Up in the Clouds

We missed our train to Shimla, so we took the bus. Winding through forested mountains and scattered road stands that make up villages we got up to about 2200 meters above sea level. And that's where we are now, in Shimla, were the air is thin and quite chilly.

We were initally charmed by the steep and busy streets (the town is built up and down a cluster of mountains), the colourful fabrics in the street, our room with a view... but have encountered a bunch of rather unfriendly people today, and are not feeling so energetic. We did however find some wool shawls today to keep us warm, and Pete got a cute vest and hat outfit. And we had a great lunch: vegetbale dosa's at The Indian Coffee House. The place seemed to me like an old boy's club. Waiters in pouffy formal uniforms, a bunch of old Indian men sitting around in leather chairs, drinking coffee and talking seriously in the big, dimly lit space. It was funny and the dosas were sooooooooo good.

I think we'll leave here in 2 days. We've been asked to do a trek to Kashmir, and attend the Kashmiri wedding of the guide's nephew, but it is quite a bit out of our budget.

Images of Rishikesh

Ram Julah Bridge, ~10 min walk from our ashram

Pete in a quiet street

sweet spot

back when his beard was tame

pretty young women

objects of worship

behold the Ganges!

Leprosy Bibing Hall

Yoga Niketan after breakfast

cabins

flight of the monkey

Mountain Falls, We Survive

Today is Sunday, and our schedule tells us that it is our day off (sidhu I believe). At this point, I'm beginning to wonder whether or not that's a good thing. Today we went on a grand adventure to a waterfall up in a small mountain.

After climbing up it for forever, we reached the glorious tiny pool of water where we swam to our heart's delight. Then Steph thought it would be fun to keep going up and seeing what we could, so we climbed for another few eternities before reaching a tiny temple (the size of a large dog-house). That's when we decided it was time to head back down.

Each step was a shaking struggle, but we did it.

What did we find at the bottom of the mountain? Nothing other than a traffic jam! So we kept walking, walking, walking and eventually made it back home. To think we started the day mending our sore hamstrings-- I don't want to think of what life will be like tomorrow morning.

We took some cool photos while we were up there, which we'll happily share when we get back. It's hard to upload any while we're here since they are rather large and the connection to most sites we visit is very slow.

On another note, we discovered a "restaurant" where they serve fruit-filled samosas! Apples! Banana Chocolate! Coconut Chocolate! MMmmmmmmmmmm!! Sooo good. I think I will have a few banana chocolates after this posting...

Life in India is swell, although I'm sad to have missed my Raja-G biscuits today (Steph convinced me to come to the cyber cafe and thus miss tea time).

Om shantih shantih shantih