The Ministry of Silly Border Closing Ceremonies

India has a committee for everything, an executive, a board, a co-operation, a local representative, union and advocacy forum. And that comes from an ex-NHS manager - things must be management heavy. But, without doubt, there is a Ministry of Silly Walks which is a subdivision of border closing ceremonies.

We heard they've been doing overtime lately and managed to approve and triple-rubber-stamp some new moves... so we headed out to the Indo-Pakistani border crossing. It was crazy from the beginning - thousands of Indian tourists (and a few foreigners) buzzing out of buses and walking to the border in 43degC heat. Flags and Indian hats being offered to us at every turn. Multiple checkpoints, soldiers, razor wire and horses.

We made it into the grandstand area (!) and soon realised what a spectator sport it was. The Indian stands probably hold about 5,000 people and were jam packed, with people peering over gates and fences behind. Bhangra music starts, followed by some Bollywood hits, and the crowd really got going. The Indian chants start, directed over the border to the relatively empty Pakistani stands. Some chants are returned. The crowd shouts over them and waves the flags higher - take that, Pakistan! The MC arrives, handing out big flags for runners to surge at the gates and back. The Bhangra gets cranked up - women fill the parade ground and Bollywood boogie their bums off. 

Finally the heroes turn up. Indian giants (all as tall as me, which is quite a rare sight on these streets). Immaculately groomed with cockerel hats, razor sharp trouser creases and John Cleese moustaches. The Ministry has done them proud.

They puff out their chests, grimace, and march (quicker than Usain Bolt can sprint) to the gates. Slamming them open, high kicking the air and grimacing at their Pakistani counterparts. A handshake occurs - both sustain wrist injuries. They grimace, high step and march/skip/sprint back to their friends. What follows just gets weirder. 

The MC gets the crowd into a frenzied chant, before five soldiers take it in turns to look a bit nervous, puff out their chests, high kick and tear-arse up to the border line. Eventually the flags are taken down, grimaces and handshakes are exchanged then the gates are slammmed shut.

And now the border is closed for the night. Same again tomorrow. And the day after that. This place is loveable, but odd.

The Indian cheerleading squad

Slightly sparser Pakistani stands (with obscene dancing to annoy Indians!)

Kids queued up to run at the border line

Trying to keep the peace in a frenzied crowd

Jai Ho! Bollywood smash hits always get the crowd going

The ceremonial soldiers arrive. Ladies first.

The Ministry's new hat, acting as a rudder during quick step marching

Opening the gates

The men limbering up

Would not want to get between these boys!

Grr. Angry man wants to scare some Pakistani soldiers.

And the sun sets as the flags are lowered. Everyone's friends.

The Golden Temple

The Golden Temple in Amritsar is the Sikh religion's holiest site and having seen the pictures we were both really excited to visit. We weren't disappointed!

We visited the temple twice - at night and during the day - on both occasions we took our shoes off before entering the complex, covered our heads and walked through a pool of water and washed our hands to become clean (although a full on shower may have been more appropriate after sweating through 43 degree heat all day!)

At night the temple's central building (the gold bit) really did glow and appeared to be floating on the pool of nectar (if you swim in the holy water good things happen we're told!)

The temple at night

Someone having a quick dip to round off the day

We made friends with a very friendly Sikh gentleman who told us some stories about the temple - including its overall aim - for all visitors to feel welcome and be treated equally - whatever their religion or wherever they are from.

Another great photo from Matt!

We experienced this ethos first hand the next morning when on arrival we walked over to the dining hall and were treated to a delicious meal completely free of charge. Sitting on the floor, alongside row up on row of Indian people - young and old - we really did feel completely welcome (and completely stuffed after second helpings of rice pudding).

In the dining hall, tucking in

The kitchens serve between 60,000 and 80,000 meals a day. Surely one of the busiest resutaurants on the planet!

Just a little bit of washing up

The walkway leading to the temple itself

The bearded one

Definitely in need of cooling off

What a beautiful building and for two non believers, it felt like a really holy place. Maybe because of the architecture, or more importantly because of the welcome we received, and the inclusive nature of the Sikh religion. Thank you Amritsar!

Beer and biryani for dinner after our night time visit -  yum!

Shame.

Look at that smile - the smile of someone who just found an M&S and now has nearly two weeks of pants.

Himalayan Hikes

We've had time for a number of shorter hikes and one longer on to a glacier, here in Mcleod Ganj. We've absolutely loved the green hills, lush forests and awesome snow covered peaks. 

A steaming, milky chai in the mountains

Not bad for a morning tea break view!

A highlight was getting to the snowline at Laka Got (3350m), both feeling very peckish after four hours of steep uphill and coming across a man with a cave/tent that he lives in at the top of the mountaion for two-thirds of the year, offering overnight stays and food to visitors. We settled down for a delicious and huge plate of lentil dal and rice out of the wind. beofre making our way back down! 

Matt's now acclimatised to the altitude and was faring much better, which is great. But we're back down to the hot flat plains again soon!

Inside the mountain man's tent/cave - pretty smokey in there, check out the ceiling!

A hearty meal of lentil dal and rice (on the obligatory metal plate)

The mountain cave/tent

Mcleod Ganj, nestled under the Himalayas

Tibetan style houses in Mcleod Ganj

Rice paddies, etched into the hillside - a big reminder of Japan for Matt

Pretty steep streets!

Tibetan settlers 

More maize fields, carved into the slopes

Eat Pray Love

If the last post hadn't worried you enough, we're both now wearing beads, have spent time doing yoga and have meditated. Ommmmmmmm. To add to the weirdness, we also learnt how to make some Tibetan street food - vegetarian MoMos. All thanks to the wedding list, namely Jimi for the yoga and meditation and Gaz for the cooking. Cheers guys!

The cooking class was great - especially as we got to eat our creations at the end! Guests in the future can now expect home-made Tibetan dumplings for starters. We can also put meat in them for mains. And know how to make chocolate and sesames ones for pudding. Mmmmmomo.

Me being taught how to knead the dough

Matt + Momos = Happy

Quite a meal!

With our fellow students and teacher

The meditation class was an eye-opener (despite being told to keep our eyes shut). Peace and tranquility were in abundance... but we both struggled with the focus required. Something to work on. Maybe. Focusing on quiet is difficult when you constantly hear Matt having to rearrange his lanky legs when sitting on the floor.

Meditation room at the Tushita Centre

After a lentil curry lunch (ambitious), we headed down to yoga. This opened all of our other muscles - with us both getting into (or being forced into) a huge (and very challenging) number of poses. I don't think the teacher (yogi) knew the meaning of the word beginner, but we both came out of the class feeling completely alive and with a great sense of achievement. Matt couldn't believe how hard work it is, sweating buckets! No photos - sorry!

Matt managed to fit in a quick haircut - very good job - for only 50p!

Tibet

Hello! We've just left Mcleod Ganj in the Himalayas - home of the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan government in exile. It's been a brilliant 6 days of mountain hikes and other activities, but we thought we'd share in a separate post a little of what we've learnt about Tibet.

Neither of us expected to be as affected as we have been by the Tibetan story of the last 60 years - mainly because we didn't know much about it before coming here. This blog isn't the place to re-tell that story in full but if you're interested we'd urge you to find out more.

Tibet is currently part of the People's Republic of China and has been since Chinese troops invaded in 1950. Before 1950, Tibet was an independent state led by the Dalai Lama.

The story since 1950 is very complex and is viewed differently from multiple perspectives. From exile, the Dalai Lama has watched his nation suffer; physically, culturally and spiritually under Chinese rule. Whilst China says it has liberated and modernised Tibet. Whilst no story is completely one-sided, the Dalai Lama has not stopped approaching the situation from a peaceful, non-violent perspective. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his Five Point Plan for Peace. The international community has obviously listened but no action has been taken towards a solution. Perhaps unsurprising in a 21st century where the international power balance is tipping away from the West.

Most Tibetan refugees escape their country via dangerous Himalayan mountain passes, enduring 3 months of freezing conditions to make their way to India. 80,000 Tibetan refugees now live in Mcleod Ganj and nearby. The mountains surrounding the town are strewn with colourful Buddhist prayer flags rippling in the wind.

Every hill-top and street is strewn with the beautiful prayer flags

The monkeys love them

and so do we!

And walking the streets and paths we have come across many Tibetan monks and nuns dressed in maroon robes - some of the happiest and smiliest people you will ever come across! We met this nun on our way back from a hike, she invited us to her centre for a meditation class the next morning. More on that to follow...

Matt and a lovely nun (stood on a huge rock!)

Visiting the temples in the Dalai Lama's compound was a truly magical experience - filling us both wth a sense of calm from the thousands of flickering candles, resonating chants and peaceful statues.

Tibetan Buddhist Monks chanting and playing with mesmerising shapes in the air

Buddha loves cookies. 

Previously, our perception of the Tibetan cause had been coloured by those in our society who are it's biggest supporters; often those at the margins (mostly 'hippies' and undergraduates) whose views aren't taken seriously by the mainstream.

We both hope that this is a cause we can help in the future and that raising some awareness through this post, we have made a very small start.

A Himalayan Adventure

We have had the longest stay of the trip so far in Manali - and what a few days its been. As the launching pad for adventure sports in the Himalayas, a popular Indian holidaying spot and as a hot spot for Indian charas (cannabis) this place really does attract an incredibly diverse bunch of people. As many of you know - we're here for the trekking - so we were a bit disappointed when we first arived and chatted to the incredibly helpful owner of our Hotel (Drifters' Inn) who informed us that whilst usually by this time of year, the weather is coming good for climbing up into montains - this year the snow is still falling... Undeterred we decided to book a one day trek (instead of the planned four day adventure) and in the meantime did a day hike to a beautiful waterfall nearby with new Glaswegian friend David.

Jogni Falls

More importantly.. the trek! Well we got up at 4.45am yesterday morning to be met by our guide (Eenam - Indian mountaineer extraordinaire!) and wheels to get us to the trailhead. Having loaded up the bag with packed lunches, ponchos and gaiters we were dropped off at Solang Valley (a popular Indian ski resort in season) and got hiking at about 6am! The trailhead started us at about 2000m - with the aim to get to the top of Patalsu (4125m) and back down again in the same day. A little ambitious it turned out. The first 1000m of climbing were fairly straightforward, through forests and a lovely little village. Then we hit the snow - and oh boy was there snow!

View looking down as we starting trekking through snow

By this point we were at c.3000m and Matt is starting to suffer - the altitude affects us all differently, so while I'm bounching off the mountain with excitement at the views Matt is feeling a little bit woozy. We continue regardless but at a slow pace due to the increasingly deep snow we are tramping through. Meanwhile the weather goes from scorching sun (we both have pink faces!), to blizzard like conditions, to almost whiteout, to Christmassy fairydust type snow, back to sun. The temperature gets colder the higher we get - are these minus temperatures really in Northern India, when only a few hundred kilometres away in Delhi its 36 and rising??

With our guide as we go up (thanks for the photos Eenam!)

Getting deeper!

At about 12.30 Eenam decides its best we stop for lunch before heading back down - we've made it to 3800m, and he reckons the final 300 could take 3 hours to do, given that the snow is now up to our waists! The altitude is beginning to hit me as well so after a VERY quick lunch due to the plunging temperatures, we make our way back down.

Heading down

I love my borrowed ice pick

Every step seems to perk Matt up to the point that he is literally skipping and sliding down the mountain! I decide I don't want to break my leg in India so go a bit slower.

Matt feeling hyper

We eventually reach the trailhead at 4.30pm. Pooped.

What a day - a stand out of the trip so far! A huge thank you to Nick and Kate for our wedding gift, which has meant we have been able to do something way beyond my comfort zone for sure (but the guide called me 'tough'!!! - so proud!) - but a day that's given us both a sense of achievement, and plenty of memories.

Next stop McLeod Ganj (home of the Dalai Lama and his government in exile, and hopefully more trekking for us newly inducted mountaineers!) - can't wait!