Susan Jagannath's Blog, page 17

The Valley of Flowers – What to eat

Food is the least of your worries on a Himalayan trek

Dhabas or roadside food stalls serve generic Indian food on the route up to Ghangaria, and onto to Hemkund, and theres simple free food at the gurudwaras, at guru ka langar. One you are in the higher mountains, you may find that you have to eat vegetarian food, however, it is delicious, though limited, and there seemed to be little in the way of real local food. Try to eat food that is freshly prepared rather than the odious 2-minute...

The Valley of Flowers – Read The First Chapter

Flowerful Pastures

Often, in dark winter days, I wandered in spirit to these flowerful pastures with their clear-running streams set against a frieze of silver birches and shining snow peaks.

Frank Smythe

High in the mountains, among windswept peaks and gleaming glaciers is a hidden bower where you can touch the sky. Floating like a secret benediction near the sacred site of Badrinath, it remained hidden for centuries. Despite its closeness to the ancient pilgrim paths, it was the exclusive...

The Best Time to trek the Valley of Flowers

In the Monsoon and when it is declared Open

The Valley of Flowers is in a National Park, and can only be accessed when it is declared open by the Department of Forests.

You can trek from early June until the beginning of October, check exact dates, as it depends on the glacier melt. For the flowers, the best time to visit is from mid-July to mid-August, when the flowers are in full bloom. Identify why you are trekking, are you a pilgrim, a hiker or a flower lover?

Pilgrim to the Holy Places

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What happened to my Sangria?

Yes, Spain has great food and drink, but you probably have some misconceptions and myths.

Let’s look at the famous trinity of Sangria, Paella and Churros. Everyone knows all about those, right. Wrong. Time to bust some food myths.

Sangria

Spaniards drink sangria sometimes. A giggly gaggle of friends may order a couple of jugs at a bar for a bit of fruity fun. However a lot of bars don’t make alcoholic sangria ( like with brandy), and they rarely soakthe fruit overnight.

What you may get in a b...

The Basic Guide to Trekking the Valley of Flowers

Wet, Wild and Wonderful – A trek in the monsoon.

As a hiker or a trekker, I usually plan my walks to coincide with fine weather. Except for the Valley of Flowers.

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There is one place you must trek in the monsoon downpours amidst the swirling clouds of the upper Himalaya. Don’t let the name fool you, the Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand, bordered by Nepal and Tibet, in the far north of India is a once in a lifetime deal.

Important Note: This is not a “gentle or modera...

Galician Foods for a Pilgrim Soul (and Body)

I found some of the best foods for a pilgrim soul, via this hungry pilgrim’s body.

In our day to day lives we rarely experience hunger, so it’s almost a new experience to feel the gnawing of real hunger pangs and experience the delicious viands that more than meet that hunger, but some foods are more special than others.

The three big Cs

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For me, it’s the churros and chocolate, washed down by café con leche that I ate after a r...

Why breakfast is better after a boat ride

I’m looking for my third travel book and we’re having a bit of an adventure by literally going out to sea. You don’t write a bestseller by just looking – you have to have the experience, and the more experiences you have the better – so come along for a literal boat ride with me!

Finding Adventure

I’m in Goa, a lush green and laidback place, set like a jewel on the coast of India facing the Arabian sea, and I’m finally on the sea! I’m on a boat in south Goa, sailing up and down and...

Forbidden Dreams

Time is running out for all the adventures I’d planned to have as a child that were forbidden or forgotten.Sandakphu is the Himalayan dream I’ve been chasing all my life. I’m afraid that if this may be a dream too late. Forbidden when I was 16 – can I do it when I’m sixy?

A dream the size of Kanchenjunga is hard to ignore forever.

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To gaze on towering Kanchenjunga and the Sleeping Buddha nestled in a snow-white blanket against brilliant blue skies, I snatched glimpse...

Chasing Himalayan Dreams is in the wild!

Chasing Himalayan Dreams is out and roaming the Amazon wilds, drawing readers and reviewers into its journey. There are so many reviews that rave about the book, that I am truly humbled and amazed..oh wow did I make you feel like that?
Then there are the ones who are silent, or who don’t like the book, and that is ok too. I don’t write to please everyone, in fact, I’m not trying to please anyone – I’m trying to share my experience in the hope that it will inspire others to do someth...

Are Pilgrimages dead as Dinosaurs?

 

Day Five is when you are suddenly hit by an existential conflict, you are nearing the end of the pilgrimage, and suddenly you are filled with both relief and a strange kind of sorrow. And because it’s a sort of in-between day, we go from the sublime to the slightly ridiculous.  On day Five, we walked from Meson Do Vento, or Bruma to Siguero, under 20 kms from our destination, Santiago.

Dinosaurs

Susan and Dino

Today we were on a fairly easy road, no major climbs or downhills, but als...