DAY 379

The weather was beautiful but I did get the sense that everyone is just starting to recover and emerge from what has been a very tough winter... meanwhile in Delhi we're about to begin our own worst part of the year weather-wise ... for different reasons, obviously.

DAY 378

Frome's latest pub features these two in the courtyard... kind of assumed they aren't real but meant to check. That would be very weird if they were real.

DAY 377

I had a great weekend in Frome ... so nice to be back on the streeeeet!

DAY 376

 

I'm skipping forward a few days. This is at Delhi airport - an exhibition of photos by a photographer called Rohit Chawla, of the tribal Rabari community in Gujarat. I love these photos and the clothes and jewellery that the subjects are wearing. So beautiful. More of this series and his other work here.

DAY 371

I've got some serious catching up to do. This is back in Delhi - it just occurred to me how it's completely normal in India to see packets of crisps and other snacks for sale with the packets still stuck together, but in the UK you hardly ever see this. They're sold separately, in boxes, even though like this they take up less space are easier to display. Hmm.

DAY 370

This is one of the temples in the temple complex in Jageshwar that we walked to. It's the site of one of the 12 jyotilingas and is a place of pilgrimage for Shiva devotees. Louie is pointing out some of the detail on the carving for Oslo's benefit ...

DAY 369

The fourth and final day of our walk was through a deodar forest towards a village called Jageshwar - famous for a group of 7th century temples. All together we walked about 25 miles, which doesn't sound like much but when you're climbing up and down mountain ridges it feels like a lot more. And the best part was: the kids didn't complain once and walked the whole way (demonstrating the power of the promise of a Nutella pancake once we returned to Kasar Devi).

DAY 368

On the third day we climbed up out of the valley to the top of a ridge and had amazing views of the Uttarakhand mountains. The peak on the left is Nanda Devi - the highest one in this range. The rhododendrons are in full bloom this time of year, as you can see. As we were standing here admiring the view, a huge eagle flew past so close that we could hear its wings and see its beady little eye. It was, as the kids described it, totally awesome.

DAY 367

It's impossible to show you how beautiful our walk was. Every day was different. The first day, we walked down into the valley, past village houses and small temples. The second day we walked across the valley and fields, along high up irrigation channels and across the river, followed by a steep climb up to the village where we stayed the night in another traditional house.

DAY 366

We started a four day walk into the valleys and hills (mountains?) today. This was our first stop for the night in a village called Deora about 12 kilometres of beautiful walking, down into the valley from Kasar Devi.

DAY 365 - ONE YEAR IN INDIA!

One year in India today! And it's Holi, the festival of Spring ... Louie and Oslo played with water guns filled with coloured water, we visited some houses on the hillside where people were singing and playing music and laughed as the guys running our guesthouse threw water all over each other. Remember this photo way back on Day 10? 

DAY 364

This is the view from the other side of the ridge that the village sits on. 

DAY 363

Today we did an 11 hour journey to reach Kasar Devi - a village just up the hill from the town of Almora in the state of Uttarakhand (northeast of Delhi). This is the famous temple where Swami Vivekananda meditated.
This is my third visit to Kasar Devi, Ed's second and the kids' first. It's on a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley which only gets more beautiful as you walk down into it...

DAY 362

Matchbox #2. In Hindi at the top in white it says 'coolie', which is the name for a porter at a train station (hence the picture).

DAY 361

This is my lovely new jewellery box from Jaipur on my lovely new dressing table. Still haven't got a mirror though.

DAY 360

Every now and then I treat myself to a samosa on the way home and eat it in the taxi. Mmmmmm.

DAY 359

Check out the crazy Punjabi hub caps!

DAY 358

I was in Punjab this week doing a recce to have a look at what technology is available in schools. This is a fairly typical computer room in a secondary school. 

DAY 357

I'm starting a new mini series of Indian matchboxes. Isn't this one great? The best bit is that the Hindi on the top right says 'Jeep'.

DAY 356

Lunch in the park just outside our house. Notice Louie's new hat - Pepe found them in Delhi, fulfilling their Indiana Jones dreams.

DAY 355

Another photo from Jaipur - we had our photos taken by this man with his ancient camera. The photos were rubbish but it was fun.

DAY 354

This is at the Amber Fort again. The woman in the middle is carrying strings of jasmine.

DAY 353

Another one from our trip to Jaipur. Notice the teeth.

DAY 352

Back in Delhi, Ed and Pepe did a bike tour of the old city. This isn't a great photo, until you notice the kids on the right. I love that little boy's face.

DAY 351

We were only in Jaipur for the weekend but I've got a few more nice photos so will post some more from there this week... breaking the rules, but hey. Here are the boys dude-ing it up.

DAY 350

The obligatory elephant ride up to Amber Fort, just outside Jaipur. The boys loved it. Not sure that the elephants do.

DAY 349

We visited the Anokhi Museum of Handblock Printing. The boys made bandanas, I made a scarf and Pepe, Ed's mum, made a T-shirt. Ed supervised.