Amritsar

The last stop of our India adventure is coming to an end in Amritsar, Punjab state where it is also known as the Land of Turbans and Beard, and also home to more than 80% of the Sikhs in India.

Singh, literally “Lion”, is the name adopted by many Sikhs. Sikhism, founded in Punjab by Guru Nanak in the 15th century, began as a reaction against the caste system and Brahmin (Hinduism) domination of ritual. A belief in the equality of all beings lies at the heart of Sikhism and they believe in one god. It’s expressed in various practices, including langar, whereby people from all walks of life “regardless of caste and creed” sit side by side to share a complimentary meal prepared by hard-working volunteers in the communal kitchen of a Sikh temple.

Although they reject the worship of idols, some keep pictures of the 10 gurus as a point of focus.

There are five kakkars (emblems) denoting the Khalsa brotherhood:

Kesh - unshaven beard and uncut hair, symbolising saintliness (which explains why they wear TURBAN!)

Kangha - comb to maintain the ritually uncut hair

Kaccha - loose underwear, symbolising modesty

Kirpan - sabre or sword, symbolising power and dignity

Karra - steel bangle, symbolising fearlessness

Turban? checked.

Bangle? checked.
Sword? checked.
Loose underwear? checked. haha

Amritsar is home to Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. We stayed in the temple’s free dormitory, which is provided for pilgrims and foreigners.

Dormitory. Can't complaint when it's free.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The temple is really quite beautiful, said to be coated with 500kg gold. Coupled with the spiritual atmosphere and lively scene of colours and pilgrims, it should be on the itinerary of every tourists' India travel.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Up next.. Pakistan! Stayed tuned for the next post!

Delhi

Finally! India is coming to an end. hahaha because at this point, im so looking forward to Pakistan hoho. But first, which brings us to what we are doing in Delhi, to apply for our Pakistani visa.

Getting there from Agra, there are many trains transiting to Delhi but the most comfortable train is the Shatabdi Express which cost another whoppy 400rupees. But it would take just a short 2 hours, in an air-conditioned carriage, with a meal provided. The first air-conditioned train that we'll be taking in India.

The main agenda in Delhi was of course, to apply for our Pakistan Visa, which the procedure would take 1 week, including the weekend. This also meant that we have to stay in Delhi for one week. At this point of time, we were both feeling a little ill, so the one week also served as a resting point, a break from all the Indian hardcore style of travelling. The visa application is a time consuming process and ordeal, which includes the following:

Day 1 – Paying the Singapore Embassy in India a visit to obtain a Letter of Recommendation.

Day 2 - Collect the letter and submit it to the Pakistan Embassy with your application.

Day 3 – Interview carried out by Pakistan Officer.

Day 4- Collect the visa after about 2 hours wait (900 rupees).

Agra

Agra! Its pretty much the city on everyone’s India itinerary thanks to a certain white building with a big fat onion sitting on top of it. And with it, the number of visitors coming here every year doubles that of the city’s population, and we had just contributed to part of the statistics as well.

Stayed in the Shah Jahan Hotel situated just about 400 metres of the Taj Mahal, and it even has a view of it just outside the door. But the room cost us a whooping 600 rupees (not that its a lot, but its the most expensive we had so far)

Anyway, The Taj was constructed more than 340 years ago by the Emperor Shah Jahan for his second wife after she died giving birth to his 14th child. However, ironically after the completion of the Taj about 20 years later, he was imprisoned in the Red Fort (situated 1.5km away) by his son.

All he could do was to stare at the Taj Mahal from the fort for 8 years before he finally died. However, at least his son placed his tomb beside his wife at the Taj.The admission fee to the Taj Mahal cost us another whooping 750 rupees (23 SGD) but it was the fee for foreigners only whereas the locals need pay only 20 rupees. Roars! We find it really ridiculous but well... there was really nothing much we could do anyway. Maybe Singapore should charge the Indians or Indian tourists in Singapore SGD$750 for visiting the Singapore Zoo since Singaporeans pay about $20. Haha.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Behind the partition lies the tombs of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife

The Red Fort

Jaipur

Jaipur was founded by Maharaja Jai Singh II, and it is also known as the Pink City because he had the whole city painted pink to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876.

There is nothing much to shout about for this city. The usual touristy hype with too many people, too crowded and congested roads that are pretty badly polluted. It is just like another typical developed city that has lost its touch. Not to mention that it is still awfully hot here. Scorching.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thye can sleep anywhere, anytime, anyhow

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 







Jaipur (The Pink City), Agra (The Taj Mahal) and Delhi (capital of India) is also better known as the golden triangle route, as many would do these 3 cities in a row. However in our opinion, Jaipur is simply just over rated, and it is on many tourists’ itinerary only because it is near to Delhi and the Taj.

Another reason why i didnt really enjoyed the place. People actually pay to buy grass from a 'grass-vendor' on the street and feed it to the many random cows. On the other hand, a beggar with deformities sits just next to the cows but nobody even spare him a glance not to mention give him any money (picture below).

Such irony :(

Bikaner

320km from Jaisalmer is Bikaner, another desert town founded in 1488. Later when the British arrived, Bikaner gave the finest camel to them in exchange for their freedom.

Bikaner is also home to the famous rat temple.

Karni Mata temple, also known as the rat temple, is located about 30km from Bikaner. According to legend, Karni Mata, a 14th-century incarnation of Durga, asked the god of death, Yama, to restore to life the son of a grieving storyteller. When Yama refused, Karni Mata reincarnated all dead storytellers as rats, depriving Yama of human souls.

Took a rickshaw (20 rupees) from the train station to the GoGo bus station, and from there, we had to take another 40 minutes bus (20 rupees) that goes to Deshnok where the rat temple is.

As with other temples in India, it is always mandatory to take off any footwear before entering the temple. Whats not so usual was the belief that it will bring one bad luck if he/she steps on the rat and on the contary, if a rat was to run itself onto your feet, it will bring with it good luck.

And its not just the rats that are lying around, some people are even lying around in the premises. Omg.

Anyway, this is the rat temple. Went to the Camel Research Institute next and a return trip from the train station costs about 150 rupees. There is nothing much to see at the Institute, just 10,686 camels in the farm farting and shitting around. But they do sell camel milk at 5 rupees/ 200ml and camel milk ice cream for about 30 rupees.

Aborted camel foetus

Jaisalmer

Because it just so happens that no one else signed up for the camel safari on the same day as us, we pretty much got a personalized tour all to ourselves hahaha.

Ancient ruined villages

Our driver

The road to vastness

Camels awaiting their day of work to begin

Desert-cooked meal

Gypsy tentages in the background

Makeshift bed for the night

Zzzzzzzzzzz.....

Sunset

Jaisalmer

The 3 days in Jodhpur had already given us a taste of how scary the rising temperature can be. We barely survived through the heat in the city bordering the Great Thar Desert and the thought of going into the actual desert city itself seems intimidating.

The train ride to Jaisalmer took about 6 hours. By this time, i dare to say i m already fully 'India train-trained' and nothing will make me anymore uncomfortable than sleeping on dirty trains and having indians stare at me like i m not wearing anything. Like i said, travelling in India is not a holiday but an adventure. And taking a train in india is like going for war. But what i hadn't expected was the mini sandstorm brewing ahead and hitting us unknowingly in the train. We got a taste of the desert itself on the train. Within 20mins into the journey, we were both covered with sand, in our faces, mouth, shirt, even inside shirts (oh crap), backpacks, everywhere. Literally everywhere.You name it. And it was as if a mini Tsunami was hitting upon us on the train.

The train arrived at the Jaisamler train station at about 5am and as usual there are already about 564886 touts waiting outside the station, waiting to pull you up their vehicle to go to their hotel. Something different to note about the hotel touts here from the other cities was that they might charge you peanuts for the rooms, but beware that later that they would pressure or even threaten you to sign up the Camel Safari tour with them, or there is the possibility that they might throw you out of their hotel in the middle of the night.

We have chosen the Renuka Hotel from the good reviews we read that they will not try to hard sell their Camel Safari at all.

The highlight of this city is the Camel Safari, which i was really looking forward to. I mean, how many times in your life will u get to ride on your camel through the Great Thar Desert?!!! We signed up for the tour with the reputable Sahara Travels with a particular Mr Desert who has won many good reviews on travels forums and so forth. 

There are namely three types of packages available for the camel safari:

1. 3pm-9am next day for 1000 Rupees
2. 9am-12pm next day for 1200 Rupees
3. 9am- 6pm next day for 1400 Rupees

We took up the 9am-12pm package for the next day.

Its the the World Cup finals today! And fortunately for me, Hotel Renuka is bringing the only TV of the hotel to the outside of the building to show the match live. Yeshh!

World Cup finals of Spain vs Netherlands airing on the street alley outside our hotel

The Golden Fort in Jaisalmer