Saturday, September 10, 2005

Colors of the Mountains - Part 2

I woke up to a bright and sunny Sunday morning. Previous night itself we had decided on the bathroom schedule, so there was no tussle in the morning. By 8:00 am we were off to Pike's Peak. As the name suggests, it is a mountain peak, and is at 14,110 feet above the sea level. They had cute little red trains to take you to the top. The train ride was nice and breezy, but I had started having a slight headache so couldn't enjoy as much. The slope was steep and at some points the gradient was 25%. Dunno if we are supposed to be excited about it, but the enthusiasm with which the guide announced it, I thought might as well mention it here. The ride could have been better if we had a guide with more clearer voice. We had an old man and his voice over the mike was so dull, we could hardly make out what he was saying. Have heard the ride is supposed to be pretty interesting and fun.

As we approached the peak, the view became more and more spectacular. When we started the train journey, there was greenery all around...but as we moved up the vegetation became sparse and suddenly, it was dry and rocky. The Tundra Region had started! The view from the top was breath taking, the mountains, the small lake below, the alpine trees, the clouds...all these on one hand, and dry, arid rocky background on the other. They offered a stark contrast which gave a stunning visual effect. We even managed to view some long horned mountain goats.

After Pike's Peak, we went to the Cliff Dwellings. This is the ancient dwellings of native Indians. Again a lovely view. It was interesting to go through their stuffs in the museum and learn how they used to live, build their houses etc. The fun part was the Indian dance. Two native Indians in their dresses performed some of their ancient native dances on their native beats. One guy did this amazing dance with five hoops. It was kind of a juggling cum dance with fast moves. We even clicked pictures with the dancers :-)

After that we moved on the town of Boulder. Its a small college town north of Denver. By the time we reached, it was early evening. After freshening up, we went to explore the downtown. Nice surprises awaited us. The downtown was a cute little place with the road paved with red bricks which gave it a nice village look. It was beautifully decorated with water fountains and flower gardens. Soon we noticed a crowd collected in the centre. On approaching the crowd, we saw a street performer. He was doing some balance act which was pretty cool. Once his show was done, another started. Now this was awesome. A couple performed the New Zealand's Maori fire dance. The acts they performed were gasp inducing and spell binding. There were a few other more street performances which were equally entertaining.

As we were strolling through the streets, we came across The Himalaya Restaurant. It was a Nepali restaurant!! My first! I was so excited. Actually Boulder has a very heavy Nepali and Buddhism influence. They even have a monastery, which unfortunately we didn't have time to explore. The town is dotted with shops with Buddhist theme. There was even a shop named Cat-Man-Do!

We went to have dinner in the restaurant. They had decorated with various pics and stuffs from Nepal. Even the girl serving us was wearing our traditional Chaubandi Cholo and Sari. Like I had expected their menu had mostly Indian food (well, that's what we eat normally) with a few Nepali dishes. My fav Momos were also listed. I excitedly ordered Chicken Momos with tamatar chutney. I also ordered Alu ko Achar. But when the food arrived, it was such a big dissappointment. They got Spinach Momo instead. I mean spinach momo? What the heck is that? I didn't like it one bit but few of my frens trying momos for the first time liked it. Even the Alu ko Achar was nothing like what we make at home. When I pointed out the mistake he got chicken momos too, but by then we had almost finished our dinner so that didnt taste as great either.
After the dinner, we strolled around the downtown a bit and then headed back to the hotel.

Coming up next...Rocky Mountain National Park and Marriage Proposal? In the mean while, do click below and check out the pics. Your comments would be highly appreciated!



The Train
Originally uploaded by Pukuli Colors.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Me First Again!! I am getting better at this...:))

Anonymous said...

That makes me want to take that looooong due holiday.....grt pics ....

Anks said...

Marriage proposal!!!!

who? where? when? how????

:)

btw, i've heard my cousins praise momos a lot, but have never tried them!!! we don't get'em out here!! :(

Anonymous said...

Bathroom Scheduling!! Nice...LOL

I saw the pictures of the train ride and it sure looks lots of fun to me (bad guide or not).

Yea, the pictures from the top really look breathtaking.

I love exploring small villages and towns, just coz you can meet so many lively characters. We have so many nice small towns here. Boulder reminds me of a small town me and brother camped at called "Golden".

I have heard about New Zealand Maori fire dance. Why do you always look for Cat-Man-Do everywhere...LOL. I love Momos though. You can get some really good ones in Delhi. Oh food wasn't that good!! Did you say it was Nepali...LOL...ok ok kidding. I once had a nepali achar and it was so spicy that litreally smoke came out of my ears. We have a very nice Nepali resturant here called "Mint". Food is really good there.

Marriage Proposal...*ahem ahem*. You have also developed this knack of leaving your travelouge on suspense...LOL.

Colors said...

Ricky!! Not again!! Do you always procratinate? :P

Hi Rusty, never seen you around here before. Welcome and thanks! Hope you go for the holiday soon!

Hey Anks, LOL...for that u'll have to wait for the 3rd part. Hehe..now i can take some of the same pleasure that u take making us wait for the next part of Progati :P

:P Hey Rakesh, first thought when I saw your comment was "Arrgh! Not again!!" :P Well, will do ur taggie soon!

Colors said...

There you are back again Ricky with ur longgg comments. Thats like a good boy ..er..i mean blogger! Yeah we do the bathroom scheduling thing everytime..else it would be a messy situation in the morn. Check out all the pics..they r cool..am sure u'll like em. U said it abt small towns..they r simply adorable! I will definitely look for Cat-Man-do everywhere...i miss em so much! Oh yes, Delhi in one place in india (other then NE) where u get good momos.
LOL..I have learned from u guys yaar..abt keeping the suspense and all. Thought I will try it here ;-)

Anonymous said...

aahhemm! V making the RIGHT move ;) :P
com'onnnnn forget the travelogue gives us more details on this !!!

Moonie

Colors said...

LOL Moonie..c'monnnn u gotto have some patience! I aint forgetting the travelogue..but dont worry everything will be disclosed as time comes ;-)

Anonymous said...

wow... atravelogue... and tat too in two parts... hmmm i will come back again n read frm the beginning in peace...

i saw d pics though.. they wudnt let me comment cos i dont have an account.. :(

the pics reminded me of my trip to shimla... oh how I long a vacation!! :(

Nupur said...

Beauuuuuutiful pics!! :D
And yummm... I love Momos. thats one thing I always tell my Nepalese girlfriends to make in advance when I'm at their place to visit!

And a proposal.. *wink wink* Colooooors??! What is dis all about??

Anonymous said...

I love momos....yummm..i visited Denver and Boulder in the year 2000....it was a bit late in the season tho', so not much to see or do, but it was still beautiful....waiting for part 3...-RS

Anonymous said...

waiting for the 'marriage proposal?" part too- :) RS...(why the question mark??)

Colors said...

Hey Sadik there will be part 3 too. Do read and lemme know. As for the pics, u can login using ur yahoo id. I am sure u have one. Try it out! Hope u have a great vac soon :-)

Hi Nupur,Thanks! But no comments on the pics? Oh yes, momos are awesome. Havent met anyone who had momos and said they didnt like it! Hehe...wait a while and u'll know soon enough!

Hey RS, wow u too hv had momos! Great! U know i would love to go back during winter and travel around on ski-mobiles...wudnt that be awesome?! Aha! so u did notice the question mark! Next part will be up soon and u will find out urself :-)

Anonymous said...

Read both the parts...seen the pics on flickr... great stuff...enjoyed thoroughly...now waiting for the next part :-)

Anonymous said...

how long is the wait??? *drumming ma fingers* ;) :P
Moonie