Royal Park Resort Manali

... Mr. Singh is a bonifide Sikh, (he prays morning,. noon, and night) and in addition to being a nice person, he is an excellent driver. He drives a bit aggressive, I think, on some narrow roads.Every time he takes the wheel, he says a prayer. I think that is reassuring. Soon after leaving, I had a thought. I pulled out a CD I had purchased at the Golden Temple. The recording was of the music they broadcast nationally on television and on the internal system within the ...

... fine young American gentleman, whatever his sexual preference. I will hazard a guess though, and this is only a guess, that the Northern-Indian locals (predominantly a Muslim population) do not share my liberal views on the matter and so, decided to make myself scarce lest they get the wrong idea and have me hung, drawn and quartered or worse, imprison me. (Trust me, the jails are dreadful) "Yes... Quite" I said as casually as possible, slowly rising to my feet. I took a step ...

There is a lovely girl in my guest house named Pippa. She's 18yrs old and volunteers at the local charity teaching English to Tibetan refugees and monks from around Asia. She invited me to one of her classes the other day and said that I could also do a 'conversational English' class which is basically me sitting in a circle with a few people and talking. I was really excited to go.

Yesterday we headed down some lanes I didn't even know existed around here until ...

... I was having a bit of trouble finding out how to book the tickets (you can't do it online), so I called up our friend Niez (the travel agent who we made friends with the first week in Delhi) and he helped us out. We have been actually visiting him every once in awhile and enjoy his friendship a lot. He really did us a favor and got us the ticket for below the price quoted online and got us a free taxi to the bus station. It was really helpful ...

Pushed on further into northern India to the hill town of Manali, not far from Kashmir. Weather here is a lot cooler than the sweltering conditions of Delhi so it's a nice relief. Did a bit of trekking, took a spin up to the snowy peaks of the Indian himalaya and even squeezed in a spot of zorbing! I'll update with more info when I have time, check out the photos for now

... trying to keep the manager out and on the 'doorstep' on one occasion he was having none of it despite my trying to sign this book at the door, not a hope, ME a mere woman!! Oh no.. 'Sir has to sign'!! he pushed past me (politely, can u push politely, all smiles and jolly hockey sticks??!!) )I was really impressed !! NOT!! I hadn't seen the news for ages and of course it was all pretty ...

... simple to carry, and the Beas is supposedly filled with trout, tho much further down river...but hey, you never know. But when it was all over, the creel was empty. But it's just sort of neat to fish in different parts of the world. Last night capped off the day. We walked down to supposedly the best restaurant in Manali called Johnson's. We decided we wanted to drink tho so we ate in the bar in front of the ...

... Simply spectacular, with the lower Outer Himalayan mountains to the north, with some snow and a clear blue sky. Finally, at Palampur we got a taxi to "Country Cottages" which I had booked over the net months ago. It turned out to be a great choice - so quiet and peaceful, especially after Delhi. The owners were so friendly and the food fabulous. Can't recommend it enough, although it is all a bit more expensive than the average places we will stay. The next day we spent hiking in ...

... musicians performed a few feet away (the puppeteer had an entire stage set up with lighting). At one point the puppeteer asked for a female volunteer from the audience. No avoiding that one! At the end of each "performance" the performers stood around until we gave them a tip. We susupect they were all friends or family of the hotel owner. The next day we drove to Delhi. This too was a chalenge due to flooding caused by the monoons. Many roads were closed, so our driver took us ...

... made plans to stay in all day and hide, but eating breakfast on the lawn, the color-smeared children (ages 3-12) in the next field, a fence away, beckoned us out. Lewis and I couldn't hold back, unlike the sensible Birmingham couple. And ran out with the kids. The children looked wonderful, hands drenched in the color held in their little plastic bags, and faces finger painted with the fluorescence of Holi. Nobody could escape, the puppies, monkeys and cows had no choice in ...