Solang Valley Resort Itc Welcomgroup Manali

... We took a taxi; on the way to Kully we met that group of Vashshat folks with a mask they were bringing to Kullu by foot. The driver left waiting for us in the parking in Kullu, and we went for shopping first. The first and the only! :) The market was huge and the girls needed to buy everything - from blankets to cooking pots. Well, it wasn't that bad, after all I'm not that bad in "shopping support", also I coul continue the en face session from yesterday ...

... amp; turns, hairpins &amp; switchbacks, running through deep gorges that never seem to end. <br><br>To have tried this tour on my regular &#8220;Cruiser&#8221; would have been a nightmare, the little Royal Enfield is fantastically agile and robust, and regardless of the terrain or weather conditions it is perfect for these tight twisting, uneven ever varying road conditions. <br><br>PS Indian bugs taste just as bad as Ausie bugs, and getting them stuck in your nose is no fun either.

... and Western. Food is very inexpensive here. Most meals are under $6 Cdn for both of us, not including the occasional beer for Rajiv on a Saturday! That adds an extra $2.50 to the bill. Also lots of cafes for afternoon coffees and cake. We spent the last two weeks of our afternoons volunteering at ROGPA, an organization that works with newly arrived Tibetan refugees. We volunteered at the Baby Care Centre ...

... 6 hours of the journey were spent with my legs crossed on the chair and with my backpack on my lap! As you can imagine, we were pretty relieved when we arrived in Shimla! Shimla was unlike anywhere I've ever been before. It was like being entirely in another place at another time. For those of you who don't know, Shimla used to be the British govt's summer holiday retreat when they couldnt hack the Indian sun! To this day its retained so much of its colonial air. You see men in ...

... of this may be avoidable because they were so cold and wet from the snow on the last section they just went for it over the bump, having a couple of falls but nothing serious. They were even heading back to Leh this year by were taking a 5 day detour, just to avoid that pass again. I met another guy who had he had tried yesterday but had to turn back half way, admittedly he had a passenger but also a 500cc Enfield meaning more torque and power ...

... and sheep out of boredom. After a quick lunch and nap waiting for the ponies to catch up we continued at a steeper angle until we reaced our camp and the ponies were unburdened and rolled happily on their backs in the grass to get rid of the feeling of thier packs. Our two tents and the kitchen tent were set up and Chai and biscuits swerved. This is certainly different than backpacking in the US!! We embarrassed our ...

... the morning with a first-class case of the runs, which soon turned into huge gouts of pure liquid pouring out of me. Must have been a couple of liters in the first hour or so. Then it got a little (understatement) worse. It started to come up as well. The only time I've ever experienced retching like that was when I was 14, and dared my friends I could down half a fifth of jack daniels. Of course, I could feel myself becoming dehydrated as fluid poured profusely ...

... He had been told that, due to landslides or some such calamity, that the bus wouldn't be coming through this day. We decided to give until 6AM. Sure enough - no bus. We wandered forlornly back to our hotel where Nate and I took a nap and Lloyd had a wander around town. We had agreed to meet Gary and a friend out by the road at 9 to give it another try. Fueled by 3 Full Power Shak Shukas (apparently an Israeli delicacy), we marched out the the ...

... am trying to expect the unexpected as everything in India is so crazy you can't predict anything! Today for breakfast I had muesli, milk and banana, it was heaven. I have also bought earl grey tea. I am a bit ashamed of my western-ness, I thought I'd adapt better, but I am finding curry for 3 meals a day one of the biggest challenges of the whole experience! Sometimes we have other food and we ...

... have winged it a little more, but now being older **ahem. . .**and hopefully a bit wiser, I have learned to be prepared, but with minimal gear. The road to Leh, in Kashmir is meant to be 488 km of potholes, traffic, and high elevations, with a 360 km stretch without petrol, therefore it will be necessary to somehow bring at least 5 liters of petrol with me, though Rocinante's tank, when full, should go over 450 km. One never knows what to expect above the ...