Jubbal Palace Himachal Pradesh

... of hours we found out that in fact the retreat wouldn’t be opening until the afternoon. So we all left and regrouped at 1pm. The afternoon session seemed to be more what everyone was expecting in the morning. We were invited into the temple where we sat and watched at the monks chanted and the head teachers sat on large chairs at the front of the room. All of the monks were in robes and spent the next few hours chanting in ...

... 8220;computers&#8221; I replied &#8220;internet&#8230; web pages&#8230; I make&#8221;, still a little confused she looked back down at the sheet. &#8220;29 years old&#8221; she said, I nodded. &#8220;Oh&#8230; single&#8221; she said looking concerned and shaking her head, this is not a good thing if you are Indian, men are allowed to be 29 and single at a stretch but a woman should not be older than 24 when she is married.<br><br> She left the room and I finished ...

... to really appreciate the assistance that they get around the house.<br><br>Brian has some strange working hours and we seemed to do most of our work between the hours of midnight and 3am, this took a little bit of getting used to but after a bit of a sleep in on the first day I felt fine. Our nights were filled with programming code, design lessons and jam sessions with electric guitars. A strange combination perhaps but although we spent some time mucking around we did ...

... beautiful Himalayan mountains and the other is in the middle of the desert.<br>My friend Tashi and I woke after a long night sleeping on the train and organised a porter (who looked about 90) to carry our heavy bags. Our driver had been waiting for us as the train was half an hour late. We had to fight off a few potential guides but in no time we were in the car and on our way.<br>We stopped briefly at a little hotel/restaurant, it was a large white and blue ...

... live in this and returned to their native village up on the mountain top during summer. Rana spent few years of his life in Germany where he learnt to deal with foreigners and when he returned to his native village his vision had widened enough to introduce tourism in the valley. He became the first one to take initiative and proceeded to convert his traditional house to a guest house.<br><br>It was not an easy job as he had to face the strong objections of his family and village ...

It's been raining for 3 days solid, there's not much to do except go on the internet, read and sleep. These pics were taken on the drive up here and the one day it didn't rain, when we took a walk. <br>India is experiencing a heat wave but here in the mountains it is freezing. <br><br>It stopped raining for a few minutes and a local guy that we had been chatting with the previous night asked us if we wanted to go with ...

Since I've arrived in McLeod Ganj, I've been spending many mellow days relaxing and soaking up dharma talks by Tibetan monks. This region hardly feels like India....the climate is cool, the mountain views stunning, and all around is Tibetan influence and refugees. In the mornings they have dharma talks (right-living) at the Library, in the evenings the monks and many westerners gather in the town square and ...

... rush of water as you raft over the surging River Sutlej. Ride with the wind on a Warm rooms mountain bicycle through picturesque paths that take you on a journey of discovery. Fire up your energies with an invigorating horse ride. On the other hand you could just enjoy the spirit of the mountains within the exclusive environs of the resort. Whether ...

... too many rude Israelis around. I digress. After a lovely lunch of omelettes in Khirganga, we pressed on through old growth forest to our second night's camp. The third day, the terrain opened up into an explosion of wildflowers and broad expanses of green. I got a little carried away photographing the flowers, as you can see, but it was hard to help myself. We had a cool river crossing aboard a basket ...

... ll the men held h*nds *round * group of men pl*ying Indi*n Flutes trumpets *nd drums. We were roped in Immedi*tely *nd i *m now *n expert in btoh holding h*nds with Indi*ns *nd d*ncing the *ncient folk. Tuesd*y then gr*bbed us *nd took us in to where the reception w*s held, we s*t with wh*t must h*ve been 40 Indi*ns the M*jority of them over 40 *nd some of them re*lly old who were *ll m*ggot on Whisky. we were se*ted *nd m*de to ...