On the Road to Shimla -Day 3 India

An early morning start at 5:30 am to catch the bus to the New Deli station for the 7am Shatabdi Express train to Kalka, where we changed to the narrow gauge Toy Train taking us up through the hills to Shimla.

Ten and a half hours in a train and it is indeed a Great Train holiday.
We have seen things and done things within this ten hours that would make grown men weep and ladies thank their lucky stars for flushing toilets.

We have seen families living on the pavement next door to politicians' houses of palatial grandeur, designed by Lutyens; we have seen both sexes toileting next to the railway line; we have seen cows fatter than their human owners in compounds of houses made of tarpaulins; we have used toilets that only necessity warrants; but we have also seen the life of beautiful, friendly, hard working, uncomplaining people in the most breathtaking scenery, where forests and woods are abundant, and brightly coloured houses cling to vertical hillside.

We are now in Shimla, about 7,000 feet up in the hills. It is a town that was once the summer home of the British Raj. It could be said that in the time of the British Empire, much of the world was was ruled from this place.

The altitude is giving many of us fuzzy heads and making us feel as though we are a bit tipsy. Hopefully this will pass.