Chaos that brings calmness in India
By scott.poniewaz | June 29, 2006
Please click the image to see a photo gallery.
A quick hop across the Thailand-Burma border north of Chiang Rai to a market. Most of the Burmese border has waterways that act as the border, but when I say act, it more often tends to be used as a channel to swim across and in some areas is shallow enough to walk, but either way, at this point on the Golden Triangle, it is no more than a 15 meter swim across its murky water. As you walk across between the two sides you can see people below, Junta are seen patrolling armed along the streets, while women and children beg for your money. When you step into the immigration office for a day entry stamp, they hold on to your passport, stamp it, then you collect it on your way out. Behind the man checking my passport and collecting the 500 baht entry fee is a black binder with a piece of paper taped to it with the words “BLACK LISTED.” Getting your name in this book is anything but good. The brief run into Burma was much more in your face that I had grown accustomed to in Thailand as soon as my entry was made. A quick loop in the market and I was ready to head back… the people pushing Asian porn and Viagra in my face was all that I needed, though a new watch was definitely considered. Back into Thailand I went, but there was a race to the airport, as we only had about two hours to make our 45-minute drive and check-in for our flight to Bangkok, which we would then run across the Bangkok airport (the tunnel from domestic to international is 200 meters by itself, much less terminal two, and getting to terminal one). Another quick check-in for our flight to Delhi, which we ended up making in plenty of time, though we only had about 75-minutes from the time we touched down to the time we were supposed to be taking off on our next flight. Fortunately Thai Airlines was running on Thai time for this one. In to Delhi by about 11 and the hotel was the perfect end to a day that I ended up exiting Thailand, entering Burma, exiting Burma, entering Thailand again, then exiting Thailand and entering India. The crazy thing about flying into India was considering how close we are to major conflicts in the world. Just 45-minutes by air and I would be in Kabul, Afghanistan, tack on another hour and fifteen minutes and it would be Baghdad. The next day brought things even closer.
The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and headed for the Delhi domestic airport to catch a flight to Jammu. Jammu is situated in the Northwest corner of India and it is frighteningly close to the Kashmir area that is wrought with conflict. Things are noticeably different and can be noticed within minutes of being in the airport. The flight we took to Jammu, in the Jammu & Kashmir province, had extensive security due to recent bombings in the Kashmir region and terrorist threats, but also because of its longstanding conflict between India and Pakistan. When we checked in, we scanned our checked baggage, then checked in at the ticket counter. Once we checked in there, we had to fill out bag tags with our name, flight numbers and addresses and attach them to our carry-on luggage. On to the first security check where we sent our carry-on bags through an x-ray machine, walked through metal detectors, then a guard patted each person down and ran a handheld metal detector around them, obviously our boarding pass and passports were also looked at. The little baggage tags we put on our carry-on bags, those were stamped as well. On to the next step, where we began pre-boarding, but its not like the States. Here we again show our ticket and put our bag through another x-ray machine, making sure the tag on it has been stamped. If not, then you have to go back and enter the gate area again. After we pass through this, there is another person on the other side, who tells you okay, please step forward. You then go to another person that looks at your ticket and says, “Please step forward, then remember to go right and claim your checked baggage.”
“Do what?” I think to myself as I take another step forward, this time away from an airline person and to a military person. The man asks to see my ticket and show my stamped carry-on baggage tags. I pass the test and he signals for me to move to the right. At this point, you have to make sure that you clear your bag for the plane. If you don’t then your bag does not make it on the plane. You have to show your ticket again and point at which bag is yours. The airline staff member looks at you, your ticket, then your checked luggage tag and asks, “To Jammu?”
“Yes,” I respond and he tells me to go and board the plane. From the terminal, I wait to hop on a bus, which comes quickly, and yet another man asks to see my ticket and tags. Redundancy at its finest, yet it gives you a piece of mind, but also makes me wonder whether all this security is to create more jobs for the Indian people that are living in the boxes I saw along the roadside on the way to the airport or the people on park benches near our hotel.
Regardless of its true purpose, we hop on the bus and are driven about 100 yards to our plane and are asked for our tickets again and board the plane. Once on, its smooth sailing, but hardly fathomable that I am:
a.) Going so close to Kashmir, an area deeply rooted in conflict.
And b.) Going to see the Himalaya Mountains and the Dalai Lama teach in his hometown while he is in exile from Tibet.
Upon arriving in Jammu you quickly see the military presence. Armed military personnel patrol the landing strip in camouflaged huts, gun-toting soldiers walk around the baggage claim area, then gates, armored vehicles, jeeps and soldiers greet you as you walk out of the confines of the airport in what feels like 120 degree heat.
Our drivers that will take us the five and a half hours to McLeod Ganj, which is where we will stay for the next couple days, greet us. The driving is like nothing I have ever seen. Streets are narrow, sometimes dirt, but mostly paved. The drivers use their horns rather than turn signals and pick what are probably the least safe times to pass ever. The students are worried, but I rest assured knowing that these drivers have a system down and as I studied it over the next few hours I would slowly begin to understand it. Over the course of the next few days, I would quickly become accustomed to it and maybe its wrong, but I would laugh at close calls rather than letting out yells. There are a lot of horns that honk, but if there was no honking, I would feel less safe, because it is how they communicate. Each time you pass, someone drives slowly in front of you or people are anywhere near (which is pretty much all the time), the horn is honking as a warning. The system seems to be understood by everyone, but a lack of horns would probably make you feel less comfortable, because there is an actual system, despite my fear of actually driving here myself.
McLeod Ganj is nestled into the foothills of the Himalaya mountains, though the foothills here are similar to many of the mountain ranges in the United States. A comparison would be the Tetons in Wyoming or the Missions in Montana, only the peaks seem to rise higher and these are only the foothills. The town is a few kilometers from Dharamsala, which is home to the Tibetan government in exile and a handful of organizations that are supporting the many refugees in the area.
The journey of Tibetan refugees seems to average a little over a month from the stories people have told. It begins in their home villages, where they leave in the middle of the night without telling anyone, many times not even their families, then they head out by foot over 15,000 foot mountain passes with minimal supplies. Most bring Tsampa, a flour-like substance that is supplies a high amount of energy, but is a dry powder substance that has a little better taste than actual flour. With Tsampa, the clothes on their backs and maybe a couple warm layers and their children in arm, they head into the darkness towards Katmandu. They pay bribes to police, some pay to be guided, but others must do it on their own. After about 20 days, they hit the Nepal border and hopefully can find a ride, but the safe zone isn’t there yet, because Nepalese police can still arrest and send the refugees back to Tibet if they want, where they will be jailed and tortured. Currently the world’s youngest political prisoner is being held, the Pancha Lama, who was detained at the age of 7 in 1995. The Pancha Lama is chosen at a very young age as the one that will search for the Dalai Lama after the 14th dies and it is currently being scrutinized as to what will happen now that the Chinese government has appointed their own Pancha Lama. The Dalai Lama has said that the Pancha Lama is still alive, however.
Speaking on the Dalai Lama, I was able to attend one of his teachings while I was in the area. Each year he does two teachings that are twice a day for about a week. One in the summer and one in the winter, but it can vary. This teaching talked a lot about the interpretation of self with relation to your surroundings and attachment. It was very interesting. Since the Taiwanese sponsored this teaching, it was translated from Tibetan to Taiwanese and English. Between seeing the Dalai Lama and visiting the Himalayas, I was able to mark two things I’ve wanted to do in my life off the list. I feel very fortunate to have had these amazing opportunities and hopefully I can pass on the struggle of the Tibetan people to a few people along the way.
Well, what would a fantastic trip to McLeod Ganj need to really crank the excitement up before we left? A bombing in Srinigal of course!
We had another drive back to Jammu, which had a surprise ending at the airport. Surrounded by military and a wall that mimics a fortress, we made our way through security checkpoint after security checkpoint again. This time it was a bit different however, because there had been a bombing in Srinigal in the Kashmir region. There also happened to be a flight going there right before our flight took off. While we were getting our bags inspected with such detail that makes American airports look like a joke, a group of about 30 soldiers came through security. They were hopping on the plane to fly up to Srinigal, but not without a little scuffle. A man appearing to be a general or higher up member of the military was apparently asked to be searched, whereby he knocked the airport security person to the ground and created quite a scuffle. I was in the process of getting my batteries taken away though (bomb-making materials), so I got this second hand from another person on our staff. The inspection of my bags was thorough and included pulling everything out of my camera bag and carry-on bag with my laptop. I had to show that everything worked, take out any batteries and have them checked for pick-up in Delhi, but the best was at one of the first x-ray’s I went through (there were four total if I remember correctly).
The woman pulled my camera bag aside off the machine and asked me to open it up in broken English. A woman clad in military threads asking you to open your bag in a high security airport can make your heart drop a little, so I stepped over slowly and opened it. Immediately she points at my Canon 70-200 L-series lens with a frightened look on her face, “What is this?”
It is white and metal, but also looks similar to a small artillery shell.
“A camera lens,” I say in “Hinglish,” a mixed language of Indian accent with simplified English, “see, click, click it take a picture.”
It wasn’t connected to my camera body though, so she asks me again and asks me to take it out. She wants nothing to do with touching it, seemingly with a fear that it will explode in her hands, or perhaps she is just afraid she will drop it. I take it out and I still sense she is confused, so I remove the cover from the back of the lens where it would connect to the camera body and turn it so she can look down the barrel. She hesitantly looks through it, then says with a deep sigh, “okay, it is okay, please go on.”
Just what I would have loved to have happen, my $2,000 lens gets taken by an Indian soldier and confiscated for fear that it is a bomb, or sent through in my checked baggage. We make it through okay and hop on with a safe flight to Delhi, then jump on a bus and head to Agra, where we see the sight that needs to be seen when you travel to India; The Taj Mahal.
We headed over at first light, meaning an early morning wake up, but it makes the walk through much less crowded and you also get the best light. The only problem is all of the haze that looms over the city due to pollution. Such high pollution levels have developed that the marble and gems used on the tomb are beginning to deteriorate from acid rain and other toxins. This has also caused a non-motorized vehicle area to be implemented near this wonder of the world, making it easy to grab a bicycle rickshaw back to our hotel and head back to Delhi and later catch the overnight flight from Delhi back to Bangkok. Well, here I am, back in Thailand, ready for another trip. With my travels heading to Burma, I will have a tough time being in touch through phone or email, so please be patient, they don’t have very good email or internet access there from what I understand.
Topics: Travel, Photo Galleries, General, Thailand, India |
9 Responses to “Chaos that brings calmness in India”
Comments
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6:20 am on June 29th, 2006
scott,
simply amazing. i can’t even fathom the things you are experiencing, but your descriptions and photos help paint a vivid picture. can’t wait to hear & see more - either when you post or upon your return.
i just can’t believe you’re skipping Summerfest for the Himalayas, Dalai Lama, Taj Mahal and the experience of a lifetime.
take care, oh, and i could use a new watch.
-gary.
7:23 am on June 29th, 2006
Scott,
I was just about to tell you that today (June 29th) is the first day of summerfest and Roger needs you to bartend in the Lennie area… but then ’sounds like you won’t be making it back before the end of the fest…
Really, your adventures seem to be things I can hardly imagine. Have a great time, and keep us posted. I will check your site often for more updates.
Much Love,
Aunt Mary
7:26 am on June 30th, 2006
So how is the food in India and thailand — are you experimenting and trying some of the market foods? Is it hot and spicy? Saw a travel channel piece about Thailand and the number of items like grubs orinsects they eat.
take care
7:48 am on July 2nd, 2006
First off, I wanted to drop a quick thank you to everyone that is reading. Then I wanted to say that I am missing Summerfest this year, but at the same time, I’m loving it here! I’ll make it back someday, if not, its a great place to visit for anyone that wants to come!
As for the food, its great!! I’ve tried some market foods, Momo’s in India, Aloo off the streets of India, both excellent! I haven’t tried the bugs yet, but I hear its like eating potato chips, but you get the legs stuck in your teeth. I definitely have the opportunity and I will try it one of these days. I’ll also be trying dog when I go to Vietnam…As they say, when in Rome do as the Romans do. Its a delicacy to eat poor little Fido over there! More to come after I return from Burma, where there will be plenty to tell about with some of the world’s most beautiful temples.
3:15 pm on July 5th, 2006
Pony
The photos are amazing.
1:39 am on July 10th, 2006
hey pon! greg and I are in portland together looking at your wonderful pics. PONTANG!! WHATSUP BROTHER! This is Greg writing to you in a state of extreme excitement denoted by the caps lock on my greeting. YEAH!! Hows it goin in the world? By the look of your pics its awesome. Nothing has been going on here.
Same old shit in our neck of the woods while your living it up and experiencing so much that so many of us never
will you lucky bastard! you don’t need me to tell you that though. Well can’t wait to see ya whenever that may be. Stay in touch and keep your site up to date so we all can live vicariously through you. That sounds like something my Dad would say. GODSPEED! well it’s me again pon and i have to say i just am really excited for you and can’t wait to experience more about your life through your pictures. love and miss you so you much…..greg and simonie
*shellers sends her encouragement and loved every bit of your site! xo XOXO (caps from Greg) ((That means huge sloppy kisses))!!
7:18 am on July 12th, 2006
did you get to see the world cup final?
10:54 pm on January 23rd, 2007
Linked…
Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavor. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations…
4:13 am on February 2nd, 2007
Hi Scott,
really amazing.. i wanted to see more pictures…..as it looks great….