After finishing the safari, I headed back to
Delhi for a couple of days before starting my trip to Himachal and Amritsar. I did the Himachal trip with another gapper, called James. The first thing I did in
Delhi was a sightseeing tour of the city. We saw all the Parliament buildings, the international embassies, India gate, the Qutab -i- Minar, Jama Masjid, the Raj Ghat - the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. The next day we left
Delhi on an overnight train to Kalka, en - route to Shimla.
On arrival in Shimla, we had a sightseeing tour of, which included going to the highest peak in Shimla to visit a Vishnu mandir(temple) that is inhabited by monkeys, which was quite cool, apart from the fact the monkey's were stealing people's shoes and socks as they left them outside the mandir! Even as we sat inside this tiny little mandir monkeys would just roam in and out. Then we went onto this place called Pragpur, again another small town. Pragpur is the first village in India to gain heritage status, although we didn't actually see the village because we were only there for one night before Dharamsala.
Dharamsala was definitely one of the highlights of India so far. Firstly it is inundated with backpackers and yoga-ites looking to get spiritual. There is a massive Tibetan population in Dharamsala and a very evident Tibetan influence, which made a nice change from the India of
Delhii and
Pune. We also met Israeli and Canadian Buddhist's who had come to Dharamsala to become 'enlightened.' The place was full of raging hippies and pseudo hippies, definitely a very backpacker-ey place. The Dalai Lama also lives in Dharamsala, and we went to his monastery and heard him speak Tibetan for a while and then left. You need some sort of special pass to stay for longer and because it was a Sunday the office was closed so we just popped in to say hello and catch a glimpse of the ol' DL!
The next day was probably the part of the Himachal trip I had been looking forward to the most, the Golden Temple, and it definitely didn't disappoint. It honestly is such a beautiful place, and in the early morning sunlight and the peaceful waters the place just seems so tranquil. I don't know how else to describe it but it definitely is a must-see part of India. We then arrived back in
Delhi and I and James said our farewells as we were heading back to England and I was beginning my next big adventure...
Bangalore.