Road Trip. - Himachal here I Come - DAY 5

Day 5: Sarahan to Kalpa
We bid adieu to lush green beautiful Sarahan Valley @ 8.30, after taking the blessing of the bheemkali goddess.

THe drive from Sarahan to kalpa was supposed to be a easy drive, with a stop @ reckong peo only.

En-route we came accross the hydro electric project being led by Jaypee industries @ Karchamm. We continued and did not stop @ karchamm. THe roads were a mix of good tarmac, bad tarmac and no tarmac. But still the driving conditions were not very bad. They were easy driving Conditions.

You take a left from Powari to reach reckong peo and continue upwards to reach Kalpa.

The draw of Kalpa is its scenic beauty and suicidal roads. Trust me guys once at kalpa you have ZERO margin of error. But the drive is exhilariating to say the least. We were on the look out for a place to put up our own tents but even after every one commenting in Sarahan valley that we would be able to camp @ kalpa there is NO place here, except for a place called as CHAKHA Plateau. CHakha plateau is around 2.5 hours hike from Kalpa (on foot), there are water reserviours there, but we missed it as it takes a whole day to do that trek and we had to move on to Nako the next day.

Anyways the place where we stayed was the FIND OF THE CENTURY. It was at the edge of Kalpa, just below a army base camp. It was called Chine resort. Even though we could not put up our tent, we got to STAY in THEIR tents. ANd boy were they comfortable . . .

The whole Chine Valley camp property is adorned with flowers as you can see in the pictures. ANd has a direct view of the 'Kinner Kailash'. THe local folkore mentions that the color of the Kinner Kilash which has a 72 feet high shivling changes 3 times a day, and Snow has never been recorded to have settled on the shiv ling. Between the month of May and July there are trips all the way up to Kinner Kailash.

THe service & hospitality was way beyond expectations, probably as we were the 1st customers of the camp. So if any of you go there and check the register, you will find our names there as NO. 1 (A columbus moment for us)

By they the cook over there is a pretty talkative gentleman with stories to share. He narrated us stories ranging form GOds to medicinal values of plants in the regions and also about a peculiars Suicide point. Mind you this is not a HUMAN suicide point, the story goes something like this : Young village boys take street dogs on to a ledge over there and push them down, this has given the lege the name 'Suicide point'.

As a suggestion try the local 'apple wine' which has NO chemicals what so ever.

Kalpa as a destination CANNO BE MISSED if you are planning to come to HImachal. THis place has a soothing effect on you and for me personally it has made me a bit MORe religious than i was before this trip.

Day 6 will be a drive from Kalpa to Nako.

Road Trip. - Himachal here I Come - DAY 4

Solan - Simla- Narkanda - Rampur - Sarahan. HIMACHAL FINALLY.

The day of indescribible Beauty.

We started our day early, were on the roads by 6.30 A.m, and going by the past experience we knew that we will not be able to cover many kilometeres.

the roads from solan to shimla were an absolute dream to drive on. it entices even non-drives to give a shot at the wheel!! two lane, well surfaced roads with nice bends and curves all along, made it just perfect!

We were passing by the town of Shimla, and the beauty of that town just literally blew us away. a tad overcrowded, but very unique. just before shimla, we had stopped at the tourist info centre at 8.30am. even at that time, the people were forthcoming and provided us with accurate info about weather and road conditions ahead.

Further ahead from shimla, we made a breakfast stop at Kufri, HOtel Kufri Holiday Inn. the breakfast was top notch, but what was NOT TO BE MISSED was the view of the snow capped mountain ranges in the distance, whilst having breakfast.

further ahead from Kufri, we proceeded to Narkanda, Rampur, and took a right for Sarahan. if we would have been on these roads just two days prior, we would have definitely not been able to proceed ahead due to the several, large landslides, the remnants of which can still be seen on the roads.

it was only due to the quick response of the HP govt in clearing up the debris, that we are enjoying this trip unhindered so far.

i must mention, the view of the sutlej is absolutely divine as we drove along the banks all the way from narkanda till we took a right turn for sarahan.

having exhausted our water supplies quickly, we took a chance and filled the fresh water flowing down a waterfall...so far, we are still completely ok!! no diarrohea, stomach upsets or any symptoms..id say we got fresh spring water!


Sarahan, is about 25kms off the main road from jeori. this destination is a 'shakti Peeth'; the famous bheemkali temple is a must to visit, not very grand though, the most famous hotel here is the hotel shrikhand, from where one can view the Shiv ling on the shrikhand mountain. The hotel is good but a bit on the pricy side, we managed to get a similar view from a
much more economical hotel a bit lower, Hotel jeevan jyoti sarahan.


Sarahan is also the base for the 19th indo-tibet battalian, whose training basecamp is scattered all over this tiny hill station. Sarahan was infact off limits to civilans until 1962.

yeah by the way pics attached.

Road Trip. - Himachal here I Come - DAY 3

Day 3 - 15th - 570 kms
Delhi - Panchkula - Himachal - Solan.

After day 2 exhausting drive, we crashed into a hotel in Delhi, and as expected we started driving late, we started around 11.30 and exited delhi around 1.30, a good 2 hours drive.

We were planning at least to reach shimla by evening fall. The drive from Karnal to ambala was a very scenic drive.

There is nothing much to write about except for the fact that we reached Himachal Pradesh and stopped at a place called solan, which is around 60 KM from Shimla. ANd currently we around around 1500 meteres about sea level. Slowly slowly climbing up will help us acclimatize.

By the way today was the first time I felt the incredible torque of the Mhawk. This car

pulls like crazy from any gear, i was negotiating the steep bends and curves in the third gear. Looks like all the power is between 1500 rpm to 2500 rpm. This car is a dream to drive on ghats like this.

Something about Solan, Solan is a small quaint town, warm people, small narrow lanes, and a very good small town feel. We have put up in a hotel called 'Paragon' .

But if anyone comes to Solan, the thing that SHOULD NOT BE MISSED is the Mushroom Soup of Chanakya restaurant. And by the way Solan is also called the Mushroom Capital of INdia. ALso for a city slicker like me the beauty of this place is beyond words, this is just the beginning, hoping to catch some really more beautiful pics.