Jaipur (speak softly and carry a big stick)

I must admit that I didn't fully understand the meaning of Teddy Roosevelt's famous advice the first time I read it in a textbook in grade school, but I can say that it carries new meaning for me now. In fact, I've chosen to take his advice quite literally and, after several weeks of searching, purchased a large walking stick to accompany me through our travels (Of course, I have always striven to speak softly). There are so many reasons why it is useful: to deter pickpockets, to keep away monkeys that are interested in our things, for walking, to reach underneath the bed when something falls there, to ward off overenthusiastic touts and beggars, to scare away rats and other street animals that get too close, and many more. All of these are good reasons, but by far the most compelling to me is all the attention Heather attracts from the men in this part of the world.

She is both beautiful and blonde which is often enough to make the men in our vicinity just stop and stare at her. If we stay in one place too long the men will begin to collect until there is a large group standing and staring at her which only encourages more to do the same. Men will often ask to have their picture with her which we no longer allow because some are not respectful and will put their arm around her or things like this. This behavior is especially inappropriate here, where even I cannot put my arm around Heather without it being an excessive public display of affection. Some men are not so well mannered to ask and will just snap photos of her in the street. A few have even been bold enough to jump in front of us, pull out their camera, and take her picture. If she leaves my sight, even for a moment, men start 'bumping' into her or attempt to engage her in conversation.

All of this is bad enough during the day, but if we're walking around at night on poorly lit streets we really don't want that kind of attention. After I started carrying the stick, there was a noticeable improvement in our situation. We still have the same sort of problems, but they are much less frequent. Something we didn't expect, however, is that people now pay a great deal of attention to me!

Now people stop and stare at me and the make comments to each other about me. We've learned that there are many cultural reasons for this. We've seen other people in India with sticks like mine, but they fall into only three categories. Old men who really need help walking, sadhus (holy men), and police officers. I clearly do not fall into any of these categories, but the assumption is that since I do not need this stick to walk or for religious purposes, I use it for hitting people. In fact, the man I bought it from asked me if it was for Heather (I'm really not sure he was joking).

The reactions we've gotten are numerous. Several times a day people ask me "What is that for?" with worry visible in their eyes. Others have assured me that India is a safe place to travel. Some hold their fist in the air with a flexed arm and say "Good bamboo!" Some tell me I look like Ali Baba (I really don't understand this one, but an Indian told me he was a maharaja). I've also learned that a bamboo stick like mine is associated with someone who lives in a small village and is unsophisticated.

I really can't say I'm fond of all the attention, but the positive aspect is that everyone is looking and talking about me instead of Heather. Although I don't like others to think that I just go around hitting people, the stick clearly commands respect. We walked by a group of guys who were giggling and staring at us and I just stared back without smiling. After a short moment they began to show more respect. While I have mixed feelings about people's reactions, so far it has been a net positive for us and I'll keep the stick for the foreseeable future. One final note about the stick - we were in a cafe this morning and I saw a portrait of Gandhi carrying a bamboo stick exactly like mine. It's a shame people don't make that association instead, ah well.

My hour's up, I'll write about Jaipur next time!

McLeod Ganj

After Amritsar our next stop was McLeod Ganj. We planned to make the trip in one day, but this turned out to be a little too ambitious. After all, we were taking four different methods of transportation to get there. For starters, we took a train to Pathankot, which was late by two or three hours. From there we would switch to a smaller train which runs on a narrow gauge track (nicknamed the toy train). We met a local on our first train who informed us that instead of taking 2 1/2 hours like the guidebook said, the toy train actually took 5 hours. This new bit of information combined with our late arrival into Pathankot meant we would stay the night there instead of continuing the journey that day. We didn't know anything about Pathankot, it's not really a tourist town, so we were afraid it might be another Gorakhpur. On the contrary, it turned out to be a really nice place and we were happy to stay a night there.

The next morning (New Years Eve) we got up at 5 AM to get to the station by 6 so we could grab a seat before the train left at 7. There are no reservations on the toy train and everyone told us we had better get there early or risk standing the whole way. We actually got there at about 5:45 and the train pulled away at 7 with about half the seats empty. We learned a very long time ago to be flexible and just go with the flow and it's a good thing too, otherwise we'd probably be a lot more frustrated.

The toy train was really great. We had imagined a tiny little train, like at Disney Land, that takes the kids around in circle. The reality was something between that and a regular train. It was about 2/3 the size of a normal train with very narrow rails because it takes passengers into the mountains. The views were spectacular and we were glad we took this route even though it took a lot longer than expected. The end of the line for us was in Kangra.

We loved this little train station. Because there is only one route on these tracks and the train is petite, the stations were much smaller than we're used to. Just a little building to buy tickets and snacks and then there is nothing else around! Less than we had hoped for, in fact. There wasn't even a major road within sight and we didn't know where we had to go to catch our bus. That's okay, we're used to asking directions by now. We walked for about a mile, still uncertain about where we were going. People are always happy to give us directions, but sometimes they all give us different directions. Eventually we found a bus that took us to Kangra bus station where we had a quick lunch and caught the bus to Dharamshala.

I've been on a lot of buses these last few years, but this may just be the most terrifying ride in memory. I was standing, holding onto the rail and the bus driver just swung the bus from left to right as he navigated up the twisting mountain road. I could hardly even hold on and almost fell over several times! It's not a good feeling to have as you're looking out the window at the steep drops and almost complete lack of barriers. My stomach was in knots and I cannot tell you how happy I was when we finally pulled into Daramshala. From there we had to catch another shorter, calmer ride up the rest of the way to McLeod Ganj. It all really would have been too much for one day.

This is especially true because just as we arrived there a hailstorm began. So we trudged on with our bags and started our hotel search. We found a good one eventually and after a short rest went back out to find something special to do for the New Year. There were lots of dance parties and things like that going on. Most of them didn't interest us that much and cost anywhere from 2-7 days budget. There was some live music that looked good, but it was already completely booked. We finally found a nice little restaurant that had festivities and wasn't completely beyond our price range. So we went back to our hotel room for a little rest before going back out again and promptly fell asleep. We woke up around midnight to hear everyone yelling and cheering for the New Year. We let out disappointed groans and went back to sleep.

We were really happy to be in McLeod Ganj, but it turned out our timing was not so good. Because we were there on a holiday weekend, there was really nothing happening. All the excitement happened on New Year's Eve and after that it was time for the town to take a break. We spend most of the day going from place to place to find out that they were closed and wouldn't open again until Monday when we would be leaving town. Heather was really excited about doing yoga, but there was just no way it could happen. There was also no live music, no astrologer, and no museum during the weekend. The Dalai Lama was away too; he has been traveling around India for the last several weeks.

I'd like to say that we just moved right on and didn't let the disappointment affect us, but we were kind of depressed. That is, until we put things in perspective. We sat in a cafe and reminisced over some hot tea. We remembered all the times we were in Ukraine and would have given anything, to be anywhere, doing nothing, except being together. And here we were. But we were really much better off than we would have settled for. We were in McLeod Ganj! We were enjoying Tibetan food and culture all around us! And, most importantly, we were together.

We felt better and things quickly improved after that. We went to see the main temple and the home of the Dalai Lama. The next day the museum did actually open, even though it was Sunday. The museum was excellent, it detailed the history of the Tibetans since the Chinese invaded and before. We go there just at the right time to see a film about the uprisings in 2008. The Tibetans have had (and continue to have) a very rough time. We made a small donation and left better informed and better educated.

I'm very happy to report that our exit from McLeod Ganj was much less eventful than our entrance. We took a long bus and a long train, but that's all we had to do! Sure it was still 30 hours of traveling, but if there's one thing we've learned, it's all about perspective!

One last day in Amritsar

We spend the last of our time in Amritsar volunteering at the dining hall and visiting the Sikh museum. We met a Sikh man as we were circumambulating the golden temple who told us everything we ever wanted to know about the Sikh religion, the Golden Temple, etc. One thing he told us about the dining hall was that they wash all the dishes and utensils seven times. This is one of the pieces of information we were skeptical about, we love India, but the cleanliness habits are not always our favorite part. But I can tell you, after participating in this process, that they do wash everything seven times and extremely thoroughly! In fact, I caused quite a stir when I inadvertently allowed some of the washed dishes to touch my clothes as I was moving them to the next basin down the line. The guy next to us was really upset. The looks I received made me feel like they had been doing this the right way for the last 500 years, until I came and fouled up the entire process. No one was rude to us, but we were watched very carefully after that to make sure we didn't do anything else wrong. I felt really bad, it was my mistake, but the pressure was just too much for us. We changed jobs and started peeling garlic.

Maybe these jobs don't sound very exciting, but the scale is incredible. We walked over to a giant pile of garlic that was just laying on the floor. A few dozen people were around to help with this task. Really the pile of garlic was relatively small compared to the nearby pile of onions. Anyway, I just sat there for the first five minutes watching the guy next to me peel his garlic. I didn't want to mess up the job! He must have though I was really strange just sitting there watching him and I might have made it worse when I tried to explain to him why I was doing this. Sometimes I talk with my hands which is normally okay, but not when you have a knife in your hand and the other person can't understand what you're saying. Needless to say, all the people there were very tolerant of us.

After doing our part, we had lunch in the dining hall and headed to the Sikh museum. Based on what we saw at the museum, I can tell you that the Sikhs have had a pretty rough history. Some of the paintings were of religious leaders and events and some were of resistance and wars. Most, however, were of all the different ways Sikhs have been tortured throughout history. Some of the methods were quite inventive, but honestly it was a little much for us after a while. It was a learning experience though, after visiting the museum we finally understood why some of the Sikhs we saw walking around the city still carry swords on their belts!

We finally left a donation and bid farewell to Amritsar the next morning and headed to catch our train. It was an adventure, I'll try to write about the last days experiences soon. Gotta go get some dinner now!

Amritsar

Getting from Varanasi to Amritsar turned out to be a lot more difficult than we anticipated. We bought tickets a week or two in advance, but were put on the wait list. There was plenty of time for cancellations, but the morning we were supposed to leave we were still numbers two and three on the waiting list. We went out to the track to talk to the conductor and he told us there were no seats, we had to go and get a refund and buy tickets for another day. This was really not what we wanted to hear since we didn't want to wait two or three more weeks for a confirmed train ticket and we also didn't want to take a 24 hour bus all the way to Amritsar. We had almost given up hope but the last time we went back to him, he said "OK, get on. I'll find you a seat." And he did. I don't know why it was so difficult before and so easy the last time we asked him, but we were just happy to be on the train.

All was well until it was time for us to arrive. We weren't arriving. We looked out the window to see the names of the stations we passed and deduced that we were quite a bit behind schedule. We finally pulled into Amritsar almost four hours late. It's no fun spending an extra four hours on a train, but it's REALLY no fun starting to look for a hotel at 8:30 PM in a new city. We were very lucky though, there is no better place we could have been with these problems.

After leaving the train station we found a free shuttle waiting to take us directly to our destination. Within five minutes after we got there someone was showing us to our room which was no charge (except for our donation). One minute away was a dining hall where we could be served 24 hours a day, also at no charge. "Why?", you might reasonably ask?

Our destination was the Golden Temple which is the holiest site of the Sikh religion. One key thing you should know about the Sikh religion is that they don't believe in the caste system like Hindus do. They believe in treating everyone equally and that is exactly what they do. Their goal is to make the holiest site in their religion accessible to everyone, regardless of caste, religion, nationality, or wealth. This is why they provide a free shuttle and a free place to stay. Instead of just giving free meals to the poor, which they believe perpetuates the class system, they offer free meals to everyone - equally. Very equally. Everyone sits together, in lines on the floor and for at least the duration of that meal no person is better than any other.

It's sounds pretty cool, but really the scale of it all is nothing short of magnificent. They serve 60 - 80 thousand meals every day! And that's when there isn't a festival or a holiday or something going on. I really felt special just to be a part of it. Even more impressive than that is that everyone who works at the temple is a volunteer. The people who serve your food, the people who wash the dishes, peel the garlic - all volunteers. Many of the volunteers are Sikhs, but many or not. Really, anyone can volunteer. All you have to do is just start doing the job you want to help with. It's really wild!

The temple itself is really amazing too. The reason it's called the Golden Temple is because the entire temple is plated in gold. It sits in the middle of a lake and, during the day, houses the most holy book of the Sikh religion. At night they carry the book to its bed in a different building where it stays for the night. True to their belief in equality, anyone can go inside the temple (we haven't been allowed to go in most Hindu temples) and anyone can participate in the ritual of carrying the book to its resting place. We just witnessed this even last night and there was a crowd of people surrounding and helping to carry the palanquin used to transport the book. I would have jumped in to help myself, but I could see that participating in this ritual meant a lot more to some of the other people there than it did to me.

The Golden Temple is really the main attraction in Amritsar and we couldn't expect anything more, really. But there are some other interesting things in the area as well. Yesterday we took a shared taxi to the Indian-Pakistani border at Atari where they have a ceremony every day to close the border. While this might sound a little dull, it's anything but. The border guards are dressed in a uniform that I can honestly say is nothing short of ridiculous. Imagine someone in a military uniform wearing some kind of hat with a one and a half foot fan on top of it. Yeah. Then imagine these guards stomping around (sometimes almost at a jog), waving their arms back and forth at insanely fast speeds, and performing high kicks that reach within an inch of their forehead. At the end of it all they shake hands, lower the flags, and the gates slam shut. The Indians love it! They have stands built, almost like a stadium for the people (mostly Indians, but some foreigners) to come witness this ceremony. It's kind of unbelievable really.

We arranged for our taxi to take us from the Golden Temple to the ceremony and then back again after the ceremony was finished. We didn't expect our driver would want to take us to a couple more temples on the way home, but we were excited to see them since it isn't always so easy for us to get to these places and hiring taxis isn't normally in our budget. We weren't prepared for what he had to show us.

The first temple I can only describe as some kind of bizarre Hindu fun house. I don't mean to be rude by calling it this, but there is simply no better way I can describe it. This place had many of the things you'd expect from a Hindu temple like statues of Gods, places for offerings, and things like this. But it had other things as well. First of all, you had to travel along a very circuitous route. Up stairs, down stairs, through little alleys, etc. Many of the rooms had broken mirror mosaics as well as a variety of other things we didn't understand. At one point we had to crawl through some sort of artificial cave. We looked up to see a cow's udder on the ceiling that was dripping like a stalagtite. Another time we had to roll up our pants and walk through ankle deep water for some purpose that was beyond our understanding. At the end of it all there was a man sitting who told us to kneel as he put a necklace of marigolds on each of us, gave us a mark on our forehead (the third eye), tied some kind of shiny, glitter cloth around our heads, and gave us a sweet coconut treat, then said thank you and goodbye. At the end of it all we just looked at each other trying to comprehend all that we had just experienced and completely failing to do so. But the night wasn't over yet, there was still time for one more stop!

At the next stop we got out of the taxi and just did a double take. The temple we were looking at looked exactly like the golden temple. Completely plated in gold, sitting in the middle of a large lake, and everything. But it wasn't the golden temple. It was the Hindu version of the golden temple. I guess they liked the Sikh's idea so much, they built their own! Even though this temple looks golden just like the actual Golden temple it is instead called the Silver Temple because of its silver doors. The whole time we were walking around it we were trying to figure out why the Hindus would build what was almost a replica of the Sikh's holiest site just a few miles away. It's something for us to think about.

It's been a really eventful last several days, I'm really happy to get all this up on the blog. We're planning now to do just a few more things here and then tomorrow we will head to Mcleod Ganj, the residence of the Dalai Lama and many refugees of Tibetan Buddhism.