Hello again
Well, first of all, sorry for it being so long since I've updated this,
I've got tons of excuses I can make up if you like, but really I just
haven't got round to it. I'm now in Amritsar with a keyboard perched on
my knee and a couple of hours until I have to get an autorickshaw to
the station for my train to Jaipur. (leaves at 2.30, gets in at 9
tomorrow morning, but I get a bed).
The result of me not updating
this for ages, is I've now got a hell of a lot to write, and you've got
a hell of a lot to read. I feel sorry for both of us, but many for me,
since you can give up and go and watch telly if you get bored, and I
can't. So we'll break it up into chunks to make it easier for everyone.
No photos today because I've got no battery in my camera, but soon.
(promise!)
Prologue
In my last story on here that
actualy I did have some news, I just forgot to mention it. Tim and I
took a trip to a local castle out of Manali on the local bus, but when
we got there it was more like a big house. It was very nice and pretty
though, and we took lots of pictures etc. However, the real fun was on
the way back when there were no seats left on the bus, and so I had the
fantastic idea of riding on top, Indian-style. (sorry Mum, won't do it
again!) It just so happened that on this bus we were the only two
people doing it, and so we got a few surprised looks and a bit of
laughter from the locals as we went through the villiages. We decided
that the higher up off the ground you are, the better mood you're in,
as most people on the ground wqouldn't wave back, and everybody on top
of vehicles and buildings thought we were hilarious. This theory was
confirmed by somebody on a balcony, half way up, giving us a half smile
and an unsure wave. Which was nice.
Chapter 1
Um, what
hapended then? Oh yeah, Shimla (not mentioning football). Had a great
couple of days there, met a french girl called Anais who was teaching
there, and an Indian guy called Belal. Went on a day trek with them and
a few others, including Shane from Canada who got me quite interested
in teaching english abroad. (quite a lot of money for not a lot of
work!). We saw a really nice waterfall and the old palace of the
Viceroy, will put some pictures on here soon. Then said goodbye to Tim
and headed on to McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala), sat next to a cool Columbian
guy called Guillermo on the bus was was heading for Panthankot.
Chaper 2
will be longer than chapter 1. Had hardly
been in McLeod Ganj 5 minutes whan I met Rose, from North East India
near the Myanmar border, and Ledoe, a local. Spent the next few days
there with them, some of Rose's friends came up from Delhi. Ended up
staying there longer than planned since there was a teaching with the
Dalai Lama on the first of October, and I'd finally managed to find
people who liked staying up and drinking beer. Went for a couple of
nice walks, a nice waterfall (where, bizarrely, we ate supernoodles),
and equally strangely went on the paddle boats on a lake half way up a
mountain.
On the thursday, actually bumped into swomebody I met in
Nottingham 2 months ago (Anybody who went to the Chill in the park
remember meeting lyrikool lipz after? Jeebo you've met him before
because he beat you in the beatboxing champs!) which was really weird
and freaked us both out for a bit.
Also had some Indian cookery
lessons- learned to make mater paneer, spicy veg, dal, garlic naan,
chapati and butter chicken, which is really, really nice. No doubt some
of you will get to sample the fruits of my talents at some point!
On the last day
went to the teachings with the Dalai Lama. It was really packed, but I
had a good seat beacuse I got woken up at 5.15 by some noisy
french-speaking Indians in my hotel. The teachings were interesting,
but had spoke in tibetan was was translated into english over fm radio,
so I wasn't so much listening to him speak as the translater, who was a
little monotone and hard to follow. All good though, and then later
that afternoon bumped into Guillermo (had alreay said goodbye to Rose
et al)- another strange coincidence! It turns out Guillermo quite likes
drinking beer too, and just as I was about to leave the bar at an
almost sensible time (had to be up at 3.30 to get the bus), bumped into
a brother and sister from Totnes (Devon) and didn't get back until
after 12, when I still had to do some untidy packing before setting my
alarm for 3.45 and falling asleep. Just made the bus, slept on the
first one (30 mins), then tried to sleep on the second, long distance
one, but had a really crap seat at the front, where I had my knees
strapped up to my chest and was shaken until my liver hurt. Relocated
to the back and slept for 2 hours with my head vibrating against the
window.
Chapter 3
Arrived in Amritsar (Punjab) earlier
than I thought, so had time to head straight to the Golden Temple
(which is literally covered in gold). Felt tired, hungry and out of
place for a bit, felt like people were staring a bit too much, but
after an hour or so and some free dal, chapati and rice in the temple
canteen felt much better, and realised that most people here are
actually incredably friendly. REALLY friendly. In fact, walking through
the alleys of the textile market nearby, and around the streets and
temples, everybody (especially kids) keeps coming up and saying hello
(the only English word they know) and shaking my hand. At the border
someone (a bloke) asked for my phone number, and one family even took a
picture of their child meeting me. LAst night I was also surrounded by
about 20 Punjabi youths ouside the temple, all asking me questions
about England, mainly to do with girls and cricket, and then wanting me
to come and stay at their house and party with them when they heard I
was going to spend the night in the temple dorm. Sounds a bit suspect
when I write it doen, but they were all really nice, again will put a
picture on when I can. It's like being a celebrity, except that no-one
knows your name (or can pronounce it).
Went to the
India/Pakistan border closing ceremony last night, was really good fun,
hundreds of people watching from the stands, lots of cheering, flag
waving and theatrical marching and stamping by the soldiers. Even
managed to sit in the VIP area! Still a bit too far away for decent
photos though, its a really strange specticle given the political
tensions between the two countries.
Epilogue
Which
takes us up to today. Not much has happened today really, slept for
absolutely ages on a bed that was really just a blanket on a raised
piece of wood, had some breakfast and then struggled to find a working
internet cafe. This actually didn't take that long, so have an hour to
kill unitl its time to get the train. Could just ramble on like this
for a bit... no, you've read enough already, although there's probablt
a lot of stuff I've forgotten. Did you know in Tibet they put butter in
their tea? It's not very nice.
Take care everybody, bye for now.
