An Outlet - Part 9

18 December, 2023.

We woke up by 8:00 AM today and one by one got ready to vacate the property and head on to other places.

We got ourselves the same cab that dropped us to the location yesterday and spontaneously decided the places we wanted to visit on our way to Mussoorie.

We also spontaneously stopped at a decent looking eating spot for breakfast. It turned out to be a good decision cause the food tasted really nice! We had an omlette, pahadi maggi and tea.

It was either because I had slept all throughout the cab ride yesterday or because we took a different route today but it was only today that I noticed that Dehradun city looked really nice and clean! We passed through various beautifully painted walls and they looked as if they were painted just yesterday. No trash or paan stain marks whatsoever. Pleasantly surprising for a country like ours.

Our first "sight seeing" stop was the Forest Research Institute - the place where Student Of The Year was filmed. Outside vehicles weren't allowed inside the institute premises so we dropped our's outside the gate and walked through a beautiful looking lane that was filled with tall trees and comfortable looking houses on either side.

It was a long walk to the actual point of attraction but boy was it a good one. The institute looked really nice and had lots of spots to take Instagram worthy pictures. And that's what we did for the next hour and a half.

After walking back all the way once we were done, we headed to Robbers' Cave. This was when I realised that I made a mistake and should've ideally not worn my lower thermals. Cause here, we had to walk through almost thigh deep water.

Despite that, I still liked the place. We walked through the open/natural cave (even though it wasn't completely closed up from the top) and took in our natural surroundings well. The end of this route was a bit of an anticlimax cause it included just a very small waterfall. But I guess it was for the better because my pants we're dangerously drenched and the route would've been even more slippery had there been anything to see further.

The next stop after this was Mussoorie. As usual, I had gone off to sleep for most part of the ride and only woke up when we reached our property. The property was a beautiful one too but the dorms on the other hand didn't feel as comfy as the previous one. We got 4 beds in an 8 bedroom dorm and since this was a slightly older property and located in an optimal location, it was filled with visitors.

Vera and I didn't feel so comfortable sharing 2 nights with random dudes and a not so good bathroom. So we spent the next hour and a half trying to get ourselves an upgrade to a private room.

Once we did that, we (including the boys) shifted our stuff and got settled. The room was nice and spacious. The biggest plus point was that IT HAD A HEATERRRRRR! YAAASSSS! We were scared shitless once we realised that the dorm would not come with its own heater (nor was there any chance of us "borrowing" one just like we had done in the last property). I mean the temperature here is known to always be below 5° this time of the year!

So needless to say, we were very happy with the upgrade. It was around 7 PM by the time we got out of the property to explore the nearby popular market. Maps showed that the route to the place wasn't that long and can be reached on foot but what it doesn't calculate is the height at which the destination is. It was a very tiresome upward journey for us and we had to take 2 pit stops to fuel ourselves with some precious water along the way.

The market was very lively and I absolutely loved the vibe! We ended up going to an Italian place that had expensive but really delicious dishes! We had momos, pizza, pasta and hot chocolate. The desserts looked pretty tasty but we were quite full by then so decided to drop it. We'll probably come back some other day.

We spent the rest of our time going through shops and shopped. I got fridge magnets for mom-dad, Alex and myself, a room decor item for myself, a scarf for Steffani and manga figurines for Ryan.

At one point, Yale and I ended up spending quite some time at a store so Vera and Silas went and explored more of that street. When we got done at the store, they prompted us to go back saying there isn't much to see ahead. But I was still in my adventure/tourist mode and wanted to see things for myself. So the other two went back to the hotel while Yale and I explored more of the place.

It was around 9:45 PM by the time we got done and decided to head back cause we got to know that the shops had started to close for the day and the place isn't so safe at night.

And boyyy the view that was presented to us on our way downhill was 🤌🏻✨ The whole city twinkled likes stars, I was mesmerized! Absolutely loved it.

We have decided to drink tonight and mine has just started to hit. The night is still young and so are we.