The Valley Of Flowers

Three days of travelling including a 12-hr shared jeep journey with a crazy driver, helping celebrate a Sikh-birthday party with toast&jam and orange fanta,

a 14 km uphill trek

and a pony trek

we finally reached the Valley of Flowers, the aim of our journey , and WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT IT WAS!!!!!!!

The valley of flowers was discovered only 80 years ago by a British pioneer and being a National Heritage Site cost us 600rs each to go and see it. It must have been off-season though because the valley only had 2 colours of flowers: a light purple and beige; what the hell?!?!?! I was expecting every colour under the sun.

Here's a photo of me running off to play in the valley of flowers, looking slightly more colourful than the valley of flowers:

We took a couple more photographs and chilled out.

Even though the valley of flowers wasn't as good as we'd expected the trip itself was a lot of fun and I made some very nice new Israeli friends :-)

Moths In India Are Rather Beautiful

Moths in Scotland tend to be brown or black and are not very pleasing to the eye. In govindghat, Uttaranchal I came across this little fellow, perhaps the most beautiful camouflaged moth in all of India:

Aarti Ceremony "The Ceremony of Lights" In Rishikesh

As the sun sets this lovely ceremony is carried out every evening with chants, music, fire, the burning of little flower boats and releasing them into the Ganges with prayers to the gods. While the ceremony is under way it is being observed by a large illuminated sculpture of Shiva - the destroyer. Being near to the Ganges at this festival feels very special, so many people travel from all over India to pray and you can feel the devotion that goes into this river. I released one of the candles and it got about 2 mtrs away from me and capsized and sunk, boooo, though I like to pretend to myself that it is still floating down the Ganges.

Mehndi Henna Hand Art

Mehndi is very common in India. It is when henna is applied to the skin as a form of decoration. It tends to last for about a week to 10 days and is applied at weddings and during festivals. It is an art form and takes about 30 minutes to apply and looks beautiful when the henna dries and peels off leaving the stain.

The girl that worked in our ashram applied it for myself and Lolly for 100rs.

Photos From a Misty Walk Along The Banks Of The Ganga

Eunuch Singing Performance in The Temple

Whilst leaving the Freedom Cafe one night and walking back to the ashram I was staying in I heard a horrendous sound that sounded like a clowder of cats being strangled. I went to investigate and in the temple there was a large crowd of children and adults observing some very moody Eunuchs "singing".

Freedom Cafe in Rishikesh

There is a large, extensive menu at the Freedom Cafe on the banks of the Ganges. I would strongly recommend the Besciamell Al Fungi in cramy shite white cheese sauce.

The Nepalese waiter confirmed for me it really was very cramy and very shite. After consuming this culinary treat if you are having any problems digesting this then why not wash it down with a DIDE COCK which can be found at the bottom of the drinks menu and at only 40rs you can't go wrong.

The view of the Ganges from Freedom Cafe is spectacular and managed to catch a sunset.

Chandigarh - Bhutanese Drink

Vodka + Sugar + Lemon + Fire --> Death By Vodka

Bullet Trip - Delhi->Chandigarh

Up at the crack of dawn in order to miss the Delhi rush-hour we loaded our bags onto the bike and headed to Supriya's to collect my helmet and have a morning chai. Despite getting up so early there had been heavy rainfall the previous night so we got caught in the floods and rush-hour.

When we finally got out of Delhi and had our first dhaba-stop the sun came out and it was all plain-sailing: listening to music, taking in the scenery and i was even able to read a couple of pages of my book before we reached Chandigarh.

Gurgaon Monkey Business

After the heat of Rajasthan I decided heading back to the mountains was the best option. I was meeting Merwyn In Delhi so I spent a few nights in Gurgaon. One afternoon I made a cheese sandwich and was watching Discovery Channel in the flat myself when suddenly my sandwich was taken from my hand. I turned around to see a black monkey the size of a 4-year-old picking the cheese off my sandwich in disgust. I got a fright and ran over to the other side of the room and started throwing paper at it and shouting "shooooooo" as loud as i could. It just looked back at me, shrugged its shoulders and left, WITH MY SANDWICH!!!!!!!

Pushkar

In Pushkar Gaby, Raphael and I were reunited again and also made some new Spanish amigos. After a jam session with some old ladies in a hole-in-the wall shrine as 2 little boys observed

and a half- hearted party the previous night with some whisky and broken speakers overlooking the lake

we headed off on rented Scootys to try and find the temple. We never made it to the temple due to heavy, monsoon rain, but we sang many Lion King songs, had a dhaba chai stop and made new friends including lovely little naked boy who wanted to be in every photograph.

After a very posh lunch looking like drowned rats

everyone headed off to Agra and I spent the night drinking "special" lassie and giggling as Hindu gods came to life on my bedroom wall. Oh, the hilarity!!