So I was planning for a trip to kalpa in January and asked my friends to join me in and said the trip would be in March right around the raulane festival but all of them(one by one) refused to join in stating work obligations so i decided to go alone. I booked my ticket from Chandigarh to reckong peo and was nervous af because this was my first solo trip, I was like am I really going alone?  I might get bored in a day or two because no one is with me but it turned out that I enjoyed every second of my trip. 

The locals were so kind and helpful.... I remember a lady approaching me randomly in reckong peo and asking me where I wanna go? I said kalpa and then she said you'll get the bus by this time but if you miss it then don't worry my family is also going up to watch raulane so we will take you with us . I didn't miss my bus and reached kalpa where I met another guy (also a tourist) looking for a hotel and we both started hotel hunt together. I met this guy 10 min ago and now we both have decided to share a room. I'm an introvert and it's very unusual of me to share a room with a stranger I met a few minutes ago. 

We found a hotel and straight up went to sleep because neither of us slept at night. After waking up, we both explored kalpa and attended the festival where a granny was sitting next to me. I was feeling very excited and in the mood so i just touched her feet, greeted her and randomly started talking to her.... I was getting along well with her and enjoyed my conversation with her so she invited me for lunch at her home which I happily accepted . 

On the very next day I attended the festival again with the guy I was sharing the room with and the locals were performing their dance and trying to playfully intimidate tourists with their dance but when they approached me , I joined in. I danced with the locals in the festival, more tourists joined in and it became really big and exciting. It was so cool.... 

The guy I was sharing my room with took off to his home and now I was alone. I wanted to see snow which has already melted in kalpa so I decided to trek on a very random mountain because it has snow, the mountain was untrailed and the hotel owner advised me not to go there because it's untrailed and even locals go there only in summer(and that too very rarely) but I headed up, had a crazy hike, found a bear's footprints on my way down lmao but made it back alive. It was a crazy day because I lost connection when the hotel owner was making me phone calls to tell me to descent to reach the hotel before sunset😭. I went on an empty stomach with no food and 1 litre of water bottle🥲. I took off at around 8:30AM and reached my hotel by 5:45PM just before sunset. My legs and knees were hurting so much that I couldn't even walk properly to go down for dinner. So I stayed on an empty stomach even at night😭.

The very next day I talked to the hotel owner , he was sharing stories from his life with me and the other tourists, we had our breakfast together . At noon, I started exploring kalpa even more including the other temples and more restaurants. I met a Dutch tourist which made me think how did he reach kalpa? It's not even a very popular place in India so how did a person on the other side of the world find this place? I met him in a grocery shop where he kinda roasted me because I just went in, bought stuff and made payment online whereas he was just standing there before me . So he was like bro I'm before you, how can you make payment before me. He had an issue with the shop owner regarding payment which I sorted out and then I had an over an hour long conversation with him starting from where the hell did he find about kalpa.... 

This was my last day and then the very next day, I went back to Chandigarh with so many memories. I didn't expect that I would become so cheerful and casual. I talked to so many people so randomly and sometimes even for hours whereas here in my city I get awkward in minutes. Even though I talked to so many people, neither side forced any friendship on each other..... We were just for a moment in each other's life which we really enjoyed. Nothing beyond that. 

Now I feel like maybe if I'm in a place where no one knows me, I'll become a very different version of myself, maybe I'm generally very subjected to people's judgement that I am so introverted and maybe if this gets off my chest, I'll become much more confident and full of life again. It was such a wholesome and cool experience which I'm never gonna miss and because of this solo trip I am thinking of another solo trip(to shangarh in November). Hopefully this too shall go well✨

TLDR : OP went on a solo trip, talked to random strangers, had a crazy hike and danced with the locals despite being so introverted and awkward at times which showed him his own very different side.

OP went on his first solo trip and enjoyed every second of it.