10 Tough Places To Visit When You Are Young

 In my blog post "20 Rules for Indian Travellers", the 3rd rule is - Visit the tougher places when you are younger. Here is a list of 10 tough places to visit when you are young. You can always sip wine in Paris when you are old. 

While my primary target audience with this post are Indian travellers, they should be useful to others too.

1. Leh and Ladakh, India. Don't fly into Leh. Go by road from Manali to Leh. Break the journey in Keylong, Lahaul to get acclimatised and Keylong is a very pleasant place with some nice Tibetan monasteries. Don't break the journey in Sarchu. It is too high and you could have altitude problems. Fly out of Leh when you finish your trip. Get a window seat, it is a spectacular flight over the Himalayas.

2. Lahaul and Spiti, India. Travel using public transport on this amazing circuit. Contrary to popular opinion, I recommend doing the circuit in a clockwise direction, because then you can visit Keylong, Lahaul too. You also end the trip in a easy manner, the tougher journeys are completed early in trip. Do the trip from Manali - Keylong - Kaza - Tabo - Nako - Kalpa - Shimla. There is public transport available for the entire trip. To travel from Keylong to Kaza, you will have to change buses at Gramphu. The road from Gramphu to Kaza is the worst road I have seen in my entire life. It is a spectacular and petrifying journey, especially on a bus! The journey can take 10 to 11 hours. After that, from Nako to Kalpa to Shimla, it is smooth sailing. 

3. Pamir Highway, Central Asia. Traverse the Pamir Highway from Bishkek, Tajikistan to Osh, Kyrgyzstan. I didn't do this trip when I was young. Now that I am older and have problems with high altitude, I am not in a position to do it.

4.  Côte Est Railway, Madagascar. The journey from Fianarantsoa to Manakara is a classic African train journey. You travel through 67 bridges, 47 tunnels and countless waterfalls. But it is not an easy trip. One day before the journey, you need to queue up at the station and get a token. On the day of departure, you need to reach the station at 5 am, queue up and exchange the token for a ticket. The train is supposed to start at 6am. It rarely does. My train arrived at the platform at 7:30 am and departed around 9 am. In between the engine broke down several times and had to be fixed. The journey of 150 km took 15 hours! I reached Manakara at midnight. There is no food or water available during the journey. You need to carry what you need. There are vendors who sell fruits. When the train enters a tunnel, you need to instantly clutch your bags. There are no lights in the train and it becomes pitch dark. Your bags might get stolen, so you need to clutch them. The trip is certainly an adventure!

5. Mountain Gorilla tracking, Uganda. Do this fast. The mountain gorillas are an endangered species and they are disappearing fast. In Uganda, Bwindi National Park is the place to track mountain gorillas. A limited number of permits are issued for each day. A highly trained guide leads the way. You trek to last known position of the gorilla family and from there you follow the paw prints. You might sight the gorillas in 15 minutes or you might not sight them at all. My guide found the gorillas after 5 hours of trekking. Sometimes I had to climb and crawl on all fours. The return to the base station was another 5 hours! It was the toughest trek of my life. You need to plan this trip well in advance, ideally 6 to 9 months before. The limited gorilla permits get sold out fast.

6. Tiger's Nest Monastery, Bhutan. Don't go on a taxi, get off, stand on the road and click photographs with zoom lenses. Get on a bus from Paro going to Drukgyel Dzong. Ask the driver to drop you off at the starting point of the hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery. It is a 2 hour hike to the top. There is a tea house midway from where you get excellent views of the monastery. After you climb down from the hike, take a bus to Drukgyel Dzong. It is a lovely monastery and the end of the road. There is a small path from there to Tibet. 

7. Grand Canyon, USA. Hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and climb up the other side. If you can't afford a trip to the US or you have problems in getting a US visa, read the next point.

8.  Gandikota, Andhra, India. Gandikota Canyon with the River Penna flowing through it is as spectacular as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. From Bangalore there are buses to Jammalamadugu. From Jammalamadagu, there is an infrequent bus to Gandikota or you can take an auto rickshaw. They charge ₹200 to ₹250 (US$3). Most people hike to the view point. But it is possible to hike down to the bottom of the canyon, to the river. If you need a guide, ask at the government run Haritha Hotel. 

9. Zokhawthar, Mizoram, India. From Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state take a Sumo (an 8 seater in to which they pack in 13 people) to Champhai. If you want some comfort, pay for the 2 seats next to the driver and you can sit there alone. It is a green, forested drive all the way to Champhai. The road is the problem. It is one of the worst roads in the world and the journey takes about 10 hours. In Champhai, stay at the lovely, government run Forest Rest House. There are some wineries too in Champhai. From Champhai, travel to the India - Myanmar border at Zokhawtar. Cross the border to Rikhawdar, Indian citizens just need to flash their passports. Once in Myanmar, visit the Rih Dil Lake, a nice heart shaped lake. If you have an Airtel phone connection, it will still work in Rih Dil Lake. Once you are done, you will need to negotiate that horrible road back to Aizawl in a fully packed Sumo!

10. Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo. I have always dreamt of travelling to Congo, ever since I read V.S. Naipaul's "Bend In The River" decades ago. I have planned a trip several times but never did go due to the turmoil there. A climb up Mount Nyiragongo to the rim of the volcano to see the molten, lava lake is something that I plan to do. 

Since you have read the entire article, here is a bonus suggestion for you. If you are still young and have money left, travel the Iron Ore train through the Sahara Desert in Mauritania from Nouadhibou to Choum. It is a 12 hour classic African train journey.

Go visit the tougher places when you are young. Don't regret later. If you have suggestions for any other places, please let me know. I am sure there must be many. I have deliberately left out climbing mountains like Mount Kilimanjaro, since you can even climb the Mt. Everest. 

Comments please! Thou shalt get a reply!