The trip started on 9 Jan, 2010 at the vee hours of 4:00 AM. The hardest part of getting up so early and the next hardest part of giving directions to our house to a confused taxi driver tackled, we were all set to the airport. I had not expected the roads and the lightings to look so spectacular in the dark. It was better than Mumbai's Queens necklace :D
Reaching the airport (Bangalore International Airport) and checked in, had an expensive Idli/vada/sambar (Rs. 90) and roamed around the duty free shops till it was time to leave. The Go Indigo flight was scheduled to take off at 6:30 AM. The gates opened at 5:50 and by 6:15 we were tucked in nicely in the aircraft, though the leg space was a little cramped. We even got to see the sunrise on our flight and it was oh so beautiful.
Landed at Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport) by 9:00 AM. The outside temperature was 10 degrees. It was cold, tolerable and thick smoke was visible when people spoke :D
Our next destination was Dehradun. The train was at 3:30 in the afternoon and we spent our time at the airport till around noon. At noon we booked ourselves a taxi from the airport to take us to NDLS railway station. The drive took about half an hour and cost us Rs. 300. Had a good lunch at the railway station. The cleanliness and hygene at the railway hotel took me by surprise. The food was good too. When we were done, the announcement was made that our train is delayed by one and a half hours, that is, it would be at 5:00 PM. We passed time in the waiting room. We had our respective novels packed too, so the waiting wasn't very hard :D
The train did come on time but the departure was delayed by another hour. It was the first time we were travelling by AC chair car and the compartment as well as the 8-hour journey was good. Ate chowmein, paneer pakoda, and cutlets in the train. We reached Dehradun at 11:30 PM, a good two hours later than we should have, given the delay. Our booking was done at Hotel Siddarth which is a 5 minute walk from the railway station. The room is OK for a night's stay, the hot water being the only plus point of the hotel. There is only one bus that goes to Joshimath from Dehradun and it starts at 5:00 AM. We were happy to have done our homework well and the receptionist at Hotel Siddarth had the same thing to share. A good bath and half an hour later we were dozing off under thick blankets with the alarm set for 4:00 AM.
End of Day 1.
To be contd...
Reaching the airport (Bangalore International Airport) and checked in, had an expensive Idli/vada/sambar (Rs. 90) and roamed around the duty free shops till it was time to leave. The Go Indigo flight was scheduled to take off at 6:30 AM. The gates opened at 5:50 and by 6:15 we were tucked in nicely in the aircraft, though the leg space was a little cramped. We even got to see the sunrise on our flight and it was oh so beautiful.
Landed at Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport) by 9:00 AM. The outside temperature was 10 degrees. It was cold, tolerable and thick smoke was visible when people spoke :D
Our next destination was Dehradun. The train was at 3:30 in the afternoon and we spent our time at the airport till around noon. At noon we booked ourselves a taxi from the airport to take us to NDLS railway station. The drive took about half an hour and cost us Rs. 300. Had a good lunch at the railway station. The cleanliness and hygene at the railway hotel took me by surprise. The food was good too. When we were done, the announcement was made that our train is delayed by one and a half hours, that is, it would be at 5:00 PM. We passed time in the waiting room. We had our respective novels packed too, so the waiting wasn't very hard :D
The train did come on time but the departure was delayed by another hour. It was the first time we were travelling by AC chair car and the compartment as well as the 8-hour journey was good. Ate chowmein, paneer pakoda, and cutlets in the train. We reached Dehradun at 11:30 PM, a good two hours later than we should have, given the delay. Our booking was done at Hotel Siddarth which is a 5 minute walk from the railway station. The room is OK for a night's stay, the hot water being the only plus point of the hotel. There is only one bus that goes to Joshimath from Dehradun and it starts at 5:00 AM. We were happy to have done our homework well and the receptionist at Hotel Siddarth had the same thing to share. A good bath and half an hour later we were dozing off under thick blankets with the alarm set for 4:00 AM.
End of Day 1.
To be contd...
can you make the fonts little darker? It is a bit difficult to read
ReplyDeleteHi Srinidhi,
ReplyDeleteThank u for your feedback. Done :)