...Off beat track to Alibaug...

What could have been done in 90kms.. we did it after driving 250kms..

What could have been a 3 hours drive.. turned out to be 9.5 hours of drive..

What should have been an average 0mts elevation.. We ascended to nearly 1550mts.. 

Thats what we did this long weekend..

One leave and you have the freedom of having 4 days at hand on the Independence day weekend.. 

But we couldnt have all 4 days.. We had to be back in Mumbai on 17th for some personal reasons which couldnt be avoided.. 

So I set myself exploring around on different websites about locations near mumbai.. I stumble upon a lot of them.. 

We try to check for room availability at locations we think would be apt, but all of them are sold out.. all hill stations or non-beach locations are sold out..

Finally we found something we liked at first sight.. but the location wasnt really what we were looking for.. It was a resort somewhere close to Kihim.. Close to Alibaug, which is the start of the Konkan stretch..  

The UTropicana Resort...

Vivacious Vihigaon...

Vihigaon .. A small beautiful village situated close to kasara near the Mumbai nashik national highway 3..

Thanks to vikas' blog on vihigaon I decided to give it a try..

My mode of transport was the blue eyes boy (wagon r) and my wife my partner for the drive..

Google maps as usual helped planning the best route.. The map showed the distance to be just about 120 kms.. So we decided to leave around 8am..
Here is the snapshot of the route we took..

Standard Shimla Stint.. Day3 & 4..

Day3 : Naldehra..Tattapani and the Mall road..

Again we get up to a very clear sky.. No sign of rain and yes it did not rain overnight yesterday as it did the day before..
Naldehra to Mashobra is just about 12kms.. but still took us a good half an hour to reach there... 
by the looks of it, we were the first tourists on the spot..
We wanted to cramp in the Jakhu temple too, today.. it was only 9.30, but given how much time we spent yesterday and not knowing how much time it would take to see Naldehra, we decided to take the Rs.250 horse ride again.. 

The beautiful HPTDC cottages at Naldehra.. Wish I had stayed at one of them..

Standard Shimla Stint.. Day2.. Part2..

Ohh did I not tell you we spent more than 2 hours at Kufri.. And if you are wondering what we did.. here it is..

After we came back to the parking lot, our driver, mr.kewalji told us that there is a very good Zoo in Kufri, it is one of the must visit places around 
being the Touristy tourists we were, we nodded, and climbed up the slope to what looked like an entrance to the zoo..
Entry fee was 20 per adult and another 20 for the camera..
Interesting board read "There are 59animals and 54 bird species in there, do not trust people who say there is nothing to see inside".. We should have taken this as a warning, but anyway decided to go inside..

Standard Shimla Stint.. Day2.. Part1..

Day 2 : To Kufri and the Institute of Advance Studies..

The day started with the weather all clear.. no sign of rain after the overnight thunderstorm.. Also signs of Hails in the night could be seen.. but that meant there could have been snowfall up on the higher mountains..

I walked out at 6.45am for a stroll around the hotel .. 

Standard Shimla Stint.. Day1..

This blog is about a trip...
 to the the snow clad mountains where your eyes will bling..
 to the awesome river where there is hot water spring..
 to the beautiful places where the birds just sing..
 to the golf course where people take swing..
 and finally to the temple, where faith will bring..
 ting ting titing..