Hello! Hope you’re all having a good time in the UK (or wherever you are at the moment). We’re still in India, although sadly we’re coming up to the end of our time here. On the other hand that means we’re going to Hong Kong and Japan soon, which we’re really looking forward to.
We’re in Chandigarh at the moment – in the first hotel with a wifi connection we’ve been in! It is so nice to be able to access internet on our own computer, as most of the ones in internet cafes out here are REALLY slow, with really bad dial-up connections to the internet. Waiting 15 minutes for a photo to upload to the blog can be a painful experience!
Chandigarh, as Indian cities go, is really quite modern. It was built following the Partition of India to be the capital of the Indian side of Punjab. And it’s turned out to be a slightly weird mix: imagine a very green and leafy Harlow with loads of Rickshaws! Almost unheard of for India it has pavements, and roundabouts which the locals actually go around the right way (well, at least most of the time)! And functioning traffic lights that people usually don’t ignore. There aren’t any cows wandering the streets either. Weird!
It’s actually a pleasant town to wander around – it does lack the character and bustle of some of the places we’ve visited, but it’s great not to be constantly harried as a tourist, and the roads pleasantly shaded by rows of trees are nice to stroll down. Chandigarh also boasts a completely surreal ‘Fantasy Rock Garden’ – built by a local at the time the city was constructed out of the junk construction caused (rock, stone, tiles, plastic light and plug sockets, ceramics etc). It’s really strange, but very very different from anything we’ve seen before, and well worth seeing if you’re in the area (have a look at some of the photos below).
Anyway, we have to head off to Delhi next. We originally intended to go to the hill station of Shimla first, but we’ve heard that the Hong Kong Chinese Embassy is no longer issuing visas to China for anyone unless they are Hong Kong residents (due to increases in work load in preparation for the Olympics). I’m just glad we found this out before getting to Hong Kong – we can apply in Delhi instead, but it does mean cutting our stay up north a little short. Never mind. Anyway, all the best, and we’ll hopefully speak to you soon.
We’re in Chandigarh at the moment – in the first hotel with a wifi connection we’ve been in! It is so nice to be able to access internet on our own computer, as most of the ones in internet cafes out here are REALLY slow, with really bad dial-up connections to the internet. Waiting 15 minutes for a photo to upload to the blog can be a painful experience!
Chandigarh, as Indian cities go, is really quite modern. It was built following the Partition of India to be the capital of the Indian side of Punjab. And it’s turned out to be a slightly weird mix: imagine a very green and leafy Harlow with loads of Rickshaws! Almost unheard of for India it has pavements, and roundabouts which the locals actually go around the right way (well, at least most of the time)! And functioning traffic lights that people usually don’t ignore. There aren’t any cows wandering the streets either. Weird!
It’s actually a pleasant town to wander around – it does lack the character and bustle of some of the places we’ve visited, but it’s great not to be constantly harried as a tourist, and the roads pleasantly shaded by rows of trees are nice to stroll down. Chandigarh also boasts a completely surreal ‘Fantasy Rock Garden’ – built by a local at the time the city was constructed out of the junk construction caused (rock, stone, tiles, plastic light and plug sockets, ceramics etc). It’s really strange, but very very different from anything we’ve seen before, and well worth seeing if you’re in the area (have a look at some of the photos below).
Anyway, we have to head off to Delhi next. We originally intended to go to the hill station of Shimla first, but we’ve heard that the Hong Kong Chinese Embassy is no longer issuing visas to China for anyone unless they are Hong Kong residents (due to increases in work load in preparation for the Olympics). I’m just glad we found this out before getting to Hong Kong – we can apply in Delhi instead, but it does mean cutting our stay up north a little short. Never mind. Anyway, all the best, and we’ll hopefully speak to you soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment