Ticket to Heaven should I say ?

Didn't start well but ended great.

Finally was able to get some sleep and friends woke up and the scenery outside was so good to take the eyes off. Rivers, plains and plateaus, windmills and what not. Our train was running an hour late, so our excitement had to be patient there. And finally, exactly when the clock struck 12 at noon, we arrived Pune, the first time I'm visiting beyond the four South Indian states. Thus I was concerned a bit about the language barrier since I don't know Hindi.

We already ran out of time, where the hotel booking that was done online decided to delay our journey even further. After an hour went by in resolving that, we changed and went out for lunch. Bavya Gardens it was, just a random restaurant down the street which stuck in my vision of hunger and pretty much no other choice. It was absolutely the best way to start off things in Pune. The food was so good and whatever we ordered had our taste buds dancing in happiness. After such a heavy and heart filling meal, and plenty of discussion, we walked all the way to the Vetal Hills, the hero of our Day 1.

There begins our journey. 

Rucksack packed up with literally no more space and everything's set for the journey that's been switched to various places over the period of 3 months. And finally Pune it is, after knowing that this monsoon time it's best to visit there and have some life changing experiences. Not a typical friends group to travel with, it's just a triad of people including me. The other two were of different set of friends and guess what they came together so quick to roast me off 😕.

Selena and Halsey were there for me at the starting part of the journey. When the other went to sleep early, I was watching out stargazing and got to know the places in between my place and the destination and took some pictures too.  Here they are.

It took an hour to reach the base of the hill and from there it was all trekking in that beautiful weather of Pune. It was so cloudy and drizzles every now and then when made our journey even better.  We took photos and met some humble paw partners and with the help of a local punekar we were able to witness such a eye-conic (pun intended) view. The fog, the farthest cityscape, the quarry and lot's of people who use this particular place for picnic, athletic ground, mindfulness and the list goes on. There isn't enough photos to be taken at this place. And this is where we met four friends who asked me to take a picture of them who were meeting after 8 years. I felt so happy to have just click their pictures and wondering if I could do the same in the future with some of my friends. After hours of exploration, captures and enjoyment we went downhill and now it's time to explore the streets of pune, rather should I say the street foods of pune.

This place was suggested to me in instagram for their uniqueness in samosa. So we took an auto to reach here and there we began to fill our tummies  with eatables that was along the roadside. We also bought a pair of shoes for each.  Juices, Softies and Mojitos were enough to fill our stomachs rather than fancy dinner and after all is done, we took the longest walk to the hotel room before the our big day of trek starts the next day. Here are some pictures of our first day in Pune.

Andharban the show stealer.

Woke up early, checked out from the hotel and we're set for the trek about which we literally didn't have any knowledge. Actually all of this was just a backup plan which we had to choose and time was our enemy in stopping us from visiting Lonavala. But guess what, we couldn't have asked for a better day than this were we were introduced to an whole new thing called 'Monsoon Trek ' (never ever heard of it). Though our van was late and gave us a bit of hiccup on the thought that if we could catch the return train to Chennai by time, little did I care about that as the journey with all the breathtaking views and pro level driving was were my total attention was held with.Had a light breakfast, rerouted and started off our trek with some awesome people in and around Pune who never made us feel like a outsider and made our experience much easier. It was raining every now and then, mists everywhere I turn, waterfalls everywhere I plant my feet  "oh damn ! have I reached heaven already ? " was the thought that was constantly running over my head. Had lunch in a village amidst all these nature and started our journey back where we had to reroute aplenty times, as soil has eroded in most of the paths. It tested my endurance a bit, but glad I was there to enjoy all that places I came through. With the heaviest of hearts, Began our journey back to Pune. We somehow reached on time to the station. But guess what ? Our train was late so no issue there either. Overall these two days will go down the memory lane as an unforgettable and surreal experience I've ever had in my life. Until my next journey, Cheers, Ciao !

P.S : Special mention and thanks to the Local Guide Moni or Money (exactly don't know how it is spelled) who took us perfectly and despite we don't understand him and he didn't understand us either, he was happy to explain about the place from which we could grasp bit and pieces of information.