Shimla

After a night of getting eaten alive by bed bugs (ah the good old days) I head out to check out the town. It is a lovely town with Tudor buildings. It is like Dublin in that it has a Gaiety Theater and a Christ Church and I'm reminded of home. Wandering around the old markets selling everything from pieces of string to guns is a trek as it is all on the side of a steep hill. Schlepping is a one of the main types of employment here and every where you see men straining up the hills under ridiculous loads.
There is a temple on the top of the hill and I take on the very steep trek up there. the temple is dedicated to Hanaman the monkey god and there are Brazen monkeys everywhere. The act as if they own the place (which they kind of do) and come up to you to check your pockets and reach in blatantly and take what ever they find. Luckily I was warned on the way up there so I have everything in my bag including my sunglasses. The monkeys have a fascination with sunglasses for some reason and steal them from right off the faces of anybody that did not heed the signs. The temple is peaceful otherwise and as my drenched tee shirt dries in the warm sun the stillness is soothing and baby monkeys play around me with mothers cradling some and nursing them. As I go to leave I see an Indian lady cradling and nursing her child in exactly the same way and I wonder if the monkeys make the same connection I do.
In the evening I go to see a documentary that is part of a film festival. The documentary is about Shimla and how the climate has changed life here, it is made by a local guy that answers questions after, as the only westerner there I'm singled out and I focus my comments on the good narrative and neglect to comment on the soundtrack of elevator music but is was a nice little movie.
Altogether Shilma is a very pretty place with great characture but I don't like the over all feel of the place with its blatant gouging and people after your cash so I resolve to leave in the morning and cut my trip here short by a day.