Around the World

Finally got some time to blog.

After the first hectic day of visiting relatives at Delhi, we had a jam packed schedule awaiting us. Next day…early morning we were up….had some toasts for breakfast and went to the travels office with bag and baggage.

Some confusion there…no Volvo (that’s what we booked)…due to less number of people. So he refunded some amount and fit all the people into a high tech AC bus. Quite comfortable…seats were so huge that we were slipping in it (not only me….my husband also…then u can imagine how big they were ).

Finally…the bus set into motion at 7:00 AM from Delhi. People in it were an old retired couple, a family with 2 school going girls and parents, one young couple with their 1 year old daughter, 2 other honey moon couples and us. One guide and 2 caterers were also there.

Guide was one funny guy….tried his best to entertain us throughout….i still cant forget the way he said good morning (kind of that bihary accent..) everyday….he used to not say it…he used to sing it.

He also sang quite a few songs for us….total funny

Old couple were fun too….they had humorous comments for everything….people should be like them…they have finished their career life (as uncle was retired)….now both of them are going around the whole of India from north to south….and its not just the pilgrimage….its also pleasure trip….its nice to see that people do know how to enjoy life….

The family of four was fun too. The kids (not too small…they were in 6^th and 8^th standards). …were very enthu about everything…they too sang songs….and they wanted to visit a lot of things. They had also been to a lot of places in India. This was another vacation for them…..reminded me of the days when I was of that age…..my sister and myself were almost the same….brought back lots of thoughts…

Honeymoon couples….no comments

The couple with their baby also had been to many places already and they still had something planned for after this one…..my god…they did have guts to take that small little kid to so many places….cute kid

 

We were first at kurukshetra…the land of mahabharatha war…we saw a lake were the dead bodies of the kurukshetra war were thrown (supposedly) and the tree under which bhagavathgeetha was imparted …..The school kids had a lot of questions which the guide could not answer ….it was fun to watch them ask questions and the guide trying to patch up his story accordingly..

 

Then we went ahead to pinjore gardens….i dint really enjoy it too much. There was one nice fountain which we wanted to capture as a background in a foto…we stood and took a self foto and found the fountain to be missing…then we realized that they had switched it off just before the snap was taken….irritating…

 

Prashanth managed to find a lot of birds….he has got beautiful shots of parakeets.

 

We landed at night at a hotel in Shimla. It was cold. Room did not have heater and no hot water….hot water available only two hours a day…anyway…we managed with it

Next day ….taken to kufri….topmost point in shimla…this is where we boarded horses to be taken to a temple far far away….whew….one dangerous nerve racking pony ride…finally the temple was one kutty thing…I have taken the name of every single god I know….it was terrifying when the horse(…or pony…or whatever that animal was) made weird noises and walked at the edge of a steep drop…

That’s all was shimla. In the evening we were given time to go into the mall road….

A vehicle free road…with a touch of the British still left out…a road to do shopping.

We dint buy anything…just walked for sometime.

Then we were back for a campfire….which dint happen…

I was not very impressed with shimla other then the cold climate….I am not really sure what people talk about….even the sceneries on the way to shimla…I dint find it that great….the sceneries in munnar were too good compared to that

 

Next day was travel to manali….the journey to manali was a better…the ghat section was beautiful this time….

The room here had hot water and everything….and it was not as cold as shimla…

Here the shops follow plastic free policy….they put everything in paper bags…no polythene covers….I loved that…

This place also had a vehicle free shopping zone known as mall road….we got a few things here

We were taken to the snow point (we did not go till Rhotang pass as it was closed)…hired some furry stuff to wear for the snow..

Got to know that some huge rocks had fallen from the mountain a week back which had killed abt 10 tourists who were going on that road….sad..

We reached snow point…complete whiteness….sooper…we got to play on that for 2 hrs or so. Was very nice…we got a lot of good snaps…of course the video was messed up …we got still photos by mistake instead of video…camera was in wrong mode I guess…we realized it very late….only after we came back

I liked manali more than shimla. But the weather was hot…we dint need…sweaters…next day was some sight seeing in manali…hidimba and gatothkacha temples…

Then we were taken to a hot water spring (that’s what they said it was)….i expected hot water spurting out of the ground…atleast that’s what I learnt in school abt a spring.

It was nothing like that. It was water from a pipeline let in huge tanks. The tanks had four walls around it….one such tank for ladies and another for gents. People could take bath in it. The water is supposed to cure all skin diseases….I am not sure….when I saw it…I felt I would get some of the diseases…

It was not very pleasing for me to even go near the tank and get some water to just sprinkle over my head…there were people taking bath as they would do in private bathroom….i would not go to explain this further….but I somehow don’t understand what those people were really thinking…anyway…we just got out of that place as soon as we could

We also visited the manu temple which was why manali got it name

Then one museum about manali culture etc….

 

Next day was travel to chandigarh….nice hotel room

Then we went for site seeing in chandigarh….rose garden still dint have too many roses as it was not yet the right season…but amazing birds….got a lot of good shots

Then was the rock garden….another amazing thing…will write more about it later

Then went for boating….which was not so amazing. ..we tried to have one single cutlet…they took 20 minutes to give it….we had to gobble it up and run to the bus..

 

Then was the trip back to delhi…..which was quite boring….

 

During this whole trip…we watched so many movies. …Jodha Akbar,Mithya, Dhamaal,halla bol, bee movie, KANK.

 

What was not so good was the idea of south Indian food. The travels guy told us that, mostly south Indians are the ones who come for these tours and they prefer only south Indian food. So these guys send caterers along.

Somehow I don’t agree with that…

Even otherwise….atleast with every south Indian meal they should have arranged for one item which was the specialty of the place that we were at….going to Punjab and not having that thick malai lassi is really not right…

When we said this they got us something at a dhaba….I make better lassi at home…

 

Anyway…..that was the end of our long tour. We were now supposed to prepare for the next day’s trip to agra…..