… and the conversations continue after the trek …
After a truly gruelling 8-hour downhill trudge, this tea and this terrace scattered with the season’s harvest, was such pure joy. My walking stick was sent in one direction and the camera bag in another while I rushed to take off my socks and look for the new blisters, in a weirdly happy way.
Our window to the cold outside world from our ‘just-a-little’ warmer room.
“integrated high power stereo cassette player”. Didn’t really try to find out if that works, but the buttons were immensely press-able and JUST the perfect prop for place so surprising. A 4-hour annoyingly up-and-down trek leads to green meadow at the height of more than 3000 mtrs that serves pizza. And spaghetti, among other things.
If there is one thing I will never forget about this stay in Lohanjung, it is that sunny afternoon we spent on this lawn doing nothing, surrounded by flowers, bees, butterflies and talks of “snow on roopkund”.
A forced cup of sickly sweet tea on a tiny little ledge which seemed to have been made specifically for resting your cup.
Its very hard to describe how waking up to sub-zero temperatures, with frozen water all around, trishul peeking from the right and being alone with a cup of tea on your birthday feels like.
All I can say is that it felt great then and looking at this image and thinking back to those hours waiting for the sun to arrive, I can also say that it was one of my best birthdays ever.
After 20 kms and 8 hours of walking, any ordinary flat camping ground would have sufficed. But we got something incredibly nicer. A pretty little FRH, with a lush green lawn and just the perfect wooden gate to complete the picture.
And yes, not to mention a hot bath and a solid bed after 5 days,
Train journeys are my absolute favourite. But more often than not, the pre-journey excitement is a lot more than the one during. I believe a lot of it is owing to the food that is going to be served. Hence shatabdi and rajdhani train journeys are a notch higher in in the excite-o-meter. But the food/drinks are never as great as they are in my head.
Irrespective of all that, I will give just about anything to be on a train right now, and drum my fingers on the fold-able food tray while I peek slyly towards the aisle to check how far the server is.
Starting from Delhi early in the morning we reached Barsu at 8 in the night, from where our trek was to start the very next morning.
I was still in my cotton pajamas that I had considered suitable when I was in Delhi. We had ascended to more than 2000 meters, and the pajamas only just reached up to my mid calves. It was pitch dark, and I could only see the silhouette of a tent, and high mountains on all sides. I was shivering, and all I could think of was some warm clothes.
Our staff introduced us to our tent, which had beds and a proper loo. I was happy enough with our home for the night, when they called us for tea in the light of a little battery-run-led-lamp.
The first day of our trek, and the clouds have taken over the views.
Bebra, where for the first time on our trek, we were without a fire, but had proper beds. And also some huge spiders.
One of the three nomad-dogs who keep shifting around with trekking groups. They have no fixed address, no territory to protect. They walk with the groups, stop with them, eat of them, and return to base camp to latch on to a new group.
Reaching Dodital is pretty relaxing for them too, cause they know that trekkers like to take a day off there.
For him too, its just a sunny-stretchy day, and its always a bonus when pieces of omelette start falling from the sky.
This one required special effort. This one is for keeps.
I HAD to get a picture of a cup next to the lake after all the walking. So I HAD to get up and walk some distance from the dhaba to make this frame happen.
Manjhi, is for lazy trekkers to catch a night break on the 16 kms stretch to Dodital. We just stopped for tea.
And next to my cup of tea is the stick that balanced me through.
