Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 04:27:03 -0700 From: jennifer aitken Subject: Himalayan Havens Hey everyone, here's the next installment. Hopefully this will be only one copy - sincere apologies for the last lot, no idea what went on there ... Well after Delhi we headed for the hills, which has been just awesome. Nice to have a change of weather - a bit less hot and waaay less humid. We even got the polar fleecees out once or twice. Ants is now back to full strength which has made th e travelling much more enjoyable. OUr first stop was Simla. You have to take a cute wee 'toy train' to get there, which winds its way up the mountain over ravines and through tunnels. It was an amazing trip. The hillsides were all farmed in terraces, impressive sight. Simla used to be where the Brits went to escape the heat of summer on the plains (good idea). It's a bizarre little place, looks like someone transplanted a quaint english village (with stone cottages and halftimbered houses) into india. Very cute. It's also a very friendly place, a lot of indian tourists go there and so there's a really festive atmosphere , with balloons and pony rides. It's also quiet, no motor traffic allowed (hallelujah, no autorickshaws). This does mean that all hte heavy transport is done by porters, very tough and wiry little guys. We saw one guy lugging a fridge! Lots of the guys here wear cool pillbox caps. Ants bought himself a particularly fetching furry one! WE then went up to the magnificent Kullu Valley. The scenery here is absolutely spectacular, high mountain peaks , rivers and lots of waterfalls. ACtually reminded me of new zealand in some ways (except much much more populated, you look up the valley and can see about 10 villages!) There are apple orchards everywhere, not only look good but means that there's lots of yummy fresh apple juice to drink. There's also flowers everywhere, including roses and sunflowers.The air smells fresh (a huge change from delhi) and there are lots of colourful butterflies). Completely idyllic (you've got no idea how many times i said that while we were there...) The local people were distinctly himalayan looking, and wore heavily embroidered wool dresses instead of saris. The local houses were amazing creations with 'gingerbread' carved wooden balconies and slate rooves. We were staying in a friendly village called Vashist, which had the bonus of a hot spring in the centre, grab a bucket of hot water and hey presto, hot shower (24 hours!!) We met a great bunch of people up here who we hung out with quite a bit. These included some british travellers, the young nepalese guys working at the guest house, and a bunch of yuppy local guys (one who was an india ski champ and runs a heliskiing business for rich Americans, US$6000 for 1 week - and we thought india was cheap ...) We also met a couple of weirdos here, including the sadhu (hindu holy man) who had been meditating for 14 years with his right hand lifted above his head - sure enough his joints seemed locked up and his fingernails were about 10cm long (and spiralled) >From Kullu we hired a jeep for a day trip to the Rohtang Pass, at nearly 4000m it's higher than Mount Cook. Pretty hairy road but worth it for the breathtaking scenery. It's really cold up there but luckily you can hire big long yaks wool coats! I had a particularly spunky leopard print one, just like Shania Twain ('so you've got a yak? That don't impress me much ...') This part of the valley had the most excellent road signs, my two favourites were 'darling i want you, but not so fast' and 'go easy on my curves'. Our next stop was a tiny village called Naggar, where we stayed in a 500 year old castle. Actually more like a large and charming lodge. Really peaceful and friendly with some interesting ancient temples. We've had some intersting times with transport up here. Usually we've had to take the 'local buses' - the ones that stop every 15 mins, are pretty crumbly and pack in as many people as possible. Mostly they're ok though. The roads rival the Skippers Canyon in nz for windyness and the deepness of the gorges, but are narrower with more potholes and slips. Pretty exciting! OUr best bustrip was when the bus was too full, so we sat ont he roof. It was awesome, best views of the countryside, exhilarating ride and free 'airconditioning'. We just had to watch out for low hanging power lines and stray apple branches. Our last himalayanstop was Dharmsala. An unusual town as it's half tibetan - being a haven for tibetan refugees. It's also the home of the dalai lama - but of course we didn't meet up with him. We met some intersting people with incredible life stories. One guy had been in a chinese prison, then escaped by walking over the himalayas for weeks in winter (i think this is pretty common) and one of his friends had died on the way. Apparently over 1.2 millions tibetans have died in chinese prisons/labour camps etc since china occupied tibet. Pretty harrowing stuff. That aside, the tibetan culture does make the town intersting, with buddhist temples, monks in maroon robes, brightly coloured prayer flags, etc. WE discovered that tibetan food is divine, and took a cooking course (so watch out, when we get home) We've now come back tot he plains (and the heat, though it's better than delhi) to amritsar, which is the holy city for the sikh religion. The Golden Temple here is absolutely amazing, second only to the Taj Mahal in beauty i reckon. It actually is golden - they reckon more than 100kg of gold covers the dome. It sits in the middle of a lake which is surrounded by gleaming white marble buildings. in the midday sun the glare is intense! In the evening its magical, the gold glitters, and despite the numbers of people worshipping there and bathing int he lake, the atmosphere is very peaceful with musicians singing hypnotic chants. The sikh people are very friendly, also very striking looking with their military bearing, stiff turbans, clipped beards and kirpans (ceremonial religious sword, usually a few inches long, but some of the older guys carry really long ones) Anyway we are now gearing up to 'challo pakistan' tomorrow. The meaning depends on your tone of voice, to a friend it means 'lets go to pakistan', if someone is pissing you off you can say it aggressively , meaning 'bugger off to pakistan' (the indian equivalent of 'go to hell'?) I doubt we'll be able to do much e-mail over the next 6 weeks, but may be able to get a bulk letter out if lucky So best not to send me any jokes or attachments for a while thanks Anyway, i had better go, i've ranted on again .... Keep cool, lotsa love Jen and Ants