A good, modern furnitured hotel with indifferent staff at breakfast...

After an early start, passing spectacular sheer cliffs, deep valleys and grassy terraces, we arrived in Shimla around 4pm. The entrance into the area is impressive - the road starts to hug the mountain side and houses appear nestled far above and below the road. The traffic was terrible - it seems like there's only one main road for vehicles in and out. E had erred on the side of caution and booked us into somewhere with heating - Hotel Combemere, a well presented if unatmospheric place.

The novelty of Shimla's layout still excites me - the main area, a pedestrian-only road full of shops and eateries, is about 10 storeys higher than the vehicle access to the city, connected by many lifts, stairways and steep laneways (the hotel, of course, has its own glass elevator). We strolled down the Mall in the evening, which was full of Indian tourists, and witnessed another beautiful sunset. Then became acquainted with the hotel bar, on the top floor, and had excellent Bloody Marys. Dinner was a bizarre experience - we were directed to a cavernous, marble-pillared hall, where Indian families ate sedately at the tables, while hard house/trance music pumped through the speakers. There was a DJ at one end of the hall, and while he could mix alright, the whole situation was a bit ridiculous - you could barely hear yourself think, let alone try to communicate with others!

We walked a pleasant 4.4km the next day to the Viceregal Lodge, where 13 British Viceroys lived and governed and many important decisions were made. The "Scottish Baronial" style of the lodge is scorned by some, although I personally liked it (it had a slightly gothic feel, all aged stone and gnarled, leafless vines crawling up the sides). We joined the last tour before lunch break, which was very brief as the lodge is still used by scholars continuing post-PhD studies in social sciences and humanities. The interior of the lodge is quite grand, with wood panelling, some original furniture, silk tapestry wallpaper and very intricate ceiling woodwork. The museum consisted of old photos of Viceroys and famous visitors (Ghandi, politicians, etc).

We took a drive in the afternoon to Wildflower Hotel, one of the grand Oberoi chain hotels. The hotel is perched on a hill with lovely views, and still held pockets of snow on the lawns - remnants of a snowfall some 20 days ago. The hotel itself looked a bit Swiss chalet. We had a brief tour of the ground floor, including the massive child-size gingerbread house, and had tea and pizza in th warm lobby.

Back in Shimla, Anton, his dad and I went to a bar called "Fusion" - we were the only customers but the bartender had an old and interesting music collection. Another drink in the hotel bar, then dinner at the hotel restaurant (not the buffet ballroom like the night before), where we shared a variety of Thai dishes which were surprisingly good. We left for Mussoorie the next day, so didn't get the chance to really explore Shimla, but it's easy to see why it's a popular place for Indian tourists - the cool, refreshing air and clean, car-less streets were good for a change.

Arrived in Simla from the overnight bus trip from Manali at 6.30am - grumpy, tired. Was one of my least favourite bus journeys, there were so many bumps in the road I kept flying off my seat for most of it!

To add to the stress Shirley and I were determined to find a reasonable hotel, but got chased by the porters from the train station for 3 hours. Every hotel we approached, they ran in first to claim their "commission", it was impossible. Even the police just laughed at us. I was realy narked, and at the point of my blood starting to boil, not matter how much we asked them to go away, and even offered to pay them to go away, they would not leave us alone.. grrrrr.

Finally had to agree to a hotel they chose, paid 150 rupees a night after a huge argument.. then after a nap got on with the nice things in life. Simla is a very beautiful place to visit. My advice? Just give your luggage to the porters and get a hotel as close as possible for about 200-300 a night. The hills are steep, and there are no rickshaws as it is a hill station.

We explored a lot of streets, it is nice there, was only 28 degrees so a nice break from the heat also. Did lots of shopping, beware of the monkeys though! I got jumped by a monkey after my open box of fruit! :). Lots of fab places to eat, it's a bit like Brighton, full of native tourists!  Decided to leave tomorrow, so booked the toy train to Kalka leaving Sunday, then transfer at Kalka to Delhi.

Train journey from Simla to Kalka was full of fab sites and views, but quite hot and dusty, and it takes 12 hours total from Simla through to Delhi. Crashed in Parharganj in Delhi - again room was 150 rupees a night with AC - it's 29th April and it is hot hot hot!!

In 1994 I was travelling around India by train. I had been in India about a week and had just travelled from Varanasi to a small Himilayian Hill station.There I had my first run-in with a semi-beligerent monkey. It was the first of several such encounters. However, I never noticed any monkeys riding the trains. Apparently, in the subsequent decade, the monkeys of India have made an evolutionary leap and begun adopting mass transit as a means to get around: "They say it takes a thief to catch a thief, but Indias Delhi Metro has hired a monkey to frighten off other monkeys from boarding trains and upsetting passengers. In an effort to keep monkeys out of the New Delhi subways, authorities have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures a fierce-looking primate called the langur, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported Wednesday." In fact, it turns out that the hired gun monkeys are the same species (the gray langur) as the first scary looking monkey I surprised while out on a walk to an Indian boarding school on the outskirts of town, overlooking the village and it's centerpiece lake. And that's the elaborate set-up for one of my favorite personal anecdotes. I don't have the anecdote memorized. I always wing it and riff off it depending on the reactions I'm getting while telling the story. And I have never tried to write it down before and I'm sure it loses much in going from verbal to written (particularly given the author's obvious limitations). Nevertheless, the set-up alone demands I take a decent crack at it. As I waited on the platform in Varanasi for the train to Shimla, I was approached by a middle aged Indian man who asked where I was from. I told him I was an American and it turned out that he was also headed to Shimla. We struck up a conversation that continued during the 4 hour trek to Shimla. The man's name was Mr. "Rai" (that was short for Raipathang or something but that's what he wanted to be called). He had two boys with him both about 12 years old. He was taking them to the prep school in Shimla at which he was the headmaster. Before we parted he invited me for dinner at the school and drew up some directions for me to use to get there. As I walked up the hillside path, I rounded a corner and was confronted by a huge gray monkey who bared teeth at me and then shambled off to the side of the little road. So that was kind of scary but also kind of cool. At dinner with Mr. Rai and his family, I told them about how the monkey scared me and they laughed and said, "No, you scared it." i asked, "Mr. Rai, what do you call them?" He replied simply, "In India, we call them (pause for dramatic effective) 'monn-keee'." "No shit Mr. Rai? That's what we call 'em in America!" Actually, I didn't say that last part. I just let Mr. Rai's statement stand in the air for awhile as though I were profoundly satisfied by the wisdom he had imparted to me and then promptly changed the subject.

We set off from Delhi at about 6 in the morning, the usual band of rogue cows were keeping guard outside of the hotel.  We appear to be amoung the younger passengers on the trip.  About half the the group appears to be eligible for pension benefits.  I hope our CPR skills will not be required at any point along the way.  The ride out of Delhi was a surreal, a bit like riding at 50 kms an hour for an hour through a burning garbage dump with interesting scenery.  After we escaped Delhi proper we saw our first patch of blue skies in days.  We stopped to get fuel on the way out and were inundated with two kinds of local wild life; flies and monkeys.  I guess in a country were cows wander at will and you-know-what at will, you have to expect that.  The flies are rather friendly as well as the cows so, it isn't that bad (if you like flies and/or cows).  The monkeys on the other hand are rather unfriendly which isn't a bad thing (if you don't like monkeys).  As well, they appear to have a cruel streak. We saw one beating another one with a stick.  I imagine having monkeys in your backyard would be like having 20 pound squirrels with hands and  bad attitudes. The drive through the country was wonderful, we saw all kinds of animals, cows and cows and cows and oh yes a camel.  Doug claims to have seen an elephant working on the side of the road???? (anything is possible in India).  Although no one else on the truck saw this "elephant".  There is speculation, that it may have been a large COW.   

  It was about 3 hours of driving later, in the rural areas, though dusty countyside, with brick making plants (made by hand) and poultry farms which you could smell for miles in  the warm air, that we finally started to climb into the hills of the region. Some of the roads were like those of Sask. but others were decidely worse.  We were getting pretty shaken up in the back of the truck.  Doug says they are "bloody unreal".  Leafy trees and vegetation started to give way  to pine trees and semi-alpine looking terrain.  We spotted monkeys along the road side periodically, a sure sign you are still in a semi tropical area.  We then started to drive up the most incredible mountain track (road) we have ever been on.  This road is narrow, no shoulders AT ALL.  No passing lanes, and traffic like Memorial Drive at rush hour.  Buses loaded with people, trucks sagging under incredible loads, little white cars every where (everyone seems to have a little white car here).  If you went off the edge of road ( a distinct possibility) you would have a long time to think about your life, as you would be in free fall for  several hundred metres.  The scenery is spectacular, and I fear that our pictures won't capture the enormity of the landscape.  We can understand why the leaders of India, and before them the leaders of the British Empire, chose to come to Shimla for the summers, it is truly a majestic place.  Our driver, Nick and our capable Indian guide, Avtar, kept stopping the truck and trying to find a suitable location for our first night "rough camping" on the road.  I (C) kept having this horrible thought, that when they left the truck, the park brake would fail and we would go carrening backwards over the edge of road.  I don't do well on narrow mountain roads.  But they searched in vain, no place was level enough to set camp, so we ended up driving all the way to Shimla, an amazing mountain city, the entire place is built up the sides of an incredibly steep mountainside.  Every building is either build on stilts, or carved out of the side of the mountain.  Here people still do things the old fashion way, by hand.  We watched as some men and women worked a moving a pile of dirt and rocks from the road in front of our hotel.  They had a rope attached to the handle of the shovel and with one person manning the shovel and the other pulling the rope they moved a big pile of earth onto the back of a gravel truck.  There are no "Bobcat" dealerships here.  But people can work on slopes better than any piece of equipment. The night we arrived here in Shimla,  it was cold, and we were glad we brought our long underwear.  The hotel has plenty of hot water, but no heating at all.  Burr.  Although during the day it does warm up pleasantly.  We have spent two great days here and tomorrow we are off again to our next destination.