Shimla: The Ski Town without Slopes
Shimla was a little vacation form traveling. There is basically nothing to see in Shimla, or at least not much you could see else where. Why go to Shimla then? The Toy Train. What in the world is this fantastic sounding contraption? Back in the days of the british rule in India, they built quite the railway system. After all, India is a pretty big country to rule from a far, so a efficient manner to travel across it was necessary. Anyways, there is a an old narrow gauge railway built, from the british era, and goes up into the mountains, up to Shimla. Since the rails themselves are more narrow than typical train tracks, they only support smaller, slower trains, or, as they are lovingly called, toy trains. These trains wind back and forth, to and fro, up and up the mountain, providing excellent views. THIS, is the only reason I visited Shimla.......I had to take toy train.
All and all, Shimla surprised me. It's actualy quite a large city for being so high up, and the main area is reminesent of any major ski town. It's quaint. I mostly just bummed around and took in the mountain air. There are two things worth mentioning. One, the old Viceroal Mansion from the british ear is astounding. It's like a hogwarts building, which is fitting as it is now a post-graduate research facility for academics in the social sciences and the humanities. It's just a really cool building to take a tour through, and the gardens that surround it aren't too shabby either.
The one other note worthy part of Shimla is the hiking. You are in such a well developed mountain city that you can pretty much hike anywhere, in any direction, without worry of getting lost. Walk long enough in any which direction, and you will end up wandering onto a road or someones residence, in either case you simple just ask for directions to where you are trying to get to. Shimla also has some stunning views and hikes. One day, I hiked for hours, getting entirely lost and turned around, but eventually I happened upon someones home, and after being greeted with a smile, was told how to get back to the main road. It's kind of fun to just wander aimlessly through the woods, although, and while you might end up further away than you expected, as is what happened to me, at least you can feel secure you won't be lost through the night and freeze to death.
Overall report, Shimla is cool for a quaint little mountain stay.
