My last road trip to Haridwar was in Feb this year. After this trip again in March this year I did a road trip to Wagah Border.And now after five months here comes my road trip again.This time too during Rakhi Holidays , we again planned a road trip to Dehradun, Mussoorie and Haridwar similar to every year. My Last years wonderful Mussoorie experience is described in my previous post -”Road Trip to Mussoorie – The Queen Of Hills “. This time Rakhi was a little late ie. in the last week of of august , and this time was the peak of monsoon. However , our plan was made a month in advance. We had to go to Dehradun this time by different route. We had decided to follow the Route – Delhi – Panipat – Shamli – Saharanpur – Chutmulpur – Dehradun. But rains played havoc to our plan. We knew that this is the state highway and the condition of roads were not good due to heavy rains. So just a day in advance , we changed our plan and decide to go by the same old route of National highway. Details of the trip –

No. of Adults – Four
1. Myself – The solo driver
2. My Father
3. My mother
4. My Great Grand Mother

My Car – Maruti 800
Total distance covered in the trip – 750 Km
Avg distance per litre – 18 Km/Lr
Total cost of fuel consumed – Rs 2500

It was 22nd August’10. Rains were on its full throttle. But our plan was made. We left Delhi on 22nd at 5 am. Continous rains were pouring. We followed the route from ISBT , Dilshad Garden on NH-24 towards Ghaziabad .
From Ghaziabd we turned on NH-58 towards Meerut.

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“Outside of a dog, a book is Man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx.

Had it not been for the Outlook Traveller Gateways (on HP) , Naggar would not have happened.

A note on books and blogs Books (e-books or paper bound) are still much superior as compared to host of blogs and websites. Online forums, at best, are good for an  ”occasional tip” and that too happens cause people “speak” about the content which is quite recent. Books, on the other hand, need to re-published. The Outlook Traveller Gateways (on HP) which I referred to was published in 2008. Two years down the line nothing much had changed….

And Naggar did happen…thankfully.

This last part I have covered in following three phases: –

Phase One- Manali-Naggar, stay at Naggar.

Phase Two – Road back Home - Naggar-Chandigarh-Rock Garden-Rothak-Ajmer Road trip and a quick visit to Ajmer-e-Sharif.

Phase Three – Road back Home continues…Ajmer-Ahmedabad-Mumbai Road trip
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Pure Himachali Fun

This part of the trip is covered in the following two phases

Phase One –  Shimla-Manali Road trip

Phase Two – Stay at Manali and visit to Rothang Pass

Phase One –  Shimla-Manali

0700 hrs, at Hotel Holiday Home

2082 kms from home

If Shimla was adultared , the this was to be pure Himachali fun.  Outlook Gateway book on Himachal Pradesh had suggested NH22 TO Sainj via Kurfi, Theog, Narkanda, …. Jaroli Pass ….. Aut and NH21. On enquiring with every local we were told that the NH 88-NH 21 route was the best. The road via sianj, was single lane and unreliable, in any weather. Much to my dismay, I took the route as suggested. This required us to traverse NH88 for around 70 kms and thereafter, near Bilaspur join NH21. Though this route was certainly very good with excellent scenic roads and also had much other benefits such as hotels and tyre repair shops, something tells this roadie that true himachal was missed.  I have made my mind. In my next visit, after obtaining more reliable information, shall certainly route via Jari Pass.

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1000 hrs, at Hotel Sagar, Bilaspur, 93 kms from Shimla, averaging 31 km/hr

2175 kms from home

Breakfast came at Hotel Sagar, Bilaspur, at the “table with a view”. Just post the junction wherein the NH starts the route for Kangra/ Macleodganj we stopped for a quick bite. The loo-good, food- average but the view – Wow.

The Restaurant Table With A View

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This plan all started with a birthday treat. It was my friends birthday , and surely we were all happy hoping that we will surely get a treat. Everytime, it was the same old boring story going in a hotel and just a dinner. But this time , we wanted to do something different. One of us came up with the plan to enjoy in a water park mainly because we wanted to beat the Delhi Heat. The first destination that came to our minds was Fun N Food Village , but having visited it earlier , so this time decided why not Splash Water Park. We took a leave from our office , and then four of us planned the visit to this park. Actually it is the only water park in North Delhi .

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