We hit back Manali around 10:30 pm on 22nd night after the grueling 6-day trek. On the way back, we got what we missed earlier – beautiful scenery up to Rohthang Pass and a 3-hour traffic jam:), which apparently is a common feature. We also realised the tourist trap that Rohtang is. Teeming with tourists trying out snow rides, black snow, “Raja loves Rani” type scribbles on the snow and countless dhabas.

We spent two and half days more at Manali chilling out. It was good to be back in civilization. We were put up in my company’s holiday home and we had a lovely time. The house had an old rustic feel, the food was excellent and the weather had become nice.

Over these last two days, we checked out a couple of more new restaurants, apart from revisiting Chopstix. The River Music Cafe is another place that I would recommend. We shopped around a bit buying nuts and some shawls. Sham and I also ended up buying a nice looking rug.

Finally on 25th evening, it was time to head back home. We took Raj National Express back to Delhi. We were pretty much on time. After a long 5 hour hopping flight, we landed up in Bangalore on 26th, 5:30 pm, exactly 24 hours after we had left Manali the previous evening. The ride from BIAL to our house took half the flying time from Delhi to Bangalore:)

It was great to be finally back home:)

It was 5:00 am in the morning. I was just awakening from a disturbed sleep haunted by the sounds of the gushing Topkoyongma river. I could sense Sham also stirring beside me. Little did I realise that she was wide awake….for quite some time now…

Sham: “Venky….(pause)”

Venky: ” Hmm………(pause)”

Sham:”…… I don’t want to cross the river……..”

I wouldn’t be suprised if similar thoughts were running through Ram’s and Pranitha’s minds:). It absolutely did not help to clearly know what we were going to go through again!

It was the cooooooooooooldest morning of the trek..brrrrrrrrrrrrr…..We were very close to the snow mountains and at 5:30 am in the morning, we were freezing in the biting cold. We clapped, stomped around…but just couldn’t get the chill out of our bones. The Topkoyongma river gushed beside us in all its cold almighty glory and it was time to cross it.

All packed and ready, we descended down to the banks of the river. Atleast, it was neither a steep ascent of descent this time, and we still retained the energy we started off with. Today, we were to cross the river with a harness tried around us which would be fixed to a rope. The rope was tied to a stone on the banks of the river on either side. Then we had to walk in a sliding motion…you know how you would climb a rope..just that in a horizontal motion. The other principles remained the same – Never lift your feet in the current…slide them.

Our cook crossed the river to tie the rope on the other side. Rope tied, it was time for the horses to cross. The scene was not very encouraging. The water was so chilly, even the horses were refusing to venture into it. A lot of cajoling and whipping by Negi, the horseman, forced the horses to get into the water. Then it was our turn. No one wanted to go first, knowing what was in store:). I wanted the girls to go first so that they just get done with it; I did not want them to be the last to cross – but that was exactly what happened.

Since, no one budged:), I agreed to go first. The harness was fastened on to me and as I got into the water, the buckle of the harness was clipped onto the rope. Another 20 meters to cross. I started slide-walking. 20 seconds into the water, I was already starting to go numb. It was really tough walking against that mighty current. I slipped once and half fell into the water. Finally, I managed to make it to the other side. Phew! my body hip down was aching with numbness.

Then came Sriram. He too struggled, but managed to make it without a fall. Now it was time for the girls. Pranitha came first. She was helped by Devaraj, our HERO helper, and she too somehow made it. Finally, Sham…it was just like I feared. 5 mts into the water, she just couldn’t move. The current was so strong, that she was just not able to move her feet!

It was dangerous. The more you stayed in that water, the worse it would become. Sriram, Pranitha and I cried our voices hoarse, trying to egg her on to cross. Rinku alone was struggling to help her; he needed help…..it was Devaraj again to the rescue. He got into the water for the 5th time (can you imagine!!!) and he and Rinku half carried Sham across the river. Devaraj carried Sham in the last 5 mts of the crossing. She just couldn’t walk. As she came out of the water, she was shivering so much….oh! i got so worried.

Compared to the day before, we managed to complete the entire river crossing excerice much quicker. But, it was not at all sunny and it did not help matters. Shivering, our teeth chattering, we changed into dry clothes. And still cold, we resumed the final ascent to 16500!

Since, we were ascending to a pass, there were a lot of uphills! We struggled, huffed and puffed! We were squeezing out the last of our energies in trying to negotiate the uphills. After about an hour and half, we finally hit a long stretch of flat land. I had entrusted Sham to Rinku (I myself was struggling to walk), who helped her negotiate all the uphills and set a good walking pace for her.

Sriram and Pranitha trudged on. Sriram amply used his new found breathing technique, which he believed let in more oxygen into his lungs helping him negotiate the uphills better. If not that, it at least gave us some comic relief. His “technique” was to breathe in and our very noisily not unlike a braying donkey but enough of that! Pranitha was struggling with the injury on her knee. Against all odds, we kept on going! The only encouraging thing was the beautiful terrain around us.

As we were fairly high in altitude, the snow mountains were very close and we got some glimpses of glaciers and the sheer white snow around us.

There was one more river to cross. A small one; the water level too was not that high. The crossing was simple, except for a small event, which could have made life on the remaining trek miserable for me!

Since, I did not want to get my shoes wet again, I took them off and gave it to Devaraj to toss it over to the other side. He threw one; I thought…ah! that’s easy, and I tried tossing the other one. Ooops! it looped high in the air and fell into the stream centimeters short of the opposite bank! And, it started getting carried away! Ooopsy! Thankfully, Sham was on the other side and she started chasing it….we all shouted at her at the top of our voices to stop running, afraid that she might get into the water and something untoward might happen….From here, Devaraj also started chasing the shoe….and I looked on sheepishly:). Luckliy, the shoe got stuck near a small rock, and Sham in a flash got into the water and picked up the shoe! I will be indebted to her forever for this!

After this, the final part of the trek was uneventful and easy. There was just one last uphill and flat land after that. We could already see that the Manali-Leh highway in the far off distance. But there was still about 2-3 kms walk left. The landscape around us was amazingly beautiful. We were walking on a dried river bed, with beautiful snow-clad mountain all around us.

And…finally…the much awaited moment! How much ever we might despise the Tata Sumos’ on the Bangalore roads, the Sumo waiting for us on the Leh highway was GODLY sight! This is what had kept us motivated over the last three days:) .

We had reached Baralacha La at 16500 feet (5000 mts) – our final destination.

As I stood there on the Manali-Leh highway, it was an unbelivable feeling. I couldn’t believe all that we had come through. Buzzing headaches, stomach upsets, bone-numbing rivers and cliffhanger trails! We hadn’t bargained for this much adventure, but as we look back on the trek, we cannot but feel an immense sense of pride and satisfaction in having completed it successfully!

Day 3 started on a chilly note. All of us got up by 7am, finished our routine duties and breakfast and were ready to move out by 8 pm.

Today’s trekking terrain was to be different. We were not going to go through set roads. It was going to be uphill-downhill all the way, something that the guide called, “pagdandiyan“. We started off at a decent pace, but the uphills were coming thick and fast and we were already starting to slow down 45 minutes into the day’s walk. Sham was trekking on an empty stomach and I don’t think the rest of us were feeling that strong anyways. Pranitha was in her new shoes taken from Sham, and was still adjusting; we made slow but steady progress.

From mud-hills, the terrain started to turn rocky. Infact, we had to do one uphill on an extremely rocky surface and it demanded most of the strength that we had. We plodded through the climb, huffing and puffing hard. It took us nearly an hour to climb that stretch.

Rinku, our guide, always used to be a couple of hills ahead of us, which we often used to find frustrating:). Anyways, this time he was ahead of us for a good reason. There was a mountain stream up ahead which he was not aware of earlier….it had appeared suddenly – a common occurence in the mountains. The water level was increasing very fast, and he was urging all us to move quickly, so that we could cross that stream safely. However, we were least bothered, concentrating on just trying to breathe!!!!

We mustered up whatever energy was left and continued to walk – uphill – downhill – uphill – downhill. In between we also had to cross a tricky stretch of snow. Our eyes were aching to see the camp:( and whenever we would ask the guide how much more, the same old line – “just a few kms” more … all of us were starting to fret! We kept walking and walking and phew! we finally saw camp:). By the time we reached it, it was close to 7:30 pm…Our guide claims that on average groups had completed this stretch in 7 hours and our 11 hours was a new (obviously notorious) record! We disagree with him as in our opinion the distance was close to 18 kms and not 12 as he claims…

We had walked for almost 11 hours this day and there was not even an ounce of energy left…not even to chew food. As a formality we ate something; Sham managed to down a little bit of food finally…all the rest of us munched on some food. It was 8:30 pm and time to retire.

We hardly had 8 hours to sleep. We had to get up pretty early the next day! Day 4 was the next most adventurous thing that we did in the trek…..we had to cross 20 meters of the body numbing cold river, Topkogongma, at 6 AM in the morning . The river was there, right in front of us; all night we could hear the water gushing by at full force; even thinking of the river crossing would send chills through us…..What happened on the morning of Day 4 was more than what we had bargained for…

I guess its right when they say that these treks “Build Character”…

The day did not start off really well for me and Sham. Nor did the previous night. Sham sufferred a serious stomach upset during the night. She did not sleep most of the night! The next day, the first thing she did was to throw up:( !!!!A great start to our 5th marriage anniversary:)

Thankfully, this was a rest day, giving us time to recuperate! There was not much that we did this day, apart from lounging in the serene surroundings of Chandertal. After breakfast, we relaxed in our tents playing 28, boys Vs the girls:) Around 12ish, we decided to go for a walk around the Chandertal lake. The lake looked beautiful against the backdrop of the snow-clad mountains and super-green pastures. The trek around the lake took us about 1.5 hours. Returning, we went straight into lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent in playing 28, reading books and taking naps. One regret perhaps is not seeing Chandertal in its full glory. Its fabled blue crystal clear waters we never saw. What we saw instead was a green Chandertal, pretty beautiful actually for some parts of the day and otherwise just regular colourless water due to the heavy cloud cover.

Early evening, we went for another walk hoping to touch some dirty snow on one of the hills. After going some distance, we decided to turn back as the climb looked very uphill and in the mountains, distances can really fool you! We generally did some time-pass, creating small pillars of stones – the Buddhist way and taking pictures.

Dinner was served at 7 pm. It was getting cold and windy in Chandertal. Dinner done, we all retired for the night around 8 pm.

The next day was to start early, and it promised to be a long one …

We woke up around 6:30 in the morning. Sriram and Pranitha were already up and we could hear the the sound of their voices drifting from the other tent. For me it was time to answer nature’s call! That was an adventure by itself! Armed with tissues and baby wipes, I set out in search of a strategic rock:) By the time I completed all formalities:), I was huffing and puffing on my way back! The altitude was getting to me!

One by one all of us were up and went about our individual adventures, giving “back to nature” as Sriram put it. I and Sriram were going trigger happy…with the photographs mind you!! Our first look at the snow-clad mountains on our trek. Our guide told us it was the CB (Chandra Bhaga) range of mountains.

There was also a glacier somewhere in those snow mountains we were told! The guide also told us of a story of how a plane had crashed in those mountains in the 1960’s and even now search parties are sent to look for people! or was it bodies?

After all our Patel photos in front of tents were done, it was time for breakfast. We were served porridge, bread-omlette and hot tea. It was all pretty tasty! That was the most I ate in the next 6 days and I may safely say that for the others also!

Breakfast done, we were all ready to set out on the trek! Our stuff was packed and loaded on to the horses. We started out a little ahead of our horses, stopping on the way to fill our waterbottles at the only Dhaba in Batal, the Chandra Dhaba.

The trek started out on a smooth note! The walk was nice and easy for the first 30 mins! The terrain around us was SIMPLY MIND BOGGLING! Clear blue skies, sunshine falling on the distant snow clad mountains, the Chandra river gushing below us…….

Soon we were scrambling up a small incline…it was a shortcut to go around the roads…it was a bit of a struggle with soil underneath being very muddy and loose…but we made it….

The scenery continued to be amazing all through the trek. There were small adventures on the way….we had to cross two small streams barefoot…..the water turned our feet numb in seconds…

Pranitha’s shoes gave away half way! the sole on one of them first came off partially and pretty soon “sole”less! My handkerchief provided some respite…it managed to hold her shoes together till we reached Chandertal!

In all of those 16 kms, we bumped into 5 people who were trekking back to Batal, I guess. The only people we met other than shepherds in the entire trek. And we walked and walked and walked….and it seemed to us that it would never end! Whenever we would ask our guide, Rinku, where the end was, he would point somewhere in the distance and it would be just another “few” kms! Somehow those few kms never seemed to end:)

We had set out at 9 and it was 1:30 now. We should have reached by then, but still there were a “few” kms to go, you see! But, we were very hungry. So we took out lunch break. Lunch was sandwiches, peach fruit, bananas and some toffees. Pranitha was in bad shape! She was already very tired and the broken shoes were not helping much! She did not even eat her lunch as the altitude was getting to her and her headaches were worsening.

After a quick lunch, we commenced what we hoped would really be the last “few” kms of that day’s walk! And we continued to walk for the next two and a half hours!!! Within the first 30 mins, the beautiful Chandertal lake came into view. The only problem was that our camp was pitched on the other side of the lake…a good 2 kms over slightly rocky terrain from where we were. We were drop-dead tired …..but we still had to reach the camp! We labored on..walking along the Chandertal lake, slowly and slowly making our way to camp.

We reached 4:30! So that was close to about 7 hours of walking for that day! All of us collapsed the moment we reached camp! Sweet Lime juice greeted us..it was soooooooooo refreshing!

As the evening progressed, so did the headaches! Altitude sickness was catching up with all of us and we started getting severe headaches! Diamox did not help! Inside the tents, it was very uncomfortable. Our bodies felt uncomfortably hot inside the tent….also, we were told that one way of beating altitude sickness is staying outdoors and so we all sat and relaxed outside, till it became too cold to do so.

We spent the rest of the evening, freshening up and unpacking; we had a full rest day the next day. Dinner was served around 7 pm. Sriram and Pranitha who were suffering from very bad head-aches did not manage to eat much. Infact Pranitha, did not eat anything; she was nauseous. Sham and I managed to eat; Sham ate a lot only to suffer later.

By the time dinner was over, darkeness had set in; it was windy and quite cold. We were hoping for a moonlit night since we were at Chandratal on a full moon day. However, the cloud cover obscured the moon fully. Already very tired and still suffering from thundering headaches, all of us retired for the night looking forward to the rest day…

But, it wasn’t to be a very peaceful night for me and Sham…

The morning started on a lukewarm note mostly because we had nothing to do. We got up late and then went out to explore few more new restaurants on the Mall road. We found a particularly good Indian place for lunch and tasted for the first time something called as “Junglee Pulao”. Its nothing much – same old pulao with a jhad of dhaniya patti garnishing it:)

We were a little edgy hoping that there would be no more delays in the trip. Already Kaushal, who was to accompany us on this trek, backed out at the last moment as his dog was sick; Rinku, his business partner was to join us as our guide on the trek. After lunch we chilled in Sriram’s room watching Splitsvilla (one of those really ridiculous reality shows) on MTV and laughed our guts out:). Our transportation was to arrive at around 4 pm and we were finally relieved when Kaushal and team arrived at our lodge.

Our stuff was loaded onto the Sumo in about 30 mins and by 4:30 pm we were all set to leave. With me and Rinku in the front seat, Pranitha/Sriram/Sham in the middle row and our helpers in the back, we commenced our trip, relieved and eager for the adventure ahead.

5 pm and 2 kms down the trip, we hit our first roadblock:(

Apparently, work was still going on the road ahead and traffic was still not allowed to go. The guards at the check post said that come 5:30, work would stop, and we could proceed. Thirty slow minutes trickled by; finally a truck came from the other side of the checkpost and the guards opened the gates. We raced up the road only to hit the second roadblock. The guards at this check post were livid that we had been allowed to pass through earlier; mother-sister expletives graced our friends at the previous check post. But there was still hope that work would soon get over and we would be allowed to proceed. After another agonizing wait of about 20 – 25 minutes, we were free to go.

With 200 kms ahead of us, we started our journey in full earnest this time. We gained altitude quickly as we neared Rohtang Pass (about 11000 ft). There were breathtaking views on either side of us; nice green valleys to snow covered mountains. It was becoming much colder also; soon we were through the Rohtang Pass and reached a point where one road continued on to Sarchu/Leh and the other to Kokesar.

We took the direction leading to Kokesar/Chatru. Though the road was not great, infact pathetic in stretches, helped by our great driver, we made good speed and distance and by 8:30 we were at Chatru for our dinner break. Since, it was mostly dark all along the way, there is not much to write home about the scenery other than Rohthang Pass. One common feature of road travel in this terrain are the water falls that one needs to negotiate, literally on the road. Melting snow creates these waterfalls that flow directly on to the road and some of them are so strong they feel like no match to the jeeps we travel in. Anyway, not much to fear as it turns out since the local drivers are really really good.

The Chandra river, though, will remain etched in our memories for ever. It accompanied us all through the ride and as darkness descended and moon came out, the river looked eerie as it flowed in full force, the waves twirling, swirling leaping a few feet in the air.

Dinner at Chatru was a quick 30 minute affair. In that cold, the hot dal / rice and curry were extremely delicious. Add to that a hot steaming cup of masala chai. Yummy! Dinner done, we started for the final stretch to Batal at 9:00 pm.

We didn’t know that this would be the only night when we would sleep tight!

This day, we were to acclimatise oursleves walking at this altitude. We met up with Kaushal in the morning – this was our first meeting after all those telephonic conversations. After the general chit-chat, he suggested that we could walk up to Vashisht as part of the acclimatisation trek. It was a distance of some 7 kms up and down.

We set out at about 10 am. Vashisht’s claim to fame are its hot water springs. The walk upto Vashisht was nice and easy. The Beas river accompanied us for quite a distance.

On the way back, we got down to to the Beas river. The water was too cold. Our feet would go numb in seconds. Guess, it was a sign of things to come ahead in the trip:)

The whole walk up and down took us about 4 hours. It was around 2 pm by the time we came down and we were ravenous for food. We hit a nice place called “Chopsticks” – it serves nice oriental food – and the food was really good. Tanks full, we headed back to the hotel. We were kind of tired after the long walk and we hit the sack for a few hours of sleep.

We were awakened with not so good newz! We were to leave the next day morning to Batal. But apparently, a section of the road enroute to Rohtang pass had some repair work going on and would be shut till 5 pm the next day. It meant that we couldn’t leave until then for Batal. Nothing that we could do about it, but just PRAY!

And we went to bed doing just that…

The clouds loomed large as we alighted from the bus. There was good evidence of it having rained heavily in the last few days. The trip to our hotel, the Johnsons Cafe, was quick and cheap. It was on the most famous and the only big road in Manali – The Mall Road.

We did not get to do much on this day. After a hearty late breakfast of omlettes, sandwiches, waffles and strong filter coffee, we retreated to our room to freshen up. We did not get a chance to really go out.

It rained, and rained and poured! But we did not give into the rain and brought out our umbrella’s and ventured out to explore the Mall road. Nothing much – bunch of state run and other kind of shops! People urged us to buy something called as “Chimpus” – guess must have been some kind of shawl. After some touring and lunch, we returned to the hotel.

We did not get our eagerly awaited peek at the snow-capped mountains until 6 in the evening. After the rain stopped and the mist on the mountains cleared up, we finally got our first look at them in the far off landscape. How happy we were to see them! and we went trigger happy with the pictures.

Not much after this this day. We went out to dine at one of the many Sher- E-Punjab’s on the Mall road and feasted on butter heavy parathas. You will be amazed to note how every restaurant serves every possible cuisine here!

We retired for the night around 11ish, eager to meet Kaushal, our guide……

This summer we decided against a luxurious lazy vacation. Instead we were looking forward to some adventure. And we decided to go for a trek in the Himalayas along with Sriram and Pranitha! Of course, all of us were drunk when we made these plans!

What follows is how we went about planning our trip, what we went through and how we emerged victorious!