Dalai Lama and the Golden Temple

Back to our friends at SB Inn in Delhi for a few days, then north, first to McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama of the Buddhist Yellow Hat Sect, then Amritsar and the Golden Temple of the Sikh religion.

Only transport choice was 12 hour overnight bus, scary! The climb into the Himalayas is a wild experience! Many switchbacks and only the heavy beat of the Punjabi music kept our hearts steady. Arrived early a.m., pretty tired, and walked to Om Hotel with its great view, rooms and restaurant.

 

Om Hotel room

Om Hotel restaurant

McLeod Ganj is a small town highlighted by monks and temples, clean air, sourdough wholegrain bread, and a peaceful atmosphere. We walked to the nearby Bhagsu waterfall, and were treated to a timeless scene of monks scattered the length of the river below the waterfall, swimming in their jockey shorts while their robes dried on the grass. Prayer flags adorned the height of the falls.

Bhagsu Falls

 

 

 

The clouds formed and reformed over the mountain scene. The Dalai Lama was not in town, but all the same, the later visit to the Tibetan temple left us with a strong, peaceful impression.

Parking for bikes and cows

Monkeys at the hotel

We decided to use the toy train to get to Amritsar, which involved a 20 km taxi ride, at the start of which a pair of lemurs darted across the road! 20 km later we learned that a landslide had closed the track, and were given the choice of bus or 25 km more taxi to the station the other side of the slide. Took the taxi offer and had a beautiful ride of hills and river, lots of landslides, a one way/one vehicle width tunnel and a one vehicle at a time on the crumbling, elevated bridge over same river. Neither the tunnel nor the bridge had any official coordination, it was strictly Indian good manners which kept the whole thing operational. Amazing people!

Taxi driver left us at the small station, where we had a lengthy conversation with the station manager, using our 1 word of Hindi (Namaste=hello) and his no words of English. When we tired of that game we went to look for a cup of tea and that endeavor consumed the next 30 minutes; however we succeeded and again carried on several conversations with the barber, shop owner, and unidentified other village citizen -- all without the aid of language. Back to the station to wait for the toy train (narrow gauge). Sharon gave 2 bananas to a really skinny sadhu (holy man) and he made camp on the station platform, ate his bananas, called a cow to feed the peels to, and promptly went to sleep. He later joined us on the train and managed a complete wash and clothes wash in the train toilet. We were impressed with this guy. We thought we were travelling light! Toy train was a local, trundled through the countryside with many glimpses into houses, and way of living, and also some quite nice views including a very large lake and the first of many rice paddies.

 

 

The train finished at Patankot which is still about 50 km from Amritsar. At Patankot station we had to climb over several sets of train tracks to get to the station. Seems the toy train is a leftover from the Raj.

Short train ride to Amritsar, and short walk across the street to the Grand Hotel which has seen the likes of Indira Gandhi and Nehru. The staff encouraged us to go to the Golden Temple that evening which was very good advice. What a fabulous place, really impressive and memorable.

The Golden Temple

Best part was the music (live), nightly procession to ensure safe storage of the holy book, and the next day eating lunch served by Sikh priests in a room with about 1,500 people. The menu was an absolutely delicious coconut rice pudding and lentil stew and chapatis.

Devotees entering and exiting the dining halls

The lunch is free to all and that enables many people to come to this holiest Sikh temple where they can sleep in the alcoves and eat 3 meals a day supplied by an army of volunteers and donations. A Sikh truck driver in Knoxville, Tennessee many months ago gave Sharon $20 to donate to the Temple so we added our part and handed over the money. Again, as with the Buddhists in McLeod Ganj, we were impressed by the sincerity and the positive energy of the Sikh religion.

Back to New Delhi for a night and then off by sleeper train to Mumbai (Bombay).

Rajasthan - Jaisalmer and Bikaner

 

After a couple more days in Delhi we booked a train to Jaisalmer and the Desert Moon Hotel. Most stations have a booking office with a desk for foreigners. This helps a lot in areas where English is not commonly spoken.


Cows are everywhere!

The countryside to the southwest of Delhi is mostly rice paddies but this soon changes into scrubland and semi-desert. Most of our journey was at night and by morning w ere traveling through flat land with lots of small antelopes and peacocks. Ox carts had been replaced by camel carts with big wheels and heavy loads.

Camel cart

A range of hills appeared to the northwest and we could soon see Fort Jaisalmer standing out at the end of the range. Jaisalmer was smaller than expected with the huge fort dominating every view. Karim from Desert Moon met us at the station and it was a short jeep ride down fairly good roads and by lots of cattle and pigs to our hotel.


Fort Jaisalmer from our hotel

Desert Moon is a nice clean hotel with large rooms, nice bathrooms at an excellent price. They have a good restaurant on the roof with great views of the fort. The food is basic Indian and the staff are really nice. They will even do room service! The birdlife around the hotel is also wonderful.

The town and fort is just a short walk from Desert Moon. The people along the way were really friendly and the whole feel got more and more medieval as we approached the fort. There were many cows, pigs, and various other animals along the way, all living in harmony with the human population. It is a steep climb up to the fort but really worth it once inside. The numerous views from the fort are quite spectacular. A few restaurants have balconies where you can eat while enjoying great views of the city. The prices in Jaisalmer were a bit cheaper than Delhi and the food just as good. One really nice thing about For Jaisalmer is that it is a functioning village with houses, hotels, restaurants, and temples inside the walls.

Fort Jaisalmer

The pigs process the garbage before it is removed

More cows

Sharing breakfast

Back at the hotel we arranged a camel safari through the desert to the west of Jaisalmer not far from Pakistan. The trip only cost $50 for the 2 of us and included transport out to the camels, a six km trek by camel to a campsite, dinner, open air beds, breakfast and transport back. Our guide, Karim, from Desert Moon took great care of us. He had the camp prepared when we arrived, dinner was already on the stove and our beds laid out for a night under a full moon. The moon was bright enough to take an enjoyable walk in the desert and experience some surreal scenes among the dunes. We took another walk at first light and returned to tea and breakfast at our camp before returning to Jaisalmer. There are longer safaris but this was just perfect for us.

My transport 

Ready to hit the dunes

The camp

Karim making breakfast in the high tech kitchen

Breakfast is served

One of the little people

A couple more days in Jaisalmer was enough to see just about everything there was and we decided to move on. We took a local bus to Bikaner enroute to Amritsar. This was an experience! The roads are ok but the driving is something we are not used to. The continuous super load horn and the weaving through traffic was pretty harsh. The bus got quite full and obviously not many westerners travel this way as we were the center of attention for most of the trip. We were glad to get off in Bikaner. We had planned to carry on to Amritsar but there didn't seem to be any direct way to get there from Bikaner. For some reason the train didn't go there and the bus info was really sketchy so we decided to stay the night and go via Delhi the next day.

We checked in at the Bikaner hotel where they insisted on payment up front. The room looked ok so we paid but once we were in the room we discovered that not much worked at all. No AC, no TV, broken toilet and an opening in front of a really grotty swamp cooler could not be closed so mosquitoes were coming in. We told them we changed out mind and were going to another hotel but they refused to refund the money. We did not want to create too much fuss so I just told them I would spread the word on the internet and walked out. We have since discovered that in India there are many great hotels which do not rip you off and do not want your money up front so just refuse to do it or go to another hotel where you are treated right. The people here are nice, you do not have to accept crap from the few Bikaner Hotel types.

We found a really nice hotel nearby and in the morning got the train back to our old base at the SB Inn in Delhi and made further plans from there. The places we wanted to see in the north were Mcleodganj and Amritsar, the order didn't matter so we decided it would be easier to get a bus to Mcleodganj and then the toy train and train to Amritsar from there. So next post will be the trip to see the Dalai Lama's home in exile in Mcleodganj.........

Delhi and Agra (Taj Mahal)

Our typical day in Delhi would start with fruit pancakes and tea at Shelton Hotel, followed by  a walk to whatever attraction we  had decided on such as the National Museum Janpath or National Gallery of Modern Art or India Gate.

India Gate

National gallery of Modern Art, Delhi

These walks are always disrupted by touts or tuk-tuk drivers trying to steer you to some shop or shopping center or to a 'government tourist office' which is actually a front for a travel agency. We would then head to a market for fresh fruit, bread, and various other food items for supper.


Buying parathas for supper in Delhi

Once the shopping is done we make our way to one of the many great restaurants and splash out on a $5 meal and eat until we are full as ticks. Then a walk or tuk-tuk back to the hotel for a siesta and some internet. After that we mostly took a casual walk through some of the local neighborhoods until we get tired of dodging traffic and cow pies and  go back to the room for a homemade meal. Some nights we would go out after dark but the place is pretty chaotic and the crowds get a bit much after a while.

Took our first side trip out of Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Agra is just 2 hours to the south east on the Shatabdi Express.

The trains in India are really nice

Conversation seemed more important that watching the road!!!!!

Local traffic in Agra

 We booked the Hotel Sheela for one night, great hotel with a nice restaurant and very friendly and helpful staff. They are also right next to the Taj Mahal. Our plan was to spend the night and go to the Taj Mahal at first light to get some sunrise photos. We spent the rest of the first day exploring the area including the Taj Mahal's back yard and a really nice nature park nearby.

Back yard of the Taj Mahal

There were nice alternative views of the Taj Mahal from the park and lots of birds, squirrels and one quite big Indian rat snake!

Hot day in Agra

Hot day, cool wall



Side view of the Taj Mahal from near our hotel

 The Taj Mahal at sunrise is a spectacular sight. The marble glows pink in the sunlight and is really a special thing to see. Our first impressions of the Taj Mahal is that it is a lot bigger than we expected and there are a lot more really nice buildings within the complex that are seldom shown on photos of the place.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

The white marble glows pink at sunrise

One of the obvious secrets to how well the whole complex has aged is that nothing is painted. The rock used in construction is very uniform in color and all decoration, no matter how fine, is done by inlaid stone, carved to fit with great accuracy. This allows for very little maintenance.


Stone inlay detail

 Some wear is visible on the outer walls of the complex but there are several craftsman busy carving away at stone replacements for the crumbling areas. The inside of the Taj Mahal is sparse but also nicely decorated with precious stone inlays.


Our train back to Delhi was delayed by several hours which gave us time to experience the beggars and rats of Agra. The station was pretty grubby and was occupied by many homeless people. The beggars homed in on us and made things a bit uncomfortable until a policeman armed with a stick showed up. He gave one woman a really mean jab in the ribs with his stick which sent most of them running for cover. There was also an army of rats living on the tracks. We couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing as any trash (and there was lots of it) that was thrown on the track was immediately devoured or carried off by the rats.

Next: Jaisalmer, fort, camels, and desert...........

 

Arrive in Delhi

We didn't get much sleep between Atlanta and London but were determined to get into town during our 8 hour transit at Heathrow. After a late landing and all the immigration jazz we had 3 hours to do our planned lunch and visit to Getty Images Gallery before we had to head back to the airport.

As always lunch at Govinda's was excellent and the Getty Images Gallery museum was just fantastic, such an inspiration. Got all this done and still some time for a cuppa before jumping back on the tube to Heathrow.


Getty Images Gallery Museum, London

The arrival in Delhi was not what we expected. No crowds, immigration and customs were practically deserted and we were through in a few minutes. Even outside the airport there were only a few touts and they didn't bother us at all . As promised the driver from S B Inn was there and we were off to the city in no time at all. This is when things changed! The roads are chaotic and roads lanes don't mean much. Everyone is trying to pass everyone else and if there is a gap a couple of inches wider than the car, they hit the horn and go for it!

SB Inn is situated down two alleys and is quite hard to find. The driver showed us where to go and what to look for when we go out on our own so we can find our way back. The staff at the hotel are really nice and friendly and extremely helpful. They even gave us a card to keep with us with the address and 24 hour contact details for them in case we have any problems while in Delhi. Our room is basic but nice and clean with air con and bathroom. It is also away from the rather noisy street.

Fresh fruit and veg markets are everywhere

 Going out and about in Delhi for the first time was a bit of a shock for us. The only way to describe it is 'organized chaos'. There are so many cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, and people that at first it is a bit disorientating. Then there are the touts, young men who start conversation and start giving advice on where to go and what to see. We soon learned to ignore them or just tell them to go away as they become extremely distracting and are obviously up to no good.

The chaos continues late into the night

Our firs ride in an auto-rickshaw was a wild experience. They zigzag through the traffic and shoot through the narrowest of gaps. It was pretty scary at first but they are actually quite good drivers and there are not many accidents, although most cars are minus their wing mirrors or have them folded against the body.

The reason these mirror are inside is they wouldn't last 30 seconds outside

 Delhi has a very clean and efficient metro system. It is cheap too. Fares range from $0.20 for a short trip to $2 for an all day pass. The only thing that took some getting used to is that people getting on don't wait for those getting off. So when you get to your stop you need to put your head down and push. The same goes for getting on, if you hesitate they will push you out of the way and you won't get on.

Next - Some more about Delhi and then Agra and the Taj Mahal..........

 

Ready to Depart!

Our visas took only 10 days from mailing to picking the up from UPS. Travisa in Atlanta GA were a pleasure to deal with, always available on the phone, and very efficient.

We are now in Atlanta and ready to depart on the big adventure. Arrived here a couple of days early to relax a bit before the long trip. We visited CNN World Headquarters and did the tour. Real interesting.

Inside the CNN complex

The CNN news room
 


The flight goes via London and we have a few hours there so we plan to visit the Getty Photography Museum and then grab a quick veggie meal at Govindas. (Hare Krishna temple restaurant). We arrive in Delhi on Friday 22 August for about 2 weeks. We are planning a few side trips from there to Jaisalmer (4 day camel trek), Jaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal), and Amritsar (Sikh Golden Temple).

The next destination is Bombay (Mumbai) where we hope to be extras in a Bollywood movie. We were extras in a BBC production a few years back and that was a lot of fun so we hope this one works out!

The Money Plan

So firstly we had to come up with a total amount of money needed for the trip and then decide on a cunning plan to acquire the bucks. This has taken a fair amount of research and of course this is an estimated cost. For some security we added 25% to our calculated amount. We have only booked the first hotel in Delhi. For the rest we researched the general cost of accommodation  in the area and used that for our budget. Air travel costs are by far the biggest expense followed by accommodation and then local transport. Food appears to be extremely cheap, especially vegan. I'll elaborate more on the details of the destinations and travel methods etc. later.

One restriction we put on ourselves is to limit our baggage to one small backpack each. Just the essentials, after all people live in India so we should be able to find all we need when we get there. We'll detail the contents of these backpacks later.

Some of our main sources of information have been: two books, Lonely Planet India, Lonely Planet South East Asia on a Shoestring, a couple of maps, Travel Maps of India and Southeast Asia, and many websites, blogs, and forums including http://www.indiamike.com/, and http://www.seat61.com/India.htm .

The figure we came up with to do this trip on half a shoestring is $10 000! This is for 2 people for 10 months in India and Southeast Asia combined. Now we had to find a way of earning this money in the 11 months to our planned departure date. Once before when I needed extra money for college we had driven a truck so this seemed to be a good option.

Trucking in the US is pretty unique as far as jobs go. You can walk in and get paid in a week and they don't care if you leave and come back whenever you want. You can live in the truck and save on rent and you get to choose where you want time off and they just send you there. We have got to see a lot of the country this way.



Our rig and home for 11 months

Sometimes life on the road is interesting..............

And sometimes it sucks.................

Although truck driving can be frustrating at times there is a steady flow of money and so in 8 months we reached our goal. (we also sneaked in a quick trip to Mexico and a trip to South Africa for me to see family) We were not quite ready to depart so decided to stay on and earn some extra cash. This also meant no rent until our departure.

According to one of our books, a good way of learning about Indian culture and just the general way Indians talk and conduct themselves is to watch Bollywood movies. So we bought a pile of them from an Indian shop in Orlando and have spent many hours watching them. Very entertaining once you get used to deciphering the Indian English subtitles.  We have also bought several Indian music CD's to get into the swing of things before we go.

We have our air tickets from Atlanta to Delhi via London on British Airways which was not quite the cheapest we could find but it does break the trip into two 8 hour legs instead of one 14 hour leg. Also we get 8 hours in London. Our passports are at the Indian Embassy getting the visas, expecting those back in the first week in August.

Only 5 weeks to go now and all seems on track and we are ahead on the money, our first hotel, the SB Inn, (http://hotelsbinn.com/) in New Delhi is booked. Mike, the owner emailed us and assured us that our room is booked and "his man" will be waiting outside gate 6 for us!

Next: more info about our destinations and schedule.........