INDIA & BANGLADESH 2014: 1 Preparation and to Shimla, India

One of the reasons for this trip was to visit the last 26 pradeshes (states) of India and Bangladesh, and to see places I have read about and find fascinating. I'm usually in Costa Rica for the companies year end at Sept. 30, but have always wanted to see Leh, high in the Indian Himalaya Mountains. It is only possible to get there before mid October, as after that snow closes the high passes. This was one of the routes where British spies disguised as traders entered Tibet, secretly mapping the region and looking for passes that could be used for military purposes. If they were found out they were killed. This was during the period called "The Great Game" between Britain and Russia, for control of Central Asia.

The trip is a complicated one involving 2 ½ months of cars, trains and planes that required a lot of organization, so once again I contacted Chi at Bestway Tours and Travel in Vancouver, BC (bestway@bestway.com or www.bestway.com or telephone 604-264-7378 / 1-800-663-0844) to put it together for me. She put me in touch with Amit, the manager of the Bestway operation in India.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The 26 hours of travel required to get from Costa Rica to Delhi India began with a 5 hour United flight from San Jose to Newark, New Jersey. We then had almost 6 hours to wait for our connection to Delhi. After buying a few necessities we caught up on emails in the crowded lounge. It was the first time I'd experienced the huge lounge completely full – it was OK when we arrived, but then there wasn't a seat to be had, so getting beer was a slow process!

The United plane to Delhi was late arriving, so this flight of almost 15 hours left late at 8 PM and arrived Delhi about 8 PM the next day, on time. The plane was very well set up, with comfortable seats that made into full length flat beds, so we had good sleep. The service was superb, although the food was mediocre. The route was interesting - north over Labrador to the south end of Greenland, north of Iceland, across the north end of Norway and Sweden, east of Murmansk, Russia, across the south end of the Ural mountains, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and on to Delhi. The jet stream, had our speed up over 670 mph (1,080 kph).

Thursday, September 18, 2014

We were first off the plane and through immigration fairly quickly. Gagan from Bestway was there to meet us with a driver. The traffic was brutal because the premier of China is visiting, and many main roads were closed. The very nice Hotel Royal Plaza is located in the government and embassy district. This is an older hotel, with a lot of marble, statues and paintings – the room was beautiful and had a huge balustraded balcony with a nice furniture grouping. It didn't do us much good, as we arrived at 10:30 PM and left for the train at 7 AM. The temperature on arrival was 30 C (86F).

Friday, September 19, 2014

Although breakfast was not included in the hotel, the maitre'd let us at the fruit, juice and cereal before the restaurant officially opened and didn't charge us for it. Gagan and the driver were right on time for the reasonably short ride to the train station. Once at the platform Gagan found there was a problem with our tickets, so after speaking with various railway employees Gagan took off at a run for the ticket office. He arrived back at the platform with a new ticket about two minutes before the train left – my backup plan was to get on the train without a ticket and argue my case from there!

The first class carriage was worn and not that clean. There were three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other. Benefits included periodic service with tea and biscuits, a bread and egg breakfast and tea again. The countryside was flat and green, with a lot of farms and frequent Hindu Temples.

We were originally to go to Kalka, but due to a train problem got off at the industrial city of Chandigarh. Our guide, Rakesh, was on hand to meet us for the 120 km (75 mi) drive along the Himalayas Highway to the hill city of Shimla. While this does not sound like a great distance, it took 5 hours on a two lane, twisting mountain road with very heavy traffic, most of which were trucks. Marilynn was having fits as traffic passed slow trucks on blind corners, but it seemed everyone knew what they were doing and although we saw one accident, we had no close calls.

It soon became apparent that there was a communication difficulty with our guide, who did not understand English at all well, and who we could not understand when he gave rapid answers to questions. Marilynn did ask him if there was anything at all of interest along the route that he might want to tell us about, whereupon we got the name of the highest mountain in the region, which we were passing at the time and that was about it. It would have been better with just the driver.

The road snaked along high, forested hills above deep valleys. The number of towns was surprising, as were the many businesses and restaurants lining the narrow road. They often operate from the top floor of a building that drops about 5 floors down to anchor on flatter ground. Patrons of these businesses saw no problem with simply abandoning their vehicle on the road, causing interesting challenges to traffic using the one remaining lane. The practice didn't seem to bother anyone, though.

This was apparently a non-stop trip, in spite of the light breakfast we had. Marilynn finally insisted on a toilet stop, to which our guide replied that there were no public toilets on the route. The driver eventually found one outhouse type place that did the job.

When the guide and driver eventually found our hotel after asking many people and getting various directions from them, we found we could only drive to a couple of blocks below it. Shimla is built on a high, steep hillside, so Rakesh hired two porters to carry our luggage up the steep road to the Clarks Hotel, where we arrive huffing and puffing a few minutes later. We are now at 2,200 meters (7,216 ft).. Shimla is a smoke free city, no smoking allowed anywhere. Plastic bags are also banned.

The hotel is a heritage building opened in 1893. Like most buildings in the area it is built vertically but has no elevator. Fortunately our large, bright room was only one floor up. Rakesh suggested lunch at 3:30 PM, but we sent him away. The time for lunch would have been 2 ½ hours ago at one of the many restaurants we passed. It would have made a break in the drive and we could have used the rest rooms!

We had drinks and a light lunch in the beautiful hotel bar before walking up the pedestrian shopping street in front of the hotel for about a kilometer, until we were just below a large Anglican Cathedral built in the 1850s. On the way back we could see a giant illuminated statue of Hanuman, the God of monkeys, on the highest ridge of a hill well about the height of the trees. Rakesh later said it was 45 meters (148 feet) high.

The hotel has a beautifully appointed dining room, but we were the only guests so had three uniformed staff ensuring the service was perfect. It was easy to feel how it might have been in British days when everyone who was anyone moved to the cooler hill stations to escape the summer heat. Of the various hill stations Shimla became most important, as the Viceroy, who ruled India on behalf of Britain, had his summer quarters here, making it the capital of the country while he was in residence.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Rakesh did not want to start this morning until 9:30 AM. He was not at the hotel at that time, but phoned shortly after instructing us to walk down to the car. The day started out foggy, but that soon burned off leaving it hot and sunny.

We drove to Kufri, about an hour away, where he said that we could see snow capped mountains on a clear day if we climbed up a steep hill. We chose not to. There is also a zoo, but again we opted out, not being keen on seeing animals in captivity, particularly as there were none we'd not seen before. The area has beautiful cedar and spruce forests, but so do most of the hills we have been driving through, so all we did was walk a kilometer or so up a road and back. People come here to go horseback riding – there are many horses for rent. Unless someone wants to climb to see mountains, go horseback riding or walk through the zoo, this part of the tour is a waste of time.

We then drove up to the entrance to the Hanuman Temple, where the giant statue we saw from Shimla last night is located. There were hundreds of monkeys, many with babys, which is fitting for a temple to the monkey god. We were warned that monkeys would steal anything, including glasses, so I left mine in the car. Marilynn took her $400 prescription glasses off to take a photo, and one of the monkeys grabbed them out of her hand and ran. I took off after him, as did others, but the monkey was far to fast. They will trade what they steal for food, but when someone threw food to this monkey he kept that and the glasses as well. When he disappeared into a small space under a building that was the end of that.

We walked up to the temple to see the huge statue, but when we found it was necessary to take shoes off and leave them outside to enter the temple we chose not to, as the surrounding area and some trees had monkeys chewing on stolen shoes! Local workers were busy trading food to get shoes back.

We were then driven back to the hotel at about 1:30 PM. I'd told Rakesh this morning that I needed an electrical converter plug, we needed to change money, Marilynn needed glasses and medicine for altitude sickness, so he was informed that he would be showing us where we could acquire these things. I also wanted to see the residence of the Viceroy, which was not on our program but is open to the public. Rakesh said that was not possible as it is 15 km away, and anyhow it closed at 2 AM. It would certainly have been more interesting to me than the forest visit, particularly due to the historical value.

Marilynn spotted a place for the electric plugs, then Rakesh walked me through the bank process to change money at the best we have encountered. We bought Rakesh lunch at a pub restaurant where food and drink were very inexpensive, then sent him on his way. Marilynn bought cardioaspirin – the price was 4 rupees for a card of 14, about 6 cents, and when I didn't have the right change they were given to us at no charge!. I paid $US2.28 for the same quantity in Costa Rica before we left, She also bought Diamox, which Rakesh insisted required a prescription but didn't. At an eyeglasses store her eyes were tested, then prescription lenses and frames were made in 2 hours for $60.00 – it would have cost hundreds in Canada, China or Costa Rica! The people we talked to said Shimla is crime free.

As the chef had given us a sales pitch about his pizzas, made in a new oven, I had that with drinks for dinner in the hotel restaurant. It is unusual for us to eat where we stay, but the staff were so friendly and the service so good we made an exception.

We have not been able to send an update or GPS position as the hotel internet is not working. Their IT tech blames it on the weather. We'll try again when we arrive in Manali, an 8 hour drive away.