Blogchatter Half Marathon : Amidst The Flowers
It was raining heavily throughout the night. In the morning, when we woke, our first concern was if it was still raining. We all felt shattered but manifested clear weather. But we had to start the day with hope, and here's how we started.
You know, we had a schedule of waking up? Yes, you read it right!
The person who wanted to use the washroom in the first place would wake up at 5 a.m. and wake the next person by 5:15 a.m., and the sequence followed as we were four people in a room to manage to get ready by 6:30 a.m. Sejal would wake up at 5 a.m. and get ready. Then Sapna would freshen up, and I and Shreya would wake up together because we needed some time before freshening up and drinking a lot of water. So, when Tanvi (trip leader) would knock on our door to wake us, even if we were awake, we would take our sweet time to open the door.
During our stay at Ghangharia, hot water was chargeable, so what we did most of the time was getting water from a water filter not to drink but to wash our faces because ordering a hot water bucket wasted a lot of time, affording to waste a minute was not feasible for us.
So, let me take you back to the day. After getting ready by 6:30 a.m., we rushed to the breakfast table as there were many tourists, so our target was to be the first group to have breakfast to avoid any delay since we had deadlines to reach and return (yes, there was time constraint to stay at Valley of Flowers due to landslide, floods, and bear).
After breakfast, we went down the stairs and noticed the rain gods heard us, and there was no rain. We felt elated. But we overheard that the trek to Valley Of Flowers could get postponed as it rained throughout the night, and we might go to Hemkund Sahib Trek. It was acceptable, but we wished to follow the sequence we expected to follow.
After walking for a few meters, our happiness stayed for a while as it started drizzling, and there was fear of missing the Valley of Flowers trek for that day. But, with high spirits, we kept walking towards the checkpoint to the road that diverged for two treks, Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. It started drizzling, and we had to put on our raincoats. But when we reached the checkpoint, we found they opened the gate to Valley of Flowers, and it was safe to walk on the trail. There was a sigh of relief. We clicked pictures at the start point, with the sign board directing toward Valley of Flowers Trail.
There was a tremendous rush as people from distinct places around the nation came to witness the beauty of nature and the pride of Uttarakhand, Valley of Flowers. There were different travel agencies, trek and hike agencies, and groups who joined for the trek. And yes, how could I forget to mention our group's travel agency? It was Firgun Travels, and we went with Himalayan Hikers for the trek.
When we reached the Valley of Flowers Trek gate, people gathered to sing the National Anthem before starting the trek. After all, it was Independence Day. We called out slogans in the pride of the nation.
And it started.
Within a few meters of the walk, we realized it was beautiful. There was a distinct variety of flowers. We witnessed rich flowers on the trail of a 4.5 km trek. Tanvi and Shreya did not miss capturing any flowers in their phones, and Sejal (only broken or fallen flowers) in her pocket diary. Moreover, Sapna, Amish, Neha, Nikita, and I kept walking. But we did not miss stopping at places to take our pictures, enjoying the scenic view of the trail surrounded by mountains and accompanied by the Pushpawati River. Valley of Flowers falls in the Zanskar Range of the Himalayas, so we witnessed snow-capped peaks and glaciers on the way.
We manifested for the rain to subside, and to tell you, my friends, we were lucky to witness the weather transition from cloudy to rain to sunshine, and finally, we could remove raincoats.
We continued walking, and yes, it kept getting more beautiful. The trail was so captivating that we took a reasonable time to reach the destination, i.e., the valley where we ascended to witness full-bloomed flowers. On the way, trees never stopped giving us shade, and many varieties of flowers (the specialty of Valley of Flowers) never disappoint us in being awe of the beauty.
We crossed streams and bridges and finally reached the place amidst the flowers. We went crazy when we arrived there and saw flowers everywhere. Everyone kept going inside the valley to find a place to capture pictures or settle down to soak in nature. Every one of us climbed rocks to live in the moment and relive the Bollywood moments.
We made transition videos, took group pictures, and created videos for our memories (precisely, some reel content). Neha found a rock where Amish captured some satisfactory shots of her. While seven of us captured the scenery from that rock, Nikita was cherishing her time at Valley of Flowers somewhere in the beginning of the valley. Amish never missed a chance to pose for a picture, no matter how many poses he already gave. Sejal went up the rock and lived her moment. Then there was this photo of Sejal, Shreya, and Amish that I loved and accepted as the best picture taken at Valley of Flowers apart from the nature of the flowers.
After the photo session, we ascended on the same rock for lunch. OMG, it was unbelievable we were having our lunch on the rock below. There was no fear, only cheer, and we were relishing the pulao and chana like anything amidst the flowers surrounded by the mountains. We saw a couple sitting nearby and thought of requesting them to click our picture while having lunch on the rock. They were far from us, but Sejal o Sejal shouted as if ordering. And we could not hide laughing and did not expect the guy to come and take a picture. But he did. And then we all were like, that was fantastic. We disturbed a couple and made the girl push the guy to capture our memories.
After soaking in the beauty, we had to trace back the trail to Ghangaria. We started walking. There was no hurry this time, as we had enough time to reach before the gates closed. We clicked more pictures on the way and kept walking down, talking about our experiences and holding each other's hands as we all felt exhausted. It did not end here.
At one point, I was walking with Sejal, and she noticed a step where there was an impression of somebody getting slipped, and she told me, "See, somebody slipped here." And I randomly said, "You also want to try." And what next would you expect? Without walking on that spot, she slipped on the next step, which was a concrete stone. And before checking if she was okay. We both sat down and laughed for five minutes. Sapna and Shreya passed us, saw us laughing, but moved on. They did not realize Sejal had fallen, and we continued laughing as if someone cracked a joke.
After living in that moment, Sejal got up and told me she was fine as we fell on her butt. She warned me to be cautious while walking. And the moment Sejal walked fast, leaving me behind, followed by Sapna and Shreya, after a few meters, I fell too, and Shreya tried to catch me, but Shreya slipped too. Somehow, all of us did not get hurt. I ran to Sejal, informing her about my adventure. She was with the entire group, so we all laughed together.
And after that, we walked cautiously. We sat near a bridge where the water stream flowed with massive force. We could feel the drops of water on us. It was cold but mesmerizing. Amish tried a stunt to throw stones in the water to check his caliber and strength. Sejal followed the trend and felt tired, so she resumed walking.
As we walked further, we started singing songs, and it was more like celebrating our win. We sang, danced, and recorded the moment. When the song Jumma came, we all went wild. We all jumped and danced without caring about others. It was one of the best moments, and it taught us to live like no one's watching us.
Finally, after all the fun, we reached the gate and walked to our stay. There was a water stream on the way. Many of us sat by the river to recharge our souls after the tiring day. The next day, we had a more challenging trek, so we left from there in a few minutes. After reaching our stay, we decided to get a leg massage to calm our nerves and subside the pain. The day did not end there. We had another memory to cherish for life. When Shreya sat for a massage, her reaction made us all laugh. She jumped while the masseur twisted her leg, Shreya jumped in pain and kept yelling and shouting. Her expressions were noteworthy.
After the massage, we had dinner and decided to play Uno instead of sleeping. Even after walking for more than 9 km, we still had the energy to chit-chat and play games. After two rounds of games, we decided to sleep after fixing the schedule of waking up.
And don't miss the upcoming adventure and the fun we had on the way with a surreal view.
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