camping

Foggy morning at the campsite

I've often said that #travel doesn't have to be expensive. In Dandeli we stayed at a campsite called BeOnTheTrail that charged us ₹1000 per night for pitching three tents. This included the use of all facilities on their campsite including a bathroom with geyser, and a campfire each night. Boating was ₹100 per head, kayaking was perhaps ₹300. In Gokarna we are paying ₹500 for pitching a tent at a campsite by the beach. Food at both places was about ₹2000 per day for six people. Petrol has been expensive, costing us more per day than stay and food, but we could have used public buses instead of a car.

That said, I recognise that travel is a privilege. Not everyone has a job that they can work on remotely, or can get leaves from. Not everyone has a car to just up and go. We've paid dearly for the space to store all of our camping gear. I have Sharada to take care of my plants when I'm gone. The list goes on. Just because I'm not spending much on this trip doesn't mean that I don't have other hidden means that enable this trip.

So, umm, if my travel pics encourage you to take short breaks more often, that's very nice. If they make you feel that you don't have the means to enjoy life as much as others, then I'm truly sorry I've made you feel this way. I wish I could tag Instagram pics in a way that you could filter out the travel pics.

I went camping with some friends three years ago, to Kasauli. They reached out to say that that trip would always be a core memory for their kids. And that my kids would have so many more such memories. Which is very generous of them, but it is also true. If you do have the means, and you have kids, yet you just sit on your butt all weekend, or all you do is luxury travel that doesn't let your kids connect with nature and with rural India, then really, get off your butt and go somewhere.

Out for a #morning #walk. These are some #fields near our #campsite.

We are off #camping in #Dandeli. This is how the #campsite looked last night. We are out for a few days, so give us a holler if you'd like to join us.

The kids will #camp with friends in our #tent, while I occupy this cosy #farmhouse

I've been unwell for some time and unable to work. So we stepped out tonight for a change in scenery and some fresh(er) air. Spending the night #camping at an #arecanut #farm.

In January we went camping in Dandeli. There we met the Grey Malabar Hornbill, a.k.a. dhanesh, gobre vaayre or kaldal hakki.

#birds #goa #Dandeli #birdsofindia #nature #naturephotography

Throwback to when we went camping by the Terekhol river.

Throwback to our caravaning+camping trip to Himachal four years ago.

@sephibergerson 's lovely family invited us over and fed us yummy fresh cooked #food.

I finally found people in India who have more camping gear than me. My tribe 😁

Over the weekend we went #camping in #Maharashtra, by the #Terekhol river.

I wish I'd taken a nicer picture of the beautiful river and the fresh, cool water.

More boating. This time with towing.

#boat #boating #karwar #karnataka #camping

Camping under trees and the stars.

The campsite came with a swing and a hammock.

#camping #swing #hammock #trees

Far away view of our #campsite in #Hampi

A far away view of our #campsite in #Hampi

#सागवान के #जंगल के #जाले

#cobwebs in the #teak #tree #forest adjoining our #campsite

I really have no good answer for why we didn't go camping or caravaning for more than an year.

A tent was put up on the terrace at night. For some reason, all six kids huddled into it and slept overnight. In sleeping bags. At home. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Bonfires are a lot of work

Drove the kids' friends around. Now they're making a bonfire.

Since you guys liked the #morning view, here is a fuller wide frame. Notice the #stars up above and the #mist hanging in the air from left to right.

#vanlife #camping

Time to remove the tent

Don't you just love #camping in the shadow of a big tree?

Me likes the lighting at this #campsite

M1: This is what you get for taking pics when you should be helping us pitch the tent

Our #campsite for the night.

#vanlife

Why kids have to leave behind #pollution, then participate in a #bonfire, is beyond me.

When the guy who drove an electric car to work for five years, shows up in a truck.

He said it's the range anxiety that did him in.

Nice #truck, though. Great for #camping.

This was last year. Where should we take the caravan next? Any suggestions for overnight van camping near Gurgaon. Perhaps near a lake where we can safely try out our boat.

What a beautiful campus

We have come to a resort near our campsite for dinner.

In every #campsite and #resort across India, #wood is #burned for a nightly #bonfire. There is the consumption of chips and soda by children, to the accompaniment of loud music that can be heard for half a mile around. In spite of all these arrangements, most children can't be bothered to lift their heads out of their cellphones.

Is ritualistic #consumption all that we have to offer to our children? And if all adults want to do is consume large amounts of liquor, why do they drive all the way to the hills for it? Not once have these families left their resort to enjoy the beauty of nature all around them - to meet local people, listen to birds, admire flowers.

To each their own. But observing this drama makes me feel we are doing something right.

But at least we should leave the trees out of it. Tens of thousands of resorts are burning bonfires every night. Instead of hugging and loving trees people are going into nature to burn them. Sad.

It's #raining. And the #clouds are #painting again.

It's raining and our tent doesn't have a rainfly. We shall see.

I've been out camping and RVing through Himachal Pradesh. If you aren't already, please do follow me on @caravahan and view the whole story.

In a hurry last night, we had pitched tent on a slight slope. The upper half is on a slope, the lower half is flat.

When we tried sleeping, we were rolling all over the place 😂. So we turned 90°. This morning the kids had slipped halfway to flat part of the tent.

Not a good way to sleep. So I'm letting them sleep in this morning. They need the rest after all the traveling down from Kaza.

And just like that, we #cooked ourselves some #camp #dinner

The #tarp is laid out. The instant #tent is popped up. The foam #mattresses have been laid out in the tent. And the sleeping #bags have been thrown in. We move fast inspite of the trechorous path to the site.

#moonrise over the #campsite.

View from our #campsite for the night. Gotta scramble and #pitch #tent.

Oh what a beautiful, lovely coincidence. Something that can only happen on the open road. We ran into this family of #Happy #Campers, which is what they literally call themselves. They've built a full #RV on an Isuzu D-Max V Cross. Deepankar showed us around their lovely little home which has all the facilities ones needs, including very powerful air conditioning.
Oh, the stories we have to share. Will be planning a trip together shortly.

We have done 1,003 km so far, and the mileage has averaged out to 11.7/100km, over plains and mountains. This is still a lot better than the mileage in Gurgaon, so I’m not complaining.

So far, fuel was our primary cost in this trip. Food was cheap, averaging ₹100 per person for lunch and dinner, and lesser for breakfast. Here at #Tabo, there is so much good food, so much local cuisine to try, that our food bill has gone for a toss. I am frankly not keeping count. We are here to have a good time, not to keep costs low. Enjoying local cuisine is definitely a part of the #roadtrip experience. A good sideeffect is that M1 has stopped asking me when we are going to begin cooking our own food. We have always used our cooking gear when we go camping, except this time. It’s a big let down for him. But now that we are surrounded by pizzas, pancakes, thukpa, samthuk, fresh green salad, phaktse and what not, he doesn’t care about cooking.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The red ones are our trusted #sleepingbag s. I think they'll hold up in #Kaza's cold. The second pic is of our spare sleeping bags. They'll probably end up as spreads over our mattress, or extra insulation if the mercury heads south.

#campinggear #HimachalPradesh #vanlife #camping

Here's a whole bunch of closeups of our gear. Safety stuff, backpacks, cooking stuff, pillows, umbrellas, etc. Are we missing anything important?

#camping #campinggear #hikinggear #hiking #trekking #vanlife #backpacking #backpack

I was supposed to be at the fabricator's by now. But I have to drop people on the way. Four kids are gonna have to sit on the floor of the Innova, because no seats 😂

Anyway. Here is a pic of our collapsible camping chair and table with umbrella. Never been used before.

#campinggear #vanlife #campchair

Last minute shopping to pick up some gear. Sandals 👟 . Walking stick. Camp light 💡. Bum pack. Caps 🧢 and bandanas. A couple of shirts for the kids to spray paint 🙄

Here is the gear we will be taking with us to #Kaza #HimachalPradesh. Suggestions on what else to include or exclude are very welcome.

#camping #campinggear #vanlife #backpacking #backpackerlife

Our caravan build has begun. We have ripped out the seats from a Toyota Innova and are going to be installing some storage and a bed here.

#caravan #vanlife #tinyhouse #trailer #rving #gorving #motorhome #camper #camping

The tent life

Ah! Dew on your tent in the morning. And the touch of crisp mountain air on your skin.

Camping