An Adventurous Trip to Shimla – The Queen of Hills

It wasn’t a planned journey at all. I also wanted to include my friend along with me, but he couldn’t because of some issues; so, I happened to go along with my family.

It was February 15, 2014. Rainy day made the weather more amazing. The chill was in. We left home early in the morning with intention to have breakfast on our way. Our first halt was at Jabli McDonald’s. Actually, frankly, I prefer McD more than any other roadside restaurant; purely because of the standards of quality it follows. Moreover, one can always decide in advance as to what to have, because nearly everybody is aware of McD’s menu these days! Anyhow, my favorite is McVeggie along with an Ice Tea/Coffee. As the weather was chilling, I preferred the latter. Wife and kid, too, opted for the usual, keeping in mind to keep it light during the journey. My wife has a problem with traveling in hills and tends to throw up. So, it was a wise decision. Anyhow, we spent about an hour at Jabli while enjoying our meal. We also clicked a few photographs. It was a great breakfast altogether.

My Favorite - McVeggie and Coffee! :)

McDonald's @ Jabli

Next, we headed towards Shimla. I wanted to reach there without taking any stop now. Shimla is about just 90 kilometers from my place and it takes around 3 to 3.5 hours at max, if one drives without any hurry. We had reached Shogi and it started raining heavily. I decided to continue a little ahead, but to everyone’s surprise, it started snowing! It was a great view for me and my wife as neither of us had seen snowfall before this. Snowfall got heavier and we decided to take a stop at the nearest available hotel; and luckily we got one. Snowfall got heavier to the point where I was finding difficulty applying brakes. It was a timely decision that we took, thank God. There were couple of instances were other cars were about to bang in ours due to slippery road. Anyhow, we parked our car safely and went ahead to check-in!

Toy Train - Clicked en route Shimla!

We wanted to go to Shimla and see the snowfall at ridge, but it was actually impossible to take out the car and drive up to Shimla. As we were ascertaining the situation, a bus came suddenly and we hopped in. Snowfall was heavier in the town! It was such a mesmerizing and picturesque moment. We captured a few shots from here and there before heading for The Ridge. Mall Road was full of people from here and there. Snowfall stopped all of a sudden. I said to my wife “kya yaar…abhi toh aur honi chahiye thhi thodi”. It was just in another 15 minutes that the snowfall started again. In fact, it was a small snowstorm that we witnessed now. We had our meals in a hotel on Mall Road and waited for snowfall to get over.

At this point, we decided we should go back to the hotel room, as it was getting extremely cold. As we had no conveyance, it was tough to walk back to the hotel. Luckily, we met a couple in our lift that was staying in the hotel that we checked into, and they had a car. No points for guess – we got a lift from them up to the hotel. But, I knew the journey to hotel was not going to be easy, and it turned out to be worse than anticipated. The car could barely be moved above speed of 10 kmph, as there was a risk of it going down the hill. One could not apply the brakes tightly, as again it slipped.

After a lot of struggle, we all managed to reach back to the hotel. It was a journey I would never remember. I saw a lot of accidents midway that happened due to skidding of vehicles. All in all, it was a total chaos.

Just a click - while coming back from Shimla!

Anyhow, the hotel room was cozy. I had a couple of drinks. We had sumptuous food and went on to hit the bed as we all were tired. Next morning, we had to move back. Thankfully, the stretch we had to cover wasn’t that long. I drove back cautiously and reached home safely and timely. It was an adventurous trip! God, I would never forget it.