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Published: January 27th 2010
India is Great...
So after our too short stay in Paki, we're settling down in India. We think it will be approx for one month, as our Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma) visa will expire the beginning of March. So India wil become a bit of a rush job, that's the way things are going apparently. And we should not forget that instead of long stay in India, we got Tibet, Nepal and Pakistan, not a bad deal...
So after crossing the land border with Pakistan in Attari, we crossed one of the lamest border checks ever: "Do you have illegal substances, like drugs on you?" No "Ok, that's ok, you can go on" and that was our Paki/Indian customs experience. Knowing that Paki and India are officially not that close to each other it kinda surprised us. And for your information, we were telling the truth, honestly!!!
So crossing the border is peanuts. Going to the nearby village is easy as well. Walking with our backpacks for a few kilometers was kinda a new experience again, as we didn't do that for quite some time (2 months ago???). But we were promissed that an ATM would be present there.
Golden Temple
Wow, THE Sikh temple in Amritsar. Fabulous!Nope, no ATM, so no Indian money. We're too stubborn to exchange our precious USDs for a 30 rupi bus ride to the next town Amrisar. So hopping on the bus with no money and actually expecting the same treatment as in Paki (read: travel for free, which we did a few times). Nope, no luck, this in India, so we got our private escort in Amritsar to the local exchange office to exchange 1 USD into 40 rupis at a bad rate, so we could pay the bus. Shit, but the bus was carrying the sign:
India is Great!!! We love Shiks: Free food & transport!!!
Amritsar has the most important, most holy Sikhist temple: the Golden Temple. Wow, it's golden, it's a temple and all facilities are for free... Ok I'm looking a bit cheap right now, but Sikh's apparently have the principle that everybody is equal (no caste systems, no wealth barrier, no gender issues, no nothing), and their show piece is thus the Golden Temple. It's magnificient. We spent there some hours, looking around and just watching. The principles of equality go that far that a free kitchen is open 24/7, providing food for
anybody who needs it (approx 40,000 pilgrims per day) and a free 'dormitory' is also provided. The only thing that appeared to be seperated were the genders (a bit contradictory to their learnings, as male and female are supposed to be the same, but all is segregated in the holiest of the holiest and only men can be priests.... But ok, the dal (lentil 'sauce') and roti were cheap/free and good, so that compensates...
But we didn't stay in Amritsar. We immediately arranged a night train to Delhi.
Traveling by train in India is unforgettable...
Our
bible Lonely Planet says something like this:
"Traveling by train in India is unforgettable. It's more comfortable than by bus. In case you take a night train, non-AC class then a shawl will be enough for a blanket." Well, unforgetabble it was indeed. It's indeed pretty comfortable compared to a bus (you can strech your legs, which is kinda useful when you're ~2 meters tall). But the bl##dy LP writer apparently travelled only in summer or late spring.... Windows don't close properly, draft everywhere and you could see your breath. All Indians had at least 2 blankets: one for on the
Indian schoolbus
or at least s-thing like that... bench itself as a 'warm' matress and another one (a thicker one, that is) as a blanket. Agi and I had one shawl to share... Nope we didn't sleep that much, but freezing the whole night. We were expected to arrive @ 7 AM, nope: 12.15 PM is more realistic. So but the LP was indeed right that it was an unforgettable trip :-))))
Delhi in 36 hours.
But Delhi is again a lovely mess, but this time with the Western tourists. Think we prefer it without them. The first day was kinda relaxed. Go to a cheap hotel, walked around a bit and found our first cool, chilled beer. Such a nice refreshment, especially after visiting 'dry' Pak. The second day (read: today) again relaxed. Tried to visit the Red Fort, but the 250 rupi per person was deemed too much (yes, we're cheap and we're proud of it). But the Jama Masjid mosque was brilliant. It's the largest mosque in India, and the best part of it, is that you can climb the 40 meters high minaret to get a view of Delhi. The afternoon was chill, and professional earcleaners cleared our ears in the park,
Red fort
We didn't visit it, but the gates and walls looked huge.... But not huge enough to justify the 250 rupi each, especially knowing locals enter for 10 rupi.... and we never knew soo much stuff could come out of them....
Have no fear, the cold train has some good stuff as well...
But being too cold in the train resulted in one good thing. Apparently Agi indeed didn't sleep too much as it was too cold, cause the first thing she said in the hotel: "I wanna go to Goa, and FAST!!!". So I must admit: not a bad idea: our first holiday in four months traveling and I think our first 'official' holiday since Nov 2008.... So after some browsing in the Net and checking prices: Kerala it is, currently 31 degrees, and we're going to visit the most southern point of the Indian subcontinent, where two Oceans meet. You're suppossed to see there the sun set and moon rise at the same moment. This is something that was higher on our ranking than Goa's teenage parties, knowing it's high season... So tomorrow we fly out for a ten days trip in Kerala province, aiming for Varkala's beaches, the backwaters and spotting some elephants and tigers in the jungle there. Bon voyage, and I hope that in Europe the wheather is nice as well...
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Anne
non-member comment
Awesome!!!
Dear Chris and Aggi, You're the best! Been sending this travelblog far too long now and I must admit, I almost haven't red a bit.. But this time I thought to give it a shot. Maybe it's because you're travelling across India now and this country fascinates me somehow. Very nice pictures! And Chris, after reading about your experience at Red Fort I found it really promising you being a man of principles all of a sudden (Aggi's influence I suppose? Hear ya, fuck you too ;-) I'm mainly impressed by the Golden Temple/Harmandir Sahib. Checked the story behind this massive piece on wiki and surprised by the fact these Sikhs developed their own instruments. Seen any of that? How would you describe the sound of it? Do they bring amplifiers? Anyway, I like your blog very much and I'll be in touch more often from now on. Take care and have lots of fun at, I quote: "(...) the most southern point of the Indian subcontinent, where two Oceans meet. You're suppossed to see the sun set and moon rise at the same moment there." Awesome! I'm kind of jealous here. The weather in Holland sucks by the way, so no need to get homesick yet. Also thanx for the amusing postcard, Good luck to both of you, Anne