India

India

It wasn't a great surprise to find the Pakistan/ India border crossing in a state of peculiar tranquility. The cross-border bloodshed further north had halted travel of both nations and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice not to travel in the region had stemmed the usual trickle of travellers to, well, just us. After a brief hold up for a bit of Indian bureaucracy and a half-hearted bag search we were on the road to Amritsar.

Although the journey was a short one, we lost count of the number of tanks and personnel carriers we encountered. The Indians, it would appear, were much more concerned by the Pakistanis than the Pakistanis were by the Indians - since we hadn't seen anything like this level of military presence on the Pakistan side of the border.

Goose-Steps and the Golden Temple

Amritsar is a fairly nondescript town but is home to the Hari Mandir or 'Golden Temple', the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion. It has a dome covered with 100kg of gold leaf and resident priests who continually broadcast their readings from holy books. Working in shifts, their voices can be heard over loudspeakers throughout the temple complex 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

That evening we went back to the border to watch the closing of the gates - a daily ritual that attracts huge crowds. With the Indian and Pakistanis always attempting to outdo each other, it promised to be a spectacle - it didn't disappoint. Pomp and ceremony doesn't get close to describing the bellowing, animated marching and goose-stepping as the two countries' flags are lowered. The audience, for whom special stands had been built on both sides of the border, then jeer and taunt the opposing country's congregation over the closed gates - just like Arsenal v Millwall really!

Heading for the hills

We stayed in Amritsar one night and headed off early the next morning. The open flat-out roads of the last 17,000ks were now distant dreams replaced by a constant truck-bus-car-bike-tuk tuk-cow-pig-dog-pedestrian slalom. India is the most densely populated country in the world, a fact amply demonstrated by its roads. It took us a disastrous eight hours to ride the 300ks to Mcleod Ganj, but it was worth it.

Home to the Dalai Lama and several thousand exiled Tibetans, the town is perched high in the Kangra Valley. Its altitude, 1800m A.S.L. makes it an ideal summer retreat away from the heat of the plains. What with food being an Indian/ Tibetan fusion, availability of beer and the knowledge that Delhi was suffering a stifling 50ºC (125ºF), we knew there'd be an overstay in this neck of the woods.

Eagles and Kingfishers

We ummed and arred about the situation further north and whether we could justify a visit to Kashmir. Political tensions had eased (slightly) so we booked a houseboat on Lake Dal, Shrinagar. The journey there took twelve hours in a mini van driven by a stoned-lunatic. The military presence was huge and the stops, questions and searches made us glad we had left the bike behind.

The houseboat was called Badyari Palace and was magnificent, decorated and furnished like a Victorian period drama film set, which more than made up for the day's hassles. Our host, Ramon, treated us to a hospitality quite suited to the era of the decor.

Being a couple of lazy gits we dodged the idea of doing a foot trek, opting for a more sedate (lethargic) water trek in a shikara (big, wide canoe with cushions!). This carried us, the eager-to-please Ramon and two oarsmen around the rivers and lakes for 3 days. Despite a torrential downpour which had us all huddled under the boat's canopy for one night and our tent having the wrong sized fly-sheet which lead to some imaginative rebuilding, the trip went well.

We spent another couple of lazy days on Nagin Lake in a houseboat aptly named St James Palace. Here we enjoyed some real tranquility. With a spectacular view over the Himalayan foothills, countless kingfishers and eagles filling the skies and emptying the lake of its fish and a ready supply of curry, what more could you ask for!

Palaces and Lakes

Time flies and before we knew it we were in another 'death or glory' taxi back to Mcleod. We put off leaving here as long as we could but eventually had to hit Delhi. On my last trip ten years ago the pollution was so bad that just 24 hours in the capital would have your throat feeling like it was lined with cotton wool. Thankfully, things have improved since then. In the last five years older buses have been taken off the road, trucks banned from the city centre and emission controls on taxis introduced. Smell, however, has still to be addressed. Indian men seem to view anything solid and vertical as a urinal. Add summer temperatures up to 50ºC and 85% humidity - it doesn't take much imagination.

Fortunately, Lucy's belated Birthday present was nearing - a stay in the Lake Palace Hotel, India's (and one of the world's) finest hotels. We took a sleeper train to Udaipur and booked in for 3 days of over-draught warping decadence. Over the next few days we visited the palaces and forts of Udaipur and Jaipur. We topped the trip off in Agra watching the sunrise on the Taj Mahal before heading back to 'Smelhi'.

A change of plan

The hotel staff in Delhi had done a good job of keeping local souvenir hunters away from our bike. So all we had to do now was decide our next move. We met up again with Dave who we had first travelled with in Iran, and agreed to continue the journey together. Due to Burma still being a no-go area for foreign vehicles Lucy and I had originally planned to travel across to Bangladesh and ship the bike from there to Thailand. Unfortunately East India was currently experiencing devastating floods so plans had to change. Other bikers had recommended that we fly the bike into Bangkok from Katmandu, a much more straightforward ordeal than India or Bangladesh to a Thai seaport. While in Iran we had also met up with another biker, George. He had ridden on into Nepal and was currently somewhere half way up Everest! We had stayed in touch with him however and now decided we would all met up in Nepal from where we could freight the three bikes out together from Katmandu.

So, a few days later we met up with Dave at an ungodly 5am and headed for the Nepalese border just 300ks north east of Delhi. The GPS was still non-committal about its contribution to the trip and resulted in a few wasted kilometers and prolific use of the 'F' word. Despite this and the best efforts of Rajastan's pets, livestock and pedestrians, we had an incident-free ride to Nepal - although it did take us eight hours to cover a mere 300ks - but that's India for you!

Photographs

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White marble inlayed with semi-precious stones at the Red Fort, Delhi. This Fort was built by Shah Jahan (a Mugal Emperor responsible for some of the most impressive buildings in India - including the Taj Mahal in Agra). Shah Jahan built the fort so he could move his capital city from Agra to Dehli but he was deposed and imprisoned in Agra Fort by his son before he was able to do this.

Golden Temple, Amritsar

The City Palace has an impressive collection of Indian art. This one shows a Royal Procession during the Festival of the Elephant. The emperors of the day had many festivals each year with a pomp and ceremony that puts the Changing of the Guard to shame!

Humayun tomb, Dehli. Built by the senior wife of Humayun who was a Mughal emperor in the 16th Century. This style of architecture was the influence behind many later tombs including the Taj Mahal.

View of Nagin Lake from the front door of St James Palace, Kashmir

Fishing boat, Nagin Lake, Kashmir

Could this be the REAL reason the UK government don't want you to go to Kashmir.

A Tibetan local spins the Prayer Wheels in Mcleod Gang.

Sunset on Nagin Lake

Kalu and Abdul leaving St James Palace in a Shikara to do some shopping, Nagin Lake, Kashmir

India's aristocracy have suffered the same fate as in the UK - for many the money has dried up. The old Palaces have been turned into museums and hotels. This is one of the rooms on display in the City Palace at Udaipur.

Collecting mud from the bottom of the river for use in cement.

A rather bizarre shot showing the flood water levels in Kashmir.

Having a shave on the veranda of Badyari Palace, Dal Lake, Kashmir

A watery street of house boats on Dal Lake, Kashmir

Glass mosaics proliferate in India, this one shows a peacock, the countries national bird.

Jagdish Temple, Udaipur. Indo-Aryan temple built in 1651. Carvings cover the whole surface of the building telling stories of the Gods. You are supposed to walk round clockwise so that you can see the pictures in the correct order.

Holy men outside the Jagdish Temple in Udaipur - we had to pay for this one though!

Another lady who was keen to have her picture taken - someone even gave us an e-mail address to send a copy to! Notice the bright coloured cloth of her dress. In some parts of the country a crowd of people can be truly dazzling.

The Dali Lama's Pad in the Himilayan foothills.

Officers from the regiment of silly walks strut their stuff at the border closing ceremony.

Tibetan image of Budda - one of his many faces - in the temple at the Norbulingka Institute.

A very early start to avoid the heat of the day - heading for Mcleod Gang

Black Faced monkeys at the Monsoon Palace, Udaipur

Lake Palace Hotel, Udaipur - most of the lake (Lake Pichola) has evaporated because of the four-year drought. Normally the lake is 4km long and 3km wide! You might have got the general idea by now that there is a palace for every season - City (winter), Monsoon and Lake (summer) Palaces

The Amber Palace just outside Jaipur is exactly that - amber. Built in 1592. Before the move to Jaipur, Amber was the Capital of the state.

Delhi's answer to the Sydney Opera House - the Bahai Temple nicknamed the Lotus Temple. In Hindu, the lotus is symbolic of the unfolding of the universe. The temple was completed in 1986

Agra Fort - also in popular pink. Built in 1565 by Emperor Akbar. Many additions were made especially by Shah Jahan who turned part of it into a palace where he was later imprisoned by his son.

The Taj Mahal, Agra in the morning light - fountains are all dried up because of the extented drought. This was the case all across Rajastan.

Every face of the Taj Mahal is identical. Shah Jahan is said to have thrown the architect, Isa Khan, from one of the minuets when the building was complete so that he could never again build something so beautiful. Many of the craftsmen had their thumbs chopped off for the same reason! Pretty extreme stuff and all for the love of a woman. It took 20,000 men and 22 years to build - and it is pretty awsome.

On the west side of the Taj Mahal is a red sandstone mosque, but Shah Jahan wanted absolute symetry so this is an exact replica of the mosque built on the other side of the Taj to give it balance. The building cannot be a mosque because it is facing the wrong way

Dave and Me having a short coconut break on the way to the Nepalese border

Dave and Me with a small crowd of onlookers on the way to Nepal

Ornate window at the City Palace, Jaipur. The whole of the old city of Jaipur (which is the Capital of Rajasthan) was painted pink - a colour of welcome - in 1876 by the Maharaja Ram Singh to welcome the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) on a royal visit. As a result Jaipur is commonly refered to as the Pink City

City Palace in Jaipur. This is the Urn the Maharaja used to take water from the Ganges whenever he travelled to England - he didn't trust English water.

The lesser spotted swimming Gardner enjoying the luxury of the Lake Palace Hotel.

Jama Masjid, the great mosque of Old Delhi. This is the largest mosque in India. Built by Shah Jahan (again). Took 14 years to build. Completed in 1658. The white marble of the domes will sometimes give off a golden glow in the morning sun - needless to say we weren't up in time to check this out!

Fruit market in Udaipur. We often found - especially in Africa - that people are sick of having their picture taken by tourists. This did not appear to be the case in India. There was no demand for money either, they just wanted to be in the photograph!!

One of the ornate brass doors at City Palace in Jaipur - and someone else who was keen to pose for a photo

The Monsoon Palace, Udaipur. It wasn't entirely clear how or why, but speakers had been set up outside with loud disco music playing. These guys and their families were happy to include us in their party - although I can't say I was too keen on dancing - I was forced into it much to the amusement of all present.

Just as in the UK old churches dot the landscape, so these impressive mosque domes decorate the Indian skyline.