caravanning

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

More boating. This time with towing.

#boat #boating #karwar #karnataka #camping

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

That's me kids. Sailing. A different kind of caravan.

Always a sucker for electrical engineering

#windmill #windmills #sugarcane #maharashtra #sahayadri #caravan

The caravan is back in action after many months, traversing the Sahayadris

#caravan #vanlife

#books #reading #vacation #kids #uttarakhand #rishikesh #bokeh #photo #nature #flowers #flower #wanderlust #vanlife #photography #photo #travel #travelphotography #travelindia

The rock. It moves! So do the kids on it.
#uttarakhand #uttarakhandheaven #travel #kids #vanlife #incredibleindia

Can we ever take the caravan on the road without flattening a wheel? 🙄

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

The sights and sounds of the #Ganga #river

#vanlife #uttarakhand

The "lagoon" sits by the Ganga like this

#vanlife

We are now headed to this "lagoon"

#vanlife

#Mountains. And the colour #blue.

#vanlife

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

Our #campsite for the night.

#vanlife

What a beautiful way to begin the day

#flowers #vanlife

So, we ran away

#ClimateRefugees #PollutionRefugees #RightToBreathe #vanlife

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.

At the Café #Deyzor in #Kaza, junior had the delectable #muesli with #fruits and #yogurt.

We had a lot more food there, that I did not take pictures of. Excellent food, excellent service. And then they let us park 🏕 our #caravan in their backyard and use their pit toilet. For free. Best people ever.

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

#happiness

#cherries #vanlife #HimachalPradesh

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 had tea at #Nako. The restaurant owner was the nicest man. His restroom was covered in requests, in Hindi, to travelers, asking them to please leave the place clean. Common sense suggestions. It is sad that we send tourists up to these places without imparting them basic civic sense and lessons in hygiene.

#vanlife

About an hour before #Nako, on Tuesday, we lost phone signal. We did get a #BSNL SIM, and Nako is supposed to have #3G connectivity, but there was no signal at Nako. The restauranteur at Nako was elated that #Jio would soon bring #4G connectivity to the entire #Spiti Valley. We reached #Tabo by nightfall on Tuesday. We parked in the lot opposite the Monastery. We had lovely dinner, including pizza with olives. Sleep came easily after a long day of driving. We were #cozy in the #caravan inspite of the cold winds and rain outside.

It was supposed to #snow on Wednesday morning but that did not happen. The kids weren’t too dissappointed. We got busy looking for a place to shower. The lovely people at Kunzom Cafe offered us the use of their solar heated shower at no cost. As I sat there chatting with the owner, he told me that we all need to keep ourselves fully covered and warm. Weather changes suddenly around here, and the temperature difference between night and day is high. People coming from the plains fall sick easily.

Just as he was telling me this, I felt illness take over me. I moved indoors into his cafe and just lay down. Maybe it was the fatigue, maybe the altitude, maybe the cold. I don’t know. In no shape to walk back to the caravan, I rented a room and slept off right there. I must have slept all day. The kids had a whale of a time, running around the place, eating delicious food, showering, playing with kids, and gorging on candy.

M1 was dissappointed that we weren't staying in the caravan. Wasn't that the whole point, he asked. Perhaps. One has to adapt. Also, once you've seen the scenery between Nako and Tabo, nothing really matters. You are in another world. You just want to soak in the scenery. Tell yourself this is real. Are we still on planet 🌏?

Last night when we came back from dinner, we found our #caravan boxed in by a couple of other cars. We were anyway gonna sleep here tonight, so it didn't matter. However, being a city dweller, I was quite uneasy about being trapped in my spot.

In the morning I asked someone for help. She pointed out that most cars have the cellphone number of the owner printed on the car. And yes indeed, the cars blocking me were stickered. Before I could call the owner, he came and took his car away.

#Himachal is so safe that people put their numbers on their cars 😲. In Gurgaon you'd get stalked.

Tonight we #dine at a #fancy #buffet. A little luxury doesn't take away from the #vanlife #experience.

+1 would trade my #caravan to live in a #tinyhouse above a #stream with the sounds of #flowingwater and #childrenplaying in the #school #playground next door.

Chitkul!

#vanlife #kidsofinstagram #kidstravel #travelwithkids

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

#washbasin

#camping #vanlife #roadtrip

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

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

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

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. 😅🎪🚌

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

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

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

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

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

This is an inflatable boat with paddles etc. Should we carry this with us? Will there be any water bodies between Kalka and Kaza where we can safely use it? Safety first, after all.

#boat #vanlife #caravan #inflatableboat #Kaza #HimachalPradesh #Chitkul #Sangla #Nako #Tabo #Narkanda

A late start to the day today. Was dropping of the kids and battling with peak our Gurgaon traffic.

We have started fitting the first cut structure into the back of the van. Further afield you see our metal shop's mechanical engineer, who we have commandeered to help us do this on priority.

#metalwork #vanlife #build #make #welding #steel

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

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

The #fabrication of the base had begun.

#metalwork #welding #sheetmetal #caravaninteriors #vanlife #tinyhouse #tinyhomes #tinyhouseinterior

This is what our route looks like. #Gurgaon to #Nako in #HimachalPradesh, and likely on to #Tabo and #Kaza. Looks like the #KMPExpressway will let us bypass all of #Delhi.
#experientialtravel #vanlife #mosttreacherousroadintheworld

This metalwork will support the bed and contain the storage in our caravan.

#3dmodelling #sheetmetal #metalwork #interiordesign #caravaninteriors

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