Previous parts:
Part 1: A trip to Uttarakhand
Part 2: Chandni Chowk to China
Part 3: Lake? What lake?
Nainital
We boarded our train to Kathgodam from Dehradhun and the journey was a pleasant one. We alighted at Haldhwani station, just the one before Kathgodam and took a cab to Nainital. The KMVN has ‘rest houses’ in every tourist halt throughout the Kumaon Hills. We stayed in the one at Tallital, overlooking the Naini lake- it was decent, reasonably priced and the food was good.
The weather was pleasant and this place has not one but 4 or 5 ‘real’ lakes- Nainital, Bhimtal, Sattal, Naukuchiyathal etc.. And every lake is beautiful.. Nimbu sharbat (lemon juice) made from giant-sized lemons- bigger than the Fiji apples, from Bhowali was awesome here. Varun and I tried all the varieties of berries and raspberries were the best.
The eco cave garden was worth a visit. With Varun around, it was tough climbing few rocks and squeezing through narrow openings in a couple of caves. So the older Vs had to take turns. Vyas showed great interest in ‘exploring’ the already explored caves and kept cursing himself for not carrying along a ‘flashlight’- aftermath of reading ‘The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island’ just the week before;)
We did not visit the other, very popular destinations in the Kumaon belt like Almora, Binsar, Ranikhet, Muktheshwar, Corbett etc as we stayed there just for a night and two days.. Perhaps after another 4 years as it involves a lot of road travel..
We were sulking like school kids on the day we were leaving Nainital.. Our holiday was nearly coming to an end and we had to come back to see the same faces in the same places…
Next parts:
Part 5: V.I.P
Part 6: Delhi to Chennai- Kabuliwala
Part 7: An end and a beginning
life under the sky 