This was my first National Level Trek...At first I declined the idea of goin on this trek, which would take 11 full days as per our schedule. But then succumbed to the temptation of covering most of the places in North-Western India. More than everything, the very idea of getting to meet new pple from different cultures n making new frnds was quite an inviting idea...
[Bangalore-->Delhi--->Amritsar--->Pathankot--->Dalhousie-->
-->Kalatop--->Khajjiar--->Chamba--->Dalhousie--->Pathankot-->
-->Delhi-->Bangalore]
The trek was well planned by Abhinav n folks... The complete schedule can be found in my previous post..The schedule was followed most of the days, except some delays in train departures and arrival timings due to foggy conditions around Delhi and Amritsar places...
Our Janta for Trek Things that deserves a mention....The fun of journey (approx 6 days in bus and trains, and then trekking...wasnt that journey too;) ), the chilling temperatures, 6-7 layers of dressing, spirit shown by Indians at Wagah Border, Long Break from hooking onto lappy, exploring Delhi,Amritsar and places in HP, meeting some passionate trekkers who have been there and done it since ages, disciple wrt time exhibited at YHAI hostels, Fog at D & A, Zorbing at Khajjiar, Delhi Metro, the Mafia Game and our crazy logics, life on the edge throughout the trek, Rajdhani, photography, Josh filled Dances, Washing plates in frezing water, No-bath-for-3days Saga, The New year Celebs, The "Horse is red, horse is brown and cat is dead" episode, Harsh's photography, Viral's accent, Kiran's imitation of the same, The lasting wait for snow....And overall the EXPERIENCE.
Briefly Phrasing how the days slipped...Left bang on 24th night.....reached Delhi on 26th morning at 11.30. am..had got a feel of the cold and Fog by then...Moved straight to YHAI hostel in Chanakyapuri, Freshened up...roamed at Cannaught place for the evening...then headed towards Nizzamudin to catch our train to Amritsar....Reached Amritsar next morning....had booked a hotel beforehand....stayed there, roamed around Golden temple, Jalianwallah bag, Wagah Border...Rested for the night at Amritsar...Left on next(28th dec) morning to on Bus to Pathankot from Amritsar...Hopped onto another Bus to reach Dalhousie( the base camp of YHAI) by evening 7....
Had to head straight for dinner (with our never forgetteble plate and cup;)). Thus started, the bond with out plates and cups, remained untill the last day of trek....then there was cultural evening of songs, shayaris, poems ...this was followed by cake cutting and bournvita...Then there was our own mafia game at bed.... Thus ended our first day at Trek....
Next day was reserved for Acclamatisation.....so as to implement the subject, we were woken up early in the morning at 5....and taken to Subash Chowk.....this was followed by some exercises which looked quite grilling in that stiff cold...
Day3 of trek, Dec30th, we walked for 11 kms from Dalhousie to Kalatop. Apparently Kalatop is the highest point we reched during our trek. Its 8k+ feet above sea level.."1942 love story" is said to be have some scenes shot here...Sunset point was main attraction here...The evening passed with funfilled competitive antyakshari...Night was fun too, with Kiran's heroics...
DW-10 Batch
Day4 of trek, Dec31st,...we trekked from Kalatop to Khajjiar. This route was comparitively the toughest of the trek involving long steep trails of climbing the hills...Khajjiar is referred to as mini Swiss because of the grassland vegetation here...Enjoyed Zorbing here...Missed the paragliding due to time constraints....Fellow friends had some nice plans for new year...New year cake was colourful to mark the occasion too..The euphoria of new year celebrations took a backseat due to some extra josh of localites....Anyway, didnot miss the chance to wish all our fellow frnds a very happy year to come....This was followed by some sound sleep..
Day5...was the usual trek.. Took time off to move around chamba and do some shopping...Also visited the Lakshmi Narayan and Chamundi temples, palace(which is now transformed into a college).....Evening passed with some dancing and mafia games....Some part of "Taal" is said to have been shot at Chamba....
The next morning a private bus was booked to take the entire Gang of 50+ to Dalhousie....Reached Dalhousie...After collecting our luggage, headed directly to catch a bus to Pathankot.....Took a train from Pathankot to Delhi.....Thanks to Fog at Pathankot....our train arrived 3 hrs late which gave us some shopping time here...Jammu mail was the train we boarded....worst ambience...train reached Delhi 5 hrs late...thus spoling our planned 1 day Delhi Dekho trip.....We headed to YHAI hostel....left for some lunch to Cannaught place.....We non-veggies went to Kake De Dabha for lunch....whereas veggies preffered Saravana Bhavan...Boarded metro...switched at some points...ended up in some market...did some sweets shopping....came back by metro too...Was very impressed by the way things are planned at Delhi metro.....Thanks to metro,places where we need min 1 1/2 hrs...we were able to reach in just under 10 mins....Eagerly waiting for the Bangalore metro to kickoff.....
Then boarded Rajdhani to Bangalore....good experience it was for 40hrs in Rajdhani.....Reached home by 11am on Jan 5th. From that point started our usual Bangalore routine starting with WFH......Next day newspapers read...."One of the coaches of Rajdhani caught fire when it was moved to some cleaning place"...that was the same Rajdhani we had travelled in.......Also there was photos of fresh snow in Dalhousie flashed in almost all the newspapers....It had just snowed after we left:(
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