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2003-08-24 - Ludhiana - Mussoorie (Day 131)

Up and out early I head out and have a lovely drive until it starts getting busy and hot on the road about 10:30am. By noon I start slowly going up and in a couple of hours had gone up to 400m (from 200m +) which while still low was enough to feel a temperature change. I asked three people directions for the next town I was headed to but was unable to get a coherent answer with all three pointing in different directions so I decided to again take a chance on the GPS who was telling me to go down what looked like a single lane country road, one which had not been pointed to by any of the three people I asked. The road was indeed just a small country road though its overgrowth of trees and the simple fact that there was far less traffic and Tata trucks, was alone enough to make it a pleasant drive. While I was only getting away from Amritsar and the plains as quickly as possible so the main highway was enough, now that it was a bit higher and cooler, moving back to the side roads where the fun of driving a bike returned and it was a very pleasant drive.

The road wore on and on and I slowly made my way to Dera Dun that was to be my stop for the night. I drove into what I expected to be a quiet hill station to find a bustling town with a Nike Store, the Gap and a Dominos Pizza, which was the first I had seen since Agra. The place was overly busy and crowded and riding through it with the traffic was unpleasant enough that when I stopped at two hotels to find the rooms poor and very overpriced I decided to just get a pizza to recharge the batteries and move along. The pizza I must say was wonderful but I had to make a decision as this was the turning point - I could go south to Rishikesh the "Yoga capital of the world" and see loads of wandering ascetics on pilgrimage to see the Ganges here which is almost clear or to Mussoorie in the north which was the place to have an affair in the times of English rule. For better or for worse I decided to go with my baser instincts and go with Mussoorie even though being alone I don't really have the impetus that used to drive people up to this beautiful hill station.

I could see the hotels ad parts of the town playing hide and seek through the clouds as I drove the 25km up to the hill station. The top was cold and there was a mist of rain as I reached the top, which was enough reason to just tuck into the first hotel I saw and settle in to enjoy the HBO, which I have missed in Ladakh and Kashmir.

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