Chang's Travels

When I was young, I remember listening to Radio Moscow’s Assamese broadcast on the radio. I remember reading about how popular Raj Kapoor was in the then USSR, about what a big hit the movie Awara was, about how the USSR was India’s all-weather friend, about the intrepid space explorers – Laika the first animal in space, and Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Some years later, we were witness to an epochal event – the disintegration of the USSR : a time when the entire world learnt two Russian words – glasnost and perestroika.

The next couple of decades coincided with India’s liberalisation, the increasing cultural and economic influence of USA, and the the corresponding disappearance of Russia from our collective consciousness, except as the stereotypical bad guys of Hollywood thrillers.

So when I got a chance to visit Moscow on work a few weeks ago, I was not sure what to expect. Given that it was a work trip, I really didn’t get much time to do much sightseeing. However, what I did manage to see was extremely impressive. It turns out that Moscow is quite a beautiful city, and the changing colours of the autumn leaves embellished this beauty as only nature at its best can.

Autumn glory near the Red Square

I was only able to visit two places this time. The first one was the huge, awe inspiring structure of Moscow University. The story is that when huge skyscrapers were being constructed in the US in the fifties, Stalin took it as a personal affront that Russia was falling behind. He ordered the construction of seven buildings, all in different architectural styles, but sharing a common feature – that of being absolutely huge! After all, these were buildings meant to show the Empire State Building its place. These seven buildings are now called the Seven Sisters, and probably the most impressive of them is the Moscow University building, which you can see below.

Moscow University in all its glory.

One interesting fact about this building is that the roads near it are where all of Moscow’s race enthusiasts and stuntmen congegrrate. While I was there, I was lucky enough to witness a few bike stunts on the main road, while on a patch of land nearby a BMW was screeching around making the circles amidst a lot of smoke and dust.

One evening, I caught up with some friends of friends, Indian people who have settled in Moscow, and had a great time chatting with them while gorging on Uzbeki food. Interestingly, many Uzbeki dishes share the same names as the corresponding Indian dishes, from sharbat to kabab to shashlik etc. My understanding it that these dishes came to India from Uzbekistan, which was the homeland of the Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire.

On my very last day in Moscow, I visited the iconic red square, and it totally lived up to the hype.

Just outside the Red Square, before the Resurrection Gate, is a metal plaque that marks “Kilometre Zero”, the centre point of Moscow from which all distances to and from the city are supposed to be measured.

The centre of Moscow!

A common belief is that if you stand right on the centre point and make a wish, it will come true. So one gets to see many people doing this, and then placing a coin on the plaque. Of course, there are enough people waiting around to pick up these coins and make good use of them.

For a photographer, the Red Square is a great place for people watching, and I too couldn’t resist the temptation.

Talking of people, there are these men and women dressed in traditional and supposedly royal Russian clothes who make a living out of posing with tourists for photographs.

Unfortunately, I had to rush through and see the sights in a very short time. I am looking forward to be back some day to experience the sights and attractions of Moscow with the respect and focus the city deserves.

Here are some more photographs from the trip. Hope you like them. Please click on the individual image to see it in full size.

© 2019 Jishnu Changkakoti. All rights reserved.

Work took to me to the stunning landscapes of Ladakh recently, & I utilised the opportunity to visit the picturesque Stok village. Situated in the valley of the Singey Sangpo (Indus) river, Stok is the home of the 19th century summer palace of the king of Ladakh. It is also the starting point of the trek to the Stok Kangri peak, which is a popular trek for relatively inexperienced trekkers, despite its 6153m height. Thanks to the hospitality and guidance of Naropa Fellow Yutung Stanzin, I was able to get some pretty decent shots of the area, topped off with a delicious traditional Ladakhi breakfast in his house.

Please click on each individual image to see it in full size.

©2019 Jishnu Changkakoti. All rights reserved. No photograph or part of the blog may be reproduced without the express permission of the photographer and author Jishnu Changkakoti

Shades of white and blue

A rare view of Nandadevi during the monsoons

Bhalugaad Falls – an impressionistic view

Bhalugaad falls

Photographs from a recent trip to Kumaon.

©2018 Jishnu Changkakoti. All rights reserved. No photograph or part of the blog may be reproduced without the express permission of the photographer and author Jishnu Changkakoti

What comes to mind when one thinks of Greece? For me, it was the Parthenon and Greek mythology, closely followed by images of gorgeous sunsets viewed across picture-perfect houses in white and blue. But we realised that there is so much more to Greece. And none as unique as Meteora – a world heritage site that many of us do not know about.

Imagine being parachuted into a valley where all around you are huge rocks strewn about like some giant decided to plonk them here while deciding what to do with them. Each rock is anywhere between 300-500 feet high. And if you peer up, you will see that many of these rocks have caves on their faces, and monasteries at their summits.

Please see the photos above this note to get a sense of the majesty of the place. Click on the individual photographs to view them in their actual size.

The story of Meteora starts around the 10th century, when a number of monks came here to meditate. In order to meditate undisturbed, they climbed into the many caves that pockmark the sheer rock faces & made their homes there. These monks would come down to the valley about once a week in order to pray together and partake of food that the villagers would provide them. Some of these caves were upgraded into mini-churches. The image below shows the remnants of such dwellings – the wood that you see is about 800 years old, cut out of the extremely durable local ash trees.

Over time, monasteries were constructed on top of the rocks. This was an extremely time-consuming and arduous task as all the material for the construction had to be carried up to the top of the rocks manually. At its peak, there were 24 monasteries operating in Meteora. Today there are 6 active monasteries present. Their main source of revenue, and hence survival, is tourism, so tourists can visit these monasteries and see how the monks and nuns lead their lives there. 

Thanks to tourism, it is fairly simple to visit these monasteries,  as long as you are ok to climb a few hundred steps carved out from the rocks. In the early days, the only way to enter the monastery was to climb into a net lowered down by rope by someone inside, & then be pulled up into the monastery.

While Meteora is impressive at any time, it is truly spectacular during sunset. So if you are planning to visit, it is ideal to spend a night there. 

How to get there: The most convenient way is to take a train from Athens. The train we took leaves Athens at around 8.20am & reaches Kalambaka at 1.30. Kalambaka is the most convenient place to stay in, since the train stops there. It is a small town, right on the outskirts of the Meteora area. There is another town – Kastraki – that is also nearby. 

If you are driving, it may be worth combining Delphi and Meteora together in a 3 day trip. 

Where to stay: There are a number of hotels & B&Bs there. We stayed at the Hotel Dellas Boutique, and were very happy with it. Most of the hotels are walking distance from the railway station. Dellas Boutique is at a lovely location with great views of the valley, but it involved a bit of an uphill climb, so we took a taxi from the station (pretty cheap at 5 Euros or less).

Where to eat: Based on recommendations, we ate at two restaurants which is where apparently the locals go to eat. These were the Restaurant Meteora and the Restaurant Panellonia, & both were excellent. Be sure to try the house wine, which is usually served in a metallic mug.

Other tips: Unless you are driving, it makes sense to take one or more of the guided tours. We took two excellent tours, both conducted by Visit Meteora (https://www.visitmeteora.travel). We took the Sunset Tour on the first and followed it up with a half day morning tour the next. Between the two tours, all the monasteries and attractions are covered, & we get back in time to take the evening train back to Athens. If you have time, it may be a good idea to take one tour so that you get to learn about the place, and then follow it up by simply hiking to the various locations. 

Best time to go: We went in the first week of April, & it was fairly cool (you need at least a light jacket even during the day) and pleasant, though cloudy. The peak season is during summer, though the photographs we saw of snow-covered Meteora makes me believe that it would be pretty cool to visit it in winter as well.

Fun facts: Meteora first entered international consciousness when some scenes of the 1981 James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” was shot here. More recently, parts of Games of Thrones were also shot here.

 ©2018 Jishnu Changkakoti. All rights reserved. No photograph or part of the blog may be reproduced without the express permission of the photographer and author Jishnu Changkakoti.

I grew up in this lovely hill town named Shillong. Shillong is the capital of the very aptly named eastern Indian state of Meghalaya – “the abode of the clouds”. Surrounding Shillong are some of the prettiest landscapes that you can hope to see in India. The the wonder of it all is that many such landscapes are being discovered even today.

One such place is Laitlum. Just about 25km from Shillong, after driving scenic past rolling hills covered with potato fields, one comes to the town of Smit. Drive past its busy square for a few kilometres, and there in front of you lies a huge meadow. Most of the time, you will find the meadow mostly devoid of tourists, thought that is starting to change ever since the Bollywood movies “Rock On 2” shot some scenes here. Walk across the meadow and, no matter how ready you are for the sight, be prepared to have your breath taken away!

Stretching out in front of you is a beautiful green valley. Deep down you can see a stream winding its way through the bottom, while smoke curls up lazily from the Khasi village situated halfway down the slope.

This is Laitlum. Some smart person has aptly christened the picturesque canyon as the Laitlum “Grand Canyon” and marked it for everyone’s benefit on Google Maps. Very smart marketing!

Now when one benchmarks a place against something as famous and, well, grand, as the Grand Canyon, you need to make sure your product delivers. And Laitlum does deliver, in spades. It is obviously not as huge as its namesake, but I daresay it is prettier. It is also more approachable and friendlier, with the round-the-year greenery. If you have the time and the energy, it is an ideal place to go for a day-long hike.

Well, enough of words. See the beauty of Laitlum for yourself.

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©2018 Jishnu Changkakoti. All rights reserved. No photograph or part of the blog may be reproduced without the express permission of the photographer and author Jishnu Changkakoti.