Chaukori: Where Tea Fragrance Meets Snow Peaks
At 2,010 meters up (6,594 ft), tucked into Berinag tehsil of Pithoragarh, Chaukori sits in this natural bowl ringed by thick deodar forest, scattered fruit orchards, and those green tea gardens you can smell before you see them.
Thing is, most hill stations give you the Himalayas way off in the distance, kind of a postcard backdrop. Not here. The Panchachuli five peaks (shooting up to 6,904 meters) just stand right in your face. I woke up at dawn and watched the snow turn crimson, then amber, then this slow gold as the sun climbed over the Indo Tibetan border.