Advertisement
Following our visit in Rishikesh we boarded a train to head to Dharamsala. We arrive in the morning to find ourselves in Jammu, Kashmir, 20 kilometers from the Pakistan boarder. It happens that our stop was in the middle of the night, and we slept right through it. We spent some time at the train station, waiting for the train to take us back down south. We had a man ask us, “is this your first visit here?” We replied that, “yes this was our first time in India.’ The man laughed and said, “ your not in India anymore, you are in Kashmir.” Ever since partition in 1947 the status of this land has caused much dispute between India and Pakistan. The conflict that is still going on and can be seen everywhere, from the many military personal walking around with huge machine guns, to the many languages that things are written in.
We left this area quickly. Tired and a little frustrated we boarded another train and were immediately the center of attention from an Indian family heading back to their home after vacationing in Kashmir. Their 2 sons spoke English quite well. They were so curious about
our families and what life is like in America. They were quite fascinated with the camera so I gave it to them to play with, when I looked at it later it seems that the 1 boy had his sister take about 2 dozen head shots of him trying to get a good one for us to have. They shared their food with us and we exchanged items. I exchanged my watch with the little girl and we gave them some American coins we had with us. You would think it was the best gifts they ever received. They were quite insistent we continue on their 12-hour train ride and join them at their house. It was tempting but we got of at our station and headed to McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala).
In 1949 the Communist government of China decided to send troops into Tibet and take over the country. The Dalia Lama left Tibet in 1959 and sought refuge in what is now McLeod Ganj, India. Since then thousands of Tibetan immigrants have found political asylum in India. The Chinese continue to resist any notion of a Tibetan liberation.
Our arrival to Dharamsala was like an answer to
our prayers. After many weeks of struggling in India, Dharamsala was like a breath of fresh air. The streets were clean and the people do not stare and stalk you wherever you go. We even found a nice, clean hotel with a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding the city. We decided to spend some time there and take some classes. We took numerous Yoga classes, which were quite different then the classes in the states. We also decided to learn some Tibetan medicine and took some classes with a Tibetan doctor. Surprisingly, Tibetan medicine is based on a lot of the same principles as Osteopathic medicine in the states. It all concerns proper muscularskeletal alignment to promote better health, and incorporates holistic treatments for healing common illnesses.
After 8 blissful days, doing yoga, enjoying wilderness hikes and learning Tibetan medicine and Tibetan philosophy we realized that our journey is coming to an end. We decided to make 1 more stop to see the Taj Mahal. I mean you can’t come to India and not see the 7th wonder in the world.
During the Mughal reign in India emperor Shan Jahan had many wives but favored has 2nd
wife, Mumtaz Mahal. When she died in 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child the king was so heartbroken he decided to build the Taj Mahal to show his love he had for her. It took 20 years to build and cost an equivalent of 70 million US dollars today.
The building is more beautiful then we imagined, and more beautiful then the pictures can convey. It is covered with marble and has jewels and precious stones inlaid throughout. While in Agra we decided to do some more touristy things and visited the Red Fort and some of the large religious centers. We even got to see a high tech light and sound show explaining the Hare Krishna movement, it was quite weird, but very interesting to say the least.
We are now back in Delhi and ready for our trip to be over. Traveling really wears on you after a while. It has all occured so fast. The trip, as a whole has been very educational. Not only to learn about the lives of other cultures but it has also made us take a deeper look at our culture and the way we Americans live our
lifes.
We are leaving for paris May 4th and will be spending about a week there. After all this time traveling in poverished countries I think it might be a bit of a cultural shock.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.043s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb