Mall road is the main street in Shimla, located at a level below the ridge. It's famous for showrooms, department stores, and restaurants.
It was the following day of Christmas- the 26th of December, 2018 when my sister and I embarked on our journey to Shimla from Kashmiri gate, New Delhi. The bus rode off at 10:30 pm and dropped us at Shimla bus stop at 6 am. It was freezing cold in the morning. We booked a cab and reached our home stay at Kanlog – it was quite afar from Mall road, we got a little confused while booking our stay since the location is not always mentioned in the travel portals in terms of distance; in the portals concerning hills, you’ll often find instructions depicting how far a place is in terms of meters.It was the following day of Christmas- the 26th of December, 2018 when my sister and I embarked on our journey to Shimla from Kashmiri gate, New Delhi. The bus rode off at 10:30 pm and dropped us at Shimla bus stop at 6 am. It was freezing cold in the morning. We booked a cab and reached our home stay at Kanlog – it was quite afar from Mall road, we got a little confused while booking our stay since the location is not always mentioned in the travel portals in terms of distance; in the portals concerning hills, you’ll often find instructions depicting how far a place is in terms of meters.
Our check in was at 10 am, and since we reached quite early, we had to ask the home stay manager to arrange a room for us. The manager and the other staff didn’t fuss much and arranged a room in no time. We retired to bed assuming it would be forty winks, but soon it turned out to be long hours of sleep. We woke up around 12 am, got fresh, and headed straight to Mall road, Shimla, but explored only the market area. We reached there by a local bus. Buses ply frequently, and it is advisable to to do some homework, before you map out your itinerary. We didn’t do much on our first day at Mall road; just walked around and did some regular travel shopping like buying caps, gloves, mufflers, and relished some delicacies. It got dark soon, so we headed back to our home stay at Kanlog and retired to bed. Some lessons learnt; our first day was quite monotonous, since we didn’t plan our itinerary well.
Nevertheless, day 2 was prolific: We reached Mall Road again, and this time we toured the ridge thoroughly including the famous Christ Church, posing, and clicking pictures wherever we could. Just to give you a little insight on the Church – it is the second oldest church in North India, after St. Johns Church in Meerut.
Besides, snapping, you can do a lot of other things on the ridge such a horse ride especially when you want to be captured in a frame, do not forget to try hot gulab jamuns and softies. There are some old food outlets out there, existing since ages. After our photo shoot at the ridge was over, we mounted some some heights, and went for the Zip line adventurous tour to reach our next destination – Jakhoo temple, an ancient temple in Shimla, dedicated to the Hindu deity Hanuman, a giant statue of Lord Hanuman stands here. When we disembarked from the Zip line car, we were advised by the travel guides at the counter to safeguard our mobiles, cameras, and shades, and them intact in our bags as the temple houses umpteen number of notorious monkeys. We did pay heed to the locals. Once we started ascending, we were greeted by a plethora of monkeys, as expected. We marched towards the temple staircase, took our shoes off, and offered prayers to the deity. We bumped into the same uncle and aunty who accompanied us in the zip line trip. Soon, after we had traversed the temple area, and its backdrop, we thought of savouring some chocolate bars. Instantly, I placed my hand in my rucksack to pull a chocolate bar, and in no time, I stumbled upon a monkey who had its eyes on my bar. I submitted to its request (LOL), and handed over the bar to avoid any conflicts. Subsequently, we descended to the bus stop and went back to Kanlog.
December 29, 2019: As planned, we woke up early at 7 am. In two days, we became seasoned travellers, and the entire day 3 was well planned and sorted. Just to give you some insights, when we reached our home stay on day 2, we came across some cab drivers around the general store. We had negotiated with one of them to assist us for a round trip to Kufri. The cab booking cost us only INR 1500. So, we connected with the Cab wala bhaiya at 9 am and set off on our journey to Kufri. When we reached Kufri, there were snow patches all around. There were a range of activities to do over there to please our adventures soul. We tried skiing and paid around INR 1700 per head for the gears and activities. Post skiing, we went to the adventure park and tried zip lining. They charged us INR 500 per head. Following this, we had lunch and headed back to our cab in order to reach Shimla bus stop; we reached there by 6 pm, and passes our time as we had to board the bus by 8pm. In due course, we boarded the bus and reached Delhi early in the morning at 4:30.
Travelling happens to be one of my favourite activities as it really helps me unwind. Well! Folks, it’s not advisable to compare this kind of trips to Prashar lake or Kasol trek. Things like wandering, taking a walk at Mall road in Shimla come with its own beauty and leisure. So, if you are looking for a quick weekend getaway, this is the one.