Recently I spent 3 weeks in Northern India and I thought I’d share some of my experiences.

First let me say India is no holiday – it is travelling and an adventure – both of which many of us think are best left to 20-something backpackers.

Even in our air-conditioned cars with drivers and expert guides (more about guides later), it was often hard work. Especially when your tummy tells you need a European toilet and not a hole in the ground with two tiles on either side for your feet.

Trust me this is white-knuckle stuff, especially when the roads mostly seem like our outback roads with corrugations and potholes plus, in the foothills of the Himalayas, hundreds of hair-raising hairpin bends.  Actually, the ‘foothills’ seemed more like mountains to us but then we did see the snow covered towering peaks of the real mountains in the distance. Your driver (and I was in awe – I repeat awe, of their driving abilities) skilfully avoids monkeys, dogs, trucks, buses, cars and so on, on a road no wider than one lane of one of our side alleys.

Speaking of what’s on the road, when you get down from the mountains to arable land, towns and cities, your driver will also be dodging camels, bullocks, donkeys and all kinds of other ways of conveying good from one place to another, bicycle rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, tiny ‘tuk tuk’ taxis (all powered by gas in Delhi where the pollution is prodigious), mopeds, motor scooters (very popular), bicycles, pedestrians and yes, elephants. As well as cars driving straight at you down the middle of the road. There is constant horn honking and this is encouraged. When someone’s coming up behind you want to know about it.

Then there are the holy cows. Yes it’s true. Cows are allowed to wander wherever they please. They are not totally useless however as they are used occasionally to pull carts and on a daily basis, to provide milk that is made into a cottage cheese like concoction called ‘paneer’.

I actually saw a gorgeous specimen of a holy cow (the most gorgeous are the Brahmin – but of course), standing in the middle of an intersection creating a roundabout, as all of the above skilfully wound their way around it. A magnificent Brahmin cow – it stood impassively in the middle of the road impervious to the hordes, the pollution and the whole orchestrated chaos that encapsulates India. Symbolic in a way, for a country that despite all of the above, was primarily spiritual (more later).

One of our drivers made a wise observation. He said “There’s nothing you can’t find out about India by looking out the window of a car”. This is absolutely true. Dwellings are small and mostly for sleeping, everything else is done out-front, from washing yourself to washing your clothes to – well- doing other things. Don’t go to India if you’re a prude or squeamish about these things. India now has a population of over a billion people. There just isn’t room for a billion quarter-acre blocks.

One of the cheapest and best ways to get around India is the railway. India is a huge country and it has one of the largest rail networks in the world. India Rail is the largest employer on the sub-continent and rail travel is cheap. We did two overnight sleeper train journeys, one on the way to Dharamsala via Pathankot, and the other on the way to the Holiest of Holy cities in India, Varanasi, the city of Shiva. Don’t expect things to be pristine clean however (except maybe in first class – we travelled second class, don’t go any lower than that or it gets pretty gruesome, but still cheap and pragmatic). Don’t expect fluffy pillows and soft blankets either – it’s strictly army issue. Do, however, expect friendly service – lots of chai masala, (spicy tea they call chai latte in Australia) and occasionally, airline quality food and service too, depending on your luck.

Here’s a ‘WOW’ journey you won’t want to miss. First you need to go to Shimla – the biggest hill station in the Himalayan foothills and the capital of India during the hot summer months during the British occupation (more about that later).

Between Shimla and Kalka at the bottom of the mountains runs the famous ‘Toy Train’ the finest narrow gauge railway in India and I suspect, one of the best in the world. It’s pulled by a mini diesel engine and navigates its way though 103 tunnels and over 700 bridges – all meticulously numbered. When you're not tunnel-number spotting you can feast your eyes on the magnificent scenery, including terraced fields running down the mountains growing all manner of crops, and enjoy the colourful, quaint ‘railway stations’.

Because of the terrain, each bridge is built in the Roman aqueduct style – it is an incredible feat of engineering.

We were lucky enough to share our space on the ‘Toy’ train with a lovely Indian family, mum, dad and three lively children. They generously shared their lunch with us, which mum had prepared at home, and we communicated by friendly goodwill and empathy.

This was a highlight of our trip to India and a journey we (my partner H.B. and I) enthusiastically recommend.

Hope you enjoy the 'snaps’.

Till next time, Muriel.

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