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First stop on what turned out to be a two year trip. Read my trip report from three months in this fascinating country. (1994 to 1995)

India, part 1

Si_lad
2004-03-26 21:22:27

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many rooms, lots of shade, charpoys to lounge around on & even a western style toilet. We ate very well and got to know the locals who were extremely welcoming. Many of the people hadn’t seen western faces before and I was a continual source of wonder for them. I really felt like this was a treat than many travellers would just not encounter – well off the beaten track, no-one trying to rip me off – this was real village India. It was a great introduction and we spent the week looking around the local area and visiting Dib's relatives. One day we went to Sarban Singh’s home in a village called Langeri. His trusty housekeeper was there waiting for him (I often wonder how he knew he was coming!) and we had a small ceremony in the local Gudwara (temple).

We also managed a visit in Anadpursahib – a Sikh holy town about 30 mins on scooter from Mojawal Majara. The temple there was splendid and the scooter ride through the narrow, winding bizzar reminded me of something out of an Indiana Jones film!

All week we had tried to find a bank that would change our US Dollars, but every place we went into wouldn’t, so on our last day, Bagichar changed us $200 on the black market at a very good rate.

We said our farewells to the family and boarded a bus to Chandigarh. Dahbo’s Dad and Bagichar came along to say goodbye, but we were herded onto the rickety old bus at double speed, and had no time for a final chat.

Shimla Cool mountain air.

Chandigarh seemed like a pretty normal town & as one of our main desires was to avoid the big towns, we decided to bus straight out to Shimla – a hill station in the Himalayas of Himachel Pradesh. We managed to score front seats on the bus, but the journey was pretty scary. Four things worried me on this trip:

The driver stopped after an hour at a roadside booze shop and bought three large ...