Kangra Valley Train and Palampur

I took the beautiful narrow gauge train from Pathankot to Palampur. The journey of a 127 kms took around 8 hours but it was really awesome. If you're in a hurry, a bus journey is recommended since the bus route is only a 100kms and takes around 3 1/2 hours. Luckily I wasn't in a hurry and got to spend the extra 4 1/2 hours meeting people and looking out through the window.

Got to Palampur and checked in to Hotel Highland by around 6.30 p.m. I then went out and bought a card reader to upload all my pictures. However, it turned out that they were just too large to upload so I had to ditch it and go watch India vs. West Indies in 'Chicken Center' with a Hawyards 10000 super strong beer, the only beer people here have.

Figured out later at night that the camera itself has an option to make images smaller so I selected a few pics to upload. In the morning, I took an 8 km hike up to Neugal Gorge and back. This place seems really friendly and nice, and I think I'll probably hang out for another day before heading to McLeod Ganj. Though there are quite a few guest houses and hotels here, I think it's probably for people from Punjab who come up for the weekends in summer. Its totally empty of tourists right now, and people are shocked that I've travelled all the way from Kerala to come here. On finding out that Kerala is a 50hr train ride from Delhi, a few people have even asked me whether Kerala is in India... and remarked on what a large country we have! Anyway, here are some of the pics, enjoy.

Jalandhar Railway Station Pathankot Railway Station

Pathankot Railway Station Tea and Blogging at Pathankot

The Kangra Valley Train

The Kangra Valley Train

The Kangra Valley Train

Passengers on the Train

View of the Beas from the Train

View of the Beas -2

View of the Beas - 3

First view of the Dauladar Range

The Snow capped Dauladars

The Chicken Center

Tea Estates in Palampur on the way to Neugal

Tea Estates in Palampur on the way to Neugal

The Neuagal Gorge

The Neugal Cafe