A Day Full of Experiences

Monday was full of non-stop adventures in Shimla. We started out by driving up a very steep and narrow road to the Jakhu temple where they worship the monkey God. Upon arriving I was told to leave anything of value in the car because the monkey's will snatch it from you if they get a chance! And at the entry gate you pay a little money and you get a stick in return to shoo them away. The man also said not to tease them or make eye contact because that will provoke them. And I still wanted to go up!?? There were a few monkey's already eyeing us at the entrance so the man threw some food to distract them and they all came running so we could climb up. Once we reached the top we were greeted by the huge statue of the monkey God.  It stood tall above the tree tops and overlooked Shimla. Another flight of steps and 10 monkey encounters later we reached the munder (temple) and had to remove our shoes to enter. To be on the safe side and avoide the monkey theifs, Jas and I went in separately so we could guard our shoes. It was small inside with some interesting pictures not sure what they meant, so I was in and out quickly.  There was a great viewpoint where you could see all around and the snowy peaks of the Himalayas.  It was kind of cool to be there because I remember seeing a picture of Jas as a child in this same spot feeding a monkey. On our way back down I saw a monkey in our path drinking some water from a puddle.  In my mind it was a picture perfect opportunity,  but the monkey had something else in mind! He saw me, growled and started chasing Mia and I! You can imagine the scene we made running and screaming!  My perception of monkeys is forever changed and I am even thinking of taking the monkey wall stickers down from Mia's room when we get home!
I thought we were done for the day and heading for lunch but we kept driving up the mountain to a town called Kufri. Halfway there we stopped off on the side of the road to take a ride on a Yak. Yes, now I can say I have done it all! Roadside yak riding with the Himalayas as my backdrop,  truly priceless!  Mia loved every second of it and had no fear of the two giant creatures.
We continued to climb and zig zag through small busy towns until we reached a dusty parking lot. If we wanted to go further up we had to ride horses from there. It was a half hour up and back and cost less then $14 for all three of us, so I figured why not! Mia rode with jas and I tried to take pictures but it was way too dusty and it started to get rocky and steep so I figured I better hang on. We rode up in a pack of horses some didn't even have riders, they actually were the guide horses. All was well and Mia was enjoying herself until another group of tourists started coming down and a lady's horse tripped and she fell off against the rocks. It created a scene and Jas dropped the S-word and Mia said her first swear! We continued climbing up and it just hit me that this whole situation was a little unsafe. Not only could the horse trip but we were kind of riding along the edge at times and the horses kept bumping into each other. I was anxious to get off! Finally we reached the top and it was a traffic jam of horses and yak's. I don't even know if I would call it a town, it was just a bunch of stalls in a very dusty area. People were trying to sell us stuff left and right including saffron.  Back in the states, saffron is very expensive but here it is pretty cheap. I thought about buying some but I don't ever use it so we continued on. Up at the top of a small hill there was another viewpoint and a man was there offering for us to shoot air guns.  Jas did pretty well, I completely sucked but it was my first time ever shooting anything besides duck hunt on Nintendo.  By this time I was starving and Mia was past the point of no return so we headed back. This time we made sure the guy taking us back was leading the horse Mia and I were on incase it tripped.  Going down was not as fun as going up and was pretty scary at times because the ground was all downhill and rocky.  Thankfully we made it down in one piece! Our driver picked us up and as soon as we got in the car I realized how bad we smelled! Not sure which one of us stepped in horse crap, but we smelled like a barnyard and were covered in dust. It was about 2:30 and we still haven't had lunch so we drove up to this beautiful resort that we heard was a good place to stop and eat. The door man took one look at Mia and told Jas that children under ten were not allowed,  hotel policy.  So we drove on to another hotel called the Oberi which is very well known and mostly all white tourists stay there. However lunchtime was over so we had to find a restaurant instead.  Before we left I had to take advantage of the clean bathroom,  even though I smelled like a cow!
Our driver kindly dropped us off at the outdoor shopping area and we walked uphill until we found a place to eat. Mia didnt even fight me to go in her stroller,  she just layed down a passed out in 2 seconds! Even though Jas and I were exhausted,  we had a quiet dinner and chatted about our trip while Mia slept.
During this whole trip we have a driver taking us everywhere,  so its been really nice. So I asked Jas where he sleeps and he said the guy makes his own arraignments. But since we booked an extra night in shimla I wanted to make sure he had somewhere to stay. Come to find out the poor guy slept in the van the night before and he said it was so cold that he woke up at 3 am and took a shot of whiskey to stay warm. Had I known this before I would have made sure he had somewhere to stay. I told Jas to give him money for a hotel and I was not taking no for an answer.  He shyly accepted and we called it a night. What a day!
The next morning we woke up and I took my last hot shower and the driver dropped us off at the train station.  We just wanted to ride down a few stops for the experience,  the whole way down would have taken us 5 hours. And I am glad we did that because I was over it in about ten minutes!  It seemed more of a local train but the views were pretty stunning.  Our driver met us at the stop and now we are whipping our way around the mountainside roads. Going down is a lot different than going up because its faster and you feel the curves more. Needless to say I have to stop writing or I am gonna be car sick!