Arriving into Shimla was like arriving to Weston Super-Mare only we were in the mountains and not by the sea. A bizarre town which the British established in the early 20th century as a means of escaping the sticky indian heat during the summer. The main town is spread along a ridge with stunning views over forested mountains on either side. Incredible! Along the ridge very bizarrely are Victorian style buildings (some of which resemble horror film sets), ice creams stalls, popcorn popping vendors and the opportunity to ride a pony. We've come all the way to India to stumble across Brighton Pier! - hilarious.
On the first day I was desperate to climb up to a Jakhu Temple, a Hindu Temple dedicated to Hanuman (the monkey god). I'd read there were lots of monkeys hanging around up there, protecting the monkey temple and after 3 weeks of being away I hadn't had my fair share of monkey sightings yet! As it turned out the monkeys weren't so happy to see us and a few showed Klas their more aggressive side. They managed to separate us so between Klas and I was now a family of 10 fairly hefty looking monkeys, and a few bouncers who were not going to budge to let Klas get up to Jakhu Temple. A local woman helped us out by flashing a big stick and nervously we climbed higher - this time armed with sticks and rocks! The temple itself is a huge orange statue of Hanuman - very cool. We waited until a group had gathered before we braved going in to avoid our camera being swiped or worst still having to witness a Klas vs. Monkey fist fight. We survived.
We stayed in Shimla for 4 nights, wandered along the ridge (avoiding angry monkeys), braved the Pane Puri street food, accidentially ended up having tailor made clothing, strolled through the bazaars and sari shops and found a great colonial style indian coffee shop and a roof top bar selling cold beer. One evening whilst sitting having a beer I nearly jumped out of my skin when a monkey climbed up the side of the building and popped up right where I was sat! After our recent Jakhu Temple experience I felt my best bet was to dive across to the other side of the bar (whilst swearing a bit to). The monkey sat on the back of my chair, looked a bit embarrassed at the fuss he caused and gave Klas a nervous grin before hopping off again onto the roof. I have never laughed so much in my life! I've never seen a monkey smile like that before - just brilliant!
We left Shimla by the 'toy train', a tiny, ricktey train which looked like it belonged in a model village. We had a lovely, peaceful journey travelling at 2 miles per hour (!) for 6 hours through stunning Himalayan scenery, with wide open windows and doors which we could hang out of and snap away.
