Delhi to Tirthan & Kinnaur Valley | Adventurism – 5

Thanks guys for enjoying the Trip log so far and of course the Day 2 of the travel story had received tremendous feedback as it deserved. If by chance you missed any of the day then it’s time to check it for sure with rest of them. Here is the listing of all the parts…

Day 4 – 26th April, 2010 | Shoja to Tirthan Valley

Yesterday was an action packed adventurous day with fantabulous drive in hills which ended with a sound sleep at Raja’s Guest House, Shoja. It was morning at Shoja, the breeze had still the chill in it even though sun was out in full glory. The stay so far was very much comfortable with nice rooms and economically worth at the cost of Rs. 2400 for three rooms it even added advantage of stay there. Everyone was excited as they knew that this day would be the most relaxing of the trip with hard lazing-out right into the lap of mother nature with serene Tirthan River flowing aside them.

The Bonfire at Tirthan Valley…

At Shoja, it was time for the breakfast and everyone wanted to rush down towards Tirthan Valley to enjoy the river. We ordered variety in the breakfast with omelets being the common entity. I must appreciate that "It was the best ever finger licking Egg-Bhurji I ever had in my entire life". I feel it was due to the eggs primarily being "desi" but nothing to take from the cook. We all had a good meal there, settled the bill, thanked for the hospitality and as usual after the photo session we started the descent towards Tirthan Valley at 10.00 AM.

Good Morning at Shoja, Himachal Pradesh…

The Lonely Roads towards Jalori Pass…

Something Under-Construction probably another Guest House…

Raja Guest House, Shoja…

Parking for the Wheels…

OOPs That’s Me Again…Disturbing the picture Centralized 😉

Finger Licking Delicious…

Well below are some interesting pictures in two parts taken in the Dinning place at Raja Guest House…Don’t scroll and imagine what’s in the first picture…

Imagine What’s in the Picture????

It’s the same picture Upside-Down…I feel you know the answer now…

The road from Shoja towards Tirthan goes via Banjar which is by far the most biggest town nearby those hills by many means. You can find the ATM there and there is even the main bazaar where you can shop most of the things you may require for daily routine. As we started the descent the air started to get warm in the heat of the sun. There was a decent traffic on roads and bus service from Kullu-Shimla also runs on this route. The roads are pretty narrow and you have to let passes on quite a few places. As with the ascent the descent even was too steep and first gear I believe had started to take the toll. Yuo must have to pay attention on road and must have to drive in first gear only. There was a lonely place where we stopped for some pictures but we found known smell of burning rubber as we stepped out. The tiers of the car were the answer to the smell and believe me for Santro the wheels covers started coming out after melting beacuse of the heated tiers. But that didn’t damp our spirits of the pictures and here are they…

Dheeraj Sharma

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The GANG Again…

Yet another Lonely Road…

After few more solo clicks we moved further ahead and crossed Shringi Vatika which had a must-meal due but since our tummies were full we couldn’t stop there. As we took the turn we saw some road construction work going on and I asked one of the guys (I believe a PWD guy) involved weather we shall wait here or cross the Road-Roller. He said no problem; go ahead sir, even when we can easily saw machine down laying the charcoal (tar) . As expected when we reached that place we saw a Tempo waiting for the clearance. We waited back of it and after 15 minutes the same guy came to ask us "SIR BACK KARNA PADEGA, ROAD ROLLER KO PAAS DENA PADEGA" (You will have to reverse your car to give Road Roller the clearance) :shock:. Crazy sh**, it was difficult reversing all the way back uphill for more than 200 Mtrs. Five of us started helping me reverse only to confuse me ;). In between one of them put his feet below the front wheel and I managed to run over it 😳 only to give him a lot of pain 🙄 … I know sad but lack of skills on my part I believe :D. But, fortunately he was not hurt too much and I finally managed to reverse only when I stopped listening to anyone and doing it my own. UFF, What a sigh of relief :)…even when my cousin who got hurt was furious with us :mrgreen…Finally the road roller passed and after about 20 minutes waiting time we got the clearance from it. As we moved ahead there was another set of road construction equipments which wasted another 25 minutes or so :cry:.. So just to cross 400 Mtrs it took more than 45 minutes and it was getting late, 12.15 was the time I believe.

Road Construction Work at Shoja-Banjar Road…

View En-route Tirthan Valley…

We reached Banjar which proved to be big town we witnessed after almost 24 Hours, I think after Rampur. The road had got extremely narrow there and it seemed that I have entered Sadar Bazaar of Delhi. It was fight for the space to move ahead in the center of the market. The main chowk was jammed by all kinds of wrongly parked vehicles and the gap between vehicles was even less than 2 inches from each of the four sides. We managed to keep our car behind a bus which helped us passing through the Jam packed roads of Banjar. If I had known it, I would have certainly left Shoja around 7 AM (and now you know it, don’t repeat the same :cool:) Anyways we managed to cross the Banjar and called Mr. Bupinder Singh at Riverside Resort, Tirthan. He asked us to keep our vehicle on the right and take the road uphill going towards Gushaini. This is the very road which is like U-Turn for people coming from Aut / Lariji (This where only petrol pump of the region exist). He also said that a guys wearing white cap (Prakash) would be waiting for us on the road itself. Finally he managed to greet us at Deuri.

Banjar Town…

Queue for What??? WATER :oops:…

Great Himalayan National Part Contact…River Side Resort Milestone…

Another Lonely Road but this time in Tirthan…

River Side Resort… First View…

We stepped out of our cars and met Prakash, the guy who always stay at the river side resort even when the owner Mr. Bhupinder Singh is unavailable in winter due to extreme chill. We were all delighted to see the serene and calm Tirthan River flowing besides the resort. And everyone said "Saale, pehle yahan kyo nahin laaye!!!!" (Blah, Blah!! Why didn’t you bring us here at before). I felt happy to finally have such praise :mrgreen:. Meanwhile we got our luggage out of the cars and Prakash told us that parking is at some distance away crossing the bridge. But, luggage and people can take the root above river… 🙄 and as we stepped down towards river. We saw the wires plugged with a trolley hanging on pulleys on which we were supposed to pass the river. None of us had experienced such thing before and WOW!!! It was amazing little first time experience for each of us. Just watch yourself in the videos…

Crossing Tirthan River

Here is another angle of crossing the Trithan River…

Finally only three of us left (me, deepak and neeraj) who being unlucky couldn’t experience that feeling as we had to park our cars and Prakash came with us to show the way. Some clicks of Tirthan River Crossing too…

Starting The Show…

Passing The River…First One…

Passing The River…Second One…

Few Have Crossed…

We tracked back to a board saying "Deuri" from which a Kacchi road goes towards right and then just after crossing Liquor Shop 😯 (Ohh..Yess…there is one and you can get some decent brands as well…:D) you need to cross a hanging bridge. I had done it on my feet before but never on the wheels of my car…It was an easy piece of cake and felt nice crossing over it. Check the video…

Our Cars Crossing Hanging Bridge Over Tirthan River

Reaching the parking Spot, you could feel that you may never see such beautiful parking anywhere easily and many of my fellow travelers who have been there, had quoted the same many times. I am just adding the flavor to it. It’s like 10 minutes walk through a narrow trail to reach River Side Resort.Just at the start of the trail you will find a Shop from where you can get Cigarettes as well. You need to cross the dry river bed which is full of rocks at the other side of the resort to reach it. When the water is more in Tirthan River it makes it way from this side thereby blocking it. So the only option left then to reach the resort is using trolley only.

Beautiful Parking…

When we reached the resort we found everyone taking full toll of mother nature, enjoying the river chilled water, relaxing on hammock, apple juice (served as complimentary drinks) and what else you need…Those were really some moments to remember and I tried to capture them to cherish later…Welcome to Trithan Valley or Shall I say Tirthan River :D…

Enjoying Every Bit….

Watch Your Foot…

Feet in Chilling Water…

Finding a Fish…

Leave Me Alone or Waiting for the Turn…

We had already settled the charges and they were like Rs 1000 for family room, Rs 700 for room couple’s rooms ;). Along with room rents, Rs 300 were charged per person for three vegetarian meals and Rs 350 per person for the non-vegetarian one. It was almost time for lunch and they had prepared it for us already. We had our lunch and the food tasted really good. Then we started to roam exploring the surroundings but were careful enough to watch our steps. You must be wondering why watching steps??? Well just before we ordered lunch my cousin had a strange feeling on his feet..and he noticed mother of what you see below in the picture…

Dheeraj Sharma

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The Dragon Lizard…

:mrgreen:…WOW!! That must be a feeling… the mother was much bigger in size and my cousin almost had nightmares in day of the same for a long time. He entered a kind of phobia and even if the grass touches his feet he almost jump into air. He had his lunch in a position where his feet never came near the ground :LOL:…We all had a fun of the entire incident as he shouted like hell as if Cobra has bitten him :D…

After the lunch everyone went into WALKS and TALKS…Someone was exploring the river, some explored rocks, some explored surrounding woods, some like me slept for few hours…All in all, unusual to us, a complete relaxing holiday. It was evening and we all had cup of teacoffee and went downstairs. There was a volleyball court so we thought why not get our hands wet with the same…so it was some volleyball for some of us while my friend’s wife along with my wife were busy in gossips. What a place for gossips :lol:…After one or two rounds of volleyball for me it was an opportunity for some pictures to click…

Volleyball Time at Tirthan Valley…

River Side Resort…Another Angle…

House Up and High…

It’s Tirthan River and It’s evening…

So I tried clicking some long exposure shots as the light has immensely gone down but can’t say how they turned out…It was dark and everyone gathered for some snacks supported by booze…:D..Now it’s booze time with some gup-shups, crispy chips and egg bhurji…

It’s Moon and It’s evening…

They Look Pretty Together…

The Lamp Post…

I must appreciate the quality and comfort of the rooms at river side resort and they were of real worth at such a price. Probably the best rooms of the trip. They also have waiver that 12.00 PM check-out time, so you are flexible enough to have your 24 hours charged as and when you check-in. Another advantage was they don’t restrict the number of people in one room, so you can easily have 3 people in a room with single double bed and 6 in the family size room. I really liked the place and must say that this would be any day getaway for me in future. Some pictures of the rooms…

Rooms at River Side Resort…

It was dinner time and again the quality was really good of the food. The tastes like North Indian which make you feel that you are not so far away from Delhi :D…After the dinner as none of us felt sleepy so, Mr. Bhupinder Singh asked Prakash to let Bonfire for us. So we enjoyed the bonfire with couple of games and my singer brother singing couple of nice melodies…Meanwhile I clicked some pictures just as an experimentation with very long exposures…Here is the outcome…

The Bonfire at Tirthan Valley…

It’s Moon and It’s Night…

It’s Tirthan River and It’s Night…

After few hours of fun we all went to sleep or I shall call it a very very sound sleep…

Next Day Coming Soon…

The journey ahead-