Have feet, will travel…

My journey started in KL bound for New Delhi. Nothing exceptional happened except that I couldn’t have asked for a smoother journey. The plane was empty so got to lay down on three seats so slept well, on take-off and landing my ears didn’t even hurt it was as though I wasn’t on a plane. This really made me happy 🙂 New Delhi was a breeze, easily found the express train to the city got my ticket and was off. Found everyone really friendly from the Air Asia staff offering me Imodium knowing I was heading to India for so long alone, had the police officer at the metro alert me the train was coming which I still missed as I needed to go through a bag and body security check. But I was in no hurry…i was on Indian time : ) taking things easy and slow. The metro station was a short walk to the railway station and this was my first glimpse of busy New Delhi. The railway station was streaming with people everywhere. I had a short look around and then found the ladies only waiting room which was perfect for my 3 hr wait. I read and wrote my diary and met a nice lady next to me with a small girl. So we chatted and passed time. I found my way to the train but had a hard time locating my carriage and seat no. There is a list outside each carriage with everyone’s name on it quite efficient I must say to have to do this every day for every train. But with some help I managed to find my seat after bumping people with my backpack. Got to my seat and the bag rack was like high above my head, had trouble lifting my bag up but a kind gentleman behind me offered to help and I was set for my first train ride this trip.

4 hours 5 mins and 303km later I was in Kalka. The train ride was smooth and they even served food, “meals on wheels” that even came with a tea kit and a small flask of hot water. I was impressed! My first stop for a good night’s rest after almost 24 hours of travelling. I was looking forward to a shower and was greeted with a bucket and bailer for my first shower in India : ) It wasn’t so bad after you got the first 2 splashes on you, then it was rather refreshing.
Was up bright and early and headed for the train station. Onwards to Shimla on the Himalyan Queen train, a toy train that travels through 107 tunnels and meanders around the scenic mountains. This station was so small compared to New Delhi, finding my train and seat was easy. I boarded the train and found my seat but this time I had another problem. My backpack could not fit the tiny compartment below my seat. I was amazed the train was so tiny. I put my bag by my legs and now was taking up ¼ of the seat next to me. But luckily I wasn’t the only one with this problem; some people had brought full luggages. I had a group of boys outside my window staring at me and blatantly checking to see what my name was.

The toy train ride was awesome. The route was so breathtakingly beautiful with so many mountain views and valleys. I had the window seat so i could peek my head out and enjoy the sights. The 5 hour ride covering 96km was simply perfect. The family that sat by me had a 4 year-old girl and often you would hear her speak in Hindi with a word or two of English squeezed in. She once said “Amazing” and that was truly how I felt. It was as though I was a child again, enjoying the simplest of pleasures – A train ride! Reached Shimla and it was raining, so decided would take a taxi. Luckily, I did as the walk up would have been horrendous with my backpack.

Shimla is extremely hilly and is made up of many alleys ways with staircases leading to each other. It’s actually a maze when you first get there. Shimla is quaint old British hill station, so lots of old English architecture. The weather the next day was sunny and clear so the views were amazing. It’s so refreshing to be in a cool weather where it’s not humid and sweaty all the time. Was planning on only staying 2 nights but ended up staying for an extra day as there was news of a serious landslide in Manali on Saturday that had blocked roads and so I wasn’t sure if I should be heading that way. Some tourists tried to scare me when I was queuing for the bus ticket. So I decided to wait and find out more before buying my ticket. Am glad I did as I got to do a full day of sightseeing in Shimla with a professional and friendly guide. I wasn’t planning on visiting the Jakhoo temple as the guidebook had warned about the monkeys but the guide convinced me it was nice and he would be there so not to worry. The trek uphill was a killer, it was so steep but managed to get to the temple and once I entered before I knew it something jumped on my back and grabbed my glasses. A monkey had jumped me! I was petrified as images of fierce teeth-bearing monkeys came to mind. Luckily, Arif my guide was there he bought some peanuts and did a barter trade for my glasses. Clever monkeys, supposedly they do this all the time steal so they get food in return for the item. I had to take off my glasses every time I saw monkeys as they were eyeing my glasses. The irony of it all is I never wear glasses out but because I woke up with an eye infection and a jelly bubble in my eye I had no choice. The infection cleared thankfully after 2 days without contacts. We continue on to the Viceroy Lodge which was a long pleasant walk to see a grand old British building that was beautiful inside and out. It looked almost like a castle and the interior with Burmese wood from top to bottom and Kashmiri wood ceilings was gorgeous. The wonderful thing is it’s not a museum but actually still being used today by the Institute of Advance Studies, which houses scholars and fellows both locally and foreign. The ballroom has been turned into a library and one of the other rooms is now a conference room. It was a wonderful day sightseeing today and tomorrow will be heading to Kullu by bus.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 7:04 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.