There are two Delhi in Delhi. One is the New Delhi where found newer buildings and commercial district. One is the Old Delhi where tons of cycle-rickshaws wander in the narrow alley, and lot of garbage too. Here I am in the capital of India, the country with nuclear weapon, yet the city is incapable of providing stable electricity. There are just so many things I don't understand about this strange country.



Meanwhile I wandered around in the city, spent the hot afternoon in the cafe reading book and watching people and rickshaws running around. The train to Pathankot was leaving at 9:30pm so I packed everything and get myself ready for the overnight train.

I must admit that I didn't give enough buffer time to get to the train station. Plus the auto-rickshaw driver I hired decided to go to the gas station did no good to speed up the transit. So I ended up arriving at the train station in the last minute, struggling to find the right train among sixteen train platforms. Five minutes passed the departure time I finally found the train, in motion, was leaving the station! I was glad that my backpack wasn't too heavy that allowed me to run and jump into the last coach without much trouble. Relieved as I didn't want to stay in Delhi any longer!



I only got to meet nice Indian people in the public transit. And this time I met two families in the train and as usual, they were very keen to guess my country of origin and impressed that I also watched the Pak-Indo Cricket game happened in last two days (they called it The Great Game, much like watching Canadian Hockey team defeating U.S.A in Olympic). The night went by quickly...

To get to Dharamsala from Pathankot there are two options. Take the public bus or take the "toy train". The 100km narrow gauge train takes good 7 hours! But according to the guidebook the view is good and the ride is relaxing. And it costs only 20rp (less than 50cents US)!

By the time I had to "enter" the train by climbing from the window, I knew it won't be that relaxing. People rushed into the train before the attendant get to unlock the door. So I followed the crowd, climbed from the window and found a window seat for myself. Less than a minute the train is packed with people, standing, sitting on the floor, cramping into the luggage rack... All these happened before the train doors were opened!

The train finally started moving. But the view is not really up to my expectation. And the people on the train kept looking at me funny. I tried to talk to them and get responses in their language. The strangeness of these people made me feel rather nervous. They all wear the same yellow color shirts, and kept singing some sort of songs the whole way, I started to realize they are on plimage.

This piece of antique narrow gauge railway, with only a single track, means that the trains have to wait for the opposite train by stopping at detours. Things start to get silly when the train stopped death for over three hours. So I jumped out to ask the driver when the train would get to leave again. "Two more hours only!". Only!! I lost my patience, grabbed my backpack, then left the tiny station in the remote village. I walked into the village and flagged down whatever cars and buses I saw.

So I found a bus going to the spot I wanted to go. It is called Nupur, somewhere between Pathankot and Dharamsala. On the way to Nupur I realized not many traveler were seen here and the "Head Turning Index" is very very high. Everyone in the bus were looking at me and I kept the ticket boy busy by asking him "Nupur?" once in a while...

It took one hour to get to Nupur and then luckily a Dharmasala bounded bus arrived. I jumped onto it and glad to find few backpackers were on board also. They are amused to hear my story.

Now I am in Dharamsala, the Tibet in exile, and home of the 14th Dalai Lama. I feel warm and peaceful to see the Tibetan people again. Perhaps it is because I share the same oriental face with them, or perhaps they are just bunch of nice people. The dorm I am staying has superb view of the whole Tibetan village. Nice I feel a little relief as if I have left India already.