Head Count: 500,000

The Skinny: Dehra Dun is a good-sized city and the perfect place to stop and stock up on supplies before hitting the more remote norhern regions in the Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

What Thar Be: A popular retirement spot for Indian army officers, the city is well-to-do and filled with old guns, motorcycles, and lots of other antiques. "True Values" Internet shop on Rajpur Road, run by Sanjeev Dhingra, is a nice place for emailing, vehicle rentals, and general info on the area. Ranjeet's Motorcycle Repair shop on Gandhi Road is a friendly and interesting bike shop. Ranjeet, one-time employee of Inder Motors in Delhi where we purchased our Enfields, showed us many old bikes and passed the time with free samosas and Cokes.

Digs: There seems to be a shortage of cheap accomodation in the city, but we got lucky and stayed at the family home of our new friend, Sanjeev.

Vittles: Kumar's Vegetarian Restaurant on Rajpur Road, a little north of the clock tower, became a quick favorite with tasty south Indian food and Pizza Hut-esque checkered tablecloths. Street vendors north of Gandhi Park sell delicious momos and chowmein for only 10 R.

Hooch Factor: Godfather Beer gets a big thumbs down in our flavor book, though it is easy to find and only 60R.

Navigability: Driving is a little difficult in Dehra Dun. Roads are a bit crowded--busy with foot and vehicle traffic--and Dehra Dun's little mini-buses called vikrams, which cost only 3R for a ride.

Sliding In and Out: The road toward Shimla is nice, curvy, and well-sealed though we encountered a little rain on the way.