Shimla

I arrived at Spars Lodge after carrying my at 20 kg backpack 30 min up a steep hill. So I treated myself to a medium trout with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Very delicious!!!

Next morning the weather changed and it was raining and very cold. As there is no heating, the cold really gets you. So short before noon when the rain took a break I headed out to The Mall and The Ridge (central Shimla). When it started raining again, I hid in an internet cafe. Later I went to Cafe Sol - nice pizza.

After another cold night, I walked to the Viceregal Lodge, where the Viceroy escaped to in the hot Delhi summers before the independence.

The building is 123 years old and so are the German switches from Siemens and they are still working (good German quality!).

Today it's a research institute, so only some rooms are on display. One of them being the room where the first partition document of India and Pakistan was drafted.

From there I walked back to The Mall and looked for the opening hours of the Gaiety Theatre. Due to a National holiday it was closed today and new tours were conducted, but I could convince somebody to show me around. It looked quite comfortable and I took even a seat in the Viceroy's box for some minutes.

Then I was shown another theatre on the second floor where a Punjabi film shoot took place at that moment and where usually modern plays are staged while downstairs more classical dramas are shown. Walking out of the modern theatre I found myself on The Ridge.

From there I was looking for Chapslee - the summer residence of the Maharaja of Kapurthala (featured in the book "Passion India" of Javier Moro.

On the way back, I passed through Lakkar Bazaar where I bought some wooden jewelry boxes which proved to be a mistake to buy at that time as I was heading for Jakhu Temple. The temple is some 2.5 km away but that was not the issue, but you have to climb some 255 hight meter to 2455 m.

The Jakhu Temple is dedicated to the monkey god Hanuman. And a lot of ordinary monkeys are living there and one decided to read more and stole my glasses. For luck somebody gave them some food and helped me getting them back.

The views from the top were fantastic but I was glad I could get a ride with a local couple as the way is very steep and my knees wanted some relief.

In the evening, I wanted to see the movie "7 khoon maaf" (Susanna's 7 husbands based on a novella by Ruskin Bond) but there was sold only one ticket - mine. Another couple showed up, but they wanted to show the movie only with at least 6 spectators. So I went back over The Mall passing by the City Hall and heading home for some nice dinner. On the way, I bought the book to the movie.

Tomorrow I will go back to Delhi with Taxi and Shatabdi Express.