We went outside Pune on Saturday (actually last Saturday, but we’ll just pretend we’re not this late with this post(!)) with Nachiket and Shilipa, to the Hill Station of Lonawala. We had a fabulous day, with some predicted and unexpected sites and experiences.
The first experience was getting to, and waiting at, the train station. We took a car to the train downtown. Not sure if this was light or typical traffic, but this is what the roads often look like!
We had to wait a little bit at the train station. Highlights included finding “wagon wheel” snacks – which said “masala” flavored, but I am sure are just BBQ flavor with a little chili pepper – and getting fresh sugar cane juice.
They run the sugar cane through the press 5 or 6 times, adding lime and ginger, strain it, and delicious! Each cup was 70 rupees. That’s a lot here (as I can get probably 2 kg of carrots for 70 rupees), but only $1 in our terms. Here’s a brief video showing some of it.
It was about a 1.5 hr train ride to the west, up into the Western Ghats (a small mountain range). The British built all kinds of hill stations around India from which to govern. I believe it was more about getting out of the heat than being in strategic locations. Now it’s a busy getaway town for people from Pune and Mumbai.
The train ride introduced the girls to India proper. No doors on the cars. No room to stand other than where your two feet are. Parag took particular glee reliving some of his childhood at the edge of the car. I wasn’t finding that so gleeful, and wanted a rail made out of his arm in front of the girls. (PS Don’t tell grammy!) We were lucky enough to get a seat for part of the way. The country side was quite pretty – very green from all the rains. While on the train, before it left the train station, there were vendors that came on selling cha (tea), roasted nuts, and newspapers. This pic is when we’re waiting – before the train is full.
Once in Lonawale, we hired a car, and the driver took us up to a beautiful overlook. What great views. Here are some pictures.
Some fun things up there included a camel – and Alex opted for a camel ride with Shilpa! –
Roasted corn – roasted right in front of you and served on its husk –
A vendor who was selling small bags of cotton candy, which the girls were excited to have. And some monkeys. Here’s a mom and her little one.
And apparently monkeys are as excited about cotton candy as the girls …We witnessed the vendor give a bag to one of the monkeys. It was opened and scarfed down in less than 15 seconds. And then we saw another monkey scurry over to a trio of girls who weren’t paying too much attention and snatch 2 bags of their cotton candy, take it back to the edge of the cliff and enjoy it.
Alex says : “The baby monkey was really cute!“
We then came down from the high overlook and were taken to Bhusi Falls. You had to walk in a little bit, through scattered stalls of shoes, corn, chips, eggs, and then you arrived at a dam. It was quite crowded, but very fun to walk on the steps and in the stream. Acadia particularly enjoyed getting in the water and climbing around.
Notice in the pictures that some of the carts are literally in the streams.
It was very striking to me how this would be impossible in the US. First, no vendors in the stream. Second, no stalls right next to the water. Third, no people just allowed to walk on the slippery rocks! Everyone was having a great time.
We then raced the rain back to the car, and headed down for a late lunch in the main town. By then we needed creature comforts, so went to RK restaurant and sat in the air conditioned section. We had a delicious meal that included lime sodas, good bread, chole, pao baaji (all spellings are approximations), and filtered coffee. Notice Alex’s bhatura!
Last stop before getting back on the train was a chikki shop – Lonawala is known for this. Chikki is a sweet – kind of like peanut brittle – but softer, and can be made with cashews or sesame seeds, etc. We went to one of the more famous shops and selected from at least a dozen different kinds of chikki.
And then we were back on the train. As we were the first stop, we were able to get seats and we had a pleasant, if not crowded, ride back to Pune.
Bonus selfie from on top of the hill.
Joshi-Staples Family India Adventure! 