Beas Residency Manali

arriving in manali we found, yet again, that our hotel was substandard. not wanting to settle this tim we said we wanted to see another hotel. we were brought to a hotel, slightly away from the centre of town which was slightly better. although it was pretty large we seemed to be the only ones staying there and were shown to the honeymoon suite! cue instant sweats!!

we wandered down to the town and found it to be again much more ...

... the gorgeous view for an hour and a half at the take-off point, the guides decided to call off the flight and trek back down to the jeep. The winds weren't blowing in the right direction for take off...hey, at least they are safe...and we'd rather not be smashed into the side of the Himalayas, at least not with 3 weeks left in India! :) The jeep ride down wad not as bad...pfew! Then we took a bus that night to Dharamsala...

... Next I went to Vashisht, a town just on the other side of the river and up the mountain a bit. There are a couple temples here as well, one with public baths where I had the pleasure to witness a 70 year old Indian woman completely naked bathing. Sorry guys...no pics allowed inside the baths. I then took a walk inside Manali's nature preserve. It's not ...

... and I'm not sure how much I'd really get out of it. Obviously it would be a great experience, but there are also many great teachers in the US. Richard Freeman is right in Boulder, so if I just want to improve my practice, I can always study with him. I'm wondering how much of it is ego- to be able to say that I've studied with so-and-so. And, until then, I'm not really sure what to do. I have no desire in ...

... your plate of food, take your dirty clothes out to be washed, make your bed, read your school lessons. Dayalu's new "wife" (wedding is really just a formality here), has a similar commanding presence, still as yet undeveloped, but it can be plainly seen the possibility of who may take the reins when the time comes for Mata-ji to retire, if ever. The cycle rolls on, as it has throughout time, a balance achieved without even trying, the most natural thing in the world. Pictures coming soon. . .

... road, and the road crew spends 4 months a year trying desperately to keep them open. In places, like this one, the scree is like snow; there are scree-banks by the side of the road, and the back-hoe is about as wide as the banks. We (stupidly) push/carry one bike around, and finish that as the road crew decides to start moving again - in reverse, along with several trucks, us sitting perched on top of the scree bank with our bikes and bags scattered around trying to ...

... the side of the road as the sun was, by this time, sinking below the horizon. But we only stood about freezing for 10 minutes or so before a cheerful trucker picket us up. The bad news was that there were only 2 seats up front. It's good to be a parent. Somehow Nate and I were appointed to the front seat. The other 2 guys, Lloyd and Gary made do in the back. The road didn't get any better and the shock absorption on the empty truck was not ...

... za zivljenje in pomislila tudi na to, da jim najbrz ne gre tako slabo, ce si privoscijo vecerjo v italijanski restavraciji... Najbrz dobijo kar veliko denarja od vernikov in ostalih, ki upajo in verjamejo v gibanje "Free Tibet" ter zaupajo menihom za svoje duse in usode. Pot smo nadaljevali proti Amritsarju, kamor je peljal en in edini bus ob 5h zjutraj. Ni bil "de luxe"... Vozili smo se 7 ur in tisti, ki niso mogli zaspati, so zatrdili, da take voznje pa se ne... Menda je vmes ...

... line of defense, one of the officials burned the ammo dump, leaving no choice but surrender for the Tibetans. Eventually the Maoist indoctrination got too heavy, and the Dalai Lama was spirited away over the mountains to Dharamshala in India, where a government in exile was formed. The Great Red Machine still continues to control the territory of Tibet, making anything remotely Tibetan, including the language, be pushed to the back burner. Thousands still ...

... not so enthusiastic as she was concerned about the state of the roads we were due to be driving along. Naresh had shown her some photos of the high passes that are only open for a couple of months of the year and the prospect of driving over them had not filled her with confidence (especially after our experiences on the local buses!). The weather in shimla was beautiful as we drove up and out of the town. Climbing steadily towards Naldehra we passed its famed golf ...