A TRIP TO THE HIMALAYAS…a recipe for happiness!

“I’ve been staying at their lodge in the Himalayas for years, … They have this beautiful lodge. You look out and there’s Ama Dablam. Oh man, it’s like heaven.”
Pete Shelley

It was something we’ve wanted to do for long, but somehow it never materialised. Though we’ve been into the hills before, the Himalayas hadn’t ever been explored by self-drive. Luckily for us in the plains of North India, there are a number of Himalayan hill stations that are accessible by road, & summer is the best time to escape the heat of the plains. For once, things seemed to fall into place, & we managed to take our dream trip into the Himalayas. There were 6 of us, the hub, the 2 kids, my mother, my sis-in-law, & me. On our to-do list was something off-beat, something relaxing, sans the hustle-bustle, & surrounded by nature. We managed all this & much more, lived beyond our dreams, & experienced the beauty of nature, often untouched by man. The kids were ‘detoxified’ due to the absence of computers, TV, electricity too at times … & the presence of fresh mountain air & fruit laden trees! They had a whale of a time!The Himalayas are exciting, invigorating & offer the unexpected around every bend, as every road trip in India promises. Not always for the faint-hearted, as Indian roads can often be ‘adventurous’, but rest assured, a very liberating experience. This was a break away from the ‘mismatched discipline‘ of the urban India … roads jammed with trucks & tractors, cattle weaving through, people for whom time has stood still, no one in a hurry, missing road signs, treacherous curves in the hills, stop where you feel like hill roads, broken bridges, honest-to-goodness people of the Kumaon region ... truly incredible! We drove off into sun-rise, having left home at an unearthly 4am, with a 7-8 hour drive in mind. Roads in India come laden with surprises, & life-time experiences. Where else would you get caught in a religious procession across a bridge full of ‘sadhus’ or holy-men? … or be stuck in a traffic jam for hours in complete chaos, with tractors doing ‘wheelies‘ on non-existent roads, surrounded by motorcycle bound milk-men, drive through village spice markets, see roadside ‘chai‘ stalls with ‘m & m‘ print lined tables… … roads reduced to rubble, traffic jams which force you to drive off the road for hours to end, toll booths that charge Rs 5 per entry ($1 = Rs 45), colourful tractors loaded with people, monkeys on the sidewalks, straw huts dotting the country-side … This was the beginning of our drive. Then we ran into a massive traffic jam due to a political rally or something, which held us up for an hour. Nothing budged! Out of the blue came a very helpful rickshaw-puller who told us he would lead us to an alternative route. We drove through the narrowest of lanes, touching the sides of houses, through paths I was ready to bail out at every second, over culverts, & after many near misses, we finally scraped through. The helpful fellow waved goodbye & rode off before we could even catch our breath!Once we were into the hill climb, we stopped to see the Corbett Museum, as it was only a short diversion away. Reminiscent of times gone by, it’s a small unassuming building, but steeped in history. Located at Kaladhungi, Corbett Museum is in a heritage bungalow of Jim Corbett, the renowned environmentalist, hunter as well as a front runner in the tiger conservation. This magnificent museum brings to the forefront of memory the life and activities of the spectacular and distinguished personality. The museum show cases some memorabilia connected to Jim Corbett, which include some great valued personal belongings, letters written by him as well as his friends and well wishers, antiques and rare photographs. Unexpectedly it began to pour, followed by a hailstorm, & even more unexpectedly there was a landslide, just about 30-40kms before our destination. Predictably enough, as we’ve been stuck in one for hours many years ago near Kalimpong, we remained stuck in the middle of nowhere for 3-4 hours. No vehicle could get through – trucks, buses & cars, nothing! We each took our chances & got caught in the landslide quicksand, only to be pushed back by the locals who were extremely helpful! Then some ‘labour’ (local manpower with picks & shovels) sauntered in, & patiently, manually shovelled the slush off. We reached our destination 4 hours late, much to the kids relief.
We chose to stay at a beautiful cottage, a Welcomgroup ‘Heritage’ hotel, known as Taradale Cottage, situated at above 6500 ft sea level. Situated in a picturesque hamlet tucked away in the hills, the cottage owned by retired Brigadier AS Bal, is surrounded by fruit orchards.
‘Taradale Cottage’ is 325 Kms from Delhi, in the north-eastern part of the Kumaon region of the Himalayas. This relatively undiscovered destination is often termed as the fruit basket of the picturesque Uttarakhand state because of its sprawling peach, plum, apricot, apple & pear orchards. The beauty of Ramgarh and its surrounding majestic mountains, pristine Oak & Rhododendron forests, crisp cool air and vast clear skies attracted several industrial & royal houses to set up their estates here.Overflowing with interesting bric-a-brac, & the interiors have been tastefully done up by the Brigadier’s wife, with each room displaying its own individual character.
The cottage is in a fairly secluded spot overlooking tree covered slopes and a verdant green valley or ‘Dale’ from which it derives the latter half of its name. A three minutes easy downhill walk from the road leads you to the property which is reminiscent of the summer houses built during the British Raj .
More later on what we did there…

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Published by

Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

37 thoughts on “A TRIP TO THE HIMALAYAS…a recipe for happiness!”

  2. What a beautiful cottage! Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad you didn't fall into quicksand O_o

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  4. Oh!Thank-you for this breath-takingly exciting , interesting, exotic, and beautiful trip via the internet! I await the next installment.

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  5. Lovely pictures :). I've bloghopped a lot of time onto your blog – to ogle at all the pictures of the goodies that you bake 🙂 but I normally lurk.

    Those first few pictures – were awesomely breathtaking :).

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  6. I have bene always wanted to go to himalayas, we always seems to never get there when we are in India, something or the other comes up.
    Looks like you all had a fabulous time.
    I am so jealous 🙂

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  7. A beautiful respite for your soul, no doubt, and I enjoyed it too…or shall I say, I continue to enjoy it? Yes, that is truth. Have a wonderful vacation, Deeba. You are most deserving!

    😉

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  8. Incredible trip and photos witha a well weritten post. And how wonderful the whole family enjoyed it. The marvels of nature never cease.

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  9. Wow that was a beautiful write up and I could retrace all ur steps through your narration..7 years back newly married and new to North India my husband had taken me to all over the Himalayan region including Ramgarh which he introduced the hindi movie buff I am; this is the Ramgarh of Sholay…well it took me a while and sessions of asking the locaol people to understand that he was playing a big joke on me..

    Loved the pics and am so eager to be back in India and start travelling all over the place with my camera…the place where everything is in chaos and yet we can find peace and beauty..Thanks for this glimpse into the country I love…

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  10. What a wonderful trip Deeba. The cottage sounds fabulous. Your children seem very happy with this trip. For us, it's getting harder to take our son on vacation as he is getting older. So, this summer we'll be on vacation just the two of us, while my son will be with his girl friend, and his best friend. SIGH!

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  12. Wow!!! Talk about an amazing road trip! I love the M&M wrapper chai stall! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂

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  13. These memories will stay with you for a long time. You captured every moment so well. Thanks for sharing that beautiful trip with us. 🙂

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  15. THis is truly my dream trip! V. happy for you, and thanks for sharing with all of us. Love that m&m tablecloth!

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  17. it's always a pleasure reading your post, beautiful lifestyle photos as well

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  19. Wonderful pictures! Looks like a very enjoyable trip. I've always wanted to visit the himalayas.

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  20. I've always wanted to visit the Himalayas so thank you for taking us along with you on your journey! I felt like I was there alongside you and your family 🙂

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  21. This does indeed look like a recipe for happiness, Deeba. Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey (and family) with us.

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  24. What an eventful trip! I'd love to visit the Jim Corbett museum. My grandfather has his book Maneaters of Kamoan, which is a great read. It's great that he became a conservationist because he knew the ways of the tigers so well from his hunting. Hunting and conservation usually seem opposing, so it's special that he was able to see both sides.

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  28. When the journey to the adventure becomes The ADVENTURE it reminds us that the destination shouldn't always be our focus. If it is, we lose all those experiences along the way.
    Your poignant retelling of the road you travelled, complete with landslides and traffic jams, along with reminders of influences from beyond the borders, M&M table linens, brought your audience into the car with you.
    Thank you Debra, for bringing to our attention how, what may seem like mundane encounters, add flavor and spice to the journey.
    Louis always says, Life is 10% what it gives you and 90% how you deal with it.
    You dealt with it beautifully!

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  29. You weren't kidding when you said the roads were "adventurous"!! Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

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  30. Im so jealous!!! what a beautiful trip. thanx for sharing . the pictures were amazing esp teh one of the holy men…I LOVE pictures like that and the cottage was so beautiful too!!! sigh..

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  31. oh my goodness the photos are magnificent!! i feel like im there!! what a great adventure you had!! im jealous hehehe 🙂

    ps, im glad to be back;;congrats on your new site!!

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  33. That is breathtaking! Those views are magnificent. What a wonderful place to take a break. What did you eat? Hope you had a holiday from cooking!!!

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  34. What a lovely trip you did with your family! beautiful pictures too!
    What a great adventure,…yeah!

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  35. Its beautiful. One needs to recharge the old batteries, and this is a great way of doping it.The Valley of Flowers is on our list. 🙂

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  36. What a fantastic getaway Deeba. I am really enjoying these glimpses into this area of the world.

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  37. I'm on to the next segment! Truly enjoyed reading this. It isn't often that I get a glimpse of India that isn't as you described — packed with cars and buildings and lots of hustle bustle. It sounds like you had a lovely time — landslide or not 😉

    Reply

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