Amritsar was just like the India we had known and loved the first time around, bustling streets, friendly people, delicious food and amazing smells. It's also home to the holiest shrine in Sikhism, the Golden Temple, which draws millions of pilgrims from all over the world. The temple itself is incredible and the dome is supposed to be gilded with pure gold. They have a kitchen inside the walls that caters for 60,000 to 80,000 pilgrims every day completely free of charge for anyone who visits, donations are welcome but not enforced. We thought it rude not to eat and experience the mass scale operation of preparation and the serving of food to the masses, it was pretty cool eating with a hall of a few hundred people who looked pleased we had joined them for dinner. This was just the second floor of dining halls and we were ushered out pretty sharpish as the next lot were waiting, plate in hand for their meal.
Indian Punjab seemed to be just as friendly as Pakistani Punjab as we had numerous photos and conversations with visitors. This continued at the park near the temple where Indians were killed or wounded by the British which we wanted to visit after re-watching the film Gandhi before we left. Jo was asked in the park if she wanted group sex and when she responded "No, I am with my boyfriend", she was asked if she wanted him to join us!! We don't remember Indian's being this liberal last time, it was a far cry from just over the border in Pakistan. On the subject of sex, a cycle rickshaw driver befriended us on the street and we finally gave in and got him to take us on a tour of the city. Questions about our marital status is generally standard conversation, which got onto the subject of his wife. His response was "I have no wife or girlfriend so now I have sex with my hand", which resulted in a look of disbelief from us that he saw no problem in telling us this.
After our last plush hotel disaster in China with no swimming pool, we took the plunge (no pun intended) and checked in to a fancy hotel for the night. We were so excited to have a day by the pool, on the way to the room our heart sank, there definitely was a pool but with no water in it!! We managed to agree after much deliberation they fill the pool as that was the reason for booking the hotel. It will be ready by 12 was the in initial response, this kept getting later and later until we were told 4 was the final time. Jo was fuming, we were offered a free dinner but that defeated the object of staying there for a pool so Alex spoke to the manager on the phone after the numpties behind desk couldn't resolve anything and we were promised an extra night free and the pool full the next morning which worked out so much better. It was bliss, room service, a massage in our room, a day by the pool, a bottle of French wine with dinner. C'est magnifique.
McLeod Ganj was packed with people for the size of the place but a day in we found out the Dalai Lama had been making 4 day speeches to anyone who wanted to listen. His home is in Dharmasala just down the road along with Tibet's government in exile. Set in the mountains, it was quite a peaceful place once most of the tourists had left. There was an interesting museum about Chinese oppression of the Tibetan's and we also got a history lesson off a guy who we got to book our bus onwards. He had a MA in economics but owned a travel business?? He knew so much about why the Chinese invaded and even about the separation of India and Pakistan, it was good to get a good understanding of the situation.
Onto Manali which is supposedly the most populated area for Tibetan's in exile which was to be the place Alex entered a competition to win a trip to Bhutan which a National Geographic Photographer with the story being 'Tibetan's in Exile' which you can see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13539181@N06/sets/72157625179592758/
Manali was really chilled, probably due to having the claim of world-renowned hash growing wild in the mountains, we thought it rude not to try at least a space cake!! We stayed in Old Manali which was so much more relaxed but a lot of our time was spent trying to find people for Alex to photograph for the competition. One of the guys we met that allowed Alex to take his photo was Babaji who was probably the most humble person we have met along the way. His tales of walking across a lot of India on foot, never having a family and never marrying because all he needs is God to be happy. All he asked in return was we send him the photos taken, seeing he even came to the Tibetan monastery with us so Alex could take his photo with a monk to tell the story of Tibetan's settling in peace in North India. He joined us for a cup of chai and we promised him we print the photos right away and meet again when they were ready. 30 minutes later, we met again on the main street in New Manali to show him the photos and give him 500 rupees to help him out. His face lit up and gave both of us a massive bear-hug. The money only equated to around £7 but considering rooms are 300 and a good meal is 70, you can appreciate his amazement.
A day trip to Kullu for a festival of the gods was an crazy one, there were thousands from all over the valley that came to see the chaos. Plenty of drums and running around with statues of the gods made the carnival atmosphere, at times some of the crowd nearly being taken out.
The influence of the British Raj was self evident in the next port of call, Shimla. The main street felt like Bath had been invaded by Indians!! Everything from the red postboxes to the church, there was a definite Britishness to the place, even the children wore blazer and tie to school. Being a big tourist destination for Indian's, our budget hotel became ramshackle as there seemed to be a lot of wealth. The British ran the country from the hillstation when in power and that elitism is still seen today with some of the top school's in India situated there. Arriving early off the night bus, we traipsed round for an hour trying to meet our budget in a hotel that actually had a room. Eventually we did and it was very basic to say the least, running water became an issue for over a day of the stay and incense was needed to cover the stale smell of the room.
A few days later we jumped on a toy train that took us to Kalka, through 103 tunnels winding round mountains, it was a beautiful journey. From there, we took a connecting train to Chandigarh to see what a clean rich Indian city looks like.
Alex & Jo xx
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