Vashist

20.07.2008 to 26.07.2008

Our departure from Kasol was quite unprepared for. We had to leave on a particular day but the night before Yakof got sick, so we were going to postpone the departure. By midday of the following day Yakof was feeling better, so we opted to head to Vashist, as previously planned, to spend Ciri's last week there.

We took a bus and arrived in Manali six hours later. The public bus was not that bad, although we were pretty much squashed throughout the journey, given the amount of people in it.

Once in Manali we booked Ciri's ticket to Delhi ahead and found an auto-rickshaw to take us to the village of Vashist. The ride took us only ten minutes.

Vashist is famous for the sweeping valley views and sulphurous hot-water springs, it is an amorphous jumble of traditional timber houses and modern concrete cubes, divided by paved courtyards and narrow muddy lanes.

Accomodation was not easily found here. It took us four tries to finally find a suitable guesthouse... and we were lucky as he had the last two rooms left. The rooms were quite a bargain... less then Euro 2.50 a night with bathroom attached! Given the first day was quite exhausting due to the trip, we decided to have an early dinner and rest.

Our stay in Vashist was very 'shanti shanti'... peacful. We spent most of our time going for short walks, having long talks and eating. We went to see one of the waterfalls (calling it waterfall is quite presomptous, but well), we visited the hot baths and one of the temples and spend a day in Manali.

We went to see the Hadimba Temple. This temple is one of the most important in the region. This four story wooden temple is located in the middle of a forest called the Dhungiri Van Vihar. From the name of the forest parkland this temple derives its name. This temple was erected in 1553 and is dedicated to Goddess Hadimba. We also visited the Himachal Pradesch museum and Ghatoiktch Temple. The highlight came after though... we had lunch at Johnson's Cafe... and it was wonderful. We spent something like three to four hours there. First we had a platter of cheese. Janet was in tears eating brie!! Yakof had lamb and Janet had fish... sublime... at last someone who actually knew how to cook western food. This was a happy day!!!

Given Ciri's time was limited he wished to do some sightseeing, so we decided to go for a one day trip up to Nathula Pass. The two of us don't usually spend money to go sightseeing but it was a 'treat' from Ciri so we had no problem in going :)

Our departure time had to be at 08:00 in the morning, but, as custom in India, the driver arrived half an hour late and did not even know he had to take us sightseeing, until the guy who booked the tour for us briefed him. So we took off for a very bumpy jeep ride. Although we were very comfortable the road was quite terrifying... we eventually got up to an altitude of 3,500m. What was worrying us most was the fact that this was the same road we would have to travel on our way to Leh... and we could not picture a big bus driving through it. During our ascent we had to stop as there was a landslide. It took around thirty minutes to clear the road and it was incredible how the vehicles were passing, nearly touching each other. At one point, seeing a huge truck approaching on the other lane, the three of us decided it was wise to get out of the jeep... you know just in case there was a hit and run!!

We had around five stops in all during the day but the most impressive was the Nathula Pass in Rothang La. This place is amazing. A lot of people come here and hire a horse for the day to go through the whole pass. We walked just a short part of it... Janet was suffering a little bit from altitude sickness... loss of breath and dizziness. But we have to say it was worth the while to come all the way up as the views were breathtaking! We felt more relaxed on the way down given we knew what to expect out of the road now.

On Ciri's last day we went over to see Elana and Stefan and spent two to three hours at their hotel. They had bumped into each other in Vashist. India can be so small!!! We went down with Ciri to Manali, had lunch with him and went to say our goodbyes at the bus stand. We were very sorry he was leaving... two weeks with him went by so quickly... we will miss him but hopefully meet him in the near future.

So we were back to being just the two of us again....

On our last day, before heading towards Ladakh, we decided to go down to Manali to sleep the night and pick the minibus from there. We met Elana for lunch, once again at Johnson's cafe, as we could not resist the temptation of one last meal there. The place is relatively expensive in India but the food is well worth it. We sad our goodbyes to Elana and prepared for our two-day trip towards Ladakh.

Kasol and the Parvati Valley

15.07.2008 to 19.07.2008

Our trip to Bhuntar was long but comfortable... unluckily Janet was still suffering from stomach pains so the trip was not very pleasant for her.

We arrived in Bhuntar at around 09:00 and caught a local bus to Kasol. Kasol is full of two things... israeli people and charas. You can see ganga growing all over the Parvati Valley, like weed. It grows next to the guesthouses, next to the river, all around the police station !!!!

The first guesthouse we stopped in was suggested by our friend Ska. The owner is an Italian who's married to a local, and he was really welcoming. The rooms were incredibly cheap...Rs50 per night!! But even though the cost was cheap we decided to move as the guesthouse was noisy all day long and, given Janet was sick, she could not bear music full on all day long. Our second stay was gorgeous. We found a nice guesthouse next to the river, surrounded by a huge garden, and, to Yakof's delight, it also had a hot spring!

Out of the three of us, Ciri was the one who loved Kasol most, and we were glad to see him having a good time. Five days in Kasol went by pretty quickly. We did some shopping, ate mostly at the same restaurant, met with Carm who had been staying here for the past three months now, and went for some walks around the place.

Our next stop would be Vashist......

Delhi

08.07.2008 to 14.07.2008

We have not been updating our blog for quite a while now. We have seen many things and covered so many kilometres since then......

The train trip from Gorakphur to Delhi was quite smooth, ignoring the fact that the train had a 5-hour. We arrived at Old Delhi train station early afternoon and were welcomed by herds of people streaming from every existant pathway in the train station. Head straight, we headed towards the pre-paid auto-rickshaw stand and set off to Paharganj, the backpackers area in New Delhi.

Delhi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It's population is a stagerring seventeen million! So one can picture the feeling you get travelling with an auto rickshaw during peak traffic hours. Strangely enough we were glad of being back in this chaos... happy to be seeing again all the craziness and noise which only India seems to offer. Still we were dreading the fact that we had to spend a week in this city... but we had to, as we were waiting for Ciri, a friend of ours who was coming from Luxembourg to spend two weeks with us. Over and above that we decided to spend an additional day to meet up with Ska, another friend of ours, who would be stopping in Delhi on his way to Thailand.

So that was it... we spent a whole week in busy Delhi. The heat was unbearable, and our room did not cater for the heat-strucken poor individuals who needed air to breath... for Rs300 we managed to get a room with an attached bathroom which resembled a public toilet (obviously by Maltese standards not Indian... we are not that extreme)!! We baptised the room "Il-Latrina". Given Ciri was going to join us for the last two nights in Delhi we had already put our eyes on a particular room which could accomodate three. What was special about this room was that it had a huge cooler... similar to those used on film sets to reproduce wind... and we wanted that baby all for us....

Until Ciri's arrival we spent our time running some errands which had to be done. We mailed the stuff which we had so devotedly been carring, since Thamel in Nepal. This proved to be quite a tiresome task, as we had to do it twice, given that parcel rules changed, and now a maximum of 10kg per box can be sent to Malta. Given our box was a 16kgs one, it got sent back from the post office and we had to open up everything again to split up everything in two boxes... oh well... as long as they arrive.

We tried meeting the Maltese consulate as they had told us it was possible to extend our Indian visa from Delhi. After a long auto-rickshaw ride to the consulate they did not even let us in....so long for Maltese citizenship rights! At the end it was getting so complicated that we gave up and decided to fly to Thailand to renew our visas from there. Obviously this was no sacrifice to us as we adore Thailand. Another thing we sorted out was all our flights... we booked our flights to Thailand and back to India, those to Malta and those to Australia. This way we managed to get better deals as we booked them in such advance.

Delhi is quite a city of extremes. It is much nicer than Calcutta, as in the latter poverty is much more evident. In Delhi it is much easier to escape the chaos and the dirt.

When Ciri arrived we decided to spend a day sightseeing. We first went to Qutb Minar. Qutb Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and an important example of Indo-Islamic Architecture. In fact it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second place we visited was the famous Red Fort. The Red Fort showcases the very high level of art form and ornamental work. The art work in the Fort is a synthesis of Persian, European and Indian art which resulted in the development of unique Shahjahani style which is very rich in form, expression and colour. It is one of the important building complexes of India which encapsulates a long period of Indian history and its arts. Its significance has transcended time and space. It is relevant as a symbol of architectural brilliance and power.

Both places were incredibly beautiful and full of history, though quite expensive to visit at Rs250 per person.

On our last night in Delhi we had a problem with our room. At around five o'clock in the morning Yakof was woken up by Ciri (jumping on our bed) who informed us that it was raining in our room. At first he had thought that his clothes were dripping on him, given we had washed them and hung them over his bed. But eventually he realised that the ceiling was leaking. And so, more asleep than awake, at five o'clock in the morning, yakof informed the hotel manager and we had to change our room and get all our stuff downstairs. Luckily we managed to get a couple of hours more sleep before Ska came. The guys spent the last hours in Delhi together while Janet opted to stay in the room as she was suffering from what is often called, 'Delhi belly'... stomach upsets.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon we said our goodbyes to Ska and set off for our 15-hour journey to Manali... for the first time ever in a luxurious volvo bus, courtesy of our friend Ciri :)

Delhi to Bhuntar to Parvati Valley to Manali to Vashist to Leh....

.....we are still on the go...too much so, to be able to update our blog....but we will return soon....