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We had a pleasant few days in Shimla, which is a nice-enough hill station and a great deal cooler than the plains. It was here that i choose to replace the camera that had died on me our first full day in India, and after a lot of umming and ahhing, discussions and talks with Kim (a photographer) we decided to splash out and get a fancy DSLR jobby. It takes the most beautiful photos which we will put up in a couple weeks when we have better access to the net. But other than spending money on technology, there wasn't too much to do in Shimla, so we moved on to the yoga capital of the world Rishikesk.
In the steps of the Himalayas, but only at about 350m Rishikesh is on the sacred river of the Ganges, and was brought to fame when the Beatles spend some time there smoking weed, learning to play the sitar and writing
the white album As you may imagine from the world's yoga capital, its very new-age/spirituality based and the people who spend time here tend to divide it between having their chacras realigned and doing yoga. We'd planned to spend 6 days
or so here but we found that after a morning yoga session, and in the 35 degree heat we didn't have very much to fill our days with. So decided to move on early to the Corbett Tiger reserve.
Neither of us have been on a safari before, and using the town of Ramnagar as a base we ventured into the park in the hope of seeing a real life tiger. We had an evening safari, a night in a 'Log Cabin' (a small room with bunks in threes, with 15 people in, no fun) and a morning safari.
We were lucky enough to see loads of wild elephants, wild boar, 3 kinds of deer, Cranes, crocodiles, mongoose, pied kingfisher, wild peacocks, monkeys and a tiger's footprint, but alas not the tiger himself. It was an amazing, beautiful experience and although we missed the bid draw, and it cost 4 days budget it was completely worth it.
We had a few days before we had to be in Delhi to catch our train to Mumbai, and then our flight out the country so decided for a change of scene and somewhere cooler.
We made our way to the hamlet of
Kosa Devi up in the hills again. We were lucky enough to get a room perched on the hill between two valleys, facing east and west. So we can watch the sun rise over one valley in the morning, and set over another in the evening. It was a lovely place, and very relaxed, a quiet way to spend our last few free days in India, but a good one none the less.
We are now half way through (time wise at least) the long slog from Kasa Devi, Uttarkhand to Adelaide South Australia. We go a jeep to the nearest big town, 20 min away then another 4 hours to the transport hub of the area Haldwani, 14 people in a jeep, 4 of which were vomiting on the twisting and rutted roads almost constantly. Stayed there over night and got the AC bus to Delhi. It's difficult to describe getting onto the bus. It was an hour late to begin with and you cannot buy tickets in advance, only in person once seated. So everyone who wanted to be on the 10.00, 10.30 and 11.00 bus piled in simultaneously. Alice did admirably but failed to get us a
seat. We squeezed off the bus and stood in the sun wondering what we were going to do. We had befriended two Indian call centre workers while waiting; their English was excellent and we chatted about cultural differences amiably as we waited. As we mopped about one of them came to get us and dragged us onto the bus, somehow they'd managed not only to get 2 seats for themselves and 2 more for their friends, but 2 for us also. We were almost speechless with gratitude.
We finally arrived in Delhi 3 and a half hours late. And we shepherded to the metro and practically to our stop. Without them we'd still be in Haldwani.
So we're in Delhi now, unfortunately monday seems to be the day of rest of Delhi's tourist attractions, but as its 43 degrees we don't mind too much. We are taking the night train to Mumbai tonight, staying overnight there and then getting on the plane for Oz in less than 48 hours.
We were in Chandigarh and went to the second most popular tourist destination in India, the rock garden. Made in his spare time by the architect Nek Chand
is a sprawling and labyrinthine edifice of concrete and recycled odds and ends. Any corner may take you to a beautiful waterfall, a open space with hundreds of blank staring figures looking down on you or a courtyard with swings. It's a confusing place but nice in its own concrete-y way, although the water running under the bridges is flecked with rainbows from spilled oil and empty water bottles float around and many of the walls and doors have seen better days.. But the Indian tourists love the place, we were there at 10am on a tuesday morning but it was packed with coach loads of families and honey-mooning couples all walking around with video-camera outstretched before them like strange zombies.
If you'll forgive its over reaching this can be a microcosm of all of India, although to be accurate it would have to be lined with stalls on either side and there would be traffic and beggars thrown in. Vast numbers of people seemingly unaware of the heat, litter, the decomposition of their surroundings and the total bizarreness of the place. Interesting certainly, but tough to understand and at times very difficult to appreciate.
Just to be clear we have both enjoyed our time here and are making the vaguest of plans to return twice more. However, its been tough.
It started badly with the death of Alice's Grandfather on day two, then a hellish 40 hour train journey. That mixed with the incredible culture shock did not make for happy travelers. It took us a few weeks to get out of that mindset and start enjoying India. The culture shock, which neither of us have really suffered from before was really tough.
However, it's been the people and the scenery that's made it for us. Outside the town's its a wonderfully beautiful place, green and fertile in some areas and arid and rugged in others. And the people have, with the exception of taxi drivers and hotels touts whose job it is to be a pain in the arse, friendly and helpful. It is not uncommon for complete strangers to smile, nod and say hello as they pass. Others might want o shake you buy the hand and ask you questions in faltering English. We have never once felt threatening or in any danger whatsoever (with the possible exception of the insane traffic) in three whole months of constant movement and use of the public transport system.
To sum up, in every definition of the term its been awesome. Not always pleasant and there are many aspects of the country we will both be
very glad to put behind us; but we will miss he vitality of life here and the openness of those we interact with, as the Americans say, its been a gas. I just hope that Australia is as interesting.
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