Little Israel??
The next morning we say thanks and goodbyes to Mr Bhalla the owner and Hira, the manager, a really helpful guy, and we set off towards the Parvati Valley about 15km South. Having been here before I am in search of the Paradise Cafe, a small roadside tea shack, and it’s proprietor Vijay, with whom we spent many good hours seven years ago. Sadly the Paradise Cafe is no more but the remnants with the name in simple paint are recognizable in the overgrown shrubs on the road side. What a pity. Kasol is a small town deep in the gorge which is a well known hippie chill-out spot with a permanent Israeli population, hence known to some as “Little Israel”. Convinced I will meet some of their renowned intelligence service and find out what major world-changing events are about to happen, we head for Kasol and look for a place to stay!
We stay in Kasol 2 nights. It’s small and beautiful with many little restaurants and cafes, some with great food and coffee/teas, and each pumping out sixties music or psychedelic trance. Yet move a few metres away from any establishment and surprisingly the sound doesn’t carry because of the thunderous rush of the river.
We spend a day sitting at a restaurant from breakfast to dinner time, working on updates for the website while rain pours down around us for most of the afternoon and evening. It’s an unusual feeling, but nice to be able to sit in a comfi place for hours without any need to go somewhere or do something.
We don’t meet anybody here really. The Israelis seem to be a pretty closed community here, spending their time together and talking in their own language; aside from a few sentences we exchange with one or two guys in some little chill-out place. I have loads of questions running through my mind I would love to ask them though. For example:
– Why do you all have dreadlocks? Isn’t that an Afro-Caribbean thing?
– Are you Jewish? I’ve heard on television that Jews have a thing about cleanliness and thus wonder how you cope in India? (Similarly the Kosher food thing…)
😉
In the night we return to our room (lovely clean place in a new hotel called Purnima (yes again), near the start of the village coming in) and lay down for a good night’s sleep. As it’s been raining all day and still is, the river which is only a stone throw away from us, is raging and the roar is unbelievably loud. Every now and again there is a deep thud like a distant explosion, which I am sure is caused by large rocks being hurled into each other by the rapids. Smashing!
On our last morning we go for a nice breakfast at the place we were the night before before setting off, and get into a lovely conversation with two very friendly people about our age. They are also Israelis, but without the pitch tattoos, the sunglasses and the dreadlocks. They’re up here recovering from a few weeks in Rajastan where they spent a tough time filming a series for television back home. We talk about traveling in India and the Israeli community here, whom these two themselves are trying to avoid because they’ve earned them a bad name around here. Apparently many of them have gone off the rails following their army conscription back home.
Disappointingly we have a long ride ahead of us and cannot stay and get to know these people better – they seem very nice people. But we pass on our website details and who knows, perhaps we will be in touch and be able to catch up in the future.
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF KASOL
15 Comments
kaizer
Hi adventurer´s, amazing stuff, keep it coming.
Happy birthday son, lots of love and all the best and safe travel from all of us to both of you
love mom & dad
ken
Hello Kaizer, will try to do the updates more regularly; due to Internet connectivity and travel we had to do them in a big batch this time. Still need to update the google-map as well. Thanks for the Birthday wishes!
kaizer
i notice that both of you are getting very lazy
ciao
dad
ken
Been busy learning Chinese, sorry for the radio silence. Update coming soon.
😉
Jutta Dehlinger
Hallo Ihr 2, verfolge Eure Reise auch und bin begeistert. Wünsche Euch 2 ganz viel Glück und tolle Erlebnisse und Dir lieber Ken nachträglich noch alles Gute zum Geburtstag. Bleibt gesund und ein dickes Busserl an Ebru und Dich, Jutta
sQuirt
hey guys! v impressive site, looking lovely. there is one quote that makes me laugh and reminds me of my trip, ironic as it sounds:”but nice to be able to sit in a comfi place for hours without any need to go somewhere or do something”.
haha!
enjoy and keep us updated!
happy birthday bro, take it easy!
lots of love!
ken
He he.. you know what I mean boet! There wasn’t much of that in India the last 2 weeks but I’m going to make it a priority going forward.
Aunty Margot
Auch ich verfolge euch Tag für Tag.Wünsche dir lieber Ken alles gute zum heutigen Geburtstag und weiterhin gute Reise.
ken
Hallo Leute! Bedanke mich bei allen fuer die Geburtstagswuensche. Verbrachte den Tag am Motorrad, von Una nach Delhi. Eine Stunde unter einem kleinen Zelt mit 10 Indern, weil es so stark regnete. Wir kamen aber heil in Delhi an. Sind seit gestern Abend in Shanghai (unglaubliche Stadt!) und ueberlege es mir ernst, ob ich hier ein wenig nach feiere. 🙂
Liebe Gruesse xxx
Greg
greets from R2G2
cool trip Ken and very cool bike you got there
keep on posting watching carefully
cheers
ken
Hey R2G2, good to hear from you. Yeah hope you like the pictures and updates. Been difficult to get the updates uploaded in northern India due to traveling and Internet availability but in Shanghai now and planning to upload loads of photos and some updates shortly.
Greets to all!
ken
PS: About those brass pots in the picture above.. these guys were carrying them down the road next to the post office (house in the background) where we were posting some letters – I think for some upcoming festival. The guy told me that one of these holds 100kg of rice!!!
AndyG
pictures look amazing….not that I am jealous or anything.
ken
hehe – maybe you will be when we upload the full albums on flickr 😉
Kumarakom Houseboats
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