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Igloos in India! An Interview with theWingedFork

Today on the Nomad Files we have Abby, writer and editor of TheWingedFork, where she writes about her quirky and crazy adventures in travel and food. Apart from travel, her favorite things are nice rainy days, the smell of cakes in the oven, playing in the snow, glasses of wine and dark chocolate.

When did you fall in love with travelling? What made it such a passion of yours?

When I was 15. It was the first time I went outside my home country with my family on a trip to Israel. It was amazing to so see a culture that was so different from ours and where women were considered equal to men. I especially loved walking on clean streets that weren’t treated as garbage dumps, and breathing clean air and swimming in clear waters. And the malawah, I loved eating malawah.

And I realised that if there was so much diversity and difference in one country, there’d be so much more to discover in all the other countries of the world. Of course, that didn’t mean that I started travelling immediately. Being from a country with low passport power is difficult. So the next time I travelled abroad was 11 years later in 2008 and I haven’t stopped since.

At the garden of Gethsemane - April 1997 - I'm on the left
At the garden of Gethsemane – April 1997 – I’m on the left

Do you have a particular song/video/poem/quote that particularly inspires you to travel?

“Don’t listen to anyone, except yourself of course. It’s better to fall off the mountain than wish that you had climbed it.”

I wish I knew who coined the expression though.

What is one experience you have had on your travels that you tell everyone about?

Apart from falling out of kayaks or being scared in the middle of the night by my sister’s ghost voices after visiting Mayerling near Vienna, I think it’d be staying in an igloo in India. I mean really, igloos in India! Who would have thought of that? And especially igloos that the common man can afford, that’s really amazing!

How did you find out about this experience?

My travel agent friend planned a recce trip to Manali to see the new igloos. She was thinking about her clients her for tours and she thought I’d be great at writing about it. I wasn’t too keen, but she coerced me by reminding me that it was the 14th anniversary of our friendship and I’d never gone on a trip with her yet. So really, I had no choice!

But it turned out to be amazing. I mean, igloos in Iceland, Sweden or Alaska are expensive, especially if you’re from a third world country. I still can’t afford one. And here was this guy who had spent 8 years learning about them just so that he could build them in his hometown in India. Absolutely made it worth it!

My friends and Tashi posing at one of the igloos
My friends and Tashi posing at one of the igloos

What was so memorable about this experience? Would you do it again?

We got there as the sun was setting over the horizon and made our way down to the camp at the foot of the Sethan Valley. We were greeted with warm ajwain tea and a bonfire. Ajwain or carom seeds is preferred for tea in the cooler climes of India instead of ginger as it warms the body and produces heat. As the conversation grew livelier, there were ghost stories and bonfire tales.

Soon dinner was served. After dinner Tashi tucked us into bed. He tucked the boys in first, then the girls. He showed us how to put the water bottles at the bottom of our sleeping bag liners so that we stayed wam all night.

The next morning “I loved waking up in the igloo to see the sunlight filtering in through the snow above me.” I think that line summed it up for me. I would do it again because camping in an igloo far away from people in the Hamta Pass region close to the river Beas is something not many people can experience. I can’t wait for January when the igloos are up again so I can take loved ones this time.

A walk in the Woods. Photo by the Winged Fork
A walk in the Woods. Photo by theWingedFork

After breakfast, we took a walk down in the walnut groves where the trees kissed the skies. After an hour we turned back and returned to camp. When we got back, they told us that if we’d gone just a little bit further, we would have seen the river Beas.

After a few more cups of warm tea, Tashi gave us lessons in the snow – from how to build an igloo to how to ski.

After the igloo building lesson, Tashi told us that the igloos could take all our weights combined. So we scrambled to pose atop the igloos. That was a wonderful experience!

What would you differently next time, and what tips do you have for someone else wanting to experience the same thing?

Well, not much different. Except next time I’ll wait till the end of January when there’s more snow. When we visited the igloos in early January the ground was a mix of white and brown, much like Dalmatians. But by the end of Jan there’s so much snowfall that all you see is white. Reminds me of Jim Reeves singing White Christmas!

Tips – If you’re planning on going, try to book early. Tashi and Vikas only build 3 to 4 igloos every year. So the rest of the crowd has to make do with tents.

Conversations in the snow photo by TheWingedFork
Conversations in the snow. Photo by TheWingedFork

Why don’t you think more people do this? What keeps it a secret?

Well, because it’s super new. The first batch of igloos were built in January 2017, the second in 2018. A few major news publications like the CNTraveler, Bootsnall, LonelyPlanet and others have covered it. But many people don’t even know Indian igloos are being built.

Where is the best place to stay to make it the best experience possible?

In India, well there’s only one place; with Tashi and Vikas. No one else has got permission from the government to build igloos yet. Their igloos in Manali are a novel experience for everyone.

Last question, where do you live on the internet and social media for us to all come visit?

Website – https://thewingedfork.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheWingedFork/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thewingedfork/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/thewingedfork/

Thanks for sharing your story Abby!

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