Amritsar:
We took an 8 hour train from Delhi to Amritsar which we spent playing with numerous Indian children. Indians on public transport seem to always hand us their babies! I really liked Amritsar. It wasn't too hectic and the people seemed really friendly. Also the food was delicious, although I can now understand why Punjab is the most obese state in India! The Golden Temple was really beautiful, both during the day and at night. In the evening we had a free meal in the temple canteen and I have never seen such efficient service in my life! Afterwards we helped wash up the thousands of plates in massive troughs which was good fun. We also went to watch a ceremony at the Pakistan Border which was incredible! It was basically a display of marching guards and shouting, and people got very patriotic! Amritsar is also where a huge massacre took place when India was fighting for independence (the one shown in the Gandhi movie) so we went to the memorial for that which was very interesting. Overall, Amritsar was another of my favourite places!
Macleod Ganj:
This was our first destination up in the mountains, and it was so nice to get a break from the heat! This is where the Dalai Lama lived in exile from Tibet and there were so many Tibetan people living there, it almost felt like we had left India! We were unbelievably lucky to discover that the Dalai Lama was actually going to be giving a talk while we were there. It was one of the most incredible experiences I've had in India! Over 2000 people arrived at his temple to meet him and hear him speak. It's hard to explain what it was like, but it was just incredible listening to him talk! He spoke about religion in India and how amazing it is that all these different religions can live together peacefully (for the most part). He made fun of all the western tourists with crazy hair and multiple piercings! He was just fantastic. Definitely one of the highlights of my holiday. During our other days in Macleod Ganj we went on some nice walks and ate lots of Tibetan momos. On one of our walks we saw a scorpion on the road, but before I could take a picture it got flattened by a motorbike.
Manali:
After a terrifying, overnight bus journey through the mountains we arrived in Manali. We stayed in a really nice guest house which was run by a lovely Indian family, where we met a really nice English couple who told us lots of stories about their crazy travel experiences! Manali was really beautiful! Right up in the Himalayas, we were just surrounded by snow topped mountain. We went paragliding, which was an incredible experience but not nearly as scary as I thought it would be! We went for lovely walks, did yoga classes, and Ellie and Tati did rock climbing! We ended up staying for six days, which was longer than planned but we just didn't want to leave!
Rishikesh:
Rishikesh is another place on the bank of the Ganges, but much further north than Varanasi so the water in the river is a lot cleaner! I was ill for our first two days there but thankfully I recovered in time for our day of white water rafting. What an amazing day! We travelled 40km down the river on our raft accompanied by two safety kayaks, which took us about 6 hours, including a stop for lunch. It was so much fun going over the huge rapids and jumping out and floating down the slower bits. I think we actually spent more time in the river than we did in the raft! It was such a great day, and we were all completely exhausted by the end!
We took an 8 hour train from Delhi to Amritsar which we spent playing with numerous Indian children. Indians on public transport seem to always hand us their babies! I really liked Amritsar. It wasn't too hectic and the people seemed really friendly. Also the food was delicious, although I can now understand why Punjab is the most obese state in India! The Golden Temple was really beautiful, both during the day and at night. In the evening we had a free meal in the temple canteen and I have never seen such efficient service in my life! Afterwards we helped wash up the thousands of plates in massive troughs which was good fun. We also went to watch a ceremony at the Pakistan Border which was incredible! It was basically a display of marching guards and shouting, and people got very patriotic! Amritsar is also where a huge massacre took place when India was fighting for independence (the one shown in the Gandhi movie) so we went to the memorial for that which was very interesting. Overall, Amritsar was another of my favourite places!
Macleod Ganj:
This was our first destination up in the mountains, and it was so nice to get a break from the heat! This is where the Dalai Lama lived in exile from Tibet and there were so many Tibetan people living there, it almost felt like we had left India! We were unbelievably lucky to discover that the Dalai Lama was actually going to be giving a talk while we were there. It was one of the most incredible experiences I've had in India! Over 2000 people arrived at his temple to meet him and hear him speak. It's hard to explain what it was like, but it was just incredible listening to him talk! He spoke about religion in India and how amazing it is that all these different religions can live together peacefully (for the most part). He made fun of all the western tourists with crazy hair and multiple piercings! He was just fantastic. Definitely one of the highlights of my holiday. During our other days in Macleod Ganj we went on some nice walks and ate lots of Tibetan momos. On one of our walks we saw a scorpion on the road, but before I could take a picture it got flattened by a motorbike.
Manali:
After a terrifying, overnight bus journey through the mountains we arrived in Manali. We stayed in a really nice guest house which was run by a lovely Indian family, where we met a really nice English couple who told us lots of stories about their crazy travel experiences! Manali was really beautiful! Right up in the Himalayas, we were just surrounded by snow topped mountain. We went paragliding, which was an incredible experience but not nearly as scary as I thought it would be! We went for lovely walks, did yoga classes, and Ellie and Tati did rock climbing! We ended up staying for six days, which was longer than planned but we just didn't want to leave!
Rishikesh:
Rishikesh is another place on the bank of the Ganges, but much further north than Varanasi so the water in the river is a lot cleaner! I was ill for our first two days there but thankfully I recovered in time for our day of white water rafting. What an amazing day! We travelled 40km down the river on our raft accompanied by two safety kayaks, which took us about 6 hours, including a stop for lunch. It was so much fun going over the huge rapids and jumping out and floating down the slower bits. I think we actually spent more time in the river than we did in the raft! It was such a great day, and we were all completely exhausted by the end!
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