i never got a chance to finish my last jounal entry from jaisalmeir in the desert. on our last day there we were up early in the cool hours of the day and headed out into the desert to go on a camel treck through the sand dunes. many people went for 3 or 4 day trecks, camping out in the desert, but when it reaches mid 40's during the day spending hours on a camel in the heat didnt seem to appealing. we met our fixers and camels by the side of the road. two of the fixers were only 9 and 11 years old and my camel's name was lalu.
we headed off through the desert in the cool morning air, with a nice light breeze. after the hustel and bustle of the past week it was a nice change to be somewhere where the only sounds were the plodding of the camel's feet and the shuffling of the fixers walking along.
a few times, out of nowhere we would come upon a hut or two, with a few people doing their morning chores. they were the local indigenous people, with their own language who had lived in the middle of the desert. the young boys leading our camels did not go to school as there was no school in the desert but they learnt to speak english from the tourists they met.
after about 2 hours the sun was beginning to warm up and our bums were starting to geat sore, so it was time to head back into town before the heat became too great.
that night we boarded the train to jaipur. our first indian train experience. it was suprisingly good, with air conditioning and sheets provided and rather comfortable. however it was annoying having to get up and off the train in a hurry at 5am when we got to jaipur.
jaipur not not much to remember. immediatley all 3 of us had a dislike of the city for some reason. after a good nap and breakfast we set out about trying to find the best way to head north to amritsar the following day. after 3 hours on the net we discovered that there was a train leaving the following night to amritsar... and the were only 7 seats left.
so after a dash to the train staion, filling in the forms, and lining up in the que for foreign tourists and freedom fighters, we managed to secure ourselves some of the last few tickets on the train... in the non air conditioned carriage. a true indian train experience awaited, all 15 hours of it!
so the following night we boarded the train at 8pm and prepared ourselves for a long night. it was hot to begin with. before we were moving we were dripping with sweat but after we got moving and out of the city a nice breeze would blow through the bared up windows and cool things down. hoever things on the train were just hotting up. at every station people would pour onto the train and there would be a mad scramble up and down the aisle as people without a ticket would try and look for an empty seat. being at the end of the carriage next to the door, we were in the thick of the action. then the conductor would come along and try and turf them all out before the train would set off again. people kept coming out of the woodwork everywhere, yabbering away at full volume all the time, making it rather hard to sleep. this went on every 45 min or so until about 1am when we finally got going without any more stops and we could finally get some sleep.
we woke up a little after 5am when the train had stopped and the proces again began to repeat it'self, although in a somewhat sedated, less crazed manner of the night before.
there was a definate change of scenery out the windows. we were not out of the deserts of rajasthan and into the farming lands of punjab. there were lots of gumtrees about, some flowing rivers which made a nice change and a cool breeze flowing in the windows.
finally after about 16 hours on the train we arrived in amristar and straight into traffic jams. this city has the worst traffic ive seen in india yet. it seems the narrow streets of the city are struggling to cope with all the traffic.
after a spot of lunch we headed over to the famous golden temple. it is certainly the most impressive temple ive seen in india so far. inside a massive open marble courtyard is a large lake with the golden temple in the middle with a bridge connecting it, which was full of pilgrims lining up to visit the temple. it was so bright that even with sunglasses on i found myself squinting still. after a lap of the lake, we decided to come back in the morning again when hopefully it wouldnt be so hot and we could walk around on the marble without burning our feet so much.
afterwards we headed out to the india/pakistan boreder for one of the things we all wanted to see the most in india. the dramatic flag lowering ceremony that happens every day at the only border crossing between the 2 countries.
it was an hour drive out of town, and walking to the border from the carpack almost felt like walking into a festival of sorts. there were crows of people heading the same direction, people everywhere selling flags, dvds, drinks and assorted snacks. there was the sound of distant music and thorough security checks. no bags were allowed and they even took the spare batteries out of my camera case. i dont know what they expected i was going to do with them? throw them over the border at the pakistanis?
when we finally reached the border point we were ushered into the VIP stands where the foreigners were allowed to sit, and watched the many women and children running up to the border gates with big indian flags and waving them about at the pakistanis on the other side, much to the delight of the lmuch larger indian crowd.
after this the indian music was cranked up a notch to blast over the pakistani music and much bangrah dancing broke out along the road to the boreder gates, watched under the closeful eyes of the many border guards.
finally the time came for it all to begin. it began with seeing which soldier could hold a note for the longest, before soldiers on both sides stomped up and down in front of the gates, puffing their chests and throwing their heads about like strutting roosters. there were constant shouts of long live hindustan from the indians and pakistani cries from the opposing side. neither side would not be outdone by the others. finally after about 15 minutes of shouting and strutting about like they from from the ministry of silly walks, the gates were thrown open with an almighty crash and eventually the two flags on the border line were lowered inch by inch, making sure neither was ever higher than the other.
after this was done and the flags were packed away, there was more stompong, the quickest handshake i have ever seen between the indian and pakistani border guards and the gates slammed shut for another day.
on the way back i managed to get my batteries back, and we passed miles and miles of trucks, all packed to the rafters with potatoes, waiting to cross the border into pakistan the following morning.
tomorrow we head north. up into the foothills of the himalayas, and hopefully some cooler weather. we are starting with dharamasalah, which is the residence of the tibetean government in exile and the dalai lamah himself. perhaps i could pop in for some tea and a chat? i will let you know how it all goes!
