September 15, 2021 | Leave a comment Photo journey from Dharamshala to Parvati Valley and back. [su_spacer size=”30″] Parvati Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. [su_spacer size=”30″] A scroll-licious, delayed post due to website changes and meditations. After all, a photo is worth lots of words. [su_spacer size=”30″] Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India. [su_spacer size=”30″] Both locales are part of the northerly Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Photos from July and August, 2021. [su_spacer size=”30″] Dharamshala… [su_spacer size=”30″] Returning to bloody droplets and paw prints outside my door. [su_spacer size=”40″] The sun shines after 20 hours of torrential rains in a cloudburst that hit the news. [su_spacer size=”40″] Nearby villages that were completely washed away and a couple dozen deaths in the area were not mentioned in the media, apparently because they were not famous tourist destinations. [su_spacer size=”40″] The sun is gone within hours and wet socks, bulldozers, and more rain can only be answered with patience. And tea. [su_spacer size=”30″] Vivian’s vegan laboratory. [su_spacer size=”30″] July saw many a coconut-cream extraction. [su_spacer size=”40″] One more Wednesday market. [su_spacer size=”30″] Chubby fingers grip a Latte Bliss Ball. [su_spacer size=”30″] Artistic release before departing Dharamshala. Samples of basil cashew cream cheese (it’s raw! it’s vegan!) prove to be a hell of a crowd pleaser. Thank you Anastasia for the feather earring <3 [su_spacer size=”30″] …Parvati Valley… [su_spacer size=”30″] Ain’t nothing like a 7am mutton thukpa from a jank, beloved dhaba to welcome me back to the valley. [su_spacer size=”40″] Except perhaps the 6am high-altitude bus crawl ft. blaring Punjabi remixes. [su_spacer size=”30″] Far away from consumerism, with nothing to shop for except breaths of Himalayan air. [su_spacer size=”30″] Village architecture. [su_spacer size=”45″] Beautiful babajis and cold kulfis. [su_spacer size=”40″] A North Indian (70¢) breakfast love story. [su_spacer size=”30″] Daily monsoon walks to breakky in town. [su_spacer size=”40″] True to its fame, Parvati signs gobbled by literal weeds. [su_spacer size=”40″] …and back [su_spacer size=”30″] Shotgun + loaded with junk food and the ability to read bus signs. [su_spacer size=”40″] What 3.5 years looks like. [su_spacer size=”40″] Bus stand snack stall: “And what do you call those long ones?” “Hot dogs.” [su_spacer size=”40″] It really sucks when a bus ride triples in time because of landslide damage and you spend the hottest hours of the day stuck inside a stuffy vehicle too scared to go out to pee in case the traffic starts again so you’re late and the sun sets and the bus stand staff told you to get on a bus and you do and ask two girls if it’s going to Dharamshala and they say yes and you finally breathe and then the ticket master says it’s not going to Dharamshala and you hitchhike back to the bus stand and miss the sunset and you get on a bus and it’s not even a direct for Dharamshala even though you woke at sunrise and already changed buses four times and a random bully is bullying you in Hindi about your backpack on the seat when you’re just trying to calm down for a momentUntil you shut him up with KAUN HAI Even though it should be kaun hain or kaun ho He got the message But hey you chose this and you passed three vehicles flattened by rocks today plus one flipped into a stream so you have everything to be grateful and nothing to be sorry for —Me, Notes app, Day 1271 [su_spacer size=”30″] Day 1272- Reunited with V, the love and light of my Dharamshala days. [su_spacer size=”40″] Days 1272-1283 [su_spacer size=”30″] Shortly after my arrival in Parvati Valley, I was notified that I had a rare spot in the next Vipassana course at the highly sought-after Dharamshala center. Hence the 15 hours, six rickety buses, and one taxi of backtrack. [su_spacer size=”30″] When the wild monkeys roaming outside watch you inside your cage. [su_spacer size=”40″] Explore my full archive of India and Monthly Moods. Another photo journey: a younger Vivian gorging on Vietnamese street food. Learn more about this round-the-world solo trip. [su_spacer size=”30″]