Good Evening from Delhi, India.
Its March End and Delhi is already burning. {Sad}. Usually this used to be the time of pleasant weather, cool breezes but this year temperature is already crossing the mark of 35 degrees (Celcius). {I need to shift to some hill station i guess :P}
This heat is really making me craving to visit a hill station. {Frankly speaking, today i would have been there at Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India. But, for some reasons plan got canceled just a day before departure. Poor ME :(. Anyways no regrets}
So, i thought why not revisit the memories of Sizzling Shimla trip ????
Shimla , capital of Himachal Pradesh, is a beautiful hill station of India.
I got a chance to visit this beautiful hill station due to wedding of a collegue of mine in April 2016. this was the 2nd hill station of India which i have visited just within a month after my Mussoorie Trip. We were 6 people who had planned to visit shimla and attend the wedding.
The start of the trip itself was very shocking {As always}. We had booked the Volvo to Shimla from Delhi for Friday for 10.30pm. In the morning 10am, the person who had booked the tickets, got a call from the bus conductor confirming if we were coming to board the bus. Yes, we booked morning bus instead of night bus. ????
Now, what to do? Everything was packed and there were no tickets as of now. So, somehow, we managed to find tickets in the night bus and booked the tickets again. What a relief it was.
We boarded the bus, and left for Shimla.
We got down at Kandaghat. Kandaghat is a small town & Tehsil (sub-district) in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, India which is situated on the Kalka-Shimla National Highway No. 22. The road to the famous tourist destination of Chail turns from Kandaghat which is at a distance of 29 km. The capital of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla is at a distance of 30 km.(Source: Wiki)
The relatives of one of my colleague resides here. So, we got down here, met them and then after taking rest for 2/3 hrs we boarded a rented cab to Chail, Kufri and Shimla. The place was beautiful and cold. After reaching guest house, i just took my camera and 4 of us went to explore the place. It was quiet early in the morning (appx 6am as far as i remember). We went to kandaghat railway station and around.
we had so much fun. we walked on the rail gauge. Shimla is famous for its Toy train. The Kalka-Shimla Railway is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway in North India traveling along a mostly mountainous route from Kalka to Shimla. (Source: Wiki)
After roaming here and there for 2 hours, we got ready, had breakfast and then we left to Chail.
In the way, we crossed a place called Sadhupul, which is a small village in (dhalta) Himachal Pradesh between Solan and Chail, located at the site of a small bridge constructed over the hill river "Ashwini". (Source: Wiki)
We got down there from our cab and enjoyed a lot in the river.
I really was not willing to leave this place but we had to :). Then we headed towards Chail.
Kali ka tibba, chail. Situated at the top of a hill, Kali Ka Tibba is a popular must see place in Chail. The main deity of the temple is Kali Devi who attracts a lot of pilgrims and tourists from all across the world. You may enjoy the breathtaking scenery of Choor Chandni and Shivalik Range from the temple.
The way to this hill was very narrow and bad. And return way was even more bad and full of dust as it was not a cemented road. Anyways, we then heas to Chail Palace (Remember the home of Ranchod das chanchad from 3 Idiots).
There was an entry ticket for this palace. it was a nice place to visit. This is a palace cum hotel.
The Chail Palace is well known for its architecture, the palace was built as summer retreat by the Maharaja of Patiala during the British Raj, on the land allotted to him by the British for former's assistance in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The cricket ground and a polo ground which is there at an altitude of 2,250 m was owned by erstwhile royal family of Patiala. It is the world's highest cricket ground. (Source: Wiki)
After visiting this palace, we left for Kufri. I will share the details in my next post for this series.
Till then good bye from Delhi, India.
(24 Mar 2017, 5.30pm)
This post was originally published on Scribavelling.
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