We reached dharamshala(H.P.) via volvo from dehradun (around 6am ) ,at bus stand. Me and a friend, we got quickly freshen up there and left for H.P.C.A.(Himachal pradesh cricket association) stadium ,way to HPCA there are several dhabas and restraunt at one of those dhabas,we had our breakfast (alu paratha+curd and tea it costed 100 INR for two) ,after having breakfast we reached HPCA around 9 and waited for an hour as the opening time was 10am ,at 10am they opened the gates and we had a go around tour of HPCA stadium and clicked many pictures ,this was really a beautiful experience though i am not much into cricket yet my god the stadium was worth visiting. I had a great time there entire stadium is surrounded by mountains and lush greenery. We stayed here for roughly two hours.
After leaving hpca we went to see war memorial followed by tea garden ,we didn't take any cab or taxi for these places as they were not very far and taxi was charging 200INR which was way to costly for us so we decided we'll go there walking by ourselves .
In dharamshala u can also visit kangra fort (we didn't have time and it was far fr where we were). so After visiting tea garden we took a bus and headed to macleodganj .
McLeod Ganj is a small hill station in dharamshala , surrounded by vast mountains and greenery, MacLeod ganj is also famous for Tibetan handicrafts, Tibetan carpets, garments,and monastry
The purpose of our visit to macleod was to go for "Triund Trek"
We reached here at 3 pm ,we prebooked hotel here which was slightly overpriced according to it's ambiance this was may be because we went in season ,anyway we checked in, got fresh ,took our meal ,and moved out for our next destinations which were bhagsu waterfall , monastery,and dal lake .we rent a Scooty at 400INR/day
Bhagsunag waterfall was eye pleasing although fall wasn't at its full blown , locals there told us its worth to see during rainy season . Our bad!
Next we went for dal lake honestly i didn't like it much as i was expecting more than what i found , slightly ahead dal lake there was sunset point ,we sat there watched sunset and captured few silhouettes shots. Maggie is the speciality of mountains we didn't left the place without having a plate of it.
Then we came back to the market and visited monastery. After that we took our dinner in one of the vintage cafe ,there my friend had thukpaa( a snack famous in MacLeod ,worth a try) ,after which we came back to hotel , planned for the next day ,and slept.
This day At 6 am we checked out from the hotel and started our trek from galu after taking a taxi till galu (u can also start ur trek right from MacLeod) ,it took us 4 hours to reach triund top, at one point i felt like giving up but my friend really motivated me ( tip: bring chocolates with u it boost up energy and ur tummy feels fed also take water bottles)
We reached at the top and set up the tent, and had some rest as we were literally dieing from this 4 hours of trek. Then we had lunch and enjoyed tea sitting by the camp and witnessing this breathtaking view.
Triund offers jaw-dropping views of the lofty Dhauladhar ranges. At night, sky here looks incredible full of stars , enjoying bonfire at such height would be a moment you'll never forget.
In the early morning, we decided to climb down the trek post watching the sunrise.
It took merely 2hrs to reach back to MacLeod , As we got down we had the breakfast at one of the shop and then we took a bus for bir village ( there is no direct bus to bir we went MacLeod to baijnath and baijnath to bir).We reached chougan (bir) by the evening and stayed in bir zostel (it's a new property you may have heard about) and in no time zostel arranged everything for our paragliding experience, so we got ready along with 8 more tourists and from there we get drove for another 11 km for paragliding take off point which took almost half an hour.
Paragliding take off point is located at 1430 mt from sea level. Our flying team was entertaining enthusiastic and they were so good with calming our fear down 😊
This team was registered with Himachal Tourism and seems very experienced. We got Geared up in next 10 mins and with the instruction of run run run, just in 2-3 steps i was in the air. What i witnessed in those moments, i couldn't give word to that feeling. I was floating in the thin air , with all these houses under my feet surrounded by tall green trees and snowcapped mountains... Damnnnnm!!!
After 15 minutes of this heavenly experience, i got Landed back safely at Chougan.
An experience of lifetime!
Next day, we headed back to baijnath for our bus to home. Since, we reached a bit earlier, we spent our time at baijnath temple which is just few meters from bus stand and the vibes of the temple were surreal and calming.
We caught the bus at 12pm and this was the wrap of our journey.
Himachal has a lot for you trust me.
