TRIP TO SHIMLA AND MANALI

Assalamualaikum and Hello everybody.

So today, I try to share a little bit about my experiences on last year trip to northeast India, Himachal Pradesh. 

it was a great choice to spend our Deepavali holiday which is about 1 week.

so, after some discussion 3 weeks prior to departure, we managed to get the best quotation from one of the travel agents in Delhi.

we started our journey from our campus, Belagavi to Goa international airport. 

it took around 3 and half hours from here by car. 

of course, we choose to book a car since the road from Belagavi to Goa is really challenging.

then, we managed to arrive early at Goa International Airport. 

the next destination was from Goa to Delhi Airport. 

the flight was scheduled around 8:45 pm and luckily it was on time. 

after being 2 hours and 45 minutes on air, we finally arrived. 

I remembered that I have to purchase veg biriyani for in-flight meal cause I am really hungry that time. there were not so many food stalls in Goa Airport. plus, we also arrived at midnight. 

it was my first time to be in Delhi Airport and I just knew that there were 3 Delhi airports. 

the reason why I remember that because we had a miscommunication with our travel agent. 

it took around 30 minutes for them to find us, 

I don't know what to explain to you guys, but there was something that shouldn't happen which is miscommunication cause they are the one that booked our flight ticket. 

after 30 mins of waiting, we finally met this young man who can speak English fluently. 

Thank God!

then he brought us to the car.

Another thing happened when they actually park the real car for us 5 minutes from the airport. 

meaning that we have to load, unload and reload our baggage.

The vehicle provided was Bolero. It was the typical vehicle or tourist transport all over India. I can occupy around 6 people. 

but, since we were 6 people with luggage, so the 2 people on the back of the car had to suffer a litte bit. opss! quite much i think cause the middle and front seat was unable to fit any luggage.

The journey took 10 hours from Delhi to Shimla. 

So, technically, 2 people at the back was suffering throughout the journey cause that car don't have carrier on top of the vehicle like others'

I barely asleep because it was not so uncomfortable. 

he stopped around 3 to 4 times at Dhaba(highway stall) for some refreshment. And of course, refreshment means "chai" classical Indian tea. 

we arrived at our cottage in Shimla around 8 o'clock in the morning. 

It was so cold that time with 12 degrees Celcius from Delhi an Punjab.

I liked the cottage provided by our travel agent. the name was "Oak View Cottage" since it was located higher and on the same level of the top of the oak tree. The scenery was really amazing.

I think I should tell you the journey from Delhi to Shimla. 

as I took 10 Hours and passing through Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and finally South Himachal Pradesh, there were lots of geographical variants.

in Delhi and Haryana, you could find the road was really flat. once you enter Punjab, get ready anti-emetic for motion sickness. 

it started to gain altitude. For me, the most challenging part when we entered Himachal Border. 

There were mountain side roads only. all you can see was the peak of the trees more than 8,000  feets below. the temperature was around 8 celsius.

Some of my friends were barely tolerating with that condition. Some of them already ingest anti-emetic pill. 

So, back to the scene at the cottage, after unloading all the baggage, we were given "chai" as welcoming drinks. it was so classic and differ with others hotel in the city as they will give some juice.

But the tea was not bad, we decided to go to the next destination after refresh and pray which is around 12:30 pm.

Unfortunately, the heater took longer than we expected to become warm.

so, one of my roommates decided to take a nap including me.

after refreshing up, we wore extra cloth inside to avoid from temperature shock since that was our first time to be there. 

apparently, there were not so many places to visit in Shimla itself. the famous one was The Mall and The Ridge located 20 minutes from out cottage.

the first thing that we looked for was food. We were at super starvation that time.

we googled some restaurant and it appeared that KFC is available there. 

so, we went up and down the road and unfortunately it was closed cause Deepavali Holiday.

too bad. 

after 10 minutes searching, we found CafeCoffe Day.
God bless us that time.

to be continued....