Look casual !

This is my last post from this trip. See you soon !

Traveling in India is also...

...finding your way amongst cow dung, heaps of rubbish, flee-bitten skeleton-like dogs, people sleeping on the streets, all kinds of beggars and disabled with unimaginable handicaps, touts, persistent shopkeepers, massage men, hashish sellers, rickshaw drivers, more rickshaw drivers, barbers assuring you that you need a shave, people pissing against every wall, noisy motor bikes, all kinds of two and three wheeled vehicles on constant collision route. Then there are the monkeys, plus the pigs feasting on the rotten food and the rats feasting on the overflowing sewers, cows eating refuse on the streets, goats eating refuse on the streets, tourists thinking "how exotic !", locals staring at the tourists thinking "how exotic !". Overcrowded, claustrophobic trains, crumbling buses full of people with empty gazes pushing each other on a rush to survive one more day...

The Golden temple

Amritsar is the spiritual capital of Sikhism, which is the fifth largest organised religion in the world. Most of the Sikhs live in Punjab, India, and their most sacred shrine is the beautiful Golden Temple. Along with Varanasi, this is the most spiritual and inspiring place I have visited in India. Here is a selection of pictures which I hope will inspire you as much as they did to me.



The Golden Temple by night.



The Golden Temple by day.



A Pilgrim sits by the holy pool as hundreds of people cross the bridge that leads to the Hari Mandir Sahib.



One of the temple guards surveys the pilgrims (strict rules apply to visitors) while a pilgrim bathes in the holy waters of the temple.



A voluntary works on the temple decoration.



A pilgrim takes a holy dip while contemplating the beauty of the Hari Mandir Sahib.

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer, at the doors of the Thar desert, close to the Pakistani border. A relaxed, hassle free small city with a beautiful honey coloured fort where we lingered for a couple of days. It's a small place so we profited to ease the pace of our travel and do some reading while seating on a sunny rooftop.



There is something about kite runners and sunsets...

Jodhpur

The impressive walls of the fort of the city of Jodhpur, some 250km northwest of Udaipur just at the beginning of the Rhajisthani desert.

Udaipur

When I first read that Udaipur was one of the most romantic cities of India I confess I was a bit skeptical. In a country such as India, it's difficult to believe in romanticism. India is certainly not a Bollywood film. Poverty, overpopulation, lack of infrastructure, these are known problems in India and they are in large scale. When traveling in India out of the big cities (and even there) it's difficult to picture India as an emerging economy. Anyway, this doesn't mean that India doesn't have some romantic places. It does, as you saw in my previous posts. But as a whole one has to say that the Indian cities we visited were overcrowded, noisy and dirty. That's where Udaipur surprised me, where only Varanasi had done before. I leave you with the pictures.



View of the Havelis (palacial houses) and city palace by the lakeside.



The city palace seen from the opposite side of the lake.



A view from the Ghats in the morning, with the Lake Palace at a distance.



The beautiful Lake Palace at sunset. The picture was taken from a boat around 17h30.



A final picture from the sunset on the lake.

Bundi

Bundi's impressive palace falls down the hill above a small lake. This small blue city is very calm (a bit too calm for what we're getting used to), so we profited to do a short trekking to the city's fort which is completely abandoned except of course for the monkeys. Ah, we had to go armed since the monkeys can get a bit excited some times. Fortunately we did not need to use our frightening wood sticks... fortunately for the monkeys, I mean... Anyway, this photo was taken on the way up to the fort.

Kite runners

Pushkar, magic Pushkar is a holy place of the hinduism. It is a small village with a cool vibe that makes you wanna stay. In the afternoons the rooftops get filled with children playing with their kites. Dozens of kites fill the sky making the perfect photo at sunset...

Jaipur

Rajasthan's capital it's a noisy, crowded, bustling city. In spite of all that, we felt we could have stayed a bit more. Maybe it was the palaces and the bazars, or the warm colours of the old city. Not sure. Anyway, I leave you with this photo, taken at the "tiger fort". I think it shows what I mean with warm colours...

On the road to Rajasthan

Our trip continues at a slower pace now. We have 3 weeks in Rajasthan.

But just before, still time for a stop at Fathepur Sikkri to wonder around, amongst its beautiful red sandstone palaces...

Agra fort

Agra is not only the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort houses some magnificent palaces which are really worth the visit. This photo was taken at the main gate of the fort.

The Taj

Here is the "cliché" photo. Unavoidable I am afraid. But still beautiful.

We got there at 6h45 so only a few people in.



This view is from the east at about 9h in the morning.



We watched the sunset from the other side of the river which lies just behind Taj Mahal.
This picture was taken from there.

Gwalior

Apart from this beautiful palace (Man Singh palace), situated on a fort on a hill 100m above the city, Gwalior did not impress us much. We checked in at the hotel in the morning and decided to leave to Agra in the afternoon.

Orchha

Orchha means the hidden place. I think the name is really appropriate. It is a small (but agitated) village, with a very colorful market and with a significant number of palaces and temples for its size.

This picture shows two temples on the outskirt of the village. These are two temples of a set of four exact copies disposed in a square. The place was almost desert apart from a couple of tourists and the gentleman on the picture which was fighting to keep the grass from becoming a jungle (Orchha is in the middle of a dense forest).

Khajuraho

Khajuraho is a small village with a fantastic set of temples built by the Chandela dinasty. The temples are superb examples of ancient hindu architecture and are famous for their erotic sculptures.

When I visited, the place was full with local and foreign visitors, including students from a local school. The kids were profiting from the lawn around the temples to play games when I took this picture.

People and colours

Varanasi is a great place for people-watching. I leave you with some scenes of the daily life in the Ghats. No comments needed.

Benares

The place to be in Varanasi is the Ghats, long steps that dive into the river. Pilgrims come here for a holy dip in the Ganges early in the morning. This picture was taken from a boat at about 8h in the morning.



Over the Ghats old palaces still reflect their beauty on the calm waters of the Ganges. I took this picture on the same early morning boat ride.



Sunset over the Ganges is perhaps even more beautiful than the sunrise. The sun coming down being the old palaces by the river was the perfect remedy for the stress we accumulated from days of jumping from train to train.



Apart from the rickshaw offers, boat ride proposals, quick massage, occasional gurus, hashish sellers, I have been having a lot of proposals for a beard cut lately, I wonder why...

India

Just a few comments before I post my first pictures of India. It has been a week since we arrived to India through Kakarbita, close to Darjeeling. Due to bad weather, we decided to cancel our Sikkim plans and head southwest to Bodhgaya and then Varanasi. Darjeeling seemed really nice but the fog was so dense we could not enjoy the landscape.

Since then, we have travelled quite a lot by train (1 trip of 12h, 2 trips of 9h and 2 trips of 6h), experimenting the wonders of India railway system (a bit of irony here). We have tried all travelling classes and I would have a lot to tell you if I had the time right now...

After an interesting stop in Bodhgaya, one of the holiest cities for the Budhists, we head to Varanasi, one of the holiest cities for the Hindus.

I think I can say our trip in India starts in Varanasi. To understand this you would have to go there and linger for a few days. For now I leave you with some pictures.

Jungle sunset

Further south in Terai, we left the hills to discover the jungle at the Chitwan National Park. The main attractions are the famous Bengal Tiger (which I missed) and the Asian Rhynos (which we spotted). But the best part was probably the sunset.

Annapurna views

Views from the quiet mountain village of Bandipur, 120km west of Kathmandu. On the back, the Annapurna range surfacing from the clouds. The peacefull hills of Bandipur seem light-years away from busy Kathmandu.

Boudannath

Many Tibetans live in Kathmandu since the period of the chinese cultural revolution when they fled their country. Kathmandu is therefore an important center of Buddhism. The region around the Boudannath stupa concentrates most of the Buddhist temples in Kathmandu.

Durbar Square, Patan

Patan's Durbar square is the most impressive in the Kathmandu valley with the biggest concentration of hindu temples. This photo was taken from a restaurant overlooking the square.

Newar Architecture

The Newar are the main ethnic group in Nepal. They were known as skilled wood craftsmen and various temples and palaces in Patan, Bakhtapur and Kathmandu Durbar squares are witnesses of these skills. This photo was taken in Patan.

Swayambunath temple

Swayambhunath is a Hindu and Budhist temple standing on a hill overlooking Kathmandu. It is also called the monkey temple since the hill is inhabited by a big number of monkeys. Last year I got too close of one of them and got knocked on the head by a protective mother. This year I kept the distance !

Nepal

This is my first post in Nepal.

Even if you have been in Kathmandu before, nothing prepares you for the noise, the pollution, the chaotic traffic and let's not forget the marijuana - tiger balm - flute sellers that harass you at every corner (it must be my long beard but I seem to attract a lot of the hash-marijuana sellers - I even thought of buying a "NO MARIJUANA, NO HASH, NO PROBLEM" tee-shirt).

But the Kathmandu Valley has its charms as you will see in the following pictures. And Kathmandu city has a special vibe that seems to attract a lot of tourists. Nowadays maybe too much.

Tibetan people

Some photos of Tibetan people. Don't expect much because I have a small digital camera. My only requirement is that it should fit in my pocket !



Dancers rehearsal for a religious festival being celebrated in Lhasa. This photo was taken in front of the Dalai Lama's old summer palace.



Yak butter seller in her lunch pause. This photo was taken in the Kora (pilgrimage circuit) behind the Potala.



Painting the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. The temple was crowded with pilgrims since winter time is when they come from different parts of Tibet and China to visit the main religious temples.



A monk enters Reting monastery, one of the most important monasteries in Tibet and also one that most suffered with the chinese cultural revolution.



Monks in a religious ceremony in Sakya monastery. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of pilgrims. Sakya is probably the most authentic place I have been during my stay in Tibet. We were the only tourists in town.



Small children and huge monastery. Sakya monastery is really impressive and we were going around the monastery's Kora when this girl smiled for the photo.

Back from EBC

I think this photo shows well why they call Tibet the roof of the world...

The photo was taken on our way back from Everest base camp. We slept in Rombuk monastery, close to the Everest Basecamp (which was desert, being winter) and it was an extremely cold night. All the water bottles in our room were completely frozen in the morning and so were we...