From delhi to mussoorie
Trip Start
Jun 21, 2008
1
5
19
Trip End
Dec 15, 2008
Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
6/26/08
Yesterday I learned that even on a day that sounds like its going to be run of the mill and boring this is never the case in India... we spent the whole day looking at apartments (sounds like a drag huh?) The upstairs of the hostel has a large patio where a few of us were eating lunch and we could see into the neighboring yard that there were hordes of monkeys running through their gate. We watched as what looked like 200 monkeys ran through this yard. Then they started to climb up on the building "oh look how cute it knocked a pot off the window sill", it started climbing across "awesome, its coming closer!", "oh shit its coming closer.." we turned to a few people who were playing cards and blocking the exit and said "dude, guys we gotta go, the monkeys are coming" -blank stares... "guys the monkeys-" a monkey drops onto the patio "guys we got to go!" chaos ensues, everyone screams. Monkeys start climbing from the roof onto the patio, it literally looked like it was raining monkeys and everyone runs inside. It felt like it was in Jumonji. They only stayed for about five minutes and moved on. We found out later that the mass exodus was probably caused by a group of people scaring them or monkey gang fights...
so yeah, never a dull day in Delhi
6/29/08
So I'm in the "Him-all-ya's".... the trip here was a cultural experience
in itself. We took a tourist bus to get to the town at the base of the "foothill"
where Mussoorie and the language school are located. The bus ride took place on
one-lane highway that usually had cows or people in the street not to mention an
enormous amount pot-holes. It took us ten hours to drive 85mi and that was just
to the bottom of the "foothill".
Foothill has been in quotations because at the
top of this "foothill" we are sitting at 8,000ft. After our bus ride all 45 of
us piled into various taxis to get up to the hotel. If I thought the
auto-rickshaws were life threatening the ride up this mountain put me in my
grave. On this tiny narrow roads winding up the steep mountain our driver (and
many others) drove like there was a woman giving birth to septuplets in the
backseat. I'm pretty sure we spent an equal time on both sides of the road. He
would pass people right as we would come up to a sharp turn and couldn't see
the oncoming traffic. Then it started to rain. Not just drizzle, this of
full-on torrential rains. The driver didn't slow at all. I'm pretty sure my
life flashed before my eyes.
The hotel
we're staying at is a 5 min walk from the language school and about a mile from
Mussoorie. It is rustic and cozy. We've been sort of divided into groups by the
living situation. There are people in the main house (everything is one story),
some people were put up on this hill right above the main lobby. And there are
8 of us (including me) living in an apartment type place, little hike down from
the main lobby. There are only 6 places to sleep but our place is so nice that
we have two guys sleeping on the floor/couch so they can stay here. We have the
most beautiful view I have ever seen from our patio. You can see the entire side of
the mountain and Mussoorie and the valley below and everything is green and
lush and monkeys are always swinging past. Tonight we watched the sunset and I
don't think I have ever enjoyed that part of the day more in my entire life.
It had been foggy since lunch and a few of us were sitting on the patio just
talking and listening to music and all of the sudden the fog lifted. There was
sunddenly this orange glow from the other side of the mountain. We could see
the fog streaming down the mountain into the valley like a massive river of
fire. Off in the distance we could see the rain and the thunder and lightening
down on the plain. These words sound so weak when I think about how amazing
this was. There were about 6 of us freaking out about the sunset then someone
suggested we spend 30 seconds of silence just to take in the beauty and in that 30 secs we could hear the call to prayer from a mosque in mussoorie. As I right
this I realize how cheesy it sounds but this was just too much... the craziest
part is that we're gonna see it everyday for the next month.
Comments
Monkeys
Were they flying monkeys!? Your surroundings sound interesting and beautiful.
b
Great travalogue!
Hey, you'd know if they were a gang of monkeys if they were wearing their colors,lol. As for the bus and cab rides, nothing but extremes eh? Crawling or death-defying...make sure you make offerings to any god of safe travel available. Did you actually find and apartment, or were half the landlords absent again? As for the sunset, how incredible...enjoy! Are the monkeys there too?
Re: Great travalogue!
PS Forgot the i in Travail-logue, botched the joke, sorry.
moment of silence
I love your descriptions -- keep them coming, life in San Diego seems dull and boring. Dad and I will be over next week :)
Sunsets
Hey .. I'm on my way!
Tell the boys we'll need to share the space .. :)
Travel mercies, Darlene
wonderful Info..
I am thinkin to see this place. Got plently of information from your trip.
thanks & gud luck :)
Robin