Hi Chilly;
Message from Steve:
How long is your trip planned for and do you have a full itinerary or are you playing it by ear, so to speak
Love Jayne

Chilly has actually completed the trip. We thought it was best to add the blog in installments to give everyone something to look forward to each day ( also Chilly may want to edit some bits of her blog as it was mainly written for family)

Part 5 Amritsar!! The Golden Temple and mayhem!
Amritsar, Punjab, India
Sunday, May 05, 2008

At last!!!!!! Had terrible trouble getting online.. but here i am with only a short time before we again head off on the road for Daramasala, and Mcleoud Ganj....it seems like ages since i last wrote so much has happened but here we go!!

WELL where to begin...we got to train station in Delhi and waited surrounded as usual by lots of Indians wanting to talk to us!! an old school Colonel, Raj type found us most amusing and wanted to know our life history, including our families life history, eventually the train came.. ON TIME!! but hell it was miles long and of course we were in the wrong spot, despite assurances to the contrary beforehand!!! so we had to run like crazy fighting our way through masses of Indian families with their masses of luggage and pots and pans and water carriers (UM they dont travel light!) and it was quite a struggle laden down with back packs etc but i was determined after my experience in Thani last year to get on that train asap and secure our seats / beds!!

poor Mike was lagging behind somewhere, but I sharpened my elbows and went hell for leather... and hey! guess what, I was the first in our compartment! I hastily put my rucky under the seat and chained it up, shortly followed by Mike who did the same, then we settled ourselves comfortably in the window seats looking very smug and pleased with ourselves and low n behold a few mins later in trouped a massive Indian family (yes a baby in tow again!!!) and they just looked in amazement at us 'foreigners' sat there in what i expect they hoped to be 'their' domain!!! after a lot of squashing up ..i think about 4 rather large ladies plonked themselves next to Mick squashing him into a corner (only meant to be 3 on that seat!!) but i was determined to have my seat this time and didn't budge over, but they still managed to get 2 adults a child and a baby next to me!! I have had a dose of these trains and know that you just have to do as they do ... and I did believe! LOL

Anyway the journey was pretty much ok (except everyone seemed to have flu & were spluttering all over us!! and thats the last thing we want!) and slept fairly well until awakened by yelling and banging and lights going on at 5am when one family were alighting at a station, but we arrived in Amritsar safely... yet again to searing heat! of course got lunged upon immediately by a hundred tuktuk and taxi drivers trying to take us to 'their' hotel (where they get commission of course!) but eventually we agreed a price with one and headed of for the Golden Temple area, looked at quite a few (seedy ...really seedy) places and eventually were so exhausted we settled for one of the least bad ones, despite them doing an extension...can i call it that!! LOL walls were missing everywhere and i really was concerned the place might collapse!

anyhow we then had to wait for them to clean our room... hahah I ended up taking the broom of the guy and sweeping myself i just couldn't bear the hairs everywhere (like at the back of bed on the floor...untouched for a century!!) those of u that know me know I HATE hairs! LOL I think i gave the cleaning guy a bit of a hard time .. what a surprise!! but it was the best it was going to be... we weren't too happy with the place but thought we could handle one night and were I am sure ripped off at 650 rupees, but we were just sooo shattered we couldn't look further or argue anymore... the positive side was it was literally a 2 minute walk to the Golden Temple and our window looked out on the beautiful Jallianwala Bagh (Martyrs square) a memorial 'garden' on the spot where the British in 1919 had massacred and attacked 20000 Indians who were protesting peacefully against the Rowlat Act.. which gave the British powers of various kinds..

Anyhow we had a shower (was it a shower!?? 2 jets of water one of which went down the loo and the other in my face!! I resorted to a jug in the end!! lol) and we went off and spent some time in the memorial gardens, which were peaceful and very moving, 1500 were wounded and 379 died there, men women and kids very sad.......this is where I realised for the first time that i must have unwittingly become some sort of film star... hahah......I was immediately surrounded by crowds of men women and children staring, pointing and laughing .... and sidling up to me ...to the amusement of their friends..who were surreptitiously taking pics of me and the 'friend' on their mobile (yes! they all have mobiles! even the poor ol peddle rickshaw drivers! it seems never mind shoes, clothes, food...u must have a mobile!!) in the space of 10 mins I had been asked by countless people..'picture please' i literally didn't move from the spot for i don't know how long as one after the other I had to stand with various family members and get photographed..of course lucky ol Mike got off scot free looking as tanned as he does like an Indian!!
Just lost all my pics will try again later... .... to be continued.....

thanks Fi.. . yes jayne...Steve.... we did have a plan... but a loose one....was all ad libbing if you know what i mean, as in we knew the places we intended going, but nothing was booked apart from the first 2 trains from Goa..no transport, accomodation etc.. ....and there were no time scales...it can be anything from a month to two months.... we do this every year when Goa gets too hot and humid!! and go different parts of india, Nepal wherever!!! and we do it all very budget....more fun, a challenge (and of course keeps it cheap!! ) and u meet other travellers that way too, I just love it.... we did cut short a bit this time due to my best friend having a stroke.. but it was all great..well wait n see few mishaps!!
Chillyx

Chilly the photos are absolutely brilliant but the one of the toilets made me feel
Great reading as well, really enjoying hearing about your travels.

thanks Gemma ... yes and its even worse when you have to actually use them!!! especially after 24/36 hours on the same train!! its not like they have a cleaner and everyone just chucks all their food and rubbish on the floor by them too... yuk!!! you can imagine, ............. last year we were on the trains for 44 consecutive hours!!!! as the 1st one broke down for 8 hours!! horrendous!!

chillyx

When we went to Hospet they came on the train with power washers to clean the toilets at major stations but I still couldnt use them. I can still smell them when I think about it now

wow you were lucky!!! and me being a film star you would think they would have known better and one was out of action too so we only had the one to share....lovely!!! but oh yes that smell....I know what you mean...and thanks for reading my blog and your kind comments jetti ..... Chillyx

We had the photo thing too at Hampi, there were lots of school trips there and many of the children had never seen western people before. It felt really odd to be found so interesting but it was amusing especially when one man wanted to photo his baby with us. My friend thought he wanted her to take a photo of him with his camera and she suddenly found herself holding the baby instead of the camera. Such memories, thanks for reminding me about it all

What a great way to start my day, another installment of your travels and even more pictures As it has been chucking it down here over night it's lovely to see India again.

Now our claim to fame on the Goa Forum is that we have a Film Star in our midst!

love it!!

PART 6 Part 2. Amritsar continued!! Amritsar, India
Tuesday, May 07, 2008


So Hi all and many thanks for all the mails, messages, and comments, nice to know someone is actually reading this after all the hassle in these hopeless Internet cafes!! keep losing everything constantly!! ..but hey this is India!!!

So back to Amritsar....

well this place is just totally totally crowded, infact that is too mild a word to describe it, there are people EVERYWHERE and cars and auto rickshaws and peddle rickshaws and donkeys pulling carts and men pushing barrows and street sellers and food stalls .. and masses of pollution .all mixed up together...with tiny little narrow 'streets'... sheer mayhem.....you have to push through crowds and cars just to move, .and u take your life in your hands trying to cross the road, although there is no road as such, everything just mingles in together...people cars etc there are also lots of people visiting this holy place from small villages and other places in India and this is I think the bulk of my 'fan club' in fact i said to some guy i was talking too 'look they just blatantly stare, and point , right in my face, laugh look me up and down, not even discreetly ' the girl i was referring to heard me and said 'yes because you are a foreigner' and I said well haven't you seen a foreigner b4!! .......... this guy says many haven't!!

The shops/stalls on the roadside have great lassies and mango juice etc freshly made in front of you, can't guarantee a few flies aren't included!!! infact everything you can think of, big woks sizzling over dangerous looking fires, puree baji's you name it, the atmosphere is electric!! but the pollution is horrendous!!and some GREAT shoe shops....I had to buy a pair!! of course they are a bit whacky but then so am i !!but Mike said 'don't forget you have to carry them!!' which brought me down to earth a bit.... umm no worries!! they were only a quid and i had seen the same pair in a shop in Panjim in Goa for a great deal more last year but they didn't have my size (size 15!!! hahaha) usually just a 5 or 6 at home though so don't imagine my feet have grown extra large since i got here!!! they had kids ones too and i wanted a pair for Charm (my granddaughter) but didn't have any idea about the size!!shame... no doubt they will fall apart after a couple of wears!!

So we went to see the Golden Temple at sunset and it was just amazing, all lit up and quite mind blowing, (see pictures) there is a great 'lake' well not really a lake, but what to call it?? man made lake, pool?? with coy carp and all in it and all the people particularly the men are stripping off to their pants and getting in there,lovely sight!! It was packed, heaving in fact, and very beautiful and amazing, but unfortunately i had some lad of about 23 or so (he was doing his BA or something,) who was with a group of friends visiting from some out of the way village ...he captured me and would not go away.... just wanted to talk ask constant questions, was very pushy, excited, and wanted us to go back to his village with him that night on the bus..only a 150 kms!!! kept telling me how lucky and honored he was to have met me ...it had made his day, his trip, best thing in his life to happen, and I could not shake him off for love nor money, (the whole evening) he was just so damn persistent.... it was very tiring and started to really get me down as there was a constant crowd round me of 10 or 15 men ranging from probably 15 to 40 years of age doing the usual photo shoot/staring thing..!!! and i just could not move or even see the temple, infact at one point the guard came and told them off and made them move as they were stopping the flow of people!!... but it didn't last long...they soon crowded round again I think it was really made worse by this one guy being so persistent as really others were just stopping and watching and listening...whereas they would have stared asked for a picture with me and gone on normally.... I have to say I am generally quite tolerant and like to talk and would not dream of being rude but I felt like screaming at this guy 'get out of my face!!' (and worse!!)at one point he saw me answer my phone and asked for the number and i was stupid stupid stupid and gave it him under pressure but this was b4 things had got soo bad .........anyway, in the end having said goodbye a hundred times (we have to get on) and then tried to hide and 'dodge' him we caught a rickshaw and went for Dinner at the Crystal Restaurant a little further away from the Golden Temple area...not that we were hungry for food .. only hungry to escape!! .still had a good meal there and a good an varied menu .. not particularly cheap by Indian standards, but definitely by UK comparisons.

We had eaten late afternoon at a great veggie restaurant near Golden Temple called VIRSA just near Bagh Jallianwala , the manager/owner called 'Rohit' was lovely, very welcoming and well spoken and gave us a free kofti ice lolly afterward.. the food was amazing and so cheap!! We had so much we left half of it cost about 300 rupees (3.75 pounds?) I had naan bread, (best ever) spinach and corn balls in chilli sauce Mick had paneer (cheese) curry (or something), spring rolls , schezuan veg noodles, water, lime sodas .. the food was just so good we went back the following evening with friends.....thats another story...wait for it!!!

I have to say the pedal rickshaw ride back from crystal Restaurant to our (grotty) 'hotel Sharma' in Golden Temple area late at night was awful... i know i should be used to it but I have never seen so many bodies in rags asleep just lined up by the side of the road.....(perhaps in Mumbai, but i am not usually roaming Mumbai streets at night and somehow it just seemed worse at night). and its so just terrible, many elderly people... just so very sad and I never seem to get hardened to this........

The other thing I just cant handle is the very old men peddling the cycle rickshaws.with up to 4 or 5 (or more!!) people on it........we took one across the city only because he begged us for the business and when we got to a hill we both got off and helped him push it up....(got some real funny looks!!) Mick said he thought he looked like he was about to drop down dead, sweat rolling down his face and huffing and puffing!!! then I said to Mike 'please please lets just pay him and get a rickshaw' as it was upsetting me so much seeing him struggle along peddling with us on the back!! I was really near to tears... mad, soft, I know because he will still do it everyday and has to earn a living... still we did and of course this totally confused him.. we gave him the money we had agreed and said.. 'go' ... he was so perplexed!!! and just stared at us and the money...I think he was even a bit offended at first!!. but i felt happier!!the funniest thing was because we had mentioned 'shoe shop' as well as Golden Temple he must have thought we had agreed to see a nearer shoe shop, plus there was a festival that day so half the roads were shut, and we had actually just done a big circle and landed up getting off only 300 yards from the original pick up point!!! thats after him cycling for what seemed hours!!! and was it bumpy!! we thought we were going to fall off the big holes were so bad and nothing to hold on to much... what a scream!!

So on our 2nd morning we got up and shot off to find another guest house near the station ..decided on The Tourist guest house..and checked out of the pit!!!.. this Tourist Guest house was a great place 300 rps under 4 quid, a night and a great en suite room basic but very clean with TV.... and Internet cafe and restaurant and friendly people...we were just checking in and I heard a voice shout ...'Chilly' and there was a girl; and her husband, Sian and Doug, from the UK (Sutton!!) whom we know from Goa as they holiday there...but even funnier we had met them originally from a Goa forum we use Holiday Truths, small world eh!! they had just recognised me... they are traveling India for a year, it was such a coincidence... we chipped in together that afternoon for a taxi and went off to watch the changing guard ceremony at the Wagah Border... the border crossing between Pakistan and India...... this was really good fun and a real pomp and ceremony affair... lots of play acting & showing off by the soldiers for the crowds... thousands of Indians (our side) not so many on the Pakistan side but well worth going, we felt very grand being ushered into the VIP stands!!! being foreigners!!!! there was cheering.INDIA!! followed by the other side cheering and then fists shaking etc etc it was hilarious and had a great few hours (see pics) I had to pretend to be photographing the Soldier in order to get the shot of the VIP sign I wanted (Doug's idea!!) that evening the four of us went out for drinks and dinner and had a great time..... in the afternoon we all sat round in the hotel restaurant chatting, drinking chai and discussing our travels, that is, us four, a Polish guy and a lovely swiss couple we met who are also traveling...Stephan and Fee...

We have, on this trip, found the people of Amritsar and visitors here (despite the unwanted attention!!) to be truly wonderful and friendly, with a ready smile and a helping hand.........

BUT .. I have to end this particular blog on Amritsar by saying apart from the obvious.. ie Golden Temple, Wagah border other temples & attractions etc the most memorable thing I saw here .. which just tickled me pink all day... was the wonderful DENTISTS here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why I had my dental work done in Goa I just cannot think when I could have sat literally by the side of the road... no, not even in a shack..or under cover... on a plastic chair and been seen too with all that lovely pollution and people passing by... and you can even choose your dentures from the big selection on display... DO PLEASE look at the pics...UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! priceless!!

So we have been to the station and decided to skip the train and catch the bus to Daramasala ... about 8 hours I think with a stop in Panthankot. .......... so will catch up from there................ missing you all........ but having a ball!! sorry I haven't managed to write any personal emails replies but the connections have been anything but reliable thus far, but hopefully will from McLeod ganj which I am told has good Internet connections!!

love Chilly xxx

OMG!! the Dentist!!! my new mantra will be 'I will look after my teeth, I WILL look after my teeth!!!'

Fabulous photo's Chilly! Thanks! Wanted to do that trip last season, but never "Got round to it"! You know how time flys when in Goa!!

thanks !! good to hear from you hope we catch up again next season!!
Chillyx

Street dentist

Chilly that was brilliant reading and your photos are great. Mike is looking really well too which is great. See you in November.

This is great reading Chilli, can't wait for the next bit!!!!

Come on Chilly, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms , keep coming on to check if the next installment is here

Hope you haven't been washed away in the rain