Delhi-Manali-Rohtang

After New Delhi as a nice introduction to India, off we went towards Ladhak and its capital Leh, which as nothing to do with the rest of India (different climate different people etc etc). The trip to go there however was typically Indian: long.


After a night in a freezing bus under the broken yet too efficient air-conditioning, I was sick. Apart from making me sick, this bus did allow us to go from Delhi to Manali. On arriving in Manali, we had to negotiate like crazy to get a rickshaw for a decent yet too expensive price. We did not sleep at Manali but in Vaschicht: nice small village a few hundred of meters above Manali. We saw many Europeans who where here for the cooler atmosphere, like in the colonial days. Except that her majesties civil servants now serve the plant industry...

After a good night of sleep (started off by a good day of resting) off we were again.

We left behind Manali and its nice Alp style (Swiss Alps) atmosphere and green valleys to climb towards Rohtang, the first of several high passes on our trip to Leh.

Up up up we went......through nice little green mountains...
...thanks to our bus...

The buddhist prayer flags started popping up un the scenery. We understood that we were headed towards a different cultural region.

Always up and up

1 km to Rohtang...
And there we are, almost as high as the highest mountain in France....
At Rohtang we discovered the other tourists of Manali valley: the Indians on their honey moon. for those who are lucky enough to be able to go on vacation for their honeymoon, Manali seams to be a very popular destination. And nothing is more important than climbing (driving) up to Rohtang for a souvenir picture or a little ski.

Moderne and clean New Delhi

Before our journey towards Ladhak and leaving for Manali, we had to visit New Delhi, as in the modern governmental monuments of Delhi. There was no better way of going there than by using the metro. Scared of being cramped into a too small wagon like in most of the world's capital, the sky was the limit of our delight when we entered and almost empty and air-conditioned wagon.





New Delhi has nothing to do with India, apart from the children playing in the artificial lakes. Apart from their joyful playing and games, New Delhi and its governmental buildings are almost empty: large clean roads with (almost) no one, large green lawns with (almost) no one.

The large avenue descending towards the Indian gate and the Indian Gate itself have a small flavour of Paris and its Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. The only difference here is that you must go down the avenue to get to the Indian Gate instead of going up as in Paris.

Being in the South of Delhi we decided to walk to the mini Taj Mahal, I mean Humayun’s tomb. It is such a pity to wait for a person’s death to honour him... Apart from this "philosophical gist", it was quite a nice visit.



Before concluding these few posts on New Delhi, I wanted to add a few words on tourist life (in India and in general).

The first joy of being far away from home is wanting to keep in touch with home. I have never given my family as much news as when I was in India. The quantity of information in family relationships seams inversely proportional to distance.... And all this was done thanks to nice little computers at the back of shops of all sorts,... my favourite being this little computer at the end of a shoe shop.



Another joy of being a tourist is reading all the security and sanitary measures you must take. I read them and did take them into account. I met some people completely paranoid and would like to say that is possible to visit India without being too sick and without any problem. But please, people, don’t be too confident…..do not get your ears cleaned in the middle of New Delhi.... I hope they still hear...

Old Delhi's Monuments

In Old Delhi we visited Jama Masjid and the Red Fort. Two magnificent monuments of Islamic heritage.

Jama Masjid is a one of the world's biggest mosque. Its fine architecture and delicate decorations are delightful.

Climbing the stairs all the way up the eastern tower for the view on Old Delhi is worthwile despite the heat.

Red fort is also a nice calm place (anything is calm after a stroll in Old Delhi) apart from the sellers at the entry.

It is always a pleasure to exchange with the local tourists, who seem to love taking pictures with us.





I caught this man taking a picture of us.... but I was faster!