Hello everyone,
We have now reached Varanasi - what a fantastic place this is!! I think this is the India we've been searching for. It is fascinating, friendly and has so much genuine charm, whilst remaining a living, working town. We took a boat ride this morning to see the ghats by early morning light, and it was magical. Unfortunately, our stay here is only brief, but this is definately a place deserving a second visit. There were 3 species of kingfisher diving into the Ganges, children splashed around, women washed clothes, men posed for our benefit, people performed blessings, bodies burned, water buffalo wandered around the shoreline - there was so much to take in, and the Ganges itself was vast and tranquil. We became lost in the jumble of backstreets and glimpsed folk going about their daily business in their homes, shops and workshops.
We sat and watched the cricket again yesterday, another well deserved win for India - more fireworks and merriment.
It is blisteringly hot at the moment and it's only 10.30am, but we have stumbled upon some delightful shady courtyards in guesthouses and cool alleyways where we can people watch and recouperate.
Next stop is kolkata, we leave on another sleeper train tomorrow night. Lets hope it's better than the 23hr marathon the last journey turned out to be!
Bye for now,
xjoandgregx
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Monday, March 22, 2004
Hello Everyone,
Well, this is our last day in Mcleod Ganj. We've enjoyed the relative quiet here and will miss the range of world food available. We've not had curry almost two weeks now and have been able to eat good lasagne, noodle soup, sushi and amazing chocolate mousse.
We eventually got to see the Dalai Lama after queing for an hour outside a tiny little hut. The hut contained a man frantically preparing passes to enter the lessons being held at the main Gompa,(buddhist temple) here in town. There were piles of Tibetan passports on the desk around him and people from all corners of the earth were constantly asking him, how long it was going to take. He was doing his best. I stood next to an English Leiff Garrett lookalike who constantly picked through his filthy hair. He had the dirtiest feet I've seen in India and wore a purple sarong. I think he's a bit more hardcore than Jo and I will ever get on this trip. Especially as I couldn't help but listen as he bragged to another traveller that he'd had Amoebic Dysentary; he claimed that he'd still got it and hadn't taken any drugs-he'd simply "willed it away".... We managed to obtain our photo passes before the cut-off time at twelve noon. Other people missed out and were notably frustrated,(to put it very mildly). You really get to see peoples nasty side when a bureaucrat comes between them and their spiritual leader... Later we queued up at the main Gompa to see the 'His Holiness'. Some great english people we had met in Shimla and had Shared a taxi with to Dharamsala joined us and told us of the best place to sit to catch a glimpse. We were split into two queues, men and women, bag searched, body searched and eventually got inside the compound feeling a bit put out. Up a few steps and under the spread of low yellow tarpaulines were sat hundreds and hundreds of people. Old, young, eastern, western, all crossed legged on the ground chattering with excitement, some spinning mini prayer wheels and others inserting radio earpieces to receive the translation that's simultaneously broadcast on an FM frequency. There was a clear group of monks dressed in yellow(as opposed to the normal burgundy) sat at the front around an elaborate high chair. We guessed this was where the D.L. would sit. Sure enough, he emerged from behind us and was led out by a number of other monks. He was tiny in stature but seemed to be smiling heartily at everyone sat on the ground around his feet. He wore, mainly yellow, sleeveless robes and had on the same disarming 70's glasses he always seems to wear. People were nodding and putting their hands together frantically in prayer. We felt VERY out of place, but watched him move to the front of the crowd to take his place amongst his people. Out of respect, we left straight away as we wouldn't be stopping for the teaching. We were glad we made the effort to see this phenomenon, a once in a lifetime chance to see a 'Nobel Peace Prize' winner who radiates love throughout and beyond his enforced exile home of India. I just hope some of the angry visitors at the pass office, took away some of this love and learned to treat other people with more respect in future...
We leave for Varanasi tonight. We first get a taxi to Pathenkot, (3hrs) then get the 12:10am train which will arrive in Varanasi around 9:00pm tomorrow night. We hope to stay just a couple of days and then move onto Kolkata where we hope to fly out to Singapore next Tuesday night. Some of you may have noticed that this is a month earlier than planned. There is a reason. We need to see the ocean and we want to lie on a beach ASAP!
Well, we'll be in touch again. Love to all of you.
xgregandjox
Well, this is our last day in Mcleod Ganj. We've enjoyed the relative quiet here and will miss the range of world food available. We've not had curry almost two weeks now and have been able to eat good lasagne, noodle soup, sushi and amazing chocolate mousse.
We eventually got to see the Dalai Lama after queing for an hour outside a tiny little hut. The hut contained a man frantically preparing passes to enter the lessons being held at the main Gompa,(buddhist temple) here in town. There were piles of Tibetan passports on the desk around him and people from all corners of the earth were constantly asking him, how long it was going to take. He was doing his best. I stood next to an English Leiff Garrett lookalike who constantly picked through his filthy hair. He had the dirtiest feet I've seen in India and wore a purple sarong. I think he's a bit more hardcore than Jo and I will ever get on this trip. Especially as I couldn't help but listen as he bragged to another traveller that he'd had Amoebic Dysentary; he claimed that he'd still got it and hadn't taken any drugs-he'd simply "willed it away".... We managed to obtain our photo passes before the cut-off time at twelve noon. Other people missed out and were notably frustrated,(to put it very mildly). You really get to see peoples nasty side when a bureaucrat comes between them and their spiritual leader... Later we queued up at the main Gompa to see the 'His Holiness'. Some great english people we had met in Shimla and had Shared a taxi with to Dharamsala joined us and told us of the best place to sit to catch a glimpse. We were split into two queues, men and women, bag searched, body searched and eventually got inside the compound feeling a bit put out. Up a few steps and under the spread of low yellow tarpaulines were sat hundreds and hundreds of people. Old, young, eastern, western, all crossed legged on the ground chattering with excitement, some spinning mini prayer wheels and others inserting radio earpieces to receive the translation that's simultaneously broadcast on an FM frequency. There was a clear group of monks dressed in yellow(as opposed to the normal burgundy) sat at the front around an elaborate high chair. We guessed this was where the D.L. would sit. Sure enough, he emerged from behind us and was led out by a number of other monks. He was tiny in stature but seemed to be smiling heartily at everyone sat on the ground around his feet. He wore, mainly yellow, sleeveless robes and had on the same disarming 70's glasses he always seems to wear. People were nodding and putting their hands together frantically in prayer. We felt VERY out of place, but watched him move to the front of the crowd to take his place amongst his people. Out of respect, we left straight away as we wouldn't be stopping for the teaching. We were glad we made the effort to see this phenomenon, a once in a lifetime chance to see a 'Nobel Peace Prize' winner who radiates love throughout and beyond his enforced exile home of India. I just hope some of the angry visitors at the pass office, took away some of this love and learned to treat other people with more respect in future...
We leave for Varanasi tonight. We first get a taxi to Pathenkot, (3hrs) then get the 12:10am train which will arrive in Varanasi around 9:00pm tomorrow night. We hope to stay just a couple of days and then move onto Kolkata where we hope to fly out to Singapore next Tuesday night. Some of you may have noticed that this is a month earlier than planned. There is a reason. We need to see the ocean and we want to lie on a beach ASAP!
Well, we'll be in touch again. Love to all of you.
xgregandjox
Hello Everyone,
Well, this is our last day in Mcleod Ganj. We've enjoyed the relative quiet here and will miss the range of world food available. We've not had curry almost two weeks now and have been able to eat good lasagne, noodle soup, sushi and amazing chocolate mousse.
We eventually got to see the Dalai Lama after queing for an hour outside a tiny little hut. The hut contained a man frantically preparing passes to enter the lessons being held at the main Gompa,(buddhist temple) here in town. There were piles of Tibetan passports on the desk around him and people from all corners of the earth were constantly asking him, how long it was going to take. He was doing his best. I stood next to an English Leiff Garrett lookalike who constantly picked through his filthy hair. He had the dirtiest feet I've seen in India and wore a purple sarong. I think he's a bit more hardcore than Jo and I will ever get on this trip. Especially as I couldn't help but listen as he bragged to another traveller that he'd had Amoebic Dysentary; he claimed that he'd still got it and hadn't taken any drugs-he'd simply "willed it away".... We managed to obtain our photo passes before the cut-off time at twelve noon. Other people missed out and were notably frustrated,(to put it very mildly). You really get to see peoples nasty side when a bureaucrat comes between them and their spiritual leader... Later we queued up at the main Gompa to see the 'His Holiness'. Some great english people we had met in Shimla and had Shared a taxi with to Dharamsala joined us and told us of the best place to sit to catch a glimpse. We were split into two queues, men and women, bag searched, body searched and eventually got inside the compound feeling a bit put out. Up a few steps and under the spread of low yellow tarpaulines were sat hundreds and hundreds of people. Old, young, eastern, western, all crossed legged on the ground chattering with excitement, some spinning mini prayer wheels and others inserting radio earpieces to receive the translation that's simultaneously broadcast on an FM frequency. There was a clear group of monks dressed in yellow(as opposed to the normal burgundy) sat at the front around an elaborate high chair. We guessed this was where the D.L. would sit. Sure enough, he emerged from behind us and was led out by a number of other monks. He was tiny in stature but seemed to be smiling heartily at everyone sat on the ground around his feet. He wore, mainly yellow, sleeveless robes and had on the same disarming 70's glasses he always seems to wear. People were nodding and putting their hands together frantically in prayer. We felt VERY out of place, but watched him move to the front of the crowd to take his place amongst his people. Out of respect, we left straight away as we wouldn't be stopping for the teaching. We were glad we made the effort to see this phenomenon, a once in a lifetime chance to see a 'Nobel Peace Prize' winner who radiates love throughout and beyond his enforced exile home of India. I just hope some of the angry visitors at the pass office, took away some of this love and learned to treat other people with more respect in future...
We leave for Varanasi tonight. We first get a taxi to Pathenkot, (3hrs) then get the 12:10am train which will arrive in Varanasi around 9:00pm tomorrow night. We hope to stay just a couple of days and then move onto Kolkata where we hope to fly out to Singapore next Tuesday night. Some of you may have noticed that this is a month earlier than planned. There is a reason. We need to see the ocean and we want to lie on a beach ASAP!
Well, we'll be in touch again. Love to all of you.
xgregandjox
Well, this is our last day in Mcleod Ganj. We've enjoyed the relative quiet here and will miss the range of world food available. We've not had curry almost two weeks now and have been able to eat good lasagne, noodle soup, sushi and amazing chocolate mousse.
We eventually got to see the Dalai Lama after queing for an hour outside a tiny little hut. The hut contained a man frantically preparing passes to enter the lessons being held at the main Gompa,(buddhist temple) here in town. There were piles of Tibetan passports on the desk around him and people from all corners of the earth were constantly asking him, how long it was going to take. He was doing his best. I stood next to an English Leiff Garrett lookalike who constantly picked through his filthy hair. He had the dirtiest feet I've seen in India and wore a purple sarong. I think he's a bit more hardcore than Jo and I will ever get on this trip. Especially as I couldn't help but listen as he bragged to another traveller that he'd had Amoebic Dysentary; he claimed that he'd still got it and hadn't taken any drugs-he'd simply "willed it away".... We managed to obtain our photo passes before the cut-off time at twelve noon. Other people missed out and were notably frustrated,(to put it very mildly). You really get to see peoples nasty side when a bureaucrat comes between them and their spiritual leader... Later we queued up at the main Gompa to see the 'His Holiness'. Some great english people we had met in Shimla and had Shared a taxi with to Dharamsala joined us and told us of the best place to sit to catch a glimpse. We were split into two queues, men and women, bag searched, body searched and eventually got inside the compound feeling a bit put out. Up a few steps and under the spread of low yellow tarpaulines were sat hundreds and hundreds of people. Old, young, eastern, western, all crossed legged on the ground chattering with excitement, some spinning mini prayer wheels and others inserting radio earpieces to receive the translation that's simultaneously broadcast on an FM frequency. There was a clear group of monks dressed in yellow(as opposed to the normal burgundy) sat at the front around an elaborate high chair. We guessed this was where the D.L. would sit. Sure enough, he emerged from behind us and was led out by a number of other monks. He was tiny in stature but seemed to be smiling heartily at everyone sat on the ground around his feet. He wore, mainly yellow, sleeveless robes and had on the same disarming 70's glasses he always seems to wear. People were nodding and putting their hands together frantically in prayer. We felt VERY out of place, but watched him move to the front of the crowd to take his place amongst his people. Out of respect, we left straight away as we wouldn't be stopping for the teaching. We were glad we made the effort to see this phenomenon, a once in a lifetime chance to see a 'Nobel Peace Prize' winner who radiates love throughout and beyond his enforced exile home of India. I just hope some of the angry visitors at the pass office, took away some of this love and learned to treat other people with more respect in future...
We leave for Varanasi tonight. We first get a taxi to Pathenkot, (3hrs) then get the 12:10am train which will arrive in Varanasi around 9:00pm tomorrow night. We hope to stay just a couple of days and then move onto Kolkata where we hope to fly out to Singapore next Tuesday night. Some of you may have noticed that this is a month earlier than planned. There is a reason. We need to see the ocean and we want to lie on a beach ASAP!
Well, we'll be in touch again. Love to all of you.
xgregandjox
