Mandav Mandi

We left Shimla along mountain roads - driven by a Jedi using nothing but the force to overtake uphill on blind bends. After 6 hours we arrived in the small town Mandi. We stay in one of Mandi's two hotels - the Raj Mahal palace. A pleasant - if slightly run down place - however it is owned by the Maharajah of Mandi. Dusty guns and swords hang from the walls, the food is lovely the the elderly Maharajah chats with guests over dinner.

Cambridge ...

Another fun filled 6 hour bus ride took us southeast from Dharamsala and dropped us off at 11:30 at night in the city of Mandi. We were actually headed to Rewalsar Lake, which is a sacred to Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs. Our guide book explains that in the 17th century people from all three religions met here to plan a resistance against ethnic cleansing from the Muslims.
Getting off the bus in a new city is usually really confusing and chaotic. People ...

From the chilled out atmosphere up high in the Himilayas we made our way back by bus to 'real India' in the form of Amritsar. It wasn't an enirely average transition as we went from the cool, calm culture of Dharamsala to this hectic holy city and into it's Golden Temple where we stayed for one night only. It was an experience in itself as thousands of people go to this stunning Sikh temple to eat ...

... adidas' jumper and 'the north face' coat - both of which make me look proper daper and suvivulist etc - in fact, I think im surviving by an extra 15% since purchasing them for less than 5 and 8 quid respectivly), and generally wandering about, I was loving it. On my final day there I did manage to get up to Jackhoo Temple after a ******* of a walk for a man that wheezes when he unzips his trousers for a yellow **** too fast, it was practically vertical mate, but once ...

From Tattapani, I set of after breakfast by the river, aiming to get to Minali. Unfortunately there were so many tiny roads that were not on my map and towns that were not even on there, it was quite slow going (but beautiful and fun). I was only managing to average about 30km an hours and then got two punctures from the bad roads ...

... a new Buddhist temple on a hill, we walked to up it and in need of a drink plonked our bums down on some chairs and asked if we could order some drinks... only to find out that it was in fact not a cafe but someones private garden!! whoops! Whilst there our Israeli fiend who constantly said 'i have one question' asked us if we were together- the cheeky misses!! The journey home was funny, the Israeli girl just sat with her ...

... one, and not because of the flying alone. Gave the keys of the rented motorbike to the brother of my instructor, to keep an eye on them, while i was in the air. Came back, bike was gone. The guy i gave the keys to told me that a couple of pilots just had to get something from the LZ (landing zone). Hm, ok, no dramas, so i continued paragliding. But as the day went by, there was still no sign of my bike and the guys who took it. Finally i saw them ...

We took a winding 8 hour bus ride to Kullu. The couple from the train were there and were fabulously ill for much of the journey, taking turns vomiting out the window. Unfortunately no photos. I was still battling Delhi Belly, but managed to keep it together, thanks to large quantities of immodium. A long and painful journey which Lloyd assures me was actually pretty mild by Indian standards. We ...

... later he was on my tail, trying to stop me. Close to a river crossing I stopped, to have a word with him. He immediately started to accuse me; I was speeding, I was driving unsafe, I was on the wrong side of the road etc. After his tirade he told me he wanted 6000 rupees to buy him new shoes. (shoes cost about 100 to 300 rupees here) I got angry because it was 100 percent clear that I didn't do anything wrong; he overtook the car and came on my side of the road ...

... was cruising around in my room! It gave me goosebumps, the critter was ten centimetres wide and five centimetres long.. Imagine this is the first thing you see when you wake up! Since the spider didn't pay any rent i decided it had to go, so caught it with the bin and chucked it in a nearby cornfield. Later that day they were harvesting the corn by hand... oops! But yeh, will probably spend a few more days here, and after that i'll go further up north ...