Blogs from Punjab, India, Asia - page 3

Geo: 31.6309, 74.8716So we ended up staying at St Hildas for 3 days whilst we waited for Sarah and Thomas to catch up, then headed to the border to enter India. Border crossings are never fun but given there is not too much friendliness between Pakistan and India (they hate each other) and the people don't want to travel across it was remarkably quiet. Four foreigners in a large place on our own. Still took about four hours as there were so many lists to complete on the Indian side. Thomas rolled his eyes and asked what do they do with all these lists. I pointed out it gives Indians a job as not actually about the lists really and he got it. Okay after copious quantities of paperwork we were through.Into Amritsar and went to ... read more

After spending a while at the lake, we made our way back to the village. It was seven in the evening by the time we got to our homestay. We were famished and exhausted. Dinner was served in our guide’s snug little living room where mattresses were laid out on the floor for one to sit on. Interestingly, the main stove was not located in the kitchen but in the living room. This arrangement kept the room warm as a locally modified tin chimney kept the smoke away. Their staple meal consists of Rice, Dal and Chapatis. To my surprise, the women served us Rajma Chawal (my favourite), referred to as Dal. I gorged like a pig like there was no tomorrow. After a good nights sleep, we woke up to another beautiful morning. The next ... read more

After a few hours of burning the road down from Manali, we made our way through the popular tourist attraction Rohtang Pass (surprisingly, this time around it had a lot of snow). That was followed with a quick stop for a light breakfast at a dhaba. Soon thereafter, we continued driving through the lush green mountains and as we drove deeper into the valley, these mountains transformed into a barren and rocky landscape. The roads got narrower and dirtier with water streams meandering through. Up until now, my friend and I were busy tripping on music, clicking photographs here and there, making conversations with our driver and sitting as comfortably as it could get when we were caught off-guard. Our senses came alive and we peeped our heads out of the window and stared at the ... read more

Lever à 5h45 et départ de l’hôtel à 6h30 pour se rendre à la gare de Old Delhi. Surprise, notre chauffeur du jour est Krishna, celui avait qui on était dans le Rajahstan, qui est de retour à Delhi après avoir conduit 12-13 heures depuis Udaipur. La gare est finalement à 3-4 minutes de l’hôtel. C’est moins moderne que ce à quoi je m’attendais. On embarque dans ce qu’on croit être notre compartiment de première classe (à 25 $ le billet). Dix minutes avant le départ, des passagers nous disent qu’on est à leur place. Finalement on n’est pas dans le bon compartiment (C3 plutôt que E3). S’en suit une course (i.e. marche d’un pas rapide) vers l’autre extrémité du train. Ah, ça a plus de bon sens. L’ambiance est un peu plus tranquille et les ... read more

Geo: 31.6223, 74.8796Ráno se budíme kolem 4té, dobalujeme věci a vyrážíme ven, kde má ve 4:30 čekat TAXI. Překvapivě tu nikdo nečeká. Volám tedy kolem 4:40 a budím člověka, který volá jinému aby nás vyzvedl. Ještě pár telefonátů a už se někdo kodrcá. Super... Tak snad ten bud v 5 stihnem ;)... Naštěstí ho stíháme v pohodě a dokonce nám řidič cíticí moooožná trochu stud ze zaspání ukazuje, který bus to je. To je celkem nápomocné, protože veškeré nápisy jsou v hindi. Nasedáme do busu a zabíráme přední sedadla vedle řidiče v domění, že tu budeme mít spoustu místa. Za chvilku v... read more