Crooked bullet

I left at 6am on Tuesday so I could make good time to Shimla only to have to stop an hour down the road because my petrol cap had fallen off! I had to wait for a couple of hours till the shops opened so I drank a couple of chais and waited. I’d called a number on the top of the shop and asked the man if he had one to sell which he said he did but when he arrived evidently he didn’t. So I waited a little longer.. the second shop which opened half an hour later had one so I was on the road again at 9.30am.
I arrived in Shimla at about 6pm and after riding about this hilly town for an hour, eventually I found a hotel. The 12 hrs and wet, windy roads had tested my resilience and the man at the hotel bore the brunt of my state! When he showed me the room I burst into tears and said I’ll take it.. and sorry for the tears to which he replied.. “No no madam no problem..” quickly followed by.. “you look beautiful, can I kiss you!” I replied, “If you kiss me I’ll slap you” and as we walked down to the reception he insisted that he’d been joking! That was the last thing I needed but actually it stopped my tired tears and made me chuckle a little. I did bolt the door that night though! The bed and room was massive – as was the rate for the room, but at 7pm when it is raining outside and getting dark – 12quid seemed doable. 6quid gets you a decent room with hot water and bedding so 12quid was really rather a lot.

I was not sure whether to carry onto Rishikesh or go back to Vashisht as the further away I was getting from Kullu the more unsure I was becoming, but on waking at 5am I told myself to carry on, so I did & set off at about 6am. Sitting on the marble steps of the Ashram having just eaten a very tasty chickpea and potato curry with fresh soft chapatti I feel very happy to be here. Seeing Hilly, a small cute smiley face in the sea of orange clad Indian men was just brilliant and I’m so pleased I didn’t go back.

The landscape after Nahan changed dramatically and the roads improved hugely. What took 1 ½ hrs in the mountains took me 30 mins on the road to Rishikesh. The landslides, road works and twisty/windy wet roads make for very slow progress.