Monday, June 09, 2008

This is ... my favourite travel memory



My favourite travel memory (thanks to Hila for trip down memory lane and for the theme for this weeks This is theme), is living in this beautiful valley in Northen India.

It is Parvati Valley and we rented a one room wooden house with no water or power and lived there for about a month. We lived a days walk up the valley from Manikaran amongst the pine forest, the valley was surrounded by the highest snow top peaks, it was summertime but still a little chilly in the mornings. The hut was warmed by two cows that lived underneath us in the stable, we nicknamed them Freedom.

In those days there was only access by foot along a windy track, but our peaceful sabbatical was often interupted by the sound of explosions in the distance. They were building a dam on the other side of the valley.

I learned how to cook on a wood fire and drank chai and make chapatis. The water in the nearby stream was freezing, so washing was a very quick affair. Towards the end of the stay we walked another half day further up the valley to bathe in the hot springs at Khirganga which was the place Shiva was supposed to have meditated for 3,000 years. It was bliss, I think I soaked in the hot hot water for what must have been an hour. The women's bathhouse was empty so I had the spring all to myself.

When we finally left the valley we walked back to the main town and rode on the roof of the bus through the winding roads and green forests back to civilisation. I remember feeling totally free, it was an amazing feeling and a wonderful month in the valley of the gods. I was 22.

12 comments:

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Oh my! What a fantastic experience! I would so love to do something like that, take some reading, writing, a sketchbook and get away from the world for a month.

Hila said...

Wow, now that's an experience! I would love to do something like that one day - just disappear from the world for a little while.
Glad you liked this week's theme :)

Anastasia said...

how gorgeous!!! i cant wait to visit India! one day...im sure I'll get there!

Lisa [strickerin] said...

What an amazing story. You must have learned so much about yourself on that trip.

Lonie Polony said...

Goodness, what an adventure!

blackie said...

I know that feeling. It's a good one to have in the memory bank. Fantastic photo and story.

Anonymous said...

and don't forget about how you found that textbook with Tassie's very own Boonie on the cover in a little Indian village right nearby - which from memory became your diary?

Lonie Polony said...

Boonie?! Cricket's never been the same since the moustachioed beer-bellies retired.

Little Snoring said...

Well like I said it was the valley of the gods!

Anonymous said...

Hey Edwina
Tonight, after 6 months of thinking of you regularly, I send this ping out to you. Hope you are all well and warm, and that we cross paths soon.
Ange xx

Carson said...

Looks like we just traded one holiday story for another :)
Ah...22..so long ago
I've been meaning to ask what part of Tassie are you in?

Kindling said...

Thankyou for a loverly story about India... of late I have heard many not nice ones... but now I am re-invigorated for our travel adventure soon. Cheers

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