Blogs from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia - page 7

Well, I made it safely out of Chandigarh on the toy train and man was the trip spectacular. A super steep track slowly winds its way through over 100 tunnels up the valley wall to the hill station of Shimla. Shimla was the summer home site for wealthy Indians, and the entire British Raj. As a result the towns architecture is somewhat strange, with a lot of the buildings looking like they could be pulled straight out of Austria or Bavaria. Getting off the train I met a Belgian named Mattius, and since we have the exact same travel plans and the exact same destinations over the next couple weeks we have decided to travel together. We spent last evening exploring the town a little, and to be honest we were both a little dissapointed. The ... read more

For Sharda's birthday, we drove out to Chail. Chail is Shimla's lesser know twin peak - and much better. We drove from Delhi. Stopped at Chandigarh and then moved on. We drove in the middle of the night through the winding hills. Its a beautiful drive up. We had a room that overlooked the valley. Did nothing - walked trails and relaxed. Dinner was at the Maharaja Palace. I understand you can stay there - and the grounds seemed grand. I'd have probably tried staying over there if I reserved ahead. Its a good, safe place with plenty of friendly people around. It also has the worlds highest cricket pitch :) We hung around the woods in the evening and waited for the evening sun to kick in. The sound was incredible as birds returned to ... read more

The state capital, composed of various vertical and rectangular buildings, is on the brink of sliding right into the valley below. I determined to bypass the taxi stand and walk the mile or so to town while dodging the exhaust pipes of buses and other motorized hazards. “Oh, and good news for you, sir! No Indians at this hotel.” Huh? The comment made no sense to me as I followed the Punjabi concierge up to my overpriced room. With a view of the entire city, a room here is often part of a packaged weekend for people from Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur, or Delhi. In the lull of the off-season, it is possible to wheel and deal a little bit. I did. But Shimla is primarily for Indian tourists. “So, you can meet some nice Australians and ... read more

Firstly enormous thanks to everyone for sending messages or posting comments, as ever they were all gratefully received; in fact we’re slightly incredulous both that we haven’t received more abuse and that we have been nagged for not posting more about India. We left India about a month ago and are clearly well behind with the blog so here goes back to June 21st. Leh - Ladakh We stayed put in and around Leh for fourteen days (which is as long as we’d spent travelling around the whole of Uzbekistan). It was two weeks of blue skies, sunshine and much happiness. To us the Buddhist environment felt more Tibetan than Tibet (which we couldn’t travel to because of those blasted Chinese pixies withholding Visa privileges) and there is clear support every where for Tibet’s plight. Our ... read more

If you have been to Shimla in the high season of summer, you will be able to appreciate the title of this blog. It becomes completely impossible to get any reasonably priced accommodation because all the hotels push their prices up, and what you end up getting is quite dismal going by the price-performance ratio. I was aware of all this, but this trip was planned in a rush. My parents came to Delhi, and I wanted to take them to some hill-station which is not too far from Delhi. The journey to Shimla is relatively comfortable. The Shatabdi-Kalka leaves from Delhi in the morning, and drops you off at Kalka around midday. Then it is a 3-hours drive to Shimla from Kalka. Shimla Given their age this journey to Shimla is long enough to tire ... read more