Cannonball Run to Chandigarh

On Sunday we rented a mini-bus with a driver in order to go to Chandigarh, the capital city of the state of Punjab. As our local consultant Jaspreet explained, unlike other Indian cities which were build and then planned, this one was actually planned by le Corbusier before being constructed !

Initial Sketches of Chandigarh

The result is something very different from all other cities in India, large avenues laid out according to a grid, many trees everywhere, large parks and many roundabouts. The roundabouts give it away as a European designed city, only something that came out of a European mind can contain so many roundabouts !

A good piece of Indian wisdom : you don't need a GPS in India because there are so many people along the roads that you will always find someone who knows the way to where you want to go.

Sur place nous avons visité The Rock Garden, une version indienne du Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval en beaucoup plus grand. Un endroit très prisé par les familles et les promeneurs le dimanche. Ici encore les gens sont très sympathiques, ils nous abordent pour nous demander d'où nous venons et si nous apprécions notre séjour en Inde, il nous demandent s'ils peuvent poser avec nous pour une photo.

Peter, le géant hongrois, posant avec des jeunes filles

La vache qui rit

Tigre du bengale

The drive to and back to Chandigarh, roughly 200 km in total, was a complete nightmare. The road only has one lane in both directions most of the time, but they fit four cars side by side along with motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians, there were some very delicate situations and we avoided many collisions, and all the while the driver is honking like crazy... after four hours of this ordeal most of us just went up to our rooms and fell asleep.