Shimla/Simla

November 12^th and 13^th– Simla/Shimla, India

I woke up today and spoke to my dad on the phone. He tells me that I must go to Simla. It is a site that cannot be missed! In the morning Ankita and her family were helping me plan what to do in this area of India. Within minutes we made the decision to travel to the beautiful hill station of Simla, India. We packed our things and headed to the train station. We would be taking the “toy train” up to Shimla. A journey that would take 4-5 hours slowly through the mountains. We got to the station, purchased our tickets only to find out that they had overbooked by what seemed like a million people in our car. Indians where squeezing themselves to get standing room for this journey. This seemed nuts so we gave up hope and then decided to sit in the nicer first class car. The ticket attendant had told us to wait to see if those seats had filled up and if not we could stay in that car but with an exception. On top of the 250 rupees per person we had already paid, we would pay another 500 rupees just to remain in these seats ($15 total). We were really irritated but there was nothing we could do since we were already on our way. We forked over the money knowing that he would pocket the money himself but that’s how things go in India. We met some lovely families along the way and when we finally reached Shimla it was dark out and freezing cold. Something none of us expected and had to climb through steep hill side mountains to find a hotel to stay at. We reached a beautiful hotel but after meeting with an extremely rude hotel operator we decided to leave and search for a place to stay on the main strip called “Mall Road”. After a tiresome search, we found a quaint and cozy accommodation above the Nike store. I laughed when we sat down since the walls were the colour of Pepto Bismul and we had no running water. We went to bed early and I awoke to a stunning sunrise. A crimson red orange sun rose through the multiple mountain ranges-at least we had a million dollar view. Ankita’s mom (Auntie) showed me where the magnificent Hanuman god statue standing over 100 feet tall in the mountains was along with the local market. We headed into the market with stalls filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, suppliers of wedding cards, party supplies, anything you could imagine. We found the most amazing aloo parantha shop with fresh chai. Watching the shop keeper and his employees making the stuffing and creating these pieces of dough to roll out within minutes. We soon came to realize this was the most popular local shop to eat a parantha and grab a cup of chai, and for 20 rupees (50 cents) who’s complaining? Then we headed off to see the world’s largest statue at 108 feet tall of Lord Hanuman at the Jakoo Temple. Now I’ll be honest, this climb is a bitch to do. Very steep and extremely high elevation gain (45 degrees). It’s already at 8000 feet above sea level and I’ve got a cold with a snotty nose. Ankita and I began the climb and realized this is no easy task so we caved in and paid a taxi to take us to the top. At 300 rupees ($6) it was a steal of a deal. Here’s the issue though, you have to be EXTREMELY careful and even that may not work at the top of the mountain. THE MONKEYS!!! They are everywhere and they will steal anything from you. Ankita was told to hide her glasses or the monkeys would steal them too. We managed to leave unharmed as we were carrying no food and walking quite fast, not looking at any of them in the eyes. These buggers will try to intimidate and bully you. For one man at the footsteps of the temple it wasn’t such happy times. I saw a monkey try to bully his family and when he turned around the monkey jumped on his back grabbing his clothes. He managed to toss the monkey off and found a stick on the ground to try to fend the monkey off. Once Ankita and I got to the top there were hundreds of monkeys. I never thought in my life I’d be scared of a monkey but now I am. Always have to watch your back with them and what you bring. We quickly got back to the taxi and it drove us to the bottom of the mountain where we met with Ankita’s mom. We went to the Indian Coffee House, enjoyed a cup of coffee and checked out some stores before heading to the bus station. The bus was free for us since it was Women’s Day so we were quite happy with that. It took only 3 hours where the train would take 5 hours
but it was one motion sickness type of ride. We were holding onto the seat as we raced down the mountain. I have no idea how Indian bus drivers do their job-seems extremely stressful. There were points were I was feeling very sick but we made it to the train station where we parked the car safe and sound. As we drove home, Auntie thought I should go visit some famous gardens so I jumped out of the car for a quick 20 minute walk through of this very peaceful place. I got back into the car, we headed home and had some sandwiches, it was time for bed. Tomorrow’s adventure will be Amritsar-The Golden Temple!

GALLERY PICS OF SHIMLA