Hello everyone. For the past week or so I've been in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh, a state sandwiched in between Pakistan and Nepal. First up was on old British hill station called McCloud Ganj, that now serves as the base for the Tibetan Government in exile. It definately felt more Tibetan than Indian, lots of red robed monks walking around in Nike trainers. Unfortunately the Dali Lama wasn't at home, off around the world trying to represent his lost country no doubt, very inconsiderate:)
On the road to Manali.
Next up was a ride out to Manali, the Indian equivilent of Chamonix, but with open sewerers. In the summer it has whitewater rafting, paragliding etc. In the winter, snowboarding. The ride up there was fantastic, though I realise now, riding in the Himalaya in winter, I probablly should of packed some warm clothes:) The road continues out of Manali and up to Leh in Kashmir, bit off a motorbike classic, but with passes at 5000m, a bit snowed up at the minute. If anyone fancies doing it one summer, give me a shout.
For the last couple of nights I stayed in Shimla, another British hill station. This one served as the summer capital of the British Raj in the summer months when it got too hot on the plains in Delhi and Calcutta. It did feel a bit like a little part of England. Grey sky, lots of police, lots of signs prohibiting smoking, littering, spitting etc. Luckily the rest of India has shaken off all that crap. Stayed in a REALLY posh hotel (it had its own libary, although how you could read a book during a two night stay is beyond me) It was very nice being waitered on hand and foot, although they did give me a funny look when I walked in, in biker gear, covered in dust and engine oil.
Sector22, Chandigarh. The whole city looks like this.
Came out of the mountains today and arrived in Chandigarh, new Capital of the Punjab. The old one was Lahore, but that happens to be in Pakistan now. After partition in in 1947, the Indians took the insane decision to commission the modernist achitect Le Cobusier (inspiration behind the lovely Parkhill Flats in Sheffield) to design a new capital. As a consequnce an entire city off 1 million, looks like.............Parkhill Flats. There arn't any neigbourhoods either. My hotel is in Sector 22! Anyway, had to come and have a look, and it is just as horrible as I thought it would be.
Off to Rishekesh tomorrow (where the Beatles hung out in the 60's) to do lots of Yoga, Meditation and all that other hippy shit:)
2 comments:
Hey Stu... I am so jealous of the latest leg of your trip... it sounds and looks absolutely stunning.Nepal and Tibet are definitely on my next trip hit list along with Mozambique....Japan.....Phillipines and a whole stack of other countries..... Have you got a mobile there yet? and just a friendly reminder that it is one of your sisters birthdays next week and i will give you a clue its not beckys! So a text or an email at least would be very much appreciated! Have a great time being a hippy. All my love, Linsey ... your other sis xxxx
Great to get some decent news of what you are up to. Keep the blogging up. Me and Guy are off to Bristol for Christams to stay at my brothers and then to Devon to stay with Guys folks. We are meeting lisa in devon as her mum lives down there.
been trying to sell my flat for 4 months. Housing market is crashing.Reduced the price by 25k - still could not sell it. result for you! have a good xmas and new year and look after yourself.
tegwen and guy
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