End of Part One

I have done a full circle from Bombay to Bombay visiting some incredible places and meeting some very interesting if not sometimes odd people along the way. In a few hrs time I will hopefully be boarding the plane to Sydney. I have mixed feelings. Part of me is glad to be going and part of me says that I have only just started. I feel there is more in India for me to discover, I just don't know when and where.
Perhaps it is time to leave I don't know? First time in Bombay I suffered from Indian Shock Syndrome for sure. This time it was a doddle. This can only mean one thing.
I am getting used to it..arghhhhhhhh
Or to think in a more scary way; what used to freak me out I now see as normal. Will I get Australia Shock Syndrome as I see cars driving in a straight line. People using the pavements to walk on and not defaecate on. Perhaps I will feel odd without the cows everywhere causing horrendous road blocks? Will I miss the lack of stray 3-legged dogs?

After 3.5 months here I feel that I have finished the breaking in period, the honeymoon period. Then again in India I imagine the meaning attached to a honeymoon period is different considering that when you marry it is to a semi-stranger or someone that was chosen when you were 7 and have grown up with all your life.

Where else would I see a dog set on fire when jumping thought a flaming loop?

Where else can I ride on the outside of a train?

Where else can I have a huge black-faced monkey run and use my head as a spring board?

Is there anywhere else in the world where painting over the word Toilet with the word Latrine actually makes the piss-soaked concrete smell less of ammonia?

Where else can you find white stone-washed jeans, a white woven leather belt and a purple striped shirt, not only in the same shop but on the same person....what's more on purpose.

I still don't know how many cows a day die from eating plastic bottles.

The true family values and respect for old people is so strong here.

Dropping litter is not just wide spread, it is Expected.

The only time anyone was rude to me was because they thought I was Israeli.

It is only the Caste system that holds this place together. Imagine nearly 1billion people (79% on less then $US6 a day) suddenly realising that they might actually be entitled to something, not just born into desolation.......Chaos......for sure.

I have truly enjoyed writing this Internet journal or blog as they are called. However, I now feel it is time to go off the "RADAR" for a while. In some ways the modern world of technology has not released me enough from England. In some ways I feel I have not really left. Don't worry I will not be disappearing off the planet I am simply having a Blog-aday, a Blog-cation a Blog-break.

In a few hrs I go back to Bombay airport and fly to the land of eternal sunshine.
After a nice holiday the blog could be back in business, but for now it's over and out.

The Rajastani Express

The overnight sleeper train south the the capital city of Rajastan was a doddle. Jaipur is on the edge of the desert and is built in a basin surrounded by rocky ridges on which are built numerous ancient fortress walls. In fact the whole place is wall after ancient wall up on the stony hills. The town is dusty and dirty and even more hassle than is usual for India. It was easy to have a drunken spaced out looking auto driver follow you for 1/4 of a mile pulling on your sleeve. Fortunately, I found a great place to stay and hooked up with some more travelers. I sent the next few days with an Irish couple and an English girl. Lots of fun as we got auto'ed around spotting elephants. Once night we went to a traditional Rajastani "theme" village. It was quite possibly one of the most bizarre experiences ever. A fake village where women with pot on their heads dance and dogs leap through fiery loops. Elephants and camels galore. We were the only foreigners in the place.
After a few days I made my way to Pushkar, I was running out of time to get to Bombay. Pushkar is a seriously holy place for Hindus and a bit similar to Varanasi but without the burning heads and chaos on the Ghat sides. Here the whole pilgrimage thing is taken a lot more seriously and it is frowned on to go down to the Ghats if you're not participating in holy activities. A few streets back from the main Bazaar I found the north bus terminal where I tried to find a holy man named Pintu. I had met a English lady in TattaPannie who now lives with him and his family some way out of Pushkar. I got myself a lift on a motorbike and was welcomed into his temple and shown around by his son. The builders (house under construction) all wanted their photos taken as is normal here. People love it and usually say thank you after you have taken a picture. The only thing in India where money is not asked for.
I made my way back into town and chilled in Pushkar for a few days. This place caters for a lot of foreign visitors. English, French, Canadian, German and especially Israeli.
I walked up to the top of a huge hill and looked down upon the lake, catching a camel back into town. The shops on the front cater for the lost forigners selling hippy clothes and bags and bangles. The Pushkar lake should be renamed Lake-Dreadlock. I managed to find a place that sold beer (the town is dry and you get locked up for drinking) and watched Arsenal hold Chelsea to a 1 all draw. Funny how the town is dry but everyone is stoned here. I had my 1st and last Bang Lasse here. The next day is was a bit of a blur.
Right now I am in Bombay having done a fully circle. The 22 hrs train journey was fine except the man above me farted the whole way and the 80yr old women opposite coughed and whealed and moaned in their sleep all night. To top it off I was sick for the 1st time. Throwing up for the 1st 4 hrs. I feel ok now, but only drinking sugar tea for the moment as I wait for my flight to Sydney.

Hide and Sikh

After just 5hrs in the AC chair class train from Delhi I arrived in the Punjabi town of Amritsar. The town was founded in 1577 by some fella with a beard and a turban. Amritsar is the beating heart of the Sikh religion. I discovered that the religion is quite new. It was "invented" by men who did not like the cast system or Islam either. They did however like beards and turbans and wanted to concentrate a Religion on the mediation of Gods name without food restrictions or Idol worship where all men (and women) and equal. The main attraction of Amritsar is the Holy Golden Temple. Now I have been to say a gezillion holy places in India with varying degrees of madness, ungodliness, aggression and warm welcomes. This place is special there is no doubt. Thousands of pilgrims come here everyday and they are all housed and fed for free. No one asks for any money (though there are donation boxes). I was put-up in a special foreigner dorm with others non Indians. Normally I am not that keen on dorms for no matter when you go there is always some American tosser playing a guitar. Anyway I had my ear plugs and I checked that the toleration chip implanted in my brain was working above the acceptable level of efficiency. I had my dinner with an English girl from Sale near Manchester in a HUGE dinning hall sat on the floor which as dished out Dahl and Chapatti for free. I have never been to such a big spiritual place where everyone no matter who you are (street people, poor and homeless, anyone) made to feel totally welcome and not excluded from the "religious club". All they asked was that you took off your shoes and covered your head. I did not actually visit the Golden Temple proper on the 1st day for it was late and I wanted to see the Indian/Pakistan border show. Each evening at sunset the soldiers on either side of the boarder gates have a choreographed display of extreme machismo and manliness. Lots of out-stomping and out-scowling as they take down the flags and close the gates to the crossing. There are special stadiums built on either side for the loyal fans to cheer and sing songs. It was great fun, John Cleases would have been proud of the excessively silly walks that were on display. It was an excessiv display of pure theater and very enjoyable. After a night sleeping a sub-room of the main dorm with a Canadian guy who had walked half way across the Himalayas I had another free feed and went into the Golden Temple proper. The temple itself as you would imagine is golden. It has been built on a artificial island in the middle of an artificial square lake. I walked around bare footed to the main gangway and across the water. Once inside I saw the Gurus singing poems in Punjabi and people knelt and gave money and prayer. I went up to the top level to sit on the carpeted floor to warm my toes. After about an hr and a half of peaceful contemplation I was very chilled listening to the singing from the floor below. I was sharply brought out of my deep relaxation by the sight of two young white western men dressed in the fully Sikh warrior robes with turbans and daggers. I tried to figure out what they were doing. I very quickly came to the conclusion that they were poncing around. I don't know what is wrong with me but I had an uncontrolled urge to vomit over them. Perhaps I do have a problem but i feel the same way about tie dye skirts and western women in Shari.
It would appear that my "tolerater" chip had malfunctioned. After a personal prayer for more tolerance to any God that would listen I went for dinner with my new friends, a mix of Americans, Italians, English a German and a Lithuanian. Some of them had come overland from Italy to Turkey to Iran and then Pakistan. I was very impressed.
I wandered back though the Golden temple complex to buy a train ticket and stopped to have tea with some workman for 30mins in some secret allyway inside the complex. Punjab and Sikhs are special I feel, very friendly and seeing more than just the $ sign on your forehead. It was a refreshing change. With less then a week to go till my flight to See Chris in Sydney I bought a ticket for Jaipur further south in Rajasthan. More deserts, more camels, more heat and less beards.

The Golden Pentangle

After the brain scramble that was Varanasi I was quite thankful for the totally boring and uneventful 18hr sleeper ride to Delhi. I arrived at about 05:30 in the morning and after dodging the usual auto and rickshaw drivers found my hotel in a back street off the main Bazaar. I was lucky it was near a cinema so everyone knew the place. In the UK we use boozers as land marks, in India it's cinemas. I scoped the area out, ate dinner, sent some emails and went to bed.
Friday morning I got a taxi and off I went to collect Abi from the airport. It was great to see a friendly face after nearly 3 months away from home. I think after the long flight and coming from the calm of London, Delhi was a bit of a shock for her. For me I also discovered something new. Since I mainly travel alone I did not have 1st hand experience of how different western females experience India. On a cycle rickshaw over to "Old-Delhi" she was ogled at, touched , pinched etc. I am used to being stared at but for a girl it is much more intense.
After one day in Delhi and seeing monkeys, cows and my 1st Elephant we got the evening train to Agra the home of the world famous Taj-Mahal. The Agra auto driver told us that sunrise was a good time to see it, so I set my alarm clock of the millionth time to get up before 05:30. After paying the Rs800 each to get in (Rs20 if you're Indian) we made our way down. We were not disappointed. The Taj was magnificent, especially at sunrise. Made from Marble and costing about 4 cows and 11 camels to build. The Muslim emperor of the day built it as a mausoleum to his favourite beloved wife after she died giving birth to their 15 child. Once it was almost sold just for the value of the marble. The Taj dominates the whole sky line of the ancient city of Agra. There were plenty of roof top cafes to see it. We could also see it from the Agra fort which is also well worth a visit. Great history and architecture and a complete death trap if you have children. Thankfully the train back to Delhi only took 2hrs (3.5 to get to Agra). After starting the day at 05:30 we were tired, even more so since we knew we had another early start the next morning. We were booked on the 06:05 north from Delhi to Kalka.

The 6hrs to Kalka went pretty fast, but the next 6hrs on the narrow gauge "toy-train" did not exactly fly by. We met Craig, a nice 'India frightened' lad from Birmingham. He was booked in a Computer Hackers course in the mountain town we were heading for. He had not eaten in days and was pretty much in fear of everything. Of course I tried to calm his nerves with my stories of food poisoning, train drugging, and head burning. The scenery up to Shimla was outstanding. The train wound up the mountains through no less then 120 tunnels. 6 hrs to go 85KM. Shimla was a British Government mountain retreat from the unbearable hot Indian summers and was known as a 'little bit of England', I am not sure which bit, perhaps the one mock Tudor Indian restaurant or the Christian Church. The hill station is pretty clean and tidy by Indian standards and people much less energetic with their touting. When the night came though it was COLD. On the high point of Shimla is a temple devoted to the monkey God, and appropriately there are a lot of monkeys hanging around. On the walk up Abi wisely rented a monkey stick, and we soon discovered where the saying "more than you can shake a stick at" came from. The red monkeys were very bold and would try and open rucksacks if you don't wave them off, they bare teeth and can even attack. They were not too bad on the day we went, they were mainly drinking, fighting amongst themselves or pleasuring each other (bit like the Irish).
After a few days chilling in Shimla and with itchy/cold feet we got the local bus down to a town called Tattapanni. Tattapanni is further into the Himalayas but lower in altitude by 2000m. The bus ride took about 3hrs and there were moments where I was glad that the drivers brakes and horn worked so well. We really did not have much of an idea what would be in Tatappanni other than some sulphur springs that would cure all kinds of disease.

HINDI ENGLISH
Tatta = Hot
Panni = Water

The hotel overlooked a river of fast moving rapids and a hanging bridge. Each year the valley floods when the water rises, but we were here after the monsoon to the hotel was above the water. On the edge of the river the local women were washing their clothes in hand dug holes. The little pools would fill with hot water from the centre of the earth (well the crust anyway). The water was too hot to touch really and did smell a bit of rotten eggs (sulphur). The local men would wash themselves from behind a pile of rocks as the women did the same. In our posh 3squid a night hotel the water was piped into concrete baths, were we added some cold water so to avoid your skin pealing off.
On the third day in Tattapannie we celebrated Abi's birthday. We managed to cram a ridiculous amount in. We went rapid rafting for 2hrs on a 7 man boat down the river and got wet. We borrowed Val's (English lady in our hotel) Royal Enfield and after 10mins of me trying to remember how to ride a geared bike made our way up into the hills to hunt down the holy Shiva caves. We saw stalactites and stalagmites and stuff. I could have spent a week or more here, it was really relaxing and the food was great. Very lazy days and nights around burning wood so informal, and quite, but we had a train to Delhi to catch. There was no way we were joining a 3hr buss ride with a 6hr toy-train ride back to Kalka, especially on Abi's birthday. So we splashed out and made it back in 3.5hrs for around 20squid in two taxis. Six hrs of a midnight sleeper train later and we were back in the heart of the capital Delhi. Some shopping (found a Gandhi statue made of Sandalwood, could not find a life size one) and eating later and Abi's 10 days were up.
Last night we went to a 'posh' restaurant where I had fish for the 1st time since leaving home. Abi had Lamb. We were so impressed we went back there this morning for breakfast. We both had Beans on toast with an egg on top with ANY-TIME sauce. It was fab. I have just taken Abi to the airport and waved her off. It was great to have a travel companion, and great to share it with someone. I had a fab time, and was sad to see her go, but not too sad for we'll meet again in 2 weeks time in Australia.
Tomorrow I get the 7am train to Amritsar in Punjab the land of the turbans.