Dalhousie-a trip into the hills

The Vaishnodevi pilgrimage was completed and the majority of the party departed to Delhi. My sister Vandana and I stayed back as we wanted to visit some places in the North that we had not seen and were curious to see the places that we had only read about. From Jammu we boarded a bus that took us to Pathankot there we had yummy aloo parothas for breakfast and started inquiring about a bus that would take us to Dalhousie. We were told that there was one only at 11a.m so we decided to take a taxi to Dalhousie. We had a lovely drive up into the hills and later checked into the Hotel Geetanjali that I had booked through the net. Though the hotel was very old and worn out it was comfortable and a huge room which consisted of a dining room, a bedroom and an old British style bathroom. There was no other means of sightseeing so we asked the taxi that had brought us to Dalhousie to take us around. The taxi took us to a place called Khajjar which is also known as Mini Switzerland it was a beautiful meadow surrounded by pine trees. It was a picturesque place. We lazed around in the meadow, had lunch and started our return journey to Dalhousie. The natural beauty fo the place was breathtaking but the other places like saatdhara etc. were a waste of time. Then it was time for what women do best-shopping we got off at the Mall and window shopped at the Tibetan market . Then we drove to the hotel watched some T.V and crept into bed after a few painkillers as our limbs were still aching after the arduous Vaishnodevi trek. Next morning we drove back to Pathankot and got a bus to Amritsar.