Wake and out into a glorious sunny yet fresh Nainital morning. The dogs were amazingly controlled last night, at about 1am we both heard someone walking down the hill with a whistle, whether from the local pound or just a wandering minstrel the effect on the dogs was great. Post a sleep in the rush is on to get out of the room by 10am checkout. Standard throughout most of the places we have stayed is a relaxed 12pm. Hotel guys fairly relaxed and assist to get our bikes down onto the street from the balcony which is always a challenge especially if onto a busy street as once you start someone has to stay where the biggest exposure is, lest something goes wandering. Better not to take the chance, then take it and lose out.
Most places the bikes either stay in the room, the balcony, the foyer, the locked carpark, the locked garage etc. Dependant upon the style of place, the locality and the layout. The bikes are generally dusty so you never want to put them in a clean room, but it is hard to sleep with noises during the night if your bikes are out the front, so we seek compromise where available. Bob is not choosey either.
From the hotel roll along the Mall to Tallital where we park outside the Swastika Restaurant for breakfast. Great and well priced. Well fed and syked up for a downhill ride to Haldwani we pass under the street exit on the higher road out of town (rather then the road back to Bhowali) and start the roll, we have both rugged up but the chill still sends shivers through the fingers. The start of the descent swings us around below the Tiffin top ridge and with views back to Lands end and across to Khurpa Tal lake below. We swing around corners in and out of the sun and enjoying the breeze and occasional silence. Play cat and mouse with the descending traffic, riding the tails of the trucks and buses, occasionally passing until the road flattens or climbs when passed at speed.
The Flora changes as we descend to the road junction where trees thin out just before Jeolikote before the curves and valleys become denser with greater moisture in the air.
Increasingly the valley to our left fogs up with views across to the Gola river hazing until riding into Kathgodam it feels like the plains we left long before, though colder. We name the experience Smogfog. We are not in Kathgodam long before three beggar girls setup shop before us, well practiced with songs to soften the request. We leave shortly after to make Haldwani, riding into the outskirts feeling as cold as we had during the pass couple of weeks before pulling into a Coffee Day for a double macchiato to warm the hands and heart.
Haldwani like any Indian centre takes time to adjust to, when first entering and dodging all sorts of traffic coming from all directions, the thought process of what the hell, is easy to fall into. It is not until you have had time to settle and readjust that the weaving and dodging becomes part and parcel, if not a little fun. Initially when back in horse cart and motorised rickshaw territory that you seriously question road survivability.
In town we do the rounds of the various hotels, it fast becoming clear that Haldwani is a relatively pricey place to stay versus up in the hills, the hotel we settle on eventually is the Nagpal Towers pretty much in the centre of town. Though some aspects of the setup leave you questioning these guys have the basics covered. The bed is comfortable, the room is warm, also containing a heater and the water is hot and continuous. Staff is courteous and the chai good.
We leave the hotel though to go exploring, wandering through the bazaar in town and the back streets behind the bus stand. Again it feels like you could find most things here, the challenge only being to actually locate them with nooks and crannies everywhere. We head to a local institution for dinner on the recommendation of a young guy maybe 14 that we met on the main highway whilst searching for hotels. His finger is proven to be on the pulse as this non veg restaurant / dhaba is humming with people, and smells delicious. We order butter chicken, naan and channa and find the food generous and tasty, only interrupted by the switching over to generator power halfway through the meal, it is finished off with a chicken skewer cooked out on the street side and served with tasty raita.
We backtrack through the market and side streets emerging finally back at the hotel. It would be so easy to lose yourself in this place as so much is going on and in so many directions, sub alleys, bazaars etc. Definitely makes Nainital feel tame and possibly a little bland in comparison.
Most places the bikes either stay in the room, the balcony, the foyer, the locked carpark, the locked garage etc. Dependant upon the style of place, the locality and the layout. The bikes are generally dusty so you never want to put them in a clean room, but it is hard to sleep with noises during the night if your bikes are out the front, so we seek compromise where available. Bob is not choosey either.
From the hotel roll along the Mall to Tallital where we park outside the Swastika Restaurant for breakfast. Great and well priced. Well fed and syked up for a downhill ride to Haldwani we pass under the street exit on the higher road out of town (rather then the road back to Bhowali) and start the roll, we have both rugged up but the chill still sends shivers through the fingers. The start of the descent swings us around below the Tiffin top ridge and with views back to Lands end and across to Khurpa Tal lake below. We swing around corners in and out of the sun and enjoying the breeze and occasional silence. Play cat and mouse with the descending traffic, riding the tails of the trucks and buses, occasionally passing until the road flattens or climbs when passed at speed.
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| From India, Nanital. January 2011 |
The Flora changes as we descend to the road junction where trees thin out just before Jeolikote before the curves and valleys become denser with greater moisture in the air.
Increasingly the valley to our left fogs up with views across to the Gola river hazing until riding into Kathgodam it feels like the plains we left long before, though colder. We name the experience Smogfog. We are not in Kathgodam long before three beggar girls setup shop before us, well practiced with songs to soften the request. We leave shortly after to make Haldwani, riding into the outskirts feeling as cold as we had during the pass couple of weeks before pulling into a Coffee Day for a double macchiato to warm the hands and heart.
Haldwani like any Indian centre takes time to adjust to, when first entering and dodging all sorts of traffic coming from all directions, the thought process of what the hell, is easy to fall into. It is not until you have had time to settle and readjust that the weaving and dodging becomes part and parcel, if not a little fun. Initially when back in horse cart and motorised rickshaw territory that you seriously question road survivability.
In town we do the rounds of the various hotels, it fast becoming clear that Haldwani is a relatively pricey place to stay versus up in the hills, the hotel we settle on eventually is the Nagpal Towers pretty much in the centre of town. Though some aspects of the setup leave you questioning these guys have the basics covered. The bed is comfortable, the room is warm, also containing a heater and the water is hot and continuous. Staff is courteous and the chai good.
We leave the hotel though to go exploring, wandering through the bazaar in town and the back streets behind the bus stand. Again it feels like you could find most things here, the challenge only being to actually locate them with nooks and crannies everywhere. We head to a local institution for dinner on the recommendation of a young guy maybe 14 that we met on the main highway whilst searching for hotels. His finger is proven to be on the pulse as this non veg restaurant / dhaba is humming with people, and smells delicious. We order butter chicken, naan and channa and find the food generous and tasty, only interrupted by the switching over to generator power halfway through the meal, it is finished off with a chicken skewer cooked out on the street side and served with tasty raita.
We backtrack through the market and side streets emerging finally back at the hotel. It would be so easy to lose yourself in this place as so much is going on and in so many directions, sub alleys, bazaars etc. Definitely makes Nainital feel tame and possibly a little bland in comparison.