The following day we browsed the shops and then went for food at a swanky hotel with panoramic views over the green city. We had a super Chinese and had about 5 waiters dressed in bow ties at our service. The manager kept coming over and told his staff to fetch us nuts and popadoms - what service! They even dished it on to your plate and topped up your drink for you! Two mains, beer, water and a mojito, all for 15 quid - expensive by Indian standards! Outside the...

Shimla, a British built town and summer retreat for British colonialists, is remarkably different from the other towns we have seen. For one, it has a church. It Aldo has BINS! Something the rest of India seems to have either forgotten to invent, or simply ignores. Shimla's buildings are akin to British Victorian buildings, and the town has a reputation for a holiday/honeymoon spot with Indians. We explored the bazaars, an art gallery, a Himalayan bird aviary (in...

The next morning we checked out and walked,in the style of the tin man (stiff legs), to the next village, Bhagsu. We bought some renowned Bhagsu cake - similar to caramel shortbread, but as Hugo said, the shortcake was the consistency of dried sand. I must also mention the banana muffins from the Tibetan bakery in McLeod Ganj - equally as good as the English version and something we did not expect to find in India! With a few hours to spare before the bus, we wen...

We then took the bus to dharamsala, and changed there to a bus heading to McLeod ganj. The bus climbed the hills until we were in the clouds - really breathtaking. We had a quick wander through a couple of streets and bought some popcorn and guava juice before walking through the forest/ farm land to reach our remote home stay. There are lots of hippies here, more foreigners than we have seen so far put together but still not met another British tourist! Monks wa...

The next day we woke to pouring rain and thunderstorms. We had a well deserved and needed lie in, then went down for breakfast. We took a taxi down to kangra fort, a very impressive fort with a river running below and steep mountain walls surrounding the fort. We did the audio tour and took pictures of monkeys in the trees and the great views.