When I got back to Rishikesh after trekking - the number of pilgrims had increased and was only supposed to get bigger in the last week or so of the religious 'holiday" and the temperture was well into the 90s. With the people and heat it was almost impossible to be outside for too long. So most of my trekking group and I decided to head to higher, cooler and less crowded ground back up in the north - to a town called Shimla. A 'proper' old British hill station. After 10 hours on a stinky night bus we arrived and it's great. It feels more like High Street than India -- a really nice break. This is a place where upper middle class Indians come for vaca to get away from the retched summer heat.It's a shopping mecca here for handsewn saris and custom-tailored men's suits.
