Up on Top

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Morning routine ... 
Breakfast at the usual cafe, eating the usual aloo paratha, drinking the usual chai, speaking to the usual local people ...

We walked to the main road and crossed to the other side. We walked along 10 minutes in search of the turning that would take us up to the Maheshwari Hindu temple on top of the hill. We took a wrong turn but joined a small path leading back to the route. We trekked up and up some more. We passed a few local ladies carrying huge bundles of fire wood on their heads.


When we finally reached the top the views were magnificent. The temple was small and decorated with a huge TV/mobile phone antenna!

The way down was quick and easy. We then searched for the small train station nearby. We found it by walking a short way along the track. We saw the platform and investigated closer. There was a small office with a sign saying the train was temporarily suspended.This is the picturesque Kangra railway and now there are no trains! Looks like our plan is foiled and we will be leaving on the bus.


We found a shoe repair shop but no one was there. We checked out the opening of a new chicken shop. We passed a butchers with some interesting items on display. We drank a lot of tea, ate popcorn and pastry dippers in a small cafe!

We took a slightly different route back to the homestay and found a huge monestry. How we missed this on our DIY temple tour, we are unsure. It was very pretty and we did a grand tour of the grounds.


Home to re-energise before dinner with a spot of wifi action and Indian TV news in English.

Guess where we went for dinner? Yes, the same small cafe we always go.  We didn't even need to order to tonight, our choice of food is now well known and our delicious veg thali arrived, followed by double chai. It is easy to opt for a thali as it is often a mix of lots of little dishes and they are all topped up until you are full ;-) Perfect.

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