On the Weekend of January 28-30th, Matt, Shane, and I made a trip up to Nainital, an adorable little town on a lake in the foothills of the Himalayas. We took a day train there, which was very interesting. They crowd 3 people onto each bench, which is only barely possible for people of Indian size. There was constantly something to entertain you, however, and for the entire 6 hours we had crying babies, peeing babies, vendors, and people staring at us to amuse us. As we got off the train, we breathed the freshest air we had breathed in a month. It felt so good! We stayed in a little town at the base of the mountains for the night, and took a rickety bus up a steep windy road on a cliff in the morning to Nainital.
Our cozy accommodations.
Nainital is absolutely beautiful, and we basically just wandered around for two days. We took a rowboat ride on the lake, meandered around the outdoor markets, and took a cable car thingy to the top of a mountain to catch the sunset. The view was remarkable, and all you could see for miles were the snowy caps of mountains. We took our time strolling back down the mountain, fully appreciating the nature and greenery that is so hard to find in Delhi. That night we met three young Indian friends visiting Nainital on vacation. We couldn’t communicate very well with them, but they were fun to be around. The next day they took us to the zoo (I love zoos!) and a Hindu temple, before a freak storm rolled in and they rushed back home. The storm was really cool though. It rained a bunch, followed by huge hail, and it even snowed! Needless to say it was very very cold, but it was an absolutely beautiful sight to see on the lake!
