Shimla

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Opps, I accidentally deleted my last two entries. Had the Shimla one saved in my email though...

Hello all!

We are now arrived in Shimla.

Sunday I took an exciting autorickshaw drive to Taru's aunt's (Sangita) house. Cows in the middle of the motorways (apparently they escape from their sheds and are everywhere), more shocking driving and far too many cars honking. Somehow made it alive and had a refreshing coffee and chat with Sangita and her daughter. Then Sangita took me on a sunglasses hunt, where we got delayed for a good hour by the opticien who wanted to demonstrate his knowledge of India, before going for food, then checking out a place Sangita wants me to stay. She thinks the place I was booked into is in too 'shady' an area, so I will now be staying in Delhi suburbia when I return. At least it's handy for the airport.

Then took an autorickshaw to Humayan's Tomb which this time was free of bees and was utterly stunning. Apparently the architechture used was then refined for the Taj Mahal, so I can only imagine what seeing that is going to be like. The Mughals built such imposing buildings! Traveller's tip: Go round the sides of the tomb as they are all symetrical, but most tourists don't venture there, so you will get less heads in your photos and more peace.

In the evening I got the metro to Connaught's Place (something like Rajiv Chowk in Hindu). The metro is amazing - clean, punctual and only costs 8Rps. Tfl could learn some lessons. I had food (a mushroom curry - the first of many - amazing!), then back to the hotel to sleep, although it sounded like they were having a party in the kitchen, so that was difficult.

Monday morning I went to Purina Qila (or something) - an old fort, which they think is built on the mound where the city mentioned in the Madhadrata, as the Red Fort is closed on Mondays. Worth seeing but I could only spend an hour as had to rush back for the group meeting (which was difficult as my two rickshaw drivers kept asking me to come to their friend's shop).

There are five of us in the group, plus Basdam, our guide. A father and son unit, Cornelia from Switzerland and Fiona who works for the National Theatre.

After the meeting, we headed off to get the bus into Old Delhi. A smelly and crowded experience...not much different from rush hour tube. We went first to see Jama Masjid - the biggest mosque in India. Walking up the long, almost pedestrinised road to it was weird: a mix of shops, beggers, dancing, people on the verge of death, smell of human sewage... And then you round a corner to be presented with Delhi's version of a 'freak show', all begging. The poverty here is everywhere and it is so strange to see how big the split is between rich and poor.

The mosque itself was fortunately open so we could go in and climb the miranet for incredible views. Then we went down and for a tour of the Old Delhi streets: the spice markets which were so overpowering and cough-inducing; riding down Chandi Chow (the congested main street) on cycle rickshaws... The cyclists apparently on the whole just live in their rickshaws. More poverty, but very vibrant.

We had to leave yesterday morning at 6.45am to get cabs to the train station. Passed our first accident which looked very serious. I'm just surprised we haven't seen more.

The trains were interesting experiences. The first one was several hours delayed as a train had been derailed the day before, so they were replacing track. We were in seating air-conditioned, which was fine. Police come through and insist on everyone claiming baggage - apparently that has only been introduced after the last bombings in Feb.

We were connecting to the Toy Train at Kalka, and when we finally got there, we then had to wait another hour or so for another train that had been delayed.

The journey itself started off fine, trundling up through the beautiful hills and mountains - really stunning scenary. However, we reached one station, and I think another train had broken down, because suddenly our carriage was filled with many more people than there was room for. I had a woman half sitting on me, leaning right across, with her husband also squeased onto our (small for two) seat. They got off at some point and I got a woman next to me who seemed to be under the impression that my leg was an armrest, and then her daughter sat on her. She started getting travel sick so swapped seats with me so she could vomit out the window, and I had her husband next to me on a suitcase with his arm to close for comfort. There was only one light in our carriage worked, so as night came on, his arm came closer and I could see him looking me up and down, and plotted what I would do if his hand should wander. Fortunately it didn't come to that and finally my experience with 'Real India' came to a close, several hours after it should have done, and we reached Shimla.

The hotel is fine, although I think they gave me food poisoning as I was a bit ill during the night, but ok today. Although it was used as the British summer capital, it's still very warm (even in March!), but it does get cooler at night. We spent this morning climbing a very steep hill to a Hindu temple and doing our best to avoid getting attacked by the many monkeys. Had lunch (more mushroom curry!) and looked around this afternoon. Got refused entry to one place (strange Indian bureaucracy) and then walked on to see the viceroy lodge (which was the government buiding during the 'Britishers' time, and where important talks about independence were held in 1945. It really looked like something out of Scotland. This whole place is strange, with all this somewhat Victorian architechture and British-looking shops and flowers in the middle of India.

Anyway, enough now. Tomorrow we go to Mandi, wherever that might be, and after that to Dharamsala. Disappointing news is that the Dalai Lama is out of town, and even if he'd been around, I'd have had to write months in advance with good reasons for wanting a private audiance. Even a public meeting with him would have been good though. I'm sure he'd have some wise tidbit. Oh well.

Rachel x

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