Hi, sartoric! Still following along and loving your trip report! Wonderful writing and fabulous photos! The shot of the Golden Temple at night is postcard-perfect! And you do have some cliffhanger moments here, too! Wow, talk about a close call with the flight! But I love your attitude: <<you kinda forget the stress after a while...>>

By the way, I've always referred to myself as a devout atheist, too - I was amused to see you use that description, too!

Loving your report and pictures. My big regret was not having gotten to the Golden Temple. Looking forward to the rest of your story.

Continued thanks for the descriptions and photos!
Were you able to sneak in a beer in this area of Sikh culture which forbids alcohol?

Speaking of the Monty Python troop, here is Michael Palin’s view of the Wagagh border ceremony/performance:


I didn’t recognize the stadium in your photo, and sure enough, read that it’s been enlarged and modernized in the last couple years.

We stayed for a while after the actual border gate closing. People on the India side poured from their seats to the parade area, and danced to blaring Bollywood music

Stepping through the post-shoe removal water at the GT sure felt good in 108°F June temperature! Didn’t see anyone drinking it though! Still, probably safer than drinking from the Ganges.

Dhunbug, guess you’ll have to return for another trip! Amritsar is a great stop between Delhi and heading up to Manali /Dhramsaja/Pragpur/Shimla.

Hmmm...dont know what happened above with the youtube link. Sometimes it shows, sometimes not. Here'a another blurrier version. Narration is good.If this doesn't work, I give up, but Google Search "Youtube Michael Palin Wagagh Border" will bring it up.

Ha ha thursdayd, our night trains ended with the trip back from Sapa, and like you we found several sleepers and motorcycles in the hotel foyer. We also saw a body shaped rug in our haveli in Mandawa, a recently vacated bed in a foyer of the hotel in Jaipur where they kindly rustled up a tuk tuk at 6am, and I think there was another....details fuzzy.
Thanks jacketwatch, despite their obvious cooperation with the Wagah border ceremony, India and Pakistan are serious enemies over disputed territory, namely Kashmir. Even as Aussies we had to declare that we had no Pakistani heritage when applying for a visa. In Ajmer there is a captured Pakistani tank displayed prominently on a main road.
Progol, fellow devout atheist, thanks, old photographers never die (maybe we get overexposed).
Yes CaliNurse, never underestimate the ability of an Australian to find beer.... Also, there was an “English Beer & Wine” shop not far from our homestay, we were encouraged to visit. Gurinder is probably a more moderate Sikh, said he even went out without turban sometimes, and he was sharing a whiskey with his father the night we arrived....perhaps that’s why he was so loquacious.
Thanks for the video, we didn’t see the thumb action, but the high kicks were impressive. I’m pretty flexible and fit, couldn’t get anywhere near these guys...(yes, I tried).

Day two in Amritsar...breakfast is masala omelette with toast and homemade buffalo milk butter, delicious. We started at the Partition Museum (no photos allowed), where we spent at least two hours. It’s a sobering reminder of how Britain (itself in trouble at the time) failed one of its colonies. The museum is in an interesting old building and the displays were informative, well put together.

I’d read about Bottoms Up pub in Lonely Planet. It’s in the Grand Hotel on Queens Rd, there is nothing grand about it. There was however, a pleasant leafy garden area, marred only by building/renovating works in progress in the accommodation area, and a decidedly dusty atmosphere. Chose not to eat here, we had a beer and moved on. Back in the GT area, lunch at Bharawan da Dhaba was fantastic, two different thali, fresh lime soda and dozens of Indian families to watch from our back row table.

Now time for our heritage walk with Gurinder, we wandered the lanes of the old city admiring the crumbling architecture, dodging the constantly moving obstacles and attracting far more attention than we needed. There was no room for street food snacks, although plenty were on offer. This area is home to bazaars of beautiful fabric, spices, kitchen ware, holy paraphernalia and endless piles of rubbish. We ducked back into the Golden Temple around 5.00, the theory being that many people are at the Wagah border ceremony, and its thus less crowded. Didn’t seem to work today, with there being at least an hour long wait (in a crush) to get a glimpse inside the temple itself. Luckily, Gurinder suggested we ask one of the gate guards to let us in the exit line. It worked! Along with a couple of elderly Sikhs we swam upstream and waited only a few minutes to worm our way through into the temple. Here there are magnificent gold ceilings, priests using sticks to ram devotional money into boxes, plus much wailing, chanting and prostrating. Back to Gurinder’s house we shared a beer in the living room, perched on highly carved ornate furniture and again had an interesting conversation. He plays the harmonium, a piano accordion type instrument which, for me, rates up there with bagpipes on the excruciating scale....he does have a good singing voice though.

Amritsar is a place that I’m not sorry we visited, but I’d need a major incentive to go back.

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Colonial era building which houses the Partition Museum.
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Thali at Bharawan da dhaba.
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Heritage walking.
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Crumbling, decaying, but still living and breathing.
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And very much in use.
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Not all of India is like this, just too much of it.

Interesting. I got a ten year visa in 2010 with no difficulty, but my Pakistani visa from 2001 was in my old UK passport and I was applying with my US passport.

Too true. And yet the Indian section of Singapore is clean. Maybe there is no trash collection in India. Of course, at one time it was all biodegradable.

Amazing old buildings in Amritsar, some with beautiful paintings on undersides of balconies. THANKS for posting these.
LOL, Gurinder must've grown more moderate. When we met him in June 2010, he was self-admittedly conservative, involved with an organization to encourage young Sikhs to uphold their traditions including wearing of the turban. He has also led the fight for local govt restoration of its beautiful old buildings, and bemoaned lack of appreciation, care and maintenance.
Your trash photo is soooo evocative. Glad you put it in the gallery. My daughter walked by, as the image---but not its caption--was on the computer screen and without knowing the thread or forum, immediately exclaimed "India!!" I'm fascinated (in a bizarre way) by the different levels of garbage accumulation: sometimes strewn everywhere, other times swept into neat little hillocks!
In the nearby Punjab city of Ludhiana, a similar scene surrounded a bin with the sign, "Please Use Me." The nasty mess around it was a sort of giant rude finger to the vain attempt at tidiness.

“Too true. And yet the Indian section of Singapore is clean. Maybe there is no trash collection in India. Of course, at one time it was all biodegradable”.


There is trash collection in India, the untouchables (Dalits) do it, just not on that day. In Singapore no one would dare leave rubbish anywhere. It’s all about the country’s laws, and more importantly, enforcement of them. Agreed, like in Myanmar and Thailand, in past times biodegradables were used. Now, plastic is the enemy, big time.

Ohh, CaliNurse, I have lots of photos of the ceilings - beautiful painted wonders, many falling into decrepitude. I heard one explanation that Punjab has agriculture as its driving economic force, unlike Rajasthan where tourism is the main one. It follows that Punjab can’t allocate as much public monies to restoration/preservation as can Rajasthan where it’s needed to support the economy. Makes sense.
Yes, Gurinder has changed in the past eight years. He’s very much an environmentalist now, and wants to escape the city. Can you believe the constant honking of horns drives him nuts?

Also yes, the trash is fascinating. Our driver Ramesh constantly pointed out “plastic/rubbish” with a big sigh. Yet, I suspect he’s not innocent in contributing. It’s india !

I remember that tank in Ajmer. In fact I climbed up on it once.
As for the trash our first visit to India was in 1978 and then my BIL bemoaned the lack of civic sense and pride there. In 2013 during our last visit we were stopped at a red light in my nephews car, the son of my late BIL. He too was expressing his frustration about poor civic manners and like on cue a pizza box was tossed like a frisbee from the car in front of us. He said “just see.”

Yes “it’s India.”

BTW we have been to India 7 times and decided the last time was it. Both of us have become very ill there. I mean very ill, In 1982 I became infected with typhoid fever requiring 2 weeks hospitalization. Fortunately I was home when the symptoms fully hit me. They began the day we left.
In 2013 Sue became ill in Ajmer. We flew to Bangkok for a week but she ended up being hospitalized there for practically the entire time, being d/c’d the day we were to leave. I wonder if you noticed the open sewers in Ajmer. In any case we decided that was it. We are older now and our health matters the most. We decided not to risk it.

Jacketwatch, sad that you have decided not to return to India, totally understand why though. We also thought this would probably be our last trip, now considering number four.

Today we’re excited to set off for Prakriti Farms. It’s an organic farm, a labour of love by the owner Kaushal who I conversed with via email from home. The drive takes about 3.5 hours, pretty easy going. At a chai stop a man engages us, asks for photos and tells us he’s a singer on YouTube....he was very handsome. I used my phone to make a note of his name....jade it day lad burrow (damn you autocorrect and not putting on my glasses).

About 10 minutes before Rupnagar, we turn off into a small village and wait for the boy from the farm to meet us. It’s another 2 kilometres to the farm, through dirt roads and two creek crossings. Poor Ramesh, he’d washed the car this morning, as he does every morning. Prakriti Farm is lovely, set in the foothills of the Shivalik ranges, there are views aplenty and huge old trees. Our home for two nights is a spacious cabin with a tented ceiling, a modern bathroom and a comfy front porch. This will be the best shower of the trip !

We were met by Kaushal who gave up his corporate life (in hotel management, then IT) to start this enterprise and escape the pollution of Delhi. He’s a well travelled and genial host who made our stay really special. We were the only guests, but he was also supervising completion of a large new building. With a wedding party expected in two weeks and no glass in the windows yet, there was much to do.

Lunch was served in a cabana and comprised mushroom curry, dal makhani, fresh curd, salad, rice and chapattis with homemade pickle. So good, so plentiful. After a rest, we took a walk around the farm with Kaushal, viewing the vegetable gardens, the orchards, the geese pen, a new swimming pool, and always the mountain views. He has deliberately left it mostly untouched, and rehabilitated where necessary. It’s glorious.

Dinner was another feast, aloo gobhi, a different dal, eggplant bharta with freshly made bread, pickles, salad etc. A bonfire was lit and we talked well into the night enjoying Old Monk rum with coke ! Never been a fan of rum, but this changed me, and even made coke taste better. What a great night, all down to our host !

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Lovely views
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Our cabin accommodation.
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A simple lunch.
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Prakriti Farm by night.

Old Monk. Had that too. Good stuff indeed.
The food looks great and healthy too.
Thank you for understanding our situation.

As for the border ceremony we witnessed it was notable that neither side would lower their respective flags below the level of the other. It’s all about keeping face. Amazing!

This latest stop sounds like a real gem!

Yes, Kathie it was definitely a gem, and we plan to return now that we have an open invite....

Our host has arranged a local bird expert to take us for a walk through the nearby Ramsar listed wetlands along the Sutlej river. He even asked Mr Birdy to join us for breakfast so we could be introduced and have a chat before our walk. We’re rank amateurs at birding, but with help spotted over 30 species including osprey, eagles and the tiniest bird I’ve ever seen, the size of half a thumb. The two hour walk was pleasant enough, although the shocking amount of plastic waste definitely detracted from the natural beauty. I counted 43 discarded sandals/flip flops in one 20 meter section, no two alike of course.

We continued on with Mr Birdy through gardens with statuary commemorating the various Sikh gurus, all under renovation (and they needed it), spotted a couple having pre wedding photos, then met up with Ramesh to drive to the archeological museum. Here there are artefacts from the Indus Valley civilisation dating back many thousand years. The museum is poorly lit, dusty, over staffed and no photos are allowed. Say no more. We wandered up the hill to what may have been an excavation site, (Mr Birdy didn’t have a lot of English), and admired the view over the old town. There’s supposed to be an 18th century fort in Rupnagar, we didn’t see it....maybe next time.

Back at the farm, our host has asked chef to give me a tour of the kitchen and a demonstration of making Kadi - a dish of pakoras in a chickpea flour sauce. Ingredients are lined up, I’m aproned, and off I go, effectively cooking our lunch.

We relished the kadi (the word sounds like curry) with perhaps the best aloo gobi I’ve ever had, rice, chapattis, pickles and fresh tomatoes. There was beer too, we acquired that in Rupnagar !

The afternoon passed peacefully, a gentle stroll, a bit of writing, a nap, then another bonfire was lit and yet another delicious dinner served ! This time we had matar paneer (paneer with peas in gravy) alongside cauliflower with green beans, plus rice, pickles, curd and chapati. The food here is very good, six meals, no repetition and very reasonable at 300 rupees pp. There are six cabins in total, with other accommodation options coming soon. Kaushal is not interested in the mass market, rather he seeks like minded, eco friendly people as guests. My email tag convinced him we’d be suitable. For Diwali strings of coloured twinkly lights decorate the cabins, and a laser projects more lights high into the trees. We will buy one of these laser gadgets tomorrow in Chandigarh after Kaushal tells our driver where to get one.

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We walked from this bridge...
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To this bridge
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Eagle
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Other birds..
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The happy couple.
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Kadi on the left.

Third attempt at posting. Grrrr...I still have problems with the "new" Fodors!

Thanks for the reminder of super delicious kadhi. Kudos to the chef! I've had it, in a yogurt base. All the food sounds wonderful at this place! And a good shower at last! Was it the ultimate--enclosed--or the "wet room" type that sprays from a modern ceiling showerhead but all over the room? (Yup, one of my admittedly compulsive pet peeves.)

The cabins are quite close together. Looks like a great place for a large group/family visit, but only if part of the group. Otherwise, I'd want to luck out as you did, and be one of only a few (or the only) visitors.

Surely the guide's name wasn't really "Mr Birdy"?

"Kaushal is not interested in the mass market, rather he seeks like minded, eco friendly people as guests. My email tag convinced him we’d be suitable." So he picks and chooses paying guests? To "ecotourism," add eco-snobbery and eco-tism!

Grr, here too CaliNurse, the new Fodors is difficult for iPad.

Thanks for the the correct spelling of kadhi, (I did ask, lol, it’s India), this recipe had buttermilk as a base. The shower wasn’t enclosed, but was separated enough to keep the rest of the bathroom dryish. At least it had hot water and good pressure, together.

Yes, the cabins were close, the night before we arrived they had 22 guests, I guess a full house and some ! Also, there are other options dotted around the property.

No, his name sounded like deepshit...thought Mr Birdy suited him better :)

i must have have worded that poorly. There was no snobbery or egoism about him. It was more that he didn’t want the kind of guests who would expect room service and chuck their trash on the ground (I can imagine that’s a part of the Indian mass market). He wants guests who appreciate and care for the natural environment. Hope that explains it better, and thanks for your continued interest.

I guess people can can figure out we’re home by now. I’m pretending to still be there, it’s much more pleasant than here. I’ve five days left to post, much of which is written (in rough format).
In the meantime, I’ve been consumed by our lake which is being destroyed as I type. I claim a prize for dedication, arrived at our house 11.55 on Tuesday, was at the protest meeting (10 minutes drive away) by 12.30 after a short but heavenly shower.

Patiala and Rishikesh coming soon.

Waiting for more. Thanks for taking us along.