Honeymoon Horror Stories – III

We threw away the old spark plug and a precious couple of hours in Shimla, and left for Chindi. We were both a little tired, our backs aching (mine more than his, thanks to the fucking sprain). But we were just happy to know that we still had the bike and that it was functioning just as it should. Nothing else mattered at that point.

Some might find the road from Shimla to Chindi picturesque, but it was the same as all roads in the hills are. Mountain looming over you on one side, and the depths of hell on the other. I find that immensely boring. So I decided to look up instead. And here’s what I saw.

That’s beauty in the eyes of this beholder 😉

Anyhow. I clicked pictures for a while, but then found myself unable to keep my eyes open. I find listening to music very helpful in these situations, but in my haste I had forgotten to put on my earphones, so I held on tight to the Ladakh carrier on the bike, and attempted to sleep. On a moving bike. I nearly fell off twice or thrice. Another dozen times my helmet banged against Mister’s.

It was a mighty boring ride, and a risky one, too, but three hours later, we checked into the Mamleshwar resort, freshened up, and went out for a walk. And stared for a (long) while at this:

It’s a panorama, click it. You’ll love it!

There were plenty of temples nearby, but I was in a really bad shape, and only got to visit one. The architecture was very Buddhist, but the idols were Hindu. All-in-all, a really surreal experience. Pics below.

Mister clicking away at the temple gate. surprisingly enough, we don’t have a picture of what he clicked!

 

the temple. don’t miss the reindeer on the top and the two lions guarding the temple. I’ve never seen reindeer in a temple before!

 

the other side of the temple. check out the painting and murals on the top half. told you it was surreal!

By the time we stepped out of the temple, it was evening. We strolled about for a while. What delighted us the most was that Chindi isn’t a really popular or well-known/touristy spot, and therefore it was clean and untouched by Pepsi bottles, Lays wrappers, and polythene bags.

Instead, there were trees. Lots and lots of trees. And a trekking route. We spent some time weighing our options, but I was super lazy and wanted to go back to our room and make out, so I lied about my back being in a bad shape. So we went back to the resort and did the hanky panky. But not before we clicked these pics.

 

to trek or not to trek?

all roads lead to Mister

yup. it was pretty amazing.

Told you there’d be loads of pictures in these posts!

Anyway. You know what happened next. We went back and made out like a bunch of rabbits, then had the most amazing meal I’d had in days. Himachali Rajma Madra (red kidney beans) and peeli dal (yellow lentils) with chapati, a peculiar type of raita. And when we could eat no more, we ordered dessert. Can’t remember what it is called now, but it’s supposed to be dried flowers cooked in milk and sugar, and topped up with a LOT of nuts.

Then we fell asleep, looking forward to the next leg of our journey, the ride to Tirthan valley. It rained all night and it got cold, so we snuggled all night.

We woke up early in the morning, and I was feeling much better so we decided to skip breakfast and just head out to save daylight. The road was squishy from all the rain, and the road that would lead us out of the hotel was, well, clay. I came up with a brilliant idea. I walked down to the road, and with the resort staff’s help, lay large flat stones on the road. Mister could now simply start his bike and carefully stick to that path.

Except, the bike didn’t start.