Musafir & Hasina’s Great Kullu Adventure - Part 1: A paradise called Raju’s cottage!!

“…and we somehow reached Gushaini late at night, must be around 8 or 8.30pm. It was pitch dark & we could see nothing. Nothing at all. We thought, where the hell is hotel we had booked. It was just us two girls & a driver…so naturally we were a bit scared too. All we could hear was the sound of a gurgling stream & a moon shining high above at the cliff.

Suddenly we saw a light at a distance…zooming slowly towards us. Before we could fathom what that was, a voice said very politely, “Please sit in this (god knows what), one person at a time…don’t worry about your stuff, we will get it”. I awkwardly sat in a metal chair & before I knew I was whizzed over the gurgling stream…excitement surging through me & washing away all my tiredness. We were at Raju’s”

                                                 -Swati Seth (a dear friend of ours & one of the most adventurous travellers we know of).

We were mesmerised hearing this account some 3 years ago from now & had made up our mind right then, that one day & soon, we will go to Raju’s cottage & plan our holiday around it…

Cut to 2014…we did get some good holidays from our respective workplaces & coupled with some leaves that we took, we had good 8 days in our hand. We were wanting to zero in on a place where we could go & were considering many options, when this story came flashing back in Hasina’s mind. One discussion between Hasina & Musafir & the deal was sealed. Kullu it was from 11^th April to 19^th April.

The first task was to get an accommodation at Raju’s homestay, as trust us, it is easier getting cheap flights to Goa in 3 weeks’ time of your making a decision to visit Goa; but it is very difficult getting an accommodation at Raju’s. Such is the popularity of the homestay. We booked our stay with them in late Jan/early Feb for an April stay; some of our other friends, despite trying hard, could not get the stay at all.

That done…our planning for the trip started. We had decided that though this was a vacation, this will be a trekking trip for us as well. We had read so much about the beauty of Gushaini, that a trek seemed the best way to explore the beauty of the village. 

Hasina especially wanted to open her aptitude to treks. Having undergone a knee surgery just some years back, her capacity for sporting activities had greatly reduced (not that she was ever into it J), but she also acknowledged that you get to see & feel the real beauty of Himalayas when you trek. Hence our trip looked somewhat like this:

·       Cycling in the hills catching trails (we would take our Firefox along with us)

·       Trekking in Jalori Pass, Nagini Village & some other trails that we get to know of there

·       Trekking & camping in Great Himalayan National Park

·       Trekking & camping in Lake Parashar (not a part of Gushaini)

·       On our way back to Delhi we were supposed to stop for a day in Mashobra for something special J J J…will tell you soon!!

We had decided driving down all the way in our Ford Figo.

With this rough itinerary chalked our preparations for the trip began. For first half of the trip, we booked Raju’s cottage (https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rajus-Cottage/206648742685574); for GHNP & Lake Parashar we booked our trek & camp through Ankit Sood of Sunshine Himalayan Adventures (http://sunhimalaya.blogspot.in/).

We were lucky to get a last minute holiday on 10^th April due to Delhi elections that added one day more to our schedule.

So, here we start with our journey…sit tight & hope you enjoy J J

10^th April:

7am: Casting of votes J J J and exercising our fundamental right was most crucial. We did that first thing in the morning!!

11am: We came down all packed…bag & baggage & cycles to start our journey J J

The first task was to tie the cycles on the back of our car, which none of us knew!! (duh)…so we (Musafir particularly) spent minutes struggling with the stand & the cycles trying to figure our life, all irritated & sweaty & annoyed (the guards & many passer bys would not help but look curiously & start grinning instead), when Hasina came up with the idea of Youtube. Youtube mein sab milta hai!! J J One click & we saw at least 20 videos of “how to harness a cycle on the back of your car”. 15 minutes & the job was done!! J We set sail at around 11.45pm from our home.

5pm: After a 5 hour comfortable & traffic free journey, full of songs & jokes & lunch breaks & rather uneventful scenery (although WE proved to be an eventful scenery for people driving on Delhi Chandigarh highway that day!! People were looking at our car & us, because of the harnessed cycles, as though Mowgli had escaped from Jungle Book & come to roam in Chandigarh!!)….we reached Chandigarh & headed towards Manali highway!! J J

Think of the joy in our hearts when we saw this sight….like a pathway to 9 days of nirvana!!

 

….and then the nightmare began!! The smooth as a silk road took an extremely nasty turn from Swarghat to Bilaspur (some 70 kms.). The road was as bad as you can imagine. This was not a case of potholes in the road…but vice versa!! The only saving grace was that the road was very broad & though we do not know why, but it was somehow a saving grace.

 

The scenery on either side of the valley from Swarghat to Bilaspur was lovely…but who can see it, when you have to drive in & out of potholes only. We had earlier decided to break our journey at Bilaspur for the night, so that we can start afresh next morning for Gushaini; therefore we had already booked HPTDC’S Hotel Lake View Inn (Bilaspur) for the night. But reaching there seemed like a task at this moment.

Musafir to Hasina: Bohot trek karne ka man than na…lo ho gaya car ka trek (you wanted to trek all through the trip, right?!! Well, here you go…trek sitting in the car itself).

9pm: Yes, that’s right. It took us 3-4 hours to cross a 70km stretch. We were tired, broken, irritated & needed to eat & crash desperately. Hotel Lake View Inn appeared before us like an Oasis in a desert. Where we had earlier imagined reaching there at 6.30ish & then spending the evening relaxed with music & travel talks…here we were wanting to not talk to anyone at all.

The hotel staff was nice & immediately showed us to our rooms. Despite our tiredness we quite liked the hotel. The rooms are fine, clean & basic…but the fact that all rooms (ours was a 1200/- per night room, the cheapest in the hotel) faced the Revalsar Lake was refreshing & nice.

 

We obviously & most desperately needed something to help us bust our stress, & here it was:

 

This was what the hotel had in stock & Musafir was sceptical, as Hasina is not a beer drinker at all….and to give her Godfather, especially when she was irritated…oh man!! Hasina threw a dirty look when she was told this is all the hotel had…& resigned to fate (J J) downed the Godfather. This is when she experienced an epiphany of sorts:

Hasina: This is the BEST alcohol I have had!! Like EVER!!

Musafir: I know…I know.

Hasina: Noooooo…no no no no!! I mean it

Musafir: I know..i know

Hasina: Who makes it??!! This guy should be put on the global map.

Musafir: Hmmm…I know!!

…and so we crashed to sleep after eating food (which was quite decent). Tomorrow further journey awaited us.

11^th April:

7.30am: We checked out of Hotel Lake View Inn in Bilaspur, all fresh & rested, to resume our journey further. The road ahead was again smooth as silk & broad, making us think whether last evening’s drive was real or just a nightmare.

Anyways, the songs were on…the weather was lovely…the birds were chirping & we were happy..happy..happy!! Holiday had started. We had to drive roughly 150 kms. & the guy at the petrol pump nearby told us that the roads were good all along. So we were in no hurry & stopped for so many things on the way:

 

…and on we went to capture the hills in their springful glory J

 

...and some interesting pics like this...

 

Check out the spelling of Chinese on the board below...hehehe...so bucketful of food required?? Well look no further!!

Despite such beautiful & interesting scenery, there was one thing that made us feel irritated & that was the presence of ugly hydra power project plants, that have not only ruined the gorgeous look of the valley, but is also playing with the eco-system of the valleys by making the water beds dry. It was sad & heart wrenching to see miles of river dried up because of these ugly project plants that hang in haphazard shapes on the green slopes of hills, making the whole valley look awful!!

After 4 hours of comfortable drive & many, many photo ops we arrived at Raju’s.

 

The scenery along the way was indescribably gorgeous…something we had only seen in films but never seen so far.

 

12.45 pm: Raju…here we come!!

Although we had heard a lot about the now famous entry of Raju’s guesthouse…experiencing this was no less than super thrilling:

 

FYI, Hasina knows Musafir was super thrilled…he just has to show he’s too cool for any surprise (boys, typical boys!!)

We were welcomed very warmly by the man himself – Raju Bharti.

Raju came across as an extremely sweet & simple man. We were asked to leave our stuff to be taken to our room (while it was being prepared), and we excitedly took off to explore the grounds.

 

Our first spot was this gorgeous little sit-out that was done up very tastefully & is ideal to sit, relax and read a book with the noise of a gurgling stream right in front of you. We were absolutely in love already!!

 

We spotted some of the most gorgeous butterflies one has ever seen.

 

In an hour’s time, after having a refreshing drink of fresh Apple Juice…we carried our beer & wine & headed to the stream that flows just by the property (there is a comfortable way right from the main cottage).

What a beautiful, laidback time this was (sigh!!)

 

We chilled our beer & wine in super cold Tirthan waters, & listened to songs, while they chilled. It was the most beautiful moment spotting gorgeous birds J & absolutely crystal clear waters of the gurgling river right next to us.

 

Seated in that valley, happily drunk on the cool, sunny afternoon…we felt we were in another world..until it was time for lunch.

The lunch or dinner or breakfast in Raju’s cottage is another big point worth discussing. All food is home cooked by Lata aunty, Raju’s wife. Lata aunty’s food can be best described as the ultimate comfort food!! It’s the kind of food you want to eat while on vacation…it isn’t some 5 star gourmet experience, but in our mind it was much more.

It is simple, home cooked food, with less oil & perfectly wonderful. Something you have in your home made by your mother – unpretentious & soul satisfying.

The food served is buffet, made for all guests. It generally includes a normal spread of vegetarian dishes & one non vegetarian dish. You can request for trout fish when you desire to have it, but it has to be done 1 day in advance.

We ended up hogging double of what we generally eat & could not decide how to get up!! (could somebody please arrange a sleeping bag for us right there??!!). This is when we were told our room is ready & is on top of a cliff (gasp!!) & entails a 5 minute hike to go there (oh no no no…why did we eat so much).

Anyways we braved the hike (which wasn’t that challenging frankly) to reach here

 

The benefit of being at such a height was that we could see the full view of Raju’s cottage & the valley from top…

…and what a sight it was.

The cottage here has roughly 3 large rooms…two on the top (one of which we were living in) & one large room below (ideal for large families). The whole cottage was packed. We were sharing the floor with a firang family & a Mumbai based family; and despite entire families being there, it was as peaceful as you can imagine!! The common area of our rooms was well stocked with tea/coffee maker & cups, teas & cookies. It also has stacks of travel, lifestyle, fashion magazines like Outlook Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Vogue…which was such a delight.

Anyways, tired & happy we plonked off to a deep sleep for the time being.

7pm:

 

While many think mountains get dead evening onwards, we did not feel that in the least. Evening was the time of bonfire & hence a time to put on the music….sitting by the blazing fire, with a clear vision of moonlight washing the river & the valley below us & listening to lovely songs.

The fire here had a green hue too...that memerised us!! We thought it's something magical & pure :) Till we were told the green flame is due to a green paste that is applied to these trees to save it from insects!! (duh!!) We need to watch lesser of Game of Thrones!! :) :)

(We had a mix folder of 80s & 90s retro numbers – both Hindi & English…hehehhee. Yes yes, so while that does mean encores of Uptown Girl by Billy Joel, it also meant encores of “Roz Roz aankhon tale” from the film Jeeva. While it meant listening to long lost numbers like “Suno Zara” from Bada Din, it also meant encores of Backstreet Boys & “Someday” by MLTR….god remembering our school/college days with these songs was so much fun).

Extremely happy with our bonfire, we went down to have dinner at 10pm (last ones to dine!!) & again overate (what to do…the food was so good).

Back post dinner, we again came back to our bonfire area & sat on gazing at the stars & moon & listening to the peace, quiet & the sound of the valley…broken only by the soothing sound of the gushing river…till it was time to call it a night.

 

Tomorrow…another day awaited us!! J J

Coming Up Next: A cycling trek in the village & a Trek to the gorgeous Village of Nagini to spot a waterfall!!