Exploring the Place that is not on the map | Chamba, Himachal Pradesh |

A hike to the peak of a mountain with almost 10KM steep uphill during autumn was an amazing experience.

Exploring the place that is not on map | Chamba Himachal Pradesh |

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Triund - A Trek on 5 Feet Snow

Trekking third time to Triund had brought me again to Mcleodganj on evening of 2nd March 2012. The Snow at Triund was the key greed to conquer this trek on 3rd March. Jaideep Yadav and Deepak Mishra were too excited to take up the challenge on five feet snow and steep glaciers.

Deepak Mishra had never seen the Snow and Jaideep Yadav had returned unsucesful from Trek to Triund couple of months back. So it was more challenging for me to reach at Triund with my company. Somewhere in mind I was very clear that no matter what happens I will make these guys to reach at the top.

The trek started at 08:30 AM from Mcleodganj. We filled some confectionery, chocolates and water in our backpack. Strangely Jaideep and Deepak were exceptionally excited and energatic to reach the snow point, rather I was surprised that both of them started walking faster than me in the beginning. But it was for a while  and soon I took lead. My intention was to pull them upto half of the distance (7 KM) fast so that we have enough time to climb carefully when last 6 odd kilometers comes in front of us with unexpected stacks of snow.

Unlike summer times, the track had become no man land, we the only three trekkers were breaking the silence of dense forest with all kind of noise.

After 2 kilometer trek, we got to meet 4 dogs who looked aggressive initially. But soon we realized that all they need is pampering and some food. They got both this from us so they joined us for rest of the day. With these four dogs running behind and ahead of us, we finally reached the first stop of our trek, Dharamkot.

We bought more stuff to eat at Dharamkot. Most important buy here was Red Bull. We fed the dogs with biscuits so that they join us till last. It was good company from safety point of view.

Little away from Dharamkot, our track started showing some snow staked on the way. This was the time when we could see the full view of Dharamshala and Mcleodganj from top. By this time, signs of tiredness had started appearing on Jaideep's face. Few words of motivation and pampering to Jaideep we moved ahead. 

Soon came the turning point of our trek when we moved to the other side of landscape where we could see our first stop/breakfast stop and then on 90 degree look up was Triund. The shining white snow there created an unique energy in body and provoked me to run like crazy to reach there. The beauty of Triund covered under Snow was spectacular and breadth taking. For a while I was lost in a way as if I am wandering at Triund with no relation to this world. But soon I came back to reality as we had huge distance to be covered yet, that too full of snow and steep climb.

We were too busy with capturing the beauty of nature, of-course including lot of photographs of all three of us. After moving little ahead on track, we were in front of the first glacier of our adventure. It was huge, scary, steep and almost negligible marks of foot. Moreover, the noise of flowing water under glacier increased my fear. The glacier was almost 7 to 8 feet fat. There was no scope for error. Above all this, the day had grown hot enough to melt snow, so the fear of some snow coming down had almost fasten my heart beat to extreme. Our non stop chitter bitter had suddenly disappeared and silence there felt more haunting to me. With strange fears crossing my mind, we manage to cross our first glacier successfully. 

Our first encounter with such a huge glacier proved two things clearly. First that in our balance 8 to 10 kilometer trek we are going to come across lot of snow and glaciers, second that my both partners will not give up and that was great news to me.

With our first glacier crossing and half a kilometer trek from there, we reached a place called MAGIC VIEW where we had planned our breakfast with delicious Maggi cooked with lot of vegetable. The feeling of reaching at first milestone and feeding maggi was super awesome. We met three trekkers from abroad here. They alarmed us about the track and glaciers ahead. But we ignored it and moved ahead after resting for a while here.

As we were climbing high, the zeal to reach Triund was increasing step by step. The Magic View was the point where never ending snow started and now we had to walk on snow for almost 6 kilometers till Triund. The track ahead was full of Snow, glaciers and steep climb with no marks of foot.

Our mouths were shut permanently and camera was packed. I told both my buddies to focus on their steps invariably. We conquered three times bigger glaciers than first one and way steeper. It was genuinely risky to cross that when water flowing under it was huge. But we had no option than to cross it. This time we just did not stop in the middle and walked carefully on it.

After crossing this huge glacier we were to climb 90 degree for next 2 kilometers and that was Triund. But these two kilometers proved to be the most haunting to me. The only question in my mind was "How we will come down ?" I did not share my fears with  Jaideep Yadav and Deepak Mishra as this would have taken them onto the verge of giving up there itself.

800 meters before Triund,  Jaideep gave up and refused to climb. The reason was steep valley down looked scary and his shoes were completely wet. Here rather than motivating him I forcibly pushed him to walk up.

The purity of snow here proved that coutable number of people have reached here. Unmarked track proved our point further. We were among very few to reach at Triund. It was amazing to see  Jaideep and Deepak feeling proud of completing the trek. The view and feeling was beyond imaginations. Unlike last time Green lush, Triund was pure white. The place filled us with infinite Joy. 

We spent an hour over there where we met two young Monks and had heavely delicious steaming Dal and Rice in only shop open at Triund.

Now it was the time to head back to Mcleodganj. The challenge started with our first step to go down itself. It was steep and scary. The same unmarked Snow felt killer. I guided both my buddies to use edge of their shoes and to keep cross feet wherever possible. I did not allow them to put flat steps which are most dangerous on snow. The steep downhill of two kilometer was the most critical part of our journey back with litterly no scope of error.

Suddenly both  Jaideep and Deepak gave up and sat where ever they were. To keep eye on them and guide them I was the last one. At one steep path  Deepak  simply sat on snow and started screaming. Looking at this situation  Jaideep  turned back upward but I did not allow him to go back. Now this was the most tricky situation for me. Rather than screaming back on them, I decided to go to front and help them. The track was small enough to not to allow anyone cross, so I decided to make my own path on snow. As I reached close to  Deepak my right leg bumped into snow and my right leg got stuck till waste. I had no choice than to stay calm. Slowly I managed to come over it. After this I immediately asked  Deepak  to move slowly and then  Jaideep.

Once we crossed the biggest glacier, I could see  Jaideep's and Deepak's heart beat coming back to normal. I was happy that we managed to cross the main challenge safely. Moreover when  Jaideep was wearing flat shoes and  Deepak  was wearing shoes with soul which had become flat over a period of time.

On the way back, we met lot of people who were trying to reach Triund. We were sure that none them would reach.

With extreme happiness and satisfaction we trekked back to Mcleodganj. It was long day and ofcourse God had made it really special for me as Snow and peaks of Himalayas are too close to my heart. The day I marked in my life as some of those days where I was fully satisfied with what I did.

First Ride of 2012 Manikaran to Manali (Day 2)

After long ride on Day 1 of 270 kilometer, I had kept second day for less of ride and more of snow. So the best option was Manali, short in distance and full of snow.

The ride was as short as 3 hours in cold weather with temperature ranging between 0 to 5. The solitude of riding alone was beyond imaginations.

The clouds wandering on snowy mountains were clearly indicating the possibility of snowfall in the valley of Manali. With a mix of excitement and little worry, I kept moving towards Manali. The cold winds blowing from all sides were clear indication of rain and snowfall. But then I had come so long only for this, so it was like dream coming true.

Entering Manali town was not less than a dramatic change in my journey. The town was little crowded with tourists and vehicles moving in all possible direction. Snow on roads had added more fun to the whole story with making almost every vehicle prone for accidents. Being rider of two wheeler I had to be extra cautious of the fact that I needed to ride with solid grip on snow.


 After taking some break at Hotel, I headed out to explore new attire of Manali under Snow. The drizzling had started with clear symptoms of snowfall anytime. Almost every corner of the town was covered under thick blanket of snow and roads were slippery with melting snow.

Less explored road towards Rohtang was the main attraction for me. Despite the fact that it was drizzling, I decided to explore the scenic beauty of this less explored corner in winters. Almost no people and very less vehicles moving on this road, I found this as the most attractive part of my trip. The spectacular view of snow covered landscapes in solitude felt soothing to soul.

Near dawn, I had to trek back to Manali. So reached at Mall Road in late evening. The street lights throwing orange reflection on snow was beautiful view to witness. The day felt too short to enjoy the beautiful attire of Manali.

The Holy Manikaran - Endless resource of Natural Hot Water Springs

Manikaran has been an attraction for Hindu and Sikh pilgrims. Throughout the year people travel from various places to Manikaran. I am one among those who believes in divine powers of God. 

After 7 hours continuous bike ride, I was tired enough to sleep in a while. So to avoid that I just dumped my bag in hotel and ran towards Lord Shiva Temple. I could see smoking water in Air all over and warmth of hot water in Air.

As I was moving through the town, I noticed that almost every house has hot water supply from this endless source of natural springs.

The temple campus was decorated with colored papers over it which was making entire valley full of colors and soothing for eyes. I spent lot of time inside temple watching various formation of evaporation out of Hot springs. The floor near Hot Water sources was hot enough to stand on it in cold weather and take the warmth in.

There are number of hot water pools for pilgrims to take holy dip into natural hot water. One can see the immense faith in pilgrims eyes for divine powers of God.

After spending few hours, I turned towards Hotel. Before I could reach hotel, one narrow link road attracted me towards it. Without giving a thought to it, I started walking towards it. Few steps on the road, the town Manikaran disappeared, as I had reached on the other side of the landscape.

Far fledged there snow capped mountain pulled me towards it. Instead of walking on road, I chose some shortcuts by climbing on hills as I wanted to reach near those snow covered mountain before the dawn. I crossed through some very small and ancient villages.

After 3 kilometers trek, I reached somewhere near my destination, where a village fully covered under Snow was exactly in front of me. The view looked breathtaking with darkness slowly covering the landscape and calling off the day.

The solitude of this place fascinated me to spend a night a this village but I had to walk another 6 to 7 kilometers on snow to reach there. It was not prudent to get into that without any lighting arrangement, so I decided to go back to Hotel at Manikaran with a plan to visit that village when I come to Maninkaran next.

The day had gone as per the plan. Now the time was to pamper stomach with lots of food. Rather than making a limited order in Hotel room, I decided to hit a near by Dhaba. Trust me the food was amazingly delicious.

First Ride of 2012 Nangal to Manikaran (Day 1)

It was almost two months when I last made a long bike trip and whole credit for this inaction goes to Winters of Northern India. In my three days holidays, I thought of opening up the biking season for 2012. I had never been to Manikaran so my spirituality instincts encouraged me to thump my bullet in the valley of holy Manikaran.

Started late in morning at 09:00 PM, I rode from Nangal towards Kiratpur Sahib where I had to divert towards Manali highway. Freezing cold and fog on the way made my job difficult, though I had no choice than to pull the throttle and ignore cold wind.

During those 80 kilometer run from Kiratpur Sahib to Barmana, the ride became almost hell with truckers everywhere on road. This is the most scary stretch to ride as you feel helpless and are on the mercy of those adventurous truckers who are either overloaded and have almost no control on speed or driving on wrong sides. It took me almost 3 hours to complete this hell stretch wherein I could ride hardly at a speed of 40kmph.

Ride after Barmana became quite fascinating but the job was still not done as I had to ride another 170 kilometer to reach my destination Manikaran.

Roads were quite empty because of very less number of tourists in winters. By this time the day had become little warmer. I had opened the throttle to quite a large extent to cover up the balance distance.

The last leg of ride from Bhuntar to Manikaran (35 kilometer) was fascinating with broken roads, blind curves, steep uphill ride and above that very narrow roads. I managed to cover this distance in an hour time and landed at Manikaran at 02:00 PM.

The ride was too hectic with lesser number of stops to cover distance of 270 kilometer. The tiredness of entire day went away with the simplicity of Manikaran.

The first thing I did was to search a hotel to spend a night, so inquired one hotel which charged me Rs 400 per night with natural hot water for bath and TV without remote. The simplicity of room situated exactly in front of calmly flowing river convinced me to spend a night there.

Bike Trip to Chamba - The ride back to work via Chamba Jot

My journey back to work from Hometown started after spending two days at home. The distance to be covered was 300 kilometers which was full of narrow hilly terrains.

This time I had no choice than to ride non stop as I had only this day available with me. I started my journey back at 7:30 AM. Those awesome serene views and Ravi River flowing along was spectacular to watch. Until Chamba I did not see any traffic. Moreover being cold morning people were not yet out of their homes.

After reaching Chamba, I had two choices for route, one goes through Banikhet and other goes through Jot (highest pass of Chamba) and reaches Nurpur. The second option was my choice because of the terrain it offers and beautiful landscapes one get to see.

The diversion from State Highway towards Chamba Jot started with Steep uphill and narrow link in the middle of crowd of various shops. In entire Chamba bike trip this was the time which I enjoyed the most. Me and My Bike, we were the only two riding on those blind narrow curve with elevation of around 70-80 degree.

From Chamba to Jot is around 35 kilometer and this is all steep uphill with narrow roads, hardly a car and a bike can cross each other at their normal speed. Jot is highest pass of Chamba. 6 - 8 months this place experiences extreme cold and snow. There are limited number of shops here offering Tea and food. As I reached there, I first ate my breakfast and then headed to trek further to explore this place. After walking for 1 kilometer I reached at the extreme top of the mountain which was relatively plane area.

The view from top was breathtaking. One side one can see villages of Chamba district and on the other side one can see some areas of Kangra district. The green lush paradise under open sky, looked beautiful and soothing to eyes. I spent an hour wandering at Jot, clicking pictures and relaxing for a while under soft sun.

I resumed the ride soon after reaching at Road. Now steep downhill ride was going to be boring for me due to my less comfort with downhill fall. Above this the road came out to be broken and horrible. I stopped at many places, this time not only to click pictures but I had started feeling tired of that downhill fall.

On this narrow terrain, I escaped thrice from getting under Local Bus on blind curves. For those local drivers it was quite normal, but every time it happened with me, I told myself to be more careful here.

The steep downhill road of Jot ends at place called Chowari. After crossing Chowari, the traffic increased significantly with every tom, dic and harry riding bikes at great speed without helmets.

Soon I crossed Nurpur and Jassur. I was pretty accurate on time keeping in mind that I had spent lot of time at Jot and then rode very slow on downhill.

After Jassur, I had picked up decent speed but I was unable to understand that why it was taking longer time than normal.

By 2:00 PM I was near Pong Dam and this was the day when I was about to ride over Pong Dam bridge in clear weather. The beautiful pure blue water of dam made me enjoy the view before I rode ahead. The Pong Dam experience always brings unique feeling. Riding over bridge in the middle of huge dam on both side and  bridge made at height of not more than ~ 20 meters from water level is truly amazing to see.

My last lap of trip from Mubarakpur to Nangal was again horrible because of dirty broken/under construction road.

This trip was special because it was on the route which I had never done on bike before but traveled a lot on that. So a unique feeling of riding on those spectacular and unexplored routes made me feel proud of it.

Bike Trip to Chamba - Khajjiar to Chamba & beyond Day 2

It was afternoon time when I started my ride from Khajjiar. Now ride untill Chamba was steep downhill. Somehow I am not comfortable riding in steep downhill terrains, so my focus on road was more than the serene  views around me changing with every curve. However after a while my stoppage for photographs continued.

One can see Chamba town after few kilometers down from Khajjiar. It looks huge especially after crossing through Dalhousie and Khajjiar with isolated roads and dense forest.

Before I could reach Chamba, I sensed that my bike need small maintenance of chain and breaks. So I decided to visit Royal Enfield Service Centre in Chamba. It took me half an hour to service the bike, and then I was confident to ride ahead.

I rode through Chamba town, and took diversion towards Bharmour to reach my hometown, which was 35 kilometer from Chamba. These 35 kilometers were supposedly the most difficult one. I filled my beast with petrol pump which was the last petrol station on the route.

Assuming that nothing need to be done on bike after filling petrol, I pulled the clutch and shifted first gear down to move on my ride. There came the twist in ride, Clutch cable broke down. In contrast of weather of Dalhousie and Khajjiar, Chamba was hot in afternoon time. I inquired about mechanic shop, thankfully it was just half a mile away. A local boy helped my out moving 300 KG heavy machine on crowded road. Sweating was too normal after pushing bullet for half mile on uphill slope. With my good luck, I was carrying  extra clutch cable. Not to be surprised that mechanic did not have clutch cable of my bike.

The journey after repair of my bike was smooth, and road ahead turned out to be pretty decent. Every mile on this road reminded me of my old memories of travelling on this road in local buses, sometimes early morning with lot of luggage, sometime travelling standing in bus, sometime travelling with bad health, sometime travelling on roof of bus and most importantly travelling from Chamba to hometown with lot of excitement without any specific reason.

Memories of my old times in Chamba and places around it got refreshed in my mind. This road was so familiar that I just kept on riding with countable stops to capture the pictures.Perhaps I am so familiar with each and every landscape of this corner of the world that my camera will not be able to capture it better than my heart does.

With my brain running into past and coming back to present with sudden appearance of a vehicle on curves, I arrived at my destination.

Another story to remember, another ride to count for, another experience to possess for lifetime.

Bike Trip to Chamba - Khajjiar, Mini Switzerland Day 2

In two hours from Dalhousie, I arrived with my Classic 500 beast at Khajjiar. After a joyful ride and serene landscapes, I was not at all prepared for the spectacular beautiful landscape of Khajjiar. I had never expected that this small place can be such a wonderful paradise. The greenery of this place was extremely soothing to eyes and incomparable.

Being, so called "Off Season", Khajjiar was not at all crowded and this is the way I like to visit such places. I parked my bike on road side, offloaded my backpack and got down there in to the beautiful landscape. Khajjiar is small place surrounded by forest of pine trees and in the middle of mountains there is beautifully maintained huge landscape spread in acres.

It took me a while to believe on my eyes to see such a wonderful place. By the time I realized that its a reality I had found a place on beautifully cut green grass under sun to spend sometime alone.

At one end of the landscape, there were small tea shops and restaurant. On the other extreme end of the landscape I saw a small cottage, which fascinated me a lot. I inquired about it and learnt that its a guest house maintained by Himachal Tourism. A zeal to spend a day ignited inside me. But will be fulfilled later.

Sitting in calm environment of Khajjiar, I never realized when I spent two hours sitting there listening to Song "Nothing gonna change my love for you".  

The best thing to see Khajjiar from birds eye is paragliding here. Organizors charge pretty decent amount for paragliding here, but trust me, its worth considering. Shortage of time did not allow me to climb to that tall hill and then take off. But two things were planned that day itself, one to stay in cottage on extreme end of the landscape and second paragliding.

My meal here was again, Maggi. Every-time I eat it, it taste more interesting than ever.

Before I fell in more and more love with Mini Switzerland I decided to move ahead. So with little disappointment and little happiness I rode ahead down towards Chamba.

Bike Trip to Chamba - Dalhousie to Khajjiar Day 2

Night stop over at Dalhousie on first day of the ride was very fascinating and eventful. I was in no hurry for my ride from Dalhousie to Chamba and beyond. It was quite unlike me that I planned to get up late, entire blame/credit goes to cozy weather of Dalhousie.

I had two routes, one goes through Banikhet to Chamba and second goes from Dalhousie to Khajjiar and then finally Chamba. I Chose second route, because the terrains on this narrow road takes the rider to highest point of Landscape and Khajjiar, an attraction to me to spend some quality time there.

Untill I started the ride, I was unaware of harsh wind going across. As I started ride on steep uphill curves of Dalhousie under dense forest, I realized that there is no petrol pump untill Chamba, and I needed to fill the stomach of my Classic 500 Machine. So moved back towards Banikhet. It took me extra 45 minutes to reach back at same point from where I had returned.

As I got out of dense pine trees of Dalhousie town, the serene view of landscape down there forced me to stop for a while. Thin rays of sun made me felt like Vitamin D deficient, It filled me with immense energy and enthusiasm. Thump of my bullet in isolated narrow uphill terrains felt like soft music playing slowly in ears and filling me with joy and happiness. Hide and Seek between Sun and dense forest made me busy tracking my own shadow again and again. This was the true fun of solo riding.

On the way, I found beautiful views of landscapes at every curve. There was a time when I said to myself that "This is the last stop, now I will ride non stop untill I find a dhaba for breakfast", but the beauty around me did not let it happen that way. A slave of natural beauty could not let the serene views go away without capturing that in my DSLR.

Finally I found a small tea shop. Now after so many experiences, it goes without saying that, if nothing is available to eat, "Maggi" will be there. Same thing happened here, so I ate delicious Maggi sitting under Sun. A Cup of Hot Coffee woke me up to ride ahead.

In few minutes, the rider was again lost under dense forest of pine trees. The eco of thump and horn of bullet made me feel as if someone is around me. Bullet speed reduced to 20 kmpl at every blind curve assuming someone would be coming from other side but no vehicle crossed me on that road. My rhythm of riding for a while and stopping for a while to click photographs continued untill uphill terrain ended. Once I rode downhill, I could see a beautiful landscape (unlike others) down there with unprecedented greenery on ground, Finally that was Khajjiar.

Bike Trip to Chamba Himachal Pradesh - Day 1

October 2011 month was almost about to end as Dry Month for Bike Trip. Even it was more disappointing for our rider group as we had dropped the idea of Spiti Bike Trip few weeks back.

Diwali festival is the time when everyone runs towards their homes, so did I. And I planned a bike trip. With insufficient number of holiday (five days), I made a plan to take my route in such a manner that I am able to cover some of the best routes and best places.

My ride started on 23rd Oct from Nangal. Weather was pleasant with low temprature in early morning at Nangal. Riding towards Una till Mubarakpur (approximately 50 KM) is the most horrible road. It spoils the entire rhythm of ride. The road is under construction from last more than 2 years and shameless government is sitting like puppet in Shimla.

By the time I crossed the horrible stretch of my ride and reach Mubarakpur, clouds have started gathering above me. I could see layers of thick cloud coming down far ahead of me.This time I was not ready for Ride full of rain. However destiny had to shower its love on solo rider. It started with criss cross wind trying to push my helmet from one side to other side. Lately I could see some drops of rain falling on visor of the helmet. In no time, there was hardly a space of my visor to see out.

I must confess that though I love to ride in rain but rain of this season is too harsh, even lightest rain can come out to be big challenge for a rider. My mantra of Riding hard in rain also seemed ineffective, because riding hard here means hitting hard yourself.

Cold temperature outside made its way slowly to enter me through gloves, Jeans, Shoes and to some extent through small gaps of helmet. In an hours ride in rain, the situation exactly felt like childhood days when we use to play for hours n hours in snowfall and come back shivering like crazy in search of bonfire at home.

My hands were cold, legs were shivering and face was insensitive. There came a time when my DSG Biking Jacket also failed to protect me from cold weather.

I started scouting for a Dhaba for breakfast and to take shelter from rain. In the meantime I happen to arrive at Pong Dam. Coincidentally I have crossed through this dam three times on bike and every time It was raining heavily. However the thrill of riding over Pong Dam Bridge is awesome in rain. The bridge goes above Dam and the feeling of so close to water is thrilling. It is even more thrilling when water level is higher.

Few kilometers after Pong Dam and I spotted a Dhaba. Entering inside Dhaba was very soothing as it protected me from cold winds. From backside of Dhaba, I could see serene view of Pong Dam with pure blue water. Greenery around Pong Dam looked fresh as rain had washed it to its best.

By the time I resumed my ride, the rain had stopped but not fully. The drops of rain were falling here and there with wind going in every possible direction. It again made me remember those Snowfall days when snow use to fly in rhythm with wind.

By 2:00 PM I had not reached even Banikhet, and I had taken almost shelters at five different places to hide from rain and cold. My last stop was at PWD Rain Shelter near to small temple where I was alone hiding under that shelter along with my bike in other corner of shelter. It took me almost an hour there, but rain was in no mood of mercy on me. After all I started my ride in rain and moved ahead.

I still had to ride almost 160 kilometer to reach my destination. It seemed difficult, so by the time I reached Banikhet, I decided to end the day at Dalhousie. The view of Banikhet and valley around it looked fully winter season to me. As I rode further towards Banikhet, the temperature had further gone down to large extent. Though people have come out on roads after long rainy day, but it was all too cold.

My hands were in worst conditions, so was the case with legs. I so desperately wanted a Hotel now. I still had to ride another 10 kilometers, and those 10 kilometers proved to be the most challenging for the day. The temperature had reached Zero degree, fog with almost no visibility made it more thrilling.

Finally I reached Dalhousie at 04:00 PM.I looked for hotels around. Oak Valley was first and last hotel where I inquired about room availability. Wait of ten minutes for hot water felt like years. After two hours, I got some heat back. I never realized when I slept.

Late in evening walk in dense forest of Dalhousie was spectacular. Now that cold weather and sharp wind was feeling so good. Spent few hours sitting in cafe, reading some blogs, chatting with friends and most importantly that hot coffee made with lot of sugar in it. The evening was so calm and soothing that I wanted it to last longer than normal.

The benefit of solo ride is that, one feel its own presence all over. The rider is the king of every decision or move. Every time I ride alone, it makes me more closer to me than earlier. It make me feel my importance more.

The day in Dalhousie was different from one more aspect that I was in no hurry to get up early next morning.

Glimpses of Palampur - Himachal Pradesh



Source :- Google search

The plan to make a visit to Palampur was followed up by a tiring day full of trek from Mcleod ganj to Triund. My day started early in morning at 5:00 AM with beautiful run in serene and soothing Mcleod ganj. I wonder if people of Mcleod Ganj have any complaints in life, people seemed chilled out attitude and fun loving. Morning breeze of this paradise fills mind and soul with freshness and happiness. I never felt like coming back from this place. I made all the efforts to enjoy every moment of this morning. However time keeps running. So soon it was the time to head back to Hotel to execute our next plan, which was Mission Palampur.

Keeping our Taxi cab aside, we hired Royal Enfield Thunderbird for a day. I rode it down nine kilo meters to fill the petrol. The thump of this old bird was unique and fascinating. For that matter, it has been the feature of Royal enfield bikes that every bike has different thump even within the same model. As it is I am Royal Enfield fan so riding this bike was altogether different experience on Dharamshala’s steep roads. I picked up Anand from Hotel and started the ride towards Palampur which was just 40 KM from Mcleod Ganj.

The drive down hill was awesome but It was to my surprise that Palampur is not situated on high altitude so we kept riding down and down till the time we rode more than half the distance.

Suddenly flow of vehicle increased from opposite side. One left curve and there was huge traffic jam due to some religious ocassion there,so we were stuck. The day had grown up so as the heat. It became tough to ride the bike in that traffic with continuous usage of clutch and breaks. In a matter of minutes, I sensed that there is something wrong with the bike. I almost had hit a car ahead of me, managed to control the bike from falling down and finally manage to start its ignition countless time. Finally I realised that this bike is not in ridable condition in heavy traffic because of its old engine and dead clutch. So decided to park at roadside and go back.

I thought of giving last try and turned back towards Mcleod Ganj. It was downhill drive for half a mile. After that the traffic jam was relatively lesser so I thought of starting the ignition. As I kick started the bike, the kick got stuck below silencer and that was the last thing to happen. Someone pushed my bike towards roadside. By this time we had wasted almost 3 hours struggling with old bike. We called the owner of bike and told him to pick up his bike from that place. Simultaneously we called our cab to pick us up from that place.

Our stopover was at a place called Darang. It was flooded with thousands of people moving towards only one direction. These people made our wait quite interesting and busy. We ended up drinking Sugarcane juice countless times. My never ending quest to eat took me to Sweet shop nearby and ate Jalebi, Anand controlled his emotions and did not eat Jalebi, may be callory concious. I did not stop here, I ate few cucumbers and tried searching for Dhaba but it was not available. Disappointed !!

Our cab and bike owner arrived almost same time. After handing over the bike, instead of heading back to Mcleodganj, we started our journey in Innova to Palampur. we crossed all the traffic for next 10 KMs and then the road was clear for driving. After five hours wrestling with old bike and struggle with hot and humid day, the Air conditioned Innova helped me sleep well for a while. I woke up when we had reached Palampur.

Unlike McleodGanj, Palampur was not showered with greenery yet. The town is situated in the foot of mountains in its surroundings. Palampur feels like a God's Home with walls made of mountains around it and Sky the roof. The view looks incomparable when sky is covered by thick clouds covering peaks of mountains and roof of cloud feel like much closure.

We chose to eat our lunch at 4:00 PM in a Restaurant of Himachal Tourism department. The food was not great as expected. We started our drive back to Mcleod Ganj at 5:00 PM and chose different route. Next 25 KMs made me realised why people say that Palampur is very beautiful. The road has some spectacular terrains and views. As we kept climbing the town looked more and more serene. This way had some awesome tea gardens of both sides.

The surprising thing was that in the entire day which was full of events I did not take out my camera at all. Hence I promised myself that I will go back to this place again and spend few days there which this place deserves.

Dharamshala - Mcleod Ganj - Green lush paradise on earth

First time ever in my life I reacted, "Oh My god, this place is way beautiful than my hometown in Chamba". This happened when we reached Mcleod Ganj. Anand and me traveled by Cab all the way from Nangal (Punjab) to Dharamshala to spend a day there. The drive from Una to Kangra was quite hot but beyond Kangra a magical change is weather brought a breath of relief for us.

The best part of trip was that we had no plans about how to spend a day and where to stay. By the time we reached Mcleod Ganj it was an evening time on Friday. The view of Mcleod Ganj in an evening looked serene and soothing to eyes. Green lush valley with almost no pollution and relatively less crowd was blissful experience. This magical paradise took away all the tiredness we had accumulated during the hectic day in which we travelled from Gurgaon to Nangal  (Punjab) followed by few hours in hot day of Nangal and finally four hours long drive from Nangal to Mcleod Ganj.

We landed at hotel named M Hotel through an agent and got a good deal for room facing Green Lush valley of Mcleod Ganj and Dharamshala. We off loaded our luggage with few minutes break and we were back on the streets of Mcleod Ganj.

Unknowingly we chose to explore the road connecting a place called Naddi, later we learnt that on the way of it there is very famous and sacred lake called "Dal Lake". The road was covered from both sides with symmetrically grown Oak and pine trees. Each curve of this road broke the whole view and brought an excitement of "What next?” So we ended up walking 2KM on that beautiful heavenly road with enjoy full cold breeze unlike our day journey.

Now the time was for food. We inquired few people and a common suggestion came up was "Restaurant Mcllo". The restaurant is situated in the very beginning of Mcleod Ganj town and easy to spot. The restaurant had Indian and Chinese preparation in its specialty. The ambiance of the restaurant is really super awesome with eye catching dim lights, natural air flowing from outside and beautiful view of Green lush valley under it. The food lived up to our expectations and would suggest everyone visiting McLeod Ganj to experience awesome dining there.

Our plan took another turn while we were waiting for food in Mcllo wherein we realised that one day is not enough to explore this place and we agreed to extend our trip by a day.

The second day of the trip started early at 5:30 AM for me. I chose to enjoy the run on Mcleod Ganj Naddi road to explore those mysterious and beautiful terrains. It was the most memorable run of my life ever, in middle of dense forest with no one around and cold breeze accompanying me throughout my run. Few KMs and I felt the low oxygen levels and steep uphill run added more spice to it. Somehow I managed to reach Dal Lake and to my disappointment Dal Lake was empty for cleaning purpose. I decided to go further uphill and see what is on the other side of the mountain. Few steep curves and I reached Naddi. The view from Naddi was breadth taking with snow covered Tall & Giant Mountain just behind it. Spent few ten minutes there and I started downhill run back to Mcleod Ganj.

The most beautiful time of the day at this hill station is morning few hours. So I decided to see the other side of this place which was Bhagsu Nag temple road. This side is completely in contrast with Naddi road with no trees around it, one can see the wide view of valley and high peaks of Dhauladhar range of Himalayas. In calmness of morning, Mcleod Ganj looked more spiritual.

We ate our breakfast at small dhaba because our Hotel restaurant was not open at 8:00 AM; hang over of late night party (till 2:00AM) which disturbed our sleep to large extent.

Now the time was for some stress and test of our stamina. Yes, we had a plan for trekking. The route we had chosen was Mcleod Ganj to Triund, which was 13 KM one side with steep climb to the peak of the hill. Our guide reached dot on time at 8:00 AM, so were we ready at that time. The day was cloudy which helped us climb faster. This route further leads to a place called Illaqa which is the last destination for trekkers. It’s a two days trek from Mcleod Ganj.

As we kept climbing each KM, the view of Dharamshala looked more and more serene. We met lots of foreigners on the way. We took few halts before we finally reached at the Triund in four hours. The weather at Triund was too cold with clouds all around and quite fast wind.

Triund is situated at the peak of the mountain and behind it is another giant mountain which was full of snow. The place was full of greenery all around. Triund has few guest houses for stay and limited shops having basic need stuff. The enjoyment of tea lying down on green grass facing snow covered mountain was priceless.

Since it was lunch time we asked a tea shop guy to cook something for us. He offered two things to us, Maggi or Rice & Dal. Of course we opted for Rice and Dal because we wanted to taste the preparation of Triund.

As we ordered the lunch, suddenly it started drizzling and soon it turned into rain. We ran into the Tea bhaba to take shelter. The view outside was spectacular with clouds crossing the mountain. Temperature dropped to almost 10 degree celcius. Soon Tea Dhaba was full of people to take shelter from rain like us. We spent more than half an hour watching view outside and enjoying cozy weather. It felt as matter of few moments. Then came freshly boiled rice and nicely cooked yellow dal with almost no spices in it. This combination at Triund tasted the best ever. The apatite of stomach was addressed by Rice and Dal however apatite to stay and enjoy the climate never ended for us. A cup of hot mild coffee followed by the meal worked wonders and provided the energy to go out in fast wind after rain. It was dam cold. The view immediately after the rain was very clear and Giant Mountain behind Triund peak was crystal clear.

We started our trek back to Mcleod Ganj in Cold winds all around. The weather magically changed very next moment we climbed down from Triund Peak. The trek back looked too long than it felt when we climbed up.

That day we slept so deep that we did not even realise that the party in Hotel went up to 2:00 AM in night.

Mcleod Ganj is one among few places where I promised to come back and spend more time to enjoy the nature. One more reason why I fell in love with this place is that people from Chamba (especially Bharmour and around it) are settled here and they speak my native place dialect. So I felt like coming home.

Dharamshala - Mcleod Ganj are well connected with road and air. There are Volvo buses connecting this place with Delhi and an Airport Gaggal 15 KM away from Dharamshala. Few things among must do is to see here are Bhagsu Nag Temple, Bhagsu Waterfall, Dal Lake, Naddi and Triund Trek. And yes, one must try food in Mcllo restaurant. The best months to visit this place are monsoon months viz Jun to Aug.