Did you know that Uttarakhand is known as 'Dev Bhoomi' as it has the 'Chaar Dhaam' viz. Gangotri, Yamnotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath? Did you know that Mussoorie is known as 'Queen of hills'? Did you know that Jim Corbett National Park is spread over 1700 sq km and is home to a wide variety of animals and birds? Did you taste fruits like Kaaphal, Khubani and Belgiri? Did you get a chance to see Litchi and Mango trees on the roadside?
Did you hear about 'Baraf ki kiddi' - a special kind of rug made out of the wool of mountain goats, that keeps you warm in winter like a rug and cool in summer when used as a bedspread? You can find all this and so much more in Uttarakhand. It was truly an amazing experience. After this trip I realized there is so much to see in India. I'm left wondering what I have been doing all these years.
We started our Uttarakhand trip with Nainital. Beautiful lakes, cool breeze even in peak summer, scenic view points, pine trees, paragliding, zip-line kind of adventure sports. What else can one ask for?
We stayed at Country Inn Bhimtal - amazing place with good food, live music, a nice swimming pool, gym, trees by the pool side where lots of birds have their home - they fly away almost all at the same time early morning and come back together in the evening.
We saw four lakes - Nainital, Bhimtal, Sattal and Naukuchiatal. A walk on Mall road even on a summer afternoon is worth it - with cool breeze and the shade of trees along the road. Boating in Naini lake was refreshing.
Local sight seeing - view points like Dorothy Seat, aerial view of the botanical garden where Koi Mil Gaya was picturized, Tiffin top(picnic spot of the British earlier) - all this on horseback for 1 hour was really worth the pain. If you're afraid of horse riding, then this tour is not for you. You can still go on a trek to see these view points but its going to burn you out because its at a very high altitude.
We went to visit some caves after the horse ride. They were quite good but its a steep climb into and out of each cave and they are really cramped up but it was fun. There was a Himalayan view point which we missed because of lack of time. Bhimtal is almost as big as Nainital and you can find ducks and geese on the lakeside.
Sattal is not as big as the other lakes but you have a bird watching site nearby and can enjoy zip-line arranged over the lake. The guide will take you over the lake and swing you so that your feet dip in the water which is fun. Aniket had fun here. There are food outlets by this lake so you can enjoy a quiet meal during the day.
Paragliding is on the way to Naukuchiatal. It seemed to be a very popular sport there, huge crowd waiting for their respective turns. Its nothing like what we see on TV. Its really exciting and scary at the same time. They start off at the top of the hill and go down for more than five minutes and land on the plains below. I enjoyed just watching others, no this sport is definitely not for me!! We could see Naukuchiatal(lake with nine corners) from that hill, which was quite a beautiful sight. Naukuchiatal has beautiful row boats which you should not miss.
We went to Ranikhet next - going uphill for 35 kms from Bhimtal for an eternity, just to see a golf course and a Kali Temple. We had planned to visit Chaubatia gardens but that was unfortunately closed. Overall Ranikhet was just a waste of time. But atleast we got to see pine trees and taste a fruit called Kaaphal.
Our next stop was Corbett. We stayed at a resort called Golden Tusk. It had an in-house bakery and very good food, a good swimming pool, spa and indoor sports. The only drawback was that there was barely network reception for Airtel phones.
You must have heard the saying - Life is what happens when you're busy making plans. This is exactly what happened to us. We had booked a gypsy to go on a Jungle Safari in Jim Corbett National Park. On our way to Corbett, near the Dhikala gate of the National park we saw an elephant grazing. We had never seen an elephant in the wild and were pretty excited. The next morning we started at sunrise in our gypsy for our jungle safari, but didn't get to see a single elephant throughout. So 4000 Re = No elephant and 1 elephant = free :-) Well that's how safaris are. But we saw lots of peacocks, a barking deer, some spotted deer and antelope, wild boar, a jackal, some rare birds. It was an enjoyable experience - a must see. There are four gates to the safari though and if you want to see elephants you should get an entry from the Dhikala gate, this we came to know afterwards. If you want to see tigers you should go through another gate. The tickets to the safari need to be booked in advance.
The last place on our list was Mussoorie - Queen of Hills.
Such beautiful hills - the only ones that can compete with Mahableswar. The climate was too good, hard to believe that its peak summer. We went to Kempty falls, enjoyed the cable car ride downhill. The specialty of Kempty falls is that they have two man-made swimming pools at two levels of the falls where the water from the falls comes down. So you can really go near the falls without fear of tripping or hitting yourself on stones. This is something I've never seen before, really clever.
Another must see is the Company Garden which is full of all kinds of flowers, even the food court inside is full of flowers and it has a valley view on one side which is really scenic. These are the two main attractions in Mussoorie. From our hotel room balcony we could see Mussoorie all lit up in the night. It was really beautiful. A walk down to Mall road in the early morning was heavenly. We got to taste a fruit called Khubani here - tastes exactly like Alu Bukhara but looks quite different. A duplicate in nature? LOL
On the way back to Delhi we made a quick stop at Haridwar, washed our feet in the holy river Ganga. I tasted the juice of Belgiri fruit, nah not to my taste. We couldn't wait for the evening aarti though which is supposed to be very good. So if you're planning to visit Haridwar you should plan for the morning/evening aarti.
We had a memorable trip in all good hotels(except for Madhuban Highlands in Mussoorie) - thanks to Agoda.com for giving best priced hotels.
Uttarakhand - check!!
What's next? Who knows? ;-)
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| Litchi tree |
Did you hear about 'Baraf ki kiddi' - a special kind of rug made out of the wool of mountain goats, that keeps you warm in winter like a rug and cool in summer when used as a bedspread? You can find all this and so much more in Uttarakhand. It was truly an amazing experience. After this trip I realized there is so much to see in India. I'm left wondering what I have been doing all these years.
We started our Uttarakhand trip with Nainital. Beautiful lakes, cool breeze even in peak summer, scenic view points, pine trees, paragliding, zip-line kind of adventure sports. What else can one ask for?
 |
| Live music |
 |
| Country Inn Bhimtal |
 |
| Nainital |
Local sight seeing - view points like Dorothy Seat, aerial view of the botanical garden where Koi Mil Gaya was picturized, Tiffin top(picnic spot of the British earlier) - all this on horseback for 1 hour was really worth the pain. If you're afraid of horse riding, then this tour is not for you. You can still go on a trek to see these view points but its going to burn you out because its at a very high altitude.
We went to visit some caves after the horse ride. They were quite good but its a steep climb into and out of each cave and they are really cramped up but it was fun. There was a Himalayan view point which we missed because of lack of time. Bhimtal is almost as big as Nainital and you can find ducks and geese on the lakeside.
 |
| Bhimtal |
Paragliding is on the way to Naukuchiatal. It seemed to be a very popular sport there, huge crowd waiting for their respective turns. Its nothing like what we see on TV. Its really exciting and scary at the same time. They start off at the top of the hill and go down for more than five minutes and land on the plains below. I enjoyed just watching others, no this sport is definitely not for me!! We could see Naukuchiatal(lake with nine corners) from that hill, which was quite a beautiful sight. Naukuchiatal has beautiful row boats which you should not miss.
 |
| Paragliding near Naukuchiatal |
We went to Ranikhet next - going uphill for 35 kms from Bhimtal for an eternity, just to see a golf course and a Kali Temple. We had planned to visit Chaubatia gardens but that was unfortunately closed. Overall Ranikhet was just a waste of time. But atleast we got to see pine trees and taste a fruit called Kaaphal.
Our next stop was Corbett. We stayed at a resort called Golden Tusk. It had an in-house bakery and very good food, a good swimming pool, spa and indoor sports. The only drawback was that there was barely network reception for Airtel phones. You must have heard the saying - Life is what happens when you're busy making plans. This is exactly what happened to us. We had booked a gypsy to go on a Jungle Safari in Jim Corbett National Park. On our way to Corbett, near the Dhikala gate of the National park we saw an elephant grazing. We had never seen an elephant in the wild and were pretty excited. The next morning we started at sunrise in our gypsy for our jungle safari, but didn't get to see a single elephant throughout. So 4000 Re = No elephant and 1 elephant = free :-) Well that's how safaris are. But we saw lots of peacocks, a barking deer, some spotted deer and antelope, wild boar, a jackal, some rare birds. It was an enjoyable experience - a must see. There are four gates to the safari though and if you want to see elephants you should get an entry from the Dhikala gate, this we came to know afterwards. If you want to see tigers you should go through another gate. The tickets to the safari need to be booked in advance.
The last place on our list was Mussoorie - Queen of Hills.
Such beautiful hills - the only ones that can compete with Mahableswar. The climate was too good, hard to believe that its peak summer. We went to Kempty falls, enjoyed the cable car ride downhill. The specialty of Kempty falls is that they have two man-made swimming pools at two levels of the falls where the water from the falls comes down. So you can really go near the falls without fear of tripping or hitting yourself on stones. This is something I've never seen before, really clever.
Another must see is the Company Garden which is full of all kinds of flowers, even the food court inside is full of flowers and it has a valley view on one side which is really scenic. These are the two main attractions in Mussoorie. From our hotel room balcony we could see Mussoorie all lit up in the night. It was really beautiful. A walk down to Mall road in the early morning was heavenly. We got to taste a fruit called Khubani here - tastes exactly like Alu Bukhara but looks quite different. A duplicate in nature? LOLOn the way back to Delhi we made a quick stop at Haridwar, washed our feet in the holy river Ganga. I tasted the juice of Belgiri fruit, nah not to my taste. We couldn't wait for the evening aarti though which is supposed to be very good. So if you're planning to visit Haridwar you should plan for the morning/evening aarti.
We had a memorable trip in all good hotels(except for Madhuban Highlands in Mussoorie) - thanks to Agoda.com for giving best priced hotels.
Uttarakhand - check!!
What's next? Who knows? ;-)
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