Jalandhar: childhood home of Giles' grandfather.

A trip to India would not be complete without a visit to this city as Giles' grandad spent ten years of his youth here as his father, a coronel with the British army as stationed here.

Jalandhar is about 80 kilometres south east of Amristar, and is nowadays a major crossroads and important commercial centre famous forthe production of sporting goods and handtools. The streets are full of activity which different areas of the city selling different things: the book market, the fruit and veg market, the steel market, etc... There is also an important Sikh temple which we also visited and oddly enough had a Disney style mini-amusement park with gods and wild animal figures!

After a drive and walk around we headed back past Amritsar (30kms away) to the Attari India-Pakistan border crossing to witness the daily 'closing of the border' ceremony where Indian and Pakistani guards shout and march on either side in an extraordinary 20 minute ceremony conducted with machismo, pride and exaggerated marching. Thousands of Indians and Pakistanis attend the ceremony to cheer their own side.

Next stop: Delhi for a bit of shopping and resting before heading home!!

Amritsar: Capital city of the Punjab region

After a half night stop-over in Delhi, we took the 7am train to the north of India to the Punjab region and its main city Amritsar, the beating heart of the Sikh religion.

India is mainly Hindi with as much as 80% of the population belonging to this faith, then next in numbers are the Muslims (12%) and then to a far lesser extend are the Sikhs who represent about 2% and they are mainly concentrated in the Punjab region. The remaining percentages are made up of Buddists, Christians and Jainists.

Sikhism, which was born in the 15th Century at the hands of Guru Nanak, originated as a reaction against the Hindu caste system and Brahim domination, and believes in one God and rejects the worship of idols. Like Hindus and Buddhists, Sikhs believe in rebirth and Karma (the retribution of your past deeds).

The main attraction in Amritsar (which comes from the name Amrit Sarovar which means pool of nectar named after the largepool surrounding the temple) is the Golden Temple, an exceptionally beautiful and serene place, which is a complete contrast with the rest of the dirty, noisy and heavily polluted surrounding old city.

To enter the temple, eveyone must take off their shoes, wash their feet in holy water (basically a puddle (charco) in the ground which has a tap running into it) and cover their hair with a piece of cloth. Over 30,000 Sikhs visit the temple every day and night (its open 24 hours) and free food (lentil soup and chapati bread) is distributed to anyone who wants it. Also anyone can sleep there for free, but despite our condition of backpackers, we chose some horrible hotel that had giants ants climbing up the curtains! Thinking about it now, we should have stayed at the temple!!

Four priests inside the temple keep up a continuos chant in Punjabi from the Sikh holy book, and people queue up to pay hommage to the priests and listen to their chanting, and be close to the centre of their faith. The dome of the temple is said to be made up of 750kgs of pure gold and is in the shape of an inverted lotus flower, a symbol of Sikhism's aim to live a pure life.

The other main attraction in Amristar is the Jallianwala Bagh, a small park in the cetre of the town, which commemorates 2000 indians who were killed here by the British authorities in 1919 under the orders of General Dyer, while holding a peaceful demonstration. In response to this, Gandhi instigated his programme of civil disobedience and announced that 'cooperation in any shape or form with this satanic government is sinful'. The massacre spurred (desencadeno) Indian nationalism and increased demands for the British to quit India. Both the massacre and subsequent inquiry feature in Richard Attenborough's film Ghandi starring Sir Ben Kingsley. Giles, being British kept his mouth shut while walking through the park, especially as our visit was on the 15th August, the National Day of Independance from the British power.

Pushkar, the hippie heaven of India and the Ibiza of the 70's

Pushkar is a small magical town on the edge of the desert with about 400 temples around the holy lake and is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre where meat, eggs, alcohol and public displays of affection (holding hands or kissing) are strictly prohibited. For us most importantly, there are no rickshaws allowed and people pretty much leave you in peace.

At last we have found peace and all the stress of the past 2 weeks of travelling and desperately trying to get from one place to another has gone!. This place is sooooooo relaxing and even though we are only here for two days, its enough to recharge our batteries. This is the place to chill in Northern India.

Only a few of the temples are particularly ancient and the most famous is the Brahma (one of the Hindu gods, as the creator of all things) temple, supposedly one of the few such temples in the world. The other most important temple is unfortunately on top of a hill overlooking Pushkar which if you manage to make it to the top (llegar a la cima) offers a spectacular view of the town and the surrounding mountains. We made it... just!

Around the lake there are over 50 bathing ghats were pilgrims bathe in the sacred waters. The three most important being the Brahma ghat (where Brahma bathed), the Vishnu ghat (whereVishnu, another hindu god turned into a boar) and the Gandhi ghat (where Mahatma Gandhi's ashes were spread).

Tomorrow, Sunday, its back on the road and off to the next destination: Amritsar, the capital of the Punjab and centre of the religion Sikhism.

Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan

Once again we didnt hear the alarm, which normally wouldnt been a problem except this time we were on a train. Luckily the train inspector realised this and woke us up just as the train was about to leave the station we should have got off at.

So at 2:15 AM and still half asleep from our 13 hour train journey we found ourselves on Jaipur station and having to get a rickshaw to the hostal we booked a few hours before.

After a few more hours of sleep we headed out into Jaipur. First going to a temple overlooking the city which was invaded by wild monkeys and then heading into the old city, often known as the pink city due to the colour of its walls after the Maharaja Ram Singh had the entire city painted pink -a colour associated with hospitality- to welcome the Price of Wales (later King Edward VII) and the tradition has been maintained. To us however, the walls seemed strangely orange!.

The Mahajaras were essentialy princely rulers in the state of Rajasthan, who were well known for their extraordinary palaces, incredible wealth and the life style they had including numerous wives and expensive hobbies. During British India they lost a lot of the power but maintained their lavish (exuberantes) way of living.

Jaipur is a city with an incredible amount of activity: muslims and hindus selling just about everything in little side streets, while camel carts, cars, cows, pigs, motorbikes and death-defying pedestrians (peatones jugandose la vida cada vez que intentaban cruzar una calle) all fight for space on the roads.

This city is a lot cleaner than most of the places we have visited so far, and there seems to be more money here: newer cars, more mobile phones and shopping centres.

In the evening we met up with some friends of friends in Madrid who live and run a travel agency here and had a fantastic local curry.

The stunning temples of Khajuraho

From Jhansi (after staying in Orchha), we took a local bus to Khajuraho. Sounds simple enough, but what a problem in trying to get the bus! We knew it left from the train station as our Lonely Planet indicated, but at the station the ticket office was closed, and so was the tourism office. People just pointed to a billboard (valla publicitaria) just outside the station and after finding a few people who spoke English, we learnt that we had to wait there for the bus to come. Each person said a different time: Some 10am, some 10:15, some 10:30, some 11:00. So we waited there from 9:30 just to make sure!!

The bus ride was quite an experience: five and a half hours over bumpy country roads through little villages. Given the fact that we were packed in like sardines and an average of four/five people for a three seat bench, and people standing, sitting with the driver and of course on the roof, it was quite uncomfortable and seemed to take forever. Oh and it didnt stop so it put our bladders to the test.

The stunning temples are deservedly one of India's main attractions but as it is a long way from anywhere not so many tourist go there. Arguebly, there is an airport but between choosing Air India (100$ one way) and a local government bus (2$), we preferred trusting the bus driver.
The temples which are of architectural and sculptural genius have a historic and poetic resonance that inmediately captures the imagination. Built between 950 AD and 1050, the temples have incredibly artistic stone work showing a storyboard of life a thousand years ago- gods, goddesses, warriors, musicians, real and mythological animals.


Two elements appear repeatedly, women and sex. Much of the stone work shows diferent erotic positions and possibilities. One theory is that it was a kind of kamasutra in stone, a how-to manual for adolescent boys growing up in all male temple schools. Whatever the reason, the sculpturers had a pretty impressive imagination!. The sculpture on the left is the least explicit we could find.

After 2 days in Kajuraho and probably the worst massage you could ever imagine (supposedly an indian guru of massage, but with hands like leather we think he probably works on a building site!) we took the 5 AM local bus back to Jhansi to catch the train. Next stop: Jaipur.

Out into the countryside and off to Orchha

Despite originally intending to go to Bodagaya, train timetable impossibilities (we found out the night before that trains dont run on a Friday despite being told they do) lead us to a change of plan and so we went in the opposite direction off to a place called Orchha.

So we took a 2pm night train from Varanasi to Jhansi which took fourteen hours, and this time we only arrived an hour behind schedule. From Jhansi we took a motor-rickshaw about 18 kilometres. Several people had mentioned this place along our travels and we were glad to have gone. Its a lovely little village out in the countryside where there are some well preserved palaces and temples, and the best thing of all is that were not hassled once!! It was a very refreshing break from the constant bombardment (bombardeo) of people offering you souvenirs, drinks, taxi rides that we have experienced up to now.

We spent the night there in a simple little guesthouse that was fine until breakfast as there seems to have been a a plague of flies and we could only eat breakfast with one hand while the other was used for waving a napkin (servieta) to distract them. So after a day and a nightthere, we headed back to Jhansi to head off on the next trip.

Spiritual cleaning: Ganges boat trip, temple visiting and other cleansings...

We have not come to Varanasi to cleanse our souls and take the path to the next life, but being here a bit of spiritual cleansing can be a good thing.

Today we started off with a 5am rowing boat ride along the Ganges to see the sunrise and watch people as they have their early morning bathe in this far from clean river. We even saw people brushing their teeth in it! After this hour long ride we ventured into the streets of the hold city and visited the Vishwanath Temple (Golden Temple) but not being hindu we weren't allowed in.

Then we went to Sarnath (10 Km northeast of Varanasi) where Buddha went to preach his message (see the recreation in the photo below) of the middle way to Nirvana after he achieved enlightenment at Bodhgaya (where we are heading next after Varanasi).

Here are several Buddhist Temples (Tibetan, Chinese, Thai, Burmese and Japanese) and it is a pleasant escape from overwhelming Varanasi. The archeological museum is a must, as it contains some extraordinary Buddha work , as well as the statue of the Lions from which the emblem of India were taken.

And to round up the cleansing process, Giles has got the dreaded 'Delhi Belly' as they say in English (para entendernos, como se te quedaria el estomago despues de comer una fabada asturiana en pleno Agosto). All those years of vindaloos and madras curries and after only six days in India he is officially ill!!

Now 24 hours later, and after one of the worst days and nights imaginabe, and with nurse Patricia (now titled Saint Patricia of Varanasi following in the footsteps of Saint Theresa of Calcutta) and a dozen toilet rolls at hand, Giles, half a stone later (2 kilos) is on the road to recovery. One thing is for sure, Giles can probably now fit into Patricias' clothes!! Okay, a bit of dreaming there. So its time for water with lemon juice for the next day or two and to avoid the sights and smells of streetlife which make ones stomach turn even in the best of health.

Just when you think you've seen it all, you get to Varanasi

We left Agra on the night train, supposedly leaving at 9pm but as is common here, the train was late arriving and didnt pull into the station until 10.40! Also as is a daily occurance in India, there was a power cut at the station and so no electricity - luckily the trains are diesel - so we sat around in darkness, with hundreds of Indians, a handfull of backpackers and loads of dogs and rats.

We were told the journey was 7 hours, but 11 hours later we pulled into Varanasi station and went to the hotel we had picked from our Lonely Planet travel bible. The streets were more chaotic and dirty than we have seen so far, and we thought that what we had experienced was extreme. People are everywhere and thousands of rickshaws, motorickshaws, mopeds/vespas, bicycles and people on foot all share the same dirt, concrete or tarmac(asfalto) piece of road. Of course not forgetting the fle-ridden (llenos de moscas y pulgas) cows and buffallo, dogs and goats which also walk around freely and search amongst the tons of rubbish on either side of the road.

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India, Hindu pilgrims come to was away their sins in the Ganges river, and many come here to die and to be burnt by the side of the ganges, and their ashes then thrown in it.

people bathing in the Ganges

Varanasi's principle attraction is the the log string of ghats (about 80) that line the western bank of the Ganges. Most are used for bathing but there are also several 'burning ghats' where bodies wrapped in cloth are cremated in public.

Photos are not allowed (but we managed to take a couple from a distance as the photo on the right shows) but we actually sat and saw the ceremony in front of us. Neither of us will forget the smell of burning bodies or the sight of legs and half-burnt heads, or a dog trying to take part of a body from one of the unguarded fires (there are about 10 cremations at the same time, all in different stages).

The back streets of Varansi are a world to their own, a sub-world within the heart of the city where Muslims and Hindus go about their daily life. We often saw old people just lying there in doorways, very frail (fragil) and almost lifeless people, perhaps just waiting for their time to come. We had a sort of fear of what we might see around the next corner, but in the end we knew that is would be the same as the previous street: cows, goats, dogs, animal faeces, rubbish, dirt and poverty at its most harsh (duro).

Taj Mahal: India's top tourist attraction.

Described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, that the Emperor Shah Jahan constructed as a memorial for his second wife who died while giving birth to the fourteenth child, the Taj Mahal is an architectural masterpiece.

After paying 750 rupies (14 dollars) tourist entrance fee , as to the 5 rupies that indians pay to get in, and an hour long queue (one for women and one for men) we finally got to visit this remarkable beautiful building.

We took the typical tourist photos and carried on our visit around Agra spending time at the Red Fort, a massive red stone fort and palace on the bank of Yamuna river, which actually became the Emperor Shah's prison when his some overthrew him and took power.



Later we took a motorised rickshaw to the other side of the river to watch the sun go down over the back of the Taj Mahal. The views from here are even more spectacular.

Finally leaving Delhi!!

Getting up at 5am to get the train was hard enough. What was even harder was when Giles read the signboard wrongly and we went to the wrong platform and missed the train completely! We were by this time desperate to get out of this place. It generally takes a day to get train tickets in India so we decided to take the quickest way out possible, by bus.

This was an experience in itself, as it was too overcrowded (even though we had paid for our seats) and we had to sit at the front right next to the driver, the mechanic and the second driver. See the photo below.

After the usual ritual of lighting incense and praying to their Gods for a safe journey, we set off for Agra on a suppossed 5 hour journey but which took over 7. The journey took us through the suburds of Delhi (about 2 hours till we left the city) and then into the countryside, and of course we saw the usual cows lying in the roads, vehicles driving on either - or both - sides of the motorway, and thousands of people going from A to B. The amount of rubbish all along the roadsides was incredible. No-one seems to care, everyone seems to be used to it, probably as they know no different. For us it was shocking, and to see kids playing it in, looking through it, and cows eating from it. And we won't even go into the smell!

7 miles from Agra, the bus stopped and we were told that it went no further. Slightly strange as is seemed we were in the middle of nowhere. Of course someone was there to pick us up and accompany us to the Hotel, and on the way trying to tell us a better hotel to go to (where of course they have comission), and trying to persuade us to pay them to take us around the tourist sights of Agra. Getting inside of our hotel (once we had negociated the room rates) we thought we were safe, but once againg we were wrong. The hotel manager was part of the same scam and tried to charge us extra (his comission) for taxis, and our train tickets onto the next place - he even told us trains dont run on this day and we would have to stay another night, which of course was not true as we later found out when we asked in a bank, and they bought them for us!!

Between one thing and another this was the whole day: half of it trying to get to Agra and the other half trying to arrange our tickets out of it for the following night. This really is a very slow and complicated country to travel in!