Eat, travel and repeat.
Do you remember Sushant Singh Rajput’s Instagram post – Easy, Stay, Explore, and Repeat. The actor also wrote about how he enjoys his holidays by exploring local tourist attractions and cultures of different places. After a few months after lockdown, working as a software engineer in Bangalore’s company I came back to the mountains of my hometown Uttarakhand. This is my first trekking experience in the mountains of Uttarakhand with my corporate job.
After spending one year in Bangalore, and being stuck in lockdown with my new job (WFH). I finally picked up my laptop bag & travelled 2100 km to reach my hometown and decided to explore the mountains. Spent a few days with family in Rishikesh. One evening, I dropped a call to my old school friends and plan to spend some time in the hills and explore the remote areas in Uttarakhand.
After the journey of 400 km by car, I and my 4 friends finally reached Munsiyari in deep snow at night. And the cherry on top of the cake moment was the heavy snowfall on the same day we reached Munsiyari. It was magical.
We reached night and checked in a lodge in the primary market of Munsiyari.
The next morning we got ready and headed for the trek and reached the Khaliya dwar (gate) and climbed 8 km to Khaliya Top(3600m), then continued climbing to the zero point 4500m. The inner joy and that moment I felt there was different and beautiful.
After seeing this height! Here we were lost. We are at the highest point of the hills the whole 360 degrees. How many people came, and who is it? I came away from Bangalore to my hometown to explore for some days, then to track in the mountains. Observe, How is life nowadays! How the WFH is going on and is working from anywhere easy? I told my friends that the only need is to use the internet in the hills.
My experience – I am on the first leg of my trekking trip, and already the mobile signals are weak. Nobody can reach me, not the boss, not the family, not the job, not relationships, failure, or success, nothing can contact you. It worries me, bothers me, and irritates me. But when the moment is here and I absorb it now, you feel grateful that there is one place where facebook notifications don’t chase you.
The mountain’s name is ‘Panchachuli’ Parvat – ‘Chuli’ in the word Panchachuli means Chulah, which means cooking hearths. Some say that the last meal cooked by the 5 Pandavas of Mahabharata was in Munsiyari before they went to heaven. Hence the name Panchachuli was given to the five mighty peaks.
You can also watch the magnificent sunrise and sunset from the TRC where I found my favourite travelling dish, Maggie.
Some other Glaciers near Munsiyari which I missed –
- Milam Glacier Trek – Munsiyari is the base camp for this trek, and one can see the beautiful river flowing from the Gori Ganga River.
- Namik Glacier Trek – This is one of the least explored regions in Uttarakhand and is about 40 km from Munsiyari, which acts as the base camp for this trek.
Conclusion – After being caught in city life I really regret not coming back early when the lockdown happened in March 2020. But at that time the travelling was restricted due to the covid. It was really a great pleasure and so contentment to my soul to visit the Himalayas with a corporate job(WFH). I get time to live with my parents, brother, and childhood friends. I am really grateful to be born in Uttarakhand. Next time I don’t miss the pleasure of trek again to different locations in Uttarakhand.
Earn, Travel, and Repeat.