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Last day in Rishikesh and our journey to Amritsar
Mon 11th
Slept a bit better on the Sunday night after putting a curfue on the Chai drinking sessions. In the morning we packed our things back into our packs and set off for breakfast and chai etc. We got a small holy bottle so we could fill it with water from the Ganges and take it home for the Hindus who run our local shop (hopefully in exchange for further training in learning some more Hindi language). After collecting the water we discovered that the bottle leaks a bit so the plan is that it is currently strored in a holy Sprite bottle until we get home again! Just hope they dont notice the lemony scent!!!!!!! Lemon fresh the best a hindu can get!
We had a final cup of Chai with Ravi our local chai boy who has a stall at the end of the allyway. he is very hard to understand as he talks like a jack rabbit drinking red bull. nice guy tho.
We walked to the bridge with our packs until a nice old man said he would cart them accross for us for 40p. he jumps at the front and pulls it himself bare foot! not sure he was too happy when Tristan jumped in too.!
We then got a rickshaw (auto) down to the train station in Hardwari and arrived at about 5! Tristan likes to be early for any transport related matters so we only had a short 5 hour wait on the platform for our train. But safety first and all that!
We were only bothered by a few beggars but most were the railway children who have no parents and all live along the tracks. it is very sad but the thing is that if you give money to one child its like youve jumped in a pool of jam and then rolled in hundreds and thousands.. they all want some.
When the train eventually pulled up hours and hours later we were confused to where we were to get on! all the carrages are seperated so you cant just walk through. The train only stays a few minutes and you will have to get on when it is moving if you are not quick. We found what we thought was our carriage (come on now nothing is simple with us you all know that by now!) we managed to squeeze through loads of people dishing out blackeyes as we passed through from our bags. found 2 spare beds in a carriage where pull down platforms are stacked 3 high along the walls with no bedding or curtains. just as we were settled down a man asked to see our ticket and told us we were in the wrong place!.So.....back through the carriage waking everyone up again and disturbing all the locals who were not happy.
we were taken to a room at the end which was just for us as we are sooooo first class! Well the only way I can describe our night is to imagine yourself in a large washing machine with lots of ice cubes and someone playing an air horn in your ear whilst trying to stay on a narrow hard platform! I have never been so refreshed in the morning before.
The trip was supposed to take 12 hours but we noticed that around the 10 hour mark that we had not moved for a while. when we eventually went to have a look(the windows were blacked out) out the main door we were the only ones left on the train! nice for someone to tell us.
We are staying in a dorm in the Golden temple which is.....ummm....different to say the least. I cant find where the toilets are which is not good. there is no hot water no locks on the doors but we do have lockers for our bags when we go out. Its one of those places where you dont know who you are going to wake up next too!(quite exciting really!!) tristan is hoping for a leggy blonde while im keeping my fingers crossed for a Gary Lineker look a like.
Managed to find some loos nearby with glass doors so people were looking in constantly which gave me shy bladder, there are only holes in the floors here so not a good predicament. Anyway what a great note to leave you all on. All have a wee for me wont you!!
Love you all xxxxxxxx Pam and Stan xxxxxxx
Will tell you all about the temple tommorrow
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