2nd-3rd February: Heading for the hills

2nd February

We arrived at Shimla's bus station at around 6 am. It was dark and cold and we had not had much sleep, so it was very comforting to be greeted by a taxi driver with John's name written on a board. We learnt later that the driver had not known to which of the five bus stations in Shimla the bus was headed, so had waited for the bus outside his house 10 km away from Shimla and then followed it all the way into town. We packed the small car with our massive rucksacks and just about managed to find some space to sit. We then set off for a 30 minute journey out of Shimla, passing by steep drops that were thankfully obscured by the early morning darkness. The Aapo App Home Stay is located around 10 km from the centre of Shimla, in what used to be a very isolated area but is gradually turning into a suburb of the expanding city.

View of Aapo Aap Home Stay from the road below

Shivi, who manages the family guest house, welcomed us and offered us tea and biscuits, which was lovely after a long and cold journey. Even more lovely was the powerful heater around which we huddled. He then took us to our very spacious room and immediately won our hearts (if the tea had not already done so) by showing us the electric blankets. The room itself was cold, as the small heater could do little against Shimla's frigid winter temperatures, so we quickly jumped under the covers.

After a few hours catching up on sleep, we made our way up to the large dining room where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast (tea, toast, kiwi and red plum jam, and a seemingly endless supply of fried eggs). After this feast we wandered out for some exercise. The sky was clear, and the mid-afternoon sun quickly warmed us up. We first walked up to a small Tibetan monastery, which is a kilometre or so away from the guest house. We did not actually enter, however, as we felt like we were intruding. We then retraced our steps and headed in the opposite direction, walking down below the guest house along the hillside. We passed by numerous half-finished houses, with steel rods twisting out from dark blocks of cement. The valley below was beautiful, so long as we could look past the blight on the landscape of the construction site around us. After another hour's walk we finally found ourselves in countryside that was untarnished, as we walked along a small path where we met a few villagers who seemed quite surprised to see us.

Tibetan Monastery (Thubten Dorjidak Aewam Chokgar Institute)

Friendly kids walking ahead of us

View of the hills from the unfinished concrete building

Back at the house we spent a couple of hours working on the blog, and then headed back up to the main building for dinner. Shivi and co had prepared for us a delicious home-made meal with peas and paneer (Paneer Pulao), cauliflower and potatoes (Aloo Gobi), Jeera rice, dahl and chapatis. We shared a few of our stories in India, while Shivi gave us some tips for Shimla and our future travels around Rajasthan.

-----

3rd February

After enjoying another delicious and very filling breakfast (this time the cooks had also prepared some aloo parathas to go with our dozen eggs), Shivi dropped us at the bus station of the nearby town of Panthaghati. There we hopped on the bus to the Lift, which takes you up to the centre of the famous hill station of Shimla. Fellow travellers were nice enough to let us know when we should get off the bus. I looked around for some stairs (since I was not overly convinced by the Lift) but the only ones I could find seemed to be closed.

The Lift

Emerging unscathed from the Lift we reached the Mall, a long pedestrian street that runs through the heart of Shimla. Shivi had told us that the most popular activity in Shimla was "Malling", just strolling aimlessly along the road, browsing the many shops that line the way. From the Mall we walked up to the Ridge, which is a flat open area overlooking the valley, at about 2200m above sea level. We were very impressed by the cleanliness of the city. There was no sign of the litter that is ubiquitous in India. Not only were there lots of signs threatening fines for littering, but people actually seemed to obey. We have no idea why this hasn't been implemented (or hasn't worked) in other Indian cities. (what a good idea, could this be implemented in other Indian - and Nepalese - cities?). Even spitting is forbidden, so there were no red traces of betel on the ground.

The Ridge

Shimla used to be the summer capital of the Raj (the British government of India); the British and their entourage would move their quarters up into the hills to escape the brutal heat of Delhi. The narrow-gauge train line up the hill from Kalka to Shimla was built at the beginning of the 20th century, facilitating access to the popular hill station. The British heritage of the city was clearly visible. The most striking remain of the British's presence was Christ Church, a typically English church perched alongside the Ridge. We walked back along the Ridge towards a place called Scandal Point, which piqued our curiosity. Legend has it (according to a kind old man who stopped to ask if we had any questions) that the name came from the scandal of the Maharaja of Patiala (in Punjab) eloping with the daughter of the British viceroy. The Maharaja was banned from Shimla and therefore decided to build a competing hill station, 45km away from Shimla in Chail (which is now also a very popular holiday spot). It wasn't particularly clear what that particular spot had to do with the elopement, but never mind.

The very British-looking Christ Church

Inside Christ Church

Shimla's State Library

You have been warned...

We then walked around 45 minutes along the Mall to the Viceroy's Lodge, which was built as an official residence of the British Viceroys (representatives of Great Britain in India). From this building, in the summers of the Raj, the Viceroy ruled over 1/5 of the world's population. The building gave the impression of a Scottish castle, looming in the cloud-covered hill-top. Stones had been excavated a few kilometres away and transported up the hill by mule, doubtless an enormous enterprise. The building briefly belonged, after Independence to the President of Indian but since the 1950's has hosted the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

John in front of the main entrance

A Scottish castle in India

The building has been fairly well-preserved, and visitors only have access to the ground floor so as not to disturb the academics in residence. Above the entrance, we could still see the outlines of the traditional Indian weapons that used to hang on the wall (they have since Independence been moved to a museum in Delhi). The walls of the multi-tiered main hall were covered with beautiful burmese teak. We glanced through glass windows at the former ballroom (now the library), had a look at the conference room where very important issues - such as Independence and the partition between India and Pakistan - were discussed. The guide was friendly and spoke in both Hindi and English. He was able to point out some interesting features of the magnificent building, such as an ingenious system to deal with fire (water sprinklers on the ceiling had been covered with wax, which would melt from the heat of a fire; the system is still in place, but supplemented by more modern solutions).

Walls covered with burmese teak

The table around which the partition of India and Pakistan was discussed

From the Viceroy's Lodge we walked back to the Ridge, passing in front of remarkable heritage buildings such as Gorton Castle (now the offices of the Accountant General), the Railway Board Building (a cast iron and steel structure built to resist fire, which it recently proved when a fire broke out in 2001 but caused minimal damage), and the Town Hall. By that time we were pretty exhausted and stopped for a coffee at the Indian Coffee House. There we enjoyed the laid-back and authentic atmosphere, as people sat around us having a coffee or a snack with friends. We sat down next to two friendly old locals and enjoyed a black coffee.

Gorton Castle

Railway Board Building

Shimla's town hall

For dinner we headed to a restaurant called Ashiana, whose circular room would have made for a lovely small ballroom (we learnt the following day later that it had been used as a bandstand, from which an orchestra would entertain the town every evening). It had been laid our for some kind of banquet that night but they were still serving dinner as the guests would only arrive at 8pm. We ordered a sizzling vegetable steak, some dahl, and rice.

Restaurant set up for the banquet

The vegetable steak arrived on a sizzling plate; it was so well presented that at first I thought that it was actually meat. We were relieved (or perhaps slightly disappointed) to see that the steak was indeed made with vegetables. It was a very tasty meal in a beautiful room. It was then time to go back to the guest house. We took the Lift back down the the Cart Road and walked in the direction of the bus stop. The first bus we asked was going to Panthaghati. It was pretty full (although nothing compared to the local buses and trains in Kolkata) but a couple of minutes later our patience was rewarded and we were able to sit. The drive was almost smooth, the only unnerving part was their way of speeding along next to the steep drops, but I guess they are used to the road. Back at the guest house we met two newcomers, a girl from Amsterdam and a friend of her boyfriend who was escorting her. She was really friendly and talkative, and it was interesting to have her first impressions of India.