The Punbus

So there i was in the sleepy, mountain village enjoying the luxuries of being cooked for every day, walking through the mountain village to my yoga classes and going to bed at 8.30pm, when I had to make the harsh decision to leave and for some reason head into the mouth of Hades.

The Punbus (short for Punjab Bus) took me to Amritsar, a dusty polluted place where my white t-shirt soon became yellow. On the way I spent a night in Chandigargh with a friend from the yoga course and saw how a 28 year old indian bachelor lives. Chandigargh is the only planned city in India and was designed by a Frenchman who obvioulsy had little imagination or taste. It's basically just a load of grids and prides itself on being a city with no poor people, no litter and no smoking. It was a bizarre experience and genuinely feels like being in Europe, with Nike shops, bars and plenty of consumerism. Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, the Sikh mecca and it is absolutely breathtaking, and an amazing organisational feat. I'm sleeping in a free dormitory in the Temple surrounded by thousands of rooms and pilgrims sleeping on every available space of floor. The dining hall caters to 1000 people at a time 24 hours a day. you queue up for your plate and cup, line up in the hundreds on the floor and get a dollup of dal some chapatis and if you're lucky some rice pudding. Happy Days...and you don't even have to pay. Open to any race, colour, creed or status.

This afternoon I went to the Pakistan border which is only 30km from here and watched the Border crossing ceremony with lots of guards goose-stepping like a Monty Python sketch. It was strange being at the border and seeing all of the Muslims on the other side, looking very plain compared to the colourfully dressed Indians on our side.

Unfortunately I have to venture back to Delhi tomorrow morning. going to try to change my flight, then travel down to Rajasthan for the Camel Fair in Pushkar.

More news when there's not a load of curious people looking over my shoulder.