My Li’l Travel Book | Kasol and Malana

Because when you see the Majestic Himalayas, you realize you are such an insignificant creature in this whole wide world

I never imagined that I will be going on an all-girls trip. I never thought that my parents are so cool that they will let me go on an all girl’s trip with a group of complete strangers and subsequently let me travel alone. Well, they turned out to be pretty cool because after this trip, I traveled to Thailand again with my girls and strangers exactly a year after this trip to Kasol happened.

Kasol trip happened in mid- April last year and it is probably the most random trip. Me, Umang and Rashi, my amazing friends from my post-graduation, came across this website called Tripver(with whom I went to Thailand this year), which organizes budget trips to places. We decided to try it and there we were, boarding our bus to Kasol, which included a trek to Malana.

This trip happened a week after I came back from Coorg. The hills in Western Ghats are pretty. But the Himalayas are majestically beautiful. And traveling to Himalayas is even more difficult. Umang and Rashi went to Ladakh as well after this trip. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. And incidentally, all my friends traveled to Ladakh last year. I don’t know with whom I will be travelling to Ladakh now!

Anyhow, after Coorg and Kasol, I knew that my quota of hills was complete for a good amount of time. I was afraid of my travel sickness but somehow I managed well during the bus journey. The route took my breath away. Yes, the roads are narrow and it’s a difficult drive. But its ten-folds beautiful. I mean I never imagined that I will be so closely driving along side a river, which is scary and wild yet so serene and beautiful at the same time.

I have li’l picture of the roads as most of the journey took place during the night. This is take when I opened my eyes for a while.

The bus started off from Delhi around eight in the evening on Friday and after a dinner and early morning stoppage, we reached Kasol around three in the afternoon on Saturday. We stopped for lunch at this pretty cafe called the Silent Cafe. And yes, the name is completely justified. That was probably the first time that I experienced that kind of silence and peace.

Talking about the addiction that this air has – it is not just the things for which Malana is famous. It’s like you can actually breathe in the peace. It’s just their in the air!

I don’t know what hit me this hard – the whole trip was just about me. I did not use my pone to take pictures or to talk to anyone. For the very first time, I just enjoyed the silence. So, please forgive me for the bad pictures.

The hotel where we stayed was a pretty old one – the furnishing and decors were pretty medieval but beautiful. Basically, the location was serene. Kasol is situated on the bank of the river Parvati.

This is what you call a view.

After getting a li’l rest and a good hot shower, we decided to venture out in the town. Did I mention that the hotel was on the river side? So, we first went to the banks of this cold water stream which kept on flowing without getting tired.

The building in the background was our abode for two days that we spent here.

This was the first time that I saw something this beautiful.

This was one of those trips where you just enjoy the beauty of the nature that you just earned for yourself.

After spending a good amount of time at the river side, we started for a stroll in this li’l town. I met the first handsome hunk on my way. How can you not admire him for his hair!

Once you visit this place or any area in this place, you will see that there are either loads of cables hanging across the width of the river to transport daily use items or anything that are needed or you will see some rickety bridges running across the width of the river which are dated but look super fascinating.

I started to walk towards the one of such bridges. I was, of course, very excited at the sight of them.

Malana is one isolated village which has many legends attached to it. These legends call for an entire blog post. It is a very isolated town and the people themselves like to stay that way. They consider themselves very pure as they are the descendants of Alexander. So as a tourist you have to be very careful. You ain’t allowed to touch anything or anyone of this village or else there is a hefty fine that you have to pay. And its not just the money but using that money they buy a goat and then use it’s blood to purify the thing or person that is being touched by an outsider. So please, be careful while you are here!