Visit The Exciting Slopes of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Kilimanjaro mountain is noted as legend. Every year thousands of mountaineers from around the world arrive here to climb on top of it. There are three volcanoes on this mountain - Kibo, Mawenzi and Sheera. Here Uhru peak, the highest point on the tour costs about 77 thousand rupees. This peak is a part of Kibo valcano. This cost includes the fees of Kilimanjaro National Park, Guide and wages of people carrying equipment. Often people get sick on high mountains which we called altitude sickness. Same thing also happens with many people who climbs on this peak so they have to treat also.

People who are not willing to climb to the top and don't want to spend too much, they can enjoy trekking hills on the slopes of Kilimanjaro on which they don't have to spend even single penny. As it says in the local Moshi lenguage that you have to catch a 'Dala Dala' mini bus which will take you to the Marangoo town from the Arusha city. This hill town is only 40 kilo meters away, but the journey takes about 2 hours. The most popular tour on altitude of 1400 meters on Kilimanjaro begins from here, which is famous by the name of 'Coca Cola Route'.

Just before reaching to Marangoo, a person on the bus offers his services as a guide. He takes tourists through banana trees, whose shadow is used for growing coffee bushes. He tells that usually they do have two crops of coffee in a year but the rain is extremely low in recent years, they are getting only one harvest in a year.

Here is a compulsion for farmers to cultivate the land with environmentally friendly forms of agriculture. The pesticides are expensive enough that they can't afford so they sprinkle ash, black pepper and mix of water on the leaves of plants so that the insect stay away from them. Guide also provides information about plants of acacia tree that grows only there. Old people claim to find the solution of family problems by doing special observation on dry leaves of acacia trees but the new generation is not aware bye this type of art or skill. 

Mountain trail ends in a narrow river valley. Here another narrow footpath take you to the Doro falls. The falling water from this fall creates a natural pond in this rain forest. This fall is a part of 'Munajo' river. There is possession of vines on the walls of canyon so the whole area looks very green.

On the way of returning guide takes the group of tourists into the underground caves of 'Chaga' people. The original inhabitants have lived on the slopes of 'Chaga Kilimanjaro for centuries. In ancient time, during the summer drought in the plains areas, 'Masai' tribes living in the mountains used to come and steal cattle of 'Chaga' people. Chaga people dug a long tunnel into the earth in defense. These tunnels were built to attack guerrilla. Any person coming into their area who did not know the password, 'Chaga' people were hiding in the tunnel slay him with their spears. Many mines still exist here.

In the evening on returning from trekking, if the weather is clear you can see an amazing scene of Kilimanjaro shining with sun rays.                                                  

Mussorie, The Queen of Hills

Yes Mussorie is also known as the queen of hills for its immense beauty. Mussorie is situated in the state of Uttarakhand and in Garhwal hills. It is only 35 kilometers away from the capital of Uttarakhand, Dehradun. Its beauty attracts a large number of tourists from the whole country. It is a lovely place not only for short vacations but also for romantic honeymoon spots. It is also a best weekend getaway destination. This place is famous for Hotels, Restaurants, Mall road, Company Garden, Schools etc. The best time to visit Mussorie is through out the year.

The Route

It was around 3:30 pm when we headed to Mussorie from our home. We were two families. Our journey started from our city Jagadhri. There are two routes from Jagadhri to Mussorie one is via Saharanpur and other is via Ponta. I always prefer to go via Ponta. The way to Mussorie via Ponta is very beautiful. After leaving Jagadhri the first city will come on the way is Ponta, which is situated in Himachal Pardesh. On the way of Ponta you will see a forest by the name of Kalesar. There are plenty of animals in this forest. If you start your journey early in the morning, you may see some wild animals on the road. This forest is very big. You can't enter in this forest without permission. After passing this place, we reached to toll barrier where we paid 30 rupees as an entry tax to Himachal Pardesh. Ponta is situated on the border of Uttrakhand. When you are in Ponta, Don't miss an opportunity to view Gurudwara Ponta Sahib. Is pretty much out of the Gurudwara is more than that in. After Ponta we reached to second city Dehradun which is capital of the Uttarakhand state. Inspite of capital, roads of Dehradun are narrow and highly crowded. Traffic near Clock Tower moves very slowly. But food of this city is very delicious. If you are non-vegetarian and you don't have a problem with halal

meat, go for chicken biryani. You can find it in Ghosi Gali near Clock Tower. There are about 12 to 15 points where you can have it but best is Jahid Chicken Biryani point in my views. When we reached there to taste it, we did not had a foggiest idea about Ramadan so we couldn't had a single bite of chicken biryani this time. They don't prepare chicken biryani in Ramadan. We headed back to Mussorie. Because it was rainy season we saw small waterfalls in short distances on Dehradun-Mussorie road. While driving we faced some problemdue to clouds. Just before Mussorie there is one more toll barrier where we paid 200 rupees to enter in Mussorie. At 7:30 pm we reached to Mussorie. Heavy rain welcomed us in Mussorie. We had already decided to take a hotel on Mall Road. There are two ways from where you can enter into the Mall Road, One is from Library Chowk and other is from Picture Palace. Entry fees for four wheeler to enter in Mall Road is 100 rupees which you have to pay on the barrier. If you arrive here before 5:00 pm then it is alright otherwise they will not allow you to enter before 10:00 pm at any cost. But you can go by walk at any time. The hotel we chose was near to the barrier.

The Mall Road

Next morning the weather was clear and pleasant. We went out for a stroll to Mall Road. The Mall is the heart of the Mussorie. The Mall road stretches from Picture Palace to Public Library. It is exciting to see it. You can see a lot of tourists in and around this area. Walking on Mall road is not easy because this is way too high, low. We had a breakfast at Aggarwal vegetarian restaurant. We ordered Cholle Bhature and some Aloo Paranthas. It was very good in taste. Aloo Paranthas were made in clay oven. Enjoy the Aloo pranthas in mountains is different. There are so many restaurants where you can have breakfast, choice is yours. On Mall road, you will see many branded showrooms of garments which you will find in big cities. The greatest thing, these showrooms are engaged in full-year sales. I bought Puma shoes and T-shirts as there was discount of 40%, which was not even available in my city. You can find all kind of eatables at road side. If you did not eat roasted or boiled corn on Mall road, you ate nothing. In our city we eat corn in summers but here you can enjoy it in little cold. While walking we arrived at the shop was named Chic Chocolate which was on opposite of hotel Clark's. It is a must visit place. This is one of the oldest shops on Mall road have home made chocolates, ice cream, Kathies, pizzas...you name it they have it. At the Mall road time goes very quickly. We did not realize that when one afternoon. 

Now the time was 1:30 pm. We moved ahead for cable car to go to Gun Hill point. Don't go by the name, it has no gun. This is the second highest point in Mussorie. When we reached there we saw a large and open ground. As soon as we got-off, photographers forced us to get a photograph in traditional Kashmiri dress so be prepared for it. This is good place for children also. They can enjoy by playing games like Ring game, Archery, Shooting etc. You will see some eatable shops also. On Gun hill point, There is lot of fun to eat Maggie. If you like to drink alcohol, you can also have it on this place, so you don't need to carry your own. You just have to ask somebody, like I asked. Price of tin pack beer was 150 rupees for one. Having a fun of two hours we headed back to Mall road. View of the evening was something else. Now there was more gaiety than before on Mall road. We were very hungry by pedestrian walking and it was dinner time also. Although there are many good restaurant but two famous restaurants are Nirulas and Dominos which do not need to write about. When I came here, was always eat in "its my shop" restaurant which is famous for its non-veg food. But now there was one more restaurant have opened by the name of Bar-Be-Q-Nation. This is not a chain of that Barbeque Nation which you are aware of. Restaurant is small, only six people can sit at a time but food is good as comparatively to its my shop. You may have to wait for 30 minutes for your food so place your order in advance. We ordered to pack chicken seekh kebab, 

Afghani chicken, daal makhni, mixed veg with breads. We brought our food in the hotel ate it and went to sleep.

Kempty Fall

Next Morning we woke up at 7:00 am. At 9:00 am we were ready to go to Kemty Fall. Well, I come in Mussorie 3 or 4 times in a year but never got a chance to see Kemty Fall. It is 13 kilo meters away from Mussorie. Just before Kemty Fall there was a police barrier where they were checking the documents of vehicles. If you hired a taxi then ok but if you are driving your own vehicle, make sure all the documents are complete. They check licence, registration of vehicle, insurance and pollution certificate. We reached there in 25 minutes. Earlier everyone had to walk downward from the road, it was very tiring. This was one reason  that I did not come here earlier but now the rope way has started. When we were standing a short distance in front of the waterfall, spray of water kept falling on our face. Due to off season the crowed was very low. At first we thought we would not go into the water. But watching people enjoying in water, we couldn't stop ourselves. We did not bring shorts with us to go into the water but there were a few shops where you can have clothes on rent. We and our children did much enjoy in the water. While enjoying if you feel hungry then there are many things that you can eat.


At 2:00 pm we came back to Mall road where we met our friend "Gaurav Gupta". He had also come with family. At first he had to come with us but for some reason he arrived two days later. But this is his greatness that he arrived for us. he is very fond of food. He suggested us to Taste Momos at "Kalsang" restaurant. The cuisine of this restaurant is combination of Chinese and Thai food. The decoration and atmosphere of the restaurant is having a glimpse of China. We ordered Chilly Chicken Momos. Really it was scrumptious, while eating we were remembering our friend. At that day we enjoyed so much on Mall road. Our children did horse riding also. On the side of Picture Palace there is a 5 D theater and Scary House, both are together in one building. It  is must visit place. But your heart must be strong to enter in Scary House because it is too scary. At dinner time we decided to have dinner in "Tavern" restaurant which is the best restaurant on Mall road in my views. If you want to eat here, you should book a table in advance otherwise you may have to wait until the table is empty. It is multi cuisine restaurant. There is a man who sings with guitar on people's choice. There is a bar also which has different types of drinks. You must try Majito drink in Bacardi. After having the best food in Mussorie we went to sleep at our hotel.

Lal Tibba and Landour Bazaar

Some mysteries of nature are very near to us. Far away from the highly crowded areas and noisy places there are  places by the name of "Lal Tibba" and "Landour Bazaar". If you are fond of nature's beautiful sight to see, you must visit here. Landour is Situated on the way of Lal Tibba. The famous writer "Ruskin Bond" lives in Landour. Lal Tibba is the highest place of Mussorie. Road is narrow. This is a bit tricky to drive on the road of Lal Tibba. You should have good experience of driving. The way is too high that car moves in first gear. We couldn't reach at the Lal Tibba because the road was under construction. We headed back to Landour. We stopped at Char Dukaan. This is also a good place to visit. We decided to visit Hotel Devdaar Woods about which I had only heard yet. This hotel is located in Landour Area. After reaching there we found out why they call it Devdaar Woods because here is a big Cedar tree, which we had never seen before. The weather was very cold as comparatively to Mussorie. The hotel has a very beautiful view. After coming here, I realized that I was missing something and that was peace of mind, which I got here. We then greeted by a man whose name was "sukhwinder Singh" and his beautiful fiancee "Sofia" who is from Finland. He takes care of this place. He is very friendly, well educated, a good chef, a good manager and having a very good knowledge. We can say him all rounder. He told us few things of this place and surrounding areas. After a short conversation he left us alone for sometime. Coming to the food part. The style of the menu card was quite different, all things were written by hand in a big  font. You must have eaten pizza from Dominos or Pizza Hut, but get a taste of pizza here. Its taste is not less than other branded pizza. When we were ordering for the lunch Sukhwinder came back to us again and helped us to order for the food. He was sweet enough to prepare a special dish for us as a complimentary, it was "Butter Chicken". He said it is his specialty.
Really it was mouth watering taste. I had never eaten such tasty butter chicken before. It was so much flavor that I have not eaten anything. He shared its recipe with me but I'll not share in my blog. If I share it here, you will miss the pleasure of eating there. I was very happy with the gastronomy and hospitality of Sukhwinder. This was our best day in Mussorie. With the sweet memories of Devdaar Woods we headed back to our home. I promised to the beautiful meadows of Landour to come back and stay for 2-3 nights            


                                                  

           

               

              

                

India's Most Favorite Tourist Place, GOA

There are so many places in India where you will feel that you are not in India, you are in foreign country. Goa is one of them. This is the best place to spend holidays. It is a tourist place where every people want to visit once in a life. Through out the year, so many local and foreign tourist come here to spend holidays and enjoy the life. Goa is the best place for honeymooners also. Weather of Goa is very good neither too hot nor too cold. Best time to visit Goa is September to March. Beaches, Churches, Temples and sunset points are main attractions in Goa. You can see a touch of Portugal in some buildings. In rainy season, means June and July its brightness becomes a little pale. You must go there before you die. Vegetarian people may have some problem with the food. So let us start the journey. 

It was my first journey in life when I was going to visit a place of coastline. It was my first family trip after marriage. I was searching for good hotel package to have a great memorable time in Goa. Suddenly I remember, why I am searching for the package as I am the member of Dalmia Resorts. Ever since I became a member of this group, I did not avail any facility. This was my opportunity to book a package. I contacted to the office of Dalmia Resorts in New Delhi. I asked them to book a 4 nights and 5 days hotel package for Goa. They said please give us tentative dates of departure. I gave 25,26,27 dates of November. After two days I received a call from them that my package has been booked with the date of 27th of November. I felt very happy. Now the main thing was to reserve two tickets of train for going and two air tickets for returning. This is the best way to go by train and return by air craft. The journey of train is amazing as my friend told me. I just had a month left when I reserved two tickets of Rajdhani express (Konkan Railways), one of the best trains in India and two tickets of Indigo Airlines. My train tickets were in waiting list but I was sure that the tickets will be confirmed by the time.

The day of 26th November had come up. We reached at Delhi railway station to start our memorable journey. Our destination railway station was Madgaon. It was overnight journey in train. Train reached at 02:30 PM to Madgaon. We had to got down at this station. When we came out from the train, the weather was hot as comparatively to New Delhi. We hired a taxi from the station to our hotel Old Anchor. It is a four star category hotel. If you want to hire a  taxi from Madgaon railway station, don't hire a private taxi. You will see a prepaid taxi booth inside the railway station which is under government services. Our hotel was situated in South Goa. Hotel was only 13 kilo meters away from this station. Inspite of narrow roads, traffic was moving and roads were very good. The way of 13 kilo meters was very beautiful. We saw lovely winding road with small houses all along the way. We were first time watching long palm and coconut trees on road side. View of small mountains was very attractive. After 20 minutes we reached to our hotel. 

After reaching to the hotel a well dressed bell boy came and put our luggage on the trolley. He showed us a small glimpse of sea from hotel. I was surprised to see, it was looking above from the land. We felt very good when we entered in a lobby of the hotel, staff welcomed us with the folded hands and a chill refreshing drink. After filling check-inn form, we entered in the room. The room we chose was a superior which had a view of lawn. It was fully equipped with the modern amenities like WiFi, minibar, safe, LCD TV, iron board etc. We were tired because of long journey so we did some relax. When it was 06:00 PM, we had a cup of tea and wore our shorts to go to seashore. Hotel Old Anchor is located near the sea. It is only 5 minutes of walking distance to reach there. When we arrived there, I was surprised to see the large view of sea. It was seeming that there is no end of the sea. This was my first time where I was standing at this type of place. The scene was view able. It was just looking like someone has painted it with golden colour. We walked to the road side to see the market. You will see some stores and restaurants on road side. Dmello's store is very good store where you can purchase some necessary things for your daily needs. After some time we came back to hotel. It was only 1st day of our 5 days holidays and we were very excited.   



Next morning we woke up with new plans. Our breakfast was waiting for us at the restaurant which had an array of Indian and International cuisine. It was very pleasant-tasting. After getting ready we went to the reception of hotel. We asked receptionist to guide us for famous places to visit in Goa. He said, " There are approximately 12-13 beaches surroundings Goa, Miramar, Calangute, Baga, Anjuna, Colva and Dona Paula are very famous among them". We hired a taxi from hotel to visit these beaches. First of all we visited to Dona Paula which is famous for shooting of Bollywood movies. You can do some water sports activities at here. We drove water scooter. Driving on road and driving on water is absolutely different. Then we headed to Calangute beach. When we reached here, scene was just like that we have reached to wharf. Its scene reminded me the scene of Haridwar. It was full packed with tourists. People were doing paragliding and enjoying with their own manners. After spending some time we moved to baga beach. This beach is very neat and clean. Multi coloured umbrellas on the beach were looking very beautiful. We had a lunch here. In lunch I ordered prawns with fried rice which was very delicious and my wife ordered veg Manchurian with fried rice. After relaxing on this beach our taxi driver took us to the Anjuna beach. This beach is a sunset point. Tourists incarcerate some beautiful pictures of sunset in their cameras. We spend our second day by visiting to beaches. We reached to our hotel when evening was turning into night. After reaching to hotel and some relaxing we got out to the road side for dinner. There were so many restaurants near our hotel. Most of the restaurants open only peak season in South Goa. We walked in one of the restaurant. Dinner with drinks and sea food was relish and it made our evening wonderful.

Next day we decided to explore Goa in our own way. We bought a road map of Goa and hired a bike.  It is cheap and best way to explore Goa. It is much cheaper than taxi. But you must apply sun screen lotion on your body before riding on bike to avoid sun burn. Check your bike thoroughly before returning it. If you left or forgot valuable things in bike and after sometime you come back to take it, they will say there was nothing in bike. After that you can not do anything so take care. We paid Rs.350 per day for bike. We decided to go to Panjim. Panjim is the capital and main city of Goa. It is very beautiful city, Most of the tourists stay in Panjim. This place is also famous for churches, temples, Museums, splendid parks, coastline etc. We visited to churches and temples. Your Goa trip is incomplete without visiting churches. Famous churches in Goa are Se Cathedral, Goa Basilica of Bom Jesus, Church of St. Cagetan, Church of St. Francis-Xavier etc. The best part of Goa churches is that it not only attracts Christian tourists but also tourists of other religions as well. After some time we felt hungry and it was lunch time also. We walked in Delhi Darbar restaurant which is located in Panjim. Food of this restaurant is very good. From last two days we were eating only Goan food. We were missing the taste of North India so this was the perfect food place for us. Roasted chicken and fish tikka with chilled beer were amazing in starters. Butter chicken and Daal Makhni in main course with butter naan were delicious. 

Then we headed to take a ride on cruise. If you did not take a ride on cruise in Goa it means your trip is vain. Cruises are dignity of Goa. We already bought the tickets for Paradise cruise which starts from 6:00 pm and is a one hour ride. Since the cruise was scheduled to start at 6:00 pm so we were told to report to the ticket counter at 5:45 pm. The seating arrangement on Paradise cruise is on first come first serve basis. If you come early you can choose your seats but if you are late then you have to be happy with whatever seat is left. The Paradise cruise we chose was with open roof. Once the cruise starts the crowd will be greeted by DJ. The staff of the cruise will perform traditional Goan dance. We also danced with them. Everyone sitting on the cruise is also invited to dance with them. Food and beverages are paid inside the cruise. So you have to pay an extra cost if you need anything to eat or to drink. You can have hard drinks, beers, cold drinks, veg-non veg snacks on the cruise. We spent a memorable time on it. After a great fun we moved back to our hotel. 

Now it was our 4th day in Goa. We decided to explore the area where our hotel was situated. World famous hotel "The Leela" was located at only the distance of two kilo meters from our hotel. If your pocket is full with money, you should stay in this hotel only. We decided to visit there. At 11:00 am we reached to Leela hotel. I was very impressed with the entrance of the hotel. It was amazing view with huge lobby. We walked to the reception and asked to visit the hotel. They said our staff is very busy, no one can go with you to show you hotel, so you have to see it yourself. I said alright and thought in my mind that at least they allowed us to visit. The structure of the hotel was just like a fort. We saw most of the guests of the hotel were foreigner. They were enjoying in swimming pool with their drinks. Hotel has its own personal beach also. We got tired by visiting. We saw a counter at open place which was in the centre of the land. It was an open bar. We sat and ordered beer for us. Than we decided to have lunch in this hotel. We entered in the restaurant and ordered for lunch. I can't tell you about the taste of food. It was very scrumptious. After spending 4 hours we came out from the hotel. After that we went to beach for relax. We were sitting on the beach for whole evening.

Now it was dinner time. When we were going to hotel Leela I saw a restaurant on the way. The restaurant was situated on the canal of river. We entered and saw a performer with having guitar in his hands, was singing a song for guests. The atmosphere was set to enjoy live music. Some part of the restaurant was in open area. It is your choice where you want to sit, under the roof or in an open area. All the tables were surrounded with flowers and candles with our own choice of menu. This entire setup was so romantic. By enjoying this scene I drank 5 Tequila shots with nice barbeque chicken. After having 5 drinks I was in little intoxication. I enjoyed in my own manners. We ordered for dinner in the combination of veg and non-veg dishes with breads. After some time people started dance. We also joined them in dance. Overall it was my memorable day.

Next and last day we woke up and I knew I still had the hangover of last night. I drank a strong coffee to remove hangover. After getting ready we walked in the restaurant to had our breakfast. Now it was time to checkout. I asked at the reception to arrange a taxi for us to Airport. After 10 minutes taxi came. We sat and moved towards to the Airport. The entire trip was memorable. I must visit Goa again in my life.