My maiden visit to Himachal Pradesh in June 2013 went awry
midway through the trip and the unforgettable second half of the story has been
told in earlier blogs. The first part of the trip being smooth sailing, it is
worthwhile recounting it now. Arriving
Chandigarh airport from Mumbai in morning of 12th June, expecting a
hot and dry weather and not finding it, was a pleasant surprise. Our hired car driver dutifully came to
receive us at airport, hauling a part of our luggage, informed us that the
rainfall the day before made the climate pleasant for the trip ahead. Settling down in front seat of Tavera, with
my two travel mates occupying back seat, we were cruising through National Highway
NH 22. We had our first break near a
road side eatery after passing through Kalka. We had a bite to eat and picked
up some mineral water bottles. Some tourists prefer traveling Kalka – Shimla
sector by rail route to enjoy the toy
train ride.
By 2.15 pm, after a smooth four hours drive, we reached
outskirts of Shimla town, with driver announcing that we have reached our first
sightseeing place at Shimla – Sri Sankatmochan Hanuman Mandir. We eagerly disembarked for half an hour break
to visit a few temples in a large compound. The view of Shimla town situated in
slopes of the hill looked gorgeous. However,
we had decided to pass through Shimla town, taking breaks at a few sightseeing
places on way to Fagu for the night halt.
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| Sri Sankatmochan Hanuman Mandir |
Shimla - the summer
capital of British India and now capital of Himachal Pradesh, has no dearth of
civil construction going on over the years resulting in schools, colleges, reputed
educational institutions, hotels and private houses. The busy roads, bazaars
and the pine trees lining the roads and colorful houses in hill slope keeps one
glued to the scene. Our driver parked
the car somewhere near Lakra Bazar and we were asked to foot it out to the Mall
supposed to be happening place at Shimla. Window shopping during our walk, we
let ourselves in a small restaurant and had Veg. Momos and tea to wash it
down. My two travel-mates made purchase
of Himachali cap from shops stocking clothing items. A short walk and we were
climbing a narrow gradient towards the Mall. The sheer variety of fresh and
juicy fruits by the roadside made us purchase some for our day’s consumption. The fruit season in summer having started in
lower altitudes, the assorted fruits - cherry, peach, plum and apricots from
hills and a mix of other fruits like Papaya, Bananas and water melons from plains; the vendor made a brisk business.
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| Assorted Fruits |
Arriving at Mall we were in a huge open area bereft of any
vehicular traffic, humming with various human activities. The statue of Dr. Y.S. Parmar founder of
State of Himachal in a small park is an input to our knowledge base. In the
same garden, local photographers were doing brisk business by attiring tourists in traditional Himachali dresses and
taking memorable photo shoot. The tourists, on their part, did not feel shy of giving happy, cheerful
poses.
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| Dr. Y. S. Parmar statue |
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| Memory Photo Shoot |
A few good restaurants like Punjabi Rasoi, Goofa and
Ashiana ( Himachal Tourism ) and Ashiana
Restaurant were inviting but we resisted our temptation. However, I could not deprive myself of apple
juice drink from HPMC apple juice outlet.
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| HPMC Apple juice outlet |
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| Shimla Mall View |
Walking along aimlessly, like other few hundred tourists, we
came across a huge auditorium which was staging shows by magician Samrat Shankar. The Punjabi Rasoi located in large area was
holding a food festival with the list of delicacies luring the patrons which we
casually glanced and moved on. The view
of the Shimla town on hill slopes looked charming. The downhill roadside had
vendors selling various memorabilia. We
returned back to our car retracing our path through crowded Lakra Bazar, for
our onward journey to Fagu for our first night halt in Himachal tour.
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I take the liberty of breaking continuity of my journey recount
by including my return journey via Shimla ( so that there is continuity in
Shimla story) taking a night halt at
Hotel Meridian. Early morning of 25th June I hired a car to take me
to the Upper Bus Terminal for boarding a bus to Chandigarh. A negotiation with
the driver for including a sightseeing trip to Jakhu Hill, saw me at the
highest location in Shimla town. Before entering through the arched gate to the
temple complex, I was warned by the driver to take care of my spectacles, which
were prone to be picked by the innumerable monkeys present near temple area. It
was drizzling while I took the steps through the tunnel like path. On arriving
at the top, one cannot miss the gigantic 108’ Hanuman statue, which was erected
in 2010.
The Jakhu Hanuman Mandir
is located by the side of a park in calm and serene environs. A dozen of
devotees in early morning climbed the steps of the temple to pay their
obeisance to Lord Hanuman. The temple looks to be an ancient one with some
smaller structures around it.
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| Hanuman Statue at Jakhu Hill |
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| Jakhu Hanuman Mandir |
Finishing my sightseeing, I was in the process to retreating when
I happened to see a guy feeding the monkeys in a lawn adjoining the temple. It
is a ritual which is followed every morning. Hanuman being the presiding deity of Shimla, his
‘Vanar Sena’ get some special treatment as well!
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We are on the way to Fagu, about 22 km drive from Shimla.
Arriving, we check in our ground floor room in Hotel Apple Blossom managed by
HPTDC. This could be only hotel worth staying at Fagu - a sparsely populated
hill station. Some avoid staying at Shimla because of it being a crowded bustling
capital city of Himachal – akin to staying in a big town in plains. A few days halt at Fagu enables one to see all of Shimla driving to and fro yet not
taking too much of his time. The large open space in the hotel compound as we
come out through side gate is conducive for pleasure walk and see the Himalayas
on a clear day. Some take their cup of tea and morning breakfast seated on
steel chairs soaking into nature. Down below in lower altitudes, the scenery is
enchanting with villages having terraced agri-plots and apple plantations. Some
apple plants are covered with nettings to protect the fruits from damage by
vagaries of freak weather. The not so distant Jai Ma Durga temple looks imposing
which we plan to visit the next day.
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| The Apple Blossom |
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| Jai Ma Durga Mandir |
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| Snow View from Fagu |
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| Landscape at Fagu |
The next morning a short walk on the back portion of hotel takes
us to a few shops located in a small market place for some purchases. Some
distance away we visit the Durga Mandir by going through the arched gate and
climbing some steps. We had the darshan
of Ma Durga deity through the grilled door which was locked. The climate looked a little cloudy but
rainless; it was a good sign for our onward trip to Sarahan.
By 11 am we were on way to Sarahan a distance of 107 km. After about 40 km drive on the NH 22 ( also called
Hindustan – Tibet road), we pass through
the township of Narkanda. This is yet another place where tourist can stay in peaceful
environs in order to escape the crowded Shimla. We included a stay at this
place in our return journey and do some
sightseeing as well. Some distance
later, a number fruit bearing trees leaning
by the side of road with ripe fruits tempted us to take a break. The
forbidden fruits namely peaches, tasted more sweet and juicier than normal!
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| Apple tree |
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| Yellow peach |
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| Red Peach |
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| Sutlej valley |
By 12 pm we were passing by Sutlej valley, with river Sutlej,
flowing down below the terraced fields at various elevations made the view
enchanting.
By 3.30 pm we entered the fringes of Sarahan town. We passed by
Bhimakali temple bang in the middle of town and checked in at our allotted room
in Green Valley Resort. The hotel is located
in slopes of the hill and we were allotted room in floor minus one. The good
portion of Himalayan snow view can be seen by just lying down on bed and
glancing through open window. The small balcony gives a view of astounding
landscape with abundance of greenery and a few colorful houses. The cloudy weather notwithstanding, we had
fairly good view of almost all the mountain peaks including Srikhand.
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| Green Valley Resort |
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| Snow View from Sarahan |
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| Bhimakali temple in early morning |
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| Bhimakali temple in evening |
We sauntered to the Bhimakali temple compound by evening. The temples in Himachal have a architecture
of their own – a Buddhist influence, shall I say. The temple compound has
lodging facilities for tourists. There is a small canteen stocking mineral
water, beverages, biscuits and snacks. As customary, we ordered for our dinner
in advance. The simple vegetarian meal turned out to be simple, good and economical.
Next morning was a good time to take our sightseeing trip to Bhimakali
temple, a five minute walk from hotel. The armed security guards, at first
floor of temple structure, ensure that
tourists keep all their belongings including bags, wallet, purse, camera and
mobile in a free locker provided by temple authorities. Tourists are also
required to don a saffron cap provided at same spot, before proceeding to upper
floors to visit the temple.
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| The Srikhand |
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| Shanti Kunj |
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| Common Hoopoe |
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| Yellow Billed Blue Magpie |
Still some more time to spend in the morning, I visit The
Srikahnd, the single storied hotel run by HPTDC. The hotel looked good with a
grand mountain view from back side. A
small walk and we were at Maharaja’s palace, named as ‘Shanti Kunj’. The palace
looks imposing but out of bound for the tourists. As we enter the arched gate,
the compound has good lawn on one side and apple orchard at the other. This is where the huge surprise was waiting. Never
thought, I will have extended view of
colorful birds like Yellow Billed Blue Magpie and Common Hoopoe right in front
of me. It was a great pleasure to capture the activities of the birds in lawns
and among the trees for images and videos.
By midmorning we bid good bye to Sarahan for our next
destination Rakcham………….
Readers can have visuals of the places visited as per the above
blog by taking the following captioned links.
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