i spent five great days in shimla, meeting the italians and spaniards until they took off, meeting a few germans, sitting in barista drinking coffee and reading the newspapers, walking in the surrounding hills, climbing up and down the steep markets and bazaar, eating at sher-e-punjab, listening to the monkeys fighting on my rooftop, walking to the viceregal lodge and taking in the spectacular views along the way, and the gorgeous gardens....packing my bags once again, saying goodbye to the hotel owners, dragging my pack down to baristas, sit in the main square and end up babysitting for a newly married sikh couple who want to take a whole range of photos without their baby in it, buying some smokes and heading to the bus station to catch a public bus to dharamsalla! not a good idea.
i get the bus, with one australian woman who i managed to get to sit by me since otherwise she would have been half raped by the men sitting next to her in the darkness of a night bus, we sat at the front next to the driver in THE most cramped conditions i have ever been in, on a bus that is...there are metal sheets, bags, tables and chairs stacked up next to my seat and two of us sitting on a bench mean't for one average american.
the journey takes nine hours. i have one row of indians behind me who all remove their shoes and lean their legs right next to my head with that awful wet-sock-cheese experience, i have the bags and metal sheets falling on me all night, the aussie chick has downed 3 huge beers before the trip and i keep thinking she is going to puke all over me (thank god she didnt) and to top it all off we stop after 3 hours, i get out for some chai and a stretch, the aussie girl goes to find a toilet and comes back covered head to toe in shit and piss.....she had fallen into an open sewage pit in the middle of the forest and only managed to find a small cloth to clean herself with! so, cramped conditions, swinging roads, cheese feet and now shitty aussie next to me! hahaha....this is india!!!!
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