Travelogue - Part II

Sorry for the delay in posting this for anyone out there waiting for this.

Mussorie was great, it is an idyllic town situated about 6000 ft above sea level, just beyond Dehradun, and the time of the year was perfect too - just getting cold in the nights, and warm during the days. We drove from Delhi to Hardwar and continued on from there. It is just about 110 km or so from Hardwar, so a decent 2.5 hr drive. The roads are ok, not too busy, single laned though, for the most part. It is rather scary to see the drivers confidently overtaking vehicles while seeing the oncoming vehicles head on. Which is probably why I never slept during the drives...

We stayed in this place called Hotel Oasis, apparently it has the blessings of Best Western. I dont know how. The hotel was ok, better than most places I have been in, and since it was just beyond the tourist season, most hotels were giving hefty discounts - upto 50% off the usual rates. From where we stayed, it was a superb view of hills all around, and fog rolling down the hills, with brief interludes of sunshine. It would get foggy completely by 4 PM or so; early mornings have fog intermittently, one minute, I could see the sweeping views of the hills all around, and the next minute, the fog rolling down would obscure all vision. Kind of reminded me of the fog rolling down the hills adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge - those were really wonderful sights too.
There is actually not a whole lot of things to do in Mussorie; there are nice drives around the town, offering splendid views of the valleys and mountains, and some waterfalls close by. There is this road called the Mall Road, which is a winding road up one of the hills, which is the main shopping area. I did spot some places with some ethnic items. We did manage to get some glimpses of some snow covered Himalayan peaks in the distance, that was a beautiful view. On our way out of Mussorie, we stopped by this place called Sahasthradhaara; I dont know the origin of the name, but this was sort of a sulphur springs place. The river here was pungent with the smell of sulphur, and is said to have curative properties for those having a bath here. Like most tourist places in India, this could surely have been marketed better.
We did a brief stopover at Dehradun, which is on the way. Unfortunately no one we asked could tell us the whereabouts of Ruskin Bond.

Jaipur

After a short break in Delhi (during which I called off my trek due to excessive rain, snow & landslides in the Uttarkashi area), we left for Jaipur. Jaipur is about 250 km from Delhi, and the highway is good, 2 lanes each way, all the way. So it was a decent 4 hour drive. Jaipur is like most Indian cities in some ways - the heart of the city is crowded, buses, two-wheelers, cars, driving in close to random fashion, with cycle rickshaws increasing the randomness manyfold. An interesting thing I saw in most trucks in North India was this funny writing on the rear of the truck - buri nazar daalne waale, tera muh kalaa. Translated, it roughly means - fie on you who casts an evil eye on me. Dont know why they do that.
Anyway, some of the good palaces to visit are - City Palace, Jantar Mantar (this is the famous astronomical observatory of those days, it is quite marvellous), Hawa Mahal, Amer Fort (also called Amber Fort). Most of these palaces are converted to museums, they contain relics from the Rajput era, clearly showing a beautiful blend of Hindu & Muslim architectures. There were some collections from even older times - in fact I saw a few exhibits from 2 AD, and one running back to 5,000 BC - this one was a stone tool that was excavated from a place called Viratnagar. Amazing. Hawa Mahal is a unique building, architecture-wise. It is designed to give a superb ventilation and cooling effect in the higher floors - just 4 floors above the ground, one can see the difference, with the circulation and windows/vents designed in such a manner to give a cooling effect. Amber Fort is one of the largest forts near Jaipur. Very nice architecture, situated on top of a series of hills, with some interesting architectural features - for example, there is this winter palace of the king called "sheesh mahal" or the mirror palace. The walls & ceilings are completely made of glass, and with lamps lit in the room, it leads to natural heat inside.
As for shopping, and there are a multitude of small & big shops, bazaars all over the place. One famous one is called Bapu Bazaar. The gamut of colours available for ladies' clothes is quite amazing - a rich tribute to all things feminine, I guess.

I have to figure out how to upload photographs, for those interested, let me know, I have put them up someplace else for now.