2 Up Adventures

Dream it - Live it - Ride it

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Images
    • Photos
    • Video
  • Our Route
    • UK
    • Europe
    • The East
    • Asia and South East Asia
    • Border Crossings!
  • Our Bike
    • Specifications
    • Modifications
    • Luggage Systems
  • Our Equipment
    • Camping
    • Riding
    • Navigation & Communications
  • About Us
    • Vince – Rider
    • Karen – Pillion
    • Previous Overseas Rides
      • South Africa ride report – March 2014
  • Contact Us

Shimla

Posted by Karen on September 25, 2015
Posted in: India.

We spent 22nd -25th Sept in Shimla at the Cedar Grand Hotel…..both for a bit of R&R after 6 months of travelling on the road…..often in very poor accommodation conditions…and moving on each day…….sometimes doing very, very long days on the bike, as well as time for me to recuperate from my ongoing tummy problems which have been getting progressively worse. I finally gave up letting “nature take its course” and went to see a local chemist and the antibiotics he gave me along with the medication Claire and Emiel shared with me (they too are having problems) seems to have done the trick. Vince is the only one with a cast iron stomach!

We spent the days exploring the village on foot and one day (23rd) Claire and I went and had our hair and nails done (my feet were beginning to resemble Shrek)……at an exorbitant cost of only 850 INR (A$17.50).

Whilst I was taking a photo of one of the many monkeys around Shimla (there is a Monkey Temple here), Vince thought it was funny to come up behind me and grab me…..scared me senseless and made me scream. This provided much amusement to ta local policeman who commended “Very Funny” with a sweeping grin…..Claire and Emiel also laughed. But Karma is alive and well in India…..and just a few minutes later, a monkey sitting on a railing lashed out aggressively at Vince and tried to grab him…..luckily it missed….although they all look healthy enough we did not want to have direct contact with any animals as a precaution against rabies etc. The actual Monkey Temple is called Jakhu/Jakhoo Temple and is dedicated to the Hindu god Hanuman. It is situated on Jakhoo Hill, 2.5 km /1.3 miles east from the Ridge in Shimla. It has a height of 2,455 m (8,000 feet) above sea level. It is the highest peak in Shimla and offers a panoramic view of the Shivalik Ranges and the town of Sanjauli. Every year the festival of Dushera is held there. Visitors can access the temple by either a steep climb on foot, on horseback or by taxi.

We are all quite fascinated by the mist that rolls in here on a regular basis…..our hotel has a terrific view over the town and mountain….but sometimes it is shrouded in nothing but white. We have had a couple of rainy days….but that allowed us to just relax in the hotel watching movies or reading books. We have been able to get some much needed washing done….always a challenge on the road as well.

We are on the look out for another point and shoot camera as my trusty workhorse ,,,,,Olympus TG-3….. has finally reached the unreliability point…….our research tells us it has now been superseded by the TG-4 and I would be happy to get that (if we can find it in India). Looking local, they are trying to convince me that the Nikon Coolpix AW130 is the way to go…..but although its mostly comparable (and cheaper), I have checked the specs and I like the faster shutter speed (1/2000 instead of 1/1600) on the Olympus (critical for my back of bike style of photos) as well as the wider stop (f2.0 instead of f2.8). Vince also says the new Olympus has Night Live Composite….our TG-3 is crap a night shots….but this improvement takes several shots and extracts the light to build up a brighter picture…..so he is pretty excited about that….he has seen this technology before and it’s impressive. So I think I will give the Nikon a miss and try to source another Olympus.

We will head to Chandigarh on Saturday 26th as we have the bike booked in for an oil change and possible rear brake pad replacement (we have the BMW parts with us that we bought in Austria) so plan to spend the night there….on the road again!

P9216200 P9216232 P9216229 P9216227 P9216225 P9216223 P9216221 P9216218 P9216215 P9216214 P9216210 P9216207 P9216204 P9216150 P9216190 P9216188 P9216187 P9216186 P9216181 P9216179 P9216178 P9216174 P9216166 P9216165 P9216164 P9216160

Posts navigation

← Bities in the Night…….Summerhill to Shimla
One, Two, Three…..that’s enough for me! →
  • Archives

    • February 2017
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • April 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • May 2014
    • March 2014
    • January 2014
  • Recent Posts

    • Big News …..the ANIMAL’S baby brother has arrived….BABYCAKES!
    • Horizons Unlimited Meeting 16th – 18th October 2016
    • 2upadventures presenting at HU Perth 2016 Meeting….Join Us!
    • Vince and Karen …The Real Riders
    • All Over Red Rover!
  • Recent Comments

    • Mark Morgan on All Over Red Rover!
    • Mark Morgan on So this is Christmas……..
    • Craig Field on Nong Khiaw to Vieng Thong
    • Craig Field on DHL, Zippers and Thai Massage in Chiang Mai
    • Craig Field on Shillong to Dimapur 24th and 25th Oct
  • Categories

    • Albania
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Belgium
    • Bulgaria
    • Cambodia
    • Croatia
    • England
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • India
    • Iran
    • Ireland
    • Italy
    • Laos
    • Montenegro
    • Myanmar
    • Northern Ireland
    • Pakistan
    • Scotland
    • Slovenia
    • Switzerland
    • Thailand
    • Turkey
    • Uncategorized
    • Wales
  • Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Parament by Automattic.