International women’s day
Congratulations to all women of the world. Keep up the good work!
We started our day today at 4 o’clock in the morning! (Sure, we are on vacation.) Arriving at the hotel yesterday around 10pm, we got the confirmation on our train ticket for today… just about time! Settled all arrangements to be on time at the train in morning, clarifying on some ‘panic mail’ from work, I went to bed at 1 am. Shouldn’t get lazy at holidays.
Our taxi picked us up at 4:45. Bringing us up to Kalka for our train. It was quit a different ride then we experienced in Delhi: not as crazy and not as slow as in the capital. A little bit early, we arrived at the train station. First challenge: find out from which platform the train is leaving. No time table, no one recognizable as ‘official’. Finally, we found someone who could tell us, that we should look for platform 5. We were on PF1. Across the rails “3” was the last one in line. Some people went to the right. We followed, and yes, straight in line with PF1, there was PF5. And PF6. On both signs “Shimla”, leaving 6 o’clock. Double check: the one on platform 5 was ours. Next challenge: finding the right coach. We had “F1”. Nowhere be found on the coaches or at the signs on the platforms as we saw in Delhi. After a while we saw tiny name lists on the coaches. And we were on it! Problem solved. Got in the train, claimed our places and didn’t move again. We had the luxury of a compartment for ourselves. Using our luggages for upgrading our seats. With almost an hour delay we left Kalka for Shimla. A 5 hour journey in the Toy Train, along mountain slopes, villages, constructions sides, woulds and tiny train stations. Every stop a highlight by itself. People hopping off and on the train, even children. Men selling food aside the rails, school kids walking on the rail, quick stops for upcoming traffic. No second for boredom. Most amazing was the changing landscape and vegetation. Places became much more colorful, less filled up with rubbish. Just nicer to the eye.
In Shimla we got off the train, searched for our taxi (which seemed not to be the right one at the end) and with a few minutes we were at our homestay. What a lovely lady, what a lovely house! We were welcomed with a lunch snack which let us to an huge after-dinner-dip 🙂 To recover from our early wake up we choose just to relax and chill the rest of the day. Ending with an amazing home-cooked Indian meal by our host. Maybe, we just should moving-in?
Different to the hotels, which seems to be a man-hold domaine, this homestay is a women’s retreet: thoughtful, warmth, with love (rather then rational good service).
Greets to all the women, today!