Blog from Ford about their trek & Amritsar. Photos from Alessandra from their time at Dharmalaya
Hello from the Shanti Crew!
Ford here, writing our group’s blog for the last few days in Mcleod Ganj and in Amritsar. Picking up from where Dani left off, our group was just leaving our Tibetan homestays and getting ready to head up to Triund, a mountain camp at the base of Dhauladhar Peak, on our trek in the Dhauladhar mountain range directly north of Mcleod Ganj. Kate and Dani stayed behind in Mcleod to enjoy some more time in the energetic town while the rest of team Shanti made the 7 kilometer hike with 3400 ft of elevation gain from the doorstep of our hotel lobby to our first camp. At the end of our first day we enjoyed views as far as our eyes could see over Dharmasala and a beautiful sunset before heading into our cabin for some dinner and Banana Grams. The next day we took a day hike to the base of the Indahar Pass. Along the way we picked up a few stray dogs and formed a pack of sorts. Hoping from rock to rock, we made our way to the old Durga Temple, on an adjacent peak, where our guide left a prayer and we made our decent back down into Triund. Once back, we practiced our shuttlecock skills and pampered some of the local camp dogs. After making the hike back down into town, ending our trek, we set our sites on our next destination, Amritsar, the home of the Golden Temple.
The morning we were setting out from Mcleod Ganj, we awoke to some startling news. The Indian government had started to cycle out the current 500 and 1000 rupee bills, making them basically worthless to most businesses and shops all over India. Banks and currency exchange shops were shut down for 2 days waiting for the new currency to arrive. Lines of hundreds of people lined up out the doors of all state banks of people with old currency looking to exchange all of their large bills. It created a few hiccups in our travels but we learned to make do until we had a day free to stand in line for hours to exchange a maximum of 4000 rupees per person. However much of an inconvenience it was, we made it through one of our toughest experiences in India so far and are better for it.
Amritsar, in the state of Punjab, is home to a large portion of the Sikh religion, the Golden Temple being a holy Pilgrimage site. We all experienced an incredible generosity from the members of the Golden Temple staff and the Sikh community in general. We stayed and ate in the Temple all without cost alongside thousands of Sikh pilgrims.
While most of our two days in Amritsar was spend in or around the Temple, our first night we made the trip to the Indian- Pakistani border to watch the well choreographed border ceremony, which was truly nothing like we expected. We arrived at the border and after a couple checkpoints we sat down in a stadium, about the size of a foot ball field, split down the middle by the actual border and two large gates in the center. The two countries’ portions of the stadium showed a small resemblance but had many differences. Before the ceremony both sides blasted music with clashing beats and sang along. The Indian side was filled with excitement as members of the audience rushed down the center of their side of the stadium to take part in what could be described none other than a dance party, as the audience on the Pakistani side sat waving their nation’s flag. The actual ceremony consisted of 10 members of both countries’ military in fancy uniforms parading about in front of their gate to music. The guards would take turns stomping and swinging their arms, making menacing faces at the members of the other country. This went back and forth for about an hour before the two nations flags were lowered and their gates were shut. The whole ceremony felt like a big sporting event with no winner, just two sides filled with a lot of history.
After our two days in Amritsar and many attempts to post this blog with spotty electricity, we headed back to Rishikesh for a yoga and Meditation retreat. More on that in the next blog!
Until then,
Shanti
