About 5 km south of New Manali is one of the many makeshift wooden foot bridges across the Beas; this one even sports a metal railing which almost reaches up to waist level. A path along the riverbed eventually leads up the steep sandy landslide-prone cliff to terraced fields and orchards which spread out between the village of Jagatsukh and the river. Even though it's such a short distance from Manali the difference in altitude and temperature means that spring starts earlier here. Several bright yellow fields dot the landscape of otherwise mostly barren terraces. Another year gone by: the mustard stands in bloom again, looking like small slightly scruffy rape

06/03/04 Holi, the festival of colours

Today is the Holi festival celebrating the arrival of spring, or for the more religiously minded the victory over the demon Holika. It's an extremely colourful affair for everyone who dares to venture out. In Delhi "playing holi" means chucking coloured water at each other, here it's coloured powder. Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, purple - the colours are vibrant and they stick! Two years ago we had to put a nail brush to our faces to get the purple off our skin. This year we keep well away from town and colour. Yesterday there were a few stalls selling the vicious powders from big bags. A bus arriving from Delhi looked like it had been through some sort of practise run for Holi: it's front covered in red streaks, not blood, but just holi colours. See bigger picture in photo blog.

10/03/04 picnic with a view

It's not even middle of march, but in terms of vegetation and temperature everything seems to be about 3 to 4 weeks earlier than last year. Nice enough weather for our first picnic. The shopping trip to New Manali before we head out includes Mr Singh in Manu market. He is the most popular creator of yummy tandoori chicken in this area, and extremely busy especially during the summer season. He managed easily enough to put his 4 daughters through college with his chicken earnings. Armed with the chicken and lots of other tastebud friendly stuff we find a nice spot in one of the many orchards near Balsari, with a view onto the opposite bank of the Beas river. Later on an old farmer arrives with a heavy kilta filled with dung which he spreads over the small round patches around his apple trees. A bit more noxious are the pesticides which are sprayed onto the trees in the orchards next to us. No damage done to Mr Singh's chicken though! See bigger picture in photo blog.

11/03/04 Halan

Just north of Naggar, not far away, but still remote, is the small valley along the Shaki Nallah (stream). It hasn't been many years that the villages along this nallah are accessible by road or even public transport; now two buses daily run up the twisty road serving the 5 villages of the Halan panchayat (village council). 10 km of serpentine curves takes the bus roughly an hour, a walk back to the main road along some shortcuts doesn't take much longer (well, it's downhill - I like downhill!) The bus route ends at the village of Baltan. A short climb up the hillside gives an excellent view over the still mostly slated roofs of the villages below.

12/03/04 an ailing gear box

The road between Naggar and Kullu on the east side of the Beas river is a particularly beautiful part of the Kulu Valley. We take an especially decrepit looking bus towards Tapu which passes through that area. The bus doesn't sound healthy even as we leave the bus stand, and sure enough, 2 km later, on a steep incline, it won't take any more. The bus driver made the mistake trying to take the hill in second gear which proves too much for the ancient and ailing gear box. For ten minutes he tries to get the bus moving in forward direction but manages only a few centimetre backwards. Eventually passengers clamber out of the bus, only a few elderly and women with children stay put; the conductor persuades us to stay seated as well (uh, do we look old, ailing or with children?). Sitting in a dysfunctional bus rolling backwards down a steep curvy road is not the best treatment for our nervous system, nonetheless we look out of the window and hope the brakes work better than the gear box. At the flat of the road the bus stops, the driver puts his foot onto the gas pedal and noisily grinds up the hill in first gear - he makes it (just about) to the top where he collects the other passengers.

14/03/04 almost end for hibernation

It's "yellow mustard fields season" in the Old Manali orchards. It's pretty, with big patches of yellow, lots of butterflies whizzing about, some pink blooms on the apricot trees; unfortunately not all that much snow left on the mountains. Old Manali village wakes up slowly from it's winter sleep, lots of building work is going on, a couple of souvenir shops and the first internet cafe have opened; but surprisingly, still no open restaurant in sight, even though there seem to be enough tourists around to sustain at least one or two of Old Manali's overpriced cafes or restaurants.

15/03/04 the Monal - the Himalayan pheasant

There are 3 main ways to get from Old Manali to New Manali. 1st: via the main road - not pleasant to walk , too much traffic. 2nd: the "orchard short cut": a path which not that many years ago used to lead through mostly orchards and fields, but now goes past a lot of building sites, hotels and houses since the town is spreading with a breathtaking speed. 3rd: along a path through the protected forest, which is kept up by the forestry department. The "pheasantry" in this forest contains just a few cages with birds - mostly pigeons even if the signs proclaim otherwise. Several Himalayan pheasants with behavioural problems run psychotically along the fence of a larger cage as if desperate for a way out. These Monals, as they are called, are an endangered and protected species - which doesn't stop the locals trying to blow them out of the sky with shotguns given half a chance. The males are beautifully coloured, their feathers sparkle in green, blue, orange tints. Their head feather is a must as head decoration for a Kulvi dancer. Only their tail looks out of place: short, and a drab light brown. As the story goes: "When God created the Monal, the greedy bird wanted more and more brilliant colours and complained to God that they weren't brilliant enough. Eventually God got fed up and chucked a load of the most boring brown he could muster over its tail."

Kirsten apr 2004	<< previous next >>
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