Hotel White 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 ...

... aggressive - and climbed to the monkey temple. Queued to be blessed by the holy man in the shrine - a saffron dot placed on our foreheads. The holyman paused in doing this only to take a call on his mobile - new India v old India cliche.

Leaving the temple we nearly were nearly caught in the cross fire of a turf war between a troop of monkeys and the local stray dogs. Much baring of teeth, shreaks and barks. It was unclear as to who won.

... bus. After the first hour my arm was hurting (forgot to check this morning but I'm pretty certain there'll be a bruise) So made use of my elbows, moved a lot so he eventually got the message. When a seat became free he soon moved! After about 4 hours of bump bump we had a 15 minute lunch stop!

After another couple of hours we reached the mountains. I thought the Andes in Peru were impressive but these were amazing. The last 50 kms or so took ...

... maar liefst 2 uur doorgebracht op het station van de hoofdstad van India. Verder hebben we dus niets gezien maar dat komt misschien nog, je weet maar nooit. Amritsar is een van de drukste steden die we tot nu toe hebben bezocht. Het verkeer was echt vreselijk druk en lopen was zelfs al lastig. Maar wat deze stad bijzonder maakt is de Golden Temple. Dit is een tempel van de Sikh-religie. Deze religie zegt o.a. dat mannen en vrouwen gelijk zijn en dat er 1 God bestaat. Iedereen ...

... explain to you is a mountain based town roughly 2000ft from the levelling of the sea, as a result and as you'd come to expect it continues on an upwards descent up a great big bloody hill.. This brings about a healthy business for the local bag wallahs who literally bounce against the windows hollering their prices at you before the bus has even halted to a stop. "100 rupees sir!!!!!!!" "no mr sir he has a bad leg 120 rupees fastest time cheapest hotel sir!!!" "250 room sir best hot ...

... guy from yesterday in tow. I think he actually works here, but either way he ****** me off. He clung to us yesterday and apparently stuck with the Belgians today too. When they were talking trekking and they mentioned having me along as a possibility, dude butted in and effectively included me in the group [and therefore his charge] which annoyed me no end. No I don't need you, **** off. He may be trying to help, but you can bet ...

... 12.30pm - 20 minutes late and I moved my backpack to one of the unclaimed seats at the front. We began to climb almost immediately and went through a lot of slum areas of Kalka before reaching the open hills where small children waved us by. We climbed through pine forests and stopped at a few quaint stations on the way where you could get out, stretch your legs and get some food or a coffee. It was starting to get a lot cooler the further we went up. The ...

... class on the train (sat on a bench surrounded by very curious but friendly locals) we changed onto the correct carriage and got onto our comfy padded seats, no bunks in sight. The second train was ace, we got given a veg curry and meandered up the toy railway clinging to the side of the himalayas. We arrived at our hotel about 6pm, its pretty much alpine cold up here but the room has a spectacular view across the mountains and plenty blankets. We badly need sleep. Goodnight

... 9th onto him and into deafness. Trust our driver to bring it back to life. If that statement sounded crude and ludicrous, you haven't heard his horning. Rubal tells me these are made by a company called Mico. Know the brand name? 'Mico Symphony'. We would have never guessed. These are banned in Delhi and areas where some semblance of tranquility is to be maintained. That wouldn't apply on this route, I guess. Anyway, off I go to listen to relatively mild tunes ...