Mountains were calling and we left

College life was getting to an end, we're going to soon leave Mangalore. We were collecting our last memories to cherish later. Then came up with the idea of a dream trip that will stay within us the whole lifetime. Lots of destinations came up, financial budgets were put up, tickets were searched for and finally everything was kind of sorted out.
After a lot of jumble there were 4 of us ready for the trip with not much of cash to spend.
We planned for a budget trip finally!
Now we need to get to the booking part of the train tickets.
Like as we thought we were left with waiting list tickets however we had hopes that it'll get confirmed eventually.
The tickets were booked for 15 th February to Agra.
Now the rush starts! Jackets were borrowed, cameras were brought, bags were arranged.
We finally managed to get everything done by the night before the trip.

Tonight our dream trip starts. As usual we were in a rush at the last moment,we thought were going to miss the train.
We bought some food for ourselves and some liquors 😉 for the long train journey.
We hopped into the train just as we reached the station, said bye to friends who dropped off and there starts our journey.
Now we had to find seat for ourselves so that we could eat the food we brought, after some walk inside we managed to find a spot. We had our food and we now waited for the TTR to pass by so that we could get our tickets confirmed, but things went upside down. We were asked to get down next station and get into the general compartment. There starts our comfort zone 😞.
We somehow managed through the night standing, sitting down till we reached Mumbai at 11 am where we planned to get sleeper tickets from the station.

By 11 am through great difficulty we reached the panvel station where we got down. As soon as possible we ran to the ticket counter, but the flag was down for us there also.
We got to know that there is a Rajadhani train to Agra right that time. So anyways we thought the other amount will get refunded and we had a tough time in the general the night before. We thought of having a relaxation.
Rajadhani train was boarded to Agra from Kalyan junction at 3 pm after some food and drinks.
Had a great sleep that night and was wondering what the next day would deliver us.

By 7 am we reached Agra station. Had a tea and started to wonder where to go, where to keep the luggage we had.
We had Taj Mahal, Agra fort in mind and there comes the taxi drivers who surrounded us just as we walked outside the station.
We agreed for a decent price and started for Taj Mahal for which we had to take tickets online.
We reached early there so we didn't have much crowd and we were able to enjoy some peace and beauty of the Taj which later turned to be a crowded place as we left.
Then we left for Agra fort and reached there by 12 pm and there also had some decent crowd.
A place appreciated for some great photos and architecture.
Afterwards we had the Agra peta which i didn't like personally.
Then we boarded the bus at 3 pm for Delhi where our friendly taxi driver dropped off.
We then reached Delhi by midnight and we already had a room booked from Agra. It was a pretty decent stay for 400
Had some food and drinks,slept peacefully.

A day for Delhi it was. Delhi is not coverable within a day still we managed to visit some places. We took Uber to Jama masjid,it was quite crowded. Then near it we had the delicious qureshi kebab,rabda and some street food which is quite famous. We had a walk through the Chandhni chowk market for some purchases. We bought some gloves and socks. We took a glimpse of the Red fort from outside.
We took another uber to Connaught place and had a walk around there.Then we also had a rush through the India gate. Later we took some great pictures of the parliament.
By then it was late for the bus we booked for Jammu which was our next location.We had to run through the streets of Delhi and we reached the bus point finally.
We had a bread omelette and got in the bus

The bus was passing by Punjab through the misty morning and we had a tea break in between. Quite simply the best tea! We were near to the Jammu border and the bus was diverted to a place where lots of other tourist bus were parked,it was a covid testing center. We took the test and anxiously waited for the results. We were all negative. The bus now started to move and within a few hours we reached the bus bay where lots of trucks were parked too from where we had to travel a bit to reach Jammu town.We decided to hitchhike by a truck and we went asking truck drivers for a lift. We got lucky!
From Jammu we managed to book a bus for 600/person to Srinagar, Kashmir.
We went for a  tea walk thereabout for taking SIM as our connection doesn't work in J&K. We wandered around here and there grabbing food and necessities.
People were quite friendly, from a tea stall owner who argued with the shoe polisher who charged us extra price to the old couple who paid our bills in the hotel when we faced a network issue. Happy times!
It didn't last long,We hopped in the bus to Kashmir by night after having food. That was when i realized that the GoPro which i filmed before entering the bus was missing from my pocket. Every passenger in the bus helped checking and they were ready to undergo checking themselves too!
I couldn't think straight anymore,that was when we met a guy named Farooq bhai along with his daughter. They were all along such a great company.
Suddenly the bus was brought to stop as during the night there's only one way traffic to Kashmir and unfortunately that day our side couldn't go. The number of tea,cigarettes and talks we had were innumerable. We managed to sleep in the bus till morning 7 am when we were allowed to go.
We started moving and on the hill path we had the salt tea for the first and last time of our life.
The interesting fact was we almost spent 20 hours in that bus after reaching Kashmir at almost 4 pm.
We took a houseboat stay+travel for an affordable price.
We went roaming in the streets of Srinagar,had mutton balls from the 7 dishes of mutton.
Back to the stay, chilling for sometime we never knew when we dozed off.

Waking up in the morning to a beautiful view of Dal lake with a hot tea, good music we had our taxi waiting for going to Sonamarg valley. We took a bath in hot water and left.
We were passing along the streets with the taxi bhai stories all along about Kashmir. Had breakfast on the way at a beautiful spot. We were all anticipated about how would it be since it's the first time we've been seeing snow. Sonamarg was a true beauty! Gladly it was opened for tourists on the same day and it was less crowded. You may rent snow boots from there itself but we didn't which was a bad decision. If you don't want to get your shoes wet and dirty,rent a boot. There were lots of activities going on alike snow gliding, skiing. We decided to walk though. It wasn't that fun until the legs started to dig in the snow as we walked. Still the hardest climbs gives the greatest views.
We also got a good group to travel with. We reached where i couldn't even see the snow glider coming.
First times are always special! We had lots of fun in the snow and didn't know how the time passed by.
The taxi bhai expected us to return within 3 hours and we almost spent till evening,He was a little frustrated about it.
Grabbed some banana's along the way cause the streets in Kashmir close by 8 pm and that was our dinner for the night. We reached back at the stay, chilling starts around the fireplace and slept dead alike the other day.

Next day we woke up early as we had to visit to visit two places and leave that night itself back to Jammu. We had s coffee and left with the taxi bhai to Gulmarg which was more like a commercial tourist location with a lot of guides and not much of peacefulness. There were skiing guides following us all along. Skiing was the main sport around there. Even we took the experience of skiing. Bargain till you get it for cheap price. It's not actually Kashmir it's Cash-more" , said a guy over there we met. We left from there by afternoon and we headed back to the house boat, packed our bags,said bye to the stay. We headed for Shikaro ride through the Dal lake where the floating market is located. It's a must watch,if possible during daytime. Now as we reached the time to say goodbye to Kashmir starts the problem with another taxi driver who was arranged by the guide in the first place asking for amount which we didn't have,and by then there weren't anymore buses available.
Finally we managed to agree for the amount we had by the help of some local people and we headed back to Jammu.
We passed two check posts giving some money as it was midnight by then,third one didn't let us pass and we were running out of money too.Now we didn't have a choice but to sleep in the car throughout the night in the freezing cold.
By morning 7am we were allowed to go and reached Jammu by 2-3 pm. We directly booked the bus tickets to the next location and went thereabout for some tea. We got a few catch from nearby food stalls and hopped in the bus by night 9 pm.

Next day we woke up to the misty mountains of Manali. The bus almost reached the bus bay where lots of taxis and guides where waiting to surround us, but then we decided to take a walk and grab some tea. We had a stay in mind where we had to take a taxi to. After wandering around a lot there we managed to reach the stay "Mad Indian packer".
We confirmed for dorm. Now we had to catch some sleep after a shower. We woke by afternoon and we went for a walk to grab something to eat, entered a cafe which first caught our eye. Tea and noodles was the mainstream food around there. Now we took a walk to the Hadimba temple,then by evening we went around for street shopping and grabbed the necessaries and food. We headed straight to the stay where the others were chilling around the bonfire. We joined them,played some music and went straight to sleep.

Lazy chill morning with a hot tea and great view to enjoy!
We had to leave early from there as we need to reach the next destination. We packed our bags and were about to leave, just as one of the boy tripped and fell down. We helped him up and fid the needful. We started to walk after that to the township where we took the seats on the bus to Kasol. It was another 4-5 hour journey through lots of hillside villages. We reached Kasol around 7 pm where we were welcomed with hot momos. We took a stay for 300/day and started to stroll around Kasol for dinner and night life.
We got hold of the necessary and came back to where we stayed.Chilled all night Long!

Pictures speak more than the words!
The day for Malana village.
Lots of trekking, another side of the world.
Different people,customs, traditions.
Smell of hashish spreads thin air over there.

Trek to Grahan village!
A beautiful scenic route for who loves to trek!
Initially with not much of descents and then gradually the trek gets harder.
Start early as possible so that you reach before evening,as it gets darker as we get to the final part of the trek.
One cafe is along the way.
Beautiful peaceful locations to chill and rest along the way.

Tosh day and the final day for Kasol
We took a bus from Kasol to Tosh. The bus stops at Kalga is from where both Tosh and Parvati valley trekking starts.
We decided to go tosh since we can't be late to reach back Kasol as we had to catch the bus back Delhi that night.
We strolled around Tosh for sometime came back to Kasol
Bid adieu! Took back the bus to Delhi!

A day in Delhi for some shopping we had to make so that we could catch something on our way back home for family.
Street shopping around Chandhni chowk, Connaught place amd Sarojini Nagar.
Took the train back to Mangalore with a lot of memories to cherish for the coming days which are unforgettable.
While writing this blog i just drift away into those memories.
These are the memories that just long when you are old tired