The last few days have been hectic in terms for workload. Well I have had a few days of vacation too in between, but overall I have been tied up with a lot of things professionally. We, the whole family, recently went out for vacation to Agra, Manali, Shimla, and Chandigarh for 10 days and really enjoyed a lot. While Agra and Chandigarh were hot, Manali and Shimla were equally cold. To be very honest, I didn’t expect Manali to be this cold in the month of April. What made matters even worst was we didnt carry proper winter clothes and it was raining in Manali, which made the weather even colder. We enjoyed skiing in the Solan Valley, but I really wanted to see the Rohtang pass which was closed to the tourists since it still 25-30 feet of snow. The pass would be opened only in the end of May and June. I was really hoping to go there.
From Manali, we went to Shimla. The roads in the North are pretty good except for a few stretches where driving gets a bit tricky. We had actually hired a SUV from Agra for the entire journey and all our luggage was tied up on the roof. Before entering Shimla, we encountered heavy hailstorm. For the 1st time, I felt good sitting in an SUV because for it’s All Wheel Drive, however, all our clothes got wet and Geeta lost a couple of her dresses due to mixing of light clothes with the darker ones. With the weather being cold, drying the clothes was a problem, however, the next day was sunny and it helped us dry out most of our clothes. In Shimla, we went to the Mall Road. It was just like going to an open air mall which has all the latest fashion stores and accessories. There are two markets there, Upper and Lower. On inquiring, we were told both of them cater to the local population. There were a couple of shops which we really liked, one of which was Emerge. The shop had some really cool t-shirts and accessories and is worth checking out. There are a couple of pastry shops which are also worth checking out. After Shimla, we left for Chandigarh.
On our way to Chandigarh, near Kalka, we went to Timber Trail resort and rode a cable car on the way up to the resort. The scenery from the cable car was really beautiful, however it would have been awesome if it would have been raining. In Chandigarh, the Rock Garden is worth checking out. The entire garden is made out of waste and it is really was really awesome. The local government and people also have supported the project a lot. After the Rock Garden, we visited the Pinjore Gardens. We didnt know that the gardens were under going renovation. They would really good once the renovation work is over. We did get to see the glimpses of what the garden would look like after the work is done. The next on the agenda was Sukhna Lake. Since we went there pretty late, we didn’t get to see much in the dark. However, it seems to be a very popular hangout for the local people.
The entire trip was really awesome. Looking forward for the next trip, which is going to be in the month of October/ November. I am planning a bike trip to Goa or a trip to Haridwar and Rishikesh. But the trip is definitely on.
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