So I only have 5 more days in Delhi! I've turned in all my papers, and I just have a Hindi test to take on Friday, then I'm off on the next train to Goa. I woke up this morning, and I was a little bit sad to be away from home, because it's really much nicer to spend the holidays with your family. All of my friends who go home in a week are fantasizing about going to Trader Joes, taking warm showers, and eating burritos and fresh vegetables. I accidentally uploaded all of the pictures in backward consecutive order, so it might be a bit confusing. Two weeks ago, I went with Kashi into the Rajasthani desert to go on a camel trek. (Those pictures are at the bottom.) And this weekend I had to escape from Delhi, so I took a local overnight bus to Manali. I have both loved and hated staying in Delhi, but heading down south will be a welcome change!
This is a picture of a parade of men through the main street of Manali. (Manali is a mountain town, built at the base of the Himalayas, and all the men wear funny bright colored mountain men hats.)
This is a Buddhist monastery toward the bottom of the hill.
A close up of the forest temple... there were so many Indian tourists there. I felt like most of the time when i was in Manali i didn't see that many people, because this is the off season - it's winter and can get very cold.
The forest temple.
Me, hiking back in the hills. It was amazing and refreshing to actually be in nature after staying in Delhi for a long time. I miss hiking!
A view of the Himalayas. Manali is a stop on the way for people who are going on trekking expeditions.
A house in the village in Old Manali.
On my way walking through the village and the forest behind it, i saw a bunch of women with huge bundles of hay on their backs, or bunches of sticks. (I didn't take any pictures because i felt weird, and also, i recently wrote a paper on New Age orientalism, that critiques the tendency of alternative travelers to view people one dimensionally as subjects of photography)
Yeah, the haystack again.
A temple at the top of the hill.
My hotel was sooo cute. This isn't actually it, but it's a neighbor's house. But it was nestled in this apple orchard, at the top of a hill, and run by a nice, friendly family. My room was $4, but really actually really nice, big, with amazing views and wood details.
The view from my window.
This is Jaisalmer, inside the fort overlooking the city.
Us on our camel trek. It was really fun, but camels are not the smoothest walkers, and at the end we were soooo sore!
They grow desert watermelons in Jaisalmer, and there are patches of them growing all over in the shrubby sand.
Haha, me, on a sand dune at sunset. Mostly the trek was through sort of chapparal-y land, but we camped at night on the dunes.
Kashi, with all of her ex-ballerina flexibility.
All the camels.
They packed a bunch of blankets and mattresses for us, but the weather prediction was calling for rain and i was worried. When I asked the guy leading our caravan, he told me that they had sheets of plastic that we could pull over ourselves if it rained at night.
On the way driving out to meet the camels in the desert we stopped at a cool ruin at the top of a hill. It was barely sunrise, so the light was really nice.
Me.
So Kashi and I bought scarves because the train ride over was really dusty and we thought we might need them on the camel trek. Here we're practicing how we would tie them so as not to get sand in our mouths. Disclaimer. We did not wear them like this in real life. Because it's embarrassing.
A really nice lake on the outskirts of the city. We took a boat out, and while we were on the water this other boat of Indian people passed by and asked to take a picture. I said no, because it's really irritating to have people take pictures of you just because you're white, and it's creepy when it's men who ask. Anyway, they decided they wanted a picture anyway, and chased us around the lake in their boat, as we tried to peddle as fast as we could away.
These crazy, disgusting fish, that swarmed up to eat bread that people were throwing for them.
I read in the guidebook that this gate was built by a prostitute, even though the king asked her not to build it because she was kind of disreputable.
Not really sure. Thousands of pots stacked up in someone's yard.
I thought these women were really pretty and colorful.
Saris, hung out to dry on the balcony.
Not sure really, just thought that the scissors were kind of interesting.
People selling vegetables in a square. Jaisalmer was actually a pretty small city, and you could cover the whole thing in a few hours. They are known for their leather goods, and i got a cute leather purse!
A Ganesh mural near someone's door...
This is a picture of a parade of men through the main street of Manali. (Manali is a mountain town, built at the base of the Himalayas, and all the men wear funny bright colored mountain men hats.)
This is a Buddhist monastery toward the bottom of the hill.
A close up of the forest temple... there were so many Indian tourists there. I felt like most of the time when i was in Manali i didn't see that many people, because this is the off season - it's winter and can get very cold.
The forest temple.
Me, hiking back in the hills. It was amazing and refreshing to actually be in nature after staying in Delhi for a long time. I miss hiking!
A view of the Himalayas. Manali is a stop on the way for people who are going on trekking expeditions.
A house in the village in Old Manali.
On my way walking through the village and the forest behind it, i saw a bunch of women with huge bundles of hay on their backs, or bunches of sticks. (I didn't take any pictures because i felt weird, and also, i recently wrote a paper on New Age orientalism, that critiques the tendency of alternative travelers to view people one dimensionally as subjects of photography)
Yeah, the haystack again.
A temple at the top of the hill.
My hotel was sooo cute. This isn't actually it, but it's a neighbor's house. But it was nestled in this apple orchard, at the top of a hill, and run by a nice, friendly family. My room was $4, but really actually really nice, big, with amazing views and wood details.
The view from my window.
This is Jaisalmer, inside the fort overlooking the city.
Us on our camel trek. It was really fun, but camels are not the smoothest walkers, and at the end we were soooo sore!
They grow desert watermelons in Jaisalmer, and there are patches of them growing all over in the shrubby sand.
Haha, me, on a sand dune at sunset. Mostly the trek was through sort of chapparal-y land, but we camped at night on the dunes.
Kashi, with all of her ex-ballerina flexibility.
All the camels.
They packed a bunch of blankets and mattresses for us, but the weather prediction was calling for rain and i was worried. When I asked the guy leading our caravan, he told me that they had sheets of plastic that we could pull over ourselves if it rained at night.
On the way driving out to meet the camels in the desert we stopped at a cool ruin at the top of a hill. It was barely sunrise, so the light was really nice.
Me.
So Kashi and I bought scarves because the train ride over was really dusty and we thought we might need them on the camel trek. Here we're practicing how we would tie them so as not to get sand in our mouths. Disclaimer. We did not wear them like this in real life. Because it's embarrassing.
A really nice lake on the outskirts of the city. We took a boat out, and while we were on the water this other boat of Indian people passed by and asked to take a picture. I said no, because it's really irritating to have people take pictures of you just because you're white, and it's creepy when it's men who ask. Anyway, they decided they wanted a picture anyway, and chased us around the lake in their boat, as we tried to peddle as fast as we could away.
These crazy, disgusting fish, that swarmed up to eat bread that people were throwing for them.
I read in the guidebook that this gate was built by a prostitute, even though the king asked her not to build it because she was kind of disreputable.
Not really sure. Thousands of pots stacked up in someone's yard.
I thought these women were really pretty and colorful.
Saris, hung out to dry on the balcony.
Not sure really, just thought that the scissors were kind of interesting.
People selling vegetables in a square. Jaisalmer was actually a pretty small city, and you could cover the whole thing in a few hours. They are known for their leather goods, and i got a cute leather purse!
A Ganesh mural near someone's door...
