North Indian Tour: Delhi to Shimla


Setting out - Delhi to Shimla

Humayun's tomb in Delhi
We regretfully left our 'holiday within a holiday' in Goa and took the short flight to Delhi (making sure no battery packs were in the check in luggage). A quick scan of the google maps (an essential addition to any taxi journey) showed the traffic on a Sunday evening was not too bad, so we booked an official black and yellow cab to 'Laffair'. The original hotel we going to be the Puja Palace (which we used on another Intrepid trip 15 years before) but due to a recent fire many hotels had been closed for safety reasons. Next morning we had a tour of the crowded market area of Old Delhi.


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    Narrow streets

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    Traditional transport

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    Imaginative wiring



Rickshaw traffic jam - along with motorbike which can be seen just dismounting the pavement. 

The 'team' at the Jama Masjid - and 'H' - (Harshvardhan) our brilliant and friendly guide. At 300R for a camera permit we were happy to take memories rather than pictures - although Hannah and Nina were featuring in many photos of families and RGs (RG = Random Geezer, not unique to India but there are plenty of slightly odd people asking / doing strange or slightly dodgy things).

One of many great images of the jama Masjid that can be found on the 'interweb'.

On the spur of the moment, and rather late in the afternoon, we decided to do a solo visit to Humayun's tomb via the Delhi metro. The metro was great; cheap, fast and easy to use but we ended up quite a long way from where we needed to be. A dramatic autorick ride brought us to the right place and we were encouraged to run to the ticket office as it was already five fifteen and it closed at six. We had a brilliant time, wandering around this classically beautiful building and surrounding gardens.


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    Visions of Humayun's tomb

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On the way back from the tomb we headed off to Connaught Place for supper at Haldirams. On the way we passed the impressive India gate and the Lutyens designed administrative centre.

New Dehli high street

Haldirams - sweets and great eats

Shimla

An early start and a short taxi ride across Delhi to the Railway station - we always arrive in good time and get an opportunity to watch life happen around us. Unlike our journey's of a decade ago we found that foreigners no longer excite the same interest and we are largely left alone - much easier. Also things are still cheap, but not silly cheap - porter to the train was 100R. 

Milling about waiting for the train
Do you think we have enough water?
The train pulled out of Delhi, slowly but with great comfort, including tea and breakfast as well as water provided - this was a Chair Car AC - not the very top level but typically the best available on ordinary trains.
After a six hour journey we transferred to our mini-coach and the drive up into the hills to Simla


The busy town clings to the hill with the very top being a separate and strangely English style development.



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    Around Shimla

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When we arrived we had a group tour to see the main points of interest. It evening and getting really cold - dropping from around 8 to just above zero degrees centigrade. As was usual the Hotel did not have any heating but could rent an electric fire for 300R - we just put on our thermals, socks, fleece and dived under the blankets.
The next day we set off for the 'Toy' train - we didn't use it to travel to Shimla as it can take an uncomfortable 8 hours as it slowly makes it way up from the plain.
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Later that day we visited the Viceroy's house - a classic Scottish hunting lodge that was used to run India from Shimla in the summer. It was cold and windy - just like Scotland. It was also the place where a conference on the future of India was held and there were pictures of all the key players, including Gandhi.

After the tour we had some time to ourselves and visited the church to see if there was any evidence of Mike's great grandmother's family, who lived here for most of their lives. We talked to a nice man who told us that the graveyards were far away from the town center and any records would now be in Lahore (Pakistan) rather than available in India.
We had a nice wander around the town and Cathy bought a warm wrap from a nice Sikh trader who gave a good deal without hassle. We also used the rather quaint post office to buy stamps (10 3R stamps for UK) for a postcard and had lunch in a very traditional tea house.
Another cold night in a slightly strange hotel, which we think was part of the popular honeymoon  tourist trade as it had mirrors on the ceiling over the bed. Good views over the somewhat Alpine landscape and town.

Next day we were back on the van with a long drive to Mandi. 

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