We took (should I say a risk) traveling by Go Air, a new budget airlines and I understand a lot of people do not have much faith in it. We took an early morning (7:40 am, very early - yawn ! ) flight from Pune to Delhi. We ate breakfast ( an exorbitant one) in the Airport lounge in Pune as Go air is a no frill airline and we didn't want to keep our tummies groaning till we reached Delhi. The view from the airport lounge, overlooking the runaway in early morning mist was worth it. The flight took off only one hour late. Devaki had a window seat (she makes sure she gets one everytime :-) in the flight and kept showing me interesting things on the way , deserts in Rajasthan, the mountains, Yamuna river as soon as we entered Delhi. Interesting thing was we managed to catch a glimpse of Kutub minar minutes before we landed on Delhi airport. That was a sight to watch, the ancient minar standing out among Delhi structures.
Delhi airport was a busy place but fortunately seemed to be renovated recently. We picked up our baggage and were greeted by our chauffeur for the next 9 days standing outside to receive us with a placard. His name was Jayram and seemed to be a disciplined guy. He drive an Indica with an Indian flag on its body and the text of India Expedition. That supposedly was a kind of a logo of the travel company where he worked. Once out of the airport we crossed the road and enered a fuel station where he filled the fuel tank. Thing to note was that fuel station was entirely run was women. Everyone from family had warned us about the high crime rate in Delhi and we were alert at each and every stage as soon as we landed with our baggage and belongings.
Once out of the fuel station we started navigation through the Delhi station. I was thoroughly impressed with the roads. Wide and stleast 3 -5 lanes with without any potholes. We caught a glimpse of Metro rail on the way. I remember seeing boards of Patel nagar, Dhaula Kaun,etc. Finally we crossed the entire width of Delhi and I distinctly remember there was a dumping ground and after that we merged on to the Delhi Chandigarh road. It was a nice and comfortable road 2 lanes on each side. Jayram paid road toll once or twice. There were long unending beautiful fields on both sides of the road. Haryana state started minutes after we were out of Delhi and as we moved deeper in to Haryana and fields got bigger. Although it was sunny and hot, we didn't feel much of the heat as the road was naturally fenced by tall and old Nilgiri trees on both sides. That was a sight to watch, the wide road and we cruising at 100 kmph on that highway watching the lush green unending fields on both sides and chilled by the shadows of Nilgiri trees.
A couple of hours drive on this highway and we sensed hunger. We stopped for a quick lunch in a Dhaba. It had a AC section and that was unbelievable. AC Dhaba :-) . Anyways the food was amazing. Very homely, tasty and not very oily at all. Service was fast and both of us loved it. We had Chana Masala, Dal tadka, Roti, Rice and Sweet Lassi - a typical Punjabi meal. Lassi was amazing and although I had severe cold, I definitely did not want to miss the golden opportunity.
Next part of drive was for next 3 hours and on the way we passed towns of Sonepat, Panipat and Kurukshetra, which had a massive sculpture of Arjuna with his chariot near the entrance of the city. This is the place where the historic Mahabharata battle was fought. Devaki and I looked in awe at the statue and talked for sometime on Mahabharata. After driving for another couple of hours we stopped for tea 40 kms before Ambala at a restaurant named Choupal. It was a pretty place with Rajasthani backdrop and a folk dance going on. It also had a very nice ambiance with some antique items. The small boy in the folk dance was raising his eyebrows in a way which will make his pagadi jump up and down. That was a treat to watch. He consumed some tea and proceeded with our journey.
It was almost 5 pm after our tea break when we resumed our journey. We passed the town of Ambala and saw some beautiful bunglows in the town cantonment area. At this point, we took off from the Chandigarh road and headed towards Shimla. It was an uphill task to drive on the uphill road. It cooled off suddenly as we started climbing. And from now on, we knew for the next 3-4 hours it was going to be a winding road. Although a winding road, being a national highway, it was wide enough for 2 buses to pass and we could travel at 50- 60 kmph. Once or twice we reminded Jayram (our chauffeur, if you have forgotten his name by now) to be slow and patient as there was no hurry.
On the way, there was a rail crossing and it was for the historic train from Shimla to Kalka. We had a wait for about 10 minutes. And finally we could see the train chugging throught the winding hilly tracks. Its a beautiful train and looked very appealing and luxurious too. After this we crossed some small pretty towns on the way with typical bazaar area full of small shops and people oblivious to the highway traffic. It was interesting watching the local folks and the culture changing from that of the plains to the 'pahadi'. At around 8:30 pm, we started seeing the lights of Shimla city. As we neared , we realized how much the city has expanded and the amount of encroachment that has taken place the once thick jungle. We felt sorry for the once pristine hill station of Shimla.
Our hotel Toshali Resorts was much away from Shimla city on the Kufri - Chail road, almost 24 kms from Shimla. Jayram was not very pleased with the fact we were going to be staying in this hotel. We wondered why he had such strong feelings then but realized only later that Toshali did not provide free chauffeur accommodation and food and only then understood the source of his grievance. We felt sorry for him as he had to sleep in the car during the nights when it was so cold. But there was hardly anything that we could do and this was going to happen for the next 3 days.
The location of the hotel was nice much away fom the hustle bustle of Shimla and in a thick jungle. Minutes before we reached the hotel we had seen a live fox and were thrilled upon seeing him. We also saw boards of snow leopards on the way and hoped to see one soon. We reached the hotel at 10:10 pm sharp, the time of smiley and we were received with warm smiles by the reception folks. The approach to the hotel was over a bridge. This bridge connected the hotel which was in the valley to the land. We checked in and were shown to our cozy valley view facing room on the first level. The view from the room balcony was amazing. But we were not happy with the overall quality of the room and definitely not worth the price that we were paying.
We decided to sleep off the night and explore better options, probably a studio room, the next morning. We got up fresh early next morning and looked in sheer admiration at the view from the room. There was an entire huge valley covered with deodar trees and no obstruction for miles.Watching closely we could see monkeys in the valley and hear sweet chirping of the birds. Winding road going to Chail could be seen on the right side. There was an occasion roar of a diesel engine that interrupted the absolute peace and silence of this place. Another winding road 
going to Kufri could be seen on the left.We got ready and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. We were greeted by a nice and a friendly but little shy waiter. We ate a sumptuous meal of 2 portions of Aloo Paratha, Idli Sambar and tea + coffee. We tried and inquired about the local places to visit in Shimla and he provided some valuable information. We narrowed down on Kufri, Chail and Mall road as the places to visit. It happened that both of us were dressed in Black on this first day and this was the first pic of both of us in this trip on the breakfast table taken by the waiter.
Both of us looked so fresh on this day and what a contrast to the look we had on the last day of the trip we road traveled from Manali to Delhi for more than 12 hours. :-). We finished our breakfast and decided to take a look at the studio room. We headed to the reception and they showed us to one such studio room. We were happy with the space in it and a better view too as it was on the 3rd floor. We readily agreed and decided to move in to it in the evening.Still in the process of writing more so keep seeing this page for the further details of our trip.
