On Sunday my learned colleague Rob & I elected to get the hell out of Shimla and see some of the surrounding countryside. To wit, we forked over the hefty sum of 1125 Rupees each (about 12 pounds) and hired ourselves a 4WD, driver and tour guide for the day, and set off to the…

First week down, so here's some more choice tidbits and photographs… Our class consists of Rob the Dutch Dude, our instructor Sukhdev, and myself. There's a big old theatre in town, which was built when this was the Indian Summer Capital when the English ran the place (it gets wayyyyy too hot down in Delhi…

Exams, buildings and mountain views are all very well, but the thing you're all desperate to know is “What's the beer like ??”. Being the scientifically inquiring type, I set out to test this very concept the other night with my new learned chums, Brett the Aussie and Angus the Irish Bloke. The beer of…

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I just passed my first ever Microsoft examination, which confers upon me the globally recognised status of Microsoft Certified Professional. But you can call me “Mike”, for short. So that's one exam down, about another 6 to go.

So the question on everyone's lips is, “What's it like in Shimla, Jason ?”. Well I'll tell, shall I ? This place is fricken' great – admittedly this is my first time in a non-Westernised country, so a lot of the stuff which seasoned travellers regard as pretty standard is still wiggin' me out to…

Wow, got to Shimla today, and there couldn't be two places more different ! After driving for what seemed an interminable distance across flat, dusty terrain our bus started up a gradual incline and the landscape became incredibly green. The roadside was even peppered with gum trees ! I mentioned that the traffic in Delhi…

Hmm, that was well done… never made it to the Red Fort – apparently it was closed, but then I also had a little trouble working out wha tin the hell the guy was trying to tell me about getting a cab out there. In the absence of any other good plan I elected to…

Listing all the things I needed to do before leaving was an excellent plan. At least it has given me a concrete understanding of what it was I didn't get around to doing. Off to Heathrow ! Who knows where I'll be the next time I get to update this… I reckon I'll reveal the…

Heathrow really takes all the fun out of flying, doesn't it ? Never mind… I'm now here to tell you about my hotel room in Delhi, because I haven't organised to go outside yet (although that's immediately next on the agenda after posting this). Truthfully I've only really spent any time in my hotel room,…

Am doing the final packing & tidying & getting organised, although for the first time before a long haul trip I wasn't up til 5am feverishly sorting through stuff to take ! Must be getting old…