Ah another India park
So Rob and I have been to some really nice parks in India. I mean they have been truly awesome but the other day was the exact opposite. We got early and packed a huge lunch planning on eatting it in the park on our hike. Robs book said the park had a really nice 6km walk and it even gave it a thumbs up. Normally when Robs book gives something a thumbs up it is really good and both Rob and I walk away totally pleased. Well we got a ricksaw to drive us to the park entrance and was it ever an amazing drive up there. The scenery was stunning and because the ricksaw couldn't go very fast we had a lot of time to admire the view. Once we reached the checkpoint we found out they had jacked the prices up from 50RS to 200rs so we blinked our eyes and forked over the bling that they wanted. At this point the tourist police said that we could walk the next 3kms on a nice paved road and then we would have to come down. Both Rob and I were stunned, what do you mean its paved and you can only go 3kms?
Well Rob and I were pretty bitter and thought maybe the dude had no idea what he was talking about so we headed up the paved road. The road was loaded with Indian tourists taking pictures of the scenery. Sure the scenery was nice but it was no different then the scenery we was from the ricksaw. Well we rounded the corner to see 5 wild/tame mountain goats that the tourists were chasing around so that they could get pictures of. These goats were at the side of the paved road, not something I would call wilderness by any means. Well when we got to the top of the hill (3km) there was another tourist policeman telling us that we had to turn around and that we weren't allowed to continue down the paved road any further. This had to be one of the biggest rip offs of all time. I guess I had this idea of a park from west coast Canada where there are trees and you get to walk on a trail and really enjoy the nature. This is the type of park that we had seen all over India but yesterday we weren't that lucky. We did meet an older Indian couple that had the same complaint as us that the paved road wasn't really a park or people chasing the endangered goats wasn't very nice to see either. I think my hightlight of the park was meeting these really nice Indian couple that offered us a ride back into town. Rob and I like to say to each other when something strange happens or we get some wierd dish at a restaurant "You never know what you are going to get in Indian" and yesterday was a prime example of that. We truely had a different idea of what the park was going to be but at least now we can warn people not to waste their money there.
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Well Rob and I were pretty bitter and thought maybe the dude had no idea what he was talking about so we headed up the paved road. The road was loaded with Indian tourists taking pictures of the scenery. Sure the scenery was nice but it was no different then the scenery we was from the ricksaw. Well we rounded the corner to see 5 wild/tame mountain goats that the tourists were chasing around so that they could get pictures of. These goats were at the side of the paved road, not something I would call wilderness by any means. Well when we got to the top of the hill (3km) there was another tourist policeman telling us that we had to turn around and that we weren't allowed to continue down the paved road any further. This had to be one of the biggest rip offs of all time. I guess I had this idea of a park from west coast Canada where there are trees and you get to walk on a trail and really enjoy the nature. This is the type of park that we had seen all over India but yesterday we weren't that lucky. We did meet an older Indian couple that had the same complaint as us that the paved road wasn't really a park or people chasing the endangered goats wasn't very nice to see either. I think my hightlight of the park was meeting these really nice Indian couple that offered us a ride back into town. Rob and I like to say to each other when something strange happens or we get some wierd dish at a restaurant "You never know what you are going to get in Indian" and yesterday was a prime example of that. We truely had a different idea of what the park was going to be but at least now we can warn people not to waste their money there.
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posted by Glenn Saqui at 1:33 AM
1 Comments:
Did you find out anything about the park itself, historically? Did anyone say why they had closed half the road/hike to tourists? Myabe they just wanted ANOTHER 200rs for the other 3 km's! - lol
I guess we're kinda spoiled being able to walk out into Strathcona Park at any time and any given trail entrance, spend a week walking around the back country and MAYBE run into 1 or 2 other people. All in fresh, clean air and surrounded by amazing mountains.
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