Day 9 - Apr 13 - Shimla

Day 9 dawned with the realization that this is the day we are leaving Shimla. We got up, checked out of hotel and drove to the railway station to put the luggages in the cloak room. Our train was not until 6.15PM and it was only 11AM when we put the things in the cloak room and walked out to roam around the mall road.

We drove back to the lift and climbed to the mall road. Lunch was in the restaurant in Hotel Combermere, which was expensive and the food was just OK. Then we decided to raom around for a while before getting back the station.

J was buying some stuff and we again got into a fight. Then again, we made it up faster than it took to pick up the fight and after lingering around the mall road for sometime, we walked downhill towards the station. On the way lies the 'Indian Cofee house' aka the Indian Starbucks (without the frills and the choices, but then you dont get sambar vadas in Starbucks either). The coffee tasted very good but the building itself looks run down.

Then the moment came for us to embark on the 4.5hour journey downhill in the seperate coupe for the 8 of us. I booked this time in the Kalka-Shimla passenger in first class and it was fantastic. But once the ride started and the sunset was over, we were killing time to reach Kalka. After an uneventful and very boring ride to Kalka, boarded the Kalka-Howrah mail to reach back to Old Delhi station the next morning.

Day 8 - Apr 12 - Shimla - Kufri

The day dawned as any other day. I wanted to just sleep the entire day as the weather was fantastic. But then had to check out Shimla.

After lots of discussions about the places to see, we decided upon Kufri which is about 28Kms from where we stayed. My brother found a taxi big enough to carry all of us and we started from the hotel around 10AM.

Now I had no idea what is there in Kufri. I know there is a valley there but nothing more. So we just drove on. My brother found a big spider (I mean, real big and looking mean) lurking near his shoes and mercifully threw it out when we stopped to fill gas.

We stopped at a place to have a view of the valley and the amount of construction that is happening in the area is just unbelievable. Shimla will become a metropolis pretty soon with the kind of development that is happening and pitifully, none of the greenery will be left. Even today, when you drove around you can see the amount of dust that is thrown up, a definite sign of deforestation of the area. Next stop was near wildflower Hall to see the apple orchards in the area and more than that there was a very nice tea shop serving piping hot tea. Then we drove towards Kufri.
Once in Kufri, you are suppose to take the horses(ponies?) for a 20-25 minutes ride to the top of the hill for viewing the valley. We decided that it is something that cannot be missed and booked the ponies for the ride.

The ponywala(?), my guy is named Sitaram, was a chatty fellow and was explaining the names of the ponies along the way (it was called Darling, I guess). But then, he kicks the horses so much they just start walking fast whenever he approaches nearby. Anyway, it was a strange feeling sitting on these ponies and they start sleep-walking into the narrow road running upwards, minding the slush and stones on the way to climb to the top.

When you reach the top, you hear a nice voice calling you out in Tamil, 'Anna' and I was actually shocked. It was a Tibetian girl calling us to take a photo siting on the Yak standing nearby. It was kind of surrealistic to hear that in that strange place.

So we had the photo sessions with the valley and the top of the hill is nothing to write about. It is denuded of its shrubbery and is so dusty, I started sneezing. There is a small temple on the top and a nice view of the mountains of Himalayas (called Shivalik range in these areas). We did saw some snow in the distant mountain tops.

We took our photos on the Yaks and climbed down in those bored ponies. Climbing down was so scary I thought I am going to have my neck broken at one of the turns. But then we reached down safely. Took the kids to the Himalayan National Park (which is actually a zoo) where you really have to search for the animals.

It was late afternoon and time to return back to the hotel. We reached our rooms and I fell down exhausted. Me and J had a fantastic, all-weapons drawn, fight after reaching the room. I dont remember the reason why it started but what I do remember is that it was probably one of the worst we've ever had. May be seeing each other for 24hours a day continously for 8 days at close quarters is good for no one anyway. That too, keeping a hypertension individual like me nearby certainly did not help. The important part is that we fought and then made it up over a couple of mocktails in the hotel restaurant (which were BTW delicious!).

Day 7 - Apr 11 - Kalka - Shimla - Part 2

Mall road was about a kilometer and half from the hotel and we started by walking to the lift. The Lift is actually a lift, of course, and for 7Rs, it takes you to the lower part of the Mall. It was very conveniant as it meant you dont have to walk the steep mountain to reach the Mall.

The Mall road is probably the center piece of Shimla and you basically come out of the lift and you are already in the Mall road. There are shops on both sides of the road and you can walk yourself to the square where the Christchurch is and it is a big area where you can rest or walk around.

We walked to the square area after doing a little shopping and stopped on the top of the Mall. The kids and me along with my brother, sis-in-law and all of us took our turns with the horse ride in that place and a lot of pictures and walked into the Lakkar bazaar are which lies a bit off.
J did a little shopping here and there, ate an wonderful omeltte in the road side and as the night was approaching, all of the mountain is lit up and you start wondering where the mountains are. The entire area is full of buildings or constructions and may be, Shimla would've been a paradise 30-40 years back. We started walking back to the hotel by about 7.45PM (most of the shops are closed by this time). Had our dinner in the hotel restaurant, which by the way, was very good and went to bed.

Day 7 - Apr 11 - Kalka - Shimla - Part 1

Day 7 started very early in the morning at around 4.45am in Kalka. Thats exactly when the Howrah-Kalka Mail reached Kalka after an overnight journey which was punctuated by a lot of stops (Ambala, Chandigarh etc) before reaching Kalka. The toy train ride starts from here.

We booked in the Shivalik Delux express which starts from Kalka at 5.30am and does the climb to Shimla in about 4.5hours time. This narrow gauge train is unmistakeble in the the station with a smaller size than the normal trains with Shatabti style seating arranged at only about 20 seats per coach.

We boarded the coach which unfortunately was dirty and had some old curtains. The kids were all excited to see the toy train and board it. We were seated and there is an attendant for every coach and breakfast is served on board. The train started on time and started climbing within minutes.

There were a lot of small stations on the way maintained probably the same way as they were in the days they were built. It was fantastic to watch the sun rise and feel the slow chilling of air. As for greenery there is not much left as most of the woods are lost and one cannot see a decent mountain/valley view till the Barog station is crossed. Most of the mountain is now feeling the impact of terrace farming and the slash and burn policy that is being followed all around.

Breakfast was served in Barog (which is the only stop in the ride) and it was nothing to write about. The Barog station itself is beautiful with old-British style buildings and quaint little platforms.

Once the novelty wears off in about 1-2 hours, the travel becomes a bit taxing and I started sleeping. When I got up, we were nearing Shimla and the kids are tired and were either sleeping or were bored.

Shimla itself looks beautiful when the train approaches the station and Sibi was ecstatic after looking at the turntable in the station and was explaining what it is to my brother.

We were booked in the Hotel Holiday Home run by HPTDC and we took a taxi to the hotel. Mercifully, the check-in was smooth and after getting into the room, I just crashed. After sleeping for about a couple of hours, pulled myself out of the bed and started for the Mall Road.