First Impressions: Olympus E-P2

Olympus E-P2 with the 14-42 lens.

Holding a micro-third camera in my hand feels very strange. Owning a camera from Olympus or Panasonic (the 2 manufacturers who make the 4/3rd cameras) was never in my agenda. Last year when Sony announced their NEX cameras, I thought I had found my perfect travel camera, and almost purchased it. However, after reading couple of expert reviews, I decided against it.

My recent trekking trip to Kashmir made me realize that I really need a more compact camera. One that is small enough to carry - but does not compromise on quality.

My back and shoulders demanded a smaller and lighter camera - especially after carrying a 8 kg load for 7 days straight. A bit of research indicated that the micro 4/3 format has evolved and matured to a point, that investing in this format felt like a sound idea. I was further goaded into this purchase when Olympus suddenly dropped their price for the E-P2 from a lofty $899 to tantalizing $499. The reason for the price drop was the introduction of a newer model E-P3.

Explore Karnataka: Hampi

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi

The historic city of Hampi is about 8 hours drive from Goa. My brother suggested that I would enjoy visiting the place, since I love photography. He even volunteered to drive me and my family to Hampi, and back.

I had never been to the place before, and did not know much about it. A quick Google search suggested that one should allocate at least 2 to 3 days to really explore the place. Unfortunately, we did not have that many days left in our schedule, so we decided to do a quick 1 day tour.  One thing that worked in our favor is that most of the important places now have road access, so we could easily drive to different parts of the huge 26-square kilometer city.

We reached early in the morning and located a tourist guide. The guide traveled with us in the car explaining the history of the place - and the various places of interest.

Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagar empire that ruled South India from 1336 AD - 1565 AD. History of Hampi can be found here.

Explore Kashmir: Srinagar

Panoramic view of Srinagar

After we completed our trekking trip in Kashmir, we had a few days left to spend in Srinagar, before returning back to Goa.

Aside from relaxing in a houseboat on the Dal Lake, we also took this time to explore some of the interesting places in Srinagar. Srinagar is famous for its Mughal gardens. These gardens were built by the Mughal kings, who used to travel here during summer, to escape the hot weather of Delhi.

Explore Kashmir: Dal Lake.

The idyllic Dal Lake, Srinagar.

Our trip to Kashmir was primarily about our Trekking tour. When I was planning the trip, I was not sure how long the trek would last, so I had left ample room by booking some extra days in Srinagar. When our trek ended, we still had 3 more days to spend in Srinagar, before our return flight back to Goa. We decided to use these days to explore Srinagar a bit more.

Trekking in Kashmir: Wrap-Up

Gangbal Lake, Kashmir.

When I first traveled to Srinagar in July for our Trekking trip, I really had no idea what to expect. I had done all the ticket and hotel booking up to Srinagar and back. But what exactly would happen in Srinagar was a big mystery. My brother has friends in Kashmir, and he assured me that they would take care of the actual trek.

Ticket and hotel bookings were done using the online portal MakeMyTrip. A really excellent website for planning air travel and hotel bookings. Most of the air travel was done using IndiGo, but for some of the sectors, we used GoAir. Even though both the airlines are classified as "low-cost", they are both excellent and highly recommended.

Trekking in Kashmir: Day 7

Shokhdari (Table Top), near Sonamarg.

To read about our Day 6 adventures, click here.

On the 7th and last day of our trek, we relaxed in Shokhdari, before heading out to Sonamarg to be picked up by our car - for the drive back to Srinagar.

I went near the edge of Shokhdari, which provides a panoramic view of Sonamarg. The morning was misty and cloudy and I couldn't get any good pictures of Sonamarg from this vantage point.

Trekking in Kashmir: Day 6

Early morning at Vishnasar Lake

To read about our Day 5 adventures, click here.

Day 6 of our Kashmir trek can be best described as "The day of Shawn". This was the first time Shawn completed the entire trek without using his horse. A solid 8 hours of continuous trekking.

I had slept like a log the previous night - no doubt helped by the Rum that I had taken before dinner. When I got up in the morning, it was yet another beautiful Kashmir morning. Clear blue skies and puffy while clouds. I walked up to Vishinsar lake to take some early morning pictures. The water of the lake was very still, reflecting the mountains and making it look as if the lake has disappeared.