A healthy walk to visit Hanuman

This is our entry in Dutch goes the Photo!’s Tuesday Photo Challenge – Healthy.

These photos were taken in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Shimla is at an elevation of 7,467 in the foothills of the Himalayas. Featured in the British TV series The Jewel in the Crown as Pankot, Shimla was a hill station for the British Army in World War II.

In October 2014, we visited Jakhu Temple in Shimla, a temple dedicated to the monkey god, Lord Hanuman. The drive uphill to this temple on the top of Jakhu Hill, the highest point in Shimla, was terrifying.  Our guide explained that he could not find a local driver willing to drive up that hill, but the driver who brought us from Amritsar said, basically, “no problem!” As the guide said, the saying is “good driver, good brakes, good luck.” The driver went as far as practicable, and then we and our guide walked up the rest of the way, later walking back down by another route.

When we reached the bottom of the steps, we found this sign grading our physical fitness.  We were pleased to see that we were “absolutely fit.”

The Hanuman statue is 108 feet tall, orange, and visible from as far away as 6 miles.

Hanuman

Hanuman

These photos were taken on October 27, 2014, with an Olympus TG-3 camera.