Since i last wrote it's been kind of a blur of sorts..
I took the government bus overnight from manali to shimla. As usual it was scheduled to arrive around 6.30 and got there about 4.30am. and as usual we stopped numerous times.. this time since it was a public bus locals got on for a few stops, got off again sometime.. got on again.. all i know is i would wake up to have to move my legs back to my side of the seats.. then i would wake up again to find the seat empty again, and sprawl out as best i could.. also as usual i had one of the very front seats, which they consider a "good seat" as it's less bumpy. but i'd trade bumps for a solid night curled up two seats to myself any day.
i'm going to try to make this quick as i started to write before and then there was a power outage so hopefully i make it through a whole entry and send it.. i'll try to get some pictures up too while i'm here.. anyhow..
arrived 4.30 am in shimla - and shimla is a hill station with no wheeled transport whatsoever.. only porters who will offer to carry your bags up the steep hills and then try to get you to stay at their friends' hotels where they undoubtedly get a commission. but i was tired.. and it was 400 rupees a night.. unfortunately that means only until 12 noon - check out time - and then if you want another night somewhere you have to pay again.. so by the time i woke up and got situated after 4 hours of excellent sleep - i couldn't find my way to the main strip (called the Mall) to find any of the places in the lonely planet.. and wasn't about to wander the steepness of simla with my pack.. so i just settled for this decent hotel.. which it turns out i was actually getting a decent deal on as the listed price was starting at 650/night.. and it was Indian tourist season there for sure.. the only westerners i saw were older Aussies, Brits, and i think a German or two.. oh and an israeli or two.. the usual suspects..
So i was just wandering about - found the train reservation office and the tourist information center and bought tickets for the slow windy toy train (which i'll get to in a sec.) down from 2000m to 650m or so.. and then i was just wandering the mall (which i finally found ;p) when this kid and his friend (sunny and amit-chohan --> chohan is casted designation i guess. i forget sunny's caste) anyhow i ended up just hanging out with them all day.. we were going to see the famous temple dedicated to hanuman - the monkey god - which is supposedly surrounded by tons and tons of monkeys.. but it started raining and it clearly wasn't good weather for that.. jakhu temple i think it's called.. so instead we went to sunny's house and hung out and watched american music videos pirated from MTV and BET.. Sunny lives alone (seperate from his parents, that is..) in what i can only describe as a concrete building in the side of a hill overlooking hardly anything.. but quiet.. surrounded by families as neighbors. you get there by walking off the main path down a bit.. onto the roof of his rooms.. and then down some stairs.. but his family must be fairly well to-do as he has a decent sized tv with a VCD player.. and he can afford to go to college and university studying the "arts" - english, indian history, hindi, and one more thing i forget.. no art though.. anyhoo that was simla in a rush.. oh well about the big temple but at least i saw the minor one and got prasad and rang the bell. all that good stuff that goes with every hindu temple.
next morning i got my stuff together.. unshowered.. dirty.. probably quite smelly.. and hungry.. (didn't have time to shower and let my towel dry before repacking it.. and didn't grab breakfast either for some reason.. and made it to the train station, walking, downhill thankfully, by 9.45 for my 10.30 train.. ( i was worried i wouldn't make it.. that's why i skipped bkfst ).. so i grabbed some cheetos (pepsi / frito lays is making a killing in india.. i don't know if i've mentioned. i think i have.. coke is losing money apparently, though.. interesting side note). and the train.. well.. the train was gorgeous.. i love the trains.. the open-air, non-AC, stick your head out the window or open the door and sit on the floor trains.. took loads of pictures.. sat mostly in silence.. interrupted occasionally by the ringing of one man's nokia phone which played some christmas tune and i kept thinking (but christmas isn't for two months)..
then 5 and a half hours later we arrived in kalka on the plains.. and i changed trains there to the delhi-bound (long looong) train which would drop me in chandigarh.. by the time we got to chandi mandir (the stop in between kalka and chandigarh) it was pouring, with massive lightning strikes which cut the sky in half, and a grey haze which turned the sun into pink lemonade or passion fruit juice colour.. and then a cloud would cover it into a half-moon, or obscure it ever so slightly.. and then torrential rain which seeped in through the windows of the car even after we shut them.. and leaked onto the floor where my backpack waited for it. and next thing i knew we were pulling into chandigarh and as i waited (with my pack and my sidebag) for the train to come to a stop, the conductor kept motioning as if i should get off now.. i didnt understand, until the train came nigh on stopping and hordes, scores of punjabi and otherwise indian men swarmed the entrance and wouldn't let me move.. i had to be shoved from behind to make it through the crowd..
from there it was a rickshaw to the hotel from the lonely planet.. and a good dinner and a good night's sleep.. today i went to the bus station to get a ticket to rishikesh, but the men at the counter were ever so helpful and i didn't get anything done.. so instead i ended up getting lunch, getting rechargeable batteries for my camera.. and going on the 2.30 half-day tour of chandigarh with a nice couple from bangladesh which involved a museum/art gallery, rock garden, rose garden (from which all the rose bushes had been cut bare for winter), some other garden... weird city chandigarh is.. the only pre-planned city in india, it's the capital of punjab and haryana, and was designed by a frenchman named lecorbusier or something like that.. he made it all sprawled out in 1km sectors - with the government in sector 1 (the head) a lake and forest below that.. and so on and so forth.. i'm staying in sector 22, and the bus stand and this huge shopping area are in sector 17, where i ended up after the tour.. apparently after the tour they expect you to buy things.. this one had levi's and nike's and adidas, and united colors of bennington, and dockers san francisco, and saris and suits and lots and lots of shoe stores.. craziness.. in sector 22 here there are more mobile phone stores and electronics stores than anything else, really.. and some fancy upscale hotels and restaurants.. unlike anything i've seen in india.. but also still india.. everywhere i go it's still india.. there's always something going on, even if the pace of life is delightfully slow in some places - smaller villages especially.. but always something.. anyhow the picture thing isn't working out on this computer sorry.. i have more than 1000 pictures now i think.. almost time to put them on dvd..
anyhow i think we're all caught up.. tonight i'm going to eat dinner and relax in my hotel room. tomorrow i catch the 1.30 bus to rishikesh which takes about 6 hours.. and rishikesh should be a tourist haven.. we'll see.. travelling alone though i meet plenty of people who want to come up and say hi to me.. most of them well-intentioned.. some of them trying to sell something or beg for something or sleaze their way into something.. but generally good people just interested in what's going on.. like today i met a kid from amritsar who designs the plastics on suzuki cars for japan.. who knew.. anyhow.. wish me luck as i dont particularly like buses (esp. ones where there's no guarantee my stuff will have a place to sit too ;p). but at least this one won't leave me at 4.30 in the morning groggy and disoriented, one eye open, to a bunch of people offering me a ride or a porter or a hotel or what have you.. hope all is well in the states, despite the markets falling relative to the indian ones.. every time i go to the bank i have less money in rupees while having the same in dollars.. go figure. k cheers :)
