Mussorie - Part 3

This day 3 is delayed in coming. For the 3rd day, we took a stroll through the town proper. As with most cities in India, there is a relatively large crowd around. The streets are quie narrow and there are not many cars around. Most people will walk and there is also some horses for hire to ride.

Along one of the streets. Trishaws are waiting for customers.

Someone riding on a horse

A street where peddlars set up store to sell almost anything.

The town library.

I think this is the youth hostel.

We left Mussoorie at about 2pm to be in time to catch the 5pm train back to Delhi. The ride back is similar, with dinner and tea being served. Reached Delhi at about 11pm. The ride back was relatively quieter, which is quite common for such trips. I guess all out batteries have run down.

India has much to offer and I hope I can make one more vacation trip before my current stint there is over.

Mussoorie - part 2

Day 2 of our stay (10th May), we took a trip through the town and a 2 hour journey to Yamuna camp, a sort of a training camp with white water rafting, river crossing, essentially a place to chill out.

This is a view of the buildings which are on the hillside amidst the lush greenery

On the way to Yamuna camp, we pass Kempti falls, one of the main attractions of Mussoorie. The buildings and the attractions are at the bottom of the falls. To get from the road to the bottom of the fall, you need to get into a cable car.

Kempti falls from the road

After a 2 hours bus ride, we arrived at Yamuna camp. This is quite similar to some of the camps that are operated in Malaysia for management training which I had attended in Jeram Besu.

The entrance to Yamuna camp

The main attraction to the people in my group is the rafting for 10km downstream. It will go through some white water which is a first for many of them. A SUV will pick them up at the end of the journey and bring them back to camp.

The first batch of people on the raft. Can only take 6 at one go

This the path the raft will take, for next 10 km

The Y class tents for those who are staying

The J class tents. Notice the cement floor. They also have attached bathroom

India is cricket crazy. They can play cricket anywhere

Picture rather small. Just to show how a vehicle navigates along the hill roads

The other popular pastime is dancing. All Bollywood stars in the making

We finally left Yamuna camp (after dinner and the dancing) at 9:30pm. However, on reaching Kempti falls, we realised that the road was closed to traffic. In fact, it closes at 7:30pm everyday. There was a fair bit of negotiation with the guard there before they will let us through. They finally let us through after about 15 mins and we reached back just before midnight. I think everyone had a good time. Tomorrow will be an outing around the town and the trip back.

Mussoorie

On 9th May, 2008, I had the opportunity to go with my colleagues in India to an off-site meeting in Mussoorie, a hill station started by the British with its history dating back to 1825. We were there over the weekend and the journey itselsf was quite interesting.

We had decided to via surface transport which means rail and road. The train leaves Delhi at 6:50am so that means waking up very early so that we can be at the station by 6:15am. Crowd and traffic can be unpredictable so we wanted to be there with sufficient time to spare.

This is the entrance to the train station where we congregated

The train journey took exactly 6 hours for a journey of some 250km. Part of the reason is that it has to stop in all the stations in between to drop off and pick up passengers.

This is the train that took us to and from Dehradun, the nearest town

The coach we were in was air-conditioned. In fact, some seats are very cold, those in the middle of the coach which could probably be near where the air is coming out.

The coach we were in

The tickets we bought are for full service. So along the way, we got served tea and breakfast. However, need to set expectations right. They have a person who comes around and give you the necessary teapots and trays for the meals. Not the same as airlines but passable.

This is the morning tea. The thermos has enough water for just 1 cup

This is the breakfast. I asked for non-veg which was omelette

On arrival at Dehradun, the nearest town which is also the last stop for the train, there was a bus and a car waiting to take us to Mussoorie. The train arrived at 12:50pm (exactly 6 hours since leaving Delhi). The journey to Mussoorie is about 30km but will take about 1 hour.

This is one of the views from the road that we were taking to Mussoorie

This is a hindu temple on the way up and is next to a buddhist temple

We stayed at the Jaypee hotel in Mussoorie. The hotel is very nice, probably one of the better hotels in Mussoorie. I was assigned a room that walks out to the garden.

This is the garden that is outside my room

The area where we had our dinner in the same garden

A view of the hotel from the terrace

The journey in itself was an experience. The road is along the hillside and in some spots, it gets quite narrow that the vehicles have to slow down to inch pass each other. Total time for the journey from Delhi railway station to the hotel, about 7 hours. I shall post more later on the area and the town.