Friday, April 12, 2013

Chasing the Hippie Trail 2: Parvati Valley

As Dadu puts it; "If only for that sight once more Dear friend. My mind/body begs for it now Beech was an idealistic portrait of a girl. Parvati is a goddess, who has converted many a such atheist. Mallana is a shrine which will endure its hype and Tosh is a home, which i will never forget."

The second stop while chasing the hippie trail was the Parvati Valley. The first stop was Goa, but I don't plan to reveal too many hippie secrets to Janta Janardan, and I didn't have a camera there, and what happens in Goa is sacred, and it should stay there.
So let's start with leaving Arambol, to up north, in the hills.
 
Reaching there:
Take a train/flight to Delhi or Chandigarh. There are regular buses to Manali from both these cities.
Alight at Bhunter on your way to Manali.
From Bhunter you can hitchhike or take government buses(there's one at 12PM that goes all the way up) or take a taxi to your place of choice in the valley.

Where over there:
The primary town of the valley is Kasol, you can get money exchangers, camping equipments, Rasta-colored clothes, dreadlock saloons and 'people' here.
Also since it has become popular with annoying Delhi collegeboys, you might want to run away on the weekends.

Tosh Village
Tosh is a sleepy Himalayan village on the Tosh river. Most of the inhabitants are herdsmen and hemp growers.

Ego Death in the valley of trance beats
Start off from Kasol towards Manikaran, from Manikaran a bad road goes uphill towards Tosh. If you have city taxi, the driver might not be very happy driving on the trail.
Our driver ditched us midway!

Local taxiwallahs would be happier taking you up there. [Some serious off-roading involved]

Kasol to Tosh Bus: 1:20PM

After a bumpy ride you reach the Tosh bidge, trek a bit and you're in the magical village.
I would have stayed at the Olive Garden, its owner Jackie is a nice chap, but he was still in Arambol around March-end.

So we put camp at 'The Last Resort", literally the last resort towards the bridge in the Tosh Village.

The Last Resort, Tosh

When you put your bags down, step out, and see towering snow-clad mountains around you, it is what we call 'Ego Death' happening in a matter of seconds.

Its a village where life slows down, and the local Tosh Cream is second only to Malana in quality(we'll talk about Malana later).

Also the local Himalayan Rec Trance music still plays in its original, beautiful unadulterated form in Tosh.


Pizza Hut, Tosh
Not your Dalhi pizza hut duh.! It was tiny-shiny cafe in the sleepy bylanes of Tosh. Its owner Krishna has created fabulous lesser known space with Tosh village on one side and the Tosh river flowing in the valley next to towering mountains on the other side. Whatever he cooks, he cooks with passion, closes the kitchen door, puts on some spiritual trance and dishes out food to the hungry trekkers.

PS: Your digestive system works with triple efficiency at high altitudes.

Krishna's 'Perfect' Cake


The surprise: Ask Krishna for the secret "perfect" cake he makes. I can assure you nothing would show you what psychedelia is better than his cake.






Treks
Ask anyone the way towards the Tosh Galcier/'Waterfall'. We started off from Olive Garden towards the jungles, that's also where I met my "perfect girlfriend". A faithful hill dog, she stayed with us throughout the journey uphill and downhill, through dangers, happiness and "I could've just died" moments, she deserves a separate blog altogether and it shall be up next.

Anyhow, you start trekking uphill you'd find a pretty cute waterfall of the Tosh river in the wilderness. You go to a corner there is a tiny cafe called "Ishan Shanti Cafe" the owner Ishan is a pretty friendly guy. He doesn't have much to serve because ration supplies are limited there. But he's more than happy to chill with people most of the times.

Take your tea break there, and sample some local stuff, trek on and on till as far as you can go, the trail is populated with smaller falls, snow, Pin forests, grass meadows, stepped farms.

As you go higher up it starts getting snowy, dangerous, slippery and difficult, but what's in the end is totally worth it.


Suddenly the grand Parvati River appears in front of you and Aloha!!

A huge river falling from a height on gigantic white marble rocks, untouched Pin forest everywhere around and of course, no matter how high up you go, there are always higher peaks mocking you.

One could stay in Tosh forever but Malana was calling us downhill.

Malana Village

We reached Malana to sample the local Malana Cream. Guys, the all the fuss around it is '16-aane-sach'.
So I made friends with this old man Tukaram from Malana, his age could be anywhere between 50 and 70. My question was, what's this deal about the village? WHY do you guys think you're so cool?

5 Myths about Malana busted:
  1. The locals do NOT consider themselves descendents of Alexander. In Tukaram's own words, "Sikandar kaha aaye honge itni door iss gaon mein". Its all media hoo-haa.
  2. According to Tukaram, any Malanese family does not have a problem with tourists touching/living/eating in their house as long as they are Rajputs/Brahmins and most would allow anyone as long as they're not "SC/ST" in his own words.
  3. Not all cream you get in Malana is the awesome cream. It has variants. Try and buy.
  4. The local temple of Jamlu Devta shall not be touched. But you be nice to the locals, you can click its photographs. I did. :)
  5. You can stay in Malana. Yes. There're 2-3 guesthouses. But there's also a secret hippie guesthouse. I wouldn't tell you the way. And the view from there is magical. High-up in the sky, and the Parvati flowing in front of you! Magical. To fall from there is the best way to die. You'd die smiling! If you're a true traveler, find out for yourself.
Getting There:
The road for Malana parts from Zari town. Zari also has the last ATM on enroute the valley. The road is super-rough so make sure you have strong/high base car with you.
The road till Malana Hydroelectric Plant is motorable and metalled. Thereafter, drive at your own risk.

As you drive up you'd see a board reading "Way to Malana village", you could stop and start climbing from here, it's a 4-5hour trek from this gate. Otherwise you could drive uphill and reach another similar gate. The village is a 1-1.5hour trek from there.

The trek is ugly in a nutshell. The hills are barren, all the water has been diverted to the power plant. The stairs might slow/tire you down, but keep trekking nevertheless.

The Malana Village is as primitive as it could get. Hayshacks, wooden houses and tons of muck everywhere.
We made friends with the locals and Ta Da! First time on the internet, a photo of Jamlu Devta Temple:
Jamlu Devta Temple, Malana

Cross the bylanes of Malana to reach the other side, cross the permanent snow and keep going uphill beyond the village. You might just start living there is all I'd say. Go explore for yourself.

Here is a glimpse of life of people there, from my brief stay!
Local Women Celebrating Spring!

Village Dance to Village Beats!

Aap bhi Hindustani, Main bhi Hindustani, Meri photo kheencho, Sheher se banwa ke lana, aur mujhe dena!
 The people of Malana have tasted development, earlier they protested to a direct road link to their village, now they're asking the government to build one. They know tourists bring money, and they locals are far more accepting of outsiders than they ever were.

Kasol
Since I am phobic to excess human interference, I was apprehensive if Kasol would turn out to be any good. But the place surprised me.
I was expecting 'Baga-Calangute types junta' there but it had its own share of surprises.

We all know about Evergreen Cafe right? Its a nice place. Eat there. Good food. Recharge yourself, then eat Momos at Reyshan's Cafe. Reyshan is a sweet friendly local boy, he can guide you towards cheap local accommodation as well.

You feel like doing something different, start trekking on the road next to Reyshan's cafe, keep trekking up till you see this little house:
World's Trippiest Residence. Period. Btw, that's me! :D
Request the owners for residence, if they allow, come back and tell me how it was!

If you go further uphill, you enter the Karnawat Pin Forest. The Parvati flows here in full force, this is also the perfect place, for those 'Feet in Water, Back on the Forest floor, Eyes on the waterfall' moments!

Underground Himalayan Music Cafes
That's the thing about underground cafes. If non-serious people go there, not only do they spoil the scene, they don't have much fun themselves.
So if you like Himalayan Trance, if you think THIS song is F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S., then visit Cafe Bhoj.

 
Next to 'Saamy's Travel Agency' in Kasol Main Market is a tiny-shady board that reads 'Cafe Bhoj'. The interiors are as beautiful as as the exteriors are nondescript.
Two floors of pure bliss. Big Hot Box Halls, Smaller Semi-Private cafe rooms, ambiance matching Israel of 1960s. Its also one of the few places that stay open all night.
I spent close to 6hours there and my body/mind still longs to go back.

Other Places of Interest
Now lets keep it simple-silly!

Kheerganga: You can trek to Kheerganga from Barsheni, Tosh or Rudranag.
From Barsheni the Trek is longer-easier.
From Tosh its shorter but tuffer.
From Rudranag its the shortest but pretty killing.

Take your supplies and tents along. If you dont own sleeping bags and tents yourself, there's a shop in Kasol selling the same. There's a singular guesthouse up there, but it has just 3rooms so they might/might-not be available!

The trek is beautiful, and the hot springs on top of the hill are an interesting sight, you might meet a Baba on your way up to Kheerganga. He's a nice chap.
His 'kheer' easily falls in the list of one of the best thing to go into people's body and minds!

Chhalal: Cross the Chhalal bridge, Hike for a few kilometres to reach Mula family Home. Another cafe/guest house in the middle of the rainforests known for their music. They also host trance parties in the jungle frequently.