HPTDC The Holiday Home Shimla

Himachal Pradesh is known as Deva Bhoomi the land of the gods. Himachal is situated in the western Himalayas. Himachal Pradesh is a mountainous state elevating about 350 meters (1,148 ft) to 6,000 meters (19,685 ft) above the sea level. Tribes such as the koilis, kinnars and kirats inhabited the region from pre-historic era. Himachal Pradesh was established as a state on April 15, 1948.

Himachal Hill Stations is the favored ...

... Victorian mock-alpine fancies, theme park gothic, and modern concrete Indian all fighting for space on the cliffs.

The main attraction is the old Vice-Regal lodge - a very grand building built in Scottish Baronial style, with a neatly manicured lawn and tidy flower beds in really looks out of place in India. Build in the late 1800s - with ducting ready for electricity long before it came to India. The brief tour takes you to the room where ...

... through you went through a door and you were smack bang in the middle of the station. Very strange! Needless to say that wasn't the proper way in - that I used on the way out. Confirmed that I would have a seat on the train - they were having to put on extra carriages.

And yes the cake count on this day was 1. I eventually found somewhere that had cake. I think I need to change by name to Marie Antoinette but change the line to let me eat cake!

Hoi lieve mensen! We zitten in de bergen! In Shimla. Shimla is een grote stand, in de tijd dat de Engelsen hier heersten was het de hoofdstad van India in de zomer. Door de westerse invloed voelen we ons soms alsof we in Zwitserland of Italie zitten. Er mag hier geen verkeer komen dus we zijn eindelijk verlost van de oorverdovende toeters. Met een klein treintje hebben we er een zes-uurlange tocht naartoe gemaakt. We zagen het landschap veranderen en we gingen door ...

We'd had quite a rollercoaster experience attempting to get our northern india plans sorted. It turned out that our desired flights that had been available only days before, had suddenly booked up. Like balls on a ping pong table (in this case the table being Delhi's domestic airport), we found ourselves bouncing between different airline sales offices trying desperately to alternate flight paths and/or intineraries. It had become all too clear that our plans to ...

... here it felt more like an old-fashioned frenetic marketty bit of Britain than real India. Well, sort of. Not sure how many monkeys there are in British towns these days, especially ones who steal the sugar pot from the tea tray as soon as you turn your back. We took a walk out to the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies. Not because I'd suddenly decided to go and hide in the large social sciences library but because said library was in the former dining room of the Viceroy ...

shimla before starting jeep safari That's Lara, my guide on the left and Lama, the driver on the right. Lara met me at my bus at 5:30 AM and we've been killing time waiting for government offices to open to apply for my innerline permit for ...

Went to bed last night, wearing all my clothes and even my fleece as it was so cold. This was even with the thick quilt and blanket on. It was so cold in my room that my hair wax had got hard! The bathroom window looks out over a great view of the mountains with a crisp clear blue sunny sky. I went along The Mall to find a place for breakfast and stopped by at the Indian Coffee House. Inside has seen better days as it's rather dark and dour with a cream coloured ...

... their weight on their backs. The children are beautiful (and VERY much in need of blowing their noses)...I found the villagers to be a bit shy, but once smile and say "joolay" - hello in Tibetan, they are so wonderful and smile so innocently. Most villages are Hindu until you reach the Tibetan border valley, where it becomes 100% Buddhist... These valleys are 30 miles from the Tibetan border...the cultures change very rapidly...as do the altitudes...we began at 6 ...

... Two guys, a snail, and a marijuana plant The picture should do the talking. Our first taste of marijuana (minus the taste part). They are coming after us! My first look at the species. Looks fairly sedate. Giving the snail a run for its money maybe. What's the fuss about marijuana anyway? DJ in my mind (phrase picked up from Sundar, my brother) playing: 'Boss kaun tha?' - from Jhankaar Beats, the movie starring Rahul Bose. The rest of the cast being ...