The Mall at Shimla is closed to cars and the walk from Christ Church to Scandal Point fills up at sundown. Locals, tourists, the monkey hustle by the Ridge. The English bookshop is from 1886 and still trading. The chai at the corner stall stays hot for about three minutes in the summer evening cool.

Solang valley is the staging ground for Manali adventure. Paragliding off the ridge, ATVs in the lower meadow. The paraglider pilots are mostly locals trained at the federation; the tandem ride is short, about ten minutes, and you land on the football pitch below. The pilots collect their fee in cash at the bottom.

The main Dalai Lama temple at McLeodganj, Tsuglagkhang. Is open through the day and the resident monks keep an open seating area. The Norbulingka institute downhill is where the Tibetan diaspora teaches the old crafts: thangka painting, wood carving, statue-making. The walk between is downhill all the way and a steep climb back.

The Golden Temple is open round the clock and the morning queue starts at four. The langar serves about a hundred thousand meals a day, free, regardless of who you are. We sat through it at six in the morning. The kar seva volunteers cycle through fast. The clatter of steel plates is the dominant sound.