India – Shimla

by Amy ~ June 26, 2007

Our next destination was a Himalayan mountain station in the northwest, called Shimla. There was no direct train from Jaipur to Shimla so we had to take a train to Delhi and another to Kalka before arriving at Shimla. We were only able to secure tickets to Kalka and had 2 tickets on a waiting list for the Kalka-Shimla leg.

Traveling by trains in India is cheap, the problem is that many are not air conditioned, and some trains do not have assigned seating. Train stations are crowded and porters are trying to carry your bags for you.

We traveled by train from Jaipur to Delhi with no problems. We arrived in Delhi at midnight rented rickshaws to take us to our hotel. The rickshaw ride was very slow and cramped but we were excited to experience a rickshaw ride.

We had an early train the following morning to Kalka, further north in the Himalayas, so we awoke at 3:45 AM. We had 4 AC sleeper beds on the train to Kalka so we played cards and talked for the 6 hour trip. Upon arriving in Kalka I had to use the restroom. This was my first ever non-western style toilet and I wasn’t really sure how it really worked.

Lyndi explained it was a lot like camping (but I had never camped!) so after a little pep talk, I headed into the bathroom with my toilet paper and a bar of soap. Z laughed at me for packing toilet paper and soap but I’m very happy I did. These items and the anti-bacterial wipes came in very handy!! I have to say, the non-western style toilets were actually not so bad – kind of funky at first, but I didn’t mind them!

We had put our name on the waiting list for tickets but when we arrived to Kalka, we found that we did not get the tickets. After a little negotiating with a train station employee, we were all allowed us to get on the train. However, 2 people had to stand for the entire trip…

The “toy train” was extremely slow and with no AC, we were pretty miserable. The train trip from Kalka to Shimla took us over 7 hours. Z kept swearing he was going to jump off and walk. We had 2 seats reserved and rotated out with our friends for the standing “seat” by the door (yes we were hanging out the door… you do what you can to maintain sanity when it’s 100+ degrees with no AC!!!!!!!!!!). Z made friends with a couple of guys going to an AA meeting in Shimla (not sure if they were attending or running the meeting!!) so this provided us with entertainment!

We arrived at Shimla at 7 pm after having been awake since around 4 am. We were tired, grumpy, hungry and very sweaty and dirty. Luckily I had previously talked Z into splurging and getting a 5* hotel so our hotel was very nice.

Shimla was an interesting town on the side of the mountain. It was much cooler than everywhere else we had visited. We spent a lot of time walking around and people watching.

One thing we’ve noticed across India is that men (old, middle aged and young alike) walk around hand in hand…. you rarely see women/men or women/women holding hands but the men are very affectionate to one another… Our friend told us this was a sign of a “good friend.”

While in Shimla, we visited another Monkey Palace. I was a little afraid because we had been told the monkeys were very naughty and would steal your glasses, bags etc. I like monkeys from afar but don’t want them touching me or jumping on me!

We rented a driver on our return trip to Kalka – we didn’t even consier the 7 hour train… The car was great and only took 3 hours. We even stopped at McDonalds for lunch along the way. We also took a nicer train from Kalka to Delhi so the day of travel was not as bad as our previous trip.

View our Shimla photos.