I don’t remember how the Valley of Flowers first came on my radar, but with a name like that I don’t know how you can’t put it on your list. So for my second trip to India, I planned to focus on the north, I first arrived in Rishikesh via Dehradun for a few days before a long bus ride to Govindghat, the jumping off point for the Valley of Flowers. It was August, so right in the prime time of flower season there. The hike did not disappoint. It was definitely a valley filled with all sorts of beautiful flowers. It was just an out and back day trip, but still worth the the effort to get there. From this excursion I remember the flowers of course, but also getting off in one town sooner than I should have, another traveler attempting to get off too seeing that I was getting out, but being told by the bus attendant to wait one more stop (why he didn’t tell me I don’t know, probably because the other person was more attractive), then finding a bare bones room for the night that had to have had beg bugs, because I was itching all night; then up way early in the morning to overpay for a taxi to take me to the proper starting point of the hike. Sometimes, or a lot of times, there is a clash between expectation and reality, and you just got to roll with it. There’s not a more appropriate place on Earth to learn this lesson than India.
