[tsk1979]

Hi guys,
This good friday weekend(14-16 Apr) me and my wife headed off to the hills, and this time we chose nainital, hoping it would be better than the fiasco that commercialization has turned mussoirie side into. Well it turned out good and here's the detailed report. I am putting in small images. Clicking on them will take you to the gallary where you can choose which size to see!
Since this trip came up unexpected, we did not have booking anywhere, so we decided to head out anyways
With some guidance and help for Raghav and ntomer, both active delhi members of TBHP we planned to start at 7am in the morning on Friday. On thursday evening I borrowed my cousins indigo as a normaly aspirated diesel can be a pain in rarified air, esp if you dont have a ECU to compensate for shortage of pressure.
Day 1 - Friday
===========
As expected we started from our apartment at 8:40am shown at the indigo dash clock. Luckily we stay in noida and in no time we were on NH24. After crossing Ghaziabad we were on the wonderful 4 lane section with hardly any traffic. The hapur bypass took the cake with me doing three digit speeds without any hindrance or traffic, and fencing on the side ensured lower probability of surprises. There were a couple of trucks coming the wrong way, well thats about it. After Hapur(About 30-40kms from delhi) the nightmare started. 2 lane road with all kind of traffic concievable. Now I understand why they say start at 5am. With my shoulder aching and nerves tensing, I took the 80 odd kms assuming that only monkeys drive here. People were jumping in front of the car from all directions. Cyclists scooterists tractors trucks buses. You name it this road has it. And this road is part of the Golden Quardilateral. Anyways I started noticing something which had me worried. The temp guage was little above the half way mark whenever we slowed down. Fan not working maybe? The answer came at moradabad bypass toll gates. The car overheated and shut down. With the fan not working. The fuse was blown and I did not have any extra 40amps. 20 wont do in here.
Lesson one : Carry a few fuses. Anyways we ventured into the city taking a detour in search of a Tata workshop. All authorized workshops closed due to Good Friday. Luckily a few taxi guys guided us to a local mechanic whom they claimed was the best. I also got the air filter cleaned from there and the wiring etc., checked. 35rs for fuses(including extras) and 50rs labour for cleaning air filter and checking wiring etc.,.
So with prayers we started and headed on the wonderful road towards Ramnagar. Thanks raghav for suggesting this route. On the way ate at the farmhouse after Ramnagar. ITs called Purians and was suggested by raghav. Good Chicken Kali mirch, pretty fresh too! The rest of the journey was uneventful and we reached nainital around 4:30pm after stopping for 10 min at a small dhaba at the waterfall. The hotel we had planned to stay in was in a bad shape with painting going on and smell of paint everywhere. So we headed to Balrampur house, but thanks to the weekend, it was full. They suggested us Vikram Vintage inn nearby. It was also full but while we were there 2 people cancelled. We got the room, a little expensive though. Incidently after they gave us the room the cancelled party called to say they dont want to cancel and are arriving. Bad luck for them I must say. After a little rest we headed out to the mall, and I got my camera along. Roamed on the mall along the late and did a little boating. Good weather, clean mall, no horse **** around and fresh smell. Did a little boating, the pic below is from the boat. Click to see larger images

I also took some pics of the mosque

After that we ate at a place called Embassy. Its right after Machan. Excellent food. Infact on all days we ate here. ITs the most crowded place there and the local people also eat there. If you are going to Nainital, make sure you eat there. Its the best.
While coming we had the hotel car drop us, as they run drop services till 9pm at night. Since it was past 9 we walked back around 1.5kms. Very tiring but entertaining.
At night took some pics. I think this pic of the hotel turned out nice

I also tried my hand at night scene, but 101s exposure was too less I guess!


After that we packed up for the day, with plans to go to zoo and snow view next morning.
Day 2
=====
This was the most entertaining. Esp the zoo part. ITs been a long time since I went to a zoo, and Nainital zoo is an experience in itself. Since its on a hill top with extremely narrow roads and extreme incline, I could smell cooked clutch plates. Moreover the road is so narrow that if two cars come face to face, the other has to tuck in somewhere. Interestingly only local vehicles were following "uphill has right of way" rule, Delhi people were driving like, well delhi people
Reached the zoo. put in the zoom lens and started shooting. Below are some of the pics



View from the zoo

Flowers there


After the zoo we headed to a point called Himalaya darshan on Kilbury road, with plan to go to Kilbury. But as we reached there we found out that due to the haze nothing is visible. Will have to visit some other time!


After that we decided not to go to Kilbury and instead see Bhimtal. Nice place. But a word of caution. In Uttranchal everything you do, they charge you. For example if you enter nainital 10 times a day from mall road they will charge you 50rs and if you do it from someplace else they will charge you 25rs. It gets on your nervers actually. Anways we stood at the toll for Bhimtal, did not actually go past it as the view from the toll gate was good enough


After that we headed to snow view, its on the zoo road only much further away from the zoo, at greater height. The road is steeper and at many places just a dirt road. Was the toughest hill drive of my ride with wheels spinning for traction like they do when you go very steep uphill on snow. Luckily there was nobody as foolish as us so did not have to meet oncoming traffic. The views were not good though, all because of the haze.


This pic was taken from a small tea shop about half a km ahead of snow view cable car. This guy has tents if you wanna spend the night under the stars and also gives bad tea.

After that we headed downhill, skidding and cursing with clutch saying "spare me".
Went back to the hotel, and then took their drop service to the mall. Took some pics of the lake. One of the good ones


Took the drop back to the hotel. I could not get a chance to click the high court, a pity Anways dead tired we called it a day. Next morning - Corbett?

Day 3
=====
Time to go back. Planned to go to corbett since it was on the way. Started leisurly at 10:30. HAd delicious omelette bread at the dhaba at the waterfall.
Took pic of a purple tree on the way


Reached corbett and got to know a Gypsy costs 2000rs + 500rs misc and it will take 3-4 hours. So we skipped it. Will come here on day trip some day with a bigger group I guess, that will be more fun.
Moreover it was very hot, I guess best safari is in the early mornings

On the way back ate at Tadka. Wish we had stopped at reliance(A1 plaza) instead of the BP joint. Avoid, go to reliance instead. This place has non working ACs and the service there is not so good, and same can be said for the food.

After the Moradabad Hapur nightmare, reached delhi in the evening. tired tired tired!

Full gallery is here if you wanna see the pics http://tanveer.smugmug.com/gallery/1371288/1

Some tips for would be travellers
1. Start early from delhi, it is worth it. Hapur moradabad is highway to hell. Coming back you dont have an option, but going you have!
2. Nainital can be reached trough many routes
1. Haldwani kathgodam traditional route
2. Moradabad, Ramanagar, Kalidunga Nainital. This is the route I took. Better than traditional
3. Moradabad, Bazpur, Kalidunga etc,

I am sure only about no 2, if you have expirience with any other do share

3. Nainital is the toll capital. Be prepared to fish out 20-50rs for anything and everything
4. The bazaar next the late is a wonderful place if you want to buy cheap made in china things. Good quality LED torch with batteries for rs 10, can you beat that?
5. Eat at embassy. Great food and mineral water bottle at MRP. Sign of an honest resturant
6. If you go by Ramnagar KAlidunga route stop at the waterfall. There are two places. The bigger place is at a higher spot and better waterfall view. The smaller place at lower height has better food
7. Carry extra fuses
Fuel consumtion
Overall mileage approx 13kmpl which is amazing considering the heavy duty first gear driving and 80kms of slow driving on highway. On the highway run she gave 16 including the city like 80km stretch

[nevertouchme]

Wow...................
A virtual trip for me ! ! !
Great Pics too pal....
U simply Rock !

Jai

[caroholic1]

Hey Tanveer those are realy nice pics man.

[ntomer]

wonderful pics; and a really good travelogue.

\N

[naveendhyani]

i was also there during this time. left delhi on friday afternoon and was at nainital around 9. did not stay in nainital but in bhimtal. near to bhimtal my uncle has a weekend getaway. wud post the pics soon. its a beautiful place. did not do much just walked, went to naukuchital and lazed around. if somebody chooses 2 reach nainital in night its gonna b abeautiful sight. while climbing up to bhimtal u see kathgodam city fully lit among dark mountains.

[Samurai]

That is a very good trip report, great snaps too. The pics posted here are better than the ones you posted in PAAI. Being partial to TBHP, are we?

[tsk1979]

hehe. Actually I havent really posted my full gallery to paai. I am thinking of just giving the link to the gallery and let people browse through.

[paharino1]

hey tsk great report...
If u get some more time - say a week or so - explore Kumaon further..
the drive from Nainital to Almora,Ranikhet, Dwarahat, Kausani is a lovely hilly road to drive your vehicle....
Whenever I start for either Dehradun, Mussorie or Naintal...5 or 6 am from Delhi is the best time to start...u skip all the nonsense traffic as u mentioned

[Tarun]

Great pictures there Tsk specially the reflection of lights in lake !
Nainital has not been too much of my liking, but your pictures provides some motivation for a visit.

Tarun.

[tsk1979]

Actually nainital is pretty good compared to other places. We had less time, but if it had been a 5 day trip or even a 4 day one I would have included Kasauni to the list and maybe even ranikhet. The rush was not very bad inspite of the long weekend. But the best time to enjoy the hills is during lean periods in monsoons. No rush and you have no haze too

[amitoj]

Awesome travelogue, Tsk! Enjoyed every word of it. and very good snaps too...

Amitoj

[satish_appasani]

Good travelogue tsk....

[Zappo]

Tanveer bhai... amazing travelogue and absolutely beautiful pics of nainital. It almost felt like reading the Lonely Planet guide at times

How did the Indigo perform on the hills? I mean it actually made a noticeable difference? I was trying to understand how much difference my BS-III Indica (has the ECU) will make over the BS-II Indica on these stretches?!

[tsk1979]

Actually the bigger problem is not power, its the "missing". If your air fuel mixture is on the lean side as it is in most cars the car will jerk in rarified air. ECU cars compensate for rarified cars, non ECU cars have fixed settings.
This indigo is non ECU but the turbo ensured adequate air for the engine. I climed inclines which were ouright scary. for example in first gear while coming downhill if I took my foot of the brakes, even with engine braking the car was going to 40kmph! Doing these stretches uphill was a breeze, even though its a non intercooled indigo.

[sdileeponc]

Hi Guys!!!!!!
Greetings from Ahmedabad!
We are planning to go toi Nainital, Kasauni, Corbett this Diwali.
Will get back to you soon
Adios
Dileep