A Vacation unexpected - Kuari Pass and Pangarchulla - Part 1
After much deliberation and though, I agreed to the DH's idea to go for a trek during the Navratri vacations. And Boy am i glad I said yes. Considering the COVID situation, I was very apprehensive whether it is safe to travel. After seeing a couple of videos that people had posted on how the air travel happens, and after much discussions I was sort of convinced. So, we booked the tickets just a week before the travel (which is unheard of in the history of our travels - where the tickets are, at a minimum, purchased 6 months prior to the travel) and just 4 days before the D-day paid the trekking company.
Saturday dawned bright and we got ready to leave for the airport to reach there 2 hours in advance of the flight time. There was a huge line right from where the cab dropped us to just get into the airport. A bit of social distancing followed in the line - the line was due to the temperature check and boarding pass check which were all happening without contact. We saw a friend of Maya's with her family and judging by their attire we could make out they were also going for a trek. That gave me a bit of reassurance that I was not the only 'fool' to do this!
After snaking through this long queue, we went inside to search for the luggage drop off for Indigo and found that we need to print our own luggage tags. Poor DH has spent quite some time, printing our address and sticking it on each baggage item. After dropping off the luggage and security check-in - these went pretty much without hassle, we went to eat. Pretty much everything was the same experience as before COVID, except that in our heads was this fear of what might give us the affliction. After sanitizing our hands for the 100th time, we ate a good lunch before boarding the plane. Here comes the fun.
Each person is handed a face shield which pretty much cuts off the circulation when placed on top of your mask. And the middle seater gets the best gift - a huge white cloth robe to wear - and as usual I was that lucky recipient. All of this suiting up ended in giving me a bombastic headache when we reached Dehradun. But I must admit - given all the concerns we have about flying, I felt it is quite safe and santized. Though I really am enraged at the fact that the same people who maintain social distance every else, forget it the moment the plane lands. Despite the captain and the air hostess insisting on social distancing , they as usual crowd to the front the moment the plane hits the ground. Indians will never change , I guess.
After landing in Dehradun, there was a brief confusion on where we had to register / rather submit a document with our details of the trip etc. Then we met our driver for the next 6 days - Kumar - a very soft spoken , polite and friendly pandit - who would rather spend time doing pooja-paath and tending to his plants than driving a car to cater to the ever growing needs of his wife and 16 year old son. Reliving the way to rishikesh , from memories of 4 years ago, we reached our new hotel - Lemon Tree Premiere.
It is a very beautiful and sophisticated hotel situated bang in the middle of Ram and Laxman jhula. The rooms of the hotel are built below the road level and it is fun to watch the ganges through the glass elevator that takes one down from the "G" level down 6 levels to the lowest part of the hotel, which has a huge terrace where one can get the best view of the Ganges and spend a lovely time.
Our room was a suite and it has the best view of the Ganga and the mountains. It had a lovely balcony where we enjoyed a hot cup of tea and hot chocolate while admiring the view, waving to the rafters and just soaking in the peace.
The room was very spacious and since we were to get a double bed room and this was a single bedroom, the hotel staff very graciously put two beds up for us. We had a very cozy time in our room. We loved it so much that we requested them to save it for us on the return trip also.
The food was absolutely delicious. Our package included two meals and we thoroughly enjoyed dinner and breakfast there. The staff was very courteous and took care of all of our needs while we stayed there and it was thoroughly santized. People always wore masks and social distancing was very well maintained.
While there we did steam inhalation twice a day to ensure any germs that we might have inadvertently caught were killed before they could cause a damage. Yes, we carried the inhaler too.
The evening of the day we landed we went to see the Ganga Aarthi at Triveni Ghat. It was such a surreal experience revisiting the Aarthi - in the back of minds the fear of COVID and the need to be careful, not touch anything, sanitize hands frequently, stand away from the very little crowd at the Aarthi. I realized that we could not be totally 'free'. The DH and I so longed to eat Kachori chat from the same shop that we ate 4 years ago, but alas we could not do that now. I could just longing look at the street shops selling wares but not even go near or touch them. But the satisfaction and peace of having seen the Aarthi beat everything else.
The next morning we started quite early at 8 for a 12 hour long journey to Joshimath. I was so disappointed to find that we would not be going through Dev Prayag as the roads were closed. Instead we had to take a longer route via Tehri - which was good as well, since we got to see the Tehri Dam - the tallest Dam in India and one of the tallest in the world, as well as the beautiful and long Tehri lake. It was a lovely drive.
The best part of driving from Rishikesh to Joshimath is that the river never leaves sight of you. It follows you all through your drive. Crossing all the other 3 prayags and battling through numerous traffic jams, because of the many constructions along the route, stopping by for a lovely lunch (hot hot phulkas, dal and mix veg subzi with salad and masala papad for accompaniments) at Srinagar's Alaknanda Tourist home , also manging to squeeze in a tea-with hot maggi in a roadside shop (yes , how could we not stop for a tea...) we reached The Himalayan Abode at 8 pm sharp!
The first day was getting more tough, as the kids developed a headache due to altitude sickness. Poor things, they managed to walk through that - with a lot of encouragement from our side. We broke for lunch en route - cold winds blowing hard upon us - cold aloo parathas with pickle never tasted so yummy. Like our guide always said - any food in the mountains tastes very yummy.
After walking continuously for nearly 4 and half hours we reached the most beautiful spot we had seen so far - the Tali lake. Reaching that place we forgot all our tiredness and sunk down on the rocks to just soak in the beautiful scenery around.
We were so expecting to see the camp and were disappointed to know that we had to walk another 40 minutes more inside the forest, as the government no longer allowed camping near the leak. It was such a relief to find our camp after another 40 minutes of walk.
They had set up one tent for us 4 and all our luggage was neatly stacked inside along with our sleeping bags. It was very chilly , even at 4:30 in the evening. They had set up a food tent - where we would be having our meals and the countless number of teas. There was one Potty tent set up too. This was the part that took us quite sometime to get used to. Inside this tall tent, a hole was digged which we were to use for potty and a shovel next to it with some loose mud - so that we could cover up the poop after we were done - showing some courtesy to the next user. Ugh! talking about it still gives me the goosebumps. My younger one swore that the next trek she is travelling with a portable commode - whatever that means - ha ha!
Within minutes we had bundled into thermals and layers of jackets and gloves and all and got some semblance of warmth is us. The best part of the trek was that they would keep two thermos flasks - one filled with tea and one with milk always for us. The DH was very happy to be sipping his hot tea every micro second. Funnily he expected that here at home for couple of days after we came back ... fat chance if he thought I would fill up the thermos for him :).
Kids were still recovering from their headache so were pretty much "down" that night to appreciate the beauty and stillness of the sorroundings. There was a small stream running through, right beside which was the kitchen tent in which the guide, the cook and his helper slept. I must say even with pretty rudimentary stuff we were waited hand and foot all the 4 days .. I couldn't ask for anything extra at all.
The first night dinner was fit for a king - Rotis, rice, dal, aloo-gobi subi and papad. The best part was that dinner started very early - at 6:30 with a very very yummy soup - that night it was sweet corn soup. In the cold weather, the soup is ambrosia. And they had popcorn with the soup - double ambrosia. In all the days to follow we would set up this routine - Mornings we would wake up at 6 (because it just is not in our genes to sleep late - no matter if it is a vacation). We would loitter around till about 7 when they would give us our flasks of milk and tea. After having downed a cup , we would wait for the four bowls of hot water - to brush, wash our faces and use for potty cleaning. then we would get into the tents, out of our thermals and layers and layers of jackets and dress for the day's trek, pack our bags and get ready for yummy breakfast. Walk and walk through the day - eat a lovely lunch at noon or a little after that - and then head back exhausted to the camp by about 5. We would try to get some warmth in the setting sun and the hot tea they gave us before rushing tinto the tents o change again into thermals and the layers. It would be time for the hote soup and dinner , after which we spent some family time paying UNO or dumb charades using the pictionary cards... While scrambling from the dinner tent to our sleeping tent, we would pause to admire the star light sky - something that we can never see in the city and be amazed that there are INDEED so many stars in our galaxy ... And then another day would dawn ...
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