Japan 2025 - Perfect 9 day trip - Part 2

 

This is Part 2 of Kanishka and my Japan trip 2025. The first part covered what we liked and didn''t like about Japan.  In this blog, we will share our itinerary. 

Our itineraries are crafted to perfection. They have mix of things that we like - some museums, some local / cultural bits,  some outdoorsy, some touristy, some rustic - a unique blend of experiences that are chosen carefully.  

Day 1 - Our flight landed in Tokyo in the afternoon. Our first thing was to go from airport to Tokyo station, via the Narita express, and then take the train to Kanazawa. It was a daring plan, new country, different train systems and no idea how to switch trains etc. All in a short window to reach hotel by reasonable time. Our hotel in Kanazawa was carefully booked to be about 700m from the train station. 

Why go via all the hurry? Our visit coincided with the annual festival of Kanazawa . The next day, there was going to be an awesome parade as part of the festival itinerary. We wanted to attend it. 

Onboarding to Narita was simple but at the Tokyo station, it was a world of its own. Underground stations have markets, shops, a whole city in itself. At the ticket line to buy ticket to Kanazawa, the guy asked for our tickets that we had used to reach the Tokyo station, thankfully, we had not thrown them away. Still not sure why he asked for it. The train journey to Kanazawa was good. By the time we reached the hotel, it was 8ish pm. 

Our dinner was at Izakaya Musashi, a quaint Gastropub which had good veg options. Our first introduction to Izakaya was delicious, a little pricey though. At night, we strolled on the quite streets of Kanazawa - nicely lit by street lights.

Day 2 - Out hotel in Kanazawa was Hotel Forza Kanazawa. It had complimentary breakfast which we enjoyed each day. Forza kanawa was next to the local Omichi market. After breakfast, we did a quick stroll through the market. I had never seen a cleaner sabji-mandi/fish-market ever. Not even in US. Japan is another level in its cleanliness

Day 2 was busy. We walked to the local Kanazawa castle where they had all these stalls owing to their festival. It was a mela. The stalls were of nearby prefectures who were asking residents of Kanazawa and tourists like us to travel to their towns, selling their town tourism. To get traction, some of them had folks dressed as samurai, some had freebies. 

At Kanazawa castle information centre, we learnt that there is a volunteer led group which gives free english tours of their garden - Kenroku-en. We took their offer and a nice lady gave us a free 90 mins tour. Kenroku-en garden is amazing. It has a waterfall (manmade), a lake, beautiful trails and trees. It is not huge either.  There is also a residence home inside the garden. Each garden is like a king's summer retreat and has a place to stay/relax. The residence was now hosting a dolls exhibition which was good to explore. Post the garden, we also visited the Kanazawa shrine

After Kenroku-en, we walked our way down to the parade route. Along the way, we had cabbage hotdog kind of item on a stick with some very long french fries. The ice cream above  has god leaf covering - something which is unique to Kanazawa

The parade was grand, festive and full of local spirit. It had giesha, bands, boy scouts, ninja, dragon, fights and what not. Very local and cultural. Very Japanese - highly organized, clean and simple. 

After the parade, we rested for sometime at the hotel. Our day was far from being over. In the evening, there was a flute performance - a Geisha would play flute on a boat at the Kenroku-en lake, under the moonlight. It was too good to miss. so we went and saw that. The performance was good but only for 15 mins long. There was also the threatre performance of Noh at the castle. We attended the performance but found it to be too slow for our taste. hat 

After the performance, we went to have dinner. Most places were closed and we wanted to try local. We found one places and were lucky since another family had just got in, perhaps after closing hrs. Our local restaurant did not speak English. But our other family were kind enough to translate for us. We bonded over Google-translate :) 

Here is where we had the template for our Izakaya - soya sauce, sticky rice and vegetable tempura. Here they also gave us edmame

The day was not yet over. On the walk back to hotel, we saw a long night food market and when there is night market, we have to go check it out. We were full in stomach, tired, but we walked the length of market

Day 3 

Day 3 was meant to be light - we woke up cozily and had a sumptuous breakfast. We walked to see local houses os Samurai or other foot soldiers. Kanazawa is a castle town, so there were kings, samurais and soldiers in the old days. The Samurai house are a treat to visit - they have lovely architecture, simple interior decor and an amazing personal garden :) . Inside one of the Samurai houses, we had our first and only tea-tasting ceremony. A matcha tea which is okayish to drink but almost like a habit for locals. 

After the Samurai houses, it was time for some introspection and zen, So we went to D.T. Suzuki museum. Mr. D.T. Suzuki was a zen practitioner and a philosopher who had significant influence on Japanese culture. His museum was serene, and relaxing. we stopped there for a bit. On the way to museum, Kanishka briefly went to McDonalds and I clicked a picture. Right outside, the D.T. Suzuki museum was another Samurai garden, albeit a public one. It was amazingly beautiful. 

We walked down to checkout a museum of bowls. Similar to Berlin's museum island, Kanazawa has a section where there are 4-5 museums. We checked out one and then decided to walk back to hotel.  Our lunch was at this curry place which had chole with tofu curry. What more can we want

Our dinner was hotel-made, bought from local shops. Kanishka got soya sauce and some other items from nearby grocery store. 

Day 3 - Day 3 was departure from Kanazawa. But before I check out, I wanted to share this pic of their breakfast tray - a nice 6 bowl tray that we had used daily. 

Day 3 itinerary was to move from Kanazawa to Kaga - an onsen town. We had to take a train for this. 

Kaga for me was the best part of the trip. It is a village with a main downtown street, some temples etc. We ended up just strolling the entire village. Stopped at small restaurants and had local delicacies, one of them being Kuzu bar. Kaza also had a old traditional bathhouses and this was our first experience with a Japanese bathhouse. 

Japanese bathhouse, separate sections for men and women. You go in full naked into a hot water pool and relax there. After that, there are taps along-side the pool for you to apply soap/shampoo and have a bath. It is incredibly relaxing. In the old days, when soldiers would travel, then these bathhouses (onsen) were build for them for communal baths. Makes sense to conserve water. Also, there was procedures which makes sure that the hot water is clean. It is a unique and refreshing experience. It is a concept that we saw in Germany also. 

We had booked our stay at Rurikoh which is an onsen hotel. We ended up doing onsen hopping, first at the old and moden public bathouses and then later in the night at a private onsen.  The hot water is really hot. Rurikoh also gave us Yukata for free which we gladly wore and roamed around the streets there. 

This was also Kanishka's 40th birthday. We had a noodle dessert, known as Mont Blanc for cake cutting. Dinner was at a local Izakaya. There was a drum show at the hotel and in the night, we dipped our feet in hot water. 

Day 4

Day 4 morning - the Kaga experience continued. In the morning, we went to the public bath of Rurikoh and it was open air hot-spring. It was just surreal, pure natural hot water under an overcast sky. We were debating if we had enough of Onsens but this was a right decision. Onsens also freshens you up like anything. This was followed by a authentic Japanese breakfast buffet, served on the table. It was awesome. 

Rurikoh remains the best stay place and Kaga was the best destination for me. It was away from crowds, no itinerary, no frills. Perhaps, the closest glimpse of authentic Japanese culture. Our next stops were Kyoto and then Tokyo, and now we were getting into the touristy territory :) 

It is the small acts that make you remember the travel. One such act has been imprinted on me. We were at the Kaga station and had to take a train to Kyoto. There were no direct trains. We had to go to a station (forgot the name, lets say X) and change train. I was not sure if I should buy both Kaga to X and then go to X and then buy ticket to Kyoto or can I buy both here. It is a small village railway station with only one employee at the counter and she was dealing with a customer ahead of us and that took 5 mins. We were patiently waiting behind. She seemed very diligent about our job. When our turn came, we asked tickets to go to X,  then I paid for them and she printed those. Later, I asked her if I can buy tickets from X to Kyoto here as well, or should I buy this at X.  She realized that I can save money if I buy a direct ticket to Kyoto via X. She explained the math and it was pretty substantial saving(~30%).  She didn't had to do this since she had already printed one and the easiest would have been to print another one. She also didn't berate us by saying that yo should have told this earlier. She cancelled our current ticket, refunded the amount and then issued a new ticket. During all of this, we were communicating in broken English, with some google-translate thrown in.  The sense of duty and helping others is so much ingrained to them and it is just amazing. The pride-in-the-job concept is so powerful. I feel that if you have to build stronger nations, this is the key. When everyone does their job well, strong nations are built. 

Our Kyoto stay was at Hotel Tomiya with Ms, a Scandinavian decor hotel, close to station with no lobby. a machine an entrance but thankfully, they had help staff to guide us.  Our first stop in Kyoto sightseeing was Ninja museum and it was a very touristy experience. Meant to be insta-grammable. But still fun. We had dinner at a local vegan Ramen place  (Moon and back ramen bar).  Kanishka had booked a walking tour in the night but it was raining heavily. Like heavy heavy downpour. I was thinking that they would cancel the tour but that was not the case. There were 6 of us plus the tour guide and he conducted the entire tour in this heavy dowpour with umbrellas. The good thing was that streets were empty, so we had the place to ourselves. But, we were wet, our shoes, socks, feet were wet. But, it was an amazing experience. Kyoto still has an active Geisha culture and we learnt a lot about their world. 

Day 5

It was still raining on Day 5 morning. So, we decided to go to a museum, thinking it will be indoors and less crowded. But, boy was I wrong. I had never seen a more crowded museum before. Seemed like entire Kyoto was there. We spent couple of hrs learnings about the Japanese history. Even though the museum was crowded, the people were super chill about it. They would take their time to wait in lines to see the exhibits in order. Move slowly, take their time and were extremely patient about it. Again, a part of culture that shocked me.  We had lunch at a local vegan shop and it had a nice poster below

We walked a lot and then visited the handicraft museum. This is actually a local handicraft store, two buildings of local craft that they were selling. Like Delhi-haat or dastkar but in a fancy shop-like setting. Good experience. Mostly expensive items

From here, we walked to a cat-cafe. Japan has this culture of cat cafes where you can spend time with cats. You pay for time and drinks there. Buying drinks is mandatory. This cafe had healthy well-fed cats and it was fun to play with them for sometime. 

Post cat cafe, we were looking for dinner options and stumbled into Nijiya Kyoto - a hole in the wall joint which serves the best Vegana Izakaya. The place is so small that it can only seat 6 people at a time, at a bar-counter kind of setting. This food was perhaps the best food of the trip. There were two people serving the food and it was just amazing how much can be packed in such a small place.  

After food, we were full but craving for some nice ice creams. 

Day 6 

Today was checkout and take the train to Tokyo. Kyoto to Tokyo trains run as if they are local, every 5-6 mins. These two stations are 250+kms apart. We had no prior reservation, so we just walked and booked and had trouble finding seats - many trains were full. Trains in Japan are extremely comfortable. 

We had to change trains, walk a lot dragging our suitcase, but finally we were at our hotel. At Tokyo, we were staying at Ryokan asakusa Shigetsu . Ryokan means traditional Japanese inn. We picked this hotel because it had an onsen on top. You sleep on the ground, on  a mattress on top of bamboo chatai . It is an authentic experience. This place was also next to Tokyo's oldest temple and walkable to a train station. 

Near the oldest temple was a huge market, including a market which sells all the plastic food items. Plastic food items are also such a brilliant Japanese idea - instead of putting real food items on display where food will go waste, there are these plastic replicas which look exactly as the food. And then there is a market dedicated to it.  We just strolled in the market. 

In the evening, we went to the Museum of roadside art and I have never seen anything as bizarre as this one. It is so bizarre that it is cool. Walking with no expectations, it takes sometime to understand WTF is this. But, then the writings on the wall say - what is art - isn't it meant to challenge you . And this museum challenges in you in many many ways. The best part is that we had no idea before we walked in. Tokyo is known for its quirky museums but this one is a topper. I will highly recommend this, but it is not for faint hearted folks. 

Near Asakusa, there is a space needle which gives you a high-rise view of the city but it is expensive. The internet hack is that, nearby, there is a Asahi HQ building who have a beer joint on their top floor and you get equally good view of it. You get good beer and it is cheaper. We went to the Asahi place and enjoyed the lighted Tokyo city. 

Day 7

Day 7 started with a walking tour starting from Akihabara. The walking tour was okay-ish. Since, between Shogun and the Kyoto walking tour, and the Ninja museum, we knew the history. But Akihabara was awesome! 

Akihabara is an experience that again is quintessential Japanese. It is a world of its own. First, there are these massive figurines/manga shops. We decided to check one building which had 9 floors, each with a different aspect of this, full of people. Then there are these arcade game centers where you can just spend the whole day playing arcade games, claw machines etc. And then it has these maid-cafes; we went to maidcafe-athome which is the birthplace of moe moe kyun . Each experience in Akihabara was like something that one will never get outside. 

Day 7 was also the day we had Sushi. We went to a Sushi-bar . At a Sushi bar, you sit on a bar counter and on the other side, there is a chef making live-Sushi for you. It was like an everyday QSR restaurant, nothing fancy, but it had good Sushi. Day 7 dinner was at home (hotel). Japan sells curd, soya sauce satchets, cut cabbage etc and you can make salads at home. We also got Theplas from IN and it made a quirky dinner but delicious. 

Day 8 

Today was 14 June and it was my birthday. We had a great day planned ahead of us. But our first stop was visiting toilets. Tokyo hosted olympics and as part of that they had an art project to have designer toilets installed at various places. It was called the Toilet Project. Each one designed by a different art designer. One of them is designed that the toilet is transparent when not in use and then as soon as you lock in from inside, it changes color and becomes opaque. Just fascinating. We ended up visiting two of such installations

We were now just walking and our next stop was to see the Shibuya crossing. Known as the busiest crossing, we had time to just check it out. 15 year old me would have never gone there, saying that it is just an intersection where people cross roads,  but I am mellow-er now. Anyways, we want and it was okayish. Along the way, Kanishka clicked whole bunch of flower photos. 

Next two events were planned by Kanishka for my 40th. First one was lunch at a Michelin star restaurant - Daigo. This was going to be our first Michelin star restaurant. Food was good, small portions, multipe courses. Each item explained to us by the staff, setup in a cozy setting where we were only ones in the room and the room had a private garden. The food was good. I do not have the palette to understand what makes a Michelin star and what does not. So, I can not comment on that, but it was good. But, what we also remember, and probably will never forget, is that their dessert menu was a slice of watermelon. Japan, a place known for its desserts, a michelin-star restaurant known for its creativity, and we got watermelon slice for a dessert. We cannot forget this. 

We went home, slept for a while and our late-evening program was to visit TeamLabs Planets. Before TeamLabs, we were hungry and next to the planets venue, there is a open barbeque place and we had fries and sprouts there. A very Americanish experience in Japan :)  Team Labs was awesome. So much creativity, experiences packed in one place. we loved all the art installations. In another world, I would just go and spend a day here. The experiences are amazing and I think it is the feeling that  we carry more than anything else. 

Day 9 

This was the journey back day. But, we had a morning to ourselves. In a city with so many things to do, what do you pick up if you have 3 hrs. We decided to keep it simple and go back to basics - visit a garden. We visited the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden - it is one of those decisions which makes this itinerary a perfect one. It was raining mildly and the garden was in its prime green beauty. Plus, understanding the design of Japanese garden, it is simple but an awe-inspiring experience. Garden is paid entry, small-ish one but had all hallmarks - stone bridge, flower garden, ponds, waterfall - you name it.  This was a perfect way to end the trip! 

I do not think that I have experienced so many new things in one country as much as we experienced in Japan. From gardens, to onsen, to concept cafes - cats, maids, to teamLabs, to roadside art museum, to Izakayas, to Michelin-star restaurants, to samurais and parades. Japan has been a perfect way to spend our 40th birthdays. 

Thank you for reading. 

My Vipassana experience - 2024

 My Vipassana experience - 2024

Vipassana is a 10 day meditation course where you are not supposed to talk to each other, no phones or books allowed. The idea is for you to focus on yourself and learn this meditation technique. I had no idea beyond this before I registered. A good number of my friends had done it and recommended it. Being a curious person, I wanted to explore this. 

Vipassana meditation is organized by Dhamma.org group with courses running at various centres. Some research online showed that there is something called Executive course where you get a private room instead of sharing beds in a dorm. Only a selected few centres offer this executive course, one of them was the Kathmandu one, so I signed up for it. 

Before Day Zero

My course was from Aug 15 to 24. I flew to Kathmandu 4 days before, over the weekend to do some sight seeing and work from Kathmandu for a couple of days. There is no direct flight from BLR and it takes a whole day to travel. I later realized that Kathmandu has legalized casinos and there are a few. So, before my Vipassana meditation, I spent days in either working (two days) or sightseeing Kathmandu (one day) and nights at casino (limited loss, Day 2 night, I recovered most of my money). So, I reached the centre in a very sleep deprived state. 

Day Zero 

Having slept only 4 hrs in the night, I got ready and called the cab guy. (The cab company owner was also taking this retreat, same batch as mine. So, he understood my requirements to come and pick me up and why I will not be calling him to remind of pickup) . I spent the morning in some more sight seeing and reached the centre by noon. After the formalities, I had to surrender my phone, laptop, books and everything that could distract me. I was taken to my room, given some snacks at around 4 pm and then I slept. There was an introduction session at 7 pm and then it started. 

On day zero, you also take five committments that for the period of this course, you will not kill, no lies, no sexual activity, no speaking (or communicating) etc. No kill was interesting because it applies to animals too and the centre was at the verge of a forest with lot of insects/spiders roaming in your room. This Guardian article nicely explains some of my feelings there but it is good that I am not archanophbic 

Day 1 to Day 3

The first part of meditation course was to focus on your breath. Train your mind to concentrate on your breath. It is not easy as it sounds since the mind wanders off. Within seconds. Less than 5 seconds. On day 1, that is what happened to me. I had never done any kind of meditation before beyond the Zendo retreats. So, I was aware of this phenomenon. The goal of first three days is to increase the time so that atleast you can concentrate on your breath for a full minute without the mind wandering away. 

On day 1 with no phones, no distractions, I definitely found peace. But more than that, my body complained of exhaustion. It needed sleep, it needed rest. So, a lot of my meditation hrs were spent in sleeping. 

At 1pm, you can have a 1:1 setting with your teacher and ask questions or your doubts. On day 1, I told him that I feel very sleepy and he said that you may be fatigued. Give it some time. 

The course schedule was also daunting. It had 10 hrs of meditation per day and a ~2 hr long discourse from SN Goenka (founder of the dhamma group). This discourse shared the theory behind the practice and also clarified some common questions that many folks had in their minds. The day started with a 4am gong to wake up. First meditation is from 430 am to 630 am (2 hrs). Then breakfast is served at 6:30 with a break till 8 am. There is a group sitting from 8am to 9am, followed by a 5 min break and then a medidation session from 9am to 11am. Group sittings happen in a common hall. Lunch is served at 11 and then there is a break till 1pm. From 1pm to 5 pm, there is back to back meditation sessions - 1 to 2:30 pm, followed by 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm group sitting and then another one from 330 to 5pm. There is a break from 5 to 6pm for tea and fruits. 6pm to 7pm is the third group sitting of the day and then there is the discourse to close the day. A total of 10 hrs of meditation and 2 hrs of discourse. 12 hrs of sitting without a backrest

On day 3, I went to my teacher sharing that my back is killing me and can I get backrest support. He politely declined and shared that by the time you get to day 6 or 7, it will go away. On day 3, day 6 was an eternity away. 

Day 4 to day 6

On day 4, we were introduced to the technique of Vipassana. It is a new form of meditation, I had never heard about it before (thanks to my no research policy). The evening discourse covered the theory and common FAQs around this new technique. On day 5 and day 6, we were asked to focus on this technique and practice it. The evening discourses covered various aspects around this technique and how it is different from other practices.

The core aspect of Vipassana is that you can work on yourself, both body and mind, to train them so that you are equanimous. When our Indriyan (ear, nose, skin, mind and tongue) consume some signal (food, smell, touch etc), they send this signal to the brain and then interprets this signal. As part of this interpretation, it generates sensation on the body. For example, if you read something and you become angry, some part of you body will become hot, that is there will be heat sensation on your body. The brain has both conscious and subconscious aspects, these sensations on your body as part of the reaction to signal happen instinctively, done by the subconscious mind. Interestingly, the reaction from your mind broadly can be classified into two parts - either it is a craving of something (in hindi - raag) or an aversion to something (dwesh). Both these cravings or aversions then lead to misery or suffering. 

What Gautam Buddha discovered, as part of his search of enlightenment is that you can train your mind to do two things - First, to identify the sensations being generated on your body - some sensations would be gross (like a pain or an itch) and some would be subtle (like skin reacting to air or cloth). You need to meditate here, that is focus on each body part at a time to identify what kind of sensation you are feeling. Second is that once you have identified the sensation, you train your mind to ignore it, that is be equanimous towards it - be it a good sensation or a bad one. The underlying principle here is the principle of impermanence - everything dies. These sensations are also temporary and they will go away in sometime. By training your mind to be equanimous, while you acknowledge the sensation, you are not reacting to it.  

It is the reaction to these sensations that causes cravings or aversions. When you feel angry, lets say you are stuck in traffic or you read something and feel angry, the angry reaction (which is a form of aversion) is not coming because you are stuck in traffic or you read something. What you read is a signal, that the brain intercepts and instinctively generate these sensations. You react to these sensations and this reaction created anger in you. So, your emotions or suffering is largely coming because your mind is reacting to these subtle or gross sensations. Gautam Buddha figured out that if you train your mind to ignore these reactions, you can be equanimous. 

The impermanence principle is key - just like a candle flame, even though it is a continuous flame, underneath, there is the wax that is used to create this flame. Every second, some wax is getting burnt that leads to the flame. Same applies to a light bulb which is consuming some electricity everytime to create that illusion of continuous light. Similarly, in body, even a sensation if pain is basically, some atoms or wavelengths generating a sensation of pain, then dying only to be replaced by a new wavelength carrying the same sensation of pain. So, every sensation dies in the end. If you train your mind that this sensation will die soon, and train it to not react to it, that is be equanimous towards it, you will find peace. That is how you end your suffering. 

The teaching come from Gautam Buddha who discovered this 2500 years ago and it has been passed won via Guru-shishya tradition. It got lost in India some 2000 years ago but some small group in Burma kept this going. SN Goenka was in Burma and he stumbled on it, found its value and got it back to India. 

I was able to feel the gross sensations and sometimes the subtle ones too. I was able to ignore them and I did observe that they went away. My back pain also got resolved in this period. Day 4 to day 6 was the period to try this new thing and see what it is.

One of things that they ask you from day 5 onwards is 'athishtaan', that is when you sit for group sitting, you make the strong determination that whatever happens, you will not move your legs, arms or open your eyes. For the three group sitting that happen in a day, one is supposed to meditate without moving any part. I found it incredibly difficult and max that I lasted was about 48 mins. 

Day 7 to day 9. 

I was doing quite well till day 6. But from day 7, I started feeling homesick. The technique was also becoming difficult and while my backpain resolved, my pain in legs was still there. It was not the feeling of talking or the need of phones that was there but just the idea to leave this place and go back to the comfort of home and family. Day 7 to day 9 were very difficult. 

On Day 7, we were introduced to this concept of Shunya-ghar - Zero-house. It is a small 3 ft by 6 ft room, where you can sit and meditate. The idea is that for your non-group sittings, you go to this place and then meditate there - by yourself in silence. I liked this since here I could stretch my legs atleast and I had back-rest too :) 

However, this longing for home, which is a craving and hence the exact thing that we were asked to not generate, was strong. From a technique point of view, we were taught of some optimizations to the core technique. While I had made some progress on the core technique, I was still far away from where they expected me to be and these optimizations were next level. 

I also met with my teacher everyday during this period to ask if I am doing things correctly or not. His responses were helpful but many answers lie within myself. It was becoming clear that I needed a lot of work on myself to see the gains here. My homesickness was not helping but it has been 10 days away from home and I wanted to go back.

Somehow, I survived day 7 to day 9. The weather here was extremely rainy. On day 7, it rained for 36 hrs straight. My room was next to a waterfall/stream running down a hill and it had the nice sound of water flowing. The view from my room was this giant mountain covered with dark green dense trees. When rains came, it became very beautiful. I spent a lot of time just watching this scenery. It gave me a lot of peace. 

From day 2 onwards, I also dropped the 5 pm fruit thing and instead used the 5-6pm hr for working out. Being on a hill, the space had about 6 storeys  worth of stairs and walking path. I used to go up and down for about 40 mins each day and that also helped me. It also made my intermittent fasting for 19 hrs - having sone Kannur, this was easy. 

Day 10 and Day 11

Day 10 is when you break the noble silence and can interact with your peers. You are expected to meditate only for three hrs. It is a day to get you accustomed to real life before you leave the centre. Otherwise, it would be a big shock of transition. While you can talk, phone or laptops are still not given.

While talking to peers, we realized that there was only one more person from India there. Everyone else was from Nepal. There was also a book exhibition, a documentary on Vipassana courses in Tihar and some other things to keep us busy. It was also raining the whole time. 

By day 10, all I could think was to get back. I was counting hrs. At the start, I had made the determination that I will not quit this course no matter what happens. I was happy on day 10 to have survived it and now only it was a matter of time that I would be back.

On day 11, there is discourse at 430 am for a couple of hrs before it ends. In this, they share to practice what you have learnt everyday - an hr in the morning and an hr in the evening. It is a very tall ask and if I can do 30 mins each day, I would be very happy.

With all the challenges of the program, I found the experience to be very rewarding and grateful that I have done it. I definitely feel that I am not ready to incorporate this in my daily life but when I get ready, I know that it will be this technique and this way. It is the only way that I have learnt that does not mix with any religion or any other influences.  It asks you to work on yourself, just shows the way on how to do so. I liked this aspect. 

On day 11, after the morning discourse, I collected my phone, laptop etc and rushed to the airport for my way back. 

Surya Top - Himalayan Trek

Surya Top Trek by India Hikes 

20 Apr - 26 Apr.

One of the new year resolutions, that I made in Jan, was to do an Himalayan trek this year. I joined a running group, all with this aim. I am so pleased to have finally done it now. 

A month before the trek, back in March, I saw that most of the well known treks on India Hikes were already booked. I was contemplating a private trek group, called couple of places but none materialized. IndiaHikes had a requirement to do 5K in 35 mins for a moderate trek and I had not reached the milestone. On a Sunday evening, I called them and told that I have reached 5K in 40/39 mins consistently. Can I sign up? They said yes. In a matter of next 2 hrs, I had booked a trek, flight hotels and planned a Mussorie trip with Kanishka after that. 

Surya Top was pretty. It had a ridge walk, meadow walk and a summit climb - you do not get all three in a trek. It was moderate but on the easier side. Most importantly, it was labelled 'crowd-free'. It is a new-ish trail close to Dayara Bugayal which is very popular. Trekking has become popular and few of the well known trails are now getting crowded. When you to go to Himalayas, you do want to spend time alone.  So, crowd-free is an important consideration. The top altitude is ~13K feet only which is not that high but if I want to get back to Himalayan trekking, this seemed a really good choice. 

I loved Surya Top trail. There are so many good things that I have to say. Foremost, I loved the fact that I have done a Himalayan trek, 5 years after the last one and a decade after the previous one with India Hikes. Second, the summit, even though it is at 13K feet only, it is reasonably steep and takes an effort to get on top. I didn't give up and pushed myself to get there, so that was also a strong sense of accomplishment. The trail itself is beautiful. It has stony-trails, forest walks, ridge tops, steep ascends and descend, valley stops, Rhododendron and Cherry blossom trees - a lot of variations, beautiful sceneries and devoid of any plastics, a very clean trail. Also, after an hr of trekking, for the next five days, we didn't see a single soul, outside of our group. To be in India and not see another person, just be there in the wild is almost impossible these days. The views from the ridge are incredibly beautiful. IndiaHikes has only uplevelled its operational side and it was so good to be doing this again with them. The food, camps, tent etc were managed well. And to top it off, we saw snow - two days of snowfall, a small blizzard, and a Spring trek suddenly became a winter trek. Walking on snow, with white ground all around you is amazing. So, is the cold weather that comes and it becomes a different experience altogether. 

In trekking, you choose to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. 

At the beginning of the trek, Sayantan who was our trek lead, asked us why are we here? If you wanted to enjoy your vacation, you could have gone to Goa, stayed at a resort etc but instead you are here, going to live in cramped tents, walking daily, sweating, carrying loads etc. He told us that you have chosen to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. He asked why? And he also gave options - (1) To enjoy nature. (2) To spend time with yourself/discover yourself (3) Make new friends (4) Live minimally. He went round the room and along with introductions, you were expected to share why you are here by choosing one of the options. I, ofcourse chose, to spend time with yourself.  

Day 0 - Travel from BLR to Dehradun

I booked a connecting flight via Delhi. Delhi airport has street food shop, so I had Golgappas. Reached Dehradun at around 2 pm. The airport taxi was charging us a bomb. I met another passenger/stranger and we shared a cab and split the fare. It is interesting on how you make friends/acquaintances during travel. My stay was at a place called Cocoon which had a very nice lawn, online pics were very appealing. But the lawn doubles down as a wedding venue in the night and there was a Mehdi ceremony in the night. They blared loud music but I was too tired, so I slept soundly, though after some challenge. In the evening, I tool a long walk and had Samosa at this Motashow sweet shop and it was pretty good. Dinner was at Pind Balluchi. 

Day 1 - Travel from Dehradun to Raithal.

Met with fellow trekkers at 630 am and boarded a Tempo for Raithal. A journey of 6-7 hrs. It was good to see a 16 year old trekker, just finished his 10th boards, came solo - a break before he starts his JEE prep. I was impressed :) . The drive was comfortable. We stopped at a Rawat restaurant at Rautu ki beli and I had tandoori Parathas - loved it. Lunch was also homely. At Raithal, IndiaHikes as created its permanent basecamp with Swiss tents for staying, overlooking the Gangotri range. It was awesome. First glimpse to see how IndiaHikes has grown so well. Felt proud and happy for them. 

In the evening, we did our intros, met our trek leads, Sayantan as the primary lead, along with Alok and Yashbir ji - both locals.  IndiaHikes also gave us a thermal inner lines to use inside the sleeping bags since they are clean. Along with an eco-bag to carry garbage from trails. My backpack was heavy so I decided to skip the eco-bag. Abhout 40% of trekkers decided to offload their luggage to mules. I was tempted but decided to carry. 

Day 2 - Drive to Barsu and hike to Pichkiya

Barsu was about 75 mins drive from Raithal, at a similar altitude. We started walking at around 10 am. It was sunny. Today was all ascend. Initial trail was stony but after an hr, we entered the tree cover. Forest was beautiful. Dense, green and clean. We made several stops while going up. At a stop, Sayantan played a game, each person shares their name and their hobby. Next person repeats this for everyone who came before him. Good ice breaker game. 

While my backpack was heavy, I did not feel any pain on my shoulders while carrying it. It has a very nice cushion, even when empty, the backpack weighs couple of kgs. So, I was comfortable. Today was the day of packed lunch, we had roti, cabbage sabji and two slices of bread sandwich. 

Pichkiya is a good campsite - has water supply, flat ground and a good view of Yamnotri range. Weather was good through out. No need for any jackets yet. 

Our welcome drink upon reaching campsite was Aam Panna. It was tasty. Evening snacks was Chana-Alu chat. While there was hot water too, I decided to drink natural normal water to acclimatize myself. 

Day 3 - Pichkiya (10264 ft) to Utron (~11K)

Surya Top typically also covers Dayara Burgyal, in some parts, but that part is now steeped in snow. So, we were taking a different route. Day 2 was a short walk - ~3.3Km but it became ~4Km, since the usual Utron site had some issue. We walked extra 0.6Km to get to upper Utron (forgot exact name). This camp-site had views to Surya top, our summit climb for next day. Day 2's trail was all forest trail. We saw Cherry blossom trees, Rhodendron trees. The mountain views were really good. There was no other soul in sight. We are in the wilderness now. 

Our campsite had georgeous views. We reached, had lunch and decided to relax inside the tent. Inside tent, we could hear rain coming down, only to later realize that it was snow. In just a matter of 2 hrs, everything around us was all covered in white. Our trek transformed from a Spring trek to a Winter trek. It became cold. All of us were surprised, shocked. It continued to snow till late in the evening. Our next day Summit climb was in question now. Sayantan said that we will decide in the morning, 4-5-6 am - 4 am wake up, hot water, 5 am breakfast and 6 am we leave for summit climb, provided the weather is well. If we can not leave by 8 am, the summit is a no-go. 

I have been to previous bad weather scenarios, so this was not new. 4-5 hrs of snowfall had made people realize that if this continues, it will be trouble. So, there were not many questions. 

Since we could not do much, I lied down in my tent and spent time chatting with my tent-mate who is a startup founder too. Many stories to share :) 

I had a really bad sleep in the night. It was cold and I messed up my sleeping bag arrangement. So, in the night, I was constantly tossing and turning. But I did sleep, but it was broken up many times. 

Day 4 - Utron to Surya Top (12900 feet) and then to Pichkiya (11679 feet)

Morning was clear. Infact, it didn't snow at all during the night. So, we were on for the summit. We left sharply at 6am. It was a steep ascent in the beginning followed by gradual ascends and flats. You could see Surya Top all along the way and it didn't look too far :) This was also a day of a lot of ridge walk, it was beautiful. There were mountains all 360 degree around us, all covered in snow now. The walk was amazing. 

Summit climb was tough. The last km gradient is steep. It takes effort, lot of breaks, heavy breathing to get there. Snow had made the climb slightly slippery too, so we had to be careful. There is a point where there was an option to leave your luggage and only carry a small day pack with water and Ponchos. I decided to carry my full pack. The challenge with Surya top is that as you are climbing, you will see a peak but it is not the eventual peak. The local peak hides the bigger peak. This happens atleast three times. You would push yourself that you have reached only to realize that it is not the top. So, the mind games go on. I took short breaks but was able to reach the summit at 9:53 am. The earliest person came at 9:35 am and I was somewhere in the middle. Not bad I would say :) 

The climb down was interesting too. We left the top at 10:30 am and around 10:45am it started to snow. Soft round balls of snow. We pulled out our Ponchos and slowly climbed down. Round snow touches the Poncho and falls down, it does not leave any wet water mark, pretty interesting phenomenon. 

Siyari is a beautiful valley right at the footsteps of Surya-Top. We reached at around 12:30. But it was all white and snowing. Snow stopped after couple of hrs, enough for us to pitch tents and have lunch. But it snowed the whole evening. 

They had given us trail mix to carry this day. It contained horse-grams, peanuts, and those white golis that you get outside temples :) . Day 4 night was also very cold. It snowed all through the night. Our tents and gear were of good quality. My sleeping bag setup was ok, so inside the tent, it was not very cold, but still, I had many breaks in my sleep. 

Day 5 - Siyari to BarsuKaDera

We climbed from the Siyari valley to join back the ridge walk. From now onwards, we were going to retrace the same trail back to Barsu. There was some talk to go directly to Pichkiya, lower altititude will lead to less cold nights. But, along the way, at BarsuKaDera, it was so beautiful that we decided to camp there only. The walk down was easy. Sun came out well. We walked for about 4.5Kms today. Snow also started to melt down

At night, we played multiple rounds of Mafia and it was fun.

Day 6 - BarsuKaDera to Barsu and then bus to Raithal

Just plain descent :) We started at 7 am. This was our last day with the mules and staff, so we introduced them, said our thanks and gave some tip. The kitchen staff too, in their enthu, made Chole Pudi for breakfast, at 10,000 feet level :) 

After reaching down, I had an omlette at the local Tapri. Raithal basecamp of IndiaHikes has no shower facility, but someone asked around and told that there is a homestay, about 10 mins walk who is ok for us to take showers. I did that. Costed INR 200 :) Went to a local temple and there was some folk dance happening. Since, it was only women and children, I didnt stand there for long. Had maggi at another tapri. Trek was done and now time to pamper. 

As I got down, I got network for the first time and saw that Rubrik is going public today. Felt happy about it. At 630, I joined the remote call and saw the proceeding for 30 mins. It was fun but not as much as folks who were there in office. I logged off and went back to mountains

Day 7 - Drive back to Dehradun

Nothing much to report. Dehradun was hot, very hot :) I ended up going to cinema (watched Ghostbusters flick) just to avoid the heat. I stayed at Lemarq on EC road, an okay-ish hotel. 

I liked his phrasing - yes, we choose to live in discomfort during a trek. But what you gain is to just be with nature, in a lifestyle on how our ancestors, lived (I know not exactly but still better than the city life) - in between these giant mountains, trees, streams, meadows. Walking, climbing, is a physical challenge but I get to know more about my breathing in these days than ever. Carrying your own backpack, each item is evaluated on why is it needed and there is a trade-off. I discarded two items to reduce my weight and they were a big mistake. I didn't carry a Sun-cap since I sweat a lot, but I got badly sunburnt as a result. Big mistake. I also didn't carry any goggles thinking I can manage without them. But it snowed a lot and after 5-6 hrs in snow, I could feel a difference when Sun rays reflected from the white. Fortunately, clouds game and it didn't hurt much after that. Back to the discomfort, it is difficult to describe the joy but it is there, an inner peace kind of thing, a sense of accomplishment too. At the summit, after the gruelling climb, I got teary-eyed, the same feeling that you get after running an long HM. It is a feeling that makes one go there again and again. 

Life In 17 July - 4 Oct, 2023

 

I am on a break :)

I am on day 5 of a 9 day work break to just recharge my batteries. Work became too much chaotic last few weeks, so I decided to take a breather, focus on other aspects of life and spend some days without worrying about work. Blog writing does seem one of them

Before I start, here is a quick recap of my break journey so far - 

Day 0 - Fri evening. Took a trial class at local CrossFit. Something that has been in my TODO list for a long time. Wanted to start weight training and felt cross-fit could be a place to make it happen.

Day 1 - Finished book 3 of Wheel of time series - The Dragon Reborn. Decent read. Decided to take on the impromptu class of learning how to make dream cake - apparently a Insta viral thing presently   Kanishka and I took this workshop organized by Yellow Pumpkin, in HSR. The workshop was good. Dream cake is a layered cake, so we learnt how to make Chocolate cake, Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate mousse (which goes via Chocolate truffle), Caramal sauce, chocolate wall and dust. 4 hrs well spent!

Day 2 - Demo class of Cello. Likely going to sign up for it. Fingers crossed if I can be regular on it. Also, went to another gym to sign up for their demo class. Day 2 evening was spent reading book 4 of Wheel of time series at a local cafe - Beanlore - new cafe exploration in parallel :) Interestingly Beanlore had Fountainhead the book there and it has been a while since I had read it (there is a story here for some other time). Spent most of the evening reading Fountainhead part 4. Maybe because I read from the middle but some content is pretty difficult to stomach - as in the point is stated as a fact first and then a long winded verbiage to justify it.  

Day 3 - Demo class at the new gym. Ended up taking membership for 3 months. Fingers crossed. Board game night with friends. Lost both games of Splendor. Also watched this amazing movie - Argentina 1985

Day 4 - I always wanted to get one of our study room walls hand painted. Made few calls but finally got someone who can do it. But that meant cleaning any wall accessories. This led from a wall-cleaning exercise to  major wardrobe cleaning to eventually home cleaning project that went from 9 am to 9 pm and finally Kanishka and I crashed :). Atleast 5 boxes worth of items disposed. Day well spent :) 

Day 5 - Got my hair colored again. Not happy this time but happy of my experimentation. Wall painting guy finalized. Gym schedule started. Plans in motion for a new toy place for Puchka and Taco :) 

The good thing is that none of this is pre-planned. Each plan is materialized mostly a day before or on the morning of the day. Whenever, I have taken a break, I have travelled. So, taking a break and being at home is something that I am happy to do this time. Plus, there are so many small small items that were neglected are finally getting some attention. 

------------

Trip to Varanasi - A 4 day trip Varanasi which was partly official partly travel. Loved the Ghat walks and food this time.

Amritsar-Kartarpur-Delhi trip - Crazy hectic but full worth it. And that both Varanasi and Amritsar happened back to back, it is just mind boggling. Highlight was Karptarpur, documented here in detail. Amritsar was also decent - Wagar border had this women only flag event and dancing to patriotic bollywood songs, Sandeshein aate hain emanating from the loudspeakers. Felt like all 90s or older songs only and too simplistic but liked this time I liked it. Way better experience than my last visit when I thought that I would never come here again. Golden temple was very crowded and Kesar da dhaba is highly over-rated. Satpura is a must-try because of its innovation over Samosa :) 

Multiple weekend  trips to Denkanikottai including one where we went to Murugan Idli in Krishnagiri 

--------------

Movies - Started my bollywood binge to reconnect with Bollywood

Javan - SRK starrer. Lets leave it at that 

Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahanai - Karan Johar goes back to the director seat. Flashy, royal, breaking taboos and 100% bolllywood. Some people understand the industry/genre really well.

Tu Joothi Mein Makkar - Time pass. Lets not apply logic. But, Bollywood is definitely continuing its liberal streak in whole new ways, especially around sexuality, women freedom and rights. This part is good to see. I had thought how Hrushikesh Mukherjee films used to make middle class push the boundary on what values we want nation to follow. By no means TJMM is a Hrushikesh-da movie but collectively, today's Bollywood movies, though standing for upper class, is brazenly calling out the freedom expected in today's times. I do not think that we should take it for granted. Because we have seen how regressive the TV series industry became. 

Mimi - A Pankaj Tripathi film on surrogacy where the worst fears are actualized and resolved too in the end. It avoids the difficult question on what if the son was mentally challenged. But, nevertheless a different film. 

Masala ones - 

Star Wars 4, 5 and 6. Wanted to get Kanishka acquainted to origins of Star Wars universe. Never liked before, do not like them now. The new JJ Abrams era and Andor is impressive though. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - So good that i am not seeing this in cinemas anymore. Watchable but they are not at all enjoyable anymore. 

Amazing ones - 

Perry Mason - Season 2 - 4.5/5. Matthew Rhys continues to cement his place as one of the best actors of my generation. I am such a big fan of him. 

Jury Duty - 4.5/5 - How much I have loved the premise. And boy, how lucky they were to find the right person. Plus, it is legal drama :) I absolutely adored it. Creativity, things done to pull it off, the docu style.  

The Bear Season 2 - 5/5 - It is just brilliant. All episodes are amazing. This has to be rewatched. and then watched again. I am not sure how many times I have told people to watch this series. 

Decision to leave - 3.5/5 - Nice noir thriller and a delight to watch.

I also went through a phase of 90s 6-pointers which I feel are missing in today's world. These simple plot-based couple of twist thrillers are so watchable. 

High Crimes - 2.5-3/5.

The Sum of all fears - 2.5-3/5 

Contrast to the current ones require a lot of mental energy to see them. Example - I saw this series Inventing Anna on how a girl frauded the whose-who of elite but she had a modest background. Besides a badly acted protagonist role, this could have been cut short to a 2 hr movie. 

--------------------

New things - 

Played new board game - Wingspan - Liked it a lot. Good strategy and competitive play but not at all combative. Peaceful competitive game. 

New board game - Diamonds - A new family board game in our kitty. Nice combination of both playing cards and elements from board game world. 

Food stall - Independence day celebration - Kanishka and I along with family, particularly Kanishka's mom had a food stall in Sobha. Featuring Litti Chokha Churma and Hummus with Nachos. Kids came for nachos more than hummus. Litti Chokha was amazing 

New places tried - Long Boat Brewery (3.5/5), Urban Monkey Sarjapur (2.5/5 - though with Bad coffee you can not call yourself an English breakfast place), Indian Coffee House HSR (new outlet launch and it is awesome), Shree Aahar HSR (new Darshini in HSR which is passable). 

From office - Deck of Brews, Misosexy Indiranagar.