caravahan

We are all tired this morning. Sleeping in the #tent 🎪 wasn't anywhere as comfortable as sleeping in the #van 🚐. In fact I have had better sleep 🛏 in the #van than I usually do at home. It was chilly at night, but were warm in our bags. It is super hot this morning - the air is cool but the mountain 🏔️ sun ☀ is beating down on us.
The kids are sleepily stuffing the sleeping bags. I can't be bothered to arrange the #gear exactly as I'd originally laid it out. The crate wasn't letting the shotgun seat slide back as much as it can, so we've put the cooler (which is smaller) in its place. The books in the crate are now in the cooler 😬

The crate and the table are now on top of the bed. This likely will #fail on broken roads. But it's worth a try. Anyway no one sits on the bed while we are moving. Per @umeshunni 's suggestion I've tied down the table.

So we've prioritised passenger comfort over gear stability. Let's see what happens.

#mountains #snowcappedmountains

Kailash Parvat

कैलाश पर्वत

The awe of it

I think I'll just let the kids sleep in this morning. We are on #vacation. Why the rush?

#campinglife #vacationwithkids #campingwithkids #kidstravel

I like our Coleman instant tent, because it's literally instant. Up in sixty second. But it has no rainfly. Which means all night it was soaking in dew. This morning it's dripping wet. You touch it from the inside and water drains on to you, your electronics and books.

Gotta fashion a rainfly for this guy.

Late start to the morning. Gotta unpack and go now. Chitkul calls.

#vanlife #campinglife

After holding things back for an hour, I crawled out of my sleeping bag and tent to take a leak.

On the way back, I swung my head around because of a noise (of course I'm jumpy when it's this dark). And lo and behold. As I swung my head, I noticed the night sky. *low whistle*

You would not believe what I saw. Its aglow.

So, I'm wearing shorts and I'm cold. The tent is wet with dew. But I still go back in and fish my specs out.

Then I look up again.

The stars. The milky way. Oh the glory of it all. It could make anyone believe in higher powers.

So, see the attached pic. The Innova came with a DSLR. I've never used one. I have no clue. And yes, I did make one shameful attempt with my phone camera, only to get a completely dark picture. So I go into the car and fish it out.

It won't work. I read some tutorials. I actually stackoverflowed Nikon D90s. It won't work. When I point it at the sky and press the shutter button, it won't click. I tried M A P S. I fiddled with the ISO.

It obviously works in full auto. I took some pics during the day (not showing ya 😜). It only doesn't work with stars. I can't practice the settings during the day because in the day it works. And in the night it's cold and... You get the drift. It's late and I'm incoherent but I need help. I'm likely headed to Tabo people. I gotta make this useless heavy piece of metal photograph night skies.

OK. Good night.

#NikonD90 #nightsky #nightskyphotography

It's time to call it a night.

The kids decided to do a bit of cleanup around the #campsite. They'd already cleaned the spot where we pitched #tent.

There was endless commentary about the kinds of garbage people had left

The colours that come out at this time of the day here are to die for

How does one post a wide/tall pic on Instagram?

Anywhoo. Witness some watermelon devourment 🍉

M1 slaughters the dinner. M2 prepares to impale it instead.

#dinner #camplife

#washbasin

#camping #vanlife #roadtrip

And the #camp is up before the sun went down.

We are super excited. And we are missing a bunch of little things. No carabiners 😲. Time to McGyger and #jugaad.

Is this a good spot to camp? We are surrounded on all sides by loud cows.

Reporting live from the road to #Chitkul. The scenery has now left us speechless.

Instagram wanted to filter this pic 😲

Those of you who are following us on Insta and Facebook, would you please share the link https://www.instagram.com/caravahan/ on these mediums.

We are trying to get to a critical mass of people like minded people seeing our posts. What we are doing is highly unusual for India, and we can use all of the advice and support we can get.

We crossed Nathpa shortly after noon. We should have eaten lunch here, because we found no restaurant after this. At Karcham we turned off of the National Highway towards Sangla. The road quality immediately dropped. I had to be attentive at all times. We are carrying a lot of food, but there wasn't enough space beside the road to stop and eat it.
It's 4pm now and we are having lunch at Sangla. We will head on further after this and hopefully find a good place to pitch tent and set up camp.

I must acknowledge the very useful advice and tips I've received so far from Preeti, Rahul, Gargi, Aman, Chaitali and Priya. More advice, and warnings about road conditions, would be very useful, so do share the link https://www.instagram.com/caravahan/

Thanks much for reading.

Freshly showered.

Yesterday we started from Kasauli at day break, and reached Ponda after sunset. Since we were on the road all through, with the occasional meal break, we didn't have a chance to shower.

This morning we saw people, mostly truckers, showering by the side of the road. How could we pass up the opportunity? What's more, the water turned out to be refreshingly warm. Perhaps a hot water spring was the source.

We have been brushing and going to the loo at temples, monasteries and such. Restaurant washrooms are a hit or a miss, so we avoid them.

Thats what #vanlife is about, I guess. If we build ourselves a proper #caravan, a toilet, shower and kitchenette will be the things we will add in over and above what the #van offers.

#HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #Kinnour #Sangla #SanglaValley

M1 asked why monks keep their head shaved. I told him it's because they want to live a simple, frugal life, and maintaining hair is a pain.

Later, I saw a girl in the nunnery who wasn't, how shall I say, conventionally beautiful. And it dawned on me. A monastery is a place where you focus on the inner beauty and character of a person. Looks and fashion, physical beauty, have no place here. It is a place where everyone is loved and accepted; where you are what you do for others, not who you are.

On the way down from Ponda, we dropped a nun and another girl. The girl was all about her phone, her sim cards, her hair, her lipstick, how she looked, selfies. She was beautiful. The nun girl was simply smiling all the time. And I realised they had almost the same face and looks. It was just embellishment which made one girl look prettier to me.

So, maybe the monks don't have hair so they can focus on their inner selves, not outer selves. And we spend our lives focusing on our and other people's outer selves.
Have one breakfast with monks and you think you've become a philosopher yourself 😁

No photos of the inside of the monastery and their place of worship and study, out of respect, even though photography was allowed.

Tyre burst. We moved to the left of the road to allow a vehicle coming uphill to pass. The water pipeline by the side of the road cut the tyre.

#vanlife #roadtrip #travelwithkids #kidsofinstagram

The monks at the monastery saw us using their restroom and have invited us in for breakfast. Everything you've ever heard about Buddhist monastery hospitality is true.

Seen here, juxtaposition of the traditional with the modern.

Trying to give you a sense of the fantabulous beauty of our perch. We spent the night in the newly constructed parking lot of the #Ponda Buddhist monastery. Sharing panoramas clearly isn't Instagram's thing. Just made friends with one of the monastery #dogs who was all over me. 🐶😁

M2 is awake. M1 refuses to rise. He slept an hour after us. Says he was looking at the #stars till the windows #fogged up. Sounds so #romantic.

#vanlife #HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #Kinnour

The kids will soon wake up to this view.

The three of us squeezed in at the back tonight. M1 just snuggled in between me and M2 after we had slept. The idea always was for one kid to sleep on a fully reclined front seat. But we were quite comfortable. The 4.5'x6' bed is adequate for the three of us when it's cold outside. Inside it was perfectly warm and cozy.

OK. The boys are stirring. Gotta go.
#nofilter #Kinnour #HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #vanlife #caravan #roadtrip

Here is how our living quarters look tonight. We got late in settling in, so we haven't set up our tent or done any cooking. We did cover a lot more distance than I expected.

The bed is made up better tonight, says M2. He is always a tough customer to please, so I'm pleased. M1 is having a meal of heat and eat food. M2 and I are full.

#vanlife #caravaninteriors #Kinnour

Our first view of #snowcappedmountains had the kids yelping with joy.

#roadtrip #HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #Jakhari

Ha ha ha ha ha (maniacal laughter)

Now that I've ensnared you all into following me, I unleash my diabological plan. One of you will use your Google foo and find us a lovely campsite that let's us open camp with our own van and tent. We reach Rampur Bushahar by 4:30pm. Somewhere near there will be ideal.

Pretty please. With sugar on top.

#HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh

#trees #nofilter

I thought these boxes were used to make concrete blocks. M1 correctly identified them as #bee keeping boxes. Zoom in and see the #bees buzzing.

#HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #Narkanda

Are we in #cherryblossom country?

#HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #cherries

Yes yes, at some point we will start cooking our own food. Till then we enjoy local cuisine in a #traditional #thali.

#HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #SanglaValley #vanlife

Someone asked for a pic of the outside of our #van. Here it is. We have made no changes on the outside (yet). Not even a carrier. Indian authorities are notorious in this respect, always picking on people who mod their vehicles. So we are playing it safe.

#vanlife #caravan #roadtrip

Our #watermelon seller is also a #vanlifer. His #caravan is built on a truck. He's got a full size cooking gas, utensils, and some gear in a gunnysack. He's got #thresh on the floor of his truck, and a sheet spread on it works as his bed. His #caravaninteriors are quite roomy compared to ours.

He hails from #Una. He can understand and speak #Hindi, but responded to my Hindi in #Punjabi. The watermelons are from Madhya Pradesh. 🍉 🚐

#vanlife #roadtrip #tinyhomes #tinyhouse #simpleliving

@fakeera_baanwra I fed the 🐒s #watermelon for #lunch. Does that make you happy?

#vanlife #Theog #HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #roadtrip

Just saw another guy who lives and works out of a bus and tent. #vanlife doesn't seem so aspirational any more. 😅🎪🚌

Dad got us a full set of #Tintins because he always wanted them as a kid. We aren't allowed to read in the moving car so we read when and where we can. We love him. Dad things Herge is racist, but we are smart enough to not pick up on the stereotypes.

Changed the organisation of our gear a bit. Let's see how this holds up on the #windingroads of #HimachalPradesh

#vanlife #caravan #caravaninteriors

We are leaving this behind and moving on

#Kasauli #HimachalTourism #HimachalPradesh #vanlife

We woke up like this 😁

#mountainmornings

Good #morning. We are still #sleepy. Fresh #mountainair.

#vanlife #caravan #Kasauli

Had to drive all the way up to #Kasauli for #dinner. The weather is good. We can see things getting #chilly in an hour.

#vanlife #roadtrip #HimachalPradesh

देखो, देखो वोह आ गए

The mountains are here

#vanlife #HimachalPradesh #HimachalTourism #roadtrip #mountains

If we cross #Kasauli today, we can sleep in the van without air conditioning. That's another two hours of driving. And the sun would be about to set. Let's see.

#vanlife #HimachalTourism

On the road again🎸🎸 #I'mdriving🚗
(this is M1)

M2: How do you know the names of restaurants on the highway?

Me: Because it's मूरथल की दाल।

M2: What is the point of building a home van if we eat in a restaurant?

M1: Dad isn't carrying a propane tank inside the #Innova because it isn't safe.

Me: Yeah I went to Badshahpur and the 2 kg tanks were all home made not factory made. Not happening inside, or even outside on the carrier.

M2: RVs in the US are better. They have a full kitchen.

Tough customer, M2.

Instagram needs a pic with anything I say. So, candy land.

Also, table turnover times at Sukhdev are amazing.

#BindooBaba has been keeping us company over the #KMPExpressway. +1 would recommend.

PS: We are now accepting endorsement requests from independent artists and struggling startups without marketing budgets 😂

#indiemusic

We got a royal send off from my colleagues. Or was that good riddance for them 😁

M1 poses for the public. Our departure got delayed because we were arranging things in the car, and my body was hurting from two days of work. Instead of 3am, it is a noon departure now. Let's see where we reach.

#camping #caravan #vanlife #HimachalPradesh

The beautiful owners of the #Innova are testing it out. Verdict: "Love it. Gonna sleep in it tonight." #vanlife #caravan #experientialtravel #travelinindia

Took us some effort to clamp the thing down. We had to remove some rubber flooring. The pictures aren't pretty coz my phone was out of juice and the flash stopped working. By 8:30 we had slotted all our gear under the bed and were rolling home.

Things have been moving fast. At 6 we went into the #paintshop. At 7 we came out #gleaming. Then we wasted some time hunting for self tapping wood screws. At 7:30 we were assembled and at 8 we were installed.

Meanwhile the @wood that goes on top of the #steel is being processed on a #CNC #saw, #laminator and #taping machine.

#vanlife #caravan #caravaninteriors

We are in the final stages. The bed and storage #metalwork #weld and #grind is done. Onwards to #powdercoating.

#vanlife #caravan #caravaninteriors

Trying to keep this account focused on #caravan and #vanlife. Also trying to keep it kid friendly. But I just cannot resist some #heavymachinery porn when I see it. The folks doing out metal build are seriously industrial 😂

Our awesome #team figures out how to #clamp the #bed and #storage to the #van. Gotta be #safe and #sturdy.

#steel #make #build #welding #vanlife #caravan #caravaninteriors

Oh wait. I almost forgot our #hammock made of #parachute cloth. We've made many a fond memories of doing nothing in it. The kids are always fighting for the privilege of hanging out in it. It let's us zip ourselves inside and keep the bugs out.

#camping #campinggear #backpacking #backpackinggear #vanlife #caravan

Last but not the least, is this light weight, excellent quality #backpacking #tent we have. Let's hope we get to do some #hiking #trekking.

#vanlife

This is our four person #instant #tent. The kids want to take it along in case they don't like sleeping in the #van every night.

#Coleman #vanlife #camping #campinggear