Desert Stars - India
INDIA | Monday, 5 February 2007 | Views [2236] | Comments [1]
Well, it seems like I've covered a lot of ground since last time I wrote, and weeks seems like lifetimes here in India - as each place offers such contrasting differences to the last. However some things remain the same, in India you do not walk down the street - you tread carefully and become adept at dodging and diffidence. Always watching out for fresh cow pats (and some human excrement), cows, beggars, sellers and the throng of horns from bikes and auto rickshaws.
New Delhi was a never ending bazaar of colour and rickshaws, where foreigners are fresh meat for the roasting. The city however seems to shut up shop by midnight, but the always eager Hahny and myself inevitably found a couple of Australian lasses and managed to talk our way into a private party in a 5 star and enjoyed the night on cocktails. A highlight was Hahny trying to order gum the next day (with miming) but inadvertantly odering female products - proving very funny for the store keeper, myself and other bystanders.
With a heavy heart I said goodbye to Hahny and met up with my mate Mark. We had a different experience as we entered old Delhi and roamed the old dark streets. These people were much more genuine and we were invited in for chai with some locals and later a wedding which we unfortunately had to decline as we were not in any sort of wedding attire.
From Delhi we travelled up to Amritser on the Pakistani border. We went to the Siek Golden Temple at midnight which was just amazing - a completely gold temple shimmering above the water. Then the Himalayas were calling. We travelled into Macleod Ganj - the home of the holy Dalai Lama and the hills directly below the mighty Himalayas. Pace of life slowed down which was great. However the monkeys were not so hospitable as I entertained the locals when one lunged at me in anger.. to their amusement.
We trekked into the Himalayas with our two trusty guides - of course them carrying all our gear and cooking all our food and fulfilling our every need.. it was rough. What was rough was finding the resurgence of my gastronomical problems on top of these mountains with days left to trek. Stuffing myself full of Immodium I thought of the Diggers and carried on like a trooper. And it was just as well I did take those tablets, because it was only the next day that I was so scared I'm sure I would otherwise have soiled my pants. I was asked to walk across a "ledge" for about 15-20 metres that consisted of a very steep slope of ice and snow, falling away to a sheer snow drop - a long way down. My 10-year old sneakers with holes and soles as slippery as Christopher Skase, were not prepared for this. With blind faith and my heart in my throat, I somehow came out the other side. We had two such more moments on the way back where I'm sure I was placing my life in some worn out sneakers on a 70 degree snow/ice drop. All the while our reassuring guide was telling us stories of people falling to their death only recently and also of the fairly frequent bear attacks - two killed only last month...
Amazingly, 4500 metres above sea level we found little kids having a whack of cricket. As a proud Australian I took to the crease to show these kids how the game is meant to be played. Only a few balls in and the little smart a*se bowls it right into my goolies. So in classic Australian style I sledge the little pr*ck and continued our journey into the mountains.
It was an amazing experience, but the sight of a loo on return was a gift from God himself.
So organising our bus ride back to Delhi we find we are paired in a sleeping cabin that would struggle to fit a single hobbit. After waking our drowsy bus driver and watching as he reached for the home brew, we set off. 12 hours of winding pot-holed roads in a bus driven by a man with his own stash of home-brew by his side and in an apparent real hurry, while being spooned by another adult male has left me uncurling from the foetal position as I recall it.
On arriving in Delhi I said goodbye to my now "special" friend Mark and headed for Agra - home of the Taj Mahal. The Taj is as breathtaking as I was led to believe and Agra Fort equally impressive. However the city is host to seemingly the worst of humanity and is a dirty cesspit of greed and deception. Leaving my rickshaw driver behind, who had kindly taken me to all his friends stores first, I got to the train station and for the first time considered leaving India early for Thailand.
Low & behold, in my darkest hour along came two British lads to sit alongside me on the train. And after a whitewash in the Test series - this was quite an enjoyable 6 hour trip to Jaipur. So Roger, Dean and myself arrive in Jaipur, find the city to be rather similar to many other Indian cities and find a nice bar above the hassle with a good view of the chaos below, including human defecation when they felt the urge. We did find time for the cultural things though and trekked a long way up Tiger Fort to look over the city, rewarding ourselves with some Maccas after this accomplishment.
After rave reviews from other travellers, we headed west to the small town of Pushkar. An alternative town that banned rickshaws (silence never sounded so good!), alcohol and meat. However substituted this with the ever present Bhang (marijuana) - which probably explains their chilled out nature. Needless to say,we stayed and 'chilled' for about 4 nights. A nice hideaway from India, of course we did find some people to smuggle us some contraband beer to supplement our unbalanced diet. Reluctantly, but excitedly, we bussed out of Pushkar in the middle of the night - bound for the imposing fortress arising from the desert - Jaiselmer.
Jaiselmer is in the Thar desert and surrounds itself around a massive fort. What a lot of peope come here for though is the camel treks in the desert.
So after checking out the town (including the Govt licensed Bhang shop) we caught a jeep an hour out of the city and started our camel trekking. We joined up with 2 Austrian girls, 2 Italian girls and another British bloke for the first night and had fun around the campfire listening to the guides sing traditional Indian songs. We took off on our own the next day though, not to see another tourist until we got back. The camels were great, mine was a small young black one with an afro that liked to run which was good, and we passed through a couple of small villages like celebrities, especially to the local kids who would run from everywhere. Sleeping under the stars in the desert is a brilliant experience.
We arrived back to a dismal town festival and so prepared to part ways. They decided to cross to Nepal and I'm now working my way down to Sri Lanka. Am currently in Udaipur which seems the pick of the Rajasthani cities - bit more modern and I look out of my room window onto a floating palace on the lake - very nice.
Well, til next time (I'll try to be more brief next one).
Steve
PS Hope all is well - and thanks to those who have sent emails - it's great to get your news.
Tags: Misadventures
