Himachal trip

It took a while to upload photos of my Himachal trip. Even if it is summer here, there was rain there. Due to the dark clouds, the light there was not all that good. I had to edit almost all the photos in Photoshop, but the end result is good.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip, which was kinda short (just about 6 days). I managed to visit couple of places there, including Chamba. Chamba is a pretty place, and kinda bigger than I had imagined it to be. It took about six hours by car to reach that place from Palampur and in the beginning of the trip, all the mountains on the way were so dry that I was kinda apprehensive about the place. I assumed it to be a small village with couple of houses here and there, but once we reached near the valley, the view was breathtaking.



And after this point onwards, things got better and better. When we were near the Chamba, it got bit cloudy. The light was poor, so I couldn't take much pictures. But this one will give you some idea.



All the mountain tops were covered with the soft white misty clouds and it was enchanting to see the lush green valley against the blue misty mountains.



We stopped by to see Chamera dam, which is on Ravi river. It was an amazing view.



And then finally we reached Chamba. It sure is a lovely place. No wonder most of the Bollywood films shoot their songs there. The place is a bit too crowded though. I mean, after Bombay, I had never seen so many houses built in such a small area. The top view of Chamba looks like patch of roofs closely knit together. You can hardly see the roads inside the colonies.



The green roof there is of Palace of the king of Chamba. This one is the view of the road near the entrance of the Chamba.



But the houses are surprisingly airy, because most of them are built on the reclines of the hills. The whole village is a huge maze of staircases. So one needs to climb at least 50 steps to get to any place. No wonder people are so slim there. On an average every person has to climb at least 500 steps everyday.... even if you chose to stay at home. Here are the steps inside our house there. Say, if you want to go to the dining room from the bed room, you need to climb 10 steps. :-)



They have a lots of cute little wooden houses and stone temples with elaborate carvings.







I just loved the place. While our way back we took the road which goes via Jot. Jot is the highest mountain top and you can see all other mountain tops from there. It was awesome. I am planning to build a house at Jot, so that I will be always at the top the world. LOL. This is the view from Jot. The row of snow covered mountains is the Himalaya range.





The place leaves a mesmerizing effect. While I am writing this, I can feel the cool fresh breeze on my face. I hope I will get to go there again.... sometime soon.