It all started in somewhere around this June, when me & my colleagues were planning to go for Leh Ladakh by self-driven car. Somehow, we could not make it but still that hilly terrain driving sound was constantly reverberating in my mind.
Few weeks later in a family get to gather, road trip idea initiated. We planned for North this time. Immediately, locations were started popping up like anything. Spiti, Bhutan, Sikkim, Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie and what not.
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| Dhauladhar ranges in Himachal |
Soon we sorted out locations & circuit (Chandigarh- Shimla-Dharmshala-Dalhousie-Amritsar-Chandigarh) then we booked the flights till Chandigarh & decided to book Zoomcar for travel (fractional ownership is always cool option, We can cruise & can drive off-roads as well😉)
As an engineer, Plan started making shape in MS Excel….. columns, rows, How many kms in day, Duration, fuel mileage, where to stay so that we won’t end up driving at late evenings.
My cousins are from Pune hence we used do Skype calls, Screen sharing for bookings, locations .. believe me, to optimize any plan requires time & efforts.
The awaited Day arrived, we met at airport & took flight for Chandigarh. We reached Chandigarh in afternoon & our Zoomcars were parked. We booked 2 cars. One Creta & one Ecosports.
Both were in excellent conditions. Once formalities have been done, we started cruising towards Shimla. (Though I said we were cruising, zoomcar don’t allow you to cross 125 km/hr , They charge you fine 2500 INR per limit crossing)
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| Creta: somewhere in between Chandigarh-Shimla |
We reached Shimla around 8 PM, It was 5 degrees outside. Being Mumbaikar, it was freezingly cold for us. We had booked Kalawati home stays (via Airbnb) to get the local experience while staying. We were staying very near to lakkad bazar & the ridge.
We choose to stay in home playing cards and chatting with homeowners.
Next day, few of us woke up very early (may be because of excitement😉 ) we headed to The Ridge with DSLR in hand. Many local people were on roads doing morning walk. some groups were playing cricket on the ridge. We took few photos and headed back to home. We had aloo paratha & chai on the way back to home.
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| The Ridge,Shimla |
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| Early morning view |
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| On the way to Kufri |
Then we came back to Shimla & went for shopping on mall road & meena bazzar. It was long day for all of us.
Next day, We have Shimla-Dharmshala to cover (240 kms,9 Hours as per google) so we started by 10 AM. We stopped at Bahadur da dhaba near Ghaghas village. We had yummy makke di roti & dal makhani. Our hotel was in Mcleodganj and google showed a path from market. It was super stiff roads with very short turns. ( Only first gear works😉)
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| Bahadur da dhaba |
Again it was long & hectic day with many memories.
Surprisingly, Dalai lama was in Monastery, so we choose to be at Monastery .We were not fortunate enough to see Dalai lama but we like the place which has its own magic.Even we saw doppelganger of dalai lama.After lunch we headed to Dalhousie .
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| Monk catching ferrari ;-) |
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| Namgyal monastery |
We reached Dalhousie in the evening, our resort was 15 kms away from main Dalhousie. We saw Dalhousie public school on the way. Location of the school is too awesome. We stayed in property by Aamod whose location was very picturesque. Resort has recreation rooms & games like TT, Pool, Carom as well.
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| Aamod resort,Dalhousie |
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| Aamod resort,Dalhousie |
Next day, We took camera and started with jungle trek. View from hotel was beautiful and magnificent. Later we went to see Khajiar which was too perfect landscape having lots of pine trees and Maple trees. While returning we also stopped at kala-top & at Dainkund ( Dainkund- 9038 ft., highest peak in nearby area)
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| Khajiar landscape |
Day at dalhousie ended early as sunset was around 5pm, hence our evening got busy with TT matches and cards.
Next day, We preferred Aamod’s nature trail and captured many frames on the way & started return journey to Amritsar via Pathankot. We booked service club on the way.(We kept one day buffer since we wanted to improvise the plan if needed). Next day was “Gurunanak Jayanti” so we chose to see golden temple on that day itself. We parked the cars in hotel and travelled by local auto.
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| Golden temple |
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| Amritsar |
Golden temple has its charm - full of lights-a cold breeze-colorful Pagadis. temple has pious feeling.
Next day was the most awaited day for ladies as it was reserved for shopping, We had Amritsari kulcha on road side (street food) & gian chand lassi, All ladies did shopping in hall bazar (place where you can stich the Punjabi-patiyala dress in an hour) later we moved to Wagha border. (Actually Wagha is in Pakistan and Attari is in INDIA) hence we should call it as Attari border. Parking was around 1 Kms away from the actual border.
( tip: you can book this visit a day before and can better seats .hence recommended).
BSF team jawans was there to guide the crowd. It took us 20-30 mins to go inside the stadium. It was really patriotic feeling when you see BSF jawans marching in parade with fervour and pride in eyes. Many people were flashing INDIAN flags like a cricket match. It was awesome atmosphere to be into.
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| Attari border show |
We reached back at Lawrence road and ordered food from Beera & Makhan restaurants from majitha road. On next day, we also supposed to drop a car at chandigarh. Zoomcar journey was amazing experience. Then we took cab for delhi and reached delhi in late evening. We stayed near an airport in mahipalpur since we only need to sleep for few hours, morning we took flight back to aamchi Mumbai and cousins took cab for going back to pune. (Mrs.Smiriti Irani was in our flight, We took selfi with her and congratulated her for the way they are doing work for our country)
It was heavily loaded 8 days with lot of fun, many memories, leg pulling, cracking jokes, playing cards, capturing different photos with DSLR & off-course driving in hilly terrain. It was indeed the dazzling experience for all of us.
