Photo- Washing the clothes

 

Me doing the laundry, downstairs at the outside tap. There is a twin tub washing machine in the house but when there is only a few pieces to wash it's better doing it Indian style - by hand in cold water - but at least the sun was shining on my back while I did it. For years there was no twin tub in the house and everything was done by hand. It is only in the last few years that Champa has had a twin tub. But even now, a few years later, she still washes her laundry by hand before she puts it in the twin tub as she doesn't trust it to get clothes clean.

Photos - Jayne, Guy and Corbin leaving

Jayne Guy and Corbin left last Wednesday as they had to return to the UK for a few months, so on Tuesday Champa and Pritam wanted all 'the family' to have a farewell dinner together in the kitchen. She made really tasty chana puri, paneer saag and locally grown red rice and we even had a few beers to wash it down.

We had a great night with lots of chatting, laughter and reminiscing over the years of good times we have spent together and of other good friends/travellers who have stayed here in the house. I'm sounding like we were all saying goodbye for the last time but, in actual fact we'll all be here next year, at the same time, same place and same good company!

Corbin, the star of the show early in the evening, had to get to bed so it was goodnight all round. Champa adores Corbin and is really upset when he leaves for a few months.

Pritam also adores Corbin and hates when he leaves.

At least Colin got someone to play 'paper rock scissors' with him.

No farewell dinner is complete without a leaving present. Champa produced a pink 'beard comb' for Guy (it was a small hair comb for a child's doll) which left us all in stitches laughing as Guy's beard is a long-standing gripe of Champas. We will miss Jayne, Guy and Corbin being here in the house. Although we had our own space and weren't on top of one another we all enjoyed meeting on the balcony for a wee hello in the passing or a sit down together for a good natter and  a right good laugh.

Photos - A Baba came visiting

The other week Jayne, who also lives in the house, was in the main town of Manali and surprisingly found a  Baba/Sadhu wig and beard (a Baba is a Holy man). She couldn't resist buying it just for the fun of winding up Champa who we stay with. Jayne and her partner Guy are forever winding her up firstly because she is so easy to wind up and secondly because she's always up for a laugh. Jayne dressed in a black sarong and top, similar to that worn by a particular sect of Babas, and sat at the top of the garden stairs in a traditional pose. I was sent to tell Champa that a Baba wanted to speak to her. Champa just stared at me and ran out into the garden.

It didn't take Champa long to realise it was Jayne and, as soon as she did, she couldn't get up the stairs fast enough to rip the wig and beard off Jayne and put it on herself.

Laxmi, the Nepalese girl, that also lives in the house with her baby Asna were also there and even wee Asna joined in. We were absolutely hooting ourselves for ages and I'm glad I don't have a weak bladder. Guy and Colin came out to the balcony to see what all the hilarity was about and they ended up in stitches as well. It probably seems a very simple thing to be in hysterics about but that is what it is like here. You really do enjoy simple things - and not even a drop of alcohol was involved! It's almost like being a child again.

Photos - Traditional houses in Vashisht Village

This is a traditional old house at the back end of the village. It is a special house as Hindu Gods reside in it. It has 3 stories. The first story is through the large wooden doors and this is where the Gods reside. The middle floor is the small area directly above the doors where the family lives and the third story is an area that is reserved for religious festivals and ceremonies. Unfortunately Colin and I can't enter as it is only for Hindus.

Another old house. Traditionally the family lived upstairs and the cattle downstairs. Many families still live like this. The locals here are anything but simple, but they do lead a simple life. Wait til Colin and I build a house and get our coos!!

The hot, natural sulphur springs also flow into the back end of the village. They flow continuously and are used for washing clothes, dishes and people. The water is absolutely boiling!

They are all built with the same idea in mind but all look different.

The paths through this part of the village are narrow and uneven.

Coos tethered up for the night on the ground floor of the house.

Photos - Vashisht Village Square

The Village Square is in the middle of the Village. The focal point of the square is the Temple. The red building on the top right is the original old Temple. To the left is the public baths where people go to bathe in hot, natural, sulphur water that flows freely from the high mountain peaks. The main building in the pic is the new Temple which was built about 10 years ago. Colin was here in Vashisht when it was decided the the Temple had to be built. It used to be shops. They were demolishing them for some reason - Colin doesn't know why - and they discovered a Shiva Lingam, hence a Temple had to be built on the site ( Shiva Lingum  )

School children (in green uniforms) play at skipping outside the Temple - minus the skipping rope of course! Cool pink wellies though. Children play very simply but very happily here. If any, they have very few simple toys (maybe a doll or small match-box size car) and certainly no ex-box or play station.

There are always people wandering around the square or just sitting around in groups chatting. It's only during the Indian tourist season that the square becomes busy.

Cafes in The Square. This cafe is a German Bakery that sells yummy cakes, croissants and bread. When the tourist season finishes in Vashisht they head down to Goa for the tourist season starting there. Of all the places to chose in Goa, they head to Agonda where Colin and I go at that time. So, we see them all year round.

 

The opening underneath the green building is where we buy our vegetables.

Photo - Tiger back to full health

 

After all his fighting, womanising and terrible wounds because of it, Tiger is back to full strength. He's back to the fierce scarey guard dog but also the cuddly lovely creature that he is to us in the house. Now we can't walk out on the balcony in the morning without him bounding up the stairs, wagging his tail, looking for some of last night's left overs and wanting to jump around and play with us. 

Photos - Shops in Vashisht

It might look smaller than a Tesco Express but in Vashisht it's the equivalent of a Tesco Mega Store! Inside there aren't several isles selling a good variety of foodstuffs, instead the middle of the shop is an empty space and the goods for sale are displayed on shelves around the walls. As you can imagine, the choice is very limited unless you are looking for tea, coffee, porridge, rice, dhal, hot chocolate, buiscits, soap etc. There are slightly better stocked shops in the main town of Manali but it is a challenge trying to food shop when you first come here.

During the tourist season here loads of clothes shops spring up. If you think that shopping for food is a challenge, try getting clothes. Luckily there is no 'it's fashionable to wear' culture here and people just wear whatever they want ranging from brightly coloured unmatching cheap travelling clothes to just a piece of cloth wrapped around their waist (most travellers only have a few pieces of clothes which they wear until they are no longer wearable). Colin and I had dust rags at home that were probably in a better condition than clothes that we sometimes wear here! The Indian tourists though put you to shame with their beautiful, ornate clothes.
 The Rangoli Cafe above the clothes shop is a popular hangout for Western tourists. There are also many locals who use it and sit and play chess for hours on end. Colin is in his element being able to find someone to play chess whenever he wants and I can chat with people until I'm blue in the face (beats working).

For some reason this clothes shop seems to be quite a busy shop. It is just across the street from Rangoli Cafe where we sit drinking chai and chatting for hours on end with friends on the balcony, so we see the comings and goings in the shop (oh what an exciting life we lead, with no other pressing business than watching a shop)! What a laugh we can have though. On the lower right of the pic is the lower half of a blow up silver mannequin with a pair of multi-coloured leggings on. The shop-keeper changes these leggings daily and one pair worse than the next. We call the mannequin 'the silver lady' and when the shop-keeper takes 'her' into the back of the shop for the daily legging change he does seem to take a considerable length of time. We do wonder what website he bought her from! She sometimes can be changed several times a day as the leggings do actually sell. We do like to give the shop-keeper a round of applause when a pair are sold.   Sometimes you have to remind yourself here that you are actually an adult. Life here is certainly very different from a weekend away in September to Spain with all the girls!

Check out the 'crackin' jacket and trouser suits for children!! They are made from horrible nylon bobbly fleece (a bit like the old woolly bed blankets your granny had). Would your child wear this? Looks like the Indian equivalent of a shell suit I think.

Colin getting our Saturday night from the bottle shop.

Mountain 'fashion'. It's not 'what will I wear' it's 'what clothes have I got to wear'. This day probably started out quite sunny as I am wearing a summer dress. Must have got colder so I added leggings and fleece top.  Must have got a bit chillier so I added scarf and thick mountain socks. Glad it never rained as I would have had to put on my plastic full length poncho! (for those of you who don't remember what a ponch is, it's a big square with a hole in the middle to put your head through). Not exactly Gucci or even 'What Every Woman Wants' (I'm sure you all remember that shop girls)

Colin isn't any better, although he does look fairly normally dressed in this pic - with the exception of the socks of course. I think they are his Vashisht version of a Ranger's scarf . I suggested that, as socks are worn lower down than a scarf , it was maybe really appropriate under the current climate to take your show of support lower down ie wear socks/third division. I won't repeat his answer.

Photos - Vashisht Village

 

 

 

 

The main street (only street) in Vashisht village. Over the last 10 years most people have demolished the old traditional wooden buildings in favour of concrete buildings, although the buildings at back end of the village, not seen here, do remain traditional. Overall Vashisht is a quiet village (in Indian terms anyway) but it does change with the changing seasons. During the winter - November to March - when the weather is harsh most of the cafes and shops are closed for the season, very few tourists are here at that time of year - only the long term tourists and the hardy gits - and most people stay indoors for most of the time, sitting around the tandoor (wood burning fire) keeping warm. Colin, of course, has stayed through the winter in previous visits. 

March/April starts to bring Western tourists, some who come here to stay for several months and other passing through on their way to higher peaks in the Himalayas for trekking, snowboarding, canyoning, mountain biking and other pursuits, or just people travelling through Asia and wanting to see different parts of India. Also there are Westerners here that  have a business (restaurant, tattoo parlour etc) elsewhere in India e.g. Goa and, when the tourist season finishes there around April, they come to Vashisht for 5-6 months to chill and escape the heavy monsoon rains. (The tourist season in Goa is roughly October til April and here in this region is March til October)

May and June are very busy months as hoards of Indian tourist come here from all over India. They don't tend to stay in Vashisht itself but do make a day trip here to see the Holy temple and bathe in the natural hot springs. During the day the village becomes very busy. It is a nightmare at this time for us trying to get to the main town of Manali or neighbouring villages as the roads are are bombarded with traffic. The road is narrow and really only wide enough for 2 small cars to squeeze past but Indian tourists come in large 4-wheel drives and mini-buses bringing the roads to a complete standstill with everyone impatient, blaring their horns, completely blocking the road by attempting 3 point turns and generally achieving nothing. It is a relief when July arrives and the bulk of the Indian tourists have returned to Delhi, Punjab etc - not because they are Indian tourists, but because of the sheer volume of people.

From July through to November Vashisht returns to a lovely village to stay in again as it was in April. It's not like a holiday resort where people come for 2 weeks but, like in April, it's a place where travellers are passing through or are just chilling out for a few months. Although, very often travellers come here to pass through and end up staying several months. A few of our friends here are just like that - they came here on their way to somewhere else several months ago, talk regularly about moving on but are still here. It's a real time warp here and weeks and months pass with you noticing. In fact, a few of us were sitting in a cafe the other day and someone asked what day it was. We were all arguing whether it was Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday until someone got their phone out which had the day on their display, to settle the arguement!

The local people here and people who come here from Kashmir, Nepal etc to open shops and restaurants during the tourist season - March to November - are generally really nice people. Due to Colin having been coming to Vashisht for the last 15 years we know many of them and they are very friendly.

At the moment it is monsoon time here. It's not like the monsoon in Goa where it rains constantly for a few months. Here you have alternating sun and rain and it doesn't get that cold (still wearing t-shirts during the day). Unfortunately it means that the photos I'm posting at the moment don't let you see the spectacular views and mountain ranges you can see from the village. You will need to look at previous postings or wait til September time.

It's a very healthy place to live as, due to Vashisht being at altitude and very hilly anywhere you walk, you end up getting plenty of unintentional exercise. Also we mainly eat vegeterian here so no big greasy burgers and chips (mind you I drool at the thought of one from a greasy burger van in Glasgow - topped with greasy egg and onions of course). Probably the main contribution to being healthy though is that there is not an alcohol drinking culture here. It's not that you can't buy it, it's more that people travelling for several months or longer are on a budget and alcohol is relatively expensive. A bottle of whiskey etc is about £5 and a bottle of beer around £1.20 from the bottle shop (off sales) and obviously more if you buy it in a restaurant or cafe  (although not all cafes and restaurants sell it). Doesn't sound much but when you are on a budget and trying to make money stretch and considering that you can pay £3 a night for accommodation and £1 for a good meal, then it becomes relatively expensive. So, when you go out to a cafe or restaurant in the evening most people are sitting around drinking chai (tea). It's not boring though as there are so many different varieties - mint tea, honey lemon ginger tea, masala tea etc - oh, the choice!!!!! We actually have blood rather than alcohol flowing through our veins now. We tend to have a wee treat on a Saturday and get something from the bottle shop. With all this healthy living poor Colin is nearly fading away and will be falling down stanks soon - well, maybe in another few months time!