The day started lazily for us. After all of that walking the day before, we were a bit tired and we had a lazy breakfast just soaking in the clear skies and the far off views the nature could offer. We took a stroll on the perfectly manicured lawns, the drip irrigated flower gardens and calm serene walkways the property had to offer. Since it was quite sunny unlike the day before, at about halfpast noon we felt ourselves thriving for some more fun and frolic.
We headed back to the activities desk and could quickly plan a three tour mountain-biking trip. It was called “The Water sanctuary trail” in the sanctuary that surrounded the property on three sides. We swiftly reached the sanctuary and were biking in the pristine pine cedar forests. The views of the surrounding forest and the mountains that the trail offered were awesome and probably the second best out of the whole trip, only next to the Himalayan views.
The biking was much more tiring than anything else on the trip, but we felt good [since we hardly do anything so much physical here] and biked our way up with small breaks in between to the sanctuary reservoir. We could see the source of water [for Shimla town] flowing past us and we relaxed a bit and sipped some Tetrapak’s there. [Even though I worked on their project, only at this moment I understood where Tetrapak’s fitted in, in one’s life] Our guide Sanjay was friendly had much to say about his experiences and the locals there.
The trip back to the entrance was much easier since our bodies had warmed up by that time and I could even try and succeed to click a couple of Raavan inspired shots with stones freefalling into the valley. We could also spot some locals who were there to collect some veggies they used for local pickles. I heard from our guide that the locals walk or cycle their way daily through this 16km to and fro stretch, which was quite normal in their day to day routine.
For the first time any such physical activity was in fact making me feel good since it was so outdoor and can be termed really as adventurous. I say this because the gear bikes weren’t easy on us and the path was quite narrow with one side always inviting us into a 200 meter deep valley. All we had to do was skip once on the skiddy track.
We headed back to the hotel almost half dead and after a light snack crashed off for a good three hours. Late in the evening S pampered herself for an Earth Spa therapy. I went back to my usual ways of twitter verse [It was the first time in my twitter life where I didn’t login for 4 days] and then I headed to the Jacuzzi and we settled for an in-room dining service, followed by a hard earned and a long night’s sleep.
Tomorrow we leave for Kalka from Shimla by road and proceed to Delhi from thereon by train for a 4 day stay before flying back home.
PS: The hotel guys had some varied events planned for the guests, but it’s a pity we couldn’t make ourselves available for any of them. They had an exclusive afternoon Sunday high tea on their sprawling gardens the day we arrived. Then a couple of days later, they had a talk on the flora and fauna [that surrounds the property] by a renowned naturalist. Today they had arranged for a Khawwali & Ghazal night for the resident guests. The only thing I didn’t like was the food that was served to us. Except like for a couple of dishes, [which I requested chef on my own] the menu offered food was quite boring, the breakfast buffets being the exception.
I could see that around 90% of the guests were aged around 60. I wonder why.
Loved these walkways all over the resort
That's me
S bikes through her way down
That's me again biking
A Raavan inspired shot
D
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 comments:
Post a Comment