Dalhousie..!!

Dalhousie

We reached Dalhousie at 8.00PM with our heads falling below our knees due to the tiredness. There were 200 stairs to reach our room at birds and chirps, immediately I thought of an elevator, and how helpful invention it would have been!!

Anyways I didn’t have that option so had to climb through those stairs. After reaching our room, I took bath and then with immediate effect, fell sick. Still I managed to go to the dinning area, where Mrs. Bhalla gave me medicine and after having dinner I was off to bed.

Starting of stairs towards Birds n Chirps

Early morning I woke up with the chirping of birds and when I opened the door I could see number of small birds of various colors and sizes, hopping from one tree to another and the only audible sound was theirs. At around 6.30AM the bed tea was sent to our room what else one can ask, spent our morning appreciating the serenity of the place and left room around at 10AM.

We headed towards Khajjiar if you are lucky with a clear sky you might get a glimpse of snow covered peaks of Dhauladhar ranges which I witnessed last time, but this time we weren't so lucky. We reached khajjiar in less than an hour time. It is a flat plateau surrounded by tall and thick deodar trees. At the day time it is very commercialized with lot of vendors roaming around for food item, photos, horse riding and other kids games. It is like a crowded picnic spot, but in off season it is worth to pay a visit here.

Khajjiar

Baby Rabbit @ Khajjiar.. Lots of Rabbit were available there, for holding and clicking photos with 10 Rs/person

Two government cottages are also available with night stay facility. Staying here at night it is quite an experience. While staying, if you happen to go towards the forest at night you might listen one or two animal sounds as happened in our case(last year), so it is advised not to venture into the forest at night time. One can spend some time at the flat grassland and enjoy the night full of stars.

Anyways back to our current visit, as me and my husband was spending time looking at the people around suddenly from nowhere a sound came “Oye kya haal chal?” I turned back and realised it is our ex-colleague and friend Gaurav, we don’t get time to see each other in Delhi (in spite of living in the same city), that busy our lives have become!!

But finding him and his family here was a pleasant surprise. We spent some time together exchanged our travel notes, made plans to meet next weekend (which obviously didn’t materialise) and headed to our next destinations. My initial plan was to go towards Chamba and Sach Pass but we dropped it one the sach pass was closed and two Rahul didn’t support the idea of going and coming back from Chamba as we had limited time. So, we took a 'U turn' and went to Kalatop Sanctuary.

Khalatop Wildlife Sanctuary is on the midway while going to Khajjiar from Dalhousie. You can walk through the Sacntuary or can take your car inside by paying a minimal amount of Rs. 200. In cloudy weather walking is a very good option as you will be walking through the mist. 

Not much of wildlife to spot. Few adventure sports (Rappelling & Zipping) are available inside and at the top there is a beautiful forest guest house along with few eating options. Few Bollywood movies has also been shot here.

We opted for the going via car, as we were taking the car ticket for Kala-top Wildlife sanctuary, again Gaurav bumped into us. So we decided to explore it together. We spent some time remembering Old time made fun of each other. Then Gaurav and his family left as they had to go to the Panchpula waterfalls. Myself and Rahul stayed there, walked through the wildlife sanctuary and visited the forest guest house where Bollywood movie “Lootera” was shot.  

@Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary... Forest Guest house where final scenes of Lootera was shot !!

Then we were done sightseeing for the day and headed towards the market to stuff our stomach with Mc-cains & Other junk food selling by the market area of Dalhousie. Next we went to Tibet market, immediately realised that we shouldn’t have come here. The path between the shops is so narrow that even one person cannot pass easily, and you will find only cheap stuff (few items looked second hand to me) being sold out here. We went back to the main market area, sipped coffee in a beautiful small coffee shop, strolled through the market for 3-4 times and called it day, At the homestay we had some awesome homemade food and after spending an hour in our balcony, retired to sleep.


On the way back to Dalhousie

Again the morning was a repeat telecast of previous morning. After breakfast we checked out and got a shock due to the partial and immature rules of  Birds n Chrips when Mrs. Bhalla charged us extra (for breakfast and dinner) despite of it being mentioned otherwise in the confirmation e-mail and when we sought for an explanation she told, that this disparity is because we booked it online and others didn’t. So we paid 800 Rs extra for booking online (Hostel Booker Charges) + Very Expensive Dinner & Breakfast, which inflated our total cost of stay by 50% compared to others. This left us with a feeling of being cheated. Every time I visit a popular and common tourist destination in North India, my belief about the rude, un-courteous and unjust behaviour of people (of such areas) gets reconfirmed with some or the other incident!!

Anyways we went ahead to Pachpula Waterfalls, it was a small 10-15 mins climb towards the waterfalls. A beautiful falls but similar to other sights it was also crowded. After having next round of tea here we headed towards Dainkund Peak and our mood spoiler driver was again in action he stopped the car in the midway, with a phone dialed-up to his boss and expression of denial (to move) on his utterly shrewd face. OHHH MY GODDD!! This guy was now playing on my nerves with his new gestures of lying on our face. Again Rahul had to talk to the Cab owner and explain him that the driver is lying and we haven't visited the place yesterday, then only he drove further.

Finally we reached Dainkund with kind of bad mood. But as soon as we started climbing up the mountain my mood was reset, as the clouds were playing hide and seek to give a blissful sight of the lush green mountains. The trek offered awesome views of the nearby mountains, as the Dainkund peak is one the highest among the nearby hills, good top view of the valley. The total walking time is required to visit the Kali Mandir at the top of the peak is around 1.5 hr - 2 hr (to and fro).

Dainkund Terk

After this we headed back to the city for lunch to walk around thandi and garam sadak, spent time strolling here and there, then left for Pathankot at around 4.30-5.00 to catch our train. On the way, just before entering the city (Pathankot) you will find lot of farm houses which offer good variety of food with nice ambiance. We halted at Mama’s (the only good thing our driver did in entire trip) they served awesome food and nice garden seating was available. With our stomach full till neck we started for the railway station and then to Delhi.

So this was the end journey of Mc-leodganj and Dallhousie except the last bit of nagging at the station which our driver did to complete our experience. Our trip is concluded such an eventful trip with some good, some not so good and some bad experiences*...  But all that makes it a memorable trip, with lot of stories to remember or forget ;-) :-P !!

*All not so good and bad experiences are related people, and their behaviour!!

McLeodganj

We started our journey by taking the train to Pathankot from Tuglakabad (Delhi) at around 10.30PM (please keep a buffer of 15-20 mins extra if you ever are planning to take the train from here). We were supposed to reach Pathankot at 11 AM but thanks to our railway system we were 3 Hrs late.

As soon as I de-boarded the train, the first thing visible was army tanks in huge number, so much so that one entire railway track was occupied only with tanks.

At around 2 PM we started our journey towards Mcleodgunj and within the first 5 mins we realized that its going to be very difficult to handle this adamant driver. Anyways we ignored the fact and reached Mcleodgunj at around 4.30PM.

The first thing was to have lunch. This time I had pre-decided each and every restaurant we were going to eat at. So we went looking for SEED CAFÉ. After walking around 1 km from the main square we reached this small & sidelined café. There was nobody in the café at that time we took one table and the view from the café is just amazing. Fog was playing hide and seek against those huge lush green mountains. All fatigue was gone in just 5 mins after sitting there. We ordered some Italian food and started enjoying the music and view.

Seed Cafe

After spending an hour there, Rahul said let me call the hotel guy to check for the route to hotel and to our shock the manager informed that there has been no bookings done from Expedia against our name. We tried calling Expedia around 50 times, but no one picked up. After paying full money in advance they didn’t even bother to inform/block the room at the hotel. There we were, in the middle of the busy Jogiwara road, with no room and almost all hotels being sold out.

At the back of Seed Café there were few hotels so we went to check in each one of them, just to try our luck. Finally we got a room for one day in Hotel Moon River. I literally loved the room as it had green and refreshing view from the balcony. 

We decided to take a walk along the market and trust me it was a very good experience to walk around the lively and colourful market having shops of antique/junk jewelry,  colourful shawls and woollens, trekking/camping materials, food stalls/ restaurants and what not. I just loved it!!

After spending 2-3 hrs shunting in the market we decided to have dinner and there were so many good options in Mcleodgunj. One can easily get confused where to eat and where not. Finally we decided to eat at Clay Owen at Main square. The ambiance was rustic with clay walls, wall hangings made out of wooden clogs, bamboo shades to hold the bulbs emitting yellow light, open ovens to make wood fired pizza, Tibetan style seating and the soft relaxing music being played at the backdrop. All this  made it a very relaxing and soothing place to have dinner. There is a small sitting area in the balcony of the restaurant also where one can enjoy the dinner. We ordered some thai curry & rice +  khotey momos both of the dishes were delicious and till date I regret not ordering Waffle with ice cream and Chocolate sauce, as it was looking so tempting and every single table on the restaurant had that dish. Anyways we summed up our dinner with that thai curry and rice.

We spent our rest of the evening roaming around the market area, observing people and chit-chatting amongst ourselves and soon we were off to bed to get a good night sleep.

The combination of cool breeze and bright sunlight  gave a refreshing start to a new day full of excitement to complete the trek (Triund) which was left unfinished last time as we took the wrong trek and had to return from the jungle at the night. But first we started-off with some local sight-seeing, which included the Church, Dal Lake (dont go there) and few other points. 

Outserspace of the Church

Glass Paintings at the Church

For Triund one can start trekking from Dharamkot itself/ or hire a vehicle and go till Golu temple and start the trek from there. It is not exactly a trek, but a hike to a fully carved stone path, with a lot of broken stairs. If you start early then it's doable in one day (to and fro). The only troll is the huge broken stairs which drains some energy out of you. There are two midway cafes on the route where you can get tea and basic stuff for eating. Lot of horses (carrying various stuff) climb up the hill along with you. One need to be careful of them, as one of the horses which overtook me got misbalanced while climbing and fell rolling down into the valley.

Triund Trek

You will find 4-5 small shops selling almost everything you might need during the night stay at top of the hill. They even arrange tents and sleeping bags, but it’s better to carry your own as availability of those depends on the number of traveller staying there. During the right season the entire hill is full of tents so much so it becomes difficult to get a place for your tent. So the place is fully crowded if you are looking for secluded place for trek then this is definitely not the place. If you want to trek further, one can go to LAKA Glacier (8Km up and down from triund) or till Khabrotu (4 km up and down from triund) those must be less crowded.

Top of the Triund

My Camp

Sunset At Triund

Our tent was ready when we reached there, we spent our time roaming around the hilltop watching the sun go behind the hills and (on a clear night) making way for moon and stars to shine with full glaze. Along with that listening to one of the groups who was playing some awesome guitar with some beautiful songs. Watching the sky full of stars is one of my favourite time-pass. I did the same for few hrs and then went to sleep. Next day we had to trek down to Golu Temple then according to the time in hand visit one/two places of interest along with the Dalai Lama Temple and then leave for Dharamshala.

Though our driver wasn’t interested to go to any of the places we wanted to see. He tried his level best to spoil our mood and negating to drive to each possible place. It’s a lesson learnt for lifetime whenever I will go on such trips I need to ensure that I get a good driver with bearable attitude.

As a result I was in fully attentive mode and was tracking our car's movement(through GPS) to each kilo meter driven,  as I was afraid he might take us to some notorious place.

Rest of the journey Later.. 

Planning Phase for McLeodgunj & Dalhousie..

Mcleodgunj & Dalhousie

Best time to Travel: March to June & September to November

Itinerary:  Night1: Delhi to Pathankot (8-10 Hrs by Train),

Day2: Pathankot to Mcleodgunj (2-3 Hrs By Car) (Link to Detailed Mcleodganj Experience)

Day3:  Mcleodgunj to Triund (3-6 Hrs by Foot, depends on you)

Day4: Triund to Mcleodgunj (2-4 Hrs by Foot), Mcleodgunj to Dalhousie (4-5 Hrs by Car)

Day5: Dalhousie – Khajjiar (half hrs by Car) (Link to Detailed Dalhousie Experience)

Day6: Pathankot to Delhi (8-10 Hrs by Train)

Planning for the Trip:

I wasn’t much excited about the journey: one because this would be my 2^nd visit there, two because both are very popular destination and must be crowded because of the extra-long weekend. But my husband (Rahul) wanted to go there so I agreed with few initial reservations. How long my reservations can sustain knowing that it’s a tour and that too, to the mountains with a special attraction of 2 Day Trekking to Triund. So, I started planning for the trip, smartly covering the places which were missed in earlier trip ;-)

First thing I did was to book ticket as it was a long weekend it was very difficult to get tickets for such a popular destination, I could manage to get 2 of the last 5 ticket on the only train left with confirmed booking options. Such a relief!!!

Next was to get our hotels booked, which was again a herculean task on those particular dates, I had to go through to each and every website to get the hotels bookings. The only booking I could get was through expedia for a Hotel,  to our despair 3 days after the booking expedia people called us only to inform that there was some fault in their system and there is no room in that hotel. Finally after a lot of hustle bustle we could get a booking for Hotel Natraj and for Dalhousie I booked "Birds & Chirps" to experience a Homestay for the first time. Next was to make arrangements for a guide, camping at Triund and a cab.

Taxi Services: Rana Travels Pathankot, would recommend NOT TO USE Rana Travels for booking taxi not even as last resort

McLeodGanj & Dharamshala:



Sunrise at top of Triund

Tip: Try to get an accommodation at Jogiwara road or at Rangrik (at the road parallel to jogiwara) instead of Bhagsu or Dharamshala. Trust me it is a different experience altogether, a very different culture and lifestyle compared to other hill station in North India.

Places to Stay: Hotel Moon River, Jogipura Road, Meclodgunj – Awesome Hotel with excellent views & hospitality of the staff

If staying in Triund either you can plan for camping or Forest guesthouse (only 3-4 rooms, need to book in advance)

Main Attractions : Dalai Lama Temple, Bhagsu Waterfalls, Bhagsu Nag Temple, St. John church in the Wilderness, Dal Lake, Roaming and shopping on the market street, Triund Trek, Dharamshala Cricket Stadium

Food: Seed Café (Italian Food + one should go for the view), Nicks Kitchen (awesome Italian & Richard Gere’s Favorite restaurant), Clay Owen (rustic ambiance and good Tibetan, Chinese and Thai food) Tibet kitchen (Tibetan Food), Bakery at Main Square.

Dalhousie:




Beautiful Roads at Dalhousie

Tip(s):

1. You can try your luck for booking the two Government Cottages at Kajjiar.
2. If you have some time you can go to Chamba via Khajjiar and return to Dalhousie via Chamera Dam/Lake.
3. If you are adventurist and have 2 extra days then take an excursion to Sach Pass. Please check its accessibility before going there. 
4. You can also go to Bharmour & Manimahesh, around 60km further from Chamba (108 Kms from Dalhousie). It is a hindu pilgrimage sight AKA land of lord Shiva. The scenery and landscape of these places are also exceptional, which is a bonus..

Places to Stay: Birds & Chirps Homestay, Panchpula, Dalhousie – Home amidst tall trees and chirping birds, its literally Birds and Chirps 

Governement Cottages at Khajjiar

Main Attractions: Khajjiar, Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary, Dainkund Peak, Barkota Hill, SaatDhara (don’t go there), Pachpula Waterfalls, Gandhi Chowk (Market Area), St. John's Church, Chamera Lake (enroute to Chamba), Chamunda Devi Temple, Manimahesh Lake, Sach Pass

Detailed travelogue will follow..