Chail and Hotel Ekant. Review on Chail

My children were dying to go to simla, during this christmas break of 2006. Simla was fully booked. my travel agent suggested me to go to have a stay at Chail and have excursion to Simla, from Chail. Idea suited me. My booking was made for Hotel Ekant, Chail.

Driving upto Kalka was smooth. Pinjore garden had left no charms now. It is a wastage of time and money now.

Kalka to Kandaghat was also good. From Kandaghat to Chail, road is single and is not really good but lesser traffic compensates.

Beware to take sufficient diesal/ petrol from Kandaghat, otherwise, you can face problem. You have to buy it at a premium, in a poor quality and less measured quanity- without any choice, in Chail, from the alone puncture mechanic in lower chail bazar.

We reached Hotel Ekant at about 5 PM. First impression was not good. No welcome drink as promised in the package. No fruit basket or cookies on arrival. My family suit was without carpetting and floor was really cold. I had serious throughts of checking out and going to another hotel. There was no balcony either, attached with family suit.

At night, dinner was really good and mouth watering. Service was also good.

Afterwards feeling the cold waves at the terrace with burning wood, children were very happy.

Another thing to be noted down that cold increases as evening and night progresses. But mornings are warmer than evenings.

Breakfast was also good. Food and hospitality seems to be compensating for facilities.

We decided to go for local sightseeing. We inquired and been informed that there is some snow left at Kufri. We moved towards Kufri. It was a mad world out there at KUfri. No place to park. Vehicles and traffic jams everywhere. No police in sight. Pony walas everywhere. Offering commisson to drivers in front of patrons, to book their horses, for sightseeing.

If you think of walking in peace or leaisure, forget it at Kufri. The way to hill is full with mud and pony extracts. Foul smell was coming from everywhere.

We decided to move to Simla, without taking the ponyride.

But it was impossible to move towards Simla. We were stuck in a huge traffic jam.

We parked our vehilce on a side and entered in Kufri Zoo. It was anice place to visit. There were few animals but due to peace and lesser crowds, children enjoyed the zoo. We saw snow leopard, bear and dears there.

We came back to Chail and went to watch the famous cricket ground. It was closed. What we saw from outside, was a dry ground with a covered pitch and a few swings on the ground. Many tourists were present there but all were disappointed as not to enter the famous ground and have a shot or two.

Now we went to Sidh Baba Mandir. Nice place to see. If have luck, try to talk with Baba ji. Its worthy.

Baba Ji told our driver to go to Kali Tibba.

Boy, Kali Tibba is a must visit place. It is not given on any tourist map or site. No promotion is being done by government for this place. Road is also not good. But once you atr there, its an out of world experience. 360 degree view of himalayas. On top of world. Nice and clean mandir. Helpful and guiding pujari.

It is a nice sunset point. But winds are cool and fast. My luck ran out and batteries of my cameras ran out and I cannot shoot the sunset. I took it on my camera phone, anyway.

Came back to hotel. It was christmas night. Hotel owner Mr. Verma arranged for a small party and buffet dinner. It was the start of shattering of a dream.

Last night, when there were few guests. Service was very good and food was tremendous.

This night, hotel was packed to capacity and service standards went down to zero. Food was served very late. Veg. and non veg. dishes were served together. Smell of non veg. food surrounded the whole hotel. This smell was there upto next day. It was a worst nightmaere for vegetarians like us.

No gifts as promised in package were there. On complaint being made, a fruit basket was placed in our room.

Same happened next morning. Buffet breakfast served with veg. and non veg. together. Same smell was still there. Breakfast was seved again very late.

This buffet systme is good for hoteliers but bad for guests. They are bound to eat as per wishes of hotelier. Take it or leave it. No preference is given for the want of guests.

Simla was out of bound for us due to heavy traffic. It was decided that we will stay at Chail itself.

Earlier in the morning, we went to Kali ka tibba again to see the sunrise. It was nice but nothing im comparison with sunset.

We went to Chail palace. It was closed for renovation. Lawns are good. Roads are clean and worth walking. Atmosphere is peaceful and worth enjoying. Outside eatables are not allowed. Be aware of monkeys while eating. It is a better place to be there, as compared with rest of chail.

We visited Shani Mahadev Mandir also.

Next we went to wild hen breeding form. It was closed due to holday.

We came back to hotel in evening. Service and hospitality standards were faling greatly. Food was at all times worst. So is the service. No hearing given to what customer was demanding. Stale left out food of previous night served after warming it up. We demanded Dal makhani second time. It came but with lot of hot water and lesser other things. No soup. No coffee in sight.

We had to check out in the morning. Seeing the falling service standards, we decided to give a skit to breakfast. We left the hotel at 8 AM/ Had breakfast at Giani's dhaba at Dharampur.

CAme to Rock garden. its worth watchabale as always though crowds were heavy this time.

On the way, had lunch at Chaupal, near Ambala. Good food, good service. Nice and clean surroundings. Worth visiting.

Everything was good on this trip except the service of the hotel, after the initial show.

Chail is worth visiting again but not with hotel ekant anymore, for sure.