Himachal Visit - Some tips and musings

- I had my full trip arranged through Banjara Camps and Resorts. They had done an excellent job of planning the trip. Their web site is http://www.banjaracamps.com

- Himachal is hill country. The moment you enter Himachal from Punjab you have started climbing the mountains. I heard there is some place in Himachal where there are plains but that is supposed to be a very short stretch. So be prepared for a mountain journey. In case you have motion sickness, ensure you consult a doctor and carry the necessary medicines.

- Himachal is cold, especially for us from down south. So pack in lot of woolen wear and also jackets to keep the cold away. You should take your kids along if they are 4 or 5 yrs age or above. One person came with a kid who was around 1 1/2 yr old and he was having a tough time protecting the kid from the cold.

- South Indians must be ready to eat North Indian food as you will not get idli sambar here. The food is delicious though. We had great paratas in roadside dhabas when we were going to Chandigarh from Delhi and also in a small dhaba when we were coming from Tanedar to Kalka. Try the paneer dishes and you will never eat panner again in Bangalore !! It is so fresh out there.

- Food at the Banjara Camps was delicious as well. Especially at Shoja and Sangla. Tanedar has a bit of catching up to do to be on par with the other two. The cook at Sangla tried South Indian dishes but with mixed results. The north indian stuff was fabulous though.

- Take lot of music with you, whether you are going with your kids or not. The driving times could range anywhere from 5 to 9 hrs and having music of your choice will surely help during the trip. So ensure the car you hire has a music system

- You can read again my earlier article in this blog about how best to handle children during long drives. I used all those tricks to keep them busy !! They were playing Dhoom 2 tape most of the time and I almost got to liking a song or two !!!

- There will be some zillion photo opportunities available for you so take lot of memory with you. I am assuming that you are still not using the film camera and have changed to digital. In case you still like film camera, take a lot of film with you. Needless to say, pack your batteries and also your battery charger. The number of photos you can take will be proportional to the patience you have and the effort that you can put in

- Beware that most of the villages that you pass on your way in Himachal are small ones and many a times you may not find a restroom around. So ensure you talk to your car driver and tell him that you will need bio breaks along the way. He will then stop at the hotels which have decent restrooms.

- It is better to plan your full trip before you leave. As I said Banjara Camps people are good at it. Rajesh Ojha, who is a co-founder of Banjara, is an extremely pleasant person and he also has great knowledge of Himalayas, having travelled extensively there. So you are interacting with professionals here and they can tell you which plan would work and which wouldnt. I interacted with a person called Kavita and she was very helpful in planning the trip and was also very prompt in her replies.

- Banjara Camps arranged for my car. The driver was a nice chap called Chaman. He had lots of patience, a great virtue while driving in the hills, and he has seen most of the places so he knew which ones were worth visiting and which ones were not.

- As far as tariff goes, Banjara Camps are comparable to Jungle Lodges rates in Karnataka. Their location, service and food definitely made me feel that I got my money's worth. Of their three locations that I visited, Sangla, Shoja and Tanedar, it is Tanedar which has the normal resort feel. The other two give you a totally different experience altogether.

- What you need to keep in mind is that you will be spending lot more on travel than you would spend on stay and food !! Especially if you are from South India. So try and plan your travel early enough so that you can save a lot on flight fares to Delhi.

- In Himachal, people are probably the fittest anywhere in India. Gayathri pointed out to me that there wasnt anyone there who was fat or obese. Everyone was trim. Must be all the walking that they do !!

- In conclusion all I can say is that when you get time, head for these hills. It is an experience you will never forget. I am just waiting to go to Tabo, Kaza and my dream destination of Ladakh soon.

Pleasure and Pain - The Racham walk

"It is a 11km walk and my 5 yr old son was able to do it" said Rajesh, who was cheerful as usual. Somehow with Rajesh around you get the confidence that you can do things and they will turn out well. So I decided to that we all would do the 11 km trek to Racham village. And it was a decision that I will not regret.

The start of trek itself gives an idea of what is in store. We crossed a charming old bridge and entered the Batseri village. It is a small village with steep and narrow roads. The group was led by Rajesh and we had another Banjara Camp guide who made up the rear. We were thirteen in all and given that Ranjani and Harini were also trekking, our family always was making up the rear. It was almost as if the Banjara people had given us a separate guide. When Rajesh instructed the guide to bring up the rear, Gayathri told me "Poor fellow. He will be with us all the time"!! We had left around 8 o clock after having a light breakfast. There was a nice temple in the village built of wood and recently polished. We stopped for some time to admired the architecture and the carvings on the wood. The temple was closed though.

The walk continued through the village where we could see small tracts of land being cultivated. These tracts of land were fenced as there were lot of cattle around. Infact a calf kept following us for some time, looking for its mother and bellowing 'maaaa'. After some time it heard the reassurance from its mother, who replied with a louder 'Maaaa'. After seeing them happily united, we continued. The path took us on level ground from some time and then it started climbing a bit. The pastoral scene slowly vanished and we were now in the fir forest. The beauty of the trek, we realized later, was how often the landscape changed. We walked through the fir forest for some time before we saw a glazier at a height. None of wanted to climb that far and so we continued forward. After some time we came across another glazier which was on our path. This enabled Ranjani and Harini to play in the snow for some time and others to take some photographs. It was a small glazier and the snow wasnt pure white. In most of these places the snow has a dirty look !!

It was now time to proceed and we were gingerly walking on the snow to get to the other side. The guide and I had helped the kids across the snow. I then put my camera back into the bag and zipped it when the guide came running and said,"Snap, snap". I couldnt understand what he was trying to convey. I looked at where he was pointing and realized that he hadnt said 'Snap, Snap" but had said "Saanp, snap". There were two viper snakes under a stone and he wanted me to take a snap. Ranjani and Harini were excited, the others had gone ahead and missed seeing the snakes. The heads of both snakes were hidden under the stone and the typical stripes on their body was visible. I had already packed my camera and the snakes were retreating inside. So I couldnt take a snap. The guide said, "The snakes wont do anything until you step on them". I never had that idea.

After this place started the steep climb. The terrain slowly changed again and it was rocky. In some places the soil was loose and the track was very narrow and was rounding small cliffs. It was not too dangerous since there were no gorges where you would fall off vertically but there were enough places where you were walking on the edge and one slip could slide you down. Not something you look forward to !! When we started we had crossed the Baspa and it had disappeared from our sight. Now it made its appearance again and it was joy watching the bubbly white river through the trees and hearing its roar. We took a few snaps of the river and continued the climb. As usual we were bringing up the rear and people were waiting for us.

It was time for a change in scenery again. After having seen the pastoral land, fir forest and rocky formations, it was time to see the meadows. Yes, it was flat land now and here were green meadows. Rajesh suggested that we trek a bit further and rest. So we went up ahead and found a great clearing where we all sat down on the grass to have some snacks (not snakes !!). That place was good with lot of grass and surrounded on all sides by tall trees. Snacks were packed at Banjara and our guide was carrying it. It consisted on a veg sandwich for each of us, a bar of chocolate and apple juice. That was probably the optimum snack since you dont want to put on weight when you are doing some serious climbing !! People in our batch had got some cherries and walnut which they shared with all. After relaxing for some time, we started the walk again.

We were again in steep country !! In some places the trail almost vanished as we had to climb over rocks. Infact at one place, Rajesh who was leading the group almost went in a wrong direction. Our guide was quick to spot it and rushed ahead to tell Rajesh where the trail was !! The climb was almost continuous and the kids started feeling the pain now. We gave both Ranjani and Harini a stick to help them climb. The land was covered with the leaves of the fir trees giving it a soft carpet feel. But the kids were in no mood to enjoy all this. Harini constantly asking "How much more time"? and slowly that question gave way to the exclamation, "My legs are paining". In order to keep them occupied I asked them to look out for insects and whenever they see a new insect they would get 5 marks. The person getting most marks would get a price. There were 5 marks for spotting butterflies as well !! There were more rocks to climb and the climb continued being steep. Looking for insects did help in diverting the mind of the kids from the trek but it wouldnt last for long. After some time I had to promise them chocolates when we reached the camp, later promised them ice creams once we got back to Delhi and then promised them the book of their choice when we got back to Bangalore !! Gayathri was also feeling the pain by now and felt that the trek was probably a bit harsh on the kids. No other family had got their kids along and she felt that maybe I should have gone alone. I told her not to worry and that kids would recover soon.

Just as Harini was probably reaching the end of her patience, we came to flat land. We were standing on a ground which was like a plateau and looking straight at the Racham Valley, the valley which had so fascinated me the day earlier. There definitely cannot be a better sight to end an arduous trek than this. The wide valley, the hills and the Baspa river refresh you instantly.

It was great sight for Gayathri and the kids to see our car parked at a distance. Harini, who till then was lagging behind, started walking briskly and she was the first one to get near the car. I took some photographs of the valley but I knew that I wouldnt be able to capture the grandeur of the scene on my CCD sensor. These are times when you want to give up photography !!!

We went back to the camp in our car, had lunch and crashed. All of us slept for atleast 2 hrs or more. When we woke up it was close to tea time and tea was very welcome along with the pakoras that they had made. Lots of people were doing river crossing, this where you cross the river hanging on to a rope. They have an harness which ensure you dont fall and you need to pull yourself using your hands and get to the other side. Though it looks easy it takes enormous amount of effort and I was in condition to put that effort. So I gave it a go by. As expected the kids recovered pretty fast wanted to do the river crossing. In case of kids they are safely tied to the rope and pulled across and they dont need to put any effort. It was a thrilling experience for them.

We had our usual bonfire and a great round of Anthakshari and Dumb Charades. By this time all families had come to know each other well and everyone was enjoying themselves. The next morning was our time to leave and we said our goodbyes to everyone over breakfast. Many others were leaving as well and they were proceeding to places like Tabo or Shoja. We started from Sangla and went to Sarahan to visit the temple there and to have lunch. From Sarahan we came down to Tanedar by evening. We spent the night at Tanedar and the next day took us to Kalka from where we took the Shatabdi to Delhi. We got back to Bangalore after spending one full day in Delhi for sight seeing and SHOPPING !!!

Thus ended a charming trip to Himachal and the hills. Thanks are due to Banjara Camp people for having organized this lovely trip.