There and Back Again

Contrary to what the title may lead you to think this is not a hobbit’s tale. This is a sequel to the first half of my journey to Chail  (in – Getting There Is Half The Fun). Well now that is all cleared up, where did we leave!! Ahh yes, after spending a night and Pinjore and driving for nearly four hours on snaky but scenic mountain roads we arrived at Chail around lunch time. It goes without saying that we checked into our rooms and made a dash for the Chail market. Even though I have refrained from mentioning the names of any private establishments so far, but here I just have to mention our hotel – Hotel Sunset Grand which is quite aptly named. The hotel rooms towards the valley give you a beautiful view of the sunset in the evening, on the whole this place has nice rooms, good service, friendly staff and even though the rent isn’t cheap it isn’t over the top either.

View from the hotel room

Well we decided to stay in for the day as it was already four o clock and once the sun goes down around quarter past five it gets dark really fast and the only downside here – no lights on the street so driving can be a pain after six thirty in the evening so it goes without saying, if you want to plan your day start early. Now let me make one thing pretty clear Chail does not have a whole lot of tourist attraction but what I found really attractive is that it is clean, green, friendly and most importantly very peaceful and laden with pretty decent trails for hiking. I almost forgot to mention that we had some good luck on our side – it snowed there a few days before our arrival (a little unusual as per a maid at the hotel) but the roads had cleared off and yet there were remnants of that snowfall on the road sides (on the side of the mountain that didn’t get enough sunlight or is completely covered with dense foliage) and on a few hiking trails I’ll be sharing one with you.

Next day I decided to go to the Chail market for a morning walk (approximately 3.5 kms from our hotel) it was a wonderful experience and even though I have already mentioned this this before; this is what the air is supposed to smell like – absolutely nothing (except for occasional hint of pine), it was fresh and cold, terribly cold, but so rejuvenating. I was back in an hour and we headed out around nine after breakfast that included several cups of tea.

During the morning walk

Our first stop was ‘Mata Ka Tiba’ and it is exactly what it sounds like ‘a temple on a mountain top’. Being an agnostic I didn't have a whole lot of interest in the temple but you get a magnificent three sixty degree view from that place and after the horrifying drive – oh trust me the road to that place is narrow with loose gravel and every time a vehicle came from the opposite side I had a minor heart attack, and it just gets worse when you are coming down. Despite that the trip was worth it. Our next stop was another temple (mom just couldn’t get enough of them so we had no choice), but this time around the road though almost as narrow was better can’t say the same about the view though. From there we headed towards the Chail cricket stadium – the highest cricket stadium in the world. Honestly I has huge hopes for that place but at the time it was just a huge playground for the monkeys, settled there in huge numbers.

Our next stop the Chail Palace, built by Bhupinder Singh after he was exiled from Shimla (and to the best of my knowledge the cricket ground was also his contribution) by Maharaja  of Patiala, in 1891. Apart from the history lesson it also happens to be a well maintained and beautiful place but the most fascinating thing about the palace is that one can actually stay there. It is being run as a hotel by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism to provide tourists with a royal experience, for a price (make that a significant one). Apart from that the compound also houses several cottages that one could rent, but my favorite part – hiking trails galore and it is here that we found a snow covered trail. It is generally advised that if you don’t know what lies beneath the snow or how thick it is stay off it well, let us just say we took the advice. By now it was almost five o clock so we called it a day and headed back.

The Snow covered path near the Palace

We kept the next and our last day just to relax and fool around a bit and I recommend, if I may, when visiting a tourist destination for the first time always try to keep a day for which nothing is planned it gives you some space to get to know the place or in case it has been a very active tour just to put your feet up.

Morning of 29^th December we were packed and ready to head home. I might have not mentioned that while driving here most of the time we had mountains towards our side so, it comes to reason that this time it was valleys vertigo anyone. Coming back all I could think was how wonderful the trip had been, a great way to finish the year. I felt so free, relaxed and I don’t know why for some reason really upbeat even though the trip was over, and that euphoria still continues to stay like my very own talisman. A friend of mine used to say everybody has a perfect place to retreat, I think I found mine, I hope you do yours.