Snowcrest Manor Manali

The first thing in the morning I got a nice letter from mom - today it's 18 years since we arrived to Israel :)! <br>Yesterday in Kullu was fun, but still I didn't see any of that promised Dusehra festival - I told that to the girl in the restaurant. But she has persuaded myself that today is surely something going to happen in Kullu. Actually there were some proparations at the square next to the cafe. &#8232;Pinki (the girl) came with her two kids and a ...

Situated at an altitude of 6,200 feet are Kullu and Manali, two heavenly cities in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Kullu is situated on the western bank of the River Beas and is located in the centre of the Kullu or Silver Valley. Kullu Valley was formerly known as Kulanthapitha, which literally meant &#8220;end of the habitable world&#8221;.<br><br>This has got to be the most beautiful area in the world for touring on a motorcycle, and today&#8217;s road was fabulous, constant ...

... bringing your awareness within, which paralleled our Vipassana meditation teachings. Food and water is not a problem here. There are filtered water stations throughout the village which highly support re-filling water bottles and the use of less plastic. There is also no shortage of international cuisine, all very authentic and good. We have tried Japanese, Korean, Thai, Italian plus the usual Indian, Tibetan ...

... I may have over-complimented his cafe a bit too much...! Next up was Shimla after a 10 hour bus journey from Rishikesh. The bus ride was a bit questionable. We went by state bus and anyone who has been to India knows how lovely these are!!!???? I swear I had felt something at my feet early on in the journey, but decided that it was just the person behind me, until Amelia later commented that she had felt something at her feet. It was the biggest rat I've ever seen... so the ...

... of the toughest things I've ever done was trying to control my digestive system while the bus rattled over the rough dirt road, through the frigid mountain passes, and trying to get the window open quickly enough to allow the contents of my stomach safe passage out of the bus. And so it went for the better part of 12 hours. I was so exhausted when we arrived that I barely had enough strength to clean myself up, and crawl into my sleeping bag for some sleep.

... until we were bored to tears waiting for our horses to arrive. After a short climb we passed through a small town seemingly unchanged by time called Rumsu in which kids came running from their stone/wood houses to beg us to take pictures of them. After Rumsu we passed through a thick misty forest alive with the hum of cicadas which opened to a pasture complete with a singing shepherd girl who cursed and threw stones at her ...

Well, I went against my own advice--never eat any kind of meat in India! The only times I have had digestive difficulties here is after eating chicken, but I never had any trouble with mutton here in the north. That is, until yesterday. Went over to the the Khyber restaurant, had a couple of beers, and the mutton Masala, my reasoning being that mutton is very good for keeping warm on a cold and rainy night. Felt good on the way in, not so good on the way out. I woke ...

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 ...

... horses, and even more dogs and monkeys. We were all freaking out about getting bitten by a rabid monkey last night and as a result two of us had horrific monkey-biting nightmares!! Due to Diwali last weekend I have still not started working, but tomorrow I will start work firstly in a mountain school and then in the afternoon I will teach English. I'm really looking forward to this although ...

Chilling out for a couple of days here, I guess I will spend one more night here before setting off for Manali, which is meant to be even a little more crowded with westerners than here. Manali will be a stop to try to get some gear for the high mountains, which may just come in handy. As there are loads of trekkers passing through there, I think I will have to try some of the street vendors to try to pick up used mountaineering supplies. When I was younger, I ...