traveling – Page 2 – Cherry Red Shoes

Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)

Figured I’d be easier to understand if I just showed you the map. Mamallapuram is 2 hours away from chennai by bus.

From Agra to Mamallapuram, we:
-Took a train to Delhi,
-Got on the airport metro in Delhi,
-Discovered we’re not allowed in the uber cool terminal 3 unless we had a valid flight departing from terminal 3. No we can’t even go in just to have dinner (you can. Just pay 100 rs.)
-Carried our hurt pride to the domestic terminal, terminal 1 (by this time it was midnight we were tired and hungry)
–Sat for a few hours in terminal one. No you’re not allowed to lie on the floor and no you can’t lie across chairs as every seat has hand rests.
-Gave up at 4am and went for the most expensive breakfast in India at Costa.
–Boarded flight at 630am for Chennai. Collapsed on flight but woke up when descending to this!

And this

-Walked from Chennai domestic airport to train station.
-Took train to another train station (5 rs only!)
-Walked around lost, with heavy backpacks, crossed the crazy road, wrong, re crossed the crazy road,
-Took a 2 hour local bus ride to Mamallapuram.

Got to Mamallapuram and liked it immediately.

It’s a small town, very walkable. Lots of local food and western restaurants. Food ranges from 30 rs for 2 paratha and curry to 300 rs for a beef dish. The beach is close by and the locals pretty much leave you alone. Much less hassling than Agra/Khajuraho, etc.

BUT. This place is very humid and hot. All the budget/upmarket options are along Othavadai or Othavadai cross street. It’s off season now so a basic double room costs about 400 rs and an ac double for 1000 rs. We took the ac rooms!

The 5 rathas are a world heritage site. We were kind of disappointed. It looked a bit like a desert city constructed for a theme park.

Ok that’s pretty harsh, but that’s how I felt!

(read if you want to.. It went something like this to me: ages and ages ago in a powerful dynasty of powerful rulers, this was built with this and this material and took this and this length of time and demonstrates the blah and blah of that era.)

Still had fun though.

Seashore temple… Can see that it’s old ans authentic (ie not too touched up). Was full of people and was a scorching hot day so we got in, snap snap snap, and got right out.

Scorching hot!

Food: Thalis – all you can eat for 50 rs

Banana leaf… Very south Indian.

Parathas or Prata as I know it in Singapore:

Prata man!

Mamallapuram is right beside the beach. The waves are strong and we were outnumbered 100 to 2 so we stayed covered and enjoyed the sunset instead.

Twas a carnival atmosphere. Horses for romantic gallops, people walking around selling cold ish drinks, merry go rounds…pockets of people on the sand, happy chatter everywhere.

There are places within walking distance that have no entrance charge:

Butter ball!

And this

Argh, and these

Stone carvers everywhere. They’re really good! Some works of art you’ll need a crane to lift.

Smaller accessible souvenirs

Why didn’t I buy them… Why. Argh. Now I have to go back!

Nice lassi man

Street view

Awwww cows in love!

Demon face to ward off evil spirits… Raaar

🙂

THE Taj Mahal! (Agra)

We were so excited about the Taj Mahal because it was The. Taj. Mahal. India’s iconic symbol. The national symbol of everlasting love.

So the story goes that some Mughal (reminds me of Mowgli, from Jungle Book) emperor from the 17th century had a few wives, the third of which most unfortunately died giving birth to their 14th child. Devastated, he built the Taj Mahal as a mega tomb and memorial for his beloved.

First of all, 14th CHILD?! Of course she died. She was about 31 years old. That’s a child after the next from when she was about 15 or 16. Oh my. What a fertile lady. What an…active lover the emperor was.

We woke up at 5am to catch the Taj at sunrise. The ticket office near the east gate was open when we got there by 530am but it is 750m from the actual east gate. There was a queue of foreigners. Gates only opened at 6.10am. I watched the sun rise on the right of the taj mahal. Then it was bright and the gates opened.

Chris’s chicken stuffed toy got confiscated by security! They said it was disrespectful! He had to go out, get it deposited at a nearby shop, then queue and get re-screened! I made some noise like a grumpy crazy woman, and they shoved him to the front of the queue.

After ALL that was over, Tadahhh…

And…. Falling!

Er hmm.

Hey come on… Everyone was posing and taking pictures 😉

Interesting fact: the column of words is built in such a way that it’s narrower at the bottom and broader at the top, such that when it is gazed at from our perspective, the column will appear like a uniform rectangle. Oooh!
Well I found it cool anyway.

There are signs that say no pictures inside. There are also security guards patrolling the area. When no one was looking I took pictures anyway. Many tourists were doing it too. Sneaky are us. BUT out of respect I didn’t photograph the tomb. They put le emperor beside his wife. They are fake tombs though, the actual ones are in the basement.

Nicer outside I think.

That’s the Yamuna river behind the Taj. It’s one of the 3 holy rivers – other 2 are the Ganges and Saraswati river.

That’s the Agra fort in the tiny red distance.

The Taj Mahal was very white, and very pretty. The early morning sun gave it a soft glow. It’s made of marble so wow did it glow. I sat there gazing at it for the longest time while Chris explored the mosques on the compound. The Taj is pretty. It is really very pretty. It is a work of art! But as a symbol of love? An extremely rich and powerful man spent a ton of money and power to order a lot of people to toil and work very hard to design and build the amazing Taj Mahal. That doesn’t seem like a lot of effort on his part. Love is more about effort and consideration rather than throwing money about is it not? Yes I love to be pampered and I know the worth of luxury and I will definitely be swayed by pretty diamonds, but…she’s gone. The Taj Mahal is an incredible work of art but for LOVE? Maybe put all that money into hospitals – provide free hospital care to women with birthing complications. This saves all their husbands from heartache. All their Loves will live, and they have precious new Baby Loves too.

Facts: you can get tickets for the Taj Mahal in Delhi (88 Janpath ONLY. Not any other so called tourist offices.) so you won’t have to queue at the ticket offices when you get here. If not there are tickets sold at South and West gates. East gate ticket booth is 750m away from East gate. A couple of tourist arrived at the east gate and had to walk all the way up (to booth) and back down to enter. Lots of tour guides buy tickets in bulk for their group of foreign tourists. They love to casually plonk themselves in front of you ie cut queue. Don’t let them! Glare and reclaim your place in the queue.

If you go really early the ticket booth man might not have change. Bring exact amount.

You will be given a shoe cover (for inside the taj) and a small water bottle.

Managed to get 100 rs for auto rickshaw from train station to taj mahal. Most will quote 150 rs.

We found a cheap, reliable eating place – Joney’s near the south gate. Banana lassi is cheap and good! Malai Kofta yummy. Reasonably priced.

Out of point: Ok nothing to do with the taj mahal… Don’t you just love all the colour and glamour of probably the most beautiful outfit in the world – the sari!

Fascinating!

🙂

Kama Sutra Carvings (Khajuraho)

We were tickled by the thought of seeing erotic positions carved in stone, in a holy jain temple. To be honest, it was funny when we first saw it but it wasn’t covered in carvings like I’d hoped. You had to scrutinise every inch. They were peppered all over the place and after 5 minutes most looked the same.

Advice: do read up before you visit the Western Group of temples. Just so you know where to look, and for what. A guide would be useful. We were super cheapo and didn’t get one but kind of hung around some (they kept getting in our way. We couldn’t help but eavesdrop!). There was also a very helpful security guard who was more than happy to take on an air of authority in briefly educating the clueless foreigner (me). Do also note that most locals stand around and seem to offer helpful information but demand for money later. Helpful security man was honestly helpful! Thank goodness.

It costs 250 rs (5.30 sgd) to enter the western Group. It had a beeaauutiful garden, which you can’t step on and squish your bare feet into so just take photos.

This is what it looks like from near the entrance:

There are more temples around.
Pretty flowers!

Close up of temple:

Quite large yes. The carvings on the base layer, mid layers, and upper layers represent a system of karma, foundation, and sex (ie education). This is what Helpful Security Man told me.

Here we go:

Woman holds hands to face as she is shy. First night after wedding. (carving from inside the temple) bring a torch

Then they have couple sex:

Then of course… Group orgy!

They look pretty similar, don’t they?

Animals of course, are not left out:

😀 big smiles.

It seemed like most foreigners will only stay here for a night. They get in, laugh at the temples, and get out. I totally understand. The touts were the worst I’ve ever experienced in India. I’ve now been to Agra, supposedly the worst of all tourism but nope, Khajuraho was the worst! They were so rude! Infuriatingly rude. If you didn’t reply they taunt you. If you replied even with a firm no, they follow you, go after you, and keep asking you to do the same thing – take their tour to the waterfalls, buy their stuff, eat at their restaurant.
Good lord.
The children are as bad! They call out, run after you, sit beside you as you have chai, plant their face right in your face as you stop for street food. They poke you if you don’t respond. Good lord. Kill me.

Oh there were a couple of sculptures – they are gay! Ancient wisdom acknowledges it 🙂 pro-love am I.

Okay fine. You can argue that is still sort of looks like man – woman art work.

Why not, though? Why not see that these kama sutra jain temples, world heritage sites, dedicated a small portion of sculptures to same sex couples. Love is love 🙂

A nude painting for good measure :

Holy Mother of all Mother of old cities and holy rivers (Varanasi)

13 hours in a hot, cramped overnight sleeper train from Delhi. We arrived in Varanasi junction sleep deprived, disoriented, hot and sticky. (In Qiu’s terms, really grumpy) The tuk tuk navigated through the usual dusty bumpy Indian roads. It was a hot day. Dust swirled everywhere. p.s. I advice against conversation on dusty tuk tuk rides. Do keep thy mouth tightly shut and arms and legs in moving vehicle at all times. Piles of rubbish lined the roads and poor cows chewed on rubbish/plastic bags.

Dumped bags at guest house. Showered. Back out to explore in sweltering heat.

Walked straight to the mother of all Mother of rivers. The Ganges river. Or river Ganga as the locals call it.

SAW DEAD PEOPLE BURNING OH MY GOD.

There were 3 piles of fire. One Body each, sandwiched between logs of wood. You can see the legs sticking out. Burning! No pictures of course. Respect for the family and the departed. We sat on the steps close by, beside their family members I suppose. First born sons shave their head and help set the pile of wood on fire. No one was wailing or crying. Just chatting, casual, but no laughter.

It was… Oh my god. Words fail me. As I tried to digest the scene, the wind changed direction and blew the thick black smoke into our faces. I inhaled (I tried to hold my breath but one has to breathe eventually). I smelt burning meat and breathed in ash from the logs. Nice. Ash fell everywhere on my arms and face. Very nice. A skinny old beggar with broken legs and dirty pieces of cloth to cover his bits shuffled up beside us. Excellent nice. I told Chris I’ve had enough. We walked up some narrow alley (only narrow alleys along the river). It was full of rubbish and cow crap and dog crap and maybe human crap too. It was a hot day. The heat encouraged an aroma of rubbish and crap into the air. Into the air we had no choice but to breathe in. I was silent. I was still digesting the burning scene from before, and was busy trying to stay calm with the smell of burning flesh, rubbish and crap stuck in my nose.

As we turned a corner, I saw a dog. It was a skinny dog with a happy, alert face. But. This dog was COVERED in ticks. Big, fat, grey ticks. Stuck to its entire ear, to its entire face, to its eye lids, so much so that when the dog blinked the ticks bounced up and down as if they were decorative eyelashes.

HOLY MOLY THAT DID IT.

I started ranting and raving about how absolutely grossed out I was. I’ve had it. I’ve so had it. I’m going back to hide in the room. This is disgusting. This is ridiculous. I’m not equipped to handle this kind of stuff. I’m a foreigner who grew up in one of the cleanest, greenest cities in the world and I can NOT handle this!
I was very tired, very hot and delirious from everything I’ve witnessed.

Chris did a good job of keeping me sane until we got back to the guest house.
I had another shower then collapsed on the bed.

After a nice long nap in the hot hot room, we went in search of the famous Blue Lassi. On a cycle rickshaw. All the civilised blood in me told me this was slavery. The poor guy struggled when we had to go even the slightest bit uphill. This is their life. This is how they live. For about the 10000th time in India, I was reminded of how very terribly lucky we are.

Some scenes around us from the cycle rickshaw:

For all of you out there looking for the Blue Lassi shop, just stop at the entrance to Marnikarnika Ghat along Mandapur road.

Looks like this:

You will see signs leading you to the shop:

The Lassi there is incredibly GOOD.

This is the plain lassi. For only 25 rs!

Chris had mixed fruit. Bursting. 85 rs!

So yummy. Full of Lassi goodness.

How they make lassi. This is the original owner’s grandson I think. He’s the dude in white.

We carried on to manikarnika ghat, the bigger burning ghat than the one we saw this afternoon (kedar ghat). There was a ‘volunteer’ who offered to take us to the second floor of a dilapidated building for a better view. THIS IS ALL BULL DONT FOLLOW ANY OF THEN.
There were about 5 piles of fire. It was night time. The fire was fiercer, more menacing. The bodies, peaceful, unaffected. Well. Unaffected except for the fact that we could see the face of one Body turn black, crinkle up, and melt.

Words still fail me. I can’t describe how I felt. I was overwhelmed. Shocked. Humbled. I don’t know for sure. I just stared and stared and continue to think about it. In a weird way I wished we stayed longer in Varanasi. I just might have found the words.

Another shower, a good night’s sleep, up at 5am.

The owner of the guesthouse made up some story about him being spiritual and wanting to share his culture with guests, and led us down to the river, to his friend, a boat man.

We bargained so hard. 600 rs each, per hour, total 2 hours 1200 rs each. Another quoted us 800 rs each per hour! No flipping way. We really really did want a boat ride though. So we bargained hard. 200 rs each, per hour, and only an hour boat ride.

It was so worth it. Varanasi was at her best.

Serene. Spiritual. Sacred.

Wow. I could have cried. It’s not so much the river that moved me. It was the spiritual significance that surrounded the river. Hoards of people praying, bathing, dipping themselves in the river. They weren’t like the Japanese couple we witnessed; they nervously and hastily dipped their entire body into the river. No. The locals there were praying. They did it with all their heart and soul. All in the gentle morning glow, in the waters made silver by the rising sun. It was beautiful.

So, here is a shot of us on the boat:

I was magicked and Chris was… Sleepy.

We spent one night, 2 days in Varanasi. We also went to Sarnath, where Buddha held his first sermon after enlightenment. It was alright. A quiet and calm contrast to the hectic streets of Varanasi.

I reflect on Varanasi a lot. I’ll just have to visit it again. Just so I can find the words to describe all that. All that everything about India rolled into one city. Next time Varanasi, next time.

Once upon a crazy truck ride down the Himalayas

Holy Cow. Transport in India is Holy Moly Totally Cow. I have sat in vehicles where the driver starts the engine not with keys but by twisting a couple of wires together, in 20 hour bus rides where the driver is 100% high on hash the entire time, where there is no rear view mirror and only one right side mirror, where the whole car creaks and heaves and rattles as if it going to fall apart. The roads are another thing. Spending a lot of time in north India means we travelled a lot by mountain roads. The first time I saw the ‘road’ I thought it was one way. No way. The narrow rocky path can be shared by 2 vehicles, one of which can be a large truck. Did I mention mountain roads? This means sharp turns and blind corners. Do the drivers go slow in view of this fact? No. They speed anyway. I used to keep my eyes peeled open so I can see how I die.

We are poor people so have been traveling as decently budget as possible. We take government buses cram full of locals and screaming children, tons of eggs, cement powder, bags of potatoes, whole bleeding raw chicken and well, everything. The transport we are used to is usually without air con, which means when it rains, all the windows are shut and the air inside the bus/train stifles and claustrophobic me gets super grumpy.

It’s cheap though, very cheap. 10 hour bus rides cost a bit more than 3 sgd. Expensive 10 hour bus rides cost 10 sgd.

The other day I took a 24 hour ride I will never forget.

Manali-Leh/Leh-Manali road:

This is the infamous road. The one all guide books hail as one of the most scenic routes in the world. Yes it is beautiful. The landscape keeps changing and you see all sorts of mountains of different coloured rocks. The houses, huts, farms, animals, plains, valleys, streams…it’s like a geography lesson. But man! You’re bouncing around the whole entire time! And 20 hours is NOT a short ride at all.

So. we go up rattling in the bus from Manali to Leh. After 2 beautiful weeks in Leh we have to go back down to Manali. Damn.

OUR BUS BROKE DOWN. 7 hours into the journey, our dear bus driver swerves to avoid an incoming jeep and drives right into a whole heap of rocks, thereby damaging the brakes. Nice.

WE HITCH HIKED A TRUCK. Holy moly cow. A goods truck!

My extremely want to die please kill me face. I was at the start of my week long tummy problem and was too weak to kill Chris for taking an unglamorous photo of me.

Our truck driver, Sonu, was our hero! He got us down to Manali safely. Lots of rattling, so much rattling, so much bouncing about the wooden truck seats we actually lift off our butts and bang back down whenever he goes over crazy terrain, and boy was there crazy terrain. If we thought mini buses were bouncy this truck ride took the cake and the cream and the cherry on top. It was a hell of a ride. AND IT STARTED TO FOG at night. Nice. Very nice. I was so proud of Chris. He appropriately used the phrase I taught him – I can see fuck. all.

We could see jack all. Did this stop the truck driver? nooooo. He kept driving. Note that he had already been driving for the past 20 hours without a nap. He was in good spirits. IN THE FOG. At one point he screeched to a brake, and the lights showed we were just at the edge of a cliff drop. He reversed and made a sharp right turn.

Thank goodness for the good grace of all things good and beautiful. Thank goodness for being alive.

Now I can go eat more Avocado Burrito.

There is so much good cuisine in Dharamsala! whee whoo! And cute little cafes!!!!!

I do love Indian food but I have really had enough of it.

Pictures from Markha Valley trek

The pictures from before didn’t load!

Argh WordPress.

Nakding campsite. A sight for sore eyes… And legs on the first day.

ISN’T SHE CUTE

Ladhaki costume-d up

Happy! Second day. Route still super easy.

Goofing around.

Some Yaks mingling with cows

Nymaling. Exhausted. Only 5-plus hours of walking but boy was it hard to breathe.

Inside the tent

Maaaaade it. But it’s not over till u make it down!

On the way down. Plenty of stream- crossing.

Goats! Pashmina Goats maybe.

Ok WordPress… Work this time!

Markha Valley Trek (aka donkey poo trek)

Did I say I love Manali? Didn’t think it was possible but I love Ladakh even more.

The bus ride from Manali to Leh (a city in Ladakh) took 20 hours. Narrow roads and crazy fast speed AND a driver who was stoned smoking hash the whole time meant I couldn’t sleep as I wanted to see exactly how I died. In between death defying turns we crossed beautiful mountain terrain that changed every hour. It’s the himalayas! Absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed it even if I was so sure I was going to die.

So. We didn’t die and decided to go on the popular Markha Valley Trek starting from Chiling and ending in Shang Sumdo. We took 4 days.

Happy on the first day. What lovely weather what easy walking. I could do this all day.

Dead at the pass on the last day. Boy was it hard!

Celebratory yoga pose.

So glad we made it! But it’s never over till you get back down to civilization.

It kind of rained tiny bits of ice at the top.

Day 1: Chiling to Nakding (30 min before Sara campsite) took about 5.5 hours in total.
Nakding room, dinner, breakfast, packed lunch for 650 rupees each.
Day 2: Nakding to Hangkar, walked from 9am till 6pm.
Hangkar room, dinner, breakfast, pathetic packed lunch for 800 rupees each.
Day 3: Hangkar to Nymaling, walked steadily uphill, panting, cursing and swearing from 8.30am till 2.20pm.
Nymaling tent big enough for 3 with a mattress, dinner, breakfast, also pathetic packed lunch for 1000 rupees each.
Day 4: Nymaling to Shang Sumdo: 9am till 11am steady uphill very very slowly as lungs wrestled with the thin air, finally reached pass at 5286m! 11am-6pm all the way downhill and across raging rivers and more beautiful mountains till legs run on jelly auto pilot to Shang flipping Sumdo.

IT WAS SO SO SO BEAUTIFUL.

There are so many things I don’t even know where to start.

It was definitely the magnificent mountains. Who knew mountains could be so colourful? I used to think of snowy white capped black, dark mountains. These mountains were so varied. I saw light sandy mountains, mountains the colour of red raw beef, mountains the colour of cow poo (I gauge a lot of things by cow poo nowadays)

mountains with alternating stripes of brown and white, mountains with silvery rock and mountains that had turquoise blue rock. Turquoise blue! I kid you not! It might have been the combination of the minerals in the rock and the sunshine but my camera could not capture that brilliant blue/green. So annoying!

Walking and admiring mountains is The Best Way to walk. (Beats shopping in Italy) (and boy did I enjoy shopping in Italy) Looking at mountains is something like staring at clouds – they could be anything. Sometimes they looked like giant’s toes, cramped together in massive chunks. Sometimes they looked like lost cities, giant columns rising midway of some mountains. Sometimes they looked like mushrooms, or a man pulling a long face, or a dog smiling… Anything.

We passed little villages with the cutest houses, loveliest people and the cutest Ladhaki children.

ISN’T SHE CUTE?!

My stay at Nakding has to be my favourite so far. Our host, Kalzung spoke little English but made us feel so at home, so welcome and so very well taken care of. She went about hosting us with a heart. Most places we met along the way were alright, but commercial. She climbed up a ladder balancing a cup of chai just so I could have my morning chai as I admired the view from the roof. She invited us into her kitchen so it was warmer than where we were waiting. She kept feeding us fresh peas she picked from her garden as we waited for her to finish cooking. The food was incredibly fresh. No need for over powering sauces and spices. Everything was freshly picked from the garden. She even gave us her room and slept in the kitchen with her little girl, Jimet, whom we played peekaboo with and got her into a crazy fit of giggles. SO CUTE AHHHH.

Peaking at us at first. Shy as she wasn’t sure. I mean. How dare we invade her lite cosy home.

Oh there was also plenty of animals. Yaks!

The yak didn’t want to be Chris’ friend.

Goats. A whole herd!

Ponies and donkeys. They use them a lot to ferry goods. Hence the ‘donkey poo trek’. When in doubt just follow the trail of donkey poo.
Conversation: hey, does your life suck? Coz mine sucks. It sucks bad.
Other horse hangs head in agreement: yeah, mine sucks too. It sucks so bad.

I gawped every night at a blanket of stars in the icy night sky, drank from the mountain stream (water purification pills worked. No diarrhoea!), and marvelled at nature. I can’t tell you how worth it it was. Because it was hard! The first 2 days were quite flat, so sweet, so easy. The 3rd day was a steady uphill, plenty of gasping of air and learning how to be patient with taking baby steps. 4th day was the hardest as the route up gave us the thinnest air yet, and coming down was difficult (and fun to be honest), steep and involved debates on which way to go.
Cross the river or go up the path? Up AGAIN? And where on earth is that donkey poo? Wow these donkeys sure can poo.

It was difficult when your legs get so tired and your heart is beating so hard to get oxygen into your body. There is also that heavy bag you’re carrying with things you wish you had left behind.

So worth it. Camel safari and Markha Valley Trek, highlights of my 8 weeks in India so far.

Qiu’s tips:
We grabbed the bus to Chiling from the bus stand in Leh. It was hard to find as it was in a bus a car park away from the government bus stands. 90 rupees each. Bus leaves 9am on Sundays and Wednesdays only. 2.5 hours. If the bus is rare and it leaves at 9am, get there by 8am if you want to secure a seat. Guard your seat! Don’t leave without making sure someone is guarding it for you!
Most people shared a private jeep – 6 in a jeep, 500 rupees each.
Others hitch hike. Somehow. I haven’t down it. Yet. You still have to pay of course.

Try to leave early each day to make sure you reach the next village in time before it fills up.

We squeezed the trek into 4 days but you can easily do it in 5-8 days.

You can do without a sleeping bag but it will come in handy at Nymaling.

Sometimes it fills up and there aren’t blankets for all. The blankets are gross anyway. Never know how cold it might get up in higher altitude. We had no blankets. I had 3 layers on top and bottom, beanie, socks and folded the mattress in half to use as a blanket. Chris is way longer so he couldn’t sleep as his legs and toes were freezing.

Don’t bother about having a shower. Most people jumped into the super cold river at the hottest part of the day in the middle of their trek. Bring swimmers! It is nice once you get over the ahhhh cold cold brrrrrr.

I wore the same outfit to trek in every day, and one set of sleeping clothes to change into. At least I slept clean!

Don’t bother bringing an umbrella.

And…

Do the trek do the trek do the trek! 🙂

Manali, Love love love.

I don’t know about anyone else out there, but every once in a while, I encounter a moment where I feel lucky. Lucky in a choked up, grateful way. Sometimes I encounter a place, a region that reminds me how lucky I am the whole damn time I am there.
Manali is exactly that.

I have been posting a lot of pictures of places I have been to, because I think a picture is worth a thousand words.

Not here, not in manali. My little cannon s95 can’t capture this magnificence. So I’m going to describe what I see.

I look out and up, and from the extreme left to the extreme right is a range of towering greenery. Himalayas’ toenails! (We are at 2000m so I don’t know if they classify as mountains.) It’s a range of dark greenery and light greenery, trees and bushes. Every beautiful inch is covered. I have looked at these towering hills on grey wet days as well as in sparkly bright sunny ones. It never loses its magnificence. They are so wide you see different shades of bright or dark depending on where the cloud cover falls. In between are thin sparkling lines. They look like the silver trail snails leave behind. These are little streams, gushing or trickling as gravity will have it. Dotted along the ‘upper’ bottom are mini houses. They belong to the locals. Clustered along the ‘lower’ bottom are guesthouses, heaps of them. I highly advise anyone visiting manali to head up to old manali, and take the effort to wind through the narrow rocky lanes to get to a guesthouse that is less out of reach. They are not only cheaper, they have amazing views and you are further from the crowd and traffic. Don’t worry they have wifi too 🙂

There are apple trees everywhere. It’s always been a little wish of this Singaporean girl to pick an apple straight from a tree. Ooh yummy. Organic apples. No insecticides, nothing. Just the goodness of the place.

There are plenty of little routes to walk and treks to take. Adventure here is tip top. Plenty of adventure companies. 1 day, 2 day treks? Or 11 days? Up to you. Paragliding, zorbing, rock climbing, skiing during winter…

We walked to a hot spring in Vashisht yesterday. Nearly died. So out of shape. It’s all that bounty of Indian food and little movement. The hot spring was HOT. My first natural hotpspring!

In old manali there are plenty of western bakeries. They call them german/English bakeries, which made me smile because they were selling croissants and french bread. The croissants are simply croissant shapes bread. Lovely stuff though! Fresh, generous and oh so yummy. You can also find things like home made peanut butter. I nearly died with joy but I can’t lug that with me for the trek. My yoga mat is already causing me agony. But. It is PEANUT BUTTER HOMEMADE IN THE HIMALAYAS! I shall think about it.

I love manali. If you get to come here, I hope you will love it too 🙂

Oh. Did I mention there is good cheap cheese here? In new manali. In old manali you find YAK cheese. More expensive but equally yums. Please stay away from the wine unless you’re curious. We tried 2 types and they were… Challenging to finish.

Pretty Doors and Pretty etc (Jodhpur)

I am weird, I take pictures of doors because I find them beautiful.

”etc” because I don’t know what else to say! I was mesmerized by Jodhpur. There was something. The complicated streets, the people who kept saying hello and smiling and helping us when we got lost, the view from the merangarh fort, the doors…I can’t tell. We walked through the streets when I was tired from traveling and with an unhealthy lack of sleep. Mind you the smell of cow shit, chicken shit and rubbish was everywhere. You have to watch where you are stepping because cows shit a lot and they splatter AND motorcycles zoom straight through them.

Yet I turned corners, going wow, and kept announcing how much I liked this place.

There was something about Jodhpur and I don’t quite know what it was.

Let’s start with the doors 🙂

A peek beyond the door:

Their houses used to be painted blue as it symbolised a high status. That was then. Now they paint their house blue if they want to. Atop these rectangular blockish lego-like houses are flat rooftops. When you look closely you can see goats (yes!) running around, children playing, adults chatting, and general well-being all around.

There is a path that leads to the Merangarh Fort that sits high above everyone. There are signs and when the signs disappear, there are the people, who smile and smile and tell you where to go.

(they just wanted to say hello and show off their english. I’m not saying children don’t beg in India. They do. Heaps of them.)

The Merangarh Fort was more impressive from the outside to be honest. It cost 300 rs to enter because we are foreigners and foreigners pay 10 times more than locals. There is an extra charge if you want to use your camera. I refused to pay for it and used my camera anyway. No one jumped on me! There is an audio guide as well. The thing about audio guides for me…I listen and I forget. Unless it is an interesting detail like how the main entrance to the fort is at a 90 degree angle from the route leading up to it. This is to prevent charging elephants from being able to knock it down, as they will lose their momentum once they change direction! Interesting.

PRETTY ARTWORK

View…I love views

Sunset

🙂

Rajasthan (Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner)

We are now in Delhi and have officially left the state of Rajasthan. I found myself flipping through the Lonely Planet guidebook section on Rajasthan, and whined. I whined! I was sad! I didn’t think anywhere in India could make me miss it because India is dirty, smelly, yucky, traumatic (bus rides, touts, hasslers, hard core bargaining, etc) and I once commented to a dude who was leaving after 5 months in India, “I am sure India is not somewhere that I will miss.”

I am wrong! What happened? I don’t know! I think it’s the camels!

Let’s see where I started…

Udaipur.

Lonely Planet called it romantic. I remember my first impression. As the tuk tuk sped along the narrow lanes (they were designed for donkeys and now have to make way for cars, autorickshaws, people and COWS mooo) I thought, what a nice quaint little town. There was something about the squashiness of it. It was a sweet place. Most guesthouses have a restaurant on its roof top. These rectangular buildings have flat tops where guesthouse owners set up their restaurant, or home owners hang their clothes/children play. You can hop from roof to roof. You could if you wanted to. They are so close!

Chris tired and waiting for me to eat my wonderful fruit muesli and curd.

Woman making fresh chappati.

Oh we walked up to the Monsoon Palace. Highly recommend the walk up. And back down. Worth the tears of exasperation and tons of sweat. Makes the visit sweeter. Or. Sweatier. Whichever. It made the view better!

MOUNT ABU.

Mount Abu was wet and foggy. It was kind of nice but I wouldn’t recommend going all the way there. The locals head there as a getaway and it gets quite rowdy with most of them drunk. There are also wild animals out on the treks and walking trails. We did walk on one and only met with a bunch of crazy noisy monkeys. I was very scared. The monkeys were making a heap of noise and running back and forth pretty quickly. We got lucky. Nothing happened and at the end of the walk was a sign not to go walking around on our own unless we are in a large group!

JAISALMER

I LOVE CAMELS. OH MY GOD. no. OH MY GANESH I LOVE CAMELS.

But I’ve already mentioned that in an earlier post, so. Here is something else on Jaisalmer 🙂

People people, colourful saris colourful saris.

Chris wearing a hairband and looking more and more like a caveman/potential terrorist. A total stud.

The fort the fort! It was so impressive I HAD TO CLIMB IT. There were a bunch of locals pointing and laughing and a small crowd gathered in about 5 seconds. That’s how many people there are in India. Small crowds frequently gather.

From up there!!! OH MY OH MY. It’s so high up and formidable and impressive and I can see so far beyond! Coming from a squashy place like Singapore, this abundance of space made me pull stances like these:

Ok. That sucked. I’ll just stick to smiling.

Ok. I still look like a happy goondu (that’s a singaporean slang for ‘idiot’). SO I shall meditate and look calm and peaceful. Like this.

Argh I am too critical of myself. Chris looks better. Here:

Muahahaha.

Chris bonding with the restaurant owner. Chris is so friendly!

Little lanes with sashaying women in beautiful saris (so flattering to the figure) and a cow. of course. Which Indian street will be complete without a cow?

A peek into someone’s home 🙂

Someone’s room and the accompanying view. Are we rich or are they poor? I’m not sure.

The Lake! How cool! Dessert civilization in the monsoon!

Chris is now a complete terrorist. No. He was just getting ready for the desert. Awesome stuff. He didn’t get sun burnt!

In summary Jaisalmer was sandy coloured, vibrant, a small town you can easily walk around and had a mega huge fort to gawp at. There were also 7 little jain temples within. Lots of books to buy/exchange, and lovely little souvenirs for all those who love shopping.

There, in the Jain temple!

BIKANER

I didn’t want to go. Had enough of the desert, but Chris wanted to see the Deshnok Temple. aka RAT TEMPLE. good heavens. But first, the incredible Junargarh fort. After countless palaces and temples, this was one i was very inspired to take the craziest pictures. Why? Because it was so artistic, so colourful, and felt more original than the rest of the stuck up popular expensive ones.

Mirrors everywhere! The maharaja must have loved looking at himself.

I staaaab, I keeeeell. I is goondu in impressive palace.

(UGH. that will scare me to death in a war. No need to actually fight.)

Chris ponders in artful consideration of medieval Indian art. What a stud.

Chris has now upgraded himself from potential terrorist to Maharaja wannabe. Not bad eh. WHAT A STUD.

This is one swell way to look out into a gorgeous garden. I like this way. Mental note to become gazillionaire and do this to my ginormous private bungalow.

I swoon and take more ridiculous photos. (They aren’t all up here of course)

Kiss Kiss (Chris is getting hungry and worn out by my photo taking frenzy. can you tell?)

Ok. Rat Temple.

Guesses as to whether I was in a good mood or not:

Ewwwwwww.

EWWWWWW

I was disgusted. I was biting my shirt so as not to scream and alert one of the rats to my fear and terror. I was terrified and absolutely disgusted. NOTE THAT WE HAD TO LEAVE OUR FOOTWEAR OUTSIDE. We walked the temple bare feet. I planted myself in the centre.

Plenty of space in the middle. Space is good. Space is very good. Rats were eating bits of grain under the sheltar. Heaps of them. heaps. Chris was so happy. It put me in an extremely bad mood.

Luckily…I found snacks outside. Coconut and dates 🙂

AND I SAW A CAMEL