Day 3

I dont remember sleeping at all that night. At around 05:30, the bus stopped at a Gurudwara, so people could perform their basic morning ablutions. The morning was extremely cold, and I was sure my gums would freeze after I brushed my teeth! Obviously they didnt.
Anyway, we reached Shimla at 12:00; the 10 hour journey took 15 hours; we would soon get used to the way our driver did his math. The hotel was alright, but taking bath in the cold water was one experience I wont want to repeat, ever. After everyone was clean and fed, we moved on to visit Kufri, located about 20 k.m. away. This included a 2 k.m. ride on a pony! The ponies were very cute, and all of us first thought they were proper horses, till some of the 'proper horses' came gambolling towards us.
A pony ride can get uncomfortable, especially when you have to bend backwards while on a downward slope, and the pony almost jumps to cover most of the slope. My pony was called Toofan, and his master was Prem, a very friendly character who told us about movies that were shot there, how much they earned, the temperatures there, and the fact that it would snow in a couple of days. None of us had seen snow before and were cursing ourselves for our timing.
The pony ride ended midway to the top of the mountain. We got off, and roamed around. marvelling at whatever we saw. Bits of snow here and there, and the Himalayas far away. A setting sun and about 30 contented-looking ponies. Throw in a food stall that sold piping hot Maggi noodles and some shopping. And some typical touristy activity like getting photographed wearing the traditional Manali dress, on a yak wearing a cowboy hat, and spotting the India-China border through a telescope.
Some photos:
Siri, Shilpa, Shruti and me. Hoping we can strike the same pose on top of Mt.Everest some day, and me regretting not getting my jacket along:

Shilpa, Siri and Shruti in the traditional Manali outfit:


The India-China border should be lurking in here:



For me, the highlight of Kufri was the setting sun, which we caught on the pony ride back to the bus. It was breath-taking. Deep red and glowing orange among the pine trees and the faraway mountains. Pity I couldnt capture it on camera; I was too insecure with Toofan acting up and trying to get me to focus on the more boring features like the rocky slope and the awkward angles that your leg could bend to if your pony acted up.
Back at Shimla, we loitered around Mall road, didnt shop(Junaid warned us that it would all be too expensive, which it was not.), had pizzas and burgers for dinner at a Cafe for a change, and headed back to the hotel.
Slumber that night felt like heavenly tonic or amrut, since I hadnt slept for 3 nights in a row. And three cheers to clean teeth before hitting the sack. Yeah well, girls do have issues while travelling. :D