In India we traversed the northern plateau, starting in Calcutta and stopping in Varanasi, a holy city on the river Ganga. Then on to Delhi.
In Delhi we stayed with our friend Haike. Then we popped down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I then spent a week in hospital with rickettsia. After this we felt a splash out was in order and we stayed at the Neemrana Fort Palace in Rajasthan.
Overcome by the northern plateau heat we retreated to the Himalayas. Our first stop was Shimla, a beautiful colonial town with European architecture.
We then bussed up to the Kullu valley. We stayed in Vashist, but walked to several villages in the valley, including a few trips across the valley to Manali. We hired a jeep with some friends to take us up to the Rohtang Pass. This was a real highlight. After spending 2 days at the bottom of the valley in a village called Naggar we headed off to Dharmsala.
In Dharmsala we did several cooking classes to learn traditional Tibetan food. We meet heaps of friendly Tibetan people and spent lots of time relaxing.
Before leaving India we stopped in Amritsar. Spiritual home of the Sikh people. The heat was a shock after the cool of the mountains, but was definitely worth the visit to see the golden temple.
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