Hotel Surya Shimla

... for anybody who wanted to cool their mind and senses off the heat and sultry of Indian summers. Himachal Pradesh has been bestowed with picturesque beauty that is incorporated in the various hill stations. You can experience peace and serenity by visiting various pilgrimage destinations like temples and monastery in Himachal Pradesh that are really stupendous. There are many colonial monuments that form the monumental ...

... papers were signed to end British rule, and split India and Pakistan. As we left we saw something even more jarring on a building that looked like it should be in Scotland - a monkey walking across the ramparts of the lodge.

On the subject of monkeys., Shimla has a lot of monkeys, a lot of very confident monkeys. Its main temple is dedicated to the monkey god, so they have the run of the place. We hired sticks to ward off monkeys - they can ...

... Then decided to visit the state museum and it didnt look that far on the map. It's not far but there are one or two steep hills in the way. I swear that the last road up to the museum was almost vertical! Myself and another girl struggled up trying not to run into any of the pesky monkeys that are a menace in Shimla (they are getting so bad that that they are now rounding them up.) Museum had a few interesting things - fab wall paintings which ...

... the next day recounting how Spiv tried to argue why their rooms bolier wasn't working (Steves a plumber) ''and I thought just get lost you grubby little f*cker''. That night Kate gets a new nephew! Baby Matthew. Excuse to drink more vodka. Niether of us really left the hotel the next day. Having had enough of the 'scene' we head South to Naggar, ''prettiest village in the Kullu valley'' according to our guidebook. Tiny. Nothing to do. It ...

... last small village to visit, in the Kulu valley this time. Naggar is a place were a few tourists go to relax and take it easy. Some people were staying there for a whole week! There isn't much to do though, apart from a short visit to the uninteresting castle and some walking around to temples. I stayed in a guesthouse where there was a very beautiful garden filled with flowers and ran by nice people. I only spent one day there, it wasn't ...

... The Mall', but blatently should be called Shimla High Street) looks, to all intents and purposes like it is in a small British town. It was built by the British when they made Shimla their summer capital, so I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised, but whilst we were expecting old-style British buildings, we weren't expecting the main shopping street to look like a modern-day British street! Traffic is banned so people 'stroll' along (Shimla is definitely where the ...

... the temple. We met one unfortunate Indian tourist who had fallen victim. We spent what must have been a couple of hours sitting in the main town square near the colonial era Christ Church, just watching the colorful people. The police wore some kink of cloth topknot that made them look like puffed up roosters. On the second morning, we caught a "luxury" long-distance bus to Kullu.

... the 5 hour trip. They did but the car had been cleaned with petrol that morning, and just moments after settling into the car and down the winding road we both were feeling quite ill from the strong smell. Arriving in Simla, a 2km ridge at the top of a mountain was a great experience. There are views of the mountains everywhere you look. Our accommodations were great, and walking the town has been a great form of exercise, as it is very hilly. Monkeys are everywhere here! They ...

... of the paddle boats. Anyway, with the order placed, and my new lenses to replace my existing ones in my present specs, I decided to shoot off for 5 or so days to Shimla, ie back into the lower Himalayas, ex-British hill station (and a very large one), cooler weather, and after all, I couldn't see myself enthusing for 5 days about Le Corb's grand plan in the blazing hot weather.

... from the next day onwards, I would be heading into a remote area with no communication facilities. We were going to move into Lahaul the next day. I wanted the night to get over quickly. In anticipation, we all went to bed rather early. Having slept all day, Trilok, however, wasn't able to crash as quickly and spent some time playing with his toy gadget. The "Jawbreaker" game on his pocket PC had caught everybody's imagination. I proudly held all the records on the trip :)