Thankfully we were so sleepy and could sleep through the journey because when we woke up, we'd realise that the grandpa behind us was puking so badly as the bus was going up the mountain road. Once we heard him puke, we convinced ourselves to head to bed immediately. It worked and we survived that journey. The bus was otherwise pretty safe (on the road and inside the bus itself) and luxurious because we had gotten the more expensive ticket and hence was more of a quality. Afterall, what you pay for is what you get.
Shimla wasn't where we had wanted to go initially. We had planned Kashmir into our itinerary but just at the time that we were about to leave for India, we had read on the news that there were bombings in that area because of the territorial rights between Pakistan and India. It was then that I read on a travel guidebook about Shimla and saw how beautiful the pictures were! I wanted to go there! Shimla is a hill station in Northern India, once colonized by the British so many buildings in that area were architecturally designed with a touch of the British architecture. They really looked so pretty on pictures and I really wanted to see them for myself!
Once we stepped foot on land of Shimla, dozens of Indian men were hoarding around the bus, asking if we wanted to take their taxis/if we already had accomodation. Having read stories about how many locals will often make up a story about the place that you had prebooked, eg. the hotel that you have booked has been burned down, because they want you to follow them to their hotel so that they can earn from you, we decided to ignore them.
However because we were evidently tourists, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't shake away the people who followed us. So we kept walking away from them and faster and faster because we were afraid. The people following us continued to give us false information about our hotel, saying how far it was and that it was already fully booked. As we did not know where the hotel was located and not knowing where to go, we stopped someone and took out the map and address to navigate. They still continued to crowd around us, intensifying our fears. When it was obvious that we were very persistent on staying at the hotel that we had prebooked, they then gave us false directions and made us walk backwards, further away from our destination.
Finally, when they decided that we were never going to follow them, they left us. Not knowing where we were and how to make it to our hotel, we asked the drivers who had followed us initially if we could then take their 'taxi' to bring us to our hotel. Surprisingly, they turned us down and simply pointed to a random direction for us to walk because our hotel 'is very near', or so they claimed! I knew immediately that they were obviously only interested in earning the commission that they could get from the hotel when they bring in tourists and that they were uninterested in earning the transportation money.
It was difficult finding our hotel but after asking many people (some of whom gave us wrong directions), we finally managed to take the public bus and with much walking, made it to our hotel, which was on top of a hill! We were exhausted from walking up the hill with our heavy backpack, but relieved to have finally made it to our nest! Guess what? The person at the reception then said that the hotel was fully booked and that we were to be transferred to another hotel. Thankfully someone drove us to the next hotel!
The hotel that we stayed in was horrible. It was winter and there was no heater and no hot water. We had to shower in winter with icy cold water! Having always had difficulties showering with cold water, the need to shower in winter with cold water was painful for me. My feet no longer had any sort of feeling after having walked through so much in the cold before reaching our hotel and I was really freezing! I had not packed enough clothings and the right footwear for a 10 degrees celsius place. After bath, I could no longer feel anything at all. My whole body was shaking and I only felt pain everywhere.
The only saving grace of that hotel was probably the hilltop view that we could get because we got the best room! Our room did not have many walls and was instead plastered with floor to ceiling windows so we had a great view of what was outside!
The beautiful view from our room
Having showered and feeling all clean, despite freezing, Swee Geok and I were both all ready to explore Shimla! I will allow the pictures to speak a thousand words about what we saw in Shimla!
Clean and fresh, all ready to set off!
The stacks and stacks of houses on the hill
I find it impressive how the people from the past managed to transport all the required materials up the hill, given the fact that the roads and infrastructure as well as machinery were limited back then. On top of that, I like how neat the houses are stacked. They look like books on a bookshelf - rows and rows of houses. It was even a more beautiful sight at night when the lights of the houses brighten up the whole hill, like stars in the sky.
Yayy to only human traffic!
It was recommended on the lonely planet to take the lift up to see the whole view of Shimla but it was a disappointed. All that we saw was this
Maggi set up a tent and was giving out free maggi soup for tasting and of course, I couldn't miss out on that! The hot soup was so comfortable for my cold hands and stomach. Even though I really don't like tomato soup, I couldn't help but appreciate it as I slowly savoured every sip. The population in India is really big and it's possible to squeeze in through the crowd. As you can see, there's simply no gap between people and you cannot even see the table where they serve the soup! Of course, Liyi the great always has her ways to get food! Oh yeah! I finally bought a pair of shoes for my feet!
As we continued walking, we chanced upon a christmas celebration by the YMCA and sat at the amphitheatre to watch the performance by the local children.
The old post office in Shimla which is still in use
Our first meal - Dinner
Shimla is one of the exciting place that you can visit from Udaipur easily. This place is having all the resources to reach on the place directly. You can also like this exciting activity during your weekend.
ReplyDelete