05.2010 India (Part II)

Tsiklonaut

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There is a village with a rather funny name, MacLeodGanj, in Himachal Pradesh. It is home to a big population of Tibetan refugees, the total number of whom is thought to be around 200 000 in India alone, but from 1959 it also serves as the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, headed by the famous Dalai Lama. We did not get to see him in person, but since we were there we thought it might just have been the right time to find out more about who he was.

The word "lama" comes from the Tibetan language, meaning a teacher, but the word "dalai" is actually Mongolian, and means an ocean. Thus, the Dalai Lama is a teacher whose spirituality is as great as an ocean. He is both the spiritual leader of Tibetans, and head of state, but nor is this position inherited, nor elected. In fact, when the current Dalai Lama dies, a special group of monks sets out to find the new one based on different signs presented by the forces of nature, or through meditation. It is believed that the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation.

Tibetans have great respect for the Dalai Lama, but it is also clear that not all of them agree with his "middle way" (an important notion in Buddhism) policy when it comes to dealing with China. Although the people seem to be well settled in both India and Nepal, they are more than ready to pack their belonings and return to their homeland. Tibet is, in fact, a country with a total area of some 2/3 of that of India, and the average altitude of which is over 4000 metres! Indeed, the village of MacLeodGanj is considered just a temporary stopping place, just as all material things are considered temporary in Buddhism. Even the temple of Tsuglagkhang, where the Dalai Lama teaches, left us a very simple impression, just as if it wanted to tell us that the most important things in our life are not material.

Here are some abstract moments from MacLeodGanj:


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Roof construction works at Tsuglagkhang temple.












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Steps to heavens?












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Views that are supposed to remind at least a fraction of Tibet for the Tibetan refugees...











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Apart from the Tibetan Buddhist spirituality we found MacLeodGanj to be a rather boring backpacker hangout. We had trodden the tourist path for quite some time in India, and sure enough, seen some world-famous pictures of the Indian life, but it was now time to deviate a bit.

We headed to Chamba. Haven't heard of it? Neither had we. The road was pretty torturous - narrow and bumpy, climbing up and down the hills, but once you turned your head you could see a whole panorama of ondulating rice terraces. Where ever we stopped, some local would come and check us out, but we could feel that the relationship was different. Normally we would have been asked "How much?" (… horsepower? cc? kilometres per hour? dollars? anything else?) the first thing, but here we would be contemplated in silence, even shyly. We felt that once again we could breathe more freely.


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Semi-nomadic man with light-brown eyes - a rare sight in India - some say it's a genetic "gift" from the conqueror named Alexander the Great who extended his empire to here.










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Curious Sikh young man checking out our GS.












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Environment at the foothills of Himalayas.













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Rusted generator house, but apparently still works. Made in India doesn't mean it's poor quality then, or is it Made in China?











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Terraces and patterns...











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A small shrine for Hindu farmers to perform their prayers while working in the field.











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Farmer's family house on the hillside.












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Small shrine dedicated to Shiva - the most powerful God in Indian Hinduism.












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Ladies in their traditional Punjabi dresses walking down the hill.












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Lady delivering stuff and cows back home.












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Just some flora aside the road.












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Higher Himalayas expose themselves in the horizon.













Panoramas - click to enlarge each one.




































Chamba was different, too. Centuries ago, it was a powerful state, but today a charming town dotted with ancient temples of interesting design. There is plenty of the Indian thing such as noisy markets and cows wandering the streets, but the pace of life is so much slower. Not many foreign tourists make it here, so we were stared at and giggled at - all in such a refreshing way that coming to India started to make sense to us. Finally!

At one temple, an old lady offered us some deep-fried bread and pickled vegetables to go with it, without expecting any payment. That is not something you see in mainstream India, that is for sure.


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Here are some pics and sounds from Chamba and its people:


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Vegetable market.


Vocal advertisement of salesmen in the same market:
.::LISTEN::.







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Ancient Hindu temples are well hidden in the tightly packed town, but they are one of the finest temples in the whole India indeed.











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One morning prayer in the temple.
.::LISTEN::.





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Carvings on the walls of one temple reveal erotic stuff from the middle ages. No wonder why Indians are so over-populated today :)










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Lakshmi Narayan temple complex - taking pictures inside the comples is strictly forbidden.









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Typical modern Chamba architecture.











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Locals.











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Musician.











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A charismatic beggar we gave some bread packed in newspaper (plastic bags are forbidden in this part of India, something that other world should learn from them) and stood saluting us for few minutes.


In North India, they have taken a whole different approach to traffic signs:


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If it were not for the shadows of the violent past that are haunting Kashmir, the city of Srinagar might just be the perfect destination. The conflict between Pakistan and India over this region has seemingly cooled off, but just recently it was considered to be the most dangerous place in the whole world. Today the gunfire is rare and bombs have not been exploding for some time, but the city streets remain heavily guarded by the army, creating an anxious atmosphere.

Otherwise, Srinagar is simply gorgeous. One of its drawcards is the idyllic Dal Lake, home to countless atmospheric houseboats and gondola-like boats, shikaras, that give you the opportunity to peek at the local life in the maze of the waterways.


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Shikaras docked.












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Muslim women in burkas crossing the lake to go home.












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A muslim familiy checking their catch.












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Probably one of the most exotic photo/film shop in the World - in a boat! Pity he didn't have medium format film in stock tho...











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Locals transporting between house-boats and hotels. Big part of the city is accessible by boat only - a real Venice of India!











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One of the house boat hotels.












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Boating around Srinagar's "wet streets".












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Men at work on Dal lake.












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Dal lake panorama - click to enlarge.


However, Srinagar isn't just about the lake, but it possesses a long and colourful history, the remains of which are still there to taste. The old town of Srinagar is truly diverse, with centuries-old mosques and Hindu temples standing virtually side by side, but the interesting thing is that they remain in their original surroundings, not being overbuilt by some modern crap.

And the people - they are unexpectedly friendly. Maybe it is the Arabic greeting "Assalam Aleikum" that opens all doors for us - many of the locals are Muslims. Or maybe it is because there are not many foreigners who dare to wander the narrow sidestreets. In any case, we are greeted with a big smiles, and we receive invitations to drink some chai (tea).




While walking on the street we heard a tune by allegedly the best singer in Kashmir:


.::LISTEN::.




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A gigantic mosque made out of wood - quite a rare sight in Islam. It is in fact the oldest mosque in Kashmir.












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Muslim man feeding pigeons at the mosque.












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Srinagar's old town.












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House's door.












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Typical dwelling, despite it's misalignments, it leaves rather artistic feeling and gives character to the city seeing it all in real life.











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Windows.













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A mausoleum from Mughal empire and muslim graveyard in front of it.












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More old city of Srinagar...












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A rare Hindu temple in Srinagar.











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True priceless antique for a westerner is a common sight in Srinagar's oriental old town.











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Better build quality houses usually have brighter colours.













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Life on the streets of Srinagar...











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Older muslim men in their gray suits and younger generation women in their colourful Punjabi dresses.











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Fresh supplies from farmers to local shops.












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Srinagar's streets...











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A muslim woman who invited us for a chai.











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Some local men use henna to make their hair and beard colour lighter.












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Kashmir old muslim.












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Kashmir muslim.



Interestingly, we saw quite many vultures flying around Srinagar, just as if they were meant to say that the threat has not passed yet.


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When we set off from Srinagar towards Kargil, the weather was not exactly promising. It had been raining the whole night, and by the morning, the clouds were still carpeting the sky. Soon enough we found out that the weather in this part of the world is quite straightforward - if it looks like it is going to rain, it definitely will! As we rode on, the clouds got thicker and thicker and soon enough the valley was wrapped in cold, wet fog. It started to rain. We could barely see the snowcapped mountain tops.

At one point there was a road block. The military guy in charge told us something about the road being closed due to rain, and that it should reopen in a couple of hours. We decided to have a cup of milk tea at the nearby stall while waiting. Soon the skies cleared up a bit, and we were ready to go, but from what we could understand from the locals, the road was not going to be opened any time soon, and that it made sense to return to the nearest village and find a place to spend the night.

In fact we find it pretty difficult to find a common language with the locals here, in this isolated part of the world since nor does the younger, neither the older generation speak any English. Not even to ask the classic question "How much?". But as always, there is an exception. It is the teachers. Be it in Brazil, East Timor, Cambodia or India, it is the teachers who are able to maintain the most meaningful discussions.

While waiting for the rain to stop we met a school teacher from Srinagar who proved us once again that teachers are curious and broad minded persons.



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Nomadic Kashmir muslim.












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Stunning snowcapped mountains revealed themselves above the cloudline.












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Guru, aka village school teacher who spoke good English - rare in rural areas.











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Guru.












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Curious Kashmir muslim young folk cheking out our GS.












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The Himalayas…












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Typical Indian truck.












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Kashmir's mountain village.












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Mountains around it.












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Click to enlarge the panoramas.











The same range in the evening, when the snow had melted away (click to enlarge)


We headed to Sonamarg, a village that seems to exist only thanks to a nearby glacier which is enormously popular with the local tourists. There are plenty of roadhouses (that call themselves "hotels") and simple eateries (that call themselves "restaurants"). Will have to do for one night, we thought.

As we unpacked it started to rain again, and our thermometer showed no more than +10C (+50F) in our room. We were optimistic, though, as we did not know that the rain would last for days.

Sure enough the road was not opened the next day, neither the day after that. All we could do was sleep (in our spleeping bag and covered with two thick blankets) and eat. Not much good food there, but we discovered a drink called Kashmiri Kehwa, which is basically tea with almonds - very tasty!


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Soon we started to realise that there were people there whose situation was much worse than ours. At least we could afford to sleep at a hotel (even if the room temperature was only a few degrees above that of a fridge), but many slept and ate in the buses they had arrived with. Note that there are no public toilets in that village, so you can imagine how the roadside looked and smelled in a couple of days…


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Indians.












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Family in their tent.












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They invited us for a chai.












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Family.












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A goat was just made to meat here.












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Kashmir's muslim trying our GS - his face reflects his impressions about it.












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Indians eating some weird stuff.











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Cold Indians.












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Local gansta?












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Older folk.



After three nights in Sonamarg the weather improved, but the information about the opening of the road remained confusing. Some said it will open at 2 PM, some said the next day, and so on. Even the local police did not know much. Since we had waited enough we decided to head back some 100 km-s to Srinagar (where it is much warmer and where the food is much better) and only come back if we have certainty that the road is open.



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First sunlight through the clouds.












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Finally we saw the mountains in a clear weather.












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We'll be back!



Here's a video about crossing the Zoji La pass - lots of snow, melt water, rocks, potholes, steep edges etc. Very decent riding in India.


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Sorry, don't have a better quality version, even this 20MB version took 3 days of multiple attempts to upload it in Leh!

M&K
 
Fabulous travelogue Margus. Last I heard, Kashmir was closed to foreigners so things must definitely have improved. Thanks for posting.
 
I am slowly going through the whole of these photos.
I keep on changing my computer wallpaper
My present one is the 17th one with Tisk sitting on the bike staring out across the higher Himalayas.
I think I owe him a drink as a result:augie
 


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