Sainj — Hill Escape

A small village present 30 minutes away from Aut and 50 km from Kullu is a paradise, present along the edge of the Great Himalayan National Park, it provides a rich ecosystem of flora and fauna.

Introduction

It was a normal working day in Jan ’23, when a group call came from the college friend group, telling all the people living in India that some of our boys are coming from Australia to India to meet all their friends and relatives.
Everybody was filled with joy and excitement, as it’s been 4–5 years since everybody regrouped together.
Discussions were started on where to go and chill, the group was bombarded with messages and video calls, and everyone was pitching in on where to go, preferred dates, activities to do, etc.
After a month of discussion and brainstorming everyone agreed on Sainj Valley, Himachal Pradesh.

Day 1: Huddle in Delhi

Everybody from the group was coming from different parts of India, so we decided to get together in the capital of India, Delhi, all the arrangements were done and Airbnb was booked, so that everyone catches up, and then move to our destination.

Day 2: Supply Run and Bus Boarding

It was a new day and everyone was excited to meet each other after a long time, so all the old jokes, name-calling, and stories were surfacing around college days.
As the day progressed we realized that there were a couple of items that were required by some of the members of the group, so I along with one of my friends went for a supply run to get everything. It took us some time to get all the things together, but we reached just in time for lunch.
It was 4 pm and it was time that we start heading towards the bus station i.e. Majnu ka Tila, considering Delhi Traffic as our bus leaves at 7 pm. We reached the bus stand and boarded the bus.

Day 3: Crazy Bus Journey and Sainj Valley Arrival

I have traveled to Himachal a lot of times by bus, but this was the craziest bus journey of my life, the bus driver was driving rough, and fast, made me scared for my life in the process, I couldn’t sleep the entire bus journey because I wanted to believe that I have reached the destination alive.

We deboarded the bus a tunnel before Aut, as our driver was waiting to take us to the property from there, as soon as we deboarded the bus and strong waves of cold wind just made us want to go inside the bus again, as it was cold, I didn’t expect this much cold and I knew that I have packed light for this cold. We sat in the cab and reached our property.

It was a beautiful property, far from all the roads and right on top of one of the hills, all you can see was a panoramic view of snow-capped mountains all around, with a large meadow area, which was just splendid.

Day 4, 5, 6: Eat Sleep Repeat

The property was nestled at the top of the cliff, due to which there was a lack of activity and all the places around us were a bit far as we had to trek for 30 minutes to reach a spot from where we could get a cab and then go to the places where we want to go, some of us fell sick during the start of the journey and by the end of it everyone fell sick and got recovered.
Looking at all the parameters, some of them were still looking to go around and explore the area, but rain and cold didn’t let us implement those plans.

Day 7: Twin Tower | Rupi Raila Waterfall | Shangarh | Aut

We started our day early as we only had till today evening to cover all of Twin Tower, Rupi Raila Waterfall, and Shangarh before we get dropped at Aut to board our bus to Delhi.
Twin Tower was very close to the place where we were staying, on our way to Rupi Raila Waterfall we finished and headed to the waterfall.
To reach the waterfall, there is a walk of about 20 minutes but it’s worth it, the water was fresh, and the thing about the waterfall is I really find it calming.
It’s time to head to Shangarh village, the most interesting thing I found about Shangarh was its main meadow which is also known as the devta ground. After the photography session, we head towards Aut and boarded our bus to Delhi.

Conclusion

I would like to thank all my friends who managed to get together by taking time off their busy schedules. Meeting school/college friends is a feat in itself as everyone is busy with their life and the distances between the city/country are so far that you don’t get time to meet in person.