Bhagsu - Amritsar - Delhi

Hi all,

As I mentioned last time, I was planning on spending a week in the village of Bhagsu, near Dharamsala, and that is indeed what I did. Bhagsu was great, and it's hard to describe how relaxed a place it is - people stay there for weeks and even months, and I can see why. While I was there, I did some more yoga classes, and also a meditation class which was nice but a bit new-agey for me. I like the psychology behind meditation and mindfulness, but the whole self-love "child of the sun" kind of vibe was a bit much. I had a kind of Indian darbuka lesson, which wasn't particularly instructional, but it was fun to jam (is that the right word?) in a kind of impromptu drum circle in a Hindu temple (the lesson was in a Hindu temple - the Indians seem to have a certain irreverence towards their holy places cf. previous post, Ganges). Mostly though I just took it easy - there are a couple of waterfalls near the village and simply reading and listening to music next to a waterfall whilst drinking tea was sublime. Also worthy of mention is the Bayit Yehudi in Bhagsu, which is a kind of dati-leumi Chabad House, the people were there very chilled and hospitable and it was fun to be there for Shabbat and Chag meals.

On Wednesday, I travelled from Bhagsu to Amritsar, famous for the Sikh Golden Temple and the daily Indian/Pakistan closing of the border ceremony which actually takes place about 30km out of the city. Some people make a daytrip out of visiting Amritsar, leaving Dharamsala in the morning by jeep, and returning late at night, but because I intended on continuing from Amritsar to Delhi, it made more sense to just travel to Amritsar independently, sleep the night there, see the sights during the day and then travel to Delhi over the following night. The only direct bus from Dharamsala to Amritsar leaves at 5am, and I didn't fancy getting up so early, so I opted to take the more lengthy route there later in the day, a route involving an auto-rickshaw from Bhagsu to McLeod Ganj, a local bus from McLeo Ganj to Dharamsal, another local bus to Pathankot, an auto-rickshaw within Pathankot from the place where the bus dropped me off to the main bus station, and finally another local bus from Pathankot to Amritsar. All said I was travelling for about 9-10 hours, and it was a pretty hard-going journey. There should really be a specific word for a multiple of local bus journeys in India, much in the same way as there is a "flock" of birds, a "gaggle" of geese etc. My recommendations are an "uncomfortable" of local buses, a "kill-me-now" of local buses or an "oh-God-when-will-it-end" of local buses, but I am open to other suggestions from the crowd. In any event, I got to Amritsar, found a guesthouse and went to sleep to be able to see the sights with vigour and energy the following day.

The Golden Temple is quite majestic, and it was nice to see a place of worship of a different religion, having previously seen Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim places of worship. Besides for the temple itself, the entire complex is huge and impressive. Apparently all Sikh temples traditionally have dining rooms open to the public, and the dining room at the Golden Temple feeds 50,000 people a day according to the statistics that I heard. It really is something to see, with massive stacks of silver trays and piles of cutlery, endless mats for people to sit on, and volunteers who glop out the portions onto peoples trays in what must seem to them to be an endless process. In the afternoon I went to the border ceremony which is a Monty-Pythonesque spectacle of Indian and Pakistani soldiers trying to outdo each other in ridiculous marching and high-kicking. There are stands on both sides of the border gate, with both the Indians and the Pakistani crowds chanting nationalistic slogans and attempting to one-up the other side. It was quite a spectacle and it would be nice if we could introduce something similar on the border of Israel and Syria. Shortly after arriving back in Amritsar from the ceremony, I went to get the sleeper bus to Delhi (the train which would have been slightly quicker and more comfortable was fully booked). The journey was long but ok overall, and I managed to get a certain amount of sleep in my assigned berth, finally arriving in Delhi at about 6.30am, Friday.

The plan was mostly to do some last bits of shopping here, and also to see Humayun's Tomb, which I had not managed to see when I was in Delhi at the very beginning of my trip. The tomb which is a kind of precursor to the Taj Mahal both historically and architecturally, was pretty impressive and also peaceful, but somewhat pales in comparison to the actual Taj Mahal in all its glory. Chabad here was pretty nice and definitely the most hardcore Messianic out of all those to which I've been (at least overtly so).

Currently I sit writing this blog post, appropriately in the same internet cafe at which I wrote the first post. The time is 8.45pm, and I have a taxi to the airport booked for about 2am, my flight leaves Delhi for Istanbul at 6.05am. If all goes to plan, I should land in Israel at 12.45pm Sunday, local time.

I've had a great time here - seen some really incredible things, had amazing experiences and met some cool and interesting people. The whole lone-travelling thing worked out ok, and I did not die of food poisoning. To all those who have followed the blog, thank you for gratifying my repressed inner writer and for allowing me to feel a connection with everyone back home. Hopefully I'll post one final conclusion post from Israel speaking about things I've learnt, various thoughts that occurred to me during the trip, and other miscellaneous musings, so stay posted for that.

Look forward to seeing or speaking to you all soon, peace, love and blessing

David  

Rishikesh

Hey all, I hope that Yom Kippur was meaningful and that Sukkot is going well.

After a pleasant but if I'm honest fairly uneventful or stirring Yom Kippur in Pokhara, I slowly made my way to Rishikesh in Northern India, by flying first from Pokhara to Kathmandu, and then from Kathmandu to Delhi. Finally upon arrival at the airport in Delhi, I travelled straight to another area in the city to take a night bus of approximately 7 hours length to Rishikesh. It was quite a shock on Friday to hear of the plane crash at Kathmandu airport, given that less than 24 hours earlier I had been at the same airport, on a similarly dinky 20-passenger plane - my thoughts go out to the families of the victims.

Rishikesh is a great town, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. While Rajasthan has a lot of interesting historical and cultural sites to see, I'm definitely preferring the more laid-back Nepali and Northern Indian vibe, especially as it comes with fantastic mountain scenery. I was there from Friday morning until yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, when I began the long journey to Dharamshala (more specifically Bhagsu) from where I am now writing, and I managed to get a decent amount done. On both Shabbat and Chag, I ate at the Beit Chabad, conveniently located next to the guesthouse where I was staying. There was a nice atmosphere, with the size of the crowd being slightly smaller than the crowd at the Beit Chabad in Kathmandu on the Shabbat that I was there, although larger than the group in Pokhara for Rosh Hashana. The crowd was exclusively Israeli - In fact both Rishikesh and Bhagsu manage to achieve the difficult task of making it seem that there is a dearth of Israeli backpackers in Nepal.

In terms of more specifically local attractions; I participated in a couple of beginners' yoga classes (cue sore limbs) (Rishikesh is the yoga capital of India and indeed the world), and browsed in the local bookshops which offer both regular books as well as a host of titles on topics such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoga and generic spirituality. Somewhat unadventurously, I only purchased mainstream titles. Apropo this point; this trip has been a fantastic opportunity to get some reading done, and has made me realise how much I would read if I didn't watch so much T.V. Will this make any difference when I get back home?.... Doubtful... In any event,  On Sunday, I rented a moped, and rode out to a waterfall just outside town. Although I managed to get a helmet from the place I rented the moped from, thereby gaining the distinction of being the only moped/motorbike rider in the country to wear one, this was still probably by a considerable distance the most dangerous thing I have done on the trip. The moped lacked any form of rearview mirrors - a notable omission when you are being overtaken by cows, motorbikes, cars and large trucks in a crowded center of town street which you entered by accident after having intended to only ride on the country roads! Regardless, riding the moped on the beautiful, winding country roads that led to the waterfall was great fun, and there is a lot to be said for a country that allows you to rent a moped without any verification of a drivers license or even the most minimal prior experience. The waterfall itself is about a half hour walk from the where you park the bike and enter. I hiked up with a couple of Israelis who I met there. It was a hot day and standing under the waterfall when we got up there was very refreshing, and kind of reminded me of Ein Gedi.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I went for a half-day of rafting on the Ganges. The Ganges is a holy river in the Hindu religion, so to my mind rafting on the ganges seems to be somewhat equivalent to abseiling down the Kotel (Western Wall) - I'm surprised they allow it, but hey, I've never (credibly) claimed to be an expert on the finer points of  Hindu theology. Sacrilege notwithstanding, the rafting was awesome, and although it was only for a couple of hours, we got to cross a few good Grade 3/4 rapids, which was more than enough for my fragile, Ashkenazi, disposition. Jumping off the boat and swimming in the Ganges was also preeeety preeety good.

Although there is a 15 hour bus directly from Rishikesh to Dharamshala, I chose to take a train from Rishikesh to Pathankot, which is about 3 hours away from Dharmashala, and then a bus from Pathankot to Dharamshala. The logic behind this was that at least the for the 10 hours of  the train ride there would be air conditioning and a bed as opposed to the bus, which has no air conditioning and reclining seats but not beds. While I did manage to sleep on the train, I ended up having to wait for a couple of hours for at the bus station in Pathankot, until the first bus to Dharamshala left at 5am, so I'm not sure how much I really gained by the whole exercise. I arrived in Dharamshala, and travelled to Bhagsu, a small village nearby which is popular with backpackers. According to my rough plan, I'll be here for roughly a week - there are courses here in all sorts of things like yoga, Indian cooking, and music, and it will be nice to be in a one relaxed place for a slightly longer period of time, as I approach the end of the trip and the recommencement of university.

Anyway, I'll be sure to blog again at some stage, so feel free to stay posted, and enjoy your respective lives. Peace x

Nepal

Well, it's been a while since I last posted - I've been pretty busy, and also mostly without internet.
Immediately upon landing in Kathmandu, I could feel the difference from Rajasthan. Already in the airport there were throngs of Israelis, and we began to organise taxis to Thamel, the backpackers' area. I took a room at a guest house with a few Israelis, and headed towards Bet Chabad. The Bet Chabad in Kathmandu is, along with a touring agency called Swissa, Israeli backpacker central. They have a restaurant there in which I ate, and I also arranged to eat Shabbat and Rosh Hashana meals there.I spent the remainder of the Thursday on which I landed wandering around Thamel and the surrounding neighbourhoods which was great. For somebody coming straight from a Western country, Thamel would seem like a busy and stimulating place; coming from Rajasthan it was actually relatively peaceful, with less cows (and dung) in the streets, less open sewage, and locals who are less aggressive in their attempts to ply their services or wares.

On Friday I walked to Swayambhunath, also known as "the monkey temple", a Hindu temple located on a hill overlooking the Kathmandu valley, populated by, as the name suggests, many monkeys. Friday night and Shabbat lunch at Beit Chabad was nice, although at these big meals where you sit with strangers, it can be hard to get real conversations going, and mostly discussion seems to circulate around the subjects of where people are from, what they do, and how long/where they are traveling. partly because of this, and partly because I didn't really want to spend another four days in Thamel, on Saturday night, I decided to join a group leaving Kathmandu at 4.30am Sunday morning, to travel to Pokhara, to do Rosh Hashana there.

In the end, the group in Pokhara for Rosh Hashana consisted of 14 Israelis (including myself) who had come from Kathmandu, two 22 year old French chabad shlichim, and an older Israeli-South African couple from Katamon, Jerusalem. We were intermittently joined for meals by Israelis who were in Pokhara, and who had heard about the festivities from a sign in the liocal branch of Swissa. Rosh Hashana was really great, and I'm glad I made the decision to leave Kathmandu for Pokhara. The scenery in Pokhara is beautiful, with the town being built on the shore of a lake, and surrounded by mountains, and even though it rained for most of the two days, it was nice to walk around a place which operates at a slower pace than Thamel. From the perspective of the meals and the general atmosphere, it was great to be with a small group which became close over the Chag. Things were informal, with the group setting the timetable and menu, and we essentially did everything ourselves, from purchasing food in the hours available before Chag after arriving from Kathmandu on a long and bumpy van ride, to cooking all the meals.

On Wednseday after Rosh Hashana, I set out with six other people who had been in The Pokhara Rosh Hashana group, for the misleadingly named Poon Hill trek. It is a relatively short trek, which consists of about four and a half days of walking. It doesn't take as long nor go as high as some of the more serious treks in Nepal, but it's all I had time for, given that I wanted to be back in Pokhara for Yom Kippur. Despite the relative brevity of the trek, it was still fantastic, with the amazing Himalayan scenery alone making the short trip to Nepal well worth it, even if people usually come here for longer. We walked mostly uphill on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, through small Nepali villages and farms, and stopped in Ghorepani for Shabbat. Shabbat was relaxed and I mostly slept and read and played the Israeli card game "Yaniv" for which I have finally, after six years as an Israeli, learned the rules. On Sunday morning we climbed up Poon Hill at 4.30am, to see the sun rise over the Annapurna mountain range. Luckily the skies were clear of clouds, and we were treated to an incredible and unforgettable vista. The remainder of the day was spent walking downhill to Tatopani (which means "hot water" in Nepali) where we were to sleep that night. The aptly named Tatopani is known for its hot springs, and we duly enjoyed these said springs upon arrival. Monday was spent in transit, as we took a seemingly endless stream of buses back to Pokhara - not so far away geographically, but connected to Tatopani by bumpy and congested paths and roads.

A cool thing about trekking in Nepal is that you can hire a porter to carry your bag, at relatively cheap prices, leaving you to free and unencumbered to appreciate the views and your good fortune at being born in the first-world circumstances that enable you to pay for such a service.I'm thinking of bringing one over to Israel next time I have milluim (reserve service), to perform any shlepping-related tasks.

Overall I really enjoyed the trek - it was great to be out in nature a bit, and I really got some good thinking done while out in the mountains (for more details of my various epiphanies yo may engage me in private conversation upon my return to Israel!).

Upon arrival back in Pokhara, I booked flights back to Delhi for Thursday, from where I plan on immediately traveling to Rishikesh. To cap off my time in Nepal, I went paragliding this morning (pictures later), which was just fantastic, kind of exciting and peaceful at the same time.

Between Rosh Hashana, the trek and the paragliding, the Nepal leg of the trip has definitely been worthwile. It has been like spending two weeks in a Bob Ross painting with poor infrastructure. In any event, Yom Kippur is upon us soon, so here's wishing everybody the best, and and easy fast (if that's what you're into) from Pokhara, and hopefully I'll post soon from India.

Ek Tha Tiger

Typical blog, you wait a week for a post and then two come along at once...

As promised, a description of the experience of watching the Bollywood movie in the Indian cinema, and a brief synopsis of the movie itself.

The movie I watched was called "Ek Tha Tiger" which apparently translates as "Once Again Tiger". Tiger is the (code?)name of an improbably capable Indian secret service agent. The basic plot of the movie is that the eponymous tiger falls in love with a Pakistani agent (a big no-no), and they run away with each other in an attempt to escape the wrath of their handlers. A more detailed synopsis of the plot I cannot give, since the dialogue of the film was in Hindi with a few phrases in English thrown in for good measure; it was interesting to see how much of a film can be understood just through the visual medium. It was also fun to try and imagine what the characters were saying, and to mentally improvise humorous dialogue.In any event, Bollywood films are not known for their understatement, and this was no exception. This movie, filmed mostly outside India (Ireland, Turkey, Cuba) was a two and a half hour feast of adrenaline fueled stunts and action scenes, high-octane stunts, violent fighting, and more incongruously, song and dance. I thought that the action choreography and the cinematography were excellent, although I was surprised that people were allowed to bring young children to such a violent film. Strangely during a romantic scene in the movie they used the music from the opening scene of Forest Gump (the "floating feather" scene). The cinema itself was beautiful, with real character; the screen was huge and the sound system fanatastic. The other people in the cinema were very vocal, with whooping, screaming and whistling every time a popular actor appears on screen for the first time, and whenever the heroes succeed at anything, especially if they do it in style. Romantic moments also justify this response. I would like to see this introduced into the culture of western cinema watching. To conclude, it was a highly enjoyable experience which I will hopefully be able to repeat.

First Week

Well, it's been just over a week - enough time to begin to get an impression of this place and to actually do and see some things. This would have been posted yesterday, but as I posted on Facebook, there was a power cut in yesterday while I was in the middle of writing the post.

As the plane approached Delhi, I began to get pretty excited - it was cool anticipating landing somewhere completely new and unfamiliar - something I haven't done for a while. I got into the (unrepresentative) modern Delhi airport at about 4.30 am. I took a taxi into the backpackers' area of Pahar Ganj with some Israelis who were also on the flight, and we started looking for a guesthouse. At this time of the morning things were fairly peaceful, although just looking out of the windows of the taxi and walking around Main Bazaar, the main street in Pahar Ganj, I could see that things were very different from what I'm used to. I slept for a few hours on account of having essentially missed two nights sleep - one because of the flight, and the one before that because of pulling an all-nighter working on a paper due on the day I left Israel - and then set out into Delhi. This was when I experienced the full culture-shock and barrage on the senses that is Delhi, and seemingly also many other Indian cities. It is a cliche, but you are genuinely met with a chaotic scene full of noises, smells, colours, people trying to sell you things and all manner of insane driving, that is both exhilarating but also exhausting. I also made the rookie error of leaving my guesthouse which was on a side street off Main Bazaar, without noting either its name or exact location. Luckily I managed to retrace my steps back later.

As my first day in Delhi was a Monday, on which many sights are closed, I just walked around Delhi a bit, trying to acclimate, and also just look around and soak it all in. I also took the very nice and  modern Delhi Metro (think London Underground, with air conditioning, and almost exclusively populated by Indian people) to the Lodi Gardens, a pretty nice park in Southish Delhi. On Tuesday I went around with a driver to many of the sights of Delhi. I saw the beautiful Bahai Lotus Temple, the historic Red Fort, and Jama Masjid - a beautiful mosque with a minaret that you can climb, from which there are great views of the city below. That night I rode the night-train to Jodhpur.

The night-train was a fun and interesting experience of itself, and I managed to make myself quite comfortable in my berth. I also highly enjoyed the Chai that a guy brings around in the morning, and gluttonously bought two.

I was in Jodhpur for about a day and a half altogether, and so far It has been the place that I have enjoyed the most out of the places I've been. I visited the fort there (Mehrangarh), of Batman fame (used for the outside shots of the prison in the third movie). The fort itself was very impressive and interesting, and they have a zip-line course consisting of six zip-lines of varying lengths which go back and forth between different parts of the fort and the surrounding area, over lakes and valleys, with views of the blue buildings of the old city, which was unbelievable. I'm a little scared of heights, but I went for it anyway because it looked like good fun, and indeed I wasn't disappointed. Later, it occurred to me that statistically speaking the zip-lines are probably far safer than simply traveling in any sort of vehicle on India's roads.

I took a bus from Jodhpur to Udaipur - geographically speaking not such a great distance, but the road infrastructure is poor, and the bus winds its way slowly through an endless stream of small Rajasthani villages. Despite the length of the bus ride, I actually enjoyed it immensely, the combination of looking out at the scenery and listening to good music was a perfect storm of creative stimulation, and a natural high.
Udaipur is a beautiful town on a lake; unfortunately it rained almost without pause for the entire two days for which I stayed there. Nevertheless It was still very nice, and the City Palace there was quite interesting from both historical and architectural perspectives. In the night before I left on the night-train to Jaipur, I saw a traditional Rajasthani puppet and dance show which was enjoyable enough and made me feel a bit cultural.

The train to Jaipur was a less comfortable ride, with somebody's loud snoring in a nearby berth preventing much sleep. When I arrived in Jaipur therefore, I slept for a few hours and then set out for the day. I didn't do much that day - just walked around the famous, pink, old city (although in reality it looks more orange) and took in the sights and smells. That evening I went to see a Bollywood movie in the (apparently) famous Raj Mandir cinema, an experience which I enjoyed a lot and will describe at greater length in a follow-up post.

Yesterday and today I have been seeing some of the various sights of Jaipur - yet more palaces, forts and museums - on the whole very interesting though, with the amber fort and the views from within being unmissable. Also worthy of note is the Royal Gaitor (I think that's what it's called) which is a royal tomb area. It is a quiet and tranquil place with fantastic tombs and surrounded by amazing scenery.

Traveling alone is tough, and Rajasthan is not so full of tourists at this time of the year because the season starts in October-November, after the monsoon, although there are still plenty of foreigners around. I have been hanging out with a few people I've met in different places along the way, but I've mostly been doing my own thing. It has actually been nice to have a bit of time and space to myself, but on the whole I'm looking forward to Nepal, which will hopefully be a more social part of the trip - it's more in season there, and there should be a lot of Israelis at the Chabad Rosh Hashana.

One thing that's weird is how symbols have the power to make an impression on you even when they are completely out of context. For example, it is a bit strange seeing the swastika everywhere - even though it is facing the other way (it is originally a Hindu symbol that was adopted and adapted by the Nazis). Similarly, you see Magen Davids (stars of David) in various places. I'm assuming that these are also somehow important in Hindu culture, and obviously completely unrelated to Judaism or Israel, but they still give a twinge of familiarity to the traveler far from home.

In any case, I'm off to Agra in a couple of hours to see the legendary Taj Mahal, and then back to Delhi the next day, to sleep there for the night before my flight to Kathmandu.

Beginnings

This is what I wrote before I came, didn't get the chance to post it until now. Post from India itself hopefully gonna come soon after I've spent more than just a day here.

So here I am, about to set off for India on my lonesome, and writing my first blog entry. I've always thought that people write blogs first and foremost out of the egotistical desire to let everyone know what's going on in their heads (preferably with some editing for humour and charm). I too have such a desire, but it's always seemed vaguely vulgar to indulge it. Nevertheless, I suppose it is a good way to keep friends and family abreast of how I'm doing, given that it will be relatively difficult to keep in touch, and maybe it will also be nice to have something written to look at and reminisce when i'm back ensconced safely in the tranquil Middle East.

The reason I'm travelling to India and Nepal now is that I've never really traveled to any country beyond my comfort zone, and I want to take the opportunity to explore at least a small part of the big wide world before coming back to Israel for the final semester of university, and subsequent glory and majesty of life as a legal intern in Israel, with the attendant high-life. Also I have a strong desire to shit myself.

In order to help acclimate myself to the microbe-friendly environment in which I will be spending the next 6 weeks, I have taken to exposing myself to germs by partaking in activities such as licking escalator handrails in London tube stations, and drinking spoiled milk. I can only hope that these endeavours will stand me in good stead for what I now face.

On a more serious note; what do I hope to achieve on this trip?

My main goals are to try open my mind to cultures, traditions, and living conditions different from those with which I'm familiar, to learn to be more outgoing and gregarious (or else find myself extremely lonely), and possibly to convert to a fashionable religion. I'm also looking forward to detaching myself a little from the internet and its rapacious hold on my time and attention., specifically facebook and blogs.

Anyway, this is just an introduction; hopefully I will find the time, will, and internet connectivity to update this blog with some degree of regularity, so check it out.

All the best,

David