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The day started early we had to cover few places in Dalhousie and then head towards our next destination, McLeodganj. We got ready and checked out from Zostel at around 8 AM. We decided to have breakfast on the way.
No, its not a tourist spot. But, on the way towards Kalatop, you will pass by this school. We had to stop here and take some pictures because it has huge premise and the whole premise is so colorful! You can’t enter the premises though; you can take some photos from the roads. But, be careful of your surroundings as there are some steep turns and you may not anticipate any vehicle approaching you.
The first stop was Kalatop. This place is mainly famous for Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary lies along the Ravi river. There is a wide variety of animals and birds you can find here. Another attraction of this place is the rigorous trek. If you have time and the will for it, it will be worthy. As we already had around 150+ KMs to cover that day, we decided to skip it. We had our breakfast from there. There are not many stalls. You should definitely try the Aloo Paratha or the Puri Sabji there along with a hot, steaming cup of Tea/Coffee. We took a small bathroom break and left from there.
The best part about this place is the 1.5 KM trek to the peak. You will be amazed by the surrounding views at every step. The best time to visit this place is in the morning. If you are not interested in trekking ( like me ), you can just take a walk and indulge in the serenity of nature. This place gives you immense peace! Some things to remember, there is scarcity of water,food and washrooms. Its always advisable to carry at least a litre of water. Also, on the way, you can find an uncle selling hot maggi. You can take from him. Though the price is high ( 50rs per plate ), still it would feel nice and this would help him a little as well.
Khajjiar ( utmost disappointment ):
It was time for the ‘Mini Switzerland of India’. Mostly this place is famous for the ‘summer camp in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai movie’! I had come to this place around 8 years back in summer and it was like right out of the calendars! The place was so much beautiful then. So, this time I had huge expectations. But, as soon as we entered those parking lots, I came to know, all it has become in all these years is, ‘disappointment’! The place looked so dull! The overcast condition wasn’t helping either. The greenish, lush field had become like some normal playground which is not maintained in years!
On top of that, a new scam we noticed. There will be group of people who will offer you their service to take photos in traditional Himachali dress. They will lend the dress itself for 50 bucks per dress. They would say that they would charge appx 100 rs per ‘printed photo’. They won’t mention anything about the ‘digital photos’. We told them that we didn’t need to be clicked as we carried our own camera and we would click on our own, we would pay them for the rented dresses however. But, they insisted and told we can refuse to take prints if we didn’t like the photos. After they clicked our photos, we reviewed and selected 3 photos for print. We asked them to transfer the rest of the soft copies to our phones. Then they told, if we take print of minimum 5 photos, they would share the soft copies for free. Otherwise, it would cost 10 Rs per soft copy! We sensed some scam. We paid them for the dresses and asked to share soft copies of those 3 selected photos. They disagreed. Finally, after a lot of negotiation, they shared 5 soft copies at a cost of 50 Rs! This wasn’t expected at all. We took some photos and left from there.
We were done with our list of visiting places for that day. We headed towards McLeodganj where we were going to stay for next 2 days. On the way, we stopped for lunch. It was a small dhaba kind of place. The food was very limited. You would get either maggi or a meal which consists of 4 varietiesof daal and 1 sabji. I hadn’t imagined that simple food would taste so delicious! After having a sumptuous lunch, we decided to stop next only at Zostel, McLeod ( yeah, again a zostel, that’s where we were gonna stay ).
Zostel,McLeod:
The zostel property is situated in Upper Dharamkot. From the main market ( lower dharamkot ), u need to go about 2 KMs upwards. The roads are not that good. Here also, the main property is appx 500 Mtrs away from the main road. The rest of the road you need to go by walking. As there was heavy rain earlier that day, the roads were muddy and slippery. Unlike Zostel Dalhousie, here you need to walk a inclined road upwards to the property. Here also, there is problem with electricity (obviously not inside Zostel!).
We took 3 beds in a 6-bed mixed dorm. The view from the balcony was awesome! Though it was dark when we reached, one can anticipate the view in the morning. Unlike Dalhousie, this Zostel was almost full!
We decided to call it a day. We had dinner and slept early.
See you next week with the next episode!
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