Trekking in Paradise

December 2017, Outlook Money magazine

Time to awaken the writer in me

I've been meaning to update my blog since a while now. 

I started a new job earlier this year, the demands of which took over and my travel writing took a back seat. I also lost my 9 year old dog soon after my last blog post after which I didn't feel like writing. 

I have travelled a fair bit around India this year. Lots of weekend getaways and even an extended weekend getaway with my family for the first time in 15 years. Jaipur, Kasauli, Shimla, Mussoorie, Mumbai, Goa, Naldhera, Alwar, and most recently Kasol & a trek in Malana.

With the high pollution levels in Delhi, I was finding it hard to breath. In spite of buying oxygen inducing plants and wearing a mask outdoors, the city was beginning to stifle me. Fresh mountain air is what my body was craving. After asking for trek recommendations on a travel group on Facebook, I came across a travel community called Tripver. I like their website's UI & UX, they had great reviews and so I decided to book it. 

It was a 14 hour overnight Volvo journey from Delhi to Bhuntar, Kullu. Suprisingly, I managed to sleep quite comfortably during this time. We were woken up in Bhuntar, when we had to change buses as a Volvo cannot travel on the narrow road leading to Kasol. The seats on the local bus were freezing. I zipped up my jacket, put my hoodie on and sunk my hands into my pockets. The driver decided to wake us up by playing old bollywood songs at a really high volume. An hour later, we had reached our destination. Soon after getting off the bus, I took in a deep breath of crisp mountain air. With our rucksacks on our backs, we hiked down a mountain path, over a rickety wooden bridge, a few people at a time, over to the other side of the Beas. We then walked through the woods, passing a couple of cafes and homestays, to our hotel White House in Katalga, Kasol.

It was a quaint hotel with a huge garden full of flowers and vegetables growing on the side, overlooking the Beas. A breath of fresh air from my daily life in Gurgaon indeed. After lunch, we went for a long walk to Kasol and Chalal. Everyone stocked up on goodies, we did the same, buying old monk and chocolate balls from the German bakery. By the end of it, everyone had gone their own seperate way. As it was getting dark, we decided to make our way back with the help of torchlight. Many cars passed by, some with blaring music and buses swerving on the curves. We flashed the torch their way so that we wouldn't get run over. It was quite a long way back, 3 or 4 kms. Luckily, as soon as we reached the hill from where we were to begin our descent, we saw the others. We passed through the woods, over the rickety wooden bridge,  listening to the sound of the passing river.

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We sat around a bon fire later that night, one of the guys had a guitar. He took song requests, we all sang along and had a great time. Everyone struggled to get out of bed early the next morning. It was the day we had all signed up on this trip for - our trek to Malana, a remote village at a height of 8700 ft known for its hash around the world. We took a bus up to the trek's starting point. The bus journey was quite gruesome. As the villagers in Malana like to be cut off from the rest of the world, they have not let the government build a road there. As the road was very narrow, there were many times when you could not see the road below and it seemed like we were floating (with a few bumps here and there). I tried not to look down as all you could see was a sheer drop right into the Beas. The conductor was communicating with the driver through a whistle - two whistles indicated that there was room to manoeuvre and one meant he should stop. Every time there was a tough turn and the driver would reverse, the whistling began, making my heart sink with fear. An hour later, we reached the starting point for our trek. 

We found out later that ours was the only bus that had actually climbed up that hair raising route.

We were given instructions on how to behave in the village and not to touch anything as the villagers would otherwise create an issue and not let you leave till you paid a fine. We climbed 1200 plus steps to get to the top, stopping many times to catch our breath, realizing how unfit we all were. The locals seemed to climb up and down the mountain with ease. I found the village architecture to be quite unique.

There was what seemed to be a main square with wooden temples in it. There were wooden stilt houses all over the village, some of which had villagers sitting outside drying locally grown weed. A rare sight, I have to admit. They were carrying some of the freshly picked weed on their backs, we would get a strong whiff of it every time they passed us. We had cheese maggi, nutella pancakes and some tea to gather some energy for our way back.  

We had to walk an additional four kilometers to the bus as the driver refused to bring it back up all the way. Although the others were complaining, I was secretly glad as I didn't have the heart to sit through that hair raising journey again. Towards the end, the conductor who was waiting for us closer to the bus, suggested a short cut. It was a steep downhill trail, we had to sit on rocks, hold any vegetation we could get our hands on and make our way down carefully. That, according to me, was the highlight of the trek. While the others slowly made their way down, we waited by the riverside, watching the ripples in the water.

The next day we relaxed at our hotel, sitting by the riverside, eating and chatting; enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountains before returning back to the city madness.

Around Kerala in 7 Days - In a Caravan - Munnar

   

We passed a lot of fruit plantations on our way from Kochi to Munnar. You could see tiny pineapples, bananas and guavas peeking out from under the trees. A delightful sight which you wouldn't come across in normal life. Bananas in all colours were being sold on the roadsides. I even saw some fruit I did not recognise, looked a lot like custard apples. 

On the way to Munnar

Being the rainy season, there were waterfalls of all sizes that had sprung up on hill sides, adding charm to the already breathtaking scenery. We stopped at a big one to take pictures. Greenery surrounded us. We passed through some thick forests and could feel a dip in temperature. Our driver suggested we stop at a Spice Garden to pick up fresh spices. It was a well laid out nursery with medicinal herbs, herbal plants, flower plants and spice plants. The owner gave us a tour of the nursery; while sharing valuable information about the healing properties of various plants. My friend picked up a herbal face creme. I picked up a lot of fresh spices for home.

                        

We reached our guest house late evening. It had a beautiful garden and a fantastic view of the unending tea plantations. The next day, after breakfast, we set out to explore Munnar. It was a lovely, sunny day. The air was cool and crisp. We went to Eravikulam National Park, home to the endangered Nilgiri Tahr as well as several species of rare animals, birds and butterflies. We were enveloped by the mist once we reached the park entrance. We walked about 500 mts to catch a glimpse of the  very unique looking - Nilgiri Tahr and took a few pictures. 

View from the hotel

Mist everywhere

Nilgiri Tahr

After this, we went to the Tata Tea Museum & Gardens for a stroll and got some lovely shots of us. In the evening, we treated ourselves to an authentic Shirodhara Ayurvedic massage in a blink-and-you-will-miss-it massage parlour, recommended by a local. It was definitely the strangest massage experience I have ever had. I was made to lay on a wooden bed, which wasn't comfortable for obvious reasons. I couldn't switch off and enjoy the experience as I was very aware of my surroundings. This was also the first time I left a massage parlour with oil all over my body. I would still recommend it though :p

Later,we got some funny, oily pictures out of it. 

Tea Gardens everywhere

Thekaddy, Periyar National Park, was our next stop. 

Around Kerala in 7 days - In a Caravan

A few friends and I decided to make a trip down to Kerala - Venice of the East, as it is fondly known. Pristine white sand beaches, charming backwaters and Ayurvedic retreats lured us to explore this southern gem on the western coast of India. We took the train from Mumbai all the way down to Kochi.

This was one of the most scenic train journeys that I have ever undertaken. Passing through rolling hills, flat land, the ocean on one side for some part of the journey; and fruit plantations marking the entry into Kerala. The tourism guys have got it spot on. It indeed is; God's Own Country.
We were lucky to find a cheap hotel next to the train station. The room was fairly clean. Without wanting to waste time in exploring Kochi, we freshened up and made our way to the harbour. We got a fantastic view of fishing boats, ships, tankers and islands dotted around in the distance. Surprisingly, we didn't find any restaurants serving local fare in the vicinity; and ended up eating at a food court instead.

Hello Kochi!

Kochi market

The next day, we set off to go and explore Fort Kochi - famous for its sights, cafes and fishing nets. The 15 - 20 minute ferry ride from the harbour to Fort Kochi is joyful. We passed a couple of islands on our way there, including one which is inhabited by an indigenous tribe which has little to no contact with the outside world. Everything they need is on that little island, I was told by our guide. The Chinese fishing nets, St. Francis Church, Mattancherry Palace and the beach there are definitely worth a visit. A one day trip to Fort Kochi is enough to visit all major attractions here. It is also a foodies paradise, known for its eclectic cafes and restaurants.

The ferry

Chinese Fishing Nets

As we were planning to travel from Kochi all the way down to Kovalam, we asked around for a good deal on a cab. In the end, we got a plush caravan with leather seats, a TV, driver and a fantastic music system. All this in 10,000 bucks! We also got good discounts on hotels and sightseeing because of our driver's contacts.

The gorgeous tea county of Munnar was our next stop.

A Perilous Journey Home

When Shimla received the season's first snowfall, everybody was in a jubilant mood, all set to go and enjoy the snow. I was in Tattapani, 53 kms away from Shimla, when I heard that it had snowed. I have to admit that I was quite excited myself.

Having lived in London, I have experienced snowfall numerous times, built snow men with soft, fresh snow, slipped and fallen in the snow and have even celebrated a white Diwali! I love it when it snows; trees, cars and the roads are painted a beautiful shade of white and I just can't seem to get enough of it. We were leaving for Chandigarh that day and heard that Shimla was snowed in and shut to vehicular traffic. Upon inquiring from locals, we were advised to take a detour via Salaghat onto Dharampur and then Chandigarh. 

Sleet falling on the way to Dhami

We drove towards Dhami, the closest town en route, experiencing steady rainfall, sleet at a higher altitude and a hailstorm shortly afterwards. Needless to say, the weather was not getting any better and we were eager to get home in one piece. To make sure that we were on the right track, we asked another a couple of other people for directions. They told us about a short cut via Ghanati which would get us closer to our original route so we decided to take it. The road leading there was narrow and had minor landslides. Although we were apprehensive at first, we decided to carry on. A km or so afterwards, the condition of the road deteriorated. There were massive potholes and avoiding them in the incessant rain wasn't easy. There was a sheer drop on the right side of the narrow road so we couldn't turn back. You could feel the tension in the car as everybody sat quietly. We carried on at a speed of 20 kms/ hr and it took us an hour to cover the 15 km stretch.  

Soon after, we were approaching powdered mountains, covered with a thin layer of freshly fallen snow. We passed meadows, houses, vehicles abandoned on the side of the road - all covered under a white blanket. 

Post Ghanati

Snow all around!

Frozen bush

Frozen leaves of tree

I tried capturing a picture of frozen leaves on the road side in the moving car but couldn't quite get the angle I had wanted. 

We were on the main road again. Everyone was relieved and happy to be back in civilization, until we were told that the road ahead was blocked due to snow. We had to re-route again. 

We turned around and made our way towards Arki, passing through thick fog, in which even the bonnet of the car was not visible. It started pouring once we reached Arki. Thankfully, the road ahead was in good condition, narrow but a hundred times better than the previous stretch. 

Rain lashed down on us as we drove on the narrow, winding road ahead. We could only hope that we were on the right track. Shortly afterwards, a car with a Chandigarh number plate overtook us. All of us heaved a sigh of relief. We were extremely lucky not to have gotten stuck because of a land slide, inspite of continuous heavy rain and hail. 

Hailstorm on the way to Subathu

The car slid a couple of times, at turns because of the ice on the road. In a span of four hours, we had witnessed all forms of condensation! Once we reached Subathu, the weather cleared up and we got a glimpse of the setting sun. The journey thereafter was smooth. 

Gorgeous hues of the sky

At Dharampur, we stopped to grab a bite at Hot Millions, a popular eating joint. While eating, I looked up to see the outside traffic hauled up and a man in khaki running after another with a huge stick. I thought the cops were after a thief or something. Till I was told that the bus driver ( in khaki ) was running after a car owner whose car he had banged into. Cops had to intervene and get the disrupted traffic moving again. It was an amusing sight, made us temporarily forget about the treacherous journey we had just undertaken. 

5 Reasons to have a Winter Himalayan Vacation

Winter is most definitely upon us. A lot of us have been enjoying the afternoon sun, at home or even at our offices,  getting out of our cubicles for a stroll to soak up some sunshine. As the year is coming an end, a lot of us are making vacation plans for Christmas/ New Year. While many people prefer a warmer destination - Goa or Thailand, being a hot favourite amongst us Indians, here are 5 reasons why you should buck the trend and head to the mountains this winter.

1. Scenic beauty - Everybody travels for different reasons. Whether you are looking for some peace of mind after the crazy late nights at the office, need some quiet time to focus on yourself or a fun trip with friends, the mountains are beckoning you. The crisp mountain air, snow covered peaks, fresh water rivers and streams, wildlife sounds in the morning will surely put a smile on anyone's face. In that moment, all the noise and stress from your city life will be forgotten. 

2. Fresh perspective - The fresh mountain air will open up your mind, spirit and being to fresh, new possibilities in life. You will be able to reflect on your current circumstances in a calm and balanced manner. A trip to the mountains in the winter will leave you feeling rejuvenated, ready to take on the world with a fresh, new mind set. 

3. Adventure sports - For the adventurous, fun seeking lot, winter sports are definitely worth a try. At Solang Valley last year, I tried skiing, which requires an incredible amount of strength, endurance and balance. I also enjoyed driving an All Terrain Vehicle (OTV) in the snow and downhill, zipping through the long traffic jam. Para gliding, snow boarding, sledging and zorbing are some of the other options there. Gulmarg in Kashmir is a beautiful skiing destination, comparable to the Swiss Alps I hear. 

4. Away from the crowd - Depending on your preference, you can choose a getaway to a quaint village tucked away somewhere in the Himalayas or a busy city like Shimla. Barot, in Mandi district is a great option if you're looking for a quiet get away. Surrounded by the Dhauladhar range of Himalayas, with Uhl river passing through, Barot is a picturesque valley, well known for its trout & trekking trails. 

5. Discover a new you - Some of the most famous writers and poets are known to have been inspired by the beauty of the Himalayas. You can get completely spellbound by the surrounding natural beauty and might even discover the hidden poet in you. That is exactly what happened to me in Ladakh last year, when I just couldn't seem to put my pen down, and have been writing ever since! 

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”
(Jeffrey Rasley)

Musings in Kasauli

On a sunny afternoon in Kasauli, one of my most favourite hill stations, I saw a monkey sitting on a neighbouring tree and penned down the similarities I found between us, at that moment in time. 

Glances exchanged, worlds apart

While sitting on a chair & him on a tree top

Lost in contemplative thought.

Seeking solitude, some peace of mind

Monkey blues, tail hanging in dismay

Both scratching our heads, out of habit

Figuring out life, what lies ahead.

Mist slowly drifts away, sun shining bright.

Happy days seem close again, time to rejoice.

- Saachi Dhillon