The Dak Bungalow Trail (1 of 2)

The Dak Bungalow Trail - Himachal Travelogue

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Hello All, I’ve been a lurker on Team-BHP for a long time and have often utilised the wealth of information contained in it’s forums to take several important decisions, mainly related to purchasing cars (new & used), their subsequent maintenance and planning long road trips. Having been on a longish road trip to Himachal recently, I thought I’d post a travelogue and and give something back to the community. About Me: I’m an ex-offshore oil industry worker, turned independent filmmaker and I reside in Mumbai. I usually write, shoot, direct and edit my projects. Purpose of the Trip: I’m making an Independent Horror Feature Film and needed an old, British Era Bungalow, located in an isolated, hilly location for the shoot. I’ve lived in several old British built Dak Bungalows, during childhood vacations in the hills, so those came to mind immediately. There are several of these bungalows in the states of Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand. Being short on time and resources, I couldn’t scout both the states. But something told me that I would find what I was looking for in Himachal Pradesh, so I decided to go on a 14 day recce to that state. This travelogue is a collection of the various Dak Bungalows I visited during the trip and my learnings during the journey. Cars Used: Swift VDI & Tata Nano Twist XT (Both Self Drive Rentals from Myles Cars) Route Outline: Delhi - Shimla - Kraignano/Mashobra - Narkanda - Nirath - Nogli - Taklech - Nirmand - Arsu - Baga Saraun - Rampur - Gaura - Dharanghati - Sarahan - Luhri - Dalash - Chowai - Khanag - Shoja - Jibhi - Palampur - Dadh - Kotla - Dundara Bangla - Sundla - Chandigarh - Shimla - Rampur - Gaura - Shimla - Chandigarh - Delhi Journey Dates: 02 Oct 2015 - 14 Oct 2015 Total Km’s Covered: 2,336 Fuel (Diesel) Expenses for the Swift VDI: Rs. 3,700/- (1,703 Km Covered) Fuel (Petrol) Expenses for the Nano: Rs. 1,690/- (633 Km Covered) Myles Car Booking Amount for Swift VDI: Rs. 26,230/- (For 15 Days) Myles Car Booking Amount for Nano Twist XT:Rs. 2,700/- (For 4 Days) Food Expenses (For Two): Rs. 8,646/- Accommodation Expenses: Rs. 7,200/- (3 nights were spent sleeping in the car) A Bit About Dak Bungalows: Dak Bungalows are Raj era government bungalows (usually having 2 or more rooms), which were used as rest houses, when the only means of long distance travel were either Horse Drawn Carriages or Palanquins. Because mountain roads back then were bad or non-existent, the average distance that used to be covered in a day was limited to 10-15 Kms, so it was usual to find a Dak Bungalow every 15 Kms or so, especially in hilly, difficult terrain. By some accounts there are nearly 250-350 such rest houses in Himachal Pradesh itself. I don’t know how many of those have actually survived, but it is a substantial number, nonetheless. After independence, these Dak Bungalows have been taken over by either the PWD or the Forest Department of the district, in which they lie. The bungalows that belong to the PWD are called PWD Rest Houses and are usually located inside, or close to villages and towns and the bungalows belonging to the Forest Department are called Forest Rest Houses (FRHs) which are located in more isolated, forested areas. Your typical Dak Bungalow (Usually in colour and not half as creepy). Trip Abstract: This was a hurriedly (but not hastily) planned trip. Last time I went to the hills up North, for a vacation, was 15 years ago to Shimla. I had very little practical knowledge of the area, but after doing a lot of detailed research on the net, I felt confident enough to embark upon the journey. I had prepared some reference draft maps, using Google Maps and had made a list of locations, that sounded/looked good. I decided to reach Shimla and then start visiting locations, starting from the East and going counter-clockwise, all the way up to the North of Himachal. I had a list of about 100 locations - no way I would be able to cover all of them in 14 days, but I wanted to keep my options open. Eventually, I managed to cover about 20 good locations and a few more unsuitable ones, which are not part of this travelogue. The red markers indicate the locations of a few of the Dak Bungalows in Himachal Pradesh. The centre is Shimla, which was my starting/reference point. I had decided to hire a Self Drive Rental Car for the trip. I’ve tried Zoomcar on a previous occasion and found their service pretty good. However, Myles was offering a Swift VDI for a price that was nearly Rs. 10,000/- cheaper than Zoomcar. Thriftiness (AKA Kanjoosi) got the better of me and I decided to go with Myles. I made the booking online and things were proceeding pretty smoothly. In September, when I made the booking, the Security Deposit being charged by Myles was Rs. 30,000/- I had no problem with this, because as far as I was concerned, it was money in the bank - After all, who goes on a fun-filled Himachal road trip and has an accident, right? Wrong.  I was involved in a head-on collision with another car, in the heart of Himachal. The accident changed my plans significantly and that is also the reason I had to take a detour to Chandigarh and pick up a replacement car (Nano XT) and then head back to Himachal. Anyway, more on that later in the post. I also intend to make a detailed post listing the pros and cons of hiring a vehicle from Myles vis-a-vis Zoomcar, which I’ll be making out and posting later. No, this wasn’t me (or anyone I know), thankfully. But macabre scenes like these are a very common sight on mountain roads.  I had a male Assistant with me during the trip and our main objective was finding a suitable location - so we ate food whenever we found a decent eatery and also had to spend three nights in the car, because the areas we were in, were really remote and finding suitable accommodation was near impossible. Besides accommodation, finding eateries can be a real problem, especially in the remote regions of Himachal. I know it sounds kinda obvious, but it was a bit of a revelation to me, having never really done anything of this sort before. All we could find were tiny Bhojanalays and most of the time they were either shut or looked really seedy. We had a stock of snacks with us, but chips and chocolates are only going to take you so far. Anyway, it wasn’t anything life threatening - we usually managed to get at least one decent meal per day, so we did fine. One of the Bhojanalay’s we ate in. The ambience was kinda creepy, but the food more than made up for it, fortunately. I don’t usually make Hotel Reservations when I’m going on a road trip - partly laziness and partly due to the fact that I manage to find good cheap accommodation by looking around a bit. However, this strategy of mine didn’t work all the time and we had to spend 3 nights in the Swift, in the middle of god-knows-where, with my Assistant whining about dacoits slitting our throats and what-not…to be honest, after driving 16 hours a day, I didn’t really care about dacoits slitting my throat - I just wanted to sleep. Besides that, I had heard/read that Himachali people were really nice, so I had put a lot of my trust in that fact/belief. I am happy to say, that none of the Himachali people whom I encountered, gave me reason to doubt that fact/belief. Who’s got time for dacoits after dealing with roads like these? The Swift handled the roads brilliantly - I have never driven a Swift before and I really liked it. At first, I was bit apprehensive about it being able to handle the mountain roads (or the lack thereof, in certain areas), but the car put my doubts to rest, every single time. It never felt underpowered and handled even the non-metalled roads (of which there are plenty in Himachal), with ease. Comfortable, powerful, fuel efficient and reliable. I was in love with the car. When the accident happened, I was genuinely sad to see the car wrecked and still feel bad thinking about it. Brilliant car. Now I know why this is one the top selling vehicles in our country. The Nano was a different story. I picked it up as a replacement car for the Swift, from Chandigarh. My assistant got a scare after the accident and I sent him home to Delhi, deciding to complete the rest of journey on my own. At first I was apprehensive, but later realised that it was a good decision - the Nano wouldn’t have been able to tackle mountain roads with two grown men and their luggage. There was a time when I picked up a couple of local hitch hikers and the damn thing just stalled on a steep incline. Not only did my passengers have to get out of the car, but they had to push it too! This could be because the car was not in top shape - it had about 30,000 Kms on the odo and felt a bit rattly - but it’s the last time I’m taking a Nano to Himachal - it’s underpowered and is not built to handle sharp curves. I know some of you are probably going to think that I sound like a road-going noob. Well, some of you are probably right. The photo makes the Nano look way more badass than it actually is. Alright, time for the travelogue proper - Kraignano FRH - 03/10/2015 Kraignano FRH - A really beautiful old, building in Kraignano/Mashobra. The whole of Kraignano has a quaint old-world charm about it. It’s only 13 Km from Shimla, but it is totally devoid of the tourist bustle and pollution of Shimla.  More than driving, it is more suited to long, leisurely walks. This place is probably the closest to what Shimla probably used to be like, when it was first established by the Brits, all those years ago.  Nirath PWD Rest House - 04/10/2015 Nirath is a small village on the banks of the Sutlej River, with NH-22 passing through it. It has a nice, well maintained PWD Rest House, though the facilities are pretty basic and you might want to carry your own linen. The Sutlej River - not sure if this was near Nirath. Nogli FRH - 04/10/2015 Nogli is another small village, about 13 Km away from Nirath - it too, is situated on the banks of the Sutlej. Being off the highway, the FRH is very quiet and hardly gets any visitors. One of the highway roads at sunset. Taklech FRH - 04/10/2015 Taklech is a small village, about 22 Km from Rampur. Located in the interiors, in a forested area, it is really remote and gets hardly any tourist traffic. This is the new building of the FRH. The original rest house is made entirely out of wood and located behind the new one. Arsu PWD Rest House & FRH - 04/10/2015 The village of Arsu, has a brand-spanking-new PWD rest house, which is basically a heavily refurbished Dak Bungalow. It’s done up pretty well and has all the modern amenities - electricity, hot water, reasonably clean linen (yep, those count as 'modern’ amenities in my book). The FRH, which is nearby has been abandoned and is not in use any more. It does look like a nice ol’ Bhoot Bangla, but unfortunately there’s a bunch of well stocked kirana shops, right next door, which totally ruin the vibe. Baga Saraun PWD Rest House - 05/10/2015 Baga Saraun is located about 20 Km from Arsu. The first 10 Km make for a very pleasant drive…the last 10 Km are straight out of a NIGHTMARE. The road is non-metalled and is composed of sharp, broken stones which will make your vehicle chassis (and your bones) rattle and shake till kingdom come. But it’s worth it. Baga Saraun is located in a natural gently sloping valley/meadow on the top of mountains…at least that’s what it looked like to me. It’s a unique place, stuck in time and you can be forgiven for thinking that you’re back in the days of the Raj (but thankfully without having to give salaam to the resident Gora Sahib).  The Rest House itself was built in the late 1800’s…the caretaker told me that the geyser in the bathroom was a 100 years old - I don’t know how true that last bit is, but it sure sounds fascinating. The 10 Km’s in and out of Baga Saraun are going to take you a minimum of 1 hour. It could be less if you have a hardcore 4x4 and both you and your car have an appetite for punishment. Gaura PWD Rest House - 05/10/2015 Beautiful, peaceful, awesome place. That’s the description that comes to mind automatically, whenever I think of Gaura. It’s a small village/town, about 17 Km from Rampur and the PWD Rest House is situated on the Mountainside. Like literally, on the mountainside. The caretaker has maintained the grounds very well and entering the gate of this Rest House, takes you back in time (Yes, I know I’m using that a lot, but it’s true). The view is unbeatable and so is the price - I paid the princely sum of Rs. 450/- for a night. I was/am in love with this place.  The Brits sure knew how to pick their spots when they built their Rest Houses.  This Wild Rose bush is more than a 100 years old. The caretaker told me a very interesting story about it - This year in May, the Great-Granddaughter of a British Naturalist came down to Gaura to see this rose bush - it was sketched by her Great-Grandfather in a Picture Book, more than a century ago, in this very rest house. Just Fascinating. Another shot of the beautiful view.