Off to Panchgani

March 9th, 2011

I hopped on a train in Pernem to head 400 kilometres north of Goa to a place called Panchgani in the state of Maharashtra (and it cost a whopping 200 rupees, just over four dollars!). I was originally told that it meant “five hills” but now I believe it is “five plateaus”...all I do know for sure is that “panch” means five. It is a popular place for paragliding in the south of India so of course I had to check it out.

The train arrived on time and this was my first train ride carrying my paraglider and other gear so I gingerly walked down the aisle, trying not to bump unsuspecting riders. The five hour train ride was uneventful apart from becoming a six hour ride somehow...just some longer stops at some places and perhaps slower speeds in some sections. An older Indian gentleman sat across from me for most of the trip and he was quite friendly, even offering me a taste of his homemade mango juice which was super yummy. There was the usual incessant flurry of vendors rapidly pacing up and down the corridor with everything from chai to roasted peanuts.

The Pernem train station:

My train arrives:

Enjoying the ride (really...I am!):

I just bought a USB modem a few days before this trip so I had to try it out and it did work, when we weren’t heading through one of many tunnels. It’s a super slow connection to the Internet (felt like I was back in the mid 1990s) but it should prove to be handy in the future with keeping in touch with friends and family.

Some of the countryside:


A typical sight in the sleeper car:

I arrived at a town called Khed around 5pm. My next challenge was to find a taxi to take me the remaining 95 kilometers to Panchgani. Yesterday I called a French Canadian paraglider pilot, Andre, who runs the Eco Adventure Camp (really just a place to stay) and he told me that I should expect to pay around 2000 rupees. As I exited the station with the handful of others that had detrained (hardly anyone considering the train was 20+ cars), all I saw were four tuk-tuks...hmm, I don’t really want to ride in one of those all the way that’s for sure!

I spoke with the guys there and they said I could get an Omni, a little van, for 2500 rupees...let the bargaining begin... I told them that I had heard someone got it for as low as 1700 (which was true) and that I expected around 2000. Well they stood fast and one by one the rickshaws disappeared as at least ten minutes passed and I wondered if I was going to have to walk into town a bit with my massive backpack. I moved up to 2200 but they still didn’t bite. Two guys were on their cell phones trying to broker a deal and finally a man told me to hop in the rickshaw to go a couple of kilometres into town. There were already two women in the little three wheeled vehicle so it was a tight fit and they giggled as I squeezed in and then we slowly puttered into town.

The Khed train station...pretty quiet:

We stopped outside a little tire store with 6-7 men standing around and again some phone calls were made. One man pulled a plastic chair out from the store for me to sit in but I was happy to be able to stand for a change. A van pulled up and one of the men approached me and said “2300 okay?” Geez, I’m just not the best haggler...okay sure, let’s just get going.

The ride got bumpier and bumpier as we began to climb up steep, winding roads. The driver absolutely loved his horn and used it incessantly. He had one of the fancy types that had multiple modes: a standard honk, a slow fading fog horn and my favourite, the singing trumpet like one that one usually finds on big busses or trucks. We picked up a couple of guys who were strawberry growers/sellers part way along the trip and all three of them crowded together in the front seat while me and my paraglider stretched out in the back.

The driver stopped on the side of the road with a river running 20 feet below to one side. In the distance there were a couple of ridges with purposefully set brush fires burning in the dimming daylight. The driver turned around to me and held out his pinky finger of one hand at a downward angle. I wasn’t sure what he meant at first but I guess this is the Indian hand gesture for “Do you need to pee?”....well sure, why not, you have to seize these opportunities when you get the chance.

Fire on the mountain:

We dropped off the two vendors and continued to climb up the windy roads. The sun slowly set with gorgeous pinks and reds of the sky transitioning into the blues and purples of the interlacing ridgelines...gorgeous. We finally reached Panchgani around 8:30pm. The driver didn’t know where the Eco Camp was so we stopped a couple of times to ask for directions and both times the person we asked knew of the owner Andre. The second guy even hopped in the vehicle to show us where even though it was only another 300 meters from where we picked him up. The driver hesitantly headed down a very long and steep driveway and around a corner where I could see the silhouette of a man outside a house. It turned out to be Andre...excellent I have arrived!

Nice sunset:

I grabbed my gear and when Andre heard that I had paid 2300 rupees to get there he berated the driver a bit in Hindi. Andre and I walked further down the drive to the camping area that was perched on the edge of a steep ridge with some lights of houses far below and also another purposefully set brush fire which burned brightly in the night darkness. There were four or five large canvas tents, about 14 feet square each.

Passing those we came to a sheltered area with people sitting around a table and I was introduced to the crew. Luckily catching the names of everyone was simplified by the fact that there was “American Dave” and “English Dave” (with me of course becoming “Canadian Dave”) along with an older gentleman Chris from England (who was actually leaving that night), Natalie from Holland, Gilles and Olivier from Switzerland, Anjeli from Pune (which is about 70 kilometres north from Panchgani) and Max from Latvia who turned out to be my tent buddy. We chatted for about half an hour and then walked up to town for dinner and everyone seemed to be super friendly...looks like it should be a good week!