Blogs from Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia

We Started from Shimla on 30/06/2012 (Saturday) on the route via Naldehra, Tattapani to Shikari Mata. We were five in a Private Vehicle (Manoj Mehta, Sandeep Bhardwaj, Avneet Sirckek, Suraj Chauhan & Bharat Shah). We started our tour from Shimla and stopped for a while at Tattapani and spent there around ½ an hour on the river side. After then we again started our tour and stayed in HPPWD Rest House at Chindi. We had a lot of fun there, had our dinner and spent more than half night while playing cards. In the next morning after having breakfast, we again started our tour to Shikari Mata by approaching to Sanarli. A cab was hired there at Sanarli as the road from that place (Sanarli) was not so good for low ground clearance vehicles, therefore, a ... read more

"What may matter not, at the end of the day, is how many conversations you had, how many friends you made, how many places you visited.... ....sometimes, things that do not matter are fun. " Sometimes, you just want to break free. It's not that difficult too. Sometimes. Had had enough of staying put in Gurgaon, the king of concrete cities as far as I know, and so, not anymore delayed for want of company, decided to head out to the Himachal lands for a weekend. Day 1 An overnight train to Pathankot, with time spent on the floor of the train for want of ticket confirmation, and a couple of hours whiled away at the sleepy little station, brought upon the time of departure of the Kangra Valley train journey. One of the more beautiful ... read more

Ahhhh India. India. India. India. I lived in the mountains in Himachal Pradesh, one of the states in India famous for the Himalayan Mountains. During my two month life in a very limited town--I was the only international foreigner inhabitant--I had to survive without the basic necessities required of most American blonde girls. One of such necessity: hot water shower. That's right. No bathroom in my apartment. And no hot water shower. The only shower system available was found across the street at my neighbors joint family accomadation, and even then the shower was COLD WATER only. Now did I mention I was living near the Himalayas? In winter? Not exactly the weather I would be tempted even slightly to participate in a cold water shower on a daily basis first thing every morning. Water in ... read more

It's a long drive from Mcleod Ganj to Amritsar, so we'd decided to stop for a night at Pong on the way. No, it's not 'Pong' the other half of 'Ping'. Nor 'Pong' the arcade video game. Not even 'pong' the disagreeable or offensive smell (although that's fairly close to the truth). I'm talking Pong the reservoir! There's only one hotel. It turned out to be a carbuncle on the landscape with basic rooms, terrible food, dire management and a website that miserably failed to tell it how it was. The view from the roof was lovely. The boat ride on the reservoir was awful. I thought about ending this blog right here, but you want to know more about why we didn't think much of Pong, don't you? So... First, a confession. It was me ... read more

We'd spent yesterday amid the clamour and cacophony of Delhi's characterful monuments and charismatic markets (see ). At five o'clock this morning, a more different view could hardly be imagined. There was only the merest hint of daylight. There was a chill in the air. There were no buzzing tuk-tuks, no honking horns, not even a background hum of traffic. Apart from a dog barking somewhere in the distance, silence reigned. We were on our way out of chaotic Delhi. Despite the ungodly hour, one of the young men from our homestay kindly supervised arrival of our taxi and quickly installed our bags, some in its boot and the rest balanced precariously on its roof-rack. We sped through an almost deserted city, racing through red lights, crossing junctions without slowing down, not giving the handful of ... read more