We woke at our campsite which was half an hour below the Triund trek. It was cold at night, the temperatures went down till -2°C. In these temperatures, you can't use water to brush your teeth, as you don't want your teeth to fall off soon. But oral hygiene is utterly necessary, so we used Listerine mouthwash instead. And regarding the nature's call, you have to find a place to relieve yourself. We woke up to this view around us.
By the time the breakfast was getting ready, we soaked in some warm rays from the rising sun. We had bread omelette for breakfast. And after a while, we went towards the Triund Top accompanied by these beautiful companions.
We reached Triund Top in about half an hour. And I must admit, on the first sight I was reluctant to accept that it was the top. It didn't look like the top to me, there was a straight way going further ahead to other mountains. And surrounding us were tall standing Dhauladar ranges. But probably the temple over there and the guest house were indicators that we were indeed on the top.
We sat at the top for around an hour, then started the descend. While descending, we took the Gallu Devi Temple Way, but there's a way that directly goes to Bhagsu before we can actually arrive at the temple, and we choose that way. It was more steeper, but shorter. By the time we reached Dharamkot, I was so saturated of walking that I was blankly descending down wondering when will reach a nice place.
We reached Dhramkot at around 1 pm and went to have lunch at Trek & Dine Cafe. By the time food was being prepared, we attended some meetings. I had Falafel Laffa and Banana Dates Coconut Shake. Both of them were good, satiating enough for my hunger after the trek.
We knew that if we go back to the hostel now, tiredness would take over and we would settle in the hostel itself. So we choose to go the Mcleodganj Market instead. The distance was 2 km, so we took a rikshaw from the Dharamkot Taxi stand to the market. In the whole area, the rates for the local taxis are fixed, and you don't need to bargain for the price.
The first place we went to was this Tibetan temple. It was surrounded by Mani Prayer Wheels on all sides. The belief is, rotating the wheel once is equivalent to chanting the mantra 'Om Mani Padme Hum' a thousand times. Due to the pandemic, we were not allowed to go inside. But we had many varieties of momos from the street vendors outside the temple. They were super yummy, and if you're here you definitely should try them!
After this, we took a stroll of the whole Tibetian Market and went till the end which is the Dalai Lama Temple. We weren't allowed to enter in there either, due to the pandemic of course. After this, we walked to the Bhagsunag market and explored it till the end. But we'll also explore the market tomorrow, so more insights on that later. Quite a lot of walking after the trek, I'll realize want happened to my leg once we're back. Until tomorrow!
Musings
There's this story that I heard a long time ago. Once upon a time when our Earth used to be populated by the Gods, they were searching a place to hide the greatest treasure, a place where humans wouldn't be able to reach easily. They thought of the highest place on the mountains, but thought humans will gradually reach there. Then they thought of the deepest place in the oceans, but they knew that one day humans would reach there too. So they came to the conclusion that the safest place to hide the treasure is inside them. Since then, we've been looking in all the wrong directions to find the right things. There have been many Buddhas in the past who've attained the treasure, and there would be several Buddhas in the future too. Not all of us want to reach there, and I know it's highly unlikely. But I really wish humanity as a whole move towards that direction, not away from it.
This is an article in my series 'Workation 2020', which is a 16-Day post-lockdown trip to Himachal. Follow me to live the whole experience along. Check out the posts and story highlights of this trip on Instagram at my handle @divyagolyan!
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