Vacation!

First time snagging a cubicle in an internet cafe since we left.. it's been a whirlwind!! We flew to Delhi, checked into our hotel and had a traditional north indian dinner on the roof looking over the city. The next day we organized a driver to take us sightseeing so we went to Qutab Minar (an ancient city with massive ruins, tombs and towers), the Bahai Lotus Temple which is one of seven temples celebrating the collective Bahai religion, then to the Red Fort which was occupied by the british until Indian Independence in 1947 and is a massssive structure made with bright red stones. We went straight to the train station and did an overnight train (surprisingly easy and comfortable..woke up to Chai tea) to Panthancot where we took a taxi about 2 hours to our hotel in Delhousie, which is a town nestled in the Himalayas. Our first hiccup occured at the hotel where they hadn't recieved our reservation or confirmation.. but we had paid online and had been charged already.. so we kinda made a scene (dad would be proud) and they finally managed to find us rooms at a hotel next door. We have two rooms connected by a beautiful balcony overlooking the Mountains and Valley.. it is gorgeous! And Cold.. thankfully I packed some warm clothes but we bought some handwoven slippers to keep our feet snuggly while we all celebrated Tracy's 21st birthday on the balcony with room service and cake. Woke up early this morning to a frozen shower from due to the power outage, and to Rafat's missing Wallet.. retraced our steps to the general store where he had bought bday cake candles and they had kept it!! So lucky... I'm thanking our hotel neighbor from Brussels who prayed to St. Augustine that we find his wallet.We took a 2 hour bus through the narrow carved roads in the mountains, passing monkeys and shanty towns, until we reached Kajjair (Small Switzerland) which is a huge plot of empty land that had a small village, and plenty of touristy activities. The boys went Paragliding, and we went Zorbing (they strap you inside a plastic ball and roll you around), we grabbed some lunch and laid around in the sun until our bus ride back. Tonight we'll take it easy since we have a 7am train to Darhmasala, a Hill Station town about 5 hours away deeper into the mountains. It'll be nice to stay there for three days and relax, hike, raft and then girl's turn to paraglide!! Loving exploring...