Punjab and our journey to the Himalayas

We had seen all the things in India that we had set out to see more quickly than we had expected, thanks partly to being able to travel long distances on overnight trains without losing the days. This meant we had a spare week with no plans and with no intention of spending it in Delhi we consulted the guide books and whitled it down to two options: either head south for a week on the beaches of Goa or head northeast into the Punjab and beyond.

We decided that a beach is a beach and there is still plenty of time for that later so we got ourselves onto the next train to Amritsar in the Punjab, land of the Sikhs. There were two things that we wanted to see in Amritsar and the first was the ceremonial closing of the border at Wagah, the main crossing point between Pakistan and India. We had seen the nightly ceremony on one of the Michael Palin's travel programmes and the event really was like something from Monty Python. The guards on both sides wear ridiculously over the top uniforms and square up to each other like strutting peacocks, goosestepping around and opening and slamming the gates in each other's faces several times before they finally lock up for the night. Crowds turn up in large numbers on both sides of the border to watch the pantomime, with each side trying to drown out the other with music and jeering, flag waving and making mock dashes for the gates, whilst the guards make a big show of holding back the smiling 'angry' masses. Great fun!

The other reason for coming to Amritsar was to see the Golden Temple; the most holy place in the Sikh religion. The stunning temple is set in the middle of a small lake and is covered in an amazing 100kg of gold. We visited it in the early morning and were the only tourists there which really made it a magical experience, being made very welcome by the worshipers and pilgrims. Once again we were asked to have our photograph taken with a smiling Indian family. This has happened to us several times now - not sure whether they think we are UK celebrities or just think we have funny faces!

Our next stop was the Punjab capital of Chandigarh. When the partition of India and Pakistan happened after independence in 1947 the Punjab was cut in two and the capital of Lahore went to Pakistan. This meant that a new capital had to be identified and since none of the existing cities were considered suitable a completely new town was designed and built. Chandigarh is of particular interest to architects and planners because of the involvement of the maestro of the modern movement, the frenchman Le Corbusier, who supervised the layout and designed the major buildings here. It was a fascinating place to visit because it is so different from anywhere else we have been in India with it's regular street patterns and even modern luxuries like litter bins and pavements!

Chandigarh has been much criticised for being 'un-Indian' and for being harsh and sterile. It's true that the buildings are quite brutal in design and have seen better days, and it's not the most attractive place, but it does seem to work quite well; the traffic flows and there is some sense of order, unlike the chaos of other Indian cities we have visited. It is also obviously much more wealthy here, which has brought with it some more 'western' trappings. There are some trendy clothes shops and many of the young wear jeans (even a few of the women). There are even pubs and it wasn't uncommon to see beer bellys!

One of the highlights of Chandigarh, and an antidote to the sterile uniformity of the city, was a visit to the rock garden designed by Nek Chand. The gardens are a sort of amateur Gaudi effort made from rocks and all sorts of disgarded junk, but it's strangely beautiful and certainly great fun and uplifting.

Our final journey in India took us up into the foothills of the Himalayas in the region of Himachal Pradesh where we had decided to spend a few days in Shimla, the old summer capital of the British Raj. We had planned to reach Shimla by the picturesque narrow guage railway, but when we saw people diving head first into the train carriage windows to grab a seat we decided that the 6 hour journey wasn't going to be much fun and got there by taxi in less than half the time instead. Shimla is an amazing place, set at 2,000m on a steep ridge in the foothills with stunning views in all directions, the British built here a mock English shire county town, complete with stone churches and half timbered buildings. There is even a pedestrianised shopping street called The Mall. It's a popular place for wealthy Inidans to holiday and in the afternoons you would see families strolling and shopping on the Mall, maybe stopping for tea and even speaking English - a bit like the Coppers/Kupoors!

We pushed the boat out and stayed in the best hotel in town and Shimla was the perfect place to relax before leaving India (no rickshaws helped). Shimla gave us a chance to cool down (literally) and refect on our time here. If only we could have been transported straight from here to China it would have been great but unfortunately we had to go back to Delhi to get our flight. In a fitting end to our India experience we had an arguement with a taxi driver at Delhi station and ended up getting an auto-rickshaw all the way to the airport, hurtling through 8 lanes of motorway traffic and arriving caked in grime! Once at the airport they wouldn't let us in because we were too early so they carted us off to a holding pen in the car park for which they charged us for the privilege!! When we were eventually allowed into the airport it took us 2 hours to check in but finally we were on our way.

India has been unique! We have loved it and hated it in equal measures but one thing you can say is that it's never boring and we will never forget it!!

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