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HM Travels

I’ve wandered across many of Indonesia’s islands — Bali, Java, Lombok, Komodo, and the Gili chain — each with its own rhythm and charm. Java, of course, carries the weight of the nation, a densely packed hub where most of Indonesia’s people live and work. Yet what I longed for was something wilder: Sumatra, that vast, untamed island stretching across the equator, lightly populated and brimming with mystery. I had originally signed up to climb Mount Kerinci, Indonesia’s highes

Leaving behind the gleaming salt plains of Lake Assale, after witnessing the sunrise, we begun the drive toward the heart of the Danakil...

Lake Assale which is also known as Lake Karum lies in the heart of Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression, a region known for its otherworldly landscapes and extreme climate. Its surface, often reflecting the sky in pale hues, creates a visual calm in an otherwise harsh environment despite temperatures that can soar above 50°C, Situated at approximately 120 meters or 400 feet below the sea level, this hypersaline lake is surrounded by vast salt flats that stretch across the horizon. A

From Lalibela, I boarded a short flight to Gondar, a city often called the Camelot of Africa . Nestled in Ethiopia’s northern highlands,...

About an hour drive from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, it a UNESCO world heritage site, Gobustan which is also written with a Q. There is a prehistoric cultural site as well as a geothermal phenomenon that attracts tourists here and I was on my way to see the Mud Volcanoes. I was told that there is a government managed site that one can drive to and see these. I also heard that the real ones are in the wilderness and need a 4x4 vehicle as the roads to it are non-existent.

Dharamsala is a beautiful city on the foothills of the himalayas in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the place that has hosted the Dalai Lama for the past several decades. There are several beautiful hikes that start from Dharamsala and I decided to do a short day hike with a guide. The route to the start of the hike is a dense forest and the road is uneven. The tall old-growth trees are mesmerizing and remind me of California forests. After about an hour of driving on re

The second highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kenya, rising over 5 kilometers. In terms of beauty, it is the first, according to Kenyans. It has three peaks, Batian (5,199 meters (17,057 feet)), Nelion (5,188 m (17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 m (16,355 ft)). Batian and Nelion are technical climbs needing crampons, ice-axe, harnesses, cables, hooks etc. The Lenana peak can be climbed with a hike.   I planned on a 4-day trip which would allow me to climb up the Sirimon ga

Roughly about a 120km from Nairobi downtown is the Nakuru county which has the Eburru forest. I decided to do this hike and the tour operator asked to meet at 5:30AM in Nairobi. We left punctually and picked up more people on the way until there were about 20 people on the mini bus. Driving through beautiful, wooded areas that were visible after an hour or so out of Nariobi, we saw views of a couple of rift valleys. The road to our destination was well paved for the first 100

In October 2019, I decided to hike with two of my friends the "cactus to clouds" hike in Palm Springs, California, which my friend called the most difficult hike he knew of. I was not convinced. I had climbed many mountains and felt a little cocky. In order to climb this mountain, which is called Mount San Jacinto, we flew from San Francisco to LA, rented a car, drove to Palm Springs starting at about 10 p.m. and reaching about midnight. We started the hike behind the library

I made some Romanian friends on my Camino de Santiago Walk and we agreed to meet up in Romania for a hike. When that opportunity arose, I was in the capital of Moldova, Chişinau. These friends told me to take a bus to a border town named Iaşi. It was a four-hour international bus ride that went through open farmlands. Almost three hours into the ride, the police stopped the bus and asked me for my passport. The other passengers were Moldovan. After a quick check, they allowed

Switzerland is a beautiful country which makes you marvel at its scenic nature at every turn. In the Swiss Alps is Jungfraujoch , a saddle connecting two major 4,000-meter-high mountains. To reach the " Top of Europ e", I went to a city named Interlaken . The colorful Swiss trains are cute, and I reached Interlaken by train from Zurich. Swiss Rails sells rail passes for different days' duration and the 5 days pass I purchased allowed unlimited travel throughout the country.

On multiple trips on the Shinkansen from Tokyo, I have seen the almost perfect, snow-clad Mount Fuji and have wanted to climb it. The tallest mountain in Japan, with a height of 3,776 m (12,389 ft), it is almost equal to Mount Rinjani in Indonesia. Mount Fuji is a stratovolcano that last erupted in the eighteenth century. The mountain's symmetrical cone is visible from Tokyo, which is about 100 km away. Mount Fuji is a Japanese cultural icon seen in art and photos and visite

An active volcano in Bali , Indonesia , close to another volcano on the same island, named Mount Batur , lies the highest point on Bali, and dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially rainfall patterns. It is named Mt. Agung and has a beautiful cone shape. From the top of Agung, the peak of Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok is visible as well. Agung is a stratovolcano , with a large and deep crater with a recent eruption in 2017-19. In my last

After a wonderful stay in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, it was time to fly back home. My flight was on Aerolineas Argentinas, the Flag carrier of Argentina. It was first to Buenos Aires from Mendoza. Then to Santiago from Buenos Aires. Then to US from Santiago on American Airlines. My Argentinean friends told me of the bad record of their national airlines and sure enough, the flight to Buenos Aires was delayed. I got four subsequent notifications of delays and luckily, I h

Shravan month, the 5th month of the Hindu calendar, corresponds to the monsoon season in India, and falls around August to September. Hindus consider this month as holy and people fast and worship during this month. Many people consider Mondays of Shravan to be especially auspicious. A holy site in Nashik, Maharashtra is Trambakeshwar, and it is part of the 12 Jyortilingas , devotional representations of the Hindu god Shiva. Brahmagiri is a hill near Nashik and is near Tram

Climbing the half dome in Yosemite National park is a popular hike which I did a few times in 1990s and the early 2000s, after which the park introduced a permitting system, making it harder to go on a spontaneous trip to climb the iconic dome. Three years ago, I had discovered the Cloud’s Rest hike, which is at an even higher elevation than Half Dome and had hiked it with a couple of friends. It was quite a grueling hike, culminating at almost 10,000 feet in height, nearly 2

There are six micronations in Europe: Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City, Malta and Andorra. As I had just hiked the Camino de Santiago starting from the Pyrenees mountains, I wanted to seize the opportunity to see Andorra, which is nestled amongst the Pyrenees mountains, a nation that covers just 467.4km² with a population of around 78,000. Driving from Lerida in Spain, I passed through the rural green farming areas and came to the highway leading to Andorra’s c

On a beautiful morning, I started from Marakkesh on a hi Atlas Mountain hike, which started at Imlil and proceeded to Imnane Valley. The trip organizer picked me up from the hotel, and drove almost an hour and a half to the starting point of the hike where another guide met me. It was 10 AM by this time and the sun was out although it was a little chilly outside. The guide got a bottle of water for me and we started off. The starting point was at about 5,500 feet and it was a

The Sahyadri mountain range has many forts from the period of Moghuls and Marathas. I learned about a very old fort named Dhodap and decided to go there for a hike. The drive to this area was about just over an hour, the road was in good condition. The four of us started at 5:30am. After waiting for a quick session of tea, we proceeded to the town of Dhodambe. Around 7:15am, we were in the small village, and the morning was very foggy. It was a new area to hike for all of us

I spent a month in Nashik which is in Maharastra state in India. I wanted to be with my ailing father and continue maintaining an active routine with daily exercise while there. Nashik has many holy temples in its vicinity and has Panchvati- the place where king Rama, from the epic Ramayana, spent his time in exile. The river Godavari also has its origin from a nearby place Trimbakeshwar near Nashik. There are Pandava caves and Chambhar caves situated on freestanding mountain