Shimla! - A Concrete Crap. Review on Shimla

I've had been to Shimla in December 2009. The place is just like Mahabaleshwar, a concrete jungle nestled in himalayan mountain. I've read various reviews reading the same but my heart was not willing to accept the same. But Viola, what I saw was exactly what I read!

I was in early December so there was no or little chance of falling snow. so I suggest to go in Jan coz if ur lucky, u might witness snowfall.

We took the Golden temple mail from Mumbai central station at 9:30pm n alighted at Ambala cantt at 1:00am next night. From ambala cantt, we got the Kalka-howrah express at 2:30am n reached kalka at 4:30am.

There's a direct paschim express to kalka, but it would reach kalka at 4:00pm and from then onward u hav to stay at kalka coz there is no toy train to shimla in evening. There are roads, but who cares about roads? I have one near my home too!

After alighting at kalka we took tickets for the toy train. If u have ever been to Matheran, I would not recommend to travel by this toy train. Ya, but if u really want to enjoy the pleasure of toy train u must take the Shivalik express. It's just awesome. They charge u 350 rupees and it includes breakfast at one of the stations in between(i guess barog).

The train scheduled at 6:00am, left at 6:30am. Struggling to get a seat we just managed to go standing. An almost sleepless night, standing travel. n 5 hrs of journey. When train started, we shouted…."Ganpati bappa. Morya" That took us to highlight in train!

It is charming when the train n it looked amazing landscape… Just huge and huge trees. Everywhere. We enjoyed every bit of it! But. Not for a long! We eventually got bored of same sight!

The train arrived at 11:30 am at shimla station and we finally were there hoping for something new to explore. We took rest, we stayed in dharmshala(dormitory) there coz we are low budget travelers. Took rest and finally were ready to go sight seeing at evening.

At 4:30 we had gone to see the Indian institute. The building is just like no other. A big budget Karan Johar movie could be shot here! We took few snaps n then came back to the dorm. We were tired! and shimla is just badly hilly. so we were totally exhausted in cold weather.

For a Mumbai guy who faces tropical temperature year round, its always hard to adjust at high altitudes at at temp at about 4 degrees Celsius. We saw the mall road, yep. It just where all best hotels r located. Shimla is priced high. So be choosy with what u buy. Next day we went to kufri. 16kms from shimla. Kufri is called as Switzerland of India.

No.no.Just don’t get mistaken, its just a Hype to this place. No peddlers are allowed to reach the main spot but u can take a small walk up to a certain distance. If u want 2 see u must go on horse. Actually these r not real horses, they are called “Khechar’s” in Hindi, literally meaning pullers! They were used to pull load previously. In short, a perfect rip-off!

The tourist help banner on the road suggest to give 350rs per person, but bargain. We got it for 150rs each. We got there in 20mins. But there was nothing exceptional about this place. We have heard that this place blooms in winter after snowfall, yep it might be. but for now, there's literally nothing!

We explored this place for about an hour. We took snaps with the cobra on our neck, Also there are yaks. Some pretty, n some not so. they charge 10rs per person n u can take as many as poses u want.

There is a temple near by. we visited it, just backside there are binoculars which show different points from binoculars. We saw few of them. . the Indo-china border is worth seeing from these binoculars. They charge 50rs per person for showing 10 such points.

Finally we returned on the same Khechar’s n back to shimla. Then on we proceeded to Manali the same very night.