The Beautiful Baug-e bahu gardens, Jammu City.

 Baug-e bahu is a beautiful garden with huge collection of Rose plants & various other flowering plants near Bahu Fort in Jammu City................. The beauty of the garden captured in my camera lens will speak for itself; There's an Aquarium besides a trip to the Bahu fort.

 

Our Journey onto Kishtwar from Jammu City.

Kud

Patnitop

Batote, the diversion point from NH-1A-to NH-1B for Kishtwar.

An evening,on the high mountain road to Kishtwar.

Just enjoying the beautiful landscape ,as we continue onto our drive to Kishtwar.

Awesome landscape.

The waterfalls on the way to Pul-doda.

Almost 7/8 hrs drive completed ,yet 2/3 more left.

The R. Chenab flowing across.

The drive off to Pul-doda.

The Doda town ,by dusk.

The panorama in the evening sky.

Pul-Doda.

The diversion for Bhaderwah from Pul-Doda.

We ,at Kishtwar.

Onto our journey to Dachhan-Sinthan pass from Bhandarkoot.

The beautiful morning at Kishtwar

The Pictures will speak for itself ,the thrilling journey thru' this awesome landscape.... Often people visiting J&K go in for the standard package given forth by the travel agents & endup shelling out enormous money without even getting the essence of the beauty of untouched J&K..... My advice to all my blog readers: next time U plan for a J&K trip...Do customised it & try to explore the untouched/ unspoiled places... There's nothing to fear about while going around.... Infrastructure is too good aswell,local people are very helpful & simple living.....Do fearlessly go around... if in Kishtwar, Do get yourself pure saffron just plucked from the saffron fields...& if visiting Padder Valley ...getting saffire for your next jewellary is must...Enjoy the Apples/ Pomegranates/ Pears grown in plenty in this region ....HAPPY TRAVELLING TO ALL !!!!!

UNEXPLORED KISHTWAR (J&K).

As we drove across the Doda region.

The scarry highway across NH-1B

The R. Chenab..

The drive is on towards Sinthan Pass from Kishtwar.

The Govt. Tourist Guest house, Kishtwar by the high mountain range at its backdrop.

At Bhadarkoot.

                     

The view of Kishtwar town from Tourist Guest House,Kishtwar.

As we drove off to Kishtwar-NH-1B

 Kishtwar is the biggest town in Doda distt. of J&K state. It is almost 299kms from Jammu City & approx. 59kms from Pul-Doda on NH1B.Zaskar of Ladakh lies on the north , Anantnag to the west, Bhaderwah to the south & Himachal Pradesh to the east. It is 1634ft above sea level & is uniquely known as the LAND OF SAPPHIRE & SAFFRON. It has lofty mountains around  & bears a fascinating look. Valleys like Marwa, Warwan, Padder & Chaatru terminates at Kishtwar town . R. Chenab flows thru' the distt. ,cutting deep gorge. Major Hydel power project at Kishtwar is DUL HASTI. Kashmir Sapphire's produced from a single mine at Padder Valley. The Sinthan pass links Kishtwar with Daksum Valley at Anantnag distt. Bhaderwah is the most scenic place in this region ...a total untouched beauty of J&K.
     After Batote ,as soon as one takes on NH1B ...its like drive close across heaven.... The roads are very well maintained But cann't predict the falling rock scene , on the highway.... Hardly any eatteries on the way ,except few Vaishno dhaba....So, one need to be quite prepared while drive off to such place. Once Pul-Doda is reached , there's diversion of road towards Kishtwar...Unexplored & unexploited due to scare road connectivity ,these areas got lush green forest covers, humming heights talking upto the sky, green meadows& alpine pastures in the lap of high rising mountains.
    One need to book for tourist guest houses for night stays prior...as hotels are very few. We stayed at Govt. Tourist guest house at Kishtwar..... Nearby places which can be visited are Bhadarkoot(12kms from Kishtwar town)...Sinthan pass(44kms from Kishtwar)... Pochhal hatta(Saffron safari)..Dachchan Reserve forest; There's a fort at Bhadarkoot ( for trekkers).................

***** If planning a drive upto Sinthan Pass from Jammu City...Do make it atleast a 3 days programme..as driving across high Himalayas are quite time consuming & cannot speedup the drive.

AS U DRIVE OFF TO NAGROTA TEMPLE OF MA "VAISHNODEVI.

     The drive off  to Nagrota .............

Before someone wishes to make it to Katra'(Mata VAISHNODEVI Shrine), has to have the darshan of Nagrota temple of mata, where she is supposed to have spend her childhood as a young girl of 5yrs ,playing on the swings....There's a pind of Ma'....During Navratri's there's huge crowd thronging in here, & for those who cann't make it to Katra (Ma' s shrine), pay their respect here itself.
       From Jammu City, one has to take the Jammu -bypass road drive towards Nagrota............. The Drive is just awesome,with the high mountain roads & the R. Tawi making its downflow across the land. No Cameras are allowed in the shrine of Nagrota...So, better to canvas the natural beauty during the drive ,in ones camera lens.

Jammu Bypass...

The R. Tawi making is way thru' this land of Jammu.

WALKING DOWN THE CORIDORS OF AMAR MAHAL PALACE,JAMMU.

The view of R. Tawi from Amar Mahal Palace(J&K).

The beautiful Chateau designed " Amar Mahal Palace"(J&K).

  

The pictureques landscape ,as one drive off towards Nagrota.

  Amar Mahal Palace is located in Jammu City . Built in the 19th century for Raja Amar Singh, a dogra king ,by a french architect on the line of the french Chateau. The property now belongs to Dr. Karan Singh, who donated it to Hari-tara  charitable trust for the use ,as a museum. Its exhibits includes a Golden throne weighing almost 120Kg, Pahari & Kangra minature paintings+ MF Hussian's paintings & a library. The  Shivalik hills to the north of the Mahal (Chateau) & on left R. Tawi ,provides a grand view......

As we walked thru' the corridors of Amar Mahal Palace.(J&K).

The inside view of Amar Mahal Palace.

The beautiful Chateau ..on the top of the Shivalik.

The Pahari school of painting ,from the art gallary of the Amar Mahal Palace.

The beautiful Amar Mahal Palace from its enterance.

The drive off to Nagrota( Kol-Kandoli-mata Vaishnodevi shrine).

      One can drive thru' the city limit orelse can take on the drive thru' the Jammu-by pass road , which gives a lovely drive feeling with awesome surrounding beauty. One can even take a drive off to NAGROTA Ma' Vaishnodevi darshan ,which is few more kms drive on the Jammu-Udhampur road(NH-1A). It is the first shrine stoppage for Mata Vaishnodevi (KATRA). The Kol-Kandoli temple of Mata is situated here. Its at an elevation of 412mts above sealevel.