Jibhi is a beautiful village situated at a distance of 58 km from Mandi town in Banjar valley. This village is surrounded by an array of majestic mountains, on all the four sides adding to the scenic beauty of the place. The language, culture, history, food and the panorama of this mesmerizing place will make you forget everything once you enter, or in my language it’s the perfect place to feel the Himalayas. When you live in a country with 29 states with each state having different food, culture, history andlanguage, it becomes really tough to find the perfect destination for a weekend. Some may go for places like Manali, Shimla where you can roam around the market, chill in the discos but for me its always the peace and the tranquillity that matters, which I get in the places like Jibhi, Kasol or Malana.
“We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspaper will accommodate and we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more”- Pico Iyer.
These great words always inspire me to travel more and more. The 8km journey from Banjar to Jibhi literally took us around 1 hour. I stopped number of times on the highway talking to strangers asking about their life in the valley.
I FEEL HIMALAYAS
“Being inside this cottage, with dark wooden walls and hand carved furniture like my own home, cast a darkened strain onto my heart.”
IfeelHimalayas cottage |
Trout fish |
Such was the beauty of that cottage. We looked around the cottage but could not spot anyone and then the sound came from the midst of deodar trees wait wait, we could spot a tall person with long beard coming toward us. The name of the guy was Saket Sankhyan, he told us that he was the owner of the cottage. We inquired for the rooms but the price was, little off of our budget. After some long negotiation we settled for some decent price. The warmth of the hospitality was the kind that could get us through a cold night of Jibhi. We changed our clothes, had some dinner and enjoyed the beautiful sky full of stars. After that we entered a room with highly intricately designed roof where we sat with some local people enjoying the local tales of the place. The owner himself being a Photographer showed some of his interesting pictures of the place and the culture of the people. And around 12 o’clock we all went to sleep.
About the day in Jibhi
As the first ray of sunlight broke over the snow canopied mountains entered our room, I dragged my self to the corner of bed pulling away the curtains. The first sight of the valley seemed like an artistic interpretation of the fairy tale drawn by some renowned artist.
Scenic view of the valley |