Searching for a place to stay at Gushaini isn't difficult. Guest houses along the Tirthan river are lined up everywhere.
However, it's good to book in advance to avoid any last minute surprises.
Raju's guest house will adorn the Google search page you land up on while searching for stay here.

However, with a bad experience with a 'resort' in Mt. Abu, I was skeptical.
Reaching the guest house, we called up Varun Bharti - son of the guest house owner and our single point of contact since booking.

Mornings in Himachal are lazy. So after trying 2-3 times, we finally managed to talk to Varun who told us to park our vehicle nearby.

Now, the vehicle is parked, but the only thing that was separating us from entering the guest house was the gushing Tirthan river.
Yes, there is no other way to enter Raju's without crossing the river.

The only way to enter Raju's Guest House. 
Everything that you need to carry over to your rooms, including yourselves, will be carried by this rope way structure.
Raju's boys quickly crossed the river to help us cross. Initially, I needed some help to get onto the makeshift, open trolley, but as we did it multiple times, I was able to do the boarding and pulling myself.  Easy, huh ?
Such an entry style is unique to Raju's. The feeling of flying right over the raging river is quite unique!

Staying up overnight had made us tired and I thought I would really just fall asleep upon entering the room. But fate had other plans.

My room's entry





My room's entry



I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice, clean, first floor, river facing room. The room was surrounded by apple trees which, unfortunately had just 2 full grown apples.
My plan to sleep was quashed by my room mate who wanted to pluck the luscious looking apples at the earliest !
Apple season in Gushaini lasts till around August 15. Thereafter, the crop starts moving upward towards Bathad and Kinnaur.

The apples were hanging at more than a arm's length and we had no sticks to get it. But engineers we are, we used the laptop charger to bend the branch toward us and plucked 1 of the only 2 apples visible.
Eating a hand plucked apple, alongside a gurgling river, 7AM - bliss. What else you want in life ?!!

View from one of the windows. Can you spot the apple ?

Meanwhile, Varun asked us if we would like tea and biscuits. We gave him a "how can we say no to tea-biscuits" look. Soon, we got a tea tray and a plastic container filled with biscuits in our rooms.

As room mates freshened themselves, I gladly opened a window and just lied down, allowing the morning sunshine to fiddle with my skin. I realized how less is the time I get exposed to such sunshine in daily routine.
Admiring the surroundings, I came across a honeycomb right outside the place I was reclining !
I closed the window hastily !

Honeycomb - timely spotted !

Raju's place has at least 3 pet dogs, a couple of cats and a lot of greenery. Don't be surprised if the cat comes over and sits on your laps, or when the dogs welcome you in a hyper-excited manner when you enter the place !

I must mention that hygiene doesn't get compromised by the presence of these animals. Everything, right from the bedding to the meals is tidy.
Also, our room didn't have a television which ultimately is a boon. After all, we do such trips to spend some quality time with each other! Who drives 14 hours one way to watch TV !

~  Oh Fish! 

 Another reason I chose to stay at Raju's was that they teach you how to fish. I believe learning how to fish is an important survival skill. However, what we really did was angling. Killing fish for fun is something not acceptable.

Varun's younger brother(VYB) became our friendly fishing guide and we went toward the back side of the property with a fishing rod.

Trout fish dominates the Tirthan river. Our trek guide, Rajiv, later told us that the trout swims upstream, against the current and can jump a distance of 4-5ft while swimming!

"Open the lock and hold the thread with your finger", told VYB. I always thought that fishing rods have some insect etc. as a bait to attract the fish, but during this session, I discovered that even a small stainless steel piece spinning in water is enough to attract the fish.

"Now swing the rod in the direction you want to throw and release the thread simultaneously".
Okay, this was something to learn. While doing this, I was always careful not to throw the entire rod into the river. As a result I couldn't throw the thread far. What happens is that when you unlock, the thread becomes free to travel long distance. Longer is the distance you throw, higher is the probability of a fish getting caught.
After practicing for sometime, I got the hang of it.

Next lesson was to aim for calmer waters. Chances of catching fish are less in strong water flow. But, in the small pools that form near rocks, fish is easily seen and caught. Why do they venture into the calmer areas ? To take rest, maybe ? I don't know.

One of my room mate tried for some time, couldn't catch any, then gave his rod to VYB. VYB caught a fish, and my friend happily posed with it.

Well, I was not content with this. I kept trying, improving my technique with each throw and after some time, my rod began vibrating and VYB started shouting - You have caught it ! Lift the rod up!

 Shouts to my friend to click a picture quickly fell on to deaf ears as he had fallen sort of asleep on a nearby rock. I was periodically letting the fish dip into the water lest it dies.
Again, VYB helped. He clicked a picture of mine with the trophy and we soon let it off the hook, into the water.

Angling level - novice !

Goodbye brown trout, it was fun interacting with you !