Mussorie – My best ever economical trip day 1

Mussorie – My Best ever economical trip

Once upon a time :) , when a Ghumakkar inside me was recently born and it was creeping continuously to go somewhere without any reason to go to particular place. So I decided a reason to go. I told my husband that lets celebrate my birthday at some new place. Don’t buy any gifts for me, no candle light dinner, just a small economical trip to get a change from a routine life of Delhi. So today I am here to share my best and economical trip. We went to Mussorie in the year 2008, October.

After doing a lot of research on Google, checking with few friends, I planned a two days trip to Mussorie.

DAY 1

On Saturday Morning at 0500 we called a private taxi to drop us to New Delhi station from where we had to catch our train .We had booked our tickets in 12017 New Delhi – Dehradun Shatabdi Express from Delhi to Dehradun in chair car. I should confess this here for both of us other than our flight experiences, this was the first experience where we had to travel in a train where food is served in train and is included in train fare. We reached station at 0600 hrs and departure time of train was 0650 hrs. Sharp 0650 hrs train started and we have taken our GOD name to bless us with a safe and happy journey.

At 0730 hrs the catering staff first brought tea for us. And around 0900 we were served with hot breakfast. We were very happy and enjoying our journey. At around   1130 soup came and then lunch. In all what I remember about that journey was just food, food and food.

At 1240 hrs train reached Dehradun. We came out of Station and saw shared taxi stand for Mussorie. Initially we thought of taking independent taxi, but then our budget was ticking in our mind so we moved to shared taxis. Two of us with my 09 month son and another couple had shared ambassador car taxi for Mussorie.1300 hrs taxi started and we were passing by all the roads of Dehradun with air and noise pollution, dust and extremely hot weather. Slowly -2 city limit was coming to end and we started going on a hilly road with lots of turns. On every turn we were falling on each other. Evverytime we were double checking the car door locks. After reaching at particular point where there were less turns  we started noticing the scene outside the taxi. The temperature now was little cooler with greenery all over the hills. While doing Google search I read somewhere the altitude of Mussorie is 6000ft. We were really not sure what 6000 ft actually means, so after every 10-15 minutes we used to think Mussorie has come. But we were still not at Mussorie. Then at one particular point we saw a board Mussorie welcomes you and after sometime we reached at a place where there was number of taxi and it was the last point i.e. Mussorie. Weather was now little cold. We had covered our son with sweater and shawl and got down from taxi. We asked for the route to our hotel and a taxi person guided us to a staircase and then to the road. We paid charges to Taxi and was carrying our luggage. Then a Guy came and offered us to carry our luggage till Hotel and will charge us Rs. 100/-.We hired him not really to carry our luggage, but at least he will take us directly to Hotel. After climbing staircase and then walking for almost 15 minutes we reached at our Hotel “Hotel Garhwal Terrace” (Phone number 0135 -2632682)managed by GMVN (Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) where we had done our room booking (Deluxe room) using online service.

Hotel Garhwal terrace

The room was in lower ground floor on Mall road side and ground floor on other side. The room was not at all in a maintained condition. There was double bed, TV, chair, table, lights and no fan. Bathroom was big, clean with hot water facility but tiles were very old fashioned and complete room was asking for a renovation. Due to temperature of a place there was dampness in few places at the room. As we had to spend just a day and as it was a budget trip we said to each other “we will manage”. Then we saw another door on the rear side. We opened that door and we were on a garden side of Hotel with a wonderful view of Doon valley. So, location wise this room is just perfect, but do not expect good food and good maintenance in this hotel. If at all you are choosing this hotel for your stay then choose top floors.

view from hotel

View from garhwal terrace hotel

Hotel rear side

We clicked few photos and came back to room to take rest as both of us were very tired. Around 1700 hrs we had ordered tea from room service. When we saw room service menu we saw charges were very high and decided to have dinner outside only. At around 1800 hrs we came out to roam around the area. As our hotel was at Mall Road only, we started walking on Mall road. Mall Road is full of Hotels, Restaurants, old structures and local shops. One best thing about Mussorie Mall road is that Children Prams are available here on rent (Rs.100/- hour). Thus couple with small kids can easily rent a pram and can walk on the Mall road at their leisure. On our way we came across place named as Jhula Ghar which has a  giant wheel, eateries and photo shops where one can wear the traditional dresses and get their picture clicked. We also came across trekking path that leads to Gun Hill. It is a bridle path which forks off from the Mall road near Kutchery and takes twenty minutes. There are number of walks around Mussorie which provide the best of nature and tranquility.

Jhula ghar

Road to Gunhill

Camel’s Back Road – Starting from Library Bazaar and terminates at Kulri Bazaar,Rink Hall and the Mall.

Cloverville Road – Starting from the Library,Gandhi Chowk,L.B.S National Academy till Municipal Garden.

Tehri Road – This starts from Mullinagar,Landour to Woodstock school.

Sister Bazaar Road – This starts from the St. Paul’s Church,Landour Cantt, till sister bazaar and lal tibba.

Spring Road – Starting from Library Bazaar /Gandhi Chowk, going past incent Hill,Municipal Garden and Gandhi Chowk.

Mussorie map

We went to Camel’s back road. Camel’s back road is a 3 kms long stretch from Kulri Bazaar  to Library Chow getting its name from the rock which is in the shape of a camel’s hump.

On this road one can enjoy the vast treasure of nature and the tranquil surroundings that Mussoorie offers. Horse riding is also available on this road One side of the road has few shops and restaurants and from the other side we can get the fascinating view of  Doon Valley  sparkling with lights after sunset.

view from mall road

We finished walking on camel’s back road and returning to Hotel. On our way back we came across Jawahar Aquarium. It was a new attraction at Mussorie and entry fee for this aquarium is just Rs 10/-. We went inside the aquarium, saw beautiful fishes , spend around half an hour and came out .Timings for this aquarium is 0900 hrs – 2100 hrs.

We then had dinner at one of the Chinese restaurant and came back to room at around 2130 hrs. This finishes our day 1.

At the end my greening tip below :

If you are visiting Hotel, you can always ask not to change your room linen every day , thus saving energy and water.

Save water and Energy (Courtesy www.mycompanyisgreen.org)