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08/08/2012

Summer serie "pics of India on the spur of the moment" - The Sikh

I have spoken at length about Sikhs and their hair and their turbans (always with respect I hope). As far as I am concerned, if they want to wear a turban when it is 45 degrees outside, it's their problem!!

But I have to say, at times they make me laugh. For instance this guy, with his beard net, really looks like he just comes from the dentist!

Sikh.jpg

08/06/2012

Spiti calling!

After six months of getting used to Delhi, the itch has started again and here I am, organizing the next trip...

This time I will go to... the Spiti Valley! Never heard about it? Normal! Not easy to organize a trip in India out of the touristic places. My father had found this lost paradise in the mountains, God knows how. A Valley apparently spared by the rain during monsoon (I insist on the “apparently” since D-5 before departure it is flooded and there are landslides (see here)) and easier to go to than Ladakh.

 

Not easy to organize a trip in Spiti valley. First it is not easy to access (you can enter it from Shimla or Manali). Only Shimla has an airport – but there is only one flight per day, and more importantly it is a Kingfisher flight and they are going bankrupt big time and there is always a good chance your flight is cancelled... And no train. So are left with a 8 hour car journey or a night bus! We will do both ;)

 

Then how to balance trek and car? How to choose between Spiti Spiti or Lahaul Spiti or Spiti Pine Valley or or... I made at least ten possible itineraries!

 

For more details come back at the end of August!

08/04/2012

I sweat, you sweat, he sweats, we sweat etc.

Conversation with a faithful (French) reader somewhat hygiene-maniac ;)

 

Me: It's cool, the rain has arrived in Delhi, temperatures have dropped, we lost 15 degrees...

 

Him: Regarding temperatures I found online that it is still 32°C in Delhi! So a drop of 15°C would mean that it was 47°C... You wouldn’t be from the South of France by any chance?!*

 

Me: Nope but I’m not joking it goes up to 47 degrees in the summer!

(Thinking about it he must not read my blog so faithfully after all!)

 

He: Ok! With this temperature (48°C) you liquefy don’t you? And I guess there is a local ULTRA powerful deodorant... or a dedicated research lab?

 

Me: (Indian) grandma recipe: talc powder!

 

Him: Just a question about the talc... They put it everywhere??

 

Me: And you? You put deo everywhere??

 

Him: Yeah... ok! You are quibblingl! But I find it "strange" to put talc powder under the armpits! So it's cool in the morning…Talc on the feet! Under the arms! We never know, maybe on the buttocks! Moisture can cause erythema... Can you buy it in bulks?

 

Joke aside, most Indians use talc as a deodorant (it absorbs odours) and it is more eco-friendly.

Even if marketing people in L’Oreal who keep fighting white traces may find it horrible…. In the morning, in the metro, most women have large white traces around the neck... And I saw once a man with the back full of hair and talc. Yuck...

 

* People from the South of France have a reputation of exaggerating everything…