Hill station

For some reason I woke at 0130 wide-awake and needed half a sleeping pill to take me through till the morning.  I woke really tired.

Having been talked into buying a local SIM card last night, I had to go to the local Public Call Office (PCO) to provide a photo and a note from the hotel confirming my address there.

Back at the hotel, Kim was settling the bill.  No one knew how to operate the credit card machine so we settled using cash.

We had breakfast at Nandini’s. She made a chickpea and raisin curry served with bhatoora (like puris but smaller).  It was a very yummy and filling breakfast and set us up for the drive to Mussoorie, a nearby hill station.

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The road trip was windy, taking less than an hour.  With a bad night sleep and perhaps the elevation (around 2000m), I felt a little lightheaded and nauseous.

Fiona had organised to stay at the Padmini Nivas.  We saw the sign as we arrived but it was only their carpark.  We had to drive all the way into town and pay to enter the restricted area where cars are normally prohibited.  Continuing from there, we found the hotel’s steep narrow downhill drive.

We had a large part of the single storey house to ourselves.  There was a double bedroom and ensuite, a double bed in the living room plus a bay window for Jo.  There was also an equipped kitchen and dining room.

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Once we had settled, we got Mushtaq to take us for a drive to Kempty Fall.  We understood that we were near the Chinese border but looking at the map late, we weren’t that close.  But China was indeed on the far side of the mountain range in the distance.

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We took a light lunch of paratha and tea at simple place.  It was starting to drizzle and it rained a little on the long drive back.  We got dropped off at the town library and walked back to the hotel.

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After a rest in the room and some reading, I realised that our walk had covered only one-third of the town’s shopping street, Mall Road.  Kim, Jo and I returned to continue the walk to near the end.  The road was built by the British and is dotted with wrought iron seats and lamp posts.  Due to its proximity to Tibet, there were many shops selling Tibetan trinkets.

We noticed that in this part of India, Tibetan food and Chinese food are always sold together.  I’m guessing that Tibetans cook both so as to meet the demand for Chinese food.  We took a trishaw back to our accommodation.

 

 

Dinner was meant to start at 2000 but the hotel rang to advise that there would be fireworks at 1930 in celebration of Diwali.  Dinner, served a little late, consisted of palak paneer; chickpeas; potato rissoles filled with peas and coconut; and cauliflower.  Dessert was a delicious mix of fruits including pomegranate in a sweet condensed milk drink.

Some guests here were on a yoga course and looked anaemic or vegetarian.