I lived like Bear Grylls for a week

 

Lonnnng time no see! Hey there, I am back with a new blog and I have something exciting to tell you all. I went for snow trekking!!! Ehm! Divya, you don’t like trekking and how come a word you love and a word you hate came together? Well! It happened. ANYWAYS! So, what did I do to make my trip look like a Man vs Wild episode? Here’s what happened..

 

Snow trekking is a bit different than a normal trek. What different? You walk but in snow. Your girl saw, felt, touched snow for the first time ever. The experience was unbelievable yet beautiful. You climb one mountain to another full of snow or hints of snow. 

 

I lived in a tent, slept in a bag, ate fire cooked food, walked mountains to mountains, used dry toilet, no signal, nor internet, in short did every thing opposite which I usually do in my life. It was like living in a parallel universe for me! 

 

I’m a girl who always went everywhere with her family. You can check this blog out to see how I end up every trip with my family. Anyways! I went with my cousin- ofcourse Sanjana di and her friends whom I met for the first time. I was extremely nervous about this trip because it was something very random and out of my comfort zone. Also, I never went out of my state except Goa. It was not random for my Di’s friends as they were planning the entire trip including bookings 3-4 months before. 

 

It was a 2 hours flight from Mumbai to Delhi and it was my first time in a flight. I couldn’t take my eyes off for a second! I didn’t want to miss a single view of the journey. I got a window seat and the view was magical!! (drink a sip of water every time I mention magical) 

 

 

Then we hit the road to travel to Uttarakhand. It took us an entire day to reach our destination. 

 

In Uttarakhand, my eyes kept searching for snow the whole time, the driver told us that we will see snow in Lohajung (a small town in Uttarakhand). I was disheartened to see no snow there too while getting off the vehicle on our destination when suddenly my eyes watered up when I looked up and some tiny things were touching my face. IT WAS SNOWFALL!!! It was magical!!! All my life I waited for this moment and here it was. As a child I always used to dream of playing in snow and dancing in it. 

 

My excitement lasted for few minutes as it was -1 degree and we all started freezing. It was so cold that my hands started getting red and hurt every time I touched anything. 

 

Next day the trek and the real story begun- 

 

It was a 6-7 hours trek to reach our first point of halt. I was extremely exhausted and wanted to go back, LOL! The only one thing kept me going on was to see the white snow and finally there it was!! Sleeping peacefully cuddling the mountains. I was awestruck by looking at the white blanket everywhere. I quickly removed my glove and touched it, it was exactly how I used to imagine it would be, magical! 

Now that you know how I was a person longing to see snow, never went out much and this..!! THIS! THIS!!! A snow trek where I lived like Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild!?. Most of my trek mates may say I’m exaggerating but- 

 

The tent was exactly how I judged it, it looks like a- like a tent. There was not even a single corner where I’d find warmness. Every freaking thing was cold! Even the food used to get cold within minutes. The water tap used to ice up real quick, again- NOT Exaggerating. 

 

Clicked by Sudipth

 

 

First few days, 90% of the time my Di and I used to be inside the tent ALL THE TIME. We used to encourage each other to go out of the tent and then just sleep because of the unbearable cold. 

Clicked by Sudipth

 

5 layers clothing- IM NOT EVEN KIDDING! There were 5 layers on me, 2 layers of gloves, 2 layers of socks and still we were still freezing. Nights were the toughest, we couldn’t sleep in the sleeping bags which were uncomfortable for us as beginners. I felt like a caterpillar in cocoon every night. The most challenging part were the dry toilets, too much to handle.

 

There was a point when I wanted to go back home as I couldn’t bear the cold. I didn’t comb my hair, no bath, nor did I change much clothes. As I said earlier it was out of my comfort and hygiene zone. I was experiencing it for the first time and probably the last time though. 

Once I got comfortable with the trip, I started getting used to the experience I was feeling. The tent, the sleeping bag, the dry toilet, the food, the hiking, I started enjoying it. The surrounding was covered with white snow and it looked like it's a movie of Chronicles of Narnia! 

Photo clicked by Sudipth

If I look back and think about my trip, it was fun! Walking across one mountain to another, breathtaking rare views, dancing in the snow fall, jumping and trip falling on the sloppy snow, sharing a toothbrush with my Di (you’re not the first to say eww), taking care of each other, cursing the guide behind his back and laughing. A thank you to my Sanjana Di and her friends who are also my friends now- Sudipth, Deepak and Pankaj for making this trip a memorable one and adding me in their tribe.