Fighter jets, border towns, wrong trains and STILL NO BEER!!!

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So my final few days in Rishikesh were cool, but fairly uneventful...i continued with the fantastic yoga class that i have decided to continue to the best of my abilities when home, hung out with the 2 english girls and one german that i met in the yoga class, and enjoyed the vews that Rishikesh's fantstic position offered.
I left the town on Tuesday lunchtime, having to walk the short one kilometre over the bridge and up a hill with my backpack in the hotter than usual afternoon sun before i could grab a taxi to the train station.
Rishikesh was a really delightful mixture of holy men and families taking trips away to Dehra Dun or Haridwar, and with the station so quiet and a couple of hours to spare before my train i was able to absorb all that was going on around me. One of the more bizarre sights was a warthog on the tracks snuffling around for food, with a couple of cows just down from them, all with complete disregard for oncoming trains, and epitomising the sometimes rather frustrating Indian chilled-out attitude to things. This was far from frustrating though, and the surrounding hills were colpletely green and lush, in a great contrast to the dry and dusty road from which i had just come, again allowing for some enjoyable time-out.

When i did board the train i was in sleeper class (non-ac and the cheapest on overnight trains with a bed), and was swiftly joined by a loud and maniacal Indian family...grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and of course plenty of children gawping at the foreigner. I thought it would make the overnight journey rather tiresome, but in fact it was they that created my enjoyment. I chatted with the father about english politics, salaries, wedding practice and diet, and was introduced to his children and wife. I also played games with the children, which was of course a real delight.
before it got dark i had managed some time to myself, and the scenery we passed was of the classical movie-style....farmers ploughing with bulocks, Muslim children running across fields in an act of playful innocence, and of course the standard of passing alongside crowds of waving locals who were just excited to see another train pass by their slum or village. I also witnessed my first wild peacock, a sight that was really magical, even if the oppurtunity was the merest of glimpses.

My train's course ended in Jammu Tawi, and it wasnt long before i realised that the travel agent in Rishikesh had told me to get off later than i should have...however it was no great stress as all i had to get was an extra 3 hour train, no great ordeal!! Despite that train being hot and uncomfortable (2nd class local, therefore no fans or ac, and squashed on hard wooden seats..not fun!), i made it to Pathankot, from where i just had to get a 4 hour bus to Dharamsala.
Along that 2nd train journey i had passed by some military installations of some kind, and when walking to catch my bus there had been a few fighter-jets flying very low over-head...I just thought it was a small army and air force town in the North-West of India, with no concern.
On reading my Lonely Planet later in the day, when i eventually reached Mcleod Ganj, i discovered that i had in fact been about 15 miles from the Pakistani border, and that Jammu is one of the areas that is often cited as being incredibly dangerous...in the same breath as Kashmir or even the West Bank might be (i think the latter is a slight exaggeration, but that is LP for you), as there have been a fair few terrorist attacks in the past few years. All in good fun though!!

On the bus to Dharamsala i met a guy from Hong Kong, and we are now sharing a room here in Mcleod Ganj, which is the town home to many Tibetan refugees, the Tibetan Government in Exile, and of course His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I visted the Tibetan Museum today and it was interesting to see the Tibetan "plight" from that point of view, however my knowledge is very limited in this area of political conflict, so i am very wary of making judgements. Mcleod is vibrant yet at the same time in contradiction it is calm, and the scenes are breathtaking. We are something like 1800 m above sea level, and so we are surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks, a visible snow line, and then the lush greenery of the valley beneath us. Im sure i will enjoy the next couple of days I have here, however i cant see myself staying after the weekend, as i want to see the Taj Mahal and visit the 'Pink City', Jaipur before i leave to return home. My the fun times and stories continue!!

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