Stepping off the edge

We left Shimla for a long drive on a narrow, windy road that hugged the mountain edge. I was shocked to see people walking – older people out for a stroll and parents walking their children to school – when there was no sidewalk or shoulder. Safety is different here!

We arrived in Mandi, further north in the Himalaya Mountains, in early afternoon. I rested for awhile, recovering from a touch of car sickness.

We went for a walk around the town of 1 million and stopped at some of the 300 Hindu temples, yes you read that right, 300 temples.

Most of the temples are painted in bright colours with various images of gods an goddesses on them.

No one knows when the Trilokinath Temple was built but it was renovated due to a flood in the mid 17th century. The red flag means the temple is open..

The relief on the outside is well preserved. It reminded us of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Inside was a unique version of Shiva. They usually have extra arms but in this case they have 5 heads.

Inside this temple was a life size bull. Other temples also had bulls on the outside.

This is a crematorium. Bodies are placed on the pyre and the ashes are collected below. When we left Mandi we could see smoke from a cremation from across the river.

We finished off our walk in the street market. We purchased some fruit and a knife to cut it.

The evening ended with a traditional Indian 9 course meal in the courtyard of our hotel, sitting under the stars. Sadly we forgot to take a photo!