Wednesday 1 March 2000

Nainital is a strange town.  It is situated up a mountain, next to a crater lake.  It contains the greatest concentration of hotels that I have seen in India.  Somewhat like Torquay.  This is due to it’s popularity as a place to escape the summer heat.  Needless to say, it is cold and deserted at the moment.  We ambled into town for a bite to eat and to look around. 

Took the cable car to the top of the hill above the town.  This vantage point is said to offer wonderful views of the snows.  It was too hazy to see even the nearest snowy peaks and the town was obscured by the forest of pine trees growing on the upper slopes.  Best views were through the scratched glass of the cable car.  However, we did see small patches of snow above the town – to show how cold it was. 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon pottering around the lake.  Walking peacefully was difficult as it was hard to persuade the numerous cycle rickshaw drivers, horse owners, boat owners and shop keepers that all you wanted to do was amble.  We did give in and bargained an hours worth of pedalo for 30 rupees.  Great fun – I’ve never been in one before! 

We returned to the hostel as an English guy who had arrived on an Enfield motorbike was checking in.  We invited him for supper and sat around swapping stories while we cooked it.  We are attempting to eat some of our mountain of food.