Mussoorie

Last weekend, Clint and I took a trip up into the foothills of the Himalayas (pronounced him-mahl-EE-uhs). It ‘s only 2 hours from where we are at Herbrertpur. Mussoorie was founded by the British in the 1800’s (I believe) as a place to retreat from the summer heat.

On the way up to our guest house, our taxi driver stopped at a Chhaya Café, a little bakery/café. It was the cutest little place. We didn’t find out until the following morning, that a Western lady who wanted to help women who had been abandoned by their husbands had set up the café. She taught several of them how to cook and bake, and now these women run it. All of the food made there is from her original recipes.

Clint, when his pen exploded in his mouth :) ...and I only thought that happened in movies

We stayed at a little guest house called Ivy Bank Guest House for only 800 Rupees/night. Ivy Bank was a 23-minute walk (guess who timed that ☺) up from the main tourist area, so it was really quiet. When we dropped our bags off, we noticed that our room was a bit chilly and that our bed only had a sheet and thin blanket. No worries, we thought, we’ll just get heavier blankets from the office once we return from supper. Well, by the time we ate supper, and had walked down and back to the Mall (the main tourist area), it was quite late and the office was completely dark. It can’t be that bad, we figured. Needless to day, we were we sorely mistaken. It COULD be that bad and it WAS. Our room was absolutely freezing all night. Words cannot begin to explain how cold it was. (For Saturday evening, we made sure to get those heavy blankets and a space heater from the office)

The Mall

On Saturday, we awoke to the sound of pouring rain, and because of our freezing cold room, we knew we couldn’t stay there all day. So, we decided to make the most of it. We jogged down to the café, and had a leisurely breakfast while trying to dry off and warm up by the space heater. Then we bought an umbrella for 70 Rupees ($1.75) and headed down to the Mall. By the end of the day, we had had some great food, time spent in another café just reading and talking and were thoroughly soaked…and cold…but happy.

Walking back up to Ivy Bank on Saturday...soaked and cold!

Sunday morning was beautiful. We hiked up the hill about 10 minutes and hiked around to a spot where we could see the snow-capped Himalayas. Then we stopped for breakfast/lunch at a little place Jeff & Janet recommended and met a lot of neat Western Christians. It was a great, and very memorable little trip.