TRAVEL MEMOIRS BY MITALI DESAI SHAH

Sunday, 5 September 2021

KANATAL, SURKANDA DEVI TEMPLE

We landed at dehradun airport. Amidst this covid scenario ,things we should know:
Middle seat person wears full ppe kit
Everyone has to wear mask & shield provided by airlines 
You have to be vaccinated (2 shots) or you have to do an rtpcr before any flight.

Rishikesh is half an hour from  dehradun airport by car. We hired a car and our first drop was ram jhulla at rishikesh. It's a suspension bridge on the mighty ganga . Its super crowded with pedestrians and two wheelers .
Ram Jhulla

On crossing it we had chole bhature and lassi at chotiwala. 
We walked from there till laxman jhulla. Its equally crowded.
 
Laxman Jhulla

Then we made a little  detour to tehri lake before  reaching kanatal .
Tehri lake is 3 hours from rishikesh ( considering the mountainous drive throughout). 
Tehri lake is created due to the dam on bhagirathi. Its water is a greenish blue beautiful, compared to the muddy waters we saw at rishikesh. Its approximately 900m deep. It has boating and jet ski services available. You can jet ski yourself or sit behind a trained guard. We did boating for half an hour in an open motor boat.( it cost us rs.300 per person). The one and half hour boating takes you to the dobra suspension bridge . I recommend the one and half hour boating. 
Tehri Lake.



We are staying at club mahindra. 
View from Our Room.

Club Mahindra, Kanatal Garden.

Next day we did a safari.  It's an open SUV (7 seater). As we started on our journey  it started pouring( we are visiting in the  monsoon so of course). The safari drive is for an hour in the  jungle ( officially called kaudia forest or kodia forest), amongst lush foliage and really tall deodar trees. On reaching the viewing spot, as luck would have it , the rain stopped and we could see a clear view of the mountains and the Jungle.
In the safari.

At the viewpoint -kanatal safari
While Driving throught the Jundle.

The drive back was sheer joy. 

We had lunch at club mahindra. I'm mentioning because we had regional  cuisine. We had jeera rice and dal Gatwani .
Jeera Rice & Dal Gatwani,


For dessert we had Jhangore ki kheer.

What we had for dinner ?
Palak paneer jhakhya with mandua ki roti .
Palak paneer jhakhya with mandua ki roti .

At milan restaurant just next to club mahindra. 

The next day we did a trek in the kaudia forest.  Walking through the tall deodar trees and wild flowers was fun. Also its not a difficult trek. 
In the Kodia Forest.

Dinner  under a canopy of stars with steaming hot momos, dal , mix vegetable sabji and mandua ki roti. 

Our next destination is mussorie but on the way we sought blessings at Surkanda Devi temple. 
Surkanda Devi temple is just half an hour by car from club mahindra kanatal. It is a shakti Peeth. When sati burned herself due to the insult of her husband, god shiv , he carried her to kailash, and wherever her body part fell a temple (shakti Peeth) was formed. Here at Surkanda devi temple her head had fallen. 
It is a steep climb but the temple is totally worth it. It has pahadi architecture. The view from the temple is beautiful but due to the fog we did not get to see much.

At Surkanda Devi Temple waiting for it to open.

 With or without the view the temple should not be given a miss .

Onto our Next destination Mussorie.

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