Finally came the D-day when our trip to the mountains was to begin. I flew to Delhi on the 14th Jul. I reached there by 7:30 pm and joined Ajay. In another hour and half we reached the ISBT bus terminus and Sameer joined us there. But all private buses had left by then, so we took a private taxi to Manali. The journey in the taxi was very jittery and we had to change the taxi once in bilaspur. We reach manali by 10:00 pm and took up a room in Hotel Hilanass very near to the Manali Mall Road for the night.


16th July 2006
Early morning we prepared our back-packs and went out to search for a stove. As it was a Sunday most of the shops were closed. The search for a stove was not fruitful and finally we only ended up killing our time. We decided to take a taxi to Batal as the buses had already left by 6:00 am. We booked a Scorpio and started off for Batal by 1:00 pm. On the way, Ravi, who was driving, told us of a camp they conduct for Himalaya travellers. He dropped us at batal by 6:45pm, 12500 feet above MSL.

As soon as we reached Batal we met a few people from the Mountaineering camp. It was a camp that Directorate of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (DMAS) conducts regularly and this time they had camped in Batal. One of the camp participants, who was also doing his Masters from IIT Mumbai told us of a few facts about the place: The Batal camp is by the side of Chandra river. 2 kms parallel to it is the Bhaga river. Between them lies the Chandra-Bhaga Valley (CB Valley for short). Trekking in this area requires technical gear. Ice axe, ice boots and crampons are the primary equipments that DMAS supplies during the camp. To trek in the glaciers the campers have to go higher up where there is perennial ice and glacier. A camp is conducted for the period of 28 days, and during towards the end of a camp there is one day called the survival test, when the all the gears of the participants a taken away and they are left with only dry ration to survive for a day. That did sound like an enduring of endurance. And in this endurance camp I also found one person who had come from Europe to attend the camp.

After alittle while we unpacking in the tent that we rented from the Dhaba owner there, snd went to the DMAS camp site. There we met Mr Goli who was a senior instructor and told him of our plans. After getting to know of experience with the hills and the equipments we were carrying, he recommended us not to go beyond Chandra Tal. He told us that there were two river crossings on the way to Baralacha La which would be tough and would be safer if an experienced person or a local porter accompanied us. After this feedback we decided to chop a few things from our trek itinerary. We took leave from Mr Goli and went to meet a few other campers.

We went around the camp area, taking a few snaps and talking about how to accommodate changes in our travel itinerary. We talked to Tenzing – the owner of the dhaba, who told us that he has trekked the entire range of leh, ladakh, spiti and zanskar and also gave us a contact in Leh who can help us there.

In Leh for skiing or guide contact:
Mr pasan (Brother in law of tensing)
Leh Moti market,
Shop – Tibetian pooja things,
Contact person: Teshi or sundar
Reference of tensing from manali.

That night we slept early more-so because there was no light and it was really cold out there.


17th July 2006
The morning was cold and wet. We had planned to leave early for Chandratal but had to wait due to the drizzle. We saw the HPRTC bus go past the Dhaba at around 8:00 am. When we were able to start by 10:00 am we did find it difficult due to the steep climb of the jeep trail. On the way after about two kms we met some isralis, who had trekked from chandratal to batal. Moving ahead we met three bikers who were coming from Chandratal, and had come all the way from pune for a 24 day trip to Ladakh, Spiti and Kaza.

As we proceeded higher up towards the lake our speed decreased. I started to have a mild headache. By afternoon we decided to take a break. We had dry fruits and sattu for lunch. And it was after that reasonable heavy lunch that my headache started to grow. After a few minutes of break we started off again my headache became unbearable. It was the same for Sameer . But Lele was far more composed then we were. I could walk only for a few minutes after which I had to stop to take rest. Amidst all the pain and headache I managed to reach a gaddi’s hut by 3:30 pm. I found Sameer in the hut already taking a nap. We rested in gaddi’s hut for half an hour and then decided to start walking again by 4:00 pm so that we reach Chandratal before the sun goes down.

Three of us started walking again but my headache would not subside. Same was the case with Sameer. So we 2 decided take a lift while lele kept walking. After waiting for 15 mins a pajero offered us a lift. Sameer and myself joined Raunak and Navneet. Raunak was a frequent traveller to the Himalayas and this time he had brought his friend Navneet along. On the way we popped some diamox pills to help us increase our oxygen absorption. By 6:00 pm we reached Chandratal and I still had the headache. We unloaded our bags from the land-rover. Sameer was not feeling well and quickly found a place to sleep in the tent setup by the Dhaba owner. I was not feeling so well myself and puked twice. By 7:00 pm lele arrived and helped me in putting up the tent. We ate some greasy parathas for dinner, courtesy Chandratal dhaba, and went to sleep. That was the end of an exhausting day for us.


18th july 2006
Next morning I woke up early and went around the lake and snapped some good pics. Near the lake were 3 tents; one was raunak’s ( the person who gave us lift in his pajero); another one was of a swiss couple traveling on bicycles; and the third one was of yet another swiss couple who were traveling on mules. Late in the morning I climbed one of the mountains to have a better view of the other mountains and glacier and believe me the view was worth the climb.

In the afternoon I went around the lake. On the way met angaroop, who had his tents and dhaba on the other side of the lake. He even rents a tent for 2-4 people for 500 bucks a night. When I checked out his place the other day, I found that even his food was better. He said he can even cook us some spiti dish – timokh and tuh. When I went to the other side of the lake I met a French couple, probably in their 60s. They were also heading for Baralacha La the next day. I had some tea with them. I also talked to their porters and they said that since they are heading for the same region we can join them tomorrow.

On my way back, Sameer and lele joined me and all 3 of us went to the place where the swiss couple had put up their tent. There we met Eric. He and his wife Christina had cycled all their way to chandratal from Switzerland in 19 months. And Eric said they have planned to encircle the globe on their bicycle, that would take maybe 10 years for completion. Eric told us about his family – one of his son was a teacher and all his kids were well settled. They kept in touch through emails and SMS’s. Free of family commitments they decided to do what they like best, and they decided to cover the whole world on a bicycle.

They were pretty well equipped with mountain bikes, solar rechargeable batteries, good tenting equipment and all. Their only expense during their tour was food. And ironically they found the food that is sold in the dhabas being “very expensive”. They also have a personal website where they post their photos and write about the countries they travel.


19th july 2006
This morning we decided to go on the route to topko-yongma. So we got ready by 8:00 and started for the other side of the lake to join the group who were heading to Baralacha La. By the time we reached the other side the French had already left and the helpers were about to start. We started on the trail along with them. The trail was not very clear. As we kept moving east through the hills the trail became more and more rocky and difficult. At 11:00 am we stopped for a break. Lele and Sameer decided to head back. While I decided to go towards topko-youngma a little further to get a clearer view of the snow capped mountains.

On my way I met a group of shepherds with mules. They were returning from topko-yongma. According to them the other side of the hill was about 8-10 kms. After walking for another half an hour I encountered a big stream that was difficult to cross. I later came to know that it was a dal-dal. I tried crossing the stream but while jumping on a rock I fell into the muddy water of the stream as the rock went loose. Luckily enough I was not hurt badly and my camera was safe. I quickly crossed the stream back and went to a reasonable distance from the stream and checked my camera thoroughly. My shoes were all muddy and my pants were all wet. I thought crossing this kind of streams required a rope. I waited there for a little while thinking that should I go further. I thought for some time and then decided to head back to base camp – Chandratal.

On the way back I found some streams had swelled with water. I crossed them with double the caution and took rest only after I reached angaroop’s dhaba. I had a good lunch there and a quick bath in the chilling water of Chandratal for one last time.

After coming back to our tent we had to start hunting for a ride back. Lele and Sameer tried asking a few quails drivers but did not work out. Then I tried asking a himachali couple who had just arrived and they agreed to help. Mr. Surendar thakur and his wife were from pir (near dhramshala). Mr Thakur also told us that he conducts para gliding in the hills. He said that they will start next morning and we can join then. But after spending some time around the lake they suddenly announced that they were planning to leave that very evening. So, we quickly began packing. And in that hurry Sameer, who had vowed not to go into the water, fell into the water. The dhabawala said that you were destined to take a plunge in the water before leaving. We packed and finally started by 8:00 pm on Mr Thakur’s sumo.

Night time ride from chandratal to batal, on a road that was semi motorable, was quite an experience. Trusting the driving instinct in the night of Mr Thakur, we reached batal by 10:00 pm. Since there was no room in the tents with the dhabawala, we went ahead for Chota Dhada. Reaching there by 11:00 we still managed to find a room in the PWD guest house. The himachali couple took that room and we three took another room next to the PWD. The room we took was dark and shady, but we were out of options.


20th july 2006
We got up early morning. We had to start early as it was raining and the small streams on the way to Manali would swell, because of the rain water, as the day would progress. On the way back we found that the streams had swelled so much that the trucks heading for Kaza had to stop and wait for the stream to subside. I wonder how did the person on the bike, who was a little ahead of us, manage to cross the stream. After a continuous ride and a brief stop at Rohtang Pass, we managed to reach manali by 1:00 pm. Sameer enquired for a room in the circuit house, but he found out that it required prior permission from the collector. So we ended up taking the same room in Hotel Hilanass.

For the rest of the day we went around manali, to hidimba temple. We also bought a small brass ganesh idol and gifted it to Mr Surender for his good-will gesture. We had some Tibetian food for dinner and in the night we packed for khirganga and slept off.


21st july 2006
In the morning we started by 9:00 am from manali bus stand. We took a bus to buntar and then from there another bus to barshaini. And from there onwards we would have to trek to Khirganga. We managed to reach barshaini by 3:00 pm and started off for khirganga immediately as it was a 14 km hike to that place and we were already late.

We had to cross the construction site of a huge NHPC project going on there for a hydro power plant. Himachal Pradesh, actually gets most of its revenue out of selling electricity than from tourism. The next major contributor to HPs revenue is through the sale of fruits. Profits in tourism are prevented by the huge services taxes thought the number of tourists here are large.

Most of the 14 km trail was uphill and rocky. Although we did not have much luggage we could walk with an average speed of 3 kmph. Enroute we met Vikram from Mumbai who said we were almost half way through. As we progressed it was starting to get rainy and dark. We passed a village by 5:00 pm. In another hour we reached the bridge over the river. We stopped by the Dhaba near the bridge. The Dhaba was run by Bikrm, who was from Sikkim, and he spoke good English. Within the first few minutes of interaction he offered to sell us charas. He said that the charas available here in these hills was the cheapest and of best quality. The tourists from Israel come to this part of the country in search for the same. He then went on to give his opinion about the tourists from various countries. He said that Israeli tourists were the most miserly and difficult, and Japanese tourists were the most well behaved and decent.

Bikram told us that the route on the other side of the bridge had more dense forest cover and sometimes bear strays on the walking trails in the night time. So we decided to spend the night in the Dharam shala build by the sikh community very near to Bikram’s dhaba.

So we decided to take refuge in the warm and dark dharamshala. It was a bit scary because it was very dark inside the room, so much so that I could not even see my hand inside that room. This also meant that if there were any rodents we could not spot them either. We three people did best we could in checking the corners and cupboards and then finally laid down to sleep in our sleeping bags in a comfortable spot. In the midnight, lele and myself gave Sameer his birthday wishes. While others had a sound sleep, I woke up again after a few hours as I felt a little uncomfortable in the sleeping bag. I checked once below the sleeping bag and around it, found nothing, and slept off again.


22nd july 2006
Next morning we woke up at 6:00 am. I quickly changed clothes to get on something lighter. It was then that spotted a few blood spots on my banyan and deduced that it must have been some giant bugs that sucked my blood through the sleeping bag and made my sleep uncomfortable in the night. We quickly packed our sleeping bags and other stuff in the backpack and left it in the custody of Bikram and left for Khirganga.

The trail on the other side of the bridge was steep and beautiful. We could also see some fresh footmarks of some heavy animal on the trail, probably a bear. We also met a few devotees on our way. By the time we reached Khirganga, it was already 8:00 am, so we quickly freshened up, visited shiv-ji’s temple and then desended in the hot water pool. It was real hot and relaxing to get in there. Lele and Sameer were also enjoying the hot water bath. About the hot water pool, Sameer gave the following remark - “best hai” and lele said “best sauna I’ve ever had”. Along with us in the pool were a few localites and a large number of Israelis.

After about half an hour hot water bath, we packed up and then again started our decent to reach Bikram’s dhaba. By 10:30 am we reached there, took our backpack and continued our decent to bharshaini. From barshaine we took a taxi to manali. We reached there by 4:30 pm had a quick early dinner, check out of our rented hotel room by 6:00 pm. We somehow reached the private bus stand by 6:30 pm that was half a km downhill from the government bus stand. There we found our bus had got delayed due to land slide on the road to delhi. We did not have to wait much and bus took off soon. That night just flew past. My mind was full of the beautiful pictures of Chandratal, but soon it blacked out due to the sleep.


23rd july 2006
Next day the bus dropped us in Delhi by 9:00 am. And that was the end of our trip to Himachal Pradesh. Sameer got a Scorpio rented to take us in and around Delhi. So the rest of the day was not that tiring or eventful as the past few days. A thought about the girls in shimla, so fair, decent and beautiful that you cannot help but notice them, did pass by occasionally. We went to the usual tourist spots in Delhi before I caught my flight at 9:00 am.

While relaxing and easing around in Delhi and while thinking over the past few days one thing that caught my attention was the simplicity and straight forwardness of the people. When you look into their eyes it reflects. You can be sure that when you talk to them and look at them in their eyes, there is nothing going inside their mind and they are not looking through you. It’s the city life that lends the complication of a few hundred things to be thought of at one time, and that kill the humane side of you. Going on such treks leaving your thought and worries behind does cleanse your mind.

This particular trek proved to be much more. It opened my mind. You in your own world would be thinking that you are doing enough. And its only when you go out and check do you find that people are doing much more. It is time for you to broaden your own perspective of thinking and live the world…