The Off-Season Traveller

It all started with my trip to western China, a trip that was not intentionally planned to be in the off-season. Just happened to be because of personal commitments. So I landed pretty much at the end of season in Xinjiang. There were places in northern Xinjiang that I wanted to reach before the snow started falling, but from information that I got from most organised tour operators that the roads and ways are already covered by snow I couldn’t reach them. And given my inexperience with snow and high altitudes I decided not to take a chance of going for it alone and get stranded somewhere. So the first experience of off-season travel was disappointing.

So after that I decided to stick to the Northern Silk Road, head to some spots in western Xinjiang and then head south towards the deserts and the cities around it. The perks of off-season was starting to show by now, cheaper rates at hostels and hotels, less crowd to bother you, people willing to give better deals. So it was going good in Xinjiang with the occasional disappointment of not being able to go one place because its too cold or snowing, but all in all still a very good experience. After Xinjiang I headed to Nepal, which though in off-season places like Kathmandu and Pokhara seemed a bit more expensive. Still I managed to get the odd good deals in budget hotels or guesthouses. Nepal being more touristy than Xinjiang is I felt the place to be a lot more commercial or it could also be that it was not as well planned and executed as Xinjiang that I ended up in urban or semi urban areas and hence missed all the people to people interaction experience still no major complaints as the people were still nice and friendly.

Arunachal Pradesh is where I headed next, a non-stop 36-hour road trip through really difficult roads of West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal. And landing up there just as the seasons first heavy snow fell. There as well since it was off-season I managed to get wonderful bargains for my stay, in some cases nearly 50% off on the asking rates. Also another perk was having the hotel all for yourself that the hotel owners/managers invite you to eat with them and their family/staff, in effect serving some amazing dinners. That kept on repeating in most of the places in Arunachal except for Itanagar, which was just a days stop with nothing much to see anyways. I ended that 69 day trip on the road with some wonderful experience of travelling in the off season.

I realized that I am turning into an off-season traveller on my next trip. This was to Havelock in Andamans. This was a long awaited diving trip I was looking forward to, to get my dive certification. I started consciously picking dates in the off-season so that I get better rates and I can stay longer on my planned budget. The surprise part came in here, when I was given an upgrade on the cottage where I was staying. A rather pleasant one that made me and my buddy rather happy. We enjoyed the dives and had a wonderful stay that we are looking forward to our next trip there; this time may be in the season. The best perk of this one apart from the stay was empty beaches, cafes, roads, restaurants etc. Of course with the occasional hiccup of not getting some fish you want grilled because it’s “Off-Season”.

The Off-Season journey in continuing on the current trip with some brief stops made at home in Kerala, Mumbai, Amritsar and finally landing up in McLodeGanj. The inspiration for writing this one came while sitting at the foot of the pleasant heights of Dharamkot, with the view of a very peaceful and quite village in front of me.