After spending two nights up in Kiriganga, me and the Estonians headed down to Kasol again, packed and took off to Manali in their car. I had made plans with one of the athletes, Dawa Tashi, to come and stay with him in his village, Kalat, near to Manali. The Estonians jumped in to a hotel and I followed Tashi into a very small path for 10min into the forest, jumping over small streams and getting my face whipped by branches. Just as I was wondering where the h#ll we were going, a small house appeared. Tashi is staying with his grand parents, which are 78 and 88 years old and still very active running around doing stuff. They chat away with me as my Tibetan was supposed to be fluent, but I just return them a confused smile. And also staying here is his little niece, a shy girl that gives a smile and runs away, unless I freeze her with a pointed camera. The house is made in a traditional Tibetan style and has several rooms down stairs and two up, one being a small Gumpa (Tibetan temple). The kitchen house is next doors and has a large U shaped dining area, with the usual pictures of Lhasa and the Dalai Lama. I got the TV/guest room for myself and that was great for the late night matches. The next few days the Estonian team continued filming Tashi and his family for their documentary, while I was going for walks in Manali, even managed to see an old student of mine (nice to see you again Patrick) and bathing in hot springs, yet again.
Manali is the largest town in the north Himashal Pradesh region, before you head off on a two day ride up through the 2nd highest road in the world to Leh, which is the capital of Ladahk, a pristine Tibetan region within India. Manali itself is a buzling town, packed with Indian tourists who come here to enjoy the scenery, ski, paragliding, trekk and even go Yak-skiing! If you can find a herder who are willing, you get on the skis, holding on a line to a yak, a bag of nuts are strapped in front of the yak and off you go! Most travellers stay away from the busy town and lay their hats in either Old Manali or Vashisht, two villages nearby. After a few days with Tashi and his family, I moved on to Vashisht. Here is a strange mix of traditional farmers life, Indian tourists, backpackers, Hippies and Babas (holy men). A farmer got hold of me when I came with my back pack and threw me in to one of his rooms. It's harvest time now, so in the yard cows are walking on the wheat in circles and I just hang around watching the farmers life. The narrow streets are a mine field of cow shit and it's ok to get by though. But when it starts raining, the whole alleyways are flooded with smeared out poop, and then it's not so nice splashing around with flip-flops! In the main square of Vashisht, there is two old temples, one of which is walled in and has holy hot springs. These hot springs are very nice, walled in and with small altars with Hindu deities. Unfortunately it's always crowded by noisy Indian tourist, so it's a bit hard to fully enjoy the serenity and beauty of the place in a relaxing way. Rather you have to enjoy the Indian family interactions around the pool. Little kids reluctantly being dragged in by the fathers, people praying at the shrine, splashing, screaming and shouting next to your ear.
Since the football is on, most of my nights I hang out with the usual crowd (many Brazilians naturally supporting Portugal) in front of the big screen TV at the World peace cafe. During the days, usually spend my time in a shop learning how to do Malas, necklaces with semi-precious stones. My teacher, Zoohar, a Kashmiri fellow, is really nice to have conversations with and he keeps me coming back for playing chess, drinking more gallons of chai and selling stuff of course... So, after a week, I'm packed with 6 malas, 2 silver medallions, a big statue of Krishna, a Kashmir carpet and chai coming out my ears! But he is nice to chat with and he told me allot about the Kashmir history and the situation now. In Vashisht you have also many Babas, most of the time smoking chillums, disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Zohar usually give the Babas some rupees when they come to the shop and I asked him how he knows if they are really holy men. He laughed and said "yes.. cause then sometimes I see them in a restaurant, with gold rings on their hands, eating spaghetti.. Is this really a Baba I ask my self?"
Apart from hanging out with Zohar and at different restaurants and cafes, there's plenty of treks and walks around this area. Specially there is a huge waterfall with 2-3 drops all in all falling from about 300meters. After a looong climb, at the second drop there's a big cave and we went in and saw the waterfall from the inside out. Very nice indeed and I wish specially one friend of mine was here to see that! Now, DawaTashi and me are looking around for a cheap bike to rent, so in a few days we'll be taking off across the mountains to Leh! Now that will be a story to tell I'm sure!
Manali is the largest town in the north Himashal Pradesh region, before you head off on a two day ride up through the 2nd highest road in the world to Leh, which is the capital of Ladahk, a pristine Tibetan region within India. Manali itself is a buzling town, packed with Indian tourists who come here to enjoy the scenery, ski, paragliding, trekk and even go Yak-skiing! If you can find a herder who are willing, you get on the skis, holding on a line to a yak, a bag of nuts are strapped in front of the yak and off you go! Most travellers stay away from the busy town and lay their hats in either Old Manali or Vashisht, two villages nearby. After a few days with Tashi and his family, I moved on to Vashisht. Here is a strange mix of traditional farmers life, Indian tourists, backpackers, Hippies and Babas (holy men). A farmer got hold of me when I came with my back pack and threw me in to one of his rooms. It's harvest time now, so in the yard cows are walking on the wheat in circles and I just hang around watching the farmers life. The narrow streets are a mine field of cow shit and it's ok to get by though. But when it starts raining, the whole alleyways are flooded with smeared out poop, and then it's not so nice splashing around with flip-flops! In the main square of Vashisht, there is two old temples, one of which is walled in and has holy hot springs. These hot springs are very nice, walled in and with small altars with Hindu deities. Unfortunately it's always crowded by noisy Indian tourist, so it's a bit hard to fully enjoy the serenity and beauty of the place in a relaxing way. Rather you have to enjoy the Indian family interactions around the pool. Little kids reluctantly being dragged in by the fathers, people praying at the shrine, splashing, screaming and shouting next to your ear.
Since the football is on, most of my nights I hang out with the usual crowd (many Brazilians naturally supporting Portugal) in front of the big screen TV at the World peace cafe. During the days, usually spend my time in a shop learning how to do Malas, necklaces with semi-precious stones. My teacher, Zoohar, a Kashmiri fellow, is really nice to have conversations with and he keeps me coming back for playing chess, drinking more gallons of chai and selling stuff of course... So, after a week, I'm packed with 6 malas, 2 silver medallions, a big statue of Krishna, a Kashmir carpet and chai coming out my ears! But he is nice to chat with and he told me allot about the Kashmir history and the situation now. In Vashisht you have also many Babas, most of the time smoking chillums, disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Zohar usually give the Babas some rupees when they come to the shop and I asked him how he knows if they are really holy men. He laughed and said "yes.. cause then sometimes I see them in a restaurant, with gold rings on their hands, eating spaghetti.. Is this really a Baba I ask my self?"
Apart from hanging out with Zohar and at different restaurants and cafes, there's plenty of treks and walks around this area. Specially there is a huge waterfall with 2-3 drops all in all falling from about 300meters. After a looong climb, at the second drop there's a big cave and we went in and saw the waterfall from the inside out. Very nice indeed and I wish specially one friend of mine was here to see that! Now, DawaTashi and me are looking around for a cheap bike to rent, so in a few days we'll be taking off across the mountains to Leh! Now that will be a story to tell I'm sure!
1 comment:
Nice to see you too, mi profesor!Abrazos
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