Winding Roads & Never Ending TalesFamily trips, wrong turns and the places we still talk about.
Munsiyari with Family: Mountain Views, Rain and Plans We Changed
Mountain holidays come with one condition that no hotel booking can solve: the mountains have to agree to show themselves. Munsiyari gave us a glimpse of Panchachuli, and then the clouds took over. We had come this far for the views, so yes, it was disappointing. But this is also part of travelling with family, finding something to enjoy when the lovely plan on your phone is no longer much use. Here is how our stay actually went, including the outings we could not do.
Some of the places below stayed on our list rather than becoming visits. We spent a fair amount of time at the hotel and left early for Chaukori.
A note on this archive story
From the travel archive, first published 20 May 2017. This is our experience at the time, not a current price or booking guide. Check opening hours, access, fares and services before making your own plans.
Weather changed our plans: Rain cancelled much of our sightseeing. The list below includes ideas we considered, not a claim that we visited every place. Check current access and choose walks appropriate to your group.
What happens if rain spoils the Munsiyari views?
That happened on our trip. Clouds hid the peaks and rain cancelled much of the sightseeing. We spent more time together at the hotel, then left early for Chaukori; the list here includes plans we could not complete.
WHAT TO SEE
The hotel guy told us about Darkot and its pashmina weaving, so off we went following the temple on the map. The temple was only a few steps from the road. The actual village? Much farther down the stepped path.
We looked at the descent and decided against it. Going down was one thing; coming back with our kid was another. So we took blessings at the temple and moved on. The weaving village will have to wait for another trip.
2. Madkote Village: A small community situated at the end of the road passing through Darkot and is famous for natural hot water spring here. The locals have created a good covering around this place and are really not a place to miss. But be aware that the road from Darkot to Madkote is still being laid and is muddy at many places. During the last avalanche, a part of the road was completely damaged and hence drive only if you are up for it. Else if don't mind public transport then you can take Scorpio that serves as the connector between all such local communities.
3. Tribal Heritage Museum: while returning from madkote/darkot don't forget to visit the Tribal Heritage Museum. It's an old building situated just next to the road but with a steep, easy to miss so don't forget to ask local once near google maps destination. With an exhaustive collection of wooden utensils, brass hookahs and bags made of yak skin, a one of its kind museum in Munsiyari provides a glimpse into the history and culture of Bhotiya tribe of Uttarakhand. The curator and owner of the museum Sher Singh Pangtey, fondly called Massab, established the Tribal Heritage Museum before the soaring Panchachauli peaks in 2000.
4. Nanda Devi Temple: The most famous of all the temples around here the place is not marked correctly on google maps so don't trust it. Once you reach the main bazaar ask someone for direction. It's located in a remote location but with a clear view of Panchkuli. Every year there is a big festival here where Villagers will trek barefoot, take a bath in the sacred Nanda Kunda before eating self-prepared food while on their way to collect the flower that grows at 15,000 feet high glacier and is aptly named Brahma Kamal to worship Nanda Devi the goddess of Mountains.
5. Trek to Khalia Top or Milam Glacier: Many youngsters every year come here to trek to either of the two glaciers that are accessible from Munsiyari but it requires some level of physical fitness so better come in a group and always try to move with the Guide, as lots of cases of missing trekkers are told here. Although we could not go to either of them because of my kid but one should plan for them as the pictures of the place were out of the world.
6. Thamri Kund trek: This will be the most common trekking done by tourist here as it is only 3 km and takes around 2 hours each side to go. The end result is this natural kund in the middle of nowhere which thankfully has not been destroyed by the tourists n local people. The paths have been well laid out and you get cheap guides at the entry point itself that will take you through stories of the place along with. Totally Recommended. The entry is next to the Gayatri Centre and is easy to miss due to one small discreet board.
7. Maheshwari Kund Trek: also known as Meesar Kund is a simple trek with well laid out stone path nestled among trees and mountains that lead you the small meadow at the top housing a small pond which once used to be always full of water. There is a famous mythology about that suggesting there was a Yaksha ( A Yaksha is a kind of a Jungle spirit), who lived on this mountain top near Munsyari and he fell in love with a local lass. But the Panchayat of the village took strong objection to it. So the villagers decided to teach a lesson to the Yaksha and dried the lake where Yaksha Lived. This made the Yaksha angry and he cursed the village to go without rain. So the there were no rains for many years, thus the villagers went to the Yaksha and apologised so that the rains could return to the village.
Our bad luck was second day onwards it was all cloudy here and the visibility of peaks went to zero in morning and evening. At night rain also started so we had to cancel most of our plan and were left confined to our hotel. Although that had its own share of fun with a feeling of family outing without any network and nothing to do but to enjoy the bliss of togetherness in this wilderness.
As the weather was not looking to change we planned to start early next day and head back towards next town called chaukori. This time the route was same till Birthi Falls where we stopped again to have Maggi, omelette and morning tea.
Because of the rain, the waterfall had become more beautiful and also the overall scenery was extremely wallpaper like. We took a different turn from one of the forks this time and headed in opposite direction from where we had arrived from Kausani. No complaints although it is going to be in my best road journeys till date but this time we were not in the mood for adventure.
We passed on the road to be met with a marriage ceremony with locals dancing around to the sound of drum and piano. One amazing observation was though this place is full of beautiful flowers coming in all shades and shapes we noticed none of the marriage decorations was made of real flowers but plastic ones. I noticed the plastic decorations even with flowers growing all around.
I cannot speak for the organisers' reasons, but the contrast stayed with me.
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