Kanchipuram

Kanchi
Originally uploaded by charlie holt

5am call did not get through...no phone on the end of phone line in room! Checked out @5.30, so saved paying for 1st night, this is Holt's cheapskate tours remember!
Drove to Kanchipuram at speed, driver on mobile phone avoiding cars in middle of road, normal I guess

Chennai

After what seemed like an endless journey from the airport we arrived at YWCA @ 5am.,fully intending to get up 2 hours later for breakfast. At mid day we were woken by a knock on the door! Luckily lunch ( Thail) was just being served!
We took a drive round some local sites, but the driver mistook 'Ice House' for ' Light House' and we stumbled across Marine Beach.
Thunderstorm was about to break but the fishermen were untangling their catch from the nets, while the women laid them out neatly on display.
The village is a mix of huts and semi derelict buildings, a remnant from the Tsunami. We wanted to take photos, but somehow held back.
Needless to say the storm broke and we had a free drenching running back to our car!

We're off

We're off...5am Manchester airport...thanks for the lift Byron! We arrived in Chennai at 5am the next morning. Flying over the middle east, and stopping over in Doha made me feel the world is a very big place and that I have become very eurocentric.

Off we go

Off we go, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

Packing!

Just checking out my birthday present from Sam... a mini video camera, and trying to e-mail straight to the blog!

Back in Delhi

Back in the same room yet again!  It’s very stuffy and HOT HOT HOT! Go to the Crafts museum which is excellent with interesting stone carved windows. Wacky terracotta sculptures …different huts from different areas.

Lots closed as it’s Monday but reference library is  excellent – sit in there with smell of moth balls while a girl dusts the top of the shelves with a white scarf on. Have lunch in the shade outside – lots of plants and sculptures – chowmein  again. Get a rickshaw back to the YMCA with a driver who hasn’t a clue where it is. Sleep from 2.30pm to 6pm so miss going for a swim. Then chat with a couple of guys in the lobby and walk down to Lola‘s for a beer and then upstairs for Tandori chicken and mint paratha. Walk home…it’s still very hot and try to get to sleep underneath a wet towel!!

Next day visit Qutub Minar and the Lotus temple and Fab India. Have a swim for an hour which was very refreshing. Out for beers at Nirulas at night…skip dinner but lots of nuts and crisps!

On the last day we pack and check bags in then go back to the Crafts Museum which had an incredible collection of textiles. Go back to Paharganj market which feels much less overwhelming now we’ve got a bit more aclimatised to life in India. I bought lots of cushion covers.
Then swim swim most of the afternoon. Have a last meal with the two guys we’ve got to know, it was a big round table. Charlie has Portuguese steak I have chicken tikka. As we leave Steve says “Don’t let the Buggers grind you down”knowing full well what challenges I was facing in my job. I’ll always remember that.

Delhi airport was horrendous…queue for hours…no system to let people through. Nothing has changed over the past 25 years! Met an interesting Irish guy who had been away for three months – he got 1600 rupees for giving up his Swiss Air flight two days before and two days in five star hotel! But with NO money and his Visa card wouldn’t work he had to pay a rickshaw driver by going round emporiums all day! He was a  supply teacher of English in London and he just chucked his job in too! 

 

Last days in Dharamsala

Still suffering from mountain sickness and feeling dizzy most of the time. Sunbathe on the terrace for a while, and start reading the Dalai Lama’s autobiography. April 30th will be the 40th anniversary of his arrival in Dharamsala.

The Dharma Bums bring left over momos from Phil’s party and we get to know them a bit more. We go to visit the Tibetan Doctor both of us have a consultation.  She says I have bad tonsils and sells me a tonic. She tells Charlie he has high blood pressure , to drink less alcohol and get more exercise and lose weight etc. We both get some enormous maroon pills to take as well! kind Spinach and garlic  Momo for lunch …delicious …then later walk back down to the library temple no sign of the Karmapa! As we walked down there is an impressive thunderstorm in the mountains following us. Meet an old man who who says his umbrella will be no good in the wind which arrives five minutes later!

At night there is another excellent concert by the Dharma Bums with a large crowd. Phil keeps breaking strings which means meansTim plays a couple of numbers  then Ted sings some non-dharma songs…amazing hear them doing their own stuff. Walk down the hill in pitch dark to go for a few beers in McLlo’s…race home at 11:55 pm before the Green Hotel locks up! 

On 30 April 2000, we got up early to head down to the temple for 7:30 a.m…there was a rope across gateway but stand and watch the dignitaries arrive…all very smart! 

By 8:15 a guard suggests we go up to the back entrance of the temple, so race up and sit with lots of Tibetans. Finally the Dalai Lama’s entourage appeared…he smiled broadly as he walked up to the temple, which had been decorated with yellow cloth wrapped around the banisters. After the ceremony to inaugurate the new Tibet museum we returned to the reception area to chat and wait, and later he came back up, greeting everyone on his way back to the palace before eventually leaving in his motorcade Dharamsala. 

It was a day I will never forget…he had a definite aura about him as he passed us by. There such an amazing feeling of community excitement. 

The inauguration was a fitting celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s arrival in Dharamsala, commemorating four decades of Tibetan exile and the resilience of its people.

We pack and sit in the sun waiting for the overnight bus back to Delhi. The journey is maybe not quite as bad as coming despite two punctures. Rickshaw drivers try to persuade us to  get off the bus saying it’s the last stop but eventually we get dropped off quite near the YMCA but have to wait till 9.30 am to check in!