We admired the beautiful sight from the villa we had rented as we packed our bags to return back. In a matter of hours we would be back to our routine, far from the calming vibes of the mountains, back to the maddening pace of the city. The journey back is always a little melancholic. It brings to an end another adventure which had put you on a high for some time. We followed the pattern, fighting our blues, comforting our minds that there will be more such experiences to come. Perhaps we would even choose to come back to the same place as we had definitely fallen in love with it. However for now we bid adieu and tipped Panditji who had taken good care of us through our stay.
However there was still something to look forward to on our journey back and that was another of the lakes of Kumaon – Naukuchiyataal. Since we were yet to see the lake we had planned a small detour on our way back to Gurgaon. Naukuchiyataal is situated at a considerably lower altitude, a few kilometres away from Bhimtaal. The name of the lake stems from the fact that it has nine corners and there is a local legend that whoever can spot all the nine corners at the same time goes to heaven. We obviously did not have time for that and had to make do with a simple visit to the lake itself. It took us close to 2 hours to reach there from Mukteshwar.
I thought it was one of the larger lakes in the region spanning over a huge area, surprisingly very sparsely crowded when we reached there. May be it was the time at which we had come or the fact that the long weekend was ending. Shikaras were permitted in this lake so we finally took a boat ride to absolve our conscience. A ten minutes ride around in this big lake rounded off the to-do list of our trip.
A freshly cooked lunch at one of the restaurants, which flanked the lake, followed the boat ride.This short detour ended our first rendezvous with Kumaon. Enchanted with its nonchalant nature we know we will hit these roads again!
