Fantastic pics Chilly, you really had a great time, wish I had time to do all that travelling, roll on retirement day! It gave me headache looking at the ones of the lads carrying the bricks and crates. The Sadu looks as though he could do with a good meal or two though.

Your experiences make "train Man" which is a colum that is posted every week in either the News of the World or Sunday Mirror very boring

Keep them coming

Chilly you're trip report just gets better as it goes along and the photos are amazing too. This instalment has been well worth the waitand I cant wait for the next bit. What a wonderful trip, I so wish I had the guts to do something like that

Fantastic Chilly and your photos are fab, the scenery is stunning

Hiya chilly
For any of us hoping to follow in your footsteps, will you be able to include some tips on do's and don't for the inexperienced traveller ?
Like packing tips, what is a must take, or a must not. My worry is this, being the wrong side of 60 , I don't think I could manage a rucksack, would I look a complete idiot, dragging along one of those kit-bag type rolly bags

x lassi

Hi Lassi, I would be glad to offer any tips (not that I am an authority on this!! its been a lot of trial and error!! ) and no you wouldnt look silly pulling a trolley case why not! infact I saw someone (japanese girl) at the airport some years ago with a backpack that turned into a pull along case (had wheels attached, i want one too!!) that might be an option as the size etc would be good to still fit under the seat of the train... i could draw up a list and post it on here of tips I have found useful if that would be of interest to anyone if not can pm you ..... and I am sure others have tips i could learn from too!! it is tiring as you get older (as I know too well!! ) but we coped I think the main thing is to rest well in between journeys....and go at your own pace not trying to move on place to place too quickly or cram too many places in , thats what i try and do...
I will give it a go later..(tip list)
chilly

Hi Lassi

I'm also the wrong side of 60 and will be doing a pretty extensive solo tour of Laos this coming winter and as usual will be taking a soft trolley case as my main luggage. I also used this during my last holiday to India and it was OK for on and off trains. The friend that I travel with on occasion is almost 70 and she uses one of the holdalls on wheels and says it's a lot better than a normal trolley case. I don't think she looks like an idiot.
Incidentally I have one of the backpacks on wheels, cabin baggage size. It's great for dragging around on airports as things on shoulders soon start to feel heavy, but as soon as I get my larger luggage I can hoist it up on my back.

Judith

Judith where did you get your backpack on wheels? i think i could do with one!! what i did find useful this year was the backpack that opens like a suitcase, this was marvellous for finding things, as in previous years i have had to empty the whole thing at times, although because of that i devised a method of putiing my clothes in different bags for instance tops in one plastic carrier, underwear in another,trousers another, this has worked for me and proved invaluable when looking for things especially packing early in the morning when moving on from one place to the next and needing something out of the rucksack that i had forgotten, usually at the bottom!!! so much easier.just stuffing in individual bags.. I did think of colour coding the bags!! but soon get used to whats in which or some i use are transparent... its silly little things like this that make a difference for me at least
chilly

I can't remember the name of shop, it was I think a normal luggage shop in Nottingham, I bought it about three years ago. I have seen them on Heathrow Airport but they were Samsonite and about three times as expensive as what I paid. I think I paid about £22.

that was good!!!! think i will look online....does yours open from the top (traditional) or as a 'case' like the one i had this year which i loved
chilly

Thanks girls
Sounds like I will be OK with the luggage, as I have been using the samsonite wheely holdall / kit-bags for a few years when travelling.
Just need the right clothes, to blend in
x lassi

Chilly

Its just like a normal backback with two zips that go up to the top from the sides, it also has a couple of pockets on the outside and the wheels and handle that pulls out. I used it as my only case on a four day trip in the outback in Australia (left my main luggage in Adelaide) and I just about managed, though I do tend to travel really light even with a larger case.

Judith

Hi Chilly & Mike
We will catch up with your trip report when we get home next week, currently in Mcleodganj (raining again) after Kashmir & Leh.
Definatly different from Goa.
Steve & Vanda

Hi Steve and Vanda... how funny that is!! i was just saying to Mike I really wish I was in Mcleoud Ganj right now..I loved it there, hope you have had a good and successful trip, look forward to hearing all about it when you return
Chilly n Mike
PS.... I lost my email notifications for a while and have been preoccupied but here is my next installment (just coming up!!) if anyone interested...

Yes please and hurry up keep looking for the next instalment

The Big Blunder..!! Shimla,, India

We got up at 6am to finish packing and headed off for the bus to Shimla, we paid extra for the comfort of the tourist bus hahaha we are still unconvinced about that??? it didn't start well when we got on and found an Indian couple sitting in our seats!! I point blank refused to take the other empty seats behind the driver as they are deadly!! mind you the whole trip was pretty deadly actually!! after some commotion and the supervisor being called, the couple reluctantly moved, i had meanwhile deposited myself on a seat in the drivers cab, as no way was I going to sit even for a minute (signifying defeat!!) in the other 2 spare seats!! the driver and mate must have felt sorry for me and gave me a cup of chai!! Mike was most put out as he was still outside and didn't want to make as fuss and suggested we take the other seats but i dug my heels in!! so he missed out on the chai LOL even the bus stand was a building site, we had to clamber over huge piles of stones and rubble and there was a tea stand ummm sort of... and breakfast being served ,there... we decided to skip it!! (see the pics!!) .. our bus was called Krishna!! I thought it was tough enough carrying rucksacks until i saw a women lugging a massive sheep in both arms at the bus station!!

The scenery on this bus was out of this world ..truly magnificent...... but it would have been better from a distance, we were traveling on roads that had sheer drops the whole way down (often thousands of feet below) beside us and often no barriers or even proper tarmac, when there were barriers they were merely small built up walls a foot or so high with huge breaks in between them!!as i poked my head out of the window I could see right down and at times (infact most of the time) we were resting literally on rough and broken soil and stones inches from the edge .. i began to understand why we had been told many do this journey by taxi rather than bus!!!! but it got worse, as ever the driver was in competition with a rival bus and decided to overtake the bus in front on many occasions on an uphill bend, once or twice Mike was whispering 'oh NOOOOOOOO' and covering his eyes.... as he could see through the front drivers window ......and when i looked i saw a lorry heading straight for us..........on more than one occasion . they seem to love doing this and have no fear!! look at the pics i took from the window of the bus.truly shocking, i think this beat the road to Katmandu from Pokhara last year!!

To add to our confusion about this being a tourist bus the driver stopped every few mins to pick up people waiting by the side of the road for a bus.... I suspect this was his and his mate's bit of baksheesh money!! it meant the bus was very overcrowded with 15 people in the drivers cab at times as there were no spare seats!! of course we had to stop and drop them off here and there as well ....and on top of this we made about 4 or 5 or more breaks for breakfast, chai, lunch.chai chai chai etc etc etc ...on top of that at every stop we had hoardes of sellers coming aborad touting their wares from coconut to pann,, see pics!! we just wanted to get there but were late .......surprise surprise and arrived finally after aprox 11 hours.. and so uncomfortable my backside was dead!!!

So finally it was late afternoon when we arrived, as we got our baggage off it started to rain GREAT!!! we were of course surrounded by touts wanting to carry our bags and rip us off by 'recommending' a hotel (they then get commission and you pay double for your room) they crowd you so much you can't think let alone get your baggage.....so we hired two lads as we had little option, the walk , all uphill, very very steep, was 45 mins, and the place is traffic free!! (which is handy as it means no more tuk tuk incidents or pollution!!but hard going on the legs!!) but we were truly exhausted even only carrying the day packs and ourselves!!!!

The next bad news was that everywhere was booked out!!..we didn't believe the touts when they were saying this as they always do just to get you to take 'their' rooms!! some large groups had arrived and this is a very hot tourist spot for Indians (tourists).. many coming from the hot plains and the majority for their honeymoon.... we were just having no luck and it was late by this time and we truly thought we were going to be sleeping outside!! eventually one of the hotel managers took pity on us and rang a friend and said he could give us a room for 400 ... we had to agree as we were desperate................. this turned out to be about my worst nightmare.......... just take a look at the photos to see why...

He took us further up another hill and we arrived at some old locked gates where we had to squeeze through the padlock chain.... this started the alarm bells ringing!! ... rightly so as it turned out ... the place was sinister and looked derelict/deserted, I must have looked horrified as he took us up this ancient wide wooden staircase and to 'the room' ... I just felt so shocked and did not even want to take my shoes off........ it was dead creepy, tired, damp, grim, primitive, shabby, spoofy, dilapidated.......(get the picture) .there didn't seem to be anyone else there except this guy, it looked like??? what?? hammer house of horror!! ..... the room was small and grimy, and i saw something crawl on the bed and shouted 'OMG Mick what is that' but before he could look the guy brushed it off and said 'this old house mam' ............ well i was convinced it was bed bugs and refused to get in the bed even with our own sheets in place.... I felt like crying and actually later (much later!!) made Mick get in the bed (cos he was less scared than me!! LOL) and i then switched the lights off, waited a while and as i switched them back on he had to jump from the bed, and pull the covers back quickly!! I had read that this was a way to see if there were bed bugs!! he got this wrong a few times (durr!!) as i decided he didnt jump out quickly enough.. hehe, but eventually i conceded there was nothing there, but i was still unconvinced and just sat outside the room in this sort of sun lounge thing outside a bit like a verandah that went the length of the house, but was closed in all glass and actually fantastic views i realized when it was light the following day.....................

So there I sat, i wouldn't even use the bathroom (which had no shower and funny little doors with gauze in that looked through to 'secret pasages' leading to somewhere else in the house dead spooky!!) and eventually Mike said to me ..'come on, you have to go to bed, you cant just sit there...' so i did... fully clothed!!! the night from hell... I just flew from the bed as soon as daylight came and we went to another hotel (Ashoka) that had said they would have rooms in the morning.................thankfully they did......

So off we went to collect our things, but I have to say when we went back to Prospect Lodge, and saw it in daylight it was just the most amazing place, owned by the church (C of E!!) it was a very old wooden house built by the British in the time of the Raj, certainly not somewhere i wished ever to have to sleep again, but the guy showed me all around, and it was straight from 19th century England, dead spooky.... right down to the framed embroideries on the walls, we went in all the rooms, it was almost like time had stood still, nothing downstairs altered from years ago and i even sat and played chopsticks on the old piano that had the candle stands attached and the original old piano music books on top from that era,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, it really appealed to my sense of nostalgia of times long gone and you could almost imagine the officers wives and staff and coolies, gliding around it.i have never before seen anything like this, other than in a museum, and despite the awful night experience i am glad to have seen inside and around it......totally fascinating......it is sad really that the place isn't being preserved or renovated as it is slowly crumbling and deteriorating........as are most of these old British Raj properties in Shim la........ just to add a bit of background history, Shimla was discovered by the British in approx 1819 prior to this it was part of the Nepalese Kingdom, the 1st British house was built here 3 years later and in 1864 it became the summer capitol of India... till 1939...even the Indian Governments packed up and came here from Delhi etc..everywhere are signs of 19th century england right down to the mock Tudor houses in town,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and the whole place has stunning views stretching to the Himalayas

So it has been a bit of mistake for us coming here, as it is a steep climb to the ultra modern new mall...not like our malls i hasten to add, this one has horses you can ride and everybody just seems to people watch,,,,mostly me it seems!!! but seriously it is a steep climb up or down to get to anything and Mike's leg is sore and angry and what with my breathing still not good we make a right pair huffing and puffing our way around.................. we should really have realised this and skipped Shimla,, it is an amazing place, and if you are fit and well, but very touristy....lots of trekking and marvellous walks but we are unable to do this because of Mike's leg etc ..
The beautiful church that dominates the town (Christchurch) see pics is the 2nd oldest church in Northern India built in 1846 and is stunning..... but what I just love are the monkeys absolutely everywhere you look ... if you go on the balcony they surround you, sitting above you (waiting to pinch anything).... my hair bobbles nearly went this morning.......they look down at you and appear from nowhere and are quite fiercesome.... loads of tiny baby ones around too i just can't stop snapping them, but you have to see it to believe it....... of course the monkey temple (dedicated to hannuman the monkey God) is just up a little further from where we are staying ... you daren't leave a window or door open or they are they pinching everything.....apparently when the British Gentry were here they used to have an incident book, just for monkey thefts, at the police station!!

we went for a meal that 1st night very hurriedly before bed (!!) as it was late and i ordered chicken steak sizzler.........well that was a total joke,,,,, this little man who kept coughing and sniffling, brought me this plate with a chicken wing, with every bit of flesh stripped from it, with 4 ghastly looking chips and all these peas in some sort of white paste.......when i queried it he poked at it with his finger... nice!!! very reassuring ...... i was so uncomfortable anyway, as just about everyone in the restaurant was just staring at me, without even the decency to pretend to look away when i looked straight at them, it was awful and my frame of mind probably didnt help! i just left the meal untouched, paid and left the place, i wish i had ordered something like Thali as Mike's was edible but i went hungry that night... i think i just felt really low and fed up and wanted to go home!!!! ahhh

So we have done as much sighseeing as is possible under the circumstances, (injured soldier an all that!!) the second hotel (Ashoka) is fine and we have just chilled out a bit today, found some honey bee but very expensive!!.... we havent found any particularly great eating places, I think i have lost weight!! and my trousers came back from the 'laundry' with the 'stretch' beaten out of them and are hanging.....not my Inidan ones as they seem to manage Inidan stuff ok!!! but it is not as cold here as manali and we have booked the local bus to leave at 5am tomorrow morning for the 10 hour drive to Haridwar from where we will get the local bus to Rishikesh! and the warmth again....... relief!! so from the place of crumbling British houses and Himalayan Peaks........... au revoir for now .............
Chilly

Fantastic Chilly!!! I tell you, you are a braver woman then me sleepin in the derelict church I would be the same as you - keep all my clothes on and too scared to go to bed
The photos of the little monkeys are great - cheeky little monkeys they are!!!
Hope there is more still to come, its brilliant reading. Thanks for sharing with us

Chilly thankyou for sharing these wonderfull photo's, you are very brave cant see me sleeping in some of those places.

Wonderful as always,

great to read, and even better then to see the pics.

thanks

Although the monkey in pic 51 isn't to happy with you, he's givin you the finger......................