Kamis, 20 Mei 2010

The Hot and the Cold

This is a tea garden in the Himalayas. They were just starting to pluck the leaves. These tea plants are not hibrids, but the original plants brought from China 200 years ago. A very fine quality of green tea is made from the leaves after fermenting and drying them. A hot cup of tea is very welcome in the cool climate.
Manikaran. Tou can see the steam rising out of the hot spring in Manikaran. Some people tie little cotton bags of handfuls of rice and float it in the hot spring to become cooked rice.
There are Hindu and Sikh temples in Manikaran, who both offer the traveller delicious hot food free! I had a tasty lunch in the Sikh temple.

The locals make an ice cream known as kulfi. To freeze the thickened milk, they don't use the refrigerator, but keep the vessel in the swift flowing , cold river Beas for a few hours. This man sold the kulfi served on leaf plates of the Palash tree. The Kulfi was delicious!


The Himalayan mountain goats were being led to the pastures on the higher ranges. They come down to the lower ranges just before winter. The softest wool in the world, cashmere , is made from their wool.




A Tibetan shop in Dharamsala selling woollen articles.
Many Tibetans, including their leader, the Dalai Lama stay in Dharamsala as refugees.
I just caught a glimpse of the great man as he was going to inaugurate the cricket matches.



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