Second day was Narkanda, Hatu temple. Narkanda is approximately 45 km from Fagu. We started around 9:00am from Madhusudan and reached Narkanda, Hatu peak around 11:00 am. As the saying goes, Success is the journey not the destination. But, when you talk about Narkanda, both the journey and the destination are equally good. The morning sun, the cool breeze and the Himalayas left us speechless. Hatu peak is the highest point of Shimla about 11,000 ft high. We reached the top there stood the magnificent Hatu temple. You can see the whole Shimla from that height. After spending some quality time, our driver took us to a beautiful place of natural lakes where stood a magnificent hotel Wilderness. The overall location of Wilderness is what takes the hotel experience to the next level. Wilderness is situated with natural lakes on one side , Tanujubbar Eco park on the other and the Himalayas on the other. You can sit beside the lake, admire the Himalayas while taking a sip of the delicious coffee or go for bird watching in the jungle. After doing all of that we went to see the football ground of Shimla.
Our second day ended with very delicious food at our homestay. Away from the crowd of Shimla, under the Moon and ocean of star, the night at Madhusudan homestay becomes a dream destination for any one.
After an unforgettable second day, we packed our bags for Chail. The roads of chail are even more beautiful than that of Narkanda or Kufri. For bird watchers chail is a heaven . We went in October and luckily on that day there were no tourist and you can enjoy the serenity of nature at its best. We went to famous Kali temple of Chail, saw the world highest cricket ground and finally went to the Chail palace. What a beautiful palace and you can actually live there. There are more than 300 rooms and a beautiful lawn where you can spend time with your friends or family. Our booking at Madhusudan homestay was over and we headed back to Shimla to spend our remaining days in Shimla. The roads from chail to Shimla are mesmerising as they are but the icing on the cake had to be the Hale Strom with the slight drizzle. With dark clouds over the mountains and the sun setting down on the west the whole scenery was divine and impossible for me to write it down.
We came back to Shimla on the 3rd day night and our beautiful trip to Chail ended.
We are now in Shimla, we are catching a overnight bus to Delhi from Victoria tunnel , the same place where we got down on the 1st day. We both were a little upset to leave our homestay and come back to crowded Shimla. But still we found out ourselves to be as satisfied as we can at the day's end. On that day we roamed around the Shimla Mall from 9:00 am in the morning to 5:30 pm in the evening on foot. Burnt over 10k calories , eat over 5 different places, with food from coffee, sandwiches to icecream, Pani Puri , momos and what not. We saw the Church, the ridge, had lunch near the Scandal point, the Kali temple, and the beautiful Jaku temple.
Exhausted as hell, we came back to hotel, had an early dinner , checked out and hopped on the overnight bus back to Delhi on the 5 day.
Early morning, the bus dropped us off near Kashmiri gate bus stop and we got back home. I would suggest nature lovers to stay in Fagu , rather than in Shimla to embrace the real beauty of nature. Also, Fagu is really cheap, food is great and people are really good. Madhusudan homestay is the best homestay so far we have come across. The whole trip cost us around 20,ooo for 2 people for 5 days. The main cost is that of the transport approx 10k out of which 2000 per day if you take a Madhusudan car, and rest on taxi and bus fair.
Me and my wife are both nature lovers and often look forward to any time out from our busy work life and take a vacation. When we got such an opportunity , without wasting any time we booked an overnight bus from Delhi to Shimla. Reached Shimla around 7:00am and took a cab to Fagu (theog village) to reach our Homestay. We booked Madhusudan homestay, which is situated within a apple garden in the village of theog. The view is mind blowing, the food is great and above all the homestay service is top class. As we were a couple we choose to take their car for sightseeing. After a heartly breakfast , we took off to Kufri. The main advantage of staying at Fagu is that , Kufri , Chail and Narkanda are really close and also the place is aloof from the cacaphony of Shimla city.
Kufri is a nice place, we went to Himalayan National park, visited the apple garden and saw the various points of Shimla from Kufri sight seeing point.
