Ever wondered how it feels like to knock at a strangers door at 11pm in the night? Trust me it is terrific. There I was up the hill, the piercing autumn winds  thudding in my ears while I was standing outside a fairly lit homestay called ‘The Lords Kotgarh’ in Narkanda. The owner of the house was there – an old man with a delicate soft voice. Although I didn’t have a prior booking, he was amicable enough to offer me a room even in the dead of night. The room was fairly lit, it had a jar of water at the bedside and a towel and some mosquito repellants – the bare essentials that one could use for an overnight stay. The morning sunlight crept into every corner of the room and stepping outside I could feel that chill in the air with a view of the mountains and a great apple orchard which wasn’t visible during the night. After a quick breakfast I decided to head to Hatu peak.

After an hour’s journey through those treacherous and narrow roads there I was at an altitude of 11000Ft and atop the hill was the Hatu Mata Temple – The temple is dedicated to Mandodari, the wife of King Ravana. With a view of the lush green alpine that sweeps across the landscape, Hatu Peak stands tall and strong – indeed a great treat to the eye ! After enjoying the surreal view, I made my way to Sangla that is a 6 hours journey from Narkanda including the pit stops that I made at the beautiful Satluj river, the Karcham dam and the Baspa river. I reached Sangla at 6 pm, Sangla valley is a 60 km long valley with pine trees and greenery covering the lower part of mountains and Baspa flowing beneath. After checking-in to the hotel and relaxing for a while, I headed towards the small local market of Sangla. The market had all kinds of shops ranging from woollen thermal stores to a tiny vintage-looking shop selling crockery. There were also two small cafés selling chowmein and momos which really made me go to one of those to satiate my appetite. After the sumptuous meal, I walked through the deserted road, though it was 08.30pm only, it looked like almost midnight, all the shops were closed and there were hardly some locals around. It seemed as if the winter has arrived quite early this time, the lashing sound of the leaves really made the cold winds dominant at the night, bracing the weather I made my way to my hotel to sleep.