Budget for Valley of Flowers

For a solo trekkers, budget is always a concern, so I am going to give a breakdown of the cost here.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that Joshimath is the last place where you might find a working ATM.
One should carry at least Rs. 5000 per person if his/her hotel is booked at Ghangria.

Breakdown of the cost is from Joshimath- Ghangria- Joshimath

Joshimath has good amount of hotels where you can find standard double from for Rs. 500-600. I would suggest to look at the rooms before you book and specially check the bathrooms and the heaters in it. Sometimes the bathrooms are filthy and heaters don't work. Make sure you don't take the basement rooms because they are quite humid and this can affect your health. The deluxe rooms are quite nice and they cost Rs. 1500 for double rooms. I would recommend these rooms. The prices can vary from hotel to hotels but it will be in the range of Rs. 1500-2000.
There are very few good restaurants which serve good food. I would not recommend chole bhature or aloo puri as it is quite oily and the oil used is not very good either.
The new badri kedar restaurant serves good quality food. We went for the Punjabi thali and it was awesome, it was enough for two of us as I and my brother don't have a large appetite. Here is the menu for a better idea-

                     

In the morning you can start your journey to Gobind ghat which is 20 kms from Joshimath. Shared taxi for one person from Joshimath to Gobind ghat ( where the trek start to Ghangria) can cost between Rs. 50 to 70
At Gobind ghat you can have your breakfast. I will list down the price few items you get there.
Aloo parathan- Rs. 30
Maggie- Rs. 30
Tea- Rs. 20
Coffee- Rs. 30
Parle g- Rs. 10
Mineral water- Rs. 30

These are the common items you will find in shops end route your trek. As you go higher the price go up by Rs. 10 each item and at Ghangria the price will be double.

I also bought my trekking stick from here which is made of wood for Rs. 20 each. I used it throughout my trek and then left it at one of the food shops on return. May be they fix it and reuse the wood to make a new one.
A road has been created of 4 kms which you can choose to trek or take a shared taxi for another Rs. 40-50.

I had my personal bottle with me and I saved one mineral water bottle which I kept refilling on the way. On the trek route, there are taps installed at intervals which have clean drinking water which tastes as good as mineral water and I had no health problems so I would recommend that to save some money.

Oh yes, the cost-
Tea- Rs. 20
Coffee- Rs. 30
Parle g- Rs. 10
Maggie- Rs. 40
Parathan- Rs. 40-60
Mineral water- Rs. 40
Buttermilk- Rs. 20

Any packed item will be double its MRP

A porter will take your bag and leave it at your hotel for Rs. 200 per bag, you can trust them. If you are unable to trek, a mule from govind ghat to ghangria will cost you Rs. 800. I carried my own bag, it was tiring but worth the experience and walking gives you an opportunity to take as many pictures as you want stopping at every breathtaking view.

Once you are in Ghangria, you won't be able to find any drinking water taps, so you will have to buy mineral water for Rs. 40. I tried drinking the normal water provided at the hotel and restaurant but I didn't like the way it tasted. Ghangria is very expensive, so every meal for two person will cost you around Rs. 400-500 at least. A standard twin/triple sharing room will cost you around Rs. 1500- 2000.
Here is the menu for hotel Preetam and Gangotri. It is the same place, has two names don't know why. It is the only place where you can find good food, it is in front of gmvn hotel. This is where we stayed as well.

                   

                     

The ticket to enter the valley of flowers is Rs. 150 for Indians and Rs 600 for foreigners, which is valid for three days.
I would recommend you to contact, Mr. Raghubir Chauhan as a guide to the valley of flowers, he has been doing this for more than 15 years and knows a lot about the flowers and the spirit of the valley. A very interesting guy, fun to talk with and also took awesome pictures recommending the right spots. We went deep into the valley with him and it was worth it, he motivated us to go further and we climbed down to the base camp in 1.5 hours which was the promise he made.
 

You can fill fresh drinking water coming from the mountain tops on the way here, no need to buy anything. No food is available at the valley so make sure you carry something to eat.

Hemkund shaeb is a difficult trek and it was poring the day we went, so we took  a mule which cost us Rs. 1050. You need to have good bargaining skills! They were asking for Rs. 1200-1500 and as we had a big group, we could bargain at that price.
A Kandi (bamboo basket on the back of the Carrier) will cost you Rs. 2000 for the same route.
Everything is quite expensive on the way here.
Parle g- Rs. 25
Tea- Rs. 25
Coffee- Rs. 50

I don't think they served anything hot like Maggie or parathan here. You can have langer at the gurudwara. They serve you tea with khichadi which was a perfect meal for that weather.
When we returned from Ghangria, we stayed overnight at Gobind Ghat because we wanted to go to Badrinath the next morning.
You can have free lunch here at the Gurudwara. Simple meal (not punjabi) at a restaurant will cost you Rs 200 for two people.
Badrinath is 20 kms from here, so a shared taxi would cost you Rs. 70-80 per person. Food is again expensive at Badrinath, I would suggest to buy a fixed thali  which would cost Rs 100-120 and will enough for two people with small appetite and you can order extra chapati. There is one ATM in Badrinath which is not usually in working condition, neither is the one at Gobind Ghat, so make sure you have enough money on you. Souvenirs are available from Rs. 20 and above, so you can buy according to your budget. One of our fellow traveler got Badrinath coins which were Rs 20 each and looked like a very good item to give as gift. Panch mukhi Rudraksh were available for Rs 100. You can have your pick, there are unlimited number of items to buy from.
Mana village is just 3 kms from Badrinath. You can buy local herb, jhambu (Allium auriculatum) from here which costs Rs 10 for the seasoning and Rs 20 for the tea. Hand woven woolen clothes are available here for quite reasonable rate. Jumpers and sweaters from Rs 200-400 and woolen hat for Rs 60-80. There were hand woven rugs available as well but I am not sure about the exact price, the big ones were for around Rs 2000-3000 I guess.

Hope this helps!

Things to pack for Valley of Flowers

Here, I will list down all the items that are important to be added in your backpack and items you can leave out.

What to take-
1. T-shirts (7-8 for 10 day trek, trust me on this because it rains a lot in Uttarakhand during August and you will need a change and won't be able to repeat)
2. Track pants (I took 3 for 10 days trek and regretted it, you will need 5 pairs at least)
3. One light weight jeans which you can wear when not trekking but travelling from one place to another on the bus/car.
4. Socks ( 7-8 pairs, there will be rain, river crossing and water on the streets which will wet your socks and anyways you don't want to walk around with smelly socks)
5. Enough change of undergarments ( you won't be able to wash and dry them as you will be moving from one place to another and as it is wet and humid during rain, your clothes won't dry even after 2 days of drying)
6. One towel; go for the microfibre towel- which dries very quickly. I got mine one from decathlon.
7. One pair of trekking shoes ( I was planning for the quechua shoes from decathlon which were out of my budget so went for action trekking shoes which cost me Rs. 799 in comparison to Rs. 5999 from decathlon. From my experience I can tell that action trekking shoes are as good as any expensive brand and I had no slippage or any problem during the trek because of these shoes)
8. One pair of flip flops for walking around in the city when not trekking and these will relax your feet from the strenuous trek and also let them breath out of those shoes)
9. One pair of clogs ( I am recommending this from my personal experience because when my shoes were completely drenched due to rain, I had no option but to carry on in them on other days as they didn't dry. I saw many people trekking in clogs and they were quite comfortable in it)
10. One hiking hat, which will protect you from rain as well as sun. I highly recommend this because I was all sun burnt after the trek although I was wearing sunscreen)
11. A pair of woollen gloves/waterproof gloves, a woolly cap and two sweaters. Evenings get cold there are you will need something to protect your head from catching cold. I got the fleece light weight jumper from decathlon and it served the purpose.
12. One scarf; again to protect yourself from cold ( you can skip packing this if you want and buy a woollen shawl from govind ghat. Some women in my trek got a good bargain of Rs. 200 for a full length shawl)
13. One backpack in which you can put all your clothing and a day pack to carry food and water to the valley of flowers and hemkund saheb.
14. Travel pack size items to carry- Soap/body wash, Shampoo, Conditioner, face wash  Sunscreen lotion, Moisturizer, lip balm, toothpaste, brush, wet wipes, tissues, toilet paper, comb, rubber bands, safety pins, bobby pins, sun glasses bandana(optional) hair band.
15. Camera and extra batteries
16. Food - This is very important as you go up to ghangria, food will get expensive and at hemkund saheb even more expensive. I paid Rs. 25 for a Rs. 5 Parle g packet.
- Carry healthy biscuits like oats and wheat which can give you enough nutrition, Khakhra, bhakhavadi, thepla, bhujiya, peanuts, kabuli chana, chocolates, lemon based sweets, dry fruits- Almonds and dry dates.
I also carried small pack of jam, ketchup and mayo sachet which I used to make sandwiches in ghangria. Bread and vegetables were bought from joshimath which is the last place from where you can buy things at retail price.
17. Medicines- Band-Aids, dettol, Antibacterial powder, Crocin(fever), Avomin(vomiting/nausea), Flexon MR(muscle relaxant), Norflox TZ(stomach infection), Lopramide(diarrhoea), Citrazine(Allergy), Hajmola, pudin harra sachet, glucose lemon flavor, vicks vapor rub, zandu balm, kapoor(high altitude breathless ness), gelusil(acidity), strepsils(throat)

What not to take-
1. Make up, unless you can't live without any item.
2. Torch, I didn't find the need as all the stay was in a hotel.
3. Trekking stick ( buy it from govind ghat, they hardly cost Rs. 20)
4. Jewellery
5. Sleeping bag/blanket
6. Hair dryer/straightener (not all hotels have 24 hrs electricity)

Valley Of Flowers Trek Intro

Hi Guys!

I have recently completed the trek to Valley of Flower and I am going to write down about my experience. This information will specially be useful to people who are willing to do a solo trek and needs to prepare beforehand about things to be kept in mind and the budget required. I will try and put down everything that comes to mind and if you have a question please email me at ruha.imin(at)gmail.com and I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge.
I went to the valley in mid of August 2016, the weather was really bad as there were landslides and heavy rain in Uttarakhand. My family was not convinced but I went anyway and I haven't regretted my decision even once. August is the best time to go because the flowers are in full bloom because of the rain.

I started my trip from Pune on 11th August and was back by 22nd August. It is a 10 day trip if you take a flight from your city to Delhi and I would highly recommend that because this is an exhausting trek.

My route was Pune- Delhi- Haridwar- Joshimath- Govind Ghat- Ghangria- Valley of Flowers- Hemkund Saheb- Govind Ghat- Badrinath- Mana Village- Joshimath- Auli- Haridwar- Mussorrie- Delhi- Pune

I would suggest replacing Haridwar with Rishikesh as it is a better place to stay and has more things to do.

Day 1- Pune-Delhi (flight) - Haridwar/Rishikesh (bus/train)
Day 2- Haridwar- Joshimath (state bus/shared taxi)
Day 3- Joshimath- Govind Ghat (20 km) - Ghangria
This is where the trekking starts.
Day 4- Ghangria- Valley of Flowers- Ghangria
Return the same day by 5 PM (valley rules)
Day 5- Ghangria- Hemkund Saheb- Ghangria
Day 6- Ghangria- Govind Ghat
Day 7- Govind Ghat- Badrinath- Mana Village- Joshimath
Day 8- Joshimath- Auli- Haridwar
Day 9- Haridwar- Mussorrie- Haridwar (Skip this place! After going to valley of flowers this place won't amuse you, rather go to rishikesh)
Day 10- Haridwar- Delhi(train/bus)- Pune(flight)

Please make sure you have good enough gap between your flight time and train arrival time as we had a two hours delay in the departure of the train so we had to cancel our tickets and hire a bus.

In other posts, I will talk about what to carry, budget and what to expect from the trek.

Leh

As we reached Leh, I was curious to find out if the city was like the way I imagined or was it even more exotic. Our stay was at Hotel Singge Palace, it is a beautiful comfortable place with good food and most importantly in the center of the market. We were greeted with white ladakhi silk stoles and there was a nice spread of breakfast waiting for us in the dining hall. We had rest of the day to ourselves but we also had an optional activity if we were interested ;) and hell I was ready for it.

We were heading towards our destination when the driver stopped and asked, "this is a famous photo spot, would like to take photos?"I jumped out of the car saying of course :) I had no idea about this place, it was the Indus- Zanskar confluence. I was amazed at how these two rivers came together with complete different properties and color maintaining the boundary. You can see a clear line of separation. A thought struck to my mind- People always look at this in amazement, talk about it, take pictures but not notice something that I had or probably overlook the fact that even these rivers merge together completely further down. Even nature understands this but people don't. We humans can likewise live together in harmony even after our differences in religion, culture, thinking or color.

I tried something which I never thought I would in my life. I went white water rafting into the Zanskar river located at a height of more than 12,000 feet above sea level, it was 17 km ride. It was an adventurous experience along with spectacular landscape views of mountains with snowcap. I got my gears, changed and was ready for some action, I was so scared that I kept quite until it was done. We were given training for initial 15 minutes and then it started, to be honest it was quite tiring. There were much rapids but whatever it was, was enough! We also stood on the raft with our feet on the edges, leaning on our paddles placed on the center vertically, I could last hardly five seconds on that moving raft :P Later, we were literally forced to jump into the water voluntarily or we would have been pushed. The water was ice cold! people started crying out to pull them in. One kid literally lost it, he was shivering like hell and could not paddle anymore. I was pulled in last, he was a mean guide :/ The adventure ended at the confluence of Indus and Zanskar river. 

Kargil Memorial Hall

I am a patriot, I should clear this before I say something. I really felt sad and uneasy when I saw victories of the war because whenever there has been a war, we have lost lives, our fellow humans. I am not taking side of anyone but humanity. I don't like the thought of killing anyone no matter who he/she is. Kargil was a big war and our army protected our land and I am very proud of them. I wish there was some other way, but we all know that can only be a dream. There were photos and description of how our army survived and fought in extreme weather on these mountains.  A salute!

By this time we were quite late for lunch, it was 15:30 already. Singge palace staff was so nice to save some food for us :) I had a shower freshened up and we again headed towards Shanti Stupa.

Shanti Stupa
This place was very serene and beautiful overlooking the leh city. This was built by Ladakh and Japanese Buddhist to promote world peace. There was a meditation hall as well, I wish I could have gone there alone to meditate for a while. This dome structure situated on a hilltop had two levels, the second level is quite interesting which has paintings depicting life of Buddha along with other small paintings. We stayed there until moon rise, and the structure light up with beautiful lights.

Sarchu- Leh

High Altitude Desert

These mountains of Sarchu are hard and barren, standing there waiting for their one true love 'Snow'. He visits them every year and wraps these mountains with his blanket of love. I wonder if some year the snow doesn't come, will these mountains move on, or will they wait forever?

 

While moving ahead from Sarchu, we ascended towards 21 Gata Loops. The 21 hairpin bends (elevation 4190 to 4739m, KM 256) with Tsarap Chu River flowing at the bottom. On the way, I came across a strange temple with water bottles all around it. At first I thought people were throwing waste and was disgusted with the sight but later I got to know it was a memorial built to pacify the Ghost of the cleaner who died stranded on that road with thirst and hunger. These roads are now hunted by his ghost begging people for water. Quite scary ha!

 

Ghost memorial photo courtesy - http://tourdeladakh.in/2013/11/25/day4part1/

In Pang, I saw stunning views of sand and natural rock formations along the Sumkhel Lungpa river. It felt like temple like structures were grown out of the mountains. Sometimes I saw cluster of such formations which felt like a mob of people standing there guarding a secret hidden in these mountains.

Taglang La

I didn't realize where the time passed traveling through Kelong. I reached Taglang La, it is the world's second highest motorcycle-able pass at an elevation of 17,480 ft. I was so mesmerized by the beauty around that I didn't realize I was getting a little breathless. I was in a confusion, was my heart pulsating so fast because of the beauty around me or was it altitude. I started taking frequent long breaths, sucking the cold air into my lungs. 

 

Sarchu

En-route Sarchu-

The roads were steep but the surrounding was beautiful. There was fear in my heart and a long way to go. I went ahead with my journey listening to Mohd. Rafi's- Mai zaindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya and looking back at the journey of my life and I felt really happy with where I was. Life is beautiful, it is the perspective with which you look at it.

I was taking a power nap when I was woken up with a jolt, our car had met an accident! There was a bike right in the middle of the road crushed, petrol leaking from it and a guy under it. Our car had crashed into the mountain wall and front end of the car was damaged. Our car driver started shouting at the motorbike driver "You wrong", the other guy was confused and terrified. He wasn't Indian, he was from Germany and did not understand how to explain or discuss what happened. I felt sorry for him, he kept saying that the car was on his line which I knew could have been true because I had seen the car driver driving on the middle of the road. After long discussion, other bikers intervening and police a settlement was made. I was relived that the German guy was alive and nothing happened to us. One small mistake and a life can be lost on these roads.
I am not here to judge but I was really disappointed with my fellow passengers reaction to this particular incident. They blamed the biker completely for the accident, they suggested filing a case on him and all that stuff which didn't feel right. I wish people had more compassion!

Another car was arranged for us, thanks to our group leader Mr. Vinay. He always made sure about our safety. We resumed our journey and made a stop at the ZingZing Bar 21kms from Baralach La. I felt the hit of cold and the water was almost ice. For some reason I liked it, I felt a little nostalgic, I missed UK. I had a cup of hot tea to comfort my soul and absorb everything I was experiencing in quite. It was good!

Sarchu-

After few more hours of journey, we reached Sarchu. I was starving! I dumped my stuff into our tent and rushed into the canteen to have some food. It was quite cold, Sarchu is at 14,070 ft altitude. Everyone rushed back into their tents after food as they couldn't take the cold but I wasn't ready to sleep. I was here to experience all this, I wanted more! It was a starry night and moon looked beautiful, I walked around the tents taking deep breaths inhaling the cold air. I was so happy that I was there and doing this, I was actually jumping there with joy :D I headed back to my tent to sleep but the cold was catching up, I couldn't get to get my feet warm no matter how long I kept the hot bottle under it. I had a sleepless night! Once, I woke up and started giving myself Reiki, energizing my body to produce some heat. I am not sure if it worked but I guess my subconscious was satisfied and I went back to sleep luckily waking up again only in the morning. I did not leave the tent before I got ready for the journey because I was in no mood for going in and out of the tent in that cold. But I was so wrong, morning was beautiful, sun shining right through the mountains, warm light touching my body and barren beauty all around me.

Random Thoughts

Mountain Rock

I see this hug rock with marks of harsh weather, tested with time for years. But he stands strong, higher than you with the will to survive because everything around him depends on him. He falls, everything does!
He is just like a father who has stood strong supporting his family through ups and downs. Loving them, expecting nothing in return. I am no father but I am the rock, because I am nature!

Pine Trees

Standing tall and green, sheltering millions of birds
Mountains are their home, where they do the wait
Holding so much love and longing it in return
You have admire their beauty, but would never stay
You have to return back to your safe nests
Do you dare to have the passion of these trees?
Can you love so much and wait forever?

Hope

On my way from Manali to Sarchu I saw rocks fallen from the mountains due to land slide, shattered  into pieces. Plants had grown through them, around them. Life had found a way to survive through all these calamities, just the way water flow going pass all its obstructions. Nature always has hope and finds a way to exist. Can we?