A short summary where I was and where I am at the moment…
Started in Delhi and went to the top of North-India - Kashmir. Then Jammu, Amritsar, Chamba and Daramsala. Then one day Delhi. After that Varanasi and Kolkata. Now I am staying in Darjeeling.
Next stop is Kathmandu, then Delhi - Agra - Delhi - Vienna.
Currently I am having about 4.500 km behind me.
Yesterday I took the nightbus from Daramsala to Delhi. It was a 13 1/2 hrs ride which was again very exciting. I was expecting getting the last sleeper-seat in the night-sleeping-bus. Instead of this I got a cabine-seat. I thought, wonderful, sitting in front and I am having a good sleep.
There have been eight people in the driver-cabine, sitting next to each other and then sleeping cross over and under each other. It was very exciting, strange and a little bit narrow… The guy next to me had his head on my head, the guy in front of me had his head on my knees and the guy right to me had a nice rest on my shoulder. I had my legs under and over some others… And it worked perfectly…
The bus did not work so well and so we had to stop twice… The first time the gear was broken - they had to repair it in the middle of the night. After a couple of hours we had a flat tire, so the tire had to get changed… :)
At around 9 AM we arrived Delhi and then I did some sightseeing…
Anyway… I like such rides… Always an adventure :)
Left Chamba at 8 AM and took a directly bus to Daramsala for 140 Rs. It was a normal bus and a very shaky drive. Had a window-seat and good view to areas around. Passed Dalhousie and Nurpi, saw a lot of monkeys all around.
Daramsala is the place of the Tibetan exil-government and the Dalai Lama is living here (Gangchen Kyichong). The place I am staying is McLeod Ganj (Tibetan Ashoka Hotel) and it is the most touristy place I have been in India until now. Tomorrow I am going to check the Tibetan sights.
New route: Daramsala - Delhi - Varanasi - Kolkata - Darjeeling - Kathmandu - Delhi
My plans are leaving Daramsala tomorrow night, taking the nightbus to Dehli. Spending the day in Dehli and visiting Jama Masjid and some Bazars to leave Dehli to Varanasi at 6.30 PM by night-train. I am looking forward very much to Varanasi and same to Kolkata. This is going to be very interesting and more different…
So, after spending two amazing days in Amritsar, I went by bus to Pathankot and then to Chamba. It took me a litle bit more than 10 hrs. Drive was interesting, stopped two times eating some dal with rice. Had some”fruit cake” in the bus and a lot of chips… The bus-drive cost about 140 Rs (about 2 EUR).
Found an accomomodation in Chamba: Hotel Aroma Palace with a real nice view to this village in the valley. So it’s a little bit like “Heiligenblut“, as you are starring out to another hill out of your window.
Had some interesting conversations with locals and learned a lot about Hindu and the history of India. Did not know so much… Very interesting… f.e. Pakistan was part of India 60 yrs. ago, then splitted u. Bangladesh was formaly known as “East-Pakistan”…
Before going to bed I watched TV (there is a TV in every room I slept…). Did not found CNN but many sports channels. “Cricket” is very popular in India… So teams like “Kalkutta Knight Riders”… btw, I like this name…
OK. Today had some recent walks to some temples and ready to leave tomorrow early in the morning to Daramsala, where the exil-government of Tibet is located.
My stomach-barometer… If it was 50 % yesterday on a scale from good - bad, it is now going up to 70 % in direction of “bad”. Lets see… :)))
Internetconnection is very bad here and found a lausy internet-business near the market. So lets see, how I am succeeding in uploading some images and some GPS-routes…
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