Getting There Is Half the Fun

We were really surprised albeit pleasantly so when my dad just told us to pack saying- we are going for a vacation. Okay maybe I exaggerated a little it wasn't that big a surprise, we knew something was on the cards but we had not idea that it was going to be a 360 km road trip, of which almost 100 kms would be covered over snaky mountain roads. As one may expect the woolens were packed (it is Christmas eve so you can imagine) so were all other essentials, well that is a relative definition as for my sister a star map was important as we were expecting clear skies. Anyways with all in the bags and rest wrapped around us we were off to CHAIL.

You just have to get 20 kms out of the city and you could feel the change in the air it wasn't very nippy but definitely a bit cleaner. The newly made expressways connecting Delhi and Chandigarh are really good we cruised along for almost an hour and a half before nature calls caused us to stop almost halfway and then we were back on track to Chandigarh. Well for those who don't really care about site seeing and are just stopping for the night, may i suggest to do so in Pinjore there are quite a few decent and affordable lodging options there and that too in close vicinity of Pinjore Garden, and if i may add a must visit - wouldn't take more than an hour of one's time but its beauty is refreshing, I say so because that's what we did. Next morning we left early, that would be recommended particularly in peak tourist season, for Chail.

This second leg of the journey was almost entirely on mountain roads which despite all my apprehensions and fears are actually very well laid and maintained. The Shimla Highway is excellent and given the mountain road status fairly wide. During this journey the road narrows out once you reach Kandaghat the town acts like a fork between Chail and Shimla once that is crossed the largest town that one will encounter will be Solan known for 'Mohan Brewery' one of the oldest breweries in India and also Mushrooms. Oh and a word of caution even though the roads are pretty good don't get carried away - apart from the obvious reasons there is also the extensive heavy vehicle traffic due to orchards and a number of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, so watch out but apart from that have fun and enjoy the view.

Onward as we got to Dharampur, a small town, there is this great roadside eating joint which advertises with a picture of a rooster which asks the passer by to 'meet him anywhere but eat him there'. With stomachs filled this party pushes on towards Sadhupul(literal translation 'Sage's bridge'). As we got out of the car to get a cup of tea we could feel the bite in the air almost immediately, here you can see a small rivulet being fed by two streams a really great view and really clean stream. Once through Sadhupul it is just another 29 kms to Chail about an hour or so. We could see the vegetation changing slowly as we made our way up the mountains - wide leaved trees gave way to ferns.Finally, four hours after leaving Pinjore we reach our destination and there lies the second half of our experience.

Read on as our journey continues in There and back again.