is just like any typical village road, POTHOLED.
The Velha village must be around 65KM to be precise from Pune, so if you're planning to go by bikes, that can be done, ample parking space is available besides velha police station.

Alright, so we reached the village by 2:30PM, had our lunch and we started climbing by 3:30PM.

map

The climb is of mediocre nature in terms of difficulty, coupled with a breathtaking view. Enough to give an adrenaline rush.
You don't need any special mountaineering equipments, but definitely a big NO-NO for weak hearted people, since at two places the climb does gets difficult.

My Gang, two of them are coming 

This shrub was looking so good

entrance of the fort

jailed !!!

shiv mandir

It took us 2:30 Hours to reach the top of the mountain, where the Mengai Devi Temple is situated, the place where we were planning to stay in night.

Mengai Devi Mandir

                                              

It was almost 7 in evening, the rain was our constant companion right till the time we reached top.
We changed in to dry clothes, had something to eat, and man it started getting colder and colder as time was passing.
The mist was making everything damp, it was raining kind of heavily outside, almost it rained heavily throughout the night.

No jerkin, can keep you protected in that kind of cold, and half prepared most of were planning to brave this chilling night.

So after making lot of adjustments, we slept.
Manoj's china made USB lights, was our only source of illumination inside the temple.
For entertainment, again Manoj's bought from china radio, with inbuilt woofer, digital display, expandable memory, inbuilt MP3(am i missing any other feature ?) came to our rescue which was surprisingly tuning to Mumbai radio station.

No one's cellphone was working, in short ZERO connectivity at top, so people who are planning to go, please inform you're dear ones in advance.

Now the night ......
We were having stuff to wear and protect ourselves from cold, but the flooring, damn it was of stone, and always so so cold. Infact it never got warm.
We didn't had enough covers to spread on ground, so the result, sleepless night, with continuous teeth chattering.

We had a company of naughty mice in night, who took away some of our food, and gave goose bumps to almost everyone.

Shivaji's Picture, i must admit
      never have i seen till now, such an intense picture of his

The morning ......
Got up at 7AM, and boy it was still raining with almost zero visibility outside.
We started our descend at around 9AM.

Morning Pic !!!

                                              

Our situation while descend, cannot be explained better than this proverb:
"khudi ko kar buland itna chadha woh upar jaise taise.............
 khudi ko kar buland itna chadha woh upar jaise taise.............
ke khuda ne hi puch liya, abbe aab utharega kaise .................."

Had our set of tough time dealing with descend, and dodging tricky winds,
mud, puddle, stones, etc.etc.

Enroute we met a group of school children(10th standard) who came there for their excursion.
I am tempted to say, teachers you must have definitely gone out of your mind to bring 130 students to this kind of place.

I had a shoe bite during descend, Gaurav had a mild slip, must say was looking like "dharti ka putr" was red due to soil.

While reaching the village, we decided to take a small diversion, and decided to pass through a small stream of water, hmm wont say it was a river, but looked like one.

Descend took almost 3 Hours !!!
Had a heart filled lunch, and started our return Journey.

Phewwwwwwwwwwwww .............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Name Change done in property tax

I had a tough time finding online information regarding getting this task done.
So here is the detailed process:
Once the property has been registered in your name, it is necessary to get the name changed in bi-yearly property tax.

Following are the documents required:
1) A notorized (true copy) of your agreement, which states that you are now the
    new owner. (Please do not forget the Index 2)
2) NOC from Society
3) Copy of the latest tax receipt.
4) Copy of latest tax paid receipt (If paid through check, then attested bank statement).

Take all these documents to a Khestriya Karyalay. (eg: Hadapsar Khestriya Karyalay near Sabji Mandi, opposite to Bank of Baroda Pune)
Now the process says:
1) Submit these documents, get NOC for Rs.25. The NOC will be issued by them
     after 3-4 days
2) Submit the NOC along with a transfer fee, which depends upon your property
    price, which is generally around 1300-1500.
3) After 3-4 months you will get an acknowledgement stating that the name
   change has been done.

How ever once you visit the office, you will be greeted by many overwhelmingly
helping employees, who will take all your documents, compile and will ask for  Rs.2500 to get everything done in 10-15 days.
Once you agree, without even getting in payment queue, he will get you the receipt for NOC, and transfer charges, all things done in 10 mins flat.
You will be informed, and can collect the acknowledgement in 10-15 days time.

The choice of which way to proceed among the two depends upon your personal preference.

Death By Chocolate --- Live By It's name

Ok, so this one is an off track topic, but i felt its worth sharing.
So having heard a lot about this chocolate ice-cream here in Bangalore, it tempted me to go and try this atleast once.
So i somehow convinced my friend, and the following evening we ended up in J.P.Nagar's Corner House, its located close to Big Bazaar.
Ordered one cup of it, since i had doubt whether will I be able to finish it up, so didn't want to take chance, so sharing it seemed a good idea.
Our order was prepared within seconds, i guess corner house is pretty famous for this item, as we saw many were having the same.
Haaaaaaaaaaa............. few initial spoons tasted so damn good, probably that's the reason why all chocolate lover drool over to this place.
It's basically a mix of nuts(groundnut), lots of chocolate sauce, fudge, and little vanilla.
Sauce, and nut tasted good, but after some time, i was finding it really difficult to gulp down, every spoon of chocolate going in my mouth.
During our struggle time to finish the DBC(Short for death by chocolate, that's how it's known here), adjacent to our table, two young ladies, bought two cups of DBC and were enjoying it.

At this moment, definitely the girls were more interesting than the DBC left in our cup, which two boys, were pushing to each other, and unable to finish.

We didn't notice, but the girls did a great job, finished the same, without any difficulty, and left the place.
I literally felt like to applaud their courage, maybe for me it was a courageous act, here i was feeling nauseated by even the site of it, and they managed to finish it, so damn easily.
Anyways back to our struggle, after some argument with my friend, I ate last spoon of it, so did he, and here i gave up, with no intention left to finish the remaining chocolate left in the cup.needless to say, we ended up wasting it, not much, but yes we couldn't completely finish it clean like the ladies.

Coming out of the restaurant, i was feeling like to vomit, told my friend that i badly  need something to eat, which will subside this taste of choc.
We ate two plates of pani poori each, followed by extra spicy fried rice in dinner.
After this act, i didn't eat chocolate for another one month.
I don't know what to conclude, whether to recommend anyone or not ?
Whether girls can stuff in more chocolate than boys can do ?
 but i guess it is worth a try, after all i enjoyed it at the beginning, with no doubt it live up to its name, but definitely first attempt people, don't try it alone, you never know, when chocolate might kill you (After all its DEATH BY CHOCOLATE).