Me any my wife had decided that this year we will be taking our long holiday in North India as we were desperate to see some snow-clad mountains and have a bit of snow to play with, if possible!
Our first choice was Kinnaur, to places just before Lahaul-Spiti. However, after several discussions we were told Kinnaur may not be an ideal place in December and we might get stuck due to unforeseen heavy snowfall.
That is when we centered upon Kumaon. Again, as we wanted to have long looks at the Himalayan Range, we decided to skip the famous Nainital–Corbett circuit in favour of Chaukori–Munsiyari. It goes without saying that it was Indiamike.com which helped me in finalizing the full itinerary, and I can’t thank Indiamikers enough!
The broad itinerary was a flight to Delhi, a night halt at Naukuchiatal, 2 nights at Binsar, 3 nights at Chaukori and 2 nights at Munsiyari. After going through Indiamikers’ travelogues and their wonderful pictures, my wife insisted on going to Kausani. Therefore, the final plan was a 12 day sojourn to all these places which would give us the best Himalayan views!
I will be posting our experiences for each day separately here.
Travelogue:
Delhi - 12th December 2009:
Our trip started with a flight to Delhi from Mumbai. We were supposed to take the early morning flight because we had planned for taking a taxi from Delhi itself. The flight was on time and we reached Delhi at 10.30 am. However, there was a last minute cancellation by the cab walla. He tried finding us another taxi, but was not able to do so. We would have been left in a lurch if I had not thought of booking seats on the Sampark-Kranti Express for ourselves beforehand. Of course, in hindsight we were lucky that we did not go along with the driver from Delhi.
We contacted Kailash who was recommended by Mr. Pathak on IM the day before we left. He promptly agreed to pick us up at the station and from his talks it seemed he was sincere too.
On reaching Delhi, we happily realised we were finally going to feel how winter should be! It was 16 degrees in the morning at 11 am there! For us Mumbaikars, it was like a cold welcome (pun intended).
We had time till we boarded Sampark-Kranti at 4 pm. Therefore, we booked a cab for some Delhi sight-seeing. The cab reached late, and the driver was someone from the hills. He had no idea of how to drive in Delhi and knew only one road – the Ashoka Marg! Thank god we had a map with us, and the ofcourse the unique world-class IGPS (Indian Global Positioning System – comprising of helpful bystanders, locals and panwallas!).
We managed to have a literally moving visit to Raj Bhavan & the North and South Blocks as the car was not allowed to be parked there. We stopped and allowed the car to make several rounds while we clicked a few snaps. On the way to the station we also managed to see the Amar Jyot and India Gate – though from quite a distance. Finally we stopped briefly at Jama Masjid and the Red Fort. Thanks to our driver, we also had an almost standstill visit of Chandi Chowk, which we had specifically told him to avoid.
The Raj Bhavan Gate (no its not Mayawati’s palace ;-)
The Raj Bhavan Gate North/South Block
North/South Block Jama Masjid
The Red Fort
As the driver knew no roads and the choked Chandni Chowk roads, we barely managed to reach in time for the train. We rushed straight to Platform 5 from where the Sampark-Kranti was supposed to leave. As it happens usually, our rushing was to no avail, as the train was an hour late!
While waiting, we had a chat with a couple of girls from Canada. By God, were they brave! They were off to Nainital to spend their last week of holidays. They had no hotel booking, no car booking, didn’t understand Hindi, with just rucksacks, and were going to manage it somehow when they reached Kathgodam! And here were we, with all our confirmed bookings, arrangements and elaborate packing!
The overall train experience was good, with a group of old Delhiities in our coach who were going to Haldwani for the weekend. They had many stories, words of wisdom, and jokes to crack. It was clear there was a marked difference in culture between proper Delhiites and those who stay above in Kumaon / Garwhal.
As the train was late in leaving, we reached Kathgodam only at around 11 pm. It was quite cold when we reached, and we realised we’d come from the quasi-winter of Mumbai to the real winter of Kumaons! We had in fact traversed many latitudes – and went through 3 distinct winters – the non-existent one in Mumbai, the surprising but manageable Delhi thand, and the chilly Kumaon cold.
We were tired by the whole-day trip but were glad to see Bhimtal and Naukuchiatal in all its moonlit glory on our way! We reached Naukuchaital at around 12 midnight. We had booked a room at the Lake Resort, Naukuchiatal which is bang on the lake. Which also made it all the more cold too!
It’s always advisable to inform the hotel early on about any delays in reaching the hotel. They were helpful and confirmed over phone they will have dinner ready for us. We called it a night as soon as we finished dinner and warmed ourselves up by sticking to the heater.
The next day’s travelogue for Binsar will follow soon…
