Kasauli

Finally took my much awaited weekend break and went off to Kasauli, a tiny little mountain town, located in Himachal Pradesh India, approx 6 hours drive away from Delhi also well connected via trains (the nearest railway station being Kalka, from where u can take a cab, also from Chandigarh, 2 hrs away). I took the road, 'cuz I had heard a lot about the Himalayan Express Highway, and every word of what I had heard was true (clean roads, with rarely any potholes or rough stretch all this in the mountains!!! hats off). Stopped over in Dharampur, a small town at the outskirts of Kasauli and enjoyed a yummy meal at it's roadside diners.

 I stayed at 'The Kasauli Resort', a lovely property
(also recommend The Kasauli Regency, with a rooftop open air bar and diner) both of them are 2-3 kms away from the main town Kasauli but very well connected via state transport. The main attractions of the trip  for me were hiking through the countless trails in the valley, the scenery and of course the tiny little town of Kasauli, with it's stone cobbled streets and quiet life and The Live Guitar night at the Kasauli Regency.

For two days, I walked in the wonderland, surrounded by plush green valleys, watching the sun playing hide and seek with clouds over the tree covered mountains. I hiked through the valley, sometimes in silence, sometimes listening to the sound of wind, the birds singing, all the while drinking with hungry eyes of a drunkard the scenic greens of the valley, feeling delighted at discovering hidden tracks, stairways covered with carpets of green moss, corners hidden beyond the curtains of greens. Mersmerized by walls, trees covered with pearls of greens I walked surrounded by the mist, playing with the wisps of clouds, saw the sunset painting the sky orange while listening to the temple bells tolling far away, and spent the nights gazing at the star studded sky. Had impromptu conversations with locals, was baffled by a stray dog who adopted me and accompanied me all through my hike, I shall forever remember the look of kindness and affection that I had seen in the eyes of that tiny little animal.

I walked as if in a dream, letting the beauty of nature overwhelm my eyes, letting the peaceful calm silence the storm raging within me. I gazed longingly at the roads winding away beyond the curtain of the mist, wishing I could disappear around the next corner, to walk lost in the beautiful spectacle of nature surrounding me.

For two days I was a little girl walking in the wonderland of her dreams, wishing that the dream would never end and She would be left alone in her wonderland.

But all dreams end, and so I wished my wonderland adieu, with the promise to return again.

Green Green, Green every where

The Valley

View from my Balcony

Cobbled street at the Heritage Market Kasauli

The road goes on and on and on
To whence it goes, knows not a soul
beckoning the wanderer within to follow.

'Neath the sun,
sleep the dead,
lives, that once were
now remain just
names entombed.

the moss covered staircase, a cosy little place with sun and shade

The Gardener, tending his beautiful little garden, toiling hard, to  bring to our sight the joy  and beauties of his tiny little garden.

Artistic Recycling

A souvenir shop, run by a man who's turned his hobby into a living. 

Amritsar

http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280207

This mouth watering food blog got me interested in Amritsar the first time (Yes, not the Golden temple or Jalianwala Bagh or Wagah border but a food blog!!!) because I just happen to love good food and I am ready to become a travelling mule for it, and thus this article had me drooling.

Thus, the moment, Jacob, mentioned that he wanted to explore Amritsar and invited me to join in, the weekend trip was set and we plunged with our usual enthusiasm to plan how to reach, where to stay, what to do, in short how to get the maximum travel experience we could get out of the 3 days we had. And after countless the usual second thoughts and discussions later we were ready with everything in place.

Amritsar located in Punjab, India, is known for being the seat of Sikh religion and culture due to the Golden Temple. It is well connected from New Delhi by trains and flights ( u can check any travel websites for the details or click http://wikitravel.org/en/Amritsar ) best time to visit being from October to March.

Deciding to brave the 42 degree summer heat, we landed in Amritsar after an uneventful 6 hr train ride, went over to Radisson Blu, a relatively new but beautiful property, on the outskirts of the city (it's location being it's disadvantage, as u are left with very little options to explore the city, if u wish to explore the city and enjoy the food this property is not for you). That night we decided to explore a punjabi cultural haat called Rangala Punjab at the Haveli Resorts in Jalandhar about 2 hours away from Amritsar. Instead of the hotel cab, we used a local cab service (Arora Travel Agency), which charged us half the price with excellent service.

Rangla Punjab is set in the form of a small punjab village, with tableau showing life in a punjabi village, a cultural  programme of Bhangra, Gidda, plays etc with an open air stage and sitting arrangements on traditional jute cots, an amateur magic show, some games and a traditional punjabi meal  at the restaurant (all this in 440 INR)

Bhangra

The India way of doing popcorns

Punjabi thali in Punjabi dining style.

playing Stapu

Trying my hands at Pottery.

The open air sitting area.

It was fun imbibing the ambience of rural punjab and indulging in games, trying hands at pottery, watching the performances (which were pretty average though).

The next day was dedicated to being tourists, we started at 1 (this time taking the hotel tour package), went to Jalianwala Bagh, in the crazy heat ( U can google for the gory history associated with it. ) then enjoyed a finger licking meal at Surjit food plaza (one of the yummiest chicken that I  have ever had) before heading off to the Wagah border (about 30 - 40 mins away from Amritsar) for the evening time closing of gates ceremony at the India Pakistan border. (The ceremony takes place twice a day once in morning and once in evening any local person or hotel staff where u are staying can provide u with the information)

Wagah border 

The Jallianwala Bagh

Guard Ceremony at Wagah.

Huge crowd and street dancing.

Flag races

The ceremony included patriotic songs and street dancing, a few races by some enthusiastic adults, flag lowering and salutation ceremony by the army on both sides of the gates, but to get to all of this meant braving a long walk of about 1-2kms (because the car parking is about 3 kms from the area of the actual event) in the heat with dust, a mammoth crowd and  a huge scare, when for a silly security theater, I and Jacob got separated in the male and female queue, not knowing where and how we would meet in the crowd (more scary since cell phones don't work in the area due to army jamming). But we did manage to catch up with each other again and then using the entrance for foreigner's gallery (basically it's a huge stadium like area with steps for seats, a part of which is reserved only for foreign visitors) which leads to a sitting area reserved for foreign travelers we were seated on the stone steps of the open air auditorium (which turned out to be a real time pain in ass). As for me I found the whole ceremony pointless (probably 'cuz I believe in world with out border, thus making it difficult for me to identify with the concept of nationalism) but to Jacob it was a celebration of nationalism, but we were both glad when 45 mins later the ceremony was over and our poor bums were relieved.  

After getting back, we had our usual lengthy dinner (lengthy enough to make two or three food posts) before leaving to visit the Golden temple. The temple is a beautiful sight at night, the Gurudwara, decorated with real Gold is situated in midst of a man made lake and thronged with devotees. And being a Sunday the queue was thousands long, when we reached, but thanks to some cooperation from the locals we managed to get in. (Tip - u need to keep your heads covered within the complex)

The Golden Temple at night

The temple periphery.

Golden Temple during the day.

It was beautiful experience, followed by an equally wonderful discussion sitting on the edge of the lake before we decided to call it a day. The next day I decided to visit the golden temple again to see it during the day, while Jacob explored the city. We decided to get lunch from Beera's (which was good, but not as amazing as Surjit's) before returning back via an adventurous and hilarious train journey (I'll leave that story for another blog post)

We had an amazing time, which could have been much more amazing if it would have been winters, 

 but still we had our fill of the travelling experience and memories.