Manali to Dharmshala

Dear Friends and Family,

We settled comfortably in Manali and enjoyed a few days of walking around the busy modern section which we did not like nearly as much as the older part where we stayed in a lovely garden hotel. We befriended a really great family, the father a Bengali documentary film-maker from Calcutta who we both had much in common with, his British wife, an American friend living in Calucutta and five children between them. We shared Kathryn's birthday cake and gin and tonics with them on our last night. You see a view of Old Manali from across the river in the town the Lonely Planet described as "charming" we thought it was more like the spelling of it, VaiSHIT, really Lonely Planet, it was one long filthy busy shopping center of concrete without a a single old building left, but to be fair, our LP was written in 2005 and change happens quickly in India. Day trips took us to many wonderful old wooden temples, from both Manali and Kullu.
While we were exploring the old town of Manali we followed a path down from our hotel, and stumbled upon an opportunity for John to finally take a dip in the river, this a tributary of the Beas River that flows through the entire Kullu Valley. John made sure to NOT drink any of the river water. He was applauded because of his bravery, and also I think his age, by an enthusiastic crowd of Indians. Fortunately the bungee cord supporting him held up well. I was not nearly as brave and stood on the bank snapping many photos. We had Kathryn's birthday dinner a few days early as we found a really great restaurant and bar in Manali and we were warned that there were not to be such amenities in our next stop in Kullu when Kathryn's birthday would really occur. We had John's Father's Day dinner a few days before that in the same resturant.


A day stop in Nagar took us to a very charming village in the hills, this time described accurately in the LP this time, the home of the eccentric Russian painter Nichalous Roursch, whose house museum we toured. We saw, more wonderful temples and John found a great enthusiastic young man who he bought many delectable things made out of Yak and Angora (lucky you who will get theses) and the young man who is getting a degree in Sociology was very very pleased and appreciative of my interest in the old wooden temples and gave me much valuable advise on where to find them as many as we found, might be way off the main road in an Apple orchard, while some we did not expect to see were right on the main road, fortunately all of our drivers have been patient with our need to stop as Kathryn photographs these and indigenous examples of old houses and temples.

Next stop south was Kullu, not the most charming city but livley, we found one good place to eat that we kept returning to, and had a great room with a wrap around balcony, though minus the wall to wall red carpeting in the room and the sleepy staff, it could have been better. It was the best base for exploring the temples and views. Though because of no tourist infrustructure, we were subject to the extortionate feels of the local taxi union. The daily afternoon rain we encountered in Manali and Nagar, (just misty, nothing to stop us from exploring) ended in Kullu and we had a few hot sunny days. Rather than whitewater rafting which we had considered, we instead took an arduous hike 2 lkm up a mountain above the tree line, 800 steps (I counted on the way down, luckily did not know on the way up) and proved at my new age of 50, turned that day, that I was still in reasonable shape, and John is amazing, ten years my senior and a terribly good sport, as I was confused about what temple was what and he was not prepared with his sturdy Shimla bought new waking stick. As we progressed up, we kept waiting for the top to appear, but it never ever seemed to come, but when it finally did, the views from a ridge high above two valleys, was simply magic, as was the charming painted wooden temple that there are photos of Kathryn lighting incense inside of. Our legs were pure rubber after that and a gin and tonic on the wide wrap around balcony of our red carpeted room was well deserved. After a day in India, however, Gin and Tonics at the end of the day are ALWAYS well deserved.

We reached Dharmsaala by way of going south to Mandi first, then north, BUT the roads to our amazement were paved AND had stripes down the middle, suggesting that there could be two lanes of traffic, each going in its own direction! Finally off of a river bed, the lush green terraced fields gave us the impression that if our car did fall off the edge, we would bounce into soft green felt, (probably NOT the case in reality) Our progress was hindered by some of the heaviest rain we had ever encountered, and the cars we rent, though sturdy, do not have any kind of defrost, so the windows must be kept partially open and handkerchiefs used to clear the fog.

So we again have a great room in McCloud Gunge, 10 klm and very high above Dharmsala where its like a New England vacation town in mid July, many people from all over the world crowd the narrow street, barely enough room to have one car let alone trying to walk past them, hopefully when the weekend is over thing will calm down a bit, but it is interesting and there are many walks to take. Its fun to see red robed Buddhist monks walking everywhere as this is the home of the Tibetan exile community, thus the international flavor and we will visit the Dalai Lama's gompa though the DL himself is probably in Rochester or some other far flung globe trotting location continuing to talk about Tibetan independence, Free Tibet signs are everywhere, the movement continues, just to the left on our computer is a Free Tibet sign.

You can expect our next blog from Chandigargh, back on the hot plains of India, toward the end of our trip.

More from the road,
Love, Kathryn and John

5 Days off the Grid in Spectecular Sangla and Spiti

Dear Folks,
"The End of the Habitable World" is the title of a book about HP, that aptly describes our last 5 days. We are now back in "civilization" in the resort town of Manali in north HP at the top of the Kullu Valley and are finding it pleasant, but after hardly seeing any people, aside from monks, or any other vehicles, (gratefully as the "roads" could hardly accommodate one car let alone two at the same time in the same place) it's strange to be among so many people. We are staying in a pleasant hotel with beautiful gardens, the hills surrounding us are lush with clouds hanging over the peaks, we seem to be older than most people here by at least 20 years! Lots of young "hippies" from all parts of the world and pot growing freely all over, including behind our hotel room. We will be here for a few days exploring and will head down the Kullu valley staying in a few nice sounding towns and then will head north west to Dharmsala, to meet with the Dalai Lama, if he is in town!

Back to the adventures of the last week at the edge of the habitable world. First, a long day trip down the spectacular Sangla Valley, going south from our main "National Highway" 22 route through Spiti. While the Lonely Planet is often overly enthusiastic or downright wrong about things, this time they got it right on when they described it as "the most spectacularly beautiful valley in HP" While many of the river roads drop right down to the river, in this valley there was a generous broad lush river bed full of charming small towns with traditional stone and wood architecture. Highlights were the small towns of Kamru with its haunting wooden tower temple and winding streets, and another town that was the last inhabited town close to the Tibetan border. It was the most surreal place I've ever been with its twisted roads and wooden houses along a small creek with a tower temple and another painted bright colors and covered with indigenous imagery, deities and snakes.

On our journey along the Sutlej River valley John noticed many signs about new hydro power plants and there was much evidence of construction and destruction, the roads were ghastly. He couldn't understand while they were in such bad condition as it was the heavily travelled national highway. Upon further thought and questioning our driver, Surendrer, he finally understood that in less than 5 year the majority of the road we travelled on would be under hundreds of feet of water, thus why continue to improve it. He was very saddened that this mighty river with class 6 rapids (at least) would soon become a vast lake, progress sucks, but the people here need the power. We both felt saddened and privileged, probably some of the last Americans to witness it's awesome greatness.

The next day we started our adventure through the Spiti valley, the lush green landscape changed into something looking more like a moonscape, or Martian landscape, barren, grand, but beautiful still in its own stark way. The architecture changed from wood to traditional Tibetan buildings of stark stone painted white as the religion changed from Hindu to Buddhist. We visited some fantastically located monasteries set dramatically high up on rocky hills, taking hair raising roads clinging barely to the mountain. Fortunately for us, we were able to hire a fantastic, genteel, polite, moderate and cute (this last fact probably escaped John's notice) who made the trip so much more pleasant and SAFE for us. He even changed his music from Hindu to Buddhist and we placed the Buddha statue John bought on his dashboard. We did tire of the same 4 tapes he tended to play over and over, so bought a lot more Hindi pop for him.

Tabo, Key and Nako monasteries had amazing wall paintings, Naco was not a heritage location so nobody was there and we could photograph at will, but in the other locations you first had tea with a monk, were maybe lucky to arrive when they were chanting, and then were taken to the various rooms to see wall paintings hundreds of years old. We stayed in the charming small town of Nako on a small lake John had visions of swimming in, turns out it was a drainage pond, but still pretty. We are staying at altitudes of approximately 12 thousand feet where the air is very very thin, John has developed a slight case of altitude sickness and finds it hard to sleep at night, fortunately he has had some time to acclimate, so the problem is not severe. He walks a bit slower than usual and takes deep breaths of precious oxygen. John's walking stick which previously fended off monkeys now has become an appendage that allows him to barely keep up with me, though I've gotten surprisingly winded myself at times.

Our last stop on the route was a town called Lossar, which really defined the meaning of "one horse town" or the "back of nowhere" and stayed in a very rough hewn room with an outhouse. It was run by and ancient charming man who spoke perfect English. The "shower" consisted of a spigot that did not work, a small hole in the ground and a huge pot of water outside with a small vase to gather it with. Had we stayed more the one night and had to use these facilities in earnest, it would have been interesting, plus it was pretty cold there. It was a possibility as we found that the road over the pass to Manali was closed, but opened early the next morning. It was one of the highest "inhabitable" villages in the world, we could not imagine what it would be like in winter! It was on route to the highest pass in India, Kazum.

The last portion of this trip was over two extremely high passes and then down the Kullu valley to Manali. The first pass, the highest in India, and nearly in the world, was snow covered with a Buddhist temple at the stop that we paid our respects at, it was awesome and foreboding. We must mention again the "roads" that we travelled over if indicated in a map in the US, would be classes as for 4x4 only, but these were still classed as a highway in India. We were lucky indeed to have a great driver and a sturdy Tata Sumo and to hardly see any other vehicles. There were mostly blind curves and the most severe switch-backs that one can imagine but this has been typical of our travels so far. Even though we have gotten used to these conditions the constant bouncing, bumping and twisting, takes a physical and psychological toll on our beings. Driving even 20 klm can seem like a hundred miles and takes as long. What contained to save our sanity and soul was the breathtaking scenery and in John's case, breathtaking is appropriate. We got out of the car often to photograph the scenery. I often screamed at John, "we are not stopping here, or you are not going there, or not so close to the edge" but John assured me that because the traffic was so sparse that there was very little chance of being hit by another vehicle, and he promised not to fall over the edge. In time I grew used to it, but since it was his artistry that chose the stunning locations, even the surprise rainbow to stop at, rather than merely mimic his photos, I started making fun photos of John taking photos! For all of you who regret that I have not yet found out how to post photos on this blog, we plan to do a dual slide talk in the art dept in early September when John will be in Storrs. Also, John will be working at my house to learn and put together a powerpoint presentation of his own to share with friends and family east and west.

We both felt that after we got over the Rhotang pass, the 2nd highest, we would enjoy the return to beautiful pine covered mountains and a relaxing drive to Manali. HOWEVER, this was NOT to happen as planned! The Rhotang was covered in thick fog, making visibility impossible with a light rain at first. To our amusement at the top of the hill was a massive "winter park" where seemingly thousands of Indians desperate to experience "snow" could rent or buy fake fur coats, boots and ride down the hills in contraptions that looked like a cross between an Adirondack chair and a sled. It was cloudy, foggy, rainy and the snow was nearly black with filth but everyone seemed to be having a grand time. Traffic was not to be believed and complicated by the fact that it was a one lane road in many places, the roads according to John were like the bed of a river or worse and to slow the traffic even further, an oil tanker truck had almost flipped over and blocked most of the road. We sat with the engine off for over two hours and then crawled inch by inch down the mountain. There was no evidence of "traffic control" but we are finally finally here and look forward to the rest of the trip! John is now talking to someone about learning how to put our photos on so check back soon and our breathing is much better and we are getting a chance to relax.

Love,
Kathryn and John

Shangra-la after a sublime ride

Dear Folks
The definition for "sublime" means a terrifying beauty, and that aptly describes our rides from the past two days from Shimla to the temple town of Sarahan, to this gorgeous setting of the small village of Kalpa set in a magestic 18 thousand foot snow capped mountain peaks. Our hotel terrace which sits at 12 thousand feet, looks out at the peaks from where we watched, along with some jolly Indian and foreign tourists, a fabulous sunset. Kalpa is a quaint village that seems like time has graciously forgotten it, with traditional stone and wooden buildings, along with some of the ubitiquous concrete buildings, mostly the hotels looking over the village.

A quick re-wind back, John had a particulary exciting day in Shimla, we took a day trip to a chaming wooded area to seek out an old wooden temple, after that, on to a famed golf course where we had lunch and were treated to a concert of local musicians and dancers. On a walk in the wooded area next to the golf course, we stopped to watch a tv serial being filmed. Soon John was asked to play the part of an elderly British man with a trench coat, hat and cane, walking across the road. He was not paid for his services, but if we ever did find and watch this serial, John's name would have been in the credits! Next, Bollywood!

Driving in HP means cliff hanging roads above a rushing river, this time the Sangla river valley. In some places however, the beauty has been destroyed by hydro-electric power plants that make it look industrial and in those places the roads were terrible, a very bumpy ride, but at least then it forced our driver to slow down! Depending on a combination of factors, the type of car (bigger and sturdier is better and well worth the additional cost) the temperment of the driver (laid back or in a hurry) and his music, the ride can be tranformingly beautiful or simply terrifying. We have had both, and there is nothing more exhausting than a day of pure terror which describes our most recent all day drive, so we have learned our lesson to be more careful in hiring drivers. Today we are enjoying a leisurely day making travel plans and exploring the village of Kalpa and tomorrow a day trip on the Sangla valley to see two beautiful towns and more wooden temples that the area is famed for. Then we head out on Thursday for the real fronteir, Spiti, which was described by Kipling as a place where the gods must live because no man could. Its a remote area near the Chinese border that used to be part of Tibet long ago and has many ancient gompas with fresco paintings. We have to apply for a permit to go there. Probably no more posts for the next week until we reach the major tourist center of Manali in the Kullu Valley.

Love, Kathryn and John

K and J arrive in Shimla!

Hey Friends,
we surivied New Delhi, the heat and the traffic. Had a fantastic 9 hour two part train ride up to Shimla. Four hours of which were on this incredible narrow guage train, called the "toy train", and it was just slightly bigger, it was probably the slowest train ride one can ever imagine, (it was only 97 killometers in all, if we had taken the bus it would have been a 90 minuite ride!)but the views were spectacular and its a historic route, built by the British in 1903 with 103 tunnels to go through which were all numbered. We got a lot of long station stops so that we could be "introspective". The train is right out of the 19th century, except that its deisel electric and not steam, all of the switches, all of the communications were done manually, which could explain the lengthy stops. It rained when we got to Shimla, and during the night, Kathryn had expected stupendous views from our window but all we saw in the morning was thick white fog, but it cleared up fortunately by mid morning, everyone says its unusual for this time of year for it to rain, the monsoon comes a month or so later. Luckily I was prepared with raincoats for both myself and Kathryn who had not brought one, she was not expecting rain.

We HIKED!!! this morning, miles straight up hill and down, to the Hanuman temple, the monkey god, and we saw lots of ungodly monkeys on the way, which by the way, try to steal from you, fortunately I had purchased a large walking stick to help on the trek and to fend off the aggressive simians. Everything is up and down here, all the houses and buisnesses are perched on steep slopes with steps and paths between them. Shimla, being former British hill station, the summer capital, it looks like a piece of London (minus the monkeys) with a lot of old half timbered "lodge" like buildings and numers and well kept huge stone and wood goverment buildings everywhere, that the Indian government has kept the idea more than alive, and its packed with mostly Indian toursists, its clearly "the" place to be, and we have seen only about a dozen foreigners. Our room at the Spars Inn is very nice, and very very safe, across the street happens to be the residence of the general, and is guarded at the entrance, with a machien gun carrying sentry. This morning Kathryn met with her friend the miniature painter Vijay Sharma at the elegant state museum to deliver a painting Kathryn commissioned for her 50th birthday, it was a georgous work of art and she was trilled, an apt gift to herself. Vijay's students miniature paintings are on exhibit, we saw them as they were being hung, but unfortunately the opening is tomorrow afternoon and we have planned a day trip to some small villages that are picturesque with wooden temples Kathryn is here searching for. On our walk to and from the museum we both noticed porches balconies and house entrances and various machinery enclosed by small mesh screening, we thought at first these people must have a passion for small animals or birds, but we soon discovered the screens are to keep the monkeys out and not the pets in. Tonight we've made reserverations at one of the finest old hotels and resturanants not too far from our hotel, after today's strenuous hike we deserve a reward. I am looking forward to a real Bombay saphire martini and a cigar, they still fortunately have smoking sections here!

Everything else about the trip is sort of open ended, Kathryn is going to visit the tourist office tomorrow to talk to some experts about the region and the temples she is looking for as most cities they are listed in, in a book she has are not on our map, so we need a good driver and guide. So ournext blog probably will not happen for a few days at least, because we are heading into the frontier, the heart of the Himalaya.

Love to all family and friends,
John (and Kathryn who is typing this becuase I can only type with one finger)

Heat, Dust and Cricket

I'm in the exquisite insanity of Delhi, in Main Bazar, Pahargunge, the intensely packed area near the train station where all of one's senses get assaulted at once, but its like an addiction that I seem to keep needing. I love hearing the call to prayer and the Hindu temple devotional music in the morning, mixing with the sounds of commerce and traffic. Delhi however is a mix of the chaotic and breezy open spaces, I had a nice long walk yesterday in the beautiful park along the gateway of India after a delightful day at the National museum. The heat had debated a bit due to unexpected showers, unusual at this time of year, but its back now full force, its like sitting by an open fire, so getting to Shimla on Thursday will be a relief.

I think I've finally started to understand cricket! The Premiere league games were on, all of the national teams and the finals were the last few days, it was hard not to get caught up in it, particularly the fanfare over the two Aussie players, both blondes named Shane, that seemed to catch the heart of the nation. The teams are mostly made up of Indians, with a few foreign players here and there, from Africa, Pakistan and Australia, most are owned by Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. After watching hours of the finals I was thrilled, like realizing you finally comprehend a foreign language, when I realized "I got it" after all of these years.

John comes in tomorrow, I can't wait to see my buddie and my talk is tomorrow night at the Habitat center.

making the Times of India

My photo is on the headline in the times of India and features prominently inside, for my art opening? NO, for the wine tasting party before the opening, but at least they do mention that I am an artist. Any publicity is publicity, but that's probably not one for my merit package at school. I'm used to being photographed at events as the "foreigner" but the only other time I shared a headline in color was in Ahmedabad and I was between Brittany Spears and Beyonce, this time I'm only competing with a young women and a byline "Rhianna likes it short" my byline is "over a glass of wine". There is a large photo of me inside too, fortunately not after I had too many glasses, they tested about 10 bottles. The opening was great, and Sumeer Gupta the gallery director and wine tasting organizer took us to a wonderful dinner after, we both really enjoy talking "American" and about the Lakers, Bulls, UConn basketball, etc. His cousin, from Mississippi was also at the opening so we had our little American contingent. Today was the first day of the workshop, supposed to start at 11, but the students started to come around 11:30 and we started in earnest around noon, I do need to get used to IST, "India Stretched Time" once again. The students as usual are charming, kind, eager and resectful and I know I"ll enjoy working with them. The day has been cloudy, allowing me a long morning walk on the beach as usually by 8am its too hot to be in the sun. Last evening I had a long leisurly walk into town to my favorite place to eat sittign in a little wooden balcony perched above the town square, the "Vasco de Gama" club which seems to hark back to another century with its slowly revolving fans and laid back decor and a mix of Indians and foreigners and a pool table in the back. A book, some prawn fried rice and gin mixed in a delectable fresh lime soda, how could one want for more. Tonight Hanuman will join me.

in Goa

Goa is insanely hot at this time of year so I've adoped the habit that most sane Indians do of avoiding going out between 9-5 so after this I'm off for a long walk along the Mandovi river which leads to the Arabian Sea and will find a nice place to eat. Its a very safe and charming place to walk around and becuase its so hot by day, the night life goes on into the night. The gallery space that Hanuman and I will show is amazing, run by a young Indian man (with an American accent) who graduated from UPenn and lived in LA for a number of years, he is in a family real-estate buisness and new to the gallery trade and is generously putting me up in a lovely guest house a block away. He is hosting a wine tasting party before our opening, which sounds like a great idea. I'll be running a painting workshop for about 20 of Hanuman's students next week.
In the meantime from my ac room I'm eagerly planning our Himachal Pradesh routes and timing and reading a delightful book called Kullu, The End of the Habitable World by a women who made the same treck we will by mule.