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Hello all,
A couple of weeks has past since my last blog and they have been 2 of the best weeks i have had on me trip.
Last time i left you i was on my way to find a cinema in Mumbai to watch a bit of bollywood, and while the film i found was from chennai(and hence not technically a bollywood movie) it was a cool experience. I was in a huge cinema like a big west end theatre and the sound was so loud it hurt your ears. I had to stand for the national anthem of India before the movie finally started. Whilst the film was in Hindi i actually managed to follow what was going on quite well, it was called Deshavator and was about an indian scientist working in Washington DC on biological weapons and then being hunted by an ex american CIA agent intent bon capturing the weapon and destroying the world!! He chased him all over India in between the singing and dancing before eventually capturing the weapon and releasing it only for the 2004 boxing day tsunami to clense the air and wash away all the ill effects of the biological weapon, great story hey?!
On leaving Mumbai i caught the train to Udapur in Rajasthan, which included a 7 hour layover in Ahmedabad. Thank christ it was only 7 hours as this was the biggest s***hole i've ever been to in my life! There were people and traffic everywhere and the pollution was so bad that my eyes were stinging and i was constantly coughing. Even the sights the guidebook suggested were pretty unimporessive mosques. To escape the city i ended up in a nice cheap restaurant and then the cinema again!!
Udaipur was fantastic after the experience of Ahmedabad. It is where Octup**** was filmed for any James Bond fans, a big white palace on a lake, although it has hardly rained for 3 years so the lake is not so much of a lake at the mo. I went to the palace before walking the length of town and going up a cable car for great views across the city< before watching sunset over the mountains from a rooftop restaurant with food and drink in hand.
The next week or so may sound very similar but each town was very different in its own right. I toured Rajasthan taking in Chittorgarh, Bundi, Pushkar, Jodphur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur. Each town/city has a palace, a fort and many temples. First up was Chittorgarh where i took a rickshaw tour around this huge fort on a 1000m high hill overlooking this tiny town and plains of countryside with miles worth of views. The fort boasted many temples and derelict buildings which were impressive.
Next up was my favourite fort town in Bundi. Again i went up a huge hill overlooking the town, but this time at the top was a huge derelict fort and i was the only soul there except for a few stray dogs, monkeys and bats!! I had the place completely to myself for a few hours which was kinda spooky but also great fun. The views from the tops of the buildings were incredible and the structures were cool as well. I then went up a hill towards the other end of town to watch the sunset over the mountains.
Pushkar was next which is a real holy place for Hindus where they go and bathe in this lake for some reason or another. The town was a bit touristy but there were these hill top temples up huge staircases that offered great views again, mind there were a few too many monkeys and mongoose for my liking!! Ended up playing cricket for a few hours with the local children which was good fun, altho my attempts at bowling were pretty lame, and having 10 year olds laugh at you is a bit demoralising.
Next up was Jodphur which perhaps had the most impressive fort, overlooking this city where every building was blue for some reason or another. However i won't remember Jodphur for the fort but rather that it was where i was when i found out that Roy Keane was the new manager of Ipswich, a momentus day in world footballing circles, champions league within 5 years i reckon, before he sods of to take over from Fergie!!
I next went to the desert to a town called Jaisalmer and yes you've guessed it there was another fort! However this time it was a working fort with 4,000 people living and working inside. Being in the middle of the desert everything is made of sand stone so has a very distinctive yellowy colour and the fort looks like a huge sandcatle overlooking the town. It was from here that i took a camel safari into the desert, sitting on the back of a camel for the best part of a day before sleeping under the stars. I was so sore it was untrue, my inner thighs killed. However the night sky in the middle of the desert was incredible, there were at least 1,000,000 stars and i must have seen at least 27 shooting stars!!
After Jaisalmer i had a short stop in Jaipur, part of the golden triangle, where i saw some palaces, forts and museums (i didn't really devote enough time to here so didn't really feel like i saw trhe place) before heading up to Amritsar in the Punjab right on the Pakistan border. If the reader is a Sikh(i have only ever met 2 before this trip so highly unlikely) he will know all about Amritsar, for those of you none Sikhs it is the holiest place on planet Earth!! There is this temple in the middle of a lake made of pure gold, an incredible sight, probably the most impressive building i have ever seen in my life. I had to wear a Monty Panesar type turban, altho i wore it more like a bandana and remove me sandals and wlak around barefooted (strange religious rituals i will never understand!!) It was quite funny people watching outside on the road passing the temple as every sikh that passed took there eyes of the road, one hand of the steering wheel or handlebars and nodded at the temple before touching there ear and their heart, again religious rituals that are bewildering to me.
The second evening in Amritsar i took a shared taxi to the Pakistan border where there is a daily closing of the border ceremony, which was the most fun thing i have seen. It starts with kids sprinting up and down to the border with large indian flags, then moves on to loud nationlistioc music and dancing before the soldiers come out and goose step march real fast up and down on both sides of the border and stair each other out. There is a compere on both sides of the border and big football stadium like stands, there must have been at least 2,000 on the indian side all in there colourful saris, and prob about 500 on the pakistan side in their boring white muslim outfits. It finally finishes after about 90 minutes with the lowering of both flags, a kindof shake of hands and the closing of the border gate.
Well that was last night and this morning i took an early train to Delhi where i will be spending 3 nights before heading off to Agra and the Taj Mahal, where i will be meeting my friend Emma who i spent 2 months with in Africa, willl be nice to seeface a familiar . I had a funny experience on the train this morning whereby i was sat in the same carriage as an indian band who insisted on putting on a performance for me. They were blinking terrible, the drums were a bit different so ok, but the singer sang like he was Tony Blair with a permanent grin on his face without moving his lips!, thank god i slept until about the last hour of the journey, else it could have gone on for hours!! On arriving in Delhi, i found a hotel on Delhis equivalent of Bangkoks Ko san road, tho the culture difference makes it quite a bit different, before walking down "Chelmsford Road", Lord chelmsford kept popping up in the book a read about Gandhi so i think he quite a big player in British India back in the day.
Hope all is well back home and congrats to Oli on completing the London Marathon again, and to Amanda on her engagement.
Lots of love
Tommy
xxx
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