Our bus then left for Kempty Falls, a popular tourist attraction which was about 8 kms from the hotel. It is on the way down from the hill station on a side opposite to from where we had arrived. Kempty Falls was developed by the British. It actually stands for 'Camp-Tea' and was a location where the British would have tea-parties. It is a series of five cascades and gives the appearance of water jumping and playing on the rocks before falling down. Recent development however has resulted in construction of entertainment zones at each of these five spots for commercial purposes. The Yamuna river is further down the hill along this road.
The bus was parked a short distance away from the point where one goes down to the falls. This is one of those places where one takes a trolley to get down to view the attraction. The spot where we headed too was one where a pool had been constructed. The area had been opened up for swimming, allowing visitors to get right to the bottom of the 40 foot of the fall. Nihar and I entered the pool. Needless to say the water was amazingly cold. Nihar took about 10 minutes to get used to the cold water. He kept jumping around in the water and clung to me like a monkey trying to avoid the cold water. When asked to leave the pool, he was not interested. I then got a float for him so that he could get into the tube and this allowed me to drag him around the pool. A couple of times we ventured close to the fall, right below one of the off-shoots, away from the main area where the force of the water was the greatest. Watching Nihar and me playing these pranks was quite a lot of fun for spectators standing on the bridge. The water wasn't too deep but there were quite a few rocks below.
We then clicked a few photographs in traditional Garwahli clothing. Nihar and Varsha looked pretty neat in these clothes.
A minute or two by the trolley took us back to the top of the hill. The bus was parked at least 1/2 a km away. We had lunch at the hotel and then we had time for rest. Nihar and I, enjoyed a game or two of table tennis. In that time Nihar played just one or two shots on the table, the rest were straight uppish shots heading for the ceiling, the walls or at times my face. I rented the pool table for an hour just and was done just in time for tea time.
The bus then took us to Gandhi chowk in the heart of Mussoorie. A 10 minute ride by a human cycle rickshaw took us to the bottom of Gunhill point. A ride by a rope way took us to the top of Gunhill point. This place provided a good view of Mussoorie, Doon valley. It was a bit cloudy and the views were obscured a bit. This particular cable car has been around for the last 30 years and is one of the first in India.
Once down we walked around on the Camel back road and then headed back to the center of town by the cycle rickshaw. We hardly did any shopping as we were told Nainital is a much better place to be shopping for typical goods at such a hill-station.
Dinner was preceded by a a short birthday celebration for one of the tourists (a research scientist) travelling on a bus other than ours but a part of the same group. The DJ went on mostly by himself, as not many participants danced to the tune of music.
Kesari Tours and their guides ensured that all passengers were well fed, kept busy and entertained at all times of the day. I was not too impressed by the scenery so far and was waiting for an getting to Jim Corbett National Park. Nihar and I, both had great expectations from this tourist attraction.
No comments:
Post a Comment