Anywho, I am avoiding what I should be doing...
Most of the remainder of my vacation was quiet and uneventful. I read, slept, cooked, and walked for most of it. Somewhere in there I was able to finally convince dad that he needed to come for a visit. Somehow he was able to procure a passport and visa in about two weeks. How exactly, I don't know but props to him for that. So, I headed down to Delhi to pick him up at the end of January. I couldn't go into the airport because of heightened security due to terrorist threats but I wore my bright yellow Woodstock jacket and hoped he would follow my directions and find me outside. After waiting for about 1.5 hours and a bit of jumping up and down to get his attention I was finally able to give the old man a hug after 6months.
I had our trip planned out (well, my travel agent did) and we had an early train back north early in the morning so we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit. That morning we headed to the station and after a bit of confusion we got to our platform and waited for the train to come. We even ran into some fellow Woodstockers as we waited for the train to come (late).
Our first stop was Haridwar, or specifically, Rajaji National Park. I had stayed there last spring during one of our breaks and really enjoyed the camp and thought dad would to. I soon found out, however, that the agent didn't book the camp I wanted. I guess there was something about a fire at the other one and they were repairing it. The one they brought us to was a couple of British built bungalows from the 18somethings all redone and made relatively comfortable.
Now, Haridwar is one of the holiest cities in all of India. This winter it was especially true. Every 12 years Haridwar hosts the Kumbh Mela. A city that is already packed with people starts to sprout tent cities along the river and it really is just a huge gathering of people. Dad and I, however, were there to relax and being tucked away inside the park, we did just that. There was plenty of hot chai to drink, safaris to go on, and sun to soak in while you read. The nights were freezing but I was more annoyed by having to deal with dad's snoring. I managed to get used to it soon enough (thank goodness) but I still didn't sleep very well. After my initial confusion as to why I wasn't at the camp I had requested I settled down and allowed myself to enjoy what was there.
We had another train to catch that would take us over to Amritsar in Punjab. I had set it up so that the taxi would take us to the train station in plenty of time to make our train. The train left at 2.30 so I wanted to be there by 1.45 and being in the park it took a while to get to the station. I asked for the taxi to be there at 1.00. When 1.00 came I was assured that the taxi will arrive shortly and that we should have some lunch. Lunch came at 1.30 so we ate and waited some more. By now I've gotten anxious. I hate traveling enough as it is but start giving me late taxis and I get nervous. Our taxi finally arrived at 2.05 and I was miffed. I was about to tell the driver to forget it and try getting there some other way but he assured me that we could get there on time. Sure enough he got us to the station at 2.25 and I curtly took my bags and found a porter to take us to the train. You know that you're in trouble when a porter looks at your ticket and starts to run with your bags. We made it but had to literally jump on the moving train. I wasn't sure if dad was going to make it but he got on a few cars behind me. The ride was relatively uneventful aside from the begger children that would board at each stop. We got in to Amritsar late and made a beeline for the hotel.
The next morning we got up and had a nice breakfast down in the hotel's dining room. We hired a taxi to take us around and spent the day going to the Golden Temple, massacre sites, and the boarder ceremony. The Golden Temple was phenomenal. I would put it way above the Taj on places to see. There are no lines to deal with and the majority of people are far easier to deal with. The boarder ceremony was a lot of fun. Indian and Pakistani troops get all dressed up and have a very systematic ritual of retiring the colours and closing the gates. There is a huge dance party on either side and lots of fancy marching and high kicking. India's side was by far more packed and lively.
We had an overnight train that would take us to someplace near our final stop on the tour, Dharamsala. After a frightful taxi ride in the wee hours, we arrived at our hotel at 7.00 in the morning and promptly went to bed. We got up in time for lunch and again took a taxi around to various sites. Of course, we would have been fools to pass up seeing the Dalai Lama's temple and went there first. Unfortunately, he was not at the temple at the time of our visit but we did get to see lots of monks and even a museum or two. We spent our time seeing various sites important to the Tibetan community and had a tremendously good time. I really enjoyed this city. It is by far my favourite part of my entire winter break. Personally, I don't think Mussoorie has anything on Dharamsala. It was just absolutely gorgeous (even if it was covered in hippies).
After another overnight train and early morning taxi we made it home to Mussoorie. I crashed while dad skyped with Cindy. Later that night we went into the bazaar to see some places and to celebrate dad's 65th birthday in proper fashion at the Tavern. That week I had to start work so I was stuck in meetings throughout the day and dad spent a bit of time at my place just relaxing. He got out a little bit to visit the scout office in Dehradun and we made it to the top of the hill and out to Flag Hill (even if he only made up half way).
Alas, it could not go on forever and that following Monday I walked him down the ramp one last time to catch his taxi to Delhi. It was a tearful goodbye but I think we both had really enjoyed the visit and would have liked to see it extended a bit. A cold front was definitely coming in that day and it started raining not long after I got back home. It was cold and quiet for the first time in weeks.
3 comments:
I know he misses you, probably more than you know.
Sounds like you both had a wonderful visit - makes me want to see it all based upon your descriptions!
aww, i'm glad you guys had a great time.
i can't get that picture of dad running after the train out of my head though. no wonder when i skyped with him dad was glad to be back at your house instead of traveling.
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