Fagu in a pair of Shawls - 2 of 2
Day 3 – 3 Nov, 2009, Tuesday
Fagu – Theog – Chhaila – Khara Pathar – Jubbal – Hatkodi – Rohru – Back to Fagu [250km]
I get up early, around 6am. It is a bright and sunny morning. Since we are the only guests staying at the resort, there is no tea or breakfast. I coax the attendant to get me some toast and butter, and chai. The verandah is sparkling with golden sunlight. And so is the Giri valley. We plan to make Fagu the base and move about. A wise decision in hindsight, since there are no livable places in Jubbal area.
Around 8:30am, we leave the resort and move towards Theog (10km). At Theog, one road goes towards Narkanda, and the other goes towards Chhaila, which is what we take. The road is downhill and filled with landslides that are recently cleared. The going is a bit rough, and dusty.
Chhaila is in the valley, near the river, about 25km from Theog. Once at Chhaila, you start seeing the river to the left of your side. The road is narrow and winding, but the best part is when you get glimpses of the Himalayas. And what magnificent glimpses they are! The skies are clear and you can see the white mountains dazzling in sunshine.
We cross Kotkhai, and climb up the road to Khara Pathar (lit. ‘the standing rock’). Just after the village, there is a resort run by Himachal tourism called Giri Ganga. About 2km from here is a small opening in the forest that leads you to Giri Ganga – the mouth of the river. One needs to ask, since there are no signs and the road is so small, you can easily miss it.
From here starts our ‘raid the Himalayas’ adventure of the day. This is really a mountain trail, to be done on foot. The Outlook Traveller describes it as a Jeep track, which it is not. It is even worse. I do not see any other tire marks. The road becomes bumpier as we move forward. We find a man walking down and ask him. He says we are on the right track (!) and says to take the right from the next ‘kaichi’ (lit. ‘scissor’ – meaning fork on the road).
We are now sitting literally on the edge of our seats. The car sinks in the road, then comes up again, then goes down. It hits the tree-roots protruding from the soil. It hits the rocks. It hits the mounds of mud in the middle of the road. More than once it hits the chassis of the car. More than once I am just on the edge of the road. There is no road.
And thus pass the 8km journey right in the heart of the jungle, where we finally see an opening, and a temple. No breakages, no tire punctures, no damages – at least not the visible ones. Phew! This is the Giri Ganga temple.
Once here, though, the journey is totally worth it. In retrospect, it is a great experience for those in search of adventure. The setting is like in Narnia. And since there is no road, there are no visitors except us. The temple complex is situated in a small opening between lush green mountains on all sides. There is a temple for Shiva, one for Rama, one for Kali – slightly away on a hillock and the main temple of Ganga. The river flows right from the top of the mountain on one side, past the temples, gets collected in a nice clean pond around the main Ganga temple, and then flows down into the valley. It is beautiful.
The pujari asks us to remove belts as leather items are not allowed inside the sanctum. He is amazed to see that we have come to the temple in a car. Usually people walk up to the place. The temples are ancient, and made of stone. It is as if we have gone back eons. There is some restoration work going on as of now. Hope that it will keep the charm of the place unharmed.
To be honest, I am not really in the frame of mind to enjoy the beauty of the place, since I am worried about doing the mountain trek back in my car. So we head back on the same route, keeping our fingers crossed once again and eyes nearly shut. Going down is even more risky, and my palms are sweating with anxiety. Thankfully we are able to climb down without any unpleasant incident. Once we hit the main road, we stop by and savor the moment of triumph.
Back on the main road, we head towards Jubbal. The road is narrow and winding, and you keep seeing the snow capped mountains at a distance. The town of Jubbal, with a population of around 1,500, is situated in a valley of Pabbal river at around 6000 feet and one has to take a left turn downwards from the road to Rohru to go to Jubbal. While we are on this route, we suddenly see a castle like the one from Grimm’s fairy tales. This is the Jubbal palace that we have read about. It is built in a strange combination of British and Chinese architecture, with pagoda-like minarets and wooden ceilings.
Not very well-kept, at least from the outside, the palace is now managed by the employees of the Maharaja. Apparently the timber frame was destroyed in a fire some fifty years ago, but is being slowly restored by the Maharaja.
It seems a part of this palace is given to tourists. So once at the gate, which is right in the middle of the town’s very busy marketplace, we ask around. A local informs us that the Maharaja is out in Shimla, and so is the sentry out somewhere. He calls up the sentry – everyone has a mobile now – but alas, the gentleman is far away. So we see the palace from the outside gate, take pictures, and climb back to the main road.
From Jubbal, Hatkoti is 10km further ahead. Narendra had earlier emphasized that we do not miss Hatkeshwari temple at Hatkoti, so we head towards it. Soon, we start seeing the temple down in the valley and it looks great from the top.
The temple complex is surrounded with well-kept gardens. We can see Pabbal river flowing towards the right. The entry is through an ancient wooden door, with its Nagaar-khana too made of wood on the top. There are two modern life-size lions made of brass at the gate and cased in wooden enclosures.
Once inside, there are three temples – one for Shiva, one for Durga and the main one for Hatkoti. All temples are small stone structures with carvings and idols of bygone era. The roofs are pagoda-like and have very nice wooden carvings, with images of goddesses, fishes and fisherwomen. Two little lions, again made of brass, are in front of Hatkoti. They look more Nepali than Indian, with wings on their legs and fangs in their mouths. The temple is serene, and we spend a great lot of time in the surroundings. The goddess is quite revered in this part and all tempos, scooters and shops have ‘Jai Hatkeshwari’ written on them.
We move further to Rohru (20km) – considered the apple country. Sadly, all apples are plucked in August-September and we do not see even one apple orchard with fruit. The road to from Hatkoti to Rohru – a pretty large town with expected population around 7,000 people – is most enjoyable, with mountains on the left and the river flowing to the right side of the road.
The entrance to Rohru is the new fruit and vegetable market, which to our utter dismay closed for some reason. So here too we do not get any apples. The entry is further dotted with vehicle garages and mechanics doing ‘denting & penting’ (!) jobs.
We start the journey back to Fagu from Rohru by 3:30pm. While returning, we stop by Giri Ganga resort at Khara Pathar, where we get some pakoras and the quintessential chai. As we climb down to Chhaila, I notice a green cart to the left, saying ‘fish fry’. Here, a very grumpy man sells excellent fish fry – whole fish battered fried right in front of you. He tells me that it is angled fresh from the river in the morning. The fish is a bit smelly, but is sweet and really fresh. We get a pair of those for fifty bucks.
Darkness falls by 6:00pm, and the climb to Fagu gets tough. We return to Galleu by 7:00pm after having bough supplies at Theog. The moon is spilling its silver all over the valley, and it is a moment to savor the beauty sitting in the verandah of the hotel, despite the chill in the air. After a good dinner of chicken curry and vegetable pulao by nine, we are so overcome with fatigue that we hit the sac, only to wake up the next day.
Day 4 – 4 Nov, 2009, Wednesday
Fagu – Kufri – Shimla – Shoghi – Kalka – Chandigarh – Ambala – Delhi – Gurgaon [450km]
As usual, I wake up around 6am. As the sun rises, I sit in the verandan, savoring the beautiful valley for the last time.
We bid adieu to Fagu in time, and move towards Shimla. At Shimla (20km), you can park your car before the ‘lift’ to the mall in parking places, and climb up either by stairs or take the lift. We park ours in the first available parking away from the crowd and climb up.
Our climb takes us to a pleasant Kali Bari temple before the mall, which is maintained by the Army. The temple has a beautiful view of Shimla, sprawled across the mountains. The temple also has some really exquisite paintings of Devi in her different avatars – Chinnamasta, Dhoomavati, and the likes. The place is a must on the itinerary to Shimla.
We move towards the mall, cross the Grand hotel, the GPO, and thus get on to the mall by around 10am. The shops are just opening. So we go towards the Church and the public library next to it, and roam about. Crowds have started to build near the observation point, and we see groups of American tourists following their guides who keep showing them snow capped mountain far away.
We see the board of Jakhu temple next to the library, and decide to take the climb. The board also gives you a challenge – it asks you to find if you are ‘fit’ or ‘absolutely fit’ – by walking up to Jakhu temple on a steep climb (which is a 2km) in 30 mins. The climb is really steep, but we are very happy that we get away from the maddening crowd that is Shimla, and also make it in good time to be ‘absolutely fit’.
Legend has it that Lord Hanuman rested here while searching for Sanjivani when Laxman was mortally wounded by Indrajit in Lanka in Ram-Ravan battle. It seems that his companions rested here longer than he did, and when he was gone, they were very sad, and kept looking for him in the area. It looks like that they – the monkeys – are still searching for him. The temple is known for monkey menace, so we remove our shades and hide them.
The temple is old, well kept and provides fascinating view of the mountains and valleys around. It is definitely worth the climb. There is a mammoth statue of Hanuman being built behind the temple. While returning, we see more groups of tourists huffing and puffing towards the top and we are glad we have climbed down before they have reached.
Once back in Shimla on the mall road, we go to Baljee’s, who offer the best food in the area, and are content with sandwiches and burgers as it is still early in the day. The burger bread is fried, but tastes lovely.
Walking around the streets of Shimla, climbing up and down its stairs and lazing around on the mall looking at highly priced merchandise is a pleasurable experience. So we roam around, soak in the sun, and finally move out by noon.
As we are climbing down from Shimla, we stop by a shop selling HPMC wines, and buy a few bottles of fruit wine. We also find an apple seller (finally) and manage to buy a couple of crates. He seems like a very genuine person and explains different varieties of apples. He insists that the apples he has currently with him are from Kinnaur, which is better – and not from Rohru. The apples from Rohru are used only in jams and juices. We also buy some walnuts from him, which are quite good.
The drive down to Kalka is pleasant, and the road is wide. We see a few crockery shops in Kalka, where we buy a teapot and some tea mugs. Barring a few stops in Panchkula, the journey is uneventful, and we reach the main highway from Chandigarh to Ambala by 5:30pm.
Night falls early this time of the year, so the rest of the journey is in dark. Which is fine, since the road is so very good now. After Ambala, we stop by at a place where you have factory outlets of leading brands like Van Heusen, Reebok etc. In general, we are in no hurry. I for one, want to reach Delhi only post 10pm so that we do not get the traffic.
We plan to stop at Karnal, but miss Neelkanth Dhaba. So we continue to Sonipat, and halt at the famous Pahalwan Dhaba once again for the excellent Parathas with white butter.
The entry to Delhi is always troublesome, but with the new flyover it has become much easier. We reach Gurgaon by 11:30pm in the night, glad that we managed to survive the freeze in our shorts and a pair of shawls.
- Shreekant
November 5, 2009
Fagu – Theog – Chhaila – Khara Pathar – Jubbal – Hatkodi – Rohru – Back to Fagu [250km]
I get up early, around 6am. It is a bright and sunny morning. Since we are the only guests staying at the resort, there is no tea or breakfast. I coax the attendant to get me some toast and butter, and chai. The verandah is sparkling with golden sunlight. And so is the Giri valley. We plan to make Fagu the base and move about. A wise decision in hindsight, since there are no livable places in Jubbal area.
Around 8:30am, we leave the resort and move towards Theog (10km). At Theog, one road goes towards Narkanda, and the other goes towards Chhaila, which is what we take. The road is downhill and filled with landslides that are recently cleared. The going is a bit rough, and dusty.
Chhaila is in the valley, near the river, about 25km from Theog. Once at Chhaila, you start seeing the river to the left of your side. The road is narrow and winding, but the best part is when you get glimpses of the Himalayas. And what magnificent glimpses they are! The skies are clear and you can see the white mountains dazzling in sunshine.
We cross Kotkhai, and climb up the road to Khara Pathar (lit. ‘the standing rock’). Just after the village, there is a resort run by Himachal tourism called Giri Ganga. About 2km from here is a small opening in the forest that leads you to Giri Ganga – the mouth of the river. One needs to ask, since there are no signs and the road is so small, you can easily miss it.
From here starts our ‘raid the Himalayas’ adventure of the day. This is really a mountain trail, to be done on foot. The Outlook Traveller describes it as a Jeep track, which it is not. It is even worse. I do not see any other tire marks. The road becomes bumpier as we move forward. We find a man walking down and ask him. He says we are on the right track (!) and says to take the right from the next ‘kaichi’ (lit. ‘scissor’ – meaning fork on the road).
We are now sitting literally on the edge of our seats. The car sinks in the road, then comes up again, then goes down. It hits the tree-roots protruding from the soil. It hits the rocks. It hits the mounds of mud in the middle of the road. More than once it hits the chassis of the car. More than once I am just on the edge of the road. There is no road.
And thus pass the 8km journey right in the heart of the jungle, where we finally see an opening, and a temple. No breakages, no tire punctures, no damages – at least not the visible ones. Phew! This is the Giri Ganga temple.
Once here, though, the journey is totally worth it. In retrospect, it is a great experience for those in search of adventure. The setting is like in Narnia. And since there is no road, there are no visitors except us. The temple complex is situated in a small opening between lush green mountains on all sides. There is a temple for Shiva, one for Rama, one for Kali – slightly away on a hillock and the main temple of Ganga. The river flows right from the top of the mountain on one side, past the temples, gets collected in a nice clean pond around the main Ganga temple, and then flows down into the valley. It is beautiful.
The pujari asks us to remove belts as leather items are not allowed inside the sanctum. He is amazed to see that we have come to the temple in a car. Usually people walk up to the place. The temples are ancient, and made of stone. It is as if we have gone back eons. There is some restoration work going on as of now. Hope that it will keep the charm of the place unharmed.
To be honest, I am not really in the frame of mind to enjoy the beauty of the place, since I am worried about doing the mountain trek back in my car. So we head back on the same route, keeping our fingers crossed once again and eyes nearly shut. Going down is even more risky, and my palms are sweating with anxiety. Thankfully we are able to climb down without any unpleasant incident. Once we hit the main road, we stop by and savor the moment of triumph.
Back on the main road, we head towards Jubbal. The road is narrow and winding, and you keep seeing the snow capped mountains at a distance. The town of Jubbal, with a population of around 1,500, is situated in a valley of Pabbal river at around 6000 feet and one has to take a left turn downwards from the road to Rohru to go to Jubbal. While we are on this route, we suddenly see a castle like the one from Grimm’s fairy tales. This is the Jubbal palace that we have read about. It is built in a strange combination of British and Chinese architecture, with pagoda-like minarets and wooden ceilings.
Not very well-kept, at least from the outside, the palace is now managed by the employees of the Maharaja. Apparently the timber frame was destroyed in a fire some fifty years ago, but is being slowly restored by the Maharaja.
It seems a part of this palace is given to tourists. So once at the gate, which is right in the middle of the town’s very busy marketplace, we ask around. A local informs us that the Maharaja is out in Shimla, and so is the sentry out somewhere. He calls up the sentry – everyone has a mobile now – but alas, the gentleman is far away. So we see the palace from the outside gate, take pictures, and climb back to the main road.
From Jubbal, Hatkoti is 10km further ahead. Narendra had earlier emphasized that we do not miss Hatkeshwari temple at Hatkoti, so we head towards it. Soon, we start seeing the temple down in the valley and it looks great from the top.
The temple complex is surrounded with well-kept gardens. We can see Pabbal river flowing towards the right. The entry is through an ancient wooden door, with its Nagaar-khana too made of wood on the top. There are two modern life-size lions made of brass at the gate and cased in wooden enclosures.
Once inside, there are three temples – one for Shiva, one for Durga and the main one for Hatkoti. All temples are small stone structures with carvings and idols of bygone era. The roofs are pagoda-like and have very nice wooden carvings, with images of goddesses, fishes and fisherwomen. Two little lions, again made of brass, are in front of Hatkoti. They look more Nepali than Indian, with wings on their legs and fangs in their mouths. The temple is serene, and we spend a great lot of time in the surroundings. The goddess is quite revered in this part and all tempos, scooters and shops have ‘Jai Hatkeshwari’ written on them.
We move further to Rohru (20km) – considered the apple country. Sadly, all apples are plucked in August-September and we do not see even one apple orchard with fruit. The road to from Hatkoti to Rohru – a pretty large town with expected population around 7,000 people – is most enjoyable, with mountains on the left and the river flowing to the right side of the road.
The entrance to Rohru is the new fruit and vegetable market, which to our utter dismay closed for some reason. So here too we do not get any apples. The entry is further dotted with vehicle garages and mechanics doing ‘denting & penting’ (!) jobs.
We start the journey back to Fagu from Rohru by 3:30pm. While returning, we stop by Giri Ganga resort at Khara Pathar, where we get some pakoras and the quintessential chai. As we climb down to Chhaila, I notice a green cart to the left, saying ‘fish fry’. Here, a very grumpy man sells excellent fish fry – whole fish battered fried right in front of you. He tells me that it is angled fresh from the river in the morning. The fish is a bit smelly, but is sweet and really fresh. We get a pair of those for fifty bucks.
Darkness falls by 6:00pm, and the climb to Fagu gets tough. We return to Galleu by 7:00pm after having bough supplies at Theog. The moon is spilling its silver all over the valley, and it is a moment to savor the beauty sitting in the verandah of the hotel, despite the chill in the air. After a good dinner of chicken curry and vegetable pulao by nine, we are so overcome with fatigue that we hit the sac, only to wake up the next day.
Day 4 – 4 Nov, 2009, Wednesday
Fagu – Kufri – Shimla – Shoghi – Kalka – Chandigarh – Ambala – Delhi – Gurgaon [450km]
As usual, I wake up around 6am. As the sun rises, I sit in the verandan, savoring the beautiful valley for the last time.
We bid adieu to Fagu in time, and move towards Shimla. At Shimla (20km), you can park your car before the ‘lift’ to the mall in parking places, and climb up either by stairs or take the lift. We park ours in the first available parking away from the crowd and climb up.
Our climb takes us to a pleasant Kali Bari temple before the mall, which is maintained by the Army. The temple has a beautiful view of Shimla, sprawled across the mountains. The temple also has some really exquisite paintings of Devi in her different avatars – Chinnamasta, Dhoomavati, and the likes. The place is a must on the itinerary to Shimla.
We move towards the mall, cross the Grand hotel, the GPO, and thus get on to the mall by around 10am. The shops are just opening. So we go towards the Church and the public library next to it, and roam about. Crowds have started to build near the observation point, and we see groups of American tourists following their guides who keep showing them snow capped mountain far away.
We see the board of Jakhu temple next to the library, and decide to take the climb. The board also gives you a challenge – it asks you to find if you are ‘fit’ or ‘absolutely fit’ – by walking up to Jakhu temple on a steep climb (which is a 2km) in 30 mins. The climb is really steep, but we are very happy that we get away from the maddening crowd that is Shimla, and also make it in good time to be ‘absolutely fit’.
Legend has it that Lord Hanuman rested here while searching for Sanjivani when Laxman was mortally wounded by Indrajit in Lanka in Ram-Ravan battle. It seems that his companions rested here longer than he did, and when he was gone, they were very sad, and kept looking for him in the area. It looks like that they – the monkeys – are still searching for him. The temple is known for monkey menace, so we remove our shades and hide them.
The temple is old, well kept and provides fascinating view of the mountains and valleys around. It is definitely worth the climb. There is a mammoth statue of Hanuman being built behind the temple. While returning, we see more groups of tourists huffing and puffing towards the top and we are glad we have climbed down before they have reached.
Once back in Shimla on the mall road, we go to Baljee’s, who offer the best food in the area, and are content with sandwiches and burgers as it is still early in the day. The burger bread is fried, but tastes lovely.
Walking around the streets of Shimla, climbing up and down its stairs and lazing around on the mall looking at highly priced merchandise is a pleasurable experience. So we roam around, soak in the sun, and finally move out by noon.
As we are climbing down from Shimla, we stop by a shop selling HPMC wines, and buy a few bottles of fruit wine. We also find an apple seller (finally) and manage to buy a couple of crates. He seems like a very genuine person and explains different varieties of apples. He insists that the apples he has currently with him are from Kinnaur, which is better – and not from Rohru. The apples from Rohru are used only in jams and juices. We also buy some walnuts from him, which are quite good.
The drive down to Kalka is pleasant, and the road is wide. We see a few crockery shops in Kalka, where we buy a teapot and some tea mugs. Barring a few stops in Panchkula, the journey is uneventful, and we reach the main highway from Chandigarh to Ambala by 5:30pm.
Night falls early this time of the year, so the rest of the journey is in dark. Which is fine, since the road is so very good now. After Ambala, we stop by at a place where you have factory outlets of leading brands like Van Heusen, Reebok etc. In general, we are in no hurry. I for one, want to reach Delhi only post 10pm so that we do not get the traffic.
We plan to stop at Karnal, but miss Neelkanth Dhaba. So we continue to Sonipat, and halt at the famous Pahalwan Dhaba once again for the excellent Parathas with white butter.
The entry to Delhi is always troublesome, but with the new flyover it has become much easier. We reach Gurgaon by 11:30pm in the night, glad that we managed to survive the freeze in our shorts and a pair of shawls.
- Shreekant
November 5, 2009
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