The Journey Begins!

[If you are interested in the rest of this memoir please click here]

In the railway station we had a quick intro to the rest of the group. Frankly that time I couldn't get anyone's name properly. Only thing I noticed was that there were too many ishs what with ishviene, ishrat, isha , aisha etc. In fact for the initial few days we were referring to them as "one of the ish's" as the names were too confusing ;) And the group was also very peculiar. For a Himalayan trek like this, I was expecting mostly guys who are into hardcore trekking and I was scared that I will be the only one left behind. But thankfully except for our two guides, there was only a sole male member and all others were ladies and most of them much older than me(but much fitter). I am not sure at their age whether I will be able to walk within my courtyard itself!!

We did an overnight train journey to Haridwar and then it was a long bus journey to Joshimat.



The route was picturesque though most of us resorted to sleeping.

There were few landslides on the way but it got cleared soon and we reached Joshimat by around 10 PM.

We were put up in a dormitory but thankfully the guest-house people gave us some rooms to freshen up. After a nice hot bath(that was the last proper bath for the next few days) all of us soon retired to relax before all the fun and excitement awaiting us the next day...