Day 15 (Richikesh - Shimla)

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Got up at 6.40am today, 40 minutes later than intended. I headed straigt to the bus station, deciding to hail an autorickshaw. We sped doen the road towards the bus station, me in the back with 4 school children, they got out at the bottom of the hill and paid the driver the 8 rupees for the ride, when i handed over my 8 rupees and he realised he wasnt going to be able to charge me extra he pointed towards the bus station and told me to walk accross the road to it. I didnt see it but i jumped out anyway and headed over the road. As it turns out he had pointed me down the wrong road, but i was only a few minutes away when i realised . The next task was to find the bus.

I asked the man behind the desk at the bus station where i could catch the bus to Dehra Dun (from where i would change bus to get to Shimla), he said something in Hindi and pointed further down the road. I headed off in the direct he pointed to a bus driver and asked if he was going to Dehra Dun, he also said something in Hindia and pointed further down the road. This happened once more before i reached a group of people waiting in what looked like a graveyard for busses who confirmed that they were waiting for the bus i wanted. The hour and a half bus ride to Dehra Dun was uneventful.

I arrived in Dehra Dun earlier than anticipated and so i had a 45 minute wait for the bus to Shimla. After half an hour the bus arrived and and the people waiting charged for the door. I was curious but i knew the bus wouldnt leave for half an hour and the idea of sitting in a swealtering hot and humid bus for half an hour was the last thing i wanted to do, so i stayed where i was. 5 minutes before the bus was due to leave i picked up my bag and headed for the door, quickly realising why people had been rushing for the door. There were no seats, no standing space, nothing. There was no way i was getting on that bus.

The LP guide sais that busses to Shimla were at 6am (missed it), 8am (missed it), 10am (a refernce to sardines would be an understatment) and 11.30pm and there was no way i was spending my day in a bus station. I concidered a few alternative routes, the easiest seemed to be to get one of the regular busses to Chandigarh and trying to get another bus heading north to Shimla. So thats what i did. For the journey to Chandigarh i sat with an Indian man who spoke really good english, he was in university studying animation (specialising in SFX sand). I got off the bus in Chandigarh and a bus to Shimla arrived immediatly a few meters from where i was standing, this time i jumped straight on and grabbed a window seat at the back and started reading my book (Papillon by Henri Charriere, very good so far) until a few minutes later when the asian girl sitting next to me tapped on my sholder and asked to switch seats with me, giving me a dont-make-me-sit-next-to-that-guy look (i knew foreign girls were hassled but i didnt realise Indian women recieved the same treatment), we switched seats and i began reading again. A few hours later after a short stop off for food and drink at a roadside food place i started talking to the indian girl and she suggested that i visit her home town at some point, i concidered it but i decided to carry onto Shimla (it was already getting dark and i didnt want to be stuck for a place to stay). Later i decided that it would be a good idea to visit a non-tourist town at some point later in my trip.

As i neared Shimla it was pretty late, i had spoken to a couple who were on the bus (a 20 something indian man and a 40 something dutch woman) about a place to stay, they suggested there hotel so when we got off i followed them up onto a place in the hill above shimla town. Shimla looked massive from there, i had read in the guide and expected a small town dotted with British style builds left over from the British Raj, but lights covered the entire hill below me. I saw a few old style buildings on the way up, and the top of a church in the distance. The hotle was ok but i had the feeling that the couple were hanging around the reception waiting for me to get my room and i concidered that they might be recieving commision for bringing me, though even if they were the room was cheap and not to grotty with a large main room and a balcony. I have decided to find a new hotle in the morning however, there are a few hat sound pretty good in the guide and i dont fancy walking to the top of shimla every day.

Its almost 11pm and ive been travelling all day so im off to bed. Goodnight

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