Amritsar & Dharamsala - backpacking adventure!!

It was a lazy Thursday morning thanks to 4 days of planned time-off (Thur-Fri & Mon-Tue) in anticipation of a trip to Dharamsala with my cousin, Hari. We hadn't made ANY bookings whatsoever, and the holiday itself was upon us. Frantically, we started a search for flights to Chandigarh and pretty much all flights were full. The tickets which were available were upwards of Rs. 17,000, one way. But we weren't going to give up so easily. Kingfisher was going through a rough spell (in a future reading of this post, its quite possible that it ceases to exist). And we managed to get return tickets to Delhi from Bombay for 17,000, for the both of us, starting the same evening!

Onwards from Delhi, we needed to figure out a way to Dharamsala in the middle of the night, as the flight was to land at midnight. On landing in Delhi, we asked around and it turned out that there was a bus service called (wait-for-it, this is legendary...) ... "Indo Canadian Transport"!! It started from Delhi Airport (T3) and would take us up all the way to Jalandhar!! On coming across this, we laughed our gut out, only an army of Punjabis coming from Cuhnedda could warrant such a name for a bus service. There were 4-5 buses starting every half an hour from 1am onwards.

1000 rs per head to get to Jalandhar in an AC bus right out of T3. Good deal. We eventually started at 2am, stopped in still-chilly Chandigarh (around 8C that morning), for breakfast and reached Jalandhar at noon. Very conveniently, there was an immediate direct taxi ride available from Jalandhar to Amritsar for Rs 200 per head. Again, provided by the legendary Indo-Canadian Transport! :-)

We checked into Hotel Sita Continental, a very basic hotel with just about enough to get by. Ok for 600 rs a night. After freshening up, we headed straight for Wagah border. The hotel owner was quite helpful in helping us plan our stay there and we might have missed the entire daily ceremony at Wagah he not told us that we needed to hurry up and leave asap. Shared vans/taxis ply from Amritsar market to Wagah, for about 100 rs per head. Although we were asked to not pay anything up-front, we did, and in the process ended up waiting for longer than promised to leave.

At Wagah, before the melee started, we had to grab something to eat, and dinked into a dhaba which is pretty much ON the final gate before you 'enter' the border. Satisfied after a brilliant thali, we proceeded towards the border. The ceremony starts at 5.15 pm and we got there about 5.20. Being a Friday evening, it was jam packed, at least on the Indian side with songs, shouting, flag waving et al. The Pakistani side was more subdued in contrast with a few pathan-styled people looking on and seemingly having a laugh at the frenzied Indian side. The atmospehere was no different from a cricket match - people were jostling for limited space, just to get a glimpse of their 'heroes'.

I was, as usual, trying to get some good shots in the process but no shot would ever be even close to the experience. Nothing like being there, live!

Bruised and battered after the exercise, we headed back to our taxi which would take us to Amritsar. By the time we got back in the city, it was close to 8 pm and there is only one place to eat when you go to Amritsar - the Golden Temple!

By night, the Temple is a view to behold. The sheer grandeur of all that glittering gold is unspeakable. The peace of night, with the background of chanting by the priests in the gurudwara brings a sense of calm to the heart and the world just seems to come to a stand-still.

We wandered around, took some snaps, soaked in the atmosphere (and watched some people get soaked in the cool water around the temple!), and then headed for the famous langar. On the menu was rotis, dal, chana curry & kheer. I think I must have had at least 4 of those humongous rotis. Each one was about three times thicker than what we have at home, fresh, and good to taste.

Barely able to walk after the colossus of a dinner, we made our way inside the temple. Gold and marble, everywhere. People cleaning the floor every 7 seconds. Quietness. Flurry white fans. Steep staircases taking us higher and higher, till we're on top. Witness the magnificent view around. Back out. Without a word. Speechless.

We walked it back to the hotel thereafter, for a well-deserved & much-needed night's sleep.

Waking up rather leisurely in the morning, we decided to bus it to Pathankot from where we would catch the Kangra Valley Express to Dharamsala (almost, it goes upto Kangra). The bus ride was a quite thrilling one with our driver seemingly on steriods and blazing his way through the green-fields-on-either-side roads.

On reaching Pathankot, we learned, much to our disappointment, that the Kangra Valley Express was no longer in operation, thanks to a bridge collapsing. We had an awesome lunch at a dhaba near the station & then went back to bus-stand to leave for Dharamsala. The direct bus took us up into the mountains in about 4 hours (for a 100km ride!) and we made it just about in time for dinner. We had booked a car for the 3 days and our enterprising driver, Akash, was down at the bus stand to pick us up in his trusted Maruti 800!

We decided to stay further up from Dharamsala, at a place called Naddi, which was quieter, cleaner & decidedly more scenic. We picked the last, and highest hotel in the place, with a room on the top floor. Being off-season, we were able to negotiate a good rate as well, of 800 rupees a night. For the view, which according to my brother, was comparable to any in Switzerland, it was a steal. Valley on one side, and the snow-capped Dhauladhar Mountains on the other. Usually, around this time of the year, the summer heat is already melting the snow, but with the winter leaving very very late in the year meant that it was still cool, and the mountains were full of snow.

After witnessing the sunset, we ordered ourselves a sumptuous dinner and took some much needed rest. Next day was going to be spent exploring Dharmsala, McLeodgang & Bhagsu.

I woke up early in the morning to take some snaps of the sun rising behind the moutains and it was well worth the cold, early morning. We headed out around 10, past the Dal Lake (which can be given a miss until its been fully redone) and reached the 'Church of St. John in the Wilderness'. One could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in the middle of a forest in France or Spain. Small in comparison to the ones I've seen in Europe, but set in peaceful, picturesque surroundings, it's surely a must-visit on a trip to Dharamsala. Surrounded by pine trees, cobble-stoned paths around it and no people around in general made it a distinctly European experience!

Bhagsu town was next on the list, and I really loved this place for the innumerable photo-walk opportunities that it provided. There was something weird and funny at every corner and the smiling people made the experience all the more unique. There was a waterfall about a 1km trek away but we decided against it as it seemed not too grand.

After this, we headed to the Dalai Lama's abode, Tsuglagkhang. The Temple was, expectedly, peaceful with monks in red-brown overalls, old women swinging their prayer wheels and little kids with shaven heads practicing amateur martial arts. All with a view of snow-capped peaks, clear blue skies and cool mountain breeze. The Tibet Museum right before the temple was also a nice little detour, albeit giving a very one-sided view of the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Once in the temple, as it happened, we reached just in time for the free lunch being served there! Rice, dal & aloo sabzi, piping hot yumminess :-)

We had a heap of rice between ourselves, on one plate, and decided it would look a bit rude to ask for more. So we stepped out to have some momos just outside the temple. And they were absolutely heavenly. I think I had about 6 in no time. Spicy, steaming hot and with crunchy vegetables inside, they were the best momos I had ever had, and probably will ever have! And at one plate of 4 momos for 10 rupees they are definitely going to be the most inexpensive ones I will ever have!

One can see the Dharamsala cricket ground from many spots in & around the city and we thought it would be an ideal time to go and take a look around there just after lunch. We reached in time to catch a few overs of the Deodhar trophy game between Punjab & UP. Mohammed Kaif was batting and Harbhajan Singh was bowling. But we were hardly looking at them. The view from the ground was absolutely stunning. No wonder Shane Warne called it the 'most beautiful ground that he has ever played in', and he's played in quite a few, I'd imagine! So as Harbhajan was getting tonked for sixes all over the park, we set out again to my most anticipated leg of the trip - Paragliding!

I have always had dreams at night about flying. Usually they are set in and around very familiar places, like home or school and I'm simply floating around waving hellos to people and generally smiling all the way. When I heard our driver say that we could go paragliding, my heart skipped a beat. I really, badly wanted to do it. I was just hoping Hari wanted it too. He gave a rather questioning nod and we were ON! And at 1500 rs per ride, it sounded like quite a steal!

We drove up a hill and there was a team of skinny yet strong pahaadis waiting for us! I couldn't contain my excitement. Within minutes I got ready and we were all set for take-off! All I had to do was run, and jump right off the hill! My guide/instructor was hooked on right behind me and would do all the maneuvering... Looking at a piece of white cloth on either side of the launch pad for the exact wind direction, he shouted run and off we went...! For the first few seconds I couldn't believe we were actually flying, it felt like a dream! The wind buzzing around, the trees calling out and waving hello below me, the instructor non-chalantly asking me if I was comfortable... it was an experience of a lifetime. Of course I was comfortable, who wouldn't be comfortable in heaven! I must have been a bird in a past life, everything just felt right. Then slowly we descended towards the landing strip, over a bunch of boys playing cricket, over cows grazing and under the watchful eyes of the eagle soaring above.

We waited for Hari to land after we did but he never came. As it turned out the wind had died down and he couldn't take off at all... He came down by car and we rode off back to our room to catch the India Pakistan Asia cup game, where Virat beat 'em black & blue.

The next day was going to start with another paragliding session so Hari could get his fill and I could get another go, this time with my camera! I conveniently videod the entire flight this time and decided for myself that this was certainly NOT going to be the last time I rode a paraglide!

There was a stream running below a nearby temple and we had our wish of touching pure, cold, fresh-from-from-a-melting-glacier, water, granted. We could have spent hours there by the stream/river, but there was much more to do, much more wonder to discover...

Next stop, Norbulingka. This is an institute offering courses in Tibetan Culture. The Hotel there was absolutely top class and I would suggest you stay there in case you're going on a family kinda vacation (ie not backpacking). It was slightly on the expensive side, at 2500 rs per room per night, but the surroundings and high quality room furnishing would have been well worth it. Overall, Norbulingka is a nice little university-library kind of place where you can spend hours reading in the quiet environment, order some snacks & drinks and then read some more!

We were nearing the end of our time in Dharamsala and I was particularly enamoured by the idea of doing a trek up to Triund as I was told that I could see some snow/ice on the way. Triund is about 6km from Dharamkot which is like the highest point you can get to by car in the area. It has a few smartly positioned meditation institutes and the whole place is peaceful, in the lap of nature. Hari decided he was too unprepared for a 10-12km trek and opted out. So I was on my own, armed with a camera and a mini-shawl if it got cold.

I started up really quickly. After the first 200-300 meters itself though, I was running out of breath and getting second ideas. I thought to myself that I run 4km everyday, surely its all in the head that the oxygen here is less etc etc., pulled up my socks and started running up after a short break. That was the last break I took for a while as my sails dramatically found some wind and I was gallopping up the slopes. The road/path was quite clear and only at one point did I need to stop and ask for directions towards Triund. At every corner turn around the side of every hill, was a magnificent view of the valley, but also the promise of an even better view at the next corner. That's what kept me going and before I knew it, after about 1 hour of trekking I was seeing large masses of ice in my path. The air temperature could not have been less than 15 degrees. Although I was wearing just a cotton shirt and no thermals, I wasn't feeling cold at all. The running up was clearly burning energy, and that was enough to make me feel warm. As I went higher & higher, I passed increasingly larger masses of snow. It was around 5 in the evening and I was starting to think of making my way back lest it become too dark. At exactly the half-way point in my 3hour trek, I turned around and started heading back. The views that I had captured were simply breathtaking, and will remain some of the most beautiful natural scenic experiences I will have in a long long time.

I got back to Dharamkot, and onwards to Dharamsala, just in time to grab a quick snack before our bus left to Delhi. It was a rickety old one, albeit with AC, and the tired legs and body ensured that I got a fairly good night's sleep before the flight back next day to Bombay.

We had been away just over 5 days, but the rich, intense & ultimately beautiful experiences made me feel that we were traveling for a couple of weeks at least. Overall, the backpacking adventure turned out to be exactly that - adventurous, unplanned & backpacked all the way!

Sri Lanka!

In late July 2011, I was planning a trip to Sri Lanka - mostly cycling along the east coast. But unfortunately, it didn’t quite materialize and the plan got shelved. As a travel destination, it was always on my ‘must do’ list, because of its pristine natural beauty, and more importantly, because it was still not as commercialized as say Goa, or, Kerala. But I also wanted to do a trip quickly lest commercialization catch up, with the civil-war now over, and with the Lankan government eager to promote tourism!

So I jumped at the opportunity when my lovely aunt and uncle told me that they were doing a trip in Jan and everyone was invited! I usually like to take a lot of inputs and plan my destinations, but this one was all going to be done by a tour operator (Royal Holidays), and I thought it’d be a nice change to just sit back and see what the place has to offer. My brother, Shyam & cousin, Mridula, were on board as well and it promised to be a great family time in a beautiful country.

The visa process for Sri Lanka was simple. A short form to fill out online, pay the fees, and that was it. Everything was done and dusted online and we could just fly in to Colombo and the ‘stamping’ would be done.

Shyam & I were flying the beleaguered Kingfisher airlines from Chennai to Colombo, and were pleasantly surprised to be served beer (Kingfisher, of course!) on the plane. We landed at 2 in the afternoon to bright sunshine and a cool-ish breeze. Sri Lankan weather is typically tropical and unpredictable, so I was going to take every clear day I could get!

After waiting for about an hour for aunt & uncle to arrive, we were off, on our shining Nissan Caravan with our two guides. I found the cars in Lanka to be a confused mix of the old and the new. There were the 1960’s, boxy-looking, blue-colored-now-looking-brown sedans and there were the brand new aerodynamically designed Toyota Prius kind of vehicles. Clearly, the country had gone directly from pre-civil-war directly some 30 years on to a new set of vehicles.

Anuradhapura

Our first stop was going to be the historic city of Anuradhapura, a good 4 hour drive from Colombo. The road was a good one and the drive reminded me distinctly of the border between Tamil Nadu & Kerala – dotted with bustling villages every few minutes, and forests in between! There were ‘beware of elephants’ signs all over the place and I even managed to catch a glimpse of a couple foraging just off the road.

We reached in time for dinner at the Palm Garden Village, and were welcomed by a lovely, smiling old man; the kind who give that impression of having achieved absolute fulfillment in life. On the other hand, was me with a clearly not-fulfilled stomach! I was famished and eagerly looking forward to my first Sri Lankan meal. I began eating (and by the end of the trip I would lose count on how much fish and rice I had). At least 3 different fish dishes in every meal, very south Indian in preparation with coconut and chillies and spices. Even as I write this several days later, I’m almost drooling over my laptop just at the thought of all that yummy food!

The hotel was a decent one, reminded me of The Leela in Goa in the way it was setup, but of course there was no beach nearby. Rooms were in cottages which lay sprinkled across the pond and tree-filled landscape. We were going to get some much-needed rest before we went out exploring the ancient city in the morning.

We were up early in the morning (7ish) so we could have a heavy breakfast meal and leave. We headed to the Bodhi Tree (not the actual one, of course, but one which had come up from a branch that King Ashok had gotten planted centuries ago). The entire place was swarming with monkeys, the large langurs. Langurs are known to be relatively docile, especially compared to the common rhesus monkey, which are known to wreak havoc wherever they go. Being a Sunday, the Bodhi Tree and the accompanying temples weren’t exactly peaceful with tourists and locals swarming the place. We walked around for a while. Meanwhile, Shyam managed to get lost and we had to spend a good 15 minutes looking for him.

The grand stupa was quite a sight, and the walk around it was particularly peaceful. It was about 2 hours well spent. Despite the crowds, I left with a sense of calm. Looking back, I would surely have had Anuradhapura on my own itinerary as well, but not on a Sunday.

Habarana

A couple of hours drive from Anuradhapura was our next stop, Habarana. We reached in time for a late lunch at our beautiful hotel, the Cinnamon Lodge. The layout was similar to the Palm Garden Village, but the rooms were far better furnished. We were up on the first floor of a cottage house that opened out to balconies on both sides with views of gardens. Monkeys were scampering all over the place, but looked more mischievous than menacing. There were several weird looking birds and animals, including a large squirrel about 4 feet long that looked like a cross between a squirrel, an otter, a beaver and a mouse. All in all, interesting, but quite ugly!

After a short nap soaking in the atmosphere, we headed off in the evening to see some ruins. After my experience of sheer grandeur in Hampi a couple of years back, it was difficult for me to really appreciate any set of ruins that I saw. And honestly, these were quite ordinary in themselves. There were a few Shiva temples as well but too little was left of them to imagine what they would have been in their heyday! There was a huge, beautiful man-made lake nearby which glimmered in the evening sun, which was the highlight for me. Evening approached pretty quickly and we headed back to the Cinnamon Lodge for some rest and dinner. On the way we booked ourselves for a ‘day in the village’ package the next day which would take us on a bullock-cart and a catamaran, and end with some home-made lunch.

The dinner and service was impeccable and the Cinnamon Lodge was quickly becoming one of my favourite hotels that I had been to. We ended the evening with Shyam treating us to some live music with his guitar.

The next day we were off for our ‘day in the village’ package at about 9.30 in the morning after our usual sumptuous breakfast (string hoppers & fish curry nicely settling in my tummy). The bullock-cart ride was bumpier than the bumpiest roller-coaster you can imagine and we were all laughing our guts out at how much fun it was! Our guide was a 20-year old IT student who spoke English in bits and pieces, including some well-rehearsed lines that were a little less fun than the ride itself.

The catamaran was waiting at the end of the bullock-cart ‘trail’. I had never been on one, but the experience was like in any other boat, except there was no sound of any motor so it was nice and quiet. We saw several species of birds, a blue kingfisher, a red horn-bill, birds standing on leaves floating on water, and many random looking ducks. It was quite clearly, the highlight of my trip till that point. I could’ve spent hours there and not realized it. We stopped on an island to have some fresh tea and take a walk around looking at some plantations. Another 15-minute catamaran ride later we were at a clearing for some well-awaited lunch. Brown rice and fish. Satisfaction!

After the meal, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. The evening was going to be a safari jeep ride into the forest to see some elephants. It started rather promisingly with us having a whole jeep to ourselves and the forest looking dense and inviting. But, as we went in, all we could see was elephants everywhere. I could have done with some leopards and tigers! The ride was fun, what with the open-top jeep and all, and that was about it. We had paid quite a sum for the ‘safari’ and I’d surely have given a miss in hindsight!

We closed out the evening with dinner at the Chhaya Guest House which was right next to the Cinnamon Lodge, with just as good food but about 20% less expensive. They also served us our first taste of Lankan brewed beer called Lion beer. The food was excellent and the tiring safari ride made me eat more than my usual fill. The next day was going to be transit to Kandy, with stops at the Caves of Dambulla and the Spice Garden.

Dambulla-Kandy

We set off early on Tuesday morning and headed towards Dambulla. We were greeted by a gigantic golden Buddha Statue at the base of a mountain. After buying some really expensive tickets (Some 1000 Indian rupees each!) to walk up the mountain, we started our climb. The stairs were broad and safe, and there were quite a few people walking up, gasping for air, us included! On top, was what looked like a horse stable at first glance, but each entrance to the ‘stable’ was in fact an entrance to a cave. There were some stunningly worked, huge Buddha statues inside the caves (some 3-4 cave-fuls!). The ceilings and walls of the caves were covered with intricate paintings, and it was quite wondrous how all of this had survived for so many centuries. To think that this land had avoided a war for so long, but fell by the wayside in the 20^th century is quite sad.

After a stop at the Spice Garden where we looked at trees of some common spices, we headed straight for Kandy. Driving through Kandy, as we made our way to the hotel, it seemed like a typically large city and I really didn’t feel as though we would see much here. The lunch menu at our hotel, The Mahaweli Reach Hotel was rather limited and the service, non-existent. So we made our way to a restaurant in the city and had a relaxed lunch session. All through the weather had been perfect, without too much burning sun or a drop of rain.

After lunch and some rest, we were relaxing at our rooms while the ladies left for a cultural show. After 3 days of massive eating and relatively insignificant walking/climbing, I was itching to go and have a workout at the gym and decided to do that versus going for the cultural show.

We had seen enough Buddha statues in one day to give the famous tooth relic temple of Kandy a miss, so the initial two days in Kandy plan was cut short to one and we headed off to our next destination, the hill station of Nuwara Eliya.

It was going to be a long drive from Kandy up to Nuwara Eliya so we left early in the morning, about 8.30 am. On our way, we stopped at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Lush greenery, the sound of a river gushing somewhere in the background and the sound of a million chirping birds greeted us at the Gardens. As soon as I stepped in, I was quite clear that this was going to overtake the catamaran ride as my favourite place on the trip.

I’ve been to some beautifully kept gardens in Singapore, Paris & Berlin, but this garden was in a class of its own. They, in their current form, were, incidentally, made by a Britisher, after the British overthrew the reigning king of Ceylon some 200 years back. Lined by coniferous trees, perfectly trimmed grass and well-laid roads running through the 59 hectares of the gardens, it was a sight to behold.

Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya, a further 3 hours down the road is the Munnar of Sri Lanka. On the lead up to the hill top you cross endless tea gardens, so green that if you look at it long enough your eyes will not be able to distinguish any other colour! We even stopped at a tea factory to see how those leaves are converted to the black powder that we see in our kitchens. It was a fascinating process, simple, and efficient.

On reaching Nuwara Eliya, we checked into our truly grand, Grand Hotel. Huge rooms, high ceilings and furnished with old English upholstery, it had an absolutely royal feel to it. And the chilly, hill-weather completed the English experience.

There wasn’t much to do in Nuwara Eliya than enjoy the weather and views. The only real ‘tourist spot’ was the Hanuman temple and giant footsteps. We did that in the early evening hours and spent the rest of the time at the hotel. Dinner was at the hotel itself, not the usual buffet, but at the café.

We had an early start the next morning to take us to the last leg of the trip – Colombo!

Colombo & Galle

As is the case with most parts of the world, we had a relative in Colombo as well, and timed our departure from Nuwara Eliya so we would reach in time for lunch with them in Colombo! The drive was a tiring one as the road wasn’t too good and it was downhill!

We checked into the Cinnamon Grand and headed for lunch at one of the 14 restaurants in the hotel. By the time we were done, it was almost 4 pm, just about enough time to do some shopping (not for me!) and hit the gym (aye, aye!). Dinner was at the South Indian restaurant, again in the hotel, and it was pretty good.

The last day was going to be Galle, up and down. The drive from Colombo to Galle on the new highway was super-awesome, 100km in 1 hour flat! Galle welcomes you with a scenic drive right along the coast. I was instantly reminded of Marseille and Barcelona, only this was with hills on the side which really made the view all the more special. I love the sea and there was no way I was going back without a swim, what with the perfect climate (25° C!) and cool water!

We spent the afternoon lazing around at the beach and then went and met a friend of my uncle’s who took us to one of his jaw-droppingly beautiful beach-side properties. The baton had passed from the Royal Botanical Gardens to Galle.

On our drive back to Colombo for our last night in Sri Lanka, I was thinking where I would place Sri Lanka in my list of holidays. A clear #1 in terms of natural beauty, easily surpassing the likes of Goa and Kerala. Not exactly adventurous, but that’s down to the high degree of planning done by the tour operators who I thought did a good job overall. I’d have loved to see some more fauna, but then there are sanctuaries in Lanka where you can go see leopards and even whales. In the end, it was great spending time with family, something I easily forget in my urge to travel more!

Eurotrip 2.0: Day 8,9 - Krakow

After the incredible high of the football game, a 3-train journey to Krakow beckoned. From Prague to Bohumin, then Bohumin to Katowice and finally from Katowice to Krakow. The train out of Prague was scheduled at ten past midnight, and I left the football game 5 minutes before the end to get a relatively empty bus to Prague station.

It was biting cold at night, any colder and I’d have had to buy some extra protection. But for the time being, my gloves, Barca monkey cap & 4-layer clothing were doing their job!

At the station, I hoped to take a leak and grab something nice to eat before I got into the train. To my utter shock, all the toilets were locked and I was left wondering where I’d get to relieve myself. I was beginning to see a whole new reason why there were so many trees around the station. I quietly let fly on one and suddenly the world was a warmer place!! I can’t remember the last time I did that in India, but I certainly was going to remember this for a long long time to come!

A burger and fries later (yes that counted as 'nice to eat' at that time of night), I picked up my luggage, just as I had left it and headed to catch my train. It was going to be a 4 hour or so journey to Bohumin, then about half an hour’s stop-over, a train to Katowice, and almost an immediate train out to Krakow. I had picked up alternate schedules in case any of the trains were late, so that I didn’t have to go around asking when I can get the next train.

The train arrived at the platform a good 10 minutes before the scheduled departure and I found myself a nice little compartment. A tall geeky looking chap joined me and I asked him whereabouts he was headed. It turned out he was Czech and was a scientist with the European space agency, based out of the Netherlands. This was his regular route home and when I told him I was just coming from the football game, he told me to expect the train to be full of Czech football supporters. True to his word, within no time, a swarm of football fans flooded the relatively tiny train (must have had about 6-7 carriages at max). There wasn’t going to be any lying and sleeping that night; that was for sure! I was quite exhausted with walking all day and there wasn’t really any scenery to catch so I had a good sitting-sleep session! A large part of the crowd, including the scientist, cleared out at Ostrava and Bohumin was the next station.

I got off to be welcomed by the usual deserted platform. It was dark and I needed to figure out which platform my next train would be from. After a walk on the subway connecting the platforms and a close-look at the displayed time-tables, I figured which platform to wait at for the train, and got there. Again, nobody in sight. It can get quite unsettling, especially when it’s cold. I was just hoping my mind was not going into hypothermia when it was reading the time-tables and platform numbers. The train arrived a good 10 minutes after scheduled departure time, and I had a feeling I was going to be late for the next one.

The journey from Bohumin to Katowice was quite uneventful. I was expecting Polish officers to come checking for passport, visa etc., but nobody turned up. The train reached Katowice station a good forty minutes behind schedule, and I was going to have to wait for about an hour for the next train. I got out of the platform onto the train entrance where there were about eight chairs, all full of people sleeping. I was reminded of some of the scenes from a game I used play, Max Payne, and also from the Matrix where Neo has his whole fight scene at a train station with Smith. I wandered around for a little, hoping that one of those sleeping would get up and I’d get some place to sit. Luckily enough, someone got up within a few minutes and I could get place to sit and begin my thumb-twiddling. It didn’t look like a particularly safe place, the station, with some rather sorry looking people occupying the chairs. All I was thinking about was when I was going to get on that train.

It was scheduled to depart from a side-platform which was made EXACTLY like the platforms 6 & 7 at Andheri station, just that there was only one instead of two. On it stood a joke of a train, 3 bogies long, a tin-box that seemed to be made out of scrap metal at best. AND, the doors wouldn’t open! I wondered if it was the right train. I paced back to the train schedule display board and it said that that was going to be the platform where the train would be. I walked back to the train. 5 minutes to departure. As if on cue, it breathed into life, lights in the compartments, and the doors slid open automatically. Phew! I stepped in, and was one of only three in the train as it chugged off the station.

I finally caught some much needed sleep but it wasn’t quite enough as it was quite a short journey. As the train pulled into the station at Krakow, I distinctly remember hoping that the weather was going to be kind to me, despite the forecast saying that it was going to be 0° C, and raining. The sun was shining at that point, and I needed a map, as usual. There was a big sign saying INFO where I was hoping I would get some directions to my hostel. Instead, the lady at the counter just shouted “NO” when I showed her the name and address of the hostel. Not quite what I was expecting for a city that’s famous for tourism in Europe. I asked a few people on the street, and surprisingly nobody seemed to know. AND, I couldn’t find a map! So, the last resort of a tired tourist, I went up to a cabbie and asked him to take me there. After a lot of bargaining, he agreed to take me to my hostel, for the equivalent of 200 Indian rupees, a grand distance of 1km from the station.

Hostel Mundo was suspiciously tucked at the back of a derelict building. As I approached the entrance, I wondered if this was indeed a hostel or some kind of shady, druggy, place. Luckily, on entering, the reception and interiors were posh and there certainly weren’t any shady people lurking. It was a neat hostel with Country themed rooms and I got to stay in the USA room (Duh!). There was an India room too, and that made me momentarily cheesily proud!

When I looked at the map that they handed out to me at the reception, (the journey from the station to the hostel was my judge of distance), it became quite clear that Krakow was a VERY small city. Another walking tour beckoned. I had a quick shower, and headed off for my first Polish lunch. At the foot of the Wawel Castle was a restaurant by that name (in Polish of course – Pod Wawelem), and I had THE MOST AWESOME 7 course lunch meal for just 600 rupees. Poland was clearly not nearly as expensive as Western Europe! And it helped that the meals were served by some of the most stunningly beautiful looking set of waitresses that you’ll ever see. I didn’t feel like sleeping anymore!

As I was gorging through my meal, it started raining outside and I could see people scurrying for cover. Then the colorful umbrellas came out as the rain continued. I slowed my eating pace further, and sipped on my glass of dark Polish beer. Bliss! My finishing the lunch perfectly timed with the sun coming out and the rain stopping. I was clearly having ALL the luck going my way through the entire trip!

I walked up Wawel Castle and was treated to a most magnificent view which the kings of past would surely have enjoyed.

After the castle, I was eager to get to ‘the largest square in Europe’, which was just a 10 minute walk away. On the way was a beautiful looking church which was typically peaceful inside with good stained-glass work and not to mention, the usual tourist sales counters selling coins and such.

Getting to the square, around 5 in the evening, with the sun just setting, I started my experiments with my camera, trying to capture just the right amount of light. It was a big square, but it didn’t quite feel like 'the biggest’ in Europe'.

Surely there were bigger ones. Probably why it didn’t look so big was there was a big market right in the middle selling all sorts of stuff from magnets to monkey caps, mostly with Krakow written on them. I bought some souvenirs and by the time I headed back to the hostel it was around 7.

I was joined in my room by two hopelessly drunk, and overflowing with shopping bags, Australian girls who couldn’t stop smiling coz they thought they could never get to shop so cheap anywhere in the world. They’d obviously not been to India or Malaysia! I went over to the reception and asked for a good place to close out my trip with a drink and some nice dinner. They generally pointed towards the Jewish Quarter, and I left, on foot as usual, to go there. Half way through my walk I realized I had left my monkey cap in the toilet and I ran back to ensure I had not lost it! Luckily it was still there, and I could resume my walk, under the protection of my cap then!

The Jewish Quarter looked like a typical drinking place lined with bars and restaurants, with cigarette smoke billowing out of most of them. I walked over to one of the more open places, and ordered my beer and pasta. Through my dinner, some guy on the next table dropped an entire jug of beer on himself eliciting smiles from tables all around. The general happy atmosphere and the beer made me go back with a smile to the hostel. The morning was going to be an early one for my flight to my final stop on the tour - Paris, where I was to meet my cousin sister, friends and finally fly out back to India!

Eurotrip 2.0 : Day 6,7 - Prague, and the beautiful game!

Berlin to Prague is one of the most scenic train rides you’ll ever do. The train rolled off at 5 am from Berlin (4.59 actually!). With less than 20 minutes, cumulative, of sleep all night, I was looking forward to a nice nap on the train. Before I could get settled in, show the TC my tickets et al, the sun was beginning to break through and the stunning countryside was in full view. Clearly, there was going to be no sleeping on this one! Soon bathed in sunshine, the rivers and hills soaked with greenery were rolling by.

The 4½ hour train ride went by in what seemed like 20 minutes! And then I remembered that I hadn’t slept. But then as I stepped out of Prague station, this captivating city woke me up again. There’s a beautiful garden right outside the train station and loads of trees around. You would never think you’re outside a busy train junction! The weather was just about perfect with a light breeze and warm sunshine, around 18° C, I later gathered. I had booked myself into Hostel Elf, which was supposedly a 15 minute walk from the station. I thought I had gotten my directions right (from the hostel’s website) but I wasn’t carrying a map and ended up taking a wrong turn and walking right into the old town. I then walked back to the station, bought a map for some 60 crowns (1 crown ~= 3 rupees) (which served me excellently till the end of the trip). On my way, at one of the crossroads where I was trying to figure out where to go, I remember being helped by a most stunningly beautiful woman who appeared out of nowhere, gave me directions, and then promptly disappeared. It felt like almost divine intervention at that point coz there was nobody around and I had inexplicably forgotten the name of the road where I was to find my hostel!

The receptionist at Hostel Elf was typically helpful with the room setup, etc. and it was quite a breeze checking in. It was 12ish, I was hungry and I was also very determined to get tickets to the Czech Republic vs Spain match the next day. As I was about to leave the room, an old white gentleman walked in and asked me in perfect Hindi “Namaste..! Aap kahan se hain?” (Where are you from!?). For the longest time I didn’t have a reply. I was shocked to meet this white guy speaking perfect Hindi in Eastern Europe! Turned out the cheerful old man was extremely well-traveled, had been in India several times over a period of 25 years, had acted in Tollywood & Bollywood movies, done social service during floods in Orissa, and pretty much fallen so much in love with India that he kept going there every year. But he had not gone for the last 15-20 years, because he thought "the country had changed, for the worse, the innocence was lost and the big corporates were running things…"

After a quick chat with Dennis, I set out on my quest to get a ticket for the game. That was quite clearly my objective of coming to Prague - not the bridges, not the castles, not the hills and not the valleys! The walk to the stadium was a long one. Up and over a hill, for about 1 hour. I reached by around 2pm. Luckily for me, the ticket counters were ready to open only by 3. And there was, shockingly, not a soul in sight! I dinked into the McDonald’s by the Letna stadium to catch a filet-o-fish and some fries. Exactly the same as you’d get in India, heavy junk food which makes you feel queasy in 30 seconds. Yuck! But I didn’t really have much of a choice, there was nothing else around!

Then I strolled across to the ticket counter and one elderly Czech man had made his way there. We figured the common language that we could both speak and understand was French! So he was talking his fluent, but slowed-down-for-me French, whereas I was struggling with my pronunciation, but we managed to get a conversation going! Turned out he was a huge fan of Sparta Prague and was looking forward to an International game for a change. We talked for over an hour about football - the world cups, great games that he had watched live and how much we both enjoyed specific moments in some matches. It was the kind of joy only a true football fan will know. As the 3pm deadline for the ticket counter to open approached, a few people, around 25 had queued up behind us. It included a young Spanish guy from Granada, Javi, who was studying to be a doctor in Prague. He too joined in the conversation (thankfully he spoke English) and we really hit it off well talking about our favorite team, Spain.

The ticket counters opened and we got our tickets within minutes. I was shocked that I got the tickets for Rs.1,500! When I had checked online, the least that was available was 200 pounds (16,000 rupees!). Teary eyed, I smelled the ticket, ran my fingers over it, read and re-read it – yes it was real! YES, I was going to watch Spain LIVE! And a humongous bonus was a free pass to a training session later that evening. I was in seventh heaven.

I took an extended route back to the hostel to see some of Prague’s sights, but I don’t quite remember going wow with anything, I was too pre-occupied in my head with what was going to transpire in the evening at the training session. I reached the hostel, took a shower, and was ready to go back to the stadium. I met Anna on the way for a drink – we’d connected on Couchsurfing and she gave me some tips on what to check out the next day, and helped me on my way into a bus which would take me directly to the stadium.

Then came the big moment. I walked into the stadium, 7pm, the smallish crowd cheering the Spanish team coming on to the field for a 1 hour training session. I was there. I walked down almost to the touchline and grabbed a seat. Xavi, Silva, Villa and Mata started whipping crosses for the likes of Torres & Puyol to head into goal where the giant figure of St.Iker was diving around. All this, just 20 feet away. I had tears in my eyes. No jokes. This was really a dream come true. It had been a great trip so far, but I could easily give up anything that I did, or anything that I was going to do, whatever screw-up could happen on the remainder of the trip – NOTHING was going to take away this moment. I had missed going to the World Cup in South Africa after having everything booked, and I had come to Prague with a singular goal, of watching Spain play.

The session was reminding me of my endless days of playing Football Manager. I could allocate time to different kinds of training sessions, crossing, 5 x 5, heading, etc etc., all of it was happening in front of my eyes. They switched to a half-pitch game with about 8 vs 8. David Villa was on fire, scoring goals from impossible angles. They were having an absolute ball. Torres was chugging along rather lifelessly and it was really sad to see a striker whom I’d admired so much in his Athletico days to be reduced to this. Xavi was clinical as usual, passing through an impossible maze of players and making goals out of thin air. The game went on for about 25 minutes. Intense running, close passing and breathtaking finishing! And after this tiring game, they all came to the centre of the pitch and started doing push-ups, 50 of them at a stretch. It was super-human. I can barely manage 10, and although I know I’m not exactly the benchmark on fitness, to do what these guys were doing and that too after THAT kind of a game, it was truly out of this world.

Xavi and Valdes concluded the session by doing some free kicks and brilliant diving saves, respectively. I could scarcely believe what I had witnessed, that too at such close quarters.

As the training session closed out, I decided to walk all the way back to the hostel. Must have been a 5km walk, at least! But the weather was perfect (around 14-15 °C), and the excitement of watching the training session was pumping energy to the last little toe in my body. I stopped for dinner at a cool looking restaurant close to the business area, and reached the hostel for my warm bed and a long-overdue sleep!

Day 2 in Prague was going to be a typical walk through the city, over the famous Charle’s bridge and up the hill to Prague Castle. I was a bit apprehensive about the weather as the forecast said 8°C and rain! I picked up all my warm clothes, as usual and left by walk first for the station. The walk from Hostel Elf to the station via on old, now-unused tramway was particularly memorable. There was absolutely nobody around and I wondered to myself as most Indian tourists in Europe would (where are all the people!?). It’s ironic that most foreign tourists in India find peace when they come to ‘crowded’ India, and Indian tourists abroad find it peaceful, coz there’s no noise & crowds!

I dropped my luggage off at the station, stored safely in a locker for the equivalent of Rs. 600/- for 24 hours. Quite expensive!

The walk through the city, Charles’ bridge, Old town & up to the castle was thoroughly enjoyable, and I recommend it highly for anybody wanting to truly see Prague. It’s a small city and it wouldn’t take more than a day to cover all the main sights on foot.

The weather was surprisingly holding up, no rain and no chilly breeze! In fact the sun was out, and I was even able to spend an hour in a random garden soaking in the heat and clicking photographs of an equally random statue in that garden.

I reached the castle right on time for the customary changing of guards and somehow found myself on the other side of all the action. There was a crowd waiting at the gate, and I was actually inside the castle walking along with these guards who were marching out to be replace the ones waiting at the gate. Good fun! The castle itself was beautiful and imposing, but I left it to another day to go exploring inside it. I had a game to catch! :)

I trotted along to the stadium a good hour and a half before kick-off, and as I had become habituated to, there wasn’t a damn soul in sight… Just a few policemen with sniffer dogs walking around in the distance! As I waited, a bunch of loud fans in Czech overalls came in, shouting, singing and generally having a good time of it. The crowd was slowly starting to build. Lots of dads with their sons, lots of young college groups and not to mention a ton of good-looking women, unquestionably there to Czech out their footballers!

As they opened the gates, my eyes went over to the back side of my ticket, which I had thus far guarded like Frodo guarding The One Ring. And what I saw sent shivers down my spine. In a big, bold sign, there was a camera with a cross on it. And I was carrying my HUGE DSLR Canon 500D with me. A deluge of thoughts flooded my mind:

“How the HELL did you miss seeing that on the ticket!? You should have seen it before! You could have easily left the camera in the locker at the station. You came here to watch a game, not to click photographs, what were you thinking!??”

My heart sank. I couldn’t believe I was soon going to be asked to step aside, leave the camera someplace, or worse still, go and keep the camera back at the station, and then come and watch the game. I moved up towards the gate, and moved my ticket over the scanner so that it screeched open.

Heart pounding.

I managed a smile at the security guard who took a long, hard look at the camera. All my prayers of all my mornings to that date would have to help conjure some spell on that guy to make him not notice the obvious camera in my hand.

He looked at me from head to toe, and then, without a moment’s notice, waved me IN, with a smile, and, what’s more, an “Enjoy the game!”

Relief... Ecstasy.

I was in! I went down to the seat, right behind the goal. The players were coming out for their warm-up sessions.

For the next 2 hours, I was under their spell. As Xavi & co ran circles around the Czech defense, I watched smitten, by the symphony of the beautiful game.

I left at the 80^th minute, to avoid the crowd and to get to the station on time. On time for my 3-train journey to Krakow, Poland.

Eurotrip 2.0: Day 3,4,5 - Berlin!

The train from Munich to Berlin was a fairly comfortable one. About 60 euros for a sleeper ride that was about 10 hours. We deliberately took a train that takes longer so we could sleep more. As the train started to approach Berlin, I remember some rather foggy bogs and horror-movie-set like dark, empty fields. Fingers crossed, hoping for bright & sunny weather in Berlin!

Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) though was anything but dark - a 5-floor mega structure with trains coming in and leaving at different levels, bustling eating places with people stuffing themselves with breakfast, and best of all, a glass front façade that helped the sunlight spectacularly illuminate the entire building!

We had booked ourselves into Wombats Hostel, which one of Berlin’s best rated ones. It was indeed impressive with a classy yet cool reception area, 6 floors worth of clean rooms and a nice bar on the 7^th. The folks at the reception were quite resourceful and had answers to pretty much all our queries.

The plan for the day was to do a ‘Free’ Walking tour of the city. We took a day pass for 2-5 people for ~15 euros so we could use any train or bus for the entire day upto 3am the next day. Only later did we realize that we could have taken a 3-day pass for much less and saved some moolah.

The ‘Free’ tour is actually free, but the guide calls out quite clearly that they ‘work on a tips-only’ basis and you’re pretty much ‘supposed to’ give a tip at the end of the tour. The group size is about 25 people, and a 5 euro per head tip means that’s a cool 100-150 euros for our ‘free-tour guide’ for 4 hours of walking and talking stories about each monument! Of course you could just give him 2 euros at the end of it, but wanting to demolish images of ‘chindi’ Indian tourists, the three of us paid a massive grand total of 15 euros. The trip also serves as segue for several ‘paid’ trips that our guide never failed to mention once every 20 minutes.

How was the tour? Well, it was alrightish, led by a humorous guy named Sebastian, who spoke QUITE a bit! We started with the BrandenburgerTor at Paris Platz - A nice ‘little’ gate on a nice little square with the Goddess of Victory (formerly Goddess of Peace) on top of it. It was the anniversary of the re-unification of East & West Germany and there were bands playing behind the gate which was not open to the public on that morning. Right next to the Paris Platz is the hotel where Micheal Jackson famously held out his son from the balcony. Room rents can go up to 15,000 euros a night. I mean, really? It doesn’t even have like a stunning view, duh!

Then there was the Jewish memorial, a photo of a soldier jumping over the Berlin ‘wall’, a car park which was formerly where Hitler’s quarters were, a memorial to the dead ‘sons’ in the war (both the Jews who were massacred as well as the soldiers of Hitler’s army – lives lost, are lives lost, I really liked the concept), Charlie checkpoint, a gay king’s palace, and that of his brother’s, a couple of museums and a restaurant where we had a snack break. Sebastian told us some interesting stories behind every monument/landmark/non-landmark and since I wasn’t exactly taking notes, I hardly remember any of it. But it was fun while it lasted.

The sun was really beginning to belt down and Sebastian’s humor was starting to turn into a bit of a rant. We wished it was over sooner rather than later and finally we got done by around 3. I was quite famished, and once done, we rushed to the nearest restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet and helped ourselves to a sumptuous meal.

We headed back to the hostel, got some rest, took a shower and headed back out for dinner. Berlin has innumerable good restaurants and bars to choose from and we didn’t go too far from our hostel, which itself is in quite a good area, and had a good meal. With me trying to keep off meat, it was usually a pasta or, at most, a fish dish that would be on the menu, with always a new beer to try. I found a particular liking to the taste of the dark beers and quite enjoyed sampling them at every meal (Yes, quite the ‘drunkard’ I was).

Berlin’s pubs are deserted till about 11, or so said many sources, so we drifted into one just after 12. It was called White Trash and was just a 2 minute walk from our hostel. Some really random music was on, and they for some reason I will never understand, had a screen showing some soft porn. We had a beer each and moved on to another place. Turned out later it was actually a café… The next place, was actually a pub with college-goers dancing away to glory completely out of sync with the music. I looked at them and went “Hahhaha! Idiots!”, at the same time realizing that I was laughing at myself 3-4 years ago doing the exact same thing J. The beer continued to flow, and after I was sufficiently sleepy, I made a beeline for the hostel and fell into a deep slumber almost just before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning started with the project of finding an awesome breakfast place. Out came the Lonely Planet Guide 2008 and we were off on this walk. And we walked, and walked, and walked. We must have gone up and down the same street some 7 times I think. Finally we figured the place had closed down. After all, it was the 2008 edition of the book, and the recession had since come and not quite gone! So we ended up having breakfast at around 12, and it was a cheese and salmon overload as our hungry stomachs gorged on anything in sight!

Then, while the ladies took a tour of this place, I took a 2 hour nap on the grass under the sun, contemplating the meaning of life & such. It was also the moment when I realized I should be writing my blog entries lest I forget what all has happened. So I headed back to Wombats to write this blog and the ladies went off to see a Nazi concentration camp! I had no intentions of doing that; it was way too creepy for me!

Dinner & drinks was further away from the hostel this time, in a place called Kurfurstenstrasse (I hope I got that spelling somewhat close to what it is)! We walked out of the station and felt quite out of place, as the place was teeming with ‘escorts’ just standing pretty much in the middle of the road. We walked for about 10 minutes to get to our destination – Einstein Café. The desserts were outta the world and we filled our tummies with unlimited quantities of raisins, ice-creams, and such. Not very friendly on the pocket, but I guess it was worth the walk.

We then headed up to catch a glimpse of the Reichstag by night. It is a truly imposing structure and has a huge open garden right in front of it. This is what I loved about almost all the buildings in Berlin – they were huge, magnificent, built by probably fairly megalomaniacal rulers, and they completely and utterly dominated the surroundings they were in. And they stood in complete contrast to the drab, aesthetically not-so-pleasing buildings of Capitalist backgrounds in the Western half of the city.

That was end of day 2 and day 3 was going to be a trip up to Potsdam, about 1 hour from Berlin to see a pretty little castle. I wasn’t too impressed with the place, but it was a bright, sunny day and good time to just soak in the atmosphere. We came back the hostel sometime in the evening and our stay in Berlin was about to come to an end. But not before we had made the long walk along the East End Gallery which has some really cool paintings on the last remaining piece of the famed Berlin Wall. It was an absolute delight to walk this stretch at night (it was about 9 pm), with absolutely no one around and a cool breeze floating around. I also saw my first spots of rain on this walk and I guess it was a sign that winter was just round the corner. My gloves, monkey cap and jacket were about to come in really handy in Prague & Krakow!

The train to Prague was at 5 in the morning and despite my relative lack of sleep in the days before, I was up, excited and wide awake in wonder as the train rolled by mountains and rivers and forests and about the most awesome train ride one could ever have!!