Last tuesday we left Rishikesh early in the morning not before having a final breakfast in or hotel. And thats where the mess started, I guess. May it have been the oily Pancake (oily compared to the Indian food we had all the days before), the light sunstroke we got from the river rafting at the previous day or even a combination of both. Anyway, on our way to Dehra Dun, where we had to connect to our next leg of our tour, my belly started turning & shaking, so that I couldn't help but stopping the bus... the rest you can imagine. Definitely it was not that kind of "Delhi Belly" that you would have once you've newly arrived in India & have get used to the climate, food, etc. but well being I consider as something different... So, we took the chance to recover in Mussoorie where we got connected from Dehra Dun last tuesday just by enjoying the cool climate (25'C) at this very indian-touristy hill station (2200m). On wednesday we were taking the ropeway up to "Gun Hill" a view point from where you can see the nearby snowcovered mountains of Himalaya. In the afternoon just before sunset we were doing a 30min walk around the hill on which Mussoorie has been built. This was also when we met Mussoorie's future cricket hope. Some kids were playing cricket & invited us to join them, but we were doing rather badly... check out the pictures once we've uploaded them. Today, thursday, we left Mussoorie at 6.30am to reach the bus in Dehra Dun to get to Shimla, which is another hill station. For this 210km it took us more than 9hrs up and down via winding serpentines (so good that both of us had totally recovered again). But what we got in return was full of impressions that hopefully pictures can describe in a much better way than me doing it in descriptive way. We finally arrived in Shimla by 5.00pm and were surprised how british this city is; not only in a architectural way but the way one as a tourist is treated as well. So, here you still can feel the zeitgeisty way of living when India was still under the rule of the Crown of England. Anyway, tomorrow morning we are leaving quite early again for a 10hrs bus trip to Dharamsala. Here we will meet up with Clara, spend the weekend together & will then continue our trip to Amritsar near the border to Pakistan to see the Golden Temple (like the Vatican of the Sikh religion) before we return back to Delhi by the middle of next week. PS: Currently I'm reading a book by Sarah Macdonnald. "Holy Cow!" are the compiled experiences of an expat living in India for a certain time of his life and since it is written in such a funny way and you are so much able to recognize yourself in it, it is definitely a good travel companion, besides Karsten of course! So stay tuned!
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