Trip to Solan-Himachal Pradesh India

Here’s another kind of a travelogue of another beautiful place, that is the most closest to my heart and that is Himachal Pradesh, my hometown. To brief you all a little about it, for me since childhood, Himachal has meant a place of my very dear cousins, my extended family that lives there. Every time that I’ve been there, it has only been to meet them and all the relatives, and spend some quality time with the fam. However this time around it was different since I went to a new place, in Himachal only but not the place where I could find my relatives, since I wanted to see the place this time. So, I with my family on New Year’s decided to go to another place in the Solan district called Dharampur. We stayed at Dharampur and from there covered a few much hyped touristy places namely- Shimla, Kufri and chail. Let’s begin.

First day we landed at the destination, where we were to stay i.e Dharampur, oh and just so you know, we were not staying in a hotel we have our own home there, just that I went there for the first time. So since we arrived in the evening, we were already exhausted from the long drive and so we decided to just be at home. Having said that, it is not that we just stayed at home, we did go on a long walk and as the sun was setting, we managed to click some of its really good pictures as we were strolling. One thing though I must confess, before this trip I’ve never really gone out of my way to see a sunset or a sunrise I don’t know why I always used to be so preoccupied with hell lot of things in my brain, that I never really enjoyed my trips that much. It was only the year 2017 that made me realise how much I have missed out by not enjoying little things. I now truly believe that it’s the little things that matter and I whole heartedly believe in that. Now coming back to the walk, we(my sister and I) went really long and as the sun had completely set, we were hurrying back to our home and I say hurrying because we were getting calls from our family members who were scolding us for going out too far in the dark not because of the fear of humans but because of snow leopards that roam around freely and could eat us up :p well this would be quite familiar instance to all the Paharis out there and I know what they would say having read this- “I feel you”. Hahahaha.. I mean yeahh..  oh and the meanwhile on our way home, my mom met us halfway, who was not letting us come alone any longer. While returning, we met a local person who was very old and returning home from work. While me and my sister were busy trying to upload our pictures on social media, they got into talking, they had talked about a lot of local things, but what caught my attention was when he started talking about the snow leopard that he saw and had just escaped. Which was right in the morning before the sunrise, again as it was dark it had come out, but was returning back to the jungle. One thing I liked about him was that he had a big gun at the time when the snow leopard was passing by and he didn’t harm it in any way. He mentioned that they don’t harm animals like that because they believe that all animals are important for the ecological balance. That’s how our first day ended.

Moving on to the second day, it was the best as we visited first chail, about it, it was beautiful, peaceful and nice I mean I would have liked to have a little more time to go beyond that also but with the constraint of time, we saw world’s highest cricket playground, managed to click a few pictures and went to Kufri from there. Kufri ahh, if only I could describe in words how beautiful it was. The main reason that I planned the trip around this time was because only a week back there was snowfall and I wanted to see that, but when we go did, the snow had already melted, so couldn’t experience the snow, but the views that Kufri had to offer were beautiful beyond imagination. Kufri also offers various sports and all but I was only focused on the mesmerising views. And the yummy Maggie that we had there in the freezing wind was another experience altogether. Finally, we went to Shimla, and by the time we reached there the sun was already only half visible from the mountains, and so we did not have much time left, but we still managed to cover the mall road, the ridge and the library, also the church. Had tomato and vegetable soups and the yummiest fruit chart as well, saw all that the place had to offer, clicked some memories and enjoyed a lot. I mean I loved Shimla so much so that I am planning to do only a Shimla tour for a whole day or two. I feel like Shimla is a place that has to offer much much more than this and since you may not know, but I am also a bibliophile and I really want to spend some time in the library. Finally at 11, we reached back home and dozed off..

The next day, we didn’t go anywhere else, I enjoyed the sun there as it was very cold and already we don’t get much vitamin-D in the cities, so It was much needed as well. Then in the evening I again went for a walk but a short one this time and again clicked the sunset, kid you not the place offers a new sunset every day. The evening went by with some family barbeque and some chit-chatters.

The next day, right in the morning, I went for a walk, a very long one because who doesn’t want to take in all the fresh air and let the rays of the rising son upon oneself. This morning walk was all about myself and with myself. Didn’t get it?? I meant without headphones or songs, I know it’s a poor joke, but this walk wasn’t. I reconnected with myself, as I was running, I could hear the musings of the mountains, the trees, the wind, the best kind of music that I have ever heard. I highly recommend to try this. This was the best thing I had ever done in a long time. Then I was later joined by my sister and clicked some pictures because then that was mandatory. In The evening I again took a long walk but took the road less taken this time. I mean, the mountains less taken.. “mera sense of humour bhot acha hai dhere dhere pata chalega aapko” lol. So since I have done trekking when I went in Kashmir, which was the first time, I knew it could be tough with the trees and everything else in between but guess what I don’t care and I did reached my home only through the mountain, my parents were there, but no one else except my mom came with me (she’s better than me in this, I mean all her childhood in the mountains se had to). I loved it, although my legs were hurting after it all but it was all worth it.

EVENING WALK

Sunsets

The next day, we had to leave, so I woke up late, spent my morning in the balcony, packed up everything and didn’t do much. This is how my trip ended and I really want go back again, which I will for sure. I am surely a nemophilist is what I have realised through this trip. And I love travelling.

Malaysia explored

Well Hello again! I know, I’ve been MIA for a while, but that’s because I didn’t have that much idea about how this blog thing works, and also I was doing various things because of which also, I was kind of occupied and completely ignored my blog. But… I am back now, and hopefully I plan to be better at it this time. Okay!! So a brief which was much required is over now, and so let’s start.

I went to Malaysia in August this year i.e 2017. This was a family trip but the colleagues from my parent’s office were also there. Basically it was an office retreat.

So to begin with… the first place after the take-off from Delhi, we landed in Kuala Lumpur, but we reached at almost mid-night and it was just for the night that we had to spend there that was, the very next morning, we left for Langkawi from there, basically the place from where the trip began.

Langkawi, the brown eagle, if you translate it is, is a mesmerising island. Not just it is beautiful to look at, but it is also the people of a place along with the food that make a place special if they are good, and kid you not, nothing at all was disappointing about the place. The name of the hotel that we stayed at is- Bella Vista Waterfront Hotel, their services although were a little chaotic when we reached there, but the hotel was really amazing to stay at. The best part being its beautiful architecture. Looks just like a British castle because of its grandiosity, and the view that I had from my room was pretty too. Also, we were lucky to get a duplex and I mean it was huge and so royal, I absolutely adorned it. Moreover their breakfasts were my favourite too, from fresh cut seasonal fruits to freshly made omelettes and waffles along with various kinds of flavoured breads. I must say, I’ve had the heartiest breakfasts.

Moving ahead to the places that I covered in Langkawi are as follows:-

First we went to the underwater world, and as the name suggests it was really a beautiful world of the creatures that live underwater, I loved everything about it, but have to say the cutest were baby penguins, running from one corner to the other and although they were behind the glass, when I went near them, some of them came towards the side I was standing to play, all the time I was only wishing to touch them, omg why are they so adorable. I never wanted to leave that place. Then there were other very exotic creatures as well, lots and lots of creatures that I had never seen so close. The other would be octopus, OMG I know it might sound strange considering the fact that so many people despise it, I loved it. The way it was moving, hands down the most majestic underwater creature award (this is my very own award) would go to the octopus. How are they so cool!!!...

Second, we went to the sky bridge and to that we took a cable car. That day it had rained heavily and so up there it was foggy and we could not get much of a view, but it was something, very calming, relaxing and beautiful. Plus I was literally in the sky, what else do you need in life.

Third stop was eagle square, which mainly was the symbol of Langkawi, their bird that has been hugely built and basically you can click a picture of yourself with it. It was nice as well.

Fourth stop, Mangrove tour, where they took us to see the bat cave, which was dark and had bats over the top of the cave. Then there were mangrove trees, and they told us how very important they are for our environment, I mean, we already know that trees are important and that’s right, but those mangrove trees kind of also have a historical significance. So, basically there was a very bad tsunami that had hit the place, that had destroyed almost everything around the place, but wherever there were mangrove trees, everything was absolutely fine, those trees had prevented most of the population from a huge loss of life. And so now, no one can cut mangrove trees there anymore, I guess they have made it a law or something, not sure about that, but for sure mangrove trees are now more sacred there.

Fifth stop, and also my favourite one, Island Hopping. There’s nothing I can complaint about at all, I was in the sea roaming from One Island to another, almost the whole day. It was awesome, and the best part was I had just learnt to swim last year and I got the opportunity to swim in an actually deep water without having anyone to save me if I drown (I mean there were people who could possible save me, but for the most part, I was on my own and that was awesome to another level). It was in the pregnant maiden island.

Finally we went to a beach, I mean being In Langkawi if it wasn’t already anticipatory. That was a kind of relaxation time for a couple of hours as we had spent only roaming consistently for a few days.

Okay finally was meant to be final in Langkawi, the final actually is Kuala Lumpur. We again boarded from Langkawi to KL and did some touristy things there like visiting monuments of historical significance, like the king’s palace, national monument etc. and the not historical significance ones are cocoa boutique, which was yum yum yumyyy!!.. And central market which was all about shopping shopping!!.

All in all it was a supercool trip, enjoyed hell lot, had some traditional Malaysian cuisines also in KL, did some more shopping.

Seeing altogether a different place is the best feeling. I feel like travelling opens up your mind somehow. I loved it, and I love travelling.