What? Back to back travel emails? You bet Team! Here we go!
So in Chandigarh India there is a magical place called the Nek Chand Rock Garden.
It's one of those wonderful places that is someone's imagination made real.
It started as a secret in the 50's by Nek Chand, as he used recycled materials, old building blocks, road pieces, broken china and other things to construct a fanciful playground in a city of order and balance. See, Chandigarh, unlike most places in India, is a planned city. It's a series of Sectors (Sector 15, Sector 22,) each with a purpose, a design and sub sectors A, B, C, D. They are divided by a perfect grid of roads and roundabouts. That all look the same. But actually have TREES and GRASS on them. Which is pretty novel after Delhi which is solid buildings.
So Nek Chand build this secret garden just off of Sector 1 (the Government buildings!). It was never intended to be seen or to be a tourist attraction. But one day it was found... and after a bit of a battle, he was allowed to continue and in fact was supported. And what has resulted is fabulous...
For 20 Rupees. Yes. Only 20. That's 33 Cents. You get to duck under this rock wall and explore a twisting turning, near maze like land of canyons, squares, hidden temples, waterfalls, passageways, more tunnels, more towers, more passageways... the thing just keeps going and going and going. It's full of rock and tile characters that are people, or horses or monkeys. I mean HUNDREDS of them. All is great detail. Ranging in height from a foot to ten feet. There's a temple with a 15 foot waterfall in front. And under another tunnel and over another bridge there is a paradise with 40 foot tall walls, a giant waterfall, pools and more. And then it just keeps going...
There's a courtyard with a mosaic bandstand that could seat 300 people. Giant swings lined out that you can swing the day away. (As I did!). There's "laughing mirrors" and even a camel ride.
To be fair, the final section with the swings and camel's seems to have lost the vision a bit. It's too big, and too practical. Though still fun. But the main parts with the little characters and them tomb raider temples is really really really fun. It reminded me of City Museum in St. Louis. It's really the only other place I've seen like it. And interestingly, both use recycled materials in new, playful ways.
On the way to eat I stopped in the middle of the road along with many others to watch two Steers locking horns outside an apartment complex. They were battling with people all around them. Ravi said "Oh! Bull fight!" and we got out of the car. At first I thought it was something organized and thought "That seems odd in India" (Haha, like ANYTHING should seem odd in India!!!). But it was even stranger... just two animals fighting for territory. They ran off between two apartment buildings.
And then we ate some AMAZING Punjabi (That's Northern Indian) food. SOOOOOOOOO good. At an outside cafe.
Not a bad day at all here in "CITY BEAUTIFUL" as it says on the sign.
So in Chandigarh India there is a magical place called the Nek Chand Rock Garden.
It's one of those wonderful places that is someone's imagination made real.
It started as a secret in the 50's by Nek Chand, as he used recycled materials, old building blocks, road pieces, broken china and other things to construct a fanciful playground in a city of order and balance. See, Chandigarh, unlike most places in India, is a planned city. It's a series of Sectors (Sector 15, Sector 22,) each with a purpose, a design and sub sectors A, B, C, D. They are divided by a perfect grid of roads and roundabouts. That all look the same. But actually have TREES and GRASS on them. Which is pretty novel after Delhi which is solid buildings.
So Nek Chand build this secret garden just off of Sector 1 (the Government buildings!). It was never intended to be seen or to be a tourist attraction. But one day it was found... and after a bit of a battle, he was allowed to continue and in fact was supported. And what has resulted is fabulous...
For 20 Rupees. Yes. Only 20. That's 33 Cents. You get to duck under this rock wall and explore a twisting turning, near maze like land of canyons, squares, hidden temples, waterfalls, passageways, more tunnels, more towers, more passageways... the thing just keeps going and going and going. It's full of rock and tile characters that are people, or horses or monkeys. I mean HUNDREDS of them. All is great detail. Ranging in height from a foot to ten feet. There's a temple with a 15 foot waterfall in front. And under another tunnel and over another bridge there is a paradise with 40 foot tall walls, a giant waterfall, pools and more. And then it just keeps going...
There's a courtyard with a mosaic bandstand that could seat 300 people. Giant swings lined out that you can swing the day away. (As I did!). There's "laughing mirrors" and even a camel ride.
To be fair, the final section with the swings and camel's seems to have lost the vision a bit. It's too big, and too practical. Though still fun. But the main parts with the little characters and them tomb raider temples is really really really fun. It reminded me of City Museum in St. Louis. It's really the only other place I've seen like it. And interestingly, both use recycled materials in new, playful ways.
On the way to eat I stopped in the middle of the road along with many others to watch two Steers locking horns outside an apartment complex. They were battling with people all around them. Ravi said "Oh! Bull fight!" and we got out of the car. At first I thought it was something organized and thought "That seems odd in India" (Haha, like ANYTHING should seem odd in India!!!). But it was even stranger... just two animals fighting for territory. They ran off between two apartment buildings.
And then we ate some AMAZING Punjabi (That's Northern Indian) food. SOOOOOOOOO good. At an outside cafe.
Not a bad day at all here in "CITY BEAUTIFUL" as it says on the sign.
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