Fagu in a pair of Shawls - 1 of 2
Not very long ago, I got caught in a conversation about time-share holidays and how great they are, and how we can plan our holidays and get the best out of the vacation. The gentleman running the time-share business kept insisting that I try out their lovely packages, and I kept smiling, and nodding, and refusing in the most non-offensive manner. The task was especially difficult, since the time-share company I am referring to is also a client for my consulting assignments.
There is no way possible that I can explain and convince these people that for me, time-share is not possible in this life. For that, one needs to plan the vacation. And for me, that is exactly what I get away from when I vacation – planning.
Consider today’s scenario. I and my wife decide on a forced vacation for ourselves, since we believe it is a well-deserved one, what with her not traveling and me traveling only for work. So we decide that we take three days off from our schedule. Now where do we want to go? No idea. We just pack, planning that we will do a trip to Rajasthan – may be Udaipur, since the rest of north and west Rajasthan is pretty much covered by now. We pack light, only a few T-shirts, shorts, sandals and two shawls, just as an afterthought – which by the way became our only savior – why, you will know shortly.
So we complete some of our chores. I have a class to finish, which gets over only by 1:30pm, and finally we move out of Gurgaon by 3:00pm.
I suddenly do not feel like the Jaipur highway. I mean, come on, we always do that. Why not try something else? How about Shimla? So, thus mulling, I turn the car towards the north-west Delhi. And thus begins this adventure, packed for the heat of Udaipur, landing finally in the very chilly mountains of Kufri. Now tell me, what do I do with a time-share holiday package, where you want me to plan six months in advance?
Day 1 – 1 Nov, 2009, Sunday
Gurgaon – Delhi – Karnal – Chandigarh [250km]
The journey from Gurgaon to the northern border of Delhi is surprisingly comfortable. Maybe because it is Sunday afternoon. We reach Grand Trunk Road – Azadpur mandi / market – in less than an hour. The new flyovers have really been effective in reducing the traffic snarls.
Even once on the GT road, the going is comfortable. A small pit-stop at Sonipat at the usual place – Pahalwaan Dhaba – is mandatory. You get excellent Makkai ki roti and Sarason ka saag, and Gobhi paratha, with chai. A great start to a good trip!
With that, evening falls, and the rest of the travel is in the dark. There are parts of the highway that are well-lit though. What is a most pleasant surprise – are really the flyovers at Panipat. One just flies through. It was this place that I was stuck for hours the last time I went to Shimla, or even Manali. Today, these traffic blockages have become a thing of the past.
Barring some traffic congestion in Karnal, the journey is pretty smooth. We reach Chandigarh by the night fall. Once here, we decide to pitch for the night, instead of going further, since the days have been quite tiring recently for us.
We roam around the city center, in sectors 17, 22, and so on, which have hotels and marketplaces, and find that most hotels are booked due to weddings (apparently the next day is Guru Nanak Jayanti – and also ‘Dev Diwali’, so this is a very auspicious time of the year). Finally after a lot of search, we find one livable hotel in sector 35B. It is certainly not a great stay, but the best that our budget can offer (under two grands). We also find a local vendor, selling good fish fry.
The only trouble is, by the time we finalize on the hotel, most of the restaurants in the sector are closed. Even the McDonald’s and the KFC have hung their ‘closed’ signs on the doors. We find some sandwiches and local pizza in a restaurant called ‘hot millions’ (imagine!), and that is the end of the first day. We retire early, hoping to catch up on some sleep.
Day 2 – 2 Nov, 2009, Monday
Chandigarh – Chail – Kufri – Fagu [150km]
The morning is bright and sunny. We have breakfast at the hotel and leave for Shimla. One needs to back-track a bit, and go through Panchkula (15km from Chandigarh) to get to the road of Shimla.
Once on the road to Shimla, the road is long and winding. It is quite fun for most parts. We go to Kalka, cross Parvanoo, and see this whole green wall of mountains right ahead of us. And the weather gets quite chilly here.
We cross the busy marketplace of Solan, and reach Kandaghat. Here, we leave the route to Shimla, and turn to the right towards Chail. The road suddenly becomes quite narrow, winding, and less maintained. By around 1:00pm we are in Chail. We pass the quaint marketplace, where we ask a policeman about the famous Chail palace. He calls me ‘Maharaj’, which we find quite amusing, and tells us that the palace is actually further ahead. We plan to see the Chail palace, but pass, since the entry fee itself is Rs. 100/- per person. We decide to spend the money more wisely, and continue on the way to Kufri.
As we near Kufri, the vegetation changes. You now have much taller trees and great foliage. We see this huge resort place in Shilonbagh, but it looks more like a school. So we pass, and continue further. Just as we are entering Kufri, which by the way is the highest road in this area of Himachal Pradesh – around 9,000 feet – we find the Kufri zoo on both sides. Being Monday, the zoo is closed, but you can still see the greenery around and it is beautiful.
Near the zoo, we see another type of animals, the two-legged variety – day-trippers from Shimla who have come to see the zoo and also to climb the skiing slopes of Kufri-Fagu. It is not snow yet and so the crowd is less as compared to December. By the looks of it, I will definitely avoid coming here during the time of the season.
Kufri does not have much to offer in terms of stay options, so we move towards the road to Fagu, which will further take us to Jubbal. Just before Fagu, about a kilometer before the Himachal Pradesh tourism resort called ‘Peach Blossom’, we find a nice resort, where we can stay for the night – It is called Galleu Hill Resort. It has good rooms, clean toilets and apparently a very good chef, and it is well within the budget (Rs. 1700 per night – off-season rates). It also has a well-stocked bar. By now, it is about 4pm and getting chilly. So this is where we park ourselves, get a late lunch, and generally laze around.
The person who looks after us is Narendra Thakur, and needs a special mention here. It is because of him that our stay becomes so much comfortable. Naredra was working with Mahindra Resorts in Kumbhalgarh earlier, but preferred to come back closer home – which is Rampur, about 100km from Fagu. He ensures that we are treated like royalty all throughout.
The best part of the resort is a lovely verandah overlooking the Giri valley, which is where I have parked myself on a reclining chair with a comforter, and which is where I plan to be for the rest of my life – or dinner, whichever is earlier (4:45pm).
[Note to travelers, 10km ahead of Fagu, on the road to Jubbal, is Theog, where you have one SBI ATM, which accepts all debit cards.]
7:00pm – Brrr, it is getting quite chilly now. And we have no cover.
9:00pm – It is definitely cold here. And we have no cover.
11:00pm – I do not know about you, but I am getting under my pair of quilts. Have a good night.
... To Be Continued.
- Shreekant
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