"A little bit of old England" Shimla by jmschief

If you're visiting India then I strongly recommend taking a trip up to Shimla! The place itself is a hill station which is quite often referred to as the Summer Capital as it's a pleasant place to come to escape the heat of the plains.

As anyone knows who's been in a car on India's roads, you don't take journeys lightly - especially just after the monsoon season which is when we decided to go. Apart from just avoiding a landslide that would have swept us down the side of the Himalaya's, the journey wasn't too bad altough as always in India it took a long time to get there at probably an average speed of 40mph. Unfortunately, driving is erratic so with all the braking and swerving, it all adds up.

Anyway, Shimla itself is a cool place with a really nice vibe - there's parts of the town that look like the buildings have just been transplanted from somewhere near my home like Stratford upon Avon so it looks a bit surreal, but I really liked the place.

The company that I work for buy products from India and our main contact actually owns a resort up here and I was here with 2 friends at his invitation.

The resort was in a cracking location about 22km further up from Shimla at Fagu top and the views were breathtaking although because of the altitude it is quite often shrowded in cloud!

Time Out

We ended up on this terrace because we were walking down one of the main streets and just saw a lift that dissapeared south. It seemed to stand out a bit as I wouldn't be surprised if it's the only one in shimla so like any other nosey tourist - we jumped in it.

Well, it took us down to a little parade of shops and a hotel which we popped into to get our bearings - and of course a beer!

C of E

Shimla has lots of memories of home - going back to the colonial days I guess. One of the main buildings in the town is a mock tudor town hall type affair which just looks weird but Shimla is a very interesting place to base yourself to trek the surrounding area.

• Pros:To say you've been in a proper Himalayan Hill Station
• Cons:Can be cloud covered if you're unlucky
• In a nutshell:A breath of fresh air - literally!!