Seth and Claire

Well the rest of Amritsar was fun but smoggy and loud! Luckily on day 3 we got a terrific deluge of rain that flooded the streets and cleaned the air. We found a smaller temple (Durgiana) to shelter us from the rain, and spent the day learning Hindi from random schoolboys and doing the ‘chai crawl’ (stopping frequently to try new foods and hot beverages). We also met another traveller and all went together to the changing of the guard at the Pakistan border (lots of boot stomping and yelling, and an Indian crowd of thousands chanting ‘HINDUSTAN’)

We arrived in time to check into our $3/night hotel with a deck looking over the mountains and sunrise, and then watched the Divali celebrations from there. It was magical – lights and fireworks and sounds of joy. Like Hallowe’en but way more firecrackers and no costumes. This small town, with houses and tea stalls hugging the hillsides, green terraced gardens all around, is exactly what we were hoping to find here. There are even monkeys here – big ones! We aren’t really sure if they are orangotangs or what, but they are noisy and rambunctious and about two feet tall sitting down.

We are planning to stay here a few days, and then explore nearby villages and maybe do some trekking and horseback riding. We aren’t sure if we will have constant internet access but we plan to get a cell phone when we arrive in Dharamshala in a week or two, and will post the number and pics from there.

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