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Inspired by the first trek Decabits had we planned another trek, this time in Winters, to one of the most walked treks in North India - Triund.

Quick Synopsis

Trek Difficulty - Easy
Trek Duration - 2 days
Trek Distance - 18km
Trek Beauty - 3.75/5 stars
Peak Altitude - 2,850 meters
Trek Cost - INR 5000 per person
Month - November

Day 0 (Delhi - McLeodGanj)

Ok, if you have read any of my previous blogs, this part is mostly filled with boring and uninformative stuff about the onward journey to the first destination. But this one was definitely not boring and I bet you will learn a good lesson about Indian buses once you read it.

So we had booked an HRTC bus from Delhi that was supposed to leave exactly at 7:30 pm. Now a general belief is that Indian buses are always delayed so it’s ok to come 10-15 minutes late, but trust me that is not true with government buses and especially not HRTC. Having experienced that in the past, I did warn my team to be on time for this one but unfortunately 3 members got late. In spite of us begging the driver to wait and later making him to at least drive slow to allow the fellow people to catch up, our friends failed to do so. So they had to book a private taxi to Haveli Murthal, the first and only stop scheduled by our bus for dinner. I bet no one from our group is going to risk missing a government bus in the future :D :D.

Anyway from there on the thrill died and the journey was pretty much the usual, fun games and then sleep.

Day 1 (McLeodGanj - Triund Top - 9km)

Given the punctuality of HRTC, we did reach McleodGanj on time at around 7 am, a little earlier than expected. We waited at the office of Triund Mountain Lodge and Camping till our guide arrived. There was guesthouse on the 2nd level of the building and the owner was kind enough to allow us to use the restrooms provided we order something from his kitchen. We had a light breakfast, dumped extra stuff that we didn’t want to carry in their office and then our guide provided us food for the journey and we were all set to get rolling.

Here is one of the pictures with a sweet message from the starting point in McLeodGanj:-

And here is our full group -

This trek is relatively easy, no wonder this is one of the treks loved by beginners, and you’ll find decent Vistas all along. FYI Sadly, as it is frequently traveled you will also find garbage all along. But this 9km of the hike is all worth it when you reach the top. It took us about 5hrs to reach the top, but we took too many breaks, I think it is easily doable in 3-4 hrs even if you are not a professional.

After getting a lot of pictures on the top, we finally were ready to check in to our camps but the weather started to drop real quick as the sun went down, we were offered a room in the guesthouse to rest while are camps were being made ready. Having found the comfort and warmth in the guesthouse we requested to stay in the room instead of trying our luck with camping(FYI - it was team call, I would have still preferred tents). Few of the group members got too comfortable and just slept like there was no tomorrow. Others were showing their talents, one showed her flexibility as she moved her body from one side to other of a circle she made out of her hands while keeping keeping interlocked.

Before dinner got served one of our friends took the opportunity to mingle with an Australian group who was also out there camping on the same premises. She is a hoot and got all of them to try some Punjabi dance. Here is a video of her getting them to grove -

The Australians also tried to teach our group a traditional dance and too bad I don’t remember its name :(.

After dinner, we had fun by having some in house dancing and playing Truth/Dare. The dares and stories we got to experience had to be one of the highlights of the trip.

Day 2 (Triund Top - McLeodGanj - 9km)

To catch the morning views everyone woke up early. I personally woke up at around 5:00 am and was the first one to freshen up. Most of my group members were avoiding to freshen up as we had open field dugouts covered intents as our toilets.

Anyway mornings here were worth a while, you could just sit down and enjoy a picturesque view with cold breeze gushing in taking all your stress away. Here is a picture depicting a tiny bit of what I am trying to say -

We utilized such beautiful vistas by taking a lot of pictures there and then after breakfast started out journey back to Triund.

The downhill was smooth and we managed to get down within 3 hours I suppose. We decided to visit Bhagsu waterfall before picking our stuff and exploring McLeodGanj. Bhagsu waterfall was not at its prime but was a good resting point for everyone, here one of the group members overcame her fear of dogs and managed to pet one. Here is that moment captured -

After picking our bags, another funny incident happened as a guy from our group used the restroom to dump out all he had in the past 2 days, apparently it did not go down too well (like literally) as when the next person went in to use the restroom the smell was worse, even worse compared to that of a dead body. Till date we can’t stop making fun of that incident.

For dinner we went to the famous Tibet Kitchen in McLeodganj. The experience was a mix of good and bad but definitely I am not trying their Thukpa again. One funny incident that made us laugh was when one of our pure vegetarian friends tried a dessert (brownie I suppose) which had eggs. I bet she ain’t going to try brownies either. After that, we had the worst Dimsums in the history of Dimsums right outside Tibet Kitchen.

And that was it, we boarded our bus and started our journey back home :)

First times are special, aren’t they. This was Decabits first ever trip and boy it was something to cherish for.

Quick Synopsis

Trek Difficulty - Easy
Trek Duration - 2 days
Trek Distance - 20-22km
Trek Beauty - 3.5/5 stars
Peak Altitude - 3978 meters
Trek Cost - INR 5,000 per person
Month - September

Day 0 (Delhi - Kasol)

We booked our first outing from GoTripyTrip. Everyone from my office gathered at the Metro Cafe on Rajouri Garden Metro station at around 8pm. We took an outstation mini bus(tempo traveler) from Delhi - Kasol. The ride was filled with a lot of fun filled games like Dumb Charades, Mafia, Uno and a new game called Find the Lost Money as one of my colleague lost her 500 INR and everyone got busy finding it. At the end we did find it by replacing another 500 note, mission accomplished :).

Day 1 (Kasol)

The drive to Kasol was damn slow and it took us over 18hrs to reach there, seriously, I could have run faster than that, ok just kidding, but that was super slow. Anyhow the resort we stayed in made up for it. The resort was Kasol Heights and it had a very good vibe. It had a good playing area, a mini swimming pool and some trance loving people that day. Here is a video of it -

In evening we went to explore the market for good food but unfortunately we only found about 15 pieces of Dimsums for 10+ of us. We were disappointed by that but not by the stuff we scored. Then we went back to our resort to grab the free buffet dinner and have some drinks before calling it a night.

Though after a good dinner and drinks we ended up staying for few hours playing Antakshari. Here is the video of that -

And that was our day.

Day 2 (Kasol - Kheerganga 10-11km)

We woke up early at around 8:00 am, got ready, had breakfast and headed for the trek around 11:30 am. Here is the starting point of the trek from Barshaini(a small village near Kasol). Here is a picture of the starting point -

I remember a small incident that happened during the start of the trek. A sage stopped us and told us that the girls in our group won’t be able to make it, but trust me that turned out to be catalyst in getting them all pumped for this trek, so thankyou Sage Baba :D. Ok so the hike itself wasn’t so tough but the damage caused by frequent rains made it a little difficult. You could find slippery paths, fallen trees and overflowing water streams everywhere. Here is one such incident -

This was the first trek of many of my colleagues and there was different reaction towards it by different people. There were few who were enjoying the trail and were racing ahead as if the world was ending and then there were few lagging behind and praying to god to reach the top sooner than later.

After struggling for about 6 hours in moderate rainfall and with very heavy legs and hearts we did manage to reach the top and trust me this picture does no justice to how tired everyone was -

We then spent our evening by doing a campfire, smoking some good stuff and sharing stories from our past. The stories started from life events/relationships and soon changed its genre to horror and thriller. Even after the campfire ended, our stories didn’t.

Day 3 (Kheerganga - Kasol - 10-11km)

The motive of the day was to wake up at 5 am, watch sunrise and then go take bath in the hot springs of sulphur in Kheerganga top and head back. But thanks to midnight gossip only 2 people including me woke up on time. Unfortunately the peaks hid the sunrise and if you planning to watch sunrise, you guys can safely skip it. But once everyone woke up we did manage to go to the hot springs and have a good bath. Word of caution in case you want to go for a bath, the surface is too slippery due to sulphur, so mind your steps.

On our way back the boys of our group decided to head towards the camp hoping the girls will find their way to camp as easily as they did. But guess what? They didn’t, it took them about 30 minutes to reach the camp and they were hell scared. Lesson learned - stick together team.

We did take some good pictures, and here is the full gang -

After having breakfast we started our descent to Kasol.The rain was pretty heavy and made it very difficult to trek down as everyone was slipping a lot. We did take a different route back to Kasol which was more scenic with views of Ganga River in form of Kheer(White Milk) and a beautiful waterfall.

We were able to trek down in about 4.5 hours but had to wait for atleast 90 more minutes for others to catch up. What actually happened was that 2 guys decided to take a break and grab some tea while others just waited and waited for them to catch up. The girls in those who were waiting started crying assuming something bad happened as it was raining pretty heavily as the whole path was more slippery than a butter in a frying pan. Fortunately nothing happened and the incident ended with everyone making a good laugh about it.

Here is a picture of that -

After reaching back, we started our journey back to Delhi. We did take a halt at Manikaran where everyone visited the Gurdawara and cherished a wonderful Langar in dinner in form of blessings. And that’s that, a delightful trek topped with great bonding with my team made it one of the best treks I had for long.

Has it ever happened to you that you went on trek all unprepared and you regret being so casual as you are in the middle of the hike? For me, this was one of that time :) but eventually, it ended up being one of the best treks I did.

Quick Synopsis

Trek Difficulty - Moderate
Trek Duration - 3 days
Trek Distance - 16-17km
Trek Beauty - 3.5/5 stars
Peak Altitude - 4300 meters
Trek Cost - INR 4,000 per person
Month - June

Day 0 (Delhi - Manali)

We took an overnight outstation taxi from Delhi - Manali. We left around 9 pm in the night of 14th June 2018 and reached around 1 pm in the morning.

Day 1 (Manali - Mori Dugh Camp - 5-6km)

After reaching Manali we first went to a camp owned by the organizers of the trek and quickly took a shower and started our trek at around 2:30 pm. The starting point was near shop number 77 on Manali-Rohtang road. This is where we started -

It was not even 15 minutes into the trek and it started to drizzle. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my raincoat & not even an umbrella. The slow drizzle quickly turned into a heavy shower. I was carrying a lot of electronics including my phone, Fitbit, power bank & my laptop (courtesy to my remote job). Having nothing to protect them I handed over my phone & Fitbit band to my friend who kept them in his waterproof jacket and tucked my power bank & laptop in my bag after wrapping in two polythenes. But the rain was too heavy and we got drenched but we didn’t stop trekking. It was a weird moment, on one hand, I feared to catch a cold and on another hand, I was enjoying the rain and cool breeze that came with it.

It took us 3 hours(around 5:30 pm) to reach our campsite Mori Dugh Camp. The route was a mix of rocky & muddy patches. Here is the picture of our campsite. The best thing about our campsite were these wooden swings that hung on a huge tree -

After offloading our stuff, we took our clothes out so that they can dry but the sun was down soon after. By that time I had realized that my friend’s jacket was not so waterproof and both the phones in his pocket were pretty much dead. We spent the night trying to dry our shoes and clothes near the campfire hoping that we could trek the following day. I had to take a medicine for headache thanks to our trekking in rain in the morning

Day 2 (Mori Dugh Camp - Bhrigu Summit - Mori Dugh Camp - 10-11km)

We woke up early at around 6:00 am, got ready & head breakfast and headed for the trek around 6:30-6:45 am. The route to the lake was pretty awesome, a lot of meadows and beautiful trees in between. You could just stop anywhere to take good pictures. We had company for this hike as two dogs decided to join us. Here is a picture with one of our companion -

The last stretch introduced snow and a definite drop in oxygen level as we did face some difference in breathing. But it didn’t last long before we reached the lake. Here is how the lake looked that day -

It took us about 4.5 hours to reach the lake (around 5.5km) although we expected more. After having lunch there and taking many pictures we started our descent around 11:30 am & it only took us 3 hours to reach back to our base camp. Rest of the day was pretty much about resting, eating & sleeping :).

Day 3 (Mori Dugh Camp - Manali - Delhi)

Instead of going back to Vashisht we decided to head back to our starting point. We wanted to avoid heavy traffic in Manali as it was the end of a long weekend. But I will recommend going to Vashish especially if you have time and fancy some hot springs. It took us 3 hours to reach back to our starting point. We started around 7 am and reach around 10 am. After that? Delhi :).

This is Ijen, one of majestic sight that Indonesia has to offer and the reason we picked east Java of all places to visit. We were so excited to visit this electric-blue sulphur breathing beauty. But unfortunately it closed down during our visit due to some toxic gases that leaked from the crater. At Least a dozen of local people were hospitalized. Nonetheless it remains in my wishlist for future. For now let’s talk about other scenic beauties that Java had to offer :)

Quick Synopsis

Highlights of the trip - Mount Bromo sunrise, Mount Bromo crater & Tumpak Sewu waterfall
Trip Duration - 4 days
Places Visited - Mount Bromo Tumpak Sewu Waterfall YogyaKarta Scenic Beauty - Mount Bromo - 3.5/5 stars, Tumpak Sewu - 3.5/5 stars

Day 1 (Delhi - Surabaya - Mount Bromo)

We took the cheapest Airasia flight available on 28th March 2018. We left around 11:45 pm from Delhi Airport and reached Surabaya International Airport after our transit from Kuala Lumpur at around 10:45 am. We had friends coming from Singapore and Bangalore and we all met at Carl’s Junior. Our guide for next 3 days (Mr Hamim) also met us there and after having breakfast we started our journey towards our first destination i.e Mount Bromo. Here is a pic taken by Mr Hamim of our group on arrival -

It was a 5-6 hour drive from the airport. This part of Indonesia didn’t feel much different than any other beach city in India. Only difference were the people & cleanliness which was way better than India. It was a bit surprising considering the fact that Indonesia is way behind India in terms of economy.

We reached our hotel Bromo Permai at about 6pm. Mr Hamim informed that we will be visiting the sunrise point of mount bromo at 2:15 am. So without wasting much time we went to have early dinner. Against our assumptions my veg friends got good options there. Later we went on a walk, the weather was a little cold but very pleasant. We tried a local beer called Bintang Pilsener and it was good, not too strong, not too mild. Here is a picture of it -

We then went to sleep hoping the sunrise at Mount Bromo would be worth it, because that is all we had after our trip to Ijen was replaced with Tumpak Sewu waterfall and I don’t think anyone was really excited about the waterfall

Day 2 (Mount Bromo Viewpoint - Mount Bromo Crater - Malang)

After waking up at 1:45 am we all met at the hotel lobby at around 2:35 am. There were at least 5 jeeps waiting there with other tourists rushing in as well in a bid to do what we all came for i.e reach first to the view point. It was about 40-45 minutes ride and we saw many more jeeps on our way heading in the same direction. We reached the view point at around 3:40 am after a short hike/walk and Mr Hamim asked us to wait till 5:15 am there and not to let go of the front row spot till the sun rises. The weather was cold and we were left wondering if we wasted our sleep waking up so early just to wait there for another 90 minutes doing nothing. The sunrise as expected was beautiful and instead of adoring how beautiful it was, we started doing what every tourist does - getting ourselves clicked with mount bromo.

Here is the sunrise at that point -

Here is me trying to get a decent picture there -

After the viewpoint we headed towards the crater. After another 30 minutes of downhill ride we arrived near the crater and decided to walk till the crater from here on. Here is a picture of us at that place -

The walk was pleasant the views were great all around. The empty and barren terrain was very pretty and it reminded me of Spiti Valley in India. Have a look yourself

On our way to the craters few school girls asked me and Chhavi for a picture. At first I thought they wanted me to take their picture but later I realized they wanted a picture with us. To be honest, that has never happened to us. Though surprisingly, it was a fun moment.

The uphill climb to the crater included some rocky patches & stairs before you end up at the top from where you can see/smell sulphur fumes. The view is good but it scared me when someone told me that animals are burnt alive in it as a part of sacrifice, something that has been in Indonesian culture. Here are some of the pictures of the top -

Then we headed back to our hotel, had breakfast and some rest before starting our journey to Malang which was another 6-7 hours drive from Bromo. We spent most of that time playing Psych and trust me it is fun. We reached Malang at about 7pm and checked in to our hotel. We then planned what to do the following day as waterfall seemed boring and cliche. Out options were rafting, zoo, paragliding & waterfall so we stuck to waterfall only in the end and I am glad we did that.

I would like to mention the place we had dinner that night. It was Pizza Combi where our vegetarian companions spent at least 20 minutes trying to explain them that they only wanted vegetables in the pizza and no meat, egg, fish oil etc. But that’s not the reason I want to mention this place. The reason was the food quality, it was pretty good and everyone enjoyed it. So if in Malang do try it out, here is the pic -

Later in night we had some beer, played Uno and called it a day.

Day 3 (Tumpak Sewu Waterfall - Surabaya Airport)

We woke up early to and left for Tumpak Sewu waterfall at around 7:30 am. It took us about 4 - 4:30 hours to reach Gate 1 from where we had to trek downwards to see the waterfall. This is how it looks from the top -

Best of #indonesia 😍 And yes, we went in there at the center..in the water! #itwasfun #beautiful #scenic #waterfall #friends #green #nature #motherearth #travel

A post shared by Chhavi Khandelwal (@chhavikhandelwal9) on Apr 4, 2018 at 10:57am PDT

The trek down was really fun as we had to make our way through thick forest, broken stairs & many water streams and that too wearing slippers. A couple of my friends slipped during their way down. Here are some of the pics of the trek -

The waterfall in itself was simply majestic. Once you reach near the center it the winds get super crazy. They are blazing fast, pushing you back and are carrying water drops which feel more like needles as they hit your face. It was just impossible to get into the exact center of the waterfall. Here is one of the picture my friends took when we were as near to the waterfall as we could get -

Needless to say the experience was pretty astounding and we felt great that we didn’t replace this waterfall tour with any other activities around Malang. Post that we started our journey back to Surabaya Airport. Later that night we went to Pizza hut where we tried this black crust pizza -

We reached Surubaya at around 11pm. We booked Ibis on the domestic terminal only as we had our flights to Yogyakarta the following morning and our friends from Singapore were heading back. We bid goodbye to Mr Hamim and thanked him & the driver for their hospitality. We then later said goodbye to our friends before going to sleep

Day 4 (Yogyakarta)

Now one mistake I made during planning this trip was book Yogyakarta for just 1 day. There is a lot that this city has to offer. From suspension bridges to jurassic style caves but somehow none of that was possible as we checked in around 12am and all these required a full day to visit. So we decided to visit one of the most visited places in Yogyakarta - The Prambanan Temple and it’s the first time that we paid INR 1600/USD 25 to visit a temple. The temple was beautiful indeed, but when you come from India, you’ve already seen it all. Here is the pic of us there -

Later in night we went to a beach and then headed back to our hotel to pack our bags for our flight back the next day. One of our friend left his phone at one of the currency exchange we stopped but unlike India he got it back when we returned back (after 1 hour). It’s good to see good people all around. Also people like you who read my blog to the very end. Makes my day ;).

This is another great weekend trek one can do in North India (specially if you’re from Delhi). This is why I did it twice :D. Just a word of caution, It is not one of the most beautiful trek you will do and is about a 10-12 hours overnight drive from Delhi, so be prepared to trek in the following morning.

Quick Synopsis

Trek Difficulty - Easy to Moderate
Trek Duration - 2 days
Trek Distance - 8km From Panthwari Village - Nag Tibba Summit
Trek Beauty - 2.5/5 stars

Day 0 (Delhi - Panthwari Village)

We booked a mini bus/traveller and did a overnight journey from Delhi. We left around 11pm in night and reached about 9 am in Panthwari Village which has 1 (most used) out of the 3 possible routes to Nag Tibba Summit.

Day 1 (Panthwari Village - Goat Village - 2.5km)

After reaching we all quickly freshened up and had breakfast at a shop near the start of the trail. Picture of the starting point is here -

We headed out at around 10:00 am and were expecting to reach our campsite in 4-5 hours. As I had done this trek previously I was expecting the camp site to be same as last time. It was near the Nag Tibba temple which was about 2km before the summit. But to my amaze we only treked for about 2-2:30 hours and reached our camp site at about 12:30 am. The terrain was mainly rocky. A motorable alternative was there for about an hour or so. I remember passing at least 4-5 roads vertically.

The camp site was just before the goat village. The distance covered was only about 2.5km. The guide we hired suggested that there is snow near the temple so we can’t camp there and also that doing summit won’t be possible due to melting snow that is covering the trail. A bit disappointed by this news we accepted it

We had lunch that was prepared by our guides and then went on to sleep in afternoon. In evening we were served with tea & pakoras and was followed by campfire and dinner which even had chicken in the menu. It was certainly feeeling more of picnic instead of a trek at this point. We all did some stargazing in the night before calling it a day. This is how our lunch table near camp site looked like -

Day 2 (Goat Village - Nag Tibba Summit - Panthwari Village - 13.5km)

We woke up at 6-6:30 but left only around 7:30 for the temple after having breakfast. The trail from here was more flatten and easy to do compared to day 1. It only took us about 2.5 hours (10:00 am) to reach the temple and we were surprised to see only few patches of snow here and there near the temple. Not satisfied with what we had, we decided to go to the summit even though the guide was strictly against it. Here is the picture of the temple for reference

We started our ascend as I knew the way from my previous visit. The guide followed us after realising that we were going to do it with or without him. The route was steep and yes it had decent amount of snow in the trail but that is what we came for. It took us about an hour(11:00 am) before we reached the summit. We stopped many times to get ourselves clicked in the snowy patches. Here is one the picture -

The summit was great and we made sure to spend some time there and get ourselves clicked. Here is one of the pictures of the summit -

My friends decided that they were not done with snow and went on to slide in one of the patch. Have a look -

rolling down the ice! #snowride . . #snow #himalayas #nagtibba #trek #sunnyday #throwback

A post shared by Chhavi Khandelwal (@chhavikhandelwal9) on Mar 12, 2018 at 12:50pm PDT

So around 11:45 we started our descent and it took as about 2:30 hours(2:15pm) to reach back to our camp site. After grabbing lunch we started our descend at around 3pm and reached back to Panthware village around 4:30pm. From there we just crashed into our traveller and started our journey back to our home.

Has it ever happened to you that you want to plan a trip in last week of December but don’t want to spend a fortune for it? It surely happened with us and after shortlisting many places we decided to visit Gujarat. As Amitabh Bachan famously quotes “Kuch din to bitayein Gujarat me”. This trip was all about experiencing different landscapes that Gujarat had to offer

Quick Synopsis

Highlights of the trip - White Desert of Kutch, Gir Forest Safari, Not so cool beaches of Diu
Trip Duration - 5 days
Distance Covered on Road - By map it is :- 1370km

But we covered about 1700kms
Scenic Beauty - Kutch - 3.5/5 stars, Rest - 2.5/5 stars

Day 0 (Delhi - Ahmedabad)

We took a flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad which was 1hr flight and reached Ahmedabad at around 11pm. From there on our cab driver picked us up and we started our journey towards Kutch.

Day 1 (Kutch)

We reached Kutch at around 8 am, it was damn cold (about 7-8 degree celsius) and too early for checking in to our camping tents so we decided to visit the famous white dessert first. It was about 5-7 km away from our camps and requires permit to visit it. Luckily for us they let us go and only asked for our Aadhar card but I suggest inquiring it before and arranging a permit just in case its now allowed. We then parked at a point beyond which you were only allowed to walk or hire a horse/camel cart. The point looks like this :-

The walk seems small but was at least 1-1.5km. You will start seeing the white dessert as you reach the halfway point but the main point looks like this :-

Everything after this is just plain white sand and it’s the best place to get your pictures clicked. Here is a video I took:-

Word of caution:- Don’t be too adventurous, if you go beyond a certain point you will find quicksand.

After walking back, we had breakfast somewhere in the local market which turns into a festival in evening. I tried Dabeli here, something I had never had. We then we went on to checkin in our tents and slept till evening.

The temperature was about (25 degree celsius) by then and it got more hotter as we approached noon. So I suggest bringing in all kind of clothes as temperature vary a lot between day & night in Kutch.

Evening was all about visiting the same place again, only difference was that there a lot of people around and place was all lit up. As it was getting cold we went back around 9pm, had our dinner and sat around the campfire. Our caretakers arranged for some tradition Gujarati folk music.

Day 2 (Kutch-Kalo Dungar-Junagadh)

Day 2 was all about reaching as near to Gir Forest as we can as driving in dark was not allowed/considered safe there. So we decided to drive till Junagadh which is only 50-60 km away from Gir Forest.

In morning we decided to visit the highest point of Kutch (Kalo Dungar) which also provides views to a beautiful lake that connects India and Pakistan. If you have time you can also visit Dholavira which is called Harappan city that had the Harappan culture dating back to 4500 years ago. Here is a view from top of Kalo Dungar :-

If traveling with kids I recommend buying the whistles that make bird noises from there. It’s super cheap, It was INR 30 per piece.

Rest of day went traveling to Junagadh where we reached at around 11pm (Almost 9 hrs on road). The only thing to remember were the windmills on the way and the fight we had over the phone with the hotel manager of Diu who had us booked for that day instead of 30th. P.S. - Always take a written confirmation if you wire transfer these guys.

Day 3 (Gir Forest)

We left Junagadh at about 10 am after having our breakfast and within 3 hours of traveling on a not so great road to Gir we finally arrived at the resort and before even we checked in we ran across these beautiful kittens that were playing around :-

But we came here to witness bigger cats then that so we had the lunch in the resort itself and went to bus safari point. We only took the bus safari because private jeep safari’s were sold out, so plan months ahead if you want to visit Gir and want a private safari. We reached there at around 4pm and were waiting for our bus to arrive after buying tickets which were pretty cheap for Indians (INR 190 per person) but is super expensive for foreigners ($50 per person). Then we boarded the safari bus which was basically a standard mini bus. The tour was only of about 30 minutes in which we saw some deers, nilgais, leopards and lions. Judging from the attitude of the animals it didn’t feel like we were visiting them in their natural habitat but rather a forced/closed environment, much like a zoo. Here are few of of the pictures we took:-

Pic Credits - Chhavi Khandelwal

We were not impressed but that is the case with most of the safari’s in India. Then we headed back to the resort where we cycled, played some video games in their gaming zone, had dinner & enjoyed some campfire and finally went to sleep.

Day 4 (Diu)

Diu is about 3hrs from Gir and best part of Diu was that it was a union territory that lies just outside Gujarat. That meant no restriction on buying alcohol. We were imagining it a peaceful version of Goa but to be honest we were disappointed. The food we had at a restaurant ( I don’t even remember the name ) was just the worst we had in this trip and yet most expensive.

Diu fort was just like any other fort in India but we did get some good pictures clicked there. Also I will remember it for a person who farted in front of my friend. We are probably going to remember it as Diu Fart rather than Diu Fort. Anyway here is a pic from the fort:-

The main beach was not at all clean and the public sitting places were rather avoidable. But luckily near it was this cafe/restaurant The Cats Eye Restaurant which had decent food and we sat there most of the evening and then finally went back to our rooms and partied there. This is the view of entrance of the main beach :-

Note:- We didn’t try other beaches, my friends tell me they are beautiful. So if you plan on visiting Diu go look for them.

Day 5 (Ahmedabad)

On our drivers request we left early in the morning at around 8 am but as expected we reached Ahmedabad in 8 hours and way before our flight. So we visited some local places there like :-

1. Sabarmati Ashram - It was home to Gandhi. (It’s actually very clean & beautiful)
2. Riverfront Park - It is good if you want to do cycling by the water or want to do boating. But sadly even this place was not so clean as people were just throwing garbage here & there :/.

Here is a pic of Kasturba Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi’s wife’s) chakra

Are you looking for a weekend getaway from New Delhi, India and are looking for a trek that is not so strenuous but yet beautiful then this article might be worth your time. Now if you google Deoriatal Chandrashila Peak Trek you would find out that this trek is probably going to take your more than 3 days. But we did it in 2 days and that too without stressing it out and I am going to tell you how, so keep reading :)

Quick Synopsis

Trek Difficulty - Easy to Moderate
Trek Duration - 2 days
Trek Distance - 2.5km for Sari-Deoriatal, 5.5 km for Chopta-Chandrashila
Trek Beauty - 3/5 stars

Day 0 (Delhi - Haridwar)

We took a bus from Delhi Kashmiri Gate ISBT on 27th November (Friday) at around 9 pm in the night and arrived Haridwar in morning around 3 am. There we stayed at Gaytritirth Shanti Kunj Ashram where one of my friend Arun grew up.

Day 1 (Haridwar-Deoriatal-Chopta)

At around 6:30 - 7:00am we began our journey from Haridwar to Sari Village which is the base camp for Deoriatal. After taking 1 halt for breakfast we arrived at the base camp at about 2:30pm so that’s 7 hours effectively but yes you can do it in less if you don’t want any break. We had something to eat at a food joint just at the starting point of the trek and starting our ascend at about 3:00 pm.

Here is the place from where you will be starting your 2.5km hike to Deoriatal.

The distance to top sure seems as an easy aspect but just a word of caution the whole 2.5km is a steep walk on a cemented pathway. So if you are not okay with it I suggest taking breaks in every 500 meters or whatever you are comfortable with. One of my friend who was trekking for the first time gave up on the first 500 meters itself and went back to the starting point. The rest of us kept going & it took us about 1 hour to reach the top though and yes the lake/tal was beautiful.

We spent about 30 minutes near the tal & had some tea in a food joint just before it and then headed back downwards. It took us about 25-30 minutes to reach back to our car from where we headed to Chopta which was another 30-40 minutes. After reaching there we rented a room at Moksha Cafe which costed us only Rs 800 for all 5 of us. We settled in around 6 pm. It was already dark here as the sun had almost set and there was no proper source of electricty in Chopta. They had few lights on which were running on solar energy.

We spent that day playing cards and talking about the possible snakes in that area and telling stories of awkward confortations in our previous treks and eventually went to sleep at around 10pm.

Day 2 (Chopta-Tugnath-Chandrashila-Chopta-Rishikesh)

In the morning after heaving some light breakfast we headed for our trek from Chopta’s base point to Tugnath Temple and eventually Chandrashila at around 7 am. This is where the trek officially starts:-

Again it was a steep cemented pathway (probably not as steep as Deoriatal) from Chopta to Tugnath which was about 4-5km. One of my friend decided to walk slow as he just interested in reaching Tugnath and not Chandrashila. The rest of us wanted to complete the whole round trip in 5-6 hrs. We reached the temple at around 9:00 - 9:15 am and it was very peaceful inspite of being closed in that season. Here is how it looks like :-

After taking a break for about 30 minutes and clicking a lot of photos we started our last stretch of about 1.5km from Tugnath - Chandrashila top. The only difference was the path was not cemented and not so wide anymore so it was slightly difficult to ascend but we reached there on the top around 10:00 am (30 minutes from Tugnath). The views were pleasent to the eyes and the feeling of reaching a peak of a hill was just great. This is what I did after reaching the peak :-

At around 10:30am we started our descend and reached back to the starting point around 12:15.We ran out of water during the ascend which was surely needed during this descend, so do carry ample water for yourself. After reaching back we headed to Rishikesh almost immediately and reached there around 6:30 pm after just stopping for lunch. From there we took a bus back to Delhi.