Holy Cow!

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Mark: Well, we've been in India for 2 months so I thought it was about time I filled you in on the adventure so far! When Louise left you we were leaving Malaysia, and immediately upon touching down the change was enormous. For starters, it took forever to get through the tiny airport at Trichy! We were starting our journey there in the southern province of Tamil Nadu. When we got checked in and ventured out for the day, the fact that we were in India really hit home. It truly is a feast for all the senses.... the smells (incense everywhere), the sounds (more auto-rickshaws than you can imagine), the sights (distressing at times, wondrous at others) and the taste (yeah, the food isn't bad!) really blows your mind.

Trichy was a cool little town and we saw our first big Hindu temples here; we also ventured a few hours east to Thanjavur and saw 'The Big Temple' there... the clue's in the title. We were quite the rarity as a foreigner in these parts. Tamil Nadu doesn't get as many travellers as the more popular parts of India so people were constantly lovely to us.

We began our journey north by taking in the French style town of Pondicherry. 'Pondy' was a nice little town, fronted by the Bay of Bengal, with lots of interesting architecture, though not enough to hold our attention for more than a couple of days. We continued north to Mamallapuram, and saw some amazing rock carvings here. Louise also dipped her feet in the Bay of Bengal to continue her tradition of going in every sea we see!

After a quick stop in Chennai, we started moving through India with a purpose, starting with a 30 hour train journey to Calcutta! The train was very pleasant, as we were in the A/C carriage and a lovely Indian couple talked to us for long periods, giving us advice on where to visit etc. Regular visits from the chai-wallah (tea-boy) and samosa man didn't go amiss either. Arriving in Calcutta we were praying for a few dry days, as we'd heard that the monsoon would be bad there, and true to form, it pissed it down! To top things off, both of us were not well; coupled with the awful weather this truly limited our movements. We saw lots of cool buildings on our one day touring the city in 2 hours of sunshine, but when it started raining again, our room, and the luxury of TV (Louise forced me to watch Pretty Woman) was a welcome relief. In fact, the day we left Calcutta, the rain was so bad, and the streets so flooded, that it looked like we wouldn't be able to leave our hotel. Many taxis had stopped running and we ended up having to bribe a guy to drag his taxi through the river of a road to the station!

Another overnight train journey later, followed by a winding jeep up the mountains, brought us to the famous hill station of Darjeeling. It is here that you come for stupendous views over the Himalayas. Alas, it was not to be for us, as every day was marred by mist. We'd missed the seasons by a couple of months either way! We did have an amazing day at the zoo though, where we came face to face with a beautiful snow-leopard, which was a real privilege.

We originally intended to venture into Nepal from Darjeeling, but the monsoon rains had made the roads almost impassable, and we wanted to make sure we saw everything we wanted in India. So we headed west and dropped down to the town of Bodhgaya. Getting here was a nightmare. Only one journey (the hellish trip which ended with our driver going to jail, in Zambia!) on the trip so far could possibly rival it. First we got the standard cramped share-jeep down the mountain from Darjeeling to Siliguri. From here we bundled ourselves onto an overnight bus to Patna. The bus was awful. A rickety rustbucket, it was packed to the rafters, with people sleeping in the aisles, 2 seats rapidly becoming 4, not to mention the crazy decision to play Bollywood movies (a crazy Indian version of Hitch, no less!) until all hours. Louise was the only woman on the bus and most of the men definitely appeared to live on the fringes of society judging by the look of them. We slept fitfully through the night, and when the naturally delayed bus crawled into Patna the next morning, one of Louise's shoes had literally come alive! She'd taken them off in the night, and it appears one of the Indian men had decided to stick some sweet sugary goo into her shoe, drawing swarms of ants towards it. You literally couldn't see the shoe underneath the hordes of ants! I had to somehow pick it up and run outside when the bus stopped, throwing ants everywhere, before plunging my hand inside to rid the shoe of the sticky mess. Immediately the little buggers disappeared, off chasing the ball of nectar which had drawn them in the first place. Were we glad to get off that bus!!!

We made it to Bodhgaya, and it was a great little town. Buddhist temples from all over the world have made their way here, and it was especially nice for us to see, as we had visited a few of the countries before and could instantly recognise where the temples were from. It was also by far the poorest place we have been to in India, and we were accosted here by more beggars than at any other point on our trip.

Our next stop was Varanasi. Sat on the River Ganges, Varanasi draws travellers from all over the world. The myriad maze of lanes which lead to the bathing ghats at the river are packed with cows, children, motorbikes! The Ganges itself was at its highest point when we arrived, so most of the picturesque ghats were invisible, though we did take a boat cruise where we saw the ritual burning of the dead on the side of the river, along with people washing clothes, bathing and even drinking the water! The river is the most polluted in the world, it really is filthy, but people come to worship at the ghats every night because to them it is holy.

From Varanasi we took the overnight train to Lucknow where we spent a day taking in the Residency, a building which is a grim reminder of the British occupancy. Ruins crumble in opulent grounds, while an absurdly high ticket price is aimed squarely at the foreigners who choose to visit. This is a fitting description of all monuments throughout India in my opinion. One exciting thing did happen in Lucknow when we were sat in Barista (Indian equivalent of Starbucks), reading the Sunday papers, when an Indian guy about my age rocks up with a pad and paper and asks, in all seriousness, for my autograph! God knows who he thought I was, but I willingly obliged. We have been told a couple of times that I remind people of MS Dhoni, the India Cricket Captain, so it could be that... whatever, it was hilarious!

We travelled overnight to Nainital, a lovely town up in the hills which reminded us of Windermere, set as it was on a cool lake, with friendly people all around. Louise also met and fell in love with a gorgeous puppy, whom she christened Harry! Coming down from the hills, we stopped in Haridwar, another town on the Ganges with bathing ghats, very similar to Varanasi. Next we headed to the green city of Chandigarh, where we visited the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden, which was a great experience. Basically, this old dude had made countless sculptures from all the rubbish he has collected around Chandigarh over the years. It was really awesome to see, and set in lovely grounds.

From Chandigarh, we headed back up into the hills to the popular traveller destination McLeod Ganj. It was strange for us to see such a high density of travellers, as we'd seen hardly any since Malaysia, but the setting, high in the hills with clean air, and the chilled out vibe emanating from the Dalai Lama's house and temple, made it easy to see why they were all here. Sadly the Dalai Lama wasn't home (how rude!), but the temples and museum made it clear that a large anti-China, pro-Tibet mentality exists on this side of the border. McLeod also had some of the finest brownies we have ever eaten, so good that we stayed an extra day!

From here, it was down the mountain and towards the India/Pakistan border. Stopping at Amritsar, we popped into the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine. It is an amazing sight, glittering gold in the middle of a shining pool, and it was incredibly busy. We were the only foreigners we saw and had to cover our hair. Not hard for me, as I just wrapped my dreads up in my buff, but Louise ended up looking like someone very ill, or a closet lesbian, I'll let you be the judge! We journeyed to the border that afternoon to watch the border closing ceremony, and what a spectacle it was. The fervour that is whipped up on both sides is incredible, as guards march to within centimetres of each other and flags are ran constantly by locals as the crowds go wild. We went just after Pakistan had beaten India in the Champion's Trophy Cricket, so the nationalist feel was even stronger. There was one particularly mad guy there, and we were worried he would start a riot at one point. Definitely one of the most exciting, yet a little scary, things we have seen on our travels!

We decided to stop back in Chandigarh to break up the journey to Delhi. We headed back to the place we stayed the first time, only to find they had hiked their prices from the budget category to midrange in the 8 days we'd been gone! Now Chandigarh is expensive, and whilst we were sat on the street deciding how to find a cheap room, a Good Samaritan appeared. Narinder Singh, a 75 year old Sikh, with a huge turban and brilliant beard, approached and told us his mission was to help travellers not get ripped off in Chandigarh. After presenting Louise with a flower and having his picture with her, he directed us to a brilliant cheap room; what an absolute legend, the best Indian we've met by a million miles!

Finally, the next day, we made it to Delhi. We didn't have long here, but managed to cram in the Jama Masjid, The Red Fort (well, the outside, bloody expensive to go in!), Humayun's Tomb and India Gate. The city was pleasant, we had a great value room, and we managed to get all our onward trains booked. We would head onward to Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal, but I'll let Louise fill you in on that next time as I've rambled on for long enough!

Until then,

Mark and Louise
xxxx

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Photos

Us at the Golden Temple, Amritsar
I don't see how Mark can mock my head-covering, look at his ridiculous beard!