DEV BHOOMI - Day 12

15th. July 2010.

A very fitful nights sleep. The Razaais that most of the hotels have are really warm. I'm sure that even when it's really cold, sleep under one of these and you will be warm. It's 6.00 am. when I wake up. As usual, have kept the water heater on throughout the night, in the hope of getting hot water in the morning. Am not disappointed, the taps have hot water. Time for every one to get up! I go out looking for the kitchen staff, so that we can order tea. I step out and as has been happening, there is no one around. Hopefully some one appears soon.

Go back to room, Arshad and Dinesh are both awake. We decide to clean the car from the inside. All the accumulated dirt/ dust, etc., of the past 11 days, needs to be cleaned. We would like to operate the A.C. on the drive today, at least on the stretches which are bad, especially the road from Karcham onwards. It would be prudent to at least wipe out the dust, so that we are not breathing the same, when the A.C. is in operation! I go and start the cleaning operation, Dinesh and Arshad join me after a few moments and remove all the luggage and begin cleaning too. We decide to empty the Jerry can of Diesel into the car tank. Again 3 people required, 2 to lift the cans and 1 to hold the funnel! Finish the cleaning, well almost, not the greatest of jobs, but good enough! The outside cleaning can wait. It's going to get dirty on the road anyway!

This cleaning is a tiring job. Head back to the room and first requirement is tea. Luckily for us the people in the kitchen are up and about. We ask for teas in our room. Dinesh take a bath and is ready before the tea arrives. Arshad and me finish our teas. Its nearly 8.00 pm, by the time Arshad and me have our bath and get ready. For breakfast, we have ordered Bread Omelettes and Aloo Parathas. We head to the restaurant to have our breakfast. Breakfast is over by around 8.40 am. We are ready to leave Nako. Settle all the bills for the room, teas, dinner and breakfast.

Start from Nako finally at 9.00 am. Past the helipad and the Centre View Dhaba, and proceed further towards Khab. Pass the village of Khab, after lots of winding, steep, descending roads at around 9.55 pm. Reach Titankhud Bridge and the Dubling turnoff at 10.05 am. NH22 begins from this point onwards. Cross the Tripeak Eagles Army camp DET, which is just before the village of Pooh at around 10.15 am. The roads are pretty decent all along, with some bad stretches. We encounter a minor landslide somewhere between Pooh and Spillow, which is being cleared by a bulldozer. A small wait of 6 mins. and we are on our way.

Reach the Mati Dhang Durga Mandir and the Police check post at 11.12 am. All the car papers and details are checked and noted down. Arrive at the town of Spillow at 11.20 am. Stop for teas at Hotel Himani for around 15 mins. Have tea and are back on the road. Cross the bridge over River Akpa at 12.15 pm.

Pass the village of Ribba, across the Kassang Bridge, Pangi Nallah and reach Powari at around 1.10 pm. On the way we go past the GREF HQ at the outskirts of Powari. We halt at the same dhaba, that we had breakfast at, on the way to Kaza. We order Chole Chawal (Basmati if you please!). Dinesh decides not to have Chole and makes himself some jam sandwiches. We buy a pack of Lays wafers to go along with the Chole Chawal. (in lieu of Papad!) Surprisingly the food is very tasty and filling. We leave after around 35 mins., after paying up.

We cross the Shontong Bridge at around 1.45 pm. The progress so far is quite good, even though the roads are pretty bad because of the Baspa II hydro-electric project work going on. We cross bridges over the Rivers Baspa and Satluj.

Past the villages of Cholling and Tapri (no did not halt :-)!) and we reach Bhavanagar by around 3.05 pm. We stop for tea at Lutuksa village, just outside of Bhavanagar. Leave after a 12 min. break. Drive past the villages/ towns of Pangi, Nigulsari, Chaura, Badhal, Jeori, Ratanpur, Jhakri and are at the start of Rampur town at around 4.35 pm. We were supposed to be spending the night at Rampur. All through the drive from Nako to Rampur, the shock absorbers/ suspension have not acted up even once. And we have crossed many bad patches. Maybe the suspension will hold up till the next big town or maybe even till Bombay! We decide not to stay at Rampur and try to head further towards Shimla. The roads hereon should be good and Shimla is roughly around 140 kms. from Rampur. We should take a maximum of around 3 hrs. to cover that distance. So Shimla it is then!

Drive on, past the villages of Nogli, Nirsu, Dattanagar, Bhadrash, Nirath across Kaali Mitti Pul, Sainj, Kingel, Batola, Kumarsain, Odi and reach the town of Narkanda at 6.15 pm. Stop for teas at the end of the town and move on towards Shimla after 15 mins. The road is two laned and we are keeping a good speed. The road reminds me of NH 17, turning, twisting all the way. Only difference being the altitude. We are much much higher than the Konkan region. The views are just awesome. We pass the villages of Kandiyate, Shilaru, Matiana. The sun is about to set and we halt to take a few photos.

We leave after around 25 mins. Pass the village of Barawan Sandhu and the town of Theog at around 7.30 pm. While driving we also discuss the possibility of staying in Kufri. Sounds like a good idea. Reach Kufri at 8.00 pm. By mistake I take the road leading to Chail, assuming that all the hotels will be on this road and not on the main highway! Reach HPTDC Lalit Cafe after around a 2 km. uphill drive. Wrong decision to come up this road. Stop to ask directions from a shop near the Cafe, which is about to close down. We are told that the next hotel is at Chail, which would roughly be a 35 km drive. We decide to head back down to the highway and try our luck there. Drive down to the highway and come across a few hotels on the main road. Dinesh goes and checks out a couple of them. Not too pleased with what he has sen, he suggests that we should head on to Shimla. The options there will be much better.

We reach the tunnel before entering Shimla at 9.00 pm. Pass through the tunnel and are in Shimla town. The first thing that strikes me, are the amount of people around and the traffic. After having been in areas, where we would be lucky if we saw people for many kms., let alone seeing cars, this crowded city is like a big shock. I park the car at the side of the road and Arshad & Dinesh get down and go to find out information regarding HPTDC hotels, where we can spend the night. They return after around 5 mins, with all the required information and directions. Arshad takes on the role of a navigator, guiding me through the streets of Shimla.

Shimla is really a very big town, make that a city. You can see the city sprawling along the hills. We reach the HPTDC hotel after 8 mins. Arshad goes to find out availability, rates, etc. In the meantime, Dinesh spots a photo-op and takes his camera and is off to shoot some snaps. In the distance, Shimla by night looks really cool.

Arshad returns after some time saying that there no big rooms available, the only one available is too small and not worth the price they are asking. We decide to head out and find some other place to stay. As soon as we are out of the compound and reach the main road, we come across a couple of people waving their hands frantically, asking us to stop. I ignore them and then I begin to wonder, if I had committed a traffic violation. Since I did not see or hear a cop trying to stop me, i kept driving, only to be accosted by the next set of people waving! I decided to stop and check what it was all about. Imagine my surprise, when 3 guys come running across the road, with visiting cards and photos of hotels! All of them are Touts/ Agents. Anyway we decide to have a look at what they have to offer. Couple of places they suggest sound promising. One of the guys gets into the car to show us around. We stop at the first hotel, Hotel Brightland, park the car and Arshad and me go inside to check the rooms, cost, etc.

Decent place, with parking available (which by far is the most important thing in Shimla) in the premises. We decide to take the room. Pay the advance at the reception and come back to the car to take out our luggage and park the car in the proper parking place. At the reception, we are told that the restaurant kitchen will close at 10.30 pm., so we should order our food soon. We ask them to send us the menu in the room, so that we can order our food, and freshen up by the time it is ready.

We enter the room with our baggage and for the first time we see a fan in a hotel room after Chandigarh, that was way back on the 5th. of July! Its a double bedded room, with an extra chaise lounge which doubles up as an extra bed. We ask for extra bedsheets, covers and pillows. We all freshen up one by one and are ready to attack the restaurant for dinner. An observation while at the restaurant, this whole hotel and probably most of the hotels in Shimla are mainly for Honeymooning couples and the likes! All the tables in the restaurant have candle and the rest of the lighting is very dim. It is not as cold as Kaza or Nako out here, but there is a chill in the air.

Its nearly 11.00 pm., when we finish dinner, sign the bills and head back to our room. Spend some time viewing photos that Dinesh has downloaded onto his laptop. Switch on the TV, browse through channels and finally stop at a channel showing a Bond movie. You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery, if my memory serves me right! Hop into bed, to watch the movie while lying down. No idea when I passed over into dreamland.

To be continued...............................