Well, the bus from Rishikesh to Dehradun was a pleasant 1 and half hour ride. I had already seen some of it because I had to go in a taxi (800 return) to the domestic airport to change my return ticket from Mumbai. The scenery is mainly slightly rainforesty interspersed by small villages along the roadside, very green and fresh looking. We got to the bus stand and I had to walk another nearly kilometre to the Mussoorie Bus stand with my bags, which are now getting heavy for some reason. If I had known how far it was I would have got a rickshaw, but they said only 5 mins.. Had to wait half hour for the bus so had some parantha and chana dahl from a stand there- delicious! Some of the road stands have the best food and the best chai.
So - the bus trip up the mountain was slightly hairy, because the road is very steep,narrow,mainly sharp S- bends, steep drops and lots of traffic. Its about 34 km, and took an hour and half. I have to admire the drivers in India - no power steering, bad roads, lots of traffic and old, old buses that we can only hope are mechanically maintained. The upholstery sure isn't! But it is a lovely trip up, and you have great views of Mussoorie, with the buildings all perched on top of the ridges and cascading down the hillside. There are 2 main areas Picture Palace, after an old theatre that no longer operates, and Library. They are at each end of The Mall, a 2 kilometre road that runs along almost the top of the ridge and is relatively traffic free. It is quite peaceful to walk, with stalls all along, and view points to sit and admire what falls below. There is also a Rope Way (cable car) that goes up to the top of Gun Hill, another 500 metres up - Mussoorie is 2000 metres. The views from the top are wonderful - you can see the Himalayas 60 miles away, looking beautiful with their snow shining in the sun. Apparently they are not always visible, and in fact when I came back from a trip to Kempty Falls later in the day they could not be seen because of the clouds surrounding them.
Kempty Falls are about a 20 minute drive, the road being the usual S bend up/down, and with nice views of the Himalayas in the distance. The Falls area is quite a jumping little place, with many cars and jeeps parked there from the tourists. There is a village there, but also its very touristy with plenty of shops on the stairs down to the pools at the bottom, into which the falls - well, fall. There is a cable car, but I decided to walk the 250 steps down (which of course means walking back up). There is a lot of activity down there, you can hire swimming gear, or go further down to a small lake and go boating, so people tend to spend a day here. There are a lot of good eating places, as well as the shops and a really nice relaxed, no hassle atmosphere.
The walk along the Mall is lovely just before sunset, everything just glows, and the lights of Dehradun can be seen when its dusk, twinkling below in the Doon Valley, spread out like a Persian carpet. If you walk in the daytime, there are peddle rickshaws to hire if you get tired, or feel like being spoilt, or there are horses to ride back. I have seen a lot of horses being ridden around Mussoorie at a good pace by what looks mainly like Tibetan men, they look like they were born on a horse (probably were!). The police vehicles here are all marked "Indo-Tibetan Border Police", and there is a very strong police presence here, mainly at each end of the Mall, to stop most of the cars and jeeps on the non-vehicle (sure) Mall.
Have done all I want to do here, some nice walking and looking at the views, seen some of the sights, although there is much more to see, I only planned for two nights here. Might be nice to come again sometime, apparently Delhi-ites come here for the weekend. So its off to Vashisht, 3 km above Manali, a 16 hour bus ride from Dehradun.
