Uttaranchal

From Haridwar we took a bus to Rishikesh, which is known as 'yoga world capital'. There is indeed a huge variety of ashrams and schools for different kinds of yoga and meditation. The town itself is located on the Ganges, it's a holy place that attracts devoted Hindus, like Haridwar, but is more tourists-oriented, cleaner and greener. I took a yoga class and it was ok, but I felt like moving away from all the noise around. So, after 2 days we went north-east to a little place called Govindghat, a base for some nice treks. We made the trek to the Valley of Flowers, which is located in altitude of 3500 meters. People all along the way up told us it was closed, but we decided to check this out. The way up was a little hard, but there were amazing views all along. The valley was open, although most of the flowers were sleeping. The season is at August, when all the valley is covered with thousands of different kinds of flowers. However, now it's very nice also, some flowers are already flourishing, lots of birds, and the area is very calm and peaceful. Since there are no visitors, accomodation in the nearby village is very cheap. We had nice time there and came all the way down, to catch a bus to Badrinath, which is one of the most important places for every Hindu piligrim.














The town is very noisy. The temple has beatiful paintings, but there's a 200 meters line of people, waiting from the night to get in. Many baba.

May and June are the season for yatra, the Hindu piligrimage, so thousands of Indian tourists come there. The price for a room in hotel was ridiculous. We walked just 3 km up the hill and came to Mana village. Mana is a real beaty, so quiet and the views are breath-taking. Many tiny temples are hidden up the hills around. There are no formal guest houses, since Mana isn't discovered by tourists (yet). We stayed in a post office in a really luxury room. Just above it was a steep trail up hill, which lead to a little temple. Nice time sitting there, doing meditation, with an astonishing view to both sides of the valley. After relaxing for 2 days, we made a 3-days trek north to Sathwan lake. Mana is the last inhabited place in India before the Chinese border, and there's no food and accomodation on the way. The route is hard to follow this time, because of the snow. We had to take a guide and porter to carry the food. We left Mana at 8:30 at morning and walked along the river. The weather was foggy and sometimes it was raining. We stopped after 8 km in a cave. Inside it was colder than outside. We were sleeping tight together to get warm, but at 4 at morning I was already dying to get out and walk. We left at 6:30. Fog was all around, but around 10 o'clock the sun appeared and the view became happier. All the way was up, after passing some hills we found ourselves in plains covered with grass, flowers and rocks, with running streams around, that afterwards join to big rivers - Ganga and Jamuna. At 16:00, after a really tough way up we reached the hill above the lake. Its shape is triangular, it is believed that the Trimurti, 3 most important gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (reincarnation of Shiva) were meditating there, each one in other corner of the lake. Above the lake there are a few caves, with flags on them.














In one of these caves lives a real nice baba. Unlike most of babas I've met so far, he doesn't intoxicate himself with India's national herbs. His cave is warm, comfortable and peaceful. A really great place for meditation. He stays there for 6 months, and when the cold weather comes (I don't want to think what it means) he comes back down to plain side. We stayed with him for one night and next morning came all the way back to Mana. Now we're heading for next trek - to Pindari Glacier.
Good time, really :)
bom bhole !

Haridwar

I stayed in Delhi for one night on my way north. I liked it much better than Mumbai. It's very clean in Indian standards, much more Western. The roads are good, and that's probably why there's so much traffic. Very crowded in public places, train station in noon is like a huge pack of sardins. There are many parks, with few trees and huge areas covered with grass. Amazing architecture, the Muslims have done great job.

I went to Qutb Minar, some temples and museums, but took only a brief glance at Red Fort and Jama Masjid from outside, because there was blast there just a few days ago. The bazaars are very colourful and crowded, there's a huge variety of goods.

One day was just enough, it's too hot. Yesterday I've arrived in Haridwar, a holy city located on the Ganges, with thousands of piligrims, but a few tourists, most of which go to Rishikesh, just 15 km away. Haridwar is very nice. Although it's a very holy place and a big crowd of babas gather on the ghats, the city is very spiritual and it does not create pressure, like Varanasi. There are temples on hills around the city, a really convenient package tour includes cable car and a bus to travel between them. At evening time there's puja on the Har-Ki-Pairi ghat. Although it's still funny and strange for me to see all this idol worshipping, putting colors, flowers and sweets ahead of stones, and touching statues, I have to admit that it doesn't really matter and the most important thing is the faith the people share, which gives them power. Still, it sometimes seems ridiculous :)

Hot!

I'm back in Khajuraho, M.P. I'm hanging around with my Indian friends, by walking and by bike. There are nice places around I'm planning to visit, some of them I didn't manage to go to last time I've been here. It's very hot now, about 45 degrees, I think. I drink about 10 liters of water a day, and constantly wet my clothes, but all water just evaporates very quickly. At night time and early morning it's better. Now it's weddings' season, there is at least one every day. Buses full of people drive from the villages, bringing family and friends. I'm planning to go to one of these events next week, and then challo to the North.
Happy Independence, Israel! :)