TravelStream™ news feed for member ando on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ando en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Tue, 02 Jan 2007 12:31:02 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1167801240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1167801240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1167801240/tpod.html Tue, 02 Jan 2007 12:31:02 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Trivandrum, India

Hello from Kerala! And happy New Year!
We have been traveling through the beautiful and lush landscape of India's Southern province of Kerala for the last 2 weeks. We flew to Cochin from Mumbai on Dec. 15th and have been enjoying exploring small towns, serene beaches and soaking up all the sun, coconuts and palm trees we can.
Following our arrival to Cochin, we decided to explore the tea and spice plantations that the area is known for. We took a 6 hour government bus East to the town of Kumily. Being the first two on the bus we took the front seat (to try to minimize motion sickness - H) and quickly found that it was a good choice. The bus filled up from the back door (the front door was nailed shut) at every stop, of which there were about 40 of along the way. It was packed by the time we reached Kumily and as such we were obligated to share our "3 seater" - which was really only a "2 seater", with many locals that came on an off the bus. It was an experience.
Relieved to finally reach our destination, we were thrilled to discover that our accommodation was located on an island in the middle of the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. There we spent one blissful night, for the first time all trip, with the serene calm of only the wildlife as company. It was wonderful to escape the horns and noise that follows you just about everywhere in India. We were fortunate to see lots of wildlife while in the sanctuary including wild boar, deer, and numerous birds. We unfortunately did not get to see any elephants or tigers in the natural environment, which was a bit disappointing.
Back to the West coast, this time we opted to take a taxi, (which was exceedingly comfortable compared with the hard metal seats of the bus) to Kottayam. From there we hopped a local ferry down the backwaters at sunset. It was peaceful and picturesque, albeit a rather slow way (2.5 hours) to get from A to B - again the boat stopped every few meters to let people on and off onto tiny platforms on the river banks and only cost us 10 rupees each ($0.25).
From Alleppey, we made our way to Mankotta Island. Our two nights with Jai and Laila, our hosts at Mankotta, were a trip highlight. They live on a farm, where they grow rice and plenty of exotic fruits and vegetables, and have converted serveral old graineries and spare rooms into guesthouses to host travellers. Recommended to us by friends that have travelled India extensively, we were not disappointed. It was a serene paradise with delicious food, swaying hammocks, and warm hospitality. We were given a tour of the island on foot and by boat, Jai attentively informed us about each and every plant that grows on the island, including a lake that they fish from. The nearby town was small enough to witness real village life and an absolute treat to walk through and visit with the locals.
Although it was difficult to leave Mankotta, we were anxious to start our yoga retreat with Shiva Rea. Arriving at the resort where we would be spending a week, we were delighted by the setting; a pristine and quiet beach with crashing waves that we could hear from our bungalow. On the first night, all 40 yoginis gathered on the outdoor platform where we would be practicing yoga under the palm trees and scorching sun every morning from 9am-12pm. Each and every person introduced themselves and excitedly told where they were from and why they had come to the "Rejuvination Retreat". Not surprisingly, the majority were Americans and women. We were thrilled to meet several other couples that we had a lot in common with and enjoyed getting to know (sometimes intimately during "yogic squats"). The week flew by and turned out to be really enjoyable - for both of us. Though after our first experiences we decided not to take advantage of our complimentary daily Ayurvedic treatments, we did explore some of the "science of wellness" and especially enjoyed our morning yoga sessions with Shiva. We left feeling truly rejuvinated and having made some great friends.
From Trivandrum we travelled up the coast to a beach town called Varkala. Set atop of a cliff, Varkala is a tourist hot spot. Apparently busier that usual during this year's peak season (due to tourist redirecting from Goa apparently), the boardwalk filled with shops and bamboo huts was packed with foreigners, yet had a surprisingly peaceful feel. We spent several nights, including New Year's eve in Varkala, some highlights: dining at great restaurants (eating great fish curry), drinking Kingfisher, playing frisbee on the beach, body-surfing the huge waves, watching dolphin pods surface over breakfast, watching the last sunset of 2006 dip into the Indian Ocean.
Tonight we found ourselves back in Alleppey, though it's the first time this trip that we have "backtracked", it's for good reason. We'll be meeting friends from the yoga retreat tomorrow night for a farewell dinner and then the next day we'll be meeting friends from Norway that we'll be arriving to join us on a backwater houseboat to "float" for a few days together.
Kerala has been a wonderful place to spend the last few weeks, especially given that we're in the final stretch of the trip (at least for one!). We'll be heading up to Delhi on the 7th, where we'll spend a few days shopping and visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1166103780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1166103780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1166103780/tpod.html Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:44:15 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Mumbai, India

We arrived in Bombay and found the last available hotel room in the city! It's has surprised us how difficult it can be to secure reservations for accommodations in cosmopolitan centres in India. The city is great! There's a real buzz and it actually feels a lot like New York. We find it to be a much nicer, cleaner, warmer and prettier city than Delhi. We've explored the Old Fort near our hotel, Bombay University, Marine Drive and the Harbour. Despite the masses of traffic the city does seem quite orderly. There's actual crosswalks and cars wait for pedestrians to cross, we haven't seen a single cow and so fortunately no cow dump on the sidewalks (which is common everywhere else we've been). One of the highlights was visiting the Dhobi Ghats in the centre of Mumbai which is where all the city's laundry is done, entirely by hand. Literally a small village of washers spend their days soaking, scrubbing and whipping the laundry against stones. Somehow it all comes in and is presumably distributed back to where it came 'clean'. It was amazing to see, and interesting that not a single woman took part in the process!
Mumbai has some great restaurants and nightclubs. We were introduced to two of the best by a local friend in the city, Kunal. After hosting us for drinks at his family's home he took us to a very 'swank' restaurant for dinner where we had delicious food and drinks and rubbed elbows with some of the most famous Bollywood stars! It was a strange experience - since they are not internationally recognized we had no clue we were in the presence of 'greatness', but those with us were as excited as we would be sitting at the table next to Brad and Anjolina! It was a trip.
After three nights in Mumbai we'll fly down to Cochin on Friday.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165838880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165838880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165838880/tpod.html Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:26:31 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Udaipur, India

We arrived in Udaipur coughing and sneezing. Dave had booked a simple ($7.50 per night) hotel but once we realized we were really quite sick, we decided to upgrade to $30 per night for 3 nights. I (D) was up all night and spent day 2 in bed while Hil explored some of Udaipur on her own, between naps.

(H) Udaipur is by far Rajasthan's (and maybe India's) most romantic city. At the center is the beautiful man-made Pichola Lake. The city itself borders the lake as do many beautiful hotels and palaces. Most of the buildings and hotels are white, the colour of purity, which look beautiful against the bright blue sky. Walking around is no different really than many other cities in Rajasthan. Shop clerks are eager to get you into their story even "just to look". With Dave in bed I had some time to myself, and interesting experience. I hadn't really appreciated how much easier it was to have a man around. Locals were eager to strike up conversation with me and ask if I was 'available' or 'taken', where I was from and if they could spend time with me. Many of them asked me why a woman would be walking around the city alone. Even dressed sensibly and completely covered warranted far too much attention. Despite India's modest and conservative nature, where women do dress to cover almost everything, interestingly public bathing is still common. In the middle of the afternoon many women (young and old) can be seen bathing topless on the public ghats, where they also do their laundry.

Once Dave started feeling better, we visited and had an informative tour of Udaipur's City Palace, Rajasthan's largest, and also visited the Monsoon Palace high on the surrounding hills, so named because during monsoon season, the palace disappears into the clouds. Tonight, for our last night here, we'll dine at the Lake Palace Hotel, where Udaipur's claim to fame, the Bond film "Octopussy" was filmed. We'll travel there by boat and are looking forward to eating a nice meal, after days of slurpping soup and tea. Tomorrow we fly to Mumbai.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165476060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165476060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165476060/tpod.html Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:22:16 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Jaisalmer, India

"3AC" is third class with air conditioning. Each car on the train holds hundreds, and within each car are sections which hold sleeping accommodation for 8: 3 stacked Lower, Middle and Upper on each side and a Lower and Upper at the end. We were 26M and 28L. Fortunately with the late night departure of the train we boarded around 12:15AM and were tucked into our bunks in our sleeping bags asleep by 1AM. There was no air conditioning, so it was quite stuffy, but we had a nice family of 3 in our section with us, along with 2 German travellers and we had a pleasant ride with them.
We arrived in Jaisalmer around 1PM and made our way to a beautiful haveli in the old Jaisalmer Fort. The fort, made of golden sandstone is 850 years old. It is a picturesque place. We were lucky to find accomodation within the Fort as there are only a few hotels / guest houses. We walked around, exploring the fort and toured the 850 year old palace at the fort's centre. Watching the sunset from the top of the palace was a highlight, and apparently others thought so too. We met a couple of guys taking photographs for a book they are making on 1000 things to do before you die. Watching the sunset from the top of the Jaisalmer Fort made their list. We would have to agree, it was beautiful.
We found a great restaurant in town and explored the city for a couple of days. From here we are heading to the Hill Station of Mt. Abu. We've booked a car to make the 7 hour drive.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165563360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165563360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165563360/tpod.html Mon, 11 Dec 2006 07:08:05 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India

Mount Abu is the only hill station in Rajasthan. Upon the advice of friends, and after our positive experience in Himichal visiting several of the country's most beautiful hill villages we decided that we had better include Mt. Abu in our itinerary.

The 7-hour drive from Jaisalmer to Mt. Abu was one of the most beautiful drives we've been on so far. The desert planes spotted with women in bright saries carrying massive loads on the heads and backs along with the rural beauty of animals (more camels, cows, buffalo and sheep!) were just some of the highlights.

It was a long drive and we arrived at night. We struggled to find a good place to stay. Many of the tourist spots get so built up with hotels, however, they tend to subscribe to a quantity over quality approach in many cases. By quality I don't mean expensive just good value for the tarriff they charge.

Our drive was beautiful, but we both ended up with a chill which resulted in two days in bed. We did push ourselves to see the Dilwara Jain temples. These temples are amoung the world's best examples of Jain carvings/design. The 5-temple all marble complex houses incredibly intricate carvings on all pillars, archways and ceilings. The temple area is our great importance to the Jains so no cameras are allowed inside a new rule since 1992 (we were told) so the attached picture is from the internet but representative of what we saw. It was interesting to see the marble carvings in Mt. Abu after seeing the Jain sandstone temples in Jaisalmer.

We left Mt. Abu still sick and headed for Udaipur, home of the famous Lake Palace Hotel and as no one will let you forget the famous film scene from 007's Octopussy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165044300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165044300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1165044300/tpod.html Fri, 08 Dec 2006 03:48:50 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Samode / Jaipur, India

As we planned to leave Simla, we were informed that our flight was cancelled and to make other arrangements. Another couple was in the same boat so we shared a car for the 4.5 hour drive to Chandigarh with plans to catch a Jet Airways flight to Delhi.
The drive was fine for some and a bumpy / nauseating trip for others.
We made the flight and landed safely in Delhi scavenging to find a way to get to Samode, a small village outside of Jaipur. No flights we available so we took a taxi for the 5 hour drive. The beginning of the drive was fine as we bobbed and weaved through Delhi traffic, then as the sun went down things really got interesting.
We had been warned to avoid driving in India at night, but in some cases, land transport by car is unavoidable. Our car wasn't cutting edge nor were its food warming style headlights. I think we had about 3.6 feet of visibility. When you can't see ahead of you, you inevitably have some close calls. Here's a few: the broad side of a dumptruck perpendicular across our lane, a heard of black/brown cattle, women and children running across what I would call 4 lanes (although there are no real lanes to speak of) - dogs, tractors, tuk-tuks.
We were eager to get out of the car - however as with most late night arrivals (it was 11 PM by now) the driver often gets lost - not to mention that our driver didn't speak any english (and based on his directions, we question whether he could read hindi either). A few more double backs, some wrong turns and some more livestock and we did finally arrive at the Samode Palace at 1 AM. There, as we pulled into the main receiving courtyard, we were greeted by a long red carpet tumbling down the tall staircase and two attendants to assist with our baggage. We chose to make the Samode Palace (www.samode.com) one of the stops on our trip because Hilary's magazine team was in India in April doing a shoot at the Palace - and now with the published hardcopies in hand, we thought they'd like to see the finished product.
In the morning we were able to appreciate the true grandure of the Palace. Our suite had a king size. four-post bed, a traditional indian cushioned floor seating area, a balcony overlooking the surrounding mountains and the pool and a large white and green marble bathroom accented with intricate artistic designs on all walls. The Palace itself is over 250 years old, we got lost in its hallways, banquet rooms and gardens. Every inch of the walls and ceiling are covered in detail. Some rooms are hand painted depicting scenes of battle, weddings, the animal kingdom, divine scenes. Others are set with tiny pieces of gem stones, mirrors and glass. We were impressed with the palace, the people and their attention to detail. The Palace is surrounded by 3 forts, perched high up on nearby mountain tops. We walked up to one of the forts and also walked around the small village of Samode, gaining a better understanding of what rural life is like. The village of 10,000 has some industry where farming and metal tools are made, there is a the camel owner who with a cart will haul goods at a price, the cattle owners provide the dairy, a small amount of agriculture, and some general merchandise shops.
From Samode we headed for Jaipur - a great ride this time in a open-air Jeep. We arrived in Jaipur at night and went to a revolving restaurant with good views for dinner. We left there having tried some new Thali dishes and feeling quite dizzy. Jaipur was only a brief stop for us, we were heading out to Jaisalmer. The next morning in Jaipur we went to book our overnight train tickets to Jaisalmer. When we went to book the 13 hour overnight train ride only 3rd class A/C tickets were available. We walked Jaipur for the day - visited Hawa Majal and the City Palace. We enjoyed a delicious local lunch in the Old City bazaar and did some art shopping. Jaipur wore on (H) and didn't really do much to impress (D). That said we were only there for a day. Jaipur is known for gems and jewelry and the many forts that surround the city. As the day wound down we headed for the train station and boarded the train.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164985260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164985260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164985260/tpod.html Sun, 03 Dec 2006 01:34:18 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Simla, Himichal Pradesh, India

Jagson Airlines finally failed us. We were warned that the friendly but tiny airline that we had booked our 5 flights with may be unreliable, but we had 3 wonderful flights and were beginning to count on them to get us from place to place. Instead, our flight from Kullu to Simla was cancelled. We were given the news the day before the flight, which was lucky, so we made the trip by road instead. After arriving from Dharamshala to Kullu, we asked the local taxi stand to get us a car to make the 5 hour trip. They did but the car had been cleaned with petrol that morning, and just moments after settling into the car and down the winding road we both were feeling quite ill from the strong smell.

Arriving in Simla, a 2km ridge at the top of a mountain was a great experience. There are views of the mountains everywhere you look. Our accommodations were great, and walking the town has been a great form of exercise, as it is very hilly. Monkeys are everywhere here! They approach humans without any hesitation, and if they suspect you have food they are even more aggressive, sometimes searching your pockets or bag until they find some!

We explored the main "Mall" (town's main street) and the food bazaars. The town is built into the hillside and the shopping lanes cascade down the mountain side with each horizontal level specializing in something - food, fabrics, school books, electronics. We had a great meal in town and tried some Indian sweets.

Town highlights:
- getting hustled by a 12 year old for some shotty stamps and some oval magnets - 90 Rs ($2.50)
- learning about a wide array of spices from a toothless gentlemen who spoke perfect english
- yoga at 8 AM each morning in the hotel

As we were preparing to leave to fly to Delhi, once again the flight was cancelled. So we paired up with an older couple and shared a cab for the 4 hour winding, hilly drive to Chandigarh, where we caught a Jet Airways flight to Delhi, en route to Jaipur.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164537660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164537660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164537660/tpod.html Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:43:02 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Dharamsala / McLeod Ganj, India

Early Saturday morning we made our way back down to Kullu to catch our next flight, this time to Dharamsala. The 9am flight was again one a picturesque experience, though it only lasted 18 minutes from beginning to end and this time we were the only two passengers on the plane! Arriving in Dharamsala was a truly wonderful experience (again with an intense car trip!), but it is lush, green and cleaner here. Our hotel is unfortunately a 14km drive from the town centre of McLeod Ganj, the true gem of this place. Filled with monks walking the streets and foreign tourists that seem to be chilling out here for longer stays, it is also the home of his holiness, the Dalai Lama. We'll be spending 3 nights here, which is nice amount of time. Had we known, we may have tried to schedule our trip around the Dalai Lama's 'teachings', which we missed the start of by just 2 days. The temple is full every day from 1-4pm with Monks and travelers from near and far that have come to be enlightened by his teachings. The town is full and busy, but is has a very peaceful feeling about it. We found a cafe that seems to be popular with foreigners likely because they serve wonderful cappuccinos! The shopping here is fantastic, great jewelry and shawls. Unfortunately we were not aware that most stores would be closed on Monday (our last day here), because that is the Tibetan 'holy day' so missed out on some great purchases. Nonetheless, our experience here has been a trip highlight so far. Tuesday we will fly back to Kullu and then head to the state's capital, Simla.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164277200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164277200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164277200/tpod.html Wed, 29 Nov 2006 05:47:47 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Delhi, India

Having dropped off our Europe luggage in London we and our backpacks flew from London to Delhi. Our flight was smooth with the exception of the mentally unstable gentleman who sat next to us. He muttered and elbowed us and covered himself in his meals and fell in the aisle twice.

We arrived in Delhi at 1:30 AM and were met by a taxi the hotel we had booked sent. We were subsequently informed our hotel was over-booked and we'd have to go somewhere else. Our first scam - not 10 out of the gate, or so we thought. We requested that we be taken to our hotel and if changes were necessary, we'd deal with them there, in person. As it turns out the hotel did double book us which left us at 3 AM looking for a hotel in Delhi. Delhi despite a huge population has a real scarcity of hotels. After calling nearly every hotel in Lonely Planet we found a room, at a reasonable albeit higher than we'd budgeted for rate, at the Hyatt. Dave begrudgingly, and Hil delightfully checked in for a 12-hour stay.

We woke up in the afternoon and were again scrambling to find a place to stay fortunately a "Club Room" was available at the YWCA Blue Triangle, close to Connaught Place, and we booked it for two nights.

Driving in Delhi is exciting (D) and terrifying (H). The lights are irrelevant, and constantly merging lanes of traffic are packed with trucks (carrying goods and people), cars, tuk-tuks (3-wheelers), motorcycles, bikes and people. Crossing the street takes time, if you value your life, and is a true test of your 'frogger' skills.

Despite the boom in technology and the explosive growth in India, Delhi remains, in most parts, very poor. With only 3 days experience, we're no experts, but it was telling to see billboards for Intel, Motorola, and Sony being used as a partial roof for tin huts along the side of the roads. Each time traffic stops, as it does often for one reason or another, women and children would approach the car windows to beg for money. It doesn't help that hotels are adamant about providing foreigners with white cars that say "Tourist", which if not for our alabaster complexions makes us a clear target for beggars.

We enjoyed a delicious meal with friends who showed us some of the sights from a local perspective. Despite the challenges of Delhi, we found it to be a very exciting and busy city, however, hearing locals complain of 1 hour trips to get anywhere and having inhaled 3 days worth of pollution we can understand why people try to get in and get out as fast as possible.

We'll be returning to Delhi briefly before we fly out at the end of our trip. Dave is looking forward to seeing some more of the city and meeting up with some new friends.

While in Delhi we met with a great travel agent and booked a 10 day trip to Himachal Pradesh - details to follow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164450600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164450600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ando/india_2006_2007/1164450600/tpod.html Wed, 29 Nov 2006 05:39:08 -0500 Dave and Hilary's India Adventure

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Manali, India

We awoke on Thursday morning in Delhi at 4:30 AM to make it to the airport 2 hours in advance for our domestic flight from Delhi to Bhuntar (Kullu). We boarded the 16 seater twin prop plane and Hilary was a little anxious. It took a team of 12 men to prep the plane for take-off - a theme here in India. The short flight 1 hour 20 minutes, was incredible. We had a beautiful view and as we approached our destination the mountains came into sight. From the vast plains dotted with frequent population centers amidst wide fields, the mountains shot up. First the foothills and then in the distance, the Himalayan range. It was incredible to see the mountain top hill stations and small villages collected around tiered agricultural plots. We were flying at a low enough altitude that you could see people farming the hills using donkeys, horses and ox.

Our destination was Manali - a hill station, turned tourist haven (unfortunately). The 1.5 hour drive from Kullu to Manali proved to be another intense road experience. The winding one-lane road was crowded with buses, jeeps, tuk-tuks and people (many of which were small school-children walking miles to get to school) we discovered is typical of this area. Cars honk constantly to warn people and other cars that they are passing. Miraculously we have not witnessed any accidents, and traffic moves at a rapid pace (although sometimes it is in reverse to let a large bus get through!). We were glad that we had chosen to fly to Kullu, instead of taking the 20-hour bus from Delhi!

Once in Manali, we did our best to avoid the main tourist area and were pleased that our hotel (the Shingar Regency) was perched on a hilltop out of the town center. It also featured a beautiful view of the mountains and valley below. We quickly arranged for a mountain guide and set out for a day of hiking. We did two hikes in one day, the first to the Solang Valley which in winter is a ski resort. Our guide Purkash, took us up the scenic trail which led us to the snow line and at the end of which was perched the tiny Shiva temple. Had we opted to, we could have removed our shoes and walked the narrow, icy, snow-covered staircase to get a closer look. Instead we took in the view and enjoyed some hot milk with rice from the mountain 'host' that resides at the end of this trail. Next we drove to the neighbouring town of Vashisht where we enjoyed the more challenging terrain up to the local waterfall. Although it is the dry season the small waterfall, with a rainbow from the sun casting on it, was a nice treat at the end of the hike (H). We made our way down and on our way visited another temple. This time we did remove our shoes to take a closer look.

Back in Manali we enjoyed a simple meal at Johnson's Café for the local specialty - Kullu River Trout. We chatted with a retired Dutch couple who are in the final stages of a 1 year trip that has taken them from Singapore > Malaysia > Thailand > Cambodia > Laos > Vietnam > China > Tibet > Nepal > India - all on bicycles carrying 18 kgs each. They told us that they are writing for a variety of papers and despite going home for the holidays, it was only a "comma" in their years of travel to come.
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