DAY 8 16th January 2011 Breakfast was also a fiasco but we did eventually manage to get two bowls of cornflakes and some toast!! Anyway that was by the by because the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day! Views of the mountains before we got down to the plains and then a fairly uneventful journey towards Amritsar. We crossed the border into Punjab state, Rojan, our driver paying his taxes to a man in this little hole in a wall on the main road! There are a lot more Sikhs in the towns and on bikes etc and as it was the Sikhs New Year yesterday there were some huge family gatherings and everyone was out in there Sunday sari’s! We stopped for some lunch at a ... read more

DAY 6 14th January 2011 Looked out of the window and it was snowing and monkeys were climbing over hotel windows and running along the road! Had a good breakfast of cornflakes and toast and met Daneesh our tour guide! Shimla is an old hill station, encircled by seven hills, where the viceroys of the British Raj used to spend their summers so it seemed fitting that we visited the Viceregal Lodge on top of Observatory Hill. A very impressive building and we also had a short tour of the inside and were shown the room where Lord Mountbatten and the Rulers of Pakistan & india sat down in 1947 to discuss and sign Partition. Onward to the Jakhu Hill Temple on Jakhu Hill (2450m) where there is a legend about Hanuman resting there waiting for ... read more

DAY 4 Thick Fog!! As it was so bad, down to about 30 metres in places, we offered our driver the chance of a couple of hours rest to see if it cleared a bit but he seemed completely unphased by the fog and happy to drive! They say that driving at night and in fog is to be avoided if at all possible as few roads are lit and few vehicles have working headlights. You can play a game: 1. One headlight – any of the above One headlight coming toward you – a motorcycle or a truck with one broken headlight. 2. Two headlights – two motorcycles, or a car passing a truck, each with one headlight broken. 3. Three headlights – One truck passing a car, or two trucks and one motorcycle 4. ... read more

After a fitful night sleep.....we should not have gone to bed at 7.30pm as we were wide awake by 23.00pm and couldnt get back to sleep!! Maybe a bit of jetlag but also strange sounds and noises from outside...although considering this is the capital of India it wasnt too bad! Anyway, breakfast of cornflakes and toast in room - no spices and then downstairs to meet our guide for the day. A grand tour of Delhi was the plan and we saw the oldest mosque in Delhi, had a rickshaw ride around Chandi Chowk the old market.......culture shock really - electricity wires everywhere, people sat on the floor weighing out peas, dusty side streets, several near collisions in the tiny alleyways!! We survived and continued to Ghandis' tomb and park passing a couple of elephants on ... read more