Monday 17th February 2020 - to Shimla

We are sorry to be leaving Chonor House and Dharamshala. With a bit more research we might have arranged to spend another day here to do a day trek in the mountains. Arvind would have made the perfect guide with his knowledge of the natural world. And Chonor House as a place to stay, although not luxurious, was still a wonderful destination. It was so relaxing and the staff so warm and friendly. It is run by the Norbulingka institute that supports the Tibetan community through the maintaining of it’s cultural heritage, training young people and giving educational grants. Staying here made us feel that our money was doing some good. It also felt more honest. Our bill for 2 dinners, which included just 1 bottle of beer, 2 light lunches and a bit of laundry (the room wasn’t warm enough to get stuff dried and aired), was 21,000 Indian Rupees, less than £25.00. The profit margin in the big hotels we have stayed in must have been huge and probably little of it benefitted the local community.

So now we are in the car again and leaving Ram to negotiate the traffic and mountain roads! We think it’s about 240km (150miles) and have been told journey times of between 6 and 7 hours. I’m not sure I will write much on this journey. It’s not going to be quite the same as the plains of Punjab!

Our first stop was after about 2 and a half hours. A restaurant on the edge of Hamirpur. Loos 8/10! A quick cup of tea then on our way again. At some places after a meal or drink a tray with 2 saucers has been brought out, 1 containing sugar crystals, the other fennel seeds. You put a little of each on a teaspoon and then pop it in your mouth and let the flavours mingle. It’s like sucking an aniseed ball!

It’s also been much easier to ask for black tea here than at home. They seem to understand the concept so the tea either arrives black and not stewed, or you are given a tea bag, or the tea bag is in the mug but has only just been put in. Going on what has been in our hotel rooms, the tea bags are much weaker anyway. At home weak black tea is just not really understood, unless the person drinks it themselves. Since drinking ginger tea on our walk at Mount Abu we have also asked for that on occasions. It usually arrives with shreds of fresh ginger in the bottom of the mug and with the teabag in or out. The other tea is honey lemon, with a teabag. Whether either of these will taste the same when we get home only time will tell! The fresh ginger on the market stalls looks much juicier than what we see at home.

We stopped for lunch at around 1.30 just outside the town of Bilaspur. The original town was drowned in 1958 when a dam was built 65km downstream making this a huge reservoir that serves Rajasthan.

Soon after getting back on the road we saw a sign for Shimla. Still 78km to go! Some of today’s roads have been ok, some poor, and a lot of traffic including the colourful trucks that you associate with India. Later we discovered that the reason there is so much heavy traffic is the cement plant probably about 40km from Shimla. It has made for an interesting if at times somewhat sweaty palms, journey! The roads have also not been straight for much more than 200yds at a time. Not necessarily big bends, just not straight!

For the whole of the journey we have been able to see or been in developed areas. Even in the mountains there are settlements everywhere and there are people everywhere too! There is also a lot of development going on, large scale and small, and you have to wonder when it will stop and whether the infrastructure can cope with it all.

Most of the above was written in the car but usually when we were stationary in traffic in the towns, or just crawling along!

Just as we got to the outskirts of Shimla there was a problem on the road with a broken down bus! It is just after 5.00 when we arrive at our hotel, 8 and a quarter hours after we left the last one. It had been a long day! The hotel is in the heart of Shimla and is very comfortable. So after a bath 😊 we had a drink and stretched our legs walking along the Mall and looking at the shops and market stalls. Then it was dinner and bed. All we had done was sit all day but it was very tiring!!

The lights of Shimla.