Once or twice every year, our family hires a tempo traveller and heads out. We try to choose peaceful unique places. We put in a lot of effort to ensure that the property we are staying in is good, suitable for children and elderly, and set away from the "madding crowd". We start every trip with a lot of anticipation and we are yet to go on a trip from where we returned disappointed. However, some trips stand out when it comes to memories. One such trip was our trip to Chail during the monsoon in 2012.
We stayed at Fernhill resort which is overlooking a valley that turned out to be a playground for clouds. We remember clouds gathering up around the hotel at one instance and vanishing at the next. We remember clouds trying to enter our rooms too. It was too beautiful. I don't think I can ever forget that experience. We ended up spending most of our mornings and evenings in the balcony for this very reason.
Another lasting memory is of Kali Mata da Tibba. This quaint temple is set on the top of the tallest hill overlooking the valleys below. It was sunny here and I remember sitting on the boundarywall of this temple for ages looking at the huge birds of prey soaring around, listening to their haunting, piercing calls. This was perhaps one of the few "places to see" in Chail that I really liked. Honestly, the Palace Hotel was a let down in comparison.
I also remember vividly, our trip to the highest cricket ground in the world. If you go there expecting a full-fledged stadium with aisles etc, you will be disappointed. This is more like a school playground. But it is huge. The entrance was locked when we went there. However, we took a walking tour around it and once again clouds kept us company and it was the clouds and the beautiful flora that made this excursion worth it.
One particular incident that I remember clearly is very scary. On the second night of our stay, storm clouds gathered and lightning was flashing. I am very scared of lightening and thunder so I lay down with a pillow covering my eyes and ears. But they proved to be of no use. Lightning struck very close to our resort. I remember clearly the sound of thunder. I have never heard anything like it. Next day, the driver of our tempo traveller told us that he was still in the vehicle when that happened and he had witnessed the lightning strike. Apparently it struck a spot right behind our hotel. Scary, isn't it? Anyways, the hotel lost power after this and we enjoyed a candle-light dinner in our room. So it wasn't all bad.
We have travelled to many cloud-covered hill stations after this, but if you ask me which experience I would like to repeat, it would be our visit to Chail. It was full of fun and adventure as well as relaxation and good family time, as every great trip should be.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
.jpg)