Ah, I understood and felt the meaning of vacation for the first time, for real.
To start from the start....
We had been planning for long for a long trip, actually driving holiday. And in fact I had been dreaming of it for long now. These small Chandigarh, Jaipur trips are making me a highway driver, no fun in drives anymore.
My plan was to go towards Kinnaur and further Spiti during the Christmas and New Year holidays. I had already applied and got approved my leaves and so, I had from 25th Dec to 3rd Jan '2010. Total of 10 days. A lot of suggestions from the travel fraternity and the suspicious looks from my own family were making it clear, that Spiti was not to be, at least this time.
Again, the rest of the gang was also interested, when I had just mentioned the plan around 2 months ago. Fellas were serious and asli maja SAB key saath aata hai. And this time, out of five people working of the six adults, all five were in a situation of holiday and taken leave for those 10 days. That was an unbelievable
situation , so we had to be going together, all of us.
It was decided, we have to make this a vacation, rather than a touch and go, covered all points, typical holiday. And it turned out to be like that this time.
We were three families, each one typical nuclear family, 1+1 and a little one. All three kiddos between 6 to 7.5 years of age. All of us met on a get together 15 days before the start day. I was trying to pursue that we all go in our friend owned Innova, all in one. The Innova owner wasn't agreeing to this at all. She was adamant that this isn't a good idea. No avail, and finally we decided upon two vehicles to be taken.
An Innova and an Ikon.
I had to rush to get the Ikon serviced and get ready for the hills, I knew it is not good to go to service station around month end before a vacation for your credit card, but it had to be.
The plan as it looked like : The prime goal of this trip was to make a snowman. Kids had to make one, play in snow. We are three families, so started thinking about taking a cottage in the outskirts of Manali. Got talking to one Sharmaji from Special Tours (http://www.specialtoursindia.com/). He told us about a new property they had, the Pine Wood Cottages and gave us a good rate. The cottage had a care taker and a cook there itself. A little expensive, but what to do, we were going there from Christmas to New Year, and they jack up the rates by more than double during the time.
But with the experience of going to Manali, recently ( in Oct'09), in a direct Volve, we were determined not to to go to Manali straight. Looking for a midway break, I could see a place in the hptdc website showing availability of 3 rooms, just a small diversion from our route, REWALSAR. I read about it and thought, this is it. The hptdc Tourist Inn read like good, affordable and less than 150 kms from Manali for the next day.
So that is it, the rooms were booked online and customer IDs stored, for further use. :-). Also remitted some money as advance to Sharmaji, net banking has made life
such easy, isn't?
A few days into the plan and we made all the lists as well. Of the things to carry. One going to canteen to procure all
the liquor that we are going to need on this trip. Me going for all the snacks that we might need on this trip and one for
all the ration that we might need on this trip. One person preparing and taking all the necessary things for games that
we were to play there, what kids would be playing etc.
The D-day came, we had planned to start at 3 am, to avoid the early morning rush on NH 1. I slept early the night before
and my better half was left with a lot of packing. She did it till late.
Day 1: 25th Dec 2009, 3:05 am
Trrring trrring...the phone ring woke me up. Jappi on the other side was saying, abbey uthh jaa.... Jumping from my bed,
I saw, its 3:05 am.
No problem. All izz well.
Started lugging the luggage in the boot. Ah, there is so much of it. Am glad, we didn't take only Innova. I thanked our friend Geeta on not letting us decide upon the one vehicle plan. The luggage was huge and we we packed and jacked all,
and started towards Jappi's place. All were already waiting there.
Adjusted the remaining luggage and the passengers were distributed. Me and my wife as driver and co-passenger in the Ikon and all three kids as the rear seat passengers. The other four adults comfortably sitting in the Innova. This became
the de-facto arrangement for the rest of the trip, and we enjoyed it upto the brim. Never a dull moment with so many holiday mood kids around. And the kids used to listen, when I would tell them anything, or threaten them, ha ha.
So, all set, we fill up petrol, check air pressure, trip meter set to zeroand start around 5 am from Delhi towards NH 1.
The route was comfortable, but as usual dvindling between fog and no fog zones, the progress was slow. Kids also slept in some time and we kept on cruising smoothly and slowly. The first break around 8 am, at the famous dhabas near Karnal.
I will splash the name as soon as I remember. After an hour almost, we start from their, everybody charged up again with tummies full and freshened up, hey hey.
Just around half hour into the drive again, we receive a phone call, from the vehicle ahead. They tell us about a fog zone starting soon and to drive slow. And we hit a blatant fog zone, and nothing is visible at all. Just like that it sprang
in the front and the cars came from 80-90 to 20 suddenly. Ah, that was real bad. Kept on driving slowly behind one or the other vehicle. Everyone had their blinkers on. And some people were still overtaking. Phew....
Another call, a trail of 5 cars is hit and is standing on the left, in invisible situation, do not be on the left side. OK. We kept on driving like that, but I got tired in half hour. And we again pulled into the Kingfisher Resort at the Cdg Patiala junction just out of Ambala. Stayed there for the next 40 minutes or so. A little sun light started coming out and the fog was receding now. Time to saddle up again now. its already around 11 am and we have a lot to cover. Only at 200 kms in the trip right now and another 250 to go. Its going to be a tough driving day.
Then, I took the right turn from Zirakpur and we went through Pinjaur, Baddi, Nalagarh etc and the rest of the route. The route wasn't very good actually. We kept on moving ahead slowly, kept on driving till the afternoon and only stopped at Swarghat HPTDC hotel for the lunch. And you would not believe, people in Innova were already tired of the travel. Ah, I know the rest of the journey is going to
be difficult. Plus there are UN-known s. Innova had stopped for lunch at Hotel Hill Top, Swarghat. We reached there well before 2:30 pm. But, the poor service made sure the waiter doesn't get any tip and that we do not leave before 4 pm from there.
Now we were also trying to find out from people, how far actually our destination for the day Rewalsar, still is. As of now, it is still 110 kms, aahh.
I already had a print out, from google to turn left from Ner Chowk. It lies after Sundernagar and before Mandi. By the time we cross Sundernagar, it is getting dark already. Now we would be taking the sub route , from Ner Chowk, and I really have no idea how the route is going to be.
Its pitch dark now, but the adept traffic cops are smoothly handling traffic on the hills. They guide us towards the Ner chowk and the turn we have to take. We were ahead now, so we take the turn, inform the other car about the turn and wait there, till they arrive.
Soon they came upon, the shouting and blaring voices of females from the back seat could be heard till around a hundred meters. "This is not fair. What kind of a journey it is. It is too far. Why couldn't we stay at Swarghat itself. etc etc.."
Ah, I know it is tough to drive in this terrain, especially seeing the rough weather in the other car, the guys in that car must be driving with passion. Ha ha ....But this is all what puts the icing on the cake.
The road from Ner Chowk to the Rewalsar Tourist Inn, was just awesome, out of the world. Around 20 kms, in pitch dark, in the single lane, surreptitiously increasing height with sometimes sudden height bumps. The less used roads, are like what in hills, I hope you have some idea. Well, after that almost an hour and half of hair raising experience, driving on those roads, kids bellowing in the back seat with enjoyment and fun. They had had quiet a good sleep after lunch at Swarghat and were having the most of the day now.
I was driving continuously, less need to give any horns, as the oncoming light provides an idea about an approaching vehicle. Also, I was having thoughts, how would be the weather in the other car. This was the most fun thing at that time for me.
Although I know, it was definitely a tough route and for beginners, it was too much for the first day. Although, we were still inside our budget of around 450 kms for the first day, but the terrain, darkness and traffic crossings had made the mind haywire for some. Especially those, who want to know every fifteen minutes, how much of journey is left actually. I had initially hinted that the drive of around 450 kms, could be done by 4 pm if we start early at 3 am from Delhi. We were still in budget for kilometers but not with time. Although we did stay a lot in between, spent the time at midways joints, but we forget about that time and just think that it is 6:30 pm right now, pitch dark hill road, and we do not know how much of it is still left.
Anyways, for me, that drive was the most refreshing part in the whole day. Don't know why, but I was fresh and charged up like anything after 460+ kms under the belt for the single day, whoofh...
The rest of it was the usual conundrum, ha, the rooms allotted, check in, milk for kids, tea for adults, glasses and soda for alcoholics. And gup shup for the evening. It was heavily chilly and we could feel the difference.
Weather was heavy inside as well, ha ha, but only for a few more hours. Let the sun shine.
Couple of glasses in, dinner ready for grabs and we finished it up quickly. A small night stroll, checking out the surroundings, it had a wonderful small town feeling in the eerie hour of the night.
That was almost it for the day. Ha, long day it was. And no photos for the day, can you believe it.
Borrowed a few photos for the day, from Jappi, splashed below :
- A stretch break en route.This is how kids were riding in the car, for most of the time.
Kingfisher Resorts near Ambala
Finally in peace, Merry Christmas- at Tourist Inn, Rewalsar.
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