DAY 28 - MANALI/DHARAMSALA Unfortunately, James wasn't feeling 100% on our last day in Manali and decided to get some rest, so I resolved to spend my last few hours in the area visiting the nearby hill town of Vishasht, a popular backpacker hangout during the peak season. After catching a rickshaw up, I made my way straight to the town's two main temples located in its centre. Although small, they were both nicely designed and cast great views over the surroundi...

DAY 27 - MANALI We decided to spend the morning visiting Manali's most famous site, the Hadimba Temple, so made our way to an opening in the forest where it was situated. One of the first things we noticed were the number of local women charging money for a picture with one of the many huge, dopey white rabbits that they carried round with them (a bizarre but very common practice in Manali). The temple itself was in keeping with the traditional feel of the town,...

DAY 26 - MANALI In keeping with the slower pace of life up in the Himalayas, our day took a while to get going and we enjoyed a pleasant breakfast with one of the managers of the guest house as the sun slowly rose, chatting about the many contrasts we had noticed between the mountain towns and other areas of northern India. The weather couldn't have been more different to the day before's drizzly affair, so we decided to walk up to the main part of Old Manali an...

DAY 24 - SHIMLA/MANALI We left our hostel in the early morning and swiftly made our way down Shimla's sloped paths until we arrived at our coach's departure point near the railway station. Our coach was far from 'deluxe', as our tickets had advertised, but it was comfortable enough and the 9 hour journey passed with relative ease. Once again, the Himalayan scenery was a treat and we spent the majority of the journey glued to our windows, watching river rapids cu...

DAY 22 - CHANDIGARH/SHIMLA We caught a morning train from Chandigarh's artistically decorated station at 10.30, arriving at a town called Kalka 40 minutes later. From there, we caught the region's infamous 'toy train' up to Shimla, meandering our way through the mountain ranges as we gradually ascended up the narrow-gauge railway line. The views from the brightly coloured carriages made the five hour journey an enjoyable one and we relaxed and shared stories wit...