Hi guys..

Its been really long time since i blogged. Once I started blogging and i had to stop it for some work. Ok.. so, here i am typing whatever i remember in cache memory, atmost in my ram, certainly i am not going to dig my hard disk for what happened.. he he. ok..

So.. last weekend, I went out to a place called YO SEMITE. It means grizzly bear. You knw what, this is my best trip of my life. I am not a major traveller or anything, so anything i do should be a good trip, but this was something so amazing. It was a very well planned trip, except that 2 out of the 5 people gave a kela at the last minute. So, finally three of us went thr. Narayan, should be given major credit for the trip. He did most of the planning and booking. Bharath helped us with the drive. And ofcourse, ME for if i had also dropped out, then only two of them were left, enthu would have dropped below threshold and we would have packed the trip. So the total credit goes to one and only me.. he he.. just kidding.. i was just accompanying them.. my only contribution for the trip was to eat the food which we had bought.. :-) ok.. so.. moving along, we woke up at 5:30 (?? Does this surprise u.. I wake up at 9 and rush to office at 10) and we start our trip as early as 6:30. Car is packed with lot of eating stuffs.. Gotorades.. water bottles.. it was the most planned trip ours u see.. :-) We moved along..

On the way, i took some cool snaps, which i finally deleted because either it didnt come out good or it was too ordinary for the other photos.. taken thr.. my first good photo started at a reservoir. I generally like seeing water.. even a tub of water makes me feel happy... but this was simply beautiful.. chhooo much water... took a few snaps of the place and ofcourse a lot of mine.. so that i dont want to mess up my cool photos.. took a few snaps of narayan.. and ofcourse bharath.. but bharath doesnt like to be a part of the picture..

Along the drive, we had some interesting discussion.. or a rambling babbling.. whatever u call... we digressed through a wide range of topics starting from the role of a product manager to civil engineering.. and roads.. and a lot of interesting / boring talks.. in the process missed an exit and lost our way.. and me making vital contributions to it.. whenever i am awake.. basically it goes like this.. i ask a general question.. we have a good discussion.. after some time.. when it goes very off topic.. i sleep off.. then i wake up.. i curiously ask.. what ever u talking about.. i will pose an enthusiastic question and ofcourse.. goto : previous sentence.. and finally.. after good 2 hrs of intermittent sleep.. i wake up.. i am all set for the nature sight seeing.. it was very beautiful drive.. my "AMAZING"s or "WOW"s didnt stop at all through out.. We stopped at some of the vista points.. took a few snaps.. ofcourse my narcism was given its due respect..

We reached yosemite like somewher like 11:30 or 12 noon.. not sure.. we had good lunch.. i mean.. a pizza.. thats all... in this season.. only pizza's are available.. all the other shops are closed for winter.. i fundu..ly ordered an healthy "ORANGE JUICE PLEASE..." He gives a fruity type dabba. which i have to pour into a tumblur(glass) and drink.... ha ha ha.. healthy.. ( I should tell myself and drink that FRESH fruit juice.. ) anyways.. we then took our room keys.. my morning rites are yet to performed.. so.. i was hurrying the rest.. we plan to leave all our eatables / toiletries.. at BEAR SAFE CONTAINERS... people back in india would be afraid of monkeys.. this place is inhabited by bears.. there were many incidences of bears taking food.. so we have to keep everything that smells in a BEAR SAFE containers.. look.. i still remember having cried at a at palani because a monkey tried to snatch some milk from my hand.. and now.. going to face bears.. praying god.. that i should reach safely back home.. and we head towards our home sweet home.. we are already feeling very cold.. we find a very well built tent.. see photos.. plz.. i will link it up soon.. we happily see that we are going to live in such a CUTE place.. with a very WARM night of 5 degree celcius.. Awesome.. btb, the place is called curry village.. its in the valley.. it was very nice to stay there.. in terms of sight..

We were all set and enthusiastic about the hike.. we chose the trail ( so called.. there was no trail there.. it was just rocks.. ) to the top of the bernal falls. It was very difficult at the start. bharath was walking very fast. we couldnt catch up at all.. it was very steep.. and narayan and i were gasping for breath already... not even half way through.. i innocently asked bharath.. is the trail going to be like this through out?? he yes.. slightly more steeper.. :-) i was wondering.. y the hell on earth am i doing this.. the mistakes which we did were 1) we were trying to keep up with bharath.. who was a professional hiker.. and he wanted to beat the crowd.. 2) we didnt eat full stomach.. 3) we carried a lot of water bottles.. that made our backpack very heavy.. anyways.. then i realised that there was no point goin that fast.. narayan and i slowed down.. walking slowly.. resting whenever we felt like.. we reached the top of the bernal falls.. it was a very beautiful sight.. all the tiredness of climbing for such a long time.. was gone at the sight of the water.. then we saw the emerald lake.. water was crystal clear.. it looked green.. it was such a beautiful place.. along the way we took a lot of photos at the mid point of the falls.. we got a very good view of the falls.. ther.. we went down to the pool to feel the spray of water.. it was a very enriching experience.. man!! it was very good.. it was natural.. that was the best part.. u dont have concrete roads.. u dont have cars to go to such a place.. u dont have heaters.. u dont have a seperate bathrooms... its all shared.. the place is very rugged.. u have to walk.. u have to climb.. no porters.. nothing.. its all u and u alone.. the place is very big.. so more often than not.. u will find a maximum of 4 or 5 ppl.. in any given place... it was difficult to be honest..

from the emerald lake... we went up see a bridge.. this is when things began more and more difficult.. it was steep.. it didnt have stone steps.. you have just walk on rocks.. we saw the bridge.. in the process learnt a couple of camera tricks from bharath.. bharath told we will go to the top of nevada falls also.. we wont be coming here everyday.. we asked someone and they told us the route.. we started our next long and strenous hike.. midway to nevada falls.. we suddenly hear the sound of water.. its actually music....... the sight of the water, with trees having an yellowish color of fall.. sunlight reflecting from water and yellow leaves... looked like a golden place.. it was special.. by then i had exhausted all of my energy.. i was crawling to the top.. bharath asked me to sit somewhr.. so that he can chk out if there is a beautiful sight at the top.. it was already 5 in the evening.. me and narayan were generally discussing about how tiring the trip was.. and bharath was missing all of a sudden.. some guy came and warned us.. that in an hour.. everything will be dark... and its better not to search our path in the wilderness... especially when u cant see anything and ofcourse.. its going to be damn cold mind u!! remember 5 degrees.. we searched for bharath.. forced him to come down.. and ya.. all set.. we walked back to the bottom.. narayan was having a lot difficulty walking back.. our legs wer all paining.. and somehow we managed to find our way back to our tent..

to be continued...