Club Mahindra Snowpeaks Manali

... br>When I was back to the coffee, the waitress said that it doesn't managed well for her, and she'll be coming to the festival tomorrow. It's not a problem I answered, I'll go there today and tomorrow! I got to the center of Manali, and got onto a bus. A guy proposed a seat next to him. All out nowhere he's got some good amount of charas in his hands, waiting for me to pay attention. He tried to push it to me for some ₨100, but I ...

... the forest, hanging out by the river, and avoiding the Israeli tourists. We bought a 26'er of rum for $4 (and I'm sure you can imagine how good the quality was) and enjoyed some rum and coke on our balcony (the first balcony all trip....in fact, one of the first rooms with windows all trip!)<br><br>Manali was another place where we could escape from the heat for a few days, located up in the mountains, with great views and nice people.<br><br><br>

... ones than I had seen before. He drove slowly (shanti, shanti) and while Barbara and him chatted (I sat last) I just looked around and marveled at the beauty surrounding me. The roads are so narrow with steep cliffs, you could see tiny villages or lone houses dotting the mountains, different fruit orchards that criss- crossed each other, I waved at all the locals and got a smile and wave back....sigh. Suddenly he stops and tells us to get off, there's police up ...

Waiting for my night bus to Shimla, my last meal before I collect my stuff from my room and hit the road. Something I have noticed of Indian waterworks, is that they may have a western style sit down loo, in fact very frequently they do, but the chances of them having toilet paper are much slimmer, the last two places I've stayed have been the same and a lot of the eatery's I've been to feature this omission. Enjoying an Aloo Ghobhi Masala with roti, and a sudden heat strikes ...

... deed of stopping seemed to pay off as having less luggage would certainly give me more of a chance of getting over the pass. As I started to ascend the road (if you can call it that) on the pass there was about 100 switch backs. The view was amazing, (even after coming from Pakistan) but the road was physically hard work, no matter how fast or slow I went, my tyre's would not grip and I was sliding all over the place, if I went to fast I lost the ...

... It was quiet and mysterious with now tress or insects...just soft light green scrub grass and a thick shroud of mist obscuring our 360 degrees view of mountains and valleys (Bubs, I am sure you will have better luck in September!). Surprisingly it was not this climb to the pass but rather the 6 hour descent that day that brutalized our moral and our poor knees and leg muscles. Much of it was through chest high wet wild ...

... This morning I felt better, and continually got better through the day. The last 5 hours or so were really just waiting for the overworked staff to get my bill and prescriptions together and let me the heck out of that place. Now, I'm 90 percent back to normal, though with some residual runs, but my temp is normal, and I can eat. This was about the most violent bug I've ever had here in India, and damn near became life-threatening. Hypothermia and acute ...

... there was a bus stuck between two landslides. Our bus? Probably. But the jeep got us past all of this. Many hours after our departure, we pulled up in Gramphoo. Oh my god. Gramphoo was nothing. It was a road intersection. One way leading to Manali; one to Keylong (our intended destination) and Leh beyond. It was a place were a few old men sat drinking tea and watching the world go by - nothing more. I was sure we were doomed to pitching a tent ...

... I'm not loving the food - curry for breakfast lunch and dinner, and otherwise white bread, white biscuits and bananas and chai tea which is very sweet! I am craving italian salads and apples!! Oh, just remembered, last night was Diwali! We had a little celebration at the camp with fireworks, lots of weird fried sweet food and some hindu ritual to the goddess of wealth Lakshmi. All the houses are lit up and look really pretty.

... from Ambala, quite a few hundred kilometers for a day's journey, not to mention that a lot of the morning was spent barrelling down the highway at 70 km an hour, the monsoon rain like tiny needles on the skin, and with numb hands. I had left Ambala around 8:30 and arrived here finally at 8 pm. A long ride, and I usually don't like to land in a town after dark, but knowing that Dharamsala is a touristy place, I also knew that finding a room for the night would ...