In Uttarakhand

Reached here on 29th May... The journey from New Delhi to Nainital began at 1.30pm... and ended at 10.15 pm.... Our chauffeur Pandey is one yappy chap. At first he was reluctant to take us to Nainital the same day, bcoz of the Gujjar violence at the borders. But the agents convinced him and we reached Nainital the same day.

Uttarakhand isn't as charming as Sikkim (or is it that I am biased bcoz Sikkim was *HONEYMOON*.... muaahhhh!). The thing abt Sikkim was that tourism wasn't the only thing for locals. N there was a certain Zen-like detachment about the people. Whereas in Nainital people are just busy trying to sell you horse-ride, boat-rides, n wat-not... So they can get pesky at times... The countryside is nice... beautiful alpine scenery!... and the lakes (both Nainital n Bhimtal) r pretty huge. The boating's peaceful with the breeze. At Nainital we were put up at the Pavilion. D staff were polite n nice... but the rooms badly need some maintenance. As with most of the heritage hotels, not owned by biggies, the intent was noble, the execution outright sloppy.

Today we reached Bhimtal. The Monolith resort designed by Gautam Bhatia in wood and stone. Very charmingly done (Bhimtal is slightly less commercialised than Nainital)). The timbre floorboards could do with better cleaning.

Hv uploaded pics on orkut... more updates to follow... Laptops and Tata Indicom Mobile Internet *ROCK* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)