Winter Sports in India

With Christmas & New Year just around the corner, a lot of people would be ready to head to the hills and enjoy the pristine beauty of the snow-capped mountains. While some like me would like to belief that upper Himalayas are buried under snow & hence no activities possible, but many others would be likely to indulge in the winter sports at some exciting locations.

Whether you’re looking for a thrilling trekking expedition through the snow-covered mountains or irresistible skiing or snow boarding or ice climbing – India has it all.

Snowfall is no longer a luring attraction today. Rather, tourists are looking for something new and rejoicing in the winter sports as the spine thrilling adventures make it once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Although winter sports in India hold huge appeal among travellers, adventure lovers but the availability of information to a fresher is limited to an extent. Here are some of the adventure activities which you indulge in this winter:

- Mountaineering – this is a perfect adventure for the climber enthusiast. But for beginners it might take a lot of energy & stamina to reach the desired point. Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Manali, Sikkim & Uttaranchal offer mountaineering opportunities in the vast Himalayan ranges. The ranges of Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Garhwal, Kumaon, Assam, Meghalaya have much mountaineering scope. There is plethora of websites offering Mountaineering Trips like himalayavisit.com, indiaadventureportal.com, India-adventure-travel.com etc.

- Skiing – In the summer, Auli is inviting but in winters it becomes irresistible for skiers with the snow-white slopes and skiing facilities. It provides an excellent panoramic view of the giant mountain peaks like Nanda Devi, Kamet and Dunagiri. A 500m ski-lift system, the longest cable car in Asia, connects Joshimath with Gorson, above Auli. From Gorson, Auli's only chair lift travels to the base lodge, that marks the starting point of all the ski runs.

For beginners, the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) offers 7-day non-certificate and 14-day certificate courses. For more information you can visit http://www.oktatabyebye.com/travel-ideas/weekend-getaways/auli.aspx

- Snow boarding –

This is a relatively new winter sport wherein one rides a fibreglass board, with the feet strapped on it, and sliding down a ski slope or a particularly designed pipe. It’s a grownup version of skateboarding & surfing. Snowboarding is fast developing into foremost adventure sports among the die-hard snow enthusiasts. Mainly 3 leading styles of competition exist in snowboarding - Alpine, Freestyle and Boarder cross. Some of the places with snow boarding facilities in India are Garhwal Himalayas, in the Chamoli district, Auli, Gulmarg.

- Trekking –

This is one of those adventure activities which you can participate in almost in all season and at almost all hill stations. Some of the famous treks are Chadar(Frozen River) Trek in Ladakh, Valley of Flower Trek, Sikkim & Kanchenjunga Trek, Nanda Devi Trek, Har ki Dun Trek etc.

For more information you can check http://www.mountainkingdoms.com/ and http://www.trekkinginindia.com. Read trekking experiences of avid travellers at OkTataByebye.

Travel Responsibly

Again the best time of the year to travel is here! No sweats, only fun.

But, how many of us do take out time to find out about the culture of the new place or even take conscious steps to travel responsibly?

Travelling responsibly is not synonymous to eco-tourism. It doesn’t necessarily mean buying eco-holiday packages, staying close to nature etc. Responsible travel is more about considering the local culture – what we shouldn’t do as travelers; protecting the nature – how best we can avoid littering any place; preserving monuments – how we should contribute to preservation of the monuments in own small ways.

One can surely take care of all these with little information & planning before traveling to any destination and yet have a wonderful vacation. Here are few tips to a responsible holiday planning:

- Travellers must well plan the routes & modes of travel to reduce additional carbon emissions. Travel by train has a huge fan following because it has much lower carbon impact than flying and also it’s cheap! If flight is a must then may be one can try to avoid stopover flights.

- One must read up on local cultures before traveling and learn about the Dos & Don’ts which would earn respect for respecting their culture. Learning a few words of the local language helps in communicating, just when you reach the place.

- Choosing an eco-hotel for your vacation might be one of the best ways to show that you care for the ecosystems. Green hotels are usually rated by a third party organization and follow strict green guidelines to ensure that their guests are staying in a safe, non-toxic and energy-efficient accommodation & has following characteristics:

• 100% organic cotton sheets, towels and mattresses
• 100% usage of organic soaps and other amenities
• Non-smoking environment
• Non-disposable dishes
• Guest room and hotel lobby recycling bins
• Towel and sheet re-use (guests can tell housekeeping to leave these slightly used items to reduce water consumption)
• Energy-efficient lighting
• On-site transportation with green vehicles

- While one is enjoying a gala holiday, few things to be kept in mind are:

• When on sight-seeing visit, please DO NOT write names or draw pictures on the walls of historic monuments.
• Please read carefully the instructions & abide by them when you visit any heritage monument, temples, and national parks.
• Wastes to be disposed only in dustbins or recycle bins. Remove excess packaging as waste disposal is difficult in developing cities & nations.
• Satisfy your shopping urge with local handicrafts, textiles or other local produce. Not buying products made from endangered species, hard woods or ancient artifacts would discourage these products.
• Use water wisely. In lot of places & especially hill stations, water scarcity is a big problem.

These are just a few tips to travel responsibly which would preserve our historic monuments, culture and leave a safer, non-toxic world for the next generation.

Most talked about cities…

Two metro cities…getting all the attention - be it in India or across the globe! Isn’t it something to be proud of and interesting as well? Yes, surely it is.

These days 2 cities – Delhi and Mumbai, are being most talked about, read about and written about. Mumbai is being talked about because of the Oscar winning Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Delhi is being talked about because of Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s latest flick Dilli6. So now, movies are the new windows to these cities offering a glimpse of what makes these cities.

Although, the Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire candidly potrays the slums of Mumbai– Asia’s biggest slum, but Mumbai has much more to it as a city. The huge coastline running along the city makes it spectacular as a tourist destination. Besides being the India’s commercial capital, the city’s Gateway of India, Church Gate, Elephanta Caves and so on attracts its share of tourists.

Star studded flick Dilli6 has been doing rounds in media, public and news channels. The movie captures the essence of Delhi – the more traditional Delhi and brings home a viewpoint. It also tries to differentiate between how a delhite sees Delhi and how an NRI (Abhishek Bacchan in the movie) sees Delhi. The reviews of Dilli6 has been quite varied and mixed – from being an identifiable movie to boring and lengthy movie. The movie might not have been able to impress all, but Delhi never fails to impress anyone who visits the city.

Delhi has always been the seat of power – be it during the Mughal rule or post independence. With the Parliament and Raj bhawan, Delhi’s power seats also attract a lot of Indian & foreign audience. The age old forts & monuments of the city emphasizes the great historical importance of the city. The Red Fort, the Qutab Minar, the India Gate, the Tughlakabad Fort, the Jamali Kamali complex, the Humayun’s Tomb, the Jama Masjid are just a few historical attractions in the city. Before summer sets in, this is the best time to take a tour of the city monuments, catch the Flower festival at Mughal Gardens or take a trip to the zoo with your kids for the last time this season.

Check out more information on Delhi and Mumbai on Oktatabyebye.com.

While I take a trip to the Flower Festival, you guys can go for Dilli Darshan or Mumbai day out. Enjoy your cities!