Hampta Pass Diary – Chapter-8 : The return journey – Part-1

Hampta Pass Diary – Chapter-8 : The return journey – Part-1

28-June-2025 - Seobagh to Kullu

That night was slightly better than the previous ones, but not by much. I still had intermittent sleep and eventually woke up around 4 a.m. After taking care of my morning routine, I spent some quiet time sky-gazing and listening to the birdsong and the soothing sound of the Beas River—just like when we first arrived at the base camp.

The camp itself looked quite empty. Only five members were scheduled to leave for the trek that day, and no one else from the next batch had arrived yet. Many from our group had already checked out the previous day.

Soon, I spotted Mr. Vikram. Their initial plan was to check out the day before, visit Sissu, and then catch a train from Chandigarh—the same train we were booked on. But they’d changed their plans, likely due to heavy rains in the Kullu Valley. Instead, they decided to leave from the base camp that morning and head straight to Chandigarh, aiming to reach a few hours before the train's departure.

By the time tea was served, everyone was up and getting ready—some for trekking, others to check out, and a few to explore nearby places before checking out. We had our tea, followed shortly by breakfast. Since we had plenty of time, we enjoyed both at a relaxed pace.

After breakfast, we headed outside. My wife and my cousin’s wife wanted to pick fresh fruits—like plums—so we strolled around and gathered quite a few. My cousin’s wife wanted to bring some back for her office colleagues, so she and my wife kept hunting for more fruit trees and picking as much as they could.

Around 9 a.m., once our group was ready, we checked out from the base camp and waited by the roadside for local buses heading from Naggar to Kullu. Normally, buses—both government and private—pass every 15–20 minutes, but that day was different. We waited for nearly 30–40 minutes, and only one bus passed by, already packed full.

While we were waiting, Mr. Suman ji and Mr. Tek Chand ji came out—they were heading toward Naggar to explore a bit, so we said our goodbyes. Mr. Suman ji seemed much better, and his injuries were healing well.

My wife and cousin’s wife were in a bit of a hurry—they wanted to reach Kullu early to do some shopping. So they took the next bus that came, but the rest of us couldn’t board because we had all the luggage with us.

To add to the confusion, we missed another bus because we were standing on the wrong side of the road—buses from Naggar to Kullu were actually going on the opposite side. As time went on, we tried flagging down any four-wheelers that could take us to Kullu, but had no luck.

At one point, a utility truck stopped when we signaled, but the driver wasn’t on duty. He said he couldn’t drop us but would ask his friends if they could help and then drove off.

We waited again with no success. Then we remembered we had the number of the driver who had dropped us at Seobagh from Kullu. I gave him a call, and he said he’d arrange something for us. So we waited a little more.

A large auto-rickshaw soon arrived to drop some passengers, and we asked if he could take us to Kullu with our luggage. He agreed, but just as we were about to board, the driver I had called informed us that he’d arranged two cabs for us, and they were on their way—should arrive in about 10 minutes. So we let the auto go.

About 15 minutes later, both cabs arrived. We had requested two, assuming we’d be six people with a lot of luggage. But since my wife and cousin’s wife had already gone ahead to Kullu, we were now just four—though we still had all the luggage, including theirs.

We loaded up the cabs, said our final goodbyes to the base camp, and set off.

Within 20 minutes, we reached Kullu bus stand. We unloaded our luggage and settled down at the same spot we had sat on when we first arrived, but this time it was broad daylight and the bus stand was bustling with activity.

My cousin went to find the two ladies and make sure they made it back on time. Meanwhile, we asked around about our bus and waited.

They returned around 11 a.m., and I went to check if the bus was parked at its designated spot. It was. I came back, and all of us carried our luggage to the bus, loaded it into the compartments, and took our seats—ready for the journey back home.

Kullu to Chandigadh

The bus departed on time, and we were each given a bottle of water as we settled in and tried to get some sleep. Unlike our journey from Chandigarh to Kullu—which was overnight and passed mostly in sleep due to exhaustion—this time we were well-rested from our stay at the base camp, and the travel was during the day. So, we kept our eyes open and soaked in the beautiful scenery as the bus wound its way along the hilly roads.

Majestic mountain ranges stretched beside us, as if they were silently journeying alongside. The Beas River flowed steadily beside the road, accompanying us all the way from Seobagh until it eventually disappeared behind a dam. As we continued, we noticed a gradual change—the mountains became smaller, their heights slowly diminishing as we descended.

In between, we dozed off here and there, slipping into short naps, only to wake again to watch the landscape change outside the windows.

After a couple of hours, once the hills were mostly behind us and the plains had opened up—leaving the mountains far in the background—we stopped for a lunch break. We had our meal and then reboarded the bus.

With the mountains now behind us, most of us shifted back into “digital mode”—scrolling through our phones, replying to messages, or simply drifting in and out of sleep again.

By evening, we reached the ISBT bus stand in Chandigarh. It was raining, and we still had almost 12 hours until our train, which was scheduled to depart at 5 a.m. The cousin quickly searched online and found availability at Gujarati Samaj, a non-profit guesthouse run by a trust for people from Gujarat.

We tried booking a taxi but had no luck. When we attempted to walk toward the bus stand gate to find transport, we found it flooded. So we headed toward the rickshaw stand instead, asked around, and decided to take two rickshaws—since we were six people. They dropped us off safely at Gujarati Samaj.

We checked into two rooms—one for the gents and one for the ladies. It was already late evening, and everyone was hungry. After a bit of discussion and taking everyone’s food preferences into account, we ordered dinner online.

While waiting for the food to arrive, we played a few rounds of card games. Once the meal came, we ate together and then headed to bed, setting alarms for around 3 a.m.

Though the sleep was short, it was deep and refreshing—after all, we finally had real beds and pillows for the first time in over a week.