Hi again, y’all. I got to Manali in good shape and met up with Beatrice a couple of days later. It was supposed to be only one day later, but she had one of the worst bus ride stories I’ve ever heard. I may blog about that another time, but for now I’ll try to catch up on things. I’ve got a bunch of pics I’ve been uploading for some time, and it’s about time to send them.
The one above is of the river through Manali. Old Manali, where we stayed this time, is mostly up along the side to the right of this pucture. Vashisht, where I stayed last month, looks down on this area from way up and to the right, about a kilometer as the crow flies or 5-6 km by road.
Beatrice and I didn’t do much while we were in Manali. We looked around. She dealt with the police about her bus adventure. She shopped for clothes. I had some cute pictures of her looking at material, but I found out that if I rotate them on this computers viewing program, they get deleted from my memory card. Anyway, that’s about all we did except hang out and mosey around.
Here are some more pictures of Vashisht. The first is just a view of the skyline, such as it is, from the Rainbow Cafe I spent so much time in last month.
These two were taken during some kind of Hundu festival we happened to blunder into.
If you want to see more pictures of that area, you can go to my entries last month.
Beatrice and my relationship is not without some bumps, but I think we are getting along pretty well right now. We decided to continue travelling together. After several days in Manali, we went first to Shimla via bus, then to Jodhpur via two trains over a two day period to Jodhpur in Rajastan. The train from Shimla, down out of the mountains, was a narrow guage “toy train”. It was kind of cute.
So, we are in Jodhpur, the “blue city”. Here is a photo of the fort, which dominates the city, taken from our guesthouse, and one of the city taken from up at the fort.
As in many cities in many parts of India, there is an old town with narrow, “quaint” lanes. Some are wide enough for one small car at a time. Maybe a couple of rickshaws can pass. Sometimes only pedestrians can go. Here are some pictures of some sites. The first is just a random photo of Beatrice.
We are back in the land of elephants and camels.
Here is the view down the street where that animal was.
That day, we were walking along looking for things to look at. We’re both not much for trying to follow the guide book. We happened into one of the nicer, more interesting temples we’d seen. This one had obviously recently painted pictures representing Hindu beliefs regarding chakras. Most of the symbolism is way over my head. I can see that releasing ones kundalini energies is no child’s play.
I don’t know what prying the stork’s mouth apart is about.
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This has got to hurt.
  Seriously, the people in there were quite devout. There was a guy singing so joyusly I couldn’t bring myself to possibly interrupt his abandon. Here are a few shots I felt okay to take. The guy is the tall one in front with the white shirt. Note all the wall paintings.
  The next thing was we happened to actually find the main market on the other side of the fort. Markets are a big deal in most of the developing world, sometimes worthy of somewhat monumental architecture. Here is the gate to the main market at the base of the fort and the clock tower which serves as the centerpiece reference point for the city.
  Here’s Beatrice in the market.
 
Let’s see, I’ve got some other stuff. Here’s something you don’t see every day, a cow and a dog as good friends. This cow is scratching the dog under his chin and the dog is totally eating it up, blissed out with it’s eyes closed.
In the old section of town, many ornate facaes either from or reminiscent of the moghul period can be seen.
Yet another festival was under way.
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Notice how colorful the dress in in Rajastan. Even the female road crews are dressed brightly.
Here’s one of the detail of the sandstone carving of the fort’s facades.
We also went to a garden with some old funerary monuments. Again, go to my Rajastaan pictures from last October for many, many pictures of these monuments. Here are a couple of pictures of the monkeys there. I think the little one is very, very young. It was so cute snuggling and sucking away.
Finally, we went to look at what is billed as one of the finest hotels in the world. Here is the outside. Most of the inside is off limits to nonguests. I assure you, we will not be staying here anytime soon. I’d like to, just because it was built in the 20’s and 30’s and the inside is a moghul/art deco fusion. There was a video, which is how we know.Â
So, this entry has been all pictures and little dialogue. Maybe the next one will be more chatty. Oh, maybe I’ll wax eloquent. Yeah, right. We’re going out into the desert of western Rajastaan on the overnight train tonight. We’ll be a few days in and around Jaisalmer. I’ll probably write from there, or shortly after.
Be well, all of you.
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