Blogs from Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia - page 113

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Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Shimla July 14th 2004

Bhandasar Jain Temple In the previous blog entry we ended by writing about a very odd temple in the town Deshnoke in Bikaner district in Rajasthan. To go to that temple we passed through the city Bikaner. There we visited the Bhandasar Jain Temple, a temple with impressive wall paintings and artworks. Havelis In Bikaner there are many so called havelis, which can be described as a mansion or a townhouse in a city. The havelis are often quite spectacular buildings, heavily decorated with carved wooden reliefs and other works of art. It was interesting to see a few of these havelis. Unfortunately the streets were they were located were very narrow making it very difficult to take photos of th... read more
Bhandasar Jain Temple
Haveli
Devi Kund Sagar

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh November 27th 2003

Je commence maintenant, voyant notre départ de l’Inde approcher, à être sérieusement fatiguée psychologiquement. J’ai hâte de retourner à la maison. Nous sommes à Dalhousie. On est sortis de l’autobus à 2h30 PM et on s’est fait assaillir d’hommes qui nous donnaient des cartes d’hôtels et qui étaient déjà en train de barguigner notre chambre sans qu’on ait moindrement accepté. Ce doit être Yanick qui en est le plus touché, car c’est à lui que se présente tous les gens. Ici, l’homme est le maître du couple. Mais une chance que c’est Yanick, de nature calme et patiente qu’on aborde en premier, parce que je serais devenue assez bête merci à force de me faire écœurer contre mon gré. On s’est enfin fait laissé tranquille en disant qu’on avait déjà une chambre réservée et ensuite ... read more
coucher de soleil, vue de notre chambre à Dalhousie
coucher de soleil, vue de notre chambre à Dalhousie
temple bouddhiste, McLeod gang

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Mcleod Ganj November 25th 2003

Il ne nous reste plus que 6 jours en Inde. Snif snif. Quand on était au Rajasthan, j’avais un peu hâte de revenir, car c’était très épuisant, surtout psychologiquement. Le simple fait de marcher dans la rue était fatiguant, avec tous ces regards, ces gens qui insistent et la pression des commerçants et des chauffeurs de rickshaws. Tandis qu’ici, j’aurais le goût de m’acheter une maison toute cute et d’y rester encore pour 2-3 mois. Aller faire mon épicerie à travers les petites rues ensoleillées, rencontrer des gens et trouver une façon de les aider, que ce soit en travaillant avec eux ou dans un musée. Mais bon, ce n’était pas le principal objectif de ce voyage et je m’évade un peu. Ce sera pour une prochaine fois! Hier, ce fut une petite journée tranquille. ... read more
McLeod Gang et ses environs
McLeod Gang et ses environs
McLeod Gang et ses environs

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Mcleod Ganj September 16th 2002

The public bus from Mandi to Dharmsala stopped everywhere so it ended up taking about 8 hours and then the extra 1/2 hour up to McCleod Ganj - so I was quite tired on arrival. I still checked out about 4 guest houses in the rain before picking a room with a deck overlooking a valley. My neighbors were two Austrian girls who spent a lot of time with a couple of Australians. McCleod Ganj was a great place - many people were there to study Vipassana, Reiki, Buddhism or Tibetan. The Dalai Lama was there and shook the hand of one of the Austrian girls before getting wind of my arrival and going in to hiding (meditation). I spent quite a bit of time with Lilach - from Tel Aviv, and also met a stunner ... read more

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Mandi September 10th 2002

I took the slow route to Dharmsala with a night stop at Mandi. The local bus was ok - we changed somewhere on the road down to get the bus to Mandi. Sharing a room with an Isreali couple was fun, and spending an evening with them an Austrian guy who was quite interesting - he was motorbiking around India for a few months. Big white dreadlocks not so usual for the Austrian's I've met. ... read more

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Manali September 9th 2002

When I got to Manali I was a little restless after two days on the bus so I did quite a lot of walking between the old town (where I stayed), the new town, and Vasisht - a hippy hang-out with some hot springs and some nice Isrealis and Germans, and a lost Australian - lost because i think he was getting a little too stoned. Manali was very beautiful with some very high snow capped peaks visible from the valley around the river Beas. On the second day in Manali is started to rain so I stayed a couple more nights and meet some more Isrealis and a couple of French guys who had spent a year travelling the world to record music on a grant. I also found a very nice Tibetan restaurant and ... read more

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Keylong September 6th 2002

We stopped for a night in Kelong which was just a pretty small bus stop with some restaurants and guest rooms. Pretty muddy! We didn't end up stopping a sleeping in a tent though!... read more

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Mcleod Ganj April 23rd 2001

McLeod Gang, described by one American here as "beginner's India", is THE most Tibetan-food-eating, tourist-hotel-staying, happy-hour-drinking place. Not to mention meditation-class-taking and Dalai Lama-spotting. (We saw him in his Land Rover, on his way to speak!) It's absolutely comfy here. The hills around us are big and quiet. Looking down on Dharmsala and the gangetic plain makes me believe I can see all the way to Kanniyakumari and reminds me how high up we are. I finally discovered an equivalent to Indians waking us too early - coming back to the guesthouse late, requiring them to open the locked gate for us. But isn't it called "guest" house, not "curfew" house? And I don't think it helped our cause when I returned alone late one night after a few big beers. I was approached by an ... read more
Prayer wall, McLeod Gang
View from our hotel room, Chamba
Drinking with Craig, Chamba

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh April 14th 2001

We loved the food and friendly culture in Kathmandu. We hated the build-up in Pokhara. Now, it's time to get to North India. I'll give the country a clean slate, the north's probably totally different from the south. As soon as we crossed the border, the air changed. Literally. It was full of the aromas of spices that are uniquely Indian. As enjoyable as that could have been, I was suddenly reminded of all the things I forgot I hated. And how much more offensive the people are to my American senses. On our first bus ride, I was caught in a good mood by some guy whom I maintained small talk with until he asked, "You enjoy sex in India?" with the same over-excited interest that he asked, "How many days you stay here?" or, ... read more
Tea vendor, Shimla
Outside Polga, Parvati Valley, Himachal Pradesh

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Dharamsala November 30th 1999

That's it. The last gong has gonged and I returned to real life after 10 days of vipassana. Such sweet golden sound... (though probably even the honking of a truck would have sounded lovely had it symboled the end of meditation sessions). All in all it was a very interesting experience, though it definitely wasn't life changing (one important thing I learned is that an hour is alot of time and that two hours is even more). I tried to think how to describe the atmosphere in the course, what it is most similar to in the outside world, and I came to the conclusion that it most resembles a group of hattifatteners (for those of you who haven't read Moomin books - go read them!). Everyone walks around expressionless (though after a couple of days ... read more




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