Dalhousie is a hill station situated in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India. I recently visited this place again after a long break from trekking and decided to write a blog about it.
Without a doubt, its one of the most beautiful places in India. One can't help falling in love with this place. Being a part of a country as populated as India, it is anybody's guess that the place must be swarming with people. But, amazingly enough, less people visit Dalhousie compared to other hill stations in India. To reach Dalhousie from Indore(the city I reside in), you board the train to Pathankot Cant.(Punjab) and then take a bus or cab to Dalhousie. You can read all about the place on Wikipedia or any other sites but here, I'll just share some memorable moments from my adventure.
Now, for those of you who know me, when it comes to adventures, I prefer going solo. But on this journey, I had my younger brother accompany me. I planned the trip on Christmas eve and left in the after noon of 26th Dec 2k14. Since the trip was instantaneous, and I ain't no Bill Gates, we couldn't expect luxury during our trip. I had a very limited supply of money from my savings and the money I, after being reluctant, accepted from my Dad. 10,000Rs.(200$) to be specific. We had to book Sleeper (non AC) class seats in Malwa Express, which was running late due to fog in Northern parts of India. So, it arrived 2hrs later than its scheduled arrival time and left another half hour late.
Now, normally, this journey from Indore to Pathankot Cant. is supposed to take 25hours. But, due to the fog, it took 30hours. So, we were supposed to reach Pathankot at 3PM on 27th Dec and then take the bus to Dalhousie, since it was an economic alternative to cab. But the train reached at 8 PM. Upon reaching the Pathankot Railway Station, we couldn't see anything beyond a feet from us because of the dense fog. A rickshaw driver approached us and we told him that we needed to reach the Bus stand. Now, in India, rickshaw drivers are the most opportunist people. They see that tourists don't know jack about the city so they seek to earn as much as 900% profit from them. This rickshaw driver also tried to convince us that it would cost us 200Rs. but I agreed to pay only 100Rs. Upon reaching the Bus Stand, we came to know that it costs only 20Rs. to get there from the Railway Station. Also, the last bus to Dalhousie left minutes before our arrival. We were just speculating our options when we met an older gentleman who was also there to reach Dalhousie for YHAI camps in Dalhousie. After some discussions, the three of us decided that we'll take a cab to Dalhousie. We then took a cab @Rs. 500 per person and left for Dalhousie. Now, for the first 30km, there was nothing visible on the road but somehow the driver was miraculously driving the cab. But, as soon as we entered Himachal Pradesh, the fog faded away and we ushered into the beautiful valleys of the state. So, we reached Dalhousie at 11PM, dropped off our new friend at his camp, took a room in a hotel, since we hadn't booked one earlier, and went straight to bed. Now, going to bed wasn't easy as the tempreture was -2°C and the hotel manager was asking for more money for a room heater :P. The bed sheets were freezing, so were the blankets. But somehow, we managed to put ourselves to sleep.
Day 1:
The next morning, I woke up early to survey the place and find the hotel in which we stayed earlier when we came with our parents as kids. Turns out that the cab dropped us at a hotel which was 1.5km from the Mall road. Now, 1.5km may sound like nothing, but on hill stations, 1.5km is more than enough to get your legs really really tired and fatigued. While I explored the place, my brother got our stuff together and got ready for the day. So, I found Hotel Holiday Plaza, which was the one I was looking for, booked a room and got back to get my brother and the luggage. So I walked 3km while exploring and 1.5 km again to take the luggage to the new room with my bro. That was really really tiring... I mean.. I cannot stress it enough...
So then, we began our adventure, soon after leaving the main markets of Dalhousie, we spotted the snow on the mountains in the horizon and soon after that on the road too. Then there was Dalhousie Public School which is a magnificent fortress cum school between beautiful snowy hills. This is the school in which the protagonist of Taare Zameen Par(an Indian Movie) was sent by his parents. in the first 3km, we found some snow on the roadside every now and then which was enough to make us rejoice. But as we continued to walk, after about an hour of walking, we found a lot of snow all over the road, the valley and the hill which almost drove us crazy. It was really cold, about -3°C, but that didn't bother us at all. We played for a while with the snow, clicked some pics and then started moving again. After about 5km, we found a beautiful temple covered in snow. But since, neither me nor my bro are religious, we kept moving after clicking some pics. It was the same snowy journey as we kept on walking for about 4 hours when we started getting really tired. The legs had stopped moving and the body was begging us to stop. Till now, we had been surviving on the food which mom packed for us two days back in Indore :D . So we also needed to get fresh food for which it was evident that we reach Dalhousie. People that were passing by were real A**holes since none of them gave us a lift back. Some guys told us that a bus will go back to Dalhousie at 4PM so we had been moving forward hoping to catch the bus in its way but so far, we hadn't spotted any bus.
When we were about 9km far from Dalhousie, we saw the bus. It was an unforgettable moment. I don't know about my brother, but my heart was dancing. The journey which we took 5hours to travel, the bus covered in half an hour. That pissed us off. We decided that on day 2, we'll be a lot quicker.
Upon reaching Dalhousie, we went back to our hotels, cleaned our backpacks, took baths and rested for a while. Then we had dinner at some restaurant on the Mall road before coming back to the hotel and sleeping.
Day 2:
The next morning, we both got up early, and started trekking, we took a lot of shortcuts and reached the same spot which we reached on day 1 in just 3 hours. A couple hundred meters after that, we reached Kalatop, which is a Wildlife Sanctuary. This place was so beautiful that we actually took our shirts off in the snow, kissed the snow and..... well. never mind :). We made a snow man and clicked some pics with it before climbing up to the summit. Then, we climbed up to the top of the hill where there were beautiful guest houses. We had an amazing view of the Peer Panjal mountain range. Those snow capped mountains looked like inverted ice cream cones covered in Vanilla. I could lick that Vanilla right off of them :D. This place was like a dream. If I am ever to have a girl in my life, I'd take her there every winter. We spent about an hour on the summit and had some Maggie Noodles before getting back to the base camp to find that the snow man that we made was crushed :(. We then returned our gum boots and took a bus back to Dalhousie. We had walked a lot more on this day compared to the previous one but still, we weren't feeling tired.
Day 3:
This was the last day for us in Dalhousie and we had to make it worth it. We got up early and took a bus which would take us to Khajjar, our final destination. After having seen the snow of Kalatop, we weren't expecting much from Khajjar. However, as soon as we passed Kalatop, there were sooo beautiful views on both sides of the bus. The views were so beautiful that we forgot that the only people left in the bus were me, my bro, the bus conductor and the driver. These views were awesome enough to make us forget all of the tensions of the world and just get lost in them. There is no way this beauty can be described.. It was like the depth of the endless sea... or the darkness of the infinite night sky.... Nothing like anything you can think of even in the best of your dreams.
So, after about an hour of travel and 72Rs, we reached Khajjar. It was like a football ground but only 10 to 15 times bigger. There was some snow on the edges and Deodar trees all around it. There was also a large patch of damp land in the center of this massive ground surrounded by hills. I'm a snow lover so this place was not that cherishing for me but it was still a beautiful place. I'm sure most of you will love it. We spent a lot of time at this place before taking the same bus back to Dalhousie.
As soon as we reached Dalhousie, we checked out of our hotel, took the luggage to the bus stand and boarded a bus back to Pathankot which took a lot of time to get us back to Pathankot. Our train was on the next morning,i.e, 31st of December. So, we took a room in a hotel close to the Railway Station. It was at this hotel that we had our first decent meal during this journey. I had a very peaceful sleep on this night in spite of the fact that our train was supposed to arrive early on the next morning.
Day 4:
We got up at 5, took baths, got ready and reached the railway station at 6 in the morning since our train was supposed to arrive at 6.30. We had our seats in the AC coach of a 'Holiday special' train. The train arrived 5hours late which was enough to piss us off enough to create a scene on the railway station by shouting at the station master and the staff. However, when we got into the train, our anger vanished because this train was one of the finest trains I had ever travelled in. Although it was a slow train, it was fun to ride in. We had a nice Muslim family and a pretty journalist on our adjoining seats. We slept too soon and couldn't wish everyone a happy new year.
Day 5:
At around 1 PM, we reached Indore railway station. We took a rickshaw and came home. When we asked our parents about how they celebrated the night of 31st December, their answer was" You kids enjoyed it better than us even though you were in the train. It rained here and all of the celebration plans were ruined. "
So that was how I completed another adventure @ 5000Rs(100$) per head :D. If you want to go to Dalhousie and need tips, feel free to send me a message or leave a comment :) .
I apologise for my prolonged absence. I've been working on some great content. You'll be able to see it soon.
Without a doubt, its one of the most beautiful places in India. One can't help falling in love with this place. Being a part of a country as populated as India, it is anybody's guess that the place must be swarming with people. But, amazingly enough, less people visit Dalhousie compared to other hill stations in India. To reach Dalhousie from Indore(the city I reside in), you board the train to Pathankot Cant.(Punjab) and then take a bus or cab to Dalhousie. You can read all about the place on Wikipedia or any other sites but here, I'll just share some memorable moments from my adventure.
Now, for those of you who know me, when it comes to adventures, I prefer going solo. But on this journey, I had my younger brother accompany me. I planned the trip on Christmas eve and left in the after noon of 26th Dec 2k14. Since the trip was instantaneous, and I ain't no Bill Gates, we couldn't expect luxury during our trip. I had a very limited supply of money from my savings and the money I, after being reluctant, accepted from my Dad. 10,000Rs.(200$) to be specific. We had to book Sleeper (non AC) class seats in Malwa Express, which was running late due to fog in Northern parts of India. So, it arrived 2hrs later than its scheduled arrival time and left another half hour late.
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| The adventure begins |
Now, normally, this journey from Indore to Pathankot Cant. is supposed to take 25hours. But, due to the fog, it took 30hours. So, we were supposed to reach Pathankot at 3PM on 27th Dec and then take the bus to Dalhousie, since it was an economic alternative to cab. But the train reached at 8 PM. Upon reaching the Pathankot Railway Station, we couldn't see anything beyond a feet from us because of the dense fog. A rickshaw driver approached us and we told him that we needed to reach the Bus stand. Now, in India, rickshaw drivers are the most opportunist people. They see that tourists don't know jack about the city so they seek to earn as much as 900% profit from them. This rickshaw driver also tried to convince us that it would cost us 200Rs. but I agreed to pay only 100Rs. Upon reaching the Bus Stand, we came to know that it costs only 20Rs. to get there from the Railway Station. Also, the last bus to Dalhousie left minutes before our arrival. We were just speculating our options when we met an older gentleman who was also there to reach Dalhousie for YHAI camps in Dalhousie. After some discussions, the three of us decided that we'll take a cab to Dalhousie. We then took a cab @Rs. 500 per person and left for Dalhousie. Now, for the first 30km, there was nothing visible on the road but somehow the driver was miraculously driving the cab. But, as soon as we entered Himachal Pradesh, the fog faded away and we ushered into the beautiful valleys of the state. So, we reached Dalhousie at 11PM, dropped off our new friend at his camp, took a room in a hotel, since we hadn't booked one earlier, and went straight to bed. Now, going to bed wasn't easy as the tempreture was -2°C and the hotel manager was asking for more money for a room heater :P. The bed sheets were freezing, so were the blankets. But somehow, we managed to put ourselves to sleep.
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| Breakfast in Agra |
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| Fog of the north |
Day 1:
The next morning, I woke up early to survey the place and find the hotel in which we stayed earlier when we came with our parents as kids. Turns out that the cab dropped us at a hotel which was 1.5km from the Mall road. Now, 1.5km may sound like nothing, but on hill stations, 1.5km is more than enough to get your legs really really tired and fatigued. While I explored the place, my brother got our stuff together and got ready for the day. So, I found Hotel Holiday Plaza, which was the one I was looking for, booked a room and got back to get my brother and the luggage. So I walked 3km while exploring and 1.5 km again to take the luggage to the new room with my bro. That was really really tiring... I mean.. I cannot stress it enough...
 |
| The bone chilling morning |
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| First views |
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| First snow |
So then, we began our adventure, soon after leaving the main markets of Dalhousie, we spotted the snow on the mountains in the horizon and soon after that on the road too. Then there was Dalhousie Public School which is a magnificent fortress cum school between beautiful snowy hills. This is the school in which the protagonist of Taare Zameen Par(an Indian Movie) was sent by his parents. in the first 3km, we found some snow on the roadside every now and then which was enough to make us rejoice. But as we continued to walk, after about an hour of walking, we found a lot of snow all over the road, the valley and the hill which almost drove us crazy. It was really cold, about -3°C, but that didn't bother us at all. We played for a while with the snow, clicked some pics and then started moving again. After about 5km, we found a beautiful temple covered in snow. But since, neither me nor my bro are religious, we kept moving after clicking some pics. It was the same snowy journey as we kept on walking for about 4 hours when we started getting really tired. The legs had stopped moving and the body was begging us to stop. Till now, we had been surviving on the food which mom packed for us two days back in Indore :D . So we also needed to get fresh food for which it was evident that we reach Dalhousie. People that were passing by were real A**holes since none of them gave us a lift back. Some guys told us that a bus will go back to Dalhousie at 4PM so we had been moving forward hoping to catch the bus in its way but so far, we hadn't spotted any bus.
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| Peer Panjal in the horizon |
 |
| Playing with the snow |
 |
| Temple in the snow |
When we were about 9km far from Dalhousie, we saw the bus. It was an unforgettable moment. I don't know about my brother, but my heart was dancing. The journey which we took 5hours to travel, the bus covered in half an hour. That pissed us off. We decided that on day 2, we'll be a lot quicker.
Upon reaching Dalhousie, we went back to our hotels, cleaned our backpacks, took baths and rested for a while. Then we had dinner at some restaurant on the Mall road before coming back to the hotel and sleeping.
Day 2:
The next morning, we both got up early, and started trekking, we took a lot of shortcuts and reached the same spot which we reached on day 1 in just 3 hours. A couple hundred meters after that, we reached Kalatop, which is a Wildlife Sanctuary. This place was so beautiful that we actually took our shirts off in the snow, kissed the snow and..... well. never mind :). We made a snow man and clicked some pics with it before climbing up to the summit. Then, we climbed up to the top of the hill where there were beautiful guest houses. We had an amazing view of the Peer Panjal mountain range. Those snow capped mountains looked like inverted ice cream cones covered in Vanilla. I could lick that Vanilla right off of them :D. This place was like a dream. If I am ever to have a girl in my life, I'd take her there every winter. We spent about an hour on the summit and had some Maggie Noodles before getting back to the base camp to find that the snow man that we made was crushed :(. We then returned our gum boots and took a bus back to Dalhousie. We had walked a lot more on this day compared to the previous one but still, we weren't feeling tired.
 |
| Kalatop - First view |
Day 3:
This was the last day for us in Dalhousie and we had to make it worth it. We got up early and took a bus which would take us to Khajjar, our final destination. After having seen the snow of Kalatop, we weren't expecting much from Khajjar. However, as soon as we passed Kalatop, there were sooo beautiful views on both sides of the bus. The views were so beautiful that we forgot that the only people left in the bus were me, my bro, the bus conductor and the driver. These views were awesome enough to make us forget all of the tensions of the world and just get lost in them. There is no way this beauty can be described.. It was like the depth of the endless sea... or the darkness of the infinite night sky.... Nothing like anything you can think of even in the best of your dreams.
So, after about an hour of travel and 72Rs, we reached Khajjar. It was like a football ground but only 10 to 15 times bigger. There was some snow on the edges and Deodar trees all around it. There was also a large patch of damp land in the center of this massive ground surrounded by hills. I'm a snow lover so this place was not that cherishing for me but it was still a beautiful place. I'm sure most of you will love it. We spent a lot of time at this place before taking the same bus back to Dalhousie.
As soon as we reached Dalhousie, we checked out of our hotel, took the luggage to the bus stand and boarded a bus back to Pathankot which took a lot of time to get us back to Pathankot. Our train was on the next morning,i.e, 31st of December. So, we took a room in a hotel close to the Railway Station. It was at this hotel that we had our first decent meal during this journey. I had a very peaceful sleep on this night in spite of the fact that our train was supposed to arrive early on the next morning.
Day 4:
We got up at 5, took baths, got ready and reached the railway station at 6 in the morning since our train was supposed to arrive at 6.30. We had our seats in the AC coach of a 'Holiday special' train. The train arrived 5hours late which was enough to piss us off enough to create a scene on the railway station by shouting at the station master and the staff. However, when we got into the train, our anger vanished because this train was one of the finest trains I had ever travelled in. Although it was a slow train, it was fun to ride in. We had a nice Muslim family and a pretty journalist on our adjoining seats. We slept too soon and couldn't wish everyone a happy new year.
 |
| Going back home |
Day 5:
At around 1 PM, we reached Indore railway station. We took a rickshaw and came home. When we asked our parents about how they celebrated the night of 31st December, their answer was" You kids enjoyed it better than us even though you were in the train. It rained here and all of the celebration plans were ruined. "
So that was how I completed another adventure @ 5000Rs(100$) per head :D. If you want to go to Dalhousie and need tips, feel free to send me a message or leave a comment :) .
I apologise for my prolonged absence. I've been working on some great content. You'll be able to see it soon.
