Friday 26 August 2016

Viewing the mighty Himalayas from the plane

When I had to travel to Gangtok (Sikkim) on a business trip, I was excited because it was my first visit to the North East state.

My onward journey was via Kolkata and my return ticket was via New Delhi. Being a traveler, the Indian map is very familiar to my mind. The thought of flying from Bagdogra (nearest airport to Gangtok) to New Delhi triggered another excitement! Isn't this route runs parallel to the Himalayan mountains? Is there a chance of having a glimpse of mighty Mount Everest?!!!

The sheer imagination of viewing Mt.Everest brought a lot of excitement. I immediately turned to Google to check if someone has blogged about this experience. One person had blogged about viewing Himalayas whenever he flew from New Delhi to Bagdogra.

So now I had to ensure i will get a window seat. I went to seatguru site to get the seat map of my flight. Based on this, I had to book "F" seat to get the glimpse. And I got it. I was praying for a clear sky.

When I boarded the flight, I was all excited. After the plane took off, it proceeded towards South for some time, probably because to avoid flying over Nepal. After 20mins or so, it took the right turn towards West. The sky was clear at the upper region part. After a few minutes, I sighted the tall peaks which looked liked someone has placed something over there! Man! The tallest was none other than the mighty Mount Everest (got verified with Himalayan map)! I could see top portion of the mountain and the rest were covered by the cloud. It was one amazing experience viewing the mountain from above the clouds! The plane must have been flying above 9000 mts.

As the plane moved further, I saw a few more peaks. I took snaps in my mobile but it didn't do the justice. Wish I had a better camera!

Thought of sharing my experience so that if you are flying in this route, do try to get a window seat (if you are flying from New Delhi, get a "A" seat).

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