Over the past week we have traveled from Manali to Dharamsala, the home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and then onward to Amritsar on the Indo-Pakistani border, and of course the journey has been quite the adventure! Our trip to Dharamsala was about seven hours, so not nearly as long as the bus from Delhi to Manali, but since we went in the day, the terrifying driving conditions were really illuminated! After about four hours of fidgeting, car sickness, and heart palpatations, we arrived in the evening to the Tibetan communtiy in exile built on the slopes of tall Himialayan peaks. As you would imagine, Tibetan prayer flags covered the area and fat street dogs wandered the town looking for more food from the generuous Buddhist monks filling the streets. The other side of Dharamsala that we had not expected was the large Western hippie crowd that frequents the town. Really, this is the place so far where we have seen the most white people- Germans, British, Australian, American. Really at least a third of the people on the streets were white and at least a third of those people have quite the head of dreadlocks! The town is filled with activists and organizations working to free Tibet and to aide the refugees fleeing Tibet to this hill station as well as a surprising abundance of coffee shops. The whole culture reminded me so much of Boulder with so many posters posted on street signs about benefit concerts and organizational meetings.
We went from organization to organization looking for a volunteer position where we could help for a longer period of time, only to find that with the Dalai Lama coming in three weeks and so many Westerners in town until then, there wasn't really much opportunity for us to stay around and have something to fill our time. As much as we loved hanging out with the monks and some of the recent refugees eager to practice their English, our exhaustive search showed it would be hard to find something to keep us busy throughout the days, in order to stay for a longer period of time. Even so, our time in Dharamsala was filled with amazing walks through prayer-flag covered grounds to the Tibetan Chilsdren's Village, the Dalai Lama's residence and the Tibet museum, delicious Tibetan dishes like tingmo (steamed bread) and momos (dumplings), and great new friends who told us a little about their life in Tibet and now in Dharamsala in exchange for us helping them with their English. It was a great stop on our journey!
After a week in Dharamsala, we took the state bus to Pathankot. This town is very close to the border of Pakistan and it is filled with Indian military departments of every kind. We only stayed long enough for a quick lunch before heading off on the train to Amritsar. Our first train trip of the voyage was a short three hour ride through hot, dusty towns of the Punjab region of India. We arrived in the evening to the noisy, congested city that is home to the Sikhs. Here we visited the famous Golden Temple which is the center of the Sikh religion and a beautiful golden building in the middle of a pool surrounded by marble buildings. We spent the morning touring the grounds and watching the holy practices of the devout followers. In both Dharamsala and Amritsar, I was so excited to see two very different religions and to learn about their practices and beliefs at their spiritual centers. At the Golden Temple, visitors (especially Sikhs, but really everyone is welcome) can stay at the Golden Temple "dorms" and eat for free for up to three days! We didn't take up staying for free since there were so many people who really made the pilgrammage for their religion, but we did visit the feeding frenzy that was lunch at the Golden Temple. Huge bins of plates invited bare-footed visitors into the "mess hall" where traditional Punjabi meals were being served by community members.
In the afternoon, we headed shared a taxi with a Canadien couple to the Indo-Pakistani border in Wagha. Everyday at sunset, the border is officially closed by the guards on the India side and the Pakistani side and there is quite the ceremony accompanying this closure! There are actually stand errected on both sides for all of the fans from each country to watch their side close. We arrived early because Aaroon, one of the Canadiens was actually going to cross the border and meet his Pakistani friends on the other side. The whole affair was really a huge tourist attraction for both Indians and foreigners. The street leading to the border was lined with stand selling all sorts of snacks and goods - Indian flags were everywhere. We got to the border area and were escorted to the "VIP" section. (The VIP section was more or less the "white" section. We have found that a lot here, just because we are white, people either escort us to the front of the line or give us some preferential treatment which is completely and utterly unecessary or else, pester us constantly for a picture with them.) The ceremony lasted about an hour and consisted of Indian school girls dancing together and singing patriotic songs in the middle of the street and outrageously dressed borded guards wearing hats about three-feet tall and marching in the most spastic manner back and forth around the border. Eventually each side took down their flag and closed the border to hundreds of cheering fans on both sides of the border. It was really an experience to see!
One of the best parts about Amritsar is the Bharawan da Dhaba. Dhaba's are basically little street vendors so we haven't really eaten at very many of them yet, just trying to avoid sickness but the food they are making always looks DELICIOUS! Well this dhaba, is famous and so much so that it is much more like a diner than a street-side booth. So we have been there everyday for lunch so far! It is hot off the griddle naan and perfectly spicy little Punjabi dishes for so cheap! We love this place and it definetely merits its celebrity status!
Now we are moving on, yet again, to Agra. After stopping in Agra and Varanasi for a quick dip in the Ganges (just kidding!) we hope to be down south at a volunteer project with Blue Planet Run by the end of the week! Our internet connections will probably be less and less for the next few weeks but around the end of the month we are hoping to be moving North again so keep the updates coming from home and we will write more as we have a chance! Off to another 12-hour long train journey! Lots of solitarie and reading for the next few days :)
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