Day 34 - Cool days in Simla

It's the afternoon of our third day in Simla (a little hill station, 'built by the Britishers' in the foot hills of the Himalayas). It really is the most amazing place and I think the only place out of all the places we have been to so far that I could live in. The climate is fabulous - cool, clear air with lots of sun; the views of the Himalayas are staggering and the people seem to like us...! We keep being asked by groups of kids if they can take a photo of us; apparently so that they can show their friends at home that they have some European friends... quite flattering really although it feels a little un-PC in a place like Simla where the Brits were turfed out some time ago.

We arrived here by train, first on the Himalayan Queen from Delhi to Kalka and then the 'Toy Train' up the mountain to Simla. The Toy Train winds its way up and down mountains and valleys for five hours through about 100 tunnels before arriving at Simla - the views were, not surprisingly, staggering but, as for the train itself, you never quite get over the feeling that you are on the Bluebell Line or on a little tourist steamer on the Isle of Wight.

Once we arrived at Simla we were beseiged by the usual band of porters and taxi drivers desperate for our custom. As it was late at night and we were sitting ducks, not really having a clue where we were supposed to be staying, we got ourselves royally ripped off by our taxi driver as we appeared not to speak any common languages (well we paid all of about $1 for a journey which should have cost a few cents...) - we are finding that not even having a smattering of hindi is a real problem here. People are 'supposed' to speak English but it seems that they don't (or they don't want to with us) but Jon's excellent mime skills are really coming in handy!

Apart from being the capital of Himachal Pradesh, Simla is also the capital of the Monkey Kingdom and in fact it would seem that the monkeys are the true rulers of the humans as well. They are everywhere in Simla and prey on anyone that has anything sparkling or edible. We went to a hindu temple today, dedicated to the hindu monkey god (a 45 minute hike marathon to the top of the hill); it was quite a frightening experience fending off the monkeys - I quickly realised why everyone else was carrying a stick with them.... we survived unscathed though but i won't be making the trip to pay my respects to the monkey god for some time to come...

We are off on a tour tomorrow of some of the neighbouring villages and then we wind our way back down to the plain on Monday....

Bye bye for now