Day 16 (Shimla)

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Woak up this morning to the sound of drums and cheering outside my room. I got up and went to the balcony to see what was happening, i expected to see a religious celebration of some sort but found instead that there was a school playground next to my room and it looked like the whole school was out, packing the stands of a 5-a-side basketball game. I watched for a while before packing up my things and going to check out of the hotel. The man behind the desk didnt seem to happy that I was leaving but I paid up and left to find somewhere else to stay. I had seen in the guide that there was a popular backpacker hotel called Spars Lodge, about a mile outside the main area of Shimla town. I set off to find it. It took me two hours.

In attempt one to find the place I walked along the road leading out of town until I reached the gates to a uni and the Himalyan Bird Park. I looked at the map in the guide and discovered that I had walked over 2km too far. Before heading back I decided to have a look at the bird park. It was a tiny little place with a wall of cases containg large stuffed animals, including a Yak and a bear. It also had about 15-20 birds, mainly chickens (granted they were very nice looking chickens) and the rest were pheasants and white geese-like birds. I was only in there for about 10 minutes but it was a nice break from walking around looking for the hotel.

After leaving the bird park I ended up going down two small roads, neither of which led to the hotel, infact it didnt seem like they led anywhere. I grabbed the guide for about the 50th time and decided to read the hotel description for a clue.

'On the little road up to the museum...'

I kicked myself. I had walked past this particular road about three times and even decided briefly to go to the museum at the top of it for a break from looking for the hotel. 5 minutes later i was at the hotel.

Unfortunatly the rooms were far too expensive for what they were and even though it was low season they refused to budge fom the price of 770 rupees. The hotel seemed nice but i knew i could find another place similar for half the price. Not able to leave so soon after searching for so long i decided to stay for breakfast. I couldnt resist the all day breakfast (eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomatos, hash browns, toast and a few sausages that may have been chicken, im really not sure).

Thats where i am now, just finished my coffee and its time to walk back down into Shimla to find a new hotel.

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Never found the hotel I was looking for, it may be that the guide is wrong because i was looking/exploring/shopping for almost 3 hours before i gave up and decided to go to a place that i knew was 500 rupees for the night. I got there and was shown a room, it really wasnt that nice. The book I'm reading has a few good descriptions about inhuman cells and this looked like one of them. However, I had been walking for hours, it was raining and I was damp so I decided to go for it, just for one night. As i was heading to the reception a tout approached me and offered me the option of a few nicer rooms for between 300-500 rupees. Despite the aforementioned dampness I decided to go with him and check out the room. It was a mini trek though the town to the other side, near the church and then down a few narrow streets and finally up through a beautifully painted building which seemed to have been built around a tree trunk, the top of which appeared to be growing out of the floor at the top of the stairs.

The rooms were nice and the price was as promised, i decided to go for the 400 rupee room which had a TV and a balcony overlooking the town. I was exhaused and when I sat down on the bed I almost passed out straight away. I had planned to go to Dominos for dinner (something i have been looking forward to since before I came, sad but true) but I decided instead to order some food to my room (the hotel resturant turned out to be a single table in the reception) and I'm going to spent the rest of the night watching a few movies and, as I now have a sim card, I'll make a few calls.

Ive decided to have an early night and start early in the morning. The plan for tomorrow is to do some shopping, decide when I'm going to go next and arrange transport. There is also a cinima in town so I might also and see if there are any english or subtitled movies on. Ciao.

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