The Rajdhani journey from Mumbai to Delhi was was again an uneventful trip, because this time too, everyone was fast asleep. Rashmi was awake for a total of four hours. None of us could beat that, but it was not for want of effort. I think it was the AC and the food. We were served something or the other every now and then. The train was two hours late, and we reached Nizamuddin at only eight thirty in the evening. We had to catch a taxi to get to the Old Delhi station, and we were definitely ripped off.

Delhi was hot. Somehow it just doesn’t have the feel of Mumbai. It’s an expensive city, and distances are large there. Broad roads. Sunita Narain of the CSE said that nearly 20% of the city’s area is under roads.

At Old Delhi we caught our third and last train - the Ranikhet Express (a misnomer) which reached Kathogdam at 6:00 on the 20th. We’d spent three conseuctive nights in the train!

There was a taxi waiting for us at the station. We stopped en route for an oily breakfast of bread pakodas and potatoes. It was a three and a half hour drive to Ranikhet, and we reached by around 10. We were all feeling slightly queasy - something we ascribed to a combination of the hairpin binds and the breakfast.

Ranikhet town is bustling with people and shops. It’s swarming with activity, and most of it centred around the Mall road. It’s the home of the Kumaon regiment, and has a well-maintained cantonment. We drove past the town along the road to Almora for around ten kilometres and reached Naini, where we were to be staying.

We’re staying at a homestay with Mr Anand and his wife Meena, who work with the Pan Himalayan Grassroutes. The room is absolutely gorgeous. Its big, with a nice small balcony outside, overlooking the valley below. The homestay has Wi-fi!! That makes things really simple now!It was misty today, but when it clears up, we’ll be able to see the Himalayas outside!

We were expecting it to be cold, but its quite sunny here. It’s daylight by  five in the morning and sunset is by around seven thirty in the evening.

It’s not rained yet. They were expecting the first showers around ten days ago.A lot depends on the monsoon here.