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Published: February 19th 2010
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After extensive research on internet and through friends, We decided on chail for our much needed vacation. It had been so long, since we've had taken a break. And we wanted some place quite, a small cottate with scenic view. The palace hotel, in chail offers what we wanted. So we booked a log hut for a day. We wanted to keep everything spontaneous, so we just booked a day.
Our vacation started on 12th feb, when we caught flight to delhi from hyderabad. This was mine and sruti's first flight together. Earlier, we had travelled together by bus and all but never flight, for an hr we kept sleeping, as we both were very tired. Next one hour, we kept chattering. Poor soul seated next to us kept cursing i guess.
Though, we hadn't booked our bus, as himachal tourism's site was not working, and they didn't have a reservation centre in hyderabad. But I called up their office and asked them, they reserved two tickets on my behalf. They were very very friendly people. Our flight was late by 1 and 1/2 hr late. They kept waiting for us, delayed their bus by 15 min for our sake. We
are very grateful to them, because of them we could catch our bus to shimla. Though the staff was friendly, passengers were not. Looked like, they were frustrated because of us as we kept them waiting. It was like, we were getting some VIP treatment. Even though we were able to catch our bus, in all this hurry we forgot to have our dinner and we were damn hungry. At around 11:30 pm, our bus stopped at a restaurant(I dont remember the name of restaurant), and we had a nice dinner there.Daal tadka there was delicious.
We reached shimla by 5:30 in morning, that was a bit earlier than we had expected. and the point where bus dropped us was 1 km away from bus station. Only mode of commutation to city there is taxi. Beware, they might ask you any price for the destination, you may need to haggle a bit there. One thing, which I didn't like there, taxis were not regulated by government and they would ask you any price for your destination. Anyway, we took a cab to chail directly. It was dark, when we started. But as the sun rose, beauty was breathtaking. Those beautiful
hills, that greenery, all we could do was gaze at them mesmerized. It took us two hrs to reach chail. Our reservation was from 12 pm noon. When we told them that, they said, we would be charged extra for this 4 hrs. But when they saw, we were just two girls, they were quite considerate and let us stay without any charges. The cute cottage, we had hired was 500 mtr. from the main hotel and situtated between hilly roads.
About the hotel, this hotel used to be palace of maharaja of patiala, kind of summer house for him, and spread over 72 acres. It has quite an interesting history. King of patiala built this palace after lord viceroi banned him from entering Shimla. I will come to that story later.
Once we checked into the hotel and saw our cute little cottage, we were more than happy. After freshening up, we headed for the breakfast. Our plan was to explore the whole place. The little restaurant with antique furniture serves nice food. They serve indian, continental and chinese, many kinds of cuisine. We had some nice paranthas and omelet along with tea. After that we started exploring the
place. This place is perfect for nature walk, trekking or just a quiet calm walk. We took all the small trails we could find for the walk, instead of the main roads. After walking for like 1 and 1/2 hr or more I guess, We were outside the palace property, into a very small town, which had a very small market. We shopped for some woolen clothes there and had dinner at a very small place, talked to the localites there. The market had a small clinic, a small jewellery shop, some general stores, one or two fruit shops and some woolen stores. We saw a small police station also, which looked very funny. It looked like, it was about to fall. At the end of the market, we came across a route which was a 4 km. trekking route. We wanted to go but then something reminded me of my broken leg, and that, I am still not walking properly. So, we postponed the trekking to our next visit. Once back to our cottage, we had a real nice nap.
In evening, after snacks, we thought of exploring the little library they had. And we were very dissappointed, when we saw, for library they just had two small shelves in the reception hall. More disappointed, when we found nothing about the history of the palace and the king who built it. After spending an hour or so in the so called library, We thought of hitting the bar.. 😉
The bar was as ancient as the palace ofcourse. And there we met the oldest bartender we've ever met(not that we've known many bartenders previously). He has been working as bartender for past 25 year so. Over a drink of gin with soda, we had some nice conversation with him. He told us some real interesting stories about palace and about drinks ofcourse.. 😉
In the palace lobby, they have also arranged for billiards and video games also. Billiards table was busy, so we thought of trying video games, which was fun.
In dinner, we tried some himachal specialities offered by the restaurant. At around 10:30, we walked back to our little cottage. It was too dark at that time, and a bit scary also, walkin in the hills at that time of night.
That was the ending of a perfect day.
Next day, while walking to the palace for breakfast, we thought of taking a small trail instead of the usual route. And while walking, we finally saw those snow capped mountains. I had been pestering sruti about those snow capped mountains since the starting of the trip and finally got to see them. Though was about to see more of them while going back to shimla. After breakfast, we did a bit of hiking to lover's hill inside palace property only. But on the top of hill, trees were so dense, we couldn't see the hills. But still, it was beautiful, so peaceful, so calm.
After checkout, our next stop was kufri. And here I had my first horse ride, as it was the only available means to reach the hill. Horse riding on hill is definitely trickier and scary than on place. But our guide was very nice and very chatty. After 30 min. of ride, we reached the top of hill. We did the usual stuff there, playing with the snow, getting photographs clicked, and skiing, sruti did try skiing, I couldn't .. 😞
Then again, ride back to kufri and then shimla in our cab. In shimla, we did take a walk on mall road, which is supposed to be the most happening road in shimla. But it wasn't that exciting, may be because of all the luggage we were carrying or because of exhaustion.
Next, we took bus back to delhi. Reached delhi in morning, whole day shopping in janpath and CP was good. Meeting shipra after a long time also added to the fun.
Here comes 16th feb, actual reason, why we planned this trip. Vivek's wedding. We reached his place in noon. Wedding was nice, so was his beautiful bride... 😊
While coming back from the wedding ceremony, we suddenly planned to visit india gate, that too at 1 am. It was fun, weather was chilly, but still fun.
In morning, I dropped sruti at airport and I am here in aligarh, have been sleeping for past 2 days. Finally I got time to write all this.
Feels like, am still in Chail... 😞
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