To Shimla We Go

How did I end up atop a Himalayan foothill? "Well I'm glad you asked."
(That's always Sam's line, but since he's neglecting to post on this blog, I thought I should interject some of his voice into my own.)

--

It is 8pm on Friday, and we have no travel destination. Yet, we are heading out the door to Delhi's Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) with our Lonely Planet guide in hand and a backpack for the weekend.

You see, we had booked train tickets to Varanasi online through Tatkal (last minute train tickets you can book 2 days in advance) only to get an automated email from them the night before our scheduled trip telling us that we had successfully canceled our ticket reservations (which we had not!). Needless to say, all five customer service numbers were busy..or if they did ring, nobody answered.. or if somebody did answer, he/she did not speak English.

By now, we are at ISBT and it is a mess. To get tickets for a local bus, one must 'line up' (clutch the person in front of you to make sure nobody cuts) at the counter. We station our friend Sean in line for tickets to Shimla. Sam gets in line for tickets to Chandigarh. We really just want to get out of Delhi for the weekend, and at this point, it doesn't really matter which bus we get on.


Crowds and chaos at the Inter State Bus Terminal.


Bus-ing it like the locals do.

We finally manage to get three bus tickets to Chandigarh, and then it takes us a bit of time to interpret them (local bus tickets come in fifteen different strips of paper with no bus number or time). A 5.5 hour local bus ride (no A/C, no sleeper berths) later, we arrive in Le Corbusier's planned city. As an urban studies major, I am rattling away to Sam and Sean (who probably aren't even listening) about the city plans of Chandigarh, a city modeled to fit India's post-independence democracy. We manage to hop on another local bus that will bring us to Shimla.

By the way, the Lonely Planet is the travel guide to swear by. It's got details about train and bus times down to the bone. Do not go on a destination-less Indian adventure without this baby.

On our way to the Queen of Hill Stations

Shimla was the official summer capital of the British Raj-- Delhi's summer heat just didn't cut it for them. A prominent remnant of the British presence is the Viceregal Lodge (below):


Thank goodness for their decision to establish a summer retreat in the mountains. Today, Shimla is a popular get-a-way for Indians escaping the summer heat. We enjoyed weather of < 30 degrees, and we were shivering! (Hey, when you've been wallowing in 40+ degrees for a month, anything below a 35 feels cool.)

Here are just a few of the things we saw:

For all the fruities of the world...

...and all the sweet-tooths of the world (gulab jamun is hidden in the mix!)

The stray dogs here have thicker hair than in Delhi! Their extra jacket keeps them warm in the winter.

We left tourist-trap-Shima...


...for the road less traveled, and saw much more interesting sights.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:









It was a good weekend.

: )
Michelle