1/25 I took a hike to Palchan and then Kothi villages (6km away) for some really nice views of the Himalaya. At Kothi, the road up to Rohtang pass was closed for the winter, but they kept about 6 km's of it open passed where it was closed b/c the gov't had a hydro plant or something up there, so I took the opportunity to hike it as most of the other hiking would have been in too deep of snow. It was a nice hike going through a snowy forested area with some good views. And of course the peace and quiet was amazing. Sometimes it takes the near opposite of something to appreciate the other thing (I had never fully appreciated the beauty of Estes until after the 1st semester of college in which flat, dreary winter caldwell had been encased in the worst inversion in years. I still remember to this day cresting the hill as hwy 34 arrives into the Estes valley and seeing the view that stretches from Longs Peak to the mummy range with bright blue Colorado sky behind it). After being in the busy cities (sometimes it seems that all of India is a city if you are not in the mountains) I really, really enjoy the quiet and lack of horns, touts, generators, etc. So although the hike was nothing too spectacular, it was great just to be out in the quiet wilderness.
If you kept going on the road it would go over Rohtang passes and then several other passes (2 of which are the 2 highest motorable roads in the world and something like 5500m high) to get to Ladakh and the mountain village of Leh, which is blocked off from October to early June by snow. Ladakh state and some of the really mountainous areas in Himachal Pradesh state are pretty much the only places in India that I will not be visiting that I would really like to visit at some point. But they have a very short visitable season b/c of the snow and it is ok b/c HP is a lot like Nepal I think with the Himalayas and Ladakh a lot like Tibet in being the really dry himalaya full of Tibetan Buddhist culture.
There was a bit of snow in the evening in Solang which is how it should be when you are staying at a ski lodge.
1/26 Took the bus back to Menali. I then walked along the road to Bhang. This 5km stretch is like a gauntlet for one piece sweet ski outfits as this is the road that the Indian tourists come up through to get to the ski area. I walked this road partly because I didn't have much else better to do, but mainly so I could get some nice pictures for my bro of the ski suits so he could see where he needs to go shopping next year for gaper day! There was also the Indian Snow and Avalanche study center there. Considering all the powder, the gaper outfits, and the avalanche research center combined with also the possibility for alpine touring, heli skiing, and then mountain biking in the summer, I think this may be Bro's dream place to live! And he wouldn't have to worry about finding a lady as all the marriages are arranged anyways, so let the parents do the work!
I then came back to Manali to enjoy the dancing, music, and food of the winter carnival. I had tried hard to get the luxury, private, or ac buses from Manali to Dharamshala, but I just had no luck. Lots of buses go in the summer when there are both more western and indian tourists, but in the winter, just one would go overnight this time of year and it would only go if they had enough people. So this meant I had to take the 10 hour local bus through the mountains overnight (I wouldn't regret this decision b/c it gave me one extra day in Dharamshala instead of taking one during the day and wasting a day and the Dharamshala area is amazing). So I put on all my warmest clothes, charged my ipod, and got on the bus. I got a bit of sleep, but it was basically impossible to sleep b/c again the seats only came up to my mid back, the knee space was tight at best, the road was incredibly curvy and the driver was speeding around all of them, and it was bloody cold. Several of the windows were broken so the wind and cold came rushing in. The first few hours until 10pm it was warm enough b/c the bus was pretty full, but after that there was only about 6 or 7 of us going to Dharamshala. I think I slept from about 11pm to 1:30, but then was up most of the rest of the time. The bus was supposed to arrive at 5:00, but was way early and came in at 3:30. Dharamashala is known as the place where the exiled Tibetan government and the Dalai Lama is located, but it is actually just a city and the Dalai Lama's residence and the backpackers area is in a smaller town 4km's straight up the hill from Dharamshala in a town called McLeod Ganj. There was obviously no buses at that time in the morning and a taxi would have charged a ridiculous amount and all the guesthouses would be closed anyways, so it would have been stupid to go up. So I just sat there trying to stay warm until around 6am a bus from Delhi arrived and a Korean guy (Tsu) asked if I was also going to McLeod Ganj. As the dawn would be coming in a bit, we decided to walk. On the steep walk up we witnessed a spectacular sunrise that was somehow fitting to arriving in the new home of the Dalai Lama. When we arrived around 7am, it was still hard to find a place to stay as everything was closed up. But we found a really nice guesthouse run by a very friendly tibetan family that we would later find out had great sunset views from the room. Tsu was looking for a cheap room, hopefully a dormitory, so I asked him to share a room with me. It was funny, b/c he was so surprised and happy. In broken English he told me "I not think you would to share with me, Westerners always want to have own room. I like you" And from then on we became good friends. While Tsu went to take a nap, I walked around McLeod Ganj enjoying the food and the friendliness of being back in a Tibetan village. We met up for lunch at a Korean food place (there are tons of Koreans on the main India tourist trail for some reason, probably b/c it is so cheap so there are often Korean hotels and restaurants) where we met another Korean friend (blanking on the name). He was funny and was planning on asking his girlfriend to marry him. So he had this white dry erase board and was having other tourists and locals write some love thing on it and then he was taking a picture of himself and the whiteboard and the author and would give it all to his girlfriend. I wrote some cheesy lines relating his love to powerful himalayas and comparing her to the sweetness of a mango lassi--McLeod Ganj has both beautiful himalayan views and tasty lassis. After lunch we visited the Tsuglagkhang temple and complex where the Dalai Lama resides and some important temples are located that take the place of the ones in Lhasa or the ones destroyed in Tibet during the Chinese cultural revolution.
It is interesting the contrast between here and Lhasa. It feels like the Tibetans are more happy here and more free. They are not so scared to talk about things. They are in exile here, but the Tibetans living here have much more freedom than the ones still in Tibet. There are lots of Free Tibet posters and stickers. Big signs asking for help in recovering the Panchit Lama (the 2nd or 3rd most important person behind the Dalai Lama who was kidnapped by the chinese when he was like 8 or something...the youngest political prisoner ever and to this day no one still knows where he is other than the chinese say they have him). Signs against the olympics in Beijing, etc, etc. We met two nice Tibetan refugees who now work for an NGO here and they showed Tsu, the other korean guy, and me a really awesome Tibetan restaurant. It was so interesting to hear them talk about their experience of fleeing from Tibet and how the Tibetans really feel about china and all that. They could actually speak about the whole situation as compared to Dolkar our guide in Tibet
1/28 I got up early and hiked 12km along a path to Triund a small collection of huts up on a ridge at 2930m/9600ft. On the way up I stopped at the small Tibetan temple, Galu. The hike was mostly southfacing so there wasn't much snow until the last hour of walking in which it was mostly packed snow due to the few villagers in Triund portering up supplies. Early on in the hike I picked up a very faithful dog that followed me the whole way up. I named her Masala to keep in the tradition of naming random dogs that seem to latch on to me after tasty foods. There was alfy (short for alfredo who used to meet me about 1 mile from the dunraven on my bike ride to work at that italian restaurant.) Adobo (for chicken adobo in the philippines who my mom had to chase off with sticks and rocks to keep him from entering the national park), Mee (for mee goreng in Indonesia), Pad (for Pad Thai in Thaialnd). When I got up to very snowy Triund, it was much earlier than I expected, so for some reason I got an inkling to climb the mountain there. It was very rough going, and I almost turned around a couple times, (though I just can't give up) because it was so steep, there was obviously no path, and the snow was quite deep. Of course I wasn't too prepared as I was wearing shorts (my pants were getting washed) though I did have my rain pants and my shoes at this stage are rags and have all but fallen apart (but there is no where to buy size 13 shoes around here). I had to hand it to Masala. She was quite loyal and kept following her crazy tourist even though at some points I was rock climbing and at other points climbing up steep slopes of snow that was up to my waste and up to her neck. A few times we got cliffed out and had to turn around and try and find a new path up. Eventually we made it to the top and we were both quite happy after that difficult challenge. Of course the views of the Himalayas to the north were spectacular.
On the way back down, despite soggy and icy shoes, I explored Dharamkot village and Bhagsu village (tiny nepali style villages with no roads connected to them) and then stopped by the tiny Bagsu waterfall and Bagsu-nag temple.
1/29 I spent the day chilling around Mcleod Ganj. Enjoying the food and lassis; reading a lot; and catching up on my blog. McLeod Ganj is a really cool town. Lots of yoga/meditation/cooking classes. Great food. Chill atmosphere. Lots of Buddhists monks walking around along with Langurs and Macaque monkeys. Tasty momos for sale all over the street.
Hey guess what?? I am finally caught up again with the blog!
Tomorrow I head off to Jammu from where I hope to catch a shared jeep or bus to Srinagar in Kashmir where I will meet up with David (my trekking partner in Annapurna from Belgium). It could be a bit tricky getting from Jammu to Srinagar. Kashmir wants to be independent so they often close the road. When my guidebook was written all buses were suspended and you had to fly. Two weeks ago the road was closed for a week b/c of snow and 2 days ago with was closed for India's national day (like our 4th of july) b/c the Indian gov't tried to raise the indian flag in Kashmir...which is a no no! But it was open today, so it looks good. From Srinagar David and I will head to Gulmarg, one of Asia's top 10 ski areas (and the only one not in Japan in the top 10 so I have heard). Reading about it, it sounds quite cool and has a huge vertical of like 5700ft which is more than Jackson, Snowmass, and BC which have the biggest verticals in the US and is mostly backcountry style open bowl skiing.
http://www.skihimalaya.com/
http://www.skihimalaya.com/gulmarg/mountain/gondola.php
I'm excited, can't wait!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment