These last two days we continued our exploration of Binsar Valley and the surrounding areas. Yesterday we began by heading over to the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary to check out Zero Point. It's this pretty awesome 300km view of the valley and a few temples around. In typical fashion we started by getting lost and meeting a few friends along the way. Plenty of dogs, monkeys, goats, cows and birds have made their home here.

On finding the right path, we realized it was a 2km walk to the view point. Slowly but surely we made it there. The sky was clear, the weather cool and the expanse we could see incredible. Here is a picture that does not really do it justice (I feel like I say that about every view).

On our way out of the sanctuary, we spotted the famous Bineshwar Mahadev temple. It's a small temple built in the 16th century by King Kalyan Chand and is one of the most visited temples in the area.

Today we headed out to Almora which is the closest town and shopped for some famous kumaoni sweets. We picked up some Bal Mithai, Sigodi, and Chokolat and I can vouch for their deliciousness. They are most famous in Almora so we obviously had to grab some.

On our way to the town we also made a stop at the Golu Devta temple. He is the most revered deity in this area. The entrance had a bunch of arches with a bell on each. There was a pandit inside who tied a thread around my hand while he recited some verses. Left hand thread for married women and right hand for unmarried. He was excited to have visitors from Mumbai.

Before heading back to the resort, we stopped for lunch at this small restaurant where a sweet old man served us local dishes. I love how simple food could sometimes be so delicious. I forgot to click a picture of it so you will just have to imagine how it looked 😉. Time at the resort We finally headed back to the resort where we were greeted by the bed made up extra nice. The benefits you get in India when you tip housekeeping!

I played Carrom with my mom yesterday. She is supposedly a beginner but completely aced the game. There were some resort activities afterward. Being my socially awkward self, I stayed quiet during the games 😳. They played antakshari which I am usually a pro at but I just couldn't get myself to sing in front of strangers. Today my dad joined us for Carrom too. Guess what, they are both sooo much better than me (no surprise there). I had so much fun playing. We then spent some time trying to figure out the GST rules out here. We are still confused and so are the resort people. Hurrah for over complicating things that could be simple.

We are going to head out early tomorrow. My next post is probably going to be about our safari in the Jim Corbett National Park.