Back through Delhi

I had trouble buying flights online for Airarabia.com so hopped on an
overnight train to Delhi and went to their office instead!
I was surprised my British friend Peter who I had met in Mumbai quite a
while ago now (November) was still in town. I had heard a month ago that
he was in jail in Delhi and then released a few weeks ago. They threw
his case out when they finally got before a judge after 3 months in
Delhi jail. Supposedly the Delhi jail is quite a healthy place and Peter
certainly looked better for it. He's back drinking and whatever else so
he'll be his rundown self again soon. It was very interesting to catch
up with him and I was relieved that no assistance was required nor
trouble lingering. My Australian friend Stewart was around as well
collecting older scooters he imports and fixes for Australian
collectors.

pics: dessert from Rishikesh - Canadian and Japanese friends enjoying
"Hello to the Queen" dessert.
Peter - quite a character. Mumbai,Bollywood and
now Delhi.

Rishikesh

March 14 - 30
I headed down to Rishikesh to catch Faith while she was
still there. Faith is an older traveller from Australia. She's been
coming to India every year for a long time and has many friends here.
I've hung out with her in Delhi ( we got our pictures in the paper )
Pushcar and now Rishikesh. One of her friends showed up a day after me..
another Canadian. Liza has been running an eclectic shop in
Toronto's hip Kensington neighbourhood for a long time. Two
other Canadian girls recognized her from her store.

Sittin' with the Dali Lama in Macleod Gange

March 9 - 13
A French couple in Amritsar mentioned that now would be a
great time to visit Macleod Gange as the Dali Lama would be presenting a
teaching and it was also the 50th anniversary of the uprising and his
'move' to India. I took the bus with 3 Canadian women and one American
husband all the way to Macleod Gange. It was a great group and it's the
first time in a long time I've been around so many Canadians at once!
Two of the women and a German woman we met and I ended up hanging
around much of the next 3 days.
The Dali Lama's teaching was translated and broadcast to our fm
radios. He mentioned the Chinese rulers occasionally as examples of
those who lack qualities he was teaching. Security was quite high at
the event and we weren't allowed to bring cameras.. so I have a
picture from the next day inside the temple from where I was sitting
and where he was speaking ;) As an added complication it has "Holi" in
India. This is a celebration which involves bombarding people on the
street with bright dyes and water. A Japanese man walking between
myself and my American Friend was bombed from above with green dye on
the walk back from the teaching. I've heard that Holi is getting a bit
out of hand... seems so. I didn't get hit but did threaten some kids
the day before who were mobilizing early.
ps - writing this from all nighter in Dubai airport... half asleep :o

Attari... border wth Pakistan!

March 6th
Friends from the morning train hopped on the afternoon train
back to Delhi - quick trip!! I went the other way and hopped on a
short local bus followed by a quick walk to the border with Pakistan.
The daily closing ceremonies have been tamed down recently but are still
very much oer-the-top.. as the lonely planet says - reminiscent of
Monty Python's "ministry of silly walks" .
As you can see from the pictures it seems more
like a football game than a flag
ceremony. It's much easier to get a good seat on the
Pakistani side which makes it all seem physically unbalanced as well.
I came back to find that I was supposed to leave something on my bed to
reserve it.. ended up spending the first night in a row of beds in the
larger hall mainly occupied by exotic european women... oh
well ;)

For more on the border click here to check out wikipedia's entry.

Amritsar - Staying at the Golden Temple!

March 6 - 9

Yet another overnight train.

The Golden Temple is the holiest of Sikh temples. As a tourist site it's on par with the
Taj Mahal in my opinion.. maybe even better. Historiclly, this is where
Indihra Ghandi sent in the troops to seek out Sikh
seperatists/terrorists killing hundreds of innocents in the process.
She was then asassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards which then
led to persecution of Sikhs in India and the exodus of many to
other countries including Canada. In Canada some Sikh terrorists
bombed an Air India flight which is seen to be celebrated by the Sikh
community in Canada resulting in ongoing issues in Canada. Does it ever
end? From paintings in the halls of the
Golden Temple it would seem the Sikhs put some effort into remembering
all of the persecution they've endured over the centuries. There are
many paintings of Sikh Gurus being tortured to death.. reminded me of
the torture museum in London!
The Golden Temple houses and feeds anyone who shows up...
including many backpackers. We seem to get preferential treatment and
put in our own little hall ( with a newer machine clothes washer..
which I fixed ;) . Many people sleep out in the marble foyer on the
ground and even in the walkways to the temple area itself. The
cafeteria is amazing... feeding 8000 a day open 24 hours. You get
herded past the utensil/plate area into a hall where you sit on the
floor as volunteers practicaly run by you refilling your plate from
buckets. If you don't finish in time you
risk being run down by the 'zamboni' floor washing tractor before the
next horde of people come rushing in; it's quite an experience! It's
all by donation too.

pics: 1&2 are 3D of the Golden Temple pic 3 is at
the end of my 3rd or 4th refill. Mmmmmmm Dal Fry!

Sitar in Delhi

Feb25-Mar5
Well, another backtrack... Overnight bus again with a 6am arrival in
Delhi. Of course the bus sneaks right by the tourist street and you can
be sure they get a cut from the autorickshaws that overcharge you to
get back. I guided a lot of fellow tourists around the corner to the
metro instead ;) It was nice again to not have to hunt down a hotel and
deal with all the people wanting to 'help' you. If you come to India be
aware that there seems to no social stigma to lying.. as a tourist
assume everything is a lie and go from there. You'll only really
understand once you've been here though!

The big event during my return to Delhi was the Ravi Shankar concert
in the park. He's an icon of Sitar music in India. His
younger daughter is a sitar virtuoso as well and was on stage with
him. His elder daugher you might have heard of - Norah Jones. I'm not
in any way a fan of sitar music but it was fun to see an elder
statesman of Indian culture enjoying yet one more performance.

Pushkar II

Feb 24-28
It's always nice to get back to somewhere you've been before and
enjoyed. I arrived off the bus at 2:30am instead of the 4:30
advertised time... early arrival in India? I figure it's a
ploy to get you to buy more at the eating stop. They wait as long
as they can so you're hungry and then let you think you've got
hours to go yet....
I sat down near the ghats with a British woman and talked for a few
hours before checking in at Bhola guesthouse again. Once more I was
their only male guest.. I'm honored ;) One of their friends was getting
married and I got some video of his horse ride through the streets and
hung out for an impromptu bachelor party. Other parts of the wedding
were in the bride's hometown, Udaipur and were a bit far away for me.
I'm attaching a picture of the ongoing work on the lake. Click on the
image to see it fullsize so you can see who's doing the hard labour in
India...

ps, sorry I've fallen behind. Some very cool entries soon...