De Vivendi Resorts Manali

... Sanjeev! are you ready yet? you're making us all late"<br>so when i pop my head out to say "what the bloody hell are you on about?" this guy just walks off without a word. Thanks for the crack-of-dawn wake up call you *&amp;^%$#@! no the fact that people don't say sorry, or thanks really gets on your nerves sometimes here in India.<br><br><br>Left New Manali at 8am on a "deluxe" bus, deluxe is ...

... after switchback in the dark on the unpaved bumpy jumpy road and made it's way over the Rohtang Pass. Surprisingly, there were shepherds out in the middle of the night herding sheep and goats along the road. Once the sun showed it's face for the morning, we discovered we were well into amongst it, into the heart of the mountains and snow caps were in view. The colours of the landscape were rich in the spectacular Himalayan scenery. The bus stopped so passengers ...

... first 50km were wet and covered in treacherous mud. The next 50 km I can only describe as never ending<br>potholes some big enough to bury your in-laws. The last 40km was covered in loose rubble and strewn with rocks - very dusty &amp; constant rough vibration. I ended the day with extremely sore wrists &amp; shoulders.<br><br>We stopped for lunch at the Check Post at Koksar, and ate in a neat stone hut with a tarpaulin roof, the only food on offer was Dahl and ...

... needed lunch. We pushed on further upstream until we could continue no further. We found a spot close to the waters' edge where we rested up for a while, enjoying the silence and colour of the bird life that seemed to thrive in the remoteness of our location. In the words of a fellow Ukrainian fisherman I was to become friends with "Fishing in a place like this is a form of meditation, catching a fish is just a bonus". I couldn't agree more. We would ...

Late August and the first half of September A lot has happened since my last blog a few weeks ago. Firstly, a few days after I wrote my last entry I heard the news that my Grandpa (Gamps) was about to die. He has been in the hospital for a while, after he got in a car crash a few months ago, but I never thought he was going to die. I kept hearing that the doctors were optimistic, and whenever he took a turn for the worse, he would recover, and so I ...

Ask anyone who has ventured to India and they often express an attitude of "you either love it or you hate it...and often it's a mixture of both." Right now I'd say I'm in the loathing phase of my relationship with India. I've been sick with the flu for the last 4 days, suffering from high fevers, bodyaches, cough, congestion, immense headaches, and have generally been miserable. Fortunately, I'm now recovering ...

... down, mostly just of general old age. I am grateful that my parents have decided to hold off on the memorial service until Matt and I return from our trip in November. It is very patient that they wait; thank you Mom and Dad! Among other memories, I will think of my Grandmother waiting at the window for our family to arrive for visits. As far back as I can remember I could see her smiling face in the window as we'd pull up. The permanence of that chair ...

... do duzo spokojniejszego miejsca jakim jest Vashist - 2 km od centrum Manali. Dzielnica ta jest oaza spokoju i punktem osiedlenia hipisow.Wszedzie rosna olbrzymie krzaki konopi indyskiej Po dojechaniu na miejsce zostawiam Lysiaka z bagazami ,a sama ide na poszukiwanie nowego gniazdka. Ceny pokoi sa zadziwiajaco niskie. Wybieram najblizszy guest house stojacy w ...

... gives us white sugary sweets, paints a red bindi on our foreheads and gives us holy water which we put to our hear then throw over our heads. The kids love all this, not surprising with all the sweets! There is a couple who often come round with a sticky ricey sweet food that they give to the children - it has been blessed. On Tuesdays the kids eat at the temple with the priests - a messy affair. They eat with their hands ...

... turned to pines, I saw nettles and other familiar 'weeds' at the side amongst shrubs and grasses, a type of cactus could be seen pretty much all the way up. Occasionally monkeys were glimpsed. We stopped a number of times at various stations, everyone then leapt from the train to check out the food stalls, I didn't eat a thing - why risk it? It did seem however, that the Indians on the train were eating for the sake of it - I saw the same folk at each station buying ...