An Unplanned Jaunt to Shimla

A much needed getaway:

6 continuous days of office had drained away our energy.  Being part of a mundane daily routine bored us to our cores. We wanted to break free from usual pre assigned tasks and the time lines. Also we didn't want to have a well planned holiday as it would again be as formal and predictable and normal as 9 to 7 job!  So to bring back the zest we decided to embark upon an unknown destination.

Decision on the spot:

After my office I went back to home at 6.30 to find my dear husband waiting eagerly for our trip. Even after a hectic day at office I could feel the burst of excitement at the thought of eloping with my hubby to an unknown land ;). We packed our bags with an extra pair of clothes, jackets and some bare essentials. The metro station from our place is just 10 minutes by walk. The bags were not at all heavy. It was fun to stroll as we were in no hurry to reach ___________ (place) by __________(time). I am sure if I existed on 15th August 1947 then I would have felt a little lesser than what I could feel at that time. Freedom is bliss. We reached the Golf Course, Noida metro station, took a train to Maharana Pratap ISBT.  Reached the bus stand. It was almost 8' o clock in the evening. Now we had to decide our "where to".



Our deciding factors: budget (However hard you try to get out of the confinements of life , you can't just escape this one.), overnight journey (so that we don't have to wake up in dark and find ourselves all confused and helpless.), some place nice and pretty ( no explanation needed:)). We went to the ticket counter. They had many big screens overhead with the names of the destinations flashing for different states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Jammu & Kashmir. We instantly thought of going to some place in Himachal Pradesh ( Dharmshala, Manali, Shimla, etc.) . I know, all cold,  mountainous regions! I don't know why but they were all calling us to them. After evaluating the places on the above factors we chose Shimla, the queen of hills.

Bus Travel ( Haryana Roadways)

Last Volvo to Shimla was at 10.00 pm so we had ample amount of time to pay heed to the growling of our tummies. We looked for a food court inside the bus stand but we found none. Instead there were two or three snacks stalls which wouldn't suffice the hunger demand for the whole night. On asking the guard we were guided outside ISBT to find one not-so-well-maintained food-court with several stalls serving food at hi-fi restaurant costs. We ordered two thalis and we were served  2 rotis and dal makhani. Nevertheless the mission of filling up our stomachs was accomplished. After dinner, We moved on to the bus stand.

Reaching there we got to know that all the seats in the Volvo were already pre-booked. We waited for a long time for non-ac deluxe buses but none came for our respite. Finally there was no choice left other than state road transport bus (Haryana). We boarded the bus. As always, I was given the privilege of sitting next to the window. While waiting in the bus to leave we enjoyed the most awful chikki ever which we purchased at Rs 10 from a hawker boy in the bus. The clock struck 11 and the wheels rolled on. I hung my head almost out of the window as the wind hit my face with tripled velocity. But that wasn't good for my hair so I got back to doing the next best thing I could at that time; talking my heart out to my best bud, my husband.  After some time we felt drowsy. The seats weren't comfortable enough for sleeping but anyways we adjusted our bags to make it a little better and we nodded off. We woke up like a million times in between and each time was because of a sudden break or a speed breaker. The bus stopped at 1.00 a.m at a toll. I had to pee so badly and I thanked God for making the bus stop at the right time.

Morning at Shimla ISBT 

Next nod terminated with the bright sunbeam on the face and a sharp pain in the neck. Lo! we were on the serpentine road taking us uphill. We were 30 kms away from Shimla. My hubby was still peacefully asleep on the backpack. Didn't feel like waking him up. Usually I am not that nice but maybe it was the different chilly Shimla air that brought out the angel in me. Haha but not for too long. I shook him up and we enjoyed the valley view together. An hour later, I guess at around 7.00 a.m. we were at Shimla ISBT. The 4 degree air hugged and welcomed us as soon as we step out of the bus. I am particularly not a big winter fan. Thank God I had my jacket and socks on. My husband on the other hand was in seventh heaven. I hadn't seen him this happy in months :).

The hunger toll woke us from the trance and we started looking for breakfast. We found some food stalls in the ISBT premise. There were clean public toilets too. We freshened up and decided to have breakfast. Each of the stalls had almost same menu. We could see old stacks of parathas, generously creamed cream rolls, some chips packets, biscuits etc. Bread omelette seemed to be the healthiest and freshest option. The first stall we went into had eggs but would not cook at that time. The second one was willing to cook but had no eggs. Well they discussed something and we got our bread and omelette in half an hour cooked on the conduction heater. I think it is the low temperature and the high altitude that made cooking slower. The taste was not affected though.

There was a hotel  in ISBT. We enquired and found it to be insanely expensive. Spending Rs 4000 for few hours in the hotel was not prudent. We decided that it is better to go out and explore rather than spend our little left time within the four walls.

Exploration on foot

We came out of the ISBT and after walking for a few minutes on the road we saw a bus coming our way and we decided to get on it no matter wherever it took us. On asking, the conductor said that the bus was going to the bypass and that they would drop us there. The fare was mere Rs 3 per head. In 5 minutes we reached bypass and got down. My husband knew there was a famous Mall Road in Shimla so we asked a fellow traveller the way to Mall Road. He told us to go to the old bus stand if we wanted to visit famous places in Shimla. We reached the bus stand.

No sooner than we stepped out, we were surrounded by a mob offering hotel rooms. Our motto for another half an hour was " humein room nahi chahiye" ("we don't want room"). Chanting our motto we made our way out of that mob. But one or two of them still clinged to us, offering room at as low as Rs 400. Seeing no respite we escaped to a sweet shop, purchased 3 different kinds of sweets- two pieces each in Rs 30. One of them  was called kajhur, the other was a kind of gujhiya, and third was also a sweetened refined flour treat. All of them were delicious. Enjoying the sweets, we walked towards the Mall road. We took our path through lower bazaar, a street lined with small stalls and street vendors selling woollen clothes, bangles, used books, handicraft items etc. It was a narrow street adjacent to a street  at much higher level. And hence the name.

We kept walking till the end of the street until we arrived at the ridge. There was a guide map of Shimla on the wall.

Shimla Guide Map

We studied it and made further plans but before that we saw an inviting bench soaked in sunlight and we could not resist sitting for some time basking in the sun. The bench was in front of the Grand Hotel, which provides stay for central government employees. Oh! how I wished to be a central government employee at that moment. It was an elegant structure and I am sure the interiors would be more alluring. Beside the hotel there was an abandoned, haunted building with large area covered with wild plants and shrubs. We wanted to get inside it for little adventure but we stopped at the sign of "Trespassers will be prosecuted". Someday though :).

The Abandoned Building

The road led to Kalibari- Goddess Kali's temple. There were 4-5 vendors selling worship items like flowers, religious books, garlands etc. There was a spiritual ambiance inside the temple which instilled peace within. There were monkeys drinking Shivji's offering. It is obvious why it is strictly forbidden to offer coconuts to the deities in the temple.

KaliBari temple

After the prayer we proceeded to the famous Mall Road. It was 9.30 am by then, a little too early for all the shops to open. We came at the cross roads for some digital memories when a guy came to us with the leaflet.

Our small Tour with the Guide

He was a tour guide and had some packages with different visiting points to offer.  We had no plans for the guided trip but he insisted and pursuaded till the point we said yes. He also said that the shops on the Mall Road would remain closed as it was Sunday and it was better to go with him than to linger in the mall road. Well, it was only in the evening we realised that he was lying through his teeth for obvious reasons. Mall road is a happening place even on Sundays.

We purchased the package for Rs 850. We could have haggled and saved a couple of hundreds but we were too shy to do that. Plus we were under the impression that whatever he mentioned-  green valley, adventure activities,  horse ride, apple garden visit, etc would be covered in the package. He took us to the lakkad bazaar were his alto was parked. It was a long narrow path downhill. We got into the car and took off. The guide seemed real nice to us. We had a little chat and he told us about his apple orchard in the village. We stopped at a restaurant to have some breakfast. We ordered tea, sandwich and aloo paratha. Tasty and fulfilling. Then we took off again. The ride was beautiful. I could have looked at the green trees and the mountain forever. The tall, green cone loaded trees fascinated me. I wanted to bring few of those cones home.

We reached the first point- The Green Valley. It looked as beautiful as an HD wallpaper. The guide stopped the car so that we could click some photos.

Green Valley

From the  green valley we went towards the adventure park. They had three packages:
1)Amusement park - Rs 500
2)Adventure rides(5) - Rs 500
3)Adventure plus amusement - Rs 800
We took the second one. 5 adventure rides. This was the first time for me that I was going to risk my life for fun. No, wait! It was the second time. My first life threatening amusement activity was at the water park in Mehsana, Gujarat. That free fall on the boat was insane!

So the first activity was valley crossing with the help of a rope and pulley. It was very safe. They equipped us with all the safety gears. There was nothing to be afraid of but I was shaking before I got on the rope. Once I started sliding down the rope, I was enjoying. It wasn't scary at all. Also it was for a very short distance. I reached rope bridge where the park staff helped me to land on the bridge. My husband followed. It was such a relief to see him backing me up.

Next activity was to cross the rope bridge over the same valley. There were sufficient gaps between the logs to make it a little scary. On top of it that staff kept shaking the bridge to add extra thrills. There was a Gujarati family with us doing all the activities. It felt familiar and comfortable to me owing to my gujarati background.

The third thing we had to do was pull ourselves through the rope which was too strenuous. I could not complete it and came back half way. I need to make myself stronger for that. Next was to get on rope climbing net , which again was tiring.

Climbing Net

crossing using rope and pulley

The last one was the real deal. Bungee Jumping(Our camera died off so we do not have a picture). When I was up in the air I was sure that I would never return to earth with integrated body and soul. I had now a newfound appreciation for life. My husband enjoyed it too. And this is how we came to an end of our adventure rides with our hearts still pounding as fast as 250 beats per minute!

Our next stop was the much awaited Kufri- the highest point in Shimla where we could see the apple garden, skiing point when snowing and telescope point. The guide stopped at a place what looked like a pony station. He explained that we had to take the pony ride in order to reach Kufri and that there was no other way. He also said that we haven't seen Shimla if we haven't seen Kufri. I wanted to see the apple orchard so much. The ride cost us Rs 750 for both of us. FYI you CAN WALK to Kufri if you want, it is even lesser than 2 Kms from the pony station. There is no such rule or boundation to take the pony ride as the guide pulled off. Anyways it was my first ride on the pony, added to my experience. On the way to uphill one of the fellow ponies got cranky and the rider fell off. I wished I hadn't insisted for the orchard.

By the grace of God we reached Kufri safely. There were many food stalls selling salad, maggi, tea and much more. Few stalls sold woollen clothes. We saw the telescope stall. They charged 100 bucks for viewing the China border through the telescope. We weren't interested in watching something from that far. Google maps too have a zoom option. We moved on to apple orchard. There were Rs 100 tickets for this too! Luckily a tourist couple came to us and asked us to accompany them to the apple orchard. It was then that we opened our eyes to reality. The money business was exposed. They walked to Kufri instead of pony ride, there was no ticket required to see the apple trees, moreover it wasn't even the apple season(July to September). We felt cheated by the tour guide. I was so mad at him that I decided not to pay him full. But did it anyway. We got down on ponies, the guide was waiting for us to take us back. On the way, I and the tour guide had an altercation on guiding and mis-guiding. My husband pacified me explaining that this was his business. Hiding some facts makes the localites earn more.

The guide dropped us near the Mall Road. Now we were on our own. It was around 4 pm.

Shimla Mall Road

Persimonne - The local fruit

On the contrary to what  tour guide said about the Mall road, all shops were open and the road was full of life. There were fruit shops, woollen clothes, handicraft items, restaurants, and benches to rest. It was a serene evening. With the sun setting, it was getting chillier. We wandered on the Mall road checking out the shops. There was a local fruit which looked very enticing but disappointed us in taste. They call it - Shimla mango. It looked like tomato though. The local name is Persi phal. The official name is Persimmon. It was Rs 100 a kilo. The apples were of the same price too.

There was terrace kind of place with benches to sit. We sat there for sometime and enjoyed the beauty and calmness of the setting sun. The chilli air was making me a bit uncomfortable. I hid myself in the hood of my jacket. We thought we could keep ourselves warm if we walk so we came on the street again, bought a woollen cap for my husband, enjoyed a plate of kiwi and had non vegetarian dinner in a nearby restaurant.

It was almost 7'o clock in the evening hence we decided to go back to ISBT for our return bus.

Planning for return

Going back to the ISBT in the dark, cold and silent Shimla evening was a bit challenging. We asked our way to the bus stand and found that we would have to walk to the railway station from Mall road through KaliBari road. There was no means of transport that would carry us till there. There was very less number of street lights and the number of people on the street was even lesser. We reached the station and waited for the bus for a long time before a bus to bypass arrived. We took a sigh of relief and got on to the bus. The bus dropped us at the bypass. ISBT was a kilometre away from there and there was no option but to walk. All the way I was concerned about the law and order regarding women safety issue in India. I had a parliament discussion going on in my head. My husband and I talked very little all the way because even a whisper was too loud for that silent road. Finally we were there at the ISBT.

Back to Delhi

We enquired about the bus to Delhi. Again only the roadways were available. We decided to take 10.30 pm bus so that we could reach Delhi in the morning and take the first metro train to Noida. Now it was tricky to spend another two and a half hours at the stand. I was cold. We had tea after tea to keep ourselves warm. We charged our phones at a food stall at the cost of Rs 20, read book, discussed a little bit about our future, shivered, walked around and the two long waiting hours were gone. Our bus arrived half an hour before the departure time. The return journey was again an uncomfortable but exciting one and once again our backpacks were to the rescue. We reached in the morning at 6.30 am with sore muscles but happy heart. It was a fun getaway and we learnt a lot.

With our trekking accounts open we will deposit more fun and adventurous experiences in our hiking bank. so stay tuned ! Please post comments if you like reading our experiences.