This was just an afternoon getaway. We decided to go and see Pyramid Valley on Kanakapura Road. It took about 45 mins from Hosur Road via Nice Road and Kanakapura Road.
Pyramid Valley is a meditation center located just outside Bangalore city on Kanakapura Road. The meditation center is called Pyramid as the building itself is in the form of pyramid shape. We parked the car and walked from the campus entrance to the Pyramid. On the way you will see a very good greenery with landscapes of rocks, flower gardens and some water bodies. The whole area is very quiet and peaceful, nicely kept and maintained.
At the entrance of the Pyramid, there is a huge Buddha statue which itself a perfect setting to transform you into a meditative mood. Kids under 6 years were not allowed inside the pyramid. Once you enter inside, it is a huge hall with a King's Chamber located at the center. You can sit anywhere in the hall and meditate. You can go up the chamber by taking steps on the ladder. Under 16 years were not allowed to take the ladder and go up. Even there at the chamber, you may sit and meditate. Since being at the center of Pyramid you are supposed to be feeling more positive energy and recharged.
No doubt it is a relaxing and meditative place which will transform your mind into calmness - either you really sit inside the Pyramid and meditate or you spend time outside in the beauty of nature. It is an amazing experience overall, must visit for what it has to offer - peace, calmness, solace, nature and greenery.
There is a small restaurant for quick snacks and tea. There are cottages for staying, but we were there just for a short visit and did not stay. Cottages looked very nice from the outside.
We enjoyed overall, looking forward to visit again and spend more time!
1st May 2013 - Today is our last day of Kashmir Trip. We have dedicated the whole day for Gulmarg. We started early and are hoping for a fun day at the mountains.
We had already bought the Gulmarg Gondola Ride tickets for Phase 1 and 2 at the airport counter and had come with some warm layers like sweaters and jerkins. On the way to Gulmarg, our driver stopped at a place and told us we should rent out the winter jackets/shoes. But we firmly said we have our own stuff and we do not plan to rent any. After all it is already May and weather is looking awesome! We went ahead to Gulmarg base area. We reached the parking area and in no time we realized it was so cold and damp there and it was raining that day. Now we realized for sure, our warm cloth is not enough. There are rental shops right there, but probably the earlier one where our driver had stopped would have been little bit cheaper. Anyways, we rented out all those additional layers we needed and ready for the Gondola Ride.
It is bit of a distance from the parking area to the Gondola boarding. You can either walk or take a pony ride. None of us were keen on going on pony and hence we decided to walk. Now didn't I say we already had tickets for the Gondola Ride? That is what we thought, but it is not a final ticket. We learnt that we still have to go to a counter, show our pass and Ids and get the real ticket. There are different counters and different lines, no one tells where to go or what to do. It is completely disorganized and there was such a huge crowd. We somehow managed to figure out which line to stand in. My brother-in-law stood there in the line and we all stood nearby waiting. There is no place to sit and rain was slowly turning into snow and it was getting much colder. It was 3+ hours waiting in that cold just to get the ticket. Standing in the line and trying to get your chance itself is one big deal as travel agents seem to go ahead of everyone pushing and pulling ruthlessly. If we had not already paid the money, we would have probably turned back. Now they also announced Phase 2 is cancelled. Even after we got the ticket, another confusion as to which line to go for the actual Gondola boarding.
We managed to board the Gondola and reached the stopping point on Gulmarg. Some of us started having some fun in the snow, but in no time they started announcing Gondola Ride itself will be closed very soon and we should be getting back. We hurried and got back to the Gondola. During the return ride, Gondola had a sudden stop and it was stopping at a weird angle and we all shouted out thinking something is wrong. It then started again and we reached back safely. But we learnt later that there was an earth quake during that time!
Now again we got to walk back to the parking area. Being out in the cold for so long, our hands and toes were freezing. My son was hurting and crying out for help saying he has frostbite. We managed to get into the car, driver turned on the heat and then it took a long time for our body to come to normal temperature.
It was such a bad experience. None of us enjoyed. We regretted going there, we all thought instead we could have enjoyed some other activity in the town. It was all due to so much disorganization by Gulmarg Gondola Cable Car Company. Why can't they issue original ticket when we paid at the Airport counter? It was so hard even to find out which counter we need to go, which line we need to stand etc. No proper boards and nobody there to help you out. No covered area while waiting, imagine spending 3 to 4 hours in that bitter cold without knowing what is happening. I am sure they are having the similar crowd everyday, but is this how treat them? I am very shocked and disappointed to see how things were handled.
If I ever visit Kashmir again, I would certainly not do Gulmarg Gondola Ride!
We had a quick short trip to beautiful Kashmir in the summer month. I have personally lived many years in the colder region and hence our summer time visit to Kashmir was perfect. I was not keen on seeing the cold winter there. Me and my son joined my sister's family in this quick getaway. We enjoyed visiting the attractions together. The whole trip was very memorable.
On 29th April 2013, early morning we left Bangalore to Srinagar. Our flight left Bangalore Airport at 6:30 AM to Delhi. And then we took another flight to Srinagar. By noon we reached Srinagar, met with my sister's family at the airport and headed to our hotel. We booked a prepaid taxi and we ended up using the same taxi for all our remaining days.
Our hotel was at walkable distance from Dal Lake. On the Dal Lake road there are two vegetarian Delhi and Punjabi Dhaba style restaurant. We had food in one of those restaurants and took Shikara boat ride on Dal Lake. The boat ride was awesome! The ride was very relaxing. Watching all those boat houses and shopping centers during the boat was a very unique experience. We got down at Nehru Park walked around. We also got down in couple of shopping houses, but we did not shop much since it was our first day out.
We again had our dinner at the Punjabi/Delhi Dhabas. In fact most of our breakfast/dinners were covered here. They had some south indian dishes as well like Dosa etc. I loved their parottas. We walked around a bit on Dal Lake road, looked around our shopping choices.
On 30th April 2013, we left early morning to visit Shankaracharya Hill. There is a small temple at the top of a hill. Drive up to this place is quite scenic. There was a lot of security check all the way through. No proper parking area, it was so crowded. Even though we reached quite early, we had to park way outside and walk quite a bit to reach the temple. There are quite some steps to go up as well. Scenery from the top is awesome and the area itself is very calm and relaxing.
After coming back from the temple we visited many gardens, namely, Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Garden and Chashme Shahi Gardens. Very good flower arrangements, water fountains and nice scenery around. They are all huge gardens and hence a lot of walking. We were hoping that Tulip Garden would be still open and went there. But it was already closed, we could only peak through the gate.
In the evening we did some shopping for clothes, nuts and raisins. The driver himself took us to a shop where they had variety of good quality nuts and raisins.
On 1st May 2013, Gulmarg was our destination. This needs a lot more writing than a small paragraph. Hence I will write an article by itself covering our experience.
On 2nd May 2013, my sister's family went to their place and we traveled back to Bangalore same way as we went - Srinagar to Delhi and Delhi to Bangalore.
