Author: purbeck67
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The one I didn’t want to write… The horror.
Our final twenty four hours in Shimla is a time I shall never be able to forget. India had two more tricks to play – the final one being deadly. I think that we all liked Shimla. It was so different from anything we had experienced. The people were different in every way to those…
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Remembering Shimla. The edge of the Himalayas.
We had been to the main tourist sites. With the remaining time left it was a chance to reflect on the whole trip and what India had shown us. Unfortunately the darkest hour was still ahead of us. My memories of Shimla are hazy, but I will use the images below to describe our remaining…
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The monkey temple, the return of Gandhi and a Hampshire connection.
Shimla holds two records for me. At 2,276 metres above sea level it is the highest altitude of anywhere that I have visited. It is also 880 miles from the coast, the second record. Considering the furthest I have ever lived from the coast is approximately 7 miles, currently I live less than half a…
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North to the mountains
We left Delhi behind and travelled through the night to Kalka. Fatigue got the better of me, we had seats booked as the trip was meant to be in daylight, but the eight hour delay meant it was deep into the night. A very long day, having arrived from Agra, visited the slums and then…
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A night on a Delhi train platform
Travelling through the slums had left us shell shocked again. We had arrived back in Delhi in the morning, spent all day with the ASHA Deep Foundation and were to meet with the rest of the group at the hotel before moving on again. Being crushed on the metro had just become another of those…
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Deeper into the slums…
Agra had presented to us the worst hotel experience of the trip. After Jaipur and Udaipur it had been a disappointment, a combination of factors. We were tired as a group, we had slowed down and were not the perfect tourists at this moment in time. Our schedule meant taking the train back into Delhi…
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The Taj Mahal…Basil Brush and machine guns through the smog.
We journeyed across from Udaipur to Agra. I was sad to see the back of Udaipur, it has been a good resting point but I did feel like a tourist now. Our train tickets were in the best class of carriage and seat, this being one of the better connections by rail that I experienced!…
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Palaces, lakes, James Bond and an expensive temple.
What are school trips for? What are we trying to achieve? Taking students from the rural wilderness of West Dorset and taking them to the hectic chaos that is India offers one of the greatest extremes possible. To show students the world outside of where they live is the aim, whether it be a local…
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Udaipur as a tourist, not looking too closely. Spirits are raised…
With all we had seen and experienced so far on the trip (the slums of Delhi, ill health, the death of our friend back home) I experienced a short moment of total peace and harmony while sitting on my balcony at the Lake Pichola Hotel, Udaipur. It was Friday evening, the smog had cleared a…
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Jaipur to Udaipur. Sadness and a time to take control…
Jaipur had been wonderful. We had been insulated by a fine hotel and our tuk-tuk drivers kept us in the tourist places. But we had earned that privilege, if only for a few days. It had been an oasis on this chaotic journey. (Chaotic in my mind, still trying to cope, but relaxed at this…
Reluctant travels in India 