Well, a couple of days ago we ventured from Delhi on the train to Kalka, swapped onto the "Toy" train (it actually is a bit like a toy train) and headed up into the mountains to Shimla. We are currently at about 2500m above sea level. The train ride took in total 10 hours. we got here exhausted, but the stunning views from the hostel made it all worth it. It is pretty chilly here at the moment about 15 during the day, down to about 5 at night. Explored the town a bit - a common destination for Indias honeymooners apparently but havent seen so many couples about. Lots of people wanting to take their photo with us in it - theres gunna be thousands of photos of me all over india in peoples albums soon. great. he he. I think they find westerners fascinating, just like i find them fascinating I suppose. Did a hike up the mountains to the Jakkhu temple. Not long but the path up runs at about a 60 degree angle all the way to the top, so have sore calves alright! monkeys are everywhere in shimla. They are such a nuisance the locals ship them off to some other country where apparently they love them. they are cute but once the novelty wears off and they try to steal your clothes and your food when you're trying to relax, you start understanding the terms "silly monkey" and "monkey business" and "cheeky monkey", they're a darnright pain. Found a couple of awesome food joints around. They sell the best samosas I've ever tasted and Chickpea curry with roti (our of this world). All for a measly 8p per roti, 8p per dahl and 8p per samosa. Got a feeling i'll come home withg a bit of cash to spare, but I'll probably need that to go to jenny craig or something. at that price and that flavour its hard to resist! lots ofg fruit vendors too, so been fuelling up on that kind of stuff too. tomorrow we head for dharamasala and mcleod ganj (home of the dalai lama and the exiled tibetan govt). should be amazing. 7am (local) bus tomorrow, have no idea what kind of standard of travel we're in for! until then. enjoy the pics.

julia x