There was a commotion at 05:00 hrs. as Martin and several others got up to catch the Taj Express to Agra which left at 07:00 hrs. I had a lay in as it was so cold, and joined George for porridge at 09:00 hrs.
We set out to shop around for cheap flights from Madras to Singapore, but our options were limited as all the travel agents and airline offices were closed as it was Sunday. A Sikh guided us to “Student Travel” in the Imperial Hotel and this appeared to be the best bet, offering “student” discount. We will return tomorrow when it is open.
We went to the Anand Restaurant for a egg curry and a “writing letters home” session. There are several nutters staying at the Sunny Guest House including a convert Moslem American who wears a bullet-proof vest and a crank German with strange religious and alternative medical ideas.
Another dopey English bloke leaves daily for Kulu and is always back in the evening. I assume that this meant Kullu which is known as the ‘Valley of Gods’. Kullu is a cluster of beautiful valleys in Himachal Pradesh. Located between the majestic Himalayas and river Beas, Kullu is situated at an altitude of 1230 m.
Set in a valley whose original name meant "end of the habitable world", this resort town in the lower Himalayas blossoms in summer and during its famous Dussehra festival in October. TripAdvisor says “Don't miss the Raghunath Temple, built in 1660 in honour of the valley's patron deity, Lord Ram”.
We wandered up to the Post Office opposite the Imperial Hotel and browsed through several cheap book stalls Lethargy seems to be in the air on Sundays and today was no exception. We started to do the outer circuit of Connaught Circus, stopping almost immediately at the Madras Coffee Shop.
After a cuppa we curtailed our tour and went to see if the swimming baths were open. We picked up a choc bar along the way and found that it was in use for some event or other, and was closed for general public use.
We returned to the Sunny Guest House, re-read our mail over a pot of coffee and went back out in search of a well-lit restaurant. Our dormitory was thick with hashish smoke emanating from the three wretches occupying the beds opposite us, so we left them to it in their search for virtual Nirvana.
Nirvana, as well as being an American grunge band is also, in Buddhism, a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism.
Although recommended by Lonely Planet, we found Nirula’s too lairy and expensive with piped music (Rod Stewart singing Maggie May). Nirula's is India's oldest fast-food restaurant chain. Based in North India and most popular in the NCR Delhi. It was Delhi's first fast-food restaurant, opening in Connaught Place in 1977.
The local cafés did not serve drinks (tea or coffee) and so we ended up back in the Madras Coffee House which boasted a vegetarian meal for 7 Indian Rupees and expresso coffee for 2 Rs. The meal was a treat, a mound of rice and 4 portions of various different vegetable curries and sauces. The place was full of locals and was more our type of place with no frills and no nonsense.
Twice today we passed a “snake charmer” with two baskets containing cobras and a bored looking mongoose which was secured to a brick with a short length of string. We never tarried to witness his “act” as we kept our wallets tightly buttoned.
We were also confronted by a fortune teller and reached stalemate: he would tell George his mum’s name and his fortune for 10 U.S. dollars, but George wanted to “know” his mum’s name before paying. We broke the encounter by walking away.
When we returned to Sunny’s Guest House the three German wretches had not moved a muscle and the dorm was still thick with hashish smoke. The two Kraut boys and a slut coughed and gagged as they hauled more reeking fumes into their lungs, and we could get stoned for free on the smoke.
We settled down in bed as they jabbered and giggled. When Martin rolled in at 23:00 hrs. we got our own back by chatting loudly to him. He had had a good day in Agra and captured the Taj Mahal on film. Probably a few dozen films knowing Martin!
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