Friday, June 5, 2009

Amritsar to Dharamsala & McLeod Ganj




















































































We were a bit loath to leave Rishikesh & our friend Leo who we’d really got on with like a house on fire while we were staying at our lovely little hillside joint. But we forced ourselves to get the train tickets for another (ever daunting) train journey to Amritsar from Haridwar from where we’d get a bus to Dharamsala from where we’d get a jeep or bus to McLeod Ganj where we planned to stay for a bit. So we set off on one hot morning bussing it to horrible Haridwar from where we’d catch the train. As always the whole train situation proved to be enormously eventful starting with many groups of Indians and families of holiday makers surrounding us & our backpacks as we went through the usual “where are you from, what is your name, where are you going….etc” There was a particularly large family who seemed to want to take us under their wing and who were traveling to Amritsar also. It turned out to be fortunate as there were the usual suspicious groups of train urchins who were constantly eying us & our bags not to mention the fact that the train, once it arrived, suddenly split up into two trains confusing the hell out of us. The family laughed and beckoned us to follow them down the platform as we were going to be sitting/sleeping in a nearby car to theirs. We all fought our way down the platform as the train tracks switched and the detached cars re-attached themselves to the rest of the train. Suddenly the whole train started to move off after a couple of the family members had already scrambled aboard. Again everyone laughed as we all ran after the train. Finally it came to a halt and the rest of us clambered aboard. Phew-we found our seats and the Indians proceeded to bring out their thermoses and bags of food which were customary on these long journeys. We tended to get thirsty more than hungry & were always amazed at the amazing food fair which would be spread out on their laps & eaten with the hand. I soon clambered up to my top “bed” (drop-down seat) & fell into an off & on sleep. When I’d wake my clothes were wet with sweat as I’d slide around on the vinyl surface of the bed. Dave continued to talk to our travel companions well into the night until finally everyone thought it time to lay down. When finally daylight came we’d stopped at some station and all the food vendors & chai wallahs had come aboard & we realized that our journey had by no means got very far. This as it turned out was due to the incident which had happened in Vienna a few days prior between two different sects of the Sikhs, and so had resulted in considerable train delays. It seemed we had about another 7 hrs to go. When finally we arrived at Amritsar we’d totaled 20hrs on this sticky non AC train & had to immediately set about finding a hotel. We went to the 1st one in the LPG and got a pretty good room with a very effective “cooler” (which they often have instead of an AC). We chilled out, found a Pizzahut---yessss-& slept a well deserved sleep in a pretty cold room. The next day we woke up very early & got to the Golden Temple (which was truly outstanding & actually I thought more impressive than the Taj). We then did the tour of the Jallianwala Bagh which is where in 1919 General Dyer of the British army opened fire on 20,000 Indians holding a peaceful demonstration. (You can see this in the opening scene of Ghandi) In the early evening we got an incredibly cheap rickshaw to the border crossing with Pakistan to watch the absolutely crazy ceremony which is performed every evening by both the Pakistan & Indian border guards. A HUGE crowd of hooped up Indians (& special section for foreigners) is seated on the Indian side and a much lesser crowd of way more restrained Pakistanis on the Pakistan side. (The women were also separated from the men). On the Indian side the whole thing escalated into a kind of Bangra-like disco thing. People running down from their seats to dance like crazy to the music which was blaring from speakers all around while some guy shouted stuff into a mike. There were no such goings on on the Pakistan side, and I kind of felt a bit sorry for them as they sat there watching the Indians having the time of their lives! Once all the dancing was over the border officials got down to the business of their ceremonies and started marching in a VERY peculiar manor (a mix between the German march & Monty Pythons silly walk) to the cheers of the Indians who commended every soldier with clapping & shouting. It was all great fun. At the gate of the border various strange performances occurred between the Pakistan & Indian Soldiers as they hoisted the flags of their respective countries.. When it was all finally done we rushed off to find our rickshaw driver whom amazingly we found. I say amazingly, because by this time an enormous kind of sand storm had begun to develop & visibility was becoming practically non existent. Luckily we spotted his glowing orange shirt through all the dust & we cheerfully hopped aboard. As usual in one of the larger rickshaw we were in we picked up & dropped off various bodies on the way who were all masked by shrouds of material due to the sandstorm which whipped through the vehicle covering everything in a fine layer of grit.

The next day we hopped aboard a local bus bound for Pathankot from where we caught another bus to Dharamsala. A sudden downpour at the bustop here as we looked around for another bus to take us farther up the hill to McLeod Ganj. The weather had become decidedly cooler by this point also after our 7 ½ hr journey. We felt our selves cooling down as we looked out at the beautiful hillsides dotted with picturesque villages & temples. Once we found a bus bound for McLeod Ganj we hopped aboard & 20 minutes later we were at our final destination. After a little look around at a couple of guest houses we decided on one with a beautiful view overlooking the whole of the Dharamsala valley & surrounding hillsides & mountains beyond. After one night however, we’d checked out as we felt that the room was not so great. We found a lovely little “cottage” nearby with kitchen, dining area, 3 beds, bathroom & front yard-kind of excessive for our needs but it was so nice that it was hard to say no.

So we’ve been in this little hillside town of McLeod Ganj for about a week & are very ready to move on up to Manali. So we got our bus tickets for tomorrow at 9pm which bring us into Manali at 5am. We didn’t seem to do much here in McLeod Ganj as it was again one of those hippy towns full of tourist shops & retreats. We took all the walks we could & checked out the monastery & Tibet museum. It’s very “monkish” here of course being the HQ of the Tibetan Government in exile & the residence of the Dalai Lama. So monks are everywhere on there motorbikes & cell phones. Hippies are everywhere in their hemp & rasta locks & the local teens are as hip as can be. The weather has been pretty hot only raining a couple of times (it generally rains a good deal here apparently), & the views of the valleys & mountain ranges are pretty great. However, as I say, we’re looking forward to taking off despite the length of th’bus journey ahead.

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