Himalaya, baby

¡Hola de nuevo! Lo primero siento haber estado desaparecida. Estos dos meses he tenido mucho trabajo, y con el cansancio y la vida social, no he tenido ni un minuto libre. Esta semana estoy de vacaciones (¡yujuuuu!), así que aprovecho para viajar y escribir un poco. Ahora mismo estoy en una habitación desde la que solo oigo el agua correr entre las piedras y algún que otro grillo. Estoy en Old Manali, una ciudad en el Himalaya (en verdad, eso fue hace casi dos semanas, esto va en diferido, como el finiquito de Bárcenas).

Esto es lo que tenía delante de la puerta de mi habitación.

Desde Guyarat, hemos tardado 25 horas de trasporte (tren y buses), sin contar el tiempo de espera, pero merece la pena. Ni siquiera pudimos dormir en el bus, porque entre los agujeros de la carretera y las curvas de la montaña el traqueteo es insoportable.

Uno de los jardines de... manzanos.

Manali es bastante conocido en la India. Muchos vienen aquí de luna de miel. También es conocido entre los extranjeros, que vienen pos sus… manzanas. Hay manzanos por todos lados. De hecho, nada más llegar, un hombre nos ofreció llevarnos a ver una habitación a buen precio y, de paso, nos mencionó su “huerto especial” de… manzanos. Por aquí hay muchos hippies, así que todo el mundo come… manzanas. ;-)

Hoy es jueves, y hasta ahora hemos caminado un poco por la montaña, donde hemos visto unas cascadas impresionantes. También hemos visitado el templo de Manu, el equivalente hindú a Noé, que salvó a los animales del diluvio aquí, en Old Manali (curioso que varias religiones tengan las mismas… historias), y otros dos templos budistas en Manali. Entre ambos pueblos hay un par de km nada más, aunque siempre se puede coger un rickshaw, ya sabéis.

 

La calle principal de Old Manali.

Templo de Manu, en Old Manali.

Templo budista en Manali.

Hoy hemos cogido un todoterreno que nos ha llevado a Rohtang Pass, donde hay nieves perpetuas. Cuando hemos llegado al punto donde paran los coches, algunos (la mayoría) cogen caballos para subir. Nosotros hemos caminado, pero se ha puesto a llover (tened en cuenta que estamos a casi 4.000 metros, así que caminamos entre nubes) y no hemos llegado a ver la nieve. Eso sí, las vistas desde el coche han sido impresionantes. Os dejo una selección, pero lo que se ve en las fotos no le hace justicia a lo que teníamos delante.

Cataratas en la montaña.

La zona blanca que veis en el centro de la montaña son
nieves perpetuas. 

Otra foto en el Himalaya.

Por cierto, en el viaje de vuelta, de repente tuvimos que pararnos... porque había estado lloviendo y ¡había desprendimientos! Tuvimos suerte y las máquinas que tienen limpiaron la carretera lo suficiente para que pudiéramos pasar y volver a Old Manali sanos y salvos.

Esto de ver cabras en medio de la carretera cuando tienes a
tu lado un acantilado impresionante no tranquiliza mucho...

Aquí se puede apreciar la nieve
y el agua que baja.

Una cascada de camino a Rohtang Pass.

Desde lo alto de Rohtang Pass.

La pendiente que veíamos desde el coche.

Como podéis ver, desde la carretera da miedo mirar hacia abajo. Íbamos con más gente, y las dos chicas que estaban con nosotros han sufrido mucho. No sé si se mareaban con las curvas (tengo que decir que yo estoy inmunizada, con la de viajes en coche que hacía todos los findes al pueblo de pequeña) o si estaban muertas de miedo, o heladas o un poco de todo. Y lo peor es que, en una parada, el conductor y uno de los chicos se han preparado… una manzana. Lo bueno es que, si tú también le das un par de mordiscos, lo ves todo de otra forma… es como ir a Gibraltar… ;-)

Y hasta aquí la crónica escrita en Manali… Después de eso, más relax… comer manzanas, hablar con todo tipo de gente de difeerentes países y probar platos de la zona. Y después de una semana, vuelta a la vida en Ahmedabad y a la cruda realidad. Terminé un proyecto de 1500 páginas antes de irme y me he encontrado con uno de 1300 al volver. Y en esas estamos… así que he tardado tres semanas en publicar esta entrada. Espero que la próxima no se haga esperar tanto, ya que ¡ya está casi escrita! Saludos desde Ahmedabad.

Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh (part II)

So, last time, I was telling you that I was in Amritsar and we could see many people covered with different colours in the street…

Everyone, covered in colourful powder, 

on the way to a temple.

It was Holi! After leaving Mata Mandir, we went to look for them. At the beginning, we followed them discreetly, but then they offered to paint us a bit, and then other people joined… and we ended up covered in colourful powder! Everyone was very nice, they gave us food and drinks (although we couldn’t have the marihuana juice, because we cannot drink the water in India) and were all the time throwing powder at us and saying “Happy Holi!”. It was amazing. Then we went dancing with them to a temple and, at the end, the guys were climbing on each other to take the water from a suspended pot (it seems that Krishna would steal butter like that). You can see, in the following pictures, the state in which we finished the celebration… We were even thrown an egg at! But that is not really part of the Holi tradition…

Dancing at Holi.

The floor of the temple covered in petals and powder.

We started like that...

Here we looked a bit better...

A guy trying to get the butter.

And we ended up like that. 

Next day we went to Chandigarh. It was a bit stormy, but we had to go out, because we only had that afternoon there. We went to the Rock Garden, built with recycled material. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Mosaics on columns.

Ecology, the foundation of the garden.

Waterfalls.

Even the trees are recycled.

A wall covered with plugs. You had to get closer to realize.

Sculptures of what I'd say are giraffes.

The clothes of these sculptures are made with bracelets.

Small sculptures. This is a small selection. There were loads!

More sculptures.

And people looking at you...

Tile bits to cover a wall.

Here we can recognise the shape
of the material used.

More figures with bracelets.

We also visited and artificial lake and a rose garden. By then, we were quite tired, so we went back to the hotel to rest, as the following day we were going back to Delhi.

In the Rose Garden.

Margaret Thatcher Roses. They had odd names 
(I published this photo before she died; nothing to do
with me agreeing with her or honouring her!!!).

Already on Friday, we visited the Red Fort (Lal Qila). We had to pay 250 rupees for being foreigners… for Indians it is only 10 rupees! And it wasn’t that good… Just ok.

Lal Qila, the Red Fort, seen from the outside.

The entrance to Lal Qila.

A building in the Red Fort.

Another building in the Red Fort.

Red Fort's Gardens.

Lal Qila and an Indian Flag.

Swaminarayan Akshardham.

 On Saturday, our last day, we visited Swaminarayan Akshardham, a Hindu temple. It is quite new, from 2005, but it is amazing. It has gardens and the walls are all sculpted. For example, on the lower level we can see lots of elephants in different situations among them, with humans, in nature and with the gods and goddesses. Unluckily, we can’t get the camera in, so I don’t have any pictures, but you can maybe go to their website to have a quick look.

By the way, the entrance is free, as it is a place of worship (unlike Westminster Abbey, e.g., that is a touristic place, not religious, right?). Moreover, the food and the books, postcards and souvenirs were at a reasonable price.


And, lastly, we went to the Lotus temple. Outside, it is quite impressive, but in the inside there’s barely any decoration. That is because it is a Bahá’í temple, a religion that seeks the spiritual union of humanity. Everyone enters in silence and you can stay as long as you want, meditating or praying to the god you believe in.

Lotus Temple.

Then, we took the train back to Ahmedabad. As you may have realized, I just talked about the cultural side. We have done and seen so much! But I didn’t want to bother you with details, and all that information will be part of future entries, devoted to specific topics, as transport or food. I leave you for some days! See you soon!

Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh (Part I)

Well, it seems that I am a bit behind with the blog in English… I have been quite busy, but I will try to catch up! I am going to tell you a bit about my trip to Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh, but divided in two entries, so that it is not too hard to read…

The bazaar we went through, seen from Jama Masjid.

Our first stop was in Delhi. After a night on the train, we arrived there at 7.30 and went to visit Jama Masjid, one of the biggest mosques in India. We had to walk through bazaar streets until we reached our destination. The mosque is not the most beautiful thing we have seen, and we had to pay to get in because we had cameras and nowhere to leave them! But it was alright.

Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid, inside.

The bazaar close to Jama Masjid.

India Gate.

 After lunch we went to India Gate. That was nicer, especially because of the gardens in the whole area. We also visited the house of the president and some other buildings of the government. It was so quiet! There was almost no traffic… It had nothing to do with the bazaar we had been in in the morning.

Myself, in front of India Gate.

By India Gate.

The gardens in India Gate.

An elephant in Laxmi Narayan Mandir.

Then we went to a Hindu temple called Laxmi Narayan. We couldn’t get the camera in, but it was worth visiting. It’s quite big and it’s formed by rooms connected at different levels. It looks like a small village with all the houses joined together.

Laxmi Narayan Temple.

In Laxmi Narayan's garden.

Dusk at Laxmi Narayan Mandir.

In front of the Golden Temple,
where you have to be barefoot and cover your head.

 Next day we took the train to Amritsar and, there, we visited Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple. It is a sikh temple, so you have to be barefoot and cover your head. To get to the centre of the “pool of nectar”, where the temple itself is, you have to queue (as you can see in the pictures) and it took us an hour to get in. 

The Golden Temple on its pool of nectar.

"Small" fish in the pool of nectar.

In the Golden Temple.

About to join the queue to get in the Temple.

Representation of the British shooting at Jallianwala Bagh.

After that we went to a park close by, Jallianwala Bagh, in which the British killed many people in 1919 because they were asking for independence more and more. You can see the representation among the bushes. There is also a well where many jumped and died to avoid the bullets.

The well at Jallianwala Bagh

Hands coming out of the earth at Jallianwala Bagh.

From room to room in Mata Mandir.

Next day we went to Mata Mandir, a temple where women pray to get pregnant. It is quite impressive. It seems small, but then, inside, you go from room to room, sometimes through tiny entrances. At some point, you even have to walk on water, and it is all covered with mirrors. From there, we saw some people covered with some kind of powder… 

Getting into a "cave" with water,
to follow the path in Mata Mandir.

In Mata Mandir.

Colourful people...

And I will leave it here for today! I will finish the story about my trip another day, so that you don’t get too bored. Hopefully, it will be this week. I hope you enjoy it.