Hello all,

Well we've been in India a week now and are really enjoying it. We arrived in Delhi and were actually expecting it to be a bit worse than it actually was. Delhi was mad, dirty and chaotic but not too bad. We tried to get a train out of Delhi as soon as possible but ended up waiting three days. We stayed in a grotty hotel and spent as little time there as we could. We visited the National Museum, looked around some markets and enjoyed the food. India is most definitely the best country in the world for being a vegetarian! Yum, Yum.

From Delhi we got a 05:30am train North. There is no way to explain how crazy this was. Although we had allocated seats it was more a free-for-all. There were atleast two or three people to a seat and no air-con. Everyone was friendly and liked looking at the 'westerners', asking where we came from and going to. No station seem to have any names and all we knew was that the journey should take about six hours. We finally made it and then had to find our connecting train. We were heading up to Manali on the 'Toy Train' and this was as packed. We met a nice family and shared food and smiles as we certainly didn't speak Hindi and they didn't speak English. The views were great but the train was far to close to the vertical cliffs for my liking.

We've now been in Shimla for four days and think it's very beautiful. It's a Hill Station that used to be where the Brit Raj would come in the summer to get away from the heat further South. It's actually quite cold and freezing at night. The whole twon is built into the hillsides and looks like it'll slide down any minute. We've managed to avoid squat toilets in hotels so far (but not on trains and random stops), but showers come from a bucket and the 'western toilet' flushes with you throwing a bucket down. And we thought the toilets were bad in S.E Asia..... However, the views make up for it. We've been for a guided walk up to the peak, visited some temples and drank lots of tea. The tea here is SUPER sweet, but a bit stronger. We've met some guys who run a internet cafe and we've been spending our evenings having a lock-in, drinking beer and Matt and another guy have been playing guitar. They've explained loads of things to us, like Indian cultures, weddings and food. Dad should be glad he doesn't have to pay a dowry for me. It'd be very high (I hope).

We've had another "Ohmygodwenearlydied" moment today with the wild crazy Monkeys here. Normally they might steal things out of your hands but only ATTACK when provoked. We were coming out of our Guest House this afternoon and a baby one ran past so we waited, and then a few more went past. We were just stood very still and a BIG one went past and sat down facing us. We didn't want to get in between him and they babies so we froze, without giving him eye contact or showing our teeth. Then he went crazy and ran at us bearing his teeth and screeching. Both Matt and I screamed and screamed like big girls, whilst trying to get away from him and back up the steep alley and stairs to our Guest House. Thankfully two guys from the Guest House ran out hearing us, with sticks in there hand and chased him off. Stupid westerners! Now we know why you can buy sticks all round town. Nasty unfriendly Monkeys.

Tomorrow we're taking a ten hour (!) bus up to Manali. Think it'll be hard going and very windy. We've booked a 'Deluxe" bus but we think we'll get there and it'll be the packed local bus. Wish us luck.

Lots of love

Jo and Matt.

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