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.. 

Day5:The Day Devoted to Monasteries and some highest landmarks ;-)

Itinerary Followed: 

Day1: Delhi - Sarahan (12-13Hrs) 

Day2: Sarahan - Sangla

Day3: Sangla - chhitkul & Rakcham(4 Hrs) - Kalpa (3 Hrs) 

Day4: Kalpa- Tabo (10-11Hrs) 

Day5: Tabo - Kaza (2-3 Hrs) 

Day6: Kaza -Lasar- Kunzum (3-4 Hrs) - Kaza

Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs)

Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs) 

Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)

Stupas infront of Kaza Monastery

The day started with a small climb on the hill in front of our hotel, towards the caves. The cliffs above the ancient Tabo Monastery have been hollowed out by several caves. These artificial cavities served and still serve as dwellings for monks during the harsh winters of Himalaya. Our guide told us that these caves were used by sages to meditate also.



One of the many Caves @Tabo 

There were N number of such caves around those hills.  Some of the caves have well defined structures and some are small caves barely having any structure and having just enough space for one or at max two people, some have almost black walls some have light markings on the walls. Few paintings are also exhibited in one of the bigger caves managed by the government. By the time we climbed down (at around 8.30 AM) the sun came into its full form, giving the feel of the 12.00PM noon. 

Top View of Tabo Monastery

We went ahead to visit the ancient Tabo Monastery, it is believed to be 2^nd oldest Monastery of the world next only to the Tholing Gompa in Tibet. It was built by a Buddhist king in 996 A.D. and was rebuilt after the earthquake in 1975.

Inside the monastery there is a group of 9 temples and 23 chortens. One group of temples is regarded as earlier construction while yet another group belongs to a later period. There are paintings on the inside walls and roof of the temples.

Stupas inside the monastery

There are many priceless collections of thankas (scroll paintings), manuscripts, well-preserved statues, frescos and extensive murals which cover almost every wall. To preserve the paintings not much of light is allowed inside the temples, our guide showed us with the help of the torch. Our next halt was “The Monastery” Café. We ordered breakfast there: Tibetan bread & Kohtey Momos are must try here..

We were off to Kaza at around 11.30 AM the roads were becoming worse than ever loose rocks keep sliding down the hill, due to the blowing wind but mainly cattle roaming around the hills. So one has to be very careful while driving, keep looking around if stones are shooting down. The Spiti river flowing along the road with shallow, clear waters formed spiral shape, Kris-cross silver snake like figures on the ground which can make anyone’s heart ache to touch it, feel the life through the chilled water, dip your feet to feel the shiver inside your spine, experience the calmness and serenity of the place.

View of Spiti Valley

At Schilling there is a diversion (toward right) for Dhankar, ascend of 15-20Km toward the Dhankar Gompa. Most of the road was newly constructed, but a very narrow road with lots steep elevation turns. The more you ascend, better is the view of valley. After around 30-45mins to drive through the diversion, there lies the Dhankar Gompa standing beautifully at the Corner mount of one the taller hills. The beautiful sand formation (made due to wind erosion) were standing tall at the other side of the road. The Gopma is overlooking the confluence of pin and spiti river and it is one of the most spectacular locations for a Monastery.

Dhankar Monastery

View from Dhankar

After visiting the complex we went down towards Schilling, on the way we met few local taxi drivers and enquired about the route towards Pin Valley & Mud Village, but to our despair there was flood in Pin Valley, even the locals were not travelling to that side of valley, we had to forgo our plan of visiting Pin Valley. We moved ahead towards our final destination “Kaza”. Our Stay again was at “The Grand Dewachen, Rangrik” the hospitality of the hotel staff and Rajinder ji (Owner) was commendable. We realized one thing that people are more courteous, hospitable and friendly in this part of Himachal Pradesh compared to the popular tourist destinations such as Shimla & Manali. Another humble gesture was that the Hotel manager was our guide during our stay in Kaza.

Then we followed the below route: Kaza - Langza – Hikkim – Komik –Kaza

According to our manager Mr Mahinder, Langza was supposed offer the most spectacular views of the entire Spiti Valley. As soon as we started our ascend towards Langza the wind suddenly became colder and colder. The brown barren fields were changing to the green farming fields, looking like well-crafted grass meadows at the slope of the hills. We reached a hilltop, having green meadows of grass, farming fields with combination of greens, violet and brown forming a zig-saw puzzle, small colonies of mud houses painted with white and brown, and snow covered huge mountains surrounded the village from in all the 4 visible directions, we soon realised that Mr. Mahinder was explaining about this beautiful village known as Langza. It feels as if the time has stopped here, the atmosphere is so calm and serene here, you might as well agree to spend your lifetime. The pre-condition might be that you are able to cope up with such high altitudes and extra chilled weather. Before inhabitation of Komik, Langza was the Asia’s highest village where people actually reside. 

Langza

Soon after crossing Langza we reached the hill overlooking Hikkim. The world’s highest Post Office is located in Hikkim, and Indian Post Red Logo claiming the same, can be seen from distance. We didn’t go inside the village and went ahead towards Komik, as we were approaching Komik the wind was becoming chiller and chiller.

Top view of Hikkim

We crossed through small patches of snow covered mountains and finally we reached the top of the hill. Very small village with total population of 114 people and altitude of 4,513 metres from the sea level. The Komik Monastery is situated at one edge of the hill top, Skin of a snow leopard is hanging at the entrance of the Monastery. For some reason Women are not allowed to enter the monastery, so Rahul went inside with a kind Monk who agreed to guide him through the Gompa while I enjoyed some time alone sitting on the edge of the hill, looking at the endless snow covered mountain ranges, without even the slightest of the sound except for the shrieking sound of blowing wind.

Skin of Snow Leopard at the Door of Komik Monastery

We headed back to Kaza via different route which was narrower from earlier, it was from the back side of the same hill, offering some excellent views of Kaza from the top. The vast Spiti River, recently seeded farming fields, the slant rays of the sun (at sunset) giving it all a majestic effect.

One of the Narrow oneway road to Kaza



View from the road side



After coming down we went to Kaza to get some fuel, hopping that the electricity will be there to run the pump. We reached the petrol pump and then realized it is world highest retail outlet, we went to the Kaza monastery to try our luck if it is open, and bingo!! We went inside the monastery, and it’s a newly built monastery with moderns structure and by far the most beautiful monastery I have ever visited.

Front view of Kaza Monastery

The main temple was decorated with bright colors and a wall of golden statues of various Gods. The next day Kalachakra Mandala Ceremony was supposed to happen, for that they made beautiful Sand Mandala. The kind Monk explained the logic behind the ceremony. The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once the sand mandala is completed the associated ceremonies are performed and mandala is viewed, and after that it is rituastically destroyed to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life.



Sand Mandala @ Kaza Monastery

We walked around the village market and then went back to hotel spent some time in the huge Baramdah, had an awesome dinner and retired to sleep at around 9.30PM.

Next day again we had to start early.. Journey of day7 will be followed soon..