Thanedar: apples and clouds...

it was the independence day weekend and plan was to visit the apple country in Himachal Pradesh. our first destination was Thanedar, a small town in middle of apple orchards. we started early in the morning. no journey on NH1 is complete without a Parantha pitstop at Murthal. So as soon as we hit the highway we stopped at the Pahalwan dhaba for some delicious paranthas and coffee. the rest of the ride till the hills was mostly spent sleeping. to avoid the punjab road tax our driver took a detour from the main highway before Ambala and took NH73 which kept us in Haryana and met the main highway at Panchkula. But this was a single lane road so took more time. we reached the hills till afternoon. it was a long weekend and roads were clogged with people from Delhi and Punjab heading towards the hills. till kufri the progress was slow. after that was the interesting part of the journey. the valley below was filled with clouds. the clouds were even covering the roads.. the valley was different shades of green with sky being different shades of grey we reached Narkanda by sundown. from the Narkanda main market, we turned right from the main highway. this is the road which also goes towards Hatu. Thanedar was 15kms from Narkanda. visibility was very poor as road was covered with clouds. we finally reached Thanedar at around 7pm. we had booked in the Banjara Resort there. till we checked in and freshened up, the borne fire was ready. the wood was giving green flame... tired after a 14 hours drive, we crashed in after dinner. Next day morning we got up leisurely. the view of the valley from the hotel. the whole slope was covered apple trees loaded with ripe apples.. what fun it would be to live in that house.. more apples.. the resort also had beautiful flowers.. the apples and the clouds.. after breakfast we left for Hatu peak.. the slopes covered with flowers.. after a slow drive up the winding route up the hill where we had to reverse many times to let other cars pass by, we reached the Hatu top. I had come here 8 years ago but the whole valley had been hidden by clouds. It was disappointing to see that it was again cloudy. But as we roamed around, the clouds started moving and we finally got a glimpse of the valley. the Hatu temple.. this has recently been restored.. the entrance.. greenary all around.. the view on the other side.. we came back to the hotel by afternoon and after a quick lunch, slept for some time. in the evening others went for a walk in the apple orchards. i was not feeling well, so stayed back. the view of the sunset from my room window was exquisite. the borne fire at night.. next day we checked out of Thanedar and drove to Chail.. We stopped over at Shimla on the way.. we reached Chail by nightfall and checked into the Chail palace. it was foggy all the way again.. we had the suit at the hotel. it was a lovely heritage property. but mismanagement had turned the place into crap. the beds were ichty, the rooms had insects, the phones dint work and only way to get service was to go till the reception and call someone.