Neil Island, Andaman

Friday 5 March 2010

Dalhousie

Trip: Dalhaousie > Khajjiar > Chamba > McLeodganj

The four of us took the 9 PM Jammu Mail from Old Delhi Station. A vehicle was waiting for us at Pathankot station and we were able to hit Dalhousie at 10 AM as per our plans. Piyush had done extensive preparation to make us comfortable. Our further plan was to move as quickly as possilble to Chamba via Khajjiar.


Dalhousie is a small cloudy hill station with the market place starting from Subhash Chowk and ending at Gandhi Chowk within like quarter of a mile. We loved the weather. In the army guest house we were staying, clouds would come in through doors.


Last time I was in Dalhousie in the December of 2006 on a trekking expedition. It was dead cold then. The three days were fun as I was a part of a big group and we used to make little treks around the town as a part of acclimatization exercise.


We had our lunch with Piyush before starting for Khajjiar via the Mall Road of Dalhousie. As it was a weekday in off-season, most of the shops were closed. We ended up having just a cup of tea near Gandhi Chowk which I kept suspecting was made of goat milk.

Saturday 2 January 2010

Hebbe Falls

  • Visit after the rains. The gushing waterfall at its full flow is an amazing view to behold. Take a bath. The sprinkles gives you goosebumps. 
  • Take Maxx from Chikmagalur city. Regular vehicles can't reach this place with the mountain terrain and bad  roads. They charged us 500 bucks and it was worth the experience.
  • You have to trek the last mile up to the waterfall. The last turn when the waterfall opens up to full view is magical or at least I thought so.
The first time I visited Chikmagalur, the four of us - Vivek, Sumeet, Ashutosh and myself started from Bangalore for Kemmengundi. It is a newly popular hill station near Chikmagalur  It was our plan to stay here for the night and visit nearby waterfalls among other things.

Windmills@Chikmagalur

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Jaipur

Jaipur - Ajmer - Chittorgarh - Udaipur
  • From Aamer at one end to Chokhi Dhani at another,  Jaipur is full of must go places.
  • Budgets boutique hotels are readily available here thanks to being a tourist hotspot. Decide based on where you want to go after Jaipur.
  • Don't miss the amazing top view of entire Jaipur from the window Of Madhavendra Palace. 
The two of us started at 10.30 AM on 23rd, December, 2009 from Delhi for a long drive. The road was smooth and the drive was fun. Somewhere on the way we decided that we should go all the way to Jaipur. Consequently we were standing in front of Aamer Fort at 4 PM. It is an old majestic fort stretched in few square kilometers. We walked on the walls of the fort before getting hungry.

Front View of Aamer Fort@Jaipur