We had a lot of travelling to do from Chandigargh to get to Shimla. With a terrible nights sleep because of the noise the night before, the trip seemed to really drag on. It was an hour bus ride to Kalka first of all, where we hopped on the Himalayan Queen - A train that travels up through the Himalayan mountains in order to reach the town of Shimla, about 80 km away. The train took 5 hours, because of the winding mountain route, and passed through 103 tunnels in total. Shimla is located at an altitude of just over 2,000 meters. The train journey was so picturesque. Great views of the mountains covered in pine trees and small multicoloured homes, with a rickety train zig-zagging between them. We were blessed with one of the most incredible sunsets imaginable on our arrival at Shimla station. It looked like there was a great fire in the distance with smokey patches blurring all around it. You have to check out the photographs for this one.
Shimla was unlike any place we have visited in India. It was spotlessly clean, imensely cold and overtaken with an army of mischievious monkeys. The lonely planet guide recommended us to walk around with a decent stick to beat em with, just in case they got fresh. It also told us to avoid eye contact with them, as this was basically saying 'Bring it on!' I outstared a few of em though, little bitches dont scare me. As the last Dominoes pizza we had was restricted to vegetarian toppings only, it was only right that we had another with the meat toppings :) And it was delicious. I polished off my large pizza, and even had room to help out my uncle Daz with his last piece, hero status, I know.
The next morning I woke up at about 6am because of the cold air, and I was wide awake. I decided to go out and buy a bottle of water (think the dominoes dehydrated me a lil) which ended up in me trying to find a nice view point for a picture of the sunrise over the mountains. Which in turn, ended up in me sacking both the previous goals off, and just going for a run through the winding mountain road. I havent done hardly any cardio training on the trek, and jogging at this altitude proved to be so difficult. I can see why athletes decide to train this way, with the limited oxygen supply reaching your muscles. I arrived back at the hotel at around 8am, after getting a little lost during the jog. We all went for breakfast and decided on doing a 5km walk to Chadwick falls.
It was a nice being able to walk through the streets of India without getting harrassed by an auto-rickshaw driver, a beggar or a shopkeeper for once. The walk started along the main road, which turned off onto a really dusty and rocky pathway which lead to the bottom of the canyon. The final stretch lead us through a pine forest and at the end was Chadwick falls. It wasn't the most enthralling waterfall I've seen, but it was worth the walk. We took a few silly pictures here before making our way back before the sun had set (It could be real easy to get lost out here). We got to the end of the forest trail when a bus drove past us, and the old man couldnt resist but to persuade us to get on board. The bus ride was an experience in itself, and at moments we thought that the back wheels had left the edge of the cliff! We got back to Shimla safely though.
After finishing the blog write up, we headed for a bite to eat (Im sure I saw a Subway down the road, mmmm) then probably hitting the sack. We travel to Rishikesh tomorrow. India's yoga capital. I might attempt levitation or something as equally simple while were there. Peace.
Shimla Photo Link:
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