Nainital!!!

Nainital

Day 6

The plan for day 6 was to start for Nainital. We started at about 10 in the morning and soon reached the market where a fork can take you to Nanital through two different routes. While on of the routes goes via Ranikhet (the one that we took to reach Kausani from Ranikhet) the other would go via Almora. The road through Almora is in much much better shape, in fact, it is quite a road to travel on. It was for this reason that we took the road via Almora. On our way up we came across the central school of Almora located at a very peculiar place. Quite a watch I must say! We then reached the top from where we could see the valley down below. From this point we could easily feel the height of the place. The Kosi River down below appeared no thicker than a fine line drawn on a piece of canvas. The journey took us through multiple landscapes and picturesque sites and I kept busy most of the time capturing this amazing beauty of mother earth in my camera. Almora seems to have seen immense development lately as was evident in the quality of ride down to Nainital and also from the look at the infrastructure all the way down.

Finally we reached a point where we had covered about 60 kms down the slope and were now running almost parallel to Kosi River. It felt awesome to be running parallel to a river which until a few hours ago appeared only to be a thin line on a canvas. We continued our journey and crossed Bhimtal in sometime. Finally at about 2:45 in the afternoon we reached Nainital. We checked into the Guest house the balcony of which only turned out to be a panorama to the Naini Lake right in front. Soon after, we left for the market to ease our hunger pangs. We located a good joint by the Mall road and settled down for lunch. After we finished our meal, we went further up the Mall road to check out the various shops and the stuff at display there. My wife is especially fond of the candles in different colours, shapes and designs and wanted to carry a bunch of it home. Before she got carried away, I reined her passion in and suggested her to spend some more time looking at other stuff parked in various shops that line the Mall road.

Amidst all the running up and down the road, checking out stuff, we both quickly agreed upon trying boating in the Naini Lake. To begin with we went out on a shikara kind of thing which was being navigated through the waters by an usher. He took us around the entire Naini Lake and we enjoyed the sight of installations all around the lake. These included, a Shani temple, Temple of Lord Hanuman on one side and on the other side it overlooked Naina Devi temple and a trailing line of a mosque and a Gurudwara. I captured some pictures of the lake and also cut a video covering the scenic views around, my wife and myself. Other important installations by the lake include two pumping / compressor station which force oxygen through the water of Naini Lake. This oxygen is carried to various points within the lake through a mesh of pipelines which originate from the compressor station and end up at certain identified locations / points within the lake. This has been done in keeping with the orders of the appropriate authority to sustain the fauna of the lake. You could see a lot of fishes in the see and as per the usher these can be as big as about 10 to 12 Kgs in weight. As the boat approaches these fishes disappear but at the same time they can be seen at couple of paces ahead of the boat almost always.

Boating in Naini Lake was an absolute delight and quite refreshing as well especially after a long and winding road journey. After boating we went back to the guest house and slept for sometime. Post this we ordered for some tea and went around to breathe in some fresh air. We restricted ourselves to the guest house for the rest of the part of the day and decided to continue our sight seeing adventure the following day. Earlier in the day, we managed to strike a deal with one of the horsemen to show us around a couple of local sights on horse-back the next day.


Day 7

Following morning we got up a bit earlier than usual and were ready to take on the horses by about 9. We were expected to take a cab till the point where the terrain is better described as the one that befits a horse ride. The horseman took us to a point closeby and introduced the point to us a lover’s point. I don’t know as to why it is called so. It more looked like a suicide point to me. Only later would I learn from another guide that there indeed exists another point called by this name. We captured a few pictures of the point and headed back to point where we were supposed to mount the horses. The guide gave us some instructions and we followed the same religiously to ensure that no goof ups happened for this part of the sight seeing. It can be really risky to negotiate such a tough terrain with little regard to these rules. The terrain is rocky, bumpy and steep enough for only a horse to climb it properly. After the ride we were much better placed to understand as to why the scientists would use “horsepower” as a unit to measure energy. A horse with sturdy built can scale the steepest of the slopes and also negotiate an utterly rough and disturbing terrain with much ease. The horseman was a bluff as he quickly rushed us past these locations until we reached a point from where you get an unhindered view of Himalayas. We came across a bunch of kids there who were looking through a telescope installed at this point, probably to have a look at the Himalayan ranges. We also paid about 10 bucks to use the telescope to have a look at the vast range of Himalayan peaks. An adept camera man was all we needed to have our pictures captured with the Himalayan ranges in the background and there we saw one standing next to the telescope. We engaged the services of the cameraman to have those fabulous pictures captured and he assured us that the pictures would reach us in the guest house the same evening. From this point, through the telescope, we also observed the china point which has a white coloured flag hoisted at the top of it. Locals say that from that point English could have had a look at the Great Wall of China, a statement which was summarily rejected and dismissed by my learned brother later. After this, we dismounted the point and continued our horse ride. Till now we had been moving up the slope and here was a point which called for the descent. From this point below we would witness sharp descent. The trained horse trod with much ease until we reached relatively plain ground and were told by the horseman that the market was just 5 minutes walk from that point on. We took his word and alighted from the horses. We walked down the road and realized that the walk only got longer and longer in time. On asking others around, we were told that market was nearby and we soon reached the market but definitely not in 5 minutes as was promised by the horseman. At the end of this descent on foot we found ourselves at a point which was very close to the Naina Devi temple. It could not have been better than this and we continued the walk down to the temple. The temple is beautiful and well maintained by the priests. We offered prayers to the various deities in the temple and proceeded to the guest house. On our way to the guest house we walked through an array of shops which were selling all kind of stuff but primarily clothes. We also came across a head massage instrument which incidentally, a few days ago, we had seen in Noida. We had planned to purchase it but the vendor had quoted a cost of about 350 a piece for such a simple instrument as that. Here we got two for hundred bucks! We continued our march down to the guest house where we had our lunch and retired to bed for the forty winks! We got up in the evening and went down the Mall Road to do some of the boating again only that this time it was with a twist! We took the peddle boat and decided to venture out to the lake all on our own. We peddled the boat along with the wind once and against it the other time. I would strongly recommend the peddle boat to all those who desire to do boating in the Naini Lake. You can peddle it at your own pace and at your will. It’s quite easy to maneuver and hence, very convenient to navigate through the waters. The breeze that wafts past your hair is highly refreshing and it feels like a unique therapy to the tired body and soul! We had about 40 minutes left for the boating deadline to expire and we made good of these 40 minutes to heartily enjoy our “Lake Voyage” . After this, we went to the Mall road and explored the roadside shops and stalls. We picked up quite a handful of stuff to carry back home. With Diwali approaching, it was not a bad idea to carry some diwali stuff home from Nainital. Before this, I was always told that Nainital has got quite crowded lately but thanks to the season, we did not come across much rush except for the scores of Bengali tourists who flock the place during this time of the year. It was a pleasant sight throughout. We clicked some pictures by the Mall road even as we continued shopping for a variety of stuff. I would recommend the Honey seller by the Mall road. I don’t remember the name of the shop but it sells variety of honey and squashes. I picked up about a Kg of it from this shop at a very reasonable rate. The shopping ended only at a point which was quite close to the guest house and hence, it did not take us long to get there. We ordered for the dinner and were served the same on time. We had our dinner and retired to bed with plans for tomorrow which would serenade us in our dreams. We had decided to prolong our local sight seeing the next day and also longed to cover places around like Bhimtal, Saattal, Naukuchiatal etc.


Day 8

We again got up in time and prepared ourselves for the day ahead. We had struck a deal with cabbie a day before as per which he would reach the guest house at about 9:00 in the morning and would take us to some local sights which we could not cover the day before. We decided that we would finish our local sight seeing before deciding on further to venture out to Bhimtal and other places nearby.

We started out for a place which would once again provide us with an opportunity to view Himalayas. It is advised to reach such spots early in the morning when the sun is still low. Once it rises to a relatively higher point the bright sunlight may hinder the view of Himalayas. We reached the point and saw a lot of people parked there already. Wife was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of getting her pictures clicked by a professional photograph while she sported the pahari outfit which were kept handy by the local entrepreneurs who make money from renting out these outfits. Many other tourists also did the same. For the first time ever I saw outfits of dacoits with a horse tied nearby. You can rent these outfits and get yourself clicked holding rifle in one arm while the other firmly gripping the reins of the horse. Some enthusiasts were seen getting such pictures clicked. This sure was not the primary agenda of visiting this point but it did get sidetracked at the sight of an alternate opportunity like this. Nevertheless, we matured out of it soon and reached the point where we could get good glimpse of Himalayas. We did manage a good look at it. By now we had had quite a few opportunities to manage a look at the Himalayas and hence, we did not invest any more of our time at this spot. The photographer promised delivery of pictures in the evening at the guesthouse and we started for the next location.

The cabbie also took us to the lovers point and guided us to a place which we had not explored the day before. We were also ushered to the “suicide point” from where you could have a view of almost the entire Nainital. You need to trek a bit up to reach the suicide point which many of them don’t do. I chose to trek up and maneuver the narrow passage to reach the top. It was quite an experience to witness such great height and the view of the valley from there.

Following this we proceeded for the next location which is better known as Sadiatal. The name is quite strange and we wondered as to why it was named this way! Later we were told by the guide that this used to be a dump earlier which was recently revamped, renovated and presented to the visiting tourists as a lake. It indeed looked in good condition as projected. We stopped by to click a few pictures and then moved on to the next spot which was “Sadiataal Waterfall”. This probably originated from sadiataal and made for a great sight. We positioned ourselves at different points around the fall and clicked pictures with the waterfall in the background. More adventurous people would have liked to venture into the waterfall, however, due to paucity of time and our desire to cover many more points we chose to move on. There are a few shops located right across the waterfall and you can have snacks there. A common feature across these snacks joints would be “Pakodas” which look quite appetizing.

We closed our assignation with the waterfall soon and started for the next point which was the “Cave Garden”. Cave garden is quite an adventure for those who would love to negotiate congested spaces and like to maneuver constricted passages up and down a cave. There is about 6 types of caves in this garden each one related to a different type of animal for instance; I remember having moved through tiger, bat, leopard and one more cave. As you move further the caves get narrower and narrower. It is advisable to go wearing dark colored clothes if you are considering doing all of them seriously. They passage can get very narrow and the dust and sometimes mud may spoil the clothes. The fun was when we clicked pictures while we were inside these caves. It takes some effort to find a stable foothold before you could keep yourself steady for clicking pictures and of course don’t forget to put the flash of your camera on. These pictures turn out quite nice and would serve as “great memories to keep”. In one of the caves, I asked my wife to sport that fierce tiger looks so as to let me capture a picture of her in that pose. She did it only to be captured in camera as a cute cat . For cave garden you have to pay entry fees of about Rs. 30 /- each.

After Cave garden it was time for us to move to much sought after electronic trolley that takes you all way to a high point from where you can have a look at entire Nainital as well as the Himalayan ranges. The charge for this is about 150/- per head. At the top they have set up a lot of shops selling different kind of items, miniature amusement parks etc. We could not enjoy this part as much as we would have otherwise for certain reasons which would not spoil fun for others contemplating to try this  .

Left with little time we had to dump the idea of going out to cover other locations such as saattal and naukuchital etc. We decided to cover it during our next visit to Nainital. We, therefore, came back to the guest house after this and tried to sleep for a while. However, it was not to me since shortly after we would be starting for Kathgodam station to commence our trip back to Delhi. We were waiting for the photographer to deliver the pictures but at the same time we knew that we were left with little time before starting for Kathgodam. Good thing was that we had factored in the contingency aspect and paid extra bucks to the photographer to courier it to our Delhi address just incase the timings did not match at Nainital.

I went around and caught hold of a cabbie to take us down to Kathgodam in the evening. The cabbie agreed for 300 bucks. That’s the kind of money it takes for them to drop you at kathgodam. Do not be fooled by some others who tell you that the usual charges are 500 bucks but for you they would beat it down to 300. They get good pick ups back from Kathgodam to various other tourist places in Uttaranchal. Anyway, thus commenced our journey back to Delhi. We boarded the cab which took us all of an hour and a half to reach kathgodam. We left our luggage at the cloak room since we still had time before the train arrived. In the meantime, we went around the local market to purchase our typical pahari sweets which is balmithai. Must I say that I did not enjoy it as much as the ones we purchase from places deeper into Uttaranchal? We then came back to the station and had a light meal at the Indian railways restaurant before moving to the cloak room to reclaim our luggage. Following this we boarded the train and reached Delhi on time the next day. A couple of days later we received our courier with the pictures clicked on the Himalayan view point in the pahari attire. We were only too glad to run through them.

All in all it was a mesmerizing trip to the beautiful heart of uttaranchal and I would strongly recommend the fellow travelers to spent more time and energy to explore the wonderful and picturesque sights of Devbhoomi Uttaranchal!