Some logs.. :)

Day#0

The Preparations

Preparations are almost complete. I had created a project on trello – Mission Triund. I have been following it since the inception of the trip. It has been fun reaching here with it – the end of the beginning.

I have co-ordinates of the geo-cache that we can try discover there. I am trying to get some sleep for a possibly long day tomorrow. We have yet not decided whether to go all the way to Triund or stay back at Dharamshala. It makes more sense staying back since we’ll have more time enjoying what this trip is all about. Three inflated bags (two saddle bags of my KTM – Duke and one backpack) are relaxing on the side of my bed for a sturdy ride tomorrow. My mind is in a strange state of excitement. Strange because I had a busy emotional bout in my personal life just before this trip. My backpack shall be lighter than the thought-load I would be carrying on my trip. But I really hope to shed some anxiety in the hills. So hills! Here I come .

The primary items I shall be carrying are my camera (Sony Alpha 77 – Mark II), my riding jacket (Cramster – Breezer 4S), my Bear Grylls Folding Sheath Knife, a cave light (no lights in Triund), my backpack with clothes, some edibles, an extra pair of shoes (you always stand a good chance of getting your shoes drenched in a surprise showers in hills), and of course my logbook and a pair of good old Reynold ball points (can’t risk loosing my Pelikan in the jungles!). So, with that inflated sense of abundance and resourcefulness I am trying hard to get some good sleep to help me with tomorrow’s journey. An important thing I have learnt with these trips – take a pouch of Isabgol in the night to get a good start next morning .

Day#1

The Journey Begins

0700: Woke up at 0530. The day started slowly as usual. I went through my morning abulations until after bath I started preparing with my riding gears. Despite having prepared for everything, it took my easy selves’ one and a half hours before I triggered my bike’s ignition for the day. My friend has already reached my home and we were ready to call ‘go’.

0840:  The first milestone on the way, after leaving Ludhiana, is Phagwara. We left Phagwara to take Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road. On the right, not very far from Phagwara, is Romi Dhaba. Our food bellies were rumbling with canine hunger. We decided to take our first halt. Tandoori aalloo paranthas, yellow butter and cutting chai, one good recipe to freshen up our minds and spirits. We have decided not to make anymore halts before reaching some good milestone. We took some shots, and we are ready to move ahead.

1100: We passed the Beas river after crossing Hoshiarpur. Here, we took a moment’s break on the bridge. The river stopped us. Vast, tranquil, moving just enough to hint motion. It has its grand course with neither of the ends in sight. Monsoons has enriched the river with green shores. You could just go on watching it for hours. Another ignition and off we go.

1300: We reached Dharamshala.

1330: And McLeodganj. We can start with our trekking for Triund if we wanted to, but we’ve decided not to make haste with what we have come to do this far. We’ll start with the trek tomorrow morning. Which means, two guys seeking absolute adventure in the hills may have to spend a LOT of time in honeymooner’s paradise?!? That seems a little dampening for the tempo we began with from Ludhiana? I hope not!

1600: We began with seeking an adventure in Lunch. Looking for something different to eat, we chose a restaurant called Tibetan Kitchen, near the Main Square. We ordered in heaps! Some lamb in a delicious and spicy gravy with steamed bread and Tibetan Hakka noodles with fresh juices and Coke. With all that food fueling our blood vessels, we felt like industrial generators! There we go, ready to hit the streets of McLeodganj for a royal stroll. We took some more pictures. The Tibetan culture pervades the streets of McLeodganj. There are Tibetan monasteries and temples, their religious symbols and a lot other stuff that they also sell on the street side stalls. Its wonderful to see how they have blended with locals and live peacefully together. I wish I could visit a Tibetan household. I really want to know more about them. Its nice to have them here with us. But I am sure that there is very little we know about them, while there could be a lot more to learn.

We soon had enough of the cultural agenda for the day. We were now looking for something more interesting. Something like “Drinks”? Hmm!! Not now. I had a small engagement in the evening and I wanted to be in my senses for the same. So let’s go for a swim.

2030: Bhagsunag is around 3 km from McLeodganj Main Square. There is a public swimming pool that anybody can use. Lots of people, including locals and tourists visit the place for a leisurely evening. Some people enjoy swimming while others enjoy watching them. We had an hour of a swimming session before leaving with frozen brains. This was a natural call for some booze, which we gladly answered.

Very near to the swimming pool is a channel from a waterfall. Its a nice place to spend some time with family. We had some drinks before we decided to call it a day.

Off to hotel.

Day#2 – Part I

The Triund Trek

0900: We had a good morning’s tea. The balcony had a stage set for a sunrise. But the Sun just popped out without formalities, as it normally does in the mountains. This is Dharmkot, 4 km from McLeodganj. We wanted to sleep close to the place from where we would actually start our trekking. So we took a cheap room in a cheap hotel at Dharamkot. It is an off-season by the end of September and we could bargain a room for pea-nuts.

Its time to start. May be we are a little late, but its okay. My head’s feeling a little languid with yesterday’s hangover.

1000: We started our day with some breakfast at a cafe on the cross-road of Dharamkot and Gallu. This was a nice cafe with a very self-contended offerings on menu and hospitality. We felt a little odd here since we were the only two Indians amongst all the customers of this roadside cafe. But the breakfast was good, as usual .

Later, we kicked the bike for a short trip up to Gallu.

The Triund trek actually begins from Gallu (or Gallu temple). This is another 4 km from Dharamkot. There is a small temple here. The road to Gallu was treacherous. One small mistake and you get a fall of your life. The local drivers, however, can be seen driving with amazing serenity and calm. We could hire a taxi that would take us to Gallu, but we preferred our bikes. There was a fork-point on the way, one road led to some fountain, the other to Gallu. There is one shop in Gallu catering to the essential needs of tourists. We parked our bike near the temple where it will remain for overnight. We will take our stuff on our shoulders, trying to keep our hands as free as possible. The trek starts now!.

1130: First halt – Magic cafe. We are slow. We have committed a mistake of carrying too much weight. My backpack was okay, the tent on top of it was fine too. But my camera hanging diagonally on my neck was playing pendulum which was actually disturbing my focus. It takes around twenty minutes of breath-catching climb before your lungs are vigorous enough to get you into a rhythmic trek. And then, if you have not much to unsettle that rhythm, the trek becomes fun. It was still fun for me on the grounds of its being novel, but I’ll take care for the next time. We’ve had some refreshing tea before starting again. We’ve had lots of water on our way and we have refilled our bottles here with more water mixed with Glucon-D we were carrying with us. I just met an elderly English gentleman here. He was short, small but energetic and formally clad. The cafe owner greeted him dearly and it appeared as if he was living in this area for quite some time now. He said a gusty ‘hi’ to me. I greeted politely. A chit-chat broke and he told us that in mid-April, he had tried to climb Snow-point that is around 4 km from Triund. But he had to come back midway because the snow was still there and he was finding it difficult to go any further. I liked the energy in his ways. An Indian may feel here like visiting a foreign land, since its mostly the foreigners that are seen here. Beautiful ‘goris’ are as pleasant a sight as the scenery. Of course we have learned at least not to make our ‘sight-seeing’ more conspicuous. We’ve had a twenty minutes break here. Let’s move!

1300: This is just another cafe, without any fancy name. It has some nice picturesque views to offer, besides Maggi, tea, coffee, Red Bull, Blue cow and what not. Hot water was all what we wanted. We had a bunch of cuppa-noodles with us to hush-up our hunger bellies. Our noodles tasted better than anything else in these lovely hills. Even the peppery remnants of our food seemed delicious and warming to the body. By now, clouds had started gathering around us like a curious bunch of monkeys. While we found the settings best suited for a photo shoot, the cafe owner had already started collecting his stuff under sky. It took us few shots before a small alarm bell jingled in our ogre heads that a rain held good potential to jeopardize our trekking. I asked the cafe owner if it would rain? “Wrong question”, he said, “ask for how long it will rain!”. He looked a little anxious. We exchanged some jittery gestures and decided to move on.  It was now around forty five minutes trek up to the Triund. This would be the toughest and steepest trek up the hill-top.

Day#2 – Part II

The Triund

1400: We’ve reached the Triund. The photo in the right shows what happens to you when you reach Triund. Incidentally, this was a Korean sailor. He was accompanied by his brother who was in Korean army. Both went out of their clothes (partially) in sheer exuberance. And I took this as an opportunity to test Shutter priority on my cam.

So, Triund is a one big ‘wow’. Its has a ridge that moves from one hill to another On one side is the valley view of McLeodganj and Dharamshala, and on the other side are the Dhauladhar range of mountains, also called the Lesser Himalayas. Triund is a beautiful lush green plateau surrounded with magnificent vistas of pine. There is no electricity and the mobile signal is scantily available. No pakka construction either, except for one guest house of Forest department, that remains reserved mostly for government employees. There are three cafes, very similar to the ones we found on our way. These, however, offered more than just essentials. They are cooking food (simple though) and also provide tents on rent. We wanted to replenish our tummies, but the tent we had our own! And we are looking for a decent place now to put up our tent.

1500: Clouds had escorted us throughout the trek. And while their site aroused a sense of romance and mystique charm for once, there hyper active presence was also reflecting some menace. Let’s put up the tent quickly. Where? There was a group of some elderly foreigners colonising a part of the area. They were, perhaps, trying to make a statement with their unusual manner. For example, the lady in the left was missing a beach at Triund. She, perhaps, boarded a wrong train for Goa. But it definitely carried some interest value. We decided to occupy a nook around this area. We started unpacking the tent and putting up the fixtures and the strong waterproof nylon, that would now make up our home for the day at Triund. A big rain was already looming large and the scene around us was changing very quickly. It took us not more than 10 minutes to completely fix the tent at the designated position and moving our stuff inside it. Rain had already started by this time. We moved in.

1800: The next four hours, rain tested our wits to their best. It rained heavily and the wind was wielding gruesome power on our tent. Minuscule spray of rain water had penetrated the waterproof tent and were just floating around us. We had laid our tent on a slant which saved us from water logging around our tent. But now, water was gushing under the surface of our tent. We were literally sitting on water cushions. I rarely find my friend with me, remembering God. This happened to be one of those rare moments. He was invoking God’s mercy lest our solo trekking adventure may convert into some rain sponsored tragedies. You know, they are becoming a news line more frequently now, in this part of the country. God’s mercy was taking time so we resorted to spirits (not black magic bro!).

Wherrrrrre is my whisky?!? A couple of pegs restored colour on our face. And we were good to face a tsunami! The rain paused for a while, we walked out to assess the situation. Pale faces and shrill voices were all over the scene. We joined a group of people who had ditched their tents and assembled in a cafe. We took some food and some more drinks. Rain had started again but then stopped completely after a while. Clouds vanished and the sky was very clear now. The lights from McLeodganj and Dharamshala in the valley below look like beautiful shining icing on a chocolate cake! The group of foreigners from the colony in our vicinity had left for the Forest departments guest house in the wake of the upsetting event. And as you have it with Indians, everyone had their blood back on their cheeks in less than an hour. They were singing, dancing, playing guitar and making merry in whatever way that suited them. There were around a dozen different groups in Triund. From a college group singing and dancing around fire to a group of guitarists playing solace on hills. Even a small group of Sardars speaking Bengali! The diversity was giving me shivers and freezing my hands. Plus, I think it was also getting a little cold outside. Let’s go back to the tent.

2230: Deep asleep!

Day#3

Snow point or Geo Cache

1000: Woke up at 0800! It is difficult to sleep that long into the morning, in a tent, on a hill-top. The Sun lands on the roof of your tent at 6. But with eye-covers put on, we didn’t budge until the hard bedding had started giving us sores. It is a sunny day, perfect for photography. We took some mind-blowing shots. We’ve had enough good photos to describe the place we had been to. We have been discussing the plans for the day. To begin with, we have two options; one is to climb further on a trek of 4 km to Snow point, and the other is to search for the Geo Cache that a community has hidden somewhere in Triund.

1300: After a bout of haywire discussions we’d decided to go to Snow point. I was not very comfortable with the idea. We took a quick breakfast, changed our clothes, parked our stuff at one of the cafes and started moving on the left towards Snow point. My friend had a backpack and I, again, had three bags playing pendulum with the fourth one, my camera, at the centre stage. The trek was narrower and steeper than the one we had climbed for Triund. While trying to climb the hills at some places, I had to use both of my hands, while my stuff hanging on my neck followed gravity. We may not have climbed a couple of kilometers by when my camera had already been hit and bruised at some places. It was getting on my nerves now. I decided to abort this new adventure. It was enough for me to learn what not to do for the next time. My friend wanted to continue and amidst a shallow face-off; we were now on two opposite paths. On my way back, I had some regret since I could neither look for the Geo-Cache nor hike up to the Snow point. But then its okay. Something has to be a reason good enough for my returning back to such beautiful place soon! After I reached back at the cafe, it took around an hour more for my friend to return. He is wearing a trophy on his nose with Snow point carved in green letters..grrrrrrr..!

1345: We are leaving Triund with some nice memories. I feel like running all the way down hill. Why do we always want to end the closing journey as quickly as possible? We want to reach Ludhiana today itself. Which means, reach Gallu, take our stuff from the hotel at Dharamkot, and ride around 200 km back to Ludhiana. It is taking shape of an adventure in itself. We have decided to give it a try.

1600: We reached Gallu.

1645: We reached Dharamkot. Packed our stuff at hotel, took us almost an hour.

1815: We reached Dharamshala. On the way we had to get the chain-set of my friend’s bike fixed. In Dharamshala, we took some food that restored back the much needed energy.

1900: Kicked off for Ludhiana.

2330: Back home. What a trip!!

Photos from the trip can be viewed here.