Musafir & Hasina's Great Kullu Adventure Part 5: Musafir & Hasina in “Wonder” Wyne land!!!

What do you want to do when you go on a trip to Europe??!!

Most of you reading this, or rather all of us have at some point in life have fantacised about a great European holiday!! A holiday fuelled by numerous Yash Raj films romancing & romanticising the locations of Europe, with lots of soulful & melodious songs & dances and pastel chiffons romancing the never ending expanse of gorgeous beauty!!

So, coming back to the question…what do you want to do when you go on a trip to Europe??!!

Watch breath taking visuals…

 

See a beautiful red house amidst lot of greenery in a deep & plush valley ala Yash Chopra films...

Drive on smooth full metal roads...

 

…or drive on a picturesque road with a hill on one side & river on another

Ride your bicycles on soulful & silent trails ala Europeans..

 

Or see beautiful hilltops with fresh spring blossoms...

To complete this into a beautiful Euro experience, I am sure you wish to top all this with some local wine to satisfy your taste palette & soak in the best of land’s bounty...

So why go to Europe, when you can get all of this in Himachal!!

Welcome back to the last & final post on our Great Kullu Adventure – Musafir & Hasina in Wonder Wyne land!!

Well technically in this post we are out of Kullu & are in Shimla district…but our 10 day trip in Kullu was something we will never forget all our life & something we have to do again…very soon.

We love Himachal for many things, but amongst those many, many things, one thing surely tops our list – the Himachal Wines!!

Fruity, aromatic, fresh to taste & delicious, Himachal’s fruit wines reflect the taste of the land they are made in. Their delicate & sweet-fruity flavour is the perfect foil to wash down the spicy Himachal food and sipping them seated in a beautiful resort while doing nothing is what perfect holidays are made of!! The perfect mood lifter to enjoy an afternoon in Himachal, just sitting lazily, sipping wine & doing nothing….the Italians fondly call this Dolce Far Niente – the sweetness of doing nothing!!

 

So this time when we were going to Himachal for a longer time, Hasina, who is a bona fide lover of Himachal wines did some research on her favourite fruit wine – The Wonder Wyne!!

The Wonder Wyne, a brand from the very famed Minchy’s Group, is owned by Mr. Girish Minocha. Hasina contacted Mr. Girish & expressed her desire to do a photoshoot on her favourite Wines from Himachal. Girish is a good natured, erudite & very polite gentleman who was extremely delighted to hear good words about his brand & was very forthcoming in accommodating us last minute to do a beautiful photo-shoot in his plush gardens in Mashobra.

This post would serve dual purpose for us…it would give us a beautiful “lifestyle” round up to our blog series on Kullu & we would get to talk about the lovely wine of Himachal that has enthralled our senses for years now!! J J

18^th April:

2pm:

After completing our lovely trek in the Great Himalayan National Park, and having seen some gorgeous landscape that jumped straight out of a Hollywood fantasy series, detailed in our last post (read here), we came down to Gushaini at around 1pm. Initially our plan was to head to Lake Parashar (another wonder) led again by Ankit Sood’s team, but due to bad weather he advised us against the same.

Now with no hotel booking for the night, and Lake Parashar cancelled, we were kind of left on our own…but what are we if not adventure lovers!! J J

We were supposed to spend 18^th April night at Lake Parashar & start early next day, i.e, 19^th April for Mashobra to reach Girish’s plush gardens for Wonder Wyne photoshoot. Post the shoot, we had planned to wrap up by afternoon, we were to start for Delhi after a lunch and reach home by 19^th late night, so that we have 20^th April, i.e, Sunday to rest and prepare ourselves for the other facet of our life – the usual corporate humdrum (yes, yes…we know that face…we often make that face too!!)

Now with things not happening how we had planned, we simply decided to drive off to a somewhat midway point between Gushaini & Mashobra, from where Mashobra would be an easy distance. So our revised itinerary would be - Start early morning for Mashobra on 18^th April, finish our shoot by afternoon, have lunch & push off home that day itself…giving us a full weekend at home!!

Ankit suggested our halt of the day to be Darlaghat, which is merely 8kms away from Solan!!! Aur hum to hain hi raahi pyaar ke….off we went!! J J

Hum hain raahi pyaar ke, humse kuch na boliye

Jo bhi pyaar se mila, hum usi ke ho liye

(translated: We are the travellers on the road of life & love, and we become co-travellers to those who meet us on this route J J) – there you go, hope the translation works well!!

With this beautiful song playing & we munching on lunch packed by Dileep ji, we drove off into the sunset towards Darlaghat.

Our accommodation that night would be the straight, simple & most reliable, HPTDC Baghal, Darlaghat. When in Himachal & when in doubt in Himachal, just close your eyes & choose HPTDC. HPTDC, a government run hotel chain across Himachal, is safe, standard travelling option, generally full with enough rooms, and though not too fancy, it is just fine for night halts. Of course HPTDC hotels vary location to location; some of them being extremely beautiful & good, while some being low on beauty factor…however one thing is definitely assured – safest and most reliable option when nothing else works out.

The drive to Darlaghat was on spacious & comfortable roads and by 6pm or so, weariness started settling in. We had driven off immediately after a 6 hour trek in rain, so this was bound to happen. Thankfully we got very good roads, else this would have become exceedingly painful. By 8pm we had reached the very large Hotel Baghal at Darlaghat. It was exceedingly cold outside and we were immediately assisted with our bag & checked promptly into our room.

Oh…what a relief!! A well-made bed, plush armchairs in the room helped us stretch out after a long & tiring day. The manager was extremely sweet & requested us to order dinner by 9.30 as a stretch time, and even agreed to get it to our room by 10pm, so that we can take our time to relax & unwind.

Well nothing relaxes & unwinds us more than a large glass of Smirnoff!! Whew!! Especially after a long & tiring day. We were extremely happy soon J J and just had dinner at the right time & crashed. Tomorrow, another beautiful day awaited us!!

19^th April:

7.30am

It was going to be a beautiful, beautiful day & we knew it!!

Girish had already given us an alternate route to reach his homestay in Mashobra. So rather than following the very tourist laden route from Darlaghat to Shimla, we took the road less travelled!!

From Darlaghat we took a turn away from the usual Shimla route & reached Mashobra using Galog, Dhami, Basantpur, Naldhera & then Mashobra.

The road, though single lane, was extremely well made & made us stop at so many places to explore a path we had never ever seen.

 

We could not believe all this was lying all along, just behind Shimla & we did not know it at all!!

 

In fact we did not see one hotel or dhaba in sight. This was clearly a route only locals knew about….and we as travellers were so happy to discover it.

What an irony of life…while we see one side of Shimla, all tamed and stripped off natural beauty, and made as a tourist hotspot, there is an alternate world right behind it that is wild, untamed & yet more beautiful than its urban version!!

 

10.30 am:

Yes we took a lot of time along this route, but finally we reached Girish’s home in Mashobra, Summer Rain.

His estate caretaker was there to guide us to his home & assist us in our photo-shoot. We had a breakfast of a rather large bowl of soul satisfying Maggi & then had a beautiful, fun time running our mind creatively to capture Wonder Wyne in all its glory!!!

 

 

Welcome to the land of Wonder Wyne!!!

 

 A beautiful home, a lovely wine...and lazy lazy days - Ah!! Dolce far Niente!!

 

It was an afternoon straight out of a lifestyle show of a travel channel!!

Creating lovely images & pouring out our imagination in full swing…is this not what you expect from lovely holidays??!!

A lovely life!!!

On Hasina:

• Tie & Dye pants: Forever 21
• Denim Jacket: Forever 21
• Black Vest: Froma  flea market
• Deep Purple layered t shirt: Benetton
• Slippers: GK Flea Market
• Wrist Watch: Casio

 

Is this not what you expect from a slice of “Good Life”!!!

 

On Musafir:

• Cerulean shirt: Benetton
• Indigo undershirt: American Eagle
• Military Pants: Jack & Jones
• Crocs: Select Citywalk, New Delhi
• Wristh Watch: Esprit
• Beads on hand: Ladakh flea market

Now a natural question that can come to your mind is that why we are so enthusiastic about covering Wonder Wyne. Are we paid by the owners? Is this an AFP of sorts? Well, no not at all….our reason to give this coverage to the brand was simple…to promote a good, home grown brand & make Indians aware first of all, that “The Good Life”, for which we are ready to travel to miles away, and bust lacs of currency, is right here and you should know it!!

Of course we are not dissuading anyone to not look beyond India at all, but we are trying to tell many of us, who rather hold India in a very dismissive light, that everything that you think makes a perfect holiday, is right here as well; just try to look at it without prejudice in mind.

For years home grown industries have been trying to battle it out & provide us with superb products, and if we as Indians do not promote & endorse it, well then who will? While it is nice to drink the fine Reds & Whites of France, California, Australia, Chile & even South Africa…it is time to give our due to the whiff of Himachal sealed in a perfectly lovely bottle!!

 

A little conversation with Girish took us further into the history of Fruit Wines of Himachal.

Years ago the excessive crop of fruits in Himachal (especially Apples) would suffer from abundance and thus it was not known that after selling them off, making juices, jams & jellies out of it, what else could be done. It was at this point of time that entrepreneurs like Girish thought of revolutionising the market with introduction of Apple & other fruit wines. Wonder Wyne was founded in 2006 and in Girish’s own admission his production had increased from 1000 bottles in 2006 to 1,00,0000 bottles today!!

 

That is a HUGE number for a wine that is running against the “stuck up” notions of EU as to how a wine should be standardised & recognised. That is also a fairly large number considering many of us hardly know about the wine or have tasted it. The product itself has to have merit that it is running beautifully on the strength of its content alone & is just growing.

EU might think wines are only made of grapes & can only be called wine if & when they are aged in oak barrels, but truth is that historically wine was a produce of fermented fruits. If it originated in grape form, because the best crop in Mediterranean & Gallic region was, well grapes then that does not standardise its definition to just grape wines as Wines.

India might not have the best crop of grapes, but it does have the best crop of every other fruit, especially Apples, Peaches, Plums etc., so why not a superior quality wine made out of them??!!

The machinery in Girish’s unit are imported with latest technologies to deliver the finest product. He had been in talks with industries in Germany, Portugal & South Africa to provide him technical inputs and over the years with many trials & on the basis of customer feedback, he & his family have been trying to make a difference by delivering the finest flavour of Himachal.

If anything, we at Ek Musafir Ek Hasina, are proud of such home grown talent, who have not bent down to follow rules set by the World, but are constantly fighting against it by letting their work speak for itself!! What could be the reason otherwise that despite getting less technical support, and despite being a small home grown industry, Wonder Wyne is catching the market so fast that Fruit Wines (especially Lychee globally) have now become a reality that cannot be ignored at all!! J J

To be fair, the taste of Wonder Wyne does alter according to the kind of crop harvested, but every new challenge brings a new learning in itself.

So next time you go to Himachal, stop at any shop that has Minchy’s written all over it (and there are many), and try a bottle of our own wine. Hands down Apple is the best flavour, but Peach, Pear (sweet), Plum, Kiwi (sweet), Rhododendron (very healthy) and many others are wines we have served personally in our home to our friends & the bottles have been emptied to happy connoisseurs of fine taste. They also produce excellent quality of juices (lychee being absolutely breath-taking), cider vinegar (apple being superb), pickles, jellies & whatnots. But for us, travellers that we are, Wonder Wyne spells the magic!!!

 

19^th April:

2.30pm:

We drove off home (we did halt briefly to chat up with Girish & see his unit of Wine manufacturing). By 9.30 pm Friday, we were home!! What a holiday, what adventures, a beautiful lifestyle shoot in lovely gardens, good food, good people, new friends we made on the way…sigh…our Weekend was full of lots of coffee, conversations & reliving the Himachal experience again & again!!

Hope you loved our ramblings, as much we loved re-creating them!! We will be back soon…with newer places & newer adventures. Till then, keep travelling J

Disclaimer: This is not an AFP of any brand or product, but a genuine opinion of the two bloggers involved in Ek Musafir Ek Hasina!!

Musafir & Hasina's Great Kullu Adventure Part 4: The Great Himalayan National Park!!

“A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things.” – George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

…and it did feel like we were part of a scene in Game of Thrones written by the master dreamer, Martin!!

Forests so wild…so green…so quiet…so serene…so deep…so dark…and so mysterious!! Where a twig snaps at a distance, and makes you jump & look over your shoulder in a snap!!

Our one day trek & stay in Great Himalayan National park was nothing short of a magical experience….truly magical experience!!

16^th April:

Post our previous day’s super hectic trek (read here) in the snowy stretch of Jalori to Serolsar lake, we were very tired & in need of complete rest!! Also, it was our last day at Raju’s cottage (so so sad!!). We just wanted to chill & relax on our last day at Raju’s & just wanted to enjoy their lovely home & its slow moving life to the fullest!!

The day was full of completing our half read books, which we had picked up from Raju’s library.

Watching pretty birds fly past us & loveliest butterflies glide by…and some stolen moments!!

 

We also requested to see some trout being fished, and since Lata aunty was preparing Trout as part of dinner menu at night, it was easy to see that. Vicky, Raju’s nephew, was too kind to take us downstream to see trout fishing & in fact offered us the angle too…which Hasina took very eagerly, only to stand with the angle till half an hour and get nothing!! J J Reason being, she was not willing to go further than the stream bank…and well if you want to fish for the trout, you have to be in some interesting spots.

Whoa!! That was quite a sight!! The manner in which Vicky was easily walking on the rocks on this gushing river, is how we walk on plains!!

It was a lovely & bright afternoon!! Not too hot & not too cold. After watching some fishin’, it was time to get our beer & wine out in the river again and do some chillin’.

 

Imagine a lovely riverside, wine chilling in cold waters, and the song “Someday Someway” by MLTR….

Someday someway
Together we will be baby
I will take and you will take your time
We'll wait for our fate
'cause' nobody owns us baby
We can shake we can shake the rock

Yes…someday, someway…we will be back at Raju’s cottage and be with Tirthan valley again!! The place left an indelible mark on us & its feeling can never be replaced with anything!!

The rest of the day was spent eating, reading, lounging around and just doing nothing!! (oh…the pleasure of doing nothing J)

17^th April:

It was time to bid goodbye to Raju’s cottage & we did so with a heavy heart. We never felt so attached to any homestay before, as we did to this one!! But before going we did cajole Raju’s family for a “family portrait”!!

 

Awww…they were so cute, all blushing in the picture & so humbly wondering why we were interested in taking their group snap!! It was a treat to finally meet Lata aunty too…who is possibly the sweetest woman we have ever met!! When we complimented her on her culinary skills, she just blushed & said “please do not flatter me…it is just home food…nothing special. Just boiled food with no spices, nothing. Im glad you liked it…but it is nothing special at all”…well Lata aunty, that is what makes it special. The perfect taste of home cooked food J

Well, all good things, come to an end, & so did our stay at Raju’s. Karan very sweetly offered to keep our cycles in his garage till we trek back from GHNP the next day…and boy, that was a relief.

We bid adieu to the lovely home…as further adventures awaited us!! J J

17^th April:

Great Himalayan National Park

We had booked our trek in GHNP via Sunshine Himalayan Adventures that is run by Ankit Sood & his brother Panki Sood. Ankit is from Kullu itself & is an Eco-Tourism expert & holds camping & treks to Great Himalayan National Park.

The GHNP is another great wonder to discuss. It is possibly the newest wildlife park in India, and was built in 1984. The very expanse of the park is mind numbing at 1171 km square!!! The altitude of the park varies from 1500m to 6000m, which is saying something!! It is possibly one of the most unexplored national park of India, and is HUGE beyond any comparison!! You can read more details on the park here… GHNP Wiki

The Park, that is nominated to be a World Heritage Site (a huge honour), connects to 3 distinct valleys in Kullu…Gushaini, Parvati & Sainj!! Such is the large expanse of GHNP.

GHNP is widely known to spot the very rare Himalayan Snow Leopard – a snow white colour leopard that is a rarity & only found in upper Himalayas. You can also spot black bear & brown bear here. While black bear might be a common sight for national parks, a brown bear is still a rarity in the country. Photography enthusiasts come from far & wide & spend days on end in GHNP to spot these animals. In fact Ankit Sood’s team of porters regaled us with many stories of such photography pursuits to which they were personally a party. Like they told us the story of this one photographer from Delhi who spent 15 days in just one area in GHNP to spot the black bear & the brown bear. He spent days on end & was frustrated many times (as the jungle can get very unnerving & lonely after 1 or 2 days) trying to spot the duo. He would still spot the black bear, but missed out on the brown one!! One day, he spotted what he was looking for…and it was the most spectacular sight!! It was a black bear & a brown bear caught in a combat with each other!!! WHOAAAAAA!! How we would kill to click such a moment. But such moments are clicked with hell lot of patience & perseverance, and are rarely a stroke of sheer luck.

Moving on with our own adventure, we met Ankit as soon as we checked out of Raju’s & he came across as a very sweet & fun loving person. He introduced us to his family and took the responsibility to get our permits made for GHNP entrance. He introduced us to his team of porters cum guides cum chefs…in short his team of one man army, Dileep Ji. We will take a moment here and tell you something about Dileep Ji & his team of porters. Dileep Ji is one of the oldest guides at GHNP & has been working there for good 20 years!! He is a local, obviously, and is an indescribable wonder of a man!!

The porters here carry at least 15-20 kgs of your comfort on their back & trek with you to stretches in this forest, where it is difficult for you to even walk. Agreed they are locals, but seeing their agility despite so much of load on their back & their attention to each detail for your comfort, is a truly humbling experience. For this they earn nothing compared to us city breds, who probably cannot put even 1/10^th of their effort in our work & still earn miles better & still crib about our lives in big cities. When we see the satisfaction and effort with which these people do their work and not expect anything, it makes us feel really small.

Dileep Ji & a young co-guide with him carried 15 kgs each of our comfort with them, & off we started!!

Before we started, although, Ankit took us to the temple right at the entrance of GHNP trek point, where we clicked some pictures of the gorgeous & intricate wood carvings in the small temple!!

 

17^th April 1pm:

We started our trek to the Great Himalayan National Park!!

 

After having trekked in Jalori two days ago, we were more or less prepared for a difficult trek yet again (although, yet again, we were told “it’s very easy” J). But by now we know if Himachalis say very easy, well then it is very easy for them, not for us!! J J

This time we also opted for a trekking stick, and discovered its true wonder. Truly, if you have a trekking stick in hand (Dileep ji gave both Hasina & Musafir a sturdy staff which was a rather long bark of a tree in the forest). It was amazing how much force you can put on these natural staffs, while walking & they would not break at all!!! God knows, which tree gave such springy, soft, easy to use & sturdy wood!!

Hasina felt like Gandalf, the wizard, and would tap her staff on ground many times, expecting magic (hehehee!!)…also the surrounding was so decadently Lord of The Rings, that it was hard not imagining yourself as one of the characters in a mega epic fantasy series!! J

The trek to GHNP is actually easy; easy compared to the snow trek we faced in Jalori Pass. It is a much longer trek (11 kms one way; 8 kms to entrance gate & 3 kms ahead of that in Rolla), but since we were not that worried of where to put our feet, we found it easier. Not to forget, the trekking stick helped a lot too.

One thing that we would like to mention here is that our campsite this night was in Rolla, that is level 1 in GHNP and is just 3 kms from GHNP entrance gate. This is considered the easiest trek in GHNP. People who stay here further, hike next day to level 2, that is Shilt; another 11 odd kms from Rolla. This trek is fairly challenging as the jungle gets denser & denser & chances of encountering wild animals is much more. In fact the porters told us that jungle here gets so dense that many times you have to pass from under boughs & barks of trees!!

Level 3 after this, and the toughest trek here, is Tirth. Tirth is the source of the majestic River Tirthan, that flourishes in the whole Kullu valley, and the most spectacular place!! A total of 5-6 days are required to do this trek from Gushaini side only. You can always choose to trek back via Parvati Valley or Sainj.

A little talk with Ankit clarified that the whole GHNP can be done, but is quite challenging & requires 15 days!! He also mentioned that he hardly knows anyone who has done the complete GHNP stretch!!!

Anyways, we were just at level 1, as GHNP was part of our itinerary & we will take you till Rolla with us!!

We will take you through this route via more pictures & less words J J…because sometime pictures just say so much more!!

 

As we trekked deeper & deeper on our route & into the forest...

 

we could not help marvel on how we were leaving civilisation behind and getting deep in the throes of the wilderness of GHNP.

 

 

…waylaid by gorgeous views

 

…by little streams gushing in the most picturesque locales.

…by blood red rhododendrons carpeting our walk!!

 

Oh we were in heaven!! If this is not paradise, we don’t know what is!!

And Coldplay’s “Paradise” was on our playlist the whole way!!

Around 4.30pm we reached at this beautiful scene that made our jaw drop!!

 

This is the legendary Hippo Falls…it is called so, because of how the rock in front of the fall is shaped like a Hippo!!

We sat on the huge rock right opposite the falls (with the help of Dileep Ji), the rock was super slippery as it had been drizzling all along!! Dileep ji, the one man army, handed us our packed lunch right there!! Oh what joy it was to sit right opposite a cascading fall, the type we had only seen in movies, in middle of a jungle and munch on sandwiches. Post eating a quiet lunch, we posed for a selfie or two J J J

 

After all, it was a big moment.

 

It was time to resume our trek, and we entered inside the GHNP entrance gate finally!!

 

From here, we were joined by a guy named Aakash Mohindra, an ex XLRI student. He also became part of the group now!! We resumed our trek to 3 kms ahead of the gate, where the route got even denser & with roads completely washed off at places, it had just a rickety wooden bridge for support!!!

 

Whoa…well you asked for it!! That’s the look Musafir gave to Hasina J

The 3 kms trek however, did not take much time, and we reached our first campsite just before dark.

 

While we took our time in taking some rest, our guides & team of porters, led by Dileep Ji, quickly pitched our tent, lit a woodfire, pitched a makeshift toilet with proper tissue roll in place (hello to 5 star luxuries).

Within half an hour, we were given hot Maggi to eat!!! While we sat there wondering where that came from & munched it hungrily & happily, we were serenaded again with hot soup half an hour later!! Aakash, who had been there a day or two earlier, laughed seeing our awed looks!! He had experienced this hospitality & told us tales of his stay there, and how he had never been so comfortable in his life!!

We all huddled by the fire, which was so so comforting…and the rest of the porters told us many stories & anecdotes of GHNP. One of them being, how a woman in one of their treks fell down & broke a bone in her leg. The team was then in Shilt, which is again 11kms odd trek from Rolla, where we were currently, and way denser jungle. Obviously a panic ran amongst all people in the group, as the jungle was too dense, it was raining, and the woman could not walk or do anything at all….and the way back to the base was again through 23 kms of dense jungle. But these talented porters left no time in immediately fashioning a stretcher out of whatever was available in the jungle…wood, twine, etc etc & made a stretcher where they tied the lady. Then she was mounted on the back of one of the porters, who trekked her back in no time!!!

This should sure go in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!! That’s the sheer capability & capacity of mountain folks!!

After an hour & so of chatting around the fire, with the fire being the one & only source of light (the moon was not visible due to dense cloud cover), we were astonished to see Dileep Ji & his team preparing a candle light dinner for us!! Candle light dinner in this wilderness!!! We had frankly expected nothing at all!!

 

Dazed & very awed, we moved to the dining space & saw Dileep Ji had prepared Rajma, Rice, mix vegetable, warm chapatis, salad…all under 1 hour…and and that too after supplying us with Maggi & Soup!!! And that after trekking with almost 15 kgs of weight over 6 hours!!! Needless to say, the food was so delicious, so sinfully good to taste that we ate thrice of our apetite.

The candlelight dinner was rounded off with sinfully delicious bread pudding as dessert, prepared by Dileep Ji too. Trust us on this, we have never had such delicious dessert & food in the best of 5 stars!! And those guys have fancy kitchens & equipment to cook!!

Post polishing off each & every morsel, we sat again by the fire…happily drowsy after a long day; a long but beautiful day!! We chatted for a while, until one of the porters asked us if we wanted Hot Chocolate or Coffee to round off the day!! We were aghast & awed by their relentless attention to our comfort!!

The jungle around us looked dark, deep, quiet…and so so mystical!! We were parked next to a grove with river cascading away & the sheer magic of this setting was maddeningly unnerving & yet so calming!!

It was time to sleep…and we must confess it was our first time sleeping in a tent & in a sleeping bag!!

CATERPILLAR!!!

That’s what we felt like in our zipped up sleeping bags…like two caterpillars, trying to find our mamma…the butterfly!! Hehehehee….

Well the “caterpillars” slept off soon!! It wasn’t the most comfortable sleep, but seriously, in a jungle, this is as good as it can get…well unless you wish to sleep in those pseudo so called “jungles”, that have 5 star resorts!! Too pseudo for our taste!!

Hasina (aka The Drama Queen), woke up at night to drizzling & pitter patter of rain drops…saw an oddly shaped something on our tent and woke up Musafir “S..s..s..snake”….Musafir woke up with a  start, saw the shape, & was exasperated. “It is letter W written on our tent, in a zigzag manner, just sleep…will you”!!

After 2 hours, Hasina woke up again, and prodded Musafir awake…

Musafir (clearly irritated): What??!! What now..what??!!

Hasina: Shhh…can you hear that??

Musafir: What??!!

Hasina: Someone is saying “My Precious!!” (told you…Drama Queen!! Could hear Gollum here)

Musafir: Sleep!! Just sleep!! S.L.E.E.P!!

Finally it was morning!!

We came out of our tents to rain washed valley and lots of fresh energy!! J

Our porters were already up & served us morning tea right away!! Best tea we have ever had!!

After tea, we were served breakfast like royals.

 

Egg, toast, butter, jam, porridge!! Whoa!!! In absolute wilderness.

We were truly FLOORED!!

After breakfast it was for selfies & group pics & time to trek back.

 

The whole route was a pitter patter of raindrops & so beautiful. We felt like we were in a scene from Kung Fu Panda and had reached our inner Shangri-La.

 

To tell you another Dileep ji anecdote….Aakash wanted a pic by a beautiful waterfall, but the minute he tried to step over rocks, one of them gave way & his foot was submerged in super cold water. Dileep ji came & saw it & well, crafted a path for Aakash!!! Can you believe it???!! He actually picked up huge boulders, made a path, for Aakash to the other side & clicked a pic with him.

 

 

We were too much in awe by now!!!

The trek down was just completing the way in rainfall.

We met Ankit downstairs & recounted how we loved the trek!! Post this trek Ankit was supposed to take us to Lake Prashar, another beautiful wonder!! But alas, we could not go, as it was raining there & due to bad weather, Ankit advised us not to go there.

So, our plan was thrown out of the window completely…but what are we if not adventurous.

All we need is our car…the spirit, we already possess!! J J J

And off we went…unplanned, for yet another adventure!!! J

P.S: Thanks a ton Sunshine Himalayan Adventure (web link here) & Ankit Sood for beautiful hospitality!! You are a joy to talk to, and so knowledgeable!! We will do that Lake Prashar trip again & with you only!! J

 

Coming Up: Musafir & Hasina in “Wonder” Wyne land J J Oh yes…this is a true lifestyle post!!...and a side of Shimla you never knew existed!! Keep logging in for more...