Himalayas!

The Himalayas were bar-none gorgeous. Shannon and I met Aparna, Shoba and Meena for a girls' week of trekking, camping and serious girl talk. The family style company we trekked with took exceedingly good care of us, providing us with patient (though stoic) guides, delicious traditional Himalayan cuisine and uncompromisingly scheduled Chai breaks. The country's predilection for scheduled caffeine boluses is something I fully intend to adopt and promote in States :) Here''s just a few of my hundreds (literally 250...) of pics to get a flavor...


On our dizzying journey to the Orchard hut we stopped to document our first snow siting. We're wearing fleece! It was cold and I was happy about it! Insanity.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon at the Orchard Hut after an overnight train from Delhi, a long, winding and nausea-promoting car ride and a thirty minute hike up the mountainside. Sir Prakash and his family greeted us warmly with hugs, a welcoming ceremony, a prayer and Chai (always with the Chai). The next morning we embarked for the trekking hut, a 10 km 1000 meter journey that took us close to five hours as we were pack-laden. The cozy trekking hut served as our base and we hiked in the vicinity Thursday and Friday, hitting a few peaks and touching snow at about 3000 meters.


Views from the Orchard hut, day and night.


The trekking hut, our base camp at 2225 meters elevation.


Oy! The dog that adopted us for the week. Shoba and he were particularly close, and it was Shoba who named him. Oy was a bit ragged around the edges but an excellent guide with a wise personality. He wandered over to our trekking hut day one and remained with us, taking us all the way back down to base camp, before parting ways.

The trekking, a little challenging for the height-fearing among us - but they rallied and did great!

The mountains...

The valleys.

The sunset (view from our trekking hut.)

awww, sisters.

We then trekked back down the mountainside Saturday for a peaceful relaxing afternoon in the embraces of the Orchard Hut. Sunday we journeyed back towards Delhi, stopping in the nearest town, Chambatown, to check out some temples and scour for shopping. (most places were closed, but we managed to find a sandal shop).

Hammock party.

All in all, a very relaxing and awe inspiring journey. It's on my list to get another hit when I'm feeling motivated towards serous hiking.... any takers?