On Tuesday afternoon five of us took a taxi to Dehra Dun. The trip seems so much faster now with the lower Tehri Road plus a short cut near Wyneberg-Allen School and Jharipani. We stopped at at the FabIndia store for some serious shopping: the store does have beautiful garments and fabrics! Then we had a dinner of biryani, mattar paneer, aloo gobi, naan, aloo paratha, and gulab jamuns at President Hotel. Then on to the Dehra Dun train station where we were somewhat early. We were able to get settled in our sleeping berths in the Mussoorie Express well before the train started its 11 hour trip to Delhi. I slept some, but not as soundly as I had hoped with the comforting and familiar rocking of the rail car. The sleeping berth was a bit hard, but otherwise adequate with the sheets, blanket, and pillow provided. There are clean Indian-style toilets at the end of the car.
A month ago, travelling from Delhi to Dehra, I took the faster Shatabdi train, which travels during the day. I had written down detailed notes about the trip, intending to blog about it, but never did. I especially enjoyed watching out the window after the train went through Saharanpur, when we got closer to the Siwaliks and the rails started leaving the Gangetic plain and entering the higher terai, Siwalik, and Dun areas. Before that, much of the view was of villages and sugar cane fields; after that one enters some forested areas with large stream beds lined with smooth, round rocks. The route stops at Haridwar and Rishikesh, so a number of Indian and European tourists disembarked at one or the other of those two stations.
The weather in Delhi on Wednesday was wonderful - they had had rain the previous day, plus the temperature in the hills had dropped - so mid-day it was maybe as high as 80F. Many of the stores and restaurants were closed or open only limited hours as it was Dusshera. We did go to Cottage Industries again for one last shopping trip, and found our way to the Tibetan shops in front of the Imperial Hotel (a bit hard to get to as that section of Janpath is all torn up and we had to walk way around the far side of the Hotel to gain access.
We had use of several rooms at the YWCA during the day, so were able to rest, wash, and repack before being taken to the airport in the evening. My flight took off on time - but I was asleep before take off! We landed in Amsterdam about 10 minutes early, was met by S&T, and able to take another 3 hours sleep at their house before taking off on a walk.
A month ago, travelling from Delhi to Dehra, I took the faster Shatabdi train, which travels during the day. I had written down detailed notes about the trip, intending to blog about it, but never did. I especially enjoyed watching out the window after the train went through Saharanpur, when we got closer to the Siwaliks and the rails started leaving the Gangetic plain and entering the higher terai, Siwalik, and Dun areas. Before that, much of the view was of villages and sugar cane fields; after that one enters some forested areas with large stream beds lined with smooth, round rocks. The route stops at Haridwar and Rishikesh, so a number of Indian and European tourists disembarked at one or the other of those two stations.
The weather in Delhi on Wednesday was wonderful - they had had rain the previous day, plus the temperature in the hills had dropped - so mid-day it was maybe as high as 80F. Many of the stores and restaurants were closed or open only limited hours as it was Dusshera. We did go to Cottage Industries again for one last shopping trip, and found our way to the Tibetan shops in front of the Imperial Hotel (a bit hard to get to as that section of Janpath is all torn up and we had to walk way around the far side of the Hotel to gain access.
We had use of several rooms at the YWCA during the day, so were able to rest, wash, and repack before being taken to the airport in the evening. My flight took off on time - but I was asleep before take off! We landed in Amsterdam about 10 minutes early, was met by S&T, and able to take another 3 hours sleep at their house before taking off on a walk.
