Sheetal Hotel Kullu

... da hippy in pensione e neo-hippy alle prime armi. Le ore scorrono lente tra una passeggiata, una tazza di the e la lettura dei libri conservati per 20 giorni in valigia senza sfogliarne nemmeno ua pagina. Sapevo che qui mi sarebbero serviti molto piu' che altrove.
Oggi pomeriggio ho chiacchierato per un paio d'ore con il gestore di un piccolo ...

... top, but with a little encouragement from mark, I carry on!!!!! Unfortunately when we reach the blooming lake there's no water in it. Are ya havin a laugh india?????? we take a pic of the mud and smelly rubbish that now fills this holy lake and head on back to the town.... downhill though so it was grand! Back to LLo's for dinner... chicken and potatoes were on the menu.... eh wasnt much to write home about ... Mam can you send me some roasties in the post please!!!! xx

... slogans were everywhere. Signs saying "Individuals can make a difference", "others before self", "peace and love", and "we come to learn and go to serve". Unfortunately, I did not have a radio for the FM translation, so I just soaked in the scenery and experience for a while. Toward the end of the broadcast, I took out my Ipod thinking maybe it had radio capability. The Ipod did not, but Kunchok pointed to a white (western ...

... while a group of young monks watched and cheered.
Despite the whole taxi experience, we really enjoyed Rewalsar Lake and we are really glad and honored to have visited such a holy, beautiful place. It is definitely some where we would like to return to in the future.

Hope everyone is doing great, we apologize for the enormous amount of slacking we have been doing with the blog! We miss you all and can't wait to hear from you! - Matt and Sarah

... happy in their existence.

It was really interesting and very eye opening for me to spend time with these wonderful people.

After the lesson, Pippa asked me if I wanted to join her and one of the ladies for another lesson which was just a a chat over a cup of tea at a nearby restaurant. I agreed and was again told the same story from her as everyone else here. She's a very petite woman in her 20's, she actually had to run away from home at 17 because ...

... posh place with our new friends because there are very few places to eat. last night we had to go to a fast food restaurant that didn't actually sell anything on its menu- the Israel girl was guttered cause she couldn't have chips, that's all she'll eat cause she says they cover everything else in chili and spices! So hopefully we'll be filling our tums with some nice food this evening.... fingers crossed, I'll keep you posted!

... worked up. Each countries' crowd tried to outdo the other by making more noise. I found the whole thing weird because the relationship between India and Pakistan is not good at all, and of course there is still fighting going on in Kashmir really near to Palampur where we live. Otherwise, this week has just been about tying up loose ends. We have sent home parcels. This process sounds simple but of course with it being India it is far from simple. First you ...

Ahhhh Shimla! This place seems like heaven after Delhi. We caught a train to Kalka and then the connecting narrow-gauge "toy train" to Shimla. Very speccy mountain scenery. Very lush and cool - lots of mist so not the best views. The toy train was packed tight and would have been a long 5hr ride if not for the beautiful scenery. Arrived Shimla about 5:30pm and was welcomed by touts - but nothing after Delhi! We got taken for ...

... darkend skin and hair. After walking around in the village for a bit we went up the hills to the house where they had lived the last 5 weeks. An absolutly perfect place with an awesome view over the valley, totally quiet, inbetween apple trees and huge boulders. There are three waterfalls in walking distance and we visited the first one and washed ourselfs in the cold glacier water. This whole place is a little paradise, amazing landscape, very friendly locals and chilled ...

... weather had packed in and I had concluded that in oing t Leh there was to much of a chance of being stuck over there, and being that the usual closing date of the road is Sept 15 (depending on the weather). It was a cold ride back to Kullu, but I was warmy welcomed by Krishna, Pip (friends from NZ now living in Kullu) and their sister Pragati. The hee sisters along with some oher NZers, Canadians, and oher westerners are part of the Shyam ashram here ed by their guru SwamiJi.