So after a 30 hour journey we arrived in Shimla. The journey started with a taxi ride to the train station at 5.30am to catch our train that left at 7am. We decided to go for seats in the sleeper carriage which is the cheapest option. We had traveled sleeper before but they had been shorter journeys, and we only ended up sitting there as the chair carriage was always rammed with people. The seats in sleeper are pretty uncomfortable; it's a bench that seats 3 people (this bench turns into a bed at night). The back rest of the bench (also very hard) folds up to create the middle bunk at night, then there's the top bunk that's out all the time. As you can imagine the journey was pretty uncomfortable and lasted for 22 hours, but for some reason it seemed to go quite quickly. Pete was worried that he wasn't going to be able to have a cigarette during the journey, however there are different waiting times at each station, they can vary from one minute to 50 minutes - so he would jump off and have one. As night fell and we were getting further north the temperature started to drop, making it difficult to get any sleep. However we managed to get a few hours. We arrived in Kalka at around 5.30am, luckily the guy we were chatting to earlier woke us up. We then got our ticket for the Toy Train which was surprisingly dirt cheap (33 Rupees each) and went to find our train that left at 6am. Unfortunately all the unreserved seating was taken up, we were worried that we would have to wait two hours for the next train however the breakfast guy on the train grabbed Kate and said he could get us 2 seats for 50 rupees, not sure how he managed it but we were pleased. The Toy train is a tiny train, only about 5 carriages that can hold about 15 people each. Again the seats are bench like and hard, but it was well worth it. The views were incredible, traveling up through the mountains, sometimes having a sheer drop on one side that made Kate's hands sweat. We were less worried when we realized the tracks were built by the British. A couple of old guys acted like our tour guides for the journey and were telling us about the history of train track, trains and tunnels (101 tunnels in total). The train stopped at some stations on the way up, which gave everyone an opportunity to stretch their legs and grab some food. Again the old men advised us on the best station to get food at, and they weren't wrong, we bought some of the best Samoa's we have had in India at one of the stations.

Anyway six hours later we arrived in Shimla, and wow what a view, you can see many mountains for miles! Shimla is a hill station and it is where the British Raj used to go during the scorching summer months due to its cooler climate. We finally reached our hotel which was lovely and near enough to the town. The town is centered around The Ridge, which is basically the top of the mountain where it has been flattened and built on. Here there is the Christ Church and many other British era buildings. Unfortunately a lot are crumbling apart, but some have been preserved. This is a completely different side to India than we haven't experienced. It's clean, the air is fresh and it's cold! So cold that we have a heater in our room and the hotel bring hot water bottles to the room at 10pm (much to Kate's enjoyment). We were a bit disappointed that we didn't have a room with a view of the mountains, but lucky us, we got upgraded (again). The room we moved to was amazing, we had floor to ceiling windows along the front of our room which gave breathtaking views across the mountains.

We spent a lot of time walking around taking in the views, fresh air and marveling at the British era buildings. One day we decided to trek up to the Jakhu Temple. Our book recommended getting a walking stick for this walk as there are many monkeys that are known to be vicious. We weren't going to bother but as we started walking up we passed a small stand where an man was renting the sticks for 10 rupees, so we thought best to be safe than sorry (especially as Pete is so worried about catching rabies). There was also a sign which told you depending on your age and fitness how long it would take to walk up as the climb is very steep. To our surprise we did it in under 30 minutes which meant we came under the "fit" category J. There were hundreds of monkeys, Pete was being over cautious and keeping an eye on every one we passed (which to be honest may have made it worse as they would stare back and flash a bit of teeth). Anyway we made it to the top where the temple was and a huge statue of Hanuman the Monkey God stood, here we saw monkeys that had stolen someone's glasses and someone's shoe. You have to take your shoes off before going into the temple (like you do when you go into most places in India - Temples, people's houses, some shops and hotels, but this is mainly in the south), so it's kind of rich pickings for the monkeys as no one watches the shoes. We decided to keep our shoes safe on our feet and look at the temple from outside.

Another day we took a taxi ride to Viceregal Lodge which is a Harry Potter, Hogwarts style building. It was built for the British Viceroys residence but today is the Institute of Advanced study. We took a tour round the inside but you could only go in a few rooms as people were studying there. It's an impressive building to walk around and has lovely grounds which of course have amazing views.

We spent a lot of time relaxing in Shimla, there's not that much to do but it's an amazing place. Pete now thinks this is his favourite place in India, but Kate's is still Varanasi. The only downfall for Pete was the ban on smoking in the town. We did find a couple of places which we imagine to be a bit like the Speakeasies in America during the Prohibition. They weren't hard to find as you could see the plumes of smoke rising from the rooftops.

Next we are heading further north to Manali. It will be even colder there so Kate has purchased a Shimla shawl and Pete's bought a scarf. We are hoping to see some snow!