Our holiday in India is rapidly coming to an end – there are just five days before we fly back to the UK and return to normal life. We’ve been looking back at all the places we’ve visited and it’s remarkable just how far we have travelled in this vast country from east to west, south to north. Before we head back to Delhi, we’ve a bit further north to go towards the Himalayas.

We’ve taken the Himalayan Queen ‘toy train’ from Kalka to get to Shimla. It’s a narrow gauge railway that climbs, and climbs, and climbs some more. The railway is a remarkable feat of engineering as it winds its way higher and higher – clinging to the edge of the mountain. The views are incredible down valleys and gorges. Almost as remarkable as the railway is the way towns and villages cling to the mountainside, its looks implausible that they don’t just slide down.

Our carriage is full of a mixture of tourists, some Indian and others from around the world. I think there are a couple of other Brits and an older couple behind us sound like they are from Australia or New Zealand. I overheard them say that they are staying at the same hotel we are at, so I’ll try and ‘do an Aunty Janet’ and find out about their life story. There is a large annoying man sitting across the aisle from me. Not only does he keep scrolling through social media on his phone with the volume turned right up, after he’d eaten his lunch I saw him scrunch up the packaging and throw it out the carriage window – disgusting.

When we reach Shimla we’ll be staying at the poshest hotel of this trip. It’s called the Oberoi Cecil. It was a tip off from one of my work colleagues. It’s the (even) more expensive brand of the Trident hotel chain we stayed at in Mumbai. It’ll be two days of rest and relaxation in the Himalayan foothills (pretty big foothills!) before we make our final journey back to Delhi where we’ll spend three nights before we fly home.