Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Raiding Mighty Himalayas – Himachal Pradesh

As you might have understood so far that I am a road trip person. 
Before getting to the trip, let me introduce to a new member – A white Maruti Suzuki Swift VDi and the owner is none other than, my brother from another mother, Sandy. He has recently shifted to the capital city, New Delhi imparting me a chance to plan and RAID the Mighty Himalayas.


Coming back to the trip, I booked myself on late night flight to Delhi from Mumbai and landed to be received by Sandy at the Airport. Trust me I was more excited to see the car than to see Sandy. We reached Sandy’s place around 2am and tried to get some sleep before the Raid, but the butterflies of excitement in our stomach had planned the other way.
We left early in the morning and our breakfast haul was at Sukhdev Dhaba in Mulchand just outside the national capital. The Paranthas are to die for and you cannot afford to miss the white makkhan (butter) even if you are on diet. Filling out tummies and satisfying our souls we are all set to hit the road again.


We stopped at Ambala to meet an old friend from the university and continued our journey. After crossing Chandigarh bypass, we were welcomed by a board saying, “welcome to great Himalayan Highway .” There we are, the commencement of uphill journey begins. After a few kms we could not control of emotions and urge to have Maggie noodles on one of the Maggie points ( Any hill u go, Maggie points are omnipresent)
In about 10 hours we reached Kasauli ( our would be basecamp ) and wasting no time we booked Hotel Pine View located off Chandigarh – Shimla Highway, towards Kasauli. It is a budget hotel, which offered us a Room for two in Rs 1300/- ( Meals aren’t included ). It is not a bad deal, being a long weekend.
The Pine View Resort



KUFRI:
We decided to rest that night and dozed off after having dinner in the hotel’s restaurant itself.
On the 2nd day, we left after having tea and breakfast to reach Kufri, on the journey we had to cross Solan, Shoghi and Shimla ( bypass) . The dist. Is about 100 kms but Kandaghat is not easy to drive on, the average speed was about 20 km/h. We obviously stopped at some Monsoon Waterfalls and Maggie points to grab a hot tea and Maggie. Reached Kufri in around 6 hours and then our guide ( avoid hiring one )  told us to take a horse ride to see some sightseeing points ( we came back half way disappointed by the ruthless way the horses are treated and the mud slurry till knee height ) We had to pay the full amt. about Rs. 350/- per horse. Nonetheless we decided to visit, The Himalayan Nature Park. It is the home to about 30 Himalayan wild animals and birds. Witnessing this was a true delight. We started our return journey at 4:30 pm from Kufri ( as we had decided to avoid driving after dusk ) we managed to reach our base camp by 8pm. We had dinner at famous Giani Dhaba, but it turned out to be even worse than what we could have got at some other not so famous place. AVOID GIANI DHABA.
A  Monsoon Waterfall

Solan City







Somewhere on the way


















Note: The area is a landslide prone, so be cautious while driving and follow sigh boards.

SHIMLA:
Next Morning was the most pleasant morning, I have experienced in my lifetime. The Sun was playing Hide and seek with the clouds and the fog was waiting to embrace us. Wasting no time we head started our journey to state capital – Shimla. Crossing Kandaghat was not as difficult as the weather was clear.
Do not forget to take an apple break in Solan Market.
Reached Shimla in about 5 hours and had to struggle a lot to find a Parking place. We headed straight to Mall Road, which is a must visit when you are in Shimla. Bought some Pashmina Shawls and stoles for our loved ones, after a lot of Bargaining. We were mesmerized to know about the history and importance of Gaity theatre. This theatre was constructed by British and is one of the six theatre left on the planet to be built on Victorian Gothic Architecture. After wandering around and having luscious Chole bature and Chole Samose, in a local Stall, at Mall road. We decided to explore Shimla a little more and click some pictures (Instead of penning it down, I would let you explore yourself).
We were back to Kasauli by 8:30 pm and decided to have dinner at Haveli, trust me the food was delicious and far better than Giani Dhaba.
An Apple Break


Toy Train Track

An Ancient temple on the Hill 

A beautiful day on the Hills

Shimla City

Shimla Church

Gaity Theatre- Balcony


Another Fall















Next morning, we started our downhill journey to New Delhi and believe me we were in no mood to do that. But we had to return back to work and earn some money for our next trip.

Trip Duration: 4 days 3 nights

Expense: Approx. 8000/- pp all inclusive. Ex-Delhi

The Roads are as smooth as Sukhdev’s Makkhan. Kudos to Himachal Govt.for that.

If you want to plan this trip, write to me on Abhimanyu.sharma12@gmail.com or leave comment below.


I will be happy to help.

5 comments:

  1. I've never been to mighty Himalays, sooon , smday

    Sangeeet

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    1. Thanks mate. To avoid posting as anonymous Join this site.

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  2. Now dis is called CHEERS TO LIFE :) :)

    I too really want to go for a road trip..

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  3. Thanks Reeta. U can join us next time :p

    To keep urself updated, Join this site.

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