Saturday 19 September 2009

Rewalsar Lake, Himachal Pradesh, India

I had gone to two lake sites in winters, Prashar and Rewalsar, both in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh in India. Prashar was snow bound as it is located at a higher altitude but Rewalsar is comparatively only at 1360 m above the sea level. Rewalsar is a very small town located about 24 km from the Mandi town.

View of Rewalsar Lake from High Up

The town is considered sacred by Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus alike.

The Statue of Bodhisatva at Rewalsar

The first view of the town is the huge statue of Bodhisatva (it was still partly under construction when I had gone there). Rewalsar has three Buddhist monasteries and has several Buddhist scholars and students studying here. Besides these there is one Sikh Gurudwara as well as three Hindu temples as well.

One of the three Buddhist Monasteries at Rewalsar

If one is fond of Tibetan food then there is no dearth of restaurants offering the same at Rewalsar at very reasonable prices.

Another View of the Rewalsar Lake

The Rewalsar Lake amidst flowers & flags

I had stayed in the Himachal Tourism Rest House though there are other options also available for staying here.

Fish in the Rewalsar Lake

Since the Buddhist consider the place and the lake sacred they take the circle of the lake chanting slogans and also feed the fish in the lake.

Saturday 5 September 2009

Sunset on Waterbody, Himachal, India

The two images are of the same river but with contrasting results. Both are around sunset time. In the first one it seems as if the river (and the sky) is on fire whereas the second one gives the impression as if it is a frozen river

Sunset on river

See the small boat in the picture above. Of course the view was even more magnificent to the naked eye.

The sunset view of the river as if frozen

Both the pictures were taken in 2008 on the way to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. I had gone to Mcleodganj via Una. The river is somewhere between Una and Dharamshala.