We Live in a Treehouse

We are currently living in Mussoorie, India, a city called “Queen of the Hills,” as it is considered the foothills of the Himalayas at 7,500 ft above sea level. For reference, the Himalayan mountain peaks’ median range is from 18,000 to 24,000 ft, but at its highest point, Mount Everest, reaches 29,000 ft.  We are spending a few months in Mussoorie learning Hindi and living like Himalayan mountain folk. One of the best perks of living here is that Miss K gets to experience one of her top bucket list items: living in a treehouse. We would like to invite you into our home to see the beauty, serenity and magic we get to experience every day in this gem.

We live above Mussoorie proper in a quaint peak town. To get to our treehouse, we have to walk quarter of a mile down a very steep, switchback mountain trail. The walk up is far worse than the descent home, and our lungs still have not adjusted to the altitude and incline. It is a gorgeous walk with mossy stone walls and a gang of monkeys, 40+ deep.

Everyday we have to fend off a potential primate brawl. Even though the monkeys (bandar in Hindi) are very cute (and Miss K wants to steal a baby monkey to bring home!) they are very cheeky and we do our best to steer clear of them.

We live at eye-level with the monkeys, so to get up our treehouse we climb a spiral staircase, leading to our hatch front door. It was an exhausting challenge to Tetris our luggage up when we first moved in, but who isn’t enchanted by a spiral staircase.

Here is the treehouse from the other side of the property. Our windows overlook the town of Mussoorie, a good 30 minute hike down the mountain, and the world-renowned Woodstock School. The clearest view happens in the early morning and, on a clear day, you can see down to Dehradun, a major city in the state of Uttarakhand. After flying into Dehradun, which is at sea level, we drove up to 7,500 ft in an hour and a half. This is to say that the drive was intensely steep on extremely narrow roads, and was not for the faint of heart.

We are love our temporary home in the clouds. Come on up and take a look around!

To enter our home, we use a hatch door, which definitely adds to the treehouse atmosphere. The owner of the property is an engineer, so you can see the door is constructed by a pulley-weight system, allowing the door open and close with ease. There are a handful of cool little gadgets and contraptions all around the property, exhibiting that engineer touch.

Here is the first floor, our bedroom and bathroom that has a flushing toilet and hot water shower (both of which are a luxury in India, let alone in a treehouse in India). As you can see, the wall of windows brings in incredible, moving light throughout the day. Miss S, being her typical lizard-like self, is taking a catnap in the sun as I get ready to write this post.

To go upstairs, we climb up this stairway and through this small opening. Climbing up them is not easy, especially holding a cup of hot chai, as we typically are.

Here is our upstairs, our work/hangout/meditation room. We really love this space as the view is an incredible west-facing view. We are lucky to watch the amazing sunsets over Mussoorie and Dehradun each night.

We are so happy and grateful to be spending this time decompressing, learning about and enjoying the beautiful landscapes of northern India.

Check out our Instagram handle, @missmiss_travel for daily posts of this amazing place.

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