Hello again, Blogonauts!

The last few days we have been high in the Himalayan foothills, in the former summer seat of British India's government, Shimla, in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

We climbed to this lofty height via a narrow-gauged railway that took us from the valley floor town of Kalka on a slow trudge through hundreds of tunnels and over hundreds of bridges.

The train was crowded, there was no additional provision for luggage, and so movement within each car was stifled. Children had to climb over luggage stowed in the aisleway to go from one parent to another, and some stalwart fellows stood during the entire 5-hour journey. At each of the 6-or-so stops, vendors sold food through the car windows and at tiny stands alongside the train track.

Finally we arrived in Shimla, which from the cover photo of this blog, you can see is perched on nearly vertical hillsides. It is crammed with almost 170,000 people (plus tourists), and many of the residents live almost literally atop one another.

Currently the city is the capital of the state of Himachal Pradesh, a state that emerged following partition from Pakistan. Elevation here is almost 7,500 feet above sea level, and from the center of town, views of the high Himalayas provide a dramatic backdrop.

During our two days here, we climbed to the enormous Hanuman (monkey god) statue another 1000 feet higher atop Jakhoo Hill, visited the old British Viceroy's lodge, which now houses the Indian Institute for Advanced Studies.

The Viceregal Lodge is particularly important in that it served as the seat of government for half of each year during British rule in India. In order to escape Delhi's summer swelter, the entire government would pack up its files and paraphernalia and migrate to the mountains. Shimla, as it happens, was the site of many of the negotiations for India winning its independence.

We also wandered a bit afield to some neary towns, where we saw a variety of wildlife, some of it caged, and some of it wild.

You can see some of the photos from these few days in several albums found in the Photos section of this blog. Please go take a look.

As this trip winds down, we next will go to Patiala and then back to Delhi before I fly home on Monday.

I hope you've enjoyed these few entries about India. I hope to add a few more yet, so as always .....

Blog to you later!