Amristar

(The Golden Temple looking very golden)

I have a ton of pictures of everywhere, but I haven't figured out a way to get them off my camera and into the computer... give it time, they will appear.

So the Golden Temple at Amristar is amazing and completely worth seeing. However everything in but that turned out to be pretty terrible. I'm completely blaming Amristar for the fact that 5 days after being there I still can't eat anything more exciting than toast and why I've already powered through a pack of my dihorrea pills.

We got in arund 2pm after 7 hours in our crazy crowded carraige and got hearded off to one side by an elderly rickshaw driver who offered to take us up to the temple, he completely overcharged us but we were so tired we paid it anyway. The rickshaw nearly packed up driving up a hill. Amristar itself is very dusty, dirty and crowded... it almost makes you miss Delhi. The driver dropped us at some manic roundabout because it turns out you can't drive up to the temple so we ended up trekking through the streets with our massive bags warding off men trying to sell us headscaves and postcards. Luckily we bumped into some people from the train who showed us the way. We were hoping to find the dorms that you can stay in, but we were so hot and tired by this point we just left our bags in the baggage place and went into the temple to look around. Unfortunately we arrived at cleaning time, so our peaceful walk around the temple ended up with us being caught up in a crowd of people throwing buckets of water all over the floor, we kept getting pushed to one side and told to move. So after a stressful temple visit and another fruitless search for the dorms we gave up and checked into a guesthouse, one that we didn't look at properly because after we paid we realised we'd actually checked into a building site. There was plaster all over the floor and the workmen were still decorating the area outside our room. That evening we made the terrible decision to go to a nice looking cafe for dinner. I'm pretty sure it was the food there that has made us all so sick. It was while we were there that we discovered our train left a day after we thought. The madness of the day, combined with the knowledge that we were stuck in amristar for 3 nights drove us to do what any sane person would. We went to the nicest hotel we could find and haggled them down to a decent price. Thank God for Hotel Indus, they had room sevice, hot water, free toilet paper and the Disney Channel showing Hannah Montana in hindi. They also had a lovely rooftop balcony with an amazing view of the temple. We spent pretty much all of our time there after that either sitting on the balcony, sitting on the toilet or laying in bed feeling pants.

We did go back and visit the temple when it wasn't cleaning time, and when you're not being attacked by people with buckets it really is amazing. The Golden Temple sits in the middle of a pool surrunded by white outer buildings and is such a contrast to the outside world. Visitors and Pilgrims walk around the pool, some pausing to bathe in the pool or pray, and then enter the temple via a long bridge. There is constant chanting and singing from the Sikh holy book. Even though the religious connections are completely lost of me we spent ages sat by the edge of the pool watch the people around us.

Riding the Rails

(Luanna and the most amazing samosa you will ever eat... only available on trains in India)

So on Saturday we escaped from Delhi and headed off to Amristar. Because we left it so late to book our tickets we ended up with 3 seats in 3rd class (no AC). Which I was sightly dreading, but actually ended up being quite entertaining. The whole carriage is made up of 3 seater benches facing each other, but people just pile on, so you have four per bench and people stand up between them and in the aisles, then every time someone leaves there's a mad dash and woop to get any free seats. We were trying to be very reserved and proper about keeping ours, but some older Indian lady didn't notice and plonked herself down at the end of our bench foring me to shove ito the smartly dressed man I was sat next to. At every stop the carriages get filled with people selluing snacks and drinks. Young men run up and down the aisles yelling Chai Chai Chai, others carry huge baskets of fried snacks on their head and a stand under their arm so they can pop it down and sell you something at anytime. Its all quite manic.

Last night we caught a sleeper train from Amristar to Jaipur which was a lot more calm. We were sat with some lovely people, one of whom spoke very good english so he chatted to us for a bit and translated a bit of what people were saying around us. He was travelling with his wife and baby son (who was ridiculously adorable). I think the others in the carriage found us amusing, there were some bits of conversation the man didn't translate, but we could tell it was about us because they kept gesturing, saying english and then laughing! There was an elderly couple who were very sweet and tried to share their dinner with us. We've been having a bit of a rough time the last couple of days, I've been living off jam and toast, but they forced the food on us so we had to eat it. Sadly I threw it all up a couple of hours later... India is just so glamourous!

Everything is better now I've slept...

(This is Luanna, Vikki and Me outside some building)

Everything is more than better, It's Amazing!
I love it, I love everything, even the annoying people harrassing me are quite entertaining at this point! I've seen cows and camels and horses and dogs and monkeys (wild, on a leash and wearing womens clothes) all just chilling on the side of the road, how brilliant is that!

So after I posted the last blog we went back to our room, I read some harry potter and then we met some other girls and all went out to dinner at a lovely rooftop restaurant over looking the main bazaar and since then everything has just seemed more lovely and exciting. You get used to the crazy assault on your senses and I've realised that the cars all have good breaks so even if I do wander into their path, they're probably going to stop!

We've had a driver for the last couple of days who took us on a trip to Agra yesterday and then sightseeing around Delhi today. He's lovely, he claims to speak very little english, but we all ended up chatting away. He has two sons and an ex-wife, but one son is only 10 days old and unfortunately his english wasn't good enough to explain what had happened, so we'll never know. India is massive, it was a 5 hour drive to Agra and then 5 hours back. I couldn't believe it, the Delhi and Agra dots are practically touching in my guide book map! The whole reason for going to Agra was to see the Taj Mahal and the 10 hour round trip was more than worth it. It is an incredible experience, I could have stayed there for hours just gazing at it. It so much more ornate up close, we had a guide who was telling us all about the stone inlaying and different carving. Just so much labour and effort went into its construction, it's amazing. Because of the type of marble the whole building glows in the afternoon sun, it changes colour depending on the type of day. iut was gutting not to be able to see it at sunset or sunrise... I guess its just a reason to come and visit again! Our guide told us in his youth he would take his lady friends there in the moonlight during monsoon season but sadly strict security has stopped that from happening now.

Today he took us on a tour around the sights of Delhi, I forgot my guidebook and that, combined with his lack of English means I'm not entirely sure of the names of where we went... but it was all good anyway! We visited a Hndu Temple where we had to go into a foreigners only room to deposit our shoes and cameras! All the female visitors were wearing crazily bright coloured saris and when we sat at the side to people watch they were waving at us and blowing kisses, it make you feel all special! (way better than yesterday when a group of guys took pictures of us with their camera phones then posed near us so it looked lke we were all together, very creepy. The men today asked permission to do it, we said no, even with permission its wierd! Then we visited hyumanana Tomb (spelt very wrong), India Gate, Qutab Minar (big tower) which was all beautiful and interesting and just so different to anything I've seen before but none of those was amazing as the final temple we visted that was sat in the middle of a beautiful garden and shaped like a lotus flower. In the midst of the madness of Delhi it was so calm and tranquil.

We just got back from a mad few hours shopping outside, we need to find food and the internet is really slow. I haven't even mentioned our insane rides on cycle rickshaws or how rubbish and guilty you feel when little children come knocking on the car windows begging, but I'll have to leave it there.

Sorry if the spelling/grammer is appaulling, I'm too tired to check the post!

Touching down in Delhi

I have spent far too long in airports over the last two days. First Manchester, then a very boring 3 hours in Heathrow Terminal 5 (which is very lame) and finally about 5 hours in Delhi International baggage claim (surrounded by spitting men and army guys with rifles) waiting for Vikki and Luanna to get in.

But after all that... I made it! Delhi is insane. You have to be hyper-aware of everything at all times which isn't getting on well with my jet lag.We've just got back from a little wander and the whole time you're clutching your bag, warding off the 'helpful' people trying to drag you into shops to get commission, avoiding potholes in the road, dodging beggars and leaping out of the way of on-coming traffic. Its an incredibly intense experience. Everywhere is so small and cramped and noisey abd dusty you can't quite believe you're in a capital city. At one point we were trying to shake off some shopkeeper while a small girl did back flips in front of us and then got caught in the middle of a traffic jam between a little rickshaw and a cart pulled by a cow. On the upside we had a little sit down and got some henna done, its very theraputic peeling it all off!

Yep, thats a visa! In my passport!

Woooooooooooop! the visa has arrived!  Finally, after a week of stressing and speaking to an array of people at the Indian Consulate who were "not at liberty to say anything", the visa is here! I'm really going! W-hoo!

Things to help me not die in India

Here is a selection of the pills I am taking to India. For anyone counting I have over 100 Malaria tablets (on one day I get to take 4!), 64 Paracetamol caplets, 42 diarrhoea relief pills and a selection of allergy/insect/rehydration treatments. I'm one more injection away from Hep A and B protection but have left myself wildly open for contracting cholera by refusing to pay for 80 pounds for the vaccine. 

But I don't have a visa yet. I'm refusing to panic about this until Thursday. On Thursday I will panic and call the expensive visa hotline and try tears and bribery to get my visa. 

The visa office also has my passport. So there's a good chance next tuesday may roll around and I'll have one plane ticket to India, one rucksack full of medication and no legal way of entering the country. But like I said, I'm not panicking about this until Thursday.

If it all goes horribly wrong I can always open a pharmacy!