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Published: October 11th 2008
On the way from Manali to McLoyd Ganj
For my master colleagues: perhaps our prof also launched lays in India?... remembering a great prof!Donna and me took the 4 o’clock bus from McLeod Ganj to Amritsar… we wanted - that day there was no bus but then we met a nice Israeli couple we went to Amritsar with. So we shared a taxi to Dharamsala to make sure to get the bus to Amritsar. As it was the first bus that left on that day the only thing we could hear at the bus station in Dharamsala was the snoring of the people that spent their night there. It seems that Indians sleep everywhere - it’s still so strange for me to see them sleeping everywhere. The backpacks had to go on the top of the bus - it was the first time we made that by ourselves - I had some doubts it would stay up there… but you have to trust and keep your most important stuff with you in the bus - then it’s no problem. After I got stolen everything in Mexico last year I’m not that scared of that anymore.
A lot of the horns - especially of the buses and trucks have melodies - so you can imagine how it sounds on the streets. Sometimes it seems there’re
On the way from Manali to McLoyd Ganj
ok... where do you want to go? obviously we always needed the help of the locals when we were travelling - and received much more help than we ever expected... people are so extremly friendly and helpful! thousands of ambulances on the street. Then additionally you often have to listen to the music of the bus drivers and to smell the rubbish they’re burning everywhere. But you get used to close your nose, especially when you’re crossing a bridge or by entering a toilet. Thank you for the malaria tablets Donna! I’ll start taking them when I’m in Mumbai. I brought some very good but expensive tablets with me - just in case. But for the whole time that would have cost 300 Euros so I decided the stand-by version. But Donna got another brand very cheap in England - just as a hint if you’re planning to come to India.
It was a shock to arrive in Amritsar: the first time after more than one month there were high temperatures, crowed streets of a big town (one million) - it was sooooo noisy, dirty… When we went with a rickshaw to the place where we wanted to stay some guys immediately tried to tell us that we have to buy some scarves to put on our heads by entering the temple (we stayed inside of the Sikh temple complex). A police man told me then
On the way from Manali to McLoyd Ganj
the only seats we found at the bus station at night was an eating area at daytime. people started building a queue to become attended... I could wear my own scarf - it’s crazy what happens to you in a few minutes after arriving. Then we arrived at the temple guesthouse - it’s for free (donations) and it looks like a prison (see picture) but for 2 days it was a great experience to stay inside of the temple complex with all the pilgrims.
On the next day we went to the boarder closing (Indian - Pakistan boarder). It was so strange to see the women dancing just before the daily ceremony started - I was told they want to show how proud they’re. I was very happy to go back to Amritsar - I don’t feel comfortable on that crowded places! Back inside of the temple I didn’t feel that safe neither because of the bomb blasts in Islamabad etc… - but on the other side we felt so welcome there: we had dinner in the donations kitchen, went to every temple, got holy pudding etc.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Donna - after 2 weeks traveling together, having a great time and sharing such a lot of experiences! But who knows - perhaps we meet in Goa again... I
McLeod Ganj
view on the village where the Tibetan refugees around Dalai Lhama are living headed with a local bus to Patancot, had breakfast in the streets (kind of Swiss Roesti with Yoghurt) and traveled the first time by train (in the Northern mountains area there’re no trains). I almost lost my bus because I was on the wrong platform (nobody spoke English) - I met some lovely female Indian students in the train - they were very open-minded and it was so nice to talk to them. Then there came a whole family to my cabin, a nice young guy and a strange old man. Strange mixture!
In Jodhpur (Rajasthan) I felt like needing a little bit of luxury so I reserved a single room and went out for dinner in one of the best restaurants in town - a Swiss women asked me to join me. It was so interesting to talk to her - she was in India when she was twenty years old. Thanks for inviting me for dinner! I’ll do that next time with young travelers as I’m at the moment.
In some places you just wake up the owners/ waiters by entering - they are just sleeping on the floor of the restaurant etc. when there are no
McLeod Ganj
Let's see how our broken trousers leave this tailor... costumers… it’s just normal.
The audio guide of the fort in Jodhpur is great - you really got inside the Maharajahan culture. There I met some people of Delhi and went with their car to a Hindu temple - it was a great experience to make the Hindu ritual with them in the temple. Thanks! I didn’t leave Jodhpur without having a look at the white monument where the Maharajas still bring their dead relatives and a palace they built almost 100 years ago - a nice museum with lots of information about the culture. The most difficult thing was to search an ATM in Jodhpur… who can you ask? Poor people wouldn’t understand what you’re looking for or ask you for money. So I went to a mobile phone shop - but also the guy I asked started to offer me to come to his shop after a few minutes walking to the ATM.
During the 10 hours train trip to Jaisalmer it became hotter and hotter - Jaisalmer is located in the Tharr desert. But I still prefer to travel in a lower class with fans instead of Air Conditioning - but it became so sandy inside
McLeod Ganj
village atmosphere of the train; not that good for my skin; the sleeper trains are very comfortable!
I got picked up from the train station in Jaisalmer by the hotel employees to bring to the hotel. I knew that I got all that service and a very cheap and very nice hotel room with own bathroom because they wanted me to book a Camel-Safari with them. After arriving I had lunch in the hotel and they already started to ask me about my plans… I said I didn’t know yet. Then I searched for the travel agencies recommended by the lonely planet and got a safari for the half of the price they offered me at the hotel. I just told my hotel that I met friends and want to make the safari with them - so they left me in peace and were not too angry. Jeeeeeeeesus - camels are so high! I enjoyed it so much to be in the desert for two whole days - our guides cooked for us, we slept under thousands of stars in the middle of nowhere. The last two hours I walked because my feeds were hurting so much - the first day
McLeod Ganj
cooking classes the seat of my camel was better!
On the last day I visited a Havali (houses of very rich families - most of them because of the silk street). On the way there some men tried to sell their house as the official haveli I was looking for and showed me the rooms - of course they wanted to sell me their products afterwards.
I always feel very safe here in India - I never heard of that somebody got stolen etc. - Indians do it in other ways (selling their products, recommending places where they get commission etc.) - It’s so strange that although there’s such a lot of poverty there’s no criminality (perhaps in big cities as Delhi, Mumbai is quiet safe).
The sleeper bus to Udaipur was so funny! I never saw a bus with beds above the seats - very comfortable! I got my own cabine! And I met very nice Asian people and the first couple from Madrid - until that moment I only met Spanish people from Cataluña (sorry, Catalans - of cours Catalan people)! I took cooking classes there with another German man - in the house of the hotel family -
McLeod Ganj
Indians make their bread every day at home now I’m ready to practice that back home! Indian life is changing so much. Our female cooking teacher told us that she is not allowed to talk to the parents of her husband; but they educate their sun very liberal - he goes to a private school and learnes English since he was 2 years old. Not a lot of houses have fixed phones - in India it changed directly from letters to the latest mobile phones - incredible India!
I can highly recommend going to the palace and the haveli (house of rich commercial people) with the dancing performance in the evening! It was difficult to get to the train station - the first time I wasn’t asked every minute if I need a Rickshaw... The reasons were a Hindu and Muslim festival at the same time so people didn't work.
I felt a little bit sick and it usually stinks so much in the train stations (toilets are running through and are used by poor people at night time when they stand within the train stations…). People were sleeping in the whole train station, just about to wake up, praying with inscenes (I cannot stand that at
McLeod Ganj
our cooking class teacher - great kitchen with a great view all) and men were selling tea. Not a good mixture… I just hoped my seat wouldn’t be next to a toilet in the train - it often stinks so much! Finally I found the correct platform (nobody knew English on the platform they sent me first) and met some lovely English girls that helped me think about s.sth. else than feeling sick; it’s not good to be alone in that kind of situations - but travelers help each other😊 In the train I met some students from Delhi that are living in Mumbai - thanks for the Hindu songs you put on my mp3-player!
Then we saw the suburbs of Mumbai - a lot of slums just next to the train tracks… high houses for the rich people just next to it, stinking rivers, nice countryside with palm trees and nice lakes - just five minutes later... In India you have you get used to changes every minute - and even more surprising …
Soon I'll upload the other pictures of Rajastan for you... kisses to youuuuuuu!
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Lal
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Nice pictures.....