Matheran Weekend Trip

I’ve wanted to go to Matheran ever since I heard about it. No autos, no motorbikes, no horns, and no bicycles. That means quiet atmosphere, a slower pace, and great places to run. The guidebook says half the fun is getting there, and we should have read between the lines. Getting there entailed catching a train from Pune to Neral then waiting over two hours for the toy train to go from Neral to Matheran. Once we got to Neral we had some time to kill so we wondered the streets which turned out to be a fish, chicken, and veggie market. The smells almost had me, the dead chickens with their throats cut are a sight to be seen!

Above are the sad chickens and the beautiful vegetables, quite the juxtaposition if you ask me.  Below is the road in Neral and the butcher that wanted Mike to take his picture. 

 

Anyways, there were three different times of departure in three different places and it ended up leaving 2 hours after the time on our tickets. With that said, it was quite the experience riding on this toy train for 2 hours up to the hill station of Matheran. It weaved back and forth up the mountain, chugging slowly along. The seating was jammed backed, with four people to each two seats and our knees intertwined with strangers. Most people didn’t seem to mind…people are used to be in close proximity with others, that’s a huge reality in India. They will cram three to one hundred times the amount of people that should be in one place.

Here are some pictures of the toy train and the ride up:

The train had to be re-ordered (the train had to essentially be turned around) and they did one car by hand, with a group of men pushing! 

People hung out of the train the whole time, sometimes for pictures but mostly because it was the cool thing to do. 

Mike got new glasses and he loves them!  We figured it was much cheaper here to get some fun glasses than back home.  He got a free eye exam and everything!

 

After we reached the top (after stopping at a couple of pit stops to let the engine cool and let the passengers stretch and get some food), we were approached by a hotel manager. He offered a good price so we followed him and his helper to a decent lodge. I knew it was the right spot after I opened the door and was face to face with a monkey. I don’t know who was more scared, but my scream and slamming of the door topped his merely scampering away. I didn’t realize how many monkeys were in Matheran, but I got more chill about it after that incident. They were everywhere you turned, in the trees, in the paths, on the railings…it was great.

The one of the railings is at our hotel, the one above is on the edge of a VERY high ravine but he doesn’t seem to mind. 

 

Matheran is mostly trails going out to lookouts in various points around the hill station. I absolutely loved it (as did Mike) and was so thankful for the fresh air and the clean environment. The trails reminded us all of the arboretum but with more red soil. It turned my shoes a pink color that I have yet to get off. We walked to Charlotte Lake, which could have been in Wisconsin, and looked over this beautiful valley and mountains. The land below was a lush green that we haven’t seen much of yet.

 

We continued on and went to Echo point where we watched the sunset. We met a very friendly man from Finland who we swapped travel stories with and then plopped ourselves down away from the crowd and watched the sunset. It was great to sit and chat (while throwing rocks trying to knock away garbage) while watching the red sun set.

We got back to the hotel, ate a communal dinner (sharing all the dishes) at a great restaurant and then walked around a park watching a manual powered ferriswheel. Mike and I bought some local honey that has been great to have around, and then played games in the hotel room. We all slept in a double bed to save money and could barely move. It was quite the experience and not the best night of sleep I’ve ever gotten.

We woke up at 6 the next morning to see the sunrise. A long story, but I ended up running for 9 miles (always knowing where I was and seeing great sights) and loved it. The sunrise was a glowing red ball and absolutely beautiful.

We headed out soon after the sunrise, walking down to the taxi station. We caught a van taxi down to Neral, taking only 20 minutes (the train had taken 2 hours), but that was mostly because we zoomed around the hairpin corners, leaving my heart in my throat most of the trip. The car itself was mostly a frame of a car with most of its interior gone. It was quite the ride of a lifetime. Mike and I were both glad our mothers didn’t have to go through the ride, I’m not sure they would have liked it so much.

Here are a couple of random pictures…

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since there are no motors, Matheran is one of the few places still in the state that have handricksaws.  Three men usually work one, one in the front, two in the back.  Or at least that’s we saw here.  The path is beautiful, lined with monkeys and covered with red soil.  The canopy of trees cooled us off pretty quick too. 

These were some chairs outside of a hotel called Hope Hall Hotel and I really liked them.  The second picture is of the main drag of Matheran.  It was not too busy but usually covered with horses (the way a lot of people got to the lookouts).  The horses were everywhere! 

It has been a long post with lots of pictures, but hopefully you can tell how wonderful and peaceful the weekend trip was for us!  It is the most beautiful hill station in Maharashtra (the state we live in).