Nabha Palace A Claridges Resort Mussoorie

... town, the amount of anxiety I would have faced on the bus wasn't worth it to me. So instead I traveled 3 hours north of Rishikesh to Mussorie a hill station where the snow capped mountains can be seen in the distance. All in all it was a nice town, but very touristy (mostly Indian tourists) and came complete with fair rides, corn on the cob, arcades ...

... dogs up here. There is no organized pound or neutering service, so they just roam around as they want. There is one dog that has taken particular liking to our group. Everyday she sleeps under the over hang of our hostel. Then she waits for us to go to school and walks us to school. Then she waits outside the school until noon and walks us back to the hostel. Lots of people feed her food, one girl even went to town and bought her dog food ...

... tea, so maybe later" "No, I bring Androo black tea now". I know that Andrew doesn't like black tea, but the guy just wouldn't let up. So finally I said sure. The guy made the tea for Andrew and 5 minutes later knocked on our door and served Andrew black tea in bed. It was so funny. Andrew actually tried it and liked it, but I think he just liked all the attention more. The guys wouldn't let up. They keep asking him how he's feeling. Yesterday ...

... there, too. Most of Sunday, as I said, I rested. A lot. We went back to the Opal Lounge, where Friday's evening out (ostensibly for Travis's birthday) took place. We watched the cricket finals, between Rajasthan and Chenai. Sherry helped me know when to cheer. I got a Thai curry again, and had ...

... with all sorts of anti-biotics that we are used to. These were skinny, with as many feathers as Kojak has hair. The bus to Mussorie was crazy -I was petrified as it wound up this crazy steep road on the side of a mountain, with a couple of reminders of what losing concentration could do!! Mussorie was amazing, but freezing. We thought we wouldn't make the same mistake and not get a ...

... lambs to the torture, up we went. The first 24km to Banjar should have been a good indication; maximum steep angle up (i.e. steepest we could pedal without jumping off to push) for a couple km, followed by short steep down, then repeat. Loads of fun, arrived in Banjar at dark, picked the (slightly less) grubby of the two hotels, and called it a day. Day 2: the much awaited climb to Jalori La. At this point our map is swiftly losing definition as we're off any sort of main road ...

... how the rickshaw driver peddled all three of us and our bags, but he managed somehow. When we got to the station, the driver tried to tell us that the price he quoted us was per person, not total (this is a common gimmick that rickshaw drivers have used on us before). So, we paid him a little more than the amount originally quoted and headed into the bus station to ask where the bus to Dehra Dun was leaving from. Luckily we got on before the bus was too ...

... nur noch den spirituellen/religioesen Dingen hingeben wollen) die den vielleicht 200-300km lange Pigerstrecke zu Fuss zuruekcklegen, andrerseits an Unmengen von Bussen, Autos und Motorraedern, die die Masse der Pilger transportieren, und jetzt -- es ist Pilger-Hauptsaison -- ein mittleres Verkehrschaos verursachen, was auch daran liegt dass die Strasse weiter oben in den Bergen ...

... having the natural genetic make up of a plank of wood but I've learned that yoga isn't necessarily about being flexible --if you practice like that it just becomes another a stick to beat yourself with, another thing to be competetive about. It's been great to find out more about the philosophy and how it really centres on finding more peace and happiness within-changing how you view life. How you approach getting yourself into a yoga asana is symptomatic of how you approach life--you ...

... there. Unsurprisingly the return journey back to Dehra Dun took less time as it was all downhill - although the bumpy and uneven roads caused more than one passenger to be sick out of the window..... lovely ! We got off at the train station and booked our tickets for our next destination - Amritsar in the Punjab. Luckilly our train did not leave for a few hours so we used the time wisely - we took a tuk-tuk to a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet called Udipi. On arrival, we ...