Hotel Willow Banks 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. <br><br>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 ...

... rescued from an old palace, a few Jain sculptures/carvings and beautiful examples of the jewellery the local girls where - they almost literally are covered from head to foot.<br><br>As I was still on the waiitng list for the toy train the next day I thought I would pop into the train station (as it looked quite close - mmmmmm where have I heard that before!) well the Toy Train takes a long but scenic route - I took a long and sometimes scenic ...

... a pleasant Indian hill station and refuge from the monsoon heat, we decided to make it and then the beautiful Kullu Valley a destination unto itself. Fortunately, we were able to acquire flights from the village of Kullu back to Delhi so as to save ourselves the time of a long drive back. Having finally settled our plans, we sped off from the airport to the Old Delhi train station. The transfer was a bit chaotic, but nothing like we had been warned about. Even ...

... attracting after being so close to the mountains in Kinnaur and Spiti. Once last stop in Himachal Pradesh. The sacred lake of Resalwar. The lake is sacred for both hindus and buddhists and is surrounded by hindu temples and buddhist monasteries where several young monks are studying and lots of monkeys umpp on the roof tops. There again I saw signs against the Olympics, but no demonstration. There is a giant statue of Guru Rinpoche above the ...

... humans without any hesitation, and if they suspect you have food they are even more aggressive, sometimes searching your pockets or bag until they find some! We explored the main "Mall" (town's main street) and the food bazaars. The town is built into the hillside and the shopping lanes cascade down the mountain side with each horizontal level specializing in something - food, fabrics, school books, electronics. We had a great meal in town and tried some Indian sweets. Town ...

... is okay...well, not really!!! The mountain roads are treacherous, and men "tar workers" live in tents constantly repairing the roads - they are covered in the stuff, fires burning bright, smoke everywhere - hence, they are very very black from head to toe... The photo of the "holy man" is special because he lives in a cave (for the past 18 years) on one of the most hair-raising roads in India - his English was very good, and he showed me the interior of his "house ...

... pata nahi kaha pe dhoondhna hain (People from the government service are really dumb. They never know where to search for)". As we left the Kullu town and climbed up the Beas valley towards Manali, it was getting cooler. At a distance, we could see several ice-clad peaks, now closer to us than ever. Trilok seemed mesmerized by the beauty and probably more so because we had travelled up so quickly. Just the previous day, we were getting roasted in the ...