Amritsar

First, to answer your questions - Mom. Yes, I got on very well with the books - I forgot to mention that I guess, since I was so wrapped up in my motorcycle ride. I got about 35 books I think, using the money from you and Dad and a little of my own. The books here are fractionally cheaper than at home, but not much. Plus, I was pretty limited by the books in each of the bookstores. We went to about 5 different shops and I got some at each, but it's no Barnes and Noble!

Sorry I have been so bad with pictures - the connection here is so slow! Hopefully when I get to New Zealand I can camp at an internet cafe for a day and upload everything. Or, maybe when I'm in Rishikesh I can find a quick connection.

So, this weekend...was interesting.

I left the school Friday afternoon to head up to Dharamsala by bus, where I was going to meet the others (Rhiannon from Wales, Heather from England, and Anthony from the US - all of whom are staying in McLeod Ganj) later in the evening. I went to the hotel to check into our rooms, but of course they had given them away. So, I wandered around and found another cheap hotel (Rs250 / $5.00 for the night). I then went to an Indian restaurant (I've been eating only Tibetan food for the last two weeks) and had some very yummy food. When the others arrived, we all went back to the restaurant for a drink and ordered some more food. We went to bed early because we had to get up at 4:00 am to catch a 5:00 bus to Amritsar.

In the morning, when we went to meet Rhiannon, she had been sick all night (they call if Delhi Belly here). So, she decided not to come with us, but still came to the bus station so she could get a taxi home, but at the last second felt a little better, changed her mind, and got on the bus. Of course, I began to feel sick on the bus since we'd all eaten the same food the night before. But, true to Bill's wisdom I convinced myself it was all in my head, took a ginger pill, and was fine.

We arrived in Amritsar, took a rickshaw to a hotel, and dropped off our bags before heading to the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is the biggest Sikh temple anywhere (?), and Amritsar is in the Indian state of Punjab, so it was much different from Delhi or Dharamsala, and quite a cool city. If you picture Indians wearing turbans and head coverings, this is the place you are imagining. Inside the temple, it is required to have your head covered - although I saw the private parts of three men since they bathe in the moat surrounding the temple. This is something I will never understand about India...the men pee on the side of a highway for all to see, but good thing they have their head covered! The Golden Temple itself was a little disappointing - but I've been spoiled with sights so far, and it's hard to measure up to the Taj Mahal or Humayan's Tomb.

After the temple, we got a taxi with some other people to the India/Pakistan border, where they have an official border-closing ceremony every night. It was by far one of the coolest things I've done since I've been here. It sort of has the feel of a sport match. There's an announced who leads cheers - he yells "Hindustan" (the name for Hindu India), and the crowd yells something back (which I don't understand). You can hear the Pakistan side doing the same thing - except there are so few Pakistanis, and hundreds of Indians. Meanwhile, lines of soldiers march back and forth in front of the crowds toward the border gate. There's concessions and everything outside where you can buy water, samosas, and corn which they "grill" over coals and then rub with lemon and salt. Yum! So after the festivities, we returned to Amristar for dinner (we were still all a little cautious with our menu choices) and bed.

No sure what my eyes are doing in this photo...




Look closely at this next one - click on it to make it bigger - you can see both the Indian and Pakistani soldiers.



The next day I did some shopping with Heather while Anthony and Rhiannon checked out some more sights - including the Mata temple where you can pray to get pregnant, and the Silver Temple which is the Hindu equivalent of the Sikh Golden Temple.

We asked the hotel to book us a taxi home, since the bus left too early in the day and we left Amristar around 4:00 in a private taxi. Sounds nice - but it ended up being the worst part of the entire weekend.

The plan was for the taxi to drop me off first, as I live before Dharamsala, then to continue up to McLeod Ganj to drop the other two off. But of course, the driver was new and got lost so we ended up at the Dharamsala bus station without having passed my house. So, we told him that he would have to drive 10km back down to take me home, and then take them home. This is when he demanded we give him extra money. We had already paid Rs1500 at the hotel, and owed him 1500 on arrival, but now he wanted 1700 to take us home. Of course this turned into a massive fiasco involving Rhiannon and I, the taxi driver, and a crowd of new taxi drivers - all of whom wanted to take us home. We stood at the bus station in the rain for at least 45 minutes before we got back in the car and started to pull away...but of course we had a flat tire. So, in the end, he took me to my house, and last I checked was taking Rhiannon and Anthony home, but I'm still waiting to hear what the conclusion was. I have faith - Rhiannon's tough and will stand her ground!

So, that was our interesting weekend. I leave Saturday morning for Chandigarh and Rishikesh. I can only hope it measures up!