A Quick Stop in Jodhpur

I arrived in Jodhpur late Monday night. My plan was to take an early bus to Pushkar yesterday morning. As so many times before, things didn't quite work out the way I had planned. First of all, I was unable to find a bus that would take me directly to Pushkar and the first bus available to Ajmer was at 1.30 pm. So, I made a decision to skip visiting Pushkar altogether, since I would not make it there before sunset and I would have to leave before nine the next morning.

I went to visit the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur while waiting for my bus to Ajmer. It was well worth the visit. A home of the Rathore clan of the Rajputs, who ruled Marwar, a princely state in Rajasthan for more than seven hundred years. The fort itself dates back to the 17th century, when Jodhpur became the capital of Marwar.

The museum in the fort hill was the best organized one I've seen in India so far. The exhibitions were carefully explained and a good quality audio guide was included in the entrance fee. But the view to the city and its surroundings was still my favorite part of the visit. Old walls on the hills around the city looked really impressive from above.

Yesterday evening when I arrived in Ajmer, the tuk-tuk driver took me to seven guesthouses, but all were either fully booked or ridiculously expensive. Then I decided I would go with my original plan to spend the night in Pushkar. There I found the cheapest room I've had so far in India, only 150 rs. It was a small closet, but looked very clean. I took an evening stroll through the town and another walk early in the morning. The holy lake didn't give me any special vibes, but it looked very nice during the sunrise.

Now I'm back in Ajmer sitting in a train and about to leave to Mumbai. None of my efforts of finding a volunteering opportunity around here worked out. I've got a few ideas about possibilities around Mumbai and I'm, again, waiting for replies. Keep your fingers crossed!

Camels and Sand

Three days, two nights in the Thar desert now lie behind me. I suffered no permanent damage, but sitting does hurt a bit right now. I saw beautiful dunes, experienced the desert night sky and enjoyed the excellent company. Also, my respect for camels is now much bigger than before. They are such amazing animals in many respects. Carrying us, our baggage, bedding, food, water and cooking gear without much trouble through partly very uneven terrain was not an easy task.

I really do recommend doing something like this if you ever get the chance. It's definitely an experience you won't forget so soon. Riding a camel was a new and interesting thing to try out and sleeping outside under a beautiful sky was really something amazing. The first night was cloudy, but the second one very clear. The three quarters full moon made looking at the stars a bit challenging in the evening. When I woke up at four thirty in the morning, I wasn't able to fall asleep for some time because of the stars.

Riding a camel was much more comfortable than what I had imagined it to be. Yes, sitting hurts right now, but it's not too bad really. Also, camels don't stink nearly as bad as I had heard they would. Either very sensitive nosed people started this rumor, or I've been in India too long to notice.

Check out the pictures here.

Sliding from Volunteering to Tourism

I'm really slipping away from volunteering at the moment. I'm having serious trouble contacting new hosts. The farm up north that stopped answering my e-mails was just the first one. I've contacted two other opportunities though Workaway, but to no avail. One is located here in Jaisalmer. I'm still giving them until Tuesday. Then I'm leaving through Jodhpur to Pushkar and from there on Wednesday to Ajmer where my train to Mumbai leaves at 11am.

While I'm waiting, I'll do a two night camel safari starting tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to sleeping under desert stars. I've heard the starry sky is something special when the air humidity is so low. I'm not sure it's much different from the stars in Finland during the freezing winter nights, but at least sleeping will be a little more comfortable...

A little piece of disturbing news arrived me today as well. The golden temple pilgrim's lodge dorm apparently has bed bugs. There was some talk of it while we were there, but I didn't take it too seriously then. The three people I came to Amritsar with, have had bad cases of rash the last couple of days and they even had to throw away some of their things. They're still not quite sure whether they're clean or not. Strangely enough I haven't noticed anything so far. After I read the e-mail, I definitely felt itchy all over, but that's just a mental reaction I get from hearing stuff like that. I was using my own camping mattress on top of the dorm sheets and my sleeping bag on top of it. Maybe that's what kept me clean.

Chandigarh, My Experiences

Yesterday's post about Chandigarh was a quick info post. This one will be a more subjective one, about my experiences rather than about the city itself.

I already mentioned earlier that I decided to stay close to the railway station for the first night and try to scout for reasonably priced accommodation in the city for the rest of my stay. Well, I went looking on Saturday and was shocked. The cheapest room I was able to find was a small and run down closet next to a loud bus terminal for 800 rupees a night. The next cheapest one was 1300. I was slowly giving up on hope, when an elderly Sikh man came and introduced himself to me.

Mr. Narinder Singh, 77 - a one man tourist helping agency since five decades - told me that there are possibilities cheaper than the ones I had found so far. We stopped first in a fast food restaurant, where Mr. Singh showed me an article about him and a notebook full of tourist testimonials from the last two months only. After a few quick stops, he showed me a place called Panchayat Bhawan in sector 18, where a big room only costs 620 rupees (btw, Google maps finds it). I was really lucky to have met him just then, because I really was about to give up and take the terrible hole near the bus terminal.

This was just the beginning of his friendliness. The next day he took me to the famous Rock Garden. It a project that started as a one man's, Nek Chand's secret and illegal hobby of transforming waste into sculptures and landscapes in 1957. First eighteen years later, in 1975, officials of the city discovered his 49,000m² (12 acre) sculpture park. Luckily, even though it was on a land reserved for conservancy, it was not destroyed. The public opinion was so much on Mr. Chand's side, that he was appointed as "Sub-Divisional Engineer, Rock Garden", given a salary and a workforce of fifty people to help him with his project. Later he received the title of director of the Rock Garden. (See pictures of the Rock Garden here). My guide, Mr. Singh is a friend of Mr. Nek Chand's and he took me to his office next to the garden entrance, (which had a hobbit-house kind of look,) where I was able to talk a few words with him.

The next two evenings I met with Mr. Singh as well and he took me to nice, but affordable restaurants to eat. He also took me to a Sikh temple, where I made two chapatis (picture). This morning we met in sector 17, where he showed me a good place to have breakfast. Afterwards we went to a Haryana state office building to have tea and some sweets. His past career as a minister's secretary has left many doors open for him that for others remain closed. That's just another good reason to find this nice man when you're coming to Chandigarh. (I've got his contact details, if someone's interested).

Yesterday morning I did a cycle tour through Chandigarh (Pedal Chandigarh). The city's wide streets gave me an urge to get on a bicycle for the first time in India. It still was not very safe, especially during the morning rush hour. It was enjoyable and I saw many things I hadn't visited yet. The pictures are still only on my mobile, but I will try to update them into the Chandigarh folder as soon as possible.

Mr. Narinder Singh has an agenda that I tried my best to support during the four days in Chandigarh. He wants a low-budget hotel and a campsite to be set up in Chandigarh. He says that over sixty percent of all the tourists coming to Chandigarh are low-budget tourists and that the city has forgotten them. On Sunday, he showed me the day's newspaper and his letter to the editor concerning this matter. He asked me to write a supporting reply for his piece of writing. I did it, since in my opinion the cause is definitely worth supporting.

Now I'm waiting for the train to Ajmer, Rajasthan, from where I will continue directly to Jaisalmer. But that's going to be another story...

PS. I just found this on YouTube. (Credits to Alexander Small)

Chandigarh - Something Different

Since Saturday, I have been roaming the streets of Chandigarh. A very different city from anything I've seen here so far. It's also a city with a short but strange history. It serves as the capital for two Indian states, Punjab and Haryana, but the city itself is Union Territory and belongs to neither of the two states. This jumble got started during the Indian partition in 1947, when Lahore, the traditional capital of Punjab became part of Pakistan. Chandigarh was then elected as a new capital, but it needed to be modernized. For rebuilding the city, 6228 families had to be relocated, which not surprisingly led to wide protests. The final decision to "capitalize" Chandigarh took two years. After that several international architects took part in forming the city to its current splendor. The most famous one being a French architect called Le Corbusier, who formed the final city layout. In 1966, a new State was formed for the Hindi speaking minority out of the eastern region of Punjab, Haryana. This is how Chandigarh, located in between Punjab and Haryana, became the capital of both of the states.

The design of the city is very symmetrical. Each Sector has the same size, 800 x 1200 meters. Each unit is self sufficient, having a school, shops, health centers, recreations and places of worship in them. There are only four vehicular entries into each sector (one from the middle of each side). The streets are broad and well taken care of. There's more green park areas in the city than in any other city I've seen. In spite of all the differences to other Indian cities, it still manages to stay very Indian. It's the city with the highest per capita income in India and it was selected the cleanest city in India in year 2010.


 
(sources: http://chandigarh.gov.in/knowchd_gen_plan.htm,
map image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupVFJZNL6LjNnTZ6emT-9y9vsS79h6Rs1ZUXNxDV3c4NH0PwPNJAXOMqTu8Je_sCn3qcmcYfe57-Cs_J-vCfT_cJK6wfNhDtekIcGJAy68_WphDNwhitUPImglOklqofqZcyJ0RlNkiqf/s320/chandigarh_map_s.jpg)

Amritsar, Sikh Holy City

My three days in Amritsar are over. The stay in the pilgrim's lodge next to the Golden Temple was another unforgettable experience. The Langar, the huge and free dining hall was the absolute highlight for me. The incredible organization of every little detail makes the word chaos in the normal Indian "organized chaos" obsolete - this was pure organization. On the second day I was able to volunteer in the dining hall for three hours. My job was to make sure that people coming from dinner, left their spoons to the two bowls next to me. There were so many people going by, that even the four of us doing this simple task couldn't stop a few spoons from getting through to the station where bowls and plates were handed in. It was a job that in all its simplicity was extremely rewarding. Never in my life have I received so many smiles in such a short time.

I learned to respect the Sikh tremendously during the past three days. The helpfulness and friendliness towards strangers and non-believers is something I haven't felt with other religions so far.

Last night after dinner, I finally went inside the temple. The long waiting time had kept me away so far. This time the line was shorter and I only needed about 25 minutes to get inside. Taking pictures was unfortunately not allowed, but I can tell you that the name Golden Temple is justified also when looking from the inside. Also the marble carvings that are filled with semi-precious stones (similar to Taj Mahal), were impressive to look at.

Probably the biggest reason I enjoyed Amritsar as much as I did, was the good company I had. Thanks guys, first of all for telling me about the pilgrim's lodge and of course for the good times! This once again proves that traveling alone doesn't mean being alone. I'm positive it's easier to meet new people when you're traveling alone in comparison to traveling with someone.

Yesterday we left the temple area in the afternoon to go to the Pakistani border. Not to cross it, don't worry, but to see the daily ceremony of closing the border for the night. And what a surreal spectacle it was! Soldiers on both sides of the border did the same strange routines and funny walks and even a few handshakes over the border were given. If you are familiar with the Monty Python sketch "Ministry of Silly Walks", you have an idea how it looked like.

The weirdest thing for me was not the ceremony itself, but the hundreds of Indian spectators cheering and waving Indian flags during the ceremony. On the other side of the border, a clearly smaller crowd of Pakistanis was doing the same, but with their own flag of course. The strong nationalism exceeded my limits of healthy patriotism and bothered me a little. But the mere fact that two countries that still are enemies show this kind of cooperation and silliness, worked as a compensation.

This morning I traveled four hours in the "human Tetris" -compartment of the train from Amritsar to Chandigarh. Now I'm resting before taking off to the city. For the first night I'm staying outside the train station, but I will keep my eyes open later in the city for possible places to stay. I'm also searching for a possibility to upload some more pictures from Amritsar and from the border, so in a few hours there should be new stuff to see here.

From the Mountains into a Temple

My original plan was to volunteer on another farm, or more precisely on an organic orchard since yesterday. The last message I got from the farm contact person was over a month ago. There he says he would be in Delhi for business most likely  until the 29th or the 30th. I have written him three times after that, but there has been no e-mail from him since. Unfortunately I don't have anything but his e-mail address, so there's not much I can do, but wait. Last night in Bhagsu, I decided I would not wait for any longer in McLeod Ganj or the area around it. I've seen enough of it now. I had heard a lot of nice things about the city of Amritsar, about seven hours to the southwest, so I made a decision to go and check it out, since it's still a reasonable distance away from the orchard in case I end up volunteering there after all.

The bus ride was pretty awful, but that wasn't a big surprise. Bumpy roads, broken seats, dust and loud honking coming in through the open rattling windows really makes you consider choosing a train for the next trip. The connection was pretty good, only one change in Pathankot after four hours of coming down mountains and hills mainly.

There were five other western people in the bus, all with big rucksacks. We had to climb to the roof and fasten our bags on the rails there (amazingly enough, everything stayed there through all the bumps). In Pathankot we had to take them down and put them back on another bus roof. While I was on the roof taking the bags down with another man, the bus started moving. Luckily the driver heard our screams and saw people pointing at us, so he stopped driving after just a couple of meters and we managed to get down on our own terms, not on gravity's alone.

The bus arrived in Amritsar around six in the evening. Three of the western people who were traveling on the same bus with me had an idea about a place to stay and they asked me to join them. In the bus I was thinking about spoiling myself a little with a nice private room with its own bathroom. Well, it didn't happen... I'm now on my bunk in a dorm of seven beds, surrounded by three smaller three bed dorms. But I'm really happy I said yes to the three people after getting out of the bus, because this place is something amazing.

So where am I? The biggest sight in Amritsar is the Golden Temple, which is the most famous Sikh Gurdwara (translates: gateway to the guru,  their place of worship). It was built over four centuries ago. We're staying right next to it in a huge complex called, Shri Guru Ramdas Niwas Pilgrim’s Lodge. It accommodates pilgrims and guests from all religions and countries. It's also completely donation funded, meaning it's free if you decide not to pay in the end. There's a lot of hustle and bustle going on, but everything is very clean. For example, the toilets are the cleanest I've seen in India so far.

Even the food is free in a big dining hall, a Langar, where all the guests are served by volunteering Sikhs, who are learning to serve others according to their religion. Last night's dinner was rice with cheese with a very tasty dal and some sweet rice porridge as dessert. The serving itself is a spectacle, as the food is served quickly and from some height onto your plate on the floor. Still everything gets cleaned very quickly after a row of people is done with the meal. On an average day, 60 000 to 90 000 meals are served, but during bigger festivities the number gets much higher. Not only is the serving interesting to look at, so is the dishwashing and cooking. Everything works like a gigantic and well oiled machine.

The main attraction, the Golden Temple is definitely worth seeing. Today I only went there quickly after dinner, but today I'm giving it a longer inspection. Photos will follow soon.