Our rendezvous with snowfall - Shimla

We are besotted with snow. The whole family. And the fact that in spite of bone chilling winters every year, we never get any snow in Delhi makes us even more obsessed with the idea of it. Hence we did the unthinkable during the coldest months of the season - we went to a hill station!!

As is the usual style when my family (read that as a research-obsessed hotelier husband, a finicky mom and food and fun obsessed kids in tow) plans for a vacation, we went into critical analysis mode on this as well.

Firstly we wanted to travel by train. After two or three cancelled train trips (blame it on two careers and two school schedules) we were really looking forward to this one. So plan on train we did! And this is what the itinerary looked like:

1. Delhi to Kalka by Howrah Kalka Express : An overnight train starting from Delhi at 9.45 pm  (ideal for working people, as you wake up in your destination)
2. Kalka to Shimla by the much spoken about toy train (a must experience for kids, more so because it has a lot of historical importance too)

Kalka - Shimla narrow gauge railway line

But all planning can go fly its proverbial kite when God disposes, right? Trains were getting delayed by more than 20 hours due to the fog, and this called for some intelligent decision making (yup! time for the research crazy dude to step in again!). So we decided to cancel our train tickets and take the Volvo instead. (But we retained the return tickets, keeping our fingers crossed for better weather during our return a week later)

That turned out to be a life-saver. There are atleast two operators for the Shimla Volvos. One is the Himachal Road Transport and the other is Himachal Tourism operated. We (err..... he) researched and found that the HPTDC (tourism) ones were better. We boarded the bus at about 10 pm, and it was a warm, comfortable journey (with two stops) to Shimla, while the outside temperature was close to zero. We reached Shimla at 7.00 am, to a beautiful mountain sunrise.

While we have seen many hill stations nothing quite prepares you for the beauty of the summer capital of British India. The well inhabited hill station has all the quaintness that one associates with the erstwhile British Raj, while being surrounded on all sides with wondrous sights of the mountain ranges.

No snowfall yet, but there was excited jumping up and down when we saw frozen icicles of water on little waterfalls all through the road. Good start for us city dwellers.

A strategy that has helped us get the maximum out of our vacations have been to avoid staying in the primary tourist destination, and go to a lesser known, more pristine location which is close to the tourist destination. Thus, while we were in Shimla, we did not stay in Shimla town, but a little away from the crowd in a little town called Mashobra, 12 kilometers from Mall Road (the tourist hub in Shimla).

The drive from Shimla to Mashobra, on the famed Hindustan - Tibet highway (takes approximately 45 minutes due to the hairpin turns) is a breathtaking experience in itself, and we had many squeals of excitement when we spotted monkeys, horses, and icicles on the way.

We stayed at Club Mahindra Whispering Pines, which warrants a separate post (which will come in a little while).

From Mashobra, it is just 15 kilometers to Kufri, the mecca for all snow lovers. It is a fun filled location for skiing, sledging and other hazardous sport like slipping and falling on frozen ice (which I can assure you, is much more painful than it sounds). Enterprising young boys and girls of the local population (yes girls too!) are willing to act as your guide and teacher for a small fee, and I fully recommend that you take in that experience. Though Kufri is more popular, we decided to take on the higher up Narkanda for all our frolicking needs (Yeah, yeah, we are collectively courageous). More challenging, but more fun.

We had a young girl of 15 who coached my daughter and my son on sledging (or tobogganing, which the correct term, apparently). She was a fun person, who also helped my over enthusiastic son trek to the top of the snow clad mound (we were huffing and puffing, and refused to trek with him) and then slide down the way we've seen Calvin and Hobbes do. (Had to admire the little fellow's courage). I contributed to the whole excitement by slipping and falling on ice a couple of times, nursing my bruised bones and ego. (Word of caution - the trek from the taxi drop off to the actual site of all the fun is quite long and treacherous - on ground with slivers of frozen ice. Wear sensible footwear.)

While Kufri has many hotels and restaurants, there aren't as many choices in Narkanda. (There was a hilarious moment when we banged on a good-looking hotel door for lunch, and a rueful guy comes out to tell us that as all the water pipes had frozen, they had no service that day!!) But we did discover a fine Himachal Tourism hotel with a good restaurant and bar (called 'The Nest') in Narkanda, which we almost missed. The service may be a tad too slow, but the food is worth the wait.

The Nest - Narkanda

The Mall Road in Shimla is much like the Mall Road in Nainital or Mussoorie. The difference, perhaps is in the buildings. There are beautiful buildings (now either a museum, or a theatre or the municipal office) which have survived from the British times. Add that to the throngs of people walking on the streets, and it feels like Christmas week all the time. (A word of caution. The mornings, even in winters are quite sunny. But the moment the sun starts setting the cold winds set in - quite a sudden transformation of the weather. Remember to carry enough clothing, even if you are warm in the mornings.)

Mall Road Church (Pic courtesy www.chutti.com)

The Mall Road is where you can shop for Fruit wines (we got back 6 flavors - yummy!!) or other stuff like Himachal stuff like shawls, caps, wooden walking sticks etc. There are lovely bakery shops too (a British influence no doubt), and some must visit places. The fact that no vehicles are allowed into mall road is a boon to all the pedestrians, who can walk about without any worry - especially when kids are running around. This is also the place to stop and ogle at the fantastic fruits (and gorge on them too) like strawberries, cherries, kiwis, apples....

The Mall Road also has a beautiful Church, with traditional stained glass windows, wooden floors and beautiful old world paintings. If it weren't for impatient kids wanting to run off behind the next trotting horse, I would be content to spend a whole evening just looking at the paintings!

More on the snow and the hotel later.....

Ronil Beach Resort Goa - A review

The organization I work with has presence in over 150 locations in the country, which means there are often sudden SOS travel plans that are required to be done. The presence of an uber-efficient admin department ensures that the tickets miraculously get booked, accommodation and cabs are waiting to receive you, and much of the heartburn associated with official travel is taken care of.

One such split second travel plan was made to Goa. (consider my plight - I reach Goa after a murderous 3 hour flight from Delhi, rush in and out of meetings, and virtually drag myself into bed - only to rush out of Goa the next day - its GOA we're talking about people - and I didn't even seen the damn beaches!!).

Anyway, the closest hotel to the unit I was supposed to visit was a place misleadingly called 'Ronil Beach Resort' - I say misleading, because the beach is nowhere to be seen, and it was hardly a 'resort'. As I have said many times over, the product is important; but much more important is what you do with the product - the service.

In my usual style - the review, ladies and gents:

• Location : Ummm....er.... this is Goa we're talking about. Throw a pebble into the air and it will land on a hotel or a home stay. So I would much rather go to a place that has a beach within walking distance. And a place that has access to many other food joints - especially seafood! This resort is located a little away from the beach, and is also a tad difficult to locate if your driver is not a local guy. Also, if you do not have a car, going to any other food joint is impossible, and you are pretty much at the mercy of the hotel chefs (more on that later).

• Rooms : Well, lets just say that the first room that was given to me, I was aghast, and after a few screaming friendly threats, I was shown another room, in a similarly sad state, but cleaner. The place looked like the owner was just milking the resort without actually investing anything back. Once upon a time the resort would have been a pretty place, with rooms and balconies that overlooked the pool. But today, it needs renovation, and prayers.

• Service : After 11 pm and before 7.30 am, don't expect your phone calls to the reception to be picked up. And God forbid if you need an early breakfast - in the words of the service staff, "The breakfast starts at 7.30 am. And 7.30 means 7.30." (complete with crossed arms and grumpy face). A sucker for trouble, I decide to see if "7.30 means 7.30..." And guess what - 7.45 am and the chef walks in whistling a tune, hands in his pocket, unaware of the smoke coming out of my ears. I grabbed a knife and stabbed him on his paunch spread some marmalde on a slice of bread (I had a long day ahead, you know! And one shouldn't take out anger on the food....) and then stomped out of the restaurant, and checked out immediately! At the reception, I thought I'd pour my woes out to the grandfatherly Front Office Executive, and he simply said, "Whatever you want to say, you can write in this remarks book." Yeah right! As if the report would reach the right person! In fact, as if the 'right person' cared!!

• Facilities : The pool was clean. The washroom was clean. (in need for maintenance, but clean). Don't expect fluffy towels and feather soft beds - these are worn out too. Clean, yes. No toiletries to boast of. Luckily I carry my own.... the ones kept in the washroom were not in any sense of the word, appealing.

Verdict : For a rack rate of over Rs. 3500 for a standard room, which can go up to Rs 7000 in season time (October to Feb), this is a place I'd not be venturing into if someone held a gun to my head!

The final verdict of the Resort

Sometimes the trick to an excellent customer service experience is to lower expectations, and then prove the expectation wrong. The only problem with this strategy is that there may be a huge dent on the goodwill of the organization.

Case in point : remember the dude with the crazy telephone etiquette in an earlier post about a resort?

Well some amount of coaxing and lets-see-how-bad-could-it-be kind of spirit (which I suspect is largely due to the fact that G and I just had to get out of Delhi before we shot each other) made us take that daring trip last weekend. And voila! here is the report - as I experienced it.

Ramnagar, a quaint city in Uttarakhand (famous as the railhead for Corbet) is a few hours by train (we started at 10.40 pm from Delhi, and we reached at 5.00 am). At Ramnagar station, we had our cab waiting for our resort in Corbet (10 kms away), as was promised to us while booking. (The first hint of a smile on G's face told me this was good!). The cab was neat, clean, and working perfectly fine, and the driver was a well mannered fellow. (G had started humming by now).

We reached the Club Mahindra Corbet Resort in the wee hours of the morning, and was greeted by a tired looking, but smiling receptionist, who was not in the least like the guy we encountered on the phone. G's look said 'Really? Is this the same place?'

We were checked in pronto, and were even given a choice of room. We were two families - four adults and four kids (between ages 9 and 5). The excitement of the swings and the slides placed strategically in a garden took the sleep out of their eyes, and we had no complaints about waiting for a few minutes while the bell desk collected our baggage.

Location : After checking in, we walked a few minutes, after which we could hear the unmistakable sound of water flowing. All of us looked at each other (much like Christopher Columbus might have done so when he saw shore) with a glint that said "River!"..... The resort is located right on the banks of the Kosi river, and our room was right over the gurgling river. Ofcourse, there was barbed wire fencing (with a warning from the management not to venture into the river) that took care of any curious toddler going right into the river. Over the next two days (and nights) the river was a constant awe-inspiring view.

view from room

Room : Classy, contemporary, and spacious. Straight lines, wood, stone and glass everywhere. Huge bay windows in both the bedroom and the living space. A kitchenette with microwave, toaster, kettle, tea / coffee supplies, crockery, cutlery, bowls and other nick-knacks such as peeler, knife, bottle opener etc. Everything one could possibly need. Clean linen, super-soft beds (five star classification requires a certain mattress thickness - this was adhered to), and a no-nonsense, clean bathroom. Minimal toiletries, but then these days most of us prefer to carry our brands with us - so this is only a small minus. Superb shower head though. (in the words of my luxury-crazed 5 year old - "Feels like someone is giving you a massage")

Of course, after a few minutes of taking in the beauty of the place, we all crashed right into bed, waking up barely to be able to make a quick trip to local sightseeing points.

Facilities:
The swimming pool is splendid. Sparkling clean; and pretty soon you know why - The lifeguard keeps an eagle eye on the people venturing into the pool - whether they have showered or not, whether the ladies with long hair are wearing a shower cap (I was forced to wear one too, which I did so sulking, till G told me how this rule would have kept the pool hair-free and more hygienic).

But the guy crossed the line when he walked up to my 5 year old and told him he had to wear 'huggies' if he wanted to enter the pool. When I looked at him incredulously, he promptly proceeded to explain to me what 'huggies' was. This caused a few irritable minutes of pool-side action (where I challenged the guard to get me a diaper for 5 year olds, and a lot of other unpleasant things) after which the Entertainment Manager (yup! they have a designation like that) apologised and told me to just ensure the kid had his trip to the bathroom before he entered the pool. Again, erring on the side of caution for hygiene never killed anyone, eh?



The pool

Late afternoons are for activities. There was water zorbing, Burma bridge, spider web, table tennis, pool table, caroms, and for the more active ones - some village game (this time it was 'seven tiles')

The evenings are lively in the resort. Every night they have a different cultural activity. We were there for two nights, on the first night we had a DJ and a sweet chap teaching the kids how to dance with easy steps. My little one dancing is a sight I would laugh to, years later too. Of course, how could Mommies be far behind? The second night was a Kumaoni night, showcasing the kumaoni dance and music. This too, ended with all the guests attempting the Ghadwali dance style. And a competition for the kids.

The kids lined up for a competition - the dude in yellow shoes and the girl in white behind him are mine!

Food : There are buffets for the members, and a-la-carte dining for the others.There is also a riverside open grill, which smells great. Food was mostly okay, with the exception of breakfast. Breakfast was a surprise - I haven't had such an authentic South Indian breakfast outside of the region of its origin!

Service :
Every evening, the kids couldn't wait to get back into the rooms - reason? The housekeeping staff would have made lovely elephants with the towels on the beds. The housekeeping staff were the best - quiet, efficient and very observant. Needless to say, our rooms were cleaned thoroughly each day.

Elephants waiting for a hug!

Similarly, the Restaurant and Room Service staff would go out of their way ensure you get what you want. There is also a little grocery shop within the resort, which stocks bread, soft drinks, cup-a-noodles etc. so that you can have prepare a quick snack in your room. (all this at MRP). A special mention for the chef, who thoughtfully sent us packed sandwiches for our journey back - which was a life saver for a bunch of hungry kids in the back of an Innova.

In short, this trip was like a knock on my head, reminding me never, never to judge a book by its cover - in this case, a resort by the first chap who picked up your call!

Trip Highlight : Full moon shining on the river, lush green grass at your feet, kids asleep after exhausting themselves, G and I holding hands.

Ramgarh - the lesser known cousin

The moment my husband walked in and declared "We are going to Ramgarh for the holidays," I reeled in horror. The first image that cropped into my mind was Gabbar Singh of Sholay and his army boots! A little more research with our good friend Google (yeah, what else??) revealed that Ramgarh is quite a hidden treasure.

Where : In Uttarakhand, (the same state where half of scenic-spot-starved Delhi throngs to each weekend to visit more famous spots like Nainital, Mallital etc.) a road forks away from the main highway to Nainital. The altitude is over 7000 ft, which makes it higher than Nainital. So, in the summer months, it is a few degrees cooler than the bustling Nainital city. In fact, it is a good base for all places to visit from Nainital as well. Hotels are fewer, but cheaper, and probably newer.

What : It is a hill station, with all the goodies associated with one. Fruit orchards, clear, crisp mountain air and tasty food. Ideal combination for a short trip from Delhi. The advantage Ramgarh has is that it is still comparatively less commercialized. Which means it doesn't feel all 'touristy' and retains some of the natural charm that these resorts were once known for.

Where we stayed : We stayed at resort called Himalayan Heights (which also has branches in Mussorie and other hill stations) which was kind of by chance. It proved to be a good gamble. Sensible rates, good food, loads of entertainment, an enthusiastic Manager who lives in the premises - all the makings of an excellent holiday.



A common sit-out for 2 rooms




the flower corner




one of the many flowers




a spread out property, with stairs like this leading to room clusters




Tea time in our room - a view of the hills and the fruit orchards




Fruit baskets had home grown fruits too




the view from room




one of the flower beds in front of the room