Economies of scale helped us really. In terms of fun and costs too. The trip came up to less than 2k, stay, expensive food, booze inclusive. In fact we were eating so much - Brightland's Italian and a charming little place called Rainforest, what with some bottomless pits in our group; I was worrying about not carrying enough money.
Panchgani is not really spectacular in March. Not much different from Khandala. There are fairs, games which were fun to do. Boating, if you are interested. Some trekking spots but it gets so hot in the morning. We stayed a in a really great place – Talwalkars. Remember to book a cottage if you are a large group.
Most fun we had was sitting out in the chilly night, drinking, playing cards, chatting aloud – yeah sinful, but it was good to let go.
We had such a strawberry overdose - strawberries for breakfast, lunch, dinner. The ice creams are so cloyingly sweet. We indulged to begin with but after a while, while finally visiting Mapro to see how they were made, I almost threw up. Mapro is overcrowded but look at the size of those pizzas and sandwiches! And overflowing icecreams. We gorged.
I think it’s the red of the soil. Such plump fruits and vegetables. Colourful flowers.
Toratora rides were fun. Specially, the bull ride. The tilting and twisting till every one of us fell off. DM could not stop gloating for hours after, “I didn’t fall for a long time, how good am I?”
Then DM wanted to show our Delhi visitor Shef a good time. So they go on a ride on the ferris wheel. But now, would we leave them like that? No sire, we cajoled the Assistant to ask them when they got down, “Aap honeymoon pe hai kya?” and force on them few extra rides. But in the end we gave up on it, Shef would start to cry.
Good break. Close to Mumbai. Anyway, with lots of good people, its always fun.
