“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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Day 1 : We (Myself, Wife and two kids) started early morning at 2.30 a.m (15^th October 2009) from our Indirapuram (Ghaziabad) residence in our trusted Santro.    According to our original schedule we were to leave for Jaisalmer only the next day.   Accordingly, I had booked for stay in the sand dunes for the second night in Jaisalmer.  However, due to leave issues in office, I was forced to start one day earlier and I had to rework my stay arrangements when I was told that the tents at Sand Dunes are fully booked on all other nights except the first night.  That means, we have to reach Jaisalmer, a distance of 900 KM before 4 p.m so that we can proceed further to Sam Sand Dunes which is further 20 KM roughly by 5 p.m for the sun set and night stay in tent. This explains our early start time.  

Desert Camps at Sam, Jaisalmer
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The Planning for this phase underwent many refinements. Golden Temple was a must and a absolute central to this part of the trip. However, with experience, I knew that post-Agra I would need a good break from driving itself. Earlier the plan was to stop at Delhi and do a Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi by train and then proceed to Shimla, but the Shatabdi train, on its way back from Amritsar, arrives at Delhi at 2315 hrs and hotel booking at Shimla required us to leave the very next day.

The Original Plan

The Planning for this Stage
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