Its April 2012.As I have mentioned before , our family is kinda travel freak and we travel at least once in a year.But the 20 years of travel history contains only Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the list.Then my brother who is a railway connections expertise , planed the route to visit places in and around Delhi and booked the tickets for 33 of us.That was the wonderful day in my life and everyday after that moved with such excitement.

Day 1 – AGRA

The Garib rath express took us to Agra at 8 AM.We have visited Fathepur Sikiri, Akbar Tomb, Agra Fort and TajMahal

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Tajmahal is the only place , which I am less interested in the entire itinerary. But you should visit the place to really know why its among the seven wonders forever.”Ecstasy” I have experienced for the first time after visiting the Taj!!!

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Day 2 – Jaipur

We were the last one to leave the Tajmahal and headed straight away to railway station.Reached Jaipur early in the morning.We had visited Birla Mandir, City Palace , Jantar Mantar, Albert hall museum, Jal Mahal, Amer Fort.

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Just opposite to Amer Fort, there is AMER WALL, which is kind of replica to Great wall of china.You have to climb nearly 350 steps to reach the wall.

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Day 3 – Amritsar

We may live for years in this world, But only few days are purposeful. The day in Amritsar made me feel that way and it sure will increase the feel of patriotism.

We visited Durgiana Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Harmandir Sahib – Golden Temple, Wagah Border and again Golden temple to get a glimpse at night.

The Tragedy happened on 13th April 1919.Its said that the gates are closed and the narrow passage as well is blocked by the army men.The entire crowd have to run to the wall or fall inside the well.

This wall has its own historic significance .It has 28 bullet marks which can be easily seen.These were fired into the ground by the order of general Dyer.Moreover no warning was given to disperse before they fired which was against the Rowlatt act.1650 rounds were fired .

Wagah Border is a place where every cell in your blood shouts INDIA.

There will be a great crowd.People on either side will support their country, play songs, Dance , cheers when the Border crossing and flag ceremony happens.

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To visit Golden Temple at night is a bliss.And never forget to have your lunch at golden temple.

Day 4 & 5 – JammuTavi

On Day 4 post lunch we started our trek to Vaishno Devi temple.It is located in katra in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Its one of the famous pilgrimage there , just like our Tirupati and a lot of people visit per day and its open only for 6 months a year and the other six months it will be covered with snow.

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It was a medium difficulty 6 hours trek and the trek path gets steeper with height.Actually we have planned for a toy train from Pathankot to Jogindhar nagar at 4 AM on Day 5 morning, but we reached the cottage only at 5 AM in the morning(Day 5) from trek.

We missed the train so took a bus to Pathankot and another bus from there to Manali.The entire day 5 went on travel.

Day 6 & 7 – Kulu Manali

We reached Manali in the morning.I always dreamt of this place being unbearably cold.But the reality is its too hot in the day time.

We visited Solang Nala(Ropeway , Ski centre), Solang Valley (Paragliding) , White water rafting , Shree Mahadevi Teerth , Hidimba temple , Von Nagari Monastery

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On Day 7 we travelled to Delhi by a Bus and from Delhi went to Haridwar.

Day 9 – Haridwar & Rishikesh

We took bath in Ganges and visited a lot of temples in Haridwar and Rishikesh.

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Day 8&10 – Delhi

Delhi is the last destination of our trip and had visited Red fort , Rashtrapathi Bhavan and few important sights (Just from the vehicle).Qutub Minar , India gate, Lotus Temple , Indira Gandhi Memorial , Laxminarayan Temple, Akshardam and did some shopping.

Ruin is a Gift , Ruin is the road to Transformation

Indira Gandhi memorial

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India Gate and Lakshmi Narayanan Temple

Akshardam is one of the must visit place in Delhi.

Ended the final day with Shopping.We all are really exhausted as soon as we got into the train back to Chennai .We travel like backpackers and usually take the trains at night time and do sightseeing in the day time.So just waited for the train to start and dozed off on the next two days of travel.

Train / Bus information

Below is the Itinerary of the entire trip

We started our trip from Chennai

• Chennai to Agra – Train No 12611 Garib Rath Express(MGR Chennai Central Hazrat Nizamuddin Garib Rath Express).
  • The train departs Chennai at 06:05 AM and arrives Agra at 08:00 AM the next day.
  • Got ready in the train itself and took a cab after exiting the station. Entire day went on sightseeing.[Day 1]
• Agra to Jaipur – The train which we took isn’t running now.
  • We took a late night train and reached Jaipur early in the morning.
  • Took a home stay to refresh, checked out, booked a cab and did sight seeing the whole day .[Day 2]
  • Now two trains run between Agra and Jaipur at Night (Departs 22:10 – Arrives 02:10) – #22547 on Sunday , wed and Sat & #12547 on Monday , Tuesday , Thursday, Friday
• Jaipur to Amritsar – Train No 19613 – Ajmir ASR Express
  • Departs at 20:00 from Jaipur and arrives at 10 :00 AM in Amritsar.
  • We took a room. Golden temple and Jallian Walabagh were close by.Took a cab to visit Wagah Border and they dropped us in Railway station.
  • Sightseeing the entire day [Day 3]
  • In Agra and Jaipur we did not eat any special items. In-fact we packed food for two days.Managed with the available fruits and snacks available roadside.
  • We ate a lot in Amritsar and the food was very tasty.Lunch will be too good in Golden temple.We had Rajma Roti /chaval at a Punjabi Dhaba for Dinner and it tasted heavenly.And the people there are very honest.
• Amritsar to JammuTawi – Train No : 19415 Adi SVDK Express
  • The train departs at 23:40 Amritsar Junction and Arrives at 04:55 at Jammu Tawi.
  • The Entire day and night trek at Vaishno Devi Temple [Day 4]
• Jammu Tawi to Manali – Bus
  • The next Day [Day 5] we travelled from Jammu Tawi to Manali by Bus.(Jammu to Pathankot , Pathankot to Manali)Since we missed out train connection. The travel takes around 12 hours.
  • Entire day travelling and Day 6 we reached Manali.
• Kulu Manali – Delhi – Bus
  • Day 6 – Entire day Sight seeing
  • Day 7 – few hours of sight seeing and took an entire bus for our family to get to Delhi.
  • Day 8 – Sightseeing at Delhi
• Delhi to Haridwar – Train No 14041 – Mussorie Express
  • Train Departs at 21:30 from New Delhi and reaches Haridwar at 05:45
  • Day 9 Sightseeing at Haridwar and Rishikesh in multiple Autos
• Haridwar to New Delhi – Train No 14042 – Mussorie Express
  • The Train Departs at 22:45 from Haridwar Jn and reaches New Delhi at 08:30
  • Day 10 Sightseeing at Delhi.
  • Depart to Chennai the same night.
• New Delhi to Chennai -Train No 12622 – Tamil Nadu Express
  • It Departs at 22:30 and reaches Chennai at 07:10 the day after.(Runs for 32 hours)

Usually in our trips we completely concentrate on Sightseeing and experiences rather than food.We eat whatever we get for time being and rush to see the places :p.

The entire trip cost us 7000 per person for 10 days(Includes all Travel tickets, sightseeing and entrance tickets ).

PS : We did shopping on Delhi , but did not get any items, Cheap items cheap price. May be we did not visit the right place. We got sarees in Amritsar and shoes in Agra. Sarees are very ornamental,very cheap and high quality. I still use it (even after 8 years).

Spread Joy !! Spread Positiveness !!!