One blog would be quite long - so I will break it and post them separately. This blog would summarise the entire trip and the subsequent ones will give details.
We started on Thursday night. We had decided to go by car and Manas would be driving. We met at around 11:30 PM and started our journey to Dharamshala. Vikas is from Himachal (Bilaspur to be precise) and he was our designated guide. Manas and I had gone out several times but this was my first time with Ashish and Vikas. So we set out on our journey.
Our route included Ambala, Chandigarh, Una, Ropad and Kangra. We stopped for dinner on the way and then drove non-stop to Una where we had a cup of tea and then continued. We reached Dharamshala around 10:30 AM and checked-in a hotel.
We had a little rest and breakfast. Then Vikas's friend Nitin arrived and he took us to Bhagsunath temple. We visited the temple and then went ahead to see a waterfall. We spent quite sometime there enjoying the view and having something to eat. Then we went to a mela. For the first time I had seen a mela and I guess it might be the last time - it was over crowded and the crowd wasn't to my liking. We came back to the hotel from the mela and went out for dinner. Had a good meal but the service was very slow. Came back to the room and rested.
Next morning we checked-out of the hotel and went to Macleodgunj. We parked the car there and 
strated our trek. We had some 4km to Dharamkot and then some 8 kms to Triund which was our destination. Soon after we started I and Manas took shortcut (read long cut) and got separated from Ashish and Vikas. I had a hard time trekking as I am not used to so much workout while others found it pretty easy. Despite the odds I did manage to reach the top within 4 hours. Manas did get impatient a lot for my being too slow and resting often but he still stayed with me. Finally as we reached the top it was worth the effort.
We had our lunch there and stayed there for quite some time. Manas and Vikas went further up while I and Ashish stayed there. We didnot manage to get any accomodation there so we began our trek down just before sunset. By the time we reached midway it had become dark. Luckily I had brought a torch along and Manas's cell (Nokia 1100) had a torch which helped us climb down. When we finally reached Macleodgunj we didnot find a proper place to eat nor could we find a hotel to stay. We decided to go to Palampur which was some 35 kms away. Despite being tired Manas drove all the way to Palampur. There was an IIT exam there so all the hotels were booked and we almost decided to sleep in the car. But we tried our luck one last time and managed to find a room in a hotel. We checked-in at 12 midnight. We had bought juices on our way and that was our dinner. We woke up around 8 AM the next morning, had our breakfast and checked-out of the hotel. We began exploring Palampur. We went to Neugal Cafe and then spent some time in a tea garden. Then we started our journey back to Delhi after having stopped at Nitin's place. We had our lunch at around 5 PM and then drove continuously till we reached Chandigarh at around 11:30 PM. There we had dinner and reached Delhi early morning on Monday.
strated our trek. We had some 4km to Dharamkot and then some 8 kms to Triund which was our destination. Soon after we started I and Manas took shortcut (read long cut) and got separated from Ashish and Vikas. I had a hard time trekking as I am not used to so much workout while others found it pretty easy. Despite the odds I did manage to reach the top within 4 hours. Manas did get impatient a lot for my being too slow and resting often but he still stayed with me. Finally as we reached the top it was worth the effort.
We had our lunch there and stayed there for quite some time. Manas and Vikas went further up while I and Ashish stayed there. We didnot manage to get any accomodation there so we began our trek down just before sunset. By the time we reached midway it had become dark. Luckily I had brought a torch along and Manas's cell (Nokia 1100) had a torch which helped us climb down. When we finally reached Macleodgunj we didnot find a proper place to eat nor could we find a hotel to stay. We decided to go to Palampur which was some 35 kms away. Despite being tired Manas drove all the way to Palampur. There was an IIT exam there so all the hotels were booked and we almost decided to sleep in the car. But we tried our luck one last time and managed to find a room in a hotel. We checked-in at 12 midnight. We had bought juices on our way and that was our dinner. We woke up around 8 AM the next morning, had our breakfast and checked-out of the hotel. We began exploring Palampur. We went to Neugal Cafe and then spent some time in a tea garden. Then we started our journey back to Delhi after having stopped at Nitin's place. We had our lunch at around 5 PM and then drove continuously till we reached Chandigarh at around 11:30 PM. There we had dinner and reached Delhi early morning on Monday. Three days full of fun (with some arguements/disagreements/fights) away from the routine life - it was a welcome break.
PS: The details of each day would follow soon.
1 comment:
Nice write up dude......summarizing our 3 day (and night) fight into single read. Manas obviously get all the credit for making this whole trip a wonderful and remeberable journey (i can never forget the Ropar bumps). Aashish - an awesome personality i met in my lifetime - he has different perspectives on everything happening around him. And Pujari you make up every moment quite light with your light and cute jookes.
Hotel Pong View (If i remeber the Hotel name correctly) is one good place where i had best Food in this whole trip and enjoyed the Sun light falling directly on my back.
Post a Comment