Kasol 2

Anand and I leave Delhi at 5 am on Friday morning and head for Chandigarh, 250 km from Delhi. Our steed is a Hyundai Santro - a 1100 cc, 63 ps machine. The roads in Punjab are narrow but well maintained, and we breezed across at a steady 110 kph. We stopped at a dhaba for a filling breakfast made up of paneer and alu paranthas, lassi and chai (Rs. 90).

We meet Devinder and Megha in Mohali, guzzle down some tea, grab and ipod with a radio reciever so it plays in the car stereo. Devinder (who else) gets us to Kasol, 300 km into the hills. The journey uphill is interesting at times- ask for beer at the booze shops in the hills and you'll be offered hakke bakke, which is the same as Hacke Beck beer.
We reached at 7 pm. Total driving time from Delhi to Kasol can take around 12 hours. Manikaran is 3 km from Kasol. Ideally one can take a room in Kasol, drive up to Manikaran and get back.
We stayed at Sandhya Kasol inn where the rooms cost us 400 per day. It was quite a job looking for rooms here since most of the hotel rooms are give out to Isreali tourists. Since they stay for a good 2 months at a stretch, this means better business. Indians typically come for the weekend. Kasol is mainly a tourist location, with hotels, shops and bakeries. There were just a few 'homes' in sight!

In the morning, we walked downside of town, across and back the Kasol bridge (top most picture) , where we found a cove along the river. Here we cooled our beers in the cold river; holding it with stones. I gave Anand some mud therapy since he needed it the most. We spent the day as wandering connoisseurs from one restaurant to another, sampling the pastas, mashed patatoes, apple juice, bruschettas and popping in olives all day long. A filling, wholesome meal- Breakfast or dinner, for 4 people averaged at Rs. 450. Our appetites did overtime in Kasol so this is surely an upper limit!
The next day we went uphill into the forest, where we walked for a good 2 km till we were far away from any sights or sounds of civilization. The river (second pic on top) is more narrow here with rapids. Here we cooled our beers and crossed the side which was quite a workout since the current is strong enough to carry one off. We dozed off for a while in the beautiful forest and then headed back.We made it a point to carry back all our junk- empty beer bottles and plastic bags to the hotel.
The common mode of transportation here was apparently the Royal Enfield Bullet. I had a field day clicking pictures of modified bikes.

Our route starting from Anantpur Sahib - Swarghat Noni Ghagas Beri Barmana Bilaspur Kannaid Mandi Pandoh Aut Panarsa Takoli Kullu district Bhuntar Jari Kasol

The drive from Aut to Pandoh was breath-taking. The eight kilometre stretch is an awesome setting of cool breeze, a beautiful landscape and a well maintained road.
We reached back home on Monday night. It's Wednesday and the God-crafted landscape is still in my head.