I turned my head towards the voice direction and saw a line of rickshaws- a funny typical runner that can seat two to three persons on the back “sit”, draws two wheeled cart each has a its own driver, smiling at me, trying to get a few more rupees with the fresh tourists like myself.
Wow.
I was so excited…first steps of my spiritual journey in India and everything looked so interesting and new for me already.
I had a connection flight Delhi, few hours only after my landing in Mumbai.
It was 6am when I’ve landed at the crazy city Delhi and immediately took a local bus, 22 hours on a dirt roads, climing mountains, to Kasol, amazing place in north India, Himachal Pradesh, which was my next destination at my spiritual journey in India.
From Kasol (Jallal, actually, the magic village in the forest next to Kasol) I went to a walking trip around Parvati area, climbing the mountains and enjoying my trek to Kalga Village through the misty and heavily wooded virgin forests of the Parvati Valley. Kalga (2200 Mts.) is a small clearing in the thick pine forest. Magic spirit of Pulga and Tosh came at the following trek I did.
The trek through the forest to Khir Ganga (2850 Mts.) is a pleasant walk. Khir Ganga is a holy place with a hot small temple of the Hindi god Shiva, hot water spring that views on the snowing Himalayas mountain around it and a bathing tank.
I took the bus back to Kasol, and there I took a local bus to my next destination of my spiritual journey in India; Manali. Manali is located 40 kms away from Kullu to the north and situated near the end of the valley on the National Highway leading to Leh.
I rode on the bus rooftop ALONE.
I set in the front and as the bus started to move, I felt like a bird swimming on wind’s waves. At the beginning I’ve held the roof strongly, not to lose my balance, but as I got used to the ride, I’ve spread my hands to the sides, as a bird’s wings cuddling the air.
The adrenaline washed my veins and the wind played very strongly with my hair. I felt so free. So high….
As I’ve arrive to Manali, I’ve discovered a very busy cool city…. endless faces, most locals, few white faces, a lot of colored Sari’s, busy stuffed shops, rickshaw driving back and forth on the roads, beeping loudly one at each other, temples in the middle of the streets, amazing ale’s that I’ve promised myself to go visit inside them, a lot of cows, horses and a lot a lot of mess…
Wonderful interesting mess…
The landscape here is breath taking. One sees well-defined snow capped peaks, the Beas river with its clear water meanders through the town. On the other side are deodar and pine trees, tiny fields and fruit orchards. It is an excellent place for a holiday, a favorite resort for trekkers to Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Leh and Zanskar regions in Kashmir valley.
I have stayed in Vashisht, a small village next to Manali.
Situated on the Beas river bank, Vashisht is surrounded by endless green mountains, while the far away once have a white beautiful snow cover their tops…the village is very small, a single narrow rode, sloped up, while you can find a water pools and hot springs at the streets, where people (the locals mostly) taking baths naked and do their laundry … the houses made of wood and has different unique shapes and sizes, surrounded always by trees, gardens and cows…
My next destination at my spiritual journey in India was a small village name Jari.
Jari is a tiny isolated village, located at the bottom of the Melana mountain and surrounded by amazing landscapes of colorful flowered mountain tops.
To Melana we climbed 4 hours on Chandrakhani pass – a very steep mountain side, very hard climbing during my spiritual journey in India, but the view was more and more amazing the highest I had climbed, so it was definitely worth it.
Melana...
The spiritual journey in India that I was going through became more and more surprising and amazing every day. Melana was a small village, looks like a colorful paint. There are around 500 locals living in Melana and they are so different from any local people I`ve seen so far. Most of them bright haired (some totally blond!) and eyes, talking a special language that mix Tibetian elements. The Melana people believe on themselves that they are holy, so no one can touch them or their properties except their own people.
I`ve spent almost a month in Melana. Enjoyed the culture, the people, a nature party from sunrise to sunrise day after and new faces and adventures.
From Melana I took a 23 hours jeep ride with 9 more people inside and spending the night in tants in the middle of no where, at an area called Sarchu.
During my spiritual journey in India I've been reached also to Taglang La pass. At 5328 m or 17582 ft, the Taglang La pass is meant to be the second highest motorable pass in the world.
The first destination I arrived was Ladakh, a beautiful region in Jammu & Kashmir State. Ladakh is of two districts - Leh and Kargil, known in her Himalaya mountain views and the Buddhism culture. I stopped at Leh, the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh.
Leh is built from allot of Tibetan elements, the culture, the cloths, the souvenirs stores, the food, the tamples etc.
My next target at my spiritual journey in India was Kashmir. is the northest region of India. I relocated in Srinagar, which is famouse for the its amazing houseboats, canals and Mughal gardens everywhere. Srinagar is 876 km north of Delhi and it is the pride of the Kashmir Valley.
I spent a week on a beautiful houseboat for a very low price, includes meals and Chai drink. They even had a real restroom and not only a bucket and a hole in the floor!! Hawkers on kayaks came sailed from one boathouse to another and sold everything... groceries, jeweleries, toilet papers and more....Amazing adventure...
From Kashmir I continued on my spiritual journey in India souther, to Dharamsala. I hired a jeep with 2 hindi drivers along with 2 other travelers I met on the way. The ride was very long and not easy and after 22 hours on the roads, with views entwined of green mountains and great endless forests, we arrived at 3am in the morning under the pouring rain to Dharamsala, looking for a guesthouse to finish the night.
Dharamsala is located in Kangra Valley, at north Himachel Pradesh and it is the home of Tibetan leader Dalai Lama.
Dharamsala is surrounded by beautiful pine trees and forests. You can also see a snowline not far from the city and cool healthy atmosphere
makes the place very attractive for tourism and other Buddhists. Dharamsala is divided into two distinct (1000m between them); Lower and Upper Dharamsala. I have traveled at all the area around... I was in Dharmkot, Just 11 km from Dharamsala which is a pastoralic place on the crest of a hill. I visited Bhugso, where you can have all kind of activities, such as Yoga courses, cooking courses, Shiatsu courses, meditations, dance courses and more... Also at Mcleod Ganj I enjoyed the amazing streets, Buddhists and temples around.
After a fascinating week in Dharamsala, I took the last bus of the day and I told myself - where ever this bus will take me, that's where will be my next destination of my spiritual journey in India...
It was Rishikesh...
Rishikesh is a beautiful small holy town, full of temples ashrams and meditation centers, in the northern state of Uttarakhand in India. It is located exactly on the place where the Ganges River comes down from the Himalayas.
The Beatles came to Rishikesh on 1968 for a visit at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram (now closed), and the town is still known as the world capital of yoga.
Everywhere I went there where monkeys and animals, everything was full of colors, Hindi god's sculptures everywhere and lots of beautiful gardens and buildings.
Rishikesh was magic. The people, they are so nice, so carious and so simple... I was amazed from that holy town. I wanted to stay there forever...But my time and budget was running out...
So after few amazing days in Rishikesh, I continued my journey to Agra, the city of Taj Mahal. The city is very old and dirty and I relocated in an old guesthouse that I have found...
But Agra was another incredible destination on my spiritual journey in India I was blessed to see. Not for nothing they call it the seventh wonder of the world. The Taj Mahal is the most graceful and extravagant monument in India and one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. The Taj Mahal is a symbol of endless love and devotion of Emperor Shah Jehan to his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj has a pure white marble structure, which gives different shades of colors at different times of the day and with changing seasons. I walked around amazing blooming gardens, amazing structures around, animals everywhere like monkeys, cows, donkeys, birds, goats and more...
During my spiritual journey in India I met in Agra a wired tiny Hindi guy that lives in a tent at one of those gardens, wearing only an orange underwear and barley speaks English, but he was very welcoming, explained me and a friend I met on the way about the holy places around, served a chai he made and blessed us with a tika on the forehead.
The story behind the Taj is like a fairy tale; all-mighty prince and a simple girl hawking silk and glass beads in the market meet each other, fall in love and getting married. The faithful wife marched with the prince, who was later crowned the emperor, on his every expedition and bore him fourteen children. Right before she died, she made the emperor to promise to make a special monument unlike any other in the world as the tribute to their loving moments that were a treasure for her. The emperor kept the promise faithfully and Taj was conceived. And like the beauty of this story - is the beauty of this place...I can fill allot of text about this place... But it is time for my nest stop at my spiritual journey in India...
India Journey, page 01
Continued India journey, Page 02 |
With a nice Baba in Bombay
Rickshaws in Delhi
A local fellow from Kalga
Hot water spring in Khir Ganga
Melana river, secret path from Vashisht
Manali lady enjoying the camera
at the houseboat sunset
Locals meeting, Manali
Never saw a camera before...
 Vashisht's ladies at work
Vashisht street
Manali at 5am
The views on the way to the north
Melana's neighbourhood
Melana kids, like angel
Tibetans at Dharamsala, holy place
Namaste, didi (=hello, big sister)
Dharamsala
Want a new Tika? Rishikesh
Taj Mahal, Agra
Agra locals
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