My Nainital Journey

On the night of 30th January ;I set out along with my wife on Honeymoon to the Nainital ;Hill Station of Uttarakhand, a North Indian state . It was quite cold in Delhi and expected to be colder in Nainital. Why I choose it then ? Probably ; I would have choosen some warmer place . But I like going to Hills and even stayed for some time in a few places in Himachal Pradesh . I am specially fond of the Signs marking how much a particular place is above Mean Sea level - say 1500 Metres above Sea level or 2200 Metres above Sea Level and so on . We boarded a Train to Kathgodam which is kind of gateway to many of the Kumaon and other Hill Stations . Even when we got out at Kathgodam,it was quite chilly . The interesting part was the presence of some Europeans (or may be Americans ) in the 2nd class A/C Compartment of the Train . I even commented to one telling him: "Quite an International presence ! " . Whether he liked my one-liner or not is another thing .Ha ha We then hired a Cabbie to Nainital . He talked a lot about commercialisation of Nainital and was quite too much interested in our Programme . When we reached Nainital it was 8:35 Morning of 31st January .

31 Jan 08
The Chevron Fairheavens Hotel Temperature display showed 5 Degree Celsius at 8:40 in the Morning . We felt chilled to our bones. It was cold in Delhi too but this was much chillier. But we had enough woollens . The plus was that it felt much more fresher and less polluted. we had our rest and early Lunch that day . There were some problems as the snow of last Night had frozen water pipes and there was electricity problem. Still;the Hotel staff tried their best to make us comfortable . In the evening we had a walk down the Hill at the Mall Road . Not much to do as we were quite tired .

Day 2 :1 Feb 2008 It was still very cold .We had our breakfast and then set out to have a Tour of Taals (The lakes ) . Each lake with its story . We got a good guide who took us in an Alto Cab . The guide shared a lot of information with us . His knowledge of the area and its customs was quite superb . There was Garuda Taal-shaped like the Indian Mythological bird Garuda . Then the 7 Lakes Tour- Sattal - We had Boat ride for 3 Lakes. It was quite an experience. Another was Naukuchiyataal . It was the deepest one . But did not have Tourists (You see : We were there during Off-Season ) . So it was a very short stay . Next we stopped at a Temple en-route : Hanumangarhi . It had a very big statue of Lord Hanuman . Next was Bhimtal -It is the biggest of all -even bigger than Nainital . There is a Temple also around . As the evening was approaching ; the View of the Taal was quite superb. On the way ; we also bought Jams and Fruit Drinks from a Local Farm; the products of which are very good as per our Guide.

Day 3: Feb 2 2008 : It was quite cold during these days in Nainital . And we being from plains faced sub-zero conditions a bit too tough to handle . We were not in a mood to travel much on third day . However,we roamed around the Local Market and had a bit of shopping to do .

Day 4 : Feb 3 ,2008 : What a brilliant day . In early morning ; there were quite a number of weekend travellers and there was snowfall outside !! We were so overjoyed at our first in a lifetime experience of Snowfall. The Snow was so light ;like Small Cotton Pieces . But it melted to water once it felt on ground or on clothes. I tried a lot to capture it in my camera but I could get just some faint backdrop of Snow . There was a bit heavier snow after some time but not enough for Camera shoot. We had our breakfast and Lunch at Hotel. Then,in the evening;we headed for a Local Tour . First were some Natural Caves named as "Leopard caves" , "Monkey Caves" etc. Do not worry ; these were just names and no real things !! (Else they would have killed us ) We enjoyed those caves. At times; we had even to crawl beneath the cave . Next ; we went to a Road at quite some height (Near China Peak ) . There was so much snow around !! We played with snow balls and had a no of Pics . It was so exciting . The other things on the journey were not too impressive apart from a few spots from where we could have massive views of Nainital . By the time we returned we were quite tired but excited nevertheless. We also had a look at the Local Tibetan Market .

Below : Some Snow View Pictures

Day 5 : Feb 4,2008 We were still not over our last day's "Snowfall Exploits" . So , we were ringing up our parents and told them about our previous day exploits . We went to Lake,Local market and also the Local Naina Devi Temple . May be due to the influence of Snowfall; weather opened up and it was much warmer as compared to last few days .

Last Day : Day 6 : Feb 5 , 2008 We had a planned tour of Ranikhet the previous day .However ,we had to cancel that due to us getting too late on 4th . So we packed our bags ; and had the Ranikhet tour . We covered a number of temples, an Amusement Park ( a small one;not a High Techno Stuff) , there was a place from where we could see distant peaks ;including Nanda Devi Peak . The highlight was the Golf Course ; one of the highest in Asia . The minus was the highly shortened grass that looked almost Yellowish and not Lush green that we were expecting . We then travelled to Kathgodam from where we had our train to New Delhi . Not a sizzling or Mind-blowing Tour of Nainital ;still something to relish for times to come . More soon