16 May 07 -- Shimla

Very nice day today. Although I love my Ambassador, I was finally able to convince Bharat that I didn’t need to ride in it just because I had it available, and I spent the day walking around the hill station of Shimla. A very nice day of walking.

Shimla isn’t exactly what I expected, but it’s still fairly inviting. I had the most leisurely morning, and as I was finally getting out the door about 11, a storm blew up. The view from my windows is fantastic…I can see a whole valley with the Himalayas going off in ridges across the horizon. But at 11, it got almost as dark as night and a strong wind came up. It soon started raining with tremendous thunder and lightning. Then the storm blew over the top of the ridge behind me and was gone as quickly as it came…I watched the last wisps blow up and over the valley wall to my left. It was practically cold after this, and I had to wear a heavy sweater.

Shimla has an interesting story. It was a retreat long before the British arrived, but after they figured out how hot it was in the plains and how nice it was up here, the Brits moved in quickly. Shimla became the summer capital of India, and the Brits moved the whole government here from Calcutta, and later Delhi, when the hot season started below. And for that reason, I was expecting to see a lot of 19th century British colonial things.

I wasn’t wrong about that, either. There are a number of imposing, square-shaped, grey stone buildings up here along the mall; more than a few tudor-style buildings, too. Shimla is built on a ridge, and the mall is a somewhat level strolling area that runs a mile or so along the ridge. It’s not exactly at the top of the ridge…I guess it’s a table just below the top…so you have a steep drop-off on one side and a wall of green that goes up steeply on the other. Because this promenade has been here a while, there is also the occasional wonderful, huge Himalayan conifer growing on the sides.

What I hadn’t expected, despite everything I was told, is that the town is mobbed with people getting out of the heat. Thousands. And because there are so many people, the colonial grey-stones and tutors are squeezed between small sari shops and souvenir stands as far as the eye can see. When you come to steep areas of the ridge where these shops can’t be built, there are great views, but otherwise, you wouldn’t know you aren’t on a street in a small town somewhere.

One nice thing about the place, though, is that you’re pretty much left alone (after dealing with the hotel touts). I stopped many times during the day to look at my map or take photos, and no one bothered me at all, neither nice folks who just want to talk or the pests who want to sell prayer wheels. Everyone was just walking along enjoying the air.

That’s what I did all day. I strolled, stopped for the occasional tea in a room with a view over the valley, took pictures and read about the area. This is yet another great way to spend a vacation day.