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
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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.