My first impression of Nainital wasn't anything positive, or should I say that I wasn't in a position to make any judgement as I sat nausea ridden in the cab that bore us towards the higher altitudes. Only the memory of how a lecturer had pronounced the word Kathgodam kept me going. "Kathmandu!" he had said!
We were in Nainital for a survey camp that was part of our course, so the entire Civil Engg. batch was in Nainital and we were staying at this resort called "Fair Light Trails" which also has Youth Hostelling facilities. If at all you are planning on visiting Nainital, don't stay at some hotel within the city. You won't be able to appreciate the true beauty of this piece of heaven on Earth if you stay in the Mall road. I advise you to get a room at some place situated a little way away from the city, our resort especially was ideally located and it offered an amazing view of the city and was surrounded by forests and hills.
The taxi drivers tend to rip you off, so ask the locals to direct you along the short cut route to "Tanki Point" when you are in an adventurous mood. It will take you about 40 minutes to climb all the way to "Tanki Point" from where you can choose to go to 2 different places or you can choose to rest at "Rana's Tea Stall" which is owned by a very talkative Mr. Rana. From "Tanki" you can either walk a little way along the highway and you will end up at "Himalaya View Point". An amazing treat for your eyes awaits you there, just make sure to go there on a clear skied day or you won't see a thing. If you walk further ahead, beyond "Himalaya View Point", you will find a on the right side of the highway, a few steps leading up to a temple. Pray there if you are the religious type but don't forget to explore the narrow trail that starts off from behind the temple, it will lead you onto a beautiful ridge and it is quite dangerous too, so take your hiking boots along. From the risge, you can hear the sound of rushing water, chirping birds all around you and if you sit there silently enough for a little time, you will find the little birds coming out of all their hiding places and going about their business as if you were not even sitting there.
Also, from "Tanki", you can go to "China Peak". It is a 3 km trek through a forest trail that gets very steep along the way. When you reach the top and see the forest department's canteen, don't assume that you have reached the peak, you need to go around the canteen and further ahead for about 500 meters more and you will find yourself on top of the world. From there, you get to see the Nainital valley as well as the various other valleys all around. When we went there, it was cloudy and clouds were gently rolling into all the valleys. One cloud blew up close towards us and when lightning started flitting across the sky, we got really spooked. We could almost feel the lightning charge, the air around us got ionised and we could hear the sparkling noise that static makes when it comes near your hair!
If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can undertake a 11 km trek through the jungles. When you are climbing up towards "China Peak" you will encounter a board almost halfway up which says that you have climbed 1.3 km and there is still 1.7km left to go. At this point, you will see another path proceeding to the right. This leads to "Kilbury" forest rest house. The path snakes along beautiful forests and is heavenly to walk through. We found a tiny waterfall along the way too and followed the trickle of water upstream. Be mindful of the leeches here though! Once you reach "Kilbury", keep going down and once you hit the highway, walk towards Pangot. From Pangot, you can hire a taxi to take you and your aching legs back to Nainital, if you choose to walk back, then you should consider yourself capable of living in the wild and you ought to pat yourself on your back!
On the mall road, visit the Municipal Library. It is open during the mornings and the evenings. It has a sizeable collection of Fiction and also Sci-fi (I found Isaac Asimov there!). "Bada Market" had many shops with awesome jalebis, and "Cyberia" on mall road had some really sinful pastries.
In case you decide not to walk up to "Tanki" point, you can hire a small cab for about 200 Rs. or a van for 250 to 300 Rs. Well thats all I've got to say about Nainital for now, but I would like to add that my 15 days there were probably the most memorable. Of all my traveling experiences, Nainital gets the peacock throne in the Durabar of my memories. I loved the place so much that I have decided to go back someday and build my home there. I'll probably retire there after 60-70 years, that is, if I'm still stalking the planet!
