12 Lesser known Himalayan destinations to beat the Heat..

Here is a list of few Relatively Offbeat (because we touching 130 Cr. not much has remained as actually offbeat with no tourists) 2-4 days Himalayan destinations from Delhi (in no particular order ;-))

      Tirthan Valley

Tirthan Valley is located right at the edge of The Great Himalayan National Park (Himachal Pradesh), and provide numerous trekking options into the park and not much commercialization. It’s perfect for people seeking for tranquil however it could be a good option for adventure lovers as well. Lush green valley some awesome views of snow covered mountains. Tirthan Valley is known as famous for river crossing, Trout Fishing and Trekking. Jaroli Pass and Serloskar Lake are the few trekking options.

Not much food and accommodation options available here, mostly homestays are available and few hotel/resort options. There are almost no restaurants, to you have to eat at the place you are staying.

550 Kms from Delhi, takes around 13-14 hours to cover the Distance. The HPTDC Bus journey to Aut is an overnight journey from Delhi and from it can be reached via taxi in one hour.

Recommended Duration: 4 Days 

Serolsar Lake @ Tirthan Valley                                                                                                                   PC: The Betthe India

      Munsiyari

A small and pretty tribal village with a daunting view of Snow covered Pachachuli Peak from almost every nook and corner of the village!! You are likely to find a lot of trekking groups as lot of small & long, easy & difficult treks start from here. Don’t forget to pay a visit to Birthi Falls, it is 45-60 mins steep climb to reach the Cascade. When I travelled there was not a single soul on the route or near the falls that magnificent Cascade. The Cool breeze of air, the water mist, the grey cloudy sky gave a feeling of rain though it wasn’t.

You need atleast 4 days to plan a trip to munsiyari, it’s almost 10-12 hours’ drive from Kathgodam. As I told you it is a small tribal village so very limited staying options are available with basic facilities. Do carry some snacks and all not much options available here.

Munsiyari: View from the Hotel Room

      Tosh
      Tosh is a small village at the end of pravati valley in Himachal Pradesh, at a distance of around 540 Kms from Delhi. Beautiful village surrounded by the snow covered peaks from 3 sides with river flowing by the side, it is an ideal destination for having some peaceful, calm or lone time. Lot of foreign back packers come her. Limited continental food options are also available BTW food prices are pretty high, and do carry cash as no ATMs. Try to book a hotel toward the top end of the village as that offers the most spectacular view especially star gazing on a clear, moonless night. Maybe it was my lucky day, but I saw 9 shooting stars in an hour.  It has basic accommodation options, if you are looking for luxury vacation then this definitely is not a place for you. With around 300 - 500 Rs per night. You can go to kheerganga trek it is a 6 hrs uphill trek (one side).
      If you wanna drive it is going to take 14-15 hrs from Delhi. Otherwise one can take the Bus from HPTDC Bus and get down Bhuntar and take a local bus from there to Bharsheni (around 3.5 - 4 hrs) and then 3 km hike to the village.
      Recommended Duration: 4 Days

Tosh Valley                                                                                                                                                              PC:Triphippe

      Binsar
      It houses not so famous and untouched (from maddening Delhi crowd) Wild life Sanctuary. A few Bollywood films like Betab has also been shot here. The zero point in there offers a spectacular view of snow covered peaks such as Kedarnath Peak, Shivling, Trisul and Nanda Devi. Try to go in early morning hours to enjoy uninterrupted (by clouds I meant) scenery.
      Few 3-4 star properties are also available here making a comfortable destination to stay, btw some of it offers beautiful views of peaks from your bedroom. For me having evening tea in your balcony, watching those white peaks turning crimson in sunlight is something and sun being set behind a distant peak is more inviting then the clear morning scenery.
      Binsar Wild life sanctuary is in Uttrakhand, 386 Kms from Delhi, and takes around 10-11 hours to reach here by car. The nearest railway station is kathgodam, from where it takes another 4 hours to reach here, there are lot of taxi available on the station for one way/ two way rides.
      Recommended Duration: 3-4 Days

View of Himalayas from Zero Point @ Binsar    PC: Binsar Tourism

      Khirsu

Small village with untouched nature, surrounded with pine, deodar and rhododendron trees, close panoramic views of himalyan ranges makes it a perfect destination for a lazy quaint holiday away from the daily hustle.

For accommodation there are not much options available in Khirsu, only GMVN Tourist Rest House is an option available. Otherwise some reasonably good accommodations are available in nearby locations such as Puari. Around 350 Kms from Delhi 8-9 hours journey by Car.

Khirsu PC: thegirlandhercamera

         Kausani

I must say the journey was as beautiful as the detination the lush green farming fields, river flowing by it side, huge green mountains at the backdrop and that downing Sun seems like you are in SHIRE the Hobbitland of LOTR.

There are few good staying options, 3 star properties in Kausani almost all of them offer Kausani’s famous the 180   panaromic veiw of snow capped mountains. There is also water fall having icy cold water, accesible with 3 Kms easy trek.

It is around 380 Kms from Delhi, 10 hrs journey by car. If you wanna use public transport, nearest railway station is kathgodam, from where it takes another 4 hours to reach here, there are lot of taxi available on the station for one way/ two way rides.

On the way to Kausani                                                                                                                                  PC:Allseasons.com

          Mukhteshwar

Jim Corbett, the famous Hunter came here for shooting a Tiger and got mesmerized by its beauty. It has dense forest on one side and open Mountain View on the other. Watching Sunset while sitting on the cliff of Chauli ki Jali is something one ca cherish for years. A religious reason to visit might be the 350 year old Shiva Temple on the highest point of the town.

This is just a 7 hour drive from Delhi, easily doable on a weekend. Can be considered as calmer alternative against Nainital as is on the same altitude and same distance from Delhi. Lot of staying options available here suiting everybody’s pockets.

Sunset View from Chauli ki Jali                                                                                                                          PC: eUttranchal

      Sarahan

A small city/village en-circled with snow covered mountain range peeping through every corner of the city and having  “Bhimakali Temple” (which is also a “Shakti peeth”) right at the center. Do attend the evening aatri at the temple, believe me the way people do arti here is an experience in itself. It starts with the chants of the priest and ends with the joyful sounds of various musical instruments.

Few hotels with basic amenities are available here, HPTDC hotel is also there, stay arrangements are also available at the temple Dharamshala. Google map says it is 503 Kms away and takes 11.42 hours and they are right if you drive non-stop, it took 14-15 hours for us to reach.

Bhimakali Temple @ Sarahan                                                                                                                     PC:Incrdible Hills

7Kangojodi

Perefect option for a quick weekend break, not much planning required just pick your car keys and drive but yes, book for accommodation before-hand as the only option here is Camp Roxx. There is a small 7 kms thick pine forest go give you that aloof feeling (Not suggested for peak summers as the place is on low altitude, but perfect for monsoons) You won’t even get rare traffic sound here, did I mention that getting mobile signal is also little difficult here. 6 Hours drive from Delhi, nearest town is Nahan.

      Tehri

The major attraction here is emerald water of the Tehri Lake, having sky rising mountains at its backdrop coupled with cool breeze create a perfect base for one peaceful holiday. BTW the lake is an artificial lake created due to the Tehri Dam, one can spend some nice walking time here. One can do a small (5 km) trek from Sursingdhar which offer a bird’s eye view of the lake and pumps your lungs with unpolluted air. Waking up early to watch the beautiful Sun-rise is something you are not going to regret. Stay options are available at Sursingdhar.

It is around 300 Kms from Delhi takes 6-7 hours to reach there via car, alternatively one can take a train to Haridwar or travel via bus to reach. As Tehri is a well-established town, accessibility via public transport is also good.

View near Tehri Dam

      Bharmour

Bharmour is an ancient settlement, surrounded by the lush green mountains also the capital of Chamba for last 400 years. Majorly people go there for the treks in surrounding hills but if you are not willing to trek then also the city in itself is serene and the route also offers some breath-taking views. Manimahesh is one of the famous temples (out of many others) here.

It is little more distant from the other destinations mentioned here, but worth the effort of all the extra kms. Around 670 kms from Delhi, 14-15 hrs drive. Better alternative is to take a train till Pathankot and take a taxi from there, it will take around 5 hrs to reach from there.

Bharmour                                                                                                                                                              PC: Tripadvisor

      Jwarna

If you want to have a camping experience than this is the place to consider. Perfect way of spending a monsoon weekend away from the noisy Delhi traffic (not suggested in May or June as its not on high altitude). Feel the mountain breeze, soak the gentle warmth of sunlight, walk an unbeaten path and smile to the lovely villagers. There is just one or two camp site on the right edge of the mountain, the direction sign here is not good so you have to carefully look for arrows.

Around 330 kms from 6-7 hours drive from Delhi. Only stay options are campsites, and no restaurant.

Campsite @ Jwarna                                                                                                                                    PC: WhisperingPines

Munsiyari.. with an icing of Binsar!!

Generally managers (especially in India) believe that one should not get any holidays apart from Saturday/Sunday/Statutory Holidays (those too, only when you don’t have work)! In such circumstances asking a leave without some medical/legal emergency, without some relatives wedding is like a Non-Bailable Crime and I have been guilty of it not only once but many a times!  And yes, I shall continue to do the same in future also, as I can’t live without travelling to unknown routes, meeting people from different culture, breathing the clean and fresh air of some distant mountains, dipping feet in the cold stream of water.. and the list continues..

As I had recently switched job and took quite a few leaves when I got married (one year back) I started to think about the options I had for taking the leave.  After much of brainstorming I decided to try to convince my boss for the actual reason i.e. travelling. Believe me it was much easier, as I didn’t have to think of a lie for every counter question he asked. That was an unexpectedly pleasant start to my trip planning activities..

Early Morning View at Munsiyari

This time it was Munsiyari, the trekkers paradise and we were not going there for trekking! After the June Floods in UttaraKhand, I had to alter my plan a little, had to drop Dharchula from my itinerary as the road was completely washed-off especially near Jauljibi, so I included Binsar in our trip and struck Dharchula off with a heavy heart, not that I regret it now, as Binsar offered some equally awesome memoirs to remember.

We started from Delhi on Friday night, took a train to Kathgodam, from there on we had pre-booked a taxi. Morning 5.30 AM when the Sun was still asleep under the blanket of dark clouds, we started our road travel.

Total 12 hrs road journey through the broken roads, water crossings, few distant recent landslide areas, unmatched mountain views and awesome monsoon weather of hills, a normal drive through the clouds. We reached Munsiyari at evening 5 PM. If I have to describe the village in one line than: A small and pretty tribal village with a daunting view of Snow covered Pachachuli Peak from almost every nook and corner of the village. You are likely to find a lot of trekking groups as lot of small & long, easy & difficult treks start from here.

The distant landslide enroute munsiyari

Road through clouds

Next day morning I woke up early in the morning, to my luck it was a clear morning with awesome view of the Snow Cladded Mountains. As the day progressed the clouds come up and cover the higher peak. The only things to do in munsiyari either go for a trek or just laze around and embrace the stillness, calmness, and listen our own heart beating against the cool breeze. For a change I did the later..

View from our room

Nandadevi temple is located right in the middle of lush green high mountain peaks and offers some awesomeeeeeee paranomic views of snow covered peaks, The small walk till the temple is through the tall green pine trees. I thought of spending some time at one of the benches but the house flies were guarding the place like anything!

View from Nandadevi Temple.. though covered under clouds but thats a small price you have to pay enjoy weather that awesome

Rainbow on some unknown road @ Munsiyari 

Spent the evening walking around the village, sitting on the edge of some unknown road, watching the sun-set behind those huge Blue Mountains having small patches amber-pink clouds. That pristine sight was captured in my heart for ever and ever!!  To have an un-interrupted encounter with nature, I didn’t carry my camera that evening, to avoid any urge to click the photograph.

Next day we started early morning for Binsar accompanied by some heavenly view and landscapes. We halted at Kali mandir which is supposed to offer some awesome views but by the time we reached there, the entire atmosphere was full of clouds, though there is no comparison of such hilly monsoon weather but we were devoid of some spectacular views. We were walked amidst of clouds, removed our slippers and entered into the old open corridor of temple of Goddess Kali..

Suddenly, our driver stopped the car and pointed towards a distant falls and told that is Birthi Falls, from road it seemed a little far, so we decided that we will walk to have a somewhat closer look and come back.. As I started walking, my feet started itching to reach the falls.

There was not a single soul near the falls or enroute to falls. As we reached near the magnificent and loud falls. The Cool breeze of air, the water mist, the grey cloudy sky gave a feeling of rain though it wasn’t. It was totally worth to climb through that steep and very slippery route, just to experience that surreal environment. 

First Sight of Birthi Falls; I couldn't do any justice while capturing the magnificence but still.. 

It’s not that I haven’t seen huge and magnificent water falls, but there was something different about this one. Maybe it was the (rainy) weather, serenity, calmness & stillness, solitude or it was my state of mind, but it looked Divine!!

The broken road to Heaven

While driving to Binsar, we were accompanied by the Ganges for a long time, also the ‘Sangam’ (confluence) at Bhageshwar can be easily seen while crossing the city. By the time we reached Binsar the Wildlife Sanctuary was closed so we headed straight to our resort. The huge glass window in our room gave an un-interrupted view of the sun-set behind the snow-cladded white peak..

Sunset at Binsar

Early morning we went to the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, while tracking we saw few distant peaks. But could have the paranomic view of the Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot, Panchachuli, Chaukhamba and Kedarnath because of clouds, but the track itself was worth an early morning walk.

After a filling breakfast we headed to Rahul’s favorite hill station i.e. Nainital, and did some touristy activities such as boating in Naini Lake, visiting the artificial Caves, roaming on the mall road, taking a cycle rikshaw ride on mall road (must do in Nainital) etc..

The everrefreshing beauty: Naini Lake @ Nainital

With this pleasant evening our trip was summed up and we were refreshed to go back to our hectic corporate lives with fixed schedules, until the next holiday!!

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..