Green Field Manali

... my brain that we were in the mountains. Seemingly out of nowhere, we took an abrupt turn onto a steep road, and kept going at this angle for a number of miles. I was suddenly excited: I could see the lights of villages high up in the surrounding mountains, so high in fact that at first I mistook them for stars. My eagerness grew as daylight came, and I was awarded the spectacle of the mountainous regions of India. I will remind you that until now, I have been city-bound ...

... A yak herder and his herd were blocking the road and within a few minutes he had all the yak lined up looking over the edge. Then we passed this young woman carrying a goat in her arms. I really looked at her because she seemed like something right out of National Geographic. The young nomadic woman carrying a goat in the Himalayas. Cool.

We finally arrived at Kasol, which is a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere. This place ...

... than the moonscape that it is so well-known for. i visited most of the monasteries and was fascinated by the frescoes inside them. You could say i got a crash course in Buddhism. Exploring Buddhism was like taking a trip down Hinduism, except from the other side. Two shores of the same river is how i would like to describe it. Mahayana Buddhism, which is practised in Ladakh also has its own pantheon of Gods and can be almost as ritualistic ...

... sightseeing by visiting the Old Village and the hot sulphur springs which we envisaged to be some natural scene of beauty. The hot sulphur springs were in fact a small section of the old village where locals were half naked and scrubbing their bits in steaming ceramic pools. The smell confirmed it was sulphur though - either that or all the locals had been eating eggy curries. We also went to a 16th ...

... English very regally welcomed us in, she struck me as very elegant as well as eloquent and reminded me of a small public school girl i the UK!! amidst all that poverty.... but manu does pay for her education with the money he earns waitering in Goa as this in his mind is a priority, a good education, so his kids can rise above the poverty line and hopefully make a good life for themselves ...

... the "electrician" just tests for current, probably by putting one lead on each ear, and hooks up a whole new wire. It is a wonder the whole country doesn't burn down, but then again, most buildings except in the mountains are made of bricks and/or metal, so they are pretty fireproof. If there is an electrical fire, it will be just down on the street, spitting sparks and molten plastic insulation, sending jumping power cables down among the crowd in the baazar. Brand-new buildings ...

... carrying his share)? A few hours later, we arrived at the Snake Falls, a sacred Shiva site, but were missing the rest of our crew, who promised to cook lunch, who promised to be our support, who promised to be reliable despite their inexperience. For this trip, we were paying them so that we wouldn't have to worry about certain things, to make the trek a little easier, so that we could enjoy more subtle things. Instead we were ...

... fittest person in the world but even Vlada struggled). Leh was amazingly peaceful even though our visit co-incided with the annual Ladakh festival with dancing, music, traditional costumes, polo and archery (I even proved to be not a bad archer - I have the video clip to prove it!!) Every restaurant tries to do continental dishes but we are very impressed with Tibetan ...

... nice to get a bit of peace and quiet and be in Nature after the constant honking and beeping of India proper. It's nice to be able to take a wander through the fields and the old village houses with all the chickens cows and goats. Our main point for coming here was to do a 10 day course on Tibetan Buddhism. It was taught by the same Swiss Tibetan nun that taught the course we did in January. It was pretty full on as was in silence and we received so much ...

... a functioning church and I went down one Sunday morning to find a congregation inside singing hymns and listening to an Indian vicar. But for me it was the graveyard that was most fascinating. Walking around the tombstones one could discern everyday British name as you would find today if you looked in a telephone directory. Names like John Smith, Lucy Beale, Elizabeth Childs etc. I sat in a spot of sunlight next to the grave of one Adelade Carmichael (died 1944) and ...