A trip to find myself.

Tripoto
25th May 2017
Photo of A trip to find myself. by Vaibhav Pratap

After reading a lot about Kasol, finally managed to finalise a trip to the place. Because it was going to be my first trip over there, I booked everything online from bus tickets to hotels.

Finally arrived in Delhi and boarded my bus from paharganj at 5:30 in the evening. The name of the travel agency was Swagatam Travels. The bus was in a pretty good condition, good crew but no washroom in it.

Day 1

So after a long 12 hour journey and 3 pit stops finally reached to bhuntar in the morning. As soon I stepped out from the bus, i felt scared of being away from everyone i know to a place i have only read about online. i went on to explore the area around bhuntar bus stand for an hour and had my breakfast there. While having my egg omellete, I was also thinking of a way to get to kasol. As I was alone so taxi was very expensive for me. Instead I talked to a guy there about motorbikes on hire and found out that the rentals were not available there at that time. somehow I managed to get 180cc bike which costed me around 1500 INR per day. It was expensive because at that time in 2017 kasol was not a popular destination.

Finally with a mode to get around in the valley, I headed towards the 35 Km drive to kasol. As everything around me was new I took every moment in wherever I could. it took me around an hour and half to reach kasol because of the numerous stops I made during the drive. I had a room reservation in a Homestay/cafe named Memoir Homestay. the place was situated on the hill side opposite to the parvati river. The place was great for budget accomadations and the manager there was also very friendly. After an hour of rest i drove to the manikaran gurudwara. when I returned back to the cafe i was staying, I met a guy from Chennai who was there for 7 days and he had weed, which we smoked a ton. Later that evening I get to know that the bridge that i crossed to get to kasol was underwater due to the rainfall in that area and it was considered that it would take aroun 5 to 7 days to get it repaired. So I smoked and went to the famous german bakery to let my worries out by having hot chocolate cakes and other things.

Day 2

I woke up and as I was unsure of my return I thought to make most of my time there happy for me. Went on a morning trek to chalal village and had my fresh breakfast over there in a small cafe run by the locals there and made my way back to kasol by the noon. Since it was already noon by the time i was back from chalal so i decided to have my lunch before going to the homestay. So I went to the Evergreen Cafe, it had a very cool hipster vibe around it and I loved it the moment i entered there. Met a couple of Israiles there, we had lunch together and suddenly i was invited to a party which was being organised on a campsite in the forest area behind the kasol market. So i went back to my room rested there for a couple of hours, woke up had a lemon ginger drink and relaxed while talking to other travellers the cafe. As the clock reached 6, I knew it was time for partyyy. came down to the market headed to german bakery for some cakes and headed towards the venue. The organisers there were very kind and it looked like a lame party as it started but 2 hours later it was the rave party i expected it to be... And i had very good time there dancing drinking and just talking to people or just vibing on your own.

Day 3

It was really late till i stayed in the party. And today i thought of driving till Tosh and spend the day their which I did. The drive from kasol to tosh is a good one with beautiful curves and bridges along the way. Within 2 hours I reached Tosh and made my way to a cafe there named 360 degree. i ended up loving the place and the village that i decided to stay for 1 night there. getting last minute accomdation was really not very tough task and i got myself a pretty room with a very good view of the mountains.

Day 4

I woke up early because of the curosity to watch the sunrise in mountains again. I ha d my breakfast there and started my drive back to kasol. After I reached kasol I still had 6 hours before i had to board my bus from bhuntar so I went to this Mama Cafe in the kasol market and had my lunch there and then got high and went to german Bakery again. Now it was time for me to drive back to bhuntar and board my bus there to delhi.

I reached bhuntar 3 hours before my bus was scheduled to arrive. I returned the bike to its owner and then headed to explore old bhuntar on foot. i crossed a walking bridge and in the old city everything was still preserved. People living in very old houses and running bussniess in them. I had momos on one of the local shops there. i found a place near the river to just sit and relax and soak it all in. Afterwards I headed toward the bus stop and after half an hour of wait and panic the bus finally ariived and I started my journey back to Delhi with a lot of memories and self realisation of my ownself.

Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap
Photo of Kasol, Himachal Pradesh, India by Vaibhav Pratap