Backpacking to Himachal : Rail Romance

My morale is at an all time low. 

I don’t have much money to take my bike.

Should I put my bike in the train?

No, that would almost cost the same.

Tadaa!! Public Transport, Backpacking!!! That should be cheap.

Indian Railways, HRTC, shared jeeps and Punjab Roadways to face the truth.

The Jugaad

Backpack

I don’t have a backpack and can’t afford one at the moment .I requested a friend of mine and he happily agreed to let me use his, until the day before some Yakshagana’s prohibited him from doing so.

Solution: A laptop bag and another shoulder trolley bag, hoping that it will we will survive the trip.

Camera

Another friend was supposed to give me his DSLR, but didn’t respond until the last moment.

Solution: Time to test the old Samsung P&S which hasn’t been used for last few months .New set of batteries and it seemed to work fine. Ok Something is better than nothing.

Oct 3-4: Rail Romance

After Initial setbacks, I began the journey boarding the Vashi local from Koper Khairane . Only after boarding the CST local from Vashi, I realized how big a fool I am. :| I am for the trip as if I was heading for the market to buy some vegetables. Sach Pass and ManiMahesh on Kolhapuris. Imagine!! That was what I was up to. With not enough time to go back and get the woodlands, I proceeded to Bandra Terminus.

It was a typical Indian Rail journey to Pathankot (Chakki bank), munching on delicacies every halt . Giving me company was the owner of Sunny Chicken in Jammu along with his employee and a friend. The other two co-passengers were least bothered to get down from their before Delhi .Has any one tried food at Sunny Chicken in Jammu. The owner and his employee claimed their was the best and most popular chicken joint in entire Jammu. So much so that people from P’kot travel to Jammu especially for their food. His information regarding the Bus timing proved very useful later.

Indian Railways maintained its tradition of running late. Just four hours this time.  Reached Chakki Bank at 3 Am on Oct 5^th . Directly went to waiting room, recharged the phone and camera batteries. A power nap and a quick bath later left for Pathankot main bus stand. Everyone here was waiting for the first bus to Chamba and looking at the size of the HRTC buses, I was mentally prepared to travel standing.