Hotel Silverine Shimla

... of the region.

The drainage systems of Himachal Pradesh are Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and Yamuna. This Hill Station experience three seasons hot weather season, cold weather season and rainy season. It is considered as a fruit bowl of the country. Himachal Pradesh is a well known habitat to a variety of animals. There are around 1200 bird and 359 animal species in the state. Himachal Pradesh is divided into 12 districts ...

Headed out of Delhi on the fast train to Kalka - in class AC Seater 2nd (Indian railways have numerous, complicated classes). Neatly uniformed staff bringing a seemingly endless number of things a newspaper, bottles of water, tea (naturally), food. All very comfortable and efficient, whizzing across the plains of Northern India. You do however see some horrible shanty towns clustered by ...

... bazaar to have something to eat (a tiny Chinese dhaba) before the ride. The bus to Shimla was typical (except for a stop we made to fix the forward suspension) - the road is not rough anymore, or probably I couldn't see the chasms in the dark. The way went through some giant construction sites all full of lights and noise, machinery and workers. In my guess these were the building hydroelectric stations, there were more then a couple of these on the way.

... is our driver who constantly nods off. We buy him coffee whenever we stop. As we descend through we reach Rohtang La, the final pass. This is where Indians come to experience their first snow. We're in shorts and T shirts whilst they hire out 70's style all in one ski suits and, incredibly, ankle length fur coats, some with leopard print design. They then climb onto a pony and are led - we're talking 30 or 40 ponies in a 'pony chain' - a ...

... 2 days there enjoying cafe lattes, good food, a TV in my dirty ugly room (when there was electricity and no cable cut!) I used the internet and visited the temples and then moved on to Vashisht. Vashisht is just a few minutes away from Manali, but much better. You are higher and get a much better view of the mountains from there. The village is a popular tourist destinations for its hot springs and relax atmosphere. There's lots of good food ...

... the way to do things here is to honk your horn constantly and overtake on every opportunity regardless of the oncoming traffic. So it was only time before I witnessed a serious accident. I don't want to go into detail, but I was 10 ft away from a head on collision - both cars doing 30-40 mph. It is something I really don't advise and it would appear that some more sensible road rules wouldn't go a miss in this part of the world.

... or American. i felt sad that he had felt so bad that he had gone to such an extreme as to cut his hair to try and get acceptance in england. after the 3 guys left we were joined by another group of guys that loved James! it was so funny. they didn't stop telling him how beautiful he is and how lovely his eyes are (they're blue, you see). They were practically fighting for his attention and all brought him drinks without even asking me if i wanted one. One guy even ...

... there, I couldn't get off, unlike what the guide book had stated, and even from the upper deck,trees and artificial mounds of landscaped garden obscured the view to get any worthwhile photos.) The other activity, indeed the main mission, was to get new specs made, as I ran out of time whilst in Bangkok to do this. I could get replacement lenses for my own specs within the ...

... over hill face made of loose rocks, causing the serious situation. Soon, the sane world down below along with some military guys, persuaded the chap to give up on the monkey. The road was then opened, only to be followed by a usual chaos with the vehicles queued on both sides trying to venture in first. Making matters worse, the road was being repaired exactly at the same spot making two-way traffic impossible. Dharmvir, however, adept at handling such ...