Thread by @rangarulez

I wanted to share my experience with you all about my recent trip to Uttarakhand. It is rightly called as Devabhoomi, such a wonderful place to be in if you are looking for a break from your regular activities. The roads throughout the state are absolutely fantastic (1/n)

Riding a bike or self-driving a car would be even more enjoyable with some nice curves. After getting down at Dehradun, we were going to a scenic place called "Kanatal". This is the place where the chance of snow is very high, it is approx 85 km from Dehradun. (2/n)

By the time, we reached the homestay at Kanatal, the temperature was single digit. The caretaker helped us with Bon Fire to settle initially and served us a hot hot dinner. Dinner menu - Chap, dhal, rice, mattar paneer, curd and pickle. (3/n)

The room had heaters, one is fitted to the bed to keep us warm from the cold. By the time, we hit our bed, the temperature went sub zero. We experienced -3 degrees. The heater connected to the bed helped us to sleep comfortably as everything was cold. (4/n)

When the sunrise was approaching, we could see the Himalayan range from our room. (5/n)

There is a tea point available at the top of the homestay, where the Himalayan view would be very beautiful. We can enjoy our chai with this spectacular view. We also took some wonderful and scenic photos from this tea point. (6/n)

The best part of the tea point was the caretaker's kids. They were so enthusiastic and very engaging with us. The group photo which we took was so beautiful and taken by the 13 year old boy. Very tempting to post the picture but don't want to do that 😄😄. (7/n)

Upon our return from the tea point, we were served a hot and tasty breakfast. After the bf, we headed to Surkanda Devi Temple, which is located at approx 10k feet above ground level. The best part was the cable car to reach the top of the temple. This is the Surkanda Devi (8/n)

We spent about 1.5 hours at the Surkanda Devi Temple. This temple has a very big history and believes that the head of Parvati Ma is at this temple. Pls try to read the story of this. Shall post as well. The other side of the temple is the spectacular view of Himalayan Range.

Ma Parvati's father didn't accept Lord Shiva to be her husband, and went on to perform the Yagna without inviting Lord Shiva. Ma Parvati was not happy and threw herself to fire (Sati). Knowing this, Lord Shiva started with his Rudra Thandavam.

Maha Vishnu came and threw his Sudarshana Chakra and cut the Ma Parvati's body into various pieces. It is believed that the Ma Parvati's head fell into the place where the modern Surkanda Devi Temple is located. (11/n)

Even though we could not experience the snow, the Kanatal stay was so memorable for all of us. One of my friend had planned the entire trip, we always trusted him and each of our stay will be revealed only when we enter the destination. He didn't disappoint us. (12/n)

The next place was the floating resort at Le Roi Floating Huts. Trust me, this is located in the middle of Tehri Lake. This is easily the best part of our stay, bit expensive but worth a stay. This got re-opened after an allegation that the drainage got merged into the Lake. 13/n

Very Scenic and life time experience we all had. This is the Le Roi Floating Huts. (14/n)

There is a wonderful bridge which is constructed, across the mountains and as a result the travelling time is reduced by 2.5 hours. This could compete with other bridges across the globe. Thanks to @Raamadaasan1 for calling me and this snap was taken when I was talking (15/n)

The Floating Huts resort was so spectacular and the in-house food was awesome. One cannot move out of the floating huts upon check-in until check out. If you still need the move out then we need to 3k to go to the land. Who will move out in between from this scenic location 16/n

We loved the breakfast spread at the floating huts. Interestingly, they had rava idli as a part of the spread and it tasted yummy. From our breakfast table 😄😄. (17/n)

Our next destination from Floating Huts was Devaprayag. We didn't guess anything about the stay as by now, we knew it could be another fantastic place to stay. Before we reached our destination, we stopped at the Sangam, which is the origin of River Ganga/Ganges. (18/n)

Since it was evening time, we stopped to feel the Sangam. This is the place where River Alaknanda meets River Bhagirathi, thereafter flown as Ganges. We decided to take a holy dip in the morning. The water was so pure and the flow was rapid. 19/n

We decided to move on to our destination, which is a very remote place, 20 km away from Devaprayag. Another fantastic non commercial place, a Tent Stay - Banyan by the Ganges, located at the bank of Ganges😄😄. It was cold but not as freezing as Kanatal. (20/n)

Since there are not many options available outside for food,we opted for 3 meals at the resort and very tasty food was served at all times. (21/n)

View of Ganges from our room at The Banyan by the Ganges. 22/n

At the Sangam for the holy dip at the Ganges. Ganga Snanam aachu 😄😄, felt very happy and satisfied after the Ganga Snanam... We had spent 2 hours and as a result, we were behind at least 1 hour of our schedule, as our next schedule after the Snanam was River Rafting. 23/n

River Rafting at Rishikesh was one of my wishlists for a very long time. At last, I managed to do it. The rafter, who has 36 years of experience gave us a very memorable experience and we all were so satisfied after the rafting. Also had a surprise tea break 24/n.

Our final destination of the tour was at Rishikesh, Hotel Yoganiketan was the place for our stay. We had a small access to the Ganga River from the backside of our room. A very good place to stay. 25/n

We went to a much hyped place called Chotiwala for our dinner. Very expensive and not a memorable experience. I will not recommend this hotel to anyone. Extremely disappointed and the in-house restaurant at Yoganiketan was very good. We had a very tasty breakfast next morning.

Rishikesh was the only commercial place where we stayed during our entire trip. Having said that, I'm still not out of the memorable tour that we all had. Refreshing nature, wonderful climate, beautiful people including the police men, I could add on. (25/n)

I will definitely revisit Uttarakhand especially the tent stay - Banyan by the Ganges and will visit some other scenic places which were not part of this tour. Thanks to @vettysri for organizing a wonderful trip and maintaining our faith especially on the places you choose. 28/n

@rajivM_10 - the man behind many wonderful pictures from our trip 😄😄. Still rejoicing the great time we had. #Uttarakhand; #Devabhoomi; #Rishikesh; #RiverRafting; #Ganges; #Tehri; (29/29)