Grahan Trek Day 2 – Back to Civilization with a Heavy Heart
Relive the emotions of Day 2 on the Grahan Trek as I reluctantly return to civilization with a heavy heart, cherishing the memories I’ve made.
A morning in the mountains
How can one get up early in Grahan when the bed is so cosy and warm while it’s so cold outside? 🙂
After the usual Nutella pancake (delicious even up here!) and a bread omelette (one of my favourites), the first stop before going down was the nearby waterfall.
On the way there, I explored Grahan a bit more and found the place with the best view: Old Krishna Cafe. The negative side of it was that it’s one of these places with lots of rave music.
When visiting, you should also not miss the beautifully carved wooden mandir (temple)!
Trekking to the waterfall
The way to the waterfall was just lovely and I crossed two smaller waterfalls on the way (which hardly deserve the name) until I reached the real one.
While sitting there, I noticed that the path continued a bit further up which was relatively difficult to reach. But how boring would that be not to try it 🙂
My efforts were rewarded by a nice view and an even calmer place to sit and relax. I would’ve loved to explore more but couldn’t afford it time-wise.
On the way back via Grahan, I decided to take a short break at the Old Krishna Cafe to enjoy the view – while having a Coke. The cafe was full of Israelis (surprise!) and I got into a conversation with some of them. I finally got to know why so many of them come to India: after their military service, they take some time off to travel. Since they don’t get paid a lot, India is the perfect option since it’s so cheap. This way, they can travel a lot and relatively long. The hills and Goa are the most popular.
Back to Kasol
After some time, I finally started my way down to Kasol and took the steep path this time. It turned out to be insanely steep and I was so glad that I didn’t take it on the way up! The view wasn’t that great either, especially not when going up, facing the mountain.
I reached Kasol after approx. 2 hours – while it took around 3 1/2 to go up. I just wished I would’ve stayed up there a bit longer!
Back to civilisation
The moment I got back to civilisation, my fingers started itching to check my phone. Isn’t that horrible? That’s the level of addiction… it had been so amazing up there without any connection, and hence without any urge to check anything. This really has to stop somehow…
Since the Grahan trek emerged right beside Moon Dance Cafe, I went there again for another of those amazing sandwiches.
I had left a smaller bag at the Hosteller in order to carry less load up there, so once more, I went there to get it. They let me change in one of the dorm rooms so I finally saw one of those. It wasn’t bad at all, I have to say!
I still had a lot of time to kill, so I went to one of the best restaurants on my list, a must-visit on every page I could find: Evergreen. They have a lovely seating area outside, so I borrowed one of their books, ordered an Oreo shake, and spent the next hour reading. I decided too late what to eat (mutton lasagne) and it took ages to come. I ended up having less than 10 min to eat and had to gulp down as much as possible. Which was a pity since it turned out to be one of the best lasagnas I have tried so far in India! I would’ve never expected to get that kind of flavour and quality in a place like Kasol!
The worst part was that the boarding point for my bus was around 10 min away at Kasol Camp and I hurried to get there. They left 10 minutes later – only to hold for another hour in Kasol itself, 5 minutes away from the restaurant!! I could’ve easily finished my lasagne in peace had I known that…
On second thought, I was glad I didn’t. The road back to Kullu was horrible on this huge bus. Coming up in a smaller, local bus, there were no issues at all. But this one… it was extremely shaky and almost threw us from our seats more than once. For a bit, I was concerned to see my lasagne again… note for myself (and everything who wants some gyan of a wise woman): no heavy dinners before bus journeys!
The bus wasn’t too great and apart from being already late, it stopped twice on the way – another 40 minutes gone – which made it hard to sleep. As if that wasn’t enough already, we had to change the bus in Chandigarh due to some technical issue. The new bus was even less comfortable and sleep wasn’t possible at all anymore.
With around 2 hours delay, I finally reached Majnu ka Tilla from which I could take a metro home.
Do you think I was able to stay within my budget? Let’s see the summary of my trip!!
Summary
Distance covered
By bus: 540 km
Duration: 15.5 hrs (bus not punctual, lots of stops, horrible road from Kasol to Bhuntar, had to change the bus in Chandigarh because of some technical issue. Including metro till home: 16.5 hrs –> dead!)
Cost: 1200 INR/~17 $
By foot: 14 km
Food
The Howling Owl
Cost: 750 INR/~10.50 $ (Lunch, dinner, breakfast)
Rating: 4/5 (Tuna Cheese Pasta: average; Siddu: very good; Nutella Pancake: great; Bread omelette: great)
Moon Dance Cafe
Lunch: Grilled ham and cheese sandwich, ginger lemon honey tea
Cost: 280 INR/~4 $
Rating: 5/5 (Grilled Ham Sandwich: amazing! Came back for that specifically; Ginger lemon honey tea)
Evergreen Cafe
Dinner: Oreo shake, mutton lasagne
Cost: 700 INR/~10 $
Rating: 5/5 (Oreo Shake: very good, but my bar is set too high for that; Mutton Lasagne: amazing! Never expected it to be that good!)
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