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Showing posts with the label hill stations

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Ladakh - Planning The Trip

Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out!  Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
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Scenes from a small railway station in the hills

Passing via Kangra Railway Station en route to the Kangra Fort, it was impossible for us to simply pass by, without taking a closer look. 
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Temples of Mahabaleshwar

The rain lashed at us, and the puny umbrella I was carrying was practically of no use. Once again I cursed myself for not carrying a raincoat, knowing well that I hated raincoats, and much preferred getting wet. It wasn’t getting wet that I really minded, but holding on to the umbrella and trying to walk. There were shops on either side, but most were closed. The few that were open offered us scanty protection from the rain, but at least I could concentrate on not slipping on the steps by walking under their awnings. We were walking towards a temple which is believed to be the origin of one of India’s great rivers, and, seeing the water flow beneath our feet, it was eminently believable!
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A Winter Vacation at Ooty

Christmas and New Year – the season of joy, the season of good cheer – also the season of holidays and hotels full of tourist families looking for a place to celebrate. Bookings for the season need to be made months in advance, and tickets need to be booked as early as possible. In short, to just have a trouble free fortnight, arrangements need to be made well ahead of time, with enough foresight to anticipate all possible problems. Deciding where to go is one of the biggest problems, for wherever one ends up, the chances of a whole lot of others landing up is also quite certain. Of course, with a five year old, going to out-of-the-way places is not really possible, and this year, we decided on Ooty and the Jungle lodges at K.Gudi. While the former was full of the normal tourist crowd, we managed to enjoy the weather and truly chill out. The latter however, was wonderful, being in the back of beyond, and meeting no others apart from the 10 other families at the resort being at peace w...
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Kodaikanal-Two trips-Two experiences

Kodaikanal is a well known hill station in Tamilnadu, and much has been written about it. I don’t intend to write this as a travelogue. For more information, see An Indian Bureaucrats diary . I came across the blog when I was looking for something, and it brought back lots of memories about Kodaikanal. It is exhaustive, and well written, and contains almost all the information anyone would want. What I am going to write about is my own experience in the princess of the hills. Yes, Kodaikanal is considered as the princess of the hills - Ooty is the queen of hills- now, why anyone would classify a hill station as female, is beyond me (unless maybe, because it is so very beautiful, and pleasing to the eyes). Usually, mountains and hills are referred to, as male… the Himalayas –for example, and the Govardhan hill are referred to as masculine. I have had the pleasure of visiting both Ooty and Kodaikanal , and I definitely enjoyed Kodaikanal a lot more. The climate was superb in Ooty, but th...
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