Lansdowne - Uttranchal

On Saturday, 28th July, I was sitting idle, watching "Seven years in Tibet" on DVD, at 2:30 pm I got a call from one of my friends, Jatin, who like me was getting bored.

Suddenly we decided to head ourtof Delhi and first name that popped up was Mussorie. But didn't excite us enough. We were looking for something new, some new roads, suddenly I remembered Lansdowne in next 20 minutes our bags were packed and we hit the road in an Alto. I didn't had much idea about the route, however just a vague idea about the names of small towns on the way, I remembered Meerut, Bijnaur and Kortdwar..but was not very sure. But anyhow we were already on road and first point was Meerut. In the meantime I called couple of guys who are from Pauri region and they confirmed the route.

We started at 3 pm, however till time we actually crossed Meerut and clocked 90 Km on the trip meter it was already four hours i.e. 7 pm. And we hadn't stopped anywhere except of petrol. The traffic was too hectic to handle for a highway.

However after we crossed Meerut things smoothened a bit and drive to Bijnaur was a decent one. however after crossing Bijnaur the road to Kotdwara was very good and driving was fun. Its a very good road for relaxed driving.

We reached Kotdwara at 10 PM and from there Lansdowne was another 40 odd Km. I knew that its not a very commercialized place and was not sure of we would get anything to eat at that late hour. So we asked local passerby for a good place to eat and he asked us to head to 'Aangan'.
It was Air-conditioned restaurant, with an average kind of feel to it, however it was beyond my expectations for a small town at that hour. Jatin is fond of spicy food and waiter recommended Kadhai Chicken, so we ordered Half Kadhai Chicken, Kadhai Paneer and Dal Makhani along with Lachha Pranthas. I must say that food was beyond my expectations and actually was really good. The prices were very reasonable and we paid Rs.250 for the entire meal.

Details :

Aangan - Hotel & Restaurant
Badrinath Marg, Opposite GGIC, Kotdwara - 246149
Garhwal, Uttranchal
Ph : (01382) 224881
Mobile : 0-9837356940 & 0-9412081660

So we started again at around 11 PM from Kotdwar, headed for last 40 Km of the journey. Actually the hills start from there. 15 minutes on the road and we saw a pack of wild elephants creating a chaos on the road, not aware of the danger we passed them, however later realized that vehicles had actually stopped on the other side. Even the trucks were not risking the Elephants and then I thought about our small little Alto.

Anyways after another half an hour I got the hunch that we were not on the right track and unfortunately we were not able to find a single living soul for several kilometers to confirm the route. Finally we had to wake someone up from a roadside house and he said that we were indeed on the wrong track and we had missed a turn.

Now that we can see that Lansdowne was 10 Kilometers it should not have take more that 30 minutes. However things changed dramatically soon there was a very thick cover of fog. It was not possible to drive at more that 5-10 Kmph and that too with extreme caution. 4 Km before Lansdowne there was a resort, I don't exactly recall the name but it something like "Pine View Resort". We tried for a room there, but unfortunately none was available.

We reached Lansdowne at around 1 a.m. (Sunday), after reaching Gandhi Chowk realized that this place was truly non commercialized, as we were not able to spot a single hotel. We actually had to stop a passing car and ask from them if there were any hotels there. We were told that there were Fairy Dale Resorts and other was a Government property (Uttranchal Bhawan or something).

For Fairy Dale there is a road on that forks from the Left side and its a steep slope. Now at 1 Am, covered with fog, any road will be bad, but this stretch was as bad as they come. It was hardly 100-200 M but it was a very bad patch.

So at 1:10 Am our car was parked in the Fairy Dale Resorts, that was a relief. Unfortunately even after much knocking on the reception door, no one opened up, and we assumed that it was locked and no one was there to attend.

This situation was really bad, it was almost 2 AM, and we didn't want to climb those dreaded 200 meters in those conditions. So we decided to camp in the car and reclined both the front seats and slept there itself.

I woke up at 5 AM and went to check the reception again, this time it opened in couple of knocks and I was surprised to find that there 3 attendants there. I told them about the problem in the night and they simply said sorry and hanged their head.

Anyhow we took a double room, for that they were asking for Rs.1,400, however we settled for Rs.1000 as anyhow we had to leave for Delhi by evening. Since we had few hours, we simply ordered some breakfast and went to sleep. Woke up at around 2 pm and checked out at 3 pm. However once we started the car, we realised that we had a flat tyre, took the help off the staff and changed the same. Now there was another problem, we didn't want to leave before getting the stepny fixed, however the only puncture wallah in Lansdowne was closed and was supposed to open at 4 pm. We drove to the market, looking for a restaurant to have lunch. There were hardly any choices, there were three of them, Zaika, Mayur and one another I don't recall. We settled in Zaika. They were not serving all the items on the menu, and after much deliberation we settled for Malai Kofta, Paneer Do Pyaja in veg and Kadhai Chicken in non-veg. All with Tawa Chapatis. The food was extremely good, and was freshly prepared. It wasn't very expensive either and we paid around Rs.220 for that sumptuous meal.

It was beyond 4 PM and puncture walla was still not open, we were told that we can get another one 20 KM from lansdowne and it was on the way to Kotdwara, so we decided to risk the 20 KM and eventually got the puncture fixed at Dugatta.

After that it was liesurly drive at 60-80 Kmph and made back to our homes at around midnight. The total petrol costed around Rs.1600.

However the place did impress us for its quietness and lack of activity, we hardly passed any cars on the hills. And lack of hotels and restaurant also suggest that this place doesn't get crowded.

3 days to go

I have not been a good blogger, as have not been able to post for quite some time now. Will continue the Nepal experience at later stages.

I am flying out of Delhi on Friday that is 15th of June. For past week the temperature in Delhi has become unbearable. It has been above 41 C all this while, it had crossed 44 C couple of days back. So anyplace outside Delhi is a welcome relief.

Even though I am going there to attend a friends wedding, which is scheduled for 19th of June in Siliguri.

You can see a picture of his, posing in a traditional Achkan. Even though this is not his wedding dress but he would be using it for some other ceremonies.

Raj, in an Achkan

Since Siliguri is gateway to two beautiful places in India, I took this opportunity to see whatever I can. I had two choices, either Darjeeling OR Gangtok. But after much advice from various sources, I zeroed in on Gangtok.

This time again Naveen is the one who would be accompanying me. But we have 2 new companions, his wife Pooja and 1 year old boy, Chunnu. You can see both of them in the pic below.

Naveen's Wife Pooja and their child Chunnu

So as per the current plan, we would be landing at Baghdora airport on afternoon of Friday that is 15th June and from there proceed towards Gangtok in shared jeep. It would be late in the evening when we would reach there and hence would prefer to see local markets or simply stay in our rooms.

Next day we plan to hire a local taxi which would take us for 7 Point sightseeing trip around Gangtok. This will almost take entire Saturday. and on Sunday we plan to Visit Nathu-la. I have seen some pictures of it over the internet and find that place to be breathtaking. Monday we have kept as a buffer day, we have to see how the tot reacts to climate and travelling.

Finally on Tuesday we would be attending the wedding in Siliguri and on Wednesday we have our flight back home.

As of now these all are plans, and lets see how successful this trip is. I have seed most weired things happen at the last minute, so I am waiting with my fingers crossed !!

Leaving India ..

November 3rd, 2006

Okay, all the festivities over, it’s time to say goodbye to Delhi and Hello to Kathmandu. If I remember it correctly our flight with Indian Airlines, was IC-813 and was scheduled for around 1 pm IST. And there was another problem, we are not supposed to carry currency note of 500 (INR) into Nepal, its not that we cannot carry, but it wont be accepted, so taking all the cash in 100’s was a headache. We stocked some bundles in our pockets and rest went securely into luggage.

So lets come to the Legendry Indian Auto Rickshaw, contrary to popular belief that they rip western tourists, they do not spare even their Indian brethren, and when you tell them you want to go to International Airport, then it automatically rings a bell that you are more moneyed than the average man on the street. So after lot of haggling we hired an Auto Rickshaw and reached Airport at around 11 AM.

At the air India counter we were given some immigration forms, which we filled promptly, collected our boarding passes and the rest of the process was like a breeze. We were asked couple of questions at the immigration and there were no major hassles.

So there we were sitting in the waiting terminal of International Airport, surrounded with well heeled Indians and foreigners. In fact I have heard a lot of criticism about the condition of Airports in India, however since I have not seen any airport other than Indian ones and now Nepalese, I somehow still find them quite okay. Maybe that’s because I have nothing to compare them with. So we were sitting there observing the mannerisms of all sorts of passengers, kids, staff, Air Hostesses ;-).

Boarding started quite late from the scheduled time, which made us worry about Mr. Manjit Thapa, as he was supposed to pick us up from the Airport in Kathmandu as 3:15 PM. And once we were on the place, it didn’t take off for another 30 minutes or so, as there was no slot for it on the runway.

Finally we were airborne by 2 pm, and anxiously started to wait for the meals to be served. We were quite glad that the staff didn’t waste much time and started serving as soon as the seatbelt sign went off. I don’t exactly recall what was served, but it was not very filling, however was of decent quality.

I struck a conversation with a fellow passenger was quite a regular visitor to Nepal. He told me that we could have booked Royal Nepal Airlines instead, as they served liquor on board. So next time it would be Royal Nepal Airline for me. He also told us about the distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara, various means of transport. He told me that there was no need of changing the IC (Indian Currency) to NC (Nepalese Currency), as everyone in Nepal would welcome the IC and would give us the change in IC or if they return the balance in NC they will give it according to exchange rate. All across Nepal they followed the standard rate of 1 IC = 1.6 IC. So it means that if I purchase something worth NC 80, and hand over a IC 100 note, so they assume that they have got NC 160 and will return NC 80 back. It might sound confusing but its very simple concept.

Anyways as we were nearing Kathmandu, we were able to get some awesome views of the snow capped Himalayas. It was a thrilling sight. I am uploading some pictures that we took from the plane.