Mountains, Muscles and Monks.

From Amritsar, I took a local bus for the 7 hour trip to Mcleod Ganj (home of the Dalai Lama), along with a Polish guy from the Golden Temple dorm. His lack of English and my complete lack of Polish making for very entertaining communication along the way.

So far, I am loving Mcleod Ganj. I’m doing yoga, I’m walking up (and getting lost on) some HUGE hills (they might actually be mountains...). I’ve been moved by the Monk’s hunger strikes and candle light demonstrations and I’ve found a room to share that has both hot water AND a kitchen!

I have sore muscles but a peaceful mind. I think I might stay a while...

Some of the spectacular scenery

One of the candle light demonstrations:

The best things in Amritsar are free

Dragging myself away from Rishikesh, I found myself on yet another train – with yet another screaming child. Apparently I am very scary – or at least my glasses are. Once I took them off it was all smiles, and I chatted to his parents who shared their homemade chapattis and aloo gobi with me. I then slept surprisingly well, completely missing their exit and waking up in an empty carriage wondering whether I had imagined them!

So, on to Amritsar. It’s another hectic Indian town, but it has a very different character from others I’ve visited. The mostly Sikh population are a little less pushy and ever so giving! This is the home of their most holy temple; the Golden Temple.

The temple itself is a strange combination of peaceful and nuts. There are people sitting quietly meditating in the mornings, families chatting loudly (and taking photos of westerners) in the day, and men stripping to their undies to dip in the holy water at all times. In the evening I watched their 11th guru (their holy book) ‘put to bed’ (it has pillows and everything!) surrounded by pushing and shoving, laughing and chatting, silently praying and quietly chanting Indian’s of all religions.

As well as free entry to the temple, they provide free dorm beds and free food here too. Apparently they feed up to 100,000 people every day...literally every day. Their kitchen works 24 hours, 365 days per year. It’s an immense feat!

I took a tour of the kitchen, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so clean or so organised. It’s staffed by volunteers who do everything from food prep to washing up. There are three types of chapattis on the go – machine made, gas made and old fashioned wood burner made. There’s fresh dahl and spicy potato, rice pudding (with coconut milk, it’s really good!) and chai.

And it’s all free to everyone, from every walk of life and every faith. It really was an incredible thing to experience. And I was made to feel very welcome by everyone I spoke to – many of whom had travelled from far away to come and volunteer their services. It’s a place I would love to go back to.

Relaxing in Rishikesh.

The plan was to do yoga every day, to detox in an ashram, to eat healthily and walk lots. The reality was a bad back on day 3 and two weeks of sitting about chatting, drinking masala chai and eating cookies instead. Such is life.


My view for two weeks.

Before I crippled myself, I did manage to visit the deserted ashram where the Beatles reportedly wrote the White Album.

And take a spectacular day out on the back of a scooter (driven by a very careful guy called Kevin). We survived terrifying mountain roads, taking in incredible views across the Himalayas. Oh and we blagged our way inside a 5 star luxury spa hotel for a look around too.

Day three in Delhi – the one when I tried to find wifi

My last day in Delhi, so what did I do? Final sightseeing? Soak up the culture? Nope, I spent it looking for wifi. I promise this wasn’t just for a Facebook fix – I needed to download some work. Firstly I took a little tour of the coffee shops in Connaught Place. Nothing. Then I tried the tea shop in the famous Oxford bookstore. Shut (damn Sundays!). Then I walked all the way back to where I’d started and found it in the foyer of a guesthouse opposite mine.

I was going to go to the Lotus Temple. I was going to go to Humaun’s Tomb. But by the time my wifi hunt was over I had a blister on the bottom of my foot and no mind for meditation or sights.

Food on the roof while watching a big procession pass by on the road below, a little work, then bed with crappy TV (a TV in my room. Woohoo!) instead.

The Sunday Parade, Delhi.

Oh I know how to have fun.

Day two in Dehli – the one where they won the world cup.

I spent the day walking around in Old Dehli (in flip-flops...you should have seen the colour of my feet afterwards!) – past markets, the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, cows and street stalls.

The Red Fort, Old Delhi

Sometimes I walked alone, sometimes I walked alongside (over)friendly wannabe tour guides/boyfriends/husbands.

Jama Masjid, Old Delhi









No doubt you’ll be delighted to see that I eventually caved in and bought myself a new camera (at £40, it seemed rude not to!). So I don’t have to bore you with just words anymore, I now have photos to do that job.


Sightseeing over for the day, it was time for the cricket. World Cup mania was everywhere! Every shop, bar, restaurant and home had a TV on. Every rickshaw and street stall had a radio. And intermittent cheers went up all around. It was a great atmosphere!

I watched India’s final innings (is that the right word?!) from a roof top restaurant and then watched the celebrations cascade out of buildings and into the streets below afterwards. The world went from empty to full in the space of about 20 minutes!

Day one in Dehli – the one where I walked.

After 30 hours on a train with a screaming child next to me, I arrived in Delhi and made my way to the Lord Krishna Hotel in Pahar Ganj (it’s the Delhi version of Koh San Road in Bangkok. But with less Pad Thai, more chapattis – and no McDs). I met Buda and Maja (again!) in time for their last night in India before they headed home to Serbia. Having waved them off at 1am, I crashed out for the night – and woke up at 7am to the soothing sound of scooters, cars, cows, people, dogs... It’s a very peaceful neighbourhood.

I decided to break myself in ‘gently’ so, after breakfast (including a fix of my latest addiction; masala tea), I went for a walk down the Main Bizarre to Connaught Place. It’s a bit like London in rush hour - all the time.

After the sixth man ‘accidently’ fell into step with me and asked for my name, my age, my marital status, my plans for the day, my feelings about India and my feelings about Indian men, I decided to get into a rickshaw and hide myself inside the National Museum for a couple of hours.

Lots of stone figurines, swords and miniature paintings later (actually, the paintings were really interesting!), I braved the outside world again (dodging rickshaw drivers and a few more friendly young men) and headed to the Ghandi Smriti. This was a very different walk - compared to my morning stroll it felt eerily deserted. Long, wide tree lined roads with empty well kept pavements.

The Ghandi Smriti was really good – and free! As well as the home where Ghandi spent the last days of his life, there’s a memorial pathway that follows his last walk to the place of his assassination. With quotes from Ghandi posted along the path, it’s a moving experience. There’s also an incredible interactive section to the museum – a cross between my childhood memories of the hands on bit of the science museum and the Tate Modern.

Feeling calmed, I tracked down the nearest Metro station (which was not 5k away as the rickshaw drivers tried to tell me!), and rode the ladies only carriage back to New Delhi Station (which, confusingly, is not in New Delhi but between Old Delhi and Pahar Ganj).

Dinner, book, bed.