Let me tell you guys - all of you who have been tricked into KGL saying that it is going to be easy, moderate or easy-to-moderate. Trust me this one is not easy. It is crazy. I am not trying to scare any of you or make you change your plans, but be prepared for some really challenging high-altitude experience which has some breathtaking/amazing/spellbinding landscape. It is good if you can complete a couple of weekend treks, have a good lung capacity and manage to keep your knees as strong as you can before you get started with KGL trek.
Without further ado, I will break down the details of KGL trek day by day. As mentioned in my previous blog, I was part of a KGL-turned-Tarsar-Marsar group, which means we had a 7 day schedule and not 8.
Day 0 - Praying to all Gods possible and leaving for Bangalore Kempegowda Airport.
Once we settle down in the aircraft, our eyes (mine and hubby's) scan for co-passengers wearing Quechua shoes. There we spot 2 guys and we confirm that we have found 2 of our KGL trek mates. Introducing Swaraaj and Naseem. After landing in the Srinagar airport, we meet Shikha whose energy levels boost my peanut sized confidence. Together we get into the Sumo provided by India Hikes, pickup Anurag and PD (who look a lot more fit/confident than all of us) and head towards Sonmarg. Our driver is speeding as if all of us are dieing to see the base camp! This sort of scares us as we are not interested in this almost-killing-cab experience. On the way the driver stops at The Waterfall Punjabi Dhaba. We get to eat some really yummy Rajma Chaval and Paranthas. I sort of get carried away by the food (which later affected me). The highlight of this day is Sind River. I got pretty excited on seeing this river as I was named Sindhu (used only in my hometown) based on Sind River.
Almost 4hrs into the drive, our driver abruptly stops in an unknown place and says here is your destination. I'm expecting the base camp to have a roof. But here we see nothing around us. Paying the driver, we pickup our rucksacks and start our trek towards base camp! Soon we reach a spot which has this really bright orange colored tents which make us believe that we have found our base camp. Yes we are right. We get to chose our own tents and within minutes our documents are verified. We are soon introduced to our trek leader Dushyant. He sounded really confident and more STRICT! Looks like we are now a group of 31 people. A bunch who had dared to register for KGL in the first place and a bunch who had hoped for an easier Tarsar-Masar trek but now merging with the KGL group.
After the briefing by Dushyant, I quickly checkout the toilets - this is what has been worrying me the most! After having a really filling dinner and making a quick call to parents, we both decide to go to sleep. We need to get up at 5am the next day!!!!!
Without further ado, I will break down the details of KGL trek day by day. As mentioned in my previous blog, I was part of a KGL-turned-Tarsar-Marsar group, which means we had a 7 day schedule and not 8.
Day 0 - Praying to all Gods possible and leaving for Bangalore Kempegowda Airport.
Once we settle down in the aircraft, our eyes (mine and hubby's) scan for co-passengers wearing Quechua shoes. There we spot 2 guys and we confirm that we have found 2 of our KGL trek mates. Introducing Swaraaj and Naseem. After landing in the Srinagar airport, we meet Shikha whose energy levels boost my peanut sized confidence. Together we get into the Sumo provided by India Hikes, pickup Anurag and PD (who look a lot more fit/confident than all of us) and head towards Sonmarg. Our driver is speeding as if all of us are dieing to see the base camp! This sort of scares us as we are not interested in this almost-killing-cab experience. On the way the driver stops at The Waterfall Punjabi Dhaba. We get to eat some really yummy Rajma Chaval and Paranthas. I sort of get carried away by the food (which later affected me). The highlight of this day is Sind River. I got pretty excited on seeing this river as I was named Sindhu (used only in my hometown) based on Sind River.
Almost 4hrs into the drive, our driver abruptly stops in an unknown place and says here is your destination. I'm expecting the base camp to have a roof. But here we see nothing around us. Paying the driver, we pickup our rucksacks and start our trek towards base camp! Soon we reach a spot which has this really bright orange colored tents which make us believe that we have found our base camp. Yes we are right. We get to chose our own tents and within minutes our documents are verified. We are soon introduced to our trek leader Dushyant. He sounded really confident and more STRICT! Looks like we are now a group of 31 people. A bunch who had dared to register for KGL in the first place and a bunch who had hoped for an easier Tarsar-Masar trek but now merging with the KGL group.
After the briefing by Dushyant, I quickly checkout the toilets - this is what has been worrying me the most! After having a really filling dinner and making a quick call to parents, we both decide to go to sleep. We need to get up at 5am the next day!!!!!
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