Hallelujah for Imodium!!!

 Hi Everyone Luke and Lily checking in again with our next instalment in the north of India, the title of the blog will become more apparent as we go through our last few days.

Just a quick mention of our fleeting stop in Delhi we stayed at a lovely little hostel called ‘Backpackers Hostel’ tucked away in the back streets of Paharganj. After walking around aimlessly for 45 mins at 11 at night because nobody seemed to know where it was, we were very glad to find this cosy stopover for the night, friendly chaps at the desk and reasonably comfortable bed for the night. We also met our first ‘trustafarian’ – total hippy who claimed he had been lost in Delhi and was trying to find himself.

Day broke and we headed back to New Delhi station (which is just bedlam) where we were catching a train to a small town in the north called Kalka. We were concerned during the journey when the train completely emptied at Chandigargh one stop before Kalka, but we carried on with slight tredpidation as to what me might land in. We needn’t have worried ourselves Kalka was a charming town away from the hustle of all our previous stops on the tour.

We wandered up the hill into town to find our hotel where we chilled out for a bit before having a quick explore and a bite to eat. Friendly welcoming faces greeted us as we perused the stalls and shops, of fresh fruit and veg. After about an hour and half we felt it was time for dinner so we went to ‘Shelleys’ a little family run restaurant where we ate by far the best meat dish we have eaten in India so far. It was called Achari Chicken which is speciality of the area we were told a blend of mustard oil and pickling spices (panch poran/ indian 5 spice), big chunks of chicken perfectly moist with abit of char from the tandoor and zingy spice made for a memorable dish.

We were up at 4am the next morning to catch the Toy train up to a town called Shimla, in the foothills of the Himalayas. We were unable to book reserved seats on the train (told we had to do it when we got there, turns out otherwise) so got the 50p unreserved seats for the 7 hour journey. We were lucky enough as we got there so early to get a window seat, however they sell far more tickets that there are seats so we both had rather large sweaty old men cram themselves on to the few inches of space next to us. There were no toilets on the train, and without being graphic we probably could have done with them, hence our new favourite travel commodity (We were as close as scientifically possible to being high off Imodium).  The train journey itself all be it uncomfortable was incredible. The train runs only around 15mph, but the views were worth it.

Shimla was a lot bigger than Kalka, literally a city set into the side of a mountain, streets seemingly stacked on top of each other as the mountain went up and up, there is a lift going from the road to the main street its that steep. Typically we booked the hotel as far up the town as possible so we hiked up near vertical gradients to locate our stop for the night only to find the place deserted, bar a cleaner. We hung around tried to ring a few people only to find they didn’t accept foreigners which we will elaborate more on in another blog post. Slightly perturbed by the idea of being homeless for the night we trudged back down the mountain to find a hotel. After getting ourselves a bed, we dumped our bits and went out to explore this extraordinary spot.

We walked around for a few hours admiring the wonderful streets lined with small stalls selling all different types of street food, fresh fruit and veg and clothes. There was also a Pizza Hut and KFC... where after a week of nothing but curry the did look very tempting! The views were incredible, a real must see place.

The following day we headed on a long bumpy bus journey back down the mountain to Chandigarh where we headed on yet another train journey to Amritsar. There have been lots of long days of travelling on this journey so far, with limited time in each destination. This time, when we arrived in Shimla we really thought it was worth it. A top place, incredible views and a refreshingly cool climate.

Next stop, Amritsar

Lily and Luke