Good bye to Himachal Pradesh

OK, I know that it is much easier to do things right away before they build up to be big projects. For example is it much better to wash your dishes right after you have eaten instead of leaving it in the kitchen for a week and then spend two hours washing. And it is better to study everyday instead of reading the whole curriculum in two weeks day and night before an exam. And it is better to blog every week than to postpone it, but I think I am not the only one who have discovered that doing things right away just does not always happen:-)

I have figured out how to show the text to the pictures in the slideshow, but the text do not show properly when the internet is slow so I removed it again. Therefore you still have to go to Picasa to see it.

And I am sorry for spelling mistakes. I do not have spelling- and grammar check on my computer. I am using the Dictionary, but sometimes I publish a bit to fast.


Chandigarh Rock Garden

I have to begin with our last weekend in Nort-India. Oh, it feels so long ago. It is strange how the feeling of time changes with a new environment. We, the usual Norwegian gang and Safia from England, went to Chandigarh, a city just across the state border from Himachal. It is on the border between Punjab and Haryana and functions as a capital of both states. This city is famous for its modernist urban plan and architecture and is supposed to be the cleanest city in India. Its plan was made by the swiss architect Le Corbusier, or there was several architects involved, but Le Corbusier gets the hounour in the short version of the history.

We took public bus (which we are getting more and more fund of) from Palampur, 9 hours in the night, and then spent one night at hotel there. In total we spent 18 hours on the bus and 32 hours i Chandigarh. I had struggled with a cold for some time wich came back every time my immune system was not on top and this weekend I felt a bit nocked out. We saw the city by hiering a taxi for 5 hours and driving around to the sights. My favorite was definitely the rock garden made by Nek Chand; a sculpture garden made entirely from industrial and home waist and spread over an area of 160,000 sq m.





Last-day-party with the girls from English class

The community visit gave new life to our English class and all the girls began to come again. I think we all felt that we got a better understanding of each other after the visit. The last day we had a party with all the girls, sa usual some brothers also showed up and a mother and a grandmother too. We had alot of fun and alot of food. At the community visit we had booked time to get our legs waxed by one of the mothers who do this as a profession (I do not know what that is called, not even in Norwegian, beauty-something?). So we went to their home after the party to get our legs waxed and we ended up having dinner there and get dressed up as brides.





Walking around in Palampur with my camera

Palampur is as most other towns; it has two main shopping streets and as a foreigner you get stucked in this main streets. The last day I figured out that I should bring my camera and have a look at what was behind the shops. And how I wish I was a professional photograf, or at least knew more than I do. It is just to begin to practise. There was so many nice motifs. The alleys are a mix of new and old, asphalt and gardens, rich and poor houses and details, people and animals and suddenly someone asks you to take a picture of their doughter. Of course you are happy to take the picture, but you can not print pictures for everyone who ask. But then I thought; why not, I have time if I do it right away. So I went to a photo shop and gave them the photo files, but the shop keeper could not print it before the next day and I would leave for Dehli the same night. Ah, bad luck, so I left the shop. But then I thought that the girl could collect the pictures her self. So I asked him to print the pictures anyway, paid the 20 rupies (2,8 NOK) and got his business card. When I went back to the girl and her family to give her the business card they invited me in for chapati and pickles. This could not happen in the main street. Now I just hope that she got the pictures because during the whole time we could not understand a word of what the other said in their language.




This time it was our time to be on The List; the departure list.

And to say good bye to Bundla camp and spend 40 hours on train to get to next stop: Goa!
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