Holiday Cottage- Luxury Cottages Manali

... bit a sunburn, as my anti-malarial meds cause some hypersensitivity to the sun.

The next day we visited a small village of Vasshisht on the hillside nearby. There were lots of young travelers there as trhe rooms were cheaper. I also suspect that the Chara /Marijuana trade is still flourishing in the are, evidenced by the number of pipes, hookas, and chillems on sale in the loacl shops. We have seen lots of Cannibis plants which line the roads here for miles. They ...

Nous partons de Leh a 1heure du matin dans un mini bus... Objectif de la journee, arriver en vie a manali en traversant plusieurs cols au environ de 5000m.

le trajet debute de nuit sous un ciel etoilee et par une pleine lune qui cree une atsmophere etrange. les vallees, les montagnes ont une teinte toute particuliere et cela a qlq de feerique. Par contre ce qui est bcp moins drole c'est le froid qui nous attaque les pieds mais qlq chose de mechant... on ...

... The Japanese was delicious miso served by a Japanese family, and the "Moonbeam Café" is touted, not inaccurately as "a bit of Seattle transplanted to the Himalayas." But unlike Rishikesh, it does not feel like this is an inauthentic layer put on for tourists. Rather, this is an international town, and the make-up of the shops, the diversity of the crowds on the streets, and the number of languages reflect that ...

... reminiscent of apple cider and champagne all in one). Then the boys wanted some sweets so we went across the path to the "German Bakery" and got some brownies. All of us were exhausted by this point and went to bed (after a WARM shower!). The next morning we got up, went back to Heeby Zeeby for an "American Breakfast" which consisted of butter toast, an omelet, sausage, and hash browns. It was all similar to stuff at home, although most of it was ...

... We depart on our two day drive North at 05:30 tomorrow morning and will camp at the mid-point to break the journey up. The plan from Leh is to spend a few days acclimatizing in this pristine medieval town before doing a trek for 3 days or so and then relaxing before flying back to Delhi a week on Monday. The flight out is supposed to be spectacular and hopefully somewhat less hair-raising than the ride we face tomorrow and Monday. Carpe Diem as they say...

... of which there are a few here,(temples) there are the free common public baths, which look utterly disgusting and unhygienic, then regular baths and the deluxe baths, looking at them I don't think I personally would want to step foot in any!! Particularly as you can be seen from the cafes and guest houses above getting changed...well maybe not in the private deluxe ones but no thanks all ...

... and some of the best chocolate chip cookies and pizza we've ever had. don't get me wrong we had plenty of good indian food as well, but fresh homade c'chip cookies? couldn't pass them up. manali was beautiful and we wish we had more time there but we wanted to get to our next destination leh. leh was no easy trip from manali...

... well in the wind and rain, despite getting a six inch gash from an irritable goat. At Thakur Kuan, at the trailing edge of the wildflowers at 11,250 feet, was a campsite-cum-goat and sheep resting area, where surrounded by ungulates, my tent was highly vulnerable; overnight, the goat thrust its horn into the fly. Luckily I had my "Optimists Repair Kit" which included replacement adhesive tent fabric. Two days left: The trail ...

This travel log covers the last few weeks of our North India trip (back in late August '06) - Daremsala and Delhi. The majority of the time we spent in the mountains as the low-lands are miserable during the monsoon season and guess what.... We found the Gem! Its name: McLeod Ganj... the home of the Tibetan Government and its spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dali Lama. This place is absolutely incredible and possibly the best place we've gone yet. It's nestled ...

... was way easier than the climb, on the way down we saw this guy playing the Dhol, and I couldn't resist the temptation, so I asked if I could have a go, the guy was more than happy to let me break out a few beats (see pic). When we got down we knew we had a long ride ahead of us so we fuelled up on some Masala Tea and off we went, we changed drivers again on the bullet, but Kaka was still doing the 'Duracell bunny' thing (go on son!!!). We were heading for Bhuntar ...