God’s own abode on earth

An attempt to put a lot into little is how I will describe my attempt to describe the beauty of the valley of flowers . The valley of flowers is situated in the Uttarakand state of India it is also called the abode of the gods. I can assure you that the experience is truly heavenly.

The journey for me to this heaven on earth begun on the 7th of sep from Mumbai .I took a train to Haridwar via Delhi and then a bus to Rishikesh. From Rishikesh took a mini bus to Govindghat. This journey takes about 10-12 hrs. On this journey I made new friends and heard stories that I did not know. On the bus I met a Sanskrit teacher who told me that the western world came to know of this valley in 1931 when the British mountaineer Frank S Smythe discovered it.But Indians knew about the valley of flowers 1400 years ago as the valley is referred to as Kuber Ka vattika in Kalidasa’s Meghadooth. on the bus I met Jonathan who was also going to the VOF. The bus journey was uncomfortable as me and my newfound friend had to sit for nearly the entire journey on the gearbox of the bus which was so hot that we wanted to sing ‘Hot cross Bums”.

We reached Govindghat at 7pm after numerous halts including a scary breakdown that I suspect was for a break failure. We reached Govindghat that is the starting point for the trek to Ghangaria the base for the visit to VOF and Hemkunt sahib. The scenery along the way was amazing and helped us forget the discomforts to our seats.

We stayed overnight at Govindghat. The gurudwara at Govindghat provides free cloak room service. Started our trek to Ghangaria that is about 18km from Govindghat after depositing our bigger bags there. On the way up we met Maayan and Yakoob . The trek up to Ghangaria was completed 9 hrs. and it was made easy because of the company and the movie that nature was showing us on the way up. A sample of what we saw

We found a small hotel and stayed there for the night. After enjoying a hot bath. Let me warn you a bucket of hot water costs Rs50 compare this with the room cost of Rs200/night. we had hot dinner and my friends wanted to have sweet floating balls(Gulabh jamoon). Our Rs 200/night penthouse is seen below

Next morning we started for the valley of flowers. The entrance to the valley is around 3 km from Ghangaria. There is an entrance fee to be paid which is 150 for Indians and 600 for foreigners and is valid for 3 days. We had to pack lunch, as there is nothing available inside the valley. We packed rotis that we planned to have with chocolate sauce and peanut butter which Maayan was carrying.

We found lots of wild flowers even though the season was ending. Also the valley itself was so beautiful that you started believing the local story of Fairies residing here.the Padmavati flows in the middle of the valley and you have the slopes of the mountains on either side with different flowers on them.

We saw a variety of flowers whose images I have posted below.

The valley closes at 6 pm so we had to start our journey back at 3 pm to reach the gate in time. I would definitely go back to the valley in july-aug to see the full glory of the valley.

Next day we went to Hemkunt sahib that is a holy place for the Sikhs. This was a more difficult trek as the path was steep the atmosphere was rarified and the distance 6km . On this trek we saw the lovely Himalayan poppy and the Brhamakamal. The small lake behind the gurudwara that is believed to be formed from the melting of five glaciers was beautiful.

The return journey to Govindghat took 4 hrs. . We reached Govindghat and had a good breakfast collected our bags and decided that we will either go to Badrinath or Joshimutt depending which direction the first bus came .we got the bus to Badrinath and we visited the holy shrine