After a very refreshing stay at Kalpa for one day, we proceeded to the next destination of our road trip - Sarahan.

We started early in the morning so that we could reach Sarahan well before lunch. The distance from Kalpa to Sarahan is about 160Km and driving down the Kalpa mountain was faster than the time it took us to come up. The road after the Karcham bridge was better and so we managed to reach Sarahan well in time.

Sarahan - Popularly known as the "Valley of Flowers", lies in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Sutlej Valley at an altitude of 2165m amidst scenic beauty of breathtaking greenery, waving snow peaked mountains, apple orchards and decked with flowers. Sarahan was the old capital of Rampur Bushair one of the biggest princely states in Shimla hills, located on the Kinnaur-Shimla border in Himachal Pradesh. Sarahan is filled with flowering Pine trees, stately oaks, deodar trees and higher still, encircling the Bashal peak, are trees of smooth birch and variety of wild flowers and rare medicinal herbs.

Snow Peaked Himalayas - Sarahan

Sarahan is a place of pilgrimage and there are many sacred stories related to this region. There is the famous Bhimakali Temple which has numerous ancient legends surrounding its existence. See the photo of the temple here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jantilden/2698493264/
http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/390570.html

And watch this video footage of the temple at Sarahan here:

You can read all the interesting stories related to Sarahan here:
http://www.travel-himalayas.com/history-himalayas/sarahan.html

Sarahan is a place where you can take numerous treks and experience nature at its best. There are also other places of interest that you might want to see while you are there, if you have the time. for more information on that visit:
http://hptdc.nic.in/cir0105.htm

Himachal Pradesh Tourism has a very good hotel in Sarahan where you can book your rooms in advance online. We found the hotel in the middle of the town market, which was very crowded and so they were not allowing any vehicles beyond a certain point without a permit. The Temple could also be seen beside the market area, looking very majestic indeed. However, our luck seemed to have run out on us that day and we couldn't find any decent place to stay. All the hotels were booked as also the circuit house.

I would definitely recommend staying over in Sarahan for a day or two to enjoy the true beauty and serenity of the valley. The place retains its unpretentious beauty and can be appreciated only from close quarters.

Since we couldn't find a suitable place to stay we decided to go ahead to Narkanda. We reached there just before sunset and managed to get a room again, luckily, at the circuit house.

For more information and photos of Sarahan visit these links:

http://india.journeymart.com/sarahan/default.asp

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India/North/Himachal_Pradesh/Sarahan/

http://www.indianetzone.com/23/sarahan_an_integral_place_visit.htm

http://www.diatravels.com/himachal_pradesh.htm

Other related articles on the road trip to Himachal Pradesh:

http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_narkanda
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_sangla
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_last_indian_village_chitkul
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_kalpa

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