Yogesh Sarkar's Blog

Back from trip to Sariska

Yogesh Sarkar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:22:17 +0000

Yesterday I went on a day trip to the Sariska National Park in Rajasthan. Though I couldn’t spot a tiger, but did managed to see plenty of other wild life and managed to capture quite a few photographs.

Here is the travelogue of the ride, Sariska, riding to tiger’s den…

Manali - Leh Highway closes down for the season!

Yogesh Sarkar — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:57:09 +0000

Finally the BRO and the army have decided to close down the Manali - Leh highway in wake of recent snowfall which fell in the upper reaches of Himalayas:

The Manali-Leh highway, one of the highest motorable roads in the world, was closed to traffic Saturday due to snowfall, an official said.The 474-km long highway passes through cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

“In the wake of fresh snowfall at Rohtang Pass (4,883m), Baralachala Pass (4,883m), Lachulunga (5,065m), and Tanglangla (5,360m), it’s not advisable to travel on the highway,” Lahaul and Spiti Deputy Commissioner C. Paul Rasu told IANS.

“As a precautionary measure, we have decided to close the traffic on the National Highway 21 from Nov 15 onwards,” he added.

Source: TheIndian

Back from Pushkar

Yogesh Sarkar — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:07:03 +0000

After three fun filled days in Pushkar, I am back.

It was quite a fantastic trip and I have already started sorting the 300 photographs I captured and have even managed to write the travelogue of my first day’s journey to Pushkar and then the evening I spent there.

You can read it here, Trip to Pushkar Camel Fair and Brahma Temple…

Finally preparations over for Pushkar Camel Fair

Yogesh Sarkar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:24:15 +0000

Preparations are almost over for the trip to Pushkar Camel Fair.

Had already gotten a hair cut yesterday and today I went to Karol Bagh and got a new camera bag for my camera and bought a pair of G 40777 Woodland shoes, I had a similar woodland pair earlier (in slightly darker green shade), which I had purchased in 2004 and it had gotten completely wrecked during 2007 Ladakh trip.

While I had paid Rs. 2,000 for it at that time, I had to pay Rs. 2,395 this time around. But at the end of the day, it is well worth it and for 3 years I had really enjoyed the previous pair as they were the most comfortable shoes I had bought and I expect a similar life frame this time around. Though I expect the next few days to be a bit uncomfortable as I haven’t broken in the pair and due to my wide feet, initial few days are almost always painful.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be riding out Manik in the morning and expect to reach Pushkar by late afternoon. If you are there during the weekend and want to contact me, feel free to give me a buzz at 9891211270.

Countdown begins for Pushkar Camel Fair - 2008

Yogesh Sarkar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:31:20 +0000

With less than 77 hours to go before I head to the Pushkar Camel Fair, preparations are in full swing.

Good thing is, my motorcycle is almost ready. She just needs a wash, air pressure check and full tank of gas. I got front brake pads changed yesterday and also got the speedometer cable fixed (finally) while today I got the engine oil changed to Petronas Sprinta 4T 2000 20w50 and also got the wheel alignment done.

Bad news is, I need to get a hair cut and buy a pair of comfortable woodland shoes, without which my past few trips have been really tough on my feet and with a lot of walking involved at the fair, I need a comfortable pair though getting it this late would mean that breaking in would happen during the trip, which is almost never a good thing.

Apart from this I also need to charge batteries for my cameras and also clean up the saddle bags and my gear and do packing.

While I most likely would be riding alone, I’ll have plenty of company at Pushkar as rest of the BCMTouring team assembles there on Saturday and the same would be true while coming back as majority would be doing the same on Sunday.

All this sounds simple enough, let’s see how the next 77 hours go…