Sammy sam sam blog number 4...

Unforseen adventures!

Manail.
God it seems like such a long time ago that I arrived in Manali. The town is pretty far north in India within the state of Himishal Pradesh. I got the bus with the two English girls I had met in Dharamasala (and Rajisthan)- Rhian and Kim. We arrived at about 5 in the morning and it was bloody freezing, the first thing we did was find a room and sleeeeeeeeeep. The day was pretty much a wash out! The main purpose of me being in Manali was to get a bus to Leh (about 20 hours north). On arrival I was told that the road was still snowbound and in all likely hood would remain so for the next two weeks. Which was annoying because I had hoped to be in Leh by mid-May. I would have to wait it out and see what happened.

Picture 1 - A view od Manail drom my hotel room.

In the mean time I would have to occupy myself - day two in Manali was thus was rather more adventurous than day 1. To be honest there isn't really that much to do in Manali. The only form of activily (apart from chilllllling) is adrenaline filled adventure sports, in the winter it's India's premier ski resort (not really that advanced by European standards) and in the summer there is paragliding, zorbing, mountain biking, rafting, climbing etc etc etc. So I (and a girl I had met called Lucy) decided to get involved. We headed off to get a bit of paragliding in- it was a very strange experience and it of course had a bit of an India twist. Firstly, we had to climb up the mountain that we were going to fly down from, and then the 'pilot' realised he had forgotten to bring the correct paraglide - I was fully confident... not! however when we actually took of the experience was very tranquil, it wasn't as adrenaline filled as I thought it would be in fact it was very serene, a bit like flying. My pilot also threw in a free zorb ride for me and lucy... zorbing- think washing machine with person inside it. amusing?!

Pic 2: A self portrait!
Apart from that there really is little to say about Manali, I did nothing. I spent four nights there waiting for the road to open and then got bored. I actually found myself missing the dirt, grime and squallor of 'real' India- Manali was simply to easy- the food was too good, there were too many tourists, I was to clean etc. I decided to take the plunge back into India... real India.

With two weeks on my hands I decided to head south again to an Intriguing city called Chandigarth! Another over night bus and back to the heat of the plains.

Chandigarth.
Described in the guide book as 'Indias cleanest and greenest city' Chandigaeth was built in the 1950's by a french architect as the new capital of Punjab. My personal view is that Chandigath is the strangest city I have ever been to (certainly in India). It was partly because I had had no sleep and had been dumped of the bus 30Km out of town at 4.30am but my day in Changidarth seemed like a surreal dream.

It is certainly clean and green. There are wide boulevards with bougainvillea growing everywhere, big air conditioned shopping malls, brand new buses, a car free city centre and none of the chaos normally associated with India cities; at the same time, just from walking aroung the place the city seemed strange for some unidentifiable reason. I guess the best way to describe it is artificial, it had not evolved into a city it had been purpose build, and it was evident for example, the whole city was gridded off (like in US cities) into squares which were called 'sectors'. It had a specially created city centre (and sub-city centre) - must admit I simple couldn't get my head around it, It lack colour, it lacked character, it lacked India. It looked and felt like a warped neo-fascist version of LA. Totally weird.
Pic 3: Chandigarth- and all of it's sectors!
I went to Chardigarth on an impulse, I didn't actually know what I was going to do when I got there, what I ended up doing was leaving my bag in left luggage and walking around in a strange daze for about 6 hour (partially to do with the lack of sleep). when I did come around I found Chandigarth's main attraction- The rock garden. Created by a random man with to much time on his hands the rock garden fits right in with Chandigarth's strangeness. It's main totally out or waste and rubbish, and it is basically a maze of waterfalls interspersed with a zoo of moulded animals (rubbish description, sorry, see photos). The Lonely planet describes it as- akin to stepping through Alice in wonderland's looking glass. Spot on! I have to hand it to the man, they were really really cool gardens. I had a great snooze there as well!
pic 4: some od the 'zoo' in the rock gardens.
After some breakfast I headed out of town to some Mougul gardens (which were wholly unimpressive) I had a nice sleep on the bus though! On my arrival back in the city I think I was just a bit overwhelmed by the city, I couldn't take any more or the weirdness, so, since I hadn't yet checked into a hotel I jumped on a bus and headed back to the hill station of Shimla.

Shimla.
Shimla is the capital of Himishal Pradesh and once upon a time it was the summer capital of the whole of India. The British Raj moved the instruments of government up to Shimla every year when Calcutta got too hot! The city reminded me of a quaint English town like Bath or York. It was absolutely full of tourists (no foreigners, all Indian tourists). Also, it was full to the brim with Georgian and Victorian architecture, fashionable shops, beautiful views of the hills and ice cream licking holiday makers! I must say, I absolutely loved Shimla, the whole atmosphere of the town was fantastic, the people were so friendly and (best of all) there was no traffic in the main bazaar.

My top 10 favourite things about Shimla...
1) The shopping- I spend vast amounts of rupees (very few pounds) buying a chess board, a watch- which broke within 3 hours (I did get a replacement which still works now after almost a week), a knock off jumper, statues of Hindu gods and a wallet to name but a few things.
2) The history- I took a trip to Visigal Lodge the headquarters of the former Raj. I saw the table where the agreement for partition was signed. All very interesting.
3) The food- There was the best street food in India, I didn;t eat in a restaurant the whole time I was there. Also, there were the best ice creams ever (From Baskins and Robbins)
4) The weather - perfect, except for the hail stones as I left.
5) The lack of tourist- I got bored of backpacker chat in Manali
6) The awesomeness of the locals- so friendly, even the touts who found me the cheapest hotel room in town!
7) Real coffee, in an Italian coffee chain called barista Pic 5: Real coffee!
8) The atmosphere- No traffic, No hassle, no worries
9) the old school arcades- ever wondered where all the old pacman machines are. They're in Shimla
10) The funnier haircut in the world- A guy who looked about 105 year old snipping wildly at my hair, and it actually looked alright in the end (ish). It did only cost 50p!
Pic A slice of history- The table (and chairs) from which Mr Jinna and Mr Nehru decided where the India- Pakisthan boarder would be!

So there we go, top marks to Shimla, the problem was that I had run out of thing to do and the road to Leh still wasn't open. I didn't really know what to do or where to go. I checked out of my hotel on the morning of my 4th day in Shimla, I was going somewhere, I just didn;t know where!

In the end, after much deliberation (I actually made friends with the guy in the bus enquiry booth because I asked him so many questions about the buses) I decided to make the 23 hour mission to the slightly unstable Srinigar, Kashmere.

In the next blog find out why made the decision to go to Srinagar, what the place described as 'the most dangerous place in the world' (Bill Clinton, 1998) was like and whether I finally made it to Leh!

Laters Folks!

pictures... pictures... pictures

1) A seik worshipper at the golden temple at Amritar

2) One of the goose stepping guards at the Attari boarder crossing ceremony.

3) A tranquil spot in Triund, DharamasalaThats all folks

Sammysamsam's third blog - By Sam Lloyd

Well well well... lots has happened since I last filled in this bad boy!

Best place to start is from the beginning - Amritsar!

It was amazing, stunning breathtaking! The golden temple is the most holy place for Sikhs in the world, it is quite literally a temple made with 750Kg of gold. As you all saw from the photo on the last blog it is surrounded by a lake and there are thousands of devotees who come from all over the world to bath in the holy water. Leaving aside the beauty of the temple itself, I thought the nicest thing about the temple was the atmosphere- every person who enters the temple (Sikh or non seek, Indian or non Indian, rich or poor etc) is offered a bed and food for free. Also, every person who enters the temple is expected to contribute to the running of the temple so all meals are cooked by volunteers, same with the cleaning, serving, etc etc. This created a really really nice atmosphere, every person who entered the temple complex contributes something to the space, therefore everyone has a sense of care and pride in the place (not always the case in the rest of India).

I stayed there for 2 nights, on the first night I actually stayed in a hotel (Purely to watch Arsenal to lost to Manchester United in the Champions League, bad times!) And the second night I stated in the temple complex. I got involved in the work side of things by folding turbans for a hour- which was fun!

Apart from the golden temple there is very little to do in Amritsar... that is apart from the Attari boarder crossing. This may sound a little strange- most boarder crossings are pretty drab places nothing more that dull looking boarder officials, simple a place to get a passport stamp. In India things are slightly different. The Attari boarder crossing is the only boarder between India and Pakistan. for those of you who don;t know (and without getting into a history lesson) India and Pakistan totally hate each other, with a passion. The guards at the boarder have a particularly interesting way of venting their hatred and relieving their tensions at the end of each day... basically if goes like this...

1) On the India side of the boarder some where in the region of 2,000 people arrive every single evening.

2) When they get to the boarder they take a seat on the grandstand, buy some popcorn and make themselves comfortable.

3) the atmosphere grows as the local MC begins the chanting- "long live India" "long live India".

4) At 6.30 sharp the 10 boarder guard goose step, stop and march around the place for 15 minutes eying up their Pakistani counterparts.

5) the crowd gets very excited (still chanting (oh and flay waving))

6) the gates between the two countries is flung open and the commanding officers shake hands and the flags are lowered. The gate are then shut and everyone goes home happy.

1) The boarder guards at Attari.

I have no idea if you will get what I mean, but it is some sight. And the Indian, they love it. For me it was just one of those funny sights you get to see in India, but I got the feeling that for Indian this way a real way to show off their country and be patriotic! it was really really cool.

Anyhoo onwards- to Dharamasala.

Best know for... being the home of the Tibetan government in exile (and one of the only places you still see free Tibet t shirts). Yep it is the home to the Dalai Lama!

And with it cool, no even cold weather. When I arrived I had a blanket on my bed, that night I found out why, it was chilly! I had traveled up in the bus with an American guy and when we arrived we almost though we had arrived into a new country. It was somehow more refined that the India we had just left, the place seemed cleaner and more relaxed, there was no hassle,. no hussle, no rickshaws, no "come look my shop" almost peace and quite.

2) Prayer flags overlooking Mclead Gang.

I didn't do a whole lot while I stayed in town, apart from sample Tibetan food, wonder around town and take in the superb views. After a few nights and a touch of illness (from a bloody pizza) I moved from the relative hustle and bustle of Dharamasala to Bhagsu, a sleep village 20 minutes walk away - even more R and R. The one think of notability I did wile in town (apart from play chess, eat and drink) was walk up a mountain. 4 hours walk from Bhagsu is Triund, it's a pretty popular trail, lots of people walk it on most days, it quite steep, but not dangerous... that is until I attempted it!

I went up with my American friend and two English girls, we had hail stones, rain, thunder and lightning, a dramatic drop in temperature, we lost the path ended up scaling up a waterfall, almost dieing or giving up but when we got to the top... it was worth every minute, every drop of sweat! It was beautiful. The view of the Himalayas was amazing (pictures don't do it justice but I shall add some anyway). We went to warm ourselves up in a conveniently placed chai shop and wrapped ourselves up in blankets. After chatting to the chai owner we were invited to sleep up at the top of the mountain in his little chai shop, an invitation which I accepted almost immediately.

3) A rainbow after the storm in Triund.

The man was a legend, he some how managed to produce the best curry I have so far had in my whole time in India! We then went out to look at the starts and saw the moon rise from behind the mountains. It was an incredible site! The sky was so clear the stars so bright and the moon almost orange, it almost looked like the sun, really weird.

4) The chai shop and home for the night, Triund.

In the morning I scaled down the mountain (on the path (most of the time)) and got a bus to Manali, where hopefully I would be able to get another bus to Leh, Ladakh! (see footnote)

On the next episode of sammysamsam's blog spot we find out how and why the road to Leh was closed when sammysamsam arrived in Manali. But what will he do?

Find out next week

Thanks for reading
____________
footnote 1
For those of you who don't know I am heading up to Leh in Ladakh to do some voluntary work for a school called SECMOL. The road between Manali and Leh is snow bound for 6months of the year, depending on the snow the road usually opens about mid may-early June. One of the passes on the road (up at 5,000 meters) is still too snowy, so no busses are running up to Leh yet. The Indian army is apparantly working 24/7 to clear the roads\. Everyone has a different opinion as to when it will be open but no one knows for sure.

Sammy sam's second India blog: Rajisthan

Sammy sam's second India blog (hopefully the electricity won't cut out this time)

State: Rajisthan (the land of kings)

Udaipur
When I left you last I was heading on a overnight train to Udaipur! The first thing that hit me when I arrived in Udaipur was not how beautiful the city was or how picturesque the lake was but how bloody hot the place was. I didn't think it could get hotter than Ahmedebad, I was wrong. I spent my whole first day sitting in a rooftop restaurant dieing of the heat. I couldn't eat anything, all I could do was drink and sweat! Because of the heat it is currently low season in Rajisthan, which was really nice in some ways, there was very little hassle from the hawkers and the rickshaw drivers because they are in hibernation, (to hot to bother ripping of tourists). So that was about it for the first day.

1) A wedding in the place where the lake used to be.

On the second day I was a little more active I made it onto the streets of the city, the old town- where I was staying comprised of hundred of narrow winding alleys and streets, millions of travel agents and billions of souvenir shops. I couldn't help thinking that in high season the place must be a nightmare. Because Rajisthan is close to Delhi it attracts more tourists that the rest of India, lots of package tourists as well as the backpackers. I found my first group of package tourists in the city palace, the palace itself was amazing, it is still the official home of the maharajah and is lavish to the max. Quite a sight.

The thing that Udaipur is really famous for (Lonley planet (I mean the bible) list it as the most impressive (NUMBER 1) thing to see in India) is the lake palace hotel (see picture below). If any of you have seen the Bond film octopussy the lake palace is shown extensively. In reality, unfortunately and like many things in India it has been slightly ruined by a) rubbish in the lake and b) water wastage resulting in... well... a lack of a lake. The (former) lake is now used for many things, package tourists take elephant rides on it, boys play cricket on it and there was even a wedding precession that paraded over it, anyone expecting a lake palace will be dissapointed, it's mose of a- slightly green/ boggy palace hotel.

All in all It was a fun city, I met lots of nice people, saw the sites and then moved on, together with my to new friends -Sam and Jeff. We took a bus (straight out of hell) to Jodpur.
2) Lake place hotal
Jodpur.
3 hours of standing, and 4 hours of shaking, I felt like I had just come out of a washing machine. It was a bumpy ride but Jodpur (the blue city) looked good. It's most predominant feature was a fort which sits majestically 300 feet above the city. Me and the crew arrive and we treat ourselves to the finest food in the city. Honestly, we went to the nicest restaurant in town (and it still only cost 4pounds per head). Then it was a quick night cap and bed.

The following morning we checked out the market and then climbed the very very hot hill to the fort, we were not disappointed, the palace in the fort was in it's way as impressive as Udaipur's and the views of the city were stunning. the city is fairly small and almost every house is painted blue (I never found out why) but past the city and it's 3 palaces we saw the desert- vast and empty for mile after mile.3) The blue city

Jaisalmer
That afternoon we hit the desert (in a bus), on our way to Jaisalmer. By chance there happened to be a sand storm as we crossed the desert, we couldn't see more than 5 meters ahead of us yet the bus still zoomed along at 60mph, scary stuff, but dramatic in it's own way! me, Sam and Jeff came to a unanimous decision that we were going to the hotel listed in the rough guide as 'nice rooms overlooking the swimming pool!'. I genuinely think that is was the best decision I have ever made. It was my refuge, my special place for the 3 days I was in Jaisalmer. It was a rest from the heat- it was actually cool, I had almost forgotten what feeling cool was (not that i'm uncool)!

4) The fort at sunset.

As a city Jaisalmer wasn't all that, there was another fort etc etc, however most people go there to go on a camel safari, but it seemed like a bit of a tourist trap and to be honest nothing could get me away from the pool! So I spent 3 days there with Sam and Jeff before we headed our separate ways. I was leaving Rajisthan and heading north...
5) The coolness of the pool with Sam and Jeff

Via Bikanere.
The less said about Bikanere the better, I booked a train over night to Bikanere and then another train 36hours later to Delhi, so it was just a stopover, I arrived at the undignified hour of 4:15. Sat in the train station for 2 hours and then checked into a hotel. After a little nap I work up had breakfast and had a walk around. I discovered that Bikanere was actually hell on earth. It was the most unpleasant city on earth. Perhaps it is because they live in such a disgusting city, but the people were rude, unfriendly, dishonest and HORRIBLE. After an hour I decided I couldn't possibly spend 36 hours in such a place. so, I went to the bus stand and got the first bus to Delhi thus began 24 hour of (almost) unbroken movement.
6) the horror of Bikanere.
Delhi
I was in Delhi for about 2 hours, I made the trip on the (very posh) metro to the train station and got a train to Amritsar. In the 2 hours in Delhi I counted 7 people try to rip me off, I'm afraid to say I am not a fan, I'll work on it but so far Delhi has never been a friend of mine!

Amristar
On my 9 hour train to Amritsar I worked out that I travelled over 1,000km in 24 hours. so my average speed was more than 40km/hour. After my epic journey I was rewarded with... a bed, a shower, a tv, a temple, free food, many friendly faces and watching Arsenal get beat by Man Utd.
7) The Golden palace of Amritsar
You'll have to wait until the next blog for more on Amritsar. on the next episode of 'Sam in India' you'll read about me in Amritsar, Dharamasala, Minali and Leh!

Lots of love to you all.

And thank you for all of your messages etc. keep the emails coming, it's nice to hear from you all.