Amritsar, India: The Border Closing (Jan 11th)

We grab a cab and head back to Haridwar to catch the afternoon train to Amritsar.  We are less worried about this train ride since we had discovered the website “cleartrip” which is an Indian version of expedia or Travelocity and booked AC chair class seats.  If you ever want to know how to travel by train in any country go to “the man in seat 61” website and it will guide you.  So we take our seats and are amazed at what paying an extra $5 per person will get you.  The ride is smooth and comfortable and we finally succumb to the chants of the Chai guy and order us a couple of cups of tea which turned out to be delicious, we keep him busy for the remainder of the trip. Eventually a man walks by selling tomato soup, we take the bait and are instantly hooked.  I don’t think I’ve ever had soup that tasted so good.  Teresa is in complete agreement and I spend the next  hour looking over my shoulder for the tomato soup guy to return, when he does I order 4 more soups. His eyes go wide and he replies in astonishment “4”.  Oh, yeah!  That’s what I said, now give me my soup cause we were now chasing the dragon.

                We arrive in Amritsar close to midnight and take a hotel that’s right across from the train station. We have ventured further north and it is COLD. We ask for a space heater and they supply us with the equivalent of a mini hairdryer that has zero chances to keep up with the draft that is coming from under the door and through the AC unit (yeah, that was a handy device to have).  Out come the sleeping bags again.  I normally do not have a problem with the bags if were staying is a $5 night joint, but since it was cold we upgraded to a $30 a night room and I had issues with the fact that I was still cold.  We checked out the next day and made our way into the madness of old town. Teresa posted up at a coffee shop while I wandered around town looking for some new digs. We move into our new pad that was directly across from the golden temple, had no windows (less draft), spotless clean, and had free Wi-Fi for less cash than the last place….score!  We book a car to get us to Attari which is the border with Pakistan to see the daily closing of the border. We lay down under the heavy blankets supplied and take an hour nap while we wait for our trip to the border.

                30 km later our driver drops us off at the border.  We notice that an impressively long line has formed and not knowing our place we ask the guard who instructs us to take a spot at the front of the line.  We patiently wait until 4 pm when they open the gates to allow visitors to proceed to the spectator location. We pass numerous security points and notice that people are starting to run for the border.  Not wanting to miss out on good seats we make a break for it like there was a Taco Bell at the end.  Our western passports allows us the status of MVP and we are ushered to the front seats.  As we wait for the closing both the Indian and Pakistani sides are blaring music.  The main differences we notice are that the Pakistani side is empty and the Indian side has people everywhere with some dancing  in the streets, waving Indian flags, and just hooting and hollering in general. As we wait an Indian sniper takes position next to us and I remember that these two countries have no love lost and have had numerous skirmishes in the recent past.  Suddenly the music stops and a guy in a white track suit (I kid you not) comes out and assumes the role if head cheerleader getting the crowd riled up.  If the Indian government sees this blog please consider my suggestions:

1.       Female cheerleaders with pom-poms doing acrobatics

2.       Small remote controlled blimp or alternatively a team of cheerleaders with air gun dropping/shooting Indian flags into the crowd.

3.       Beer / snack service

4.       A jumbotron showing the action and for instant replays of the more impressive moves

…Think about it India.

So to kick off the closing, guards from both side of the border have a yelling match to see who can keep yelling the longest.  Then a pair of female Indian soldier begin to high step it to the gates to secure the perimeter. Oh, It’s show time.  Then the male guards go out kicking and spinning and yelling like really loud ninjas dressed like UPS delivery drivers with funny hats.  This is mirrored on the Pakistani side, although our view is somewhat obstructed.  To be honest I felt bad for the Pakistani side since the Indian side was standing room only and their side was fairly empty.  This went on for some time, each side trying to outdo the other side with the crowd (assisted by our jogging suit clad cheerleader) cheering them on.  The procession climaxed with the lowering and securing of the flags then the gates were closed for the day thus our chances to slip away to Pakistan were gone.  Once the border was closed a stream of young Indian males rushed the field to celebrate their victory and what I assume was shout jeers and insults to their defeated rival, if there would have been a goalpost present I am confident it would have come down as well. We find our driver at the parking lot and make our way back to Amritsar reflecting on the bizarre, yet wildly entertaining  event we just witnessed.   It was like watching OSU vs. Oregon civil war with snipers, tanks, and the possible use of nuclear weapons.   

The Pakistan crowd

The Indian crowd

The head cheerleader in the white track suit, queing everyone to cheer the marching

Lowering of the flags





The two sides say goodbye for the night

High kicking the gates closed

Rishakesh, India

We had big plans to go on all sorts of adventures while in Rishakesh.  We were going to go white water rafting down the Ganges, take some yoga classes, and  go trekking through the Himalayas.  On our first evening, we familiarized ourselves with town and booked a six hour white water rafting trip for 950 rupees (about $20) leaving in the morning.   This bargain price got you a guide, a boat, a paddle, and lifejacket; there are no wet/dry suits, no mention of a throw bag with a safety line or even if this company has insurance or not.  Whatever, we’re in India either it is going to be awesome or we’re going to die. 

The hotel we are staying in had a huge room with a little kitchenette and a bathroom with a real bath tub.  What it didn’t have was plate glass windows, just shutters covering the windows.  After talking to some people, we find out it’s the coldest winter that anyone can remember.  So once again, we end up sleeping in our sleeping bags and hats. 

Well we never got a chance to see if we’d make it down the river.  I came down with another really nasty case traveler’s bug.  I’m blaming it on the mutter paneer (paneer with pea curry) I ate for dinner  and I vow never to eat the stuff again!  After spending most of the night, unzipping my sleeping bag, climbing out from under the blankets, and freezing in the bathroom while I waited for the last wave of unpleasantness to subside, there was no way I was getting into a river boat.  I spent the next day, repeating the process of unzipping the sleeping bag and scampering to bathroom.  The hotel had satellite TV though and through my misery I was able to watch the season one marathon of Dexter.  Jeff spent half of the day making sure I was okay and the other half at the internet café surfing the internet and chatting on Facebook. 

January is the coldest month in India, which means we’re in northern India at the wrong time of year to do any trekking through the Himalayas.  Rishakesh is beautiful area that appears to have some amazing hikes through it.  Jeff and I would both like to come back during trekking season and explore this area.  As our luck would have it, my high school friend Mindy will be moving to Delhi this year.  Her husband has a job in the city for three years.  So Mindy, it is in writing, we’ll be coming to visit while you’re here. 

The next day, even though I’m feeling much better, we decide not to take any yoga classes.  There are some poses I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to get into, wind relieving pose to being one of themn.  We did take a little 3 km walk with a little climb up to a little waterfall.  Jeff got an  ayurvedic massage (traditional Indian massage) for 500 rupees ($10) for an hour and I got a mehendi henna tattoo.

Next we’re heading farther north to Amritsar.  I have little hope it is going to get warmer in our lives anytime soon!

View for the Ganges from Rishakesh

My henna tattoo

Monkeys on the bridge

The watrfall we hiked up too

A cow in front of a shrine... It doesn't get holier than that!

Haridwar

We get to the train station in Agra and stand in line to see if we can upgrade our other train tickets from sleeper class to a 3 A/C (high) class.  The guy behind the counter, told us that we weren’t able to upgrade anything.  We asked what platform our current train left from and he told us to check the reader board.  So we leave the reservation area and go to the reader board which is all written in Hindi.  We finally figure out where we’re leaving from as we briefly see our train number flash across the screen.  We get to platform two and then see that the train will be about 30 minutes late.  While sitting there waiting, I had a little mini meltdown.  In two days we are scheduled to take a sleeper class over-night train.  This does not sound like fun to me.  This sounds like the worst experience ever!  We talked about it and decided that if the hotel in Haridware wasn’t nice, we’d scratch the rest of the ‘tour’ like Chris and Amanda. 

The train arrives and we climb on.  We get to our assigned seats and a whole family is sitting there.  In theory, every passenger on the train has assigned seating, but this is clearly not what is practiced.  It’s a free-for-all seating and we got some strange looks when we insisted that these were our seats.  There is some shuffling that goes on and Jeff and I able to sit next to each other with our bags next to us.  As the train is leaving another guy squeezes in next to Jeff.  In theory, we should have four spaces all to ourselves since Amanda and Chris aren’t with us anymore.  But now crammed into that space is me, Jeff, the other guy, and a  family of four sitting across from us and everyone’s things!  But we make the most of it.  Jeff ended up playing games on the iPhone with the little girl across from us.  People are continually walking up and down the aisles selling food, gadgets, clothes, and just about anything else you could need; it’s like a bazaar on rails.  The chai guys walk up and down every 10 minutes saying “Chai, chai, chai.” 

The train stops in Delhi and most people get off the train.  The little girl that Jeff was playing with blew him a kiss from the platform as the train pulled away.  We were hungry by this point, so Jeff went to the pantry car and got two somosas (deep fried pastry triangles filled with curried potatoes & veggies).  They were really good and hot, so we decided that they were pretty safe to eat.  We ended up eating two more apiece.  We were never brave enough to try the sweets or chai or other food stuffs as they came down the aisle.

We arrived into Haridware around 2300.  We get to our hotel only to be disappointed again by our ‘tour.’  This room was an improvement from the last, but I still felt the need to sleep in my sleeping bag and no hot water.  We found this little restaurant that was still open and had a wonderful meal.  Haridware is the holiest Hindu city in the region and the sacred Ganges river emerges from the Himalayas here.  There is no meat or eggs or alcohol to be found.  So we ate a lot of paneer (soft, unfermented cheese made from milk curd that has a consistency like tofu) curries, rice, naan (tandori cooked flat bread), and dhal (lentils).  All of it was very good.  One of my favorites to now order is a thali plate which gets you  usually a small serving of dhal, paneer, veggies, rice, and naan. 

We relocated hotels to very nice hotel just around the corner the next day.  We didn’t have to sleep in our sleeping bags, had 24 hot water, and room service.  We had a flat screen TV that our laptop with all its movies connected into and we didn’t have to wear our shoes around the room.  We stayed here for three nights(we abandoned our stupid tour) and it was wonderful!  We definitely took a step up and only paid 750 rupees at night (about $16).

We wandered across the Ganges and walked down the river.  People were bathing (to wash away their sins), washing clothes, and praying along its banks.  There is so much going on its hard to capture in words or pictures, but this scene is what I imagined India to be like.  The colors of clothes and buildings, the river, the cows standing around, the people talking, the people begging, the people selling, the people eating, the people praying.  It really was extraordinary during the day, and very festive at night.   There is area along the river called the Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat, which translates into The Footstep of God.  Every evening as the sun sets, people gather, bells start to ring, torches are lit, and leaf baskets filled with flower petals and a candle on top are lit and put into the river to float downstream.  It was really beautiful to see.  

We wandered around the market area and did brave some street food.  One day we got a bag of popcorn from a guy who popping it in a wok.  The other thing we tried was the shortbread like cookies baked in a little oven on the push cart.  These were so good we had to have more.  It took us a little bit to find him the next day since his mobile but it was well worth it!

Since we stuffed our pre-purchased tour, we arranged train tickets to leave to Amritsar on day train in couple of days.  Until then we’re going about 25 km north to the yoga capital of the world Rishikesh.

The holy Ganges River

The chains are for the people to grab onto if they get caught in the current

T workin her mojo

Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat



Holy Cow!