ONE NIGHT IN GANGTOK AND THE WORLDS YOUR OYSTER
This is a bit out of sequence sorry, Gangtok was back in Sikkim a few weeks ago, we just didn't get around to writing anything about it until now sorry. It was back in the glorious days of the hills, where it was nice and cool......hmmmmm
Gangtok is the capital of Sikkim, and Sikkim is one of only two districts in India where the beer is tax free, so thats a good start!.
The hotel we stayed at there was fantastic. Due to the fact that we are on the low season for India, and also because of the SARS scare, we are often finding ourselves virtually alone in the Hotels, but it's often cheap, and I guess it means were getting a pretty Indian experience as there few foreigners to interact with.
In the guest house in Gangtok, there were some Tibetan monks staying there performing a three day rite which involved lots of chants and playing of horns and gongs. Lucky for us, they let us sit in and watch, the music alone really drew you in, and the chanting would alternate between soft tones and harmonies. They would slowly make their way through a huge set of scripture cards, and from what we could see, it appeared it would take days to get through them all.
On the third day we took a Landover up the hill to a sacred lake, which is 12500 feet up (higher than Mt Cook!). There was no snow though, as it's still comparatively hot in these parts, although this would be one of the first times we were actually cold in India. The lake is surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags, and incredibly serene. Big decorative Yak's are being led around waiting for tourists to hop on for a ride, and the clouds were covering the surrounding peaks and often descending down to the lake itself, obscuring the views but adding to the mystical atmosphere.
The area is also has a really heavy military presence, as it's only 17km from the Chinese border, and China does not recognise Sikkim as part of India. Foreigners aren't allowed to go any closer to China unfortunately.
Other memories from Gantok were a visit to another temple which was again a school for young monks, and watching a Bollywood blockbuster called "Chalte Chalte". The movie is the usual Bollywood three hour epic (with an intermission - yea!), and the actors periodically break into song and dance. It was mostly in Hindi of course, but being a classic love story, I'd say we understood the plot perfectly. It was surprising to see them break into English quite frequently, and I don't think this was for the sake of the English audience, it's more simply a common habit of Indians, and kind of implies an educated and higher social standing. The product placement was also pretty obscene!.
The last thing to mention, for anyone that likes cards was our discovery of Canasta! (we were taught by a Australian Canasta enthusiast). Both Grant and myself have tried to learn this with Bec's from her games book when in NZ some time ago, and we got it mostly right, but misunderstood a few little key aspects that really made the game. I now think it's the best dam card game ever!.
Here's a link to the rules, enjoy!
Canasta Rulz!
Grant and Simon's Travel Journal
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Posted by Simon, 5:05 PM | 
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Reply to this postMonday, July 07, 2003
VARANASI
If you see a classic postcard from India, or a holiday brochure, theres a good chance it's one of the images will be crowds of Indians zipping down the Ghats (riverside temples, with steps leading down to the water) for an early morning dip. It is believed that bathing in the Ganges will cleanse one of sin, and it is also believed that if you are lucky enough to be cremated in Varanasi, will be free from the cycle of birth and death. Thus, it's also a city where people come to die and be cremated at one of the Ghats. Most historic Hindu kings came here to die, and many built their own palace/hospice for the occasion, so some of these remain alongside the river. One of the boatman we met told us there are 365 Ghats, and one should ideally live here at least one year and bath in a different one every day. One other odd aspect of Varanasi is that it seems to be completely built up on one side of the Ganges, and almost completely farmland on the other side.
We arrived from our sleeper train at the station, which is about 13-17km from Varanasi itself. Some friendly policeman which we had met on the train were nice enough to offer us a ride with them to the city, thus freeing us from the standard procedure of attempting to negotiate a price less than five times the "Indian Person" price. What this actually entailed however was them catching a ride with our auto-rickshaw and us paying for it!.
The driver dropped us at a copy cat guest house of the one we wanted, but didn't notice until too late, it is was pretty nice and cheap anyway. Varanasi quickly turns into a maze of alleyways and it's pretty easy to get lost going only a few hundred metres. Just as we turned towards our guest house, a nice big bull rounded the corner and started quickening it's pace. There are cows and bulls everywhere in India so I'm told, but this is probably the most urban we had seen them thus far. They are used to people, so it was probably only because we started running back a bit faster that it started running at us a bit faster still. Tense moment, but he scuttles in the other direction at the next bend thank goodness. I had visions of saving myself by impaling my pack over his big horns and running away, thank yee that I didn't have to put that masterful strategy to the test!
One of the highlights of Varanasi was a supreme dawn boat ride experience along the Ganges where we watched the town wake up, and the activity along the Ghats slowly increase as people went for their early morning dips. There is also a temple there where the Hindu monkey god Hanuman is worshiped (there are of course many others like this all over India). It was inspiring to see the way people here really get down and have a good time when worshiping their Gods, Hanuman at least. Dozens of people were dancing around, singing and clanging bells and gongs. The temple is also, appropriately, inhabited but numerous monkeys, and these monkeys are of course considered holy because they live in Hanumans temple. The trip ended in a visit to a silk "factory" which turned out to be nothing more than an extremely persistent and high pressure sales environment. He even used the line that because we were his first customers, it would be bad for his future lives if we didn't buy some silk! (special low low price, of course).
Thirty hours were spend our Varanasi guest house being extremely sick. Both Grant and myself were struck down with something that came with all the usual Asain travel illness unpleasentries, but after 30 hours we were right as rain. It was a cheap couple of days at least!. There's nothing like a Indian massage on the banks of the Ganges to perk you up when you felling better, but just as my guy started, he proudly proclaimed that he'd had "no shower of bath for 20 years!".
Fortunately he mean he'd bathed in the Ganges every morning instead, phew!. Good karma for him.
Theres an old 17th century Fort just up from Varanasi that we visited (transport was by boat - yea!). It had a huge collection of gigantic bongs and old weapons. There were classic pictures of the old Kings and their courts, all posing is fine garments, with head high bongs proudly the centre of the photographs!. The Fort also housed some very strange old weapons, like a sword and spear with pistol's built into them, and rifles about three and a half metres long that, to use, would surely need a stand, or at least a few men working together.
We were lucky enough to meet a fantastic family who make Indian traditional instruments, apparently their family has been doing this for 400 years. They invited us to their home and we were entertained by some pretty crisp Sitar playing. There is a restaurant not far from where we stayed during our last night that also has classic Indian music during the evenings, and it was here that the talent was obscene!. One night, a superb Sitar player raced around the Sitar like an absolute legend, and his 14 your old cousin almost out him to shame with his tabla skills!. They had a CD, so I hope it's as good as their live performance but it may have to wait until the UK before the CD finds a CD player (this is not because India doesn't have them by the way, just because we don't have one). Today I had a brief table lesson with the musician mentioned above, a good intro, but it's difficult to learn much in an hour, especially when I can't speak Hindi.
It will be a bit of a shame to leave Varanasi as it's been a real highlight. Our next stop, Khajurano, is apparently laden with erotic statues and carvings, so it shouldn't be too disappointing.
If you see a classic postcard from India, or a holiday brochure, theres a good chance it's one of the images will be crowds of Indians zipping down the Ghats (riverside temples, with steps leading down to the water) for an early morning dip. It is believed that bathing in the Ganges will cleanse one of sin, and it is also believed that if you are lucky enough to be cremated in Varanasi, will be free from the cycle of birth and death. Thus, it's also a city where people come to die and be cremated at one of the Ghats. Most historic Hindu kings came here to die, and many built their own palace/hospice for the occasion, so some of these remain alongside the river. One of the boatman we met told us there are 365 Ghats, and one should ideally live here at least one year and bath in a different one every day. One other odd aspect of Varanasi is that it seems to be completely built up on one side of the Ganges, and almost completely farmland on the other side.
We arrived from our sleeper train at the station, which is about 13-17km from Varanasi itself. Some friendly policeman which we had met on the train were nice enough to offer us a ride with them to the city, thus freeing us from the standard procedure of attempting to negotiate a price less than five times the "Indian Person" price. What this actually entailed however was them catching a ride with our auto-rickshaw and us paying for it!.
The driver dropped us at a copy cat guest house of the one we wanted, but didn't notice until too late, it is was pretty nice and cheap anyway. Varanasi quickly turns into a maze of alleyways and it's pretty easy to get lost going only a few hundred metres. Just as we turned towards our guest house, a nice big bull rounded the corner and started quickening it's pace. There are cows and bulls everywhere in India so I'm told, but this is probably the most urban we had seen them thus far. They are used to people, so it was probably only because we started running back a bit faster that it started running at us a bit faster still. Tense moment, but he scuttles in the other direction at the next bend thank goodness. I had visions of saving myself by impaling my pack over his big horns and running away, thank yee that I didn't have to put that masterful strategy to the test!
One of the highlights of Varanasi was a supreme dawn boat ride experience along the Ganges where we watched the town wake up, and the activity along the Ghats slowly increase as people went for their early morning dips. There is also a temple there where the Hindu monkey god Hanuman is worshiped (there are of course many others like this all over India). It was inspiring to see the way people here really get down and have a good time when worshiping their Gods, Hanuman at least. Dozens of people were dancing around, singing and clanging bells and gongs. The temple is also, appropriately, inhabited but numerous monkeys, and these monkeys are of course considered holy because they live in Hanumans temple. The trip ended in a visit to a silk "factory" which turned out to be nothing more than an extremely persistent and high pressure sales environment. He even used the line that because we were his first customers, it would be bad for his future lives if we didn't buy some silk! (special low low price, of course).
Thirty hours were spend our Varanasi guest house being extremely sick. Both Grant and myself were struck down with something that came with all the usual Asain travel illness unpleasentries, but after 30 hours we were right as rain. It was a cheap couple of days at least!. There's nothing like a Indian massage on the banks of the Ganges to perk you up when you felling better, but just as my guy started, he proudly proclaimed that he'd had "no shower of bath for 20 years!".
Fortunately he mean he'd bathed in the Ganges every morning instead, phew!. Good karma for him.
Theres an old 17th century Fort just up from Varanasi that we visited (transport was by boat - yea!). It had a huge collection of gigantic bongs and old weapons. There were classic pictures of the old Kings and their courts, all posing is fine garments, with head high bongs proudly the centre of the photographs!. The Fort also housed some very strange old weapons, like a sword and spear with pistol's built into them, and rifles about three and a half metres long that, to use, would surely need a stand, or at least a few men working together.
We were lucky enough to meet a fantastic family who make Indian traditional instruments, apparently their family has been doing this for 400 years. They invited us to their home and we were entertained by some pretty crisp Sitar playing. There is a restaurant not far from where we stayed during our last night that also has classic Indian music during the evenings, and it was here that the talent was obscene!. One night, a superb Sitar player raced around the Sitar like an absolute legend, and his 14 your old cousin almost out him to shame with his tabla skills!. They had a CD, so I hope it's as good as their live performance but it may have to wait until the UK before the CD finds a CD player (this is not because India doesn't have them by the way, just because we don't have one). Today I had a brief table lesson with the musician mentioned above, a good intro, but it's difficult to learn much in an hour, especially when I can't speak Hindi.
It will be a bit of a shame to leave Varanasi as it's been a real highlight. Our next stop, Khajurano, is apparently laden with erotic statues and carvings, so it shouldn't be too disappointing.
Posted by Simon, 1:04 AM | Reply to this post
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