Green Field Manali

... we ask what that includes and he replys paragliding, white water rafting ballooning... ad many more. We weren't so eager to white water rafting as we knew that australia and new zealand would be great spots for this so we decided we'd do the paragliding. for those of you that don't know what that is.. you run off a cliff with a parachute attached to your back and hope that there's enough wind to keep you floating!! don't worry ma ...

... us to some hotel in Pahargunj - which is known for cheap (and sometimes, shady) hotels. The guy predictably had an arrangement with some hotel and since we weren't in a mood to walk much more in that sultry weather, we took the hotel for 500 rs. After taking bath ( it was a pleasant relief to take bath in cold water instead of boiling hot water), we set about exploring the city. We wanted to see Humayun's tomb and it was a beautiful place, I must say. We also ...

Since I've arrived in McLeod Ganj, I've been spending many mellow days relaxing and soaking up dharma talks by Tibetan monks. This region hardly feels like India....the climate is cool, the mountain views stunning, and all around is Tibetan influence and refugees. In the mornings they have dharma talks (right-living) at the Library, in the evenings the monks and many westerners gather in the town square and ...

... but honeymooners, vacationers, and a ton of folks on their way to Leh (our original plan). The Kullu valley, known in ancient Hindu scriptiures as Kulantapitha or "end of the civilized world", sits at around 4000 ft at the beginning of the Himalayas. Huge walls of stone rise steeply from the river valleys allowing glimpses of snow capped peaks (when the clouds permit). While steep and mountainous the soil is rich and the landscape lush with heavy foliage ...

... windy day, so all the families were out doing the washing. Oh, and in other news, by the way Dayalu has found himself a girl, and they are to "make marry!" This was top secret until yesterday, so I couldn't share for fear of a leak. Hey, you never know who reads these things. Washing Day at the Ram complex. It's windy and sunny, a perfect combo for drying clothes, although the stronger gusts carry some things away to be chased by whomever is closest. Washing begins with a wet-down ...

... we planned to get on the way out of town. It's always fun to pull up to a petrol pump on the bikes, but today they paid me no mind as cars came in, then promptly screeched out again - the petrol station was out. On to the next one, where diesel was being served up, but the petrol pumps were both marked "out of service". This was a serious problem then, but in thinking about it, there were always mopeds, even in the little towns, and mopeds don't go far on a tank of ...

We rose bright and early in order to catch the 5 am bus to Manali - we would get off many hours down the road in Gramphoo in order to take the dogleg toward Keylong and avoid the out and back to Manali. We dragged our sorry butts out of bed at 4:30, found the bus station, and decided it would be more prudent to wait on the road so that we didn't miss anything. Around 5:30, Gary joined us. He had been up since 3:30 trying to get the scoop on this ...

Za potovanje proti Dharamsali smo glede na (ne prevec prijetne)izkusnje s prejsnjimi busi, tokrat rezervirali enega "de luxe". Voznja je bila zato zdaj udobnejsa, nasa prtljaga je bila pospravljena v prtljaznik, varna pred dezjem, pa tudi vec prostora za noge smo imeli. Kar seveda veliko pomeni, ce je voznja daljsa. Ob prihodu v Dharamsalo v zgodnjih jutranjih urah, smo ze dobili razne ponudbe za prenocisce. Zaspani in ne prevec voljni sami iskati primeren hotel, smo enemu ...

... me to go up onto the Mall with them to get a photo taken by one of the outdated tourist photographers that prowled around up there looking for victims. I managed to leave - and for a while felt pretty bad - there I was really looking foward to escape the country, but it ended up, another case of being humbled by the decent people from this decent country. In the evening went into the hotel's kichens and oversaw a tailor-made meal of boiled potatos, some simple fried veg ...

... bridge" of debris left from the boulder. It looked a little iffy, but he didn't topple off the mountain, so we all got back in and pressed on. As the day went on, we were forced to stop periodically for several rockslides and mudslides, wait for them to be cleared, pile out of the car for the driver to take the risk of passing through the danger area, and move on. This was also really, really scary because all along the route, fallen rocks were lining the roadsides and looking up ...