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!