I went on a short trip to Khurpatal, 10 km ahead of Nainital on a college sponsored trip. We stayed at the Dynasty Resorts which is secluded and next to a small lake but I feel their normal rates are a bit too high.
I visited Nainital again after ages. Last that I can remember is when I was in standard 8th. And of course, places change in so many years. I was pretty apprehensive about the Khurpatal trip. I have traveled a lot as a student for various sports meets but this was my first trip as a member of faculty! And now that I am back in one piece, I can say it is pretty OK to go with 18 year olds! And you get to interact a lot with your colleagues too, not a bad thing at all.
I am sharing a few photographs of the trip. The one below was taken from a walk through a forest near Dynasty Resort. It was a short 30 minutes walk and this view of the valley was one of the best I got in the entire trip.
Our entire group made a short trip to Nainital and I clicked this picture while we were waiting for our cabs to take us back to the resort at Khurpatal. I wish I could make the cars vanish from the picture but they are very much the part of all the popular hill stations in India. It was damn cold and I don’t know why I did not take a thick jacket! Actually, I finished the major part of grading by 7 in the evening of our departure date to Khurpatal and then went home to pack. No wonder my packing was stupid. And all this while I was cursing myself and wondering if I was finding Nainital so cold in the beginning of December what made me decide to go to Sikkim at the end of the month? I am sure I am going to freeze to death there.
By comparison to Nainital, Khurpatal (tal means lake in Hindi) is so peaceful, I was the only person around when I took this picture. But people at home say it looks more like a pond than a lake and I will have to agree. But for me, any day give me peace and quiet by a pond rather than loads of people by a large lake.
By the lake, one could not guess that the resort contained 40 screaming teenagers!
I have seen so many pictures of boats taken from above that when opportunity came I had to take one myself and I am pleased with the result. These boats were resting at Nani lake.
On our way back the bus got a flat tire. That and a lot of traffic, and we took nearly 14 hours to get back from Khurpatal to Gurgaon. I also realized that if bad music is played on the music system of a bus it messes up the thought process and sets my teeth on edge. But all said and done, it was a much needed break from grading, grading and some more grading.
Nice pictures, it looks a lovely place but a bit COLD! I will be interested to see how it is in Sikkim. I’m feeling the cold in Brussels as we had record temperatures of 16°C in November (not that that felt too warm after 32° in Bangkok) but now it is about 5°, wet and windy. At least we have the Christmas lights to cheer us up.
nice pics,Mridula..Loved Khurpatal Lake’s pic! how did u take that?
All I can say is nice pics — no time to read the log. Will come back soon and read them.ps: Still three logs pending from my side – Goa, Manchanabele and Wayanad,Kerala. Donno when I will complete them.
Very beautiful pictures. And BTW, not having packed enough warm clothes is the best excuse for shopping it big time , isn’t it? Good luck for your Sikkim trip.And,as a side note, pl visit cric-blah for my take on your comment!cheers!
Very Nice pics….Ecspecially the one with boats. Love it.
Qaminante, please post soem pictures of the Christmas lights.Ganga, that is just my shadow falling in the lake and of course the hills are also reflected.Prashanth, about time you wrote a post.Ketan, I am one of those who do not like shopping too much 🙂 Will check out your blog for sure.Ajeya, thanks. You have some real nice ones from your skiing trip too.
Hey Mridula, Nice pictures and an interesting account..as always. But pray tell me, why did the 2 pictures titled “Temple at Khurpatal” and “Twilight” at your webshots did not make to this post!! They definitely need to be posted – really liked them.
got some time check all the photos — good ones.a suggestion – why don’t you upload your photos in picasaweb? its pretty nice.
I wonder if the results would have been more interesting if you had gone down on one knee and captured a bit of the opposite bank of the lake, along with the reflection, of course, in the Khurpatal lake pic.
Pooja, I am glad you liked the pictures. I will maybe use them in some other post.Prashanth, I will look at what is Picasaweb. Any success with writing about your previous trips?Sidhu, it is a nice suggestion, will try it next time.
Hey loved the boat pic…tc n stay warm!
Akira, thanks a lot, the boat picture is my favortie too.
I checked out the post earlier too, but felt too lazy to comment. My bad. And a bit of problem … there seems to be something wrong with the feed of your blog – I have tried subscribing thrice, but it didnt work out :-(I went to Nainital earlier this year, after almost 20 years. But we did nothing but walk up and down the mall road, and some boating 🙂 And it was heavenly to have nothing to do :-)) The breaks are so welcome, aren’t they ? The pictures are lovely. The ones I liked most are the first one ( of the river winding through the hills – it has almost an ethereal feel to it) and the one of the resort by the deep blue of the lake (it looks like a picture postcard, just lovely!)So, you are all set to go to Sikkim in Dec end ? Find or hire some arctic gear 🙂 I went there in May, and I was still freezing in a sweater and a jacket. But I was told, the view of the Kanchunjunga is breathtaking in the winters. The Tsang-Ho lake is frozen over and the surrounding mountains are covered with snow. I saw some photos, and I will wait to look at some through your eyes!
Sigma, what all did you see in Sikkim. We still have a very tentative plan. Where is that lake? I will stuff a lot of heavy woolens and just live through it 🙂
Well Khurpa tal is mentioned in Jim Corbett’s Jungle stories..its on the way down from naini to kaladhungi,the winter home of the corbetts..incidentally Jim used to walk that distance down.Naini shall always remain special..it was my honeymoon destination.
Interesting information about Jim Corbett and I can understand the special part.