Manali
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2008
1
11
60
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Manali,
Himachal Pradesh,
India
Monday, August 25, 2008
Mountain view
I guess I should be in some pics
Lunch stop
Mmmmmm
Road construction
Manali is located in a valley on the Beas River. Another mostly Buddhist area with many Tibetan refugees. One day I visited a couple Buddhist Gompas (monasteries).
Manali
Buddhist Gompa
Prayer Wheels
Inside gompa
The following day I hiked up a hill to the side of town to see Hadimba Temple set in the forest.
Hadimba Temple
Mmmm...chapati
Next I went to Vashisht, a town just on the other side of the river and up the mountain a bit. There are a couple temples here as well, one with public baths where I had the pleasure to witness a 70 year old Indian woman completely naked bathing. Sorry guys...no pics allowed inside the baths.
Buddhist Temple in Vashisht
View from Vashisht
I then took a walk inside Manali's nature preserve. It's not very big, maybe a mile long and about a half mile in width, but it was a nice walk.
Nature Park
Traffic Jam
Tonight I'm leaving for Dharamsala, supposedly a 10 hour bus ride. McLeod Ganj is an area about 4 miles from the city where the Dalai Lama's residence is located. This is also where the Tibetan government has officially relocated to. I've already checked and unfortunately the Dalai Lama will not be giving any public teachings here until September. If you're lucky enough to be here at the right time you can register to attend one of his public appearances. But I am going to look into taking a Buddhist Philosophy course and there are plenty of volunteering opportunities teaching Tibetan refugees.
Hope all is well with everyone.
peace,
Jen
Comments
temple hopping
aha! I am the first to post a comment..... just wanted to say hey and that your photos and descriptions are so great. am glad you are continuing to have such a good time and that I can get a small peek into Manali - so beautiful.