Carpe Diem

Darjeeling experiences its fair share of power cuts and tonight has been no exception. Luckily, the internet cafe has a backup generator, making this a perfect time to try and squish the last 3 and 1/2 weeks into a somewhat calculated blog post.

Since we left Bikaner to continue our remaining 7 weeks in India SOLO (Sans the convenience of a driver!) things have been beyond hilarious, exciting and superbly interesting. Hilarious because well, it's 4 goofy girls gallivanting around one of the most chaotic countries on earth. Exciting because there is always something surprising around every corner - even more so now that we are on our own. And Interesting because each new place is so richly different to the next. 

After an exhausting day dealing with both the post office and the train reservation system, we finally boarded the train at 2am heading Amritsar way. It was our first train and we weren't exactly sure of what we should be be expecting but having only 2 confirmed seats out of four made the experience quite daunting. Luckily 2 other bunks freed up along the journey otherwise we would have been stuck sharing bunks for longer than 12 hours. Jessie and Kate were stuck in a middle bunk for 4 hours and could barely move, numbing all body parts after a few minutes. Not fun but we got through it and arrived in Jalandhar with only a few setbacks. We needed to find a way to get to Amritsar and managed to get 4 tickets on the next train out, leaving just 15 minutes after our arrival in Jalandhar. This train was hysterical since we were in sleeper Class (which cost 28 rupees but is pretty much a free for all.) We jumped off into Amritsar heat 2 hours later unscathed (aside from the creepy barefoot old man in a turban first lying across the top bunk and staring down at all of us and then trying to snuggle up to Shelly.) We walked through the (obviously) bustling streets toward the Golden Temple - Amritsar 's most famous landmark - a Sikh Temple, that rests on the sacred Amrit Sovarar (the pool of Nectar) that is full of Koi fish in the middle of the massive white marble temple complex. The complex itself is like a business centre complete with shops, travel agents, coffee carts and a railway reservation office. It really is quite impressive.  We spent a couple of days in Amritsar, it was a nice city: fun and full of lovely people - especially the guys at our hostel (Tourist Guest house.) We even took a shared van with an Indian family from the South out to the Pakistani border to see the famous border closing ceremony at dusk. Some of the marching really could have been a scene from John Cleese's 'Ministry of Funny Walks' and the chanting and war cries from the hoards of Indian people gave the whole thing a 'BIG competitive football match' kind of feel. It was a great experience, from buying Indian flags to buying water from a street vendor 5 metres from the gates and then having it confiscated at the gates, to being accosted by a nutty hobo with a rock when we tried to give her our water, to being invited to drink beers at one of the tent restaurants instead of watching the ceremony, to watching the ceremony, to eating lemony flavoured corns on the cob afterwards. I loved it!


On our last day in Amritsar we visited the Mata temple, which is a "Cave Temple" - a maze of different worship rooms, with all sorts of bizarre decoration (one wall was coated entirely in shards of mirror!) During the walk through the maze there were even sections where we had to crawl through holes and then tip toe through ankle deep 'holy' water.  Women are supposed to come here to worship the Goddess Lal Devi and pray for pregnancy - needless to say this was NOT the reason for our visit. We were just about ready to leave when our shady Tuk-Tuk driver, who had hung around and eaten a freebie lunch at the temple paraded us to the 'GURU' who was sitting up on a stack of bright cushions and giving a teaching to a crowd of followers. We were ushered into the group, layed with flower garlands and offered tons of different kinds of foods that they make at the temple. Even though we had eaten lunch not long before, it was rude to not accept anything that was given freely to you, so we tried it all and had a second lunch. Everyone was fascinated by these 3 Western girls who had come into their midst and soon we had a MASSIVE crowd of people gathered all around us just waiting to see what we would do next, everyone chatting away, asking question after question. We received a blessing from another holy man and had unmarried strings tied onto our right hands (for what reason I am still unsure.) It was really quite an interesting experience and we really appreciated all the people there for their generosity and for accepting us so willingly into their circle. We came out of the temple feeling liberated and with large smiles on our faces. We hung out for the rest of the day in the mall (no not an indian versian of a mall..an ACTUAL mall with a proper Western Supermarket whre we indulged in peanut butter, cereal and granola bars!) While quietly reading at the 'Cafe Coffee Day' we noticed a giant crowd of people gathering around a stage just outside the coffee shop. It turns out a local Indian Rap/Hip Hop sensation was in the house. The music started blaring and out of nowhere a dance contest between a bunch of bearded, Turbaned men erupted right in front of us. Naturally we joined in the fun and danced to the tunes.

We woke up early and sauntered over to the bus station to make our way to Daramshala - further North, heading for a tiny town called McLeod Ganj - which is actually the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile as well as hundreds of refugees who escaped Tibet on foot through the frosty Himalayas.

So this being our first Indian bus trip, we of course assumed the best: We buy our tickets, the bus arrives, we take our seats, we GO. Hahahahahahahahaha as if it would be that easy. It turns out that Indian bus terminals are even more chaotic than train stations. Half an hour of questions later, we had about 8 different times and stands where our bus would be leaving from. Some people even told us there were absolutely NO buses between the two places. Eventually, direly confused we just had to get on a bus and hope we got somewhere in the vicinity of Dharamshala. The bus driver was a maniac and there were multiple times along the way that we were lifted a metre off our seats going through large potholes in the pouring rain. But we were lucky to even have seats.

3 buses and almost 12 hours later (now around 10pm) we hauled ourselves into the village only to discover that the Dalai Lama had been in town that very morning so the majority of hotels in the area were Chock-a-block. After trekking up and down every dam hill in the place, we found an offer for 2 Dorm Beds and 2 Massage tables to sleep on for the night and it was like music to our ears. We were given 2 rooms the next morning and took joy in a nice, hot shower. Soon we felt fit enough to explore the town and off we went. We rolled into a rooftop restaurant called 'Carpe Diem' run by a bunch of lovely Nepali guys for breakfast about 300 metres up the hill from our hotel. I was sold, it was such a relaxing, peaceful place nestling among the cushions overlooking the mountains, I didn't want to leave. And aside from some trekking around the mountain, looking at all the Tibetan prayer flags blowing in the wind amongst the trees, a visit to the Tibet Museum and some retail therapy in and amongst all the Tibetan market jewellery stores, I actually didn't have to leave. The food was great, the Kingfishers flowed,   I often, in those 4 days, sat alone up on the roof, chatting and playing board games with the Nepali guys, making new friends with other customers: a friendly family who live in Delhi, a couple of Indian guys from Bangalore - who introduced me to the glorious Indian Dark Rum - Old Monk, Tibetan musicians who spoke fluent Korean, guys from Kashmir, Canadian students studying Yoga. It was a beautiful place with such an upbeat yet relaxed, anything goes kind of atmosphere. When we were rained in, the morning we were supposed to take a bus down to Ambala to catch a train, I secretly hoped we would get stranded there and have to spend the rest of our travels up on the roof of Carpe Diem.

McLeod Ganj has been my favourite stop on the trip so far, not only because of the Carpe Diem Rooftop and the people we met up there, but also because of the friendly, strong and empowering nature of the town and its people. Many of the Tibetans have had very tough lives and are struggling to survive and keep their culture and livelihood alive but they always do it with a smile and a positive demeanor that is as contagious as I can possibly explain with words.


Unfortunately that's about as much as I can get through for today, but as soon as I can I will write about our experience in Varanasi and Darjeeling. We have been here in Darjeeling for 6 days already and it's been fantastic to relax in the mountains. We are leaving on a 12 hour bus to Kolkata on the night of the 22nd and from there will catch a 36 HOUR train down South to Chennai to begin zigzagging the country from that angle! It's all been a beautiful ride thus far, one that cannot really be justified with words and pictures (though I will try my best!) I can't express more how much I love India and it's ever so diverse and vibrant culture. I urge anyone who has the chance to get your butt over here whenever the opportunity arises.


Lots of love and missing you all.

Katie x x x x x x