Rhododendron Festival
It was cold (and I mean cold) and very rainy and I was at the apex of being sick with this crummy cold. And, even though i had three layers of clothes I was under dressed. Not an auspicious day.
Well, we drove to the festival through forests with red rhodos interspersed with other flowering trees including some huge magnolia trees and some occasional white and pink species of rhodos. Sadly I was so sick I almost didnt care.
Driving to the Rhodo Festival on a dirt road, swerving to avoid trucks laden with goods arriving from India we arrived at a mountain pass (Dochul La) that has 108 chortens or what we know as stupas. The Queen from the 4th King (he retired and his son is now king) wanted these built for the souls of the men who lost their lives in the separatist uprising that happened in 2003. A hillside devoted to warding off evil...pretty impressive. Plus we were told that on a clear day one can see a panorama of the Himalayas...hmmmm....we saw clouds and rain.
Finally as we arrive at the festival it starts to rain harder. As miserable as I was I felt so badly for the organizers because the weather was so horrible. Officials, including the Prime Minister, dancers, children from various schools all had planned these amazing performances only to be rained out. Plus, most of the 29 species of rhododendren I came to see werent even in bloom! What a day.
I have no idea what these dancers were representing but they sure were interesting to watch
These boys were from a local secondary school
These women had barefeet and the photo doesnt show the amazing amount of mud in the field
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