The journey was started with a visit to Bheemakali temple. The temple was looking maginificent from the hotel itself but when we reached the main gate, we found that the temple was more beautiful. Unlike many other temples, it was very clean, beautifully decorated gardens and with efficient management. There is another temple of Bhimakali in Sarahan which I have yet to see, but this one surely deserved a visit, if you are passing by Mandi.
Bhimakali Temple, Mandi
The other good thing about the temple was that we were allowed camera inside the main garbha griha and take the photo of the idol, which is normally not allowed in many temples for some unknown reasons.
Idol of Ma Bhimakali
City of Mandi looked very beautiful from the temple….Beas river flowing silently, a beautiful bridge joining Mandi with the Manali highway. We had a brief photo session and started our journey towards Parashar Lake.
Beautiful Mandi city
We then turned towards highway to Joginder Nagar… after about 4/5 Kms there was roadsign for IIT Mandi… we took that road and travelled towards village Bagi from where the road to Parashar lake would separate. The total distance between Mandi and Parashar is around 45 Kms… the road till Bagi is small but good.
The moment we turned towards Bagi village, the road became very narrow and due to digging of whole road for laying out electric cables, it was difficult to maneuver when some vehicle came from the other side. The whole road was steep and small… even buses were plying on such road making the journey more difficult. . In about 2 hours we reached Bagi village from where one road goes to Kullu and a side road goes up to Parashar lake. Bagi village was very beautiful hamlet..but village was looking like small Kedarnath.. due to a major cloud burst in the area, the Nallah was full of boulders. Many house were damaged by the boulders and the concrete bridge on the road had turned 90 degrees. PWD had made the river bed negotiable by vehicles. We crossed the running water very carefully. The road suddenly became very bad and steep. On some turns the cars slipped, stopped and had to be handled very carefully. We were so tense during the journey that no one thought of taking out camera and shoot.
The tough journey begins
A few Kms up and the vistas changed. The views around Parashar were so stunning that they reminded me of Scotland and Switzerland. We were stopping every now and then for viewing the beautiful vistas around.
The only good patch of road
At a place we reached near a very small lake…. All our tiredness vanished to see the blue color of the lake and the greenery around.
Mini Switzerland
Finally we reached Parashar. It had rained all night there and the soil around was very slippery. We turned our cars towards the Forest Rest House….talked with the chowkidar who booked 2 rooms for us and said the other 2 room can be allotted by another chowkidar, who has gone to Parashar Lake. We came out and had a stroll.
PWD Rest hosue
views from Parashar
What a beauty !! I have seen Switzerland 3 times and I can say with authority that this place was no less than Switzerland, as far as Natural beauty is concerned.
views from Parashar
Views from Parashar
Bagi village from above
We finally reached the end of the road and tried to find suitable place to go to the lake. We were really disappointed to see that even though lot of tourists come here, Government have not made any path for the lake. We were advised to monkey jump on some stones and then go on the steep grass and then cross the barbed wire and reach Lake…. Well that may be an adventure for back-packers, but the fat crorepatis and the womenfolks with us, had no mood of adventure. So we dropped the idea and asked for another route. Someone advised us to go back to FRH and there is a way to go to the lake. We tried that but it was impossible for the womenfolk to climb on the kuccha road to lake. When two women slipped and almost fell down, all others turned back. Two of us still dared and went up… the rain had stopped and suddenly black clouds encircled the lake…. Parashar Rishi did not allow us to see the lake and take its fotos.
Views around Parashar
Kullu valley
There was a festival going on since morning but due to severe weather warning, the people were dismantling the stalls and almost running out of Parashar and advised us to leave for the shelter. There was warning of heavy rains in Himachal in next 48 hours… the crowds at Parashar started rushing down the hill and advised us to go back as early as possible, because the rain may bring land slide and we may stuck up there without food and water for many days.
view Parashar Lake
Some of us took it a curse and some took it as boon as we now have to come back here again to appreciate the beauty of Parashar… For this reason, you will not find any photo of Parshar lake in this blog.
पाराशर लेक से ऐसा दिखता है
We came back to FRH… it was locked all the chowkidars had vanished… we kept waiting and waiting for 2 hours…. Every one was hungry and there was not even a tea stall to take some refreshment. Our adventure visit to Parashar was spoilt. We finally decided not to stay there and go down… when we had almost kept the cars ready, the chowkidar appeared. He was not sad on our decision to leave… We asked him for a cup of tea atleast as we were hungry since morning. He simply advised us to go down urgently and take tea there as the weather had started turning hostile.
Otherwise I was in a mood to spend a part of night sitting on this bench and watching the silent beauty of Himalayas….I would have sit here for eternity watching the nature’s wonders from here… ok next time may be :)
beauty of Himalayas
With heavy heart we started our journey down. Six Kms after Parashar we found a small tea stall… despite the bad weather, we stopped and asked for something to eat…. the owner probably a settled Gaddi, offered pakoras… oh boy ! totally hungry, bad weather and tiredness… pakoras seemed nectar…. we ate pakoras till the shopkeeper raised his hands that there was no besan left :) well another cup of tea and we started journey downwards with renewed energy. We turned towards Kullu after Bagi village and found the road to be nice and without much traffic. Within 2-3 hours we were at Bajaura a small town before Kullu. The black clouds had started thundering rain had started…. so the met department was correct about the possible heavy rains and cloud bursts… well it rained all the next day… but the main dangerous clouds crossed Himachal without much problem and created havoc in J& K…. we all know the consequences!
In Bajoura, JP insisted on taking any hotel immediately. a cheap hotel Down Town was there before us and JP suddenly went there and without watching rooms, fixed four rooms for us. We saw the room, which are ordinary but clean…and started unpacking our baggage… when we were done, JP was already down with 2 glasses of fatigure removing liquid…
Next day was fixed for visiting Manikarna.
Hotel in Bajoura near Bhuntar
Dear Silentsoul
First thing first, all the photographs are marvelous! We all know your skill on photography, so it is always a treat for the eyes to see your photographs.
Sorry that you could not see the Parashar Lake, this time I guess it was not open for fat Cr_pattis, hence all those difficulties. :-) It is pleasant to hear when you said with authority that our land is no less than Switzerland. I think you as a traveler to Himachal of many times have also the authority to guide any Ghumakkar planning to go there.
Thank you for Sharing
Thanks Anupamji… although we could not photograph the lake, due to bad weather… the place was mind-blowing and must visit for all ghumakkars. I will certainly go there again and present more beautiful photos of the area.
Thanks for your appreciation and comments….As a photographer my age is only 7-8 months after I purchased my first DSLR…but with your comments I can say I have succeeded in fast learning the art even at this age of 58
S.S. Sir,
Beautiful photos and excellent narration.
As you did not reach Parshar lake the Post title should be changed . It should be ” way to Parshar lake ‘ or ” bagi to Parshar ” something like that. Just suggestion ..
Sehgal ji we were at Parashar lake..mere 50 meters from lake… two of us even reached the lake… but we could not take any photos due to zero visibility…hence there are no fotos of the lake
Thanks for your comments
Hi SS Sir
Its always a pleasure to read your logs, for their mind blowing content and for the eye catching stunning pics. Even yesterday night itself, I was reading one of your old log on this site. Keeping the bar of standards more difficult for people like us this post also offers no exception on both the accounts. Excellent narration and fluid description of the journey supported with amazingly stunning pics.
Your pics and their have created a new set of passionate admirers on , we already know. You could not able to reach Parashar because of bad weather, I already knew but even then the present post is a treat to read
Thanx for sharing your experiences with us…. :)
Paahji thank you very much for this detailed comment…. and thanks for reading the old post Snow Saga, which saw a lot of opposition from editorial team earlier but later it was published with some changes.
Hello Sir,
Lovely post with beautiful pics….. For me the second last pic has worked enough itself to describe the beauties of nature, what you guys have enjoyed during the trip.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Arun
Thanks Arunji….. I can sit on that bench for eternity watching the beauty of Himalayas
Thansk for your comments
Trekking in a beautiful place like this is a great experience. Also the pictures are so beautiful.. Good post!
Thanks
shri s s ji
very intresting post with amazing photographs.
Thanks Om Parkash ji for your comments
WOW….!!!!!!
Stunning pics & great capturing skills. Not a single word required to describe .Each capture is more than million words.
Hi thanks for your appreciation… btw you have a beautiful screen name Ramta Jogi !!!
???? ?? ??????????, ??????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? …..???? ???? ?? ????? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??? ??? ??, ??? ???????? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? LOL…. (????? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??).
????? ?? ???????? ????? ??? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??, ?? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ??. ?????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???. ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? – Beautiful Mandi City, Beautiful views around Parashar, PWD Rest House.
Mukesbhai….. thank you very much for so much appreciation…..ab apne likha to mujhe bhi lag raha hai fotos theek honge. Hotel was not that bad but maintenance was not good, probably due to off-season.
Your foto of Beas and parvati river from Bijli Mahadev was the best till date I have seen here…and I am hoping to match my fotos with that :)
Mandi is really a beautiful city… in your next trip please include Mandi and Rewalsar, as these are must see places
Thanks again for your comments
@ SS & Nandan,
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???? “H” ???? ???? ?? ????? ……..Mukesh…..”h” ?? ???? ????? ??.
100 post poori hone ke baad… tab tak likhte raho Mukes bhai
Wow, what an astonishing post.
As everyone said, no words can do justice to the pictures in this post. The bench one and first one are my favorites.
Sir, one thing I noticed that, this post lacked those personal stories, and thoughts/views that heart/mind experiences, which we usually find in your post. Im not able to pinpoint exactly what.
Regards.
Thanks Bhaskarji…. a himachali’s comments on my Himachal story are very important and I always wait for them….hope to get your attention on other parts too.
Yes you are right… that personal views/touch is missing… the reason may be that I had been so much tormented by some members for writing my “Mann ki baat”… hence I tried to avoid anything else besides the tour details :(
@ SS – I think you and your crew was indeed a brave bunch of Ghumakkar to be there during those times. It was pretty bad as we were hearing from our friends in J&K later. Glad to see that all went safe. Prashar can happen next time, and not in Monsoons.
@ Mukes Bhai – You share your first name with someone I do not need to tell you. Your first comment was lol. And as for your ‘H’, wo bilkul surakshit hai. 100 to number ka khel hai, jab milen to lauta diya jaayega. Wishes.
@ Stone – Great observation. I do not buy SS’s comment though. He is not someone to get bullied. I hope to read more of his ‘Mann ki baat’ on his new destination, for some reason I am sensing that he would have a lot to tell.
Thanks Nandan…. my friends advised monsoon time to see real beauty of Parashar… if something is left, that becomes good motivator for next journey. Hope you have recovered fully and in full steam.
Bullying.. …mujhe to kal ke paida huye bachchey bhi dhamka ke chale gaye… :( may be that was how they behave with their elders at home
Which is the best time to visit himachal pradesh if i wish to see the snowfall also where shall i go ?
If you wish to see snow go around Narkanda and beyond Shimla during Jan-Feb . still if you keep checking the weather websites, it may be many other places where it snows during Dec-March.