Good bye Shimla!

Swee Geok and I had one of the scariest nights ever in our lives! It was about 9pm and we were getting tired and all ready to rest for the night in the cold winter. Switching off the lights and television, we closed our eyes to sleep. Then suddenly, the television switched on on its own. Surprised, but we thought of it as nothing and switched the television off. Then the television switched back on again and it was then that we became petrified.

"What should we do?" Swee Geok asked softly.

"If it wants to watch the television then just leave it on." I calmly replied, surprised at my own answer. I prayed hard to God and fell asleep quickly because I was so tired.

In the middle of the night, the loud sound of the television jolted us awake and when we tried switching it off again, it switched back on once more. I couldn't be bothered anymore and fell into deep sleep, only waking up when the sun came out.

All ready to leave the dreadful hotel room

 

When we were out of the hotel room, Swee Geok told me that she was so annoyed because she kept waking up to the sound from the television and whenever she tried switching it off, it turned back on before she finally got so pissed off that she said, "Can you stop disturbing me and let me sleep?" Then she switched it back off and it never turned on. What was it that happened that night? I never could understand and I never want to find out. I was just glad that nothing bad happened that night.

A beautiful morning - view from our room before we left

It was a beautiful morning and based on the recommendations from Lonely Planet, we decided to visit this cafe called Embassy Restaurant. It's a quaint restaurant made of wooden planks that was at the top of the hill and hence overlooked the whole of Shimla. It gave me the vibes of a treehouse and being in there gave me a feeling of how it would have been had I been able to grow up in a treehouse when I was younger. I liked the place immediately once I entered and the owner of the restaurant is so knowledgeable, chatty and kind.

The interior of Embassy Restaurant

We chose the booth seat and had a good view of the outside. We were the only ones in the restaurant and it was quiet and comfortable. It was one of those days that you could just sit back and relax and allow time to pass.

Food from Embassy Restaurant

 

 

You know how I don't exactly like Tomato soup because of the overwhelming sour taste but this was one of the better Tomato soups I have tried. The soup was piping hot, which was comforting, and had a little sour (not overwhelmingly sour) and peppery taste which I like. I like how the soup is put in a cup, which allows you to sip without having to use a spoon. It's more like a drink than a soup.

 

While waiting for our food, the kind uncle in the restaurant offered us his homemade chocolates with almonds which isn't on the menu, but specially for us. They were one of the best chocolates that I have ever eaten. I am never a fan of chocolates and I will usually pass when offered one but I am quite a fan of nuts and so I wouldn't mind trying the combination of chocolate and nuts because the chocolate flavour enhances the otherwise pretty bland flavour of nuts. I wanted to ask him if I could buy some of the chocolates from him but since he said that they weren't on the menu, I felt bad and greedy to ask for more because he gave them to us for free.

My main course wasn't on the menu either, but one of the specials that the owner had prepared for the day. I forgot what it was but the bun was delicious!

I finished off my meal with a banana walnut cake. Since I am a fan of both banana and walnut, this cake really suit my tastebuds. The cake was soft, moist and fluffy and had just the right amount of banana essence and walnuts - crunchy walnuts every other bite of soft and fluffy banana cake. Mmmm.

We met this Indian family at Embassy Restaurant which had visited Singapore before. We hit it off with the family rather easily and took a photo with them before we left the restaurant.

After breakfast, Swee Geok and I proceeded to explore the rest of Shimla based on the sights in the Lonely Planet. Again, I shall let the pictures do the talking.

A view from Embassy Restaurant

A pretty house that looked like a castle

 

The mayor's house

 

Their cute postboxes of different shapes and sizes

 

Himachal Emporium

 

What comes into your mind when you first hear the word Emporium? It means that it's a shopping mall that will allow you to buy anything and everything from clothes to shoes etc etc. When we first saw this place on the lonely planet, we were delighted to know of a shopping place in Shimla and were dying to find this place. However, after so much trouble finding this place, we were so disappointed but amused to 1. find it closed and 2. sold nothing much. Nevertheless, it's a pretty building which is rather old and gives off the retro vibes.

 

View from ground level

 

To get from place to place, we needed to often climb up steep slopes like those in the background of the above picture. Thankfully there were fences for us to hold, otherwise I might have toppled down the hill as I made my way up. Sometimes just be careful because the fences have weathered a lot of wear and tear and haven't gone through much repair so I actaully felt scared when I held on to the fences. There's always this sense of satisfaction when I see something beautiful or have reached my destination after climbing up really steep slopes.

 

Signboard of the state bank of India - Shimla

 

We saw this sign and I was about to snap a photo of the building but was stopped by someone and had to settle to take a photo of the signboard instead.

 

Beautiful view from a lookout point

 

It was such a breath-taking view of the whole of Shimla from the lookout point. I was in awe as I just stood there looking. I love mountains and hills and it was my first time being on top of a mountain, seeing everything down below. It gave me a feeling of power, as if I owned everything down below. I wanted to capture that feeling and moment forever. 

 

Railway Board Building

 

Gorton Castle

 

I really liked Gorton Castle. I liked the brick walls on the outside and the colours of the place that I took so many photos over there. I found Gorton Castle really pretty but maybe that's becuase I have never been to Europe before. Swee Geok said that there are a lot of better looking castles over there. Ahh. I really long for royalty life. HAHAHA!

 



Buying water off the authentic 'Mama' shop

 

A whole day was coming to an end and we had to catch the Shimla - Kalka toy train, which is a UNESCO Heritage site. at 5:30PM. I was really excited to be able to see what this toy train was all about. Always a kid at heart, the word toy made me smile a lot because it made the train sound so cute. We made our way to the Northern Railway in Shimla thanks to the directions given by the locals and guess what we saw?! 

 

The exterior of the toy train

 

The exterior of the toy train was so pretty and painted with my favourite colour - red. The design though simple, made me feel happy. The toy train is supposed to be a UNESCO Heritage Site because it passes through very scenic views but we were taking it in the evening after sunset and so we weren't able to see much in the dark. What a pity. I will be back to take it again someday!

 

Saying goodbye to Shimla

We were lucky becaues I managed to book the first class seats thanks to Srmuthi! Her dad helped us book the train tickets using his credit card. Apparently when we went at that time, train tickets can only be booked by a local Indian credit card or at a local tour agency. The first class service was of course, first class. We had a tea break and dinner served to us through the night.