September 15, 2021 | Leave a comment Photo journey from Dharamshala to Parvati Valley and back. Parvati Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. A scroll-licious, delayed post due to website changes and meditations. After all, a photo is worth lots of words. Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India. Both locales are part of the northerly Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Photos from July and August, 2021. Dharamshala… Returning to bloody droplets and paw prints outside my door. The sun shines after 20 hours of torrential rains in a cloudburst that hit the news. 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. The sun is gone within hours and wet socks, bulldozers, and more rain can only be answered with patience. And tea. Vivian’s vegan laboratory. July saw many a coconut-cream extraction. One more Wednesday market. Chubby fingers grip a Latte Bliss Ball. 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 …Parvati Valley… Ain’t nothing like a 7am mutton thukpa from a jank, beloved dhaba to welcome me back to the valley. Except perhaps the 6am high-altitude bus crawl ft. blaring Punjabi remixes. Far away from consumerism, with nothing to shop for except breaths of Himalayan air. Village architecture. Beautiful babajis and cold kulfis. A North Indian (70¢) breakfast love story. Daily monsoon walks to breakky in town. True to its fame, Parvati signs gobbled by literal weeds. …and back Shotgun + loaded with junk food and the ability to read bus signs. What 3.5 years looks like. Bus stand snack stall: “And what do you call those long ones?” “Hot dogs.” 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 Day 1272- Reunited with V, the love and light of my Dharamshala days. Days 1272-1283 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. When the wild monkeys roaming outside watch you inside your cage. 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.