Kangra

After visiting the rock temple and having lunch it was off to Kangra. Kangra is the "big town" in the area meaning that it was still pretty small but clearly the main city. We first went up, and up, and up, to Kangra fort. The fort was built on the top of a hillside and had the most amazing views. It was, however, rather hot that day (although still cooler than Delhi...when is summer going to end?) so while we were less than thrilled by all of the steps we were well rewarded for the walking. The fort itself was pretty basic, but there were a few little spots of amazing carvings; that is a pre-sweat covered me below with some of them. Interestingly when we got to the main courtyard of the fort we saw people living in the fort. From what we could figure - without intruding too much into their space - the people that work on the fort, cutting the grass and general maintenance and such - live in the fort. They have very little and would, in the US, be considered squatters I suppose, but here people just live where they can find space and it kind of works.

After exploring the fort...and then buying a bunch of drinks and re-hydrating we went to another temple which the guide book said to visit. The temple was rather a disappointment, it was swarming with people so we got in and out really quickly, but, the walk up to the temple was really fun. You walked through a market that was full of people selling things for people to offer at the temple, as well as other 'normal' things to buy. There were a few men selling different types of grain including flat rice, which is just what it sound like, rice flattened out; you could buy flowers; and, as seen below, bangles galore. We spent all of 2 minutes in the temple but almost an hour walking through the market taking it all in.

Quite a varied and fun day.