Amritsar - Sikhs, Soldiers, and Quality Hospitality

In Amritsar I found the beautiful Sikh Golden Temple. Set in the middle of water and surrounded by pretty white outer buildings, it made a very relaxing circuit to walk around. I only stayed here a couple of days, but I happily walked the circuit on about four or five occasions. With my head covered and my shoes left outside I did the mandatory walk through the water to clean my feet before entering the complex. Then along with lots of others I turned left and made my way right around the edge of the water on the smooth marble tiles.

 

There were all sorts of interesting weapons, mostly in the form of axes and spears, being carried around by Sikhs. Yet despite this everyone was really friendly. I stayed in a little dorm free of charge at the back of the temple and ate my meals, also completely for free, in the temple kitchens. Here, thousands of people came and sat on the floor together to eat the delicious food on offer at any time day or night. Volunteers came around with huge buckets/trays of food and water, which they dished out onto the big silver plate you were given on your way in. Sometimes there was even rice pudding. It really was a very special place!

 Amritsar is very near the India/Pakistan boarder and each evening there is a boarder closing ceremony. I went along and watched the incredibly enthusiastic marching and high kicks done by the Indian army. It was hard to see the Pakistan army as they were the other side of the gate, but I'm pretty sure they were doing the same thing. From both sides there was singing and cheers and shouts from the crowd. Each side trying to outdo the other in terms of volume. The Indian side did have rather an unfair advantage though, what with there being about 50 times the amount of people attending the ceremony there. Here I saw another example of how lots of Indian people seem to have a wonderful ability to really let go and enjoy themselves. When the soldiers weren't on the road, loud music was played and everyone, especially the ladies, was up singing and dancing.

At night time when all lit up and reflecting in the water, the temple was possibly even more beautiful than during the day. Every time I went there, a huge line of people waited for their turn to be able to enter the golden temple. As foreign tourists, for some reason we were aloud to enter through the exit path and so avoid the que. This meant we couldn't go through the front entrance of the temple but could still go inside and climb up the stairs to be able to overlook everything that was going on. It also meant that on the way out, along with everyone else, we were given yet more free food. This time it was in the form of some tasty dryish sweet thing.

Before I left Amritsar I visited a little museum at the temple which showed the horrible history of the Sikh's clashes with the Mughals. This was mostly all shown in particularly gruesome and graphic drawings.

I also visited Jallianwala Bagh - the now Garden where before India's independence British soldiers shot at and killed thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters. The garden was surrounded by high walls which prevented the protesters from escaping. The only place to hide being a deep well in which many people jumped and died whilst trying to avoid the bullets. The well was still there as were the many bullet holes in the walls all around the garden where people had been shot at as they attempted to escape. It was so sad to see and through absolutely no doing of any of the other visitors, I have to say I did feel quite uncomfortable being British and being there

A Wonderful Place and the Suffering of Tibet

After deciding it really was time to head somewhere a bit warmer - due to being constantly cold with no heating and often no hot water and also having a cold that would not shift - I got a bus that was full (no exaggeration) of vomiting children to Mcleod Ganj. Still in the mountains but at a little lower altitude this beautiful place is home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I found a room on the edge of a valley with views up to snow covered mountains and down over soaring buzzards below. As well as the freezing cold I'd also found that after two months of Indian food I was ready for a change, and here was the perfect place. Along with all sorts of food from around the world, due to the large Tibetan population there was no end of delicious Tibetan food. There were also no end of things to occupy my time with.


I took Tibetan cooking classes with such a sweet and patient Tibetan man as our teacher. I can now make all sorts of Tibetan breads and biscuits, various types of Tibetan noodles and soups, and can also make the wonderful momos - Tibetan stuffed dumplings. These I am most excited about making at home as I'm certain you could stuff them with anything. I very much like the idea of trying lots of different vegetables and fruits (perhaps not necessarily together) and even more so trying wonderful foods such as chocolate and caramel and honeycomb.

I visited the Dalai Lama's home, where sadly he wasn't there to great me but it was a good place to be anyway. There were beautifully decorated temples and many pretty prayer candles, wheels and flags. A museum showed the history of Tibet in the form of photographs. And of course there were lots of monks. One evening we paid a visit and as we climbed the stairs to the central courtyard we heard what sounded like the monks chatting loudly over games of snooker or pool. We thought it would be a lot of fun to join them for a game, but when we reached the courtyard we found no such games were taking place. Instead we discovered it was discussion time for the monks. After studying they get together in pairs and one guy sits on the floor and the other stands in front him. The person standing puts forward an idea or question about what they have been studying. Then when he wants the guy sitting down to respond he leans right forward and claps, seemingly as loudly as possible, right in his companions face. Although not meant to be at all, this looks incredible aggressive, especially coming from people who normally look so gentle and peaceful.

We decided to visit a Tibetan doctor and chose a man perhaps in his 80's or 90's, who in the past was the doctor of the Dalai Lama. We had to bring samples of urine, which we pored into a little pot held by the doctor. He then stirred it with some sticks before inviting us into his office. Here he took our pulse and asked us if we had any symptoms. He then gave us a diagnosis of what he felt might be our problem. I didn't really feel I had much wrong with me and thankfully neither did he, but he prescribed some medicine for my cold. All the Tibetan medicine is herbal and comes in the form of little brown balls or tea bags. None of which seem to taste particularly nice but, for me at least, worked pretty much straight away.

One day we took a bus down to a little town I'd past through on my way here. I'd spotted huge patches of wild marijuana and fancied taking a closer look. I had not been mistaken and the place was full of it! I've since discovered that it grows freely in a lot of this part of the world. Whilst in the 'green town' we also found our way to a Hindu temple, past stall upon stall of colourful offerings waiting to be bought by people to give to the Gods.

 Another excursion was a day hike up a mountain called Triund. We started off in Mcleod Ganj, walking up through forests of rhododendrons just beginning to flower. In some places whole slopes were covered with the trees. It must look absolutely stunning when they are all out in flower. As we got higher we started to pass patches of snow until eventually all around us the ground was covered with a thick layer. This made walking very slippery and was slightly disconcerting at times due to walking along the side of mountains that dropped steeply into valleys far below. It was so much fun though and had falling off the mountain not been a very high probability, I would have loved to run and jump and slide down the snow. Reaching the top of Triund we had amazing views right back down to Mclead Ganj and also on up to higher snow covered mountains. From here you could continue upwards but would need another day and perhaps to wait a few weeks for the snow to melt. We hadn't set off with a guide but when we were about an hour from the top a guide joined us and led the way free of charge. Our new guide was a lovely faithful black dog.

Back in Mcleod Ganj I attended a meditation class. I'm not really one for sitting still for very long but I thought I'd give it a go as it wasn't something I'd done before. It turned out to be surprisingly easy, possibly because we had a very good man guiding us although his accent did confuse me at first. He told us that we would be meditating about debt. I wasn't really all that keen to meditate about debt, but now I was there and the class had started I didn't really feel I could leave. He leas us through things to think about and situations in which to imagine ourselves, in an interesting story telling manner. Before too long I realised that actually we were supposed to be meditating about death. For me I think this was far more interesting than meditating about debt would have been, and although it probably sounds pretty morbid it wasn't at all.

I also attended a Buddhist philosophy class, which was held at the beautiful Tibetan library a little further down the mountain from where Mcleod Ganj is situated. We all sat on cushions on the floor, including a dog who we were told liked to attend most of the teachings. An elderly monk talked to us in Tibetan and a younger lady (who I think really felt that it should be herself who was running class) translated. A particularly lovely idea I learnt was that as a Buddhist, to help you feel compassion for all living creatures, you should treat them as if they were your mother in a past life. I'm lucky enough to have a lovely mother and so I think even not being a Buddhist or really believing in reincarnation, this is a pretty good way to approach things.

During my evenings in Mcleod Ganj I often spent my time in a little Tibetan cafe - Oasis - where films, documentaries and speakers about Tibetan related issues took place. Through this and chatting to the Tibetan people living there, my understanding of Tibet and it's people has been greatly enhanced.

In 1949 Tibet, an independent country with it's own government, flag, currency, tax system, religion and cultures, was invaded by China. By 1959 China illegally occupied Tibet and to this day still does. Under Chinese rule Tibetan people no longer have the freedom to live as they once did. What was previously a peaceful country is now full of Chinese military, and merely stating an opinion that Tibet and it's people should be free could have you imprisoned, tortured or killed. Since China invaded Tibet, over 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed and thousands of religious and cultural sights have been destroyed. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibets former ruler, was forced into exile after his life was repeatedly threatened by the Chinese military. His summer palace was fired at whilst he was residing there. Since then over 85,000 Tibetans have risked their lives and followed him out of Tibet.

One such Tibetan was our cooking teacher. He told us how he'd left Tibet at the age of 15. This was his choice and he didn't even tell his family for fear of putting them in danger. His journey, like many others, took him almost one month. He, along with others who had paid a guide to lead them to the boarder of Nepal, had to walk in the middle of winter through the freezing snow. One part of the journey meant crossing a deep and wide river. They had to make the journey at the coldest part of the year (and due to it's high altitude even in the summer, Tibet is never the warmest country) and only travel at night so fewer Chinese military would be patrolling their route. They couldn't make any fires for warmth or to heat food as these would have given their position away, leading to potentially fatal consequences. Six years after leaving Tibet, our cooking teacher was able to find out a phone number on which he could contact his family. He told us how at first his mother couldn't even speak to him. She was so shocked that he was alive. They now continue to talk to each other over the phone but the lines are tapped, so they are unable to have in depth conversations and can really only talk about how they are.

A documentary called Murder in the Snow tells the story of Tibetans who risk their lives trying to make this journey each year. The documentary uses footage taken by international climbers who witnessed Chinese boarder police opening fire on a group of pilgrims attempting to flee Tibet. A teenage nun - Kelsang Namtso was killed.

At the Oasis cafe I listened to a talk by an ex political prisoner from Tibet. The speaker told us how with two friends in Lhasa - the capital of Tibet - he had peacefully protested against the Chinese rule of Tibet. They had said slogans such as 'Free Tibet'. For this alone he received three months in prison under the supervision of Chinese police. He told us how from the time he was arrested until the time he was released, he was subject to being tortured. He spoke of the selection of electrical probes used by the police on prisoners, one of which would leave it's victims unconscious for up to 15 minutes. He explained how he'd watched as a chair was placed on another prisoners hand, a prisoner who had no information to give but whom the police would try to get a confession out of whether it was real or falsified out of desperation. When the prisoner did not speak the police sat down on the chair. Another tactic used by the police was to insert nails under prisoners finger nails. Although everyone in the prison was supposed to be treated equally, the political prisoners suffered far worse conditions. Many of the people imprisoned at the same time as the speaker died due to the terrible conditions in which they were kept.

Currently the Chinese government have a program to support as many Chinese people to relocate into Tibet as possible, whilst at the same time Tibetan women may be forced to have abortions and be sterilized.This has resulted in the population of Chinese people compared to Tibetans within Tibet being 3:1. A major consequence being the dilution and loss of Tibetan history and cultures.

Children living in Tibet are given an education, though this is what the Chinese government wish them to learn. Again, their history, culture and language is being lost.

Whilst Buddhism - the people of Tibet's religion - is allowed to some extent to continue within Tibet, monks must now denounce their leader, the Dalai Lama. During teachings monks have been given homework such as bringing with them something they have killed to their next lesson. The bigger the creature, the more points they will receive. These things go against the main principles of their religion. The Dalai Lama is the most important figure within Tibetan Buddhism, yet simply talking of or possessing a picture of the His Holiness is likely to lead to your imprisonment and potentially death. For Tibetan Buddhists two of the most important characteristics they strive towards achieving are non violence and compassion for all. Where then does this leave them when they may be taught it is right to kill?

I am hoping to visit Tibet later in my travels, but to do this I have to have a guide. I am not allowed to posses any pictures of the Dalai Lama and am not even allowed to carry a guide book with information about Tibet in it. I will also not be able to access facebook whilst in any part of China and no doubt considering the contents of this blog will not be able to access this either.

Something I appreciate and value more and more each day is my freedom.

Snow in the Solang Valley!!!

I arrived in Manali and the beautiful snow covered mountains of North West India freezing cold but so very excited at the scenery around me. I promptly sorted out my freezing situation with the purchase of some wonderfully warm snowboard trousers and jacket, along with a scarf and some ski gloves, and then I headed into the snow...

I traveled up to the Solang Valley where I'd heard it was possible to do some skiing and boarding. This has to be the craziest place I ever have and probably ever will ski and board. It was also a place where there there is no end of fun, yet at the same time there are also seemingly hundreds of different ways you can die.

The slopes aren't flattened at all and hardly anyone skis. So the snow, which when I arrived was perhaps at least three or four foot deep, captures you when you fall and does not let you escape without quite some struggle - each time you try to push yourself up, you just sink further down. At least though it is not at all painful when you go down. My problem with this basically completely off piste type skiing/boarding is this - I can ski fine but I cannot ski off piste, I can board off piste but I'm not very confident or all that good and so falls were frequent, especially in the steep areas that you could not avoid. I did however improve by the end of the week, perhaps partly due to me having flattened the snow a little which made things easier, and instead of falling over a million times and regularly loosing my skis, I could now make it all the way down the mountain without a fall.... if I was very lucky.

Now, ways to die:
Well, there are the obvious possibilities of doing so simply by falling over or falling off the mountain whilst on your way down. Then there are other perhaps less obvious possibilities which I shall try and explain.
At the bottom of the slopes are hundreds if not thousands of Indian tourists all dressed up in 80's full body ski suites and fury boots. They do not ski or board and if they go to the top of the mountain then it's just for the view and they then return to the bottom in the gondola again. So, one obstacle is avoiding them when you get to the bottom.
Then there is the possibility of being hit by one of the many quad bikes racing around and looking not fully in control on the snow. They also zoom across the ski lift whilst it's in use, as do very fast ski sled things and if you don't move then it's likely you will get hit. I tried not moving and they came so close that we touched.
Next there are the inner tubes of tractor tires that people slide at top speed in down the slopes hitting anyone in their way. The same goes for zorbs - huge inflatable balls you can go inside and roll down the slopes in.
There are also dogs, horses, yaks, and rabbits all running around which you have to do your best to avoid.
There are the power cuts, which if lasted long enough whilst your stuck in the gondola would I'm sure mean you froze to death.
In between sunshine and snow there were also amazing thunder and lightning storms, which could also lead to your doom.
And then there is the very real risk of being killed by paragliders even if you are not a passenger. They take off from the ski slope and then land amongst all the people at the bottom. When they come down, all beneath them have to run and scatter to get out of their way. They land on the ski slopes whether you are where they need to land or not and then spread out their parachutes right across the slope, which proves quite some obstacle to avoid. I also witnessed one smash into the lift right behind me and another smash into the lift building. Fortunately no one was hurt. I did question the amount of control they had, but apparently they were in full control at all times.

Despite all these dangers myself and everyone else there appeared to be having such fun. The atmosphere was so lively and joyful and I didn't see one miserable face. Whilst I was there it was Holi - the Hindu festival celebrating the start of Spring. People celebrate with powder paints and water and they helped us to do the same.

An unplanned visit to Shimla

A trip to Shimla was not something I had planned or was expecting to do. Leaving Agra I got the bus to Delhi from where I hoped to be able to get an overnight bus straightaway up to a different mountain town called Manali. When I arrived in Delhi though I discovered the buses to Manali had already left that night, so I booked a ticket for the following day and set out to find somewhere nearby to sleep. This proved practically impossible and almost drove me to insanity. It was late, I was exhausted, and everywhere I went myself or was directed to, told me no foreign tourists were allowed. In the end I gave up and traveled to a different area where my kind friends from Agra were staying who let me share their room. Apparently they hadn't been able to find anywhere in that part of town with a free room without a lot of searching, so I was especially glad they were there.

So the following day I set off for my bus to Manali. However, I miss judged the amount of time it would take me to reach where the bus left from and so I missed it! There was no way that I wanted to go through the whole performance of trying to find a room again and so a bus to Shimla - on the way to Manali - seemed my best option.

Although particularly cold at night, Shimla was beautiful and I'm very glad I came. It's a little town set high up on a ridge in the middle of mountains. No vehicles are allowed in the town center and it was full of small shops and cafes that reminded me of Europe.

Agra - The Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Domino's Pizza

Two particularly nice things happened on my journey to Agra. The first was that I found a couple of new friends with whom to share my journeys and my time with. The second was that I saw the first of what would turn out to be many sightings of mass amounts of wild marijuana, which on this occasion was growing along the side of the railway tracks.

We visited the Taj Mahal at sunrise the day after we arrived in Agra. Just a little tip for anyone planning to do the same - the ticket office and the gates don't open until after sun rise so actually you can spend longer in bed and not miss out on anything! Another tip if you're in that part of India is to not miss out on going. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen, along with it's gorgeous gardens. Something interesting was that as we lined up to get in, we found that the ladies queue was far longer than the men's. In India there are often separate queues for ladies and men but normally this has been to my advantage, as this was the first time the ladies queue was longer.

We found that we were too early for the museum, which was in the grounds, to be open. So after our early start we took a nap in the garden until we were able to look around what turned out to be a rather small and unexciting museum. Then that was it, we were finished and it had taken us all of an hour and a half, nap time included! Our next stop was a near by cafe where we found delicious chocolate cake for breakfast.

We felt we'd had a particularly active start to the day and so returned to our hotel and discovered something very exciting. Here, in India, you can order and receive Domino's pizzas right to your hotel room. What a find!

The following day we set off to check out the Agra Fort. The fort itself was pretty huge and impressive and had lovely views across to the Taj Mahal in the distance. Getting around or doing anything else outside that day was a bit tricky though. It turned out that it was election day and so almost everything everywhere was closed and the streets almost completely empty. This was very strange, especially in contrast to the normally hectic, full, and noisy streets that you can expect to face anywhere in towns in this country.

Temple Carvings in Khajuraho

Khajuraho is a little town with a large selection of amazingly intricately carved temples. As you can probably see, a lot of the temples have carvings of people in all sorts of interesting positions. I was told that these carvings were education for children.

Surrounding the main temple group were beautiful gardens full of pretty flowers, all sorts of birds, mongoose (who were very shy) and tiny squirrels (who looked to be having the best fun climbing and jumping over the temples and their carvings).

I spent a day exploring some of the local villages and finding some near by mountains. The view from the top went on for miles, but the climb up could have been easier had we been following a path and had I perhaps been waring more appropriate shoes than my flip flops.

I found a huge river full of boulders where a man was fishing. He was floating through the water, setting out his net, whilst sitting in what looked like the inner tube of a tractor tire. This could have been quite enjoyable for him and indeed he did seem happy, but he informed me gleefully that there were crocodiles in the river - something that had I been him I would have been more than a little anxious about.

Tigers in Bandhavgarh!

After an exciting time of a night in a posh hotel suite, a very overly persistent phone number stealer and caller, the most vomit inducing smelling/looking railway station, and a train journey with interesting people to talk to, I found myself again in search of tigers. Had I been alone, I think after Kanha I would have given up on the tiger hunt in the hope that perhaps another day I would be able to go in search of them again. However, thanks to a very enthusiastic new tiger searching friend I decided to try my luck in another National Park - Bandhavgarh.

Here our luck changed.

In Kanha we'd discovered that guides were automatically assigned to each vehicle and so it was complete luck as to whether you got a good one or one of the seemingly many not so good ones. So as we set off on our first safari at 5.30am in Bandhavgarh, we weren't at all sure what to expect from our guide. Our hopes of a particularly good safari lessened as our driver turned out to be a lover of speed, or so we thought, and raced so fast along the little tracks that had there been a tiger to see we wouldn't have stood a chance of spotting it.

But then in the distance appeared lots of other jeeps and we knew something good was ahead. As we stopped we squinted through the bamboo and could just make out a big tiger walking past. Bonnie (my spotting partner) and I both thought that this would be it and the tiger would shortly turn and disappear into the vegetation. The tiger had other plans though. He decided that today was one of those days where he liked to be seen, and so out into the open he came. He had a bit of a lie down and then got up and walked closer to us before lying down again. After feeling rested he jumped up, leaped down a bank and crossed the road in front of us. On the other side he'd left a kill and so after retrieving this he finally disappeared into the bushes on the other side. He certainly was a top tiger!

Apart from our wonderful tiger sighting, we also spotted a couple of jackals (yes that's right Naomi Mountain Sickness Goat - Jackals!!!) sitting next to the road on our way out of the park and some very pretty birds, along with plenty of deer. The park itself was beautiful with mountains, and autumn coloured trees. Now with my mission complete I decided not to do any more safariing and carried on with the next part of my journey.

Kanah National Park... where tigers were hard to spot

I went to Kanah National Park in search of tigers. But it turned out that the tigers there weren't really up for being viewed at that time.
We did see lots of different types of deer though and many, many peacocks. We also saw some rather sweet little owls in a hole in a tree, and a bison who liked to climb almost vertical banks.
In terms of cats, we did get a very good viewing of a jungle cat. He was perhaps a little bit bigger than a domestic cat at home, with spiky tufts of hair at the end of his pointy ears. We also got to sort of see a family of tigers. They were in the bamboo though and were very hard to spot. At first one of the cubs moved and you could see from the shape of it's head that it was a cat, but as to what at it was, well, it could have been anything - it was too dark in the bamboo to tell. Then another cub got up and walked through the bamboo. This time for a few seconds you could see that it was indeed a real life tiger. However, as it quickly blended in with the bamboo and went out of sight, you could also see how well they camouflage.
Although clear tiger sightings escaped us, we did see lots of tiger footprints and the huge scratch marks from their claws on some of the trees.
I also had my first experience of climbing on top of a bus in India.

Mountains in Pachmarhi

Pachmarhi along with Hampi has been one of my favourite places so far in India. It's a little town in a beautiful setting, up in the mountains in the middle of India. The people there are really friendly and nice to be around, and it's the perfect place for cycling and rock climbing.

If like me you have been informed that cows have the ability to walk up stairs but once there are unable to then come back down, then your informer was incorrect. This cow not only made it up the temple steps, but also made it back down without the need for any help at all.

At first on my journey to Pachmarhi we past through a dry, dusty, and flat landscape, all a grayish browny green colour. Amidst this were lots of ladies working in the fields who wore incredibly bright and colourful saris. All over the place were cowpats that had been molded into a thick pancake shape. Not something you'd want to eat, but something that here is an extremely useful source of fuel. They were laying out drying on the ground, stacked up in piles, or stuck to the side of houses.

Whilst I was in Pachmarhi people were preparing for Mahashivratri - the Hindu celebration of the day that Lord Shiva got married. This meant the town was full of visitors from all over India, due to it having many important Hindu temples. There was a festival atmosphere with markets and colourful stalls and generally everyone having fun.

There are stunning gorges all around the outskirts of the town and the rocks seem to have been formed especially to climb. I made full use of them, climbing right up as high as I could go, to be greeted by beautiful views and yet more rocks to climb. I was also greeted by lots of prickly plants, which at the time I didn't notice but for quite a while afterwards ensured my legs looked like they had been attacked by a number of particularly savage cats with very sharp claws.

I spent a day cycling through the mountains, managing not to get off my bike other than at one very long steep hill. This I feel was a particularly good achievement seeing as my bike had no gears. Everywhere was so beautiful, with each corner bringing something new and enticing to explore. I even found a good tree to climb, from which I could sit in it's highest branches and look out across the valleys and the mountains.

Lonar Crater

My next stop bought a little extra excitement with it, and reminded me of travel in Eastern Africa. No one could really tell me how to get there. I knew I had to get a bus to a different bus station in the town I was starting off from, so that's what I did. After that no one knew whether there would be a direct bus or if I'd have to get more than one bus, or what sort of times any of these buses might be leaving.
Amazingly it was very simple. When I got to the next bus station, there was a bus leaving straight away and it was going all the way to Lonar.

In Lonar there is a crater formed be a meteorite that hit the earth there about 50,000 years ago. Now the crater is filled by a lake.

This was a place that I don't think many tourists visit. Everyone was very friendly, but all seemed quite surprised to see me. Even finding a hotel was a mission as none of the writing was evident in English. It turned out that not many of the people there spoke English either.

There were lots of hairy black pigs all around the town. In the absence of finding any restaurants or cafes I bought snacks wrapped in newspaper and tied up with cotton.

I had a very hot walk right around the top of the crater. The sun was so strong and there was almost completely no shade at all. I forgot to bring a hat so walked in style with my shirt on my head.

Ellora Rock Cave Temples

Getting to the Ellora caves was an event in itself. At the bus station no one really knew, or was able to tell me, when the bus should come. One bus arrived, which I was very pleased wasn't my one - about 100 people all tried to pile on to it through the one little door all at the same time. Not everyone could fit though, even if they did go on one at a time, and when the bus was pulling away people were still taking a run up and jumping at the now blocked doorway to try and force their way on. Eventually a couple of people were pushed off and the door was then closed. I'd met a friendly family who were also going to Ellora so I waited with them. Jodi - the mother - gave me a ring and said we were friends, which was very nice of her. When our bus came we had a similar situation as with the previous bus. Except this time everyone who wanted to get on the bus could fit. Amazingly we all managed to get seat and so were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. But as we began to reverse out of the bus station, someone shouted that we had a puncture. So after a time of confusion and not knowing whether we should get off the bus, or stay on, some people got off and some people decided not to. Jodi and her family stayed on, so I did too. Eventually we got off and onto another bus and then left straight away. But the people who'd got off the punctured bus immediately didn't get on the new one so I don't know what happened to them.

At Ellora, after walking up paths past immaculately kept gardens, which signs told you that you couldn't walk or play on or pick at any of the plants, you came to a huge Hindu Temple carved into a massive rock cliff. There were three different floors and so many different rooms and carvings. It's crazy to imagine the immense work that must have gone into building it. There was a temple inside the temple. Inside it was quite dark and as I was about to leave the security guard came up to me and offered to show me some special carvings with his torch. I confirmed that there would be no charge for this - normally everything here has a price - and then agreed. He the proceeded to show me all sorts of carvings to do with people having sex.One in particular he proudly showed me was of a man who was particularly well equipped but hadn't got a women. Because of this he'd put his manhood into a hole in a tree. It had then got stuck.

There were lots of people looking around the temples but I found myself in a place where no one else was. It was on the second floor and there was a lovely view over the gardens and back over parts of the temple. It also turned out to be a dead end. The problem was that when I noticed it was a dead end, I also noticed a monkey looking angrily at me. So, careful not to stare him in the eyes and make things worse, I slowly turned to go back the way I'd come. But there, almost right behind me were a group of three equally angry looking monkeys. As I've done (and failed at in the past) I tried my best to be brave and walk past them, but they weren't having it and looked very much like they would attack at any minute. I decided to go back and face the one monkey in the dead end. But I was being closed in on at either side and was trapped. I was also terrified. I didn't want to make a scene but I felt my only options were either to scream for help from the people below, but they probably wouldn't have any idea why I was screaming and even if they did they probably wouldn't have been able to get to me in time, or to risk death and jump off the roof. To my immense relief a group of people, unaware of my situation, walked near by and the group of three monkeys jumped away. I quickly made my exit pretending that no near death experience had just occurred, whilst literally shaking from the fear that I had just experienced. Like I say, never ever trust monkeys.

I think there were about 30 something temples all along/in the face of the rock. Although the biggest and perhaps the most impressive was the first Hindu one you came to, there were also Buddhist and Jain Temples. I found the Buddhist Temples to be extremely beautiful and the most peaceful. They often had such pretty lighting coming through the rock and shining on the carvings. I'm not sure though whether I preferred them or the Jain Temples. The Jain Temples were a very different style and made the Buddhist ones look almost simple (although in saying this I don't mean to take anything away from the Buddhist Temples) in comparison. They were also all linked through little passages in the rock, which made it fun to explore.

I found that to reach the Jain Temples there was a path that had been boarded off. This meant that if you obeyed the rules then you would have to walk an incredibly long way around, going back all the way you'd just come to get to them. Myself and another visitor decided that this would be foolish and so climbed around the gate and made our way down the little path next to a dried up lake. At the end of the path was another temple in the rock face. The doorway to the temple was the only way off the path, only a huge gate had been put up against the rock. This meant my climbing skills had to be put to good use and we climbed up, squeezing between the gate and the rock until we reached the top and could climb over and down the other side - success!