Himachal Pradesh is a state from the north of India, already in the Himalayas. We chose to spend our winter here, in the region of Dharamsala and Mc Leod Ganj (the place of the Tibetan government in Exile, where the Dalai Lama has is living since the chinese occupation). The area is on the foothills of the Himalayas: the plains are about 1000m high and the view on the Dhauladhar mountain range with tops reaching 5000m is amazing! We moved essentially between two places: - Dharamkot, by the Urban family. Dharamkot is a hill above Mc Leod Ganj and their home is "in the forest" at more than […]

On our arrival in Nepal after a 4h trip in a deep gorge coming down from the Tibetan plateau, we could nor believe our eyes: within 30 km (we came down from 4000m to less than 2000m), the landscape turned from a rocky mountain to a green lush vegetation covering every square cm of soil whatever how steep the slope. The first impression was quite peaceful. We got the feeling of being normal persons on the streets of Barabise, (our first station before Kathmandu), not harassed every minute by a "HelloChocolate" or so, and had nice chats with people around the guest house. What for a nice […]

We left Mongolia on the 5th of September and arrived in Beijing on the 6th. Beijing: This city is preparing for the Olympics 2008, and the infrastructure is being developed at an incredible tempo. Old areas with street shops are destroyed and replaced by modern high rises and large avenues. The distances between 2 points are enormous… you may walk a lot. Nevertheless, Beijing is the best spot for riding bicycle: whatever how large or narrow the streets are, each of them has a bicycle lane and it feels quite safe going around this way. The great wall: probably the most popular attraction […]

We discovered Mongolia ( from the 26.07.2007 on) mainly through our 2 canoe trips on the "Orkhon" and "Egin" Rivers: Ernst a german married to Bolor and living in mongolia organises great river tours. As he knew that I am a kayakist, he proposed us the great tour in the Orkhon canyon which is a piece of adventure. 6 days on the water with some rapids that have to be carried on foot. All food has to be taken along in the boats, as during the half of the trip you don’t meet anybody and you are absolutely in the nature. We could nevertheless enjoy mongolian hospitality around a cup of tea in […]