A cultural trip to Nagar

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Another sunrise well worth the early start today with clear blue skies. After breakfast we set off to Nagar, south of our home to visit the Roerich museum. The Roerich family were Russian and came to the area early last century. They had studied in Russia, Europe and the United States before doing a long overland trek to get here.

The father and one son were prolific artists with a striking modern style. The family was very interested in religions, archeology, science and, well, pretty much everything. They established a centre of research and promoted worldwide the principle of achieving peace through sharing and preserving culture.

After a stop or two on the way back for photos and a handcraft exhibition (got suckered there - it was just a shop) we were back in New Manali for lunch at our favourite restaurant. While Liz looked for shoes, I watched a man getting his ears cleaned, on the street with some rather rusty, sharp looking instruments. I had seen the same thing 20 whatever years ago and Mike was actually brave enough at that time to have a go. Not for me, thanks, I'll stick to cotton buds.

We wandered around the centre of Manali - no traffic allowed which was great - and Liz continued to support the local economy!

On the way back we past a group of people, including our host Yoga, taking a god to visit a local family. A colourful procession with plenty of drums and horns. Then as we started up the hill home we passed another interesting fellow.

The walk from the road to the house warrants a quick description. It rises about 100m and makes tracks like the Tongariro crossing look like a main road. It zigzags up the hill between the trees ( and occasionally cows) with pieces of slate from the surroundings laid at convenient places. The first time was a bit intimidating but after a couple of times I felt quite at ease, if still a bit out of breath.

We leave in the morning and I will miss the family and the stunning scenery. Thank you Robin for sharing this little slice of heaven with us.

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