DAY 100 - JAMMU

100) WEDNESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 1977 : 215KMS. - JAMMU

Today I exchanged  US $ 250. - (= IRs 2,140.40, US $ 1. - = IRs 8.56) for further daily expenses,  before  driving  up north through PATHANKOT, KATHUA until we reached JAMMU.  I saw along the way a herd of buffalos as well as  similar rice fields like in Thailand.  There were sugar palms growing here and there and  on the ridges of rice fields too.  Through every  city we passed, it seemed  many people (INDIA has a population of 600 million in 1977) living in, most men wore  sarongs and also pants and shirts . I have not yet seen anyone wearing  a loincloth.

Indian men wearing sarongs - Photo : wikihow.com / Bing images search

I also noticed  some priests  of various  religions, including Sadhus  who do not wear anything except a small piece of loincloth.

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Sadhu - Photo : nondualitymagazine.com / Google images search

It was just the first day  that  I saw elephant and his mahout walking on the road, camels  were rarely seen.   There were also mango trees growing everywhere.

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VIII. INDIA – SUBCONTINENT OF DIVERSITIES, CRADLE OF EASTERN CIVILIZATION

DAY 99

99) TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 1977 : 56 KMS. - AMRITSAR

We left LAHORE heading out to PAKISTAN-INDIA border to cross to INDIA at the WAGAH border, no big problem on PAKISTAN side but we lost much time at INDIA side due to problem with the vehicle book - Carnet de Passage, that the custom officers  seemed  to look for problems  as there was a strikeout on it without seal and signature.  Besides,  it was searched throughout inside and outside of the campervan. They searched for engine registration number and  were fussy  on asking us to discharge almost the whole loading inside. 

WAGAH Border - Photo : alislam.org / google images search

I thought the  Sikhs officers  wanted to search for porn materials, if we had. I did not think about it before our departure from Germany to bring with us 2-3 copies to give as gifts for convenience  or  we might be charged of possessing such “illegal”  materials (in specific countries !) at the border.  We were asked  at almost every border crossing. Not sure if it was classified as an illegal document . I thought  it was officers’ personal  wish to have it for their own pleasures.  Anyhow, the officer  had seen a  can of deodorant  spray and kept asking and showing his gestures like to have it.  But we were annoyed of their questions and searching  that delayed our moving forward  so they got our negative reply  with the reason that we had to use it as well.

AMRITSAR Golden Temple - Phot : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

It took us about 3 hours till we could pass the border  and contined to  AMRITSAR,  where we arrived rather late in the evening.   We  walked  around the city, there were as many people as cows. They seemed  very poor as well.  We intended to visit inside the Golden Temple , which is located in the middle of the  large lake but we could not enter without  a turban covering our heads. So we missed the chance to visit inside and could have a look from outside.  I thought  to visit the temple after returning from KASHMIR.

 

Sikh pilgrim at the Golden Temple in AMRITSAR- Photo : wikipedia.org / Google images search

AMRITSAR  is the center of Sikh religion.  The Sikhs refuse to cut their hair and beards. The long hair will be knotted together in the middle of the head  according to the belief in their  prophet named Guru Nanak (1469-1538) that the hair and beard are a source of power.  I saw many turbans of various beautiful colors.

 

Sikh musicians - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

In front of the temple there were many beggars sitting on the ground.  I saw  women in this region  commonly carrying things on their heads like we saw in PAKISTAN and the nomads.

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DAY 98 - LAHORE

98) MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 1977: 0KMS. - LAHORE

Our campervan was in the garage again to replace new shock absorber and be repaired  though it had been repaired once in  KABUL .  We paid  US $ 100. - and  PRs.  30. – for labour.



 

Badshahi Mosqe - Photo : thepeopleofpakistan.wordpress.com caption

 

DAY 97 - LAHORE

97) SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 1977 : 273KMS. - LAHORE

Last night I did not sleep well  because the mosquito invaded us (!) as we left back door slightly opened and it was very hot of approximately 30 *C ( at night) though we turned the fan on almost constantly.

We left RAWALPINDI and drove passing  JHELUM, LALA MUSA, GUJARANWALA  to LAHORE , a far larger city. There were large trees along the road looking  more refreshed . There were large international hotel s, such as Hilton and Intercontinental.

LAHORE - Photo : visitpakistanonline.com / Bing images search

 

In the afternoon we chose to have Chinese food for lunch, which seemed to us more tasty  than Indian food. We asked for beef with chilli and prawns with fresh vegetables.  It was delicious, we paid  nearly 60.- RS. (1 DM = 4 RS.).

On the way to LAHORE, we saw strange landscape something  like landslide probably due to seismic collapse as it is not flatland. I saw  women walking  with 1-2 stacked clay pots on their heads  to get some water  from the source nearby, without  using hands to carry them.

Lahore Museum - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

From Wikipedia

The Lahore Museum was established in 1864 in Lahore on Mall Road in front of Punjab university. the current building of Lahore Museum was designed by famous architect Sir Ganga Ram.Lahore Museum is one of the biggest museum of the country.it has large collections of pre-historic and historic period.

The Museum contains some fine specimens of Mughal and Sikh door-ways and wood-work and contains a large collection of paintings dating back to the Mughal, Sikh and British eras. The Museum has a collection of musical instruments, ancient jewellery, textiles, pottery, and armory. There are relics from the Graeco-Bactrian times as well as well as some Tibetan and Nepalese work. The museum has a number of objects of Greco-Buddhist sculptures, Mughal and Pahari paintings on display. The Fasting Buddha is one of the unique collections of the museum — in 2004 Nobuaki Tanaka, the Japanese ambassador, agreed to provide technical know how as the Buddha is popular with Japanese tourists.