The great Himalayan Tour
(story from 2018)
There is so much to talk about the Himalayas. The calmness they bring in you is not something that can be described, it needs to be experienced. Our trip just ended a few hours ago but we carry with us memories that will be treasured for a lifetime.
Our trip was personally curated by the three of us, with the help of incredible spiti! We enjoyed every single moment whether we had a cold, or sprained our leg or even had a fever. There is something about the pure air of the mountains that always keep the spirits high.
Mcload Gunj:
Our trip started here with direct flight to Dharamshala and 1 hr drive to Mcload Gunj. The excitement to see the glowing mountains for the first time was just incredible! The hotel: Chonor house, the Dalailama temple, the walks around the temple, the bread and aloo from the chai lady behind the temple (see pic) and most importantly meeting Dalal Lama. WOW! That was an experience by itself. The aura around him must be felt, it just cannot be described. The few words he spoke to us were so insightful! The cafe’s here have one of the best views. Special mention to the illiterate café and Stuti’s art class with Ms Bianca (biancaleighsoares@gmail.com. Ms Bianka is a great art teacher). Our early morning walks included a trek to bhagsu water fall ( dont forget to walk down the water fall), walk around the temple and a trek to Dal lake.
Bir:
All though the trip we were lucky to be staying at scenic central locations. @Bir, the Colonel’s Retreat (98805534220) was a really nice and very close to the paragliding landing point (3km or so). Also Bir is a really small town and this is probably the only nice place to stay. Paragliding is the main attraction at Bir. It is the paragliding capital of India. The rose gardens and the cute dogs were our entertainment apart from the beautiful scenery around. And ‘June 16’ café of course was our go to place for food. The Moon-shine madness (Ms Chirag 9899232692) store (they have amazing art work on small himalayan stones) opposite June 16 café was a super hit with Stuti. Stuti did her first really long trek (~ 20,000 steps) to the Sherabilling monastery. Dzongsar was another monastery that we visited. But out of all these, trying to make Raveen smile for the picture was most fun..which he ended up doing after a lot of persuasion.
Kasol:
A lot of people discouraged us from visiting kasol since its the drug capital. But this turned out to be the most enjoyable part of our trip. A dusty town with tons of Israeli Cafes and small stores, but the town itself didn’t have too much to offer. Around Kasol we went to the hotsprings at Manikaran, which was surprisingly nice. We ate at the Gurudwara, which was serving free food that tasted amazing. We stayed in a place called Alpine eco which is just by the river Beas (get all your laundry done here, its cheap and amazing). An early morning trek to Chalal and breakfast there was quite an experience. Can’t forget the foot massage and the ice lollies.
Kutla:
Tosh is small village, 1.5 hours away from kasol. Getting to Kutla isn’t straightforward. A 30 min trek to a waterfall and a further 35 minute uphill trek to get there. We started off with only aiming to get to the water fall. The whole setup at the waterfall, totally surprised us (see pic). After lunch we made a decision to walk up to Kutla. We stayed at Gappu’s tents (98805154996) and had dinner by bonfire under the absolute black sky with local Jaggary based alcohol. He has 5 tents and we were the only ones there. The next morning we walked to a place called the Budawan meadow. I kind of miss the smell of dung from these interiors of the village. Anyone going to Himachal must make a trek up here.
Bahang:
The women of Himachal are very beautiful. No pollution and the cold weather is probably the reason for their charming skin and pink cheeks. Women in Manali should find it hard because Manali is super crowded and polluted. It is dusty and polluted with vehicles. Bahang though is a nice place a little away from this pollution yet close to the city. We enjoyed the trek to old Manali and the shopping there. The cafes there are really good too. The trek is through a mini-forest and we did an impromptu break in the wild for a pizza. Home made food at Sakya homes and great company by Incredible Spiti team (Mr Vishesh 9650675505) made our trip. Stuti also got sign language lessons by Deekshita while we enjoyed a good bottle of wine. On our way we met Mingmaar’s (he drove us around for 3.5 weeks) family in kullu which was awesome.
Siraj Valley — Banjar/Jibi:
The next three days at Siraj Valley were quite eventful! The exclusive cottage on top of the hill, Rana Ji (9816058290), Hill view lunch, walking 4km steep up hill to ‘sulanu’ (village on top of the hill) in spite of my foot injury, getting lost in the wild and going round and round the hill before dawn, Jowar porridge at Sulanu, the 5K Himalayan marathon by Raveen and Stuti was the best!
Tirthan Valley:
As we were preparing towards coming back home, the last leg of the trip still had experiences for us offer. Afternoon beers with Mr Uppi(owner @Gone fishing cottages -8988496587), the forest fire that almost came up to the cottages was quite scary. The fire that started in the morning continued till the next morning leaving many dead animals. Really sad. The irony is that, the forest fire was so fierce yet so beautiful to look at.
Chandigarh:
Chandigarh had some good stuff to offer for us, though we missed the hills terribly. Stuti enjoyed the organic flavored jute sugar cotton candy and we a movie after a long time and ofcourse the Rock garden (though we are still unsure about why its so popular)!
While Stuti was very happy to come back home, we drank up the last beer of our holiday, reminiscing. Its sad to leave the hills behind and get into our chaotic & uncertain world. In the end, the hills traveled with us for as long as they could and quietly disappeared into the background. Last 3.5 weeks of just track pants and un-ironed T-shirts now feels a little out of place in the hustle and bustle of the city.
The happiness and truthfulness of people in Himalayas definitely left us in awe!
